Mount of Olives—How will you prepare for challenging times?

Warren Brosi

July 2, 2023

Dominant Thought:

Objectives:

I want my listeners to learn the context of Matthew 24—Jesus speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem, the signs of His coming, and the end of the age.

I want my listeners to recognized deception and trust the words of Jesus.

I want my listeners to look at challenging days with the confidence Jesus gives.

As we come to Matthew 24, we need to zoom out to see what’s happening in the life of Jesus. In Matthew 21, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem on a donkey with the crowds shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 21.9). Jesus entered the temple courts and overturned tables with the words, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers” (Matthew 21.13; Isaiah 56.7; Jeremiah 7.11).

It is at the temple courts Jesus teaches and tells parables about His authority. In Matthew 23 at the temple Jesus calls out the teachers of the law and the Pharisees with seven woes. He calls them hypocrites.

Then, we come to Matthew 24 where Jesus and his disciples leave the temple cross the Kidron Valley and hike up the the Mount of Olives where they could actually see into the temple courts. It is this scene that sets the questions the disciples ask Jesus in Matthew 24.3.

Let’s read Matthew 24.1-3 to get started.

Jesus is on the Mount of Olives and sitting down like he has before in Matthew 5.1 and Matthew 15.29. In the role of a teacher, Jesus teaches and answers the disciples’ questions. People are divided if there are two or three questions in Matthew 24.3. The questions are: 1) When will the temple be destroyed? 2) What will be the sign of your coming? 3) What will be the sign of the end of the age?

Those are the questions the disciples ask Jesus. The rest of Matthew 24 -25 is Jesus answer. The challenging part of Matthew 24 is that at times it is difficult to know which question Jesus is answering. Depending on which scholar you read you will find different opinions. Each of the resources I read this week had different views on what verses were addressing which question(s). So, it is with a humble confidence that we approach these verses which happen to be some of the most challenging verses in the gospel of Matthew.

You could imagine the impact of the fall of the temple and the end of the world in the days of the disciples. If the center of their life and the symbol of their identity came crashing down, then you might think the end of the world had arrived, too. It would be similar to seeing the white house or the United States Capitol come down and think the United States has officially ended. You could see how there could be overlap in both the questions and the answers Jesus gives.

In our time today, I want to let Jesus speak and will at times pause and reflect on the words of Jesus. At other times, I’ll simply read them and let Jesus speak alone.

Today, we journey to the Mount of Olives for what many people call Jesus’ end times teaching. The question we seek to answer on the Mount of Olives is, “How will you prepare for challenging times?”

As I write this manuscript, I sit on my front porch where there is light. A severe thunderstorm move through our community this afternoon, June 29, 2023. With strong winds, we have downed power lines, trees, limbs and no electricity. The storm is a reminder of how to you prepare for challenging times. One needs flashlights, batteries, food that doesn’t require cooking, clean water, and maybe a chainsaw to remove downed branches.

As followers of Jesus, how do we prepare for challenging times. Listen the words of Jesus: Watch out (Matthew 24.4), Stand firm (Matthew 24.13), Serve faithfully (Matthew 24.45-46).

First, to prepare for challenging times, we must watch out for the dangers. Today, we have CODE RED alerts that come to our phones to warn us of dangers and severe weather. We have people who watch the skies for severe weather. We background check people who work with our children at church. It is good to watch out for dangers so that you can avoid them or prepare to be safe.

Jesus warns the disciples in Matthew 24.4, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” He goes on to warn them that many will come in His name claiming “I am Messiah or Christ.” He warns about false prophets and false Messiahs.

In the last days, whether it was the generation following Jesus as the Romans came and laid seige to Jerusalem or every era since, the warning is still the same. Watch out for deceivers.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union launch a propaganda of information. The name for this strategy is called, “dezinformatsiya” or disinformation. It was intended to confuse and keep people away from understanding the truth.

The evil one has used the same strategy since the garden. Jesus warns about wars and rumors of wars. Again, every generation has had these experiences. Some people compare the teaching for Jesus on the last days to a mountain range. From a distance, the mountains look almost like they are touching one another. However, when you get closer you see that the mountains are miles apart from one another.

Jesus tell a parable about wise and foolish virgins awaiting the bridegroom. Five had plenty of oil in their lamps—gas for their generators? Five didn’t have enough oils and asked to borrow some from the wise ones. Unable to share because no one’s lamps would be lit, the foolish maidens go off to town to buy more oil. While they’re gone, the bridegroom arrived. The wise ones who were ready entered into the wedding banquet. The foolish ones returned after the door was shut. They plead, “Lord, Lord, open the door for us!” (Matthew 24.11). The reply from inside was, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you” (Matthew 24.12). Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount, a similar lesson about those pleading with him, “Lord, Lord…did I not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name and perform many miracles.” Jesus will say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7.21-23).

Second, to prepare for challenging times, we must stand firm against evil (Matthew 24.13). Persecutions will come in the first century and every century since. People were killed for their faith in Acts and Revelation as the New Testament ink was still drying and people are killed for their faith in the modern era. More people have been killed for following Jesus in the last hundred years that all the centuries combined. We should not be surprised to find out that evil will advance. Tribulations and great tribulation will visit this world. Christ calls His followers to stand firm. He says, “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24.13).

We stand firm by giving our attention to Jesus. Again, Jesus tells a story in Matthew 25.31-46, describing the coming of the Son of Man. He will separate the people like a shepherd might separate the sheep from the goats. The King welcomes one group, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and in prison and you came to visit me” (Matthew 25.34-36). The righteous ones don’t remember seeing Jesus in those actions. They ask the King, Lord when did we see you…?” Jesu replied, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25.40).

Third, to prepare for challenging times, we serve faithfully (Matthew 24.45-46). Jesus tells a parable of servants entrusted with bags of gold: one received five bags, one received two bags, and another received one bag. The ones who received five and two bags of gold put the money to work and doubled their investment. However, the one who received the one bag of gold dug a hole in the ground and buried. When the master returned to settle accounts, the first two showed how they doubled the master’s investments. The master replied to each of them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25.21, 23).

When the master settled the account with the one who buried his bag of gold and listened his excuse. The master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant…take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags…And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25.26-30).

As we seek to summarize this teaching of Jesus, I think it is safe to say, “In challenging times, trust the enduring words of Jesus.” Just pass the midway point of Matthew 24, we read, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24.35).