First Sunday of Advent

Pfizer came first, followed very closely by Moderna, both promising 95% success rates, although I must admit it did seem odd that one seemed to announce 90% effectiveness first, and update it after the other came out.

And then came the Oxford vaccine. They were reporting only a 70% effectiveness, however it was a lot cheaper and could be stored a lot more simply.

And with all of this has come renewed hope.

The evening news for a while seemed to opening with the breaking announcements that first one, then two, now three vaccines look like they are safe and effective.

It was almost as if they were saying - ‘We’re saved!’

In fact, a few articles I read did indeed use the term “saviour” in relation to the vaccines.

Is this the saviour we need during this time?

You know, I must admit that sometimes in my prayers over the last six months or so I’ve prayed for a vaccine like it would be a saviour.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It is good to be praying that a vaccine will be successful and that it will have a positive impact on communities around the world.

But there is a problem when we starting thinking of it like a saviour. You see, as good as a vaccine may be, at best, it’s only going to solve one problem.

Take away Covid, what do we have? We’ve still got a broken world.

In many ways, covid has just highlighted our brokenness.

As much as we like to claim: “We’re all in this together”, the reality is that we’ll act like where in it together, but only as long as I get what I want. Hence the early toilet paper battles early in the pandemic.

That’s because, we are inherently selfish people. We’ll help others, but not if its to my detriment.

As we look, we’ll see that society is filled with problem after problem.

We find the hideous problem of domestic violence. We see addictions of many kinds: drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, the list could go on. Each of these addictions tear the fabric of our society apart.

We find a new level of hatred. Our society is becoming polarized. I’m sure the left-right political spectrum had most people somewhere in the middle, but now it seems that middle area is becoming more and more vacant as people are driven more to the left or more to the right.

I feel its getting to the point that the left and right sides just are incapable of listening to each other. And this creates animosity.

For those on Facebook, I’m sure you won’t have to scroll for long before you find someone complaining or criticizing someone else.

We might be longing for this vaccine to finally be available, but you know what? The real problem is not going away.

We might stop having all the restriction - you might not have to sign a book to go to church, or stand silently to the music, or wait for an invitation before you can even come. But… you will still live in a world where people are selfish. Where your family life remain dysfunctional. Where people let you down and say hurtful things about you.

The big picture

So this morning, as we come to our first Sunday in advent, the purpose of my message is to help us think about the bigger picture of where the world is headed. It is so easy to get stuck thinking about our immediate problem, but Advent does something special. It reminds us that not only has Jesus come the first time - but he is coming again, and this is the big picture I want to explore this morning.

A better saviour

You see, it is not a vaccine that will be our saviour. Our real saviour is far better then that.

Now when we say saviour, we mean that we are being saved from something. And when it is when we realise exactly what our problem is, that we really what sort of saviour we need.

Well, with all the problem I listed before, there is a common element to it all - and it is the problem that we call sin.

Now this is of course not a new problem. We might have found new ways to express our sinfulness (perhaps), but the problem can be traced back to a time shortly after the creation of the world.

OT Longing

It is a problem that has existed since Adam and Eve were first tempted back all those years ago and it has been a curse on every generation since.

When you read the Old Testament, you see a picture of humanity that is in a big mess. In fact, some of the pictures painted, for example Sodom and Gommorah, are just plain horrific.

They need someone who would save them.

In Psalm 80, three times the Psalmist cries out:

“Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved”. (Ps 80:3,7,19)

They knew things weren’t right - and they were crying out for a change.

Or we could go further into the Old Testament, during the time of Isaiah. Written during a time when the Israelites have suffered much due to the punishments for their sins, but things still weren’t right, so they continued to cry out to God.

In Is 64:1, we read the words: “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...”

They knew that God could make a difference, and they longed for that day.

Jesus

Well, that longing was quenched when God did in fact come down. He came down in the form of Jesus Christ.

In the person of Jesus, we saw the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament pointed to.

He was the salvation to the real problem that plagues the world. That hurtful, spiteful, sinister spirit that is found in all of us. Sin.

He did it by offering himself as a sacrifice.

In doing this, Jesus broke the curse of sin. He allowed us a way free from that sin. He set us on a path to true freedom.

However, to fully claim the entire victory - that is, to fully rid the world of the evil, it would mean a culmination of things as we know it.

Maybe that might sound fine, but it would involve a final accounting of where we all stand. In other words, those who stand with Christ - to Christ. For those who stand opposed to Christ - away from him.

And so, in God’s patience he waits. He waits for his people to call out to him.

End times

And so we live in an age that the Bible often refers to as the end times. But note that when the bible uses that phrase, it is almost always referring to that entire period between when Christ first came and when he will come again.

Sometimes we refer to the end times just as the period immediately before Jesus comes again but this fails to see the big picture.

The end times is really just the time when Jesus has claimed the victory, but in his patience to see the full measure of people come to him, he waits.

And so in the end times, while sin has been dealt a blow, it still remains.

In fact, it remains as strong as ever, it is just that we have a way to flee from its claws.

Now the New Testament is no stranger to this idea that the end times will be hard. In fact, it is fairly consistently repeated many times over. Jesus describes it to his disciples, in particular, in the passage I’ll explore in just a moment, but also at other times.

Many (if not all) of the letters of Paul, and the others either make allusions to the struggles of the end times or on many occasions, very direct descriptions.

Mark 13

So let’s jump to Mark 13, and look what Jesus says here.

Now, there is a common misunderstanding when it comes to this chapter, and that is that we think the whole thing is describing what to expect in the time immediately before Jesus returns. What we’ll see is that, while he will address the time in which he returns, much of the chapter actually talks more generally about the entire time between his first and second coming.

Context

So let’s get a bit of context first.

This chapter finds us in that week that we now refer to as the passion week, that is, the week before Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Just prior to this passage, Jesus has been speaking with various groups of people who have been trying to trap him in his words, although each time Jesus is able to respond in such a way that really spins them around and puts the focus where it should be.

But after all of these confrontations which happen in the temple, Jesus then leaves the temple and takes the disciples outside the city to a place known as the Mount of Olives.

As he takes them out of the city, the disciples remark about how magnificent the temple is. Now, I’m thinking that quite possibly, the remark was meant as a bit of an off-handed comment.

But Jesus picks up on it - and I think he does so for a reason.

You see, Jesus replies to them that not one stone there will be left on another, that every one will be thrown down.

The temple

So what’s the go with the temple? Well, if you cast your minds back to last month, I spent a few messages where I explored this theme of the temple.

I looked at how the temple in the Old Testament represented that connection point we have with God, but how Jesus becomes the fulfillment of all that.

So in some ways, we can see how the destruction of the physical temple is happening after Jesus has become our spiritual temple. However, I think it goes even further then that.

You see, what Jesus is about to explain is that what they will soon see will become representative of what they can expect until Jesus comes again.

Mount of Olives

So to explain his point, Jesus takes his disciples up to the Mount of Olives.

Now the geography is interesting here.

You see, the Mount of Olives is located just outside of Jerusalem. It is not a particularly tall mountain, but it is perfectly located so that they get an amazing view of the city of Jerusalem.

And from this vantage point, they can begin to see the connection between the physical world in which they belong and the work God is about to do.

Well, it is from this vantage point that the disciples push Jesus further on his remark about the temple that will be destroyed. They ask: when will it happen, and what can they expect in the lead up?

A sign of the times

Now my intention this morning is not to go through in detail the early details of the early parts of this chapter, but rather to give you a brief survey.

You see, Jesus paints a picture of a troubled world. People will rise with false claims. There will be wars and rumours of wars. Nations will rise against nation and kingdom and kingdom. There will be earthquakes and famines.

But notice what Jesus says - these are just the beginning of birth pains.

There will be persecution and betrayal.

The picture Jesus paints is in fact disturbing. But what we see is that it is not just in the immediate time before Jesus returns, it is what we can expect the entire time.

And in part this is where the destruction of the temple becomes instructive. You see, we know from history that the temple was destroyed by a Roman army in the year 70 AD. This was less than a generation after the time of Jesus.

The destruction of temple shows us what we can expect.

And we know that these troubled times continue to be felt today.

Christ’s return

Now, we could get a bit depressed by all this. In fact, many today do get depressed by the state of the world.

But, here’s the thing. While it is distressing, we know that there is an end point to all of this. And Jesus takes us to this end point in this chapter.

Look at Mark 13:24. It starts with the words “but in those days, following that distress”...

Did you notice those words: “…following that distress”. You see, there is distress now, but a time will follow.

The cosmic effect

And then it says: “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light: the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken”.

So what’s going on there? You could say the sun and moon being darkened could be some sort of eclipse. But really, in some ways the exact nature in which these words are fulfilled are not important. What it does indicate is that there will be some large cosmic effects that will be noticeable in the world in which we live.

In other words - you’re going to know about it.

And then in verse 26 it says: “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.”

This time will be obvious and it will be decisive.

It won’t happen in such a way that we’re left wondering. We will know.

What is so wonderful about this time is the description that the elect will be gathered together.

Those that have been called by His name, who have accepted that call and had Christ come into their lives, will be taken from that distress and will dwell in a place where sin is no more.

What do we do

It really will be wonderful.

But the question we need to ask now though, is what should we do in the mean time?

A great temptation is to bunker down and ride things out until that day.

We see some Christians become obsessed with watching various signs for when that coming might be, and in the process lose sight of what God wants for them right now. People can become disengaged with the world around them after all, if Jesus is coming soon, why bother with the things that will soon be no more?

Well, one of the reasons this is not a good idea is because we have absolutely no idea of when it is going to happen.

I don’t believe that Jesus has spoken about the signs he has in order for us to figure out a time table. In fact, in this passage, Jesus is very clear that we don’t know the date.

Just look at verse 32: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father”.

I’d suggest, that if he’s telling us no one knows the time, when he goes on to say in verse 33 to be on guard and to be alert, that is not some key for us to figure out the timing, rather it is a command for us to do the things that God wants us to do right now.

Because if we are going to be ready when he comes, we want him to find us living the way he wants us to live.

And so, this is how we live in these end times. It is not in bunkering down. It is in watching, and the way we watch is keeping our eyes on Jesus.

We will still live in times of distress. It will involve pain at times. It will be difficult at times. But with our eyes on Jesus, we will have someone who carries us through to this final time when all the pain is gone.

Conclusion

I started by speaking about the covid vaccines that we are longing for. The reality is, what we want is actually not a vaccine but a cure. And the cure isn’t for covid, but for our greater problem of sin.

And that cure will only come as we keep our eyes on Jesus and him alone. It’s not a promise for no pain in the present. But it is a promise that a day is coming when all the pain is gone.

Today we are at the start of Advent. It is a time when we look forward to that final day.

It is the coming of Jesus. It is our ultimate hope.

God has always had a plan to save us, and now, just likee the very last verse of the Bible, we cry: Amen, come Lord Jesus.