As we turn our attention now to the preaching of God's Word, I ask you to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24. The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, if you're using your Pew Bibles, you should be able to find this beginning on page 1054. And this morning, we'll be looking at chapter 24, verses 1 through 35. So here now, the Word of God, Matthew 24, verses 1 through 35. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, you see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. As they sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ. And they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, and see that you are not alarmed. For this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house. And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And the last for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days. Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation. Such has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, look, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near. at the very gates. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Let us bow our heads and seek the Lord's blessing. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we pray that as we look at these words that you would, by your Spirit, be guiding our hearts and minds. and that You would open our eyes and our ears and help us to see and understand Your truth this morning. And we do pray that we would take great comfort from these verses, and that You, Lord, would, by Your Spirit, bless my mind and my mouth, that I may think and speak clearly this morning. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray these things. Amen. Well, as we begin this morning, text before us there's there's several ways that it's been interpreted and it can be interpreted and you know some you know varying degrees and differences of opinion some one point of view is that what Jesus is doing here is is he's giving a mixture of prophecies about the fall of Jerusalem which happened in 70 AD then also his second coming his return and some of the things to be looking for and doing in this time. There's another view where this is talking only about Jesus' second coming. And there's a view that says, well, Christ has already come. And they argue incorrectly and wrongly and falsely that Jesus' return wasn't in the flesh, it was by His Spirit. So they say on the day of Pentecost, that was Jesus' second coming. The view that we're going to be looking at here, and you know, if you have the first view, you've got some good, solid people. John Calvin held that view, so that's not wrong at all. I do take a different view in that, as Jesus is teaching here, the verses that we read, I'll be arguing, deal with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And as we'll look at, Lord willing, next week in verse 36, there's a shift in Jesus's speech that he then begins to address his second coming. So the verses we'll be looking at today will be dealing with Jesus giving his people instruction in the coming destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred in 70 AD. Now as we look at this text this morning, it'll be a little bit more technical than other sermons. We'll be looking at some of the Greek and looking at these things. It's important for us to know these things so that we can kind of see what Jesus is talking about and what his original readers here would have understood. But the theme is very applicable to us today because we can take great comfort in what Jesus is saying. And what we'll end with, and the theme we'll be marching towards, is a theme for us to take comfort in the face of evil, knowing that our King lives and reigns. That's what all this text is pointing to. The sign of the Son of Man. And you might be wondering why, if you're using your bulletin insert, why the title in the bulletin insert says, The Sign of the Son of Man, yet you look in the bulletin and it says, The Destruction of Jerusalem. Well, the two are tied. and we'll get to that. So the theme we'll be looking at is take comfort in the face of evil, for your king lives in reigns. Now, the first section that we'll be looking at is verses 1 through 14. And here in this section, Jesus gives an overview as he's answering the disciples' question concerning the temple. When will these things take place, Lord Jesus? He begins in these verses by giving an overview of history from his ascension to his return. But even in this overview, the primary focus here would be the destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred in 70 AD. Now, dealing with the disciples' question itself and giving a brief context of this passage, Jesus has just finished with his woes upon the religious leaders as he's ministering in the temple. He then ends that section with a great lament over Jerusalem itself, saying how, you know, if you would have just how much I wanted to gather you, as a mother hen gathers her chicks, but you would not have it. And then he makes that declaration, behold, your house has been left to you desolate. Then we have this chapter. He leaves the temple, and the disciples come up to him, and they start pointing out all the beautiful things about the temple. And the temple in this day and age was truly beautiful. It was remarkable. Herod had really spared no expense in building this temple. and it was absolutely beautiful. And so they were pointing out, look at this marvelous building, Lord Jesus. And so then he says, that not one stone will be left upon another. And so then as he's private, or in the privacy, they come to Jesus privately then on the Mount of Olives, and they ask him a question, will these things be? And when they say, when will these things be, they then break it into two different questions. When will be your coming? And when will be the sign of the end of the age, or the close of the age? And Jesus then deals with the questions in reverse order. He begins to talk about the end of the age. Now, what's interesting is we consider, because we hear that phrase in our day and age, and we want to think, well, that's the end time, isn't it? Well, not necessarily. If you consider all of Earth's history, You might, you know, we're in kind of the fourth age of the earth. There was when God created it, and then the fall of man. That'd be age one. Then you would have from the fall of man to the flood. That'd be age two. Then you would have from the flood to the incarnation and Christ's work and his atoning death and sacrifice upon the cross. That'd be age three. But then we have his ascension, his resurrection, ascension, and his enthronement, kind of in age four. And what that means is that In the New Testament, in the life of Christ, in the teachings of the apostles, there's this melding of ages, you could say. There's the Old Testament way in which God was approached in the temple and the sacrificial system, which was continuing to go on as the apostles were teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. So there's this fading in out of one age, and then the emergence of the new age, the next age, the age of Christ and his gospel. And so the disciples question when will be the end of the age can be looked at in that light. When is this coming to an end? And if what Jesus said was true, that not one stone be left upon another concerning the temple, they would have understood, well, OK, we won't be able to sacrifice. It's bringing to a close this system that has been in place. Now, as we continue on in this section, some of the things that Jesus says here, too, kind kind of shed light on this, the word that is translated as world in verse 14, wherein this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come. The word there translated as world is oftentimes used to refer to the world power at that time. So it's really in connection to the Roman Empire. Jesus says in this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world throughout the Roman Empire as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come now Although that word is used predominantly in reference to the world power at the time the Roman Empire Yet it also does have cases where it's used to just to describe the whole inhabited world in general And so there's a way that, although the primary referent here is the fall of Jerusalem that Jesus is setting the stage for, there is great application for us, too, as we live in our day and age, looking toward the close of time itself, the close of the final age. For everything here that Jesus says was not only applicable in that space between when he ascended and then the destruction of Jerusalem. There were wars and rumors of war. Nation was rising up against nation and all these things. He tells us not to be afraid because the end is not yet come. Well, the application we can take from this, brothers and sisters, as we live in this time, it's no different than that time. There are wars, nation rising against nation. There are rumors of wars. And what Jesus is calling us to is not to be worried, not to be afraid, not to be concerned. For these things will happen. These things will take place until the very end. And so what we can learn from these first 14 verses, brothers and sisters, is to be comforted in knowing that God is sovereign and in control. And if we read about in the newspaper or see on the news, one nation rising against nation, it doesn't mean that the apocalypse is near. These things must take place. These things will take place until the Lord Jesus Christ comes in His glory. And we can take comfort in His sovereign care and not be led astray to some false teaching, but to hold fast to the truth and to cling to our Lord and Savior, even when it appears the world is falling apart. That leads us then to verses 15 through 35. Jesus, after giving this kind of overview of history between his ascension and then return, he then begins to speak directly of the fall of Jerusalem. And he says in verse 15, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Well, what does he mean by abomination of desolation? He's referring to what was prophesied by Daniel. And if you want to look these up, that's fine. It's Daniel chapter 9, verse 27, verse 11, verse 31, and chapter 12, verse 11, where Daniel references the desolation of, or abomination of desolation. But as we can, even then, looking at what Daniel says, we, we, it's not clear for us what this actually means. And what we have to consider is who Matthew is writing to. Well, Matthew is writing to Jewish people, the Hebrews. And he's writing in a way, in a context that they would understand, and they would comprehend, and they would make the connection. But there is another gospel writer who is writing to Gentiles. His name is Luke. And he explains, he expounds kind of what this abomination of desolation means. In Luke 21, verse 20, here is how Luke unpacks for his Gentile audience who wouldn't have the Old Testament as a background. Here's how he explains in words the abomination of desolation. He says, But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. So what is the abomination of desolation that Matthew is referencing to the Hebrews, the audience that he is writing to? It's the surrounding of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire. That's how Luke explains it. That's how he unpacks it for us. When the Roman Empire's armies surrounded the city and cut it off from the outside, that was the first key, the first note that they would take notice of. If we look at verse 15 and we're anticipating something yet to come, really verses 16 through 22, they don't really make sense if it's referencing Jesus' second coming. If it's referencing Jesus' second coming, why is it necessary for people to flee to the mountains? He's coming. Judgment is here. All people will be gathered to Him for judgment. How is running to the mountains going to save people and to make them be safe? In His second coming, why is Jesus telling us to pray that women wouldn't be pregnant in that day, or that it wouldn't take place in the winter, or that it wouldn't be on a Sabbath? It's because, as those of you who have been with child, and those of you who have been with those who are with child, the female body is, I heard one person describe it, they said their doctor said to them, don't feel bad about, you know, taking rest and sleeping. It's like your body is climbing Mount Everest every day with the amount of energy that your body is expending to be used by God to create another life. The baby is using you as almost like an incubator and it's selfish. It takes all the nutrients first. in it to be built, and that's the way God designed it. So, if there is this catastrophe impending upon a city, Jesus is saying, you know, pray that your women will be at full physical capacity, that they could run quickly and get out of the impending destruction. They believe that you weren't allowed to do, you know, on the Sabbath day, you weren't supposed to run. You weren't supposed to expend a lot of energy. You were only supposed to allow to walk a certain amount of steps per day. So Jesus is saying, pray that it doesn't happen on the Sabbath. So you don't have to worry about running. And you can flee. And you can get out to safety. You can run to the hills. And why would it have to be cut short? If this is about Christ's second coming, what does it mean that it would have to be cut short? Well, the destruction of Jerusalem was horrific. The early author of history, Josephus, describes horrendous and horrific things that happened. It was a bloody, a bloody fall. And so Jesus says that those days were cut short for the sake of the elect, for the sake of his people, that they would survive and come to faith in him. Now, as Jesus is moving through this and in verse 22, he says, you know, people in verse 23, he shifts and then says, if anyone says to you, look, here's a Christ or there he is. And he talks about false Christ and false prophets arriving, arising. These things did happen between the ascension of Christ and the destruction and fall of Jerusalem. These things even happened before Christ returned. I mean, there were other people before Christ who came and thought they were the Messiah and tried to proclaim and take that title. Well, Jesus is the only true Messiah and He's saying to them, do not listen. Do not listen to people who say that I have come back. In light of these things must be taking place before And then he briefly references what his return, his actual return, will be like. He doesn't begin to unpack it and to expand upon it, but he references it. And he says, it'll be like a flash of lightning that goes from the east to the west. It'll be quick. It'll be powerful. You don't expect lightning when it strikes. I can remember last year. I was sitting watching TV on a Saturday. I didn't know there was supposed to be a storm coming through. And, you know, I grew up in Kansas, so I love thunderstorms, and I love lightning and thunder. But as I'm sitting watching TV, there's this bright flash, and my first thought is, is someone taking a picture? Like, what's, somebody take a picture of our house? What's going on? And then a few seconds later, this low rumble. It was unexpected. You don't expect when a lightning strike will emerge and then end, and it's quick, and it's loud, and it's powerful. So he quickly references, and he's doing it in light of those verses where he's talking about false Christs will come and false prophets, saying, don't listen to them, because my coming is gonna be unexpected and take you by surprise. I will not announce my coming through people saying, hey, here he is over here, let's come and worship him. It's going to be quick and without warning. Then he gets back in verse 29, talking again about the destruction of Jerusalem. He says, immediately after the tribulation of those days, meaning the Roman army surrounding Jerusalem and all the turmoil and the persecution that was taking place, them being over, as we read in the book of Acts, they were being persecuted and handed over for persecution throughout this time. The apostles were being martyred and put to death for what they were preaching. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. These things are not literal. This is figurative speech that Jesus is using here. It's figurative language. And it's not just figurative language, it's prophetic language. It's language that has a history. And as we read through the prophetic books in Isaiah, in Joel, in Ezekiel, where this language is used, it's in reference to the judgment of a nation. The symbols of the sun and the moon and the stars all represent the power and authority. And it's the power and authority of a nation over its people, or a nation over another nation. And it's when the sun will be darkened, and the moon not give its light, and the stars falling from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. What that's referencing is a nation that is being brought to judgment. God says this in the prophets against Egypt. He says it against Babylon. And all these things have taken place. Here, Jesus is saying it in reference to his own people. His own nation, Jerusalem. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Jerusalem's power and might as a nation will come crumbling down. This is when I preached on the book of Joel in the evening service a couple of years ago. This was during the time, by God's providence, that what we call now the Arab Spring, when it first began, when the people rose up against the leader of Egypt, and the nation of Egypt came crumbling down and fell. If we were writing about that in biblical times, what we would say is that in reference to Egypt, that the sun was darkened, the moon didn't give its light, the stars fell, and the heavenly bodies were shaken. The nation of Egypt was brought to ruin. So Jesus here is speaking of not something yet to happen, but of the fall of the nation of Israel, completely, and the fall of the city of Jerusalem. He then says, Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, 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." This verse is why it's important that we look at the Greek today. Because when I look at the Greek, just to give you a glimpse in my process, in my thought process, the Greek language is different than English in that you can write like Yoda speaks, and it makes perfect sense. Words can be in weird orders, and it's all with the endings of the words, and what they look like, where you see the connection, and then we have to do a little bit of rearranging to make it make sense in English, where our sentences need that word order to make sense. What I usually do when translating is I translate very woodenly, So, you know, like I said, referenced Yoda already, but it's like maybe he was speaking or reading the New Testament. And if it makes sense and it's clear, and I compare it then to other English translations, and if it falls in line and makes sense, then I'll keep it that way. I'll try to maintain that order if I can. Well, verse 30, when we translate it, it says, Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. What Jesus is saying here is there is not going to be this sign in the sky that declares His coming that we're all waiting and expecting for. What Jesus says here, then will appear the sign that the Son of Man is in heaven, that He is enthroned in power. And we get that because the rest of the verse is not referencing His second coming. He's drawing upon Daniel again, and I've mentioned this before, in the language in Daniel chapter 7, where Daniel saw one like the Son of Man coming on the clouds, being presented to the Ancient of Days, to God the Father. And he was seated on his throne, and he was given power and authority and dominion. Now, language in Daniel is not second-coming language. It is ascension language. The coming there that the Son of Man has, that Daniel sees, is not a coming to earth. It's a coming back to glory and being seated at the right hand of God in power. And so what Jesus is saying in verse 30 is, then will appear the sign of the Son of Man is 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 great power and glory. And the word see there is not necessarily seeing with our visible eyes, but understanding and knowing. So what is this sign? Every time that you see a picture of the Dome of the Rock, the mosque that was built upon the foundation stones of the temple. The temple having been removed brick by brick and brought to nothing. That is your sign, brothers and sisters. That is the sign that we, throughout the world, can see that the temple is done. It is over. The age has come to a close. and that Christ is reigning and seated upon His throne in heaven for all the world to see. That is the sign, brothers and sisters. Now, as Jesus continues in verse 31, then He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another. Well, if what Jesus, what I am saying is true here, and this is not speaking of the end of the world, then what does Jesus mean here? About sending his angels to bring his people to him. Well, again, if we consider the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it's called the Septuagint. The word angel is simply translated as messenger. And you see that throughout the Old Testament, in the Greek translation, where a king or somebody will send messengers to someone else, it'll have the word engelos, that we have taken and has become our word angel. And when we see messengers coming from God, who were in fact what we call angels, what were they doing? They were giving a message. And so the task has become the title of the being. It's exactly like what we call, why we call the apostles the apostles. Because the word apostle is a verb that means to send. And they were the ones that were sent. They were the apostles. So why we call deacons deacons. The Greek word for deacon means to serve, a servant. So that is the function of the office of deacon. It's the office of service. And so we have deacons. Well, angels. They were messengers and they delivered a message. And so we call them angels, but at its root, all that Jesus is saying is that he will send out his messengers with a loud trumpet call. My brothers and sisters, you are the fulfillment of this verse. I am the fulfillment of this verse. I am a messenger of Jesus Christ. When you speak for Christ and you share the gospel, you are an angel of Christ. You are a messenger of Christ. The loud trumpet call that Jesus speaks of here, in the Old Testament, the loud trumpet blasted to gather people to Him, to the temple. The gospel you proclaim is that loud trumpet call. It's a call to come to God, to come to Christ. And so He has sent out His messengers to the four corners of the earth, proclaiming His gospel to bring His people to Himself. Now why do I take the interpretation that I do? As I mentioned, there are some good people who take the interpretation where Jesus is kind of intermingling the fall of Jerusalem and then His second coming throughout these verses. Well, because I believe that it makes the most sense when you consider the last section, verses 32 to 35. Jesus says, from the fig tree, learn its lesson. And he's not speaking about the fig tree that he cursed and it died and withered on the way to the temple. He's just referencing fig trees in general. And the whole process of plants, as we're entering We're starting to see leaves come back on trees and things starting to sprout up again in the spring. We know then that the end of winter is near and that spring is coming. Jesus says, well, as you can read these things happening, understand everything that I have said. When you see it, take action. And He says, when you see all these things, know that He is near at the very gates Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." Now, what people sometimes try to do is they see that sentence of Jesus and they try to discredit Him in saying, well, all these things didn't take place. He hasn't come back yet. You know, and it's you know, if these things are speaking of his second coming, Jesus here is wrong. It didn't take place in his in that generation. All those things, he says will take place in that generation. If we consider that these verses are speaking of his ascension on high, and then the final judgment and condemnation of the Israelite nation and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus here is speaking the truth. All these things have taken place. And then he says, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. So why go through all this? Why go through all this nitpicking of the Greek language and what is being seen here? Well, for us, brothers and sisters, to take comfort in God's truth. knowing that our Lord and Savior is reigning. We can see the sign clearly that has been displayed for the past 2,000 years, that the Son of Man ascended on high and was enthroned and is governing His kingdom. We can take comfort in knowing that regardless of how nations may rise up against nations, regardless of how His people are persecuted, regardless of the rumors of wars that we may hear, our sovereign Creator and Lord is reigning and living. These prophecies came true in 70 AD. And so, brothers and sisters, Let us take comfort in the face of every evil, because our Lord, the Son of Man, the Creator of heaven and earth, Jesus Christ, is living and reigning and governing His kingdom. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank you for the mercy that has been shown to us in Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that you are reigning in your might and your power and your glory even now. It may appear at times, Lord, that the evil one is conquering and winning, but, Lord, may we understand that you are sovereign and in control and that these things will take place. And may we look forward to and long for the day in which nobody knows when you return and you come and make all things new. May we take comfort, Lord, in knowing that you are alive and well and reigning at the right hand of God the Father. In your holy name we pray. Amen.