fire

many will come!

Meditation from Mark 13 in the New Living Translation

Lord,

You shocked us all

when

You talked about an end

to all that we could see

that day at the temple.

temple gone.

to rubble.

nothing left at all.

nothing.

except a few stones

laying around.

“when?”

we asked, “when?”

“don’t be fooled,”

You said.

“there will be many

who

will come saying,

‘I am The Messiah!’

‘you all are looking for ME!’ ”

“they will be liars. every single

one
of them.”

“wars…
and more wars
will follow…
great evil will descend.
but
still this is not the time.
nor its end.”

“earthquakes, tidal waves,
famines, disease,
death…
all
these are only the
beginnings
of a great sorrow.”

Lord,
what had You seen?
what vision
had Your Abba given
You?
was it a nightmare
preceding one of those mornings
when we thought
You to be
unusually sober?
even downcast?

what had You seen?

knowing You,
i think You
held back some of
the worst of what
You’d seen.

was the horror You saw
in the dark
too terrible for words?
even Your words?
for our ears?

You went on
getting even more personal…

“watch out!
they will deliver you
all
to the courts.
to the jails.
people will beat
and harass you even at church.”

“you will be called
out
to be My witnesses
in front
of government officials.
of judges.
they
will demand that you
deny Me.”

“but first,
the Good News about Me
will be preached
to all people groups
all over the world.”

“now,
when they bring you
to trial…do
NOT fear…do
NOT worry about what
to say.
at those times,
simply
speak the truth
My Most Holy Spirit will give you.”

“it

will be so bad
that brothers will betray
their own brothers…
parents will condemn
their children to
death.
children
will do the same
to their own parents.”

“everyone
will hate you all.
because of Me.
everyone will hate
you all.
everyone.”

we
were stunned.
silent.
no words could
undo
the picture You’d painted for us.

You went on…

“when
you see Daniel’s vision
of absolute abomination
come true…
run away!
quickly!
hide!
death is coming!”

“leave quickly
or
you will not escape.
turn back
for nothing!”

“woe
to those women who are
pregnant
or nursing little ones
then.
great sadness.”

“pray to YaHWeH
that
this does not come in
the dead of winter
for everyone’s sake.”

“this time
will be worse
than anything else
in the long, horrible history
of the world.
its terror will be unique.”

“horror! terror
on every side.
no escape for even
the innocent.”

“YaHWeH, Himself
must step in to stop
the madness
before everyone is
exterminated.”

“remember,
don’t believe any of those
who claim
to have ‘The Answer.’ ”

“none
of them do.
all of them are liars.”

“I have told
this
to you all so you
can be ready for
this deepest grief.”

You did not stop
here:

“after all this trouble,
the sky will be
dark
by day and night.
gloom will
fall
upon everyone.”

“the cosmos,
itself
will shudder.”

“THEN…
everyone
will see The Son of Man
coming
from the sky
in absolute power.
in total glory.
everyone will know

WHO He is.
no mistake.”

“He will send out
His angels
to gather all His little
sisters and brothers
from all over
the planet…
even from Heaven itself.”

You pointed
to a nearby fig tree,

“look at that fig tree…
as Spring comes each year,
so do its first leaves
and
you know that
Summer’s figs will
soon follow…
so
take a lesson
from this tree…
when all this
begins
to happen…you can
KNOW
that The Son of Man
is very close
indeed…
He is knocking on Earth’s
door…
ready
to come in.”

“one
short generation’s life span
is all the time
this will take…”

“the mountains
will fall…
the sky
will fail…
but
MY WORDS will stand.
true.
forever true.
forever.”

“you all did ask Me,
‘when?’

“when?
the truth?
no one knows.
not the kings of earth.
not the angels of God.
not even I know.
only The Father.
He knows.”

“so
be on the lookout.
you simply
cannot know when
or
how all this
will happen.”

“it is like
a boss
going on a long
journey
leaving their employees behind
to run the business…
except
the ‘business’ is
His Own Home…
none of them
will know just

when
He will return.
don’t be caught
sleeping
on the job.

“stay awake.”
“eyes wide open.”
“alert!”
“look for Him!”

“wait!”
“be ready.”