Ready and Waiting
Matthew 24:1-4, 36-51
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Introduction: A lot of folk thought that I had lost my mind. It probably wasn’t the first time. It probably won’t be the last. People were sure of it when I announced that I was going to spend Y2K in the Holy Land. Most of you remember the hysteria that surrounded the beginning of the year 2000. Lots of people were convinced that civilization as we know it was going to end. Planes, elevators, computers, and nuclear power plants were all going to crash. Some expected the world to end.
Several of the couples who signed up to go with us to Israel backed out when they realized that we would be there over December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000. I half jokingly told everyone that if Christ came back then, I wanted a front row seat. Where better to find that than Israel!
Actually we spent New Year’s Eve (December 31, 1999) in Northern Israel. At the stroke of midnight we were in a prayer group on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. On New Year’s Day morning 2000, we sailed across the Sea of Galilee from Tiberius to Capernaum. We spent the day touring the places where Jesus called his disciples to be “fishers of men,” taught the Sermon on the Mount and fixed breakfast for the disciples after the resurrection. At sundown on January 1, 2000, we reenacted our baptisms in the Jordan River near the point where it flows out of the Sea of Galilee. Most people remember Y2K as the time nothing happened!
Y2K wasn’t the first time for such foolishness. I have in my hand a little booklet titled “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988.’ Edgar Whisenant, a NASA engineer, calculated the Jewish Feast of Trumpets (September 11-13, 1988) as the date the world’s last days count down would begin. That wasn’t the first time someone got it wrong. I remember the Jehovah’s Witnesses setting a date in the late sixties and then again in the early 70’s. Many sold their homes, quit their jobs, and gathered in prayer meetings to await Christ’s return. William Miller, the father of various Adventists groups, set April 3, 1843 as the date. Businessmen abandoned their shops. Farmers left their fields to wait for the end. The day came and went.
Countless religious folk through the centuries have thought they had it figured out. People continue to try to predict Christ’s Second Coming. Rest assured. That’s not where we are headed in our study of Matthew 24-25 during this month. We will, however, take a long, hard look at what Jesus actually had to say about the future and his return in glory and judgment. His words offer a counter-balance to the hype that gets so much attention. They also provide a wakeup call to those who might be tempted to dismiss the whole discussion.
Today, I want to walk you through Matthew 24. (Parallel passages are found in Mark 13 and Luke 21). Over the next three weeks we will look at the three parables in the next chapter. Together these two chapters offer Jesus’ most concentrated teachings on the Second Coming. Jesus explains where the future is headed with a handful of simple lessons.
1. The End Is Not Uncertain. The end will come. This world is headed for a meeting with its Maker. No one can prevent it. No one will escape.
Jesus’ discussion was prompted by his disciples’ questions. Late in the afternoon, they left the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem for the three mile walk to Bethany where they would spend the night. They crossed the small Kidron Valley and walked up the Mt. of Olives. Bethany was just on the other side. The top of the large hill stood a couple hundred feet above the temple area of the city. Anybody walking up the steep path would naturally pause for a brief rest at the top. Even today the spot offers a spectacular view of the city. In those days, the view was breathtaking.
From the Mt. of Olives, the Jewish temple was right there! It was huge, nearly 500 yards long and 400 yards wide. It had been under construction for forty years. It wouldn’t be finished for another thirty. The Jewish historian Josephus says that the reflection from the gold plating that covered much of the outside of the temple was almost blinding in the afternoon sun. Where not covered with gold, the white marble glistened like snow.
The disciples pointed out the sight. “Wow. Isn’t that magnificent,” they said. Jesus responded. “Yes, but the day will come when not one of those stones will be left standing.” Imagine the disciple’s shock. That temple was the most majestic thing they had ever seen. It represented the best of human building skill. It also symbolized man’s greatest offering to God, his highest spiritual achievement. “None of it will last,” Jesus said. “It is all doomed!
So is everything in our world. None of it will last. Someday this building will turn to dust. All of our businesses, our sky scrapers, every institution, and every legacy of human achievement will crumble. If not from death and natural decay, then from supernatural intervention! Someday this world will end! It is when, not if! Someday the Lord of Glory will return to judge the living and the dead. When? What will be the signs that it is going to happen? How will we know when it is going to happen? The disciples raised the questions that everybody asks. But Jesus didn’t answer the way we expect. Lesson one: the end is not uncertain.
2. The Time Before the End Will Not Be Uneventful. In verses 4-28, Jesus warns his followers to prepare for the long haul. He describes what they should expect. None of these are the predictors of the end. He called them the beginnings of the birth pangs, not signs of the end.
Jesus told them to prepare for deceivers, false prophets, and alarmists. Natural calamities would come and go. Wars would start and stop. Persecution would increase. Some would fall away. The faith of many would grow cold. The future would not be easy. But despite all of the hardships, the Gospel message would span the globe.
At verse 15, the chapter gets a bit complicated. Bible scholars differ about what to make of this part. The confusion comes from the fact that Jesus’ disciples asked three questions. Note verse 4. 1) When will this happen? They were referring to the destruction of the temple that Jesus had just spoken of. 2) What will be the sign of your coming? 3) And (what will be the sign) of the end of age? They thought all three questions referred to the same event.
Jesus answers their questions but probably not the way they expected. They wanted to know when. They wanted a list of signs. They were interested for the same reason a lot of us are. If we could predict the date, then we would know when to start getting serious. If Jesus’ return is a long way off, then we have plenty of time to take care of our business before we start getting down to his. Everything Jesus says challenges that kind of thinking.
At first, Jesus ignores the question about the temple. Instead he emphasizes the demands of following him through the tough times ahead. Don’t expect any quick fix or short term rescue, he warns. The Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint.
Then in verse 15, he turns to their first question. He quotes Daniel 9. The time will come, he says, when the city and the temple would be surrounded. Expect hard times all the time, he says. But that will be the worst of times. The prediction came true forty years later. The Roman Emperor finally had enough of the rebellious Jews. He sent his army to teach them a lesson. The army surrounded Jerusalem in a three year long siege. A million died. Hundreds who tried to escape were crucified. The Romans sold over 100,000 survivors into slavery. Josephus, who witnessed the events, said the blood ran bridle deep in the Jerusalem streets. In the final stage of the siege, the Romans set fire to the city. As the temple burned, the gold on the outer walls melted and ran down between the cracks of the huge marble blocks. The Roman general ordered the temple disassembled block by block to recover the gold. The destruction was total.
Somewhere around verse 22 (different scholars divide it at different places), Jesus returns to the previous discussion. He again warns of false alarms. People will constantly claim to know when and where the end is coming. Expect that. Don’t let it shake you. Now for lesson three.
3. The End Will Be Unmistakable. A time will come when the Lord will say “enough is enough.” Note verses 26-31. Jesus will return in power and glory. Unlike the first time, it will be clear to everyone. Every eye will behold him. Every person who has ever rejected him or ridiculed Christ’s followers will cry out in desperation when they realize what they have done. The final trumpet will sound. The dead will rise. Believers who remain alive will be called up to meet him and join in his great triumphal re-entry. Everyone will know when it happens! There will be no mistakes this time. Now we are ready for lesson number four.
4. The End Is Also Unpredictable. Jesus says two things. Learn the lesson of the fig tree. You see the trees budding. You know the season is changing. We could reverse the analogy and say that when leaves start changing colors and you feel a chill in the air, winter isn’t far behind. That doesn’t tell you when the first snow will fall. But you know it is coming. Enough of what Jesus predicted continues to happen to make us perk up and pay attention.
A lot of confusion exists over how to understand verse 34. “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” The temptation is to make the unnecessary assumption that Jesus says the end would come within a generation. It is also possible to understand him to simply say that within a generation everything he had told them would have begun to unfold. This doesn’t mean it will be over in a generation. Rather that generation would see ample proof that Jesus was right about the future. He knows what he is talking about.
But that doesn’t tell us the date. Jesus could not be clearer in verse 36. “No one knows about that day or hour.” No one! Predicting is useless. Now for the final lesson. The end may be unpredictable …
5. But Woe to Those Who Are Unprepared. Many will be. His followers shouldn’t be. He offers two parables. If you know a thief is coming, you wouldn’t leave your house unlocked. Jesus is coming back even if you don’t know when. Deal with it! Or imagine a business owner who goes on a trip and puts an employee in charge. What kind of employee would disregard the bosses instructions just because he doesn’t know exactly when to expect him back. A wicked worker who acts like that will get exactly what he deserves. You don’t know when. But you know what. So what are you going to do about it? You have no excuse for being unprepared!
Conclusion: Debates over signs and the date of the end will always be with us. The wild ideas floated about Y2K, 1988, or even 1844 don’t even come close to the foolishness that happened near Ft. Worth, TX in 2002. Newspapers carried the true story of two Texas friends who got into a religious argument. The two good old boys, Johnny Joslin, age 20, and Clayton Frank Stoker, age 21, and couple of good buddies had spent Saturday night bar hopping around Ft. Worth. The four were already three sheets to the wind when they sat around a table outside the trailer park drinking some more and shooting the breeze. The conversation turned to religion. Never a good idea for a bunch of drunks! Soon the discussion grew into an argument. The argument over heated when they started talking about who would go to heaven and hell.
Finally, Stoker decided to settle the argument. He stumbled into the house. He came back with a shotgun. He loaded it and announced he would prove he was headed for heaven. He put the barrel in his mouth and prepared to pull the trigger. Joslin jumped up and shouted, “No you don’t! If anybody is going to get shot, it’s going to be me.” He grabbed the gun and pulled it toward himself. It went off. Joslin died from a gun shot wound to the chest. He found out the answer to his question about heaven or hell. (Preaching Now Newsletter, August 13, 2002.)
That’s one way. There is a better one. If you want to know the truth about the future, about heaven and who’s headed there, I recommend you listen to someone who has been there.
This world is going to come to a screeching halt someday. People can argue over the details. But the fact remains. Jesus is coming back. The greatest foolishness is to remain unprepared!
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
