IN WORD Once again, Jesus points us to the priority of His Word. It is what will keep us from deception (13:22-23) and it is what we can cling to when heaven and earth seem uncertain and the end of the age seems near. There is nothing transitory about Jesus’ words. If we fasten ourselves to what He says, we are bound to Jesus Himself. And if we are bound to Him, we have nothing to worry about when the heavens and the earth seem unstable.
Jesus’ hearers would have been struck with a profound reality in this statement. It echoes the words of Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (NLT). Once again, Jesus implicitly claims to be God—He has forgiven sin, He has allowed Himself to be worshiped, and now He has asserted the eternal nature of His words in a manner parallel to God’s declaration through Isaiah. These are outrageous claims if Jesus is only a good teacher. But He is so much more. No one wants to place all hope in the words of a good teacher when the very foundations of earth are being shaken. They want more. They want an eternal assurance. Jesus offers it without apology.
IN DEED There is a deep sense of security that comes from knowing that the words of Jesus are a permanent reality. They are not confined to the world as we know it; even if time itself were to come to an end, His words would not. They do not fail us. The sun may grow dark, the stars may fall from the sky, and everything we see can be shaken (vv. 24-25). But those who have hung their hopes on His words cannot. We are on solid ground, regardless of the earthquakes that may rumble around us.
If you invest your whole self into Jesus’ teaching, letting it saturate your mind and sink to the depths of your heart, you will have a profound knowledge of your security in an uncertain age. Do you want that? It’s His open invitation.
Today’s Reading: Mark 11-13
©2021, Walk Thru the Bible, taken from Gospels Challenge Devotional. To learn more about our Gospels Challenge and to receive a complete FREE Devotional, visit the link here.
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