See the Son of Man coming! [Matt 24a]

Matt 24:1-31

Key verse 30³⁰ "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

Introduction:

What is yet to come? This is a very important question for all. Particularly for those who are expecting the coming of the kingdom of God as the ending point of history, what might be the course of events from now on till the kingdom comes is critical information.

1.      When we know the course of events, we feel comfortable and are assured of coming of the kingdom no matter what happens in between now and then.

2.      This helps us be prepared in all circumstances as we look for the coming of the kingdom of God.

It is like knowing the details of the travel route as we are heading to a paradise land. Even if there might be many difficulties on the road, we can challenge anything in order to get to the paradise land.

As soon as the disciple heard of coming destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, they sensed that it signals the end of age and coming of Jesus again to restore the kingdom. So they asked when it will happen and what will be the sign of such remarkable event.

If they have these two information, then they felt that they could navigate their lives a little easy until Jesus comes back. It is like asking a question:

When will I meet coming of Christ? Until that time, what will happen to my life?

Reading the sign is important. There are four indicators or signs that Jesus taught his disciples. Each of these signs indicate what is coming next and the last sign is cosmic sign, immediate following will come the sign of Jesus coming.

It is important to read the sign correctly. Also we have to know how to react or how to make decision based on the signs.

A.      No one stone will be left on another [1-3]

24:1 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; everyone will be thrown down."

Here Jesus foresaw the destruction of the temple within this generation. We can see this in three perspectives:

a.      As God’s due judgment on the wrongs or failure of Israel to meet God’s righteousness.

Jesus indicated clearly that there was failure of the temple function. In addition, the most religious people of the time, the Pharisees, failed to live up to God. So Jesus delivered the ultimatum to them in ch 23. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! ³³ "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?]  

b.      As God’s denouncement of the temple and its function as mediating place for the people of God.

We can find this in Mark 15³⁷ With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. ³⁸ The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

c.       In order to set Jesus as the point of salvation or ultimate provision for the salvation of men in the coming age. 

John 2:19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The temple is the place whereby men meet God. But Jesus claims that Jesus is to be the true temple where people can find forgiveness of sins and God’s rest.

Yet none of these things or ideas were hatched in the minds of the disciples. So they were shocked.  

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?"

What was in their mind as they firmly believed that Jesus is the Messiah, the coming King?

1.      The building was so well built with huge stones, it is almost impossible to destroy or dismantle. Yet particularly Jesus predicted that there won’t be one stone over another. This means that there will be more than ordinary human power and will to destroy this temple. An extraordinary power or event will be exerted on this temple. What will that be?

2.      It is God’s judgment on the nation Israel for their wrongs and rebellion.

3.      They expected that the restoration of God’s kingdom was just at the door. Jesus had said in the beginning of his ministry that repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. They anticipated immediate glory with the king.  There won’t anymore pain or sorrow or troubles of life or any hardship from ungodly men. Yet instead of glory, a terrible judgment lie ahead of the coming of the kingdom and they had to go through this judgment period.

In this regard, it was a quite a shock to them. Now they have to think about something else: a tribulation or end time troubles, which they never thought because they have the king Jesus. They came to understand that the destruction of the temple has to do with the end of age, a hostility against God. This hostility will be put to an end by coming Christ. So they asked two questions: when will the destruction of the temple happen and what will be the sign of Jesus coming and of the end of age.

There is one thing that we must be reminded: Jesus would die and resurrect in a matter of several days. His death would surely provide people with forgiveness and opens a new era where all men can be saved by faith. This message would be sent out by his disciples. This is God’s grace. God offered them one more chance to repent and believe. But the religious leader would surely reject the final message of salvation as Jesus predicted in Matt ch 23.

How does this rejection of the final message of salvation lead up to the destruction of the temple?  Here Jesus explains.

B.      The signs of birth pain [4-8]

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. 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.

Jesus gave signs of the beginning of birth pain: there are four signs: false messiah, wars of rumors of wars nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom, next is famine and then earthquake.

I like think about these one by one. First is warning against false messiahs. At this last stage of human history, the primary goal of satanic forces is directed toward turning godly people away from God. These false messiahs are most subtle and difficult to discern in time of life crisis. It is mentioned in this period, at the beginning of the birth pain. It is mentioned in the next paragraph [v11]. It is mentioned again during the period of intense judgment of God soon after the sign of abomination that causes desolation.[23,24].  Also in revelation, climactic period of bowls, the false messiah comes to show miracles mimicking the power of Jesus’ resurrection. 

It rises within Christian cultures and ideals.  Where there is Gospel, there also are many false messiahs. Many examples are around us even now. Hardship and hopelessness drives people to look for immediate solution for life. Such desperate needs are fertile ground for such satanic lures. In this of crisis is the time to show our faith and demonstrate our commitment to God. Long standing perseverance is the essential quality of godly people. Sin must be paid in forms of suffering and death. Only in Christ, anyone can solve these two by faith. So in time of such hardship, men are driven to God as well as to satanic forces. Be reminded that this is the first and may be the most important warning for believers.

The second through fourth: wars and rumors of wars. This means that all the kingdoms will be shaken or stability of a kingdom will be threatened. No kingdom can provide tangible security in unlimited time. Next are famine and earthquakes. These two undermine the securities of human lives or shake up the foundations of human living. Simply these things bring unrest for all human minds and threaten the very existence of human being.  This is the reminder for those who survive through these that our lives are not secured on earth but is secured in God only. The world has been asking question why such things happen if God is in control. The world has devised many systems and methods that may ameliorate the effects of these untouchable disasters. But these are beyond human power and knowledge. The true answers come from knowing and accepting what God is doing in God’s perspective.

 These mark the beginning of the birth pain. This means the followings:

1.      From this point on, there will be on going labor and its pain toward the delivery of the baby. There will be no stoppage but will continue in series of pains until Jesus comes in power and glory.

2.      It sets off only a beginning. That means that there is a long time coming till the delivery of the baby, the coming of Christ. So it is said that the end is still yet to come [6].

3.      Since it is depicted as birth pain, what is yet to come will be intensified in frequency and in intensity of the pain.

4.      Also it is a pain that the world must go through. God has set such way and no one can escape from the birth pains of the world.

5.      It is a form of judgment released by God with fine control and a clear purpose. It is to sort out the weeds from the true grain and to purify the chosen and to bring judgment on the evil.

During this time what would happen to the people, including the believers? It is described in the next paragraph [9-14]:

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. 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. 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.

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.

We can summarize this as following:

1.      Believers will be hated by all nations because of Jesus. The world and its desires cannot coexist with God and His will. As much they hate Jesus the Son of God, they will hate believers. It is a normal response. We should not be surprised by such persecutions. It is a due course of life in faith. Also we will be hated by all nations. The world will make believer as a scapegoat for all the suffering and pains that they are going through.

2.      Many believers may turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other. Hate and betrayal are the marks of faithlessness and ungodliness. In v 12, there will be an increase of wickedness. In the original word, the meaning is lawlessness. The law of Moses reflects God’s righteousness and holiness. The ungodly will express their hate to God in form of lawlessness. It is the mark of satanic character. The mark of godliness is love. So under such intense persecution and hardships people may give in to lawlessness and loss of love… In the midst of such hardship, genuine believers will express their faith through unwavering commitment to the Law of Moses, which is overflowing with life-giving love.

3.      Such unswerving display of faith by the believers will serve as a testimony to all nations of God’s grace in Jesus and coming kingdom of God. It is a testimony of truth and of God’s love and the hope in God’s kingdom. What are we to do as believers? We are to be witness of God’s truth, God’s love and of the hope of the kingdom of God. In our lives these must be demonstrated along with godly messages.

4.      It is possible that this beginning of the birth pain covers a long period because in this period the testimony will go out to all nations, not missing any parts of the world.  Only then the end will come.

5.      The main theme of the message is ‘the gospel of the kingdom’.  The kingdom is of God and by His son Jesus. This is the godly and perfect kingdom with righteousness and justice and love. No evil one can afford such kingdom. But God is willing to welcome all who receives Jesus as the Lord, King. This kingdom message is set against all the kingdoms of the world. Every kingdom is set up with some promise of providing peace, prosperity and joy. But no kingdom of the world can provide or meet the need of such demand except the kingdom of God. Also the kingdom of God is God’s kingdom. Only those who are willing to honor God and trust him can partake in this kingdom. So this message of the kingdom of God is the test of their will and commitment to God’s truth and God’s will.

What comes next? As we noted, the final outcome of the persecution of believers is the making witness of the Gospel of the kingdom to all nations on the earth. So there will be two responses; one to repent and believe; the other to rebel against God and his judgment. It comes in form of open rebellion against God and His authority. When Jesus condemned Israel’s leaders for their rebellion against God, he said this way:

 Matthew 23:34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 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.

Here Jesus is saying that God has been postponing the judgment till now. But their sin reached up to the brim and God will finally bring judgment on this generation. So the judgment is cumulative and final as the last resolution effort is thwarted by their rejection.

So it true during this time. The ungodly will build their case against God and will increase their rebellion and ungodliness. This will increase steadily, finally reaching to the threshold of God’s judgment. What is that threshold?

C.      The sign of abomination [15-28]

Read v 15 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—

This is the sign that marks a new stage of birth pain.

Here holy place is the temple of God in Jerusalem according to Daniel. It is set up by satanic figure or false Messiah. So the abomination is something set up in the temple of God. Yet what is set up is direct offense to God’s authority and holiness. In setting up, such ungodly thing in God’s temple is an open and flagrant challenge to God’s authority and His holiness. This sparks an accelerated course of God’s judgment.

This came as the ultimate and boldest expression of the rebellion against God’s authority in sending.  As this rebellion is seen God’s judgment is swift and thorough.

V16-18.

¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. –Judea is an area that surrounds the city Jerusalem. The moment one received such new he must get away from Judea, far away from the city of Jerusalem to mountains nearby.

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.

The roof is the place where a family takes rest. It takes less than a minute to go inside of the house and get something out before they run away. They even did not have this time. In a nick of time, one may perish or survive. Also when farmers go out to work in the field, they do not take any personal belongs.  But they should not go back home to get anything.

What can we conclude about this? When the final judgment of God comes, it is so quick, and swift that there is nothing that we can take with us and there is no room to think and to prepare anything.

The judgment comes not just so swift but also it is thorough.

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.

The coming disaster is the worst in human history. It is unequalled from the beginning of the world until now.

The problem for us is that we never feel what it means to face such worst disaster. We have been living in comfort so long; we can hardly imagine what it might be.  It sounds too unreal to our ears. But when one face such ‘dreadful’ day comes, there is nothing that we can do. No money, no human relationship, no bunker with abundant storage of food will do any good!  If the days had not been cut short, no one would survive even believers.

Rev 8-9 describes the realistic pictures of this.

8:⁷ The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

⁸ The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰ The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water--…. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

¹² The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

9:1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, ..The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. ³ And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. ⁶ During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. ⁷ The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle

 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet,.., ¹⁸ A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury. ²⁰ The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood-- idols that cannot see or hear or walk. ²¹ Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Through this, it is clear that when the abomination that causes desolation, there is no time to think and the worst terror will come upon people in form of judgment.

During this time, false Messiahs and prophet will make all out effort to lure believers

v23-24²³ 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.

About false Messiahs, they will appeal to people in two ways: False messiah will appeal to people with great signs and miracles. Through miraculous works, they will deceive many.

V26²⁶ "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.

Second characteristic of the false messiah is to offer a secure place in time of such trouble. There is no secure place, not in the desert, not in a secrete closet, not in any secrete bunkers. If anyone offers a hiding place of security, don’t go. It is a place where vultures looking for carcass. When Jesus comes, the whole world will know. No one can hide from his presence.

So what should we do? V25.

²⁵ See, I have told you ahead of time.

For the believers, false messiahs are the most dangerous.  They have all forms and ideas of Jesus. But they are not! How can we know?

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.

When Jesus comes, his coming is visible everywhere and no one can miss his coming! It is like lightening! In a matter of second, he will be seen everywhere. 

D.     The Son of Man will come with power and great glory [29-31]

²⁹ "Immediately after the distress of those days "'the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'

The dreadful judgment is immediately followed by cosmic signs: it involves Sun, Moon, and stars.

Immediately after the distress, there will come a cosmic sign: Sun lose it light, moon does not shine and stars will fall from the sky and heavenly bodies will be shaken. It seems that the whole universe become in chaos and disarray.

1. Sun and moon have been the source of light for the earth. No light and then no life on earth! Also they also provide the stability of the planet earth, where we live and nestle our being. These are taken away and there will be no source of life. The source of living and the foundation of life are eradicated or taken away. Can life be sustained? Think about the planet earth is wandering in the vast universe, no set course and no direction!

2.      These changes come about to give way to the Son of man, the Son of God Almighty. Or Jesus the true source of life is coming that these are no longer needed!
Revelation 22:5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Yes it is a preparation of the coming of the Lord of life! When the Son of man comes, there is no need of the Sun, moon and stars.  

³⁰ "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

1.      He will come in clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

He is coming as the Lord and the only King of the earth. He is coming with power and glory, which no men have equaled before. His power is over the entire earth and entire human race. His glory is the glory of truth and holiness. There can never be any evils or ungodliness in his kingdom. So what the people do?

All nations of the earth will mourn! It will be an wakeful time for the unbelieving and ungodly. But for the believers?

³¹ And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

This is the final place of our lives. For us who believe in Christ, this is the time of utmost joy and happiness. This is the time when we can forget all the troubles, hardship, pains and sorrows that we carried as we live as God’s children.