Sermon 10-1-17 Pastor Ray Lorthioir Trinity Lutheran Church W. Hempstead, NY Based on Matthew, Chapter 24:1-28 Birth Pains October 1 st and we re still here. Indeed, all kinds of people have predicted the end for centuries. But, today we re going to hear Jesus predictions. For the last several weeks we ve been studying the last week of Jesus earthly ministry. It began in Matthew chapter 21 with Palm Sunday and Jesus action to cleanse the temple. It has continued with an escalating series of conflicts with the Jewish religious leadership. Last week in chapter 23 we saw Jesus utter these condemnations against the leadership. Matthew 23:31-32, 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! Here he was indirectly predicting that they would murder Him, the Messiah, the Son of God. Matthew 23:35-39, 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. With these words Jesus predicted severe wrath upon those who would kill Him. He predicted that their house meaning their land and its infrastructure as well as their culture would be left desolate empty, destroyed, forsaken, unpopulated and impoverished. In chapter 24 we ll see Jesus continue this prediction. Matthew 24:1-2, 1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 Do you see all these things? he asked. I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. Every stone thrown down means that every building will be destroyed to ground level. This came to pass in 70A.D. during the first Jewish-Roman war. First century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, reported that the Romans razed Jerusalem to the ground and nothing was left to suggest it had ever been a place of habitation. I m certain Jesus words were utterly shocking to whoever heard them. Therefore, some folks got up their nerve and we read in Matthew 24:3, 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us, they said, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? 1
Notice this question has three parts. Part one is when will all the stones be thrown down when will this happen? Part two is what is the sign of your coming. And part three is when will the end of the age occur? So here comes some answers to parts two and three when will the end come? Matthew 24:4-6, 4 Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. The list of deceivers and false Messiah s in the hundred years following Jesus is long. Deep Jewish yearning for independence from Rome fed the desire for a deliverer. And so a combination of Roman arrogance, Jewish anger and false prophets resulted in three Jewish-Roman wars. In the final one, Bar-Kochba s rebellion, the leader, Simon, received the nickname Bar Kochba meaning Son of the Star, from a Jewish sage, Rabbi Akiva. This rabbi considered Simon to be the Messiah. And since Jesus has not yet returned, false Messiahs are still with us. I can think of several in my lifetime, including Sun Myung Moon and David Koresh. Jesus went on to say in Matthew 24:6-8, 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. In these verses Jesus established a framework between the end of His ministry on earth and the end of the age. He said that wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes and other disasters would be the norm throughout the period. Just days ago there was all this chatter about the large earthquakes and monster hurricanes that came before September 23 rd. Could it be the end? In these verses Jesus gave the answer to such questions. No. All these things are only birth pains leading up to the end. Indeed wars and catastrophes have been our lot for centuries and will continue right up until the end. We re not to follow alarmists who say that the end is upon us simply because wars and catastrophes are happening. Indeed, Jesus referred to wars and catastrophes as birth pains. What did He mean by that? Birth causes the end of life in the womb and the beginning of life in this world. Therefore, Jesus was implying that our life in this present age is like life in the womb. It s destined to become life in a new age through a birth. Now, as we ve already seen, Jesus predicted that life in the new age will either be an eternal existence of righteousness, or it will be an eternal existence of evil. There is no in between for the new age because the present age is the in-between. Here in the uterus of this heaven and earth, we must choose our God. Either He will be Yahweh, Creator of heaven and earth or some other god of our own making. Yahweh is all righteousness. Those in love with their Creator and His Son love His righteousness. Remember, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:6, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Therefore, in the age to come, those who hunger and thirst for Yahweh and His righteousness will be filled with Yahweh and His righteousness. On the other hand, those who reject Yahweh also hunger and thirst for something. They want a corner of the universe where they can be their own god and 2
make their own righteousness. Therefore, they hunger and thirst after unrighteousness. In the age to come they too will be filled only with unrighteousness, wickedness and evil. That s what hell is all about. In the meantime, wars and disasters are the birth pains that lead up to the day when this age comes to an end and the new age begins. Jesus wanted us to understand that wars and disasters are continuous reminders that the great Day of Judgment will surely come. That s the way we are to look at them. Therefore, wars and disasters will continue as they have for the last two thousand years. But as Jesus said, the end is not yet. Jesus continued in Matthew 24:9, Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. Why is this? The reason is simple. Those who hate their Creator, Yahweh, and desire their own righteousness will also hate anyone who loves Yahweh and His righteousness. Those who hate their Creator also hate His Son. Therefore, all who name Jesus as Lord will be hated as traitors to the rebellion against God. Matthew 24:10-11, 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. I think this time has been with us already for centuries. Mohammed was a false prophet. Wherever Islam conquered, they made it difficult for the Christians that wouldn t convert as it is to this day. So, consider. Many lands that today are entirely Muslim were once entirely Christian for example Turkey. This means that during the Muslim conquests most Christians turned away from the faith. They then hated the remaining Christians. Today this might happen all over again if Islam can finally take the prize it has long desired Europe. In the 20 th century we also saw this happen in all the countries that turned Communist. Christians turned away from the faith and hated other Christians. Karl Marx was a false prophet who predicted a new secular utopia. And it s continuing to happen in the countries that are attempting to turn purely secular like our own. We have our own false prophets embedded in the media and in education at all levels. They predict a secular utopia if we will just abandon old fashioned superstitions like Christianity. Those who abandon Christianity for the teaching of false prophets despise Christians. It s just as Jesus predicted. Matthew 24:12-13, 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Wickedness is rebellion against the entire moral law of God. The love being spoken of here is the love that lovers of Yahweh and His Son have for each other. When people God has called through His Word and Holy Spirit turn away from the righteousness of Christ to wickedness, their love for Christians is absolutely destined to grow cold. They will hate and betray. The great wickedness that has beset our own society is rebellion against Yahweh s purposes for human sexuality. Those who rebel and make their own righteousness in sexual matters are guaranteed to renounce any love for God and His people that they may have had. They will walk out of Christ s true Church. Or they will surround themselves with teachers and preachers who will tell them what they want to hear. We have this all over the place in our society. 3
On the other hand, Jesus predicted that those who stand firm in their love for Yahweh and His righteous ways will survive. Certainly they will not do so by their own willpower and determination. For the sinful nature makes war against all our resolve. Rather, they will stand by the grace of God, recognition of their sin in the mirror of the law and the great consolation of Christ s perfect atonement for all of our wickedness in thought, word and deed. Matthew 24:14, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. OK. Jesus just gave everyone a sign of His coming. The gospel will be preached to all nations, all people groups. We re getting very close to that. There are still un-contacted peoples in the Amazon and there may be others elsewhere, but we re getting close. In recent years there have been mission campaigns to reach the final peoples with the gospel. When Jesus spoke of a testimony to all nations, He meant precisely that. The gospel that Jesus was sent into the world to reconcile all people to their Creator is good news to those who receive the message. It is damning testimony against those who prefer their wickedness. In Greek the word witness uses the root word from which we get the word martyr. So one who brings testimony concerning the Messiah must always be prepared for death at the hands of those who love wickedness. It s just the way things are until the close of the age. Beginning in verse 24 Jesus now answers the first question His disciples asked when will Jerusalem be destroyed? Matthew 24:15-22, 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 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. In these verses Jesus spoke of the holy place. And many assume this to be the temple. Certainly, it was the temple in the original prophecies given to Daniel. For in 168B.C. King Antiochus Epiphanes erected a pagan altar to Zeus in the second temple. This fomented a successful rebellion on the part of the Jews and Judea became independent from 167 to 67B.C. Some time in 40 or 41A.D. the Roman emperor Caligula commissioned a statue of himself as a god and had it sent to Israel. He demanded that it be set up in the second temple. Fortunately, the Roman governor of Judea stalled and stalled on the installation. Caligula was then assassinated by his own bodyguards, and that ended the problem. But an abomination that causes desolation came close to happening. Another way of looking at this passage pertains to the Roman emperors themselves. They claimed divinity for themselves. In effect they were living idols. Therefore, when Roman troops showed up to besiege Jerusalem in the first Jewish- Roman war they were agents of the abomination that would cause desolation. 4
A Christian tradition cited by two Christian authors of the 4 th century, Eusebius and Epiphanis of Salamis, states that prior to the Roman armies showing up, the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem were warned by an angel to flee north and eastward to the city of Pella. They fled and thus survived the holocaust that engulfed Jerusalem. All in the besieged city died by warfare, starvation, massacre and crucifixion or were sold into slavery. This was the horror of the great distress. And reading the account of Jerusalem s destruction in the works of Flavius Josephus is sickening. But the days were cut short and believers in Jesus successfully fled. Matthew 24:23-28, 23 At that time if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ! or, There he is! do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. 26 So if anyone tells you, There he is, out in the desert, do not go out; or, Here he is, in the inner rooms, do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. From the time of Jesus for the next hundred years Messianic zeal was a problem in Judaism. As we have seen Jesus led no political movement. He led no rebellion against Rome. He is the suffering Messiah who gained victory by dying. But those who refused the suffering Messiah proclaimed a victorious Messiah, one who would lead Israel to victory over the Roman oppressors. This zeal for the victorious Messiah was behind all the Jewish-Roman wars. It finally died out in the total Roman victory of the third war of 132A.D. In that war all hope of rebuilding a third temple also died. And the remaining Jews were scattered to the winds with only a small contingent remaining in the land that once belonged to Israel. Indeed, this was the Jewish situation in Israel until the beginning of the 20 th century and the advent of Zionism. So Jesus was warning His original disciples and all who came thereafter about Messianic zeal. He was making the claim that He is the victorious Messiah. And when He returns it will be an unmistakable heaven-opening, earth-shattering event. And just like vultures gather to a carcass, all of God s elect ones will be gathered to Him. There will be no controversy. His second coming will be unmistakable. He won t be out in the desert or in some room. Therefore, we are to give up the kind of zeal that wants to believe in false Messiahs. We are to hold fast to Jesus promise that His coming will be an unmistakable cosmic event. Jesus words hold another piece of information for us, concerning great signs and wonders. Apparently, through his henchmen at some point Satan will be permitted to perform signs and wonders so amazing that even true Christians might be tempted to believe that Messiah has returned. To my knowledge this prediction has not yet been fulfilled. Therefore, since Jesus hasn t returned yet, His warning remains in effect. In and of themselves, signs and wonders can t confirm truth. The Jewish leadership was not convinced by the signs and wonders Jesus performed. Remember, they even accused Jesus of driving out demons by Beelzebub before He silenced that line of reasoning. 5
However, the Spirit can and does use signs and wonders to attract our attention. We see that throughout the book of Acts. However, Jesus is letting us know that disobedient spirits will also be given signs and wonders to attract our attention. Therefore, the way to separate truth from error is in God s Word. What Jesus is being proclaimed by those doing the signs and wonders? Or are they even proclaiming a Jesus at all? There s one last thing to consider. Many modern teachers say that a third temple must be built in Jerusalem so that Jesus predictions can be fulfilled. Certainly, there are groups within Judaism that want to rebuild the temple. However, the political situation of the Middle East, along with the two mosques on the temple mount, prohibit this from happening for the immediate present. If a third temple is ever built, those alive at that time will need to consider Jesus imminent return. But Jesus will come whether or not a third temple is built. Therefore, we need to keep watch. For we know not the day or hour of His return. Amen. All Bible quotes are from the NIV. 6