Doug McMasters: Take our Bible and go to Matthew chapter 24.
Doug McMasters: You're visiting with us, or just here recently, we've been going through the Gospel of Matthew together.
Doug McMasters: And we've now reached chapter 24.
Doug McMasters: My intention today, as we get into this, which is called the All of It Discourse by many, is to be more pastoral than prophetic.
Doug McMasters: And you'll understand what I mean as we go through this.
Doug McMasters: Some of this is going to sound a little professorial, sadly.
Doug McMasters: There's a lot of information that I want to introduce to us as the body of Christ as we enter into this section of scripture.
Doug McMasters: But hopefully we can get practical, not just informational.
Doug McMasters: Nearly two weeks ago, we experienced in New York a couple natural phenomena.
Doug McMasters: We experienced an earthquake, which I regretfully was driving during, didn't get to feel.
Doug McMasters: And we also saw a nearly total eclipse here in the city.
Doug McMasters: And when these things occurred next to each other, there seemed to be a buzz in the air.
Doug McMasters: People wondering if all of this maybe was some sign that things were coming to an end.
Doug McMasters: Did you sense that?
Doug McMasters: I did.
Doug McMasters: Those feelings probably heightened by the fact that we have a war in Israel and Gaza and Syria and Iran and all of their alliances are all sort of shaken loose, rattling their swords.
Doug McMasters: A couple weeks ago, after those things happened, someone asked me if I thought there was any significance to the fact that there was an earthquake and an eclipse.
Doug McMasters: And my reply was, well, we experienced what are two natural and normal events in our world as we know it: an earthquake and an eclipse.
Doug McMasters: And I saw no greater significance in those two things happening than any other earthquake or any other eclipse that our world has experienced.
Doug McMasters: And that's especially true for anyone outside of our area.
Doug McMasters: I've got two sons who live in London.
Doug McMasters: They didn't experience either an earthquake or an eclipse in those two days.
Doug McMasters: We did because they happened near us.
Doug McMasters: But I have a couple of questions to ask.
Doug McMasters: People were wondering, is this the end of the world?
Doug McMasters: Is this some sign that things are drawing to a close?
Doug McMasters: Well, let me ask this question: what if they were signs that the world was about to end?
Doug McMasters: What would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?
Doug McMasters: Or if the world was going to end this year?
Doug McMasters: As we come into Matthew chapter 24, that kind of question seems to be in the focus as Jesus teaches and his disciples listen.
Doug McMasters: As Jesus goes through this sermon, he brings into that message warning signs about the end times.
Doug McMasters: And it's not a pretty picture.
Doug McMasters: He uses images of doom and gloom and falling stars and shaking heavens and all the rest.
Doug McMasters: It's very vivid.
Doug McMasters: What are we to do with this kind of passage?
Doug McMasters: Well, generations of people have come to Matthew chapter 24 and 25 and used it as their prophetic play-doh to try to construct predictions about when Jesus would return.
Doug McMasters: And a lot of them would even try to put a date on it.
Doug McMasters: And skipping over centuries of time, coming just simply to the 20th and 21st century, there are examples and many examples that could be multiplied of people who have looked to Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 to set dates or to make proclamations of apocalyptic end of the world.
Doug McMasters: Some of them are people I love and respect.
Doug McMasters: One man, Chuck Smith, in the 1976 book, The Soon to Be Revealed Antichrist, said this.
Doug McMasters: We're living in the last generation, which begins with the rebirth of Israel in 1948.
Doug McMasters: And he says, right after that, see Matthew 24, 32 to 34.
Doug McMasters: Well, you could look at Matthew 24, 32 to 34, and it doesn't say anything in there about the rebirth of the nation of Israel.
Doug McMasters: He repeated his claim in another book in 1978.
Doug McMasters: And he said, if I understand scripture correctly, Jesus taught us that the generation would see the budding of the fig tree, the birth of the nation of Israel.
Doug McMasters: That'll be the generation that sees the Lord's return.
Doug McMasters: And then he goes into setting his dates.
Doug McMasters: I believe the generation in 1948 is the last generation.
Doug McMasters: And since a generation of judgment is 40 years and the tribulation period lasts seven years, I believe the Lord could come back for his church anytime before the tribulation starts, which means anytime before 1981.
Doug McMasters: Well, if all of that math sounds a little familiar, it's because it's the exact same math that Hal Lindsay used in his book, The Late Great Planet Earth.
Doug McMasters: Now, I value both of those men a lot, but not in this area.
Doug McMasters: He, Chuck Smith, and Hal Lindsay are, however, not alone in these sorts of attempts to try to set dates.
Doug McMasters: Edgar Wiesnant wrote in 1988 88 reasons why the rapture will happen in 1988.
Doug McMasters: In 1992, Harold Camping wrote a book, 1994, Question Mark.
Doug McMasters: The only thing that saved his neck was he put a question mark at the end of 1994.
Doug McMasters: He predicted the day of judgment would be September 6th.
Doug McMasters: And when September 6th showed up, he said it was going to be September 29th.
Doug McMasters: And when September 29th showed up, he said it was going to be October 2nd.
Doug McMasters: And then we saw October 3rd.
Doug McMasters: Did he learn his lesson?
Doug McMasters: No.
Doug McMasters: In 2005, he predicted the second coming of Christ would be May 21st, 2011.
Doug McMasters: When that came, he said it to October 21st, 2011.
Doug McMasters: These sorts of speculations about the end of the world are rampant, and the passage that we're going to be looking at for the next several weeks is the fertile soil for these predictions.
Doug McMasters: As they look into it and look for a date.
Doug McMasters: But that's the problem.
Doug McMasters: So many have tried to predict the end of the world, and they've come up with these dates, and of course, they capture the attention of people that want to make news.
Doug McMasters: And when they fail, as they always have, they're turned into a laughing stock.
Doug McMasters: And sadly, so is the testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: But all of these people are right, not about setting dates, but they're right about something.
Doug McMasters: They're right about the fact that Jesus promises that he will return and that he will bring this creation to an end.
Doug McMasters: And that everything that we look at, everything that we think is stable and permanent, is actually a lot more fragile, a lot more vulnerable than we imagine.
Doug McMasters: When we come to these two chapters, that thought's going to be reinforced.
Doug McMasters: Jesus makes statements here, predictions and promises that uproots the disciples' notion of the permanency of their world, the temple, God, the nation of Israel, scattered the world hearing a message about a Messiah.
Doug McMasters: Before we dive into this section of Scripture, I want us to sort of back up a little bit and re-enter it with just some notion of where we're at in the Gospel of Matthew.
Doug McMasters: Several times over the past couple years, as we've gone through Matthew, I've indicated that Matthew's structure as he lays out this gospel carries three main elements to it.
Doug McMasters: There are demonstrations of his power by way of miracles, healings, controlling the winds and the waves, and all sorts of things.
Doug McMasters: There are statements of calls to discipleship that Jesus makes.
Doug McMasters: Follow me is a big term in Matthew's gospel.
Doug McMasters: And then there are these sections of teaching or discourses.
Doug McMasters: And we've looked at four of the five that are in this gospel.
Doug McMasters: We saw the call of the kingdom in the Sermon of the Mount in Matthew 5 through 7.
Doug McMasters: We saw Jesus speak to the communicators of the kingdom as he called out his apostles in Matthew chapter 10.
Doug McMasters: We heard him speak about the characteristics of the kingdom in the parables of Matthew chapter 13.
Doug McMasters: We've recently turned the page away from the fourth discourse, the community of the kingdom in chapters 18 to 20, where Jesus exalts humility and sincerity and service.
Doug McMasters: And now we've entered into the last of the five discourses of Matthew's gospel, the Olivet Discourse, where we read about the conflict of the kingdom.
Doug McMasters: As we come into the Matthew chapter 24 and 25, it's important that we see how all this fits in.
Doug McMasters: Back in January, January 21st to be exact, three months ago to the day, we started a study of one day of the life of Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: Turn with me back to Matthew chapter 21 and verse 18.
Doug McMasters: Matthew chapter 21 and verse 18.
Doug McMasters: Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry.
Doug McMasters: We started that study in January, and here we are in April, still on the same day of Jesus' life.
Doug McMasters: And when Jesus entered the temple, well, as he was returning to the city before he entered the temple, he called out to his disciples and he said, See a lone fig tree by the road.
Doug McMasters: You went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves.
Doug McMasters: And he said, May no fruit ever come from you again.
Doug McMasters: And at once the fig tree withered.
Doug McMasters: Jesus wasn't just angry at a barren tree.
Doug McMasters: He was using it as an emblem of the nation of Israel that the Messiah had come to and had found no readiness for.
Doug McMasters: He begins the day with that.
Doug McMasters: And as soon as he enters into the temple, verse 23, the confrontation begins.
Doug McMasters: He enters in, the chief priest, they come to him while he's teaching, and they said, By what authority are you doing these things?
Doug McMasters: Who gave you this authority?
Doug McMasters: These religious leaders rightly saw Jesus' actions as a challenge to their authority and to their position among the people, and they were striking back.
Doug McMasters: Who made him think that he had some authority to do the kind of things he's doing without asking for our approval first?
Doug McMasters: And the rest of the day is filled with challenges from these people trying to trap Jesus by his words.
Doug McMasters: And we looked at these things.
Doug McMasters: They throw a whole bunch of questions at him: questions about paying taxes to Caesar, questions about the resurrection, questions about the greatest commandment.
Doug McMasters: And they're not friendly questions.
Doug McMasters: They're questions to provoke Jesus, to try to undermine his reputation among the crowds and to catch him out.
Doug McMasters: But Jesus skillfully answers every one of their questions and then asks them some questions that they don't answer at all.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus goes on the offensive by speaking some parables.
Doug McMasters: And we looked at those parables: the parable of the two sons, the parable of the wicked tenants, the parable of the guest at the marriage feast.
Doug McMasters: And again, these parables are not intended to be simply moral lessons.
Doug McMasters: They were conflict parables that were spoken to expose the religious leaders for what they were.
Doug McMasters: They were, to use the language of the parables, the son who claimed to be doing the Father's will while all the while disobeying him.
Doug McMasters: They were the wicked tenants who killed God's messengers and son.
Doug McMasters: They were the man who was going to be barred from the wedding feast.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus concluded all of these denunciations with a series of seven woes.
Doug McMasters: Jesus on that day came into it with a lot of enemies.
Doug McMasters: And this day brought their fervor and their anger to a head.
Doug McMasters: On that day still, Jesus departs from the temple.
Doug McMasters: Let's go back to Matthew 24 and verse 1.
Doug McMasters: As Jesus left, going out of the temple, his disciples came to him and called his attention to the buildings.
Doug McMasters: And instead of joining their sort of wondrous looks and their cheerful praise of the complex, Jesus replies to their marveling eyes, Do you see all these things?
Doug McMasters: Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.
Doug McMasters: After leaving the temple, Jesus and his disciples went down a hill and crossed a narrow valley and back up a hill called the Mount of Olives.
Doug McMasters: And from the Mount of Olives, you can look down on the temple complex.
Doug McMasters: I think there's a reason why he went there.
Doug McMasters: It wasn't just because it was a close proximity to the temple.
Doug McMasters: There are many other places he could have gone.
Doug McMasters: But he went to the temple mount or to the Mount of Olives, echoing, I think, what Ezekiel saw in two of his visions in Ezekiel chapter 10 and 11.
Doug McMasters: Let me just read these to you.
Doug McMasters: Ezekiel is a prophet to the nation of Israel at the time of their extraction from the land of promise and their placement as those who were cast out into Babylon, as they were scattered, and as destruction came upon the city of Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: And Ezekiel saw this, and he said, The glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.
Doug McMasters: And the cherubim lifted their wings and ascended from the earth before my eyes, the wheels beside them as they went.
Doug McMasters: And the glory of the God of Israel was above them, and stopped at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord's house.
Doug McMasters: So this image of the glory of God, the manifestation of his presence in the temple, lifting up out of the temple and heading east.
Doug McMasters: And then in chapter 11 and verse 22, then the cherubim and the wheels beside them lifted their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them, and the glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped on the mountain east of the city.
Doug McMasters: In Matthew, Jesus, the Word who became flesh and we dwelt among us, the one that we observed his glory, the glory as the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth, leaves the temple, lifts himself up out of the temple complex, and sets himself down on the Mount of Olives as an echo to what Ezekiel saw in his prophecy.
Doug McMasters: And so he begins to speak.
Doug McMasters: As we come into this, these two chapters, Matthew 24 and chapter 25, I want to map the structure out for you because there are a lot of things that confuse people in these passages.
Doug McMasters: And it's important for us to at least capture the flow from a higher level before we get into the details of it.
Doug McMasters: First thing you're going to notice in Matthew chapter 24 are two comments: a comment by the disciples and a comment by Jesus.
Doug McMasters: We've looked at that already.
Doug McMasters: The disciples make the comment about the temple, and Jesus makes a prediction about its destruction.
Doug McMasters: So you see that in verses 1 and 2.
Doug McMasters: Following those two comments are two questions.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at verse 3.
Doug McMasters: They're both there.
Doug McMasters: While he's sitting on the Mount of Aulus, the disciples approached him privately and said, Tell us when will these things happen?
Doug McMasters: And what is the sign of your coming and to the end of the age?
Doug McMasters: So those two comments in verses 1 and 2 are followed by two questions in verse 3, which leads Jesus into two answers.
Doug McMasters: Two answers.
Doug McMasters: He takes up those two questions and he answers them both.
Doug McMasters: He answers the question about when the temple is destroyed, and he answers the question about what are the signs of his return.
Doug McMasters: Following that, if you look at chapter 24 and verse 45, you'll see that Jesus begins three parables.
Doug McMasters: So you've got two comments, two questions, two answers, three parables.
Doug McMasters: The first parable is a parable about the faithful and wicked servants that runs from verse 45 to 51.
Doug McMasters: Then beginning in chapter 25 to verse 1 to 13, you have a parable of the ten virgins.
Doug McMasters: And then finally, from verses 14 to 30, the third parable of the talents.
Doug McMasters: Jesus closes off this discourse with one final judgment.
Doug McMasters: Two comments, two questions, two answers, three parables, one final judgment.
Doug McMasters: If you can keep that locked in your mind, you've got the flow of these two chapters.
Doug McMasters: He at the end speaks about the separation of the sheep from the goats, some to eternal life and some to eternal destruction.
Doug McMasters: This morning we're going to look at the two comments and the two questions and begin to look at the answer per that Jesus provides.
Doug McMasters: I'm going on vacation from 3 p.m.
Doug McMasters: today, and Micah gets the fun job of finishing this off.
Doug McMasters: Right, Micah?
unknown: Yes, sir.
Doug McMasters: Yeah.
Doug McMasters: Love ya.
Doug McMasters: See ya.
Doug McMasters: Anyway, as we go through this section of scripture, I ask you to keep your eye on the significance of why Jesus gave it to us and not get caught up in the sensationalistic urge to try to set dates.
Doug McMasters: This is a pastoral message that has prophetic undertones.
Doug McMasters: It's not meant to sort of satiate our driven curiosities.
Doug McMasters: It's meant to move our hearts to things that will honor the Lord rather than make him a laughing stock in society.
Doug McMasters: So let's move through the two comments, the two questions, and begin to look at how we can set up Jesus' answers to those things.
Doug McMasters: Let's go back just a second to verse one.
Doug McMasters: The disciples, despite all they've experienced that whole day, are still struck by what they see there in Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: It's astounding for me to think of this.
Doug McMasters: All of the piercing questions that Jesus got thrown at him and his insightful answers.
Doug McMasters: All of Jesus' provocative questions coming back to the Pharisees and the scribes.
Doug McMasters: All the denunciations of the parables, all the condemnation of the seven woes.
Doug McMasters: It was as if they didn't even listen to any of it.
Doug McMasters: Mark 13 in verse 1 puts it a little more dramatically than Matthew.
Doug McMasters: As Jesus was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, look what massive stones, what impressive buildings.
Doug McMasters: Really?
Doug McMasters: It'd be like listening to sinners in the hands of an angry God and wondering what Denny's has on a special after after church is over.
Doug McMasters: Look at the temple.
Doug McMasters: Look at the structure.
Doug McMasters: What remarkable engineering.
Doug McMasters: And there was reason to be impressed, to be sure.
Doug McMasters: Josephus talked about the beauty and the magnificence of the temple.
Doug McMasters: The exterior of the temple wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye.
Doug McMasters: Being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated a fiery flash that people strained to look at and were compelled to avert their eyes as if by solar rays.
Doug McMasters: I mean, it's a remarkable sight.
Doug McMasters: And the religious significance of it was even greater.
Doug McMasters: This was the place.
Doug McMasters: This was the place where people worshiped.
Doug McMasters: This is the place where God could be entreated.
Doug McMasters: This is the place that was the ultimate symbol of God's election of the Jewish people as his own and of his commitment and promises to him.
Doug McMasters: This was the place where Yahweh dwelt.
Doug McMasters: This was where he ruled from the midst of Israel.
Doug McMasters: This was where, through the sacrificial system, that in the great festivals that they had, that they would understand that he lived with them in grace and forgave them and restored them and enabled them to be free from defilement and to continue to be his people.
Doug McMasters: They loved the temple.
Doug McMasters: Jesus, take a look at it.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it wonderful?
Doug McMasters: And Jesus replies, Do you see all those things?
Doug McMasters: Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.
Doug McMasters: The ruin of Israel's majesty, the ruin of their worship system, the ruin of their sense of uniqueness among the nations.
Doug McMasters: Echo the prophet Haggai when they were rebuilding the temple in his day.
Doug McMasters: And he said to them in Haggai 2:15, From this day on, think carefully.
Doug McMasters: Before one stone was placed on the other in the Lord's temple, what state were you in?
Doug McMasters: The restoration of the temple in Haggai's day is now being reversed stone by stone.
Doug McMasters: And Jesus comments here follow what he said right at the end of chapter 23.
Doug McMasters: Just take a look up.
Doug McMasters: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.
Doug McMasters: How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
Doug McMasters: See, your house is left to you desolate.
Doug McMasters: Jesus' pronouncement, the temple was going to be destroyed, is tied directly to the religious leaders in charge of the temple, relarge, in charge of the nation of Israel.
Doug McMasters: And his prophecy here in chapter 24 is a culmination of his denunciation of them and their wicked ways.
Doug McMasters: Just the day before, Jesus quoted from Jeremiah's temple sermon in Jeremiah 7 Has this house which bears my name become a den of robbers in your view?
Doug McMasters: Yes.
Doug McMasters: I too have seen it.
Doug McMasters: This is the Lord's declaration.
Doug McMasters: When he cleansed the temple, he quoted that temple sermon.
Doug McMasters: And now Jesus returns to that temple idea and talks about the judgment that's coming because of the treachery of the people.
Doug McMasters: And in Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah says, Go to Shiloh, which is still an empty place, where I made my name dwell at first, where the tabernacle was set up for nearly 400 years, or around 400 years.
Doug McMasters: See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.
Doug McMasters: And now because you've done all these things, this is the Lord's declaration, because I've spoken to you time and time again, but you would not listen.
Doug McMasters: I've called to you, but you would not answer.
Doug McMasters: What I did to Shiloh, I will do to the house that bears my name.
Doug McMasters: And Jeremiah was talking about the destruction of the temple in his day.
Doug McMasters: And here Jesus speaks and he says, Go to Shiloh and see the tabernacle gone.
Doug McMasters: Go to Jeremiah's day and see the tabernacle gone.
Doug McMasters: And in my day, the tabernacle is gone.
Doug McMasters: The temple is gone.
Doug McMasters: And this is what it says in Micah 3.
Doug McMasters: Listen, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abore justice, who pervert everything that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with injustice.
Doug McMasters: Because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple's mountain will be a thicket.
Doug McMasters: This is Jesus' comment.
Doug McMasters: In a sentence, he's pulling together the threads of judgment from all of the prophets of the Old Testament, and he's saying it's about to happen right here.
Doug McMasters: Those two comments prompt two questions in verse three.
Doug McMasters: During this walk from the temple up onto the Mount of Olives, I'm sure the disciples were just trying to process the shock of Jesus' prophecy.
Doug McMasters: And certainly they wanted to have more details.
Doug McMasters: Jesus had made clear to them that the temple would be destroyed, but he didn't give them a time and he didn't give them any signs of what that would look like.
Doug McMasters: And obviously that leads them to some questions.
Doug McMasters: So, what about the destruction?
Doug McMasters: What about the signs of the end of the age?
Doug McMasters: Now remember who we're talking about here.
Doug McMasters: These are guys who are asking questions who had just a moment ago had completely forgotten the whole day's conflict and were impressed by the shining light that was reflecting off of the temple, who as yet still didn't understand that Jesus was going to go to the cross, and when he did, certainly didn't think he was going to be resurrected.
Doug McMasters: So these are not theologically informed questions.
Doug McMasters: These are shocked questions.
Doug McMasters: Questions of baffled men trying to sort out the complete opposite that they've heard from Jesus than what they had expected in their hearts.
Doug McMasters: So, Jesus, what's going on?
Doug McMasters: Tell us, when will these things happen?
Doug McMasters: What is the sign of your coming in the end of the age?
Doug McMasters: The disciples sort of looked at this and said that obviously something cataclysmic is about to happen.
Doug McMasters: What's that all gonna look like?
Doug McMasters: They had expected the Messiah to come and enter in, enter a new age into being, but what would that look like?
Doug McMasters: Can you help us understand?
Doug McMasters: Would they have thought of this as two events?
Doug McMasters: I don't think so.
Doug McMasters: I think they were just shocked and curious and bewildered all at once, and were blurting out questions.
Doug McMasters: But Jesus answers them.
Doug McMasters: How wonderful he is to look past our foolishness, look past our ignorance, look past our lack of a discernment, and deal gently with us.
Doug McMasters: Isn't that wonderful?
Doug McMasters: So here he is, chapter 24.
Doug McMasters: While sitting on the Mount of Olives, they asked the questions in verse 3, and in verse 4, Jesus replied to them.
Doug McMasters: What Jesus offers through the rest of chapter 24, before you get to the two parables, or three parables, is hard to understand.
Doug McMasters: It's not easy to sort of figure it all out.
Doug McMasters: Jesus begins with elaborating his initial statement about the destruction of the temple, which took place in 70 AD, and then moves on to talk about the second coming and the end of the age.
Doug McMasters: The second question that the disciples entered.
Doug McMasters: Jesus teases what they thought perhaps is one event into two.
Doug McMasters: The difficulty of interpreting this passage comes in trying to distinguish and to tease apart where Jesus is stops talking about the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and starts talking about the signs of the end.
Doug McMasters: And there are several people that come up with very different ways to approach these two chapters.
Doug McMasters: Some of them claim that Jesus well was a prophet, yes, but he got it wrong.
Doug McMasters: That he made a prophecy about the destruction of the temple and followed it with words that seemed to signify that immediately following that, that the end of the age would come.
Doug McMasters: And obviously that hasn't happened.
Doug McMasters: So certainly Jesus was sincere but wrong.
Doug McMasters: Now, none of us as Christians find that solution acceptable.
Doug McMasters: Jesus was buried and rose from the dead.
Doug McMasters: And that resurrection includes the vindication of God upon the sinlessness of Christ.
Doug McMasters: And certainly he was not inaccurate or wrong about anything.
Doug McMasters: So we'll just set that one aside.
Doug McMasters: And that leaves three more possibilities.
Doug McMasters: And in each of these three interpretations, I have friends, like actual friends who hold to each of these three perspectives.
Doug McMasters: And they're going to remain my friends, even if we don't come to agreement on these three perspectives.
Doug McMasters: And I'm going to say to us as a church, we're going to remain friends, even if we may not come to full agreement on these three perspectives.
Doug McMasters: The first of the three that I think are plausible is the one where everybody looks at the phrase, this generation, and casts everything that Jesus says forward, over the top of the 70 AD destruction of the temple.
Doug McMasters: It looks at the language that Jesus uses and says that in what he's doing, he's jumping over the question about the temple and moving directly into the signs and the timing of the end of the age.
Doug McMasters: Another group would say that all of it refers just to 70 AD.
Doug McMasters: That Jesus isn't taking up the discussion about the signs of the end of the age at all.
Doug McMasters: It's all rather wrapped up in the destruction of the temple.
Doug McMasters: So you've got two positions that are irreconcilable.
Doug McMasters: It can't all be future and all be near at the same time.
Doug McMasters: And then there's another position.
Doug McMasters: I think this is the correct one.
Doug McMasters: That Jesus is giving a combination of statements, some of which refer to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, and some of which refer to the signs at the end of the age.
Doug McMasters: Some details that Jesus gives apply directly to the destruction of temple.
Doug McMasters: Some of the details apply directly to the coming of Christ.
Doug McMasters: And here's the more difficult part.
Doug McMasters: Some of the details speak to both.
Doug McMasters: Speak to both.
Doug McMasters: And that's why there's common language and common images used.
Doug McMasters: Now, this is what Old Testament prophets do regularly.
Doug McMasters: They take an immediate sign of prophecy, and it's also meant to be a foreshadowing of a future event.
Doug McMasters: For an example, one that we're very familiar with.
Doug McMasters: King Ahaz is given a sign by God to assure him that the king of Aram would not conquer Judah.
Doug McMasters: We read about it in the book of Isaiah.
Doug McMasters: And the promise to him is this: a virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and you will call him Emmanuel, Isaiah 7:14.
Doug McMasters: Now, this was immediately fulfilled in the birth of Moher Shalel Hasbaz, who was born to King Ahaz and his wife.
Doug McMasters: But it's also quoted again in Matthew chapter 1 as a prophetic announcement about the birth of Christ, and a virgin would conceive and bear a child, and you will call his name Emmanuel.
Doug McMasters: So there's this sign, which is a foreshadowing of a future event.
Doug McMasters: The destruction of the temple in 70 AD as a foreshadowing of a future event with similar language, with similar images.
Doug McMasters: So there's some details about the prophecy that Ahaz received that were exclusive to that moment.
Doug McMasters: There were some details of that prophecy that applied only to the birth of Christ.
Doug McMasters: And there were some details about that prophecy that applied to both Ahaz's day and Jesus' birth.
Doug McMasters: So here Jesus is using the same prophetic signature.
Doug McMasters: There are some details in Matthew 24 that were applied directly to the nation of Israel and the destruction of the temple.
Doug McMasters: There are some details that apply only and exclusively to his return, and there are some details that apply to both.
Doug McMasters: Now, as we look at Ahaz and as we look back on the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, we have clarity.
Doug McMasters: We can see that, right?
Doug McMasters: We're looking back.
Doug McMasters: We say, well, that's what happened in Ahaz's day.
Doug McMasters: That's what happened in Jesus' day.
Doug McMasters: We can see the connection of the prophecy in its earlier and latter expansion.
Doug McMasters: We understand it.
Doug McMasters: We do not yet see the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: And so with prophecy, there's a little bit of mystery that has to be accounted for and understood and accepted.
Doug McMasters: We don't see everything with the clarity of hindsight.
Doug McMasters: We're looking at prophecy and wondering, what will it look like?
Doug McMasters: And therefore, we need to be humble and willing to admit that we don't have it all just sort of mapped out.
Doug McMasters: Because every one of us who have said in the past that we do have ended up having to say, I was wrong.
Doug McMasters: So there's this telescoping of near and far, California with its peaks.
Doug McMasters: You can see some in the front and in the back.
Doug McMasters: And when you look at them in the horizon, it's hard to tell which is which, which is near, which is far, which is near, which is far, which is near, which is far.
Doug McMasters: When you read Matthew 24 and 25, you're going to be doing that same sort of optical illusion.
Doug McMasters: What's near, what's far, what's near, what's far?
Doug McMasters: But Jesus is doing that.
Doug McMasters: He's using what we call prophetic for shortening or foreshadowing of things that are future.
Doug McMasters: He talks about false Christs who will come.
Doug McMasters: In 70 AD, they did.
Doug McMasters: The Jewish prophets stood up and predicted God was going to deliver the Jews from Rome.
Doug McMasters: Those false prophets were false.
Doug McMasters: The temple was destroyed, the people were scattered.
Doug McMasters: In the latter day, there will arise antichrists who will deceive.
Doug McMasters: Near and far commonality.
Doug McMasters: Jesus talks about wars and famines and earthquakes.
Doug McMasters: Rome was at war with the people of Israel.
Doug McMasters: Trouble in this life will intensify until the end of the age.
Doug McMasters: They set up a worship to an idol in the temple in 70 AD.
Doug McMasters: Final rebellion against God will bring religious abomination and desolation.
Doug McMasters: There's this near far, near, far commonality.
Doug McMasters: Which is near, which is far.
Doug McMasters: I don't know.
Doug McMasters: I can't quite tell.
Doug McMasters: They both look very much alike.
SPEAKER_00: That leads us to the three parables.
Doug McMasters: What should be our posture in the light of this shocking declaration of judgment?
Doug McMasters: What should our attitude be when the very things that we think are permanent are not?
Doug McMasters: The very things that we think are stable shake loose.
Doug McMasters: Jesus gives the parables.
Doug McMasters: And basically, in there he says, be watchful, be prepared, be faithful, and continue to be diligent until I return.
Doug McMasters: And then he leads off or finishes off with the final judgment.
Doug McMasters: Where he does come and where the judgment has eternal consequences.
Doug McMasters: Separation of people into the welcomed and the refused.
Doug McMasters: Speculations about the end of the world are still going to be rampant.
Doug McMasters: But all of them are right about one thing.
Doug McMasters: Jesus is going to return.
Doug McMasters: And he's going to bring everything that we think is permanent to a close.
Doug McMasters: I think deep down we we we know this already, don't we?
Doug McMasters: I think deep down, every time we see the leaves fall off the trees every fall, we realize that there are seasons to life.
Doug McMasters: Every time we have to stand beside a hole in the ground and lower one of our friends or family members into it, we realize this life is not permanent.
Doug McMasters: Every time we hear news of all sorts of things, wars, famines, earthquakes, global warming, we get a sense, even from those who don't know the Lord, that we realize that this is a precious commodity, life in the world, and it's not a permanent thing.
Doug McMasters: Someone supposedly asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew he was going to die today.
Doug McMasters: I tried to find the reference for this, but I couldn't find it, so maybe it's just a preacher's truth and not a real one.
Doug McMasters: Not sure.
Doug McMasters: He said this, he said, I would plant my apple tree today.
Doug McMasters: If he knew he was going to die that day, what would you do?
Doug McMasters: I would plant my apple tree.
Doug McMasters: What would you do if you knew you were to die today?
Doug McMasters: What would you do if you knew the world would come to an end today?
Doug McMasters: What would you do if you knew the world would come to an end this year?
Doug McMasters: Would you seek to be reconciled to a holy God today?
Doug McMasters: Would you seek to be rejoined with maybe some estranged friends or loved ones?
Doug McMasters: Maybe you'd finish the project that you started a long time ago and just put your hand to it one more time.
Doug McMasters: Would you tell your children or your parents you love them?
Doug McMasters: Would you embrace your beloved just a little more?
Doug McMasters: What would you do?
Doug McMasters: This is what Matthew drives us to think about.
Doug McMasters: He drives us to realize, aside all the predictions and all the foolishness of date setting that have come up, listen to what Jesus is saying from the tie view.
Doug McMasters: The day is going to come.
Doug McMasters: You won't know the day or the hour.
Doug McMasters: But it's coming.
Doug McMasters: Are you ready?
Doug McMasters: Are you so ready that you can just go ahead and plant your apple tree?
Doug McMasters: Are you so ready that you could go down into your workshop and just take off another millimeter or two of shaving?
Doug McMasters: Are you so ready where you could say, if I drop dead right now, I could go.
Doug McMasters: Not because of my righteousness, but because of the blood of Christ.
Doug McMasters: Are you so ready where you say, I don't need to hurry up and reconcile with mom or dad or my daughter or my son?
Doug McMasters: I don't need to go across the street and apologize to my neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to put that money back into the bank account at work.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: So, what Jesus is driving to is this.
SPEAKER_00: Be ready.
Doug McMasters: Be on the lookout for the Lord.
Doug McMasters: Be on the lookout if it's the end of the day or just the end of another day.
Doug McMasters: Be on the lookout for the Lord.
Doug McMasters: Be confident in his love.
Doug McMasters: Be sure about his promises.
Doug McMasters: Invest yourself in him and in the present days that you have.
Doug McMasters: In everything, whether it's ordinary, whether it's just commonplace, whether it's the people you see all the time, invest yourself in them.
Doug McMasters: Why?
Doug McMasters: Because we have the promises in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Doug McMasters: That all who die in the Lord come into his presence without condemnation and with great joy.
Doug McMasters: That's why we can just plant our apple trees.
Doug McMasters: Why we can just embrace our friends.
Doug McMasters: Why we can do whatever the day calls for that any other day called for.
Doug McMasters: And you know what?
Doug McMasters: You don't have to wait for the last day to do those things.
Doug McMasters: You can love your loved ones right now.
Doug McMasters: You can engage in the gospel right now.
Doug McMasters: You can be reconciled right now with people that you need to be reconciled with.
Doug McMasters: You can set about the tasks, whether they're small or large, right now.
Doug McMasters: You don't need to have the twinkling notion of the sign to motivate your heart.
Doug McMasters: Because you won't get one.
Doug McMasters: You won't know the day or the hour.
Doug McMasters: Right now.
Doug McMasters: Christ is come.
Doug McMasters: Christ is coming.
Doug McMasters: And he will certainly reveal himself on that day.
Doug McMasters: We won't have to wonder if a 4.7 or 8 or whatever it was was somehow the rumblings of heaven.
Doug McMasters: We don't have to worry about whether or not the moon happened to sort of darken the shadow, darken the sun for about three minutes and wonder if God wasn't giving us a little bit of a sign.
Doug McMasters: No, we just have to be ready.
Doug McMasters: Amen.
Doug McMasters: Let's pray.
Doug McMasters: Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Word of God.
Doug McMasters: We thank you for our Savior who calls us away from our own questions to help us see things the way He does.
Doug McMasters: And Lord, we need that more and more.
Doug McMasters: And so we thank you for the Word.
Doug McMasters: And Father, as we go through this section of Scripture, I pray that you would truly move in our hearts to cause us to be people that remain expectant, but remain vigilant, who remain diligent and faithful, despite whatever woes and worries and cares the world might bring upon us, whether it be wars or famines, or just the fact that the doctor said, I have some bad news to share.
Doug McMasters: That in every way that life brings its troubles, we would be unmoved, unshakable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord, because Jesus is risen.
Doug McMasters: And we pray this in Christ's name.
Doug McMasters: Amen.