Last week I stepped out into what some people would consider dangerous territory for a pastor. I preached from the book of Revelation. Well, nobody threw anything at me or got really upset so I thought we would do a little more along those lines over the next couple of sermons.
It seems appropriate to me that, as we
continue on from Easter, with it’s focus on Jesus’ death and resurrection, that
we spend some time thinking about Jesus’ promise that he would come again.
There are some good reasons for this.
1.
People have a fascination for the
future. You can see that from the popularity of things like newspaper
horoscopes and fortune telling, whether the reading tea leaves and coffee
grounds variety or the more acceptable forms, like playing the stock market. [I
get these emails in my inbox, “This stock is destined to go through the roof.”
How do they know that? Do they have a crystal ball or something?]
2.
People are also afraid of the future,
and some of the worst culprits in feeding that fear are Christian preachers and
writers whose sermons and books make people afraid of what might happen.
3.
There is a tendency to be extreme when
it comes to preaching about the end times – what the theologians call
“Eschatology.” Some pastors never talk about it. Others seem to talk about
nothing else.
[When I first came to faith in the mid 70s
there was a book by Hal Lindsey that everybody was reading. It was called “The
Late Great Planet Earth” and it quickly became one of the best-selling
non-fiction books of the 1970s.
Lindsey tied his book to certain events:
the creation of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948, the recovery of Jerusalem
in 1967, the rise of Russia, an Arab confederation arrayed against Israel,
military power in East Asia, European integration, revival of dark occult
practices in Babylon, the apostasy of Christian churches, the move toward a
one-world religion and government, and the decline of the United States as a
world power.
He predicted that the Antichrist will head
up a revived Roman Empire comprised of the European community (ten headed beast
of Revelation), the Jewish Temple will be rebuilt, an Arab-African confederacy
will assault Palestine followed by the even larger invasion of the region by
Russia. Then the European alliance, after having defeated the Russians, will be
attacked by an army of 200 million Asians. In this Armageddon battle, a nuclear
exchange will kill a third of the world's population. But just as the battle
reaches its peak, Christ will suddenly appear, halting the hostilities and
protecting believers from total destruction.
Lindsey believed that when Jesus said in
the passage right before ours, ''this generation shall not pass away until all
these take place'' (Matt 24:34) he was speaking of a 40 year period. So ''all
these things'' would take place within 40 years of the founding of Israel. He
predicted the return of Christ in 1988 and the rapture of the church seven
years earlier.]
Oops!
The book was translated into more than 50
languages with sales of over 35 million copies. Lindsey even made a film
version of the book, narrated by Orson Welles. (Does any of this sound
familiar? How many have read one or more of the Left Behind series or seen the
movies? Tim LaHaye is a little wiser because he presents his theology in the
form of fiction. Maybe he learned from Hal Lindsey’s mistakes.)
This morning I want to look at Jesus’ own
words about the future, specifically what we can and can’t know about it.
On Palm Sunday we looked briefly at the end
of Matt 23 and the beginning of Matt 24. There we saw Jesus’ lament over
Jerusalem because she would not accept his ministry and his prediction that the
city would be once again destroyed.
In Matt 24:3 the disciples ask the natural
question, “When?” [I hope they were looking to know the details of the event
and not planning to corner the market on relief supplies beforehand.]
Jesus doesn’t answer them directly. First
he describes the events that will precede his return (Matt 24:4-35) then he
answers the “When?” question beginning in 24:36.
There are two things I want you to notice.
First of all...
No one knows when the end will come.
This passage begins with what might be the
most important verse of all when it comes to the study of end times. In the
first part of Matthew 24 Jesus starts off speaking about the future of
Jerusalem and gradually segues into the future of the church and his own
return. We’ll get into that more in a couple of weeks. Right now we’re going to
start at verse 36 which says,
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
Jesus said, "No one knows...."
Then, just in case they didn’t get the point, he went on and said, "The
angels don't know...I don't know..." and the implication is, "and
neither will you know. The only who knows when the events that Father has planned
for the future will take place, is the Father himself." Even Jesus didn’t
know the timetable while he was here on the earth.
Jesus couldn’t have made it much plainer,
but people still try to project a date for his return. About 15 years ago a
book came out titled “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Must Take Place In 1988.” The
author wrote that even though Jesus said that we couldn't know the hour or the
day, that doesn't mean that we can't know the week, month, and year. And he was
serious. It was to take place during the second week of September. Even more
amazingly, after he narrowed down the week, month and year, and in spite of the
fact that he admitted we couldn't know the exact hour or day, he went so far as
to hazard a guess—he projected it would take place on the morning of September
16. Obviously, it didn't happen.
But Jesus said plainly,
"No one knows about that day or hour..."
I think we all realize that the phrase
"day or hour" is a expression that refers generally to time. Jesus is
saying, "The angels don't know when it will happen and I don't know when
it will happen." So, how in the world are we going to know something that
he himself didn't know when he was here? What's more, one of the last things he
said to his disciples, just before he ascended into heaven in Acts 1, was,
"It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority." (Acts 1:7)
So why bother talking about it?
Well, as I said, people are fascinated by
the future. And nature abhors a vacuum. If we don’t talk about what the Bible
says about the future, then someone else will fill the gap with something
they’ve thought up.
Not only that, but the Bible does in fact have a fair bit to say about the future, about our destinies, and about Jesus’ return. 2 Timothy 2:16,17 says that, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, 17so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” So, if it’s in here, it’s in here for a reason. And the primary reason, according to Paul, is to qualify and equip us to live right and do good. Not so we can speculate on what a particular event in the news means, and how it fits into a particular scheme of things. And certainly not so we can figure out what’s going to happen next, or make lots of money on books about the topic.
So what’s the point?
[Let me tell you a story.
A guy calls his insurance agent and says,
"Can I get some fire insurance?"
The agent says, "I'll have to inspect
your house first."
The man says, "Well, then, you better
hurry, because it's in flames right now!"]
Wouldn't it be nice if insurance worked
that way...if you didn't have to buy insurance until you were positive you
would need it? But life ain’t like that.
[My daughter, Sharon, is still waiting for
her visa for Pakistan. She called me at the office this week because she was
feeling a little bit down about the whole thing. That wasn’t helped by the fact
that she has to draw up a will before she leaves. The major reason for that is
that Pakistan has no facilities to store a body or to ship it home, so all of
us who work there include a clause in our wills to be buried in Pakistan.
It’s quite an experience for a 19 year old
to come to terms with her mortality in that way. It’s not like she plans to die
in Pakistan, but it is a possibility. Just like it’s a possibility that I could
get hit by a truck while crossing Cannon Street.]
We don’t know what the immediate future
will hold. If we did, we wouldn’t need insurance, or wills, or any of that
stuff. But we don’t. And in Matt 24 Jesus drove this point home with a bunch of
illustrations. He pointed to the story of Noah and the ark and how no-one was
expecting the flood. Some people were saved, others weren’t. Then, in verse
42-44 he says,
(v. 42-44) "Therefore,
keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. If the
owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he
would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you
also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not
expect him."
There are still a lot of
"prophecy" preachers on the radio and TV, and you’ll often hear one
talking about the order of events leading up to the last days and say something
like, "We know that the second coming cannot take place until 'such and
such' happens." In other words, he was telling his audience they had at
least a little time—a little breathing room. They didn't have to
"worry" about it happening tonight.
I have to confess that I’ve been guilty of
this myself, although not from the point of view of not worrying about the
immediate future. I’ve tended to focus on Matt 24:14 where Jesus says, “And
this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony
to all nations, and then the end will come,” and I’ve used that text to
challenge those that set timetables for Jesus’ return to get involved in world
missions.
But that isn’t why Jesus tells us these
things. That isn’t the message he gave us. He told us that it COULD happen
anytime, and therefore we must always be ready.
There's an easy trap to fall into. You
start looking for certain things to happen, then you build a timeline, trying
to put all the pieces of the puzzle together until you have it all figured out…
But we can't always predict how God will choose to fulfill a prophecy.
[Let me give you an example. If you turn on
the TV and watch a “prophecy teacher” they’ll probably claim that Scripture
predicts that Russia will invade Israel. Now, the Bible doesn't name Russia
specifically, but prophecy teachers have concluded that it must be Russia that
the Bible is talking about, based on their interpretation of certain passages
(mainly Ezekiel 38-39.) Are they right? Well, I'm not sure. They could be. But
then again, they could be wrong.
You see, in the first century, religious
Jews who were looking for the coming of the Messiah knew all about the
prophecies concerning him. They studied the Old Testament scriptures. They
lined up this one with that one. If you look at the Dead Sea Scrolls you’ll see
that there are various compilations of Old Testament texts that the writers put
together and claimed to predict the messiah, or to validate one person’s claim
to be the messiah as opposed to someone else’s. They thought they had it all
figured it out. The reality was, the Messiah was right there in their midst and
they didn't recognize him, because he didn't fit into their preconceived ideas
of what the Messiah should look like.]
Let's not make the same mistake.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul makes it clear
what our attitude should be towards Jesus’ return.
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who
fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring
with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15
According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who
are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have
fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come
down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with
the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord
forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with
these words.
“Therefore encourage each other with these words…”
The reason we learn about Jesus’ return is not so we can play a guessing game with God. The reason we learn about Jesus’ return is so we can live better for him while we’re here. We have to keep in mind the words of Jesus:
(Matt 24:36) "No one knows about
that day or hour...
(Matt 24:44) "So you also must
be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect
him."
Are we living in the last days? The church
has always lived in the last days, and we’ll talk more about that in a couple
of weeks. For now though, we know this: Jesus wants us to live as if we are
living in the last days, he wants us to live in such a way the we will be ready
for his coming at any moment.