Thank you for selecting this message by Dr. James Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman preaches verse by verse through the entire book of the Bible. From all of us at Living Water of Lapine here in Central Oregon, we hope that it will encourage you and feed you spiritually. And if you would like to leave a message after the sermon, our contact information is found on the sermon page where you found this sermon. Now may God richly bless you as you listen. Well, it really is no secret, I've told you this before, that I watch an awful lot of television news. Too much, if you ask certain family members of mine. But I am captivated by current events. One of the reasons I end up watching longer than I sometimes plan is due to their teasers. You know what those teasers are, you've probably heard them. Just before they go into commercial break, The FBI warns that foreign hackers have breached millions of home computers. Details after we return from these messages from our sponsors. Okay, this morning's shower and shave can wait. I've got to know what those promised details are. I can't turn the morning news off yet. Well today, as I introduce our passage of study, I am rather shamelessly going to try to arouse your curiosity as a means of having you stay tuned. I'd like for you to look with me at a very familiar verse to us. Later on, it appears in our passage and I'm going to begin with it. Now, although you may be familiar with this verse, probably most of you know it. I'm gonna ask a question after we take a quick look at it here that perhaps you've never thought of when you've looked at this verse before. Or if you did, perhaps you didn't dare try to answer it. Discussing his own return to earth, Jesus says to his disciples, please look with me in Matthew 24 verse 36. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Kind of unsettling that Jesus, God the Son, who is intimate with the Father throughout the Gospels doesn't know something his Father does. Or more to the theological point here, how is it that the second person of the Trinity doesn't have full knowledge of something? Doesn't Jesus know everything? If he is God, isn't he supposed to be omniscient, all-knowing? Details to follow, stay tuned. Over the course of the past several weeks, we have been in Matthew chapter 24, which concerns itself with the return of Christ. In today's section of Matthew's Olivet Discourse, as it sometimes is called, it's helpful to remember the context of Jesus's words. Jesus is in the middle of a conversation with his disciples just days before he would be crucified for the sins of men and women throughout history. And before he died and rose from the grave, he prepared his disciples for his departure, promising them that he would return. How his disciples then and now live in light of this reality is the subject Jesus picks up on in today's passage. There's an attitude we must have and a behavior we must be accomplishing. What we are studying our grand and glorious truths to bank our future on. But what do they mean for our lives now, this moment? How does the reality of Christ's return affect the way we should act and think right now? The answer to these questions will be part of the passage today. And it runs all the way through to the end of Matthew chapter 25. Jesus tells parables and stories to help us understand how we should live in light of his future coming. The second coming we learn is an intensely practical doctrine. It's a sobering one too. Let's read verses 27 through 31 of Matthew chapter 24. 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 on 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 together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other." Aspects of these verses bring out what we can and should know about the awesomeness of Christ's return. In fact, every phrase of Matthew 24 verses 27 through 31 is brimming with Jesus's power and glory. He will appear with a heavenly light show. It will make the most incredible fireworks display look amateurish. It'll make Haley's comet look like two Boy Scouts rubbing sticks together to get a spark. Look at the phrase of verse 30, all the tribes and all the clouds of heaven and with all with power and great glory. For everyone to see Jesus coming from heaven, appearing or arriving as the everlasting ruler of this earthly dominion, that is another awesome image. In verse 31, note Jesus' absolute authority, and he will send out his angels and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. What power! He has the whole world in his hands and he has the whole heavens in his hands too, from one end of heaven to the other. The second, personal coming of Christ will be as different as possible from the first. He came the first time as a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering, as Isaiah 53 verse 3 says. He was born in a manger at Bethlehem in lowliness and humiliation. He took the very nature of a servant and was despised, not esteemed. He was betrayed into the hands of wicked men, condemned by an unjust judgment, mocked, flogged, crowned with thorns, and at last crucified between two thieves. But he will come the second time as the king of the earth and with royal and celestial majesty. The princes and great men of this world will themselves stand before his throne to receive an eternal sentence. Before him, every mouth will be silenced and every knee bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It seems that the entire earth will be enveloped in a physical darkness when the elements of heavens that have produced light of the earth for thousands of years will be dimmed and perhaps extinguished. Life-giving light will no longer radiate from the sun and the moon. Even the secondary sources of light, the stars far beyond the realm of our galaxy, will fade. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 1.8 that Jesus will return in a flaming fire. So perhaps the reason everyone will see him is that he will burst upon the scene as the only light of the universe. Can you imagine how menacing that would be? The whole universe will look like it is coming unglued at the seams. Then, when Jesus actually appears, he will not be greeted with great accolades of triumph, Instead, the people will cry out in agony, terrified of the visage of righteousness and glory that descends from heaven. At that crucial moment, they will realize the true depth of their depravity before a holy God. And they will know with certainty that their moment of judgment is at hand. All their goodness, all of their hard work expended on good worldly causes, all of their self-acclaimed righteous acts will vanish in a moment, obliterated in and by the brightness of Christ's holiness, crushed by his power and glory. The nations of the earth will mourn, it says in verse 30, because unbelievers will suddenly realize they've chosen the wrong side. Everything they have scoffed about will be happening, and it will be too late for them. Too late. The truth will dawn on all of the devil's hardened followers. They will admit to each other, the Bible which we have despised was right all the time. The prophecies were not allegories, but literal actualities. The one whose peerless name we have customarily used as a curse word is eternal. He's the uncreated son of the living God. Here he is coming back, as he said, not as a carpenter, but as a conqueror. not with his glory veiled, but with that glory dimming the brightness of the noonday sun. Verse 31. 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. This is not the first time Matthew has written about this in his gospel because this is not the first time Jesus spoke about it. Jesus informed his disciples in Matthew 13 that weeds would grow up among the good seed of the redeemed. Jesus advised his disciples to let the weeds continue to grow along with the wheat to ensure that the wheat would not be destroyed along with the weeds, the tares. Nevertheless, when the harvest time comes, Jesus himself will separate the weeds from the wheat, guaranteeing the security of his chosen ones. And so we pick this up in Matthew 13 with verses 41 through 43, which says, the son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear." The Apostle John also wrote about this event in Revelation 14. Revelation 14 verses 14 through 16 says, then I looked and behold a white cloud and seated on the cloud, one like a son of man with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped." Jesus had already warned his disciples of imposters who would come claiming to be the Messiah. While these false Christs would perform many spectacular miracles, they would never be able to duplicate the power of this glorious event. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can shake the heavens to their very foundations. Only the Lord of all creation will appear in the clouds and ascend the throne reserved for God's anointed. Because of the sweeping magnitude of this event, we can now understand why Jesus warned his followers about those who would say that the Messiah has already come. Hey, look, he's out there. You've got to go see him. Oh, he's over here in this building. You've got to go in that building and go see him over there. It's not going to be some secret event, but an event plainly visible and profoundly frightening to everyone, especially the unbelievers. Verses 32 through 34. 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. So sitting on the Mount of Olives, There were numerous fig trees around. They were all around the vicinity. They could look at them as Jesus spoke to them. During the winter, the fig tree loses its leaves and the branches become cold and brittle. When spring arrives, the branches become more pliant and buds develop into leaves. And when one sees the development of this on the fig tree, you can safely conclude that summer is coming. Similarly, the matters of which Jesus had been speaking are reliable indicators that his coming back is near. But what is not so clear to the modern day interpreter is what Jesus meant by what he says in verse 34 here. Look at it again with me please, verse 34. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. This verse is what has made so many theologians declare that the events that we have been seeing here in Matthew 24 happened already. They happen. They must have happened as they look at this. Who is Jesus talking to? He was talking to his disciples and he says, this generation, these things are going to occur before this generation goes on and the next generation comes. And so they say, it must be figurative. They must all be speaking of shaking the heavens in a tremendous world event. And then they look and they say, well, Jesus had been talking about the destruction of the temple. And so that earth-shattering, heaven-shaking event must be what this whole Olivet Discourse is about. Because Jesus says here that this generation isn't gonna pass away. until all these events occur. So it's all been figurative, according to many theologians. Well, Jesus was speaking to his disciples in the early 30s of the first century, and he told his listeners all these things he has been speaking about will happen before this generation passes. The destruction of the temple occurred in that generation, less than 40 years after Jesus spoke these things. And for those of us who believe that Jesus has been speaking about a future time, when Jesus will return, it looks like we might have a problem because of verse 34 here. Details to follow, stay tuned. No, just kidding. Not this time. The word translated generation comes from the Greek word, genea. I did a little word study of this word this week and I found out that genea has as its primary meaning during the time of Christ, those who are descended from a common ancestor. Now this is according to the most recognized authority of the Koine Greek language. I used my Greek lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature edited by Walter Bauer, recognized by all Greek students. and authorities as the leading authority of meanings of the Greek words. The primary meaning of this word, according to them, is a race of people. Now, the lexicon goes on to explain that its meaning later expanded to include all those living at a given time or simply generation. Unfortunately, generation is how the Greek word is translated, and most often when we get a new version of the Bible it comes out. And it's led to an awful lot of unnecessary confusion. Those who are descended from a common ancestor, a race of people, is the primary meaning of this word. And this meaning is definitely fitting of the context. of the entire context here. With the primary meaning in mind here, we can see that Jesus was providing assurance to his disciples, an assurance based on the solemn promise that the Jewish people would not disappear from the scene of history until all these things take place. Do you remember how this entire conversation got started? Verse 34 here, Jesus promised his disciples that the Jewish people would survive the destruction of Jerusalem, the demolition of the temple, the dismantling of the Jewish sacrificial system, and the end of the Judean nation. That is what the disciples were concerned about, that's what they asked about, and launched the Olivet Discourse. Prompted the whole discussion. Not only would they survive that prophesied period of time, but they would survive as a people until that time when the Son of Man returned in power and glory to render justice and rescue those who belong to him. Now, notice also the word not in verse 34. It is a translation of the Greek word umē. which I have up on the screen here. It's a very strong term that can be literally rendered, absolutely not by no means whatsoever. I can still hear Dr. Leonard Hillstrom, one of my Greek seminary professors, shouting, don't you even dare think it's possible. Whenever one of his students would say, hey, Prof, can we take the test later on? I didn't get enough time to study for it. Oomeh, he would say to us. Not that I would ever ask him that. He told us there's no stronger way to say no in Koine Greek than oomeh. So the Lord was saying, this race, the Jewish people, shall by no means be destroyed through all these events. Haman was not able to destroy them. Neither was Pharaoh, nor did Hitler succeed in their attempts. And no dictator of our day will be able to exterminate these people. God will and has seen to that. Verse 35. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Jesus confirmed the reliability of these prophecies with that dramatic statement. You know, in our human mindset, the physical world is the only existence that we know. We rely on the stability of physical matter and routine, expecting one day to follow the next. However, Jesus told his disciples that the world as they knew it would someday disappear. The material world, which embodies the tangible things of our physical existence, will certainly come to an end. Unlike our temporary physical world, however, Jesus's words are eternal. His entire ministry from his first message in the synagogue was rooted in authority. So now we have come to verse 36. Did you stay tuned? Let's look at it again. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. How is it that the second person of the Trinity doesn't know something? Doesn't Jesus know everything? Isn't he omniscient? Well, to answer, I'm going to rely a great deal upon Christian author, Daniel Doriani, an author I became familiar with in my doctoral studies that I appreciated quite a bit. He brought to my attention in a way, remember that Jesus chose to limit his divine powers when he became man. Philippians 2, verses six through eight. God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Jesus possessed these powers, but chose not to exercise them at most points of his earthly ministry. Jesus is omnipresent, yet he traveled from place to place by foot, typically, or by boat, or by donkey, occasionally. When Jesus wanted to go to Jerusalem, he walked. He didn't stand in Capernaum and tell his disciples, since I'm omnipresent, I'm already in Jerusalem, so I'll stay here and see you when you arrive. When he walked, he laid aside his omnipresence. Jesus is omnipotent, yet unless he ate food, he became hungry. Without sleep, he became tired. Eventually he slept hard, so hard that a rough storm couldn't waken him. Matthew 8. He did not draw on his omnipotence to fill his empty stomach or to refresh his weary body. Jesus is omniscient, yet he laid aside his knowledge, too. Jesus asked genuine questions in the Gospels. In Mark 5, Jesus asked, who touched me? And he looked around to see who it might have been. In Mark 9, 16, he asked the disciples, what were you arguing about? In John 5, 6, he asked a man how long he'd been sick. On other occasions, he asked visitors, what do you want me to do for you? Indeed, if Jesus had constantly exercised all of his divine attributes, he would not have had a genuine human life. If he endured no human limitations, his incarnation was a charade. If the crucifixion caused Jesus no pain, how could he suffer for us? If no bodily desires touched him, how could he say he was in every respect tempted as we are? Hebrews 4.15. So Jesus truly did not know when he would return. He didn't need to know. And neither do we. It's good that we don't know exactly when Christ will return. If we knew the precise date and hour, we might be tempted to be lazy in our work for Christ. Worse yet, we might plan to keep sinning and then turn to God just at the very end. You see, heaven is not our only goal. We have work to do here. And we must keep on doing it until death or until we see the unmistakable return of our Savior. This is the point that Jesus makes through the rest of our passage. We must be prepared because our lives and our eternities are at stake. As strange as it may sound, the text prepares you and I for the future 10 billion years from now. What could be more important than that? Verses 37 through 39. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Here, the emphasis is on the fact that people do not know the day when judgment will strike. Noah and his family in the ark are a picture of God's miraculous preservation of Israel during the terrible time of the tribulation. What kept the people from listening to Noah's message and obeying? The common interests of life. Eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. You see, they lost the best by living for the good. It's a dangerous thing to get so absorbed in the pursuits of life that we forget Jesus is coming. In Noah's day, in the time of Christ's return, everyone will continue in his or her daily routines, finding security and contentment in the mundane bustle of human existence. Even though Noah's ship building was plainly visible and provided an ominous symbol of a very dubious future, people generally chose to ignore the foolishness that Noah exhibited. Most of the people who are alive at the return of Christ will ignore the warnings of prophecy, the many evangelists, and the events of the tribulation. Verses 40 through 42. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Now I can hear someone at this point say to me, well, pastor, these verses have painted you into a corner, haven't they? You said the church and the rapture weren't in the Olivet discourse, but here they are. Two shall be in the field, one shall be taken and the other shall be left. But I would answer, why do you lift this out of the context and apply these verses to the rapture? When believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. You see, in these verses, Jesus is not talking about the rapture. After all, what has been our context here? As the days of Noah were, So shall be the days of the coming of the Son of Man. And who was taken away during the days of Noah? Unbelievers. They were judged. They perished in the flood. The context of judgment began in our passage here all the way back in verse 31 when Jesus spoke of the angels gathering up people like a harvest. So let's keep it in the context here. This is not referring to the rapture. This pictures the removing from the earth by judgment, those who are not going to enter the millennial kingdom. The point that Jesus is making is that believers need to be watchful, not at all like those who got swept away in Noah's day. You and I, we are waiting right now and we need to be watchful for that part of the Lord's return known as the rapture. But those in the future who become believers and live through the tribulation, remember there are going to be revivals breaking out during the period of the tribulation. Revelation 7 and Revelation 11 make that very clear as it talks about the two witnesses and it talks about 144,000 Jewish evangelists. My goodness, there's going to be huge revivals breaking out. And they've got to be watchful. when they see these events occurring, when he comes to judge. Either way, we must all be watchful. Verse 43. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in which part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you must also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect." The idea is this. If you knew a thief was coming tonight, You would do something, wouldn't you? You would perhaps secure the entranceway, set up a trap, call the authorities, or grab him before he grabs your stuff. You would not passively let your house be broken into. You would be prepared and watchful. So let me now ask, Are you keeping watch for Christ? What does that look like practically? I'm tempted to say here, stay tuned, but I won't. No, Jesus gives us the answer through the remainder of this chapter and all the way through the next, chapter 25. So let's begin with his answer and then we'll pick it up again next week. Verses 45 through 51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus asks us to spend the time of waiting, taking care of his people, and doing his work on earth, both within the church and outside of it. That's the best way to prepare for Christ's return. The contrasting description of the faithful slave and the wicked slave should lead all of us to ask, am I faithfully following Christ? There are some details in these stories that we don't need to press too hard on, but we should be compelled to ask who the faithful slave is. One slave faithfully honors his master until he comes. He's working at his or her assigned tasks when the master comes. He or she is not sitting on their hands, but the other virtually forgets that the master's coming back. This later wicked slave dishonors his master and is thus surprised by his return. Now what has caused that servant's downfall? Something went wrong in his heart. He ceased to expect his Lord's return. He lived like the world and he mistreated his fellow servants. Listen, whenever God's servants cannot work together, somebody has forgotten that the Lord will return. looking for his appearing and loving his appearing should motivate us to be faithful and loving and daily trying to discover the good works that he has embedded into our day. You know what Ephesians 2.10 says? We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. If you're a believer, he has prepared good works for you to find and discover every day and to walk in them, which is the best preparation of waiting for his return. So how about you? How would you live differently today if you knew Jesus was coming back tonight? Will you be found waiting in obedience to him when he returns or will you be found wandering in disobedience? Will you be found loving your neighbor or ignoring your neighbor? Will you be found passionately devoted to your spouse or practically negligent to your spouse? Will you be found hating sin or holding on to sin? Are you involved in actions, thoughts, and attitudes that would not make sense if this were the last hour of your life? We don't know when Jesus will return, but we know for certain that he will, and that should keep us busy, building up and longing for the kingdom. Martin Luther said, Christians should live as if Jesus had died this morning, risen this afternoon, and was coming this evening. It was Jonathan Edwards who, his famous resolutions that he read over every day, have been written of quite a bit. I'm not going to read all of his resolutions, just two of them. Number seven, resolved never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. Wow. And number 19, resolved. never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trump." I'll conclude now with the main idea of our passage this morning. It is this. Although Christ's delay may be long, His return in judgment will be sudden and irreversible. So we must be prepared by trusting him now with a persevering faith that bears fruit. Amen.