Signs in the Sky
Matthew 24:29-31
Past four weeks we have been looking from this passage at a sermon series titled the “second coming”
We have looked at Why Christ Must Return, The doctrine of the soon return of Christ, Birth Pangs, and the great tribulation
Today I want to look at signs in the sky
in the beginning of Matthew chapter 24 the disciples had asked Jesus a question, “tell us when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age.”
-keep in mind that the coming of Christ will happen in two parts. First the rapture of the church and then the seven year tribulation which will end with the return of Christ that we just read about in Matthew where every eye will see him.
on April 20th of last year an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico on the deep-water Horizon oil platform killed 11 people and started the worst oil spill in American History. For 3 months the eyes of the whole world were focused on the gulf of Mexico we even watched live video from cameras under the surface of the water watching and praying for some sign that the oil spill was going to be over
During the tribulation there are going to be signs in the sky that will draw the attention of the whole world. People will stand staring into the sky to see what is going to happen next and Jesus said as they stand there looking into the heavens they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory
Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war
John echoes this same message in Revelation 1:7
Rev 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Luke says that Christ will come in the sky as lightning goes across the sky
Luk 17:24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one [part] under heaven, shineth unto the other [part] under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
Jesus used language that the disciples would have understand because they knew the writings of the Old Testament prophets
Isa 34:4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree.
Joe 2:30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Now here is something interesting that I want you to see this morning
back in Genesis in the account of creation
Gen 1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, [fn] and for days and years,
even back when God created the world he built into His creation the fact that their will be signs in the sky tow watch for
When Christ was born the wise men who were watching the sky saw the star and knew that the savior of the world had been born so they went and followed the star to where Jesus was
When Jesus died on the cross of Calvary it was 3 o'clock I the afternoon and God gave a sign in the sky as the earth went dark until the ninth hour which was 6 o'clock Matthew 27:45
In acts chapter 9 when Saul was on the road to Damascus there was a light from the sky that flashed around him and dropped him to the ground and voice that cried out Saul Saul why are you persecuting me. And Saul was saved on that road and his named changed to Paul
during the tribulation there will be several signs in the sky that God will give.
Rev 6:12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,
Rev 6:13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
Rev 6:14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Rev 8:10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
These signs in the heaven will get the attention of people on the earth and they will keep their eyes focused on the sky to see what is next just like we kept our eyes on the gulf of Mexico and that oil leak this last summer
and then God will give the final sign in the sky when the whole world sees the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the clouds to judge sin and rule and reign from the throne of David
Rev 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war
Remember what the angels told the disciples as they watched Jesus ascend into the clouds 40 days after His resurrection they said
Act 1:11 and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
I am waiting with great anticipation for that day when every eye will see my Lord and Saviour and every knee will bow and confess that He is Lord
yet even today there are signs in the sky that we need to be aware of , especially since God's Word tells us that the sky is there for a sign
This morning I want to share with you two signs that God has placed in the sky for us to see and understand
1st sign- God's Existence
The first sign in the sky that I want to draw your attention to this morning is the Sign of God's existence
The pslamist said, “Psa 19:1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
When Isaac Newton marveled at the solar system he wrote, “The most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”
In 1997 there was a movie that came out named “Contact” it starred Jodie Foster and in this movie they were trying to find intelligent life out in the universe. They had these big satellites pointed to the sky and day in and day out they would sit and listen to nothing but static. Then one day they begin to pick up radio waves that seem to have a pattern one, two, three, five, seven. In the movie she gets excited and says, “these are prime numbers”
That was just a movie but here is the thing. Just a pattern was all it took to prove intelligence. Because we know that it is impossible to have organized design without a designer. If you are walking along the beach and you see a name written in the sand you don't say wow look at what the ocean just did as it washed upon the shore. The name written in the sand is enough to prove to you that someone had to have been there and written it, Someone with intelligence, because you can't have a design without a designer
Consider this
On earth 21 percent of the atmosphere is oxygen, if it were 15 human life would not exist if it were 25 fires would erupt spontaneously
Consider the moon and its gravitational interaction with the earth. If the interaction was any greater or any less the tidal effects on the ocean would be too severe for life to exist
If the planet Jupiter were not in its current orbit the earth would be bombarded with space material. Jupiter acts as a space vacuum cleaner attracting the majority of asteroids and comets that would otherwise hit the earthquake
and we could go on and on all day showing the precise design of the universe a design that is calling for us to come to the same conclusion that the pslamist did, “The Heavens declare the glory of God and the sky proclaims his handiwork.
Or as God proclaimed during the creation
Gen 1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
during the end of time the signs in the sky are going to be so dramatic that the people who are left on the earth after the rapture will no longer be able to deny that there is a God. But the signs will still not be able to convince many to turn to God in repentance. It will cause multitudes to shake their fist at God and cling even closer to the Anti-Christ
People do the same thing today. When they see the complexity of life, so complex that one cell contain the equivalent of 1,000 sets of encyclopedias full of DNA information. When they see the design of the universe and the rotation of the planets some people make a concise choice to remove God from the equation and they just say it all happened by chance.
Listen to what the Apostle Paul said
Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
The psalmist said the heavens declare the glory of God. Paul is saying the invisible attributes f God can clearly be seen in his creation. And even more specifically his eternal power and divine nature.
You want to know that there is a God and that he is all powerful and has a divine nature look at the sign in the sky.
For it is declaring to the world that THERE IS A GOD
2nd sign- God's Grace
In the book of Genesis after God destroyed the world with a flood and only Noah and his family survived he made a promise to Noah and the rest of mankind that he would never again destroy the world with a flood. And then he gave a sign in the sky to remind us of this promise and covenant between God and man
Gen 9:12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:
Gen 9:13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
Gen 9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,
Gen 9:15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Now I am sure that someone will hear that and say, but I know how rainbows are made you have rain and sun and it has nothing to do with God
but wait, don't be so quick to dismiss God, because before the flood in Genesis it never had rained on the earth. The earth was a tropical paradise. It was like a big greenhouse and there was mist that watered the land
Gen 2:6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground--
the flood dramatically changed the earth dramatically and quickly which is why we have found mammoths fully preserved in blocks of ice with food still in their mouth
but the sign of the rainbow in the sky is a sign of Gods grace. That he is patiently waiting for people to come to him and be saved.
The signs in the sky during the tribulation are also going to be a sign of Gods Grace.
To define the word Grace in simple terms it means Gods reward at Christ expense
it is God showing us kindness and mercy not based on our goodness but on our faith in His son Jesus Christ
The presses the question why during the tribulation does God show great signs in the sky? Why does God get the whole world focused on the heavens during this time period?
The answer is simple. God is giving one last chance for people to consider eternity. One last chance before the end comes to get saved.
Peter explains this in his letter to the persecuted church
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, ] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
3rd sign- Time as we know it will end
Both Christian and atheist scientist agree that the universe had a definite beginning. Everything that has a beginning has a cause, something or someone that starts it which means that the universe has a purpose and when that purpose is fulfilled it will come to an end
Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
One of the ways that scientist learned that the universe had a beginning was from the signs in the sky,
Greg Laughlin, a scientist from the university of MI who does not believe in the Biblical account of creation said something very interesting
The universe as we know it, with stars and planets and life, is only temporary,. IF we wait long enough all the stars in the universe will eventually run out of fuel and burn out.
End of quote.
When the universe runs out of energy it will eventually collapse upon itself.
These are things that science is just now learning from studying the stars and the sky
but its the same thing that Peter said
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
In closing,
God said there would be signs in the sky
signs that there is a God, the heavens declare the glory of God
Sign of Gods Grace. God is a loving God who desire all men to be saved.
Sign that time is limited?
And one of these days the elect of God will gather with Christ in the sky and we will be with the Lord forever and ever
I am persuaded that the evidence is overwhelming for Gods existence, if there is a God than the Bible is true, if the Bible is true than Jesus was the Son of God who lived died and was raised from the dead and is coming again
are you ready?
