SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: What a good morning to celebrate the Lord's faithfulness to us for 60 years.
SPEAKER_01: As Webb said, we're going to be having a reminder of that throughout our summer.
SPEAKER_01: So the second Sunday of July and the second Sunday of August, we will fellowship together around food and also remember the Lord's faithfulness to us.
SPEAKER_01: Let's continue that by seeing his faithfulness in Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 24.
SPEAKER_01: Last Sunday, we begin considering a difficult section in Matthew's gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And this morning we're going to finish that section as we seek to direct our eyes toward the King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to look at Matthew 24, verses 23 through 28, primarily, but let's read the entire unit to remind ourselves of some of the context that we covered last Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: I'll read beginning in Matthew 24, verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord Jesus, answering the disciples' question, said, 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.
SPEAKER_01: Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
SPEAKER_01: And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, I will pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: For then there will be great tribulation, a great squeezing, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be.
SPEAKER_01: And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.
SPEAKER_01: But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
SPEAKER_01: Then, if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it.
SPEAKER_01: For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
SPEAKER_01: See, I've told you beforehand.
SPEAKER_01: So if they say to you, Look, he's in the wilderness, do not go out.
SPEAKER_01: If they say, Look, he's in the inner rooms, do not believe it.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Last Sunday I took a different approach to preaching on Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_01: I would like to take a different approach again this morning, following up on that sermon.
SPEAKER_01: I'll do a little bit of preaching, but mostly I'd like to talk to you.
SPEAKER_01: Just talk to you, to share a little bit of my heart as your shepherd teacher.
SPEAKER_01: Can I do that?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna do it anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Let's start with a question, a couple of questions.
SPEAKER_01: How do you persevere and endure when your world has been turned upside down?
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happened to the disciples in Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_01: Their world is being turned upside down.
SPEAKER_01: How do they keep going?
SPEAKER_01: By looking to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: How do you persevere and endure when you don't know what is coming tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01: Or a week from now, or a year from now, or 10 years from now, or 50 years from now, or a thousand years from now?
SPEAKER_01: How do you persevere when you do not know what life will be like for your children and for your grandchildren?
SPEAKER_01: That's what's happened to the disciples in Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_01: How do you do that?
SPEAKER_01: You look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's the lesson Jesus taught his disciples as he answered their questions about judgment on their temple, on judgment on their holy city.
SPEAKER_01: And as they asked questions about his kingship and his return to rule, he taught them to look to him.
SPEAKER_01: Now I've heard quite a bit about last Sunday's look at verses 15 through 22.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you commented on the style of the sermon, saying it was kind of more teaching than preaching, kind of a lesson on how to study the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It was instructive rather than directive.
SPEAKER_01: It more taught us not what to live, but how to read God's word.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you were frustrated that I didn't state my convictions.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you were left confused by the options for interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you were confused about what does all this mean for the future?
SPEAKER_01: What about future things?
SPEAKER_01: Some of you were frustrated by how things were left kind of open-ended.
SPEAKER_01: As lovingly as possible, I say to all who felt those feelings, good.
SPEAKER_01: Others expressed appreciation for the things that some of you were frustrated by.
SPEAKER_01: Some appreciated what they felt was clarity that others saw as unclear.
SPEAKER_01: As lovingly as I can, I say, praise God for his faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: But I do want to speak to those reactions for a few moments.
SPEAKER_01: Last Sunday, I tried to help us see several elements that anyone must consider when they come to a difficult passage of Scripture like Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_01: Especially this particular passage that speaks of things that are confusing and uncertain, and maybe history and maybe future, and things that are beyond all of our understanding.
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to lay out multiple possibilities that impact our understanding without purposefully clarifying what is best.
SPEAKER_01: Now that was intentional.
SPEAKER_01: There was a method to my madness.
SPEAKER_01: I anticipated the kinds of reactions you had.
SPEAKER_01: So then why would I take that approach if I anticipated some of that?
SPEAKER_01: I had several reasons.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, a single passage of Scripture is not a one-stop shop.
SPEAKER_01: We can't come to even a chapter like Matthew 24 and think that we're going to get all that we can get about future things, about end times, from a single chapter, much less a single set of verses within that chapter.
SPEAKER_01: There is a better way to understand Scripture than getting a sermon here or a sermon there or a Bible study here and a Bible study there.
SPEAKER_01: It's understood best in context.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's best that you understand eschatology over a lifetime.
SPEAKER_01: Eschatology is that study of last things, of end things.
SPEAKER_01: If you stick with me through Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, thank you for coming back.
SPEAKER_01: If you stick with me through both chapters, I think several things will come together for you over the whole.
SPEAKER_01: But additionally, part of discipleship is helping you read Scripture well.
SPEAKER_01: To observe what's written, how it's written.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe ask why it's written that way.
SPEAKER_01: And what is significant in a text so that you on your own will begin to understand it as you take it home and you say, Well, I'm noticing things that maybe I didn't notice before.
SPEAKER_01: But most importantly, my goal last Sunday was to promote humility and meekness within us as we look to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about that with me the rest of this morning.
SPEAKER_01: As we looked at a passage of Scripture that was difficult, that Jesus is talking about things that may be yet future, things that are these great squeezing, this tribulation that's going to, in essence, squeeze the life out of human beings.
SPEAKER_01: My goal was to cause us to grow in humility and meekness as we look together to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 5, Jesus said, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Meekness is best understood, I think, as strength under control.
SPEAKER_01: Think of a bridled horse that is responding to its rider.
SPEAKER_01: Or your car that is responding to your direction as you put your foot on the gas pedal or the brake and have your hands on the steering wheel.
SPEAKER_01: There is a strength, a power there, but it is under control.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is a companion of meekness.
SPEAKER_01: It's not necessarily thinking less of oneself, but it is thinking more highly of others than of oneself.
SPEAKER_01: It rests in our understanding and our convictions, and it does so without pride and arrogance.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is that significant?
SPEAKER_01: I think it's significant because we evangelical Christians sometimes struggle with meekness and humility regarding our Bible knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I go to this church because we preach the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: But we sometimes can have an easily develop an attitude of arrogance about it.
SPEAKER_01: We can hold our doctrinal convictions and hold them harshly and condemningly even over others.
SPEAKER_01: We can sometimes wield our understanding and our convictions as bully clubs or act as bouncers to keep other beliefs at bay or out of our group.
SPEAKER_01: So I prayed last Sunday that the Lord would motivate us to hold our convictions and our conclusions about this subject, about the doctrine of future things and of prophetic things, to hold those things gently by laying out multiple concerns to wrestle with, and by explaining the multi-layered options for understanding this section of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: You see, evangelical churches have often presented a very hard and firm line about eschatology, end times things in the last hundred, hundred and fifty years.
SPEAKER_01: Often teaching a theological perspective or a kind of systematized theology rather than dealing with individual passages within their contexts.
SPEAKER_01: So for some, not all, but for some, the result is that the doctrine of end times and theological truths about end times develops into a very hard-lined topic.
SPEAKER_01: There's a definitive right and a definitive wrong.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's true about some areas of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: There's a definitive right and a definitive wrong about the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And about how one comes to saving faith in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But when we get to things like the doctrine of end times, we treat it with as much or more intensity, even, than things like the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Trinity, or salvation.
SPEAKER_01: But the passages about last things, prophetic things, can be so complicated and often have elements that lead righteous people, brothers and sisters in Christ that we will live with for eternity, to different conclusions.
SPEAKER_01: So I would rather have us walk through the text showing possibilities and have us come out on the other side of that with humility than to have us even more firmly entrenched with our bully clubs, entrenched in a firm, particular view that beats up on others.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you listen closely, you can probably discern where my convictions lie.
SPEAKER_01: For those of you that were frustrated by that, I seek your forgiveness, but that was on purpose.
SPEAKER_01: I believe the evidence leads to definitive conclusions about the end times.
SPEAKER_01: If you need confirmation, I believe that the Lord is going to catch up his church, rapture his church prior to a time period known as the Great Tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that that period of time is going to be followed by the Lord's return and power and great glory to judge all.
SPEAKER_01: And that will be followed by his personal reign as king over all of his creation.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't want my personal convictions to be at the forefront.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to lead you to say, Pastor Jason said this, so it's what I believe.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to say, I believe this because this is what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That's the conclusion I want us to come to.
SPEAKER_01: I want us to see what Matthew writes, to understand the complexities from his standpoint, and through it to see and to follow Jesus with humility and meekness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our approach to that matters.
SPEAKER_01: We want to understand what the speaker or the author, in this case, the Lord Jesus is the speaker, the author is Matthew, the divine author is the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: We want to understand what they meant in their historical and linguistic settings.
SPEAKER_01: We should be assertive about that.
SPEAKER_01: We want to have that in place so that it leads us to a proper conclusion.
SPEAKER_01: But even then, we can reach different conclusions.
SPEAKER_01: That's where we want to be gracious.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's much in these chapters that we can't claim certainty about.
SPEAKER_01: Even the Lord Jesus, he's our highest example, right?
SPEAKER_01: Even the Lord Jesus exercised meekness and humility in his humanity.
SPEAKER_01: If you look down at verse 36, you will see that Jesus says, concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in divine omniscience, and God the Son is God.
SPEAKER_01: He knows all things.
SPEAKER_01: But in his humanity, the Lord Jesus determined that he would say, I don't know this in my humanity.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how that all works out.
SPEAKER_01: You can ask him someday.
SPEAKER_01: That's just what he says.
SPEAKER_01: In his humanity, in his walking in this dust of this earth, he said, It's okay that I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: There's a humility and a meekness, a strength under control there that's okay with him, and therefore it should be okay with us.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean we ought to be ignorant.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean we study, that we don't study, that we don't seek to learn, that we don't evaluate, that we don't reach conclusions.
SPEAKER_01: We even develop convictions about scripture and about theology.
SPEAKER_01: We come to what we believe, and I pray that the Lord will bring us there with meekness and humility.
SPEAKER_01: Whether we feel sure about our beliefs, solid and convinced, or maybe you're a new believer and you're uncertain, you don't know what you think yet.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever we are, we often experience a strange feeling of, I'm not sure I fit in.
SPEAKER_01: For example, we can go back to last Sunday again.
SPEAKER_01: You may survey all of the evidence in Matthew 24, verses 15 through 28.
SPEAKER_01: You may survey all of that and feel convinced that all of these details, especially those that we looked at last week in verses 15 to 22, were fulfilled in the first century.
SPEAKER_01: They are part of completed history.
SPEAKER_01: The term often applied to that view is the term preterism or preterist.
SPEAKER_01: If you reach that conclusion, you may not feel as though you fit in perfectly with what is taught here at faith.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, you would be called a futurist if you surveyed all of the evidence and felt convinced that the details were not fulfilled in the first century, but they await some end of days climactic period called the tribulation, the great tribulation, no less.
SPEAKER_01: If you reach that conclusion, you might feel like you do fit in, but some might still look at you a little oddly.
SPEAKER_01: Suppose you surveyed all of the evidence and felt convinced that the details describe historical events in the first century, but they are only fulfilled in future climactic events.
SPEAKER_01: In that case, some might call you a partial preterist because we want to put people in groups.
SPEAKER_01: We want to label people.
SPEAKER_01: That is, that the passage was partially fulfilled in the first century and awaits yet a future fulfillment.
SPEAKER_01: But that would only be an accurate accusation if you believed that end time events were fulfilled 2,000 years ago.
SPEAKER_01: Being very particular here.
SPEAKER_01: Let me explain.
SPEAKER_01: If you think that end time events were fulfilled, prophecy was fulfilled, prophecy about end time events was fulfilled 2,000 years ago, you could be called a partial preterist.
SPEAKER_01: But if you think that the first century events were pictures, were images, were foreshadowings, mere preludes of a great future squeezing, tribulation, you would be a futurist, not a partial preterist.
SPEAKER_01: You see the problem with labels?
SPEAKER_01: It's really hard to make them fit.
SPEAKER_01: And if that's you, that futurist who says, Yeah, I think that was a picture, a prelude, a premonition, a foreshadowing, whatever term you want.
SPEAKER_01: To use of a fulfillment that has yet to take place, you might look around and wonder, do I fit anywhere?
SPEAKER_01: And then, as if that's not enough, some of you might be sitting here silently screaming, so what?
SPEAKER_01: Just tell me what to believe and move on.
SPEAKER_01: You probably think the rest of us are crazy and wish we would just move on from this already.
SPEAKER_01: Have I covered everybody?
SPEAKER_01: I hope so.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what's all of this about?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I suggest that there is a thread running through this section of Scripture, and not just through this section, but through all of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: A thread of humility and meekness from not belonging.
SPEAKER_01: Say that again.
SPEAKER_01: A thread of humility and meekness from not belonging.
SPEAKER_01: Feeling and wondering whether or not we fit anywhere is the wrong approach.
SPEAKER_01: If we travel down that path, we have missed what Jesus does for the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: So don't wonder if you fit into any particular eschatological camp.
SPEAKER_01: Don't wonder if you fit in here at faith because that's not where Matthew leads us.
SPEAKER_01: That's not where Jesus leads us.
SPEAKER_01: You see, questioning where our convictions fit is the wrong approach.
SPEAKER_01: Because disciples, followers of Jesus, Christians do not fit in this world.
SPEAKER_01: We don't belong here.
SPEAKER_01: When we come to Christ, we are automatically transferred to the kingdom of his son, a kingdom that does not belong to this world.
SPEAKER_01: That's why Peter calls us again and again strangers and exiles.
SPEAKER_01: So instead of questioning where we fit, we must rest in the truth that we do not fit.
SPEAKER_01: And then in that rest, we learn to trust what Jesus is doing with us, in us, through us, and around us.
SPEAKER_01: But that's uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_01: Living in a world where we do not fit in is awkward and complex.
SPEAKER_01: Just think back to that job that was so hard to endure because of the duties that you had to fulfill, or that coworker that you just had to put up with so often, or maybe a boss that was just hard to deal with.
SPEAKER_01: If that wasn't you, just think back to junior high and high school, where everybody was strange.
SPEAKER_01: None of us fit in.
SPEAKER_01: A few days ago, I read a letter written by a mother to her teenage daughter.
SPEAKER_01: The daughter had had a rough day at school.
SPEAKER_01: A day that made her feel definitively on the outside, not fitting in.
SPEAKER_01: She was different.
SPEAKER_01: She didn't have the same things that the other girls had.
SPEAKER_01: She didn't do the same things.
SPEAKER_01: She didn't speak the same way that other girls spoke.
SPEAKER_01: And that particular day was a very painful reality for her that she did not fit in.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what her mom wrote to her.
SPEAKER_01: She said, Sweet child, study the way you're feeling today.
SPEAKER_01: Because I love you, I ask this of you.
SPEAKER_01: Lean into your otherness.
SPEAKER_01: Learn the contours of its face.
SPEAKER_01: Feel the steady grip of its hand.
SPEAKER_01: Because I intend for it to be your lifelong companion.
SPEAKER_01: It is a truer friend than those who surround you now.
SPEAKER_01: More than I want your comfort, I want you to be an alien and a stranger.
SPEAKER_01: You're beginning to understand what that means, that not fitting, that dissonant chord, that unease in the midst of ease that has been the faithful travel companion of God's children for millennia.
SPEAKER_01: And I rejoice in the faithfulness of the God who is showing you that truth.
SPEAKER_01: How many of us parents would say that to our child?
SPEAKER_01: She continues.
SPEAKER_01: We are sojourners.
SPEAKER_01: We are travelers on our way to the only true comfort the human heart can know.
SPEAKER_01: I will not help you populate your life with the things that lessen your grip on this reality.
SPEAKER_01: We say that again.
SPEAKER_01: Because I love you, yes.
SPEAKER_01: But because I love your heavenly Father above all else, and I will give an account to him for whether I have raised citizens of earth or citizens of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: I want to bring us there, friends, to that place of trusting non-belonging.
SPEAKER_01: I want to bring us to the place that Jesus brought the disciples, to that place of trusting Him in the midst of not belonging.
SPEAKER_01: I do not intend to convince you of a theological approach, even though I believe there is a proper approach.
SPEAKER_01: My goal is not to prove to you what our church holds to be accurate and correct in the doctrine of future things, even though we hold those convictions.
SPEAKER_01: My goal is not to help you feel comfortable fitting in here, for we are merely a jumble of misfits molded into a family by the Lord's wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what Jesus does for his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Matthew's doing for his first readers in the early church.
SPEAKER_01: No, I aim to unwrap the Bible's mystery, pulling apart the ribbons, unwrapping the gift so that we can see it as clearly as possible in all of its mystery.
SPEAKER_01: For in that unwrapping, we see more and more and more of Jesus, and we see him more clearly, and we follow him more closely.
SPEAKER_01: And in seeing more of Jesus, we identify with him in meekness and in humility, holding firmly to what we believe to be true, but humbly accepting that we may not know all things with certainty.
SPEAKER_01: To be clear, there are some things, some biblical truths and some convictions and some doctrines about which we can and should be absolutely dogmatic, unyielding like a bulldog.
SPEAKER_01: The doctrine of future things may not be one of those.
SPEAKER_01: Righteous people disagree.
SPEAKER_01: Let's do that well.
SPEAKER_01: And as we see Jesus, we we come together, realizing that because of Jesus, none of us fit in outside of these walls.
SPEAKER_01: If you do, come talk to me.
SPEAKER_01: We gotta talk through some things.
SPEAKER_01: As Jesus promised the disciples that their glorious temple would be undone, stone by stone, the gold all melted off because of the heat of the flames.
SPEAKER_01: As Jesus promised that their homeland would become desolate and their people would flee for their lives, he lovingly set them apart from the world and at the same time drew them closer to himself.
SPEAKER_01: Why would he do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's happening to him.
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget that when Jesus said these words, he was just at most a few days away from the cross.
SPEAKER_01: He's very presently identifying with the fact that he does not belong here.
SPEAKER_01: His kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: And so as he's spending his last moments with his disciples, he's drawing them into that very same reality closer to him.
SPEAKER_01: It was his world.
SPEAKER_01: Brothers and sisters in Christ, we don't fit in this world anymore, for in Jesus we are being made for a better world.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus, we misfits who are all made into one family can come together with humility, with meekness, and trust and follow the king together, all looking together, united for his return to gather us together with him.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: But we do have a responsibility.
SPEAKER_01: That's in verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: To proclaim this message of the kingdom to the end of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Till every ear has heard.
SPEAKER_01: To take the message of this gospel of another kingdom to the world.
SPEAKER_01: And so we go, he's preparing us for Matthew 28.
SPEAKER_01: We go throughout life, day by day, moment by moment, week by week, year by year, we go individually, as families, we go, and on our way, we make disciples, teaching them to obey Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We do this, fulfilling the word of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And we do so knowing that one day, one day the king will return.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples asked about that in verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: When will the judgment of the temple come?
SPEAKER_01: You've told us about that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Jesus, when?
SPEAKER_01: And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus began to answer that second question in verse 21.
SPEAKER_01: The world will get closer to the end of the age and the return of the king when a time of great tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: If you were not with us last week, that word tribulation has its roots in this concept of squeezing.
SPEAKER_01: Like a, I'm sorry, Nick, squeezing of a snake, an anaconda or a python.
SPEAKER_01: Nick doesn't like snakes.
SPEAKER_01: It grabs its prey, great squeezing.
SPEAKER_01: The world will get closer to the end of the age and the return of the king when this great tribulation occurs.
SPEAKER_01: Then, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: Then.
SPEAKER_01: When?
SPEAKER_01: In the time of significant squeezing.
SPEAKER_01: Then, if anyone says to you, see, the time of great squeezing, the time of great tribulation will be a time of significant deception.
SPEAKER_01: The deception will be so realistic that the possibility exists that God's children may be deceived.
SPEAKER_01: 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 11 speaks of this concept as well.
SPEAKER_01: But thankfully, God will sovereignly cause that period to be short.
SPEAKER_01: That divine shortening is vital because there will be people performing miracles of all kinds to convince people to believe that they are the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention, Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: He said in verse 4, see that no one leads you astray.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 24, don't be led astray.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention, Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: You see, people look for relief in times of pressure and pain.
SPEAKER_01: But it's a time of uncomfortableness, a time of insecurity, they look for a rescuer, they look for a messiah.
SPEAKER_01: So he says, when you hear rumors of a miracle worker, it's not Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If you hear of someone restoring sight, healing the deaf, maybe even raising the dead, we don't know.
SPEAKER_01: It's not your king.
SPEAKER_01: If the person claims messiahship, he is a deceiver.
SPEAKER_01: Don't believe him or anyone who says it's him.
SPEAKER_01: And those deceiving kinds of lies will only increase as the day draws nearer.
SPEAKER_01: God's people must never believe that their Savior has returned because of what they hear or because of what they see being done, even if it's miraculous.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Jesus is answering the disciples' questions about his return at the end of the age.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say when, he doesn't say anything about when he will return until the next section beginning in verse 29.
SPEAKER_01: But he clarifies when it is not.
SPEAKER_01: He does not give a date, but he tells you how you will know.
SPEAKER_01: God's people do not need to worry about his return.
SPEAKER_01: No one will miss the return of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says the return of the king will be obvious.
SPEAKER_01: He says it will be like lightning that's seen all across the sky.
SPEAKER_01: He's not speaking here about what we call the rapture, that catching up of the saints.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is answering the disciples' question.
SPEAKER_01: When is the end of the age when you will come as our ruling king?
SPEAKER_01: He's answering their question.
SPEAKER_01: So what is the answer?
SPEAKER_01: When will you come as our ruling king?
SPEAKER_01: Here is the answer so far.
SPEAKER_01: First, Jesus will return after Jerusalem and the temple have been judged for rejecting him.
SPEAKER_01: Goes all the way back to verse 1, where Jesus turns his back on the temple and leaves.
SPEAKER_01: He walks out.
SPEAKER_01: God leaves his people.
SPEAKER_01: We've also seen so far that Jesus will return after an undefined period of initial pains filled with wars of all kinds, trials of all kinds, suffering, godlessness, lawlessness.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Just repeating what the text says.
SPEAKER_01: We've seen that Jesus will return when he determines the kingdom mission is complete.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus will return, he says, after a time of intense squeezing.
SPEAKER_01: So terrible that the world has never seen anything like it, nor will it ever see anything like it again.
SPEAKER_01: The last thing that we've seen is that Jesus will return after a period of increased deception, accompanied by miracles of all kinds.
SPEAKER_01: There should be no question if he has returned.
SPEAKER_01: For that reality will be evident to everyone.
SPEAKER_01: If you wonder if Jesus has come back and you missed it, he hasn't.
SPEAKER_01: If you have a question about it, he hasn't.
SPEAKER_01: Because everybody will know, everybody will see.
SPEAKER_01: It will be apparent.
SPEAKER_01: There is no way to miss the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Then we get to verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Received a text from one of our staff members this week.
SPEAKER_01: So what's your conclusion on verse 28?
SPEAKER_01: I said, I don't know yet.
SPEAKER_01: I think I know now.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever, wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just tell you how hard this is.
SPEAKER_01: One of the commentaries in my library says there are eight options for what that means.
SPEAKER_01: What do I do with that?
SPEAKER_01: What kind of help is that?
SPEAKER_01: Best case scenario was they they narrowed it to three.
SPEAKER_01: So that just goes to show you that the smartest people, the smartest biblical people who know the most about history and linguistics, sometimes they just throw up their arms and say, ah.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think this is a visual illustration, right?
SPEAKER_01: And guess what I saw?
SPEAKER_01: Vultures circling around.
SPEAKER_01: Come around the corner, and guess what I saw on the road?
SPEAKER_01: A dead animal.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: It's a visual illustration.
SPEAKER_01: The hard part is, what does that visual illustration represent?
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean?
SPEAKER_01: What's it pointing to?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we know in the illustration something has died and the birds gather to feast.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: Well, in the end, my best conclusion is to let Scripture interpret Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that it seems best to pair this with a similar description in Ezekiel chapter 39.
SPEAKER_01: In Ezekiel chapter 39, there's a very similar description about when God comes back to judge his world.
SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel 39, verse 17, as for you, Son of Man, thus says the Lord Yahweh, speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field.
SPEAKER_01: Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood.
SPEAKER_01: You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, and he goats and bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan.
SPEAKER_01: And you shall eat, and you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk in the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, and you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, mighty men and all kinds of warriors, declares the Lord Yahweh.
SPEAKER_01: And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed and my hand that I have laid on them.
SPEAKER_01: The house of Israel shall know that I am Yahweh their God from that day forward.
SPEAKER_01: Seems to me that Jesus is saying to his disciples, You know, Ezekiel, you know that the day that all people will see that I am Yahweh your God is the day that judgment comes and the birds feast.
SPEAKER_01: You know this, he says.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus described how God would judge Israel for rejecting God's Son.
SPEAKER_01: That's how the chapter begins.
SPEAKER_01: Then he prepared the disciples for times of rampant expression of sin in all forms and manners, building to a period of unparalleled tribulation, he says.
SPEAKER_01: And along the way, he says, Many will claim to be me.
SPEAKER_01: Many will claim to be your rescuer, your messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be led astray.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention.
SPEAKER_01: Look to me, don't be led astray.
SPEAKER_01: Now, put yourselves in those disciples' sandals for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry, I'm gonna finish here.
SPEAKER_01: Your world's just been turned upside down.
SPEAKER_01: Your Lord has just said everything that you know to be normal is gonna be gone.
SPEAKER_01: What does all of this say to those disciples?
SPEAKER_01: I think it says, Jesus says, this is the way that the world will go.
SPEAKER_01: But you don't belong to this world.
SPEAKER_01: So watch and pray.
SPEAKER_01: Make disciples as you go about your life, bringing them into my eternal kingdom, and be watchful to the end.
SPEAKER_01: Don't buy into whatever the world attempts to sell you.
SPEAKER_01: Endure to the end.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because your redemption is near.
SPEAKER_01: This is very, very similar to what Jesus said to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation chapter 3, beginning in verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: I'm coming soon.
SPEAKER_01: Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
SPEAKER_01: The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, an eternal temple.
SPEAKER_01: Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
SPEAKER_01: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, may we see you more clearly.
SPEAKER_01: Help us see you so that we might follow you, being made like you, being made after your own image and your own likeness, becoming like you, even in your sufferings.
SPEAKER_01: For we know we don't belong here.
SPEAKER_01: And just as you promised your disciples in that in that upper room, that night before you you went to the cross, you said, I'm going away to prepare a place for you.
SPEAKER_01: And I will come again and gather you to myself.
SPEAKER_01: And so we say, as your people, Lord Jesus, even so come.
SPEAKER_01: Come.
SPEAKER_01: Take us home to be with you.
SPEAKER_01: In the meantime, give us strength for every hurdle.
SPEAKER_01: Give us eyes that see through the fog of uncertainty and of the pains of life, so that we might see you, to follow you wherever you might lead.
SPEAKER_01: We ask this for the praise of your glorious grace.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.