Luke 17:20-36
There have been certain events in history that have prompted people to say, I remember where I was when. . . The assassination of JFK was one of those moments, to other folks it may have been the death of Elvis or the Shooting of John Lennon. I was only three when JFK was gunned down, so I don’t have real vivid memories of that event. Even though I was an Elvis fan and enjoyed the Beatles I don’t remember where I was when I heard about their deaths, I do however remember where I was when I heard about Harry Chapin’s death in 1981. And if we were truthful this morning most of us can remember where we were and what we doing on September 11th of last year when we heard the news of the hijackings and terrorist attacks in the US.
It was interesting I was on my way to a gathering of ministers in New Brunswick, my father in law had come with me to visit his cottage and we had picked Greg Hanson up in Aulac where he had been dropped by the shuttle from PEI. We didn’t have the radio on that morning we were listening to CD’s so we missed the news. However we did stop at a restaurant for lunch and then at Bethany Bible College so I could pick up some information on a class I was teaching. Nobody said anything about the events that were unfolding in the US. No one commented on the implications of what was happening. And so we continued on our merry way completely oblivious to the drama happening just across the border. It wasn’t until we reached Saint John and stopped at my sister’s place that my Brother in law commented “Wow that’s really something those planes flying into the world trade and convention centre isn’t it?” I thought that there’d been some tragic accident.
Later in the day, once we arrived at the conference a friend and colleague asked me, “Do you think this could be the beginning of the end times?” To which I replied, “Well that would certainly solve our pension problems wouldn’t it?” To be very frank I do not live in fear of the end times, it’s not something that I worry about, it doesn’t keep me up at night and I don’t read about it constantly. Someone asked me the other day what my thoughts were concerning the end times in relation to the West Nile virus, and I could honestly say I hadn’t really thought of it.
The Left Behind series of novels have become best sellers over the past few years and I have only read the first one and that was out of curiosity. You say “But Denn, don’t you want to know what’s going to happen?” Well, let’s not go there, no let’s go there. You understand people that the Left Behind Series are just novels, they are fiction, and not very good fiction either. I know that’s just personal taste. Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins do not have an inside track on the end times, as surprising as that may seem. They have merely fictionalized what they found in the Bible. If the Left Behind books cause you to become more passionate to see people won to Jesus they are wonderful, however if you are reading them in order to gain more knowledge about the end times you might not end up being the scholar that you hope. And maybe people will be won to Jesus with the books. When I first became a Christian in 1979 there was a movie out called “Thief in the night” and it was a fictionalized vision of what it might be like during the last days. The secret of that movie and the two that followed it was that you’d invite your pre-Christian friends out to church and the movie would scare the hell out of them, literally. Did it work? Sometimes.
I’m no expert on biblical prophesy, but I do believe that we need to look into the scriptures to see just exactly what the Bible says concerning the end times which will either begin or end with the return of Jesus Christ, depending on your theological perspective. Next week we will be looking at the Rapture, that is the event where Christians are taken from this world, and the week after that we will look at the great tribulation and finally on September 28th we’ll look at how the story ends. However we need to start with what these events are indicative of and that is the return of Jesus Christ.
The experts tell us, and we all know what an expert is right? X being the unknown quantity spurt being a drip under pressure. The experts tell us that there are over 1800 references to Christ second coming in the Old Testament alone, and that for every one prophecy concerning the first coming of Christ that there are eight prophecies concerning his second coming. We are also told by the same experts that there are over 300 references about Christ return in the New Testament, or approximately one every 30 verses.
1) The Reality of The End Times Biblical scholars tell us that the book of Mark was the first Gospel account put into writing. And according to Papias, who was one of the early Christian writers and a man who had known some of the apostles personally, Mark had acted as a scribe for Peter. Now taking that into account if we look into the book of Mark we see Christ making three direct statements referring to his return.
The first reference is found in Mark 8:38 If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels.”
The second was two days later, after Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem Mark 13:1
As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at these tremendous buildings! Look at the massive stones in the walls!”
Boy it wasn’t hard to tell these guy’s were right off the boat. Talk about a bunch of hicks, Gawking around and staring. You can almost hear them, “Golly look at them buildings, aint got nothing like that in Galilee” Can’t say that I blame them I have done a lot of travelling but remember that I grew up in New Brunswick and to me a big city was Saint John.
In 1990 we moved from Truro Nova Scotia to Brisbane Australia. Now Brisbane at the time had a population of one and three quarter million people, Truro had fewer then that. Here is a picture of the skyline of Brisbane. The first two weeks we lived there I had a permanent kink in my neck. There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that I was right off the boat.
So for a few minute the apostles stood in awe as they looked at the massive temple building in front of them, and then Jesus told them in the next verse Mark 13:2
Jesus replied, “These magnificent buildings will be so completely demolished that not one stone will be left on top of another.”
Now the disciples didn’t say anything right off but when Peter, Andrew, James and John were on the Mount of Olives they asked Jesus when this would take place. “You know Jesus we don’t want to pester you about this, but when you said the temple was going to be destroyed, did you mean like this afternoon?” And in reply Jesus gave them a three part answer. The first part is given in Mark 13:5-13 when Jesus spoke of the tribulation that the Apostles would personally go through. The second part is found in verses 14-23 and Jesus told them about the tribulation that Jerusalem would go through. And in 70 AD Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Romans. One contemporary source claimed that a man could plow from one corner of Jerusalem to the other without hitting a rock.
In Mark 13:26-27 Then everyone will see the Son of Man arrive on the clouds with great power and glory. And he will send forth his angels to gather together his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
There can be no mistaking what Jesus was talking about. He was saying that there would come a time that he would return and mankind would see him coming.
Now then the third instance that Mark records Christ speaking about his return was in Mark 14:61-62 When Jesus was on trial before the high priest, let’s listen in Jesus made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the blessed God?”
Listen to the response of Christ; Jesus said, “I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven.” Jesus couldn’t have made his message any plainer.
Peter’s testimony to the second coming of Jesus extends even after the book of Mark. In Acts 2:35 on the day of Pentecost Peter declared that Jesus had been exalted to the right hand of God to reign until his enemies are made into his footstool. And again in Acts 3:11-26 when Peter preaches in Solomon’s portico he states in Verse 20 Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will send Jesus your Messiah to you again. What Peter preached about in the book of Acts, he writes of in the two letters that he wrote. 2 Peter 3:4-9 This will be their argument: “Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? Why, as far back as anyone can remember, everything has remained exactly the same since the world was first created.”
They deliberately forget that God made the heavens by the word of his command, and he brought the earth up from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the world with a mighty flood. And God has also commanded that the heavens and the earth will be consumed by fire on the day of judgment, when ungodly people will perish.
But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.
It is pretty evident that Peter, one of Christ’s closest friends and confidants was convinced that Jesus would return. But what about other writers in the New Testament? Glad you asked. The conversation on top of The Mount of Olives is also recorded by Matthew and Luke with only minor variations.
And John records in His gospel in John 13:36-38 Simon Peter said, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”
“But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I am ready to die for you.”
Jesus answered, “Die for me? No, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.
But then in the next chapter, only three verses later we read John 14:3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
And when Jesus shows himself to the disciple at the sea of Tiberius in John 21:21 Peter asks Christ “Hey what about my old buddy John” and John 21:22 Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me.” and in
1 John 3:2 Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. Not if he returns, but when he returns, John was evidently pretty certain that Jesus was coming again.
And in the final book of the Bible, John wrote in Revelation 1:7 Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him—even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will weep because of him. Yes! Amen!
When Luke records Christ’s return to heaven in Acts 1:9-11 Christ has ascended into the clouds and the Apostles are standing staring dumbfounded into the sky, which when you think about it is a pretty appropriate response and two angels appear and say to them
Acts 1:11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring at the sky? Jesus has been taken away from you into heaven. And someday, just as you saw him go, he will return!”
The New Testament is full of references concerning the second coming, both direct and indirect. As a matter of fact out of the 27 books in the New Testament the second coming is mentioned at least in passing in 23 of them. Of them four where the second coming is not mentioned Philemon and 2 & 3 John were personal letters and Galations had a very specific thrust.
For the scholars out there the Greek word most commonly used for the return of Christ is Parousia, which was used in referring to a visit from the emperor or governor. The word Epipheneia is also used and it means “The Appearing”, while John is fond of referring to the return of Christ as the Apokolypis, or the revelation.
The early church was so convinced of the second coming that they actually greeted one another with the word “Maranatha”, which is actually two words, “Maran” and “Atha” which when put together meant “Our Lord Comes”. The return of the Lord is a certainty, the Bible and early church tradition lend authority to that fact, and so that leads us to The Timing of the End Times? It’s funny that while the Return of Christ isn’t a subject that people talk about, end times and speculation about when, is a topic that believers and non-believers alike discuss.
The apostles themselves wondered that same thing and demanded an answer to the question in Mark 13:4 “When will all this take place? And will there be any sign ahead of time to show us when all this will be fulfilled?”
And in verse 32 of the same chapter Jesus answers them by saying, “It’s none of your business” well actually that isn’t exactly what he said, but it’s close because he says
Mark 13:32 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. .
But that reply hasn’t kept men and women from playing neat little mathematical games with Biblical prophecies over the past two thousand years in an effort to figure out some kind of time frame for the last days. Through the years many sincere men have sought by various formulas and mathematical techniques, primarily using the prophecies of Daniel to arrive at if not the day and hour of Christ’s arrival then at least the month and year.
When the First World War broke out even the secular press was asking the question: Is this Armageddon? There seemed to be further confirmation when Jerusalem was delivered from Turkish rule in 1917. Dr. C.I. Schofield of the Schofield study Bible fame actually wrote a book in 1918 proposing that the world would come before the war to end all wars came to an end. Obviously he was wrong.
In 1939 World War Two broke out and the next year B.F. Atkinson wrote a book called “The War With Satan” In his work Atkinson speculated that the end was near. Now both men based at least a part of their theories on the “Seven times” that Daniel spoke of in Daniel 4. They multiplied the seven by the number of days in the Jewish prophetic year which was 360 and came up with a total of 2520 years. The author of the book that I received in the mail used the same figure. The only problem is that three men used the same figure and one comes up with 1918, one 1941 and one 1988. The reason for the difference is that they all have different theories on when we should start counting off the 2520 years.
Now my favourite theory was put forth by Dr. Joe Kanzlemar my professor in my college course on the revelation. Joe figured that everything in God’s plan goes back to the sabbatical concept. And this goes back to Daniel’s seven days again. Joe then adds to this Peter’s comment in 2 Peter 3:8 But you must not forget, dear friends, that a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. So he figures that from the book Genesis to the last curtain will be seven thousand years. Now if we count the millennium as the last day, or the day of rest and we use Bishop Ushers date to put Genesis 1 at 4004 BC, then we only have to find another 2000 years and since this is 2001 it looks like Joe blew it too.
But the truth of the matter that Dr. Kanzlemar doesn’t know when Christ will return and neither does anyone else. Seven different times in the New Testament it says that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. And how does a thief come? Well if he is a good thief then he comes very, very quietly. Now realise that the second coming is not what is referred to as the rapture which is the when Christ calls the church to be with him, you’ll remember it from the scripture that Sajonna read this morning, It’s also mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died.
I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever.
Christ paints a picture of what that event will be like in Matthew 24:40-41 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. Now if you happen to believe like I do that this will happen before the great tribulation that is spoken of in the book of Revelation then you are what is affectionately referred to in evangelical churches as a Pre-triber. Now not everyone believes that so if you believe that the church will be raptured half way through the tribulation then you are what is referred to as a mid-triber. And if you believe that the church will go through the tribulation and then be raptured then you are a post-triber. But I’m here to tell you something very, very, very important, are you ready for this: It don’t matter.
Eschatology or the study of the end times is like watching TV, it’s fun but it’s pointless, unless you’re watching Whose Line is It. And just like anything else it can become an obsession and prevent us from doing what we were put here to do and that is to win people to Jesus Christ. But one thing is certain and that is that he is coming back again. He may not of come in 70 or 1918 or 1941 or 1988 but he is coming again. And when he does he will be more pleased with the Christian who led one person into a relationship with God then with the person who spent all his time debating and writing books about the end times.
Jesus made it very plain that the timing of the day of the Lord is neither our responsibility nor our business, and personally I think that we border on blasphemy when we try to wrestle that information from God. We look very much like Adam and Eve who ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil so that they could become like God.
Let me end this morning with two quotes the first was made a hundred and thirty years ago by French Scientist Pierre Bercelt, “Within a hundred years of physical and chemical science man will know what the atom is, and it is my belief that when science reaches this stage, God will come down to earth with his big ring of keys and say, ’Gentleman it is closing time’ “. The second quote comes from Sammy Tippets an Author and Bible Teacher who wrote The facts are out there. Biblical prophecy is unfolding before our very eyes. Anyone with a modest knowledge of the Scripture and a nearby newspaper can easily tell that history is quickly coming to its conclusion. Planet Earth is on a collision course with Biblical prophecy.
PowerPoint may be available for this message contact me at denn@bccnet.ca
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