The End in View, Part 3

Well, it’s in there where the
diagram passage is, as I’ve done in the last couple of weeks.
We want to refer to both and I don’t want to lose anyone. We find ourselves once again
in Luke’s gospel. In this lengthy and difficult
passage, a response really by Jesus to a series of questions
that his followers asked in response to Jesus statement that the temple
would ultimately be destroyed. It is called the Olivet Discourse.
It takes place on Wednesday of Passion Week. As you know, if
you don’t know already, get the tapes and review in time. I got to quit doing such lengthy. I am almost purposed and promised
and committed to finishing this section next Lord’s Day. But I got to get a good start
today to do that. So in order to help his disciples, Jesus
begins responding by answering their series of questions with
some warnings about false signs. If you’re in Luke’s Gospel, Luke
21, we pick that up in verse eight, where he urges them, see
that you are not misled. And with that, Jesus begins to
advance to them a series of things that could potentially lead them
astray. False messiahs, false labor,
things like earthquakes and wars and those types of things, false
incrimination, the great persecution that the church would face. We
see that unfold in verse 12. Before all these things, Jesus
says, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you,
delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before
kings and governors for my name’s sake. And yet, there is a silver
lining to that cloud. Jesus says that that persecution
will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. It is by God’s
design. And in verses 13-19, we spent
a lengthy time looking at that persecution in its fullness. That the closing testimony, as
we call it, of God’s people, the final witness of the saints,
was going to be replete with opportunity. It would lead to
an opportunity for their testimony, and that is exactly what we’re
called to provide. But we pick it up and this is
where I want you to take up your bulletins, and as I’ve told you
for the last several weeks, it is absolutely crucial to synthesize
these passages because to read one without the other, to study
one in in a vacuum without the other
two informing is to miss the great point of this passage. And particularly with the Gospel
of Luke, it is crucial to consider the other gospel writers. So
what I’ve done, as I’ve suggested in the past couple of weeks,
is synthesize the three accounts into one reading. Matthew in
italics, Mark in plain, Type and then Luke in boldface type
and we pick it up there in Matthew chapter 24, where he begins this
section in verse 11. Many false prophets will arise
and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased,
most people’s love will grow cold, but the one who endures
to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. And then the end will come. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded
by armies, Matthew’s gospel here has a completely different rendering. Matthew inserts here,
when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken
of through Daniel, the prophet standing in the holy place where
Mark adds, it should not be. Let the reader understand, then
recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in
Judea must flee to the mountains and those who are in the midst
of the city must leave. And those who are in the country
must not enter the city. Whoever is on the housetop must
not go down to get the things that are in his house. Whoever
is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak, because
these are the days of vengeance so that all things which are
written will be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant
and those who are nursing babies in those days, but pray that
your flight will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath. For then
there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since
the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. For there
will be great distress upon the land, wrath to this people, and
they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive
into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled
underfoot by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are
fulfilled. Unless those days had been cut
short, no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the
elect, those days will be cut short. We I hope you would acknowledge
with me that this is a difficult section. I suggested that it’s
one of the most difficult in all of Scripture, certainly one
that has produced a great amount of writing and debate and opinion. Even fights, it is a difficult
section, and because of that, we want to come humbly to it. There is a question that immediately
comes up, as I told you about the diversity of the accounts
of the synoptic writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Matthew and Mark
are relatively similar. Luke has a different take. Luke offers us a unique perspective
to Jesus’ words. But if you remember, it is one
Olivet discourse. Christ gave one Olivet discourse. The Gospel writers simply recorded
different elements of it. Enough to give us, potentially,
a different picture. And so the questions that come
up is, is this section referring to Jerusalem’s end in AD 70? Or is this section referring
to the end of the age? The end of all things? The end
when Christ comes and returns to earth as the conquering king? The answer, as I said, For several
weeks now, the answer is yes, it’s not this or that, it’s both.
Both this and that. Was it referring to 70 AD? Absolutely. But it wasn’t referring exclusively
to 70 AD. Ultimately, 70 AD prefigures
or is a microcosm of the things that will take place at the end
of the age. Luke doesn’t present an entirely
different message than Matthew and Mark. Luke is not exclusively
describing the destruction of Jerusalem, they are all recording
varying details of Christ’s one Olivet discourse. And so, as
I suggested for several weeks running now, the third option
is to blend both accounts, to blend all of these accounts so
that what we see is that what took place in 70 AD is a microcosm,
as I said, of things that will transpire at the end of the age.
It’s a foreshadowing. As such, what I have suggested
to you for several weeks is what you have in these words laid
out before us, whether they’re from Matthew, Mark or Luke, what
you have in this synthesis is a panorama, a broad overview
of the end of the age. And it is this that we have been
dwelling on for several weeks. This panorama of the end of the
age, first of all, began with what we said were indications
of the end of the age. First of all, false prophets.
False prophets are going to arise. We don’t want to participate
in that. We certainly want to be accurate
in what we teach. We don’t want to be sloppy. We
don’t want to be flippant. We don’t want to be casual with
the things of God. We want to be very careful when
we speak. We want to speak accurately.
We want to speak the truth because there are many out there that
aren’t. Many out there who have lost their passion for the truth,
if they ever had it at all, they have a wrong attitude, a wrong
heart. They have a wrong message and wrong methods. And we want
to guard against all of that. We want to guard against pride.
We want to guard against error. And we certainly want to guard
against improper approaches to the spread of the gospel. Jesus
says here for us is that as the time of the ages draws to a close,
false teachers are going to proliferate. They’re just going to explode.
They’re going to be everywhere. They’re going to be plentiful
and they’re going to be popular and they’re going to draw away
many, many. And so, as I suggested, it goes
beyond the Mormons. It goes beyond Roman Catholicism.
It goes beyond Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is going to be an absolute
explosion of error. And they’re going to mislead
many. There in verse 12, if you look at the passage, the synthesized
passage there in italics where it says, because lawlessness
is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. We spent some
time on this last week. We don’t want to operate out
of cold hearts, cold and indifferent to others, cold and indifferent
to God, cold and indifferent to God’s people. We want to stay
passionate about the things of God. We want to stay passionate
about the truth. We don’t want to become bewildered
and frustrated and angry and embittered. These cold hearts about which
Jesus speaks are the opposite of the warm and loving, affectionate
heart that He exhibited while on the earth. We want to stay passionate. We
want to stay fervent in our love for God. We want to stay fervent
in our love for one another. We cannot let the difficult days
that certainly lie ahead, we cannot let that quell our love
either for God or for His people. And they go hand in hand. We suggested last week to the
question of where might we be? Are we in a day where people’s
love has grown cold? People’s hearts are cold because
lawlessness is prevailing? I don’t even think we’re close
yet. You’re right. Could we love more? Could we
love better? Could we serve and love God more? Absolutely. But we are not there yet because
the persecution in the church is not heated up, not anywhere
near where it would or will be. The good news that we ended with
last week is that the one who endures to the end will be saved.
That’s the great news. The great news to the church
is in the midst of this persecution, the one who remains fervent in
his love for God and remains fervent in his love for others
and remains fervent in the proclamation of the gospel, a practical love
for the lost, he will be saved. And I take that to mean eternal
salvation, not just this temporal fix that he’s going to receive.
He’s going to be eternally saved. If we’re betrayed by others,
we are to press on. If the love of most people around
you grows cold, press on and endure to salvation. That is
the message that Christ gave to these precious apostles. And it is a tremendous thought,
as we began to leave off last week. That we are, in essence,
transported into eternity. That, look, even if everything
falls apart, if we would only endure to the end, we will be
saved. We will be in heaven forever. And immediately, the apostles’
minds and ours are transported into heaven and immediately we
begin to rest and bask in the glory of God Himself. But it’s a temporary break. It’s
a pause. It was a pause for the apostles
and it’s a pause for us. And we have to, again, return
to this passage, return to earth, if you will, return to life,
to our calling as saints in this world, because we are drawing
near to the end. We’ve seen the indicators of
the end and we talked about the trigger last week. The trigger
is the preaching of the gospel. Look at verse 14. where Matthew
says the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole
world as a testimony to the nations. And then the end will come. There
isn’t any other indicator in this passage that says, and then
this is the great indicator of the end. This is the great indicator
that the church will have completed its work. The gospel will have
been preached. whether through supernatural
means or the means of the basic preaching of the gospel, preaching
from pulpits, preaching from handing people tracts, preaching
from, you know, not need frightened individuals trying to share with
their neighbor whatever means possible. It is the preaching
of the gospel that is the trigger for the end. And Jesus says, and then the
end will come. And this is where we left off last week. Then the
end will come. And where we go from here is
to what is known as the Great Tribulation. And that’s why I
thought it was important to at least introduce the idea last
week that when you begin to talk about the Great Tribulation,
I do not see the church there. That’s why I see verse 14 of
Matthew’s Gospel so crucial to this whole consideration, because
the preaching of the gospel is the mission of the church. It
is the mission of the saints. It is the mission of Christ’s
people to proclaim Him. And that when that’s done, the
church’s mission is done. And that’s why I see this is
an absolutely perfect place to correct or adjust your thinking
and to see that this is a prime spot for the rapture of the church.
Am I absolutely definitive? No. But I’ll tell you why I think
that this is where the church is raptured. We began to talk
about it last week, the rapture of the church, the word isn’t
used in Scripture, technically speaking, but just like the idea
of the Trinity, we certainly find it in Scripture. It is God’s
supernatural removal of the church. All of those people who are truly
in Christ, those having died and those that are still alive
at the beginning of the second coming. And that goes back to
that whole issue where we talked about the second coming as being
a dynamic event. Christ comes back and that is
the beginning of the second coming. Christ comes back to take his
church to heaven and then things get ugly. The debate, once you begin to
talk about the rapture, you begin to enter into in relation to
the great tribulation, when does the rapture occur? Some would
say that it’s pre-tribulation. Before the tribulation, things
are going to be hard. Things have always been hard
for the church and they always will be. Tribulation, in a sense,
is part and parcel of our calling in this world, but it isn’t a
great tribulation. And when that whole thing starts
to unfold, I believe the church will be gone. There is also a
position called the mid tribulational rapture, where three and a half
years into this difficult period, the church will be taken out.
There is a pre-wrath rapture of the church, a perspective
that says that three quarters of the way through the tribulation,
and that’s a fairly new position. There is the post tribulation
or rapture of the church following the tribulation period, obviously. And then there is the partial
rapture of the church that says only the faithful Christians,
only the good ones, the good kids get to go to heaven at the
initial rapture of the church. And then the others get to work
out their salvation through the most difficult period in time. This obviously is a fertile field
for debate. You have that many active positions,
and I mean active by they are still being debated and bandied
about and argued. As one pastor acknowledged, the
Bible does not explicitly tell us the timing of the rapture.
Thus, the timing of the rapture is an inductive effort based
on the weight of evidence of the passages. And so you’ve got
all kinds of places to go to gather in the data. to consider
this whole subject. As I’ve already told you, I see
the second coming of Christ as a dynamic, complex event, an
event that begins with the rapture of the church out of the world
before this unspeakable time of trouble called the Great Tribulation. At the end of that, Jesus returns
to establish his kingdom. For me, that is the explanation
that deals best with the biblical data. But I want to ponder this
idea of the rapture for a moment. And for that, I want to take
you back where we left off last week to First Thessalonians,
chapter four. In First Thessalonians, chapter
four, you have probably the clearest and greatest articulation of
the rapture of the church, even though the word isn’t used there.
You have the clearest articulation of the rapture of the church
in all of the New Testament. There in 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning
in verse 13, Paul says, But we do not want you to be uninformed,
brethren, which means that there is a great deal of misinformation
out there, even in first century Christianity. A great deal of
misinformation, which has only been added to by the 2000 years
that has ensued. We do not want you to be misinformed,
uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep so that you will
not grieve as the rest who have no hope. What they thought is
that if someone died in the interim period before Christ came, they
were gone and gone forever. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so, God will bring within those who
have fallen asleep in Jesus. There is a resurrection, Paul
says, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord. This
is in Paul’s opinion. This isn’t the musing of a would
be theologian. that we who are alive and remain
until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have
fallen asleep. There is a resurrection. There
is a resurrection from the dead. Those who have died will rise
first, he says. For the Lord Himself will descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with
the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up
together with them.” And that caught up is where that word
or the idea of rapture is gathered from. We will be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we
shall always be with the Lord. This is the beginning of the
end. This is the second coming. This is the beginning of the
great dynamic event called the second coming. And Paul says
to them, therefore, comfort one another with these words. What
comforting words. There are no greater words for
the comfort of the saints. There is. A resurrection, there
is a second coming and there is eternity with Christ. First
Corinthians 15 says it this way, behold, I tell you a mystery.
Verse 51 of chapter 15, we will not all sleep, but we will all
be changed in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye at
the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will
be raised imperishable and we will be changed. I’ve told you
about a couple of beneficial tools. There are lots of beneficial
tools out there and there are even more really harmful tools
out there. There are some very polemical
works and some works that are are very encouraging and clear
and gracious. Obviously, the apple doesn’t
fall far from the wagon or the tree. And so one of the books
that I found most helpful is the one that Carla introduced
me to several years ago, MacArthur’s book on the second coming. MacArthur
says this. Scripture suggests that the second
coming occurs in two stages. This is what I mean by a dynamic
event. It’s not just a point in time
event. Scripture suggests that the second
coming occurs in two stages. First, the rapture when he comes
for his saints and they are caught up to meet him in the air. And
second, his return to earth when he comes with his saints to execute
judgment against his enemies. That is the only scenario that
reconciles the imminency of Christ’s coming for his saints with the
yet unfulfilled signs that signal his final glorious return with
the saints. The entire church will be removed
from the earth before the tribulation begins. National Israel, not
the church, will be the focus of God’s earthly program. The
onset of the tribulation marks the start of the painful process
by which the nation of Israel will be grafted back into the
olive tree. The significance of the tribulation
pertains to ethnic and national Israel, not the church. Now, As I said several weeks ago,
sometimes people struggle with this whole dynamic thing. The
point that I made then is we don’t think of Christ’s initial
coming as a one time event, the birth in a manger, right? Jesus
grew up. It was a dynamic event. But we
speak of that whole 33 year period as Jesus first coming. That was
Jesus coming to earth. In fact, it didn’t even begin
with his physical birth, did it? began with the conception. So, as I indicated, there are
a myriad of viewpoints of this whole idea of the rapture and
you are wondering, why would I take or why do I take or why
should I take a pre-tribulational position? Why do I think that
the church is going to be taken out just after verse 14 of Matthew,
chapter 24? And it isn’t so much that it’s
immediately after that verse, it’s after the idea, after the
gospel is preached and fully preached. The church is taken
out of the world by means of the rapture. First of all, the
first reason that I would say that argues for a pre-tribulational
rapture is that God promises the church deliverance from his
wrath. And that is the great outpouring
of the wrath. That is what’s taking place in
the Great Tribulation. 1 Thessalonians 1.10, to wait
for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, that
is, Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. Same book. Later in that same book, 1 Thessalonians
5.9, God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, the pre-tribulational
position best synthesizes, as I suggested a moment ago, all
of the prophetic biblical data. Thirdly, the biblical data characterizes
the church as waiting in eager anticipation for the imminent
return of Christ her Savior, not for the tribulation period.
How many of you are eagerly looking for the tribulation? Not me. 1 Corinthians 1. Paul speaks of
them as awaiting eagerly the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Titus 2. Looking for the blessed
hope in the appearing of the glory of the great God and Savior. Christ Jesus. Philippians 3.20,
which book we just finished some time ago. For our citizenship
is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nowhere is it indicated that
the church is eagerly looking forward to its opportunity to
live through the great tribulation. It just doesn’t say it. Fourthly, The example itself
of the Thessalonian church. Listen carefully to Thessalonians,
and I’ll quote this verse probably if I make it again later in the
morning, which is only 14 minutes away. Second Thessalonians, chapter
two, just listen carefully. See to it that you not be quickly
shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit
or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the
day of the Lord has come. They thought that they had missed
the rapture, the Thessalonian church. Let no one in any way
deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes
first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. We’ll talk a lot about him in
a minute. As one well said, if Paul had taught. A post tribulation
or rapture that they were going to the church is going to have
to go through this great tribulation, this time of of utter chaos and. Horrific events, if Paul had
taught a post tribulation or rapture, the Thessalonians would
have had no reason. to be disturbed since they would
be expecting signs and persecution before the coming of the Lord.
In other words, all of this upheaval that they were experiencing would
have been normal. That said, if you haven’t caught
my drift yet, what unfolds here in the Olivet discourse is future. It was forecasted by the events
of 8070, but it certainly wasn’t completed there. It wasn’t completed
there. Now, that’s what makes this point
to so crucial. And I alluded to this as we closed
last week. If point two is the trigger for
the end and the trigger for the end is the preaching of the gospel.
If the preaching of the gospel to the whole world is the trigger
for the end and we don’t know exactly when that is. Only God
knows. And if the rapture of the church
is directly tied to that, and we don’t know when that will
occur either. Then we immediately see the imminence
of Christ’s return and the absolute urgency. Of the need that we
have of readiness for eternity. One commentator said it this
way, as far as prophetic events are concerned, the rapture of
the church is the first thing to take place. It is an event
which no signs or indicators are attached. We are not told
to look for certain signs in order to correctly anticipate
the time of the rapture. It simply will happen. And that’s why I asked you last
week, is it a million souls that need to hear the gospel before
the immediate rapture of the church? I don’t know. It just says that the gospel
of the kingdom will be preached to the whole world and then the
end will come. Is it a million? We don’t know.
Ten thousand? A thousand? Is it one soul? One
soul, even this morning, that needs to hear the gospel, that
wanders into church and he hears the gospel and that’s it. It’s
done. It’s over. And the rapture comes. I don’t
know. It could be. One day it will be that one last
person that needs to hear the gospel. The bottom line is we
need to be ready. That much we know, we need to
preach the gospel and we need to be ready for heaven. That
isn’t news, right? You’ve all heard me say many
times, usually, Somewhat tongue in cheek about the men that come
up here that as a pastor, a man needs to be ready to preach,
pray or die in a minute. Right. Except that isn’t just
for pastors. You may not get up here and preach. But it’s for everyone, we need
to be ready. Wouldn’t it be exciting if you
were the one, if you were the one to preach the gospel to the
last soul that ever needed to hear? Peter said it this way. The end
of all things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment
and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent
in your love for one another because love covers a multitude
of sins. Don’t let your love grow cold.
Be hospitable to one another without complaint, as each one
has received a special gift. Employ it in serving one another
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If God has saved
you and gifted you and equipped you, get busy. That’s what he
says. Serve God and be serving God
when He comes. Whoever speaks, is to do so as
one who is speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to
do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies,
so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.” In
the second epistle, Peter wrote this, since all these things,
all these things are to be destroyed in this way, What sort of people
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Shouldn’t you
be preaching the gospel? Shouldn’t you be ready for heaven?
Shouldn’t you be eagerly anticipating your Savior? Point three. Point three, we’re looking at
a panorama of the end of the age. We’ve looked at the indications
of the end, that there will be false prophets and people’s love
will grow cold and the legal system will almost have a total
breakdown. Then we see the trigger for the
end, the preaching of the gospel. Thirdly, the features of the
end, the features of the end. And judged on the thickness of
my notes remaining, we’ll get this introduced and we will be
back again for a command performance next week. If you would, please
look at verse 20 of Luke’s Gospel, where Luke says, But when you
see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, and this is where the biggest
difference in this whole Olivet discourse occurs. Because Luke
says when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies recognize that her
desolation is near. And Matthew and Mark. You would
never get that from what they what he indicates there. Matthew
and Mark says the abomination of desolation is what is in view,
which was spoken of through Daniel, the prophet standing in the holy
place where it should not be. And I will tell you that as we
begin to get into these verses, the two blend perfectly. They
are both talking about the exact same event. So all the detail is accomplished. The gospel having been fully
preached, Jesus lays out two clear signs of the end of the
age. Armies and abomination. And I
didn’t even have to get creative on alliteration here. Armies
and abomination, right? It’s right there. He says that
when you see these two things, the desolation of Jerusalem is
near. And as I’ve already indicated, the church won’t even be here.
Luke records Jesus is spelling out quite clearly when you see
these things, these two elements, then recognize that her desolation
is near. The statement is an echo, even
better, it’s an underscore of the initial shocking statement
that Jesus made, isn’t it? Back in verse six, regarding
the destruction of the temple, Jesus revisits the subject in
order to reinforce the idea. There would be no immediate kingdom,
no conquering king, no earthly utopia, not yet. Now you say, OK, Pastor, that
sounds an awful lot, though, like the destruction of Jerusalem,
just exactly like it happened in 70 A.D. You’re right. Here again, there is an immediate
reference to this desolation of 70 A.D., and there is a distant
reference to the end of the age. Both are encompassed in this
one warning. What all this points to in short,
and we’ll look at it in detail in a moment, what it points to
is the great tribulation, the great trouble, the biggest trouble
that mankind has ever known. And all at once. Take all of
your world wars, all of your man-made, all of your God-ordained
destruction and tragedy and disaster. Roll it all into one. And you
begin to get a picture of the great tribulation. I want you
to note again, And begin at the top of the page in your bulletin.
And I want you to just note again the terminology and the images
that are elicited by the language of this section immediately becomes
clear that this is no ordinary disaster that Jesus is talking
about, that it is indeed the great tribulation. If you’re
at the top of the page in the bulletin, It says, because people’s
lawlessness is increased there in verse 11, skip down to verse
14, where it says the end will come. This is discussion about
the end, and when it says the end, it means literally the end
of the earth as we know it. Look at verse 20. It speaks of
desolation, that her desolation is near and goes on to speak
of the abomination of desolation. I may be able to hint to the
nature of what and who that is in a moment, if not next week. Skip down, if you will, to those
bold-faced verses. Verse 22. In verse 22, it speaks
of these days as the days of vengeance. Skip down a few verses
to the italicized verse 21 from Matthew’s Gospel that speaks
of it as a great tribulation such as has not occurred since
the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Luke goes
on to describe it in those next bold verses. Great distress,
wrath, wrath of God. The end time trouble. is the trouble from this biblical
terminology that we know as tribulation, trouble, great tribulation. Spoken
of in Scripture as the day of the Lord, the wrath of God, tribulation,
all of it. Let me introduce just briefly
this morning the detail, and then we’re going to have to come
back again and pick up with this abomination of desolation. Consider just briefly this morning
the detail. Jesus says that the great tribulation
is going to be marked by absolutely unmistakably by armies and ultimately
an abomination. When Luke initiates this discussion
in verse 20, when he says, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded
by armies, you say, when haven’t we seen Jerusalem surrounded
by armies? Only Luke. speaks of armies in
this context, as we’ve already talked about. Only Luke mentions
specifically Jerusalem. It might be easier looking back
over the course of history to ask when hasn’t Jerusalem been
surrounded by armies? Even as we speak, Jerusalem is
surrounded by hostile and hateful enemies. Still, Jesus says this
is an indicator of the great outset of the great tribulation
As the siege heaps up again against the nation of Israel, and particularly
Jerusalem, her enemies will again mount and gather. But Matthew and Mark introduce
another element entirely. Armies, they’re easy to look
for, aren’t they? We’ve all seen armies. We’ve seen camps. We’ve
seen encampments. We’ve seen armies marching. We’ve
seen jets and ships and great armies amassed at borders preparing
to strike. We’ve seen it. And in a sense,
we’ve even seen it in regard to Jerusalem, although I think
it’ll be far worse. But only Matthew and Mark introduced
this one little element. Matthew and Mark say, when you
see the abomination of desolation, which is spoken of through Daniel
the prophet. There’s some help for us. Standing
in the holy place, there is a very particular spot. And Mark. Almost need not add, but does
where it should not be. This abomination of desolation,
what or whoever he is, is in a place that he absolutely should
not be. That is the very nature of the
abomination itself. It is an impure, vile thing in
a holy place. Matthew and Mark say, when you
see that, it’s over. And so is our time. And so we’ll
pick up with the consideration of the abomination of desolation
next Lord’s Day. The homework for you is certainly
to read that passage, Daniel chapter 9 and others. But to
consider the great lesson of the passage is a lesson of readiness,
isn’t it? It’s a lesson of if the gospel
is the great trigger for the end of the age, and if that could
take place in the preaching of the gospel to one individual
and then comes the rapture, And we don’t know when that is. How
ready should we be? Let’s pray. Our merciful God,
we thank You and praise You for Your Word, for the completeness,
for the depth, for the humbling nature of this very study, for
the truths that are imparted to us there about Your love for
Your saints, and your desire to have the gospel preached even
to the end of the earth. God, grant us the grace to be
faithful in that regard, to do what we are called to do and
to do it for your glory. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen.