Matthew 24:1-26 - Steadfast Living in Troubled Times

Take our Bible and go to Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

You're visiting with us, or just here recently, we've been going through the Gospel of Matthew together.

And we've now reached chapter 24.

My intention today, as we get into this, which is called the All of It Discourse by many, is to be more pastoral than prophetic.

And you'll understand what I mean as we go through this.

Some of this is going to sound a little professorial, sadly.

There's a lot of information that I want to introduce to us as the body of Christ as we enter into this section of scripture.

But hopefully we can get practical, not just informational.

Nearly two weeks ago, we experienced in New York a couple natural phenomena.

We experienced an earthquake, which I regretfully was driving during, didn't get to feel.

And we also saw a nearly total eclipse here in the city.

And when these things occurred next to each other, there seemed to be a buzz in the air.

People wondering if all of this maybe was some sign that things were coming to an end.

Did you sense that?

I did.

Those feelings probably heightened by the fact that we have a war in Israel and Gaza and Syria and Iran and all of their alliances are all sort of shaken loose, rattling their swords.

A couple weeks ago, after those things happened, someone asked me if I thought there was any significance to the fact that there was an earthquake and an eclipse.

And my reply was, well, we experienced what are two natural and normal events in our world as we know it: an earthquake and an eclipse.

And I saw no greater significance in those two things happening than any other earthquake or any other eclipse that our world has experienced.

And that's especially true for anyone outside of our area.

I've got two sons who live in London.

They didn't experience either an earthquake or an eclipse in those two days.

We did because they happened near us.

But I have a couple of questions to ask.

People were wondering, is this the end of the world?

Is this some sign that things are drawing to a close?

Well, let me ask this question: what if they were signs that the world was about to end?

What would you do if the world was going to end tomorrow?

Or if the world was going to end this year?

As we come into Matthew chapter 24, that kind of question seems to be in the focus as Jesus teaches and his disciples listen.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

As Jesus goes through this sermon, he brings into that message warning signs about the end times.

And it's not a pretty picture.

He uses images of doom and gloom and falling stars and shaking heavens and all the rest.

It's very vivid.

What are we to do with this kind of passage?

Well, generations of people have come to Matthew chapter 24 and 25 and used it as their prophetic play-doh to try to construct predictions about when Jesus would return.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

And a lot of them would even try to put a date on it.

And skipping over centuries of time, coming just simply to the 20th and 21st century, there are examples and many examples that could be multiplied of people who have looked to Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 to set dates or to make proclamations of apocalyptic end of the world.

Some of them are people I love and respect.

One man, Chuck Smith, in the 1976 book, The Soon to Be Revealed Antichrist, said this.

We're living in the last generation, which begins with the rebirth of Israel in 1948.

And he says, right after that, see Matthew 24, 32 to 34.

Well, you could look at Matthew 24, 32 to 34, and it doesn't say anything in there about the rebirth of the nation of Israel.

He repeated his claim in another book in 1978.

And he said, if I understand scripture correctly, Jesus taught us that the generation would see the budding of the fig tree, the birth of the nation of Israel.

That'll be the generation that sees the Lord's return.

And then he goes into setting his dates.

I believe the generation in 1948 is the last generation.

And since a generation of judgment is 40 years and the tribulation period lasts seven years, I believe the Lord could come back for his church anytime before the tribulation starts, which means anytime before 1981.

Well, if all of that math sounds a little familiar, it's because it's the exact same math that Hal Lindsay used in his book, The Late Great Planet Earth.

Now, I value both of those men a lot, but not in this area.

He, Chuck Smith, and Hal Lindsay are, however, not alone in these sorts of attempts to try to set dates.

Edgar Wiesnant wrote in 1988 88 reasons why the rapture will happen in 1988.

In 1992, Harold Camping wrote a book, 1994, Question Mark.

The only thing that saved his neck was he put a question mark at the end of 1994.

He predicted the day of judgment would be September 6th.

And when September 6th showed up, he said it was going to be September 29th.

And when September 29th showed up, he said it was going to be October 2nd.

And then we saw October 3rd.

Did he learn his lesson?

No.

In 2005, he predicted the second coming of Christ would be May 21st, 2011.

When that came, he said it to October 21st, 2011.

These sorts of speculations about the end of the world are rampant, and the passage that we're going to be looking at for the next several weeks is the fertile soil for these predictions.

As they look into it and look for a date.

But that's the problem.

So many have tried to predict the end of the world, and they've come up with these dates, and of course, they capture the attention of people that want to make news.

And when they fail, as they always have, they're turned into a laughing stock.

And sadly, so is the testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

But all of these people are right, not about setting dates, but they're right about something.

They're right about the fact that Jesus promises that he will return and that he will bring this creation to an end.

And that everything that we look at, everything that we think is stable and permanent, is actually a lot more fragile, a lot more vulnerable than we imagine.

When we come to these two chapters, that thought's going to be reinforced.

Jesus makes statements here, predictions and promises that uproots the disciples' notion of the permanency of their world, the temple, God, the nation of Israel, scattered the world hearing a message about a Messiah.

Before we dive into this section of Scripture, I want us to sort of back up a little bit and re-enter it with just some notion of where we're at in the Gospel of Matthew.

Several times over the past couple years, as we've gone through Matthew, I've indicated that Matthew's structure as he lays out this gospel carries three main elements to it.

There are demonstrations of his power by way of miracles, healings, controlling the winds and the waves, and all sorts of things.

There are statements of calls to discipleship that Jesus makes.

Follow me is a big term in Matthew's gospel.

And then there are these sections of teaching or discourses.

And we've looked at four of the five that are in this gospel.

We saw the call of the kingdom in the Sermon of the Mount in Matthew 5 through 7.

We saw Jesus speak to the communicators of the kingdom as he called out his apostles in Matthew chapter 10.

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

We heard him speak about the characteristics of the kingdom in the parables of Matthew chapter 13.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

We've recently turned the page away from the fourth discourse, the community of the kingdom in chapters 18 to 20, where Jesus exalts humility and sincerity and service.

And now we've entered into the last of the five discourses of Matthew's gospel, the Olivet Discourse, where we read about the conflict of the kingdom.

As we come into the Matthew chapter 24 and 25, it's important that we see how all this fits in.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

Back in January, January 21st to be exact, three months ago to the day, we started a study of one day of the life of Jesus Christ.

Turn with me back to Matthew chapter 21 and verse 18.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 21 and verse 18.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

Early in the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry.

We started that study in January, and here we are in April, still on the same day of Jesus' life.

And when Jesus entered the temple, well, as he was returning to the city before he entered the temple, he called out to his disciples and he said, See a lone fig tree by the road.

You went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves.

And he said, May no fruit ever come from you again.

And at once the fig tree withered.

Jesus wasn't just angry at a barren tree.

He was using it as an emblem of the nation of Israel that the Messiah had come to and had found no readiness for.

He begins the day with that.

And as soon as he enters into the temple, verse 23, the confrontation begins.

He enters in, the chief priest, they come to him while he's teaching, and they said, By what authority are you doing these things?

Who gave you this authority?

These religious leaders rightly saw Jesus' actions as a challenge to their authority and to their position among the people, and they were striking back.

Who made him think that he had some authority to do the kind of things he's doing without asking for our approval first?

And the rest of the day is filled with challenges from these people trying to trap Jesus by his words.

And we looked at these things.

They throw a whole bunch of questions at him: questions about paying taxes to Caesar, questions about the resurrection, questions about the greatest commandment.

And they're not friendly questions.

They're questions to provoke Jesus, to try to undermine his reputation among the crowds and to catch him out.

But Jesus skillfully answers every one of their questions and then asks them some questions that they don't answer at all.

And Jesus goes on the offensive by speaking some parables.

And we looked at those parables: the parable of the two sons, the parable of the wicked tenants, the parable of the guest at the marriage feast.

And again, these parables are not intended to be simply moral lessons.

They were conflict parables that were spoken to expose the religious leaders for what they were.

They were, to use the language of the parables, the son who claimed to be doing the Father's will while all the while disobeying him.

They were the wicked tenants who killed God's messengers and son.

They were the man who was going to be barred from the wedding feast.

And Jesus concluded all of these denunciations with a series of seven woes.

Jesus on that day came into it with a lot of enemies.

And this day brought their fervor and their anger to a head.

On that day still, Jesus departs from the temple.

Let's go back to Matthew 24 and verse 1.

As Jesus left, going out of the temple, his disciples came to him and called his attention to the buildings.

And instead of joining their sort of wondrous looks and their cheerful praise of the complex, Jesus replies to their marveling eyes, Do you see all these things?

Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.

After leaving the temple, Jesus and his disciples went down a hill and crossed a narrow valley and back up a hill called the Mount of Olives.

And from the Mount of Olives, you can look down on the temple complex.

I think there's a reason why he went there.

It wasn't just because it was a close proximity to the temple.

There are many other places he could have gone.

But he went to the temple mount or to the Mount of Olives, echoing, I think, what Ezekiel saw in two of his visions in Ezekiel chapter 10 and 11.

Ezekiel 10 · chapter mention

Let me just read these to you.

Ezekiel is a prophet to the nation of Israel at the time of their extraction from the land of promise and their placement as those who were cast out into Babylon, as they were scattered, and as destruction came upon the city of Jerusalem.

And Ezekiel saw this, and he said, The glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

And the cherubim lifted their wings and ascended from the earth before my eyes, the wheels beside them as they went.

And the glory of the God of Israel was above them, and stopped at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord's house.

So this image of the glory of God, the manifestation of his presence in the temple, lifting up out of the temple and heading east.

And then in chapter 11 and verse 22, then the cherubim and the wheels beside them lifted their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them, and the glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped on the mountain east of the city.

In Matthew, Jesus, the Word who became flesh and we dwelt among us, the one that we observed his glory, the glory as the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth, leaves the temple, lifts himself up out of the temple complex, and sets himself down on the Mount of Olives as an echo to what Ezekiel saw in his prophecy.

And so he begins to speak.

As we come into this, these two chapters, Matthew 24 and chapter 25, I want to map the structure out for you because there are a lot of things that confuse people in these passages.

And it's important for us to at least capture the flow from a higher level before we get into the details of it.

First thing you're going to notice in Matthew chapter 24 are two comments: a comment by the disciples and a comment by Jesus.

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

We've looked at that already.

The disciples make the comment about the temple, and Jesus makes a prediction about its destruction.

So you see that in verses 1 and 2.

Following those two comments are two questions.

Take a look at verse 3.

They're both there.

While he's sitting on the Mount of Aulus, the disciples approached him privately and said, Tell us when will these things happen?

And what is the sign of your coming and to the end of the age?

So those two comments in verses 1 and 2 are followed by two questions in verse 3, which leads Jesus into two answers.

Two answers.

He takes up those two questions and he answers them both.

He answers the question about when the temple is destroyed, and he answers the question about what are the signs of his return.

Following that, if you look at chapter 24 and verse 45, you'll see that Jesus begins three parables.

So you've got two comments, two questions, two answers, three parables.

The first parable is a parable about the faithful and wicked servants that runs from verse 45 to 51.

Then beginning in chapter 25 to verse 1 to 13, you have a parable of the ten virgins.

And then finally, from verses 14 to 30, the third parable of the talents.

Jesus closes off this discourse with one final judgment.

Two comments, two questions, two answers, three parables, one final judgment.

If you can keep that locked in your mind, you've got the flow of these two chapters.

He at the end speaks about the separation of the sheep from the goats, some to eternal life and some to eternal destruction.

This morning we're going to look at the two comments and the two questions and begin to look at the answer per that Jesus provides.

I'm going on vacation from 3 p.m.

today, and Micah gets the fun job of finishing this off.

Right, Micah?

Yes, sir.

Yeah.

Love ya.

See ya.

Anyway, as we go through this section of scripture, I ask you to keep your eye on the significance of why Jesus gave it to us and not get caught up in the sensationalistic urge to try to set dates.

This is a pastoral message that has prophetic undertones.

It's not meant to sort of satiate our driven curiosities.

It's meant to move our hearts to things that will honor the Lord rather than make him a laughing stock in society.

So let's move through the two comments, the two questions, and begin to look at how we can set up Jesus' answers to those things.

Let's go back just a second to verse one.

The disciples, despite all they've experienced that whole day, are still struck by what they see there in Jerusalem.

It's astounding for me to think of this.

All of the piercing questions that Jesus got thrown at him and his insightful answers.

All of Jesus' provocative questions coming back to the Pharisees and the scribes.

All the denunciations of the parables, all the condemnation of the seven woes.

It was as if they didn't even listen to any of it.

Mark 13 in verse 1 puts it a little more dramatically than Matthew.

As Jesus was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, look what massive stones, what impressive buildings.

Really?

It'd be like listening to sinners in the hands of an angry God and wondering what Denny's has on a special after after church is over.

Look at the temple.

Look at the structure.

What remarkable engineering.

And there was reason to be impressed, to be sure.

Josephus talked about the beauty and the magnificence of the temple.

The exterior of the temple wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye.

Being covered on all sides with massive plates of gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated a fiery flash that people strained to look at and were compelled to avert their eyes as if by solar rays.

I mean, it's a remarkable sight.

And the religious significance of it was even greater.

This was the place.

This was the place where people worshiped.

This is the place where God could be entreated.

This is the place that was the ultimate symbol of God's election of the Jewish people as his own and of his commitment and promises to him.

This was the place where Yahweh dwelt.

This was where he ruled from the midst of Israel.

This was where, through the sacrificial system, that in the great festivals that they had, that they would understand that he lived with them in grace and forgave them and restored them and enabled them to be free from defilement and to continue to be his people.

They loved the temple.

Jesus, take a look at it.

Isn't it wonderful?

And Jesus replies, Do you see all those things?

Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.

The ruin of Israel's majesty, the ruin of their worship system, the ruin of their sense of uniqueness among the nations.

Echo the prophet Haggai when they were rebuilding the temple in his day.

And he said to them in Haggai 2:15, From this day on, think carefully.

Haggai 2:15

Before one stone was placed on the other in the Lord's temple, what state were you in?

The restoration of the temple in Haggai's day is now being reversed stone by stone.

And Jesus comments here follow what he said right at the end of chapter 23.

Just take a look up.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

See, your house is left to you desolate.

Jesus' pronouncement, the temple was going to be destroyed, is tied directly to the religious leaders in charge of the temple, relarge, in charge of the nation of Israel.

And his prophecy here in chapter 24 is a culmination of his denunciation of them and their wicked ways.

Just the day before, Jesus quoted from Jeremiah's temple sermon in Jeremiah 7 Has this house which bears my name become a den of robbers in your view?

Yes.

I too have seen it.

This is the Lord's declaration.

When he cleansed the temple, he quoted that temple sermon.

And now Jesus returns to that temple idea and talks about the judgment that's coming because of the treachery of the people.

And in Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah says, Go to Shiloh, which is still an empty place, where I made my name dwell at first, where the tabernacle was set up for nearly 400 years, or around 400 years.

See what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

And now because you've done all these things, this is the Lord's declaration, because I've spoken to you time and time again, but you would not listen.

I've called to you, but you would not answer.

What I did to Shiloh, I will do to the house that bears my name.

And Jeremiah was talking about the destruction of the temple in his day.

And here Jesus speaks and he says, Go to Shiloh and see the tabernacle gone.

Go to Jeremiah's day and see the tabernacle gone.

And in my day, the tabernacle is gone.

The temple is gone.

And this is what it says in Micah 3.

Listen, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abore justice, who pervert everything that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with injustice.

Because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple's mountain will be a thicket.

This is Jesus' comment.

In a sentence, he's pulling together the threads of judgment from all of the prophets of the Old Testament, and he's saying it's about to happen right here.

Those two comments prompt two questions in verse three.

During this walk from the temple up onto the Mount of Olives, I'm sure the disciples were just trying to process the shock of Jesus' prophecy.

And certainly they wanted to have more details.

Jesus had made clear to them that the temple would be destroyed, but he didn't give them a time and he didn't give them any signs of what that would look like.

And obviously that leads them to some questions.

So, what about the destruction?

What about the signs of the end of the age?

Now remember who we're talking about here.

These are guys who are asking questions who had just a moment ago had completely forgotten the whole day's conflict and were impressed by the shining light that was reflecting off of the temple, who as yet still didn't understand that Jesus was going to go to the cross, and when he did, certainly didn't think he was going to be resurrected.

So these are not theologically informed questions.

These are shocked questions.

Questions of baffled men trying to sort out the complete opposite that they've heard from Jesus than what they had expected in their hearts.

So, Jesus, what's going on?

Tell us, when will these things happen?

What is the sign of your coming in the end of the age?

The disciples sort of looked at this and said that obviously something cataclysmic is about to happen.

What's that all gonna look like?

They had expected the Messiah to come and enter in, enter a new age into being, but what would that look like?

Can you help us understand?

Would they have thought of this as two events?

I don't think so.

I think they were just shocked and curious and bewildered all at once, and were blurting out questions.

But Jesus answers them.

How wonderful he is to look past our foolishness, look past our ignorance, look past our lack of a discernment, and deal gently with us.

Isn't that wonderful?

So here he is, chapter 24.

Isaiah 24 · chapter mention

While sitting on the Mount of Olives, they asked the questions in verse 3, and in verse 4, Jesus replied to them.

What Jesus offers through the rest of chapter 24, before you get to the two parables, or three parables, is hard to understand.

It's not easy to sort of figure it all out.

Jesus begins with elaborating his initial statement about the destruction of the temple, which took place in 70 AD, and then moves on to talk about the second coming and the end of the age.

The second question that the disciples entered.

Jesus teases what they thought perhaps is one event into two.

The difficulty of interpreting this passage comes in trying to distinguish and to tease apart where Jesus is stops talking about the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and starts talking about the signs of the end.

And there are several people that come up with very different ways to approach these two chapters.

Some of them claim that Jesus well was a prophet, yes, but he got it wrong.

That he made a prophecy about the destruction of the temple and followed it with words that seemed to signify that immediately following that, that the end of the age would come.

And obviously that hasn't happened.

So certainly Jesus was sincere but wrong.

Now, none of us as Christians find that solution acceptable.

Jesus was buried and rose from the dead.

And that resurrection includes the vindication of God upon the sinlessness of Christ.

And certainly he was not inaccurate or wrong about anything.

So we'll just set that one aside.

And that leaves three more possibilities.

And in each of these three interpretations, I have friends, like actual friends who hold to each of these three perspectives.

And they're going to remain my friends, even if we don't come to agreement on these three perspectives.

And I'm going to say to us as a church, we're going to remain friends, even if we may not come to full agreement on these three perspectives.

The first of the three that I think are plausible is the one where everybody looks at the phrase, this generation, and casts everything that Jesus says forward, over the top of the 70 AD destruction of the temple.

It looks at the language that Jesus uses and says that in what he's doing, he's jumping over the question about the temple and moving directly into the signs and the timing of the end of the age.

Another group would say that all of it refers just to 70 AD.

That Jesus isn't taking up the discussion about the signs of the end of the age at all.

It's all rather wrapped up in the destruction of the temple.

So you've got two positions that are irreconcilable.

It can't all be future and all be near at the same time.

And then there's another position.

I think this is the correct one.

That Jesus is giving a combination of statements, some of which refer to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, and some of which refer to the signs at the end of the age.

Some details that Jesus gives apply directly to the destruction of temple.

Some of the details apply directly to the coming of Christ.

And here's the more difficult part.

Some of the details speak to both.

Speak to both.

And that's why there's common language and common images used.

Now, this is what Old Testament prophets do regularly.

They take an immediate sign of prophecy, and it's also meant to be a foreshadowing of a future event.

For an example, one that we're very familiar with.

King Ahaz is given a sign by God to assure him that the king of Aram would not conquer Judah.

We read about it in the book of Isaiah.

And the promise to him is this: a virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and you will call him Emmanuel, Isaiah 7:14.

Isaiah 7:14

Now, this was immediately fulfilled in the birth of Moher Shalel Hasbaz, who was born to King Ahaz and his wife.

But it's also quoted again in Matthew chapter 1 as a prophetic announcement about the birth of Christ, and a virgin would conceive and bear a child, and you will call his name Emmanuel.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

So there's this sign, which is a foreshadowing of a future event.

The destruction of the temple in 70 AD as a foreshadowing of a future event with similar language, with similar images.

So there's some details about the prophecy that Ahaz received that were exclusive to that moment.

There were some details of that prophecy that applied only to the birth of Christ.

And there were some details about that prophecy that applied to both Ahaz's day and Jesus' birth.

So here Jesus is using the same prophetic signature.

There are some details in Matthew 24 that were applied directly to the nation of Israel and the destruction of the temple.

There are some details that apply only and exclusively to his return, and there are some details that apply to both.

Now, as we look at Ahaz and as we look back on the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, we have clarity.

We can see that, right?

We're looking back.

We say, well, that's what happened in Ahaz's day.

That's what happened in Jesus' day.

We can see the connection of the prophecy in its earlier and latter expansion.

We understand it.

We do not yet see the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so with prophecy, there's a little bit of mystery that has to be accounted for and understood and accepted.

We don't see everything with the clarity of hindsight.

We're looking at prophecy and wondering, what will it look like?

And therefore, we need to be humble and willing to admit that we don't have it all just sort of mapped out.

Because every one of us who have said in the past that we do have ended up having to say, I was wrong.

So there's this telescoping of near and far, California with its peaks.

You can see some in the front and in the back.

And when you look at them in the horizon, it's hard to tell which is which, which is near, which is far, which is near, which is far, which is near, which is far.

When you read Matthew 24 and 25, you're going to be doing that same sort of optical illusion.

What's near, what's far, what's near, what's far?

But Jesus is doing that.

He's using what we call prophetic for shortening or foreshadowing of things that are future.

He talks about false Christs who will come.

In 70 AD, they did.

The Jewish prophets stood up and predicted God was going to deliver the Jews from Rome.

Those false prophets were false.

The temple was destroyed, the people were scattered.

In the latter day, there will arise antichrists who will deceive.

Near and far commonality.

Jesus talks about wars and famines and earthquakes.

Rome was at war with the people of Israel.

Trouble in this life will intensify until the end of the age.

They set up a worship to an idol in the temple in 70 AD.

Final rebellion against God will bring religious abomination and desolation.

There's this near far, near, far commonality.

Which is near, which is far.

I don't know.

I can't quite tell.

They both look very much alike.

That leads us to the three parables.

What should be our posture in the light of this shocking declaration of judgment?

What should our attitude be when the very things that we think are permanent are not?

The very things that we think are stable shake loose.

Jesus gives the parables.

And basically, in there he says, be watchful, be prepared, be faithful, and continue to be diligent until I return.

And then he leads off or finishes off with the final judgment.

Where he does come and where the judgment has eternal consequences.

Separation of people into the welcomed and the refused.

Speculations about the end of the world are still going to be rampant.

But all of them are right about one thing.

Jesus is going to return.

And he's going to bring everything that we think is permanent to a close.

I think deep down we we we know this already, don't we?

I think deep down, every time we see the leaves fall off the trees every fall, we realize that there are seasons to life.

Every time we have to stand beside a hole in the ground and lower one of our friends or family members into it, we realize this life is not permanent.

Every time we hear news of all sorts of things, wars, famines, earthquakes, global warming, we get a sense, even from those who don't know the Lord, that we realize that this is a precious commodity, life in the world, and it's not a permanent thing.

Someone supposedly asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew he was going to die today.

I tried to find the reference for this, but I couldn't find it, so maybe it's just a preacher's truth and not a real one.

Not sure.

He said this, he said, I would plant my apple tree today.

If he knew he was going to die that day, what would you do?

I would plant my apple tree.

What would you do if you knew you were to die today?

What would you do if you knew the world would come to an end today?

What would you do if you knew the world would come to an end this year?

Would you seek to be reconciled to a holy God today?

Would you seek to be rejoined with maybe some estranged friends or loved ones?

Maybe you'd finish the project that you started a long time ago and just put your hand to it one more time.

Would you tell your children or your parents you love them?

Would you embrace your beloved just a little more?

What would you do?

This is what Matthew drives us to think about.

He drives us to realize, aside all the predictions and all the foolishness of date setting that have come up, listen to what Jesus is saying from the tie view.

The day is going to come.

You won't know the day or the hour.

But it's coming.

Are you ready?

Are you so ready that you can just go ahead and plant your apple tree?

Are you so ready that you could go down into your workshop and just take off another millimeter or two of shaving?

Are you so ready where you could say, if I drop dead right now, I could go.

Not because of my righteousness, but because of the blood of Christ.

Are you so ready where you say, I don't need to hurry up and reconcile with mom or dad or my daughter or my son?

I don't need to go across the street and apologize to my neighbor.

I don't need to put that money back into the bank account at work.

Are you ready?

So, what Jesus is driving to is this.

Be ready.

Be ready.

Be on the lookout for the Lord.

Be on the lookout if it's the end of the day or just the end of another day.

Be on the lookout for the Lord.

Be confident in his love.

Be sure about his promises.

Invest yourself in him and in the present days that you have.

In everything, whether it's ordinary, whether it's just commonplace, whether it's the people you see all the time, invest yourself in them.

Why?

Because we have the promises in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That all who die in the Lord come into his presence without condemnation and with great joy.

That's why we can just plant our apple trees.

Why we can just embrace our friends.

Why we can do whatever the day calls for that any other day called for.

And you know what?

You don't have to wait for the last day to do those things.

You can love your loved ones right now.

You can engage in the gospel right now.

You can be reconciled right now with people that you need to be reconciled with.

You can set about the tasks, whether they're small or large, right now.

You don't need to have the twinkling notion of the sign to motivate your heart.

Because you won't get one.

You won't know the day or the hour.

Right now.

Christ is come.

Christ is coming.

And he will certainly reveal himself on that day.

We won't have to wonder if a 4.7 or 8 or whatever it was was somehow the rumblings of heaven.

We don't have to worry about whether or not the moon happened to sort of darken the shadow, darken the sun for about three minutes and wonder if God wasn't giving us a little bit of a sign.

No, we just have to be ready.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Word of God.

We thank you for our Savior who calls us away from our own questions to help us see things the way He does.

And Lord, we need that more and more.

And so we thank you for the Word.

And Father, as we go through this section of Scripture, I pray that you would truly move in our hearts to cause us to be people that remain expectant, but remain vigilant, who remain diligent and faithful, despite whatever woes and worries and cares the world might bring upon us, whether it be wars or famines, or just the fact that the doctor said, I have some bad news to share.

That in every way that life brings its troubles, we would be unmoved, unshakable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord, because Jesus is risen.

And we pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.