[Darris McNeely] In a recent Beyond Today program I used a verse that made me think about something beyond the intent that I used it for, which was in a prophetic context. It actually made me realize the importance of how we respond to our savior Jesus Christ. The verse that I was using was in Revelation 16 where a remarkable passage is drawn of the end time and the drawing of armies into Jerusalem for what is called the battle of that great day of God Almighty, you're familiar with it. It talks about the fact that out of the mouth of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet in verse 13 John saw unclean spirits going out and they draw into Jerusalem and out of the Middle East, the kings of the earth to do battle against God in what is called The Great Day of God Almighty. And then in verse 15 which is in red letters which as you know is the words that Jesus Himself spoke, in this version of the Bible it has it. Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming as a thief and blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame." 

Here in the midst of this dramatic prophecy about the beast, the false prophet, Satan, the devil, spirits drawing in the armies and the kings of the earth into this battle of the great day of God Almighty Christ says to us to watch, to understand what is taking place and what we should be watching in order to understand and discern and not be deceived. And those words help us to frame number one, a response to God, to Christ. He tells us to do that, we must do it. We must respond to him by seeking to understand the broad outlines of prophecy, the world in which we live and why all of these matters are important. How we respond to Christ even comes down to our desire to understand our world today so that we are not caught unawares when things happen as a thief in the night, very dramatically and very suddenly.

Christ our savior, our High Priest, our Elder Brother gives us that instruction right here in the midst of the book of Revelation, a book that we all seek to understand but sometimes we might not focus on some of the details that is there. It is in this book and in such a statement as this that in this detail there is God speaking to us as to how we should live our life. Something to think about.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.