Worldwide Christmas December 2, 2025 Devotional

MATTHEW 24:32-36 | ³² From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁴ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³⁶ But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

It is helpful to see the juxtaposition of the fall of Jerusalem and the end of time in this chapter. But why did Jesus include them together? Was this not courting confusion? I believe Jesus did so for a very good reason. Time is like an adjustable camera lens. With one twist, what is in the immediate foreground can recede into the distant background. With a second twist, what is in the distant background can become close and immediate. In the foreground there is an immediate crisis for Israel. Unhappy with the non-racial apolitical kingdom of universal grace He offers, they reject Jesus as Messiah and their nationalistic zeal provokes a conflict with Rome. But if we twist the lens we see that this imminent crisis is a preview of the final one, since it is our attitude toward Jesus that will be the key to both. Rejecting Jesus now will have implications at the end. Similarly, that means that the end is in a sense already present and can become visible within the foreground, whenever there are moments of decision and judgment.

Do something today that you would be proud to own at the end of time.

If this reading of Matthew 24 is correct, then Jesus' final judgment on us has an element of self-judgment because it will be based on the way we responded to Him in the days of our lives. Do you agree?

Is the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming, to you, a reassuring hope, a fearful possibility, or a blank screen?

Gracious God,

Help me remember that the way we respond to You has an impact at the end.

Amen.