Before
we start this morning I want to continue to encourage everyone here to commit
to reading more of the Bible in 2016 than they did in 2015. I did not read the
entire Bible in 2015, but that is my commitment for 2016. I am going to read
every word that God has recorded in the Bible. Whether you make that commitment
or not, please spend more time in God’s Word and don’t forget to talk to Him
continually.
The
end times are probably one of the most challenging topics discussed in the
Bible. As we start digging into the end times I want to encourage you to become
very familiar with Matthew chapters 24 and 25. They are the focal point for the
next several weeks and the more familiar you are with them the more you will
get out of our time together.
Last
week I was laying the foundation on why we need to study this ever important
topic. There are people out there saying that we are days away and others who
think it will never happen. My prayer as we go through this study is that each
of us will learn what to watch for. There is not one sign but a bunch of things
that need to happen. We need to understand what all of the signs are so that we
can see when the pieces’ start falling together. I also pray that as we see that
we may be closer than some might have thought, that it creates an urgency in
each of us to share God’s love and His amazing message so that as many people
as possible make it into the lifeboat.
Before
we get into the main verses this morning in Matthew 24, please flip back to
Matthew 23.
Matthew
23:37-39
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem! She who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to
her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, yet you were not willing! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘He who comes in the name of the Lord is the
blessed One’!”
In
these final verses in Matthew 23, Jesus pronounced judgement on Jerusalem. This
judgement was carried out by the Romans 37 years later.
Matthew
24:1-2
“24 As Jesus left and was
going out of the temple complex, His disciples came up and called His
attention to the temple buildings. 2 Then He replied to them, “Don’t you see all these
things? I assure you: Not one stone will be left here on another that will not
be thrown down!”
Here
in the first verses of chapter 24 Jesus prophesies that the Temple would be
destroyed. This too happened when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem some 37 years
later. Both were destroyed exactly as Jesus said. In neither His prophesy on
the destruction of Jerusalem or He prophesy on the destruction of the Temple
did Jesus answer when it was going to happen, He only told what was going to
happen.
As
Jesus words and our attention turn to our future and His second coming we see
the same thing.
Matthew
24:3
“3 While He was sitting on the Mount of
Olives, the disciples approached Him privately and said, “Tell us, when will
these things happen? And what is the sign of Your coming and of the end of the
age?”
In this verse they are asking Jesus 3 questions.
1. When is all this
going to happen?
2. What will be the
signs of Your coming?
3. What will be the
signs of the end of age?
In
Matthew’s recording of these events we find no record of Jesus answering the
first question. Jesus does not answer when it is going to happen, and when you
look later in the chapter, He has this for us.
Matthew
24:36-39
“36 “Now concerning that day and hour no one
knows—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son —except the Father only. 37 As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man
will be. 38 For in those days before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. 39 They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the
way the coming of the Son of Man will be:”
No
one is going to know until it is too late. Only those, such as Noah, who are
worthy and pay attention will know that we are getting closer. We will get into
these verses in more detail in the coming weeks, but the answer Jesus gives
here may be why He does not answer the disciples first question about when
these things are going to happen.
As
for the other two about the signs of His second coming and the end of the age,
we find in the following verses that He does answer them.
Matthew
24:4-8
“4 Then Jesus replied to them: “Watch out that no one
deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am
the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many. 6 You are going to hear of wars and rumors of
wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but
the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise up against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various
places. 8 All these events are the beginning of birth
pains.”
In
these verses we see warnings about false signs and some of the genuine signs of
both the second coming of Jesus and the end of the age.
We
are not to be alarmed by the false messiahs mentioned in verse 5 and we should
not worry about the wars and rumors of wars. These things are going to happen
and are NOT signs of the end times.
There
have been false teachers since shortly after Jesus’ death. A man named Simon
tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit and was confronted by the Apostles. Many
big tent ‘healers’ were charlatans. Some of the televangelist over the last 50
years have been called out as false teachers. There are people who have claimed
to be prophets and foretold of the rapture and so much more only to be exposed
as a phony. False messiahs are nothing new and are not a sign of the end of the
age.
How
about the wars and rumors of wars? Mankind has fought each other from the very
beginning. Whether it is a fight between two brothers, people fighting for
freedom, or battles between two countries. War is always present and if wars
and rumors of wars have always existed they are not the signs of the end of the
age or the second coming of Jesus Christ.
False
messiahs and wars and rumors of wars are false signs that we do not need to be
worried about. Verse 7 is where we start seeing the genuine signs.
Matthew
24:7
“For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”
Nation
against nation and kingdom against kingdom is not talking about wars between
one country against another, like the wars between England and France or even
Russia and the USA during the Cold War. This verse is referring to complete and
total wars, entire regions fighting, such as World Wars. A genuine sign that
the end is near are World Wars and we have had two of them. Is there going to
be a third world war, if you gauge it by the tension you see or read in the
news we may already be in one or on the verge of it. Especially with the rise
of Islam and how they seem to be declaring war on everyone who does not agree
with them. Either way, many theologians believe that this sign has already been
fulfilled by the first two world wars.
Then
we are told that there will be famines and earthquakes, which I think if better
translated as natural disasters.
While
there are parts of the world that are facing famines today, that has been the
case for several thousand years. The sign of the end of the age is not a
limited number of people facing famines, it is a worldwide famine. Something
that impacts every continent and every nation. While we may be heading towards
water and food shortages, this has not come to pass so it is a sign to watch
for. It is most likely going to be caused by another world war that makes the
last two seem like nothing.
California
had several earthquakes this last week, but that was not a sign of the coming end
times. Again this verse is pointing towards worldwide issues, not something
that is only local. Even the earthquake that hit just outside of Poplar Bluff,
MO is not a sign of the second coming of Jesus. Natural disasters would have to
be hitting each continent on a regular basis for it to be seen as the
fulfillment of this sign. We are not there yet.
Matthew
24:8
“All these events are
the beginning of birth pains.”
All
of the things we have discussed this morning are the birth pains, the signs
that we are approaching the Tribulation not that we are already in it and that
is where opinions start flying in all different directions.
Some
will say that the things listed in these first verses in Matthew 24 are part of
the tribulation and have not happened yet. Others will say they have happened
and tied to the first 4 of the 6 seals that are opened in Revelations chapter
6.
Seal
One releases a horseman with a bow and he was sent out to conquer. This seal
represents the coming of the antichrist. The question we have to ask is, is he
already here on earth getting into position or has this seal yet to be broken.
Seal
Two releases a man on a red horse with a large sword and represents great or
world wars. Some say the wars we have seen in the past point to this seal being
broken, and some say it is for a war that has yet to come.
Seal
Three releases a man on a black horse and represents the coming famine. Since
we know we have not seen a great worldwide famine, I think we can all agree
that it has yet to be broken.
Seal
Four releases a man on a pale horse, or death. He is here due to the aftermath
of war and famine. Again, since the famine has yet to hit this seal is still in
place.
This
is where I said that it may not be as black and white as some make it out to be.
Could some of the seals be broken during the ‘birth pains’ time frame leading
up to the Tribulation or will they all be opened during the Tribulation.
I
honestly think it is pretty clear if you look at Revelations chapter 3. Here
Jesus is talking about the church in Philadelphia, the faithful church.
Revelation
3:10-11
“10 Because you have kept My command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of
testing that is going to come over the whole world to test those who live on
the earth. 11 I am coming quickly. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown.”
Those
who are faithful, true Christ followers, will be kept from the hour of testing.
Based on this, the Seals found in Revelation 6 have NOT been broken. As bad as
things have been and seem now, they are not the horsemen being released onto
the world. Things are bad, but when the seals are broken it is going to be
much, much worse. We have signs to watch for in the global famine and massive
natural disasters, but the Seals have not been broken.
Watch
for the signs, but remember all of the people out there who do not know Jesus.
Even those people who say they are a Christian but do not follow God, you
cannot see any good fruit in their lives. All these people, all the ones we
love, all the ones that are lost in sin, are not going to be kept from the hour
of testing, they are going to live through it. Things are bad now, but they are
going to be horrific during the opening of the Seals.
Do
you want your loved ones living through that? Pray for them, pray for their
salvation. If you have your prayer book write their names in it. Then pray for
the strength and knowledge to share God’s grace with everyone you meet. If you
don’t there is a chance they are going to have to live through the Seals being
opened and things get worse from there.
Thank you for reading!
God Bless,
Robert
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