November, 2001

“Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.” Luke 21:8

On one occasion, Jesus and His disciples were in the temple courts preaching the gospel (Luke 20:1). His disciples made remarks about the beauty of the temple and the dedication of worshippers by the gifts they brought to the temple. But Jesus told them a day will come when the beautiful temple will be completely demolished.

Out of curiosity, the disciples asked Jesus two questions: When and what will be the signs of the day? Jesus didn’t give an explicit answer to the first question here, but in other occasion, Jesus told them, “No one knows about that day or hour.” (Matt. 24:36) As far as signs of the day, there will be plenty. For the rest of Luke 21, Jesus gave an overview of the signs of End Time, which include religious persecution, interpersonal conflict, intra-national and international frictions, and cosmic disasters.

Since the recent developments with the wars against terrorism, there is a tremendous increase in the interest of End Time. Instead of studying the signs, which is not unimportant, it is more important to know how we should prepare for a time like this. “Watch out! Look out! Beware!” This is written in a command form. Watch out so that you would not be lead astray, deceived, fooled, or make a wrong decision. What was the number one concern on Jesus’ mind about us? That we would follow the wrong leaders who give us wrong interpretation and application of the sign. Anyone who uses End Time messages to persuade followers to give devotion to the leader instead of Christ is to be rejected. How would people come in Jesus’ name and claim to be the Messiah? Nobody would follow a leader unless he is full of charisma and perhaps has supernatural power to perform extraordinary things. When they say, “The time is near,” it isn’t an error in itself, but the implication is wrong in such a way that they panic and thereby follow a person with charisma instead of anticipating Christ Himself. We need to realize if it weren’t easy for us to fall into this trap, Jesus wouldn’t have told us to watch out. Finally, Jesus told us not to allow our hearts to be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and anxiety. Instead, be on the alert and pray.