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Luke 21 5-9 WATCH AND PRAY I 01 Luke 21 5-9 God, who is our healer
📖 Luke 21:5-9
01May2021 - *God, who is our healer* - _Luke 21:5-9_ - WATCH AND PRAY I (1) – Bible reading: _Genesis 1:26-28_
We have completed the study of the poor widow who gave more than all. We are now moving on to the next study in _Luke 21_.
The entire remaining portion of Luke 21 is the response of Jesus to the question raised by the disciples of signs of the latter days. The end time agony that our Lord describes, are in different sections. We’re giving a common title to all the sections as WATCH AND PRAY and we will number them sequentially.
_Luke 21:5-9 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, (6) “These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down." (7) So they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?" (8) And He said: "Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time has drawn near.' Therefore do not go after them. (9) But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately."_
Jesus is beginning to explain how life will be on the earth in the end times.
_Mark 13:1-2 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" (2) And Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down."_
The temple structure must have been truly gigantic, for we read in _John 2:20 Then the Jews said, "*It has taken forty-six years to build this temple*, and will You raise it up in three days?"_
The temple symbolised man’s ingenuity and skill. Yet, history tells us that within 40years after Jesus made the above statement, Jerusalem and the temple were raised to the ground and literally not one stone was left on top of the other.
We must see the bigger picture before we go into details of what the Lord prophesied.
Today, with all the learning and knowledge that we have, the whole world is battling the virus. The world is desperate to come out on the other side of this catastrophe. There is fear, panic, chaos and confusion all around us.
Systems seem to have come apart at their seams and everything looks frayed and in disarray. Nations and institutions are working out various strategies but we are nowhere close to a solution. We are only hoping to contain the crisis but that too hasn’t worked.
What we are seeing is that even in a desperate situation such as what we in, man is not willing to return to our Creator. We have rebelled against our Creator and our Owner. In rebelling against our Creator, we have also abdicated our task to govern and have dominion over all of God's creation on His behalf, in His image.
_Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, "*Let Us make man in Our image*, according to Our likeness; *let them have dominion* over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (27) So *God created man in His own image*; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; *have dominion* over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and *over every living thing* that moves on the earth."_
_Psalm 8:4-6 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? (5) For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. (6) You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,_
Since we are alienated from God, we have become vassals/ prisoners/ victims in the hands of the devil, who has made us destroy God's beautiful creation, which includes human society and our cultures. This is the agenda of the evil one, which is to steal, kill and destroy.
We are in a total state of chaos. Where do we start to put things back in place? It is the proverbial story of humpty-dumpty.
For man to be restored and life to be full and complete, man must return to God, since He is God the healer. One of the names of God is Jehovah Rapha, meaning “the God Who Heals,” with the Hebrew word “rapha” translating to “*to completely make whole, to thoroughly mend and repair*.”
We have narrowed the term Jehovah Rapha only for our personal healing. God is longing to set this world right and bring it to its place of richness, fullness and abundance, for which man must repent and turn back to his Master and Owner.
As we see our world, we see that man is in no mood to repent and turn to God. Man does not want to even take the Name of God, for we can see the anger in the response of people when we talk to people about God.
This is the agony in the heart of God. God longs for man to have the fullness of life but man is determined not to return to God and therefore man and all of creation will have to undergo the end time fearsome experiences that await all of us.
As His people, our task is to watch and pray.
*Thought to ponder*
```Man is on a ‘self-destruct’ mode but God is giving us a little time to repent. If we don’t, the end-time catastrophes, which are on us, are a gentle breeze in comparison to the second death that awaits those who reject Christ.```