2 minute read
A Divine Appointment
from March 2020
How often do you hear a preacher tell you that you are not hearing their speech by accident—that you have been called to that time and place by a Divine appointment? Have you ever considered what it would be like to have a Divine appointment set for you to meet with God Himself?
The night before Jesus died, He set a Divine appointment for all His followers. “But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matthew 26:32). The promise of this meeting was intended to sustain the disciples through the terrible hours they would endure while He was dead. What is striking is how repeatedly the meeting arrangements were given after the resurrection (Matthew 28:10; Mark 16:7). The time and location had been specified by Jesus Himself (Matthew 28:16-20). The meeting was not intended to just be for the eleven disciples, as Paul would later state that around five hundred were gathered to be witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6). It’s easy to look back and think that was then and this is now. But Jesus promised another meeting with all His followers the night before He died. He promised to return in glory to take His people to heaven (John 14:1-3). He made the promise to sustain His people through the worst of times until He returns.
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The details are different for this appointment. Jesus didn’t give us an exact time (Matthew 24:36), but He does want us to know when the time is getting close (Matthew 24:32,33). Jesus told His disciples that before He returned, there would be specific signs of upheaval in the religious
world, the political world, and the natural world (Matthew 24:1-13). During January 2020, the following headlines were spread across the daily news:
1) Tens of thousands of square miles in Australia destroyed by fire. 2) Puerto Rico hit by an earthquake swarm. 3) The United States and Iran so close to war that Iran accidentally shot down a commercial airliner. 4) The Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupted. 5) Hate crimes against Jews rising in America. 6) East Africa suffer the worst locust swarms in decades. 7) The United States Presidential impeachment trial. 8) The third largest January tornado outbreak in recorded US history. 9) Tens of millions of Chinese quarantined due to an outbreak of coronavirus. 10) Britain left the European Union. Jesus was describing our day. He is coming very soon. But He doesn’t want His people to live in fear. “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). Jesus wants us to seriously ask, “Do I know Jesus?” (Matthew 25:11,12). “Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” (Revelation 19:9).
