Redemption Drawing Near
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been going over Jesus’s response to the disciples when they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” He, in fact, answered their question as we saw with Drew’s sermon and then last week’s sermon as well. But then Jesus went further. He left off from talking about the destruction and judgment of Jerusalem and the temple and began talking about the the judgment of the world. That’s what we’re looking at this morning.
And to explain the coming judgment, we see that Jesus spoke to his disciples in three distinct ways. He first spoke to them apocalyptically. Second, he spoke metaphorically. Finally, he spoke redemptively.
Jesus Spoke Apocalyptically
Jesus Spoke Metaphorically
Jesus Spoke Redemptively
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,
people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Jesus Spoke Apocalyptically
Jesus Spoke Apocalyptically
The first way that Jesus spoke to his disciples is apocalyptically. He used apocalyptic language. This is shown in verse 25.
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,
When we think about the apocalypse, we tend to think about the end of the world or the last judgment of mankind, and that isn’t wrong, but it also isn’t entirely right either. Apocalypse actually means unveiling or revelation. Apo means from and kalupto means to cover or to hide. So, it’s the revealing from what has been hidden. This can be anything that is revealed, not just about the end times. When Elisha’s servant was afraid of the armies of Syria, Elisha revealed the angel armies surrounding them. When King Uzziah died, Isaiah was in the temple and God revealed to him the Lord seated on his throne with seraphim on both sides of him showing him that though his earthly King was dead, God was on his throne.
The Old Testament prophets used apocalyptic language to describe the coming temporal judgments on Israel or other nations as well. We see this in various places, but let’s go to Isaiah 13:9-13
Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.
I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.
If we aren’t reading this in context (and we actually haven’t) we may think this is talking about the end of the world. But in the context, we’re talking about ancient Babylon.
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
And we know we’re not talking about future Babylon, because it refers to God’s instrument of destruction being the Medes (who entered into Babylon as we find in Daniel).
Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold.
The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars, along with the heavens trembling, is apocalyptic language. We ought not take it literally. So how then are we to take it? Symbolically and poetically. Think about the sun, moon, and stars. What are their purpose? Let’s go back to Genesis 1 for a moment.
And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
The two great lights: the sun and the moon, and then the stars being the moon’s little helpers. They are to shed light on this world. In apocalyptic literature, we often find there are battles between good and evil, or another way to put it, light and darkness. So when we read of the sun, moon, and stars being darkened, we are talking about a spiritual reality that the world is becoming more and more dark. Hence, in Isaiah 13:11 (part of that apocalyptic vision we just read) we see God saying
I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
The world is becoming darker and darker and it is time to punish them for it. So when Jesus tells the disciples that the signs will involve the sun, moon, and stars, he is alluding to the spiritual darkness that will be coming.
But it is not just the light that is dimming. The seas are becoming wild and it is leaving the people with anxiety. Again, if we were to go back to Genesis 1, we find that the sea represents chaos.
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The earth was basically water. It had no form. The word means it was basically a wasteland. It was void. It was dark. Of course, then we see the flood coming when Noah built the ark.
The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.
The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters.
And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered.
The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.
In David’s Psalm of Deliverance, he sang about the terror by saying
“For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me;
Over and over again, in the Old Testament we find that the sea and the waters represent chaos and destruction. It still does. Who doesn’t fear their basements flooding during a long storm? Or if you were here in 1993, everything was pretty much flooded and destroyed and it was a terrible time. Everyone was anxious during those days. Church bells would ring reminding people to pray for the rain to stop and the flooding to subside.
So Jesus tells his disciples there is going to be so much chaos in the world that the level of anxiety, the level of worry, the level of fear is going to be exponentially higher!
Speaking apocalyptically, Jesus was saying the battle between good and evil—light and darkness will grow and subsequently so will people’s anxiety levels as it leaves things more and more chaotic. Incidentally, this is why one of the pictures in Revelation is so powerful.
Revelation 4:6 (ESV)
and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.
The idea here is not that the sea is made out of glass or crystal, but that once again, God has tamed the sea. Rather than a raging sea, it’s more like one of those clear springs that you can go to in Florida or other places. It’s crystal clear because it is perfectly calm. There is no chaos before the throne of God.
Beloved, we live in a world of chaos. We live in an ever-darkening world. The sea is raging and the sun is dimming all over this world. Do you have peace? Is the sea of your heart crystal clear? It probably depends on who is on the throne of our hearts, doesn’t it? We’ve already seen Isaiah, mourning over the loss of Uzziah and seeing the Lord is on his throne. But then there is Hezekiah mocked and threatened by Sennacherib but where does he go when everyone is anxious and wanting to give in? To the temple, before the throne of God. The Apostle John is exiled on the aisle of Patmos, all alone, skin scarred from his time in boiling oil, Domitian was Emperor and persecution was rampant—it was Domitian who ordered John’s boiling and exile. The world was dark and chaotic. But as John worshiped the Lord, he turned to see who it was that spoke to him and saw a glorious depiction of a triumphant Christ! So I ask again, who is on the throne of our hearts? Who/what is it that we are looking?
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
Jesus Spoke Metaphorically
Jesus Spoke Metaphorically
This leads us to the second way Jesus spoke: he spoke metaphorically. While apocalyptic language is a type of metaphor or symbol, Jesus refers specifically to how the terror affects the people.
people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
People will not be literally fainting with fear most likely. But fear will take over. The word that Luke wrote here was the world apo-psycho. Once again apo meaning from. Psycho meaning soul or breath. They lose their breath. It can actually be a way of talking about death, but in this case, we could read this as metaphor. We say this all the time: “I’m scared to death.” Except in this case, that’s almost true.
But this fear is not just any type of fear. This isn’t someone jumping out and scaring you or me. It isn’t being called into the doctor fear. This is fear because the world is falling apart. And not just the world in general. But the inhabited world in particular.
Typically, when we think about the world, we often think in terms of the kosmos. “For God so loved the world,” “You are the light of the world.” And so forth. Kosmos is one of the Greek words for world. We get the word cosmology or the cosmos from this word. That word can mean anything from the earth to the universe. It’s used 185 times in the New Testament. But that’s not the word that Luke used here; it’s not the word Jesus use. Instead, he used the world “oikomene” (oi kou MEN e) which distinctly means the inhabited world. It’s used only 15 times. So we aren’t even talking about the arctic circle or Antarctica here. We’re not talking about jungles that are so thick that people don’t live there. We’re talking about the inhabited world that we live in.
Things will be so bad for people that those who are experiencing it will be scared to death. And he says this happens because the powers of heaven will be shaken. These powers of heaven, or we could say these heavenly powers are shaken. Similar to what we see in Revelation 12:4
Revelation 12:4 (ESV)
His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.
or in Judges 5:20
From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.
or when David sang his Psalm of Deliverance, he said:
“Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked, because he was angry.
These are again metaphoric language, even apocalyptic language to describe the spiritual battles that affect the world in which we live. As Satan and his demonic forces lose their grip upon this world, the powers of darkness will unleash every vile act they can. But this is also God’s doing.
We need to understand that and be comforted by it. This is God fighting on our behalf. This is God seeing our plight, just as he did with Israel in Egypt. The destruction of Egypt was happening all around the Israelites. In some ways they were immune from what God was doing, but not from the punishments the Egyptians dolled out as they dug their heels in and doubled down against them. This is the same that we see in David’s Psalm of Deliverance.
“In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.
“Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked, because he was angry.
This is happening because God is on our side. He has not abandoned us to his wrath; he is protecting us by his wrath. And it will be terrifying if we forget his heart—if we forget the affection he has for his children. We’ve heard that we never want to face mama bears, they are fiercely protective of their cubs. They’ve got nothing on Father God. Could the sun and moon and stars be affected? Sure. Does these verses mean they must be? Not at all.
Jesus Spoke Redemptively
Jesus Spoke Redemptively
But this takes us to the last way Jesus spoke to his disciples; he spoke redemptively. You may remember that last week I had said that prophecy is not meant to make us fearful but faithful. And Jesus is reiterating that here. This prophecy is not meant to make us afraid but ardent. It isn’t supposed to cause panic in Christ-followers, but passion. We aren’t the ones that are to be anxious; instead we are to be courageous. We are to be comforted. We’ve already seen now that God is on his throne and that he is protecting his own. We need not be anxious; we need be courageous.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
In Daniel 7, we read that Daniel is given a revelation of what was to come. There would be a lion with eagles wings, then a bear with ribs in its mouth, then a leopard with four wings, and finally a fourth beast with four heads that was dreadful and scary. And in the midst of seeing this vision which would terrify anyone, Daniel is suddenly shown something else entirely. He sees a vision of heaven and God sitting on his throne ready for judgment. And the beasts are all defeated.
And then
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
This helps give us insight to what Jesus was talking about. On the one hand, we see that there is utter terror and chaos on earth. The beasts, these great and powerful nations, have come and gone. It’s been terrifying for everyone, just as we saw with Jesus’s prophecy here. But in the midst of it, just as with Daniel, suddenly the Son of Man shows up coming in the clouds. And as Daniel tells us, he is coming to stay and reign.
He is coming to redeem this fallen, broken, darkened and scary world in which we live. Thus, Jesus tells us to raise our heads. Don’t lower them in shame. Don’t hide them in fear. Raise them up. Straighten our bodies and walk with confidence because there is nothing for us to fear! Our redemption is drawing near! Jesus isn’t trying to scare us with his prophecy; he’s securing us! He isn’t filling us with horror; he’s filling us with hope. The darkness and evil and chaos isn’t suppose to scare us to death, but stimulate us to joy!
And notice the timetable that he gives. He says we are to do this when “these things begin to take place.” But isn’t the world continuously getting worse anyway? Doesn’t the darkness seem to always be winning? In other words, doesn’t it seem like it’s already begun? Perhaps it has.
But what does this mean? If it has begun, it means we should already be living in hope. We can already walk around with our heads held high and our backs straightened in confidence that the Son of Man, our Savior, is coming soon to redeem us.
But let’s say these things actually haven’t begun. Does that give us permission to walk slumped over and hiding our faces? Of course not! If we can be confident when things get so bad that everyone is cowering in fear and just scared to death, we can be confident even in the midst of lesser evils.
So either way, we have this instruction of confidence from Jesus. He is at work, even when evil seems to dominate every area of life.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we close out this part of Luke, we’ve seen Jesus speaking in apocalyptic language, metaphoric language, and most especially, redemptive language. And what we’ve been told is that the forces of good and evil will ramp up their battles that may not be seen, but will be experienced as they spill over into this world. And the spillage will be the most frightening thing we as humans will experience. But as Christians, we need not be fearful. Rather we are to be faithful. Jesus tells us not to walk around slumped over like a scalded dog, but triumphant. We are to straighten up. We are to hold our heads high. Our king is coming! Redemption is drawing near.
Notice in all of this, there is no mention of a secret rapture of God’s people. We are going to experience the same as everyone else. The difference is, we will face it with faith and not fear. We will not be scared to death but stimulated to joy because Jesus is coming! We will see the same things as everyone else and rather than feel like everything is out of control, we know that everything is happening just as Jesus said it would.
And we can begin to live that way now. We can be stimulated to joy right now. We can live secure in hope right now. Just as surely as the Israelites were told that they were in exile—sojourners in Babylon until their release, so we are sojourners until Christ returns. And just as they were to live with heads held high and live to the good of their neighbors in Babylon, so we are to live with heads held high and live to the good of our neighbors. There will be a time when we are home. Until then, we live with the hope of heaven, joy of the Lord, and love for our neighbors.
Prayer
Dear heavenly Father,
Let us not be a people who live in fear, but in confidence and hope. We know that you are on the throne of heaven, but we need you on the thrones of our hearts that we may see you as clearly as Isaiah did in the temple; for you are just as present.
Let us remember that even in all the chaos and all the frightening times we are living in, you are the one who hears our cries and causes the heavens and earth to tremble. You are the one who is protecting your children, bringing them all the way home.
Let us not forget that the more we see destruction and chaos, evil and darkness, that our redemption is drawing near. By the blood of your Son who is redeeming all things.
In Christ’s name. Amen.