Till It’s Over
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Must remember the setting... Jesus was clear in his judgement concerning the temple and its destruction. Judgement was definitely coming. As the presence of God literally left the city of Jerusalem. The Disciples marvel at this and they ask one question in three parts. The “When and What” the “when will the temple be destroyed and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age”? The Key to this interpretation - “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place”. This generation meaning the present generation he was talking to.
But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.
“The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.
The queen of Sheba will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen.
Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”
With that ... lets read Jesus’ response to the question of the disciples
And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of our God stands forever.
I. Do Not Be Deceived
- Jesus is warning us here all of this stuff is gonna be riddled with deception.
A. DA Carson - One of the Greatest Temptations in times of difficulty is to follow blindly any self proclaimed savior who promotes help.
B. The first false alarm, There are gonna be those who are gonna be coming that will come with a sense of me. Meaning that they will come as ones who will lead others in the name of God to follow them in a messianic way. We definitely see this craziness today for sure. But… This is to be seen by “this generation”? So was it?
D. Yes... Now remember that many at this time were eagerly expecting the Messiah... I showed us at the beginning of this book that even the wise men who were those who Daniel taught in Babylon maybe with the prophesy of Daniel 9 leads them to seek out the Messiah. The time for the Messiah is now.
E. Jewish Theologian Abba Hillel Silver - “The first century, however, especially before the destruction of the temple, witnessed a remarkable outburst of Messianic emotionalism.”
J. Josephus ... Jewish Historian...
1. He refers to ... The Samaritan Messiah, Theudus, The impostor, The Egyptian, and the infamous Simon Magus who is said by Justin Martyr and Hypolitius that he called himself the Christ.
2. He was mentioned in Acts 8 offering money for the Holy Spirit
K. These men were successful in leading thousands away. Not just some, but thousands away from Christ.
1. Theudas had 400 and 30,000 who followed the Egyptian
2. You must not be deceived... they are coming to tell you it is time, but it is not... I am warning you now.
L. Is Christ not warning us now? Did not the Apostles warn us? Did not many in Church History warn us? The Word of God warns us ... will we listen?
II. Wars and Rumors of Wars
- The Pax Romana
A. Whats the big deal with this one? There has always been wars and rumors of wars all throughout history. Why should this be anything new?
B. The Pax Romana is why. The roman peace was a time of peace of about 207 years from 27 BC to 180 AD with a break in the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70
C. At this time, the world saw great peace in the land. But it was the time of Nero that brought about a lapse in the Roman peace
E. This happened around AD 54 things began to unravel and in 68-69 we see the year of the four emperors... and during this time there was wars in Britian, Germany, Sarmate and Suevi... Nation against nation.
F. All right before the Temple is destroyed in AD 70... This was big for them. All of a sudden … wars and rumors of wars.
III. What of the Famines and Earthquakes?
- Tons before AD70
A. Well we got a biblical example of one... before the destruction of the temple
B. Acts 11:28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). Before Nero.
C. We should also note that the most famous famine in that area would be right in Jerusalem itself ... during the seige by the Romans
D. This is where we hear of the famous story of the woman who ate her own son
E. This famine was so severe that many who were alive prayed for death and considered those who died to be happy that they would not live to see such things.
And this was a part of the Biblical curses in Deuteronomy 28.
“The siege and terrible distress of the enemy’s attack will be so severe that you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you.
G. This is part of the curse that will come upon the covenant breakers
H. Many others are documented in the AD 50’s and 60’s
I. Many of the historians document earthquakes in Crete, Rome, Phrygia, Laodicea, and even Pompeii right before Mt Vesuvius blew up
IV. The Birth Pains
- This is how its gonna all start.
A. These are the beginnings of the birth pains the pain that comes in the birthing process. It is the start and it will grow to the end
B. Then - Tote ... is to be understood as a continuation of the birth pains. It is not an end and then the birth is the persecution of the disciples
C. We move from looking at the worlds events and what will happen to them personally
V. There will be Persecution and Apostasy
- Incredible persecution and apostacy.
A. You are going to experience persecution during this time... not maybe, but as sure as we are hearing all of these events will take place you will suffer.
B. During the time of 64 to 68 AD historian Tacitus speaks of Christians as those who were “universally hated for their crimes.” And all the persecutions were there.
C. We could spend much time talking about how each one of them suffered especially during the time of Nero where Peter and Paul were martyred.
D. But there will also be apostasy - many who once professed Christ and will betray their former Christians to the authorities. They will divide and hate on each other.
E. Paul experienced this…
The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them.
These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.
VI. There will be False Prophets and Lawlessness
- The deception continues.
A. Right away we will see that false prophets will be a problem.
Afterward they traveled from town to town across the entire island until finally they reached Paphos, where they met a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus.
C. The increase of lawlessness will cause peoples love to grow cold
1. One of the marks we see in a disciple is love for others.
2. The increase of lawlessness causes this love to grow cold because the increase of sin increases love for self.
VII. But through all this the preaching of the gospel will reach the earth before the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
A. Did it? If we just use the scriptures we can see that this definitely took place.
At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.
But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have:
“The message has gone throughout the earth,
and the words to all the world.”
Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world.
E. Eusebius ... Historian - Under the Apostles, Christ’s message ran through the whole world.
F. We are finding that many of the actual apostles went are far west as Spain and England and as far east as India. Their disciples may have taken the gospel much further
G. Oikumene - instead of Kosmos... translated the inhabited world understood as the Roman Empire or know civilization
H. So how could this have happened? It is clear that it spread throughout the Roman Empire or what could be known as the civilized world. But we are finding evidence that it might have gone over the literal world. Like they say good news travels fast. And it did.
VIII. What Jesus said is true and what he said really happened...
A. We believe today that what he said is true and what he did really happened. No matter if there are false Christ’s today (which there are) let us not be deceived ... though sin makes us want to be deceived. No matter if there are wars and rumors of War, famines and earthquakes and all things that cause us to fear for our lives.
Through all persecutions and apostasy and the increase of lawlessness that make the love of many grow cold. It is clear that God’s Word is true and it has always been true and it will always be true. No matter what the circumstances. No matter if heaven and earth passes away…. we trust Christ. We are facing difficult times today, We are facing tribulations and sufferings in many different form and ways.
Even if the world looks like it is coming to an end... do not lose heart for our Lord is in control. All authority in heaven and on earth is His. Many of us today are guilty of not trusting his word. Believing the tenants and ways of the world. Many of us are guilty of professing the truth of the word, but deep inside doubt severely.
B. Because we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one is righteous no not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. We all like sheep have gone astray. We do what is right in our own eyes. We are all by nature children of wrath.
C. Jesus knows this and he continues to be faithful. He has not given up on us, he continues to walk with us and lead us to be made in his image. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according of the scriptures. Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died.
D. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Salvation is here family.
E. In Christ we have hope and as we saw today, We will always have hope. Do not fret... this world will have no power over you unless it has been given to it from above. This is the good news... for all of you who have not heard. Rejoice today... he has won. Our Lord... He is God. He is the Messiah. He loves you ... on Christ the solid rock we stand.
