The End

THE END

Matthew 24:35-41

This morning we are going to talk about a truth that the devil does not want you to see…and that is the coming again of Christ.

He does not want you to see this truth so badly that he is actively engaged in trying to get you to forget about it.
Because if he can get you to forget about it…If he can get you so occupied with this world that you forget that this world is doomed…then he can make you a weak, ineffective Christian.

Let’s go through this, this morning and let’s learn some things about the second coming of Christ.

If you remember from last Sunday, here in Matthew 24, the disciples came to Jesus and began to “point out the temple buildings to Him.”

Mark says in Mark 13 that one of the disciples spoke about “How wonderful the stones and buildings were.”
And in response Jesus said, “Not one of these stones will be left on top of the other.”
And the disciples ask in verse 3, “When will these things be and what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?”
“In other words, when will the temple be destroyed and what will be the signs of its destruction.”

So in verses 4-34 you have Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ questions.

In verse 15 He tells them the “when”: When they “see the abomination of desolation” standing where it should not be.
Then in verse 34 He tells them that “their generation will not pass away until these things take place.”
So, when they see “the abomination of desolation” or the “detestable thing that destroys” standing where it shouldn’t that is the sign that the temple is about to be destroyed.
And the fact that their generation will see it is the “when.”
- So in verses 4-34 Jesus answers the disciple’s questions found in verse 3.

Now, as Jesus answers their questions…His comments lead into a discussion of the end of the world. Look at verse 35:

35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

Here Jesus says, “All that I have said pertaining to the destruction of the temple…you can count on. It is going to happen.”

But notice that He speaks of “Heaven and earth passing away”?

In assuring His disciples of the destruction of the temple He introduces a discussion of the end of the world.
And that discussion begins in verse 35.
Look what Jesus says about the “Heavens and earth passing away.”

First of all, I want you to look at the statement, “Heaven and earth will pass away.”

That statement alone says a lot.
You see, when He spoke to them and said that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed…when He told them that when they saw the “abomination of desolation” standing where it should not be…in other words, when they saw the Roman armies surrounding the city…He told them to “get out of there….to flee…to run to the mountains.”

Well, when He comes again in the final judgment there will be no place to run.

No one is going to escape when God comes to end this world.
There is not going to be a cave to run to or a mountain that you can go to escape.
Everyone will be included.
The “Heavens and earth will pass away.”

So WHEN will this happen? Look at verse 36. He says:

36 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father {alone.}

The only one who knows when it is going to happen is God.

Look at what Peter says. Peter says in 2 Peter 3:10, that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”

No one knows when a “thief” comes.
A thief comes unexpected…and unannounced.
There will be no signs.
When Jerusalem is destroyed they would at least be forewarned by sight of the armies surrounding the city.
But when this day of judgment comes on the world…there will be no warning.
The only warning that we will have is the fact that we have been told that that day is

And notice, this verse in Matthew 24 says that “not even Jesus knows when that day will come.”

How could that be?

When Jesus was on this earth, He divested himself of certain aspects of his deity so he could become like us.
2:6-7 says that: “although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men.”

Jesus emptied himself of some of what it means to be God so he could be man.

And one of the things that that meant is that on earth Jesus did not even know the time of his own return.

Does He know now? I don’t know. Maybe?

As He sits there at the right hand of His Father in His glorified body He may very well know.
But when He was here He did not know because He laid aside His divine prerogatives

And the interesting thing is, He was content not to know.

He did not spend all of his time trying to figure out something that God had not told Him.
And it is amazing to me that there are some people today who think they have absolutely figured out what Jesus did not know.

Jesus’ purpose when He was here was not to satisfy anyone’s curiosity about when He was coming again.

His purpose was to build us up in faith and get us ready to meet our God.
And to get us to stay ready.

Now, look at vs. 37: For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

How will the coming of the Son of Man be like the days of Noah?
Well, He tells us…look what He says in vs. 38.

Vs. 38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

In spite of Noah’s warning the world continued on in what they were doing.
They gave no heed to the warning! They didn’t change or repent…in ignored what God said would happen.
The people of Noah’s day ridiculed the idea of a flood; those of Jerusalem ridiculed the idea of the temple and the Jewish system; and in like manner people today ignore and ridicule the idea of the Lord coming again (2 Peter 3:1-6).
But Jesus says that day is coming. In fact, look what He says in vs. 40.

40 Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left.

Here Jesus emphasizes His unexpected, sudden return.
Companions working in the field will be separated, the righteous will be redeemed, the other will not.
Two women will be grinding; the closest ties and friendships; families preparing the daily meal shall be broken suddenly and forever.

No one knows when the Lord will come again…but He will come…and it will be sudden and unexpected…in fact look at His instructions in vs. 42:

Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

“Therefore be on the alert…”
That is the Greek word “gray-gor-you-o”
And in the Greek it is a word that means, “to stay awake…to be sleepless…to be watchful.”

And then look at verse 44. He says: “You be ready.”

“You be ready” here is a different Greek word…this is the word “het-oy-mos”…and it means “be prepared…be ready.”
Two times here, with two different words, Jesus says, “Stay awake…be ready.”
Over in Mark’s account three times, with two different words, Jesus tells us to “stay awake!”
Why does emphasize this “staying awake…staying prepared” so much?

Because we are going to be tempted to fall asleep and not be ready…not physically…but spiritually. Turn with me to I Thess. 5. Look what Paul says…and this pertains to what Matthew is talking about.

1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

You know, we speak of people who “are out of duty.”

You have heard that expression.
Someone who used to be active in church, who used to love God, but now their love for God has waned and they don’t come to church anymore, and we say, “they are out of duty.”
Paul would say, “No, they have fallen asleep.”
“They have fallen asleep and they are in peril.”
“ And what they need is for someone to go in love and wake them up so they will be ready when Jesus comes.”

Turn to Romans 13 and look at verse 11-12.

11 And this {do,} knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

The reason Jesus tells us to “stay awake” is because it is so easy to go asleep.

And maybe that has already happened to some of us here this morning.
Maybe we are starting to nod off.
I mean we wait…and we wait…and the weeks go by and the months go by…and the years go by…and centuries have passed since Christ spoke these words.
And it is easy to start thinking…”It’s not going to happen.”
“He’s not coming.”
And as we wait and wait…spiritually we start to falter…and waver…and nod off…and the next thing we know…we are hit and miss in our worship…
And we don’t pray…and we don’t study…and we don’t read.
And then we are no longer faithful…no longer working…no longer going to worship.
And spiritually we are fast asleep.

And what Jesus is saying here is, don’t do that.

Stay awake because He is coming.

When it comes to this idea of the “end of the world” there are two extremes.

One is a “hyper extreme” where every time there is a war or earthquake, people start saying, “This is it…this is the end of the world.”
And Jesus says, “Do not be deceived by that.”

But there is another extreme when it comes to the end of the world that is a trait of many Christians.

It is the extreme of careless indifference.
You completely dismiss the thought of the final judgment from your mind.
And Jesus says, “Don’t live that way either.”

We live in the shadow of eternity.

And because we do we must live in a way so that it does not matter when Jesus comes back.

The problem is not getting prepared for when Jesus comes back.

The problem is staying prepared.

Turn to Hebrews 10:24-25 and let me show you what God wants us to do in order to stay awake…or stay prepared.

24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging {one another} and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.

Why are you here today?

Does God want us here on the first day of the week just to give us something to do?
There are several reasons God wants us to meet here on the first day of the week.
One of them is so we help each other “stay awake” until He comes.

You hear us say, “You need to be in church…don’t miss.”

Do you know why?
A lot of people think it is because the preacher wants to look good.

The reason we stress your being here in services is because those people who miss run a much greater risk of “falling asleep.”

So what do we do while we wait for the Lord to come?

Well, look Matthew 24:46 where it says, “Blessed is that slave who his master finds so doing when he comes.”

How do we wait for the return of Jesus?

Do we get a glass of iced tea and go out on the patio and sit in a lounge chair and look up to heaven and say, “come back Lord.”
No, life is not matter of killing time.
Life is a matter of redeeming time.
Each servant has his task.
And by completing it we fulfill our obligation to “be alert…to be ready.”.
In other words we are not to sit around and wait for Jesus to come back.
We are to work while we wait.

In closing, let me share with you a couple of things that Christ wants us to do while we wait.

Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:10-11.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men…

In the face of the coming judgment Paul said they were busy trying to “persuade” men.

And that is one of the things that Jesus wants us to do while we wait.
We need to be persuading men to get ready to meet God.

And now turn to 1 Peter 3:13:

13 Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober {in spirit,} fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts {which were yours} in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all {your} behavior;

While we wait Jesus wants us to grow in holiness.

Persuading men…and growing in holiness.

These are two areas where sometimes we get stagnant.
Sleepy maybe is a better word.
Maybe all of us should go home this week and do some personal evaluation about how alert we have been in certain areas of our life.
It may be that we need to wake up.

Don’t be fooled by the lie that Satan has sold the world.

You have heard it. “Life goes on and on.’
That is a lie.
Life does not go on and on.
Life is going toward an end.
And we must be alert.