Last Days 1
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The Last Days according to Jesus
Part 1
“Six Signs of Jesus’ Return”
Matt 24:1-14 “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” 3 Now as He 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 end of the age?”
We’ll look at Jesus’ response to their questions in a moment.
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Now, in the last few weeks we’ve talked about Jesus as both our Savior and Teacher...
This time I want to talk about Jesus as Prophet...
In reading the gospels we find that Jesus regularly prophesied of things to come during His ministry on earth...
Time wise, He predicted things short range, mid range, and long range...
The short and mid range predictions we can track in the gospels to see that He was 100% accurate.
A couple of short range predictions:
Luke 21:29-35 “As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus,”
Jesus predicted the exact scenario the disciples would find, right down to the words of the owners—“Why are you untying the colt?”
Another example is when Jesus was preparing for the first Lord’s Supper...He sent the disciples ahead into Jerusalem with the instructions:
Luke 22:10-13 “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”13 They left and found things just as Jesus had told them.”
Jesus not only again predicted the exact setting they would encounter, but the willing response of the owner of the guest room!
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The most amazing mid-range prophecy of Jesus is the one we read about in our text today.
He and the disciples had just walked out of the Temple, marking the last time He would ever be there....He was two days away from being murdered on the Cross.
Standing outside, the disciples commented on the Temple’s incredible beauty—it was considered at that time to be one of the architectural wonders of the world.
Jesus cuts them short and says, “Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (24:2).
This seemed impossible and even ridiculous.
Yet 37 years after His stunning prediction the impossible happened!
Roman armies invaded Jerusalem, set fire to the Temple and destroyed it, leaving not one stone upon another.
Jesus was 100% accurate in both His short range and mid range predictions.
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Now, in our text, Jesus goes long range, prophesying exactly what would be the signs of His return, and the end of the age!
Notice, when the disciples asked Him about His return, He didn’t say, “What are you talking about? What return?”
No—He not only received the question as legitimate, but responded with His lengthiest prophecy ever!
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In case you’re unaware, the Second Coming of Christ is predicted in each of the four Gospels, in the book of Acts and in the epistles of Paul, James, Peter and John.
And Jesus’ return is the focal point of the entire book of Revelation.
—If you believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, then you must believe in the Second Coming of Christ.
Jesus literally commands His true disciples to watch for His return and be ready.
“So you, likewise, when you see these things (the signs He predicted) happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things are fulfilled” (Luke 21:31–32).
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Now, you’re going to notice that the signs Jesus gave have always been with us in every generation.
But the key to understanding what He meant is found in vs 8...
“All these are the beginning of birth pangs.”
Every mom and dad here know about birth pangs...
When a woman is pregnant, she knows from the calendar the general time when the baby is due.
But as the day approaches, her body begins to send clear signals called labor pains.
They begin a certain amount of time apart, and then happen with greater intensity and frequency till the baby is born.
Jesus is telling us that the signs He is pointing to will begin to happen with greater intensity and frequency leading up to His return.
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So let’s look at 6 of those signs...
Because of time I can’t deal with them exhaustively, but we can hit on them enough to get a basic grasp of what Jesus predicted...
The FIRST sign Jesus mentions is:
I. Spiritual deception
“Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many’” (Matthew 24:4-5).
This first “sign” is nothing new to the church...False teachers and false prophets have been around in every age.
In our own generation we immediately think of Jim Jones and David Koresh.
But I can tell you as a pastor, I’ve never seen more deception, both within the church and in the secular culture, than I do now.
The latest statistics tell us there are around 2,500 religious cults right now in America alone!
And within many churches, things posing as genuine experiences from the Holy Spirit, as well as false teachings about the person and work of Jesus Christ, have found strong followings.
Jesus said, “When you see spiritual deception growing and successfully seducing the multitudes, my return is near.”
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Then the SECOND sign is:
II. International conflict
24: 6-7 “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”
The Greek text reads, “You will be hearing,” meaning that the end times will be marked by chronic upheaval and bloody conflict.
Is this happening with increasing intensity and frequency?
Yes! In 20th century wars alone, almost 100 million people lost their lives through weapons of mass destruction never before dreamed possible...
Since the end of World War II, there have been over 150 wars resulting in the deaths of more than 10 million people.
As I speak, between 50 and 60 conflicts currently rage—either as limited civil battles or as full-scale cross-border wars.
“Such things must happen, and will increase,” said Jesus.
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Then a THIRD sign is:
III. Natural disasters
“There will be famines, earthquakes, and pestilences in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:7b-8)
Now, again...Famines, earthquakes, and outbreaks of disease have been with us since the beginning of time.
But are they increasing?
One of the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse in John’s revelation is the BLACK horse of famine, which John saw galloping through the world in the Last Days.
And as of now, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization declared in March that 23 of the continent’s 53 countries—almost half—face dire food shortages.
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And what about PESTILENCE (epidemic disease)?
Statistics show that in a span of less than 25 years, the United States alone (Not to mention the world) has been stricken by a wave of pestilence and new infections.
Over the last century...terrible plagues such as Toxic shock syndrome, Legionnaires disease, AIDS, Lyme disease, bird flu, Ebola and hanta virus have emerged from obscurity to become household names.
Jesus said these things would increase in intensity and frequency prior to His return.
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A FOURTH sign is:
IV. Fierce persecution
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matthew 24:9).
As I speak, Christians in other parts of the world are suffering and dying for Christ every single day.
The “Voice of the Martyrs” publication reports that there is a greater degree of persecution of Christians and believers dying for their faith today than at any time since the time of Jesus Christ!
Christians are being persecuted for their faith in more than 40 nations around the world.
In some of these nations it is illegal to own a Bible, to share your faith in Christ, change your faith, or teach your children about Jesus.
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And then a FIFTH sign is:
V. Widespread apostasy
Jesus predicted, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:10-12).
Apostasy is when you don’t just backslide, but you renounce Christ altogether—you completely and decisively step away from the truth.
Paul the Apostle predicts this very same thing, “The Spirit clearly says that in latter times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).
How does the church fare today?
One church observer writes, “At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the church of Jesus Christ is sick with apostasy, debilitating every missionary work, every Christian school, every witness through the media, and every local assembly of believers.”
So apostasy is increasing with intensity and frequency...
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And finally, the SIXTH sign is a positive one!
VI. Worldwide Evangelism
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
According to Jesus, the “end” cannot come until all the nations have heard the gospel message.
This doesn’t mean that every single person must hear the gospel...Nor does it mean that the world must become Christian.
It means that the gospel must be preached in every nation.
So according to Jesus, there must be a marked increase in world evangelism as His return draws near.
And that is precisely what is happening!
Missions experts tell us that there are approximately 12,000 unreached people groups left in the world.
The good news is that almost 9,000 of those people groups have already been targeted for missionary evangelism.
That leaves 3,000 people groups yet unreached, and that number is dropping all the time.
All of this fits precisely with what Jesus predicted for the last days!
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These are 6 signs that point to the soon return of Jesus Christ.
Are you ready?