Daily Reading: Matthew chapters 21 thru 24

Key Verses:24:37-39

In Matthew 24, Jesus is speaking about the last days before His return.  Jesus compares the condition of men in the last days to the people of the days of Noah.  Even though the people in Noah’s day were warned about the flood, they went about their everyday routines without considering God.  They were obviously living in unbelief.  When the flood came, they were unprepared, outside the only place of safety.  That is just the way it will be when Christ returns.  Only those who are in Christ, the ark of safety, will be delivered.   In the book of 1 Corinthians (10:31), we are told that whatever we do - whether we eat or drink - we are to do all to the glory of God.  For no one knows the day and the hour when Christ will return, we should live each day as if today is the day.  There are some who think that they have the time to get it “right.”  We would be wise to remember that time is in God’s hands not ours.  Matthew 24 ends with the Lord Jesus showing that a servant manifests his true character by how he behaves in view of his Master’s return.  The wise servant is the one who is found caring for God’s people.  Such a one will be honored with vast responsibility in the kingdom.  The master will make him ruler over all his goods.  The evil servant represents a nominal believer whose behavior is not affected by the prospect of his Master’s soon return.  He begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards.  Such behavior demonstrates that he is not ready for the kingdom.  When the King comes, He will punish him and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.  This principal can be applied to the Rapture as well as Christ’s visible return to the earth.  Many who profess to be Christians show by their hostility toward God’s people and their fraternization with the ungodly that they are not looking for Christ’s Return.  For them it will mean judgment and not blessing.