Signs of Christ's return

Matthew 24:1-28

Signs of Christ’s Return

24 Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ² And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³ As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. ⁶ You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. ⁸ But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰ At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. ¹² Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴ This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Perilous Times

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ¹⁸ Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²² Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷ For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 

In our text today we read of the disciples questioning Jesus about the signs of His return and the end of the age. That's what seperates followers of Christ from others. Followers of Christ look foward to the return of Christ, their Lord, Savior and King and recognize that it is not the end of the world that is coming, but rather, the end of the age we now live in. Time will continue and the earth and all that is here will be restored in the age that is coming. While we as believers look forward to Christ's return with expectation, unbelievers are fearful. They have staked all their hope and trust in things that will end.

There is a natural desire in people to know what the future holds. People have continued to ask and speculate about the signs of Christ's return since these disciples asked even before He left. Before we look at Jesus answer about these signs, we should first remember that Jesus also says this about the end of the age: Matthew 24:36  “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.   So after He tells them and us what to look for, Jesus says that the Father alone knows and controls the exact timing of Jesus return. 

We then should look to these things that Jesus speaks of to prepare and not be decieved, not to try to predict the timing as many have wrongly done throughout history. Jesus begins with this word of caution:

 “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.

Jesus says here that many will come in His name, in the name of Jesus declaring that He Jesus is the Christ, yet they will mislead many.  The first thing we need then to be aware of and guard against is the false teachers and teachings that come from within the church or at least from the who claim to be Christians. These include those who deny the deity of Christ and those who change or distort what He said, updating His teachings and the Word of God to match up with the state of society and culture. Jesus says this:  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.(Matthew 24:35) In Matthew 5:17-19   Jesus says:

 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

The Word of God and the teachings of Christ need no updating to match our culture or society. The Word is eternal, unchanging and so should the morals of our society be. We are cautioned not to be mislead by those who wrongly proclaim Christ.

The text continues:  You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. ⁸ But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.   These birth pangs as Jesus calls them have indeed been going on since the days immediately following Jesus ascension to heaven. Both wars and natural disasters have occurred since the beginning of man's time. There may be an uptick in the frequency or the intensity of these things the closer we come to the end of the age. The one thing I do want to note here is when Jesus says that nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, He is not repeating Himself for dramitic effect. The word that is trnslated nation here is the Greek word ethnos, form which comes the English word ethnic. So what Jesus is speaking about here is  ethnic, racial  or tribal tension and fighting. While this too has existed since the beginning of man's time on earth, it surely is intensifying around the world and here in the U.S. Racial and ethnic tensions are at an all time high as there is an intentional effort to drive a wedge between people of different color or ethnicity.

The last thing I want to look at in today's text is in verse 15 .  “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)... This speaks of a literal defilement of the Jewish Temple when the anti-Christ will set himself up to be worshipped. Before that can happen  temple worship will need to be restored. Consider this though, 1 Corithians 3:16-17 says:

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? ¹⁷ If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.  How many temples of the Holy Spirit and God have made a place and bowed to worship anti-Christ, following false teachings or persuing the temporal and carnal things of this world? Jesus says this of the times at the end:

 For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²² Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

For the sake of the elect those days of tribulation will be cut short. These days, this age we live in, the "Age of Grace"  on the other hand, have been extended for the sake of the very same elect. 2 Peter 3:9 says:

 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

In the last two verse of the Bible Jesus says:

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

He is coming. because we don't know the day or the hour we should live each day as the early church did, in expectation of His return. The expectation of His return should not cause us to fear but rather to have hope. It is that assured hope that we should share with the world. An expectation of a redeemed and restored creation, a time and place ruled by the perfect love of God.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.