Well, good morning everyone.
Uh, for those of you who do not know me, my name is Micah Labovich. I'm the lead pastor here at Grand Rapids Evangelical Free Church. So we want to welcome you here this morning in person and, of course, online as always.
Uh, today we're going to be in Matthew 24, so if you have your Bibles, you can turn there now. But actually, before we jump in, there's no kind of in-house announcement here, so I wanted to just make a special kind of church announcement.
So if you're new to our church, you could still certainly listen in and hear kind of how we conduct business. And one of those things that, uh, some of you know, several weeks ago, we went long in our first service and everything kind of fell apart for children's ministry because we went 25, 30 minutes, almost literally running into the time for second service.
So we had to figure out some logistics there, and parents had to go get their kids, and it was this kind of big mess.
Uh, then two weeks ago, we, uh, actually—so that didn't happen. We had to call an audible and just not have the first or the last worship song, which was shocking for some.
Uh, last week we, we, uh, had some sound opinions on the volume and those things here in the worship service. And, uh, several weeks ago, actually, yeah, several weeks ago, I had someone ask me if we're ever going to put out surveys to say like, "Oh hey, this is how we feel about this," and, and check, check, check, check mark, mark, mark.
And the answer is no, we're not.
Uh, and the reason being that we have the elders here at the church, uh, believe, and we really hold to an open-door policy. And that, uh, we as the elders, we want to hear what's happening in the congregation. We don't want people just to hide behind surveys.
Um, please don't use your prayer request card as a comment card, okay? The prayer request card is meant to be prayers.
Um, if you have a comment, if you're frustrated, if something's wrong, don't chew out the sound person in the back. Don't chew out Sarah. Don't chew out the worship team. Come to one of the elders, please.
Uh, I say this because with the elders of the church, we really—our heart is for everyone in this body, including those who serve on a Sunday morning. And sometimes, believe it or not, we make mistakes. Sometimes we err one way or the other.
But we are here to allow all of us to care for one another, to worship the Lord here together. And so I really encourage you in this body.
Um, and now you could be a spectator, and you come, come, and you just come on Sunday mornings and you leave, and that's it. But we would hope and urge that you would be more involved.
And so, uh, with that, if you have anything that's going on, um, anything that, that you know, "Oh hey, this didn't work out, and that didn't work out," please come to one of the elders. We would love to talk with you. Most likely, we've already been talked to. Most likely, we are already on it and aware of the situation.
Uh, and so, so when we are eating each other up, uh, the scripture puts it, when you are devouring one another, when we are in arguments together, um, that breaks our heart because we as the body need to be unified and caring for each other, um, not ripping each other apart.
So please, uh, come to the elders if you have issues. Uh, we would love to listen to you and care for you.
Um, and really, again, these are already many things that we're already striving to work on. So just wanted to give that, uh, PSA announcement here to begin our service today.
Um, so with that, again, if you have your Bibles, please turn to Matthew 24.
And as you go to Matthew 24, so obviously most folks know, uh, Matthew 24, Jesus now turns, right? So we've been talking with and dealing with the Pharisees, uh, kind of this whole way since Jesus first entered the temple or first entered Jerusalem in Matthew 21.
Right here at this last section of the Book of Matthew, Jesus has now entered in and really kind of from that moment, right, when he goes in and starts overturning tables, the last several chapters have been calling out the Pharisees and really, actually, in many ways, have been exposing not just the divide, as we've talked about in those 10 chapters, 10 through 20 in Matthew, where you really see the disciples, those who will believe and those who won't believe.
You really see that divide. Well, here now in these past chapters, we've seen these Pharisees really kind of being led out to judgment that Jesus has really been laying it before.
In last week, we saw a whole chapter, right? The chapter of woes devoted to the woes of the Pharisees and what they're doing and what they have done and really, in many ways, what they have decided they will do here in the end, all the way to the end of all things.
Well, as Jesus is talking, obviously the disciples get spurred on. And so as they leave the temple, we saw this last week, as they leave the temple, they say to Jesus, "Uh, Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple."
But he answered them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."
And Jesus, last week, we saw, ended with calling all of Jerusalem, the whole city of Jerusalem, right? It wasn't just the Pharisees; it was actually all those in Jerusalem who refused to believe, right? It wasn't just the leaders; it was everyone who is responsible.
Jesus looks at them and says, "Your house is desolate. It will be emptied out, and there will be nothing left."
And as you can imagine, what we're about to see here is the disciples' very logical question is, "When?"
And we're going to get there in a moment. But before we do, when you think about when, when you think about a big event, just a question, and this is just for my even personal circumstance: what do you do when you create a process for a big event?
So what goes into the process of creating a big event?
So, so yesterday, some of you know that our oldest son just turned 10, and yesterday we had a birthday party for him at our home. And so there were many, many things that went into this event.
One of those things, first of all, was just deciding what do we do? Well, what's going to happen? What's going to be the event? How's it going to work out? What are all going to be the things that we do?
Secondly, of course, then begins the actual process of getting people involved. So my wife and I, right, were immediately involved, and then we start talking about, "Well, who is going to come? Who is going to be the guest list? Who do we invite? Who are we going to put it out to? Who's going to help us make these things happen? How are we going to do these different things?"
Right? We kind of lay it all out logistically. Then we begin to actually do it, right? We purchase the supplies. My wife, especially weeks ago, began purchasing all the supplies, getting everything ready.
Um, you know, and, and yet there were other things, for example, like, um, my responsibility to clean the house, which I didn't do until Saturday morning.
Um, right? Uh, that, that it wasn't just Pharisee cleaning, by the way, as I talked about last week.
Uh, well, okay, there was a little bit of Pharisee cleaning, but mostly, mostly it was real cleaning.
Mo, mostly it was real cleaning. And, and it was trying to figure out, okay, uh, and I should have done it earlier. I should have cleaned the house earlier.
But the bottom line is there's cleaning house, right? And we talked about that. Jesus here in these chapters literally cleans house. But now he's cleaning house. He's talking to the Pharisees, and he's talking to his disciples, and he's getting everything ready for the big event.
Well, what is the big event? Well, here we're about to see the disciples are about to learn that the event is much larger than they ever realize.
And so with that, please join me in prayer, and we're going to jump into some of the things that they ask and Jesus's response here as we talk more about the end of all things.
Let's pray.
So, Father, we thank you for this morning. Lord, we thank you for grace, the grace that you have for us and the grace that you cause us to extend upon one another—understanding, listening, serving.
Lord Jesus Christ, you made it so clear even just last week when you were again talking to the Pharisees, "The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus, call us to humble ourselves to one another, to you, that we would hear your voice, that we would lay our opinions and our faults on the altar in Jesus, knowing that we all fall short.
But you, Jesus Christ, have closed the gap. You have died for us and extended grace upon us that we could extend it to one another.
So, Lord Jesus, cause us to do just that. And, Lord, here this morning, cause us to have grace and understanding to see what you have laid before us in terms of history.
Jesus Christ, what not only is behind us and current, but also what is ahead. Lord, cause us to hear you well, to hear you openly, to be ready, Lord Jesus, for what you have before us.
Lord God, we're going to be dealing with some mysterious things here, some future things, and Lord, I pray that you give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to understand.
Lord, all the things that we talk about today, none of this we can understand, none of the scriptures we can understand if not by your Spirit opening our eyes.
So, Lord Jesus, open our eyes. Cause my words to be your words, Lord Jesus, and Lord, get the glory for it all.
We love you, Jesus. We thank you, Jesus, and it's in your name that we pray. Amen.
All right, if you have your Bibles, please again turn to Matthew 24, and starting actually here in verse 3, where we just picked up from where I left off.
Now, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
Now, I, I, uh, slow that down because they ask for three very specific things, and Jesus answers them in three very mysterious ways—ways that they don't quite understand because they think, and oftentimes we read this, that they're just saying the same thing and that it's just reiterating the same thing—that the signs of his coming, that the end of the age, and that, uh, when the temple will fall, that all of that will be the same thing.
And it may not be because, as Jesus explains here, and we're about to see this in a moment, this is what is called the Olivet Discourse because literally he's on the Mount of Olives.
Okay, so if anyone ever talks to you about the Olivet Discourse, this is what this is, right? So this is the last teaching discourse in the Book of Matthew, and here Jesus teaches the answers to these questions, or at least as far as the answers he's willing to give to these questions.
Now, the Olivet Discourse here lays some very specific end-time events, okay? And, and I want to go through this very quickly. There are kind of three primary ways that people see these events.
Okay, the first is that it's all immediate—that all of this is about to happen right now to the disciples. So it goes like this: that at Jesus's resurrection, when he comes back, that's when the end times really actually begin at that exact moment.
And all the Jews, the disciples included, go through this trial and persecution, and there's this massive, right? This is the Book of Acts kind of playing out, and then it ends with the destruction of the temple.
So, so all of this kind of goes all the way up to this point, and that the end times then forward are launching forward past these points so that everything that is written here, including the coming of the Son of Man, all happens here in that immediate to this generation of AD 30.
Okay, so that's the first view.
The second view—and by the way, all these views can be backed up biblically depending on how you read the scriptures. The fancy way that's called your hermeneutic, okay? So, so that's why people who hold these can actually all be worshiping in this church together, uh, because we believe that these all can be backed up biblically.
Um, but there is a way that I believe personally, my conviction of where these things land.
Um, so here's the second one. The second way is that all of this, so really from verse 4 all the way through verse 35, that all of this is future—that all of this is Book of Revelation stuff.
Okay, so, so this belief is that everything that Jesus is talking about is all way ahead, specifically that instead of talking about here of the resurrection of Jesus, they talk about the resurrection of the church, which is the fancy way of calling the Rapture.
Right? Now, if you grew up in a Lutheran Church like I did, you will have no idea what that word means.
Okay? Uh, I, I had never heard that word in the Lutheran Church until I started going to my friend's Baptist youth group, and I went to be a counselor at this Baptist camp, and then all of a sudden I heard about this thing called the Rapture.
And we, uh, would have like cabin creativity day where we would stick our pants in the roof ceilings and have feet dangling down, and we get extra points for cleaning our cabin because we had people being raptured. Haha, right?
And, and that was the idea that the church will be raised before the Great Tribulation.
And so the belief here is that the Rapture, right, the resurrection of the church will occur, and then when all, by the way, the believers are raised, then what will be left here is the rest of the world and national Israel, right? The national Jerusalem.
And so then there will be this tribulation for the Jews, just for the Jews, right? All the Gentile believers, all the other believers get to go up, but the Jews have to suffer and have to go through all of this.
And then at the end, then the Heavenly kingdom comes, and, and the church comes back down with Jesus and reigns, and, and all is good.
And then, and then the Heavenly kingdom comes.
The last way of viewing this is, is kind of a blurred cycle.
So, so the way that I can best describe it—and this is, this is where I land personally. Again, I am open to hear and discuss, but where I land is that here in all of the discourse, Jesus starts in the immediate, but what happens is, is kind of you have this idea of, as he's looking at this focus, and it's almost like reverberating.
You can imagine, as it's shaking, you can kind of see—by the way, that's what happens to my walls on most Sunday mornings. They begin to reverberate and shake.
Okay? So, because my, my office wall shares, by the way, with here at the sanctuary.
So as it's reverberating, you kind of see this blending almost occurring of this removal of future and current events and even past events, as we're about to see.
And you kind of get this blurred vision of these layers upon layers exposing themselves.
And I see that that is what Jesus personally—what I see Jesus doing here—that there are some things that actually have had past fulfillment, some things that will have immediate fulfillment, and some things that will be future fulfillment.
And actually, personally, when I read the scriptures, you see this actually happen a lot with apocalyptic literature.
Okay? So Jesus is actually now, just like if Jesus was about to start breaking out in poetry, Jesus now is breaking out into apocalypse.
So remember, apocalyptic literature is a genre of ancient Near Eastern literature, right? So Jesus now is starting to speak in apocalyptic, right? It'd be just like if he was speaking a verse or prose.
Now it's apocalyptic. So he's now moved to this genre that he's talking, and I believe in this genre, as he's talking, there will be some things that are immediate.
And so what happens here, you talk about the trials and the persecution, but that mirrors and that reverberates to the tribulation and the judgment that all will face.
And by the way, so, so this is exposing me personally.
Now, if you, if you know anything about times language, there's this big tribulation, right? We'll talk about this here a little bit today. There's worldwide suffering now.
Now, there are views as to what happens to the believers.
Okay? So if you believe that first thing that I talked about, where the believers are raptured up before all that, that's called pre-trib, right? So it's pre-tribulation.
So the believers are raised up before that happens. Then there's mid-trib, where the believers have to go through some of the crud, then they get raised up, and then the rest goes on.
And then there's post-trib, which means, sad to say, the believers have to suffer just as much as everyone else. Everyone suffers together, and by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, he comes and saves us all in that moment.
Now, personally, I end, or I lean more towards the mid to post-suffering.
And I say that again, I was raised in a Baptist Church, so it wasn't drilled into me, the Rapture—that thing never existed until I was 18 or 19 in my language.
But what I see in most of the New Testament is that Christians will suffer. We are going to suffer.
There's, in fact, actually, Paul talks about completing the sufferings of Jesus Christ, empathizing, living the sufferings of Christ—not to say that what he did on the cross was not, was insufficient, but that there is a work to be done in the believers that requires suffering.
And I'm not just talking about when, and actually one scholar puts it, when you're speeding and you get pulled over and get a ticket.
Okay? That's not the kind of suffering we're talking about. That's called sin. That's our own brokenness. That's not what we're talking about.
We're talking about stuff that happens to us, right? Illnesses, sickness, devastation, wars, earthquakes, the world falling apart in front of us.
We, as believers, will suffer.
And so now, I, I say this to say—and whether you're pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, the truth is you can still be a believer in Jesus Christ.
Uh, actually, my, my former senior pastor and I used to joke about this that because, and he is post-trib, so we kind of talked about that. He's shooting for the D, and if he gets the A, if he gets raptured, woohoo, fabulous, yay, we escape it.
But if we don't, if we have to suffer, if all these things are falling apart and we aren't getting, you know, evaporated up immediately, okay, we were kind of shooting for the D.
So, so all that is to say, uh, here as we go through here this morning to look at these things, we need to be aware.
And, and Jesus very specifically, uh, is telling his disciples to prepare them.
Now, what in our future messages next week and the week following, we're going to see Jesus leaning into that idea of be ready all the more.
So I try to avoid that purposely today because today's message is not be ready. Today's message is actually be aware.
See what will happen and notice you're going to see here that Jesus talks a lot about people being deceived, and my prayer would be that everyone in this church, that we would not be deceived, that we would not be fooled, that we would be aware of what is to come.
So it begins here, seeing what is to come.
Verse 4, and Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray. See that you are not deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray.
And you will hear wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet."
Now, the disciples actually, when they asked Jesus, they said, and, and when will the end of the age be? The word they actually used was the derivative of the word "telos."
Telos. That, and that's fascinating. When, when telos shows up, telos usually means purpose, uh, completion. What, what is the main goal?
In fact, actually, it was drilled into my brain when I studied the biblical text, I ask myself, "What is the telos? What is the point of the text? What is the meaning of the text? What is, what is the ultimate cons? What does this text ultimately mean?"
So when the disciples say, "When will the end of the age be?" they use that word "telos." They literally say, "What is the purpose of the age? What is the consummation? What is the completion? What is the main point, and when will the main point come to pass?"
So here Jesus says, "There will be wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not to be alarmed, for this must take place, but the completion, the telos, the ultimate main point actually could even be translated the breaking point, the limit point has not yet come.
For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famine and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of birth pains."
This is the painful dawn.
And what we're actually going to see here is that verses 4-4 kind of creates this picture of what will be a repeated cycle of it begins to get bad, it gets really bad, then the end comes.
And then we're going to see it again. It begins to get bad, it gets really bad, then the end comes.
So, so this is kind of what we should be expecting in terms of our own history, where we are in redemptive history.
But so Jesus continues. This painful dawn will occur, and of course, obviously, it occurs immediately. It will occur immediately for the disciples.
Rome is still conquering the known world at this time. Rome is still spreading out. There are still rumors and wars.
In fact, actually, several—just a few decades after this, there will be a rebellion from the Jews in Jerusalem, and they will actually kick Rome out for a very brief season, which we'll talk about here in a little bit.
Now, when all of that happens, Jesus says this is just the beginning. This is just the first layer.
But more will come. You see, I believe already here it's kind of getting us ready, getting us set for current immediate what they're dealing with in, in 30 AD, 40 AD, current immediate application, but also future application.
Verse 9: "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation." Notice he says "the tribulation," right there.
They will deliver you up to the tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
Then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
May this not be us. May we not fall away. May we not betray one another. May we not hate one another.
And yet, so often, you can see how easily, as sinful, being saved and sanctified, how easily we can hate each other, yell at each other, rip each other apart.
How easily we could fall into this trap.
And Jesus, again, is saying these things.
Verse 4: "Be aware. Don't be trapped. Don't be deceived that as the world pressure gets harder."
And by the way, that word "tribulation," uh, that's kind of our fancy Bible word for it, but, but tribulation literally means like pressure cooker.
Okay? That, that's actually a great, uh, translation is the pressure is on. It's kind of like a nut and a nutcracker.
Okay? That's actually what he's talking about with persecution—that then they will deliver you up to tribulation, persecution.
That's the word. You are being pushed in, and the question is, will you endure or will you crack?
And he says many will crack. They will fall away, betray one another, hate one another.
Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. Many of you know Muhammad came after this. Joseph Smith came after this, right?
That there have been false prophets that some of the world's largest religions now, fastest-growing religions, are based on these literally false prophets—literal people who said, "I am the last prophet."
It wasn't Jesus. He's a good guy. I am the last one.
And so these world religions have exploded out of these. But Jesus says, "Be wary. These false prophets will rise, lead many astray, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold."
Isn't that fascinating? He's talking about the end of everything, and, and again, both immediate, I believe, yes, he's talking about what will happen to those Jews right here in this generation, but also future, what will happen to all of us.
And isn't it interesting that he culminates it and says, "The love of many will grow cold"?
Like, that's his final end statement of how bad it will be.
Why? Well, because Jesus had already said just a few paragraphs ago, the greatest commandment, the summation commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
And as an immediate outpouring of that, if love is growing cold, that means that devotion to God and love for others through that devotion has grown cold.
The world is becoming empty of those who believe.
Verse 13: "But see, we see this painful dawn, this oppressive persecution, but then this victorious end. But the one who endures to the end will be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
Now, some, by the way, read this as a prescription that we have to take the gospel to all tribes and nations, and only then Jesus will come.
I don't believe this is a prescription, though. I believe all tribes and tongues and nations should hear the gospel.
I believe, obviously, all should be reached, but I don't think this verse is a prescription. It's a description.
It's a description that at the end, all tribes will hear. They all will know, and then the end will come.
And then Jesus moves.
So, so he goes from this kind of big overview to seeing, kind of giving us all this big idea.
Okay, this is what's going to happen. And he says it to these Jews because it will—most of this, many of this will happen immediately, but it will also happen far out, far-reaching of what we see in the Book of Revelation.
And actually now verses 15 through 28—specifically 15-35—we see this.
Your, by the way, your notes are wrong. You can cross out 28 and write 35 on that second point or through 31.
Uh, what is to come? Now really we're going to see this whole blending and blurring of what I talked about of these layers of fulfillment.
Okay? So here, verse 15: "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand."
And that's when every modern American reader goes, "I don't understand."
Right? Like, and that's the worst. I don't know if you're, if you're reading the Bible and the scripture, and, and literally the author says, "Hey, you should get this," and you look at it and you go, "I don't get it."
That, that actually means that we should lean in, that there's something that we need to study.
If you don't understand, we need to understand.
So he says this: "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand."
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
I'm going to talk about what that fleeing looks like here in a moment, but let's go to Daniel, by the way.
So, so I wrote up here Daniel 11 and Revelation 13 because I actually see here we're about to see this is the greatest layer of fulfillment where what Jesus just said—that whole abomination of desolation thing—it has past, it has present, and it has future, I believe, fulfillment, as we're about to see.
Past, past, and this is what Daniel actually says all the way back in Daniel 11.
This is Daniel 11, starting at verse 29: "At the time appointed, he shall return and come into the South, but it shall not be this time that as it was before. For the ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple."
And by the way, this all had fulfillment in 168 BC.
"Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress and shall take away the regular burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate."
The abomination of desolation.
"He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action."
That was verse 32 to end there in Daniel.
So literally this happens—there was a Greek king or a Greek ruler named Antiochus Epiphanes who came in in 168 and literally took a temple, like took the image of Zeus, plopped it on where there is the site of burnt sacrifices, put the image of Zeus, so the abomination of desolation takes this image, puts it on the burnt offerings, and then actually sacrifices a pig, a swine, which of course the Jews was unholy, uh, sacrifices it in the temple and then outlaws Judaism.
Okay? So this all happened like almost 200 years before this point.
This all happened 200 years before Jesus is saying this stuff.
So, so it begins to question, okay, well, so Daniel's prophecy, which obviously was, of course, several hundred years before that—Daniel's prophecy, which, which seems to have had a very clear fulfillment in 168 BC—why is Jesus talking about the abomination of desolation now?
Well, because, of course, what we know happens in 70 AD is that Rome comes in, right?
So there was this—in around 66-68 AD, the Jews do a rebellion against Rome, and they actually kick Rome out for a very brief season.
Then Rome, to show its mighty hand, rips into Jerusalem and rips it all apart and takes the temple and literally obliterates the temple, removes stone from stone, that there is nothing left.
They scatter everything in their wrath of Rome.
So this happens just a few decades after Jesus says these things.
And then yet Revelation—so if you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation 13.
Revelation talks about the abomination of desolation again.
So Revelation 13, uh, we see one beast show up, and by the way, these beasts, similar to the beast in Daniel, don't have to be a person. They actually can be like a world system or a government or a nation.
So we see a first beast rise up, a second beast then come, and then a third beast.
But the commentators call this the unholy trinity in Revelation.
Okay? So in Revelation, this first beast comes up, and look at what the first beast does.
Revelation 13, verse 5: "The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words. It was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, his tabernacle, the temple, blaspheming the dwelling place of God—that is, those who dwell in heaven.
Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written in the book of life."
So it has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
Then verse 11: "Then I saw another beast rising out." This is the second beast of the unholy trinity.
And by the way, he starts acting a lot like the Holy Spirit because he starts proclaiming the first beast. You're about to see the first beast dies and then is resurrected like Jesus.
It's, it's a false, it's a mockery of Jesus.
Well, same now, the second beast starts proclaiming the first, just as the Holy Spirit declares Jesus.
"Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon and exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed.
It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of the people.
And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain."
And most scholars say that this image of the beast is put up in the temple.
And so now here you have three fulfillments: Antiochus, 70 AD, and future.
When will these things happen?
And I believe that Jesus intentionally shows us these layers of fulfillment to still, nonetheless, get us ready for when persecution comes.
Back to Matthew, as he says here in Matthew 24, verse 16: "Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
And by the way, so you see very specific, and we see this actually happened in Revelation a lot, specifically talking about Zion, that there will be a geographical element to Christ's return.
So here I believe when he's talking about fleeing, people fleeing to Jerusalem there and fleeing to the mountains of Jerusalem, they say, "Well, this had to have been only the 70 AD because that's the only time that they'll be fleeing."
It's like, "No, they could flee at the end of all things too."
And certainly yet in 70 AD, when Jerusalem was destroyed, he says, "Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in the house. Let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days. Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be."
And I believe now here at this point, Jesus launches forward.
So, so we have kind of this reverberating truth of what's been occurring here and what will occur, and then he zips forward to the end of all things.
And yet still has fulfillment for world where we are today.
"If those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short."
Then if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Christ," or "There he is," do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs, like we just read in Revelation 13, right? Future tense, yet also could occur because we see this also happening in Acts—those trying to deceive.
What has happened? This, by the way, as we saw even all the way back in Matthew 7, Jesus says people will say, "Well, we did all these things in your name," and Jesus says, "Well, I don't know you."
By the way, there are powers that are not from God, and sometimes when we see powerful things, we think, "Oh, that must be God."
No, there will be those who are deceiving people with power, with miracles, with acts, and they will be deceived.
So be aware.
Be aware that you don't believe every spirit, that you don't believe every miracle and power that you see, though it may actually truly be happening, it may not be of Christ.
"If those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
If anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ,' or 'There he is,' do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect."
And of course, it's not possible. Those who will be saved, those who are saved are saved once and for all.
And yet it says that if it was even possible, that's how convincing these false ones will be, how convincing the deceptions will spread.
"See, I have told you beforehand."
Here Jesus just isn't, I believe, talking to the 12. He's talking to all of us, saying, "I have told you this beforehand."
So if you, if they say to you, "Look, he's in the wilderness," do not go out. If they say, "Look, he's in the inner rooms," do not believe it.
"For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
And here, by the way, is great application for us as Christians even today because it is so tempting for us to want to figure out all the signs, all the wars, everything that's lining up, and as Jesus going to come now? Is he going to come now?
And truthfully, every believing generation since Jesus has believed it's right now.
Okay? That every generation of Christian has believed it's coming right now.
And yes, there are definite signs that it could be right now, I believe.
And yet Jesus says, "Don't be deceived. If someone says, 'Here it is, here it is, here it is,' don't follow it. Instead, for as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
When Jesus comes, when we see it, no one will doubt. No one will say, "Well, could it be? Could it not?"
No, there will be no doubt.
Jesus says it will be as bright as lightning in the dark sky.
"Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. There will be death. There will be devastation."
And then verse 29: "Immediately after the tribulation."
So this great tribulation to come, certainly what they will face in 70 AD, but even greater still, the revelation, the tribulation to come.
"Immediately after that tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light."
And by the way, now at this point, I believe we're fully off in Revelation because these things didn't happen in 70 AD.
The things Jesus here is now saying—well, it didn't happen. The moon didn't grow dark, and the sun didn't fall, and the stars didn't fall from heaven.
That didn't happen yet.
"Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
Now at this point, the disciples must be really confused because Jesus isn't dead yet.
So they must be really confused, like, "Wait, wait, so like you're going to like jump up into the clouds?"
You can imagine they were so confused at this point.
For believers, we understand this because right now Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and he will come back with power and great glory, and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call.
They will gather his elect from the four winds and from one end of heaven to the other.
Darkness falls before the kingdom of light.
And again, we've read it before in Revelation 19. You see the triumphant one charging in from heaven on his white horse with the heavenly armies with him, destroying these two servants and to triumph for the kingdom of heaven.
And verse 32, it says this: "From the fig tree learn its lesson."
You see, what is the ultimate lesson here in all of this?
Well, it's to endure. It's to endure.
And the ultimate lesson is actually all the way back in verse 13: "But the one who endures will be saved."
The one who endures will be delivered. The one who stays faithful to the Lord despite all the deceptions, despite all the tribulation, despite all the tests, the one who stays faithful.
"From the fig tree learn its lesson. As soon as its branches become tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates."
The signs of the beginning.
We need to, as believers, be aware of what is happening in the world at large.
We, as believers, need to be aware of what's happening to the Jews right now.
And by the way, I say the Jews rather than national Israel because some of you might not know this: I'm actually Jewish.
Uh, my grandfather was Jewish. Uh, he converted during World War II, so my whole side of the family is that whole side of the family.
My second cousins, third cousins, they're all Jewish.
Uh, so when, when people talk about the Jews, um, I see it as different a little bit than national Israel because of Jewish people that I have and know and have connections to.
Uh, and, and so because of that, there's different even layers to that.
In fact, trying to explain to people in high school that I was Jewish but not Jewish was really confusing.
Okay? So, so, and even right now, you might be really confused. I can explain it to you later.
The bottom line is that Jesus says, "So these things will be near at the very gates."
We, as believers in Jesus Christ, need to be aware of what's coming.
But notice, not aware of all the end-time events.
No, we need to be aware that people will try, that these systems will try to deceive you.
They will lie to you. They will do miracles. They will do whatever they can to try to get you off track from Jesus.
That's what we need to be aware of.
We need to be aware not if the tribulation is happening, not if all these four corners and the four angels and four bowls of wrath or the seven bowls of wrath—no, no, no, no, no.
We need to be paying attention to that the enemy will try to deceive you and trick you.
So as a believer, do you know the truth to set you on the right path?
Verse 34: "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place."
And, and commentators believe that when he says this generation for all these things, it is the things that will lead to the consummation—the things that will lead to the end, to the completion.
The completion is verse 29 when Jesus comes. That's the completion.
So these things—all these things, right? That's what the—they asked, "When will these things happen? When will the Son of Man come, and when will the completion be?"
Well, all of these things will lead up to the completion.
So I believe, and, and other scholars agree that the things taking place are not everything here—that this doesn't all have to be somebody AD.
No, no, in fact, some of it will be, but again, it will also be pointing to that Revelation aspect that will, what we will all face.
So when it says that this generation will not pass away, yes, the generation there certainly faced much of what is said here in verses 4 through 28, but not all of it—not 29 through 35—not the rest of it because that's the consummation.
So they, they suffer all leading up to the end, but not the end.
Then finally, Jesus says, "But in the end, heaven and earth will pass away, but my word, my words will not pass away."
Jesus Christ says in the Book of John is the Word incarnate.
Jesus is the eternal Word. He is the eternal one.
If you put your faith in him, you will endure to the end no matter what comes.
So the questions for us are this:
Number one, are you willing to face the end as a disciple of Jesus Christ?
What would you do for your belief in Jesus Christ?
What would you be willing to face for your belief in Jesus Christ?
Here, as Christians in our Western safe American world, it is really easy to feel like, "Oh yeah, we go through persecution. We go through trial."
But most of us have not faced beatings or death or betrayals from our family members because of our faith.
Most of us have not faced true intense persecution.
Is your love for Jesus strong enough to face the trials to come?
And if not, the question is, where is your faith really?
Because Jesus wants your faith in him.
Secondly, do you know the truth so as not to be deceived along the way?
Verse 35 says that heaven and earth will pass away, but his words never will.
Do you know his word? Do you know his truth?
Do you know the scriptures so as not to be led astray, knowing that even, yes, as Christians, we will suffer until the end when we will be glorified with him?
And finally, will you endure and be delivered by that living incarnate Word, the one who will never fade—Jesus Christ himself—to be arms and arms with your Savior in the end?
Let's pray.
So God, we thank you for these things. We lift them to you, and we ask you, Jesus, to give us understanding, give us wisdom, give us hope.
Lord, oftentimes the words of Daniel, of Jesus, of Revelation are words of despair, words of fear.
But Lord, these are meant to be words of encouragement, words of hope for those who believe in you, Jesus.
So Lord, I pray that you cause us—all of us in this room—to put our hope, our true hope in you, to know your truth, to know your word, to endure to the end with you.
Thank you, Jesus. We lay this all before you.
In your name we pray. Amen.
Please stand as we close in worship.
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on Feb 13, 2024