In history and bringing it all the way to the end and beyond. Today I want to back up and we’ll look at what’s called the Olivet Discourse, Jesus speaking to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, Matthew 24 and 25. And the first 14 verses will be our focus this morning, but I’d like to read through verse 31. Matthew 24:
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 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?” 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. These are but the beginnings, the beginning of birth pangs.
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, put you to death. You will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 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. But 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. And let the one who is in the fields not turn back to take his cloak. For 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 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, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all of 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 the one end of heaven to the other.”
Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, this is a very important passage for us to gain a right perspective on this age, an important passage for shaping our hope. We pray that you would give us a right understanding of it and encourage our hearts by it, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
I would like to have taken time to read the entire context, which immediately is all of chapter 23 of Matthew. This is Tuesday of Passion Week, and in chapter 23, Jesus gives this extended, scathing rebuke of the Pharisees for the emptiness of the religion that they profess and making a sham of it all. And that climaxes in chapter 23, verses 37 to 39:
“Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. 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 he has condemned the leaders of the Jewish religion for the sham of the religion that they’ve made of it. He tells them, verse 38, “Your house is left to you desolate.” He’s pronounced judgment coming on Israel. “You won’t see me again until that day when you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'” And that idea of the coming of Christ is taken up then in chapter 24, as is also the discussion of the destruction, the judgment of Israel.
The Setup For The Olivet Discourse
Chapter 24 now, verses one to three, resumes the discussion. And here we have in verses one to three the setup for the Olivet Discourse itself. Verse one: “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 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 end of the age?”
So in verse one, evidently the disciples are struck with the greatness, the beauty of the temple in Jerusalem. It was a magnificent edifice, had been rebuilt under Herod the Great, who was—for all of the evil about him—a great administrator and a great builder, and this was a marvelous structure. And they’re taken with it in verse one.
Verse two then, Jesus changes the perspective. “You see this great temple? I tell you, there’s coming a time when it will be torn down brick by brick.” Well, that is an echo of verse 38 of chapter 23: “Your house is left to you desolate.” Well, I think we can just only imagine what kind of impact a statement like that would have had on the disciples. This is a magnificent structure in itself, but symbolically, it is much more than that. This is Israel’s temple. And now Jesus says it’s going to be decimated.
And so we come to verse three. Evidently they’ve been pondering on all of that and in shock. And when they come to the Mount of Olives, they ask, “When will that happen? And what sign can you give us of the end of the age?” So that’s the context in brief. Chapter 23, we have Israel’s rejection of Jesus, and in turn, Jesus’ rejection of Israel, his foretelling of Israel’s coming judgment, and yet, chapter 23, verse 39, Jesus will return, and Israel will respond, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” An echo of Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10 and an issue that Jesus will take up specifically when he gets to verse 29, which we’ll see in a couple of weeks.
All right, now notice again verse three: “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 end of the age?'” We have three questions there. Almost certainly in the minds of the disciples, this is one question stated three different ways because all of these things are of a piece. Such an event in their minds just could never happen to the temple except there’s some kind of cataclysmic end of the age kind of catastrophe. And so they ask, “When will this happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Now notice the expression then in verse three, “the end of the age.” The culmination of the age or the culmination of the ages. That’s an expression that Jesus uses elsewhere that we’ll see. It has its roots back in the prophecy of Daniel, where Daniel speaks of “the end,” and various related expressions like that: the end, the time of the end, and so on. A number of references in Daniel that speak of that. That seems to be the point here as well, and Jesus refers to it several times. Look at verse 6: “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.” Verse 13: “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” Verse 14: “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
But now this is very important for understanding the Olivet Discourse, and it’s very important for understanding the structure of it as well. Notice verse six again: “You will hear of wars, rumors of wars, see that you’re not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” Very important, Jesus is giving us an explicit clue regarding these signs. When you see these things, the end is not yet. Verse 8: “All these are but the beginning of birth pains.”
Now that’s an expression that finds its origin back in the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah—all three use that expression. It’s an expression that was picked up in the intertestamental writings as well. It spoke of the time prior to the coming of Messiah that would be marked by tribulation and anguish of various kinds, but the term “birth pains” is used to describe it, just as birth pains, painful as they are, lead to the joyful arrival of the new child. So these birth pains, this tribulation that will come, this time of suffering and anguish, will give way to the end when Messiah comes. And that then is the end that Jesus is referring to: his coming.
And so what’s important to see in all of this then in verses four all the way through verse 28, he is giving characterizations of this age. This is what this age will be like, verses 4 to 28. Now it’s very important, the whole burden of Jesus’ reply is there will be a delay, a time of delay before he returns. And in that time of delay, there will be wars, there will be rumors of wars, there will be famines, there will be earthquakes, there will be persecution, there will be betrayal, and all of that that he describes in verses 4 to 28. But the end is not yet. He doesn’t say it comes to the end until we see verse 14, and then he expands on other things that we will have to get to next week. So verse 29 and following then, we have the events of the end itself, the return of Christ in glory. But verses four to 28 that we will look at today and next time have to do with the course and the character of this age.
What Will This Age Then Be Like?
According to Jesus, what can we expect today and tomorrow and the next day, until he comes? What can we expect it to be like? So let’s back up and see.
Number One: False Christs
Verse four, there’ll be false Christs. 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.” False Christs, probably to be understood literally—people claiming to be Jesus, claiming to be the Messiah—as well as more broadly, because it’s associated, as we’ll see in verse 11 and other places, with false teaching more generally. Verse 11: “Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” Verses 23 to 27, all of this about, “Look, there’s the Christ, go see him, come into the room, we’ve seen him,” don’t bother watching.
So there’s some mixture here of a literal claim to be the Christ and the broader application of false teaching, claiming to be Christ’s teaching. I’ll never forget the first time, years ago, I was made aware of somebody making his rounds to various cities claiming to be Jesus, having come back. I was just stunned that someone could actually say such a thing. Jesus says that will happen. It happened in the first century. It has happened since. And more broadly, there have been false teachings said to be the teaching of Christ, and all of that, Jesus said, will be characteristic of this age. Cracks and cranks of all kinds, and history has witnessed that since the first century. And many of them will be impressive in many ways. But don’t be fooled by them. He tells us, “See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name.” They’ll have false teaching. Don’t be taken in by it. That’s what this age will be like. Number one, false Christs.
Next: Wars And International Rivalry
Verses six and seven: This age will be like this—wars and international rivalry. “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.” Growing up in the mid-20th century, there had been World War I, there was World War II, there was now Korea, and all of this escalation of wars. I remember very well preachers saying, “There’s an increase of wars. Jesus said that’s a time of the end. Jesus will be coming soon.” And what I did not learn until later is that it is the opposite of what Jesus said. Jesus said there will be wars, there will be rumors of wars, kingdom will rise against kingdom. This must take place, but the end is not yet. That’s what this age will be like. In other words, characteristic of this age will not only be false teaching leading people astray, but wars and international rivalries of various kinds. And Jesus says, when you see it, know that I told you that would be characteristic of this age.
Natural Disasters
And then verse seven, the last part of the verse, we have another characteristic of this age: natural disasters. “There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” And then again the clarification, verse eight: “All these are but the beginning of birth pains.” Again, I remember hearing often from preachers—well, not often, but I’ve heard many times from preachers every time there’s an earthquake, it seems—”It’s a sign of the times, Jesus is coming. You know there are more earthquakes than there used to be. It’s a sign, Jesus is coming.” The last I knew, by the way, there actually are not more earthquakes than there used to be. There’s just an increase and an improvement of reporting on earthquakes. But in any case, whether there are more or not, Jesus did not say, “When you see earthquakes and famines, know that I’m coming right away.” It’s not what he said. The end is not yet. These are the beginning of birth pains.
This age will be characterized by false Christs, false teaching leading people astray, wars, international rivalries, and natural disasters. That’s what this age will be like, he said.
Persecution And Suffering For The Gospel
And there’s more. Verse 9: there’ll be persecution and suffering for the gospel. Verse 9: “They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” Then, that is during that time, while all of these other things are happening—false Christs, false teaching leading people astray, wars, international rivalries, famines, earthquakes, natural disasters—while all of that is happening, you’ll be persecuted for the gospel’s sake as well. That’s what this age will be like.
On one level, we could write a history of the church in terms of the persecution of the believers. And if you have not done any reading on that, I encourage you to, whether it’s Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, or records of the martyrs during the time of the Reformation, the Spanish Inquisition. If you want a place to start, start with J.C. Ryle’s account of some of the martyrs in Britain. It’s a humbling thing, but this in many respects has been the history of the church for all of its centuries. False Christs, false teaching leading people astray, wars, international rivalries, natural disasters, and persecution of the people of God. That, Jesus said, is what this age will be like.
Apostasy And Betrayal
Verse 10, there’ll also be apostasy and betrayal. Isn’t this a cheery conversation? There’ll also be apostasy and betrayal. “And then,” that time, during that time, “many will fall away.” Apostasy is another recurring theme throughout the history of the church. People turning away from the faith. Why? Can’t take the heat, can’t take the pressure, tired of waiting, and it says they’ll betray one another and hate one another on all levels. Apostates turning from the faith, turning on people that they used to be with, the people of God, turning them in, betraying.
We find this, by the way, in a parallel passage in Matthew chapter 10, verses 34 to 37. If you’d like to turn back a few pages, Jesus says the same thing. Matthew chapter 10, verse 34:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I’ve not come to bring peace, but a sword. I’ve come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”
That’s the division Jesus brings. We have an expression, “blood is thicker than water.” People of family, you stick by them. But isn’t it interesting how when Christ enters the picture, that fades? How many times I’ve known people that come to Christ, they come into the church, their lives are transformed, and now their parents turn on them.
Thinking of one man in particular, years ago, he came out of the world, his life was transformed. His brother was still into drugs and all kinds of trouble, but it was this man who had come to Christ that his mother just thought was crazy. She turned on him, gave him a hard time, was bitter against him, bitter against the things of Christ. One day I was at the grocery store and bumped into her in the parking lot. And you know, you try to make nice. You talk, and she started in. She was very bitter against Christianity. She started in on me: “I decided that I was going to read through the Bible myself one time and just see what it’s all about. I bet you have. And we got to the Sermon on the Mount. It said Jesus came to bring a sword.” And I’m thinking to myself, “That’s Matthew 10, Sermon on the Mount’s Matthew 5 to 7,” but I’ll give you that, that’s all right. “Isn’t that awful, Jesus said he came to bring a sword.”
And I thought to myself, you know, you’re trying to make nice and you’re trying to be pleasant, and she picks the verse. And I said, “Lois, do you have any record of Jesus carrying a sword and sticking people with it?” “No.” “What does it mean then?” I said, “Lois, what it means is that a man comes to Christ and chooses to follow him, and his mother may well hate him for it.” That is the reality of this whole age. A man or woman comes to Christ and now he’s the bad guy. Does that ring a bell in our culture? Jesus says that’s what this age will be like. False Christs, false teaching leading astray, wars, international rivalries, natural disasters, persecution of the people of God, apostasy, betrayal.
False Teaching And Heresy
And then verse 11, again, false teaching, heresy. “Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.” Well, that started early, didn’t it? Paul has to deal with that in Galatia, the Judaizers. Paul has to deal with that in 1 Corinthians, people denying the resurrection. Paul has to deal with that in 2 Corinthians 11, where he says, “I betrothed you to Christ, and now you’re flirting with another Jesus?” This has been, in many respects, the history of the church as well. False teaching from within the church rising up to lead astray the people of God.
It shouldn’t, I suppose, but it stuns me every time I see it again in our own generation—the things that evangelical theologians have to argue for with other evangelicals. The inerrancy and the authority of Scripture. Shouldn’t that have been settled among us at least? And yet here we’re having to fight it again. The nature of justification by faith alone among professing evangelicals, and here we’re having to fight it again. Creation. That God made man and woman distinctly. The roles of men and women. The role of sex. Can you think of many issues that are easier and more clear in Scripture? And yet here we are having to fight those things all over again in our own generation. I say it stuns me every time I see it, but it shouldn’t surprise us. That’s what Jesus said this age would be like. There’ll be false Christs, false teaching, wars, natural disasters, persecutions, apostasy, betrayal, false teaching.
Increased Evil
And then verses 12 and 13, there’ll be increased evil that will affect even the church. Verse 12: “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” So there’ll be the rise of sin, the rise of lawlessness. Does that sound contemporary? Lawlessness will be increased, and as a result, the love of many—that’s us, professing Christians—the love of many will grow cold. Apathy, wearing out, indifference, can’t take it anymore, it’s not worth it.
So what are the characteristics of this age? False Christs, false teaching leading people astray, wars, international rivalries, general discontent, natural disasters, persecutions, suffering for the gospel, apostasy, betrayal, false teachings, heresy, increased evil that affects even the church.
Gospel Advance
And, verse 14, gospel advance. “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.” Just as this age is to be characterized by wars and false teachings and apostasy and disasters of all kinds, so also this age is to be characterized by the advance of the gospel throughout the whole world. We see that echoed in Revelation chapter five, don’t we? Remember we saw that last week? When the redeemed in heaven sing the song of praise to the Lamb: “You have redeemed us out of every nation, tribe, and language and tongue.”
And this then is the course of this age as Jesus described it. False Christs, false teachings, wars, international rivalries, general discontent, natural disasters, persecutions, suffering by the people of God, apostasy, betrayal, false teaching, increased evil, increased apathy, and gospel advance. That’s the story of this age. With regard to the world at large: wars, famines, earthquakes, disasters. With regard to the church: persecutions, false teachings, and gospel advance.
By the way, I think I’ve dealt with this before, but it’s been a couple of years ago. This is an important thing to remember with a question that commonly comes up: Is this world getting better, and will it get better until Christ’s return? Or is this world getting worse, and will it get worse until Jesus returns? The answer, of course, is yes. Look at—turn back a little bit—look at Matthew chapter 13. Jesus addresses this specifically there as well. Here he’s giving in Matthew 13 the parables of the kingdom. And you remember the parable of the weeds. In Matthew 13 verses 24 and following, the enemy comes in and sows weeds among the wheat. You remember his servants come: “Should we go pluck up the weeds?” And notice what Jesus says. Verse 29: “No, in gathering the weeds, you will root up the wheat along with them.” Verse 30: “Let them both grow together until the harvest.” And at the harvest time, I’ll tell the reapers to gather the weeds and then gather the wheat. Let them both grow until the harvest.
Is the world getting better? Yes. There is the advance of the gospel to all of the nations. That’s characteristic of this age. Is the age getting worse? Yes. It is getting worse because lawlessness is abounding increasingly. All right, that then is the course of this age as Jesus describes it here in these first 14 verses. We can’t work our way through the rest of the passage.
Lessons From All Of This
Let’s draw some lessons from all of this. What can we learn from this much of the Olivet Discourse?
Number One
Although we should nurture a sense of eager expectation with regard to the coming of Christ, we should be hesitant to interpret world events as indicators that his return is necessarily near. Let me say all that again. Although on the one hand, we should nurture a sense of eager expectation of the return of Christ, we should be hesitant to interpret world events as indicators that he must necessarily return soon. I told you last week in brief the story of the fall of Rome and how Christians in the Roman Empire viewed that. The restrainer’s been taken away, this is the coming of Antichrist, this is the end of history. And it just wasn’t so.
We should be very careful as well. With all of the recent events and the upheaval in our culture and society and everything that’s happening that’s clearly so wrong, I’ve been asked many times, “Do you think this is a sign of the end of the age?” And man, I’m tempted to say, “Yeah, I know what you’re talking about. I can build that case.” And then I remember so many other people who have stepped out on that limb and ended up with egg on their face. I’m not stepping out on that limb and going to say it. I don’t know what God has. That’s part of what Jesus is emphasizing here. He’s cautioning us not to look at it and say, “Oh, it must be now, it must be now, it must be now.” No, the end is not yet, the end is not yet. These are the beginnings of birth pains. This is what this age will be like. It’ll be an extended period characterized by not just the delay of his return, but characterized by the advance of evil and violence in so many different ways.
In fact, this is an issue Jesus dealt with on several occasions. In Luke chapter 19, he tells a parable for the specific purpose—Luke tells us—for the specific purpose that many thought that the kingdom would be immediately. And to deflect that kind of thinking, Jesus tells the story about the owner of the place that goes out on a long journey, leaves his people in charge to attend his affairs. We’ll find that in chapter 25 in the parables that Jesus teaches as well. Now the point in this first lesson is not, certainly not, to quell any sense of expectancy and anticipation of Christ’s return. Jesus deals with that later; we’ll see that. But it is to warn us of false expectations and misinterpreting current events.
Second Lesson
Number two: we should not be surprised when we see apathy, false teaching within the professing church, and even apostasy. We should not be surprised when we see apathy and false teaching within the professing church and even apostasy. Jesus warned us that this would happen. Verses 10 to 12: “Then many will fall away. Betray one another, hate one another. Many false prophets will arise, lead many astray. Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” We’ve all seen it. Someone comes into the church, makes a profession of faith, and drifts off. No interest in the things of Christ. It shocks us. And what’s true on an individual level like that is true on the whole history of the Christian church. Jesus says that’s what will happen. That’s what this age will be like. And so implicit in Jesus’ remarks here is not only a warning and telling us that those things will happen, but implicit in it is the exhortation for us to remain vigilant and be on the lookout against false teaching, against apathy, and against falling away ourselves.
Lesson Number Three
We should not be surprised—I’m tempted to say here, “stop being surprised”—but we’ll just say this: we should not be surprised when we see the culture set itself in opposition to Christ. We should not be surprised when we see the culture set itself in opposition to Christ. In fact, we might even say it this way: we should expect opposition. We should expect persecution. Verse 9: “They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” That is, there’ll be no place on the planet where you’re really safe.
I’ve mentioned this before; I think it bears repeating over and over again to remind us that in the last couple of hundred years—particularly here in America, the last several hundred years to some degree—we’ve been living in a historical bubble. We’ve had unprecedented safety as Christians, unprecedented privilege as Christians. We even could call it Christendom for a while. And it was unthinkable that Christians could be persecuted for their faith even, what, a few years ago? But we have been living in a historical bubble. Think of it broadly. Think of it historically. Think of it in terms of the early church under the earliest centuries of the Roman Empire with all of its awful persecution of Christians under Nero and Domitian and so on.
And all through the history of the church, we’ve seen it in more contemporary centuries with the communists in Russia and in China, North Korea. A hundred years ago, North Korea was a hotbed of revival. And it’s just been quashed. And we can only imagine what has been happening to the people of God in North Korea. One of these days, I’m sure stories will leak out. We see martyrs in Africa. We see martyrs for the faith under Islam. In fact, even in so-called Christendom, there was persecution of believers, the most faithful of them. If they didn’t toe the state church line, they were to be persecuted. That was true in early America as well. Baptists imprisoned. You remember the famous line from Patrick Henry defending a Baptist minister: “My God, gentlemen, a man in prison for preaching the gospel.” And he won the case just so eloquently. But that’s what Christians have had to put up with broadly throughout this age. That’s what Jesus said would happen.
And we have been spoiled in the last couple of hundred years living in this historical bubble. And we have no reason—no reason at all—to think that that will continue. We have every reason to expect that it will not. Jesus has said characteristic of this age will be opposition of the culture to Christ. One of the great themes of the book of Revelation, we saw a hint of it last time, is the suffering of the faithful, following the Lamb wherever he goes. The New Testament church was a suffering church and they’re warned about it continuously.
And I think I will mention again: this is one big difficulty I have with the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. Many of you are familiar with it—that the church will be taken away before the time of tribulation comes. And I suspect that would be a very odd doctrine to so many in the history of the church throughout the centuries. What has happened to believers in centuries gone by that could be worse in the end times? Well, anything could be worse. It could be more widespread, and I think that will be the case. But the idea that God will rescue us out of all of this, I think, is just simply mistaken. I think that it runs into problems here in Matthew chapter 24. Jesus is telling us, he’s telling the apostles, “Watch for these things until the end when he comes.” And one of the great difficulties with the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture, it seems to me, is that if it is mistaken—as I think it is—then it leaves believers ill-prepared for persecution that will come. And we have wonderful brothers and sisters that believe that. I do not mean in any way to denigrate them. Wonderful brothers—one of my best friends in the ministry believes it, and we argue over it—but I think it does leave Christians ill-prepared for what Jesus says will come and be characteristic of this age.
Fourth Lesson
Then, we must strengthen ourselves in the faith so that we’ll remain faithful even in the hardest times. We must strengthen ourselves in the faith so that we will remain faithful even in the hardest of times. The demand in all of this is perseverance. That’s verse 13: “He that endures to the end shall be saved.” As we saw last time in the book of Revelation, believers are overcomers, conquerors, those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
Number Five
We should expect in all of this to see gospel advance. Verse 14: “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” That’s characteristic of this age. That’s the story of the last 2,000 years: gospel advance to all the nations. For two centuries or so, God has used the United States in a marvelous way as a missionary base for the sending of the gospel to the corners of the earth. And it’s been a marvelous thing to see. Hard to imagine that before us, it was Britain, there were others. Hard to imagine that the initial base of the outgrowth of Christianity was Turkey? North Africa? Can you imagine that? And it just might be that God will move on from the United States like he has from others. But we may be sure that in it all the gospel will advance to the corners of the earth. That’s what Jesus said. That’s the mark of this age: gospel advance. And that then is the subject of our prayers, our giving, our efforts to see the gospel go to men and women everywhere.
Final Lesson
From all of this, we must cultivate a right perspective on life and history. That really is a collective one, what we’ve seen through all of this. We must cultivate a right perspective on life and history. The words of verse 14 ought to just ring in our ears every day: “This gospel will be proclaimed, this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed to all of the nations, and then the end will come.” Lord, what are you waiting for? I’m waiting for my people to come in. The gospel has ways to go yet. When that program is done, our Lord will return.
At the climax of history, verses 27 and following, our Lord will come in unmistakable glory. And every eye will see him. And he’ll come in judgment and he will come in salvation. As we saw last time, he earned the right to rule. He has the kingdom in his hands, and when he returns, he’ll take the reins of this world to himself, and all will acknowledge his lordship. And so it is left to us—and this is verses 42 and following through chapter 25, the parables—it is left to us to be watchful and to be ready and to be faithful until he comes.
Let’s bow for prayer. We’re thankful that we can have this instruction and this caution from you. We’re thankful for your Son who has come and has taught us what to expect in this inter-advent age. Help us, Lord, to be faithful. Help us not to be shaken by the things that we see in our culture, but help us to be faithful in it and help us to be ready always, looking for that great day of the return of our Savior. In whose name we pray, amen.