DAY 28: MARANTHA II

THE RHEMA WORD FOR TODAY
(A DAILY DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM)

TOPIC: MARANTHA II
DATE: 28 SEPTEMBER, 2019
BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 24:36-44
MEDITATION/MEMORY VERSE: 1 THESSALONIANS 5:2, 4, 5 (THE MESSAGE)
You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would… But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under open skies and know where we stand.
From our Bible reading, Eugene Peterson puts verse 36 in The Message Bible this way: “But the exact day and hour? No one knows that…” So from this, it is clear that the actual time of Christ’s return is unknown. No one can give the exact date of His return. But Apostle Paul, through his first letter to the church in Thessalonica, has made us to know that the day of His return won’t take us by surprise, because we can know when He would return from the times and seasons; but not the exact date.
Jesus Christ, from our Bible reading, gives us one of the times and seasons of is return. That as it were in Noah’s days, so will it be of His coming (vs. 37).
What happened in the days of Noah?
Wickedness increased (Gen. 6:5 cf. Matt. 24:12). We see how the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling to intercourse with the daughters of men (Jude 1:6; Gen. 6:1-2; cf. Enoch chap. 6&7). So will it be. There will be a great rebellion because the man of sin, the son of destruction (the Antichrist), is revealed.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
Now in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to meet Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly unsettled or alarmed either by a [so-called prophetic revelation of a] spirit or a message or a letter [alleged to be] from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has [already] come. Let no one in any way deceive or entrap you, for that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first [that is, the great rebellion, the abandonment of the faith by professed Christians], and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction [ the Antichrist, the one who is destined to be destroyed].
Wickedness will increase because the Antichrist is revealed; hence, there will be tribulation before His return.
Matthew 24:15, 16, 21
So when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION [the appalling sacrilege that astonishes and makes desolate], spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains [for refuge]… for at that time there will be a great tribulation (pressure, distress, oppression), such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will [again].
And when wickedness increase, the love of most believers will grow cold (Matt. 24:12).

ACTION POINT: IT IS HIGH TIME FOR ME TO BE AWARE OF THE END TIME SIGNS AND SEASONS.
PRAYER POINT: O LORD MY GOD! PLEASE HELP ME TO BE CONSCIOUS OF THE SIGNS AND SEASONS OF THIS END TIME.
PERSONAL READING: MATTHEW 24:3-31