Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Matthew, the 24th chapter and beginning at the 15th verse.
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel Prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulations, such as not, such as has not been seen. Since the beginning of the world until this time, no nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. And if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ or there, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect. And see, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, look, he is in the desert, do not go out or look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. Whereas the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. Or wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. 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 heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. And then all the tribes of the earth will morning, 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. 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, that my words will by no means pass away. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to the Lord, let us pray. Lord Jesus, give us understanding and give us great encouragement from this your word. Speak to us and seal to our hearts that you are Lord and King, that you are accomplishing your purpose in all the earth, that we, your people, participate with you in the accomplishment of that purpose, that you might be glorified and that great good might come to all of your people. Come to us in your spirit, we ask in your name, amen, you may be seated.
Now you can't, I'm sure you realize, deal with the book of the Revelation without wrestling with things about which people differ and over which there has been great discussion and even some controversy. And I'm just going to tell you upfront that I'm going to suggest something to you this morning which I believe to be a minority report in our day and which may be somewhat surprising to you, maybe even shocking to some of your sensibilities. It's always good to say things like that, get people's attention, wonder what in the world it is he's going to talk about. But what I'm going to suggest to you is that the book of the Revelation rather than dealing with things of which 10% or so were fulfilled in that day and 90% remain yet to be fulfilled either in our day or in some other day. I'm going to suggest to you and encourage you to think seriously about the fact that the writer of the apocalypse and Jesus as he communicated what he communicated through John the writer of the apocalypse was referring to events 90% of which were fulfilled in that day and 10% of which have yet to be fulfilled.
Most I want to suggest to you most of what is talked about in the book of the Revelation is already accomplished and the end of things which is described in the Revelation refers not to the end of history but refers in fact to the end of the old order. And the judgments which are talked about have principally to do not with the nations of the earth but with one particular nation Babylon the harlot who is Israel and the judgment of God upon her and upon her capital city Jerusalem for her harlotry. Now I believe that it's going to take two or three weeks for the case to be made but I want to begin making that case this morning and want to do it by looking not at first at the Revelation but interrupting our progression through the Revelation and coming back to the Olivet discourse and Jesus discussion of those. Those sites and sounds and events and circumstances which would accompany the end of that age again I realize this is maybe new to you and there is a great deal of interest in our day as we approach the end of the second millennium. Great deal of interest in prophecy biblical prophecy and a whole lot of speculation about whether or not in this particular day at the end of this particular millennium those things which people understand to be prophesied in Matthew 24 and 25 in the book of Revelation are not in fact being fulfilled in our day. I just got a hold of a little brochure this last week on the cover of it you read this rapture Jesus is coming very soon received the seal of mission and on the inside of it. Why is Jesus coming soon increasing frequency of earthquakes global changes in weather outbreaks of deadly new pestilences ozone depletion environmental problems numerous wars among within nations declining morality increasing crime rates never did mankind face so many problems all at the same time now I suppose a case can be made for that but the thing I want you to recall if you're aware of it and have forgotten it. For the thing I want you to know if you weren't aware of it is that virtually every generation has produced literature like this virtually every generation has looked at its circumstances and has said our day is the day now is the time look at what's going on around us. At the time of Augustin the end of the 4th century the beginning of the 5th century when Rome was sacked when Rome was overrun by barbarian hordes when the center of civilization unraveled when paganism proliferated not simply as a religious phenomenon but in all of its manifestations touching institutions of all kinds people were convinced it was the end of the age it was the end of the world. At the end of the 1st millennium I referred to something several months ago in a sermon at the end of the 1st millennium there was a proliferation of sermonizing and writing that as 1,000 approached as the end of the 1st millennium drew near it would be the end of the age and people actually gathered in churches and cathedrals all across Europe. On December 31st in the year 999 and expected that at the stroke of midnight there would be a blast of a trumpet and there would be lightning flashes and there would be a great cataclysm which would usher in the end of history was a thousand years ago or close to it. At the time of the Reformation when there was so much tumult and upheaval and nations were being changed and peoples were being rearranged and this monolithic institution the Roman Catholic Church was being assaulted and things began to crumble and come unglued the same kind of literature and sermonizing proliferated. In 1745 there was an enormous, enormous earthquake whose epicenter was in and around Lisbon, Portugal causing great destruction and great death and people thought that that was a sign of the end of the age. What I'm suggesting to you is that this preoccupation with signs and events and circumstances is not unique to our day. It's been true in virtually every generation. It seems that we ought, I would think, to be able to look at history and learn from history and look back at our new testaments, particularly Matthew's Gospel and Mark's Gospel and Luke's Gospel and the accounts of the Olivet Discourse and the Book of the Revelation. It seems to me that we ought to look back at that stuff in light of two thousand years of history and reassess our view of these things and ask whether or not we haven't perhaps made some mistakes in understanding right at the outset. I want to suggest to you several things which we ought to keep in mind as we seek to understand the when of the events referred to in Matthew 24, 25 in the Revelation. The first of these things is something which I mentioned very early on in the study of the Revelation. And that is that all Scripture is given by God for real people who live in real places at real time and the authors, the recipients of that revelation and the authors of that word are concerned to respond to those people living in those places in those times. The primary audience of all of Scripture is the audience of the particular day. God was concerned in Moses day about the people of Moses day. God was concerned in Isaiah's day about the people of Isaiah's day. And God was concerned in John's day about the people of John's day. Scripture has application across the generations and across the century. But the primary audience is the audience of the day. And so when Jesus discloses to John, things which are about to take place, he is disclosing those things to a man who is a pastor. And a man who has pastoral concerns. And he is receiving them from the high bishop, the great pastor, the Lord Jesus who is concerned as well about the people of that particular day. There were real people who lived in Smyrna and in Philadelphia and Thyatira and Ephesus. And there were people who were dying. They were being thrown to beasts. And there were these little struggling churches at various places. And then there were these other churches which seem to have made a great reputation and a great name but who were in fact dead. These are real plot problems at a real place in real time. But clearly they have application across the century. So the first thing that seems to me that we need to keep in mind is that the revelation has as its first audience the people of the day. If that is not the case, it is true of this book and this book alone that it is given to a people in one particular generation dealing with issues which are at least 2000 years removed from them. And that is atypical of the whole of the Bible. So the first thing I want to suggest remind you of is that all scripture is given by God two people in a particular historical environment and he is concerned for them, he is concerned to address their needs. And then the second thing I want you to observe about Matthew and also want you to recall about the revelation is that the language is contemporaneous language. What do I mean by that? If you look at Matthew 24 verses 5 through 35, 12 times in those 30 verses or 31 verses, there is the personal pronoun you. 12 different times, verse 4 of Matthew 24, take heed that no one deceives you. Now that is certainly an admonition for all of us to take seriously. But Jesus is speaking to his disciples, he is talking to people living in that particular day in that particular time. See to it that no one deceives you, verse 15, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophets, stand on the holy place. Repeatedly, he is addressing that particular group of people speaking to them. That is contemporaneous language. That is Jesus communicating to his contemporaries about contemporary events. And if you go back to the revelation, you will remember that the first words, the first words read are these, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And at the end of the revelation, the 22nd chapter in the 20th verse, Jesus says, as a summation of all of this, he who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming quickly. I am coming soon.
Now there is all kinds of symbolic language in the book of the revelation. We looked at some of that last week. And there are illusions in both Matthew and the revelation to pictures and figures and language from the Old Testament. And all of that needs to be interpreted and understood. But here's the point, when Jesus speaks to a particular group of people, or when he says these things are going to happen soon, that is not symbolic language. That is explicit language. That is straightforward language. And so in our wrestling with these things, it seems to me that the responsible method of interpretation is simply to embrace those things which are explicit and straightforward. And then in that context, seek to understand those things which we called last week, theological symbolism. I'm speaking to you, Jesus says, in the revelation, these things will happen soon. More specifically, at the end of the portion which we read this morning in verse 34, Jesus says, to these who are gathered, assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Now, some versions render that word generation race, referring to it or having an interpretation which is a more generic kind. But the most basic meaning of the term is generation. This particular time, this particular group, assuredly I say to you, Jesus says, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. And so the frequency of the pronoun, you, the reference of imminence in the revelation and in Jesus statements here very strongly suggest that he is speaking to a group of people who will see and will experience whatever it is that he's talking about in all of these events and circumstances. And then thirdly, there is this phrase which you find frequently in the Old Testament, the last days. Let me have you refer back to Zechariah, the 12th chapter beginning at verse 10, or one illustration of the use of this phrase, Zechariah 1210. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication, then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieved for him as one grieves for a first born. In that day or in those days, a phrase which connects to this idea of the last days, their synonymous phrases and interchangeable terms. In that day, there shall be great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Haddad, Raman, in the plain of Maghido, and the land shall mourn every family by itself, the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves, the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves, and the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves. The family of Shemiah by itself, and their wives by themselves, all the families that remain every family by itself, and their wives by themselves, what you have covered in the descriptions of those families, if you think about it and reflect about it, you have covered in those descriptions of the families as all of the aspects of religious life in Israel, the kingship, David, the priesthood, Levi. The prophetic office, Nathan. All of the families will grieve, and all of the families will mourn, and indeed the land itself will mourn in that day or in those days. Whenever you see that phrase the last days, or in that day, or in those days, that is a reference to the inauguration of the messianic age. It is a reference to the appearing of the Messiah. It is a reference to the beginnings of his kingly rule, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews picks up that language in the very first verses. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things. If you are a Jew, reading those words, a Jew who has been converted to Christianity, or perhaps a Jew who is simply at worship one morning, and you hear these words read, that simple phrase in these last days, resurrects for you all kinds of visions of the messianic kingdom, and it's inauguration, and it's extending rule in all the earth. And what is the author of the Hebrew letter to the Hebrew say, that this history which revolves around Christ in his person and in his work, his life and his death and his resurrection, that is the last day. These are the last days, not some future time, not the end of history, but the end of the old and the emergence of the new in the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus. And then referring back to Matthew 24, in verse 15, Jesus says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, that is a reference back to Daniel chapter 11. Hope you know your Bible this morning, that is a reference back to Daniel chapter 11, and then Daniel chapter 12 and the 11th verse. Begin at verse 9, and he said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end, till the end of the time. I understand this to be a reference to the end of Old Testament revelation, a time when the words are sealed up for a period of time until the end when revelation will be opened up again, which happened in and around the Lord Jesus Christ and in and through his apostles for a period of time, which here God calls the end. He said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1,335 days. We'll deal with the numbers in the days subsequently. When Jesus refers to the abomination of desolation, he is referring to the desolation of the temple and what accompanies the desolation of the temple is the taking away of the daily sacrifice, the elimination of the daily sacrifice, the removal of the possibility of having a daily sacrifice. And that occurred as is promised in the revelation. That occurred in the year 70 AD, when the Roman hordes desecrated the sanctity of the holy place, by setting up their idols, their religious idols, and by engaging in practices in that holy place, which desecrate that temple, and then by subsequently raising that temple, destroying it entirely, burning it to the ground, and leveling Jerusalem as well. What is the abomination of desolation? It is the desecration of the temple, and what occurs simultaneously the removal of daily sacrifice. And that is the event to which John refers, when he talks about Babylon being cast down, when he warns of coming judgments, when he speaks of persecutions, and it is that to which Jesus refers, when he says, woe to those who are pregnant, those who are nursing babes in those days, Josephus had had the description in his histories of what occurred at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, tens and hundreds of thousands of people according to him were butchered, murdered, slaughtered by the Roman hordes. And the days were unlike any day which Israel had seen before or would see again. Again, it seems to me it is awfully important that we think theologically about these things, and while we can point to persecutions and genocides in subsequent history, which are numerically greater than what transpired in Jerusalem, there is nothing in all of human history, which has more theological significance, after the person in work of Christ than the destruction, the level of the city of David, the place where God is pleased for his presence to dwell, torments, persecutions, tribulations, unlike anything to that point seen or subsequently. And Jesus says, unless those days had been cut short, unless something was done to restrain the Roman hordes, everything would have been destroyed. The abomination of desolation with its accompanying end of sacrifice is what occurred in 70 AD. And what occurred in 70 AD is the visitation of judgment upon the old order for its repeated harlotry, and what it gives way to, what it gives rise to, is a new order, a multinational order. And so that now, after 70 AD and the conclusion and the final judgment visited upon the old order, there is now a new nation. And that new nation is being gathered from every people and tribe and tongue on the face of the earth, and there is a new temple, and you, the Apostle Paul says, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And there is a new king, a king exalted and ruling and reigning. And it is interesting in Jesus' discourse that as he refers to this sign which will appear, there is also at verse 31 a mention of angels and the sound of a trumpet. And we looked last week at what trumpets symbolize in the scriptures. They symbolize judgment, and they symbolize or accompany the beginning of the reign of a king. You see something of cataclysmic proportion occurred in 70 AD. It was the end of the old, finally, permanently, and it gave birth to the new. The emergence of the gospel of Christ, the emergence of the church of Christ, the emergence of the kingdom, not localized, not restricted to a particular place, but something which is to be worldwide. And touching every race and nation and tribe and tongue. And when Jesus commissions his disciples to go, he tells them, I, the exalted and reigning king, have all authority in heaven and on earth. Go therefore into all the earth and make disciples of all of the nations. And folks, that has been going on for 20 centuries. And it will continue until that little bit of what has yet to be fulfilled is fulfilled. And the Lord Jesus springs everything to its consummation in him. These are days of militancy. These are days when the kingdom is being extended in all the earth. And the theme of the revelation, which is echoed over and over and over again, is the Christ is exalted and ruling and reigning on high. And he will fulfill his purpose in all the earth and he will fulfill his purpose in and through his church, the new Israel, the kingdom of God, the temple where he dwells. And so we, his people who live under that authority, who enjoy the benefits of that rule and reign are to be encouraged even though in our day. It appears that things are unraveling. They aren't because the king is upon his throne. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, we do ask you that you would be gracious to us, that you would extend your mercy to us, that you would give us a right understanding in order that we might be greatly encouraged in our own day. Thank you that you have come and you have come in might and in power. And thank you that you have given to your church, the power and the authority and the strength which she needs to accomplish your purpose in all the earth. I pray, O Lord, that you would lay hold of this congregation. I pray that you would press home to us that these are days of opportunity, that these are days in which we are to look forward to current, present, contemporary displays of your power. I pray that you would give us a vision for life outside of ourselves and indeed a vision for life in the whole world, in a vision of your gospel going even further and penetrating the nation to your earth and has been true to this point. Do Lord as we gather about your table, would you reassure us yet again of the sufficiency of your work that we might obey you and be fervent in the freedom of the children of Christ? Hear our prayers, O Lord, and stir us up, and now hear us as together we confess our sin, Steer.