Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Matthew 24:15-21 | Date: January 24, 2021 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We are taking this month, and maybe a week or two into the next month, to try to provide a biblical perspective on how we should understand our present age, particularly in light of the turmoils that we are experiencing as a nation, as a society, and really in the world.

We began with Revelation. And then last week we began looking at Christ’s Olivet Discourse, this discourse to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, Matthew 24 and 25. Last time we looked at verses 1 to 14 of chapter 24 that described the events of this age. Today we continue; we’ll be focusing on verses 15 to 21, but again I’d like to take the time to read verses 1 to 31.

“Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.’ As he sat on Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’

Jesus answered them, ‘See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. You’ll be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. The one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.

So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house. Let the one who’s in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

Then if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There he is!” do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, “Look, he is in the wilderness,” do not go out. If they say, “Look, he is in the inner rooms,” do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, and the stars will fall down from heaven. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, 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. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.'”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, this is an important passage for us. It’s programmatic. It lays out for us what you have planned for this age and beyond. We ask that you would give us a right understanding of it, and Lord, through it, stir in our hearts a greater anticipation for the return of our Lord. We look to Him. We wait for Him with eager anticipation. We ask that you would hasten that day. We pray in his name, amen.

The Structure Of The Passage

As I mentioned last time, we have to keep in mind that we have the setting for this sermon of Jesus in chapter 23, where Jesus has been condemning Jewish leaders for their hypocrisy of religion and so on, making their religion a sham. Of course, they have refused Christ. And so Jesus winds up in chapter 23 pronouncing doom on Jerusalem. Verse 37: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not. See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”

So Jesus has pronounced, particularly in verse 38, a coming desolation of the city of Jerusalem. This had to be an astonishing statement for the disciples. And as they walk along, they had to be brooding over this themselves and wondering how in the world, when in the world will this happen? Chapter 24, verse 1, when they finally arrive at the Mount of Olives, they point out the temple in all of its majesty; it is just a magnificent structure. And they had to be thinking, “Is this really going to come to devastation?”

And Jesus responds (this is verse 2 of chapter 24), “You see all these things, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” So we have Jesus predicting doom on the city of Jerusalem. And then verse three, the disciples come to their question. As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

So he’s prophesied doom to Jerusalem. The disciples are stunned by it. And now they ask, what’s the sign of it? When will this happen? When will you return? Verses 4 through the rest of the sermon are Jesus’ answer to that question.

Now, it’s important for us to see the structure of the passage. We mentioned it last time: verses 4 to 28 describe for us the course and the character of this age. And then verses 29 and following describe the return of Christ in glory. Last time we saw verses 1 to 14 describe the events of this age. What will characterize this age? Well, there’ll be wars, there’ll be international rivalries, there’ll be natural disasters, famines, earthquakes, there’ll be persecution, disasters of all kinds, all caught up in that word, verse 9: tribulation. That’s what characterizes this age. And we saw that it was important to notice, like in verse 6, when you see all this, note: “the end is not yet.” That is, these are not signs of the end. These are signs of the age. The end is not yet.

Now notice again the disciples’ question in verse 3. They ask, “Tell us, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” Now, as I mentioned last time, almost certainly in the disciples’ mind, these three questions were all of a piece, and they were thinking—assuming—that they would happen simultaneously. As Jesus progresses through his answer, we find that there is actually a delay between them. There are actually a couple of things involved here.

One, “these things” (when will these things be?) doubtless has reference to the coming destruction of Jerusalem that Jesus has foretold in verse two. Not one stone will be left on another. “When will these things be?” And then the other part of the question: “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And as we see Jesus’ unfolding answer, we’ll find that that then is delayed and there is this inter-advent period between. So these are not simultaneous events.

I’m going to spend a second here just pointing ahead to that. I want you to see the structure of the passage to answer that. There are a couple of opposing interpretations of this passage that have become dominant, and I have become convinced in recent years that there’s some details here in the text that point out impossible problems with both. And I think Jesus points us—we can discern how Jesus points us here—to what he is saying.

The structure of the passage: verses 4 to 28. Keep in mind now, verses 4 to 28 sketch out the characteristics of this age. This age, verse 9, is one of tribulation, wars, persecutions, famines, and so on. And verse 6, the end is not yet. And verse 8, these are just the beginnings of birth pains. Remember I mentioned last time this birth pains metaphor. It’s one that goes back to the Old Testament prophets. It was used in a big way in intertestamental literature, Jewish literature as well. It takes the metaphor of childbirth: just as the pains of labor and childbirth give way finally to the joy of the arrival of the child, so the arrival of Messiah will be preceded by a time of suffering and a time of tribulation, and that is referred to as a time of birth pains. Here, Jesus says all of this that you see—the persecution, the wars, the famines and all—these are just the beginning of birth pains.

So verses 4 to 28 describe the characteristics of this age. Now within that (and it’s important that you see this), within that 4 to 28, you have verses 15 to 21, where Jesus addresses one outstanding instance of tribulation in this age. And that is the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. We’ll be talking about that this morning. That’s verses 15 to 21. But notice verses 15 to 21 fall into this larger section of verses 4 to 28, which describe the characteristics of this age. Verses 15 to 21 are just one instance, one outstanding instance, or as someone has called it, a particularly sharp birth pain of this age. And we’ll see some more of that as we go along.

But when we get to verse 22 then—remember verses 15 to 21 describe the destruction of the temple; it’s just one outstanding instance of tribulation of this age—when we get to verse 22, it resumes describing the characteristics of this age. And I’ll say more of that as we go along. But for example, in verse 23, we have a mention of the false Christs. That harks back to verse 4, the description of this age. False Christs will arise. Verse 29 speaks of the tribulation of those days. That harks back to verse 9, which describes this age as an age of tribulation. Inaugurated tribulation, perhaps, but an age of tribulation.

So again: verses 4 to 28 describe for us the characteristics of this age. Within that, verses 15 to 21 describe one outstanding instance of tribulation in this age, and that is the events of AD 70 and the destruction of Jerusalem. And then we get to verse 29, and we have the description of the end of the age and the coming of Christ. And then verses 42 and following, we have exhortations regarding readiness and watchfulness for it.

Now I’m belaboring that because it’s essential for us to understand that to get the passage. There are a couple of different interpretations that dominate in this passage. One of them sticks all of these events out into the future: a future tribulation, a future catastrophe of some kind. Another interpretation takes it all and sticks it back in the days before AD 70, culminating in AD 70—even the return of Christ language in verse 29 happening in AD 70. And both of those interpretations, I think, have some impossible problems and that makes it such a frustrating thing for both of them. If you push all of this that Jesus is talking about here into the future, you have an impossible problem with verse 34, which tells us this generation will not pass until all these things take place. But then again, if you put it all into the first century, as the Preterist interpretation does, I think you have an impossible time with the language of verses 29 and following that describe the return of Christ in glory, which we will get to, I trust, next time.

So again: 4 to 28. In verses 4 to 28, Jesus describes what this inter-advent age will be like. Verse 9 summarizes it: it’s an age of tribulation. And within that, verses 15 to 21 describe a particular outstanding instance of tribulation that marks this age.

The Destruction Of The Temple Of Jerusalem

All right then, our focus today: verses 15 to 21, the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house. And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may be not in winter or on Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”

All right, let’s look at some of these expressions here. Verse 15: “the abomination of desolations,” or the abomination that causes desolation. This is a reference, he says, back to Daniel—in Daniel chapter 8, Daniel chapter 9, Daniel chapter 11, Daniel chapter 12. Four times in the book of Daniel we have this expression or a related expression talking about this coming abomination of desolations that is coming. And Jesus is directing the reader of Daniel to understand. So he says, “let the reader understand,” that is the reader of Daniel, understand what’s happening.

Now what’s interesting in this is Jesus says, “when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet.” What’s interesting is (and you might remember this from our studies in Daniel a couple of years ago), the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel has passed. You remember that? It had direct reference to Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC when they came and they sacked Jerusalem. It was just a brutal attack on the Israelites in Jerusalem. They set up an altar to Zeus in the holy place and they sacrificed a pig on the altar. It was an abomination that was specifically prophesied by Daniel, particularly in the early part of chapter 11 and chapter 8 as well. Daniel makes it plain. The prophecy is so specific that it’s just undeniable.

So what we have here is Jesus referring back to Daniel’s prophecy, which was fulfilled 200 years before Jesus. And then he says, “when you see this,” it is something ahead of them. Now, this really is typical of what we find in biblical prophecy. We find a prophecy given. This is not unusual in prophecy; in fact, I would argue this is standard issue in biblical prophecy. The fulfillment is not just one-to-one, but there’s an unfolding fulfillment—fulfillment in progression at each stage is of a piece with the others. One of the easy examples of that is 1 John chapter 2: “Antichrist has come. He’s here and Antichrist is coming.” We find things like Jesus speaks of regarding the Elijah prophecy: that was John the Baptist; no, Elijah is still coming. It’s both. We find that often, that the unfolding of the fulfillment of prophecy is all of a piece with one another.

Here we find that with regard to the abomination of desolation that Daniel prophesied as well. Originally, Daniel prophesied with regard to what was fulfilled in Antiochus in the second century BC, and now Jesus picks that up and says, “It is coming, and when you see it coming, run. Don’t walk, run.”

All right, now the next question is then: just what is it they will see? Again, verse 15: “when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place.” Now, because the passage climaxes in verses 29 and following in the events of the return of Christ, many have taken this reference, “standing in the holy place” (the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place), many have taken that to refer to some great sacrilege that will occur in a future temple in Jerusalem during the final tribulation at the end of the age.

Now I think there’s one—and there’s several problems—but I think there’s one very obvious problem with that, and that is verse 21: “For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” If this is speaking of something at the end of the tribulation, the only thing beyond that is the millennium and the eternal state, and of course there’ll be no great tribulations like that after that. Jesus seems clearly here to be speaking of some localized event in the midst of history that will affect, in this case, obviously, Jerusalem itself. And that is the focus of the disciples’ question back in verse three. And when we look at the parallels, particularly in Luke chapter 21, that is the focus there as well.

So then how do we understand this expression: “when you see the abomination of desolation that Daniel talked about standing in the holy place”? How do we understand that? Well, I think we should understand it in some kind of generic broad terms, and there’s some reasons for that. Number one, once the enemy reaches the holy place, the temple, it’s too late for the residents of Jerusalem to run. Once they’re there, Jerusalem’s been captured. You’re not running anywhere. We’ll see more of that in a minute of actually what happened.

Second, we already know that Jesus is referring back to Daniel’s prophecy, which had its initial fulfillment in Antiochus in the second century BC. And so Jesus seems clearly then to be drawing an analogy. “Let the reader understand”—just as it happened in the second century BC, when you see something like that happening again, I think is the sense of it.

And in fact, I think that is what is confirmed for us in the parallel passage in Luke chapter 21 and verse 20, where Luke gives us an interpretive rendering of this, and it reads like this: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by the armies” (that is the Roman armies). So he gives us an interpretive rendering. Instead of “the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place,” he says, “when you see the Jerusalem surrounded by the armies, then know that the desolation has come.”

So I think Luke confirms for us that Jesus here is speaking of a particular disaster within the midst of history in Jerusalem, and according to verse 34, within the lifetime of these people standing there. And in fact, we have that coming to pass in one of the most awful, or the great awful event of Jewish history. In AD 66, there was a Jewish rebellion, a revolt for trying to gain their independence from Rome. The Jews burned the palace of the governor there in the area. They seized control of it there. And as you can imagine, Rome was not going to take that sitting down.

Things take a while. In those days, you can’t just press a button and send a missile, and you can’t send the local forces from the local aircraft carrier. It takes a while for messages to get back to Rome, and then for the soldiers to get back. But finally now, a year or two later, Rome’s armies show up. Rome sends Vespasian, the general. Meanwhile, the Caesar back in Rome dies and Vespasian is made Caesar. So he goes back to Rome and his son Titus is left in charge of the siege of Jerusalem.

This is about AD 68. And the siege began in the north in Galilee. It is something the whole area would have seen with the armies coming, with their banners, their military banners waving. And finally they laid siege to the city of Jerusalem itself. They finally breached the walls, plundered the city. There was a massive slaughter; they destroyed the temple. It is the most horrible period of Jewish history. Jesus says here then: when you see armies like that, run. Don’t walk, run. Don’t go home and pack your bags; get out and get out now.

Well, there’s fairly good evidence, by the way, that the Christians took Jesus very seriously about that. In A.D. 68, when they saw the armies coming, they fled into the hill country around, outside of Jerusalem, into Pella and so on.

But verse 21 again: “then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be.” Josephus, the Jewish historian, is the only contemporary account of this that we have after the fact. And he writes, “What I have to recount is an act unparalleled in the history of either the Greeks or the barbarians, as horrible to relate as it is incredible to hear.” As I say, it’s just the most outstanding disaster ever to fall on anyone, and here the Jews in particular.

During the siege, there was massive starvation. Thousands of people in the city died. They died of starvation. There are reports of a woman who even roasted her child, she was so hungry to eat the child. People smelled the roasting meat and came and found what it was and they were so disgusted they had to leave. Records of people during the siege eating their own waste. It was a horrible time of siege against Jerusalem. And when the soldiers finally breached the walls of Jerusalem, Josephus tells us they came with just unbridled rage. They were given free reign in the city to do whatever damage they want. And these days the armies come in and there was no pity, no sympathy at all. And so there’s pillaging and there’s raping and there’s murders by the thousands.

Josephus says there was 1.1 million people in Jerusalem slaughtered. Now contemporary historians have questioned that. How can you get 1.1 million people to fit in this old city of Jerusalem? So they’ve disputed that. Maybe it was an exaggeration, an overcount. I’m sure lots and lots of people had come into the city to find security behind the walls and so on. But at the very least, tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of people slaughtered. Those who were not killed were made slaves. Many were captured and sent to the various stadiums around the Roman Empire to be entertainment for the Roman citizens, fed to the lions. Some were forced to be jousting contestants and so on, just made to watch them die in horrible ways. And of course the city itself was just laid waste. And as Jesus said in verse 2, not one stone left upon another. Or as he said in verse 38 of chapter 23, “your house is left to you desolate.”

So Jesus says, verse 21, “then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now and never will be.” Now, how do you understand that? There have been a lot of questions raised. It doesn’t sound like hyperbole. And yet at the same time, you can find many instances in history where more people than this were slaughtered. Hitler, 6 million Jews. Stalin, credited with something like 20 million. Chairman Mao holds the title for the greatest mass murderer in history. I was doing some reading on that this week. Some of the official records state that he estimated that 10% of the peasants would have to be destroyed in order to carry out his agrarian reforms. That would be something like 50 million. As it turned out, it perhaps was not quite that many, but millions were killed. But still, after all of them, millions of them did survive.

D. A. Carson gives a suggestion here that I think is very helpful if we understand this not in terms of the numbers of people killed, but in terms of the intensity of the slaughter that happened in Jerusalem. It is unparalleled in history. So the Jews in Warsaw during World War II were almost exterminated, but thousands did escape. As awful as Auschwitz was, thousands did escape. As awful as Hitler was in his attack against the Jews, thousands—millions—survived. When the Romans laid siege to the city of Jerusalem, no one escaped.

And when Jesus says here, verse 21, “then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be,” it doesn’t seem he’s speaking in hyperbole. He’s describing the intensity of the suffering that happened in Jerusalem in AD 70. In fact, we have no reason to think that Josephus read the Gospel of Matthew or had heard of Jesus’ sayings, but you might otherwise think he had when you read Josephus saying, “the misfortunes of all nations since the world began fall short of those of the Jews.”

Well, this is Jesus’ prophecy of verses 15 to 21: the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. And even though it is so awful, it is one outstanding sample of prophecy that has been fulfilled already.

All right, now, how does that fit into this passage? Well, first, of course, this is the answer to the disciples’ questions. When will these things be? When will this happen? Beyond that, I think, as I’ve mentioned before, we have to see it in this context of verses 4 to 28, describing the characteristics of this age, that verses 15 to 21 are an outstanding instance of the tribulation of this age. Jesus has told us that this age will be marked by wars, famines, persecutions, disasters of all kinds. And here we have an outstanding instance of that in verses 15 to 21.

I suspect (although Jesus doesn’t get into this here really, there are some hints) I suspect that all of this that happened to Jerusalem in AD 70, verses 15 to 21, is also prospective of an end-time tribulation still to come. That is, we have an inaugurated tribulation that marks this age, but there still will be, according to 2 Thessalonians 2 and other places, a final outbreak of evil at the very end of this age. And I suspect that this, verses 15 to 21, is prospective of that.

There are a couple of hints to that. This age is, after all, an age of tribulation, even if it is inaugurated. It’s a time of tribulation anticipating a final time of tribulation still to come. Also, we have in verse 8, Jesus says, “these are the beginning of birth pangs.” That is, there’s pain still to come. These are just the beginning of it. And I think more importantly, that is his reference to Daniel and the abomination of desolations. That, as we saw, was a reference to Antiochus. That, in turn, was prospective of the events of AD 70. And yet both, I think, are prospective of a coming tribulation at the final end of this age. And in fact, there’s warrant for that, I think, in the book of Daniel, where he prophesies Antiochus and yet in chapter 11 and in chapter 12 it’s suddenly cast off into eschatological terms as well. But this then is prospective of that. Daniel prophesies what happens in Antiochus. That is prospective of what happens in AD 70 and both are of a piece with what will happen finally at the end of the age. And again, that is typical of how prophecy unfolds.

We have some hints of that as well. Not only did Daniel prophesy it in terms of the end of the age, but that’s picked up in Paul and 2 Thessalonians 2, picked up in Revelation and Revelation 13, both casting it into a time of the end. So again, this age characterized by tribulation of all kinds; verses 15 to 21, an outstanding instance of that in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

And now then look at verse 22: “If those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” Now notice here how the purview now has expanded. He’s moved on from the events of AD 70. How do we know? First of all, the expression, “the elect.” The elect. There’s no way that can be interpreted to mean the Jews in Jerusalem at the time of AD 70. “The elect” is a standard designation for the redeemed people of God. The elect. And then he says, “if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.” No flesh—not just the Jews in Jerusalem at that day, but no human being, nobody. If those days had not been cut short, nobody.

So the tribulation of those days—those days being this age marked by tribulation throughout, those days marked by tribulation of all sorts with this outstanding instance of it in AD 70—those days would become so evil that if they had not been cut short, no one would survive. In other words then, when we get to verse 22, the focus is no longer AD 70, but it resumes the larger point at hand: this entire age of birth pains. Those days, the days of tribulation, according to verse 29, after which the Son of Man will return in glory.

Now if that’s the way the passage is laid out, then verse 22 is just stunning. Notice it again: “If those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” That is to say, this age of gospel advance (verse 14), this age of gospel advance, this age of persecution, this age of wars and disasters and earthquakes and famines and betrayal and false teaching and deception—this age will be so full of evil that if the Lord himself did not intervene, no one would make it. They’d find a way to kill themselves off entirely. That’s what he says.

In that sense, the events of AD 70 (verses 15 to 21) are both an outstanding example of the evil of this age, and they are also something of a sobering foreshadowing of what humanity would do for itself if the Lord himself did not interrupt in history. So what is this age like? He has told us, verse 12, it’s going to be increasingly evil. It’s going to be marked by tribulation. And in fact, it’s going to be so bad that if those days were not cut short, no one would survive it. Gospel advance, yes, but also false teaching, deception, false Christs, earthquakes, famines, tribulations, disasters of all kinds, wars, persecution—so much so that if our Lord did not intervene himself, humanity would find a way to destroy itself entirely. Sobering. That is the evil of our age, according to Jesus.

I mentioned last time a parallel reference to this in Matthew chapter 13 in this parable of the weeds and the wheat. The enemy comes in, sows the weeds among the wheat. The servants ask, “Should we pull them up?” No, let them both grow until the harvest. Let them both grow until the harvest. That’s what Jesus is saying here. Did you know that in the 20th century, there was more gospel advance than in all of the 19 centuries previous combined? Amazing. Did you know that in the 20th century, there were more martyrs for Christ than in all of the 19 centuries previously combined? Let them both grow until the harvest.

But Matthew 24 verse 22 adds the detail that humanity would become so evil that if left to itself, it would just destroy itself entirely. Stunning. And yet, even if it is couched in such haunting terms, there is a note of reassurance in verse 22, isn’t there? “If those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.” That is to say the tribulation will not last its full extent, but at last Christ will intervene and take matters to his own hands. And that particularly we see in verses 29 and following, which we’ll see next time.

Lessons For Today

Okay, with that understanding of the passage then, again, let’s draw some lessons quickly before we close. What can we learn from this?

Number one: don’t be (and again, I’m tempted to say stop being, but I’ll be polite and say), don’t be surprised when you see the culture reaching new depths of depravity. Jesus told us in verse 12 that this age would be marked by increasing lawlessness. What did you expect? Don’t be surprised when you see the culture reaching new depths of depravity. We see it in our day. We should not be surprised by it.

Number two, and it’s closely related to that: don’t be surprised when you see the rise of violence—domestically, internationally, all. Did you think that the United States should be exempt somehow? It should not surprise us and it certainly shouldn’t shake our faith when we see the rise of violence and evil even in the United States as though we should somehow be exempt. That is what this age will be like.

Number three (let me repeat them again: number one, don’t be surprised when you see our culture reaching new depths of depravity; number two, don’t be surprised when you see a rise of violence): number three, don’t lose hope. Jesus said, verse 14, that this gospel will be preached throughout the whole world. The gospel will continue to advance according to schedule. Jesus says in verse 22 that the tribulation will not reach its full extent. Those days will be cut short. And Jesus says in verses 29 and following, assuring us that he will return for his people in glory and gather them to himself and usher in a new age, an age characterized by peace and righteousness—an age the prophets tell us where the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

We’ll see more on this then next time, but we should learn from this already that our hope is not pinned in any way at all to anything this world has to offer—not in moral advancement, not in political gains. Our hope is focused squarely on the return of Jesus Christ. This age is evil, it’s characterized by increasing evil, and that’s what it’ll give. But one day, the Lord Jesus will return. And then, as he tells us in Thessalonians, he will trouble those who trouble you, and he will establish his eternal kingdom of glory. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, what a sobering estimate of the evil of this world our Lord has given to us. We pray that you’ll shore up our minds and our emotions by it. May the evil and the advance of evil that we see never shake our faith. Instead, Lord, use this to strengthen us and to strengthen our resolve to follow Jesus faithfully all the way to the end when finally we see him in glory. And again, Lord, we pray, would that be soon. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.