City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Matthew 24:44 (ESV)

Megan’s Musings

I was fifteen years old when 1999 was coming to a close, and like everyone else, I worried about Y2K and the end of the world coming. Most of the information I got was from my similarly misguided high school peers. When I confided my worries to my parents, they reminded me nobody knows the exact day, not even Jesus knows, only the Father (Mark 13:32). On December 31, 1999, I stayed up not only at midnight (our time), but at 3 a.m. until California had reached January 1, 2000. And nothing happened. It was just another day, another year, another century. 

And it wasn’t the last time somebody tried to predict the end of the world. When researching for this devo, I found a Wikipedia site of end of the world predictions, at the top was Matthew 24:35-36:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

Matthew 24:35-36 (ESV)

Just like January 1, 2000, I continued down the whole rabbit hole, and remembered how the Mayan calendar predicted the end times on December 21, 2012, but still nothing happened. It ended with some people getting their pride hurt and saying, “You know, maybe I should take responsibility for my life choices.”  

For millennia, people have been trying to predict the exact date of the end times. If Jesus Himself doesn’t know, how should we expect to?

The disciples asked Jesus when He would be coming back and for signs of the end of the age. Jesus responded that life will be extremely difficult for Christ-followers, and He would come when the whole world has heard the Gospel, and on a day that is not expected (take that, predictors!). After Jesus speaks of the end times, He ends on a hopeful note with three parables: about being prepared for His Coming (Matthew 25:1-13), investing talents for God’s Kingdom (Matthew 25:14-30), and how to be a true follower of Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:31-46). Talking about the end of the age isn’t supposed to scare us, but to prepare us for the new heaven and the new earth (2 Peter 3:13). It’s not really the ending, but the beginning, of what God truly intended for His children, a perfect world where we will have perfect relationship with Him. 

Application

At first, when I thought of the end times, the chorus of “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” by REM ran through my mind. But as I realized it’s not the true ending, the song “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe replaced it. 

Whether our lives on earth will end before or during Jesus’ Second Coming, we are destined to have perfect peace with our perfect Father in heaven. 

Prayer

Dearest Jesus, I look forward to Your Second Coming, help me to prepare for it. In Your Name I pray, amen.