Are You Ready?

ARE YOU READY

THE WARNING!...JESUS IS COMING BACK!

THE QUESTION:…ARE YOU READY?

TEXT: Matthew 24: 1, 2, 3, 36-44

V1. Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings, to Him.

V2. And he said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

Now the temple spoken of here is Herod’s Temple, a huge complex of inner courts and outer courts which King Herod began to have built in 20 BC. Josephus, the great Jewish historian of that time, wrote that some of the temple stones were 94 feet long (28.6m), 12 feet high(3.6m) and 13 feet (3.9m) wide. There were 162 marble columns which held up the long porches, which were 52 feet (15.8m) high.

The entire temple area was not completed until 64 AD, so at the time Jesus and his disciples were standing talking about it, it was still under construction.

This temple was destroyed in 70 AD when the Romans burned Jerusalem, fulfilling what Jesus told the disciples in V2, and then the area was plowed under, fulfilling Micah 3:12.

Jesus and His disciples continued walking out of the city, East across the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives. A place that commanded a great view of the temple.

V3. As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Three questions burned in the hearts of Peter, James, John and Andrew that day. A question which burns in the hearts of believers even to this day. “WHEN ARE YOU COMING BACK and WHAT WILL THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING BE?”

In His discourse, Jesus answered only two of those three questions that day.

He did NOT answer “when will these things happen? But He did answer “what will the signs of Your coming be?”

Now during His long discourse in answering the disciple’s questions, he states 24 signs of His second coming.

I will not name or discuss those, but I do want to touch on a few where you will understand the urgency in my question. To do so let’s look at verses 36 through 44.

V36. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

V37. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

V38. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.

V39. and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

V40. then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.

V41. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.

V42. Therefore be on the alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

V43. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

V44. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

Move forward to Acts 1:6 where the disciples are questioning Jesus before he ascends to heaven.

V6. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

V7. He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

V8. but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

V9. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

V10. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.

V11. the also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into Heaven.”