The Coming Son of Man

Good morning, welcome to NHCC, please open your Bibles to Mark 13.

Give just a moment before reading the text.

Read Mark 13:24-27- “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Pray.

If you have been with us over the past couple of weeks, you know that our attention has been focused on Jesus’ prediction of the temple’s destruction, which would come to fruition in the year 70 AD.

Thus far in our text, I’ve tried to make the case that everything Jesus predicts is his answering the question of the disciples, namely, what would indicate the timing of the temple’s destruction.

As we have said in the past few weeks, these are difficult texts to interpret as we have the destruction of the temple and the return of Jesus being woven together.

We finally turn our attention to the return of Christ, and see that the words of Jesus are meant to give great encouragement to the disciples, who are likely quite frustrated with what they’ve heard thus far in this Olivet Discourse.

I’d like to walk through our text this morning, in order, and point out a few noteworthy elements.

These will be like three mile markers all leading to our final destination, the fourth point to be made this morning.

Our first mile marker can be found at the beginning of verse 24.

1. After tribulation comes glorification.

V. 24 begins- But in those days, after that tribulation...

The various tribulations have already been well defined over the past couple of weeks.

Everything concerning the return of Christ will occur following the tribulations that have been outlined.

In fact, our time in Mark 13 over the past two weeks has yielded some discouraging words of prediction from Jesus.

First, the temple would be destroyed. For Jews everywhere, this would be a difficult word to endure. It would be reminiscent of Judah’s defeat at the hand of Babylon so many generations earlier.

The Jews would also certainly see the destruction of the temple as the judgement of God. When Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, it was God’s judgement taking place through the foreign nation.

Habakkuk 1:6- For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.

However, remember that God’s judgement was not the only thing predicted. There were also accompanying signs, which we studied last week.

Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famine, persecution from the Jews and Romans alike, families torn apart, hatred, the abomination of desolation, the difficulty of leaving the city behind, etc.

Everything that Jesus has described up to this point of His conversation could best be summed up in His chosen word- tribulation.

I’m sure that so far, this has not been an enjoyable conversation for these disciples to be having.

But Jesus now looks beyond the tribulation. After that tribulation, something more will happen.

This transition is everything that is needed for these disheartened disciples, and it ought to be of great encouragement to us today as well.

The difficulties of life, no matter their size and scope, have a way of drawing our attention.

Whatever it is that causes a disruption in our lives and routines is what tends to attract and keep our gaze.

The Hobbit- Mirkwood Forest. The company of dwarves along with Bilbo are journeying through a dense forest with no end in sight. Bilbo has to get above the trees to be able to see that there is anything beyond the forest.

This so often describes the lives of Christians, let alone the rest of humanity. Our attention is swept up into the tribulations of this life, causing us to be blind to the realities that are beyond.

But Christ reminds His followers that there is something beyond the bad news, and we would do well to be reminded this morning as well.

In fact, we would do well to find the glimpses of reminders in our own lives. These are the reminders of every day life that we can so often overlook, but that are meant to draw our attention beyond tribulation.

Our marriages are meant to remind us multiple times throughout the day of God’s love for His people, His forgiveness of wrongdoing, His undeserved grace, and ultimately the intimacy of relationship that we are to have with our God.

Our children ought to remind us that God is a Father, patient with His children, delighting in relationship, protecting and providing at every turn. We will one day soon be brought fully into His loving embrace.

The comfort of our homes should remind us of God’s protection and dwelling with man for all of time.

The joy of close friendship may remind us of perfect fellowship with all the saints that is one day to be ours.

Even the sting of sin and wrongdoing can be a reminder that one day, such stings will no longer exist.

Nearly everything in life can be a reminder that our difficult circumstances are not the end of the story, but beyond the tribulation comes glorification.

This leads us to our next mile marker.

2. Jesus returns with an upheaval of the natural order.

I love the language that is found in v. 24-25 about the sun, the moon and the stars. The sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from the sky.

These are the mammoths of the natural order. In all of our experiences in this life, we have nothing that can compare to the sun, moon and stars. We could climb the highest mountain, we could stand at the edge of the grand canyon, we could journey to the middle of the ocean, and yet none of it compares to the grandeur and majesty of the sun, moon and stars.

Everything here changes. Things grow, things shrink. We observe, even in our lifetime, gradual changes to everything that we can study.

But there is a constancy to the heavenly bodies. Even if things are changing, and of course they are, because none of them share with God the attribute of divine immutability, we, looking to the heavens, observe none of it.

In mentioning the sun, moon and stars, Jesus draws attention to perhaps the grandest observable realities in our natural order, especially for two thousand years ago.

And what these heavenly bodies did, what they were designed to do, what they have always done, will stop.

Think about this. All that we have ever known the sun, moon and stars to do, what they have done for as long as we have observed and recorded it, since the creative week when God created them, was to shine. And it will all come to a quick end at the return of Jesus Christ.

Now, an important point must be made here. These are not signs that point TO the returning Christ. These are occurences that are happening BECAUSE Christ is returning in all of His glory and power.

So how we can read this is that when Christ returns in power and glory to gather the faithful elect, the natural order of things will break down.

Why is this an important point to make? Because we don’t often think of Jesus in this light, do we?

Perhaps we imagine Jesus returning in a way that is very similar to His first appearance. Humble. Meek. Mild. Servant. Abused. Victimized.

The Bible gives a different picture of the returning Christ. He is victorious in every way.

The reminder of the failure of the created order points us to a new vision of Jesus. Let us look to the words of John in Revelation to get a clearer picture.

Revelation 19:11-16- Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

This is who breaks the heavens. This is whose arrival shuts down the consistency of the natural created order.

And we would do well to consider the ramifications of such an event. As we have stated so many times before, everything here comes to an end.

The heavenly bodies were objects of worship for so many pagan people groups, and here is the promise that they would lose their effectiveness.

In the same way, all of the created order that vies for our worship will one day come to dust, whether money, material possessions or any other indicator of success and comfort.

There is a supremacy of Christ that is being put on display here in our text, and it ought to drive us once again to rightly directed and rightly ordered worship of Jesus Christ alone.

For it is He who outlasts all of the physical makings of our created universe.

Do we worship Him as such?

Let’s move on to our next mile marker.

3. The commanded work of the disciples will yield much fruit.

In verse 27, Jesus states that at His return, the angels will gather those who are in Christ.

I think it is safe to assume that the gathering mentioned here is for the purpose of eternal glory.

Consider, for a moment, what Jesus is saying to the disciples concerning the gathering of the elect.

He will soon be giving the great commission before ascending to the Father. This commission is the command to go and make disciples from every nation. He has not yet given them this command, but He has shown and taught them how to love and minister and teach all people, Jewish and Gentile alike.

Jesus was preparing to send His disciples out with a mission, but He has not yet shared that mission with them.

What Jesus shares in v. 27, that the angels will gather believers from the ends of the earth, must have been shocking for the disciples to hear.

There were no believers at the ends of the earth.

Everything up to this point had been local. The Jewish and sometimes Gentile areas of Galilee. That is where Jesus’ ministry has been focused and that is where the good news of God’s Kingdom had remained.

So what is Jesus talking about when He says that there will be a gathering of His elect from all existing places on earth?

Jesus is speaking here of the success of His disciples commission. He is in one way giving His disciples encouragement for the challenge that they have not yet even received.

Jesus is making the disciples aware of the fact that His Kingdom will indeed spread through the various kingdoms of this world. The Gospel will be shared and multiplied exponentially. It will not stay local, but will reach the ends of the earth.

Maybe this is self-explanatory, maybe you already know this point. But don’t pass over it too quickly. Consider how it might impact your own understanding of the great commission and your part in it.

Jesus’ call to go and make disciples doesn’t end with those first disciples, but continues through 2000 years of church history and reaches us today. We all, if we know and trust and love Jesus, share in the responsibility to share the good news of Jesus Christ and grow disciples in that knowledge and love of Christ.

And yet, we tend to find evangelism to be one of the most challenging and often unproductive practices of Christianity.

So we find Jesus’ words to not just be an encouragement to those early believers, but to us as well.

For Jesus to make such a prediction means that He is sure that the Gospel will indeed spread.

We may not see the power of the Gospel, but Jesus knows it and commands us to share the Gospel with passion and excitement.

I would argue that His prediction of a gathering together of believers ought to fuel our passion for Gospel ministry. We don’t have to see constant success in order to trust Jesus’ promise.

William Carey, the Father of Modern Missions, left England for India in 1793- “When I left England, my hope of India’s conversion was very strong; but amongst so many obstacles, it would die, unless upheld by God. Well, I have God, and His Word is true. Though the superstitions of the heathen were a thousand times stronger than they are, and the example of the Europeans a thousand times worse; though I were deserted by all and persecuted by all, yet my faith, fixed on the sure Word, would rise above all obstructions and overcome every trial. God’s cause will triumph.”

If Jesus knows that the Gospel will spread, then we ought to trust that the Gospel will spread. And we ought to make ourselves constantly available to what Jesus has said WILL indeed happen.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with our destination. These mile markers have been leading us to this final point, which our four verses are truly about.

4. Jesus will return.

This is the point of the text. We have seen that the return of Christ will follow tribulation, that it will wreak havoc on the created order, and that it will accomplish the purpose of gathering together God’s faithful elect.

But I think we are meant to ask another question: so what?

What does it matter for you and me that Christ will one day soon return? What does it mean for our lives? Our friendships? Our employment? Our marriages and families? Why should the promised return of Christ make any difference in our lives today?

The answer to this question is two-fold and involves two different audiences.

First, what are the implications for those who do not yet know and love and trust Jesus as the Lord of their lives and Savior of their souls?

Our text comes as a word of warning. As we have stated earlier, with the return of Jesus comes the end of everything else. Everything that has taken priority in our lives over Jesus Christ expires, while He endures.

Why would we worship, or focus our lives around, anything less that Christ Himself?

Why would we take what is less and give it the highest place of privilege in our lives?

Instead, elevate Christ, put everything else beneath His supremacy. Only then will we live our lives as God has designed them to be lived.

But there is another word of warning here, and it has become quite unpopular in our society.

Remember the gathering of God’s people. Such an action assumes some who will not be gathered. What is to become of those who have not trusted in Jesus Christ?

Revelation 20:11-15- Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

This can’t be ignored. This is the judgement that awaits those who are not found to be in Christ.

Judgement is a bad word in our day and age. We think that nobody can judge who we are and what we do, and we so convince ourselves that we can be free of responsibility for our actions and our sins.

And yet, judgement is a reality. We will be judged, one way or another. And if we are found to be without faith in the person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and found with a fruitfulness that stems from such faith, then God’s wrath against us will be harsh. It doesn’t matter if we believe it to be true or not, it is true.

And so, may the words of our text be a call to Jesus Christ, a call to embrace Jesus by God’s grace through faith. We are reminded that faith in Christ assumes an end to faith in all else, ourselves included. Though our natural desire is to trust ourselves and our own resources, the only salvation from our sin is Jesus Christ alone.

Finally, the implications for the faithful who are found in Christ.

One implication is that we ought to be ready and willing to speak of God’s judgement against sin and sinners.

We shy away from this so easily, but consider the outcome of silence.

Our daughter Evangeline loves to do things that she shouldn’t do. Whether reaching for the stove, standing up in places where she will likely fall down, pulling things down on top of her, she loves doing things that she shouldn’t do.

Ali and I constantly have to remind Evangeline of the consequence of her actions. We have to tell her when she is in danger. We must, as loving parents, warn her of what is to come, to make the end of her path known to her.

Any parent would do this. In fact, all three of her siblings, mostly out of love, will do this as well. They will warn their sister.

Somehow we have gotten into our heads that it is unloving to warn of coming judgement. I don’t think there is something that is more unloving than silence.

We must be willing to speak clearly and plainly of God’s judgement against sin, and in so doing, forgiveness will become ever sweeter to those who hear.

But beyond that one implication, my hope is that you find a lot of joy in today’s text.

I believe that our faces are meant to brighten up when we read God’s Word, especially when we read specific promises that Jesus has made to those who are following Him.

Psalm 119:92- If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

The promises of Jesus ought to build our spiritual stamina, ought to reignite our passion for making Him known, ought to remind us of His great love for each and every one of us, and ought to support us in life’s most trying moments.

I’m not sure what phase of life you find yourself in right now, if life is good, life is difficult, or life is a mixture of both. I also don’t know at what phase of faith you are in right now- new to Jesus Christ, growing in Him, seemingly stagnant and distant from Jesus, or mature in your faith. No matter your place in life and faith, the words of Jesus are meant for you this morning. He will return, that much is promised. He will gather His elect, and dwell with them for all of eternity. Again, notice this reality shown in John’s words in Revelation 21.

Revelation 21:1-6- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

I’m reminded of a hymn by Charles Wesley- “Lo, He comes with clouds descending, Once for favored sinners slain; Thousand thousand saints attending, Swell the triumph of His train; Alleluia, Alleluia! God appears on earth to reign.”

Is this your future reality? Then you have much reason for rejoicing in worship this morning. Let’s pray.

Invitation.

What does salvation in Christ alone look like?

Prayer through tribulation.