The End is Near

Luke 21:5–28 ESV

And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives. “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. “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.”

Introduction

If you tune into Christian radio in your car or on the Internet, one of the most popular topics has always been “the Last Days.” There are no shortage of contemporary “Biblical” prophets out there who want to tell you the “what” and the “how” and regrettably sometimes the “when” of the events leading up to Judgment Day and the coming of Jesus. To be sure, there is a smorgasbord of theologies out there, some very elaborate, some very simple. Because teaching on these topics is so prevalent, there are many false teachings that circulate among Christians and often divide them. For instance there is the doctrine of the “rapture.” Now we believe that there will be a rapture— that is, the dead will be raised and caught up in the clouds and then we who are in Christ will join them in the sky. But we believe that occurs on the Last Day. But there are those who teach that God somehow forgot to keep all of His promises to Israel, so He has to secret;u remove the Church from earth before He can fulfill them by rebuilding the Temple and some even holding that He will return to demanding animal sacrifices. I’m not sure about you, but the words of God in Hebrews are pretty clear: “By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.” The Gospels and Revelation are pretty clear that there will be no secret about Jesus return. In all cases it says “Every eye will see Him.”

Gnosticism, or the idea that some people are endued with special knowledge or “know the secret” also surfaces here. If you’re in the ‘know’, then you have a deeper understanding than the normal Joe in the pew next to you.

Today, let’s put all of this aside. It’s out there. And we reject it.

But what we do not reject is the doctrine of the Second Coming. We believe it with all of our might. Jesus is returning in Glory to judge the living and the dead. In it is our hope that evil will be forever banished from earth, and that we will dwell in glory, peace, righteousness, and bliss in God’s burning, holy presence. It is the hope that sustained the martyrs as they spilled their blood. It is the hope of all believers of all the ages. And it remains our blessed hope, won for us by Jesus’ Holy Life for our Righteousness, His death for our satisfaction of sin’s penalty, and His glorious resurrection, all of which we are baptized into when God claimed us as His own.

Our Judgment Day was the Cross

The Day of the Lord, Judgment Day, has already happened. It happened on the Cross. There, Jesus stood between God and you, and did so at God’s left Hand. He, the spotless Lamb of God became you as a goat. You know, the ones of which Jesus says in Matthew, “Depart from me , you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!..”

Yes, indeed. When it came to loving the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength, you blew it. Didn’t happen. In the end you loved yourselves, not God. Your thoughts on matters of life trumped what God’s clear word said. And the fruits of your unbelief were clear. Those fruits were not shown to your neighbors Those that worship themselves don’t care about the needs of others: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the prisoners. Because it’s all about me.

So judgment came. The sky grew black. It was rumored that there was a war between heaven and earth. The earth shook. People trembled. Dead were raised. Depart from me, Jesus, God said. For in you I see YOU. Damned. Make no mistake. Hell, meant only for the devil and his angels is your lot. But Jesus intercepts your judgment. He not only dies for you— his Physical death would do nothing for you if he didn’t also get sent to hell for you. But He does. And willing is forsaken of the Father, because it is horrible, irreversible, and eternal. But He loved you so much He stepped in. Judgment Day has come and gone for the Christian. And that means, when the Final Judgment comes, you’ve already been vindicated through faith in Christ. God’s words to you is “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

When Jesus returns it will be the Consummation of All Things.

But we do believe, teach, and confess that Jesus is coming again. And He calls you and me, His Body, to be ready to meet Him at any time.

Our text today shows the disciples are no different than the pseudo prophets of the end in our days. They want to know. They want in on the gnostic secret. “when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” They just gotta know.

It is very interesting how Jesus answers their question and need for a sign. He doesn’t give them a “sign” (except the sign of Jonah!). But instead He gives them “signs”. Plural.

And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

False prophets. They’re out there, for sure. And you don’t have to look far. You don’t have to look to the whacko religions. The cults are there, but they’ll never infiltrate the church. No, the false prophets are in the Church. The ones who say that Jesus is not the only way to heaven. The ones who say that you can live in sin and not worry because there really is no such thing as sin. The ones who embrace the philosophies of this age, the murder, the hatred of this age, and then go after anyone who would call them out on their sin, “don’t judge me”, giving a false witness to the world that those who hold to God’s Word alone are the enemy. Because of it suffering, like never before, will come upon the true believers. That’s a TRUE prophecy from the lips of the Lord Himself. When a Church claims that sin is no longer sin, is not the one proclaiming this equating him or herself with God? I make the commands, not God… And there will be “many.”

DO NOT BE TERRIFIED. God tells us these things to be ready, not to scare the hell out of us!

Man made and Natural Signs

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

There will be wars and rumors of wars. Have there always been? You know that there truly can never be peace on earth. You can shoot for it. But as long as sinners occupy space on this planet, there will be wars. They start right in your lives, because you hate, right? There’s the seed of all war.

Here’s the question. Why does He tell us about these things? Because these things go on in every generation. Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Volcanoes. Wild Fires. Hmmm. I think all have happened this year. But there was also Mount Vesuvius and the swallowing up of the city of Pompeii in 79AD . And the great Chicago fire. And the great San Francisco earthquake. Nobody here today was alive when any of that happened. Jesus goes on, as we heard.

What do these signs mean? What do we do with them?

Be Ready.

We repent. Any time God speaks through disaster, through war, through sickness and famine, it is a call for you and me to repent. There was no repentance of our Country after 9/11. Abortions still claim more lives than any other form of death in the United States. And what about Hurricane Dorian that just swallowed up the Bahamas and almost plowed through Central Florida— the most powerful storm ever to make landfall on the Continental US? It sat out at sea for a week, but miraculously turned and went back out to sea instead of decimating it. Where’s the repentance? Most just feel we lucked out. But that’s not how God rolls. Signs should lead to repentance, to returning to the Lord for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

We Worship. We are made ready to meet Christ when He comes in Judgment by remaining in His Word. By being clothed in the robe of righteousness that comes through Faith. By living at peace with each other, which means that we confess our sins to one another, and we forgive those who sin against us. We don’t get even. But that kind of nonsense still even goes on in the Church. Are you ready?

We live in faith in Jesus. It’s not about the good things we do. It’s not about feeding the hungry or clothing the needy, though those are fruits of the faith. Remember, as Jesus tells them who are about to inherit the Kingdom and ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry?...” They didn’t realize they were doing it. But , as Luther reminds us, before faith can ask what it can be doing it is already busy doing it.

Redemption is Near

The real reason Jesus gives His Church the signs that He does is to build up hope. It’s not to cause us to fear and tremble. But rather to “Stand up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near. So when we see the signs, Repent. Rejoice. Redemption is Near. Amen.