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Thursday, September 30, 2004


This Generation


"I assure you, this generation will not pass from the scene
until all these events have taken place."

-- Mark 13:30 (NLT)


KEY THOUGHT:
There are many ways this statement has been interpreted: (1) Some
understand this to mean that all of Mark 13 is referring to the
destruction of Jerusalem -- which occurred in the Jewish war with Rome
in A.D. 66-70. (2) Others see it to mean that all these events happened
in the first generation of believers and that we have been on the edge
of Jesus' return ever since. (3) Some even declare that Jesus was wrong
and this promise wasn't fulfilled. (4) Others even claimed that Jesus
returned and they many Christians missed him. While I believe the
second is the more probable (and the third and fourth seem ludicrous to
me), the point is that Jesus' own word, his assurance, stands behind
his promised return. He has triumphed over death once through his
resurrection. He will triumph a second and final time completely, when
he returns and destroys death and brings immortality to life. And the
unfolding of this promise begins at any moment!


TODAY'S PRAYER:
Father, give me faith to believe that your Son's return is always
imminent! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.