Today we are reading from Mark 13: 1-8:

1 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” 2 Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

We see Jesus teaching in this passage, and in some of the passages we will look at next week, about His return.  Every passage we see with this teaching, from Daniel to Revelation shares with us a couple of things. 

There will be signs, yes. Things we can see and can look for. We see that across the whole of scripture.  But, along with these signs, there is a mystery.  No one has ever gotten the signs right or figured out when He will return. There have been denominations and church splits all focused on getting this all figured out.  The scripture tells us He is returning.  But we will never figure out exactly when. 

So that leads us to the second thing. Trust.  We don’t know when He will return.  He may return in the time between my typing this and your reading it. That would be awesome.  Come quickly, Lord. But it is on His time frame.  Not mine. Not yours.  His. 

He wants us to trust.  He wants to have faith.  Some of it doesn’t make sense to us and isn’t the way that we would have done it. It is the way that He does it and it wants it.  If we had been able to figure it all out, it wouldn’t take faith.  

So, trust.  Yes, He will return. He promises. When?  I don’t know.  So, trust.  It will be in His time.  Until that time comes, work.  Love, care, forgive. Be salt and light. For the Lord is good and it will all be according to His plan. 

Trust.  

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