This is the third teaching/sermon on a series on the Final Judgment Jesus will bring when he returns. We of course are still camping out over this tenant of the Apostles’ Creed, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.” We cannot discuss this topic without dealing with Jesus’s discourse on the Mount of Olives concerning the End.
We will do well to consider a tiny passage that precedes the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 23:37-39:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (ESV).
Does this sound like someone drunk with blood-thirst? Yet, how many of our End Times “specialists” portray Jesus taking sadistic joy over returning to avenge his Father’s honor? I think we’ve confused Jesus with someone from a Redneck soap opera akin to the Hatfields and McCoys. This is a description of a passionate lover hurting over unrequited love: “How often would I have gathered your children together … and you would not!” Whatever else we read in the following passages, this attitude must bear influence over our interpretations. Let’s continue with Matthew 24:1:
Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:1 & 2; ESV).
Jesus begins his discussion of The End with a prediction of the destruction of the Temple … which occurred in AD 70. Did THE END occur then? Well, some believe Jesus returned in some form then, but their theories are quite strained and shallow. What is more likely in the whole of this passage is that Jesus is intermingling things which take place at various times before he returns in Final Victory. Let’s pick up in Matthew 24:3:
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 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” (Matthew 24:3-14; ESV).
Before going further I want to make an observation. Jesus discusses in broad generalities what will occur before The End. Then he is emphatic: “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Jesus will have no talk of “escapism.” We are expected to navigate all of these tribulations, while proclaiming “this gospel” to all the nations. This mountain-discourse echoes the first mountain-discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, in this regard. It is not our being rescued and taken out of tribulation that brings God glory. Rather it is our shining brightly as a city on a hill of trials and tribulations that brings God glory. Let’s pick up in Matthew 24:15:
“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But of the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:15-29; ESV).
Wow! This is fairly dramatic, is it not? In passage Jesus does says that when the Son of Man, himself, does come in the End, he is then coming in the vein of the then-current teaching on the Son of Man from Daniel 7. He is promising to return and exact his rule over the nations, which of course necessitates Final Judgment.
So, how can we be ready for Jesus to return? Many have drawn timelines and made impassioned pleas to “turn to Jesus.” Sign warning people of the nearness of this event dot the highways in many areas. Let us remember from a couple of sermons ago that Jesus actually directs us away from specific and intricate details concerning The End:
“It is not for you to know the times and seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority” (Acts 1:7; ESV).
Yet, Jesus says that we are certainly to be prepared for his return. Don’t we just love paradoxes!!! Let’s pick up in Matthew 24:32:
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left” (Matthew 24:32-41; ESV).
Here again we see the paradox. On the one hand we are to be aware of the general season of the end. Yet, we are prohibited from knowing exact details.
On a side note, many people have interpreted this passage to fit in with the idea of a Pre-tribulation Rapture. The Father will not suffer his precious people to suffer all the harm of the End Times. Yet if we remember from 24:13: But the one who endures to the end will be saved, an escapist mentality is disallowed for true followers of Jesus. It is more likely that the ones “taken” in The End are akin to the ones “swept away” in Noah’s day.
We are not only instructed to simply be aware of the Season of the End, we are told “stay awake”:
“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42-44; ESV).
Increasingly we are told BEWARE. Yet, at the same time we are discouraged from specific details: “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” How are we to reconcile this paradox? How are we to “be ready” without specific details of his return? Unfortunately, our favorite End Times authors are of little help here. For I believe this emphatic instruction to “be ready” is not one of familiarity with the details of his return, so much as being faithful to live out his Gospel in the mean time. Consider the parable that follows his emphatic instruction to “be ready”:
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. but if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him to pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:45-51; ESV).
In this parable the servant who was ready for his master’s return made himself ready by simply being about his master’s business as faithfully as he could. The servant who was not ready was the one who behaved in a way that is totally antithetical to his master’s business but is in total line with his pleasure needs.
The following parables bear out this interpretation. The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) emphasizes making lifestyle changes now to be ready when the bridegroom returns. The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) emphasizes preparing for the master’s return by taking risks in producing gains with what the master has given to his servants. Finally, the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46) emphasizes preparing for the Final Judgment (which occurs when Jesus returns) by faithfully serving the “least of these” in society.
Taking Matthew 24 & 25 as a whole, the best preparation for the return of Jesus and his Final Judgment may not be to watch the State of Israel, as many contemporary authors and preachers espouse. Rather, I believe it is simply to be faithful to Jesus in the here and now by faithfully living out the “A, B, C’s” of his full Gospel:
- A: Attachment to Jesus
- B: Behavioral submission to Jesus
- C: Community involvement for Jesus
We will take a closer look at these over the next two teachings/sermons.
