Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Matthew 24:36-44 | Date: February 7, 2021 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Introduction

Well, if you would have your Bibles with you and follow along, we are returning to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24—in this series of messages, we are trying to gain a biblical and a theological perspective on this age, particularly with reference to the current events and the upheaval of our culture and society. We began with the Book of Revelation and did a broad survey, and then we’ve been looking at the Olivet Discourse, Matthew chapter 24 and 25.

Today, I want to begin reading just at verse 29. Matthew 24, verse 29, and please follow along if you would and keep your Bibles handy. We’ll be looking at these verses.

Verse 29: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the sun will fall from 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 one end of heaven to the other.

From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that the summer is near. So also when you see all these things, you know that he is near at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only.

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken, the other left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

All right, a very important passage regarding the time and the timing of Jesus’ return. So we can title this message, “Watching and Waiting.” Watching and Waiting.

Remember at the end of chapter 23, Jesus has prophesied his rejection of Israel—that because they have rejected him, he is rejecting them. The disciples make their remarks at the beginning about the greatness of the temple, and Jesus predicts there’s coming a destruction upon Jerusalem. Not one stone will be left on another. They see this as a horrific end-of-the-age event, and so they ask, “When will this happen? When will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?” And Jesus spends Matthew chapter 24 and then chapter 25 in his answer to those questions.

Verses 4 to 28—and I keep repeating this, I want you to keep it in mind—verses 4 to 28 describe the course and the character of this age. This is what this age will be like. In verse nine, he calls it an age of tribulation, and he expands on it in those verses. It will be an age of gospel advance, verse 14. But gospel advance in the midst of false teaching, apostasy, persecution, natural disasters, and wars—all of that will characterize this age.

Verses 15 to 21 then, he gives us an outstanding instance of what this age will be like. Some particularly sharp birth pains, if you will, to use his metaphor. That’s the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. That’s verses 15 to 21. But verse 22 then resumes the discussion of the larger picture of this age and what it will be like. And Jesus says in verse 22, as we’ve seen, just that sobering statement that this age will be so evil and become so evil that unless God would intervene, they’d find a way to kill themselves off entirely. So that’s what this age will be like.

Now, I think it may be helpful to pause for a moment as well and reemphasize what I’ve mentioned before, and that is the emphasis that Jesus places on this idea of persecution. Look again back at chapter 24, verse 9: “Then 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. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 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.”

So one of the marks of this age is that because it is so evil, it will be marked by persecution of God’s people. On one level, that’s been the history of the Christian church. In one respect, we could write a history of Christianity in terms of its persecution and the struggle for the gospel advance that Jesus mentions in verse 14. I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago when a good friend, Tom Castor, stopped by with his wife, Lee. You all know them. They have a wonderful ministry of making more gospel impact, I think, than any ten people I know.

But he was relaying a conversation he had with some missionary friends of his. I believe it was in one of the Mideastern countries. And these missionaries are there and they frequent this particular restaurant. And there’s a lady there who waits on the tables. They’ve developed conversations with her and some kind of a relationship. And they’ve shared the gospel with her over the time and whatnot. And she comes in from the mountains to the village to work at the restaurant, and then goes back up into the mountains where she’s home on the days that she has off.

Well, they’d talked to her for a number of times over the months. One day, they finally were very pointed with her, and they asked her, “Why will you not come to Christ? Why will you not follow Jesus?” And her response was just fascinating. She said, “I don’t know if I’m ready to die.” They were puzzled for a second. “What do you mean?” And she said, “Well, if I follow Jesus, I will have to tell my family. And I know my brothers will kill me.”

Well, there is a snapshot of much of what this age has been like. We have been spoiled, as I’ve mentioned, in the last couple of hundred years in the Western culture with the advance of Christendom and all. But we need to keep in mind that this age, Jesus says, is characterized by evil and increasing evil. And if that is the case, it does not bode well for Christians. There will be, as we are already seeing, increasing pressure to conform. It is not enough that you allow abortion; you have to approve it. It is not enough that you allow homosexuality; you must approve of it. It’s not enough that you allow same-sex marriage; you must approve of it. It’s not enough that you allow transgenderism; you must approve of it and call it normal. And you certainly shouldn’t and must not criticize other religions like Islam.

Well, you see, in all of that, at some point, it’s going to bring increasing pressure on the church and on individual Christians—that increasing pressure to conform. In Revelation chapter 17, the Apostle John describes it in terms of the beast and taking the mark of the beast. And you must accept the mark. And if you can’t accept the mark of the beast, you will not do business. But we’re seeing that already. If you don’t think and do and behave and acknowledge and conform to what the beast demands, it’s becoming more and more difficult for us to do business. The Apostle Paul talks about it in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 in terms of believing a strong delusion coming so that people will believe the lie. But we’re seeing all of that.

Now what that looks like in the end as it gets worse—and I don’t think you can get out of 2 Thessalonians 2 without seeing that there will be a final outbreak of evil. What that will look like in the end, I don’t know exactly. But some kind of culminating evil, the evil that characterizes this age, will climax in a grand way. I can’t say that there will be mass persecution everywhere. But I can say that it will be worse than it has been, say, in AD 70 or places where the Christians have been persecuted for centuries. But I can say that it looks like it will be more and more pervasive.

Well, Jesus says that in verses 22 and following, that at last he will intervene and cut all of that short. And then verses 29 and following, he describes it in terms of the return of Christ in all of his glory and in that in an unmistakable event. I think it might be helpful also, before we move on in the passage, to put all of this in big picture, whole Bible perspective. I’ve mentioned this before, but let’s take a moment and back off and see it in whole Bible perspective again.

God created man and woman in the garden. They were to be his vice-regents. They bore his image and they were to extend his rule over the entire earth as God’s image-bearers over the earth. That rule that man and woman were to have in God’s stead reflecting his rule—that rule, of course, was subverted. Satan took it. There’s a sense now in which he can be called the god of this world. Now, God is still king over all. God is still sovereign over all that happens. He’s sovereign over Satan and everything else. But you see, his rule now is contested. There’s rebellion in the world against God. And the whole Bible story from Genesis 3 onward is the story of God reestablishing his rule over the earth and over all.

That’s tracked out for us in the main ways in the Old Testament covenants. The Noahic covenant: God promises he’ll preserve the world in order to accomplish and fulfill his created purposes. In the Abrahamic covenant: he promises that all the families of the world will be blessed in Abraham’s seed. In the Davidic covenant: he promises a king who will rule over all of the world in righteousness and in peace. In the new covenant: he promises he will save his people, he will redeem them, give them forgiveness of sins, and he’ll transform their hearts so that they will want to follow him. The nation of Israel in the Old Testament was in a very real and important sense, the kingdom of God in microcosm. And yet they failed. And yet that nation of Israel in the big flow of history anticipates a true Israel, a people of God in Christ, the true Israel, who then fulfill God’s purpose of kingdom worldwide.

So then we come to the New Testament, and we have the king who arrives—the big announcement: he’s here; the long-promised king is here. And when he comes, he secures the promised redemption, secures forgiveness for his people. He has earned now the right to rule and he’s established his kingdom. Well, he’s inaugurated his kingdom. The world is still in rebellion. His rule is still contested. But as the gospel makes its way to men and women, one by one, they bow the knee and his kingdom is extended. And finally, when the gospel has done its work and it goes worldwide, as Jesus says in verse 14, this gospel of the king will be preached in all the earth. When the gospel has done its work worldwide, when evil has reached its climax also, Christ will return. God himself in the person of Christ will break into history, establish his rule, put down all opposition, and rescue his people forever. In the language of famous words of Revelation chapter 11, the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of Christ.

Well, that in broad perspective is what we have now in Matthew chapter 24. We have gospel advance promised amid this age of tribulation and then climaxing in the triumphant return of Christ. He describes that return in verses 29 and following in vivid terms. Earlier in Matthew, he taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come.” And that’s what he is describing here now. All right, that then is the perspective that has brought us to this point in verses 36 and following.

The Timing Of Christ’s Return

And here we come, first of all, to the question of the timing of Christ’s return. The timing of Christ’s return. Now recall a couple of things that we’ve seen already. Verse 29, he tells us that he will return immediately after the tribulation of those days. That is this age of tribulation. And then the next thing on the calendar is the return of Christ. Verses 33 and 34 specify all these things will be fulfilled within that first generation of the church. All these things, verses 4 to 28, that characterize this age from beginning to end, that will happen within that first generation. And then what happens within that first generation will mark the entire age. And then Jesus will return.

Now, Jesus doesn’t tell us how long that age will be. He just tells us what it will be like throughout. And the next event on the calendar after this age of tribulation is Jesus’ return. And so he tells us, when we see all of these things happen, which they began to happen in the first century, that first generation, then know that the coming is near. That’s verse 32: “From the fig tree, learn this lesson. As soon as the branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.” And so it is with the coming of Christ, verse 33. So we know then that this age will be one of tribulation throughout, and then when it’s complete, Christ will return.

Now, verse 36, he tells us that that time will be unknown and unknowable. When he returns is unknown and unknowable. And judging from the record of Christians throughout the history of the church, this is a verse we need to learn very well: “Concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

You always know you’re in for a meaningless conversation when someone says, “I know Jesus said you can’t know the day or the time, but…” and about that time you’re gonna need to yawn and say, “Oh boy, this is gonna be good.” Well, he said you can’t know the day or the hour, but he didn’t say you can’t know the month or the year—which of course is just word games. Obviously here, Jesus’ point is that the time is unknown. It cannot be determined by anyone in any sense. And we should not presume to know better than Jesus.

Now, just to drive that point, and because I think you will find it interesting as well, but to drive the point, I want to give you a brief history, a brief overview of people who didn’t take Jesus seriously on this. I call it “A Brief History of the Egg on Their Face Club.”

Okay, second century: we have Hippolytus of Rome, we have Sextus Julius Africanus, and we have a big name, Irenaeus. They all three prophesied or predicted that Jesus would return by the year 500. Well, one of the predictions was based on calculations derived from the dimensions of Noah’s Ark. Well, that makes sense. Jesus gives the illustration “as it was in the days of Noah.” Oh, let’s take the dimensions of the Ark. Let’s make some calculations and predict—ah, comes up to 500. Jesus will return the year 500. Well, in case you don’t know, he didn’t.

Many Christians predicted that Jesus would return on January the 1st, the year 1000. In fact, Pope Sylvester II—you didn’t know there was a Pope Sylvester, did you?—Pope Sylvester II predicted that Jesus would return January 1st, 1000. At the beginning of the new millennium, it makes perfect sense. Well, when it didn’t happen, Pope Sylvester said, “Oh, no, he’ll be here in 1033.” That’s 1,000 years after Jesus’ death. Well, he died in 1003 and didn’t get to live long enough to be discredited.

In the 18th century, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, said that Jesus would return in the year 1836. In the 19th century, we have William Miller, and I am ashamed to say it, he was a Baptist minister, but he began his own sect. So he didn’t remain Baptist, but William Miller, a Baptist minister, founder of the Millerites, so-called, branched out into the Seventh-day Adventists eventually. He predicted that Jesus would return sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. March 22, 1844 marks what is known to history as the “Great Disappointment.” So many people excited—it’s going to happen just as it was predicted, and oops, it didn’t. The Seventh-day Adventists who branched off of that then decided that Jesus would return in 1964. And then they, come 1965, they had to make some adjustments again.

In the early 20th century, a man by the name of Charles Taze Russell—he was the first president of what is now the Watchtower Society of the Jehovah’s Witnesses—predicted that Jesus would return in 1914. And then after 1914, and another great disappointment, he changed it and adjusted his calculations, said, “No, Jesus will return before the generation living in 1914 passes away.” And he bases that on verse 34 of Matthew 24 here. So before that generation passes away, the generation living in 1914, Jesus will come. Well, by the 1990s, it was getting pretty difficult for the Russellites, Jehovah’s Witnesses, to believe that. And so now they’ve adjusted it further that 1914 was the year Jesus appeared in heaven.

Let’s move forward a little more. Herbert W. Armstrong, the Worldwide Church of God, said that Jesus would return in 1936. Oops. No, he’ll return in 1940. Believe me, it’ll be 1940. Oops. Oh, no, wait. It’s going to be 1972. That’s it. Oops. Well, he’s going to come before I die, Armstrong said. Armstrong died in 1986.

S. Louis Johnson was one of the most outstanding New Testament scholars of the mid-20th century. We got to know him very well. It was a privilege to know him. He mentioned one time that in the seminary where he taught—now I don’t remember now if this was in 1948 at the establishment of the state of Israel or if this was in the 60s when the Israeli wars or what—but one of the professors at the seminary announced in chapel that we probably would not be finishing this school year. Jesus will return. Oops, I would love to have been in the faculty lounge with them the next school year.

Another man by the name of Edgar Whisenant wrote a very famous, very popular book, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Five million copies of that thing sold. 1988 came, Jesus didn’t return, so he adjusted. Oops, no, it’s going to be 1989. Oops, no, it’s going to be 1993. Oops, no, it’s going to be 1994. And then he kept adjusting more. And of course, with each one, his credibility dwindled.

I’m sure many of you remember Harold Camping. Jesus will return the 6th of September, 1994. Oops, no, it’s going to be 2011 that he’ll return. Jerry Falwell predicted in 1999 that Jesus will probably—now he did give the word “probably,” will give him that—but he said probably within 10 years. Hal Lindsey predicted that Jesus would return in the year 2000. He figured also that “this generation” of verse 34 meant the generation alive in 1948, the founding of the state of Israel. This generation, so by the year 2000, Jesus will return.

My favorite one, Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University. He lived 1752 to 1817, predicted that Jesus would return in the year 2000. Now there’s something to learn from Timothy Dwight, because he predicted Jesus’ return far out enough that he wouldn’t live long enough to be discredited. So if you’re going to predict the return of Jesus, make it out far enough that you can’t have egg on your face while you’re alive.

Well, that’s enough. There’s a lot more of these. But there are no end to the people who do not take Jesus’ words seriously. Just recently, someone on Facebook told me somebody had it all figured out—some code, taking the numerical value of some names and selected verses of the Bible and adding them up and calculating them certain ways. And it brings the coming of Christ to 2021 or whatever it’s going.

My point in all of that: please learn from verse 36. You don’t know. Jesus said, “You don’t know.” So learn from verse 36 and learn from those who didn’t learn from verse 36 and don’t be duped. It is ours to rest confidently in God’s plan and trust that Jesus will return at just the right time. It’s not given to us to know the time. It is given to us to know the character of this age and to resolve to be faithful and to be ready and watchful until Jesus does return. He will return. It is next on the calendar, but you don’t know when.

Sudden, Unexpected, And Surprising

That brings us up through verse 36. Now, beginning in verse 37, he tells us his return will not only be unknown and unknowable, but it will be sudden, unexpected, and surprising.

In verses 37 to 39, he gives us the illustration from the days of Noah: “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

First here is this expression, “they were eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage.” Many people have taken that as some kind of an expression of the evil of Noah’s day. Noah’s day was evil. That’s why this flood came. But that’s not what this expression is about. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage—it just means they’re going on with the ordinariness of life. Their routines—they pay no attention to the preaching and the warnings of Noah. Noah, we know from 2 Peter, was a preacher of righteousness. He had evidently warned the people of his day. They said, “Ah, that’s a fairy tale. It’s Mother Goose kind of stuff. It’s not going to happen.” And so they go about life, just like they always do—eating, drinking, marrying, and just go on with the routines and the ordinariness of life.

And then it rained. And the flood came. And it was too late. It was sudden. It was unexpected. And it was surprising. Now this gives us a very insightful and a very important glimpse of what the world will be like at the very end. Yes, there will be tribulation, there will be wars, there’ll be famines, there’ll be advancing evil. As far as the church is concerned, there’ll be gospel advance amid false teaching and persecution and betrayal. But for the people of the world at large, they’re just going about life—eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriages, going about the routines of life. And then suddenly, as though without warning—to use Jesus’ language like a bolt of lightning out of the sky—the skies will open, the Lord Jesus will make his very unmistakable entrance. The military banners unfurling, the church will be caught up rejoicing, and the lost will mourn and wail with terror as the judge of the earth comes to call the whole world into account. That’s the picture Jesus gives us in verses 37 to 39.

In verses 40 to 41, he gives us another illustration, two more illustrations from everyday life. Verse 40: “Two men will be in the field and one will be taken and the other left.” Probably picturing here in that culture, a father and a son working together out in the field. One taken suddenly, the other left. Verse 41: “Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken, the other left.” Here in this culture, probably mother and a daughter or mother and a daughter-in-law working at the mill, grinding the wheat. Suddenly one taken, and the other’s left.

Now, there’s also been a lot of discussion here on what is the significance of the word “taken,” or more specifically, who is taken? Are they taken in judgment? Are they taken in rapture? What’s the point here? Well, in verse 39, we have not the same word, but the “taken” idea of swept away in judgment. But then in the larger context, we’re anticipating, verse 31, being taken up in rapture, gathered up by the angels. So which is it? Taken away in judgment or taken away by the angels in safety?

And for the life of me, I have an inkling that it might be taken in judgment. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out what difference it makes which one is in view here. Taken in judgment—one of them taken in judgment, the other one left safely; or the one taken safely and the other left in judgment. The point is the same: a final separation when Jesus comes. And what he’s envisioning here is a joyous and yet at the same time a dreadful scene.

Stay Awake

And so verses 42 to 44 draw forth the obvious application: “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.”

So here Jesus draws the analogy of a thief—a thief breaking into the house. It might seem to be a strange analogy to use for the coming of Christ, the thief. But actually, it’s language picked up from the Old Testament. In Joel chapter 2, the day of the Lord will be like a thief. It’s picked up in Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5, and also in John in the book of Revelation chapter 6. And the idea, of course, is not theft and deception. The idea is that of the suddenness, the unexpectedness, and the surprising nature of the coming.

It is very much to the point: if the house owner knew at what time the thief was coming, he’d have taken precautions. He’d have been ready. And Jesus says, “You don’t know when I’m coming, so you must be ready always. You must be prepared always.”

And this then becomes a dominant theme in the New Testament. And in fact, I won’t bore you with all the details of it, but the New Testament has an extensive vocabulary to describe this watchfulness, readiness, being ready, expectation kind of thing throughout the New Testament in Jesus and in Paul and in virtually all of the writings. Language like: wait patiently, look forward to, expect, await eagerly, wait for, anticipate, to be awake. All of this kind of language is used over and over in the New Testament, picking up on what Jesus tells us here. You must be ready always. And that in light of the fact that his coming is near. You don’t want this to catch you off guard or ill-prepared.

And that in turn becomes the subject of Jesus’ parables beginning in verse 44. And we’ll see that next time.

Let’s recap here. Verses 4 to 28, we have the character of this age. Verse 29, we have the climax of history—stupendous events, just scarcely imaginable, Jesus’ unmistakable return in glory. Verses 36 and following tell us that from that first generation of Christians onward, we can’t know when it’s coming. We just know it’s near because these things have happened. And so he calls on every Christian to live every day with this grand event in view. Verse 42: “Stay awake for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

Live today, he says, in light of what you know will come. That ought to give us joy. It ought to shape our priorities. It ought to shape our ambitions. Live today in what you know will happen one day. Folks, I don’t know—I thought about this this week preparing the message—I don’t know how sufficiently to impress this on our minds. It surely says something about us—I include myself in it—it says something about us that we can go daily without a lively anticipation that this age will not continue as it is forever. That evil will not go unchecked forever. That the righteous will not be persecuted forever. That history has this wonderful goal that one day the Lord Jesus himself will come, break into history, and bring all the world into account. That ought to shape our perspective every day.

Our purpose in this series has been to give us this biblical perspective on this age—to understand the current upheaval in terms of what Jesus said this age would be like, but to shape it against the horizon of what we know is coming, and that is our Lord’s return. And so again, verse 42: “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

Notice, by the way, what he says here: “your Lord.” He doesn’t here use the expression “Son of Man,” but “your Lord is coming.” This is Jesus’ own endorsement of the title Lord. And the church has acknowledged him as Lord ever since. This notion that our Lord comes, our Lord is coming—that notion ought to just ring in our hearts daily. Pastor Boyd mentioned it earlier in his prayer. The saints in heaven today, Revelation chapter 6, the saints in heaven today who have gone before us—they pray for it: “Lord, how long?”

That’s why I’ve chosen that hymn that we’ve been singing at the end of each service this month. “Oh, Lord Jesus, how long? How long? There we shout that glad song, Christ returneth. Hallelujah.”

The early church had a way of reminding each other about this great truth. We find it in 1 Corinthians chapter 16. They had kind of a greeting. It was an Aramaic word that they brought over into Greek: Maranatha. Maranatha. The Lord comes. Come Lord. You find a Greek translation of the same thing in Revelation 22 verse 20. “Come Lord” is kind of a greeting. So when they would part with one another and say goodbye: “The Lord comes. The Lord comes.” I got to tell you, that makes our “Have a good week” sound pretty trite, doesn’t it?

The Lord comes. Remember, the Lord comes. Be faithful, be ready, be watching for that great day. As Peter himself said in 2 Peter 3, “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” That’s the perspective we have in the midst of this culture of upheaval and evil. The Lord comes. And it will be a joyous and it will be a devastating day. Amen.