Introduction
Video Ill.: No One Knows
No one knows.
But we all need to be ready.
Mark Zuckerberg and others building doomsday bunkers
https://time.com/6551188/mark-zuckerberg-underground-bunker-hawaii-report-reaction/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/mark-zuckerberg-and-other-billionaires-are-building-massive-hidden-bunkers/ar-AA1lOzzE
According to reports in Time Magazine and MSN last week, Mark Zuckerberg and other billionaires are building doomsday bunkers on remote islands.
Planning documents show Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is building a sprawling estate with a dozen buildings and a 5,000-square-foot subterranean bunker hidden underneath. The partially-completed compound is set to include at least 30 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms, including two stand-alone mansions. There are also plans for 11 treehouses, as well as a fitness center, guest houses and operations buildings.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said that he and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel have an “arrangement” set up in case the world is ending. If things hit the fan, the pair would fly to one of Thiel’s properties in New Zealand to hide out.
Richard Branson and Johnny Depp also have privately owned islands, along with other wealthy families like the Du Ponts and the Disneys.
Kim Komando, in her article on MSN.com, asks, “What are [these billionaires] worried about? No one is really coming out and saying it, but you name it and I bet it’s on the list: War, pollution, asteroids, climate, famine, the robot revolution, and aliens? Maybe it’s all of the above.” She concludes, saying, “As for me, I’m good. I have cash, guns, food, and, oh, one more thing, my faith in God.”
Folks in the world understand that something is going to happen someday. Our world cannot continue on the way it is going. It will come to an end sometime.
Building a bunker to hid out and try to cheat God is not the answer.
Some think that they can legislate our environment and our world, trying to prolong it’s existence.
But the truth is, what will happen will happen. God is in control, and we are not.
What is the answer? Kim Komando had it exactly right — having faith in God.
Today we are starting a series about the fact that Jesus has to be coming soon. Are we ready? The time is coming when Jesus will return.
There are a lot of writings in Scripture that, quite frankly, I think are a bit confusing at best and complicated at worst, written about the end times. Some are even quite frightening. Consider some of the things that are written in Revelation and Daniel.
There are some things, though, that I think are not so overly complicated, things we do know from Scripture about Jesus’ return.
This morning, I want us to start by looking at those Scriptures, laying a groundwork for our study about Jesus’ second coming.
As we begin, Jesus will come when we least expect Him.
Jesus says in Matthew 24:
36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered || the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. ||
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man || will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matthew 24, NIV)
Life will go on, just like it has since the beginning of time, and then all of the sudden, Jesus will come. Jesus’ teaching to His disciples here in Matthew is the basis for the Left Behind books and movies that came out a few years back.
The idea is that we will be going about our daily business, and because He will come when we do not expect Him, we will suddenly be taken in the middle of whatever we are doing.
Coach Bear Bryant Urges His Players to Stay Alert
Source: Dave Bolin, Gadsden, Alabama
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2012/august/5082012.html
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Paul "Bear" Bryant is widely considered to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time. Bryant's record in 38 years at Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Alabama included 323 wins. He also took 29 teams to bowl games and led 15 of his teams to conference championships. In the 1960s and 1970s, no school won more games than Alabama (193-32-5). As one of his colleagues said, "He wasn't just a coach; he was the coach."
John Croyle, an All-American defensive end on the 1973 national championship team, played for the Bear, and was deeply impacted by the man. John talked about one of Coach Bryant's pregame speeches.
Coach Bryant paced in front of his assembled team as the band played for the capacity crowd waiting outside in the stadium. He made eye contact with each player as he spoke the following words:
In this game, there are going to be four or five plays that will determine the outcome of this contest. Four or five plays that will swing the momentum toward us, or away from us. I don't know which plays these will be. You don't know which plays these will be. All you can do is go out there and give all that you have on each and every play. If you are doing that on one of those crucial plays, and you catch your opponent giving less, that play will swing things in our direction. And if we rise to the occasion like that, on those four or five plays, we are gonna leave here today a winner.
In this life, we don’t know — we don’t know when Jesus will return. We don’t know when we will take our last breath. We just don’t know. That’s why Jesus was telling this to His disciples — to drive home that very point. We must be ready all the time, giving the most of our lives — giving Him our whole lives each and every day. Stay alert! Be ready!
Many have tried to nail down a time, pinpoint exactly when Jesus was coming back, but every time, each one, has been wrong.
All will be wrong, because as Jesus Himself said, at the beginning of that teaching:
No one knows ... not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matthew 24:36, NIV)
2. From scripture, we also know that there will be signs indicating the time is coming.
The passage we just ready from Matthew 24 is preceded by Jesus teaching His disciples some other things about His second coming, especially that while we may not know exactly when Jesus is coming back, there will be signs that the time is near.
It’s a long teaching, but Jesus has so many important things to teach us. Follow along closely, if you will, starting at verse 3:
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in || my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ, ’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in || various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets || will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 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. ||
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no || one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. || 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the || elect—if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. || 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
|| 30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one || end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not || pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matthew 24, NIV)
Jesus lists many things that will happen when it is close to the time of His return.
Many of which are things in nature that will happen — things that show the world literally wearing out and falling apart.
We shouldn’t be surprised by these things. After all, just look at our own physical bodies. As we age, our joints, our muscles, our minds all begin to deteriorate. And no matter how many supplements, surgeries, or conditioning exercises we do, it is just going to happen.
Now, those things I just said do make for a better quality of life, though. I do not want to discount those things at all.
Volcanic Explosion Shows We’re Not in Control
Source: Mark Sayers, A Non-Anxious Presence, (Moody publishers, 2022), pages 19-20
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2023/may/volcanic-explosion-shows-were-not-in-control.html
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On August 27, 1883, a blast in Indonesia sent sound waves that ripped across the face of the earth. A volcanic explosion, 10,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb, tore apart the Indonesian island of Krakatoa. People heard the sound as far away as Bangkok, Manila, and Australia (2,000 miles distant). As the sky turned red and rained rock, church goers on nearby islands shuddered, fearing it was the end of days.
The blast killed over 36,000 people, destroying more than 3/4 of the island. The entire planet experienced a raft of environmental effects. Dramatic sunsets and strange phenomena in the sky took place for months. Fire brigades were called as far away as North America. The sky itself looked as if it was on fire.
As news of the explosion ricocheted across the planet, the global public was fascinated. The world was in the grip of the industrial revolution and the rapid growth of technology had elevated belief in human power and potential. For the first time in history, it felt as if nature was tamed. However, the scale of the eruption of Krakatoa awed the world. The modern age again became frightened, reminded of the limits of human ability and the terrifying potency of nature. In an instant, the island of Krakatoa was changed.
For many of us, that is what the world feels like now. The pandemic, cultural change, political polarization, and technological disruption have rapidly altered the world we live in at a breakneck speed. The sheer weight of change has left many of us disoriented. We, too, have realized that we are not as in control as we thought.
We look around and we see devastating fires, destructive earthquakes, global climate change, new wars popping up around the globe, and the list goes on.
These things should not frighten us. We should not be disoriented. After all, Jesus promised that such things would go on.
The signs are all here — the time of Jesus’ return is coming. Instead of fear, worry, and anxiety about the state of the world, we should once again take comfort in the promises of God. These things must happen.
The progression has been happening all along, as some have said:
First, we overlook evil.
Then we permit evil.
Then we legalize evil.
Then we promote evil.
Then we celebrate evil.
Then we persecute those who still call it evil.
It is happening today in our world. I will say this — some think that we are protected from the persecution just because we live in a somewhat protected part of the world here in Craig County, but I tell you it will come here too.
We see the decline in our country. We should not be surprised. Every great nation in the world has gone through a decline until the day that the nation was no more. Yes, we are heading on that path. One day, we will be no more.
We see the decline of our earth.
The time is coming.
3. Third, this morning, scripture teaches us that those who are not ready will be left out.
In Matthew 25, Jesus teaches this to His disciples.
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The || bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your || oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with || him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. (Matthew 25, NIV)
ChatGPT prompt: Is there a good story about being locked out of a party and just having to watch from the outside?
The story is told about a young man in college, named Jake. He stood on the doorstep of a house where a party was going on. The thumping bass and laughter spilled out into the cool night air as he stood there, eyeing the lively scene within. The neon lights flickered, casting playful shadows on the dance floor, and the muffled beat of the music reverberated through the closed door. He could feel the energy, the excitement, but there was an invisible barrier keeping him from joining the fun.
Jake had been looking forward to this party for weeks. It was the social event of the semester, and everyone who was anyone was there. Dressed in his best suit and armed with a gift for the host, he arrived only to realize he had left his invitation at home. Now, standing alone in the cold, he felt a mix of frustration and embarrassment.
He knocked on the door, hoping someone inside would hear and rescue him from his predicament. Minutes felt like hours as he shuffled nervously, imagining the amazing stories and laughter he was missing out on. The night air seemed colder, and the distant sound of laughter only intensified his isolation.
Unable to bear the fear of missing out any longer, Jake decided to take matters into his own hands. He scanned the perimeter for potential points of entry, considering a sneak-in mission. Just as he began to entertain the idea, a voice called out from behind him.
"Hey, are you trying to crash the party?" a girl with a mischievous grin asked.
Jake blushed, stammering out his explanation. She listened attentively, then burst into laughter, her infectious giggles echoing through the quiet night.
"You know what? Come with me," she said, leading him to a side entrance. With a wink, she unlocked the door and let him in, introducing him to the pulsating heart of the celebration.
As Jake stepped into the vibrant chaos, he realized that sometimes being locked out of the party was the unexpected twist needed to make the night memorable. From that point on, he danced, laughed, and created his own story within the lively walls of the party, grateful for the unexpected detour that turned a potential disaster into an unforgettable adventure.
We will not be that lucky when Jesus returns. It will be a disaster if we are locked out when Jesus returns. It will be an unforgettable adventure, but not one we will want to have. If we are not ready, have not prepared, we will be locked out in the cold, dark night, or maybe it will be more like the hot fiery pit of hell. We will not get to enjoy the party, the feast, the celebration. We will forever be left out, eternally separated from God.
I pray that does not happen to any of us. So be ready, Jesus says.
4. Finally, we should not be alarmed by any of this because, in the end, Jesus will win.
Paul said it this way in 2 Thessalonians 2:
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in || any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
|| 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he || is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and || wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thessalonians 2, NIV)
In all of this, in Scripture, there may be many things that are confusing and hard to understand about John’s Revelation and the writings of Daniel.
But here is the end fact of all of this — and there is no confusion here — in the end, God wins.
Big Brother's Battles
Source: D.L. Moody, Christian History, no. 25.
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/1996/november/366.html
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D.L. Moody once said: My friends, you are no match for Satan, and when he wants to fight you just run to your elder Brother, who is more than a match for all the devils in hell.
God Will Destroy Him
Source: R. Geoffrey Brown, "Look! A Great White Horse!," Preaching Today, Tape No. 111.
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/1998/july/3864.html
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When Robinson Crusoe's good man Friday asked him, "Why doesn't God destroy the devil?" Robinson Crusoe gave him the right answer, the only answer, the great answer. He said, "God will destroy him."
That is the final answer.
The second coming of Jesus means nothing else except God wins. Satan loses. The end.
Conclusion
This morning, Scripture teaches us that we cannot deny that Jesus will return. We do not know when. We do know that He will come.
We also know that the time is coming.
If the Media Announced Armageddon
Source: Paul Thigpen, quoted in Holy Hilarity: Inspirational Wit and Cartoons by Cal and Rose Samra (Waterbrook Press, 1999), p. 15
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2008/october/13730.html
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Jokingly, someone has written how the news media would announce the end of the world:
Sports Illustrated: "Game's Over!”
Ladies' Home Journal: "Lose 10 Pounds by Judgment Day with Our New Armageddon Diet!”
Inc. Magazine: "Ten Ways You Can Profit from the Apocalypse.”
CNN: "World Ends; Women and Children Most Affected."
Truth be told, I really do not care how they report it. I am planning not to be here after it happens!
As we finish today, let me tell you one final story.
Doomsday False Alarm Sparks Panic, Outrage
Source: Dakin Andone, "From paradise to panic: Hawaii residents and vacationers run for cover, fearing missile attack" CNN (1-14-18)
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2018/february/doomsday-false-alarm-sparks-panic-outrage.html
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On a balmy January Saturday morning, an alert warning of nuclear doom was erroneously sent to millions of people across the state of Hawaii.
"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." Those were the words that flashed on cell phones and televisions screens across the state, the result of a gaffe by an employee of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency who selected the wrong option in a text-based dropdown menu.
Though the agency eventually issued a correction, residents and tourists, as well as Hawaiian natives tracking the impending disaster on the mainland, in real-time on social media, criticized the government for taking 38 minutes to issue the retraction.
"If it was a mistake and someone pushed a button they shouldn't have pushed, then why the 38 minute delay?" asked Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, in an interview with Fox News. "The next question is, why don't we have a better fail-safe?"
The employee who made the mistake has expressed profound regret for the mistake, but the blunder has since been overshadowed by the obvious, ominous hypothetical: what if the threat had been real?
In July of 2017, news reports confirmed Hawaii as the first U.S. state with an attack-warning system designed to detect nuclear threats. This latest development, though, seems to have shaken the public's trust in its effectiveness.
I do not believe that we are going to have the luxury of a text message indicating that the end of the world is happening and that Jesus has returned.
That’s why we all need to be prepared.
I am not here to say one way or another if the world is coming to an end soon or not. I do believe that we are in the last times. That is my non-scholarly personal opinion. Regardless, though, whether we meet our end at the end of the world, or at the end of our life Our own mortality, we need to be ready. Are we living as though we are ready? Next week, we will look at some of the things we ought to be doing according to scripture, if we are truly ready for Jesus’s return.
But it starts with surrendering our lives to Jesus today. We are not promised tomorrow. Do not go away without making sure that your heart first and foremost, is right with God. Surrender to Him by repenting of your sin, confessing Jesus as your Lord, be baptized in the watery grave of baptism in order to receive the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and be raised to walk a life in harmony with God.
