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•20若不是主减少那日子，凡有血气的，总没有一个得救的，只是为主的选民，他将那日子减少了。21那时若有人对你们说‘看哪，基督在这里’，或说‘基督在那里’，你们不要信。22因为假基督、假先知将要起来，显神迹奇事，倘若能行，就把选民迷惑了。23你们要谨慎。看哪，凡事我都预先告诉你们了。”
末日之前的日子是艰难的，耶稣警告我们要警醒。他说上帝会为选民的缘故缩短那些日子。耶稣说的是我们生活的这个时代吗?我相信现在很可能就是这样的时刻。我们目睹了大规模杀伤性武器。在上个世纪，我们目睹了空前的种族灭绝。我们已经进入了许多人所说的“后基督教时代”，因为人们已经放弃了基督教信仰，转而相信科学。我们把孩子送进大学，看到的是他们在课堂上被洗脑，忘记了我们在家里教给他们的东西。圣经说，在那些日子，“许多人的爱心渐渐冷淡了。”这难道不正是我们这个世界的写照吗?在这个世界里，人们只爱自己，对邻居却漠不关心。
耶稣已经警告过我们这些事情，使我们能够做好准备。我们怎么做好准备呢?我们要花时间去阅读、聆听、明白神的话语。我们让圣灵借着他的恩典在我们心里作工，使我们天天过一个悔改的生命。耶稣在他被出卖的那个晚上曾经吩咐他的门徒，“们要儆醒祷告”，这同样是耶稣在今天吩咐我们去做的。我们对假先知，对于文化中那些引诱试探的东西要保持警醒。我们的信心不是建立在我们自己上面，而在耶稣基督上面，因为他已经“在你们心里动了善工的，必成全这工，直到他（再来）的日子”。
祷告:主耶稣啊，愿你快来!求你教我警醒祷告。让我意识到我周围的危险。尽管有人要我保持沉默，求你赐给我勇气，使我能大胆地传扬你的福音，祷告奉你的名。阿们。
Mark 13:20-23: “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. (NIV)
The times before the last day will be difficult times, and Jesus warns us to be on our guard. He says that God will cut short those days for the sake of the elect. Could Jesus be speaking of the times we are living in? I believe that these may very well be those times. We have witnessed weapons of mass destruction. We have seen unparalleled genocide in the last century. We have entered what many call the “post Christian era,” because people have abandoned the Christian faith to believe in science instead. We send our children to college only to see them brainwashed in the classroom and unlearn what we taught them at home. The Bible says in those days “the love of many will grow cold.” Doesn’t that describe our world in which people are in love with themselves and care so little for their neighbor?
Jesus has warned us about these things so that we can be prepared for them. And how do we do that? We spend time in the Word. We let the Spirit work in our hearts by his grace so that we live a life of daily repentance. We do what Jesus urged his disciples to do on the night he was betrayed. “Watch and pray,” he told them. We stay aware and alert for the false prophets and the seductive trends of our culture. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the one who began this work of faith in our hearts and can carry it on to completion for the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6)
Prayer: Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Teach me to watch and pray. Make me aware of the dangers around me in this world. Give me courage to proclaim your gospel boldly in spite of those who would silence me. I ask this in your name. Amen.