Knowing the Season, Luke 21:25-36
Introduction
Christina and I spent a season of ministry in Cheboygan Michigan. Prior to coming here to First Congregational Church of Peru, Illinois, I was Pastor of First Congregational Church of Cheboygan, Michigan. Congregational Christians of that era were remarkably uncreative with the names of churches, weren’t they! They were sure to let everybody know who the first one was however! When I first arrived to the far northern reaches of civilization in Cheboygan I was surprised to learn just how short was the summer season and how long the winter season was! Early in my time there, I said just that to a member of the Church who rightly informed me that there are just two seasons in Northern Michigan; winter and July! Our stay in that part of the country bore that out to be true!
Transition
It is important to know the season isn’t it? For those involved in agriculture the truth of this statement is all too familiar. If one plants too late or harvest too early, a crop may be gained or lost. In our lives, it is important to recognize the appropriateness of the seasons.
When we are young and full of vigor and raise families it is imperative that we recognize the value of those days. Our children are only young once. When we are in our middle years, it is crucial that we make wise choices to prepared, for example, for the days when we will be retired.
When we are old, it is again, I would suggest, important to recognize that these are days we shall not get back; it is a wondrous joy to live at all seasons in our lives full in the recognition that today is the gift if God and I cannot relive it. We should live every day as in the full value of what it is; a precious jewel!
So it is with the seasons of God’s unfolding plan in redemptive history. That is, God is not only the God of Heaven, but the God of earth. He is not only a God who moved in antiquity, but a God has ahs shaped history.
My mentor, through what he wrote and preached and the manner in which he did it, Charles Haddon Spurgeon once wrote about Christ with regard to His central and chief role in the unfolding of human history:
“Christ is the great central fact in the world’s history. To him everything looks forward or backward. All the lines of history converge upon him. All the great purposes of God culminate in him. The greatest and most momentous fact which the history of the world records is the fact of his birth.”
Exposition
The birth of Christ is the pinnacle of human history. All who stood before it looked with an intrinsic hope for salvation, which whether by name or only a distant nameless nagging of the soul, unto the birth and work of Christ!
All who have come since look back at the birth of Christ as the defining moment of human history, though those who have not yet experienced the power of that birth may not yet know it as the defining moment in their personal history; to whom I suggest only an echo of the words of the Apostle Paul as they are found in I Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
In today’s Scripture Jesus is telling His disciples, indeed us, what to look for at the time of His return. The disciples are standing at or near the Temple. They are looking at the Temple, and a little bit earlier in this chapter the disciples are said to be remarkable about the beauty and adornment of the Temple.
Jesus tells prophesies at this point the destruction of the Temple. He says that not one stone of the Temple will be left standing. This occurred when Titus forces sacked Jerusalem during the Jewish-Roman wars and destroyed the Temple.
There are some specific things that Jesus says to be on the watch for with regard to His return, His second advent, that time when the Lion of Judah, who had previously come as a lamb in a manger shall come in the fullness of His glory to destroy sin, war, all of the ugliness of this world, and to establish His reign of peace upon this earth.
Often we speak in the Church in terms of the blessed hope of Heaven, and this is a great promise of the Scriptures, that the end of life in this body is not the end of life. O, but the more blessed assurance of the Scriptures to this preacher’s heart is the beautiful assurance that one day He shall return to this earth to restore it to its intended glory; the state of perfection that it once enjoyed.
Jesus says that nation will rise against nation. There will be famines in various places. As I have said often with regard to the return of Christ, many of the signs that the Bible says will be present prior to His coming are things which are present at all times in human history and that is why it is not difficult to imagine why Christians of every generation have believed or seriously considered whether they were the very people who would see the coming of Christ in His glory.
There are some very intriguing factors in the current landscape of biblical prophecy, though. In 1948 Israel regained nationhood. This is a necessary precursor to the fulfillment of Jesus prophecy in verse 20 of this same chapter. “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.” (Luke 21:20 NIV)
Likewise the prophecy of Jesus which found in Matthew 24:10-15, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. "So when you see standing in the holy place ’the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand.” (NIV)
The Gospel, through various media and missionary efforts is being preached to the whole earth. This abomination was spoken of by Daniel (Dan_9:27). It referred to the disruption of the Jewish worship which will be reinstituted in the Tribulation temple (Dan_12:11) and the establishment of the worship of the world dictator, the Antichrist, in the temple. He will make the temple abominable (and therefore desolate) by setting up in the temple an image of himself to be worshiped (2Th_2:4; Rev_13:14-15).” (Bible Knowledge Commentary)
I was recently in Israel and visited the site where the recently completed Golden Menorah stands as it overlooks the Temple Mount; on the eve of the fulfillment of its promise to once again light the Temple. Many things are falling and have fallen into place to light the way of Christ return.
Are we the generation which will see His return? I am no fool to pretend to know the answer to that question definitively.
However, the season seems to be drawing near; fast approaching. The weather points to the impending return of our Lord! The wind blows and on the horizon appears to be the great hope of the Church; the consummation of this age!
With regard to being or not being that generation, here is an important consideration; especially in light of the history of this issue; given that so many have believed themselves to be that generation. In verse 32 Jesus says, “I tell you truth, this generation shall not pass away until all of these things occur.” These words of Jesus are also recorded in Mathew 24:34. The point here is not that the actual people living at that time will not die until Jesus returns, as some suggest so to deny the credibility of Jesus prophecy, this would be absurd.
Surely people died even on that day, which was some time prior to Jesus crucifixion and ascension, so this cannot be the meaning of this passage. Jesus is plainly saying that this generation, this era in human history, the period of the Church age, this current dispensation of God’s unfolding plan of salvation, will not pass away until Christ returns.
He is saying that the culmination of human history is not contingent upon man’s plans, but God’s plans. He is saying that it is He who defines history and it is He who controls the time of its end. He is saying that He is our focus and in light of that focus, be sensitive to the seasons; be sensitive to His leading.
Conclusion
I am compelled to believe that we are drawing ever nearer to the season of His second advent, that is the promised return of our Lord, our savior, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. At His first advent the times were difficult. Indeed, one may search a lifetime in vain to discover a time in human history when they were not.
The Scriptures also say that at the time, the season, of His return, there will be wars and rumors of wars, there will be great famines, and there will be generally a time of political, economic, and for many people, personal upheaval.
I am as hesitant today as I have been at any other time to assume that I or anyone for that matter can definitively say that these are the times, that this is the season for the return of the Son of Man; the King of Kings.
However, there are many signs of the times which point me toward a growing conviction that we may very well have at least entered that season.
Whether this is that season or not, where, in these most difficult of times, do we turn for security? Throughout the ages, the Church has found the promise of His return to be a source of great comfort and reassurance in troubling times. When persecuted, the Church grew. Why? Because it increased their commitment to looking toward the great comfort which is found in the promise of Christ return!
In the concluding two verses of today’s Scripture, we see an interesting illustration of Jesus as a commuter. The Bible says that “Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.” (Luke 21:37-38 NIV)
He commuted across the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives, a beautiful and picturesque hillside, upon which is to this day located the Garden of Gethsemane. He and His disciples made their way across the valley so that He could teach at the Southern Steps to the Temple; a site of great traffic.
(From The Preacher’s Commentary) “I recently heard the story of another commuter, a traveler of sorts. To Catch an Angel, by Robert Russell, is the autobiography of a young blind man who lives alone on an island in the middle of a river. He goes rowing on the river almost every day by means of a fairly simple system.
He attaches a bell to the end of the dock with a timer. The bell rings every thirty seconds. He can row up and down that river, and every thirty seconds judge his distance by the sound of the bell. When he has had enough, he finds his way home by means of the bell. In the young man’s words, “The River lies before me, a constant invitation, a constant challenge, and my bell is the thread of sound along which I return to a quiet base.”
Life is like a great river. God calls us to venture out on it where there is danger and excitement. But our security is in the bell, which is the Word of God, Jesus Himself. He is the Living Word, and you can hide His spoken words in your heart. That’s permanent. When the river gets too wild or you get too weary, that security brings you home. Amen.
