Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, March 15, 2013

According to an article in Christian Victory, Holiday Inn had a plan to erect a hotel on the Mount of Olives. They sent engineers to survey the hotel site to make preparations for building. Their conclusion was that it couldn't be done as they found that there was a geological fault under the Mount that is causing it to split.

Some 2,500 years ago the Bible, as stated by the prophet Zechariah, said that this split (possibly caused by a great earthquake) will take place when Jesus Christ returns to earth to put down all evil and rule and reign forever. As the Bible says, "Then the Lord will go out fully armed for war, to fight against those nations. That day his feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will split apart, making a very wide valley running from east to west, for half the mountain will move toward the north and half toward the south."¹

Christ's first coming is an indisputable fact of history. We can be just as certain of his second coming because he promised that if he went away he would return. Numerous prophecies regarding his first coming were fulfilled in minutest detail. We can be just as certain that all the prophecies regarding his second coming will also be fulfilled in minutest detail. Zechariah's prophecy and the evidence of the geological fault under the Mount of Olives is just one more confirmation of the validity of God's Word and the hope we have of Christ's return for his own. The important thing is to be ready because when we least expect it, Christ will come.

His coming will be somewhat like the earthquakes in California or anywhere else, we know they are going to come, but they strike without warning. The important thing is to be prepared ahead of time. By way of interest, we actually had an earthquake here in Southern California on the very morning I was editing this Daily Encounter.

If Christ should come today, would you be ready? You can be by confessing your sins to him and inviting him into your heart and life as personal Lord and Savior. For help see "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: www.actsweb.org/christian. See also "What If There Is a Heaven?" at: http://tinyurl.com/g9ugp.

As Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions … I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go … I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also."²

Suggested prayer: Dear God, thank you for the promise that Jesus is coming back again to take all his true followers to be with him and you forever in heaven. Thank you, too, for this wonderful hope. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Zechariah 14:3-4 (TLB)(NLT).
2. John 14:2-4.

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