It's the End of the World as We Know It

Introduction

It’s the end of the world as we know it! Yes, welcome to the 2nd to last Sunday of the Church year, a time when the church calendar suggests that we turn our minds to preparing for the “end of the world,” the second coming of Christ. And Jesus sure seems to be laying the apocalyptic imagery on thick in the Gospel reading: wars, earthquakes, famine, pestilence, signs in the stars, and roaring seas. It’s enough to make any would-be prophet or end-times conspiracy theorist start breaking out their newspaper clippings and red string. Maybe it has you thinking about all the turmoil in our world today and wondering if Christ’s return is just around the corner. And that’s certainly a fair question, we Christians should be ready for Christ to come at any time and we should be praying for that day.

But let’s not jump too quickly to thinking about the second coming, because that simply is not the primary thing Jesus is talking about here in Luke. Jesus is not warning his disciples about the “end of the world” as such, he is warning them about something that will happen in their lifetimes: The destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD. He is warning them about the end of the world as they know it. There were events coming for the people listening to Jesus that would upend the status quo that they were familiar with. The people standing in the temple court listening to Jesus that day, would barely recognize the world or their own lives as it would be 4 or 5 decades from then.

So the question I want to ponder today is not so much “Are you ready if Jesus comes back?” but a question that I think is almost as important: “Are you ready if the world as you know it, everything that seems so secure and familiar today, comes to an end before Jesus comes back?”

Trouble in the Text

It’s very clear from the beginning of this passage what Jesus is talking about. The context of this text is Holy Week, and in Luke, Jesus has been in the Temple courts, driving out moneychangers, interrupting the sacrifices, rebuking the corruption of the current Temple system, and prophesying that God is about to bring judgment on the current leadership of Israel, the chief priests who will have Jesus killed.

But not everyone is picking up on the message. At the beginning of our text, some people are telling Jesus how excited they are about the Temple and gushing about how pretty it is. Jesus bursts their bubble pretty harshly, “You see all these pretty stones? It’s all coming down. Soon, not one of these stones will be left upon another.” That must have been staggering to the people who heard it. When someone says something like that, you’ve got to know more, so they ask, “When will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” Jesus’ whole speech here is an answer to that question.

It’s perfectly understandable why the people listening to Jesus had trouble absorbing what he was saying. The destruction of the 1st Temple, the one Solomon built, when the Jews were taken into exile in Babylon had been the worst disaster in the history of the Jewish people. And it loomed large in their thoughts, because for all rights and purposes, they still considered themselves to be in exile. Sure, the Jewish people were living in the land that God promised them, yes they had built a 2nd Temple, but they knew very well that the glory of God that filled the tabernacle and the 1st temple had not returned. They saw everyday that they were still being crushed by the pagan Roman empire.

The great hope of the Jewish people in Jesus’ day was that any day now the Messiah would come, and that would finally mean the real end of the exile. God’s presence would return to the Temple on Mt Zion, the pagan Gentiles would be defeated, and the whole world would bend the knee and acknowledge that Israel’s God was the creator and the true God of the whole world. The whole world would be set right. For many Jews, the 2nd Temple was the symbol of that hope.

And yet, here was Jesus, a man who had just ridden into Jerusalem in a royal parade, who might as well have a neon sign around his neck saying, “I’m the Messiah,” and he’s just predicted another Babylonian exile. That’s crushing. It sounds like the end of the world.

What Jesus wanted them to realize was that the Temple was a false hope for salvation. The human institutions behind the Temple had become corrupt, and they needed to be toppled. People were putting their trust in all the wrong things, putting their eggs in the wrong baskets. The Temple, along with other symbols of power and national pride for Israel, had effectively become idols, and those idols needed to be smashed.

And they would be. Jesus’ warnings all came true. The first century would be a time of great upheaval and uncertainty. Jesus’ followers would be persecuted by both Gentiles and Jews. the Jews would rebel against the Romans less than 40 years later. The Roman army would lay a devastating siege on the city of Jerusalem, ultimately tearing the 2nd Temple to the ground in 70 AD, never to be rebuilt. Some of the people who had heard Jesus speak would perish with the Temple they trusted in so much.

Trouble in the World

It almost goes without saying that we are also living in a time of uncertainty and upheaval. It seems like the powers of this world are being shaken up once again (We did just have an election after all). Many of the disasters that Jesus prophesied to his audience sound eerily familiar to us. We know about wars, insurrections, and nation rising against nation. Just think about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or the looming threat of nuclear war. Even right here in America, there have been violent riots in the streets over racial injustice, or at the capitol over election results.

What about famines, pestilences, or plagues? Gee, can you think of any plagues or pandemics in recent memory? “Famine” might remind you of inflation and the soaring cost of living right now.

And then there are the massive cultural and political changes going on. The changes in sexual ethics and gender ideology that have taken place in the last decade or two are enough to give you whiplash, and they’ve left so many people confused, hurting, and angry. The current state of American culture and political discourse might seem unrecognizable compared to what you remember when you were younger.

These can be scary times. And there’s no shortage of people, institutions, and power structures ready to capitalize on that fear. Everywhere you look, the powers of this world want you to put your hope and your trust in them for salvation from whatever it is you’re afraid of. It doesn’t really matter what it is you fear; Communism or Fascism, woke ideology or climate change; just as long as they can make you afraid and promise to save you. Just like the false prophets of the 1st century, there are voices all around saying “I’m the guy!” and “Now’s the time!” They want you to react based on fear, or anger, or hatred, and to put all your eggs in their basket to save your world.

So, what is your “Temple”? Is there something, a person or an institution, that you’re clinging to as the symbol of your hope in this world? Something that, if it fell apart or was no more, it would feel like the world as you know it was at an end? Maybe it’s a political party or ideology, a politician or news source that you think is the voice of truth against the evils of this age. Maybe it’s this country, the United States itself or its government. Maybe it’s the lifestyle you’re accustomed to, or even your family. Remember, it doesn’t have to be something evil. The Temple certainly wasn’t evil in itself. But even the best things become idols, false gods, when they become the source of your ultimate hope rather than Christ. Often we turn the greatest gifts of God into the most dangerous idols. No human being or human institution, no matter how noble, can be a foundation of eternal hope. None can last permanently in this world and all of them are subject to God’s judgment in the end. We cannot become so afraid of losing the things of this world that we lose our hope in Christ. If your ultimate hope is in something temporary, then your world may end when it does. Idols have a tendency to get smashed, and sadly, so do those who trust in them.

Grace in the Text

But Jesus does not leave his hearers without hope, far from it. It’s actually amazing to look at where Jesus takes his hearers over the course of this speech. He starts by saying, “the Temple will be destroyed,” and ends by saying, “when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” What? How can the destruction of God’s Temple by pagans and a repeat of the exile possibly be the sign of our redemption from the powers of evil?

The answer can be found when we realize that the destruction of the temple is not the only event in the 1st century that Jesus’ words apply to. What other event would the people who Jesus is speaking with experience that was accompanied quite literally by an earthquake and signs in the sun and the heavens? We don’t have to look very far, it would happen on Friday of this very same week as Jesus was nailed to a cross and lifted high by the same Roman military that would level Jerusalem in 40 years.

The great surprise of Holy Week is that, even after spending most of the week warning of coming destruction and wrath, the week would end with him taking that judgment and wrath on himself. Jesus’ ultimate mission was not to bring disaster on Jerusalem or his people, it was to bring down all the disaster, punishment, and wrath, which was coming on the world because of idolatry and unfaithfulness, upon himself, so that he could give his people a way to escape ultimate destruction.

That is what Jesus’ lament over the city of Jerusalem is about:

English Standard Version (Chapter 13)

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Like a hen in a barnyard fire, who protects her chicks by covering them with her wings, even while she herself suffers the flames, Jesus wanted his people to take refuge in him, so that he could absorb the wrath of Rome, the wrath of God, and the consequences of worshipping earthly power and trusting in the wrong things. And he wept over those who refused to listen, who would be caught in the blaze.

Only by trusting in Jesus could the destruction of their idols, the end of the world as they knew it, become the sign of their redemption. For those who understood Jesus’ death and resurrection and took refuge in him, they would not be caught in the destruction of the human and spiritual powers over this world.

The death and resurrection of Jesus is what transformed the destruction of the Temple for Jesus’ followers into another sign that everything Jesus said was true. The Christians of the 1st century could look at a world that was falling apart, and see it as a vindication for Jesus and for them. What looked like the end of the world to others, to them was proof that Jesus was still ruling the universe at God’s right hand, toppling idols, and shaking up the powers over this world.

Grace in the World

Jesus offers us this same hope today. As you watch this world being shaken up and turned on its head, you can take refuge in Jesus. Trust in his death and resurrection as your redemption from idols, your deliverance from the slavery of trusting in things that don’t last. He still longs to gather you under his wings, to forgive your idolatry, to provide you with the only refuge that will last. Jesus takes the consequences of your sin and everyone else’s on himself. He takes the wrath that is coming on the world so that you don’t get caught in it.

And as you live, trusting in Jesus as your security, listen to the advice and encouragements he gives in our text:

Don’t go after the fear-mongers and prophets of doom. It seems sometimes like our whole political and media system is built on keeping people afraid and angry. Don’t listen to them. Fear, anger, and hatred are not our game. They just aren’t. Faith, hope, and love are what drive us. It’s true that there are a lot of evils and injustices in this world, and we should fight against them. But always examine yourself when you hear about an outrage that makes your blood boil and that you think needs to be fixed. Ask yourself, why am I reacting this way? Is it out of love, or out of fear? Because fear won’t save the world, only the love of Christ can.

Next, be patient and endure. “By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Things could get very bad, and there may be a lot of hardship for you to endure. But the one who trusts in Jesus to the end will make it through. Not a hair of your head will perish. Resurrection is coming; even if everything falls apart, Jesus knows how to put it back together. Even if the world goes to hell in a handbasket, Jesus is still holding the basket, and it’ll come out the other side.

And finally, when it seems like the world is being shaken to its core, when you feel like fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world, well then buck up, camper, because Jesus won’t be long now. It means your redemption is near. It may feel like the world is ending, but it just means Jesus is still in charge and still shaking the powers of this world. Trust him and hold on. The one who trusts in Jesus is ready for anything, whether it be his return, or just the end of the world as you know it. When he is your refuge and security, you might even be able to say, “it’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.”

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.