Sermons

THE PROPHECY

Text: Selected Scriptures from the LSB

Prayer: Gracious Father, You know we live in times of uncertainty, so today I ask that You remind each of us of Your promises. Help us to trust in Your plan and have faith that You are in control. Today, as we study this poignant and power message from the holy Scriptures concerning how things will be in the days just before our Savior’s return, I pray the Holy Spirit will strengthen our belief in Christ’s second coming and the fulfillment of Your kingdom. In the meantime, impress upon us the importance of watching, waiting, and working for Your glory. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Introduction: “And that’s the way it is ….”

Sitting behind his desk at CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite delivered that iconic sign-off for the last time on March 6, 1981. That moment wrapped up his incredible journalistic career spanning 46 years, 3 major wars (4 if you count the Cold War), the civil rights movement, the Kennedy and King assassinations, the Watergate scandal, and thousands of nightly broadcasts. At the peak of his career, Cronkite spoke to 29 million viewers every night. He shared the news of the day with honesty, impartiality, and a cool level-headedness that helped his views remain calm even in the most uncertain of circumstances.

What is perhaps the most remarkable thing about Walter Cronkite is that he understood the position he occupied within the culture, and he took it seriously. He often described his role as someone asked to “hold up the mirror – to tell and show the public what has happened.” That was it. No flooding the airwaves with opinions. No strong-arming the public to move in one direction or another. He simply spoke the truth about the world, and in doing so he helped millions find their place in it. Given that reality, perhaps it’s not surprising that he was often identified as the most trusted man in America.

Regrettably, there are no Walter Cronkites today – no voice or team of voices the majority of us trust to tell us what we need to know. Instead, our world is filled with innumerable prognosticators and prediction-makers ready to share their opinions. That includes millions of podcasters, hundreds of thousands of journalists, hundreds of 24 hours news networks, and countless ministers all clamoring for your attention and all claiming accuracy and authority on what’s happening today and what may happen tomorrow.

We hear so many voices. So many arguments. So many speculations. Everyone has a theory or an idea. Everyone is pushing some slant on the world – including what’s in store for the future. The clamor is louder than ever because we all have the feeling we’re living in a sudden-death overtime. Not until our own generation, has technology provided so many potential ways for humanity to end. If you do an online search for “the end of the world,” it’s not sermons and preachers you’ll find. It’s scientists, statesmen, physicians, physicists, and secular sages.

In the midst of all of this noise, let me suggest that there is one slant we should trust more than any other, one agenda we ought to prefer above all others, and one opinion we ought to value more than all the voices on earth. Amid the thousands of messages screaming for our attention, there’s only one voice we need to hear. It’s the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Mirror that can show us not just what is happening in the world but why it’s happening – and what will happen next.

What does Jesus have to say about the future? A lot! It may surprise you to discover that one of the longest messages of Jesus recorded in the NT is all about the future. Our future. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all include a section often referred to as the Olivet Discourse (Mt. 24, Mk. 13, Lk. 21). It is called this because Jesus answered the questions of four of His disciples – Peter, James, John, and Andrew – while sitting on the Mount of Olives (Mk. 13:3). Also known as Olivet, this area is a ridge east of Jerusalem that overlooks the city. It is a place Jesus often visited for rest and refuge.

Fewer than 50 days after His sermon on Olivet, Jesus ascended to heaven from that same mountain – perhaps from the very spot where He had preached. And it’s to this same spot He will soon return to earth (Acts 1:12; Zech. 14:4).

Interestingly, many of the slopes of the Mount of Olives are now covered with concrete tombs. Faithful Jews want to be buried there so they’ll be close at hand when the long-awaited Messiah arrives to enter the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem. No one knows how many people are buried there, but the number may be as high as 150,000, including the late Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.

In our Lord’s day the hillsides were covered with olive trees, and the message Jesus gave His disciples on that historic day is – like the olive tree – ancient, sturdy, fruitful, and badly needed. The Olivet Discourse is our Lord’s second-longest recorded sermon in Matthew. The only one longer is the Sermon of the Mount (Mt. 5-7) which was a public sermon given at the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry. By contrast, the Olivet Discourse was a private message at the end of His earthly ministry.

While the Olivet Discourse is the second-longest sermon of Jesus in Matthew, it ranks first in another category. It occupies more space than any other message by Jesus in the entire Bible, when you consider it is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It occupies two chapters in Matthew alone.

Dr. Tim LaHaye said, “The Olivet Discourse … is the most important single passage of prophecy in all the Bible. It is significant because it came from Jesus Himself immediately after He was rejected by His own people, and because it provides the master outline of end-time events.”

I. THE SETTING OF THE PROPHECY (Mt. 24:1, 21:9, 23:37-39, Mk. 13:1)

Matthew introduces us to Jesus’ prophecy with these words:

[READ Mt. 24:1]

1 And coming out from the temple, Jesus was going along, and His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.

Let’s enter the time machine of our imaginations and travel back to the time and place of Matthew 24. The Passover week would have fallen in early April, before the temperatures reached their oppressive summertime highs. Jesus and His disciples had traveled with crowds of pilgrims from Galilee, and everyone felt exuberant. Everyone except, perhaps, Jesus, who had “set His face to go to Jerusalem” for this final trip (Lk. 9:51).

Along the way He tried to prepare His disciples for the impending trauma of His arrest, trial, torture, death, and resurrection. But it was more than their minds could absorb. Who can blame them? A crucified Messiah wasn’t part of their worldview. Instead, they expected to soon be sitting at His right hand and left hand as He fulfilled the OT promises of God’s coming kingdom (Mt. 20:21).

The Lord and His companions walked through the Jordan Valley to Jericho, where He healed two blind beggars and gave them sight (Mt. 20:29-34). Then they ascended the old Jericho Road, hiking upward toward the backside of the Mount of Olives. When they arrived in Bethany, Jesus visited with His friends who lived there. Mary and Martha prepared supper, and Lazarus undoubtedly thanked Jesus again for restoring His life. Mary anointed His feet with oil, and the house was filled with its fragrant perfume (Jn. 12:1-7). Our Lord now had less than a week to live.

When the Galilean guest awoke on Sunday morning, they trudged up the eastern side of Olivet to the crest, and then Jesus asked His disciples to fetch Him a colt. In stark contrast to the Jerusalem crowd that would reject Him in just a few days, large crowds of Galilean pilgrims welcomed Him by singing,
“Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!” (Mt. 21:9).

Jesus entered the temple briefly before returning to Bethany for the night.

On Monday morning, Jesus cursed a fruitless fig tree on His way back into the Holy City (Mk. 11:12-14). Later that day, He caused a stir in the temple as He overturned the tables of the money changers (Mk. 11:15-18). The chief priests and scribes were angry enough to kill Him. Monday evening, He returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples for the night.

And that brings us to the day of Jesus’ great prophecy. On Tuesday morning, Jesus returned to the temple. There He delivered a blistering rebuke to the Jewish leaders and the nation of Israel. Have you ever been in a public place when a violent argument broke out – the kind in which conversations cease and everyone’s attention is glued to the conflict? Today people would be pulling out their cellphones to record the scene. Matthew didn’t have a cell phone, but you can’t read his account without picturing it in your mind and feeling the tension. Jesus words are recorded in Matthew 21-23. The same Lord who began His teaching ministry with a series of beatitudes (“Blessed are …”) in Matthew 5, concluded His public ministry with a series of curses (“Woe to you …”) in Matthew 23. Jesus spoke with righteous anger, and His fiery words condemned the Jewish leaders and their nation for rejecting Him. At the same time, His heart was breaking. These were His people! He loved them and the city of Jerusalem. Looking out over the houses, streets, and buildings covering the hills and deep ravines of that ancient Jewish capital, He wept, saying:

[READ Mt. 23:37-39]

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you did not want it. 38 Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

The last thing Jesus did before He left the temple on Tuesday evening was to sit opposite the temple treasury and watch people give their tithes and offerings. He watched as the rich gave much but a poor widow only her two mites (Mk. 12:41-44). Tuesday drew to a close. Only three days left. Then perhaps with a passionate backward glance, Jesus departed from the temple, symbolizing the withdrawal of God’s presence from that sacred place (Mt. 24:1). He sadly descended the staircase, leaving the mount where His people should have received Him. They would see Him no more until they were ready to say,
“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Mt. 23:1).

That’s when the disciples remarked to Jesus, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls” (Mk. 13:1). There’s been a lot of speculation about why the disciples chose this moment, of all times, to become so infatuated with the temple buildings. I confess, I have no idea what the reason could have been. Maybe it was because the barrenness of their inward lives had been exposed. In other words, their spiritual lives might have been empty, but they sure were proud of the beautiful building their ancestors had built. Or, perhaps, the disciples wanted to distract Jesus and themselves from the emotional exhaustion they had gone through that day. Maybe as the evening sun sank low in the sky, it sent cascades of gold across the stones and through the columns, and they were simply awestruck by the beauty of what they saw.

We might not know exactly what the disciples were thinking about the temple that Tuesday evening, but it’s pretty clear what Jesus thought about it. It is remarkable that Jesus spent the entire last week leading up to the cross focused on the temple and the corruption taking place there. The temple had become a place of financial greed where false religion and hypocrisy abounded and where poor widows were being robbed. God’s people had made a mockery of the temple and its purpose – and for that, judgment was coming soon. Jesus had had enough.

II. THE SUBJECT OF THE PROPHECY (Mt. 24:2, 3-8; Lk. 19:42-44; Mt. 24:3, 4-8)

From their vantage point on the Mount of Olives, Jesus and His disciples had a staggering view of Jerusalem and the temple complex. It was there, at that place and moment, that Jesus made a stunning prediction about the future.

[READ Mt. 24:2]

2 And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

What was Jesus doing when He predicted the utter destruction of the temple in Jerusalem? We dare not miss the significance of this! His words were breathtaking and definitive because He intended to show us His infallibility as a prophet. He said something so profound it could hardly be believed, yet so historic that later it could not be denied. Jesus was giving a specific prediction that would be fulfilled to the exact letter, so not even our modern historians can dispute it. He foresaw the soon-coming total destruction of everything they were gazing at – all of the edifices on the Temple Mount.

This wasn’t the first time Jesus had predicted the destruction of the temple. When He rebuked the Jews for their unbelief a chapter earlier, Jesus told them, “Your house is left to you desolate” (Mt. 23:38). He was also speaking about the city of Jerusalem, and particularly the temple, when He said this on the day of His triumphal entry:

[READ Lk. 19:42-44]

42 “If you knew in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

The Jewish historian Josephus described the temple complex as “the most admirable of all the works that we have seen or heard of, both for its curious structure and its magnitude, and also for the vast wealth bestowed upon it, as well as for the glorious reputation it had for its holiness.” The temple was one of the most expansive, majestic, and important buildings in the world. But not for long. In a few brief words, Jesus made a profound prediction that must have stunned the four disciples who heard it and the three disciples who recorded it for us in their gospels.

Fast-forward to AD 70. Less than 40 years after our Lord’s message, the temple was gone. Here’s how it happened. Responding to a Jewish uprising throughout Judea, the Roman general Titus built large wooden scaffolds around the walls of the temple buildings – a tactic never before used. He piled the scaffolds high with wood and other flammable material and set them on fire. The intense heat weakened the temple structure, and the Romans were able to dislodge the giant stones, prying them off one by one and casting them into the valley below. Afterward, soldiers sifted through the rubble retrieving any gold that had melted into the smoldering ruins. All that remained on the site was flattened down to the retaining walls – exactly as Jesus had predicted.

What are the odds that Jesus could accurately “guess” about a huge and highly honored temple being destroyed within a few decades? What is the likelihood that His “guess” would be so accurate? The statistical probability boggles the mind. But when Jesus speaks, odds mean absolutely nothing. What He predicts always comes true. What He prophesies happens – precisely as He says it will. So, less than 40 years after our Lord’s message, the temple was gone.

My reason for telling you all this is because one of the keys to understanding Jesus’ words about the world at the end of history is to understand that His prophecies were fulfilled exactly as He said they would be. They are precise. And nothing illustrates that truth more powerfully than Jesus’ prophecy concerning the destruction of Herod’s temple. This prophecy is the prelude to the Olivet Discourse, proving that we can fully depend on the accuracy of the rest of what He said about the future. We can have every confidence in their precise fulfillment.

Probably stunned by Jesus’ blunt promises, the disciples responded by asking Him two questions:

[READ Mt. 24:3]

3 Now as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”

In Matthew 24:48, Jesus began to answer by describing the initial group of what we often refer to as “the signs of the times” – the things that will happen just before He returns. We’ll devote the rest of this series to studying this revelation in detail.

[READ Mt. 24:4-8]

4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

III. THE SECRET TO THE PROPHECY (1 Thes. 5:1-3; see also Rev. 6:1-17, 8:1-5, 9:21, 11:15-19, 16:1-21)

The secret to understanding our Lord’s prophecy is found in the final word of the verse, which is sometimes translated as “sorrows.” The Greek term used in Matthew 24:8 is odin, which literally means birth pains – the contractions that begin and increase during the birth of a baby.
The contractions occur when the muscles of a woman’s uterus tighten and release, which prepares her body to give birth. At first, these contractions may be rather mild and irregular. But as the delivery draws closer, the contractions become stronger, closer together, more regular, and more painful. When the contractions are coming quickly and intensely, you’d better get to the hospital or you’ll be giving birth in the back seat of the car.

The apostle Paul used the same figure of speech when he discussed the return of Christ with the believers in Thessalonica, saying:

[READ 1 Thes. 5:1-3]

1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant, and they will never escape.

The time period Jesus describes in Matthew 24 is also pictured in the book of Revelation where the seal judgments unfold over a period of probably years (6:1-17; 8:1-5), the trumpet judgments over a much shorter period of time, perhaps weeks (8:6-9:21, 11:15-19), and the bowl judgments over the period of maybe just a few days or even hours (16:1-21).
What Jesus wants us to know as we unpack the rest of His sermon is this: the things that are going to happen in the future will not take place all-of-a-sudden. They will be like birth pains, with the frequency and intensity of each gradually increasing. When we observe this pattern in the world, then we’ve discovered the secret to understanding the signs of the times.

IV. THE SCOPE OF THE PROPHECY (1 Thes. 4:17; Mt. 24:4-14)

Some who have written about the subject of the end times have buried this sermon by Jesus deep into history. In other words, they want us to believe everything Jesus said to His disciples was fulfilled in AD 70 when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Several of these writers have even tried to convince us that the second coming of Christ happened in AD 70!

Others believe that Jesus’ words have nothing to do with today’s world. They take a two-pronged approach: (1) What Jesus said about the temple being destroyed has already happened, and (2) The remainder of the Lord’s prophecy won’t be triggered until the church is removed during the rapture. Over the years, I have come to believe that these words of Jesus are for us today. They are for me, and they are for you.

Here’s what respected theologian Dr. John Walvoord wrote about the Olivet Discourse (and this aligns with my own convictions today):

The words of Christ to His disciples on the Mount of Olives delivered not long before He died have dramatic contemporary significance. In this discourse, Christ answered their questions concerning the signs of the end of the age and of His second coming. The revelation becomes increasingly vital to understanding the meaning of events that are occurring today …. A study of these prophecies will help one to understand the headlines of our newspapers today.

In his book Prophecy Made Plain, Carl G. Johnson wrote, “As I have studied this chapter, I am convinced that we have in the first eight verses a picture of this present age.”

The signs Jesus promised are like birth pains. They are occurring now, increasing in frequency, and pointing toward the rapture of the church. But the moment the church is gone, those signs will become much more severe and will throw the post-rapture world of the tribulation into a state of seizures and spasms such as we see described in the book of Revelation. In fact, the signs of Matthew 24 line up perfectly with the seals of Revelation 6. It is uncanny how accurate the Word of God really is.

However, none of this means we’re exempt from the buildup of these birth pains today. Jesus’ prophecy applies to us at this critical hour of history. While it does not tell us when the rapture will occur, it does describe what life will be like during the season of the rapture. Yes, after the rapture these signs will be solidified and fully realized during the first half of the tribulation. Yet they will not appear out of nowhere. They will represent the continuation and intensification of what was already unfolding on the world stage.

When Christ comes in the air for His church (1 Thes. 4:17), every single Christian on earth will be removed – and with the Christians, the indwelling Holy Spirit, who is the restrainer of all evil. At that point, all hell is going to break loose on earth, and the signs given in Matthew 24:4-14 will accelerate to tribulation speed.

V. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPHECY

What Jesus shared in His Olivet Discourse is not some ivory-tower speech with no impact on our lives. He spoke each word carefully and precisely, and each one is meant to help you and me on a personal level. They are just as relevant to us as His Sermon on the Mount.

I never want to impart biblical information without making sure we see the spiritual lessons in every page and verse. There are three things that strike me about our current life – the day-to-day activities, and attitudes lived out by the followers of Christ.

• Jesus Wants to Teach Us About the Future

First, Jesus wants us to study the future. Our Lord was in the habit of preparing His disciples for upcoming events even during His days on earth. As we’ve seen, He made a point of telling those around Him some of the things they could anticipate in the days ahead. So, don’t let anyone tell you Jesus didn’t bother about the future or was uninterested in prophecy, because the facts say otherwise.

Also, Scripture says otherwise. J Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy lists 1,239 prophecies in the OT and 578 prophecies in the NT for a total of 1,817. These encompass 8,352 verses out of 31,102 – or more than a quarter of God’s Word!

The Olivet Discourse was one of the ways Jesus warned His disciples, including you and me, about the end of history. He showed us the signs to watch for and how to live. The question is: Will we listen? Will we respond? If we do, we won’t be surprised by the future. We will recognize the signs of the times, and we will properly handle the strains of everyday life as we anticipate His return and strive to live for Him in the last days.

• Jesus Wants to Transform Us for the Future (Jn. 16:1, 4)

Second, Christ’s prophetic ministry also transforms us so we’ll be able to meet the demands of the future. Jesus said:

[READ Jn. 16:1, 4]

1 “These things I have spoken to you [about the future], so that you may be kept from stumbling …. 4 But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

Jesus was saying, “If you grasp what I am telling you about the future, you won’t fall all over yourself. You won’t fall into the trap of running around in panic mode when you can trust Me instead. You won’t be blown off course because you will have a sense of what God is up to.”

If you’re looking for a manual to the future that places no demands upon you today, or a guidebook for the days to come that has no bearing on the times we are living in, you’ve come to the wrong place. I believe God intends knowledge of future events to help us live in our world with a sense of urgency until the Lord returns.

Paul Benware wrote, “A believer who gets out of bed in the morning thinking my Lord Jesus could return today will probably not let sin take root in his or her life. But Christians who rarely, if ever, reflect on the realities of the future life, the Lord’s coming, and the judgment seat of Christ are far more vulnerable to temptation and sin. And perhaps that explains something of the sin and apathy seen in much of the church today.”

• Jesus Wants Us to Trust Him with the Future (Rev. 1:17-19; Isa. 46:9-11)

Finally, as human beings, we often get things wrong when we try to predict the future. For example, during a 2007 interview with USA Today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer forecasted, “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” Ballmer based his conclusion on the notion that iPhones would be interesting to technology nerds, but not to the general public. “I want to have products that appeal to everybody,” he said. Eighteen years later, with more than 2.6 billion iPhones sold, it’s safe to say Ballmer was wrong.

So, what about Jesus, then? Why can we be sure that His prophecies will come true? Why can we trust that He is telling us the truth about the future?

In his introductions to the book of Revelation, the apostle John answered these questions by giving us one of the most profound reasons imaginable for listening to the prophetic words of Jesus. John was on the Isle of Patmos when he saw the One to whom we should listen, and this is how he described the encounter:

[READ Rev. 1:17-19]

17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not fear; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. 19 Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.

Who else do you know who has one foot planted in eternity and the other planted in time? Who do you know who actually lives in the present and in the future and says to us today,

“This is what you should expect as you await My return”?

No one ever grasped the future as firmly and completely as the Lord Jesus Christ. He sees it all, and He knows it all. As the eternal God, He sees the whole parade of humanity from beginning to end, from Adam to the Antichrist. We only see little bits and pieces of it, but Jesus alone is the Alpha and Omega.

[READ Isa. 46:9-11]

9 … I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My counsel will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’…. 11 Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have formed it, surely I will do it.

The lesson is clear: you can trust our Savior with the future! And not just with “the future” generally, but with your future specifically.

VI. WHAT WE’VE HEARD FROM GOD’S WORD (Phil. 2:15-16)

Now we can understand why Jesus didn’t answer the disciples’ two questions in great detail. In fact, He didn’t even answer one of their questions at all – the question about the timing of the destruction of the temple. Instead, He gave them a series of signs of what the end of the world would look like. Jesus was reminding His disciples that they didn’t have to figure out how all the pieces of the end-times puzzle would fit together. Instead, their responsibility was to trust Him with the future and remain faithful to Him until the end.

Beloved, that’s going to be the focus of the rest of this study. Jesus gave us this prophecy to prepare us for what’s to come and I want to share His advice with you. He didn’t give us this information so we would be afraid of what’s to come or be over-whelmed by it. He knows what’s ahead, and He wants to make sure we can face it with confidence and hope. He wants us to be:

[READ Phil. 2:15-16]

15 … blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life ….

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may the Holy Spirit take the words of Jesus we have heard today, and help us apply our hearts to wisdom. As the sands of time run down to the end of this wicked world, keep us blameless and innocent, help us to never lose our grip on the word of life, and use us to light the way to Christ’s salvation, in whose name I pray, Amen.

Invitation Slides: “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” (3 vs.)

Benediction: Beloved, keep looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven – Jesus Christ our Lord, whom God the Father raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment. Amen. (1 Thes. 1:10)