Last time we saw that one of the great signs before the coming of the Lord would be the world wide preaching of the gospel (Matt: 24:14). We are certainly living in these days, when the gospel is being proclaimed around the whole world.
Not all of it is sound proclamation. Keep in mind the fact that the enemy sows weeds into the field of God (Matt. 13:24-30). But these things must be, says Jesus: ‘Watch out for false Christ’s (24: 5,23,24). Watch out for false prophets” (24:11). Don’t be deceived! (24:4) don’t be alarmed! (24:6). Despite these setbacks we must continue to sow the seed of God’s Word into the world, remembering that the final harvest is in God’s hands (Matt. 13:30; 36- 43).
Following
this we now turn to the next significant signpost of His coming.
(i)
A prophetic word: When the holy place is
desecrated (v.15)
(ii)
A
word of advice: What to do
in such a situation (v.16)
(iii)
A
word of perspective: A time of unequalled tribulation
(v. 21)
(iv)
A
word of comfort – those days will be cut short for the sake
of the elect (v.22)
(v)
A
second word of warning: Don’t be deceived! (vv. 23-26)
(vi)
A
word of clarity:
Christ’s coming will be clear, it will be visible (vv. 27-28)
1. A Prophetic Word (24:15)
“When you see standing in the
holy place the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of by the prophet
Daniel…”. Jesus refers to Daniel 9:27. These were prophetic words
spoken some 500 years earlier by the angel Gabriel to Daniel. He was speaking
about pagan armies invading Jerusalem. Each of them tried to desecrate temple
worship, setting up this abomination that
causes desolation. There were multiple fulfillments of this in Jewish
history, for example:
(i)
In
168 BC Antiochus Epiphanes sacrificed pigs on the altar of burnt offering in
the temple to the pagan god Zeus.
(ii)
In AD 40 the Roman emperor Caligula tried to erect a great statue of himself in the temple. It
did not succeed.
(iii)
In
AD 70, the
Jewish historian Josephus tells us, "The Romans, upon
the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it,
brought their ensigns to the temple, and set them over against its eastern
gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them".[2] The temple and the city itself were utterly
ruined a few days later and Jesus’ words in Matt 23:48 came true, “…
your house is left to you desolate” by “the abomination that
causes desolation“. It was deserted! [3].
There can be no doubt that this is the primary fulfilment of Jesus’
words and Daniel’s prophecy. The temple was utterly destroyed, and has never
been rebuilt since that time. In fact, Israel seized to exist as a nation from
then on until it was reconstituted as a state only in 1948. It was indeed a great tribulation.
But don’t get stuck on the AD 70 event. Jesus is saying much more here than that. He points us to a pattern of tribulations in history. He says, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). HOWEVER, all these tribulations will be superseded by a final great tribulation before the coming of Christ. This is what our text points towards, and this is what the apostle Paul was writing to the Thessalonians in AD 51/ 52:
"Concerning the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to
become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter
supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already
come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come
until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the
man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over
everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in
God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God." (2 Thess. 2:1-4).
He is talking about a time just
before the coming of Christ, and it is connected with the man of lawlessness,
the antichrist. The apostle John also speaks of him: “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that
antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come” (1 Jn. 2:18).
In one sense this spirit of the antichrist has always been around, but in
another sense there will be a
manifestation of the antichrist in person before the day of Christ’s
appearing. Keep in mind that “anti“
in the original Greek does not mean ‘against’,
but ‘… in the place of “. The antichrist ceaselessly works to
substitute himself in the place of Christ and today he does that mostly in the Christian
temple - the church[4],
and all the more as the time for the appearing of Jesus Christ draws near.
The Pre- Reformation Catholic church had replaced the authority of Christ with popes and traditions. The 16th century Reformation called in the church back to Christ and His Word ALONE. The main struggle of the 21st century church is the same. Many churches in our day are personality driven, purpose driven, program driven, entertainment driven and success driven. Jesus is talked about but He is not necessarily the life and love of the church. He is not necessary the focus of her worship. This was the problem with the church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7). She lost her light because she had lost her first love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His word.
Many struggle to read and meditate on the Word of Christ privately. Many make little effort to hear the Word preached and explained publicly. In fact, relatively few preachers will open the Word up to their people faithfully. For this reason many do not understand the life of faith adequately. As a result Christ is loved insufficiently and His word is not taken to a lost world diligently. Whilst there are still many churches filled to capacity, the Lord says, “you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” (Sardis – Rev. 3:1). Jesus says so in v. 12 “… because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold …”.
This is the prophetic word concerning the church. She is desecrated
again and again- until the end by the abomination that causes desolation. There
is an important and powerful picture in
Revelation 11:1-14. This describes
the condition of the world shortly before Christ’s return! Here we find a
picture of desolation. The Holy city (the church) is trampled for a symbolic
period of 42 months.
2. A Word Of Advice: What To Do In Such A Situation (24:16 - 20)
(i)
At that time flee (24:16). When the city
was besieged in AD 70 the Jews rushed
into Jerusalem. But what happened to the Christians? The fourth-century church
fathers Eusebius and Epiphanius of Salamis[5]
tell us that before this catastrophic event the Christians had been
miraculously warned to flee to Pella in the region of the Decapolis across the
Jordan River.
When Mt St
Helen’s in the USA erupted in 1980 with
a force 500 times that of the atom bomb on Hiroshima, scientists had been
monitoring it very carefully for some time.
They advised that everybody in that vicinity should evacuate and flee for their lives. One man, Harry Truman refused to move. He said,
"Nobody knows more about this
mountain than Harry, and it won't dare blow up on him." On 18th May
1980 at 8:31 am the mountain exploded, destroying Harry and everything for 240
square kilometers around Mt. Helens. Don't
be like Harry and think you know better than the scientists who carefully
monitored the ever increasing rumblings with their seismological tools. But more important, don’t think that you know
better than Jesus. This is a reminder
that there is no physically safe place to flee to in the great tribulation. But
make sure that you have fled to Jesus. He can ultimately be your only hiding place from the wrath of
God.
(ii)
At that time don’t hold on to material goods (24:17-18): The Lord Jesus encourages us here to think
practically. Don’t hang on to your things. Lot’s wife tried to do that,
when at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, she cast one longing eye back –
and was destroyed. Make no mistake. This great tribulation will be hard. But
know that hanging on to stuff, and pension funds won’t help you then. Flee to a
safe place if you can. When Herod was trying to kill Jesus, God told Joseph to
flee to Egypt. The English Reformers
fled from the Queen called “Bloody Mary” to the Netherlands. John Knox of
Scotland fled to Geneva. So flee if you can by all means.
(iii)
At that time pray for mercy (24:19 - 20): Fleeing when you are highly pregnant or when
you have small children is dreadful. Fleeing when weather circumstances are
extreme is dreadful. What then must you
do? Pray! Speak to your heavenly Father
who cares for you more than birds and plants (Matt 6:25-34). The apostle
Peter reminds us that “the Lord knows how
to rescue godly men from trials” (2
Peter 2:9). The testimony of many of God’s people in such situations has been
the refrain found in Psalm 107, “… then they cried out to the Lord in their
trouble, and He saved them from their
distress.”
We have made
this point before, and therefore we will
be brief on this point. The church since the ascension of the Lord Jesus has
experienced tribulation, and she will continue to experience that, but what
Jesus is saying here is that before His
coming there will be a great, superlative tribulation – there will be great tribulation, such as not has been from the
beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”
This time of tribulation will thankfully be very brief (Rev. 11:9), but for what reason will this time be cut short? “For the sake of the elect …” (24:22, 24, 31). Bishop John Charles Ryle comments: “Those, whom God has chosen to be saved through His Son… are those whom God specially loves in this world. They are His jewels. He cares more for them than for kings on their thrones… He hears their prayers. He orders all the events of nations… for their good, and their sanctification. He keeps them by His Spirit. He allows neither man nor devil to pluck them out of His hand. Whatever tribulation comes on the world, God's elect are safe. Here is the love of God in its supremacy. Those whom He loves, He loves with an everlasting love! [6]
5. A Second Word Of Warning: Don’t Be Deceived! (24: 23-26)
Again Jesus warns
us that as the days assigned for this
earth come to an end, there will be no shortage of false Christ’s and false
prophets. They will like Egypt’s
magicians performing great signs and miracles
by Satan’s power. Make sure that you are not deceived. Remember Jesus’ words to an unbelieving generation: “No sign
will be given except that of
the sign of the prophet Jonah“ (Matt
12:38-40; 16:1-4). The cross is the sign for our times. And if you have
understood and embraced Christ’s death on a cross for you, you need no other
signs. There is only one more sign that you will have to watch out for, and I
draw your attention to the next and
final words…
You won’t
have to speculate about Christ’s coming!
“For as the lightning that comes from
the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.“ What Jesus is saying is this: Just as the
lightning lights up the whole sky from one end to the other (and its obvious),
so will be His coming. We won’t have to speculate whether he has appeared
somewhere in North Africa, Siberia or in New Zealand. We will know! Where there is a corpse the vulture will
gather. The sign of vultures circling in
the sky is the sign of something dead below. It is clear. It is unmistakable.
CONCLUSION:
Why is this
important? It is important, because it
affects us all. We all have to know what
to do with false Christ’s and false prophets, and what to do with alarming
signs. Don’t allow these to mess with your head. If you don’t know how to
handle this by keeping a firm focus on Jesus and His Word, you will be a person
not prepared (25:1-13). Look only
for actual coming of the Lord Jesus, and trust Him for your life until then. Stand
firm to the end, looking to Jesus who will bring you safe home. Amen
[1] Taken from v. 21. W.
Hendriksen (Matthew , p 857) uses this
phrase
[2] Antiquities of the Jews, by Flavius Josephus, Book 10, Chapter 11.
[3] Gk “ Eremos “ - the word
also used for a desert
i.e. a barren, hence desolate
place
[4] 1 Peter 2:4,5 not
a building made of stones, but of people professing Christ
[5] Flight to Pella – Wikipedia
[6] J.C. Ryle : Matthew , p.
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