“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Matthew 24:36 NASB
This is a tough passage that brings up challenging theological questions: How does the Father (God) know something the Son (Jesus) doesn’t know? Is Jesus speaking as a man or as God the Son? Does God exist inside time or outside time? Could the Father exist outside of time and the Son inside of time? If God exists outside of time, then does He know everything that will ever happen? If He knows it, did He predestine it? If He predestined it, then do we have free will? Or, like Dr. Strange of the Marvel Universe, does He just know all the things that could happen?
Without attempting to answer all of those questions, let me offer two takeaways:
(1) The return of Jesus Christ to this earth is the Father’s gift to His Son and to all of us who follow Jesus. In some way, this gift is gift wrapped, and it will only be opened at the last moment.
(2) Always be ready. We don’t know when Jesus will return. But, until He does, we are His representatives on this earth. The only Jesus some people will ever know is the Jesus they see when they look at you.
How do we be ready? Open the door. Let Him in. Let Him be who He wants to be, and do what He wants to do. He is returning to this earth. No one can stop that. But we can be ready by making room for Him in our lives today, right now.
Dwight
PS. On 5/25/2019 our Inner Wealth topic will be how to overcome guilt, shame, and condemnation. Since many people don’t understand the difference between true and false guilt, and the very different strategies we use to resolve each, we’ll be explaining that in detail.
