And let us turn in God's word to Matthew 24, as we are reminded by the first coming of Christ, that Christ has promised that he will come again. And as we look forward to that day, because of what Christ has done in offering himself for our sins, we're actually gonna be beginning reading at verse 37 of chapter 23, so that we have a little bit of context to remind us of what Jesus is saying. Of course, Matthew 23 comes at the time of Jesus having cleansed the temple. And so let us read together what Jesus said there, beginning at verse 37 of chapter 23, reading through chapter 24. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate, for I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to him, Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone will be left here upon another that shall not be cast down or thrown down. I'm sorry. Now, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us when these things will be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age. And Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and they will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another and hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the 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 housetops 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 day. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been 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. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ or there, do you not believe? For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 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. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For 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 fail from or 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 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. Now learn the 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. But of that day and that hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 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 and 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. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken in the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken in the other left. 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. 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. 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 to drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come at a day when he is not looking for him and an hour 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. Thus far the reading of God's word, may he add his blessing to our consideration of it this morning. Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, we look this morning at one of the places in the New Testament where Jesus talks about his second coming. Now it's interesting in God's providence that the disciples ask two very different questions. But they understood by those questions to be asking the same thing. Jesus is talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. We read that in verse 23, those last verses. And also in verse 2 of chapter 24, Jesus said, Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone will be left here upon another, and it shall not be thrown down. And so the disciples are thinking on that tract. They're saying the destruction of the temple Well, that's obviously the end of the world. But it isn't. We have to understand the temple was destroyed in 8070. We have to understand that Jesus answers two different questions in this passage. Now, reading it in English, it's difficult. to see the difference. And sadly, we even use... Let me make clear what's going on here. In this passage, there are two Greek words that are used. One is for those, and one is for these. They're very clear in Greek. Tautos things is these things. Echinos things are those things. And Jesus switches back and forth. Now one of the difficulties is we use the word that in English so much that it gets really muddled. We read in verse 36 for example, of that day and that hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven. As the day of Noah's was. And he talks about his second coming. We read there in verse 34, assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. So we see it in English somewhat, but it's harder. For the Greeks, those words were very different and we use them interchangeably in English, right? These, those, not a huge difference for us. But Jesus shows and talks about the destruction of the temple, and He talks about the day of His second coming. As we said, the disciples didn't realize they were asking two very different questions. And so as we look at this passage, the theme that we want to see is Jesus distinguishes the destruction of Jerusalem from His second coming. And we need to understand that Jesus will return. And as we look at this passage then in verses 1-14, the destruction of Jerusalem brings in the millennial reign of Christ. In verses 15-22 and 32-35, we see that God calls them to flee because there would be persecution in Israel. And in verses 23 through 31, we see Christ's second coming will be for all to see. It's not going to be something hidden. And so, the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus distinguishes the destruction of Jerusalem from his second coming. One of the things, just as a total side note, The reason we know that all of the New Testament was written before AD 70, even though, you know, scholars will tell us, oh, these were written much later after the events, is the destruction of the temple, the destruction of Jerusalem was such a cataclysmic event in the history of the world, it would be mentioned. But all of that is mentioned as something that's future in the Bible, it is never mentioned in the past tense. And so we know that all of the New Testament was written down before AD 70, before the destruction of Jerusalem. So the destruction of Jerusalem. I mean, this is a cataclysmic event for them. This was the temple. This was where they were supposed to worship. But Jesus came. And the temple is now no longer a building. God makes His tabernacle within us. His Holy Spirit dwells within us. We talked about in our confession study this morning, the idea of the regulative principle. And I think I failed to mention the third and fourth commandment. The third commandment is, where do we worship? Which is, we worship where God places His name. And God has not placed His name on a building, no matter how beautiful, God in baptism places it on his people. And we are to worship at the gathering of God's people. And then the fourth commandment tells us, when do we worship? We worship God and we follow God's commands on how we worship during the week as well. So their lives, the Israelite life revolved around the temple. And the disciples ask, when will these things be? Tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? The prevailing wisdom was the destruction of Jerusalem was going to be the destruction of the temple would have to be the end of the world, right? And our people have similar sentiments about our own nation. And as much as I would hate to see that happen, God has every right to do that because of the wickedness of our nation. But we have to understand that God's kingdom is not the United States of America. God's kingdom is His church, is His people. Specifically, His people who truly believe on Him because the church is, of course, a mix. We don't know. Now, we trust and we assume. but I can't see your hearts and the elders and the spiritual council can't see your hearts. All we can see is your confession and life. The disciples think they're asking one questions, but they are really asking two. And Jesus talks about the beginning of sorrows, verses four through eight. There's gonna be deceptions about the Christ. Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many." There are deceptions about Christ. But what does he say at the end of these? These are, verse eight, the beginnings of sorrows. There's going to be bad stuff go on. And there was horrifying stuff going on. We read about much of it in the book of Revelation. In the first vision of the book of Revelation after the churches, you have the vision of what was going on in Israel with the persecution of the church in Israel. In Jerusalem, in that area. And that God is reigning over it. There was going to be further wars, famines. We read that, verse 6, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. So see that you are not troubled, for these things must all come to pass. But the end is not yet. Notice Jesus is distinguishing between what was going to go on in the land of Canaan and what was going to go on at the end of the world. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. Have you ever heard? You need to turn on 700 Club for five minutes. These are all signs. This is going to happen, and then this is going to happen. These are the beginnings of sorrows. Jesus said, not even I know that day. And that's of course a question that we cannot comprehend. But we have to understand what Jesus says and believe Him. But do we need to get in great fear and worry about the end of the world? God will judge. Reading in Revelation 6, 2-4, And I looked, and behold, a white horse, he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him. And he went out conquering and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see, another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword. The peace and the prosperity which we have had in this country is a total irregularity in human history. We have to understand that. The world has been wars and rumors of wars. All you have to do is look at the news outside of this country. And we're getting there too as we throw Christianity aside. We're going to be fully just as much of a bunch of heathen people fighting with one another, lying to one another as the rest of the world around us. But he says these are the beginnings of sorrows. Birth pangs. Just a few contractions compared with the reality of birth. And we see these things. We don't need to be alarmed. God's in control. And it points us forward. to the most important thing, our salvation is in Christ. And despite apostasy, the gospel will be preached to all nations. There's going to be tribulation. Guess what happened? What God did with the tribulation in the land of Canaan? He sent the gospel out. The diaspora, the dispersion of the gospel to the nations. So even if God is going to send tribulation and trial, is God failing and not doing what He's supposed to be doing in it? God is using it. We don't need to fear. The tribulation in Judah was horrific with Emperors Nero and Domitian. He says they're going to be hated by all nations for the sake of God's name. In Revelation, God says to one of the churches, Revelation 2.10, do not fear those things which you are about to suffer. And the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. And you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. In tribulation, it does not mean that we're all going to live through it on this earth. He says, be faithful until death. There's false prophets who will cause the love of many to grow cold, and then many will be offended and will betray one another and will hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. When the gospel of Jesus Christ is not the center, When other things become more important and the church becomes a country club instead of the church of God, the love grows cold. There is no true love for one another because we don't understand the love which God has had for us. There's going to be deceptions. Jumping to verse 24, for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But despite that apostasy, God's true people will endure to the end. But he who endures, verse 13, to the end shall be saved. Our hope in our enduring is not in our strength. In the midst of tribulation, our hope is in the power of God by His Spirit working within us. There was a question asked to a man as they thought about trials. The man says, I don't think I have the strength to stand to go to be burned at the stake. And the pastor says to him, have you been asked to? Why would God waste the grace necessary to be burned at the stake on someone he hasn't asked to be burned at the stake? God has given you the grace that you need for your trials. He doesn't give you the grace for someone else's. You have to understand that. God gives us what we need. Not what someone else needs. And so we need to look to Him no matter what He asks us to walk through. God is sufficient. God is good enough for us. Despite the destruction of Jerusalem, despite apostasy, the gospel will be preached. Verse 14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. Notice, that's not one of those times where we have the right, that word in one of those words in Greek, by the way, just as a side note. We throw that in English so much. And it's important to us to read stuff, so it's hard to deal with that. But anyway, point being, what was God doing through the persecution of the Jews? Through the persecution of the church? Through the destruction even of the temple? He was sending out His Gospel. And we read that here. This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world. And the gospel went forth using those who had been persecuted. And he says, flee. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads it, let him understand, there's going to be tribulation. There's going to be trials. There was, of course, we've already talked about Nero and Domitian. The future emperor Titus, not to be confused with the biblical writer Titus, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed in AD 70. We see here that they placed the abomination of desolation. Daniel talks about that. Forces shall be mustered by him, Daniel 11.31, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress, and they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation." Roman gods were set up in the temple. A bust of the god emperor was set up, and swine were sacrificed on the altars. The siege of Jerusalem was a horror. 1.1 million people were killed. Those who were captured and battled were crucified. Luke 21, 20, but when you see the Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. And the temple was so destroyed, even as Jesus prophesies here. If you've ever seen pictures, what's left of the temple is the wailing wall and one of the gates. An interesting quote of Titus claiming, that's that Titus, that emperor, claiming that there is no merit in vanquishing a people forsaken by their own God as he destroys Jerusalem. And so as we think about this, as just a side note again, the current Israeli state, Jewish state has no biblical significance. We have to understand that. It's a nation carved out by the League of Nations. What was it, 1948? I can never remember that date. But it has no biblical significance. Now, they claim Jewish history. And we want to be careful that there's a certain manner in which we want to care for any people on this earth and bring the gospel to them. But we have to understand that we do not confuse them with biblical Israel. And there are those, again, if you listen to all those TV shows and dispensational ideas, oh, we need to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and stuff like that. That's all been taken care of. They have double vision. Yet the Word of God will go to all nations. Romans 10.18, but I say, have they not heard? Yes, indeed, their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the earth. Because of this persecution, he says, continuing, let him who is in 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. He says, get out! Flee Jerusalem! Flee Israel! Woe to those, verse 19, who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, 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. God, in the midst of this, provides a number of times for the people to get out. The destruction of Israel and Jerusalem were halted a number of times before they were completed. God gave His people opportunity to leave. He says, this generation will not pass till these things come to pass. Being able to understand the history of the world from God's Word. Instead of from our own ideas. Continuing reading there. Now learn this parable from the fig tree. When the branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things, you know that it is near even 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 shall by no means pass away." This is going to happen in a very short term. Before the destruction of the temple, before the persecution, Matthew 10, 32, or 23, I'm sorry. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you have not gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Yet you need to be able to read the signs, to know what's going on. Assuredly, Matthew 16, 28, assuredly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Christ's kingdom, God's kingdom has come. Jesus says that a number of times in His ministry. The kingdom of God is not synonymous again with the end of the world. The kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God, is the idea of the earthly kingdom. Think of Daniel again. Think of the picture in Daniel where Nebuchadnezzar saw the dream with the statue and the stone cut without hands that destroyed the kingdoms of this earth. It is the picture of that stone, which is the kingdom that is not earthly. that will destroy all of the kingdoms of this earth. Christ's kingdom will not pass away. It comes in, and we don't want to get too technical with all of the pictures there, but it comes in and it destroys it at the time of the Greco-Roman Empire, if you look even at that picture, at that dream. And it comes in as Christ, and it is to grow throughout the world. The kingdom that we serve is the kingdom of Christ. It is not the kingdom of some earthly ruler, of some earthly nation. Heaven and earth will pass away. This is a general truth, not targeted at specific events right now. The Word of God will not pass away. And so then we talk about Christ's second coming. Will be for all to see. No signs are going to be needed. Look at this. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. As the days before the flood, They were eating and drinking and 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, we're told by Peter, was a preacher of righteousness. He spent his time preaching as he built that ark. There's going to be false Christs. There's going to be people pointing all over the place. But Jesus' coming is greater than just some sign or some wonder. They say here or there, but no. Mark 13, 21, that if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there, look, He is there. Do not believe it. His arrival will be unmistakable, even as the lightning. Now I have to remember, we live inside of houses with tight windows and stuff like that, so we are not affected as much by the lightning and things like that. But brothers and sisters, think about living in a stone house or those sorts of things that they lived in at that time. Very different. The windows weren't tight. The lightning very much was something that everyone saw. It flashes in the heavens, coming from the clouds of heaven without a mistake. Jesus told us beforehand, 2 Peter 3.17, Therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware, lest you fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked. Jesus' return will be totally unmistakable. And it's going to be accompanied by the destruction of the universe. Let me read v. 29. 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 Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then 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. Again, look and see. They will see. There's another tribulation that's going to happen. We see that at the end of the book of Revelation as well. And the sun and moon and stars are darkened. People aren't going to notice this? There's going to be no mistaking the second coming of Christ. The moon will be turned into blood, Acts 2.20, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And then the elect will be gathered to Christ eternally. If we read in 1 Thessalonians 4 the same idea, there are those who talk about the rapture. Well, what's going on there? Jesus, in returning, we're told that the saints will be brought up to Him as He's coming for the day of judgment. There's not going to be a rapture and then some period of time and stuff like that. Jesus will be returning. This whole event happens at the same time. And so Christ returns. And the dead in Christ will rise first, 1 Thessalonians 4. Those who remain to that day will meet Him in the air. And Christ will return and there will be what we call the great white throne judgment. God will judge at a great white throne as the picture we see in Revelation. We'll look at that, Lord willing, in coming weeks. We read in Daniel 7.13, I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Sinful men will mourn their unbelief, but it will be too late, Luke 23.30. They will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. When Christ returns, it's too late. Same picture, by the way, when we die. People saying, I'm going to wait to repent until I die. No. There will be no opportunity at that point. And the elect will be gathered to Christ from one end of heaven to the other. 2 Thessalonians 2.1. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the gathering together to Him. It talks about that there. From the four winds. The persecution will scatter. But the coming of Christ will gather. And all people will be judged. We see that in 1 Corinthians, especially chapter 15. The idea that all people will stand before God's judgment seat. There are those who are saying, well, there were people we buried at sea. There were people who were cremated. 1 Corinthians 15, God put you together the first time, God's able to put you together the second time. And by the way, the more difficult part of putting together is putting together body and soul than just putting a body together. And that's pretty difficult right there, isn't it? God will judge. And our only hope is believing on His Son, on our Savior. And brothers and sisters, So, perhaps it was a little heavy as we talked about the destruction of Jerusalem. But we have to understand the questions that the disciples are asking. They think they're asking the same question, but Jesus answers the two questions that they actually ask. And as we think about these things, we need to be able to distinguish the two because people today get them confused backwards and forwards. And I'm not saying that I have it absolutely perfect here. Let's be careful there. But we have to be careful to see that there are some things that accompany Christ's, the destruction of Jerusalem. And there are some things that accompany Christ's second coming. And Jesus is being fairly clear here, despite our confusion. And when Christ returns, everyone is going to know. And everyone will stand judgment. And I have to say, as I think about that one thing just in closing, is as we see the wickedness in this world, the more and more I look forward to that day of judgment. God will judge righteously. But at that same time, my only hope, our only hope, is through faith in Jesus Christ. Because I'm no better. It is only by God's grace that He saves us. Amen. So let us rise, let us bow before our God in prayer, and we'll close this prayer together with the Lord's Prayer. Almighty, gracious Heavenly Father, we praise you, we thank you that you have all of history within your hand. That you are working through all of history. And we pray, Lord, help us to trust in you. Help us to see what you say about history. Even to see the bud on the trees, as Jesus talks about here. So that we know the things that are happening. And yet you remind us regarding the coming of Christ of that day and that hour. All of the people who try to predict this way and that way, they are totally not understanding what Jesus says here. And so Lord, help us to trust in you. Help us to live every day focused on the eternal life which Christ has purchased for us. Help us, Lord, to glorify and to honor you. and to trust in You in tribulation and in good times, that You are He who provides for us in the midst of all of these things. We ask these things not because we are worthy, but our hope lies in Christ Himself alone. And we pray it in Jesus' name, praying as He taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.