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In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear Saints, one time I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Jesus is coming, look busy.” That is the wrong idea. Why does Jesus let us know that He’s coming again in glory? To frighten us? To make us live our days in terror and anxiety? So that we would shuffle around looking busy? No. But that we would be good stewards of this promise. And that’s what I want to consider today.
But the text before us is a little bit complex, and so I want to walk through it to make sure we’re on the same page. The words of our Lord Jesus are recorded here in Mark and in Matthew as well with enough detail that we know when Jesus spoke them. It was on Holy Tuesday, the eleventh day of Nisan, just before the Passover, Jesus’ crucifixion, four days later. It was after Jesus’ last public teaching.
So remember, on that holy week, on Monday and Tuesday, He was in the temple teaching and arguing. In fact, they had tried three times to trick Jesus, and they couldn’t. And so then He had stumped them with a question about Psalm 110. Right before our text, Luke tells us that they saw a widow in the temple giving from her poverty. Jesus commended her.
As they walked out of the temple complex and down the Kidron Valley and then up the side of Mount Olives down to Bethany, where they were staying, Jesus and the disciples, as they were walking out of Jerusalem, out of the temple, the disciples were marveling and they said, “Look at these stones, look at this building, it’s just beautiful.” They were marveling probably at the temple base that Solomon had built and maybe at the structure that Herod had overseen. It’s this beautiful temple, and Jesus looks at the stones, and He looks at the disciples, and He says, “That day’s coming when not one of these stones is going to stand on the other.”
The disciples are somewhat stunned as they walk down to the valley, up to the top of the Mount of Olives, and they stop there on the top of the mountain. They stop to rest, and they turn around; it’s a beautiful view. You can see the sun setting over the city, Mount Zion is there, the city of David, and there’s the temple and the city behind it. They are sitting there resting, and finally, they get up the nerve to ask Jesus, “When’s that gonna happen? And what are the signs of your coming in glory?”
Two questions, and maybe one of the reasons why the text is so complicated is because those two events, maybe the disciples thought they were gonna happen together—that Jerusalem was gonna be destroyed and the end of the world would be there at the same time. Jesus answers both questions at once, but they’re separated by, well, so far, 1,900 and something years, one from the other.
So Jesus, in fact, answers both questions. We could say Jesus answers three questions. He says, first, He tells the disciples what are not gonna be the signs of the end, and then He tells them what are gonna be the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem, and then third, He tells them what are the signs of the second coming. All three in the text.
So first, maybe in verses 10 all the way to verses 19, Jesus tells them how things are going to go. There are basically three things that we want to note about the normal, just how things are going to be. Maybe four.
Number one, nations are going to fight against nations. There’s going to be wars and rumors of wars all the time. The end is not yet. That’s important because I think normally, like when we are watching the news and it says breaking urgent news, so and so is at war with so and so, we think to ourselves, “I wonder if this is a sign that the end of the world is coming.” But Jesus tells us whenever you see nations go to war, you should say, “It’s not yet. It’s just normal; that’s just normal business.” It’s what nations do; they wage war against other nations.
And not only that, the second thing Jesus tells us is that the nations will persecute the church. “You’ll be dragged into the synagogue and before governors and before kings, and they’ll persecute you. You’ll be turned over even by people in your own family.” And some of you, Jesus says, “will be put to death.” All of you, He promises, “will be hated.” It’s good for us to know this. It’s just good for us to reflect on the promise of Jesus that says that nations are going to persecute the church.
But listen to what Jesus says in the middle of all of this; it’s really quite something. He says, “I’m in verse 16, it says, some of you they will put to death, but then look at verse 18, not a hair of your head will perish.” As we listen to the text, we’re trying to figure out from Jesus how it is that we will be put to death and yet not a hair on our head will perish.
The answer to this little riddle that Jesus gives is that while we sing it in the hymn, “Take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife; let these all be gone, they yet have nothing won; the kingdom remains ours.” In other words, if everything’s taken away from you, even your life, you are not dead; you are kept by Jesus, held by Him, protected by His mercy, and you will be raised on the last day. Not a hair on your head will be lost.
That’s how things are going to be. So nation rises against nation, nation persecutes the church, and then the third thing that is just normal business is that the church blesses the nations by preaching the gospel. Jesus says, “You’re going to be delivered before kings and all this sort of stuff.” This is your opportunity, He says, to bear witness.
Now, let’s just underline this little point here. The world is at war with the church, but the church is not at war with the world. Jesus tells us that the world will hate us, but He does not command us to hate back, but to bless, to serve, to love, to speak clearly the gospel. I think the best picture for this is Stephen. When he’s being stoned to death, remember how Stephen quotes Jesus when they’re lifting the rocks to crush his body? He says, “Father, forgive them.”
So as the world comes against the church with all its weapons and all its nastiness, we say, “Father, forgive them. Father, bless them.” In fact, the prayer for the enemies of the church, it’s beautiful; it comes up every now and again in the prayers. It says, “Lord, turn their hearts so that they would together with us rejoice in all your benefits.” That’s our prayer and our hope, and that’s how the church treats the world. You are here in the world to be a blessing to the world that hates you. God be praised.
So that’s normal business: war and war, persecution, being put to death, and witnessing of Christ. That’s how it’s going to be. But then the second part, Jesus says, “Now let me give you a warning about the destruction of Jerusalem.” This starts in verse 20, where Jesus says, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know the desolation has come near. Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are inside the city depart. Let none who are in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance.”
Now, this happened, by the way, not immediately. Jesus gave this promise in spring of the year 33. It was fulfilled in August of the year 70 when Titus brought the Roman armies and came in and invaded Judea and surrounded Jerusalem and utterly demolished it. We know this all from history. August 10th, the temple was destroyed after the siege that was there, and not a stone was left upon another. It was all destroyed.
But here’s the amazing thing. I was reading about this; Pastor LeBlanc and I were looking at it earlier in Eusebius’ Church History. He says that because the church heeded this warning of Jesus, all the Christians got out of Jerusalem, and not a single Christian was killed in this Roman siege. While all the people in Judea did the opposite—they ran into Jerusalem—which is probably what you do if you’re in the countryside and you see the armies coming; you run to the city. That’s where you go to be protected.
But while all the people in Judea were running into the city of Jerusalem, thinking that it was gonna be the place where they could be protected, the Christians were running for the hills. In fact, they all went and settled in this little town called Pella on the other side of the Jordan River, this rocky kind of mountainous place. So this warning of Jesus very specifically was fulfilled in that particular event: Jerusalem and the temple and all Judea were destroyed by the Romans. You can still see the arch in Rome to celebrate that destruction, but the Lord’s people were preserved, and none lost their lives.
But then, Jesus gets to the third point, verse 25, and that’s the signs of the very end. This is the second coming, His coming in glory to judge the quick and the dead. “There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars, on the earth distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
When you see these things, straighten up. This is what we confess in the Creed, and He will come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead. I had someone ask me one time; they said, “Brian, do you really believe that about Jesus coming back in glory?” And the answer is, “I do believe it,” but it’s hard; it’s hard to believe.
And I don’t know if this is the case with you, but it is the case with me, that there’s a handful of Christian doctrines that the devil will always try to stir up doubt even in my own heart, and this is one of them. Kind of driving along or walking along through the neighborhood, and all of a sudden the doubt kind of slaps you in the face, and you say, “Is Jesus really going to come back soon?”
I think the reason why it’s so easy to doubt this promise is because, well, we sort of naturally have to plan on things not changing that much. I mean, today is an awful lot like yesterday was, and yesterday is an awful lot like the day before, and we kind of bank on the fact that tomorrow is going to be an awful lot like today just to keep things going. It’s true enough.
But there is a day coming that will be the last day. And you, by the way, are not the only people who believe that. In fact, everybody believes it in one way or another. Even if you don’t believe in God, if you just believe that we’re living in the Big Bang, this explosion, this sort of cosmic collection of shrapnel, even those people believe that there will be a last day when the sun explodes or when it burns out, and we enter into the heat death or something.
Everybody thinks that the world is gonna end, but the Lord here tells us how. The last day is not the day that the sun explodes or that the environment collapses or that the nations start a nuclear war, no. The last day is the day that the Lord Jesus comes in glory, that He comes for you. The last day, Jesus says, is a rescue mission.
I think there’s three things that the Lord wants us to do to be good stewards of this promise of the last day, and I want to run through them very quickly for you. Three things, three ways that we honor the Lord by believing what He promises here.
The first is that we repent. We know that the last day is a day of judgment, and we know that we cannot escape that judgment by our own perfect or pure lives, and so we repent of our sins and we trust in Christ. This is what it means to be wise and ready for the last day. Remember the five wise and five foolish virgins? The five were wise because they had oil in their lamps. That is, they had faith in Jesus, a trust in His name and His mercy.
So we repent, and we love. We recognize that we don’t have forever to accomplish the good works that the Lord has called us to, and so when Jesus reminds us that He’s coming, it’s a reminder, well, to say it simply, it’s a reminder to get after it. You got good works to do. There are people to love. One day, it’s gonna be dark when you can’t do any work anymore, so get after it.
And the third thing is that we long for that day because we know that that day will be a day of deliverance. Revelation describes the day mostly in terms of what’s not there anymore. Remember this? No more tears, no more sorrow, no more death, no more graveyards, no more doctor visits, no more test results, no more temptation, no more sorrow, no more war, no more violence, but light and joy and peace for all who long for His appearing.
Look how Jesus ends the words to us today. The very last part of the verse, I think it’s the most wonderful thing. He says that when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. It doesn’t say your judgment is drawing near. It doesn’t say your affliction is drawing near. It doesn’t say your doom is drawing near, or your death is drawing near, or your end is drawing near. No, your redemption is what’s drawing near.
Your Redeemer is drawing near. The one who comes, dear saints, the one who comes to judge is the one who already came to die. That’s our confidence, and that’s our peace.
So with repentance, with love, with faith, with patience, we pray. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
