Getting the Right Perspective on Facing the End Times
Matthew 24:1-8
March 8, 2009
NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS BORROWED FROM ANDY STANLEY’S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."
Me/We:
One of the issues that comes up when discussing the end times – those times that are coming to bring ultimate fulfillment to God’s plan and the return of Jesus – is that there is a lot of mystery involved, and when we look at some of the stuff Jesus describes it can cause some people to become scared.
And it can cause others to simply ignore these parts of Scripture altogether because they think they’re too hard to figure out.
“What’s ‘the abomination that causes desolation (v. 15)?” “Is this stuff only going to happen in Israel or will it be worldwide?” “Will the sun really be darkened and the stars fall from the sky?”
All sorts of questions arise, and it can cause us to either be afraid or to ignore it entirely, neither of which are in our best interests.
God/You:
I believe Jesus has something to say to us to help us through all that. I think He has something to say that cuts through the confusion and the clutter and gets to the heart of where we need to be in looking at all this end times stuff.
Before we get into the passage itself, let’s throw a little context in here, okay?
This conversation is taking place as Jesus is leaving the temple area to head back to Bethany, where He and His disciples were staying during Passover.
Bethany was a small city just outside of Jerusalem, within easy walking distance.
Jesus had just spent the vast majority of that day, which we think is Tuesday of what we call Holy Week today, teaching, debating, and preaching to the religious leaders.
At this point, it’s probably late afternoon, and they need to get back in time to eat and rest.
It’s during the walk back that we find the disciples asking Jesus a couple questions and Jesus responding.
Matthew 24:1-8 –
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; every one will be thrown down."
In this first paragraph, Jesus is specifically prophesying about the coming destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
This temple was a big deal. It was the center of worship to God Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the God of Israel.
And it wasn’t just the center of worship, it was the source of national identity for Israel. This was where all the nation came to worship and give offerings to God.
The temple had been originally rebuilt after the Jews returned from exile in Babylon, and the first King Herod decided it needed to be improved on – basically rebuilding it again.
He started it somewhere between 18 and 21 BC, with the main part of the building being finished in about ten years. But work on the outer courts and other embellishments were actually still going on during Jesus’ time on earth.
All told, the whole shebang wouldn’t be finished until 64 AD.
Even during Jesus’ time the temple was huge and beautiful and magnificent. It was the pride of the nation.
So can you imagine what the disciples must have been thinking when Jesus tells them it would be destroyed?
And some of them would live to see it destroyed in 70 AD, just 6 years after it had been completed. Let’s pick it up in verse 3 –
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?"
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.”
This kinda paints a bleak picture of what’s to as a prelude to the end times, and it gets bleaker as we look at other parts of the chapter.
I agonized and prayed all week about what direction I felt God would want me to go with this message.
Should I focus on the destruction of the temple? Should I simply try to take each of these other specific things and try to flesh them out, discussing how some of them are mentioned later in the chapter?
There’s just so much here that it could really be easy to get caught up in the details.
But then on Friday as I was reading through the passage and praying about it one more time, something stuck out that I believed would be what God would want us to learn from this passage.
One of the themes throughout Scripture is the idea that as we obey what we do know and understand, then God helps us to understand even more.
In these verses Jesus gives us a couple commands. And I think that if we’ll follow these commands, we’ll get a better handle on the stuff to follow.
The first of these two commands is this:
1. Don’t be deceived.
These many events may deceive the disciples into thinking that the end had arrived.
Yet Jesus, in verse 8 says that they are just the beginning of the end, not the end itself.
Look back at verses 4-5 –
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.
In a future message we’re going to look specifically at the issue of being able to tell false Christs from the true one, but for today I just want you to see that there will be such people, and we need to be watching out so you aren’t deceived.
And I think we need to look at the broader picture of avoiding deception in the first place.
So how do we avoid deception? There’s only one main way to do that:
By studying the truth.
I had heard years ago that bank tellers and such are trained to spot counterfeit money by studying the real stuff so much that they can spot the phony stuff right away.
I wasn’t sure if that was really true so I did a little web search and found a website called “HowStuffWorks.com” and they had a link to the US Secret Service Counterfeit Division.
I’m like, can you really just go there? I clicked on the link, almost expecting something to pop up saying, “Stay where you are. You have the right to remain silent. In a matter of moments, federal agents will be arriving to arrest you for accessing this website.”
So far I haven’t been arrested, so I think I’m okay…
On the Secret Service website, you can learn how to spot counterfeit money.
It tells you what the real stuff is supposed to look like and then some ideas of how the counterfeit stuff differs.
The point of the web page is that if you know the real stuff well enough, you won’t be fooled by the fake stuff.
It’s the same with knowing truth from falsehood, and in this case, knowing the real Jesus from the fake ones that are coming, and that are out there right now.
We will be able to tell false Christs by knowing the real one.
That only happens by studying the Scriptures.
This is one of the reasons I tell people that if the only exposure you get to Scripture is what you get here on Sunday mornings, then you’re missing out.
And you may be opening yourself up to being deceived down the road.
One of the ways deception is spread is that they bring just enough of the truth to bring your guard down, and then error is introduced.
But because this part was true, it’s assumed that the rest of it is as well.
If you know the truth of Scripture, then you can avoid error.
Again, we’re going to look specifically at how to recognize false Christs down the road. But for now, I want us to move on to the second command Jesus gives us in this passage, and that is…
2. Don’t be alarmed.
Verse 6 –
“…See to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”
These events are not the end – they are the beginning of the end.
They are the beginnings of the birth pains. The baby doesn’t come with the first pang of labor, but you know the process is started.
Believe me, ladies, I’m more than aware that I have no grounds for talking about labor and childbirth, okay?
I’m just taking Jesus’ words here…
Jesus is saying that when you see these things happening, you’ll know that the process toward the end has started.
And the beginning was the destruction of the temple.
So why aren’t we supposed to be afraid?
There are a couple of reasons I’d like to share. The first reason is that like I just mentioned…
* These things are not the end, but the beginning of the end.
We can’t look at all these things happening and start to panic that the end is near.
We simply don’t know when the end will come. But these things are indications that things are underway to bring the end times about.
A priest and pastor from the local parishes are standing by the side of the road holding up a sign that reads, "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it’s too late!"
"Leave us alone you religious nuts!" yelled the first driver as he sped by.
From around the curve they heard screeching tires and a big crash.
"Do you think," said one clergy to the other, "we should just put up a sign that says, ’Bridge Out’ instead?"
(Thehumorarchives.com)
They are reminders that God’s plan is being fulfilled.
Not Satan’s plan, not the plan of some whacked out world leader, but God’s plan.
And as scary as some of this will be, we can rest assured that it is an indication of God doing His work to bring things to a head according to His plan and His purposes.
Another reason we can move on and not be alarmed is that…
* God is in control.
Aside from the directions that Jesus gives us to be to be wise and be ready, I think that Jesus is also trying to tell us here is that God’s got everything under control.
Chapter 24 especially is full of references by Jesus that all of this is leading up to the day that He will return in glory, and that certain things must happen before He returns.
To me that’s saying, “Don’t worry – we’ve got it under control. Don’t be alarmed. When this is all over, we’ll be together for all of eternity, and all will be right throughout the entire universe.”
It’s Jesus saying, “Remember that my Father created the universe and holds it in the palm of His hand. He puts the stars in place and calls them all by name. He’s the One running the show, so when the times get ugly, don’t be alarmed. He’s got it covered.”
And you know who that’s especially good news for?
Those who think they’ve got it all figured out and find out that God might actually do something outside of their little box.
So here’s what I would suggest for those who look on the prospect of possibly living in the end times with maybe a bit of fear or concern:
Pray for God to give you peace.
One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Isaiah 26:3 –
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Ask Him to fill you with His peace so that if you find facing the things Jesus talks about, you will be able to stand with confidence in the One who has it all under control.
We: So what is your reaction to the hard times Jesus says are coming?
Are you mystified, scared, apathetic, or something else altogether?
Does trying to figure out the sequence of the end times drive you nuts because you see so many interpretations of all this?
Jesus simply tells us that our job is to know the truth and know where our security lies.
And my hope is that all of us here will be committed to doing just that.
Let’s pray.
Communion
We’re about to share in communion, that special time when we remember the Lord’s death on our behalf.
The part of Scripture we’re in takes place just a couple days before Jesus sat down with His disciples in that upper room the night He was betrayed and arrested.
I can’t help but wonder if, when He was describing these events, He was also thinking about the fact that it would take His death to really get these going.
I don’t know, of course, but I know that His mission to the cross was always at the forefront.
And as we share in communion today, I hope that you will reflect on the fact that His mission was to give you eternal life through the shedding of His blood.
