Sunday Morning Service

Matthew 24:29-51 (Click title for audio access)

“The End Of What, The Beginning Of When and The Answer To Why” • 2.6.11 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- We are looking at a time that has yet to take place in the history of man. It is as sure to happen as anything that has already happened. It is what all of history is pointing toward.

- Inevitably, Jesus Christ will stand upon the earth and assume His rightful place upon His throne for a thousand years. The earth will experience it’s greatest blessings for 1,000 years!

- We come to this topic because our Lord's disciples asked questions about the sign of His coming and of the age.

- Jesus has told them that the signs will grow in frequency and intensity as the time nears.

- The final and most specific sign, will take place when the Antichrist proclaims himself to be God and demands that people worship him, an event the bible calls the Abomination of Desolation.

- This will signal the final 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation which will end with Christ's physical return to the earth, which is where we're looking at today.

- Jesus will finish answering the question "what" and will move on to "when" and then He'll give us the "why!"

Text

• Matthew 24:29-31 : “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” : The word “immediately” points to a straightaway conversion. When Jesus comes these things will take place right away.

- All the heavenly bodies that conform to their standard orbits today will not in that day. The power that governs the heavens will fail. It will be a cosmic blackout!

- What will appear in heaven is the sign of the Son of Man. What is that sign? Jesus Christ Himself! He will be seen, this time showing Himself as He really is, in full deity and power.

- When He has come, His immediate concern is for His people. The angels that have come with Him will go out and make sure that His people are gathered to Him.

- Last week, we looked at the length that God goes to saving His people. He will change the rotation of celestial bodies to preserve them. Now, when He comes, He gathers them together!

- There won't be a place on earth where a believer is hidden away, that an angel will not be able to find them.

- The trumpet blast is a blessing to His people and an announcement of judgement to the rest of the world.

- Recall to your memory the parable of the wheat and the tares. The angels would gather the elect into the barn and consign the wicked to the fire at the end of the age. This is that time.

- Here is the consummation, the end of the age and the commencement of Christ's Millenial, bodily reign upon the earth!

- The worldly response will be great sadness, as people literally beat their breasts for grief.

- People love their sin and even when He will save any semblance of life upon planet earth, these people still do not want Christ to rule!

- It's unfathomable, but true. Today, people's lives are falling apart, but they would rather keep their mess than embrace the Messiah!

- This ends our Lord's answer to His disciples question regarding the end of the age.

• Matthew 24:32-35 : "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." : Jesus goes from answering the question of what the signs are, to when these things will be.

- He begins with a parable. The fig tree begins it's bloom in a certain time of the year, just prior to summer.

- According to a few sources I've read, fig trees bear fruit before they bear branches and leaves. When you see the fig tree look like this, you know that it will be time to harvest the ripe fruit.

- That is what summer time means for the fig tree. In the same way, the judgment will come when these things occur. The end is at the very door!

- This brings us to one of the more difficult passages in this passage. Jesus tells us that this generation will by no means pass away until these things take place.

- There have been so many interpretations of this verse throughout the years. The most natural of the interpretations comes from this word "generations."

- It can be just as easily translated "people group." It seems most natural to conclude that Jesus is referring to the group of people that witness these signs.

- That group of people will see the literal coming of Christ and the end of the age.

- Just so we cover the other major base, there are others who believe that the fig tree represents Israel, and it's reconstitution as a nation.

- The nation of Israel came back together in a miraculous way in 1948. They had been scattered since the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70.

- Jerusalem was re-constituted in 1967 in the 6 day war, when Israel took back it's capital city from the Jordanians.

- Here in lies the dispute between scholars: How long is a generation and when does it begin?

- Does it begin in 1948 or in 1967? Is it a period of 20, 40 to 60 years or is it as much as 100 years? Nobody is really sure, and that's not even the point.

- Any end time scenario is impossible without Israel's existence in the Holy Land.

- When Jesus tells us that heaven and earth will pass away, but His word will not, I get the sense that He is assuring us that what He is saying is true beyond all doubt.

- You can bank on what He is saying regarding the people that He refers to. Is it the people of Israel or the people that live through the tribulation? His Word will be fulfilled either way!

• Matthew 24:36 : "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." : It's amazing that God has the end written down to the day and hour! We are counting down to this great period in life.

- He tells us that no one knows. In the Greek language, the word "no one" means exactly that! Even if we all guess and somebody hits it, they won't know that they have! Nobody will know.

- We are given the signs, we are told what season all this will happen in, but only God this is closely guarded secret. Not even the angels are privy to it!

- God has reserved this mystery for Himself. It fits in line with the concept of Jewish matrimony.

- Only the Father would know when the Son was ready to receive His bride.

- People who deny the deity of Christ point to this verse to deny it. When Jesus was on earth, He emptied Himself of the rights to His deity. He chose to limit Himself.

- Believe me when I say, "Jesus knows now!" Aside from that holy group, there are no others that will know when these events will take place.

- In our lifetime, there will be an ever increasing movement toward these things, but there will not be a moment when we will be able to definitively claim knowledge.

- God has it planned to the very hour and the very minute. He does not want us to know.

- Understand something of great importance here: What Jesus is talking about is a function of His coming in glory, but this is not referring to His parousia.

- That day, we WILL know. It will happen exactly 3 and 1/2 years after the Abomination Of Desolation, to the very day.

- This then refers to another part of that same event, when Jesus returns for His bride, the church, calls them into the air, an event called the rapture.

- That event, we have no knowledge of, as regards the day or the hour. But it will be much like something that has happened before.

• Matthew 24:37-39 : "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." : Noah was a preacher for a century while building a large sea barge, which stood as a testimonial to his message. Nobody who lived during that day could miss it.

- As unusual as Noah was and as incredible as his ark was, life still went on as usual.

- There were feasts, parties, marriages up to the day that it began raining. There was no thought that what Noah was saying could possibly be true.

- Then Noah and his family came into the ark and God closed the door. The flood came and nobody was left! Those in the boat were ushered away and those outside of the boat were destroyed.

- The flood waters were waters of God's judgment upon the earth and it's inhabitants. It took 120 years, but when it came, it came suddenly and surprisingly upon the people of earth.

- Jesus says that the events that precede His coming will be remarkably similar. Many will be occupied in their businesses or the events of their lives.

- They'll be looking forward to their social calendar and attending to secondary matters.

- Things will seem ordinary, but then, they will not be.

• Matthew 24:40,41 : "Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left." : Jesus says that before that day and hour, the same thing that happened in Noah's day will happen yet again. One will be taken and the other left.

- The concept is here is simple. Men and women will be performing their regular duties. Field workers and food preparers will be performing their usual tasks.

- One will be invited to join another. One will be received. One will begin a new association. That is how the word "paralambano" can be translated.

- On the other hand, the other will be left destitute, deserted, abandoned, neglected, left behind. That is how the word "aphiemi" is translated.

- What is Jesus referring to? I believe that He is referring to the rapture of His church. I would argue that it seems to happen when life has some sense of normalcy.

- Some have argued that it might happen in the middle of the tribuation, which I could also see to some extent, given that there will still be some semblance of "normal" life on earth at that time.

- However, I can't imagine a post tribulation reality being represented here, especially given the extreme conditions that Jesus describes during those final three + years.

- Now, in the same way that Noah was taken into the ark and saved from judgment, so it will be with the rapture of the church. God will remove us from that time of trouble.

- The one who is left will be left to face the reality of their decision to reject Christ's invitation to receive His righteousness.

- The consequences for that decision will be greater than that person will have ever imagined.

• Matthew 24:42-44 : "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." : When Jesus says, "watch," the word refers to a command for continuous careful alert attention to this.

- Why? Because we are not going to know the exact time of His coming.

- The word "coming" here is not the word that we saw earlier. Parousia refers to full manifestation as King. This word refers to returning.

- Jesus gives an illustration of this return for His people. It will be like a thief coming in the night. When a thief comes, he comes at a time when your guard is down.

- He comes when you are prone to sleep or at the very least, be the least aware.

- If a person has the attitude that Jesus is talking about, ie. continuous careful alert attention, then they will be ready. We are to be on the lookout for the Lord to return to get us.

• Matthew 24:45-47 : "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods." : Listen to the NLT rendering of verse 45: "Who is a faithful, sensible servant, to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his household and feeding his family?"

- Often, the business of a master householder would require him to be away for long periods of time. If new opportunities presented themselves along, the owner would be away longer.

- Servants were thus indispensable during these times, as they continued to manage the mundane things of the household, things like the daily food.

- Food was an adventure back in ancient times. It meant working the fields, getting into town for supplies, making agreements with other growers during certain seasons.

- It was involved work, but mundane and repetitive. It was not glamorous or exciting. It was a job that required self-discipline and faithfulness.

- The man that was found doing the job found that he was in the position for greater things.

- When the ruler returned to find a servant doing what he was supposed to be doing, the reward for faithfulness was generous. He would be made a ruler.

- This man, once a laborer, was made an Administrator. Today, we're not very fond of such people, as many get there and live on their laurels.

- A person who was promoted then, stayed promoted based on their performance. Jesus is pointing a person who continually would earn a place of higher standing within the house.

- He was a man that was in a position to be trusted with greater and greater responsibility.

• Matthew 24:48-51 : "But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." : Things go bad when a servant begins to think, "He's delaying." This is where we go wrong as well. We think, "It will never happen."

- I feel that some explanation is needed here. Are these both referring to Christians? One group of people believes that it is.

- The good servant represents faithful Christians, the other fallen Christians.

- I believe that the first group reveals their faith by what it is that they do. The second group looks like the first, but reveals their lack of faith by how they live.

- It would be a case of someone professing to be a servant, but lacking the reality.

- At the very least, could this refer to a loss of rewards? Again, with the use of the punishment at the end, I am inclined to believe that these are unbelievers.

- That being said, there are certainly warnings that a believer should take to heart in this passage, especially about not being about the Father's business.

- The attitude that Jesus is calling us to have is one that never doubts that He could come at any moment. Why? Because it will effect our treatment of others.

- This servant began to beat his fellow servants, meaning that he abused them, took advantage, or put himself in a position that he was never meant to have.

- He also goes wrong with how he treats himself. He goes out with the wrong kind of company. He's out with a crowd that is encouraging him in the behavior that further exacerbates the situation.

- Unfortunately, no matter his thinking, the reality of his situation remains the same: His master is returning and if he finds him in that condition, there will be consequences to pay.

- Inevitably what happens is that the master always returns. He comes and he comes at the worst possible time!

- The master will cut him in two. Don't take that literally. Most scholars agree that this was a euphemism for beating a servant that was deserving.

- When that person receives that, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, a great sense of regret and pain.

Conclusion

- This day will possibly end like any other before it. On the other hand, it might just end with a trip into the sky! Jesus calls you to watch, be alert!

- We need to watch and work, always prayerful that the Lord will find us faithful when He comes!