OCTOBER 05 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#30 “Do you not see all these things?” (Matthew 24:02)

 OCTOBER 05  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  JQ#30 “Do you not see all these things?”  (Matthew 24:02)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord there is no circumstance in my life that is beyond what You can handle and I pray for forgiveness today for letting “worldly doubt” creep into my thoughts. I realize that I am effectively saying with my “doubt” that there is a circumstance that I am having to deal with myself because I do not have “faith” in God’s Ability to Provide and I fall back on the “WORLDLY lie” that “I’ll have to do it myself!” — Depending on "self" is the formula for "failure" and the “Truth” in my life is that God has ALWAYS Provided Abundantly for ALL my needs just like He Promised! For me to “doubt” God in any way, form, or fashion is bordering on “sin” at the least and is a full-blown “sin” at the worst! Lord, I repent of my “doubt” and turn to praying for others and looking for opportunities to “serve” You doing “kingdom work” — Lord keep me busy “serving You” instead of wallowing in self-pity and doubt so that my JOY may be made complete in You and my “doubt” will be destroyed!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is spending His last couple of days on earth clearing up and cleaning up problems that are preventing many of God’s chosen people from “entering” the kingdom or as Jesus pronounced in Woe #1: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” (Matthew 23:13) Once Jesus addressed the source of the “big” problem He now turns to His disciples and begins Teaching them what is about to happen to Israel because of their “hypocrisy” and the nation for following the “doctrines and traditions of men” instead of following the “Commands of God”. Jesus started the Lesson of what happens to a nation that “rejects” God with a Question that would focus our attention on the main point of the Lesson — Jesus began this Lesson with the Question: “Do you not see…” (Matthew 24:2) which introduced the scenario of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem that His disciples had just admired for its physical grandeur. When Jesus stated, “Assuredly, I say to you…” His disciples knew Jesus was going to say something very important and then Jesus continued, “not one stone [of this grand temple you are admiring] shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2) which indicated the total destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. This Question is similar to the Question Jesus asked His disciples while He was Teaching them about the “leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees” when Jesus had asked His disciples point blank, “Do you not yet understand…” and again, “How is it that you do not understand…?”. Jesus was always checking with His disciples to make sure that they truly “understood” what He was trying to Teach in each Lesson and Jesus always kept with it until He was sure that they “knew what HE was Teaching them” — Jesus kept asking until we read that after checking with them several times that — “Then [His disciples] understood…” (Matthew 16:6-12) Jesus also had asked the same Question of Peter when Jesus was Teaching that the Pharisees were “blind leaders of the blind…” and Peter had asked Jesus to “Explain this parable to us…” and Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand [My lesson on what defiles a man]?” Jesus is concerned about His disciples “understanding” because Jesus had started the parable on what defiles a man with this statement: “Hear and understand.” (Matthew 15:10-20) Therefore when Jesus starts this Lesson with the Question: “Do you not see all these things?” (Matthew 24:2) that He is clearly saying “Do you not yet understand [all these things I have been doing to clean the temple and turn Israel back to God]?” Maybe all of us should reflect on what we have seen Jesus do in our lives and know that He wants us to “understand” — I guess this would be a good time to take God’s advice when God said of Jesus, “This is My Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him” (Matthew 17:5)