Introduction

We all like to know what’s going on don’t we? And it’s difficult sometimes to admit that you don’t have the answers, or the insight, or the knowledge to apply to one situation or another. Maybe this is the motive behind our fascination with and endless speculation over the “end of days?” Maybe we have a hard time with the fact that Jesus said so clearly, “No one knows the day or the hour.” Honestly…we don’t like His answer.

Instead, We like to think of ourselves as people of understanding and knowledge. If nothing else, the enlightenment taught us that we are people of reason and capacity and intellect and insight. As author/speaker Marie Forleo wrote, “Everything is Figureoutable.” And frankly, with Google, YouTube, and the internet at our fingertips, we CAN figure out most things. We CAN master most any skill given enough time and motivation. So it reasons that we should be able to figure out when Jesus is returning… And prepare accordingly.

There’s only one problem with this line of thinking… It’s in direct contradiction to what we’ve been told. Not to mention, as God tells the prophet Isaiah; ​​“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” - Isaiah 55:8-9

The way that God thinks about time, space, eternity, and everything else is different than the way we think about it. I’d even say that His ways of thinking are the right ones, and that we know as much as He wants us to know. This is the sentiment shared in both Deuteronomy 29:29 and Romans 11:33; “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”

So, with that in mind, for the rest of our time together today I am going to focus on what we can know and what impact His words may have on our day to day living.

Let’s begin with a full reading of our passage for today;

Read Mark 13:24-37

In these verses, Jesus unveils a mystery that has intrigued believers throughout the ages—the precise timing of His return ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium

No one knows the day or the hour.