HG139pt6 Matthew 24:29-31, Mark 13:24-27, Luke 21:25-28 Signs of the times
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29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
We have gone through the whole timetable of the tribulation period of 7 years which are covered in Matthew 24 and in Revelation 6-18. We are now beyond this time and we find that the trouble is not over. Straight afterwards the universe suffers a cataclysmic disaster for everything gets shaken, the moon is no longer reflecting the sun’s light, the sun itself is dark, the stars no longer are in place where they had been, it would seem that the whole earth is off its axis and orbit, and the oceans are coming ashore beyond their boundaries and people all over the place are having heart attacks as a result. There is no safe place to be.
Indeed, time made it impossible this morning to mention the Old Testament prophets talking of these things but let us hear some of them telling us how it is going to be:
10 The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble;
The sun and moon grow dark,
And the stars diminish their brightness.
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God,
“That I will make the sun go down at noon,
And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;
15 That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
12 Then I saw him open the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred; the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair; the entire moon became like blood; 13 the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind; 14 the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of their wrath has come! And who is able to stand?”
The sixth seal seems to happen in conjunction with the seventh bowl. Some of the things happening are going to happen together making an even larger impact upon those on the earth.
Isaiah tells us of this time:
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand!
It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore all hands will be limp,
Every man’s heart will melt,
8 And they will be afraid.
Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them;
They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;
They will be amazed at one another;
Their faces will be like flames.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.
11 “I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the Lord of hosts
And in the day of His fierce anger.
And we could continue in this chapter for Isaiah talks about the fact that everyone will return to their own country and there will be murderers and rapists at large. This is a volatile time and indeed the number of people alive now are few. Two of the plagues killed off over half the world’s population but due to all these other disasters it has decimated many others so that people are now rare compared to the billions alive today.
Isaiah continues later in his book:
1 Come near, you nations, to hear;
And heed, you people!
Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
The world and all things that come forth from it.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations,
And His fury against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to the slaughter.
3 Also their slain shall be thrown out;
Their stench shall rise from their corpses,
And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as fruit falling from a fig tree.
5 “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven;
Indeed it shall come down on Edom,
And on the people of My curse, for judgment.
And here we have the battle of Armageddon. This is a study for another time for it covers verses from Daniel, Zechariah and several chapters from Revelation. It is a battle, or rather a number of them, that are in Israel and the Middle East. The last battle will not really be a battle at all but Christ will end it by the angel putting in his sickle and killing everyone involved. We’ve seen such an angel before in the time of King David when he numbered the people in 2 Samuel 24 and the angel killed 70,000. But when this happens the blood flow will be over 200 miles long and over 4ft high. That is enough to cover the the deep south where Edom is to the north of Israel and beyond into Lebanon. That’s a lot of blood for going up against God.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.
Then in verse 30 we have the sign of the Son of Man. Now there has been some confusion over this and it started because of a guy called Chrysostom in the 4th Century who imagined the sign to be a flaming cross in the sky. Well, to be honest, if you were thinking of a sign representing Jesus there is no better one than the cross - it seems very plausible. After all, the cross is everything for without it there is no salvation, no escape from the wrath of God to come. But having said that, the Scriptures give no indication that the sign of the Son of Man is a cross, let alone a flaming one. No, this is simply misunderstood.
No, the sign of the Son of Man is the Son of Man. It is Jesus Himself. It’s a matter of semantics and how we say the sentence. The sign of the Son of Man is Jesus. It is going to be His revealed glory just as He was revealed on the Mount of Transfiguration. And people will know who it is and He will come on the clouds as confirmation that He will return the same way as He went and
7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.
He will come in His full glory and it will be unmistakable. Everyone will see Him. And people will mourn. The root of the word ‘mourn’ means to beat their chests. What is it they are mourning? Well, most do not want Him to come at all and they went to battle to prevent His return but they lost in a big way. They are mourning because now they know there is no escape from His wrath and they are very afraid.
Remember when all this happens it will be in darkness for there is no sun or moon or stars and anything solar powered will cease to work. And then there suddenly will be light. Jesus is the light of the world. No need for the sun. Indeed, we are told of the New Jerusalem, aren’t we, where there will be no sun. Indeed if there was a sun then life couldn’t really be eternal for the sun, as we know, will eventually peter out but God will not, for He is eternal.
23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
Those scoffers who said where is the promise of His coming will no longer speak for Jesus will have turned up with great power with His angels and His saints and sit to reign in Jerusalem as we are told in
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
This is a Day when you want to be on the right side of God for there is no escape from this moment for it is a day of Great Wrath or Great Anger of God against those who wicked.
We’re about to get to a judgement scene in chapter 25 for whilst judgement in this world could mean the death of you it is not the last destiny but hell and the lake of fire for eternity.
No wonder there is mourning and sorrow. Indeed even when seeing all that is happening repentance is far from their hearts and minds - all they want to do is rebel and curse God. It is the book of Revelation that tells us four times that they still did not repent. How mystifying!
But the protected Israelites will also mourn but not in the same way.
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
They will recognise the Messiah and in the next chapter we are told
1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
And all Israel will be saved as we are told in Romans 9-11.
And in verse 31 we find the angels doing their part in gathering the chosen ones, those who are His from all over the world, those who survived the persecution, those who are hiding, those who are far from others, those who may be imprisoned. They will be gathered together to go into the new kingdom that Jesus establishes on earth for the next thousand years.
It is another sermon to talk about what will happen during the 1000 years but let me give a brief review of the timetable from the present time until the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth:
Rapture of the Church which can happen at any time
The leader of the Revived Roman Empire, the ten European nations will make a 7 year peace treaty with Israel
This starts the Seal Judgements of Revelation 6 - at least 20% of living people will die.
Half-way through the leader, who is actually the Antichrist, will break the agreement and will set himself up as God in the Temple causing the ‘Abomination that causes Desolation’ and the whole world will worship him
The Jews run for their lives and 2/3rds die. The other 1/3rd are sealed and protected in the desert.
This starts the Trumpet and Bowl judgements of Revelation 8 and Revelation 16 - by this time over 50% who were alive at the beginning of the 7 years are now dead
The nations will gather to fight Israel but their ultimate aim is to fight Christ in the so-called Battle of Armageddon - but for they do they are destroyed by an angel
Jesus returns to earth at the Mount of Olives, all opponents are destroyed, the Jews receive Him, and He starts His 1000 year reign on the earth in Jerusalem.
That is a potted history of the future.
Daniel concludes his book like this:
11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.
13 “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.
So Daniel speaks of a further 75 day period beyond the 3.5 years left of the broken peace treaty which includes a further 30 day tribulation period and then a 45 day period that we are not told about - except that the universe goes to pot and terror falls upon what’s left of humankind. At some point after this Jesus returns at a day and hour unknown. Let me be clear - Jesus will not return until after the Tribulation and this has not happened yet.
Our Lord has told us beforehand many things and along with passages from the Old Testament, the New Testament letters and Revelation we can ascertain many things. Some of the smaller detail may not be agreed upon and we need to be humble learners and students of the Word of God. He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple. It came true word-for-word. Then we can trust that what He says of other future events will also be word-for-word. He is in control and He is the ultimate champion. With Him we are overcomers, indeed more than overcomers according to
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Our future is secure but in the light of Who He is and what He has done let us so live for Him to be unashamed at His coming and warn people with boldness.
Benediction
Benediction
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Carr, A. (2015). The Sermon Notebook: New Testament. Lenoir, NC: Alan Carr.
Davies, W. D., & Allison, D. C., Jr. (2004). A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (Vol. 3). London; New York: T&T Clark International.
Elwell, W. A. (1995). Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Geisler, N. L. (2005). Systematic theology, volume four: church, last things. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers.
Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.
McCune, R. (2010). A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity: The Doctrines of Salvation, the Church, and Last Things (Vol. 3). Allen Park, MI: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.
O’Donnell, D. S. (2013). Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Rogers, A. (2017). Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive. Signal Hill, CA: Rogers Family Trust.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:47 12 October 2019.