The misunderstanding has been around a while.
Salome, Wife of Zebedee, Mother of the Disciples James and John (sons of thunder) came to Jesus Matthew 20:20-28
She asked him to set her sons up in the Kingdom. She didn't understand the situation.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
Matthew 20: 22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
And they did...as martyrs.
I don't think we really get it. In the narrative of the same event in the book of Mark 10:35-45 ...it's clear what we are in the Kingdom.... Servants.
42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Do we really grasp the Kingdom mandate? Servants. Martyrdom. Difficulty. No earthly authority?
Are we really ready to be Baptized as Jesus described?
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
I am painfully aware as a prophet how unprepared we are in the Church in the western world to endure and have victory as these days unfold.
Unless we as Leaders begin to prepare the people we will have their blood on our hands as they fall away.
Shepherds......The call goes out. The Kingdom of God is at hand...but it will come without observation. It is not yet. Luke 17
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”[c]22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day[d] will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” [36] [e]
37 “Where, Lord?” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
What did Jesus MEAN by that last line?
Is that about today?
1 comment:
I believe that Jesus is speaking about the “hour of temptation” where the A-C is in power controlling
most of the world. Many weak Christians will fall for the lies of the one who claims to be Christ doing lying signs and wonders. They will be “taken” (Luke 17:36 Two shall be in the field, one will be taken, and the other left) into his “church” believing he is Jesus. But Jesus warns us: -Luke 17:23 And they shall say to you, Lo, here! or, behold, there! Do not go away, nor follow.- Satan as a lion seeks whom he may devour. His followers will be vultures looking for the weak in Spirit who will even betray one another thinking they are helping Jesus while all along working for Satan. Mat 24:11 And many false prophets will rise and deceive many.
During those times, Christians will need to be full of the Word and God's Spirit to endure to the end.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Chuck
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