CHRIST VERSUS CHRISTIANITY
Surprising Truths From the Olivet Prophecy: The Sermon Within the Prophecy Though Jesus’ Olivet Discourse seems primarily about prophetic events, embedded within its prophecies are spiritual lessons for end-time Christians.
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ver the past year, we have been exploring Jesus’ Olivet Discourse in this column. When we consider this passage, we typically think of prophecies and warnings—not instruction on Christian living. For that, most would read one of Jesus’ other teachings (such as the Sermon on the Mount). But though the emphasis of the Olivet Discourse is prophecy, it also contains guidance on how Christians should live their lives. Found within these prophecies, there’s also a sermon. Sometimes the points of this sermon are easy to recognize, and sometimes we have to dig them out—but they are there. When we isolate and examine these points, we discover Jesus gave a lot of spiritual instruction for end-time Christians. So let’s examine the points of this sermon.
Spiritually surviving the end time
Since Jesus was talking about the events that will surround the end of the age, we can consider this
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DISCERN
sermon directly targeted to His people living in the end times. Perhaps we could title it “Seven Points for Spiritually Surviving the End Time.” 1. Don’t be shaken or troubled by what happens around you. After warning of the coming of “wars and rumors of wars,” Jesus admonished us: “See that you are not troubled” (Matthew 24:6). The Greek word translated “troubled” means to be “troubled in mind, to be frightened, alarmed.” Jesus knew that the frightening conditions of the end time could cause His followers to become paralyzed by the fear and horror surrounding them. Fear can cause Christians to lose faith and focus and to regress spiritually. We’ve witnessed a small taste of this over the past year with the pandemic. While we should certainly respect the danger and do all we can to be cautious and safe, we shouldn’t allow the virus to cause us to be “troubled” and paralyzed with fear. God’s people should approach the end times
January/February 2021
