Speaker 1: 0:17

um, hello everybody. My name, oh yeah, good morning. Yeah, all right. So my name is lawrence nelson. I'm a senior at benicia high school. Yeah, yo. And then today I'm reading from matthew, chapter 24, verse 1 through 35, so it might be a little long, so don't go to sleep on me, all right?

Speaker 1: 0:39

So Jesus left the temple and was walking away from. The disciples came up to him to call to his attention, to his buildings. Do you see all these things? He asked Truly. I'll let you. I'll tell you. Not one stone here will be left on another. Everyone will be thrown down. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us.

Speaker 1: 1:03

They said when will this happen and what will be the sign of coming to an end of age? Jesus answered watch out that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah. Many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see it so that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nations will rise against nations and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of earth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm in the end will be saved and the gospel to the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.

Speaker 1: 2:17

So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes this desolation spoken through the prophet Daniel, let the reader understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the house top go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers. Pray that your flight will not take place in a winter or go on the Sabbath, for then there will be a great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now, never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of those elect, those days would be shortened.

Speaker 1: 3:10

At that time, if anyone says to you, look, here is the Messiah, or there he is, do not believe it, for false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders, to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if anyone tells you there he is out in the wilderness, do not go out. Or here he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible in the west, so will be coming of the son of man. Wherever there is a carcass there, the vultures will gather. Immediately.

Speaker 1: 3:54

After the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all peoples on the earth will mourn when they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven With power and great glory, and he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know when summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly, I will tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. It's the word of the Lord.

Speaker 2: 4:57

Thanks be to God. Good job, you got it. Thanks, man. That was a lot. We're gonna do it All right. Man, I'm excited about this afternoon. I smell like the meat cologne. I've been smoking ribs out there since like six this morning. It's gonna be fun. So we're gonna get through this because I got things to do it. So we're going to get through this because I got things to do. I want to invite you to grab a Bible. Turn with me to the New Testament. We've been going through the gospel according to Matthew expository. We've been going verse by verse.

Speaker 2: 5:27

Today is kind of a crazy one. We're in the last exposition of Jesus, or disposition of Jesus, before we get to the passion. We're only going to spend two weeks in this chapter. We just did a huge chunk of this. This is Jesus's last words to the disciples. Today he's gonna be answering some really specific questions and it's exciting because we're on the home stretch. I don't know if you know that we actually only have two more weeks. This year we're gonna do Matthew, because then we're doing baptisms, we're gonna celebrate some missions and Christmas and then next year we're going to go and finish the week after Easter. We'll be done with Matthew and you will have accomplished all 28 chapters. So those of you who have been with us the whole time, well done. If you want to catch up, you can go on YouTube and check it out or listen to it and you know, kind of replay it all as we're getting there.

Speaker 2: 6:12

So I want to give you a quick disclaimer for today. This is not a typical like sermon. Today you are entering a classroom. This is going to be much more like a lecture, just for you to put your you know frame of mind. This is this isn't typical in how we typically teach this stuff, but I think it's really valuable. Today, hopefully, you get some lessons on how to unpack scripture for yourself and some learn some stuff we're going to dive in. So if you're new to church or scripture altogether, I also am going to leave a lot of breadcrumbs out there. There's a lot of history that I'm going to share, that's going to make sense to you, the things that have happened, like real life stuff that's happened that's connecting with today's passage, and you're going to get kind of a peek in how we unpack and dig this stuff, dig into this stuff.

Speaker 2: 6:59

So the news I don't know if you guys look at the news. It shows up a lot right now. There's crazy news all the time. You know we are from today, nine days until the election. We have a war in the Middle East, we have a war in Ukraine, we have massive shootings. All the time we have local and national and global stuff, like I can go on and on and on and on. Right the news. You understand the news. There's just a lot and looking at it, it's really just the tip of the iceberg of things that's going on and really that the world is a crazy place. Right, and that's my point is that right now the world is a crazy place and to a degree, it always it really feels like out of control, and we're going to see that Jesus in this chapter today, we see Jesus talk about that, that at the core, he actually cares about how his disciples and us as disciples behave in a world that is out of control, and then he gives us specific guidance for how to do it, and that's what we're kind of looking at today.

Speaker 2: 7:55

So quick catch-up, the story is so far we've been following Jesus. He's been announcing this upside-down kingdom of God and he is its king. He's come into Jerusalem, the city of David, the messianic kingdom and so on. And then there's the temple. He's been teaching there. Remember? He rode into Jerusalem like a king, he asserted himself, then at the temple, pulled this crazy stunt, was flipping tables over. He's been teaching there.

Speaker 2: 8:20

And then what is the verdict of the leaders of Jerusalem towards Jesus of Nazareth? Like, what do they think about him? They think he's a punk, like he's challenging their authority. They think he's leading people astray. They think that he's crazy and needs to be eliminated. In fact, they've actually begun plotting and come up with a plot to actually kill him. And so Jesus, at the end of his accusation against the leaders of Jerusalem in chapter 23,. If we look at the very end, just to rewind just a little bit, in verse 37, these are the very last sentences of chapter 23.

Speaker 2: 8:57

And he says and we know this from other gospels that talk about this moment he says this with tears in his eyes. He says Jerusalem, jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who sent you. How often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. And so this is really this very tender image he's creating. He's been describing this whole mission to the people of Israel like a mama hen trying to gather her chicks, and that you know there's wolves out there and there's dangers, and so gathering the chicks under her wings.

Speaker 2: 9:35

And Jesus says that what he's been doing, this is what he's been doing by calling Israel into this new and different way of life, to be the people of God in the world and in their context, under Roman oppression, under military occupation that is very, really, really oppressive regime in their times. And so Jesus has called the people of Israel to not respond to this with violence, not to respond with a revolt or hate, instead this ridiculous acts of generosity and forgiveness and kindness and peacemaking. And then he literally says this is how the kingdom of heaven will come Like, that's how it's going to expose itself in the now of then and in the now of now. And they've rejected him. And so Jesus makes this then prediction in verse 38. He says look, your house is left to you, desolate, for I tell you, you will not see me again until you say blessed he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now, what we should not conclude is that Jesus is like hey, I keep offering you the kingdom and this life and to be a part of it, and you didn't like me. So now, destruction, right, we need to not come to that conclusion. It's not about hurt feelings. That's not what's happening here. He's calling the people of Israel back from the road that they're on right now, which is this collision course with Rome, because Jerusalem is going to become like the rest of the kingdoms of the world, which says like, oh, here's what we got to do with our enemies. We annihilate them, we take them out, and that's just what humans do. And Jesus is calling Israel to respond differently than this. He's saying that the way of the kingdom, according to Jesus, is loving your enemies, praying for those who persecute you, and it's just totally upside down. And so for them to reject Jesus is to embrace now this road towards conflict and revolt with Rome. And so he predicts it. He says, okay, this is where it's going. I'm going to predict this now. And he says you weren't willing to listen. You're going to be destroyed. This is what's coming in your future.

Speaker 2: 11:45

So now enter into chapter 24. So he says Jesus left the temple. This is the last time he's here, except for the passion. So now he's done teaching. He's headed kind of across the way where he'll still be able to see Jerusalem.

Speaker 2: 12:01

He left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came to him to call his attention to its buildings, like the temple and they've done this before Like wow, like just the scope of the temple and the walls. And they said then Jesus says do you see all these things? Yes, he asked them. Truly, I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another, every one will be thrown down. And when he does that, that kind of killed the party. Like whoa, like what are you talking about? But we know what he just said that you've rejected the way of the kingdom, which is the way of peace, and so now the temple is coming down. And the temple this is a huge deal because the temple is like the national monument, the national cathedral, the national treasury, all in one building. I mean like this is the epicenter of everything of life. And he says it's going to be destroyed. Now, that's like a major, major thing to say. For a Jewish man to say this out loud. It's even treasonous, potentially, talking like this.

Speaker 2: 13:03

And so, naturally, when the disciples hear Jesus say that they've got some questions Like, what does that mean, are you talking like theoretically? Is this really going to happen? And so then it continues on in verse 3. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. Now understand where the Mount of Olives is. They can directly see the temple. They can see Jerusalem right there. It's a great viewpoint. That's usually where you see some of the pictures you see modern day of looking at the Temple Mount is actually from the Mount of Olives.

Speaker 2: 13:30

So Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately Tell us when will this happen and what will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age. So now, first, this is school, remember. How many questions is that? Two? There's two questions there. The first one when will this happen and when will this take place? So the first question that they're asking is, and that he's referring to, is the destruction of the temple. Hold on, okay. So the destruction of the temple and this conversation and him talking about this, this takes place in verses 3 through 35, right? So this is where he's gonna address his first questions. He's talked about it twice now. The temple, it's gonna be desolated or destroyed, and so this is a natural question of like when, like when is that supposed to take place? In fact, I mean, they literally were just saying like it doesn't look that bad off right now. We were just saying like whoa, look at this, stuff Looks incredible. And so now you're talking about there's gonna be destruction. When is that gonna take place? When's that gonna happen? So now the second question is what's the sign of your coming or the end of age? And so you have that as the second part of this chapter, so you have Jesus's return. All right, so Jesus' return. And this happens in verses 36 through 51. So that's what's happening there.

Speaker 2: 15:12

So this is kind of the context that we can understand In their minds right now. These two things are actually connected. So Jesus has just predicted the fall of Jerusalem because they've rejected the kingdom, but then, closely connected with that, is this event that really all of their hopes hang on. They've been waiting for this, which is the coming of this messianic kingdom to confront the evil of the world and to bring justice and peace and the rebirth of the universe and hope in this new creation. It's their ultimate hope, it's what they've been hanging on to, and so these two events are tied together that if Jesus is king. He's been rejected by Jerusalem. He's predicted the city is going to be destroyed. Then, when is that going to happen, jesus? And also they ask like, hey, when are you then going to take up your kingdom and become king of the world? The two events are closely tied together for them, because they really thought that this Messiah was going to come with like the sword, and they were oppressed and he was going to come and there was going to be this huge revolt. And this whole time, this is what Jesus has been turning upside down. I'm like it's not the way you think it's going to happen. That's not the way it's supposed to take place.

Speaker 2: 16:29

Now, lucky for us, jesus actually answers the questions and he gives two answers to the two questions and he's going to answer the first question. First, his answer to the first question, which remember the question when is Jerusalem you're talking about going to fall, the temple going to be destroyed? Let's jump to the end of what we're talking about today, starting in verse 33. So he gives the answer to this and he says even so, when you see all these things, you will know it's near, right at the door. Truly, I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until these things have happened. So what's the question that he was just asked? When will this happen, meaning the fall of Jerusalem? So follow me here and he gives an answer. And then, through verses three through 33, he gives this answer, and then he gives a timeline of when this is going to take place. This thing's going to happen within this generation.

Speaker 2: 17:16

Now, who thinks that they have a good idea of like biblical? What a generation is biblical number? Think wilderness, think Israelites? I heard something he was going to say at 40. So he's saying, hey, this is going to happen within 40 years. He's very specific about it. Now Jesus says this will take place. We know from history, literally facts, it was actually 37 years later, so it fell within that. So this is his first answer to the first question.

Speaker 2: 17:46

Then he's going to take up the response immediately following about the second question. Well, what's the second question? It's about his return, about the signs, the end times and the conclusion of the end of the age when heaven and earth will meet again. The kingdom of God comes. And he takes up this answer to that question in verses 36 through 51. And then look how it begins in verse 36. It says but now he's switching. Now let me answer your second question.

Speaker 2: 18:13

But on about the day or the hour, nobody knows, not even angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father, which might raise a bunch of interesting questions for you that we're not going to talk about right now. But this is what. What does Jesus essentially say? He says I, I don't know. So he clearly, he has a clear answer for this one, 40 years. And to this one he says I don't know, only the father knows. I don't know the answer to that, and we will continue to talk about that one next week. He goes on to give that answer that we will explore and unpack, and this passage has been one of these passages of Jesus' teaching that has attracted enormous debate, enormous conversation. So what I'm going to do, as best as I can today, I'm going to do my best to keep it simple, to help you understand why people come to different conclusions. That they do.

Speaker 2: 19:09

But ultimately, this isn't about creating timelines or speculation. What we need to grasp right now is Jesus is actually giving us pastoral wisdom and guidance, to his disciples of the time and us as well, how we're supposed to live when the world gets out of control the mindset, a mindset a follower of Jesus should have. And if it's not apathy or obsession those two, like many of us, do with the news of our times we either approach it with apathy or we obsess over it. Then what do I do? And what he cares about is that he's going to actually move us towards this answer of what's important to us and how we should act. Now. The thing that we need to understand here in this room today is the way that he goes about answering. This feels strange, it can feel confusing and it can feel strange to most of us because we didn't grow up going to synagogue every week, we didn't grow up immersed in the language of the prophets and the poetry of the prophets and the way that Jesus goes about answering this question.

Speaker 2: 20:16

I'll give you another kind of drawing to help you understand this a little bit is prophets talk in this way, that is, now and later. So it's like having a person and they're looking in the distance and if, even around here, from Benicia, you look over this way and you've got foothills and you know they look close and stuff like that, then you've got some like mountain ranges and then even further met, you have like huge, you have Mount Diablo and you know like there's layers to it where some of them look really close. Or you know, if you go up towards the Sierras and you go up to the 80, you literally spend 90 miles on a climb in the Sierras where you're just, oh, my goodness, we're here, we're there, but we're not there. Look at that one and you, you know you're going to it. So, prophets, as they are teaching and talking and using imagery and poetry, they're talking about, you know, like what's right here in the foothills, and then they'll kind of fall out and fall backwards and then all of a sudden it's like and then Mount Diavolo, this big picture, and so they kind of use this wave that's moving back and forth that you kind of have to follow, and it's strange to us if we don't understand that. That's how they taught. There's something about perspective when you're viewing such huge distances. And this is how they taught. And this is how Jesus goes about teaching in this moment talking.

Speaker 2: 21:35

It's language that's called apocalyptic literature, which, by the way, doesn't mean the end of the world, right, it's the way of talking that the prophets wrote and they spoke, and it's full of this like robust imagery and symbolism. And what they would do is they would look at events that were close to them in history the fall of Jerusalem, the fall of Babylon and they would paint it within, like a poem that paints it within God's cosmic purposes of the world to judge evil and to bring peace to all nations. And so you're reading Jewish apocalyptic poetry right here, and it's just a different culture. You know, this is first century archaic the language. We're 21st century Western Americans trying to unpack this, and so when you do that, you've got to kind of check all your assumptions, if you will. You can't go into it looking for the answer that you're trying to get out of it and, you know, trying to attach different stuff to it. So let's just pretend you don't know anything. We're just trying to read and learn and see where we get.

Speaker 2: 22:40

So verse four we're going to scream Jesus answered. Watch out that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen by the end, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places, and all these are the beginning of birth pains.

Speaker 2: 23:09

Now, remember what question is he answering. This is important. He's answering the question of when is the fall of Jerusalem going to take place? And remember, it's 40 years, so within a generation. So, first of all, he just says it's going to be really bad, just to summarize all that. So this is going to be really bad, like it's going to be, like people are going to come who will say Jesus of Nazareth, he's clearly a failed Messiah. He got crucified. He's a loser. It's me, it's actually, I'm the one, I'm the new leader.

Speaker 2: 23:39

And we know actually from historical records that there were others that were claiming to be God's anointed deliverer, that some of those people came into Israel after Jesus. There's even some reference in the book of Acts that took place after Jesus. And Jesus says watch out, I'm giving you a heads up. This is going to take place. There is going to be the wrong kind of leader. You're going to see war at home. You're going to see war abroad. You're going to see famine and earthquakes. And this was Jesus's advice to his disciples. What was it? It says don't let it like throw you off the rails, this is what's coming. You should just expect that the world has lost its mind, that the world is crazy. You're going to think this is the end of the world, but I'm telling you it's not. He says it's not only not the end of the world, but then he gives us this vivid, beautiful metaphor of what it actually is.

Speaker 2: 24:35

Verse 8, all of these are the beginning of labor pains. He describes the world as a woman in labor. The way that human beings work and the kingdoms of human kingdoms fall in war, in famine, in natural disaster is like, literally like the world is writhing with the pain of labor. And labor pains you all hopefully know this actually lead up towards a very specific moment, right? So when this all first starts, when a new child, a new thing is happening and coming, you know first it's morning sickness. You feel sick and you're like, oh, this is not good, I'm feeling sick all the time, right. And then you kind of get into a new season and you're like glowing and you're eating ice cream at midnight and you're like life is awesome, like this is so good, I feel, I'm so excited. Then you come into another season and you can't wear shoes because your ankles swell up and that's miserable. And then you turn into a monster and you're like why did you do this to me, right? And it's like really intense. And you did you do this to me, right? And it's like really intense. And you're like we're never doing this again, right. And then it happens and baby shows up and you get to hold baby and you're like all has changed. And then you're like let's do this again, right? It's just that huge switch.

Speaker 2: 25:57

And Jesus, he's painting this picture of pains moving towards the birth, a new birth, a new life. And these things take place. And this is how the prophets think about history of the world that we live in, about a world that's like wrecked with human evil and sin and death. It's like the, the pains of labor, but it's building up towards this moment, this moment of Jesus' return. And Jesus, he says so. He says hey, we're just like in the foothills over the next 40 years, like Rome and Greece and Persia and the Battle of Carthage, like all these crazy events. This is all gonna go down, and don't be alarmed because it's crazy. It's just the world, it's just the way things work here.

Speaker 2: 26:45

Verse nine then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death. That sounds great and you will be hated by all nations because of me. Awesome. At this time, many will turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other Even better, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. So just think through.

Speaker 2: 27:12

Like the book of Acts, this is the New Testament. This is where the start of the church took place. The disciples are going to go out and begin announcing that Jesus is the risen king of the world. And how are people going to respond to this announcement? Well, we see, some people are just ecstatic, like this is the greatest news, this has huge implications for my life moving forward, that I get to be a part of this and that something happened for me. And then other people think it's ridiculous. And, by the way, that still happens today. I mean, sometimes we kind of lose the understanding of that's the world we live in. I mean, if you go and you knock on your neighbor's door and if you're just like hey, what do you think about the things that I believe in and that I'm a part of, some of them will tell you like I think you're a nut, like you believe a guy died and he rose again and he floated off in a cloud into heaven and and you're like, oh yeah, I do. So that's exactly what continues happening.

Speaker 2: 28:04

He says these three things are gonna happen. That are all gonna happen. There's gonna be all kinds of people that are gonna bail on following me and, first of all, there's gonna be persecution. But not only that. He says there's gonna be like rot within. He says there's gonna be false prophets, people who claim to speak on behalf of God and behalf of Jesus. You know, just to get them following them, that actually, you know, have in reality a religious or political agenda. And then what they do is they hijack, or they've hijacked Jesus and they're trying to get people on their team or to do whatever, or to give them their credit card information or you know, so they can have a whole bunch of wives, or you've read the stories right? You've watched the documentaries about those types of things and it actually has nothing to do with Jesus, but it's all done in the name of Jesus and watch out, that's what he says. He says, hey, watch out, this is gonna happen.

Speaker 2: 28:53

Lots of that is coming down the road, and if it's not persecution or giving in to false teachers or leaders, then it's gonna be apathy due to wickedness, jesus says, or lawlessness. That the way of the kingdom of Jesus is so counterintuitive that human and human societies reshape right and wrong all the time, and that will continue to happen, where we turn right, wrong into right all of a sudden to make space for it and we take right into wrong and that happens, and as that happens, our moral compasses get distorted and then our love grows cold. It's a very vivid image he's painting right here. And so for Jesus, for us to you know, understand this. What is it for Jesus? What is the meaning of human life? Like, what are humans supposed to be about? This is a softball. Come on, give me the church answer Love, okay, I'll do it for you. You guys are nervous right here. So teaching it, come on. Interacting Love, yeah, love God. That's what he says about. Love neighbor, love human, other. That's been made in my image.

Speaker 2: 30:07

And the purpose of humans actually gets extinguished in the course of the rise and the fall of human kingdoms. And so Jesus is describing something unique to these 40 years. But you know, if you think about it, does anyone see the last hundred years or so in those words? Yes, maybe Anybody see the 100 years after Jesus in those words? Or how about this? Does anyone see the basic human condition of every century in those words? And he would say, exactly, that's exactly right, he's talking like a prophet. He's talking about an event, specifically in the foothills leading up to another event, and he kind of moves back and forth. He would say, yeah, exactly, you get it Somehow. You know this. Somehow, every generation, we tend to think of our crisis as like the most significant one, right, like no one's ever lived like this or through this before. And surely we say, surely, this has got to be the end. Right, you've heard that before. Like we're in the end times.

Speaker 2: 31:18

Get ready, it's right here, I'm seeing all the things happen. And Jesus, his response to that is like, don't be alarmed, right. And we're like, but surely this is the end? Like, this is all of it. And Jesus again says like, yeah, no, no, no, stop freaking out. The world's screwed up, it's real bad. So leads us to this question what should his disciples do? Or even, furthermore, what should we do with this? Well, he has two recommendations and they're very simple Verse 33. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. So he's explaining.

Speaker 2: 31:58

This is about intentional being an intentional disciple of Jesus, recognizing that there's all kinds of social and spiritual forces and movements taking place, there's all kinds of fears that are going to try to distract me and pull me towards apathy, that are going to pull me towards, like you know, some form of weird religious extremism or obsession. And he says here's what it is. It's the one who stands firm and just follows me, follows my teaching and loves God, and then loves your neighbor as yourself, loves the other human. That's mission number one and number two. And then he says an endurance. It's endurance. He says to the end, stands firm, does these things To the end to endure. Notice. He doesn't say it's the one who did the most remarkable and had incredible success. He doesn't say it's the one who succeeds at winning all of their neighbors to Christ. He says no, no, no, it's the one who hangs on. I love that and that is so encouraging because it's like he knows that's about all we're capable of sometimes just hanging on. It's the one who stands firm, friends, like just today, just today, just this, like next week, just this election, or just this year, or just holy cow, whatever I just read on the news. Like just then, like what even happened. He says pause, take a deep breath. Love God, love your neighbor.

Speaker 2: 33:35

That's number one and number two, verse 14, he says in this gospel the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. So Jesus acknowledges here that the fall of Jerusalem is not the end of the world, that there is a whole worldwide mission of his disciples to be lived out through their words, through their actions, loving God, loving neighbor. That the good news of the risen King Jesus needs to go out to all the nations. Like there is work to be done because this world is crazy and it's overwhelming. And how long is that going to take? Well, apparently, at least 2,000 years, right, and it's continuing to take that time, like that's part of this gig. And then when is all that going to culminate? When he returns? And what did he say about that? I don't know. I don't know how long it's going to take for all that to culminate. I don't know. I don't know how long it's going to take for all that to culminate. But in the meantime, at least, he gives us marching orders. And the whole point of the story of the Bible is that God cares and is doing this work to redeem and to restore the world. So by standing firm and bearing witness to the good news of Jesus is the mindset that we must cultivate every single day. Let's keep going.

Speaker 2: 34:57

Verse 15. So when you see standing in the holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel, let the reader understand. Just pause for a moment. This is super interesting. It's like this cue, perhaps from Jesus, I think. More likely this is my personal opinion this should have been like parenthetically put in by Matthew. This is, I think, matthew pausing and saying reader, for you to understand what Jesus talks about next. It'd be really helpful if you went and read some of the words of the prophet, specifically Daniel. Go, read Daniel and you'll understand what's about to take place. Otherwise, you're going to be lost if you're not immersed in the language of the prophets. That's my personal opinion about what kind of took there of like let the reader understand.

Speaker 2: 35:45

So Jesus, remember, predicted that not one stone would be left on another. Remember that when they were talking about look how beautiful this is, and this is about the downfall. He's describing the downfall of the city and the abomination that causes desolation. So here's what actually happened. Here's a picture. This is real life like now. That is the outside the walls of Jerusalem. Those are the stones from the temple. This happened and started with the Romans in a war in 66 AD and concluded in 70 AD, when Jerusalem actually fell. And when the Romans invaded the city, they plundered everything and for weeks, literally weeks, they did whatever they needed to lever off stones and to topple this whole structure of the temple, and this destruction causes even more desolation. You can see if you look real closely. I mean, this is actually the road Jesus walked on, those steps right there, and you can see a human, a small human in that picture. These are huge stones, so this is unimaginable to them. I mean, this again was the epicenter.

Speaker 2: 36:49

And then even today, in Rome, still today, you can go see a monument called the Arch of Titus. You can go see that today. And Titus was the Roman general who led the siege in this battle against Jerusalem, and this is a monument describing all kinds of great victories of his and how awesome he is. And inside of this arch is a depiction here I'll show you some of his greatest victories. You're seeing inside, right here, this arch is. This is a depiction of the Roman soldiers plundering the temple in Jerusalem. And so what happened was is they had won the city. They burned everything to the ground. They then plundered the temple of all of its gold, its jewels, the menorah you see the menorah, that candlestick right there. It was right inside the temple. And then we're told that they began to offer sacrifices on the altar of the God of Israel, but to the gods of Rome, as this statement that their gods are much more powerful than the God of Israel.

Speaker 2: 37:47

And Jesus says when you see this happening, when you see this taking place, what should your response be? And again he's talking to his disciples right here about what's going to take place. He says this is what you should do. What should they do? Run, he says. Run, he says then let those who are in Judea flee it's going to be bad to the mountains. Let no one at the housetop go down and take anything out of the house. There's no time. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers. Like imagine having to flee the city and maybe just a few of your belongings. But now you're pregnant and how difficult that is. Or you've got a baby, you're trying to scoop up children. He's like this is going to be bad, guys, this is bad. And then he goes pray, my goodness. Pray that your flight will not take place in the winter or on Sabbath, for there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. So just pause real quick. Some people are like oh, that's the end.

Speaker 2: 38:51

Jesus was very good at using demonstrative, exaggerated language. Many people taught this way. We do this in this day and time too. This is exactly what's taking place right here, where he's like it's unequaled from the beginning of the world until now, never to be equaled again, because it literally feels like the world is over. If that happened, it's over. We do this all the time with products like look at this product, nothing has ever been like it again. And then a month later they're like we found something better, right, like that's what we do. And so it's this demonstrative, exaggerating thing to get this really clear point across.

Speaker 2: 39:24

Verse 22, if those days had not been cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be short. And remember the question, remember what the question is, remember that this is his answer it's going to be bad. It's going to be bad. Verse 23,. Continue on.

Speaker 2: 39:39

At this time, if anyone says to you, look, here's the Messiah, or there he is, do not believe it, for false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I'm telling you ahead of time. Can't say you didn't know, I'm letting you know. This is what happens when it feels like the world's falling apart and just so much fear and chaos, we get afraid, right. And then what do we do? We give in to fear and we give in to speculation. And Jesus is saying don't give in Like, stand firm. The future is in the Father's hands. Stand firm, bear witness to the good news about Jesus. Don't let people pray on your fears. Don't just there and continue to sit in the news cycle and let people pray into your fears.

Speaker 2: 40:26

Jesus says, verse 29,. Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And then all the people of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with the power and great glory, and he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call. They will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Whoa, what does that even mean? That's a lot right there, right. Here's where you really got to understand this again. Jesus, right here, is quoting directly from a prophet about the moon and the sun and the stars and so on.

Speaker 2: 41:12

This is a direct quotation from the book of Isaiah. You can go read this later. It's in Isaiah, chapter 13. This is actually a poem about the downfall of Babylon, and Babylon was the largest. It was the capital city of the largest, most brutal world empire that people had ever seen in the ancient world. And Isaiah wrote a poem depicting how God was going to level Babylon to the ground, and he did. I mean, it took weeks, it was so fast, it's unbelievable.

Speaker 2: 41:42

And in 539 BC, when historically this actually took place, did the sun go dark? That was a real question. No, no, the stars didn't follow the sky. And now we don't have moon, we don't have no, it's poetry, right. And what we do is we read this stuff as 21st century Western Americans and we just want to read stuff like it's literal, like no, this is literally what's happening, like we're in the end times. I see that there was an earthquake. It's over, right. Like it's literal, it's poetry.

Speaker 2: 42:16

The world as they knew it came to an end and the largest empire of the known world came crashing down and the only language that was strong enough for Isaiah to use and describe was like as if the cosmos itself dissolved and ceased working. Like. This is crazy. No one would have imagined this, right, and this is the very line that Jesus then quotes to talk about the downfall of Jerusalem. This is what it's going to feel like. The unimaginable we didn't think was imaginable is going to happen again and again. I'm answering. The question about this is what's going to be taking place? And in Jesus's eyes, jerusalem had become Babylon. Jerusalem was now undistinguishable from other great, violent, arrogant nations of the world, and so he protects his downfall in the same way that Isaiah did.

Speaker 2: 43:08

And then he goes on to talk about the Son of man, and this imagery is from the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, chapter 7. It's also a great read right before you go to bed. Careful, daniel in this dream is explaining the meaning of this vision that he's having. And there's beasts, and these beasts represent kingdoms of the world, as this like archetype for this. And you know kings through this image of like horns coming out like a crown, and literally it's like trampling a figure in this vision that's called the Son of man. These kingdoms of the world are trampling the Son of man.

Speaker 2: 43:39

So then we get to Daniel, chapter 7, verse 13. It says in my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like the Son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven, and he approached the ancients of days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him so that the son of man and Daniel's vision riding on clouds, is going from where to where. It's going from death and destruction into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God to take up over his kingdom. Remember, it was the kingdoms of this world trampling and stomping down and persecuting the Son of man. And so other words.

Speaker 2: 44:27

When you read this passage in its context, you see that Jesus is not quoting a passage talking about his return to earth on a cloud. He's talking in the language of Daniel's vision as being exalted from persecution and death up to the right hand of God to become the king of the world. Now can you think of an event where Jesus was trampled, destroyed, even unto death, but yet God reversed that decision by exalting the son of man up to life to declare him to be the king of all nations, the king of kings, the Lord of lords? And then Jesus says he sent out his messengers. I'm gonna send out my messengers Because of that message, the good news, that's the gospel. I'm sending them out to all nations to gather his disciples from all the nations who will bear witness to the kingdom by standing firm and enduring. And one day Jesus will return and he will confront evil. He will come and confront the hell that we have created on his good world. He will bring his kingdom, and that's what we're going to talk about next week.

Speaker 2: 45:50

So, to summarize this oh my gosh, what do we do with this? He gives us really simple instructions. The news is bad. The world has lost its mind. It's crazy. It's been crazy. It's going to keep being crazy. Stand firm, stand firm, love God. Love human, your neighbor as yourself. Stand firm, love God, love human, your neighbor as yourself and endure. Don't be alarmed, it will eventually be okay. Stand firm, love God. Let me pray, and then we'll respond and worship, and then we'll respond in worship and then eat food.

Speaker 2: 46:34

God, god, thank you for revealing yourself over and over and over and over again through scripture. Thank you for caring about us, for being a peacemaker, for just acknowledging the obvious, that this is rough, that the news we get about ourselves or our loved ones, or the world in which we live in, or the children which we're raising in this world. It's rough. Thank you that we have you and that you would give us the courage and the strength to stand firm, to stay faithful, to love on. So would you give us peace when all hell on earth has break in loose. Would you just let your spirit just push a little bit of that out of our lives today, in this moment, just now, as we stand firm. We love you In your name. We pray Amen. Well, friends, would you stand as we respond in worship?

Speaker 1: 47:55

Come on, can we give God a hand clap, a praise for the message today?