Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25 and Isaiah 12 • Malachi 4:1-2a and Psalm 98
This week as we hear Jesus tell us about the destruction of the temple, and what many have called the "end times," we learn to not invest ourselves, our lives, our hopes and dreams in transient things, but in that which endures, and lasts forever - even when and as "temples fall."The passage from Isaiah tells of the creation of a new heaven and new earth. When no longer shall the sound of weeping be heard, or the cry of distress. When infants shall live longer than a few days, and the young shall live out a lifetime. When people will no longer labor in vain, but enjoy their work, and children will no longer be born only to face calamity.
These passages are truly apocalyptic, which means a "revealing" in Greek. They are not just about the end times. Why does Jesus tell his disciples, who are admiring the splendor and grandeur of the temple, that no stone will be left standing? In what, or whom, do we place, or misplace, our hopes, dreams, and aspirations? In what, or whom, have we given up, or resigned ourselves into a malaise or cynicism? How can we realize what Jesus is telling us? What questions should we be asking?
Read Debie Thomas' "By Your Endurance," and Janet Hunt's "New Heavens, New Earth...", The Rev. Dr. Marshall Jolly's "Apocalypse! "
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