Thanksgiving for the Kingdom of God
Signs of God’s Kingdom Coming – Part I

Scripture Reading: Matthew 24 3-14

Key Verse: Matthew 24:3
Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?”

The question that the disciples ask Jesus in today’s Key Verse is a question that has been asked by Christ-followers ever since: When will Jesus return?

The disciples believed that Jesus would return at the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. As we look at the signs that signal Jesus’s return, we can become convinced of this as well.

Throughout this study of the signs of His coming, remember that these signs do not let us know the exact time of Jesus’s return. Jesus made this clear:

“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.” (Matthew 24:36)

We who have walked with the Lord for many years have heard lots of predictions about the exact dates of Jesus’s return from ministers and “experts” in Bible prophecy.

Edgar Whisenant made a prediction that got a lot of attention. He was a former NASA engineer and Bible student who wrote a booklet called, “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988”. Not only did Whisenant predict the year, but he predicted that it would be sometime between September 11 and September 13. This booklet sold 4.5 million copies and he mailed it at no cost to 300,000 ministers. Of course, that date came and went and Jesus did not return. Many people who bought into Whisenant’s timetable became discouraged in their walk with the Lord.

Jesus himself that said that no one except the Father knows the day or hour when Jesus will return.

Jesus did answer the disciples when they asked what signs would signal His return. His answer is much like us when we see dark clouds in the sky; we sense that rain may be coming but we cannot pinpoint the exact time that it will arrive.

We can and should think about the second coming of Jesus and the signs that will let us know that it could be soon. But do not forget that “soon” in God’s timetable is far different than ours. The Apostle Peter reminded us that a day in our world, is like a thousand years, in God’s world.

Stay close to God and keep expecting to see Jesus “soon”.

Father, help me to understand the times and be ready for Jesus’s return. In His Name I pray, amen.