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| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Old Book of Praise (2004) Ps. 100: 2, 4 Ps. 119: 1 – 5 Hymn 52: 1 – 3 Hymn 55: 1 – 5 Ps. 126: 1, 2
Scripture reading: Mt. 24: 1 – 44 Text: Mt. 24: 15 – 44 |
Christ is coming soon
Ps. 100: 2, 4
Ps. 119: 1 – 5
Hymn 52: 1 – 3
Hymn 55: 1 – 5
Ps. 126: 1, 2
Scripture reading: Mt. 24: 1 – 44
Text: Mt. 24: 15 – 44
Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
How long before Christ returns?
The Lord said:
“…of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” (Mt. 24: 36)
The date and the time of Christ’s coming is not known to us.
And yet there are many who try to determine, somehow, how far or close Christ’s return is. They refer then to this passage, in particular to the parable of the fig tree, and say: “The Lord told us:
“…learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors!”
And thus people look at the things described in this passage – wars and rumours of wars, famines, epidemics and earthquakes – and call these things “the signs of the times”, and say: “Look, Christ’s coming is now finally at hand!”
Some will tell you with great certainty that they had a dream, or a vision, in which it was made known to them that they will not die before the Lord returns!
Dear congregation, Scripture calls the whole New Testament era “the last days.”
“The last days” stretch from Christ’s first coming up to His second coming.
From the time that Christ ascended into heaven we are living in the last days.
All the calamities that come over this world – wars, famines, epidemics, earthquakes, the coming of false prophets with great deception, together with much persecution and tribulation – all these things have been happening for 2 000 years already, and are reminders that this world will pass away and that Judgement Day is coming.
So then, all these things – wars, famines, epidemics, earthquakes, false prophets, persecution and tribulation – apply to the whole New Testament era. It cannot be used to construct a timeframe to determine how long it will be before Christ returns. There will not first be a war, and then a famine, and then an epidemic, and then this, and then that, so that we may look at the newspaper and say: “After this has happened Christ will now return!”
Instead, all these things mentioned in our text will together characterise the total period of the New Testament era, and they have all been happening for 2 000 years already.
To say it in the language of our text: The fig tree has been putting forth leaves for 2 000 years already. We have been living in Springtime since Christ’s first coming.
Yes, ever since Christ’s ascension His return has been at hand!
Therefore, each generation has to expect His return in glory.
We do not need a special revelation apart from Scripture – a dream or a vision – in order to live in the expectation of Christ’s coming.
Yes, we do not know whether Christ will return in own time or not, but that makes no difference, for the fact is: Christ is coming, and He is coming soon!
The apostle Peter wrote to the believers in his time, and said:
“…the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.” – 1 Peter 4: 7
“The end of all things is at hand…” Christ’s return was already at hand in the time of the apostle Peter! The apostles were living in the last days, and they proclaimed this to the churches.
In James we read:
“…the coming of the Lord is at hand…Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!” – James 5: 8, 9
So, that was the time of the apostles: Christ’s return was then already “at hand”. He was then already “standing at the door”, ready to enter.
Dear congregation, it is the Lord’s will that each generation shall live in this expectation; the expectation that Christ will soon appear to judge the living and the dead.
It is a reality that should regulate all our conduct every day.
Now, here, in this passage, Christ tells His disciples that the temple will be destroyed, and that it will be a time of great tribulation, but it will not yet be the end. It will only be the beginning of sorrows, and the tribulation will last until He returns.
Our Lord Jesus gave this instruction to His disciples two days before His crucifixion.
In His final teachings to His disciples He focused much on the last things. He spoke to them about the end of the age, and about His return in glory. Soon He will go away to His Father, but He will come again.
When He leaves them, when He will no longer be in the midst of His disciples, this instruction about the last things, and about His coming, will have to spur them on to be watchful, and to live holy and godly lives in the expectation of His coming.
These teachings had to spur them on, and also serve to spur us on, to serve the Lord with great fervour and diligence as we live in the expectation of His coming.
In this final discourse, especially in the parables that follow, much emphasis is laid on watchfulness: faithful labour, soberness, making ready, because Christ will soon return!
Live in the expectation of His coming!
That is the context and the purpose of our text.
I proclaim God’s Word to you with the theme…
Our Lord Jesus is coming soon
We will note…
1. That the tribulation will last until Christ comes
2. That His coming will be visible
3. That we are to expect His coming
In the first place we note that …
The great tribulation will last until Christ comes
The Lord speaks in the verses 15 – 22 about a great tribulation that will come.
There will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world; and such great tribulation shall never be again – verse 21
This great tribulation refers, first of all, to the destruction of Jerusalem which happened 70 AD.
But, our text is not dealing only with the year 70 AD. The Lord uses the destruction of Jerusalem as a picture to illustrate what will happen in the last days. The great tribulation will last until Christ returns – verse 29.
Christ will come on the clouds of heaven immediately after that great tribulation, as we read in the verses 29 – 31.
In other words, the Lord refers first of all to the physical destruction of the physical city Jerusalem – which was indeed destroyed by heathen armies in 70 AD – but then He uses that historical event as a picture for the total time of the last days until He comes.
That great tribulation will characterise the whole New Testament era until Christ returns.
Now, the Lord does refer, first of all, to the historical event of Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 AD. Luke describes it as follows:
“…when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its destruction is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…” – Luke 21: 20.
There He speaks of armies that surround Jerusalem and destroy it.
Yet, this passage, here in Mt. 24, deals at the same time with much more than the destruction of Jerusalem. The tribulation and sorrows that came over Jerusalem in 70 AD becomes an example of the great tribulation which the church will endure throughout the ages until the coming of Christ – a tribulation that will indeed reach its climax immediately before Christ’s return.
In the first 14 verses of this chapter the Lord gave His disciples a summary of the entire time from Christ’s first coming up to His second coming. And now, here, from verse 15 onwards, the Lord starts with a second description of this same period, the end of the age, which will last from His ascension until He returns.
And thus the destruction of Jerusalem corresponds with the wars of verses 6 and 7 where He told His disciples:
“…you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…”
But the end is not yet.
“All these are but the beginning of sorrows” – verse 8.
Yes, also the destruction of Jerusalem was only part of the beginning of the sorrows that will come over this world.
That is the framework in which we have to read the destruction of Jerusalem. It was only part of the beginning of sorrows.
Now, here in verse 15, Christ refers back to the prophecy of Daniel, where Daniel said:
“And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary
fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the
abomination of desolation” – Dan. 11: 31.
That prophecy of Daniel refers to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes who destroyed the temple in the year 167 before Christ, and erected an idol image on the altar of Jahve.
But now Christ is quoting this as if it still has to happen! When Christ spoke to His disciples, that prophecy of Daniel had already taken place! But Christ is saying that the same thing will happen again. Just as Antiochus Epiphanes has destroyed the temple and profaned it, so the Romans will do again.
Thus the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is not the first fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy, neither was it the final fulfilment.
Christ took the history of Epiphanes more than a hundred and sixty years before Christ, and uses that factual history to describe a future tribulation. And He says that the future event is also a fulfilment of Daniel’s prophecy.
Thus the one historical event becomes an example of future events.
And that is exactly what Daniel prophesied: that this tribulation will last until the end. Epiphanes himself becomes a type of the last and final Antichrist that will come. And thus the prophecy of Daniel does not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD in the first place, and also not in the last place. It refers in the first place to Epiphanes and then draws the line through until the end will come, yes, up to the consummation of the ages on the great day of Christ’s return.
So far the prophecy of Daniel to which our text refers. It is a prophecy with multiple fulfilments that reaches its climax on the day of Christ’s return.
And Christ, who surely knew the meaning of Daniel’s prophecy, continues to use it in the same way. That is: as a picture to describe the entire period of the last days.
This becomes very clear when we read verse 29:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give it’s light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven…”
Dear congregation, it is clear that Christ did not appear immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and thus it follows that the great tribulation is not over yet. For Christ will come immediately after this great tribulation.
The Lord is here teaching us that the entire period of the last days will be a time of great oppression, an oppression that will increase and build up to a climax, as we will see in a moment.
We have to note also that the same prophesy of Daniel is also repeated in the book Revelation. There we read that the devil was cast into the bottomless pit, and was shut up for a thousand years so that he will no longer be able to deceive all the nations until the thousand years will be finish, but after the thousand years he must be released for a little while – Rev. 20: 3. Just before the second coming of Christ, the devil will be released again for a short while. That will also be the short time in which the final Antichrist will act, whom the Lord will destroy at His coming, as the apostle Paul says in 2 Thess. 2: 8.
Now, Scripture tells us something about this “little while” wherein the devil will be released again:
“…when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.”
In the book Revelation Jerusalem stands for the church. Jerusalem, the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Christ’s church here on earth, will again be surrounded by troops immediately before Christ returns. His return will put an end to their endeavour to wipe out the church. It will not be the physical city Jerusalem, and it will not be a physical army with guns and tanks. It will be the final great onslaught of the devil and his allies against the church. Then the deception and the persecution will be such as has never been, and will never be again.
And thus we learn also from the rest of Scripture that this great tribulation of which Daniel spoke, and to which Christ refers, will indeed continue and reach its climax at the second coming of Christ.
Immediately after that tribulation, Christ will appear – verse 29.
Yet, while the final climax will be a time of great tribulation to the faithful, it will at the same time be a time in which the false teachers will boast of peace and safety. Think for example of 1 Thess. 5: 3:
“…when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labour pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”
It will be as in the time of the Old Testament when the false prophets proclaimed peace and safety while the judgment of the Lord was at hand, ready to strike them (Jer. 6: 14). Such a situation in the church – where the faithful groans, while the unfaithful feel comfortable – was often in history caused not by carnal weapons, but by deception.
Dear congregation, we see then that this tribulation is not something of the remote past in 70 AD, or something of the remote future – only a short period before Christ’s return – but that Christ includes also our time; the time in which we are living.
We read in Revelation that all the redeemed of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues came out of the great tribulation – Rev. 7: 14.
There all the believers from the entire world and from all ages are described as coming out of the great tribulation.
That Christ indeed has the entire period of the New Testament in mind is also clear from Luke 21 where He speaks of this great oppression and says:
“…they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” – Luke 21: 24.
That means: until the nations will be judged. Jerusalem will be trampled, the persecution against the church will last, until the day of judgment will finally come.
The physical trampling of Jerusalem by the Gentiles in 70 AD becomes a symbol of the end of the age.
But, we must not think that this trampling by the Gentiles will always take the form of physical war and be performed by people outside the church. More often the oppression takes place by spiritual weapons of deception within the church: false teachers rising up and deceiving many.
That is the false prophets of which our text speaks.
So then, brothers and sisters, we are living today in the time of tribulation and oppression – not necessarily oppression under physical persecution with the sword, but oppression none the less, persecution for all who want to be faithful to God and His Word. God’s children will be despised and ridiculed and marginalised and persecuted in various ways, until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ will return on the clouds of heaven.
In short, when we look at the big picture, the whole New Testament era is called a time of great tribulation and oppression for the church of Christ in this world.
It is exactly in the midst of this tribulation and oppression that we are to lift up our heads to heaven and eagerly expect the coming of our great Saviour and Deliverer, Jesus Christ.
In the second place we note that…
Christ’s coming will be visible to all
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together” – the verses 23 – 28
Here Christ is warning us against false perceptions of His coming.
There will be false prophets who say: Look, Christ has come already; He is here, or there. Let us go and look for Him!
No, Christ’s coming will not take place in secret. There will be no need to discover His coming. It will not happen in a secret corner, or be invisible, so that we will have to go and discover His coming somewhere. Over against such errors the Lord teaches that His coming will be no secret. His coming will indeed be sudden and unexpected, but not in secret.
It will be the most public event ever! He will come in great power and glory, and every eye shall see Him come.
The power and glory with which He comes will by far overshadow the power by which the final Antichrist acted. The Antichrist will do great wonders and signs, but Christ’s power will be infinitely greater. When Christ appears everyone will see and know: it is He!
When Christ comes on the clouds of heaven with His thousands and thousands of angels with Him in the glory of His Father, the heavens and the earth will be shaken!
The first illustration Christ uses to show that His coming will not be in secret, but visible to all, is the image of lightning. Everyone can see the light when it flashes from the one end of the heaven to the other end.
The second image which He uses is of carcasses and vultures – not eagles as our translation says. As soon as an animal die in the field, the vultures discover it. It is an amazing thing in nature. When an animal dies, immediately the vultures are there!
The fact that a carcass will not remain undiscovered by vultures, is used as an illustration to illustrate that also Christ’s coming will not be a secret, or something hidden.
And then follows verse 29:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened…”
That which now follows in the verses 29 to 31 – the sun and moon that will be darkened, the stars that will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens that will be shaken – will not be signs indicating that Christ’s coming is at hand; no, it is a description of His actual coming!
The sun and moon that will be darkened, the stars that will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens that will be shaken, is a typical description of Christ’s coming as we find it elsewhere in Scripture.
Think for example how His coming is described in Revelation, were it says:
“…the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon become like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” – Rev. 6: 12 – 17.
This is indeed a typical description of Christ’s coming: the sun that will be darkened, the moon that becomes like blood, the stars that fall, the heavens and earth that is shaken, the heavens that roll up like a scroll, mountains and islands that are shaken out of their place.
Think for example also where Peter says that when Christ comes the heavens will pass away with a great noise – 2 Peter 3: 10
But why is it important to know that these things are a typical description of Christ’s coming? Because: the powers of the heavens that will be shaken, as described here in Mt. 24: 29, are not signs that will appear before the coming of Christ to prepare us for His coming, signs by which we will be able to say: “Now Christ’s coming is at hand!”; instead, these things are a description of the actual coming itself, on the day when He appears.
How then must we understand Christ’s parable in verses 32 and 33 about the fig tree?
The Lord says:
“…learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors!” – verse 33
Does it mean that the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of stars and the shaking of the powers of heaven are given to us as signs to show that Christ’s coming is near? Not at all! The description given in verse 29 is a description of the coming itself, and not of signs that will precede His coming.
What then is Christ saying in the parable of the fig tree? What does He mean when He says: “when you see all these things”?
The words “all these things” do not refer to the description of His coming, but to His whole discourse in this chapter.
When you see the antichrists and false teachers, the wars and famines, earthquakes and pestilences, persecutions, and all the sorrows that will come, and experience the great tribulation of the last days, then you know that My coming is near, then you know that you are living at the end of the age – the end of the age which is lasting for two thousand years already!
There are people who read this parable of the fig tree and then start to look for signs of how close Christ’s coming is today. They will point to this or that happening, an earthquake here and a war there, or to signs on the sun, or moon, or stars; or they will show you this or that article in the newspaper, and say: See, now Christ will come!
But that is not what Christ teaches us to do. He doesn’t give us any signs to know how far or near His coming is.
To understand the parable correctly, we only have to read the following verse with it, verse 34. It says:
“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place”.
The words “this generation” points without a doubt to the people who were then alive, in the time of the apostles.
The words “this generation”, as it stands in the Greek, can have no other meaning. The apostles and their contemporaries saw all these things happening – all the things that would happen at the end of the age: antichrists and false prophets rising up, wars and famines, earthquakes and pestilences, persecutions and great tribulations – all the things which Christ said will be characteristic of the last days. For the last days has already started. It started with Christ’s death and resurrection and ascension into heaven and the outpouring of His Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
The wars and the famines, the earthquakes and the pestilences don’t occur only once in history. It repeats itself over and over again.
“All these things” in verse 33 and “all these things” in verse 34 are the same things. The parable of the fig tree refers to all these things that happened already in the time of the apostles, and will continue to happen until the end.
The apostles saw already that the branch of the fig tree is tender and that it is putting out leaves. Christ’s coming has been near since His ascension! For He said that He will soon return.
But of the day of Christ’s coming, exactly how far or near it is, no one knows.
“…of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but
My Father only” – verse 36
Dear congregation, we are living in the last days, the end of the age. We do know, just as the apostles knew, that the coming of Christ is near (1 Peter. 4:7; James 5: 8, 9); but how near we don’t know.
And therefore we will now, in the third place, note that…
We have to live in the expectation His coming
It will happen suddenly and unexpected.
We will not first experience a great earthquake, then a solar eclipse, stars falling, and then know: His coming is near. Nothing of that! It will be a normal day. Nothing dramatically will happen on that day to alert us.
“…as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know which hour your Lord is coming.” – verses 37 – 42
Note that the day of Christ’s coming will not only be sudden and unexpected for the unbeliever, but also unexpected for the believer. The believing farmer will be out in the field busy with his farming. The believing house wife will be doing her normal homework.
Watch therefore, for you do not know which hour your Lord is coming.
The Lord makes it very clear that also the believer will not expect the day of His coming when it happens. We will not be taken by surprise in the sense that we were not living in the expectation of His coming, but the day itself will indeed come unexpected.
The signs of the end of the age were not given so that we may calculate how far we are from the coming of the Lord. They are all signs that occurred already in the time of the apostles. They characterise the entire period of the last days.
When the powers of the heavens will be shaken as described in verse 29, then it will not be a sign for us to prepare for Christ’s coming.
“Watch therefore, for you do not know the hour your Lord is coming”.
And again the Lord illustrates this with a parable:
“…know this” He says, “if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Brothers and sisters, the question is then: How do we have to watch?
We have to watch by constantly living in the expectation of Christ’s coming.
And how do you live if you are expecting the Lord’s coming? Holy, sober, and godly!
Whoever awaits His coming walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time.
Everyone that lives in the expectation of Christ’s coming live holy and godly, as the apostle Peter says: if you expect His coming “what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” – 2 Peter 3: 11.
Everyone that awaits His coming purifies himself as Christ is pure – 1 John 3: 3.
Whoever lives in the expectation of Christ’s coming, does not try to enjoy himself here and now as much as possible. We do not have the attitude of this world, saying: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”, or saying: “Let us feast and enjoy today as much as possible, for tomorrow the opportunity is gone!” Or as the slogan on T-shirts that says: “Live to the extreme; you only live once!”
No, we do not seek to enjoy this life as much as possible. We have a total different aim in life. We live in the expectation of Christ’s coming, and therefore we redeem the time to prepare for His coming.
We prepare by seeking and doing His will.
We prepare by living holy godly lives.
We prepare by being busy with the will of our Father, seeking His righteousness and the coming of His kingdom.
We rather withhold ourselves from many things which are in themselves not necessarily harmful or bad, but which are in the expectation of Christ’s coming less important to us. We do not care if many pleasures pass us by while we are running the race with all our might.
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?
Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.” – 1 Cor. 9: 24, 25
Whoever awaits the coming of Christ runs the race with all his might. Whoever lives in the expectation of His coming make the best of each opportunity to grow in the grace of God, to grow in knowledge and fruitfulness, seeking God’s kingdom with all our might.
Dear congregation, let us live in the expectation of Christ’s coming.
The heavens and the earth will be shaken and this world will pass away with a roar in the fire of God’s wrath. Christ will soon return to judge the living and the dead. Let us watch and pray, lest we fall asleep, lest we become comfortable in this world, and adjust ourselves to the culture of our day, and be conformed to this world, and fall away.
We are not called to enjoy an easy life here and now, but to endure to the end amidst many sorrows and tribulations and persecutions, to continue and to persevere in this sure hope and expectation.
With this teaching Christ equips us and prepares us for battle, knowing that the end of the age will be characterized by such false teachers and sorrows and persecutions, a great oppression, until the coming of the Lord.
Yes, brothers and sisters, we are liberated churches, but let we ourselves not fall asleep. We have not yet arrived. The struggle continues. The great tribulation is not over yet; nor is it something of the remote future. We are everyday living in the timeframe which Scripture calls: “the last hour”.
The end of all things is at hand. The Judge is standing at the doors!
The day of Christ’s coming is indeed swiftly approaching.
“Therefore we make it our aim…to be well pleasing to the Lord. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” – 2 Cor. 5: 9, 10
The expectation of Christ’s coming spurs us on, now and here in this life, to seek and do the will of God, to serve Him here and now with great fervour and diligence, for He will surely come, and His reward is with Him.
Do you also long for that great day of salvation?
Do you daily live in this expectation?
Let us watch; and pray with the church of all times: Come Lord Jesus; come soon!
Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Mendel Retief, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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