Matthew 24:3 Dark Days Ahead
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: August 7, 2019 Matthew 24:3
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
(Understanding the Text) Jesus left the temple and walked up onto the Mount of Olives, where He sat down. In other verses, it indicates that they may have been sitting looking over at the temple. “And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?’” (Mark 13:3-4).
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Mark says that the disciples who came to Jesus privately were Peter, James, John, and Andrew. I picture Jesus leaving the temple with a sad look on His face, and the disciples trying to cheer Him up with the beauty of the temple. Maybe, Jesus had been looking at the buildings as He walked away. When Jesus told them that the temple would be destroyed, I imagine them growing quiet and exchanging a lot of glances trying to figure out what was happening. The group walked up to the Mount of Olives, Jesus stopped where He could look out on the city across from the temple. There He sat down to rest while gazing sadly at the temple. The disciples also sat around in groups resting, and the two groups of brothers probably sat down together as usual. Finally, someone broke the silence in their little group, quietly saying something about the temple being destroyed. When would it happen? It must be the end of the world for God to destroy His own house. What signs should they look for to tell them it was near? Which prophecies in the scriptures foretold what Jesus was talking about? After going in circles for a few minutes, they decided to ask Jesus to explain.
(Understanding the Text) It was understandable that they mixed up the destruction of the temple with the end of the age. Many of the prophets of the Old Testament had done the same thing. They would prophecy about the immediate future and then jump over thousands of years to the end of the age in their prophecies. Thus, for the disciples, Jesus’ prediction was all mixed up with the end of the world as they knew it, and they couldn’t figure out how it all fit together.
The disciples may not have been as clueless as many people think. They may have come up with the prophecy of Daniel among themselves. “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed” (Daniel 9:24-26). The last part definitely sounds like the end of the age. They needed more explanation, so they went to the one person who could make the scriptures clear to them.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that there will be many times when I don’t understand the scriptures. I need to go to Jesus for explanations. The Holy Spirit will help me to understand. I need to know that I may be in confusion because I only know a piece of the total picture since I try to interpret the scriptures from my limited perception. I ask for Your perception so that I can see more clearly what is going on and help others to trust You when it happens. Give me faith for all those times when I have limited perception. I know that I do not see the total picture, do not let me mislead myself or others because of that incomplete understanding.