BY AL BUCHANAN
Today I want to address a subject that I have spoken on at least three times over the many, many years that I’ve been giving messages. The last time that I addressed this was back about seven years ago, 2001. But I feel that perhaps this is a good time to revisit this material today. And actually after hearing the sermonette, I think that was the right day to give it. It think that you’ll that see the connection as we go through this material.
I’d like for you to turn to Matthew 24. This is a chapter, I guess, probably for most
of us who have had a history in the
Matthew 24:1. Then Jesus
went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him
the buildings of the temple.
Now I’ve not quite understood exactly. I mean Christ was very familiar with this building and everything about it. And it just seems a little bit odd that they would be showing Him.
But it says in verse 2
Matthew 24:2. And Jesus said
to them, “Do you not see all these things?
Assuredly, I say to you, not one
stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
And then verse 3.
Matthew 24:3. Now as He sat
on the
And I understand from that viewpoint you have a really good
view of the temple and the temple grounds.
And it’s apparently quite an awesome view that particular area of
Matthew 24:3. Now as He sat
on the
And, of course, they’re asking Him for something very
specific here. “What will be the sign?” The sign, singular. “What will
be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And this is a subject that certainly is on
the minds of many, many people in the Church today as well as actually on the
minds of people for ever since we’ve had contact with the
His response to this question, obviously, is very important. It was included in Scripture. It was there for a purpose. It certainly communicates to us information that we need today. Much emphasis over the years in sermons that I have heard, much emphasis has been placed on the prophetic statements that He made. And certainly they are of great value to us and they’re very important to us and we should give attention to what He said about that. However, if we really scrutinize this entire response that He gives to these individuals, we’ll find that there is a great deal of instruction that He gives to these individuals.
Now we’re going to see in a moment that there were just four individuals that He is responding to and four individuals came to Him to ask this question, but He’s responding to them. It’s obviously information that He’s giving that’s applicable to any disciple who lives at any time, actually, from that time right up until these events will, in fact, unfold.
Today I want to focus more on the instruction that He gives all the while taking note of what He’s saying prophetically. But I want to focus on the instruction that He gives that’s important to you and to me as we live today.
Now before going any further, again, I’ve addressed this
before and some of you who have heard this were around seven years ago may
recall this. But there are three things
that are very significant that we need to take note of in regards to
consideration of what He says and what His response contains. So these three things: one is that we need to take note of and
answer this question, who asked the question?
Who is it that asked this question?
And to whom then is the response directed? I think many people take this as information
that was directed to the people of the world.
It really isn’t. This information
that He’s giving, this response is very important to those of us who are part
of the
Very quickly hold your place there and turn over to Mark chapter 13. Mark 13 and in verse 3, obviously this is a parallel to what we find in Matthew. But there it says in verse 3
Mark 13:3. Now as He sat on
the
And so these four individuals were the ones who asked the question and it is to them He is responding. Now it’s important to note from that that Peter, James, and John were the three who accompanied Him on almost every real significant event that’s recorded in the Scriptures. He has Peter, James, and John go with Him. And they’re present on many, many occasions. In this case, Andrew was present as well. But they’re asking the question and He is responding to them.
Another significant thing that we need to understand is the time setting of when this is said. Let’s go to Matthew 26 and in verse 1. This is right after Him completing His comments. Verse 1.
Matthew 26:1. Now it came to
pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples,
2) “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man
will be delivered up to be crucified.”
In Mark 14 we have confirmation of that. Mark 14 and in verse 1, it states
Mark 14:1. After two days it
was the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests
and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.
And so the statements, the response to this question that Christ gives was just two days before He would die. So we need to understand from that as we’ve looked through just recently, He had a great deal to say and information He wanted to communicate to the eleven, and the twelve, just prior to His death. That began in intensity about the Feast of Tabernacles time the fall before. He began at that time, remember, to reveal to them that He was going to die, that He was going to be taken, He was going to be crucified and after three days He was going to be resurrected. He began to communicate that to them about Feast of Tabernacles time or just prior so the year before. And from that point, He began to emphasize more and more information that these individuals needed to know. And here He is two days before the Passover and He’s communicating these things to them. And so, again, we need to just take note of that as to when it occurred.
The third thing that we need to realize is that in Matthew’s account, His response continues all through Matthew 24 and all through Matthew 25. It includes all of that. Now Luke 13 and Luke 21 are parallel accounts and they don’t have as much information. They don’t include as much as what Matthew does. But we need to understand that His response was quite lengthy. It wasn’t just a short, very short response. It was quite lengthy and it involved quite a bit. And quite a bit of it was instruction to them. Let’s note that and we begin to note that here in verse 4 of Matthew 24. I’ll read verse 3 again.
Matthew 24:3. Now as He sat
on the
We know now it’s Peter, James, John, and Andrew.
Matthew 24:3b. saying, “Tell
us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming,
and of the end of the age?”
And verse 4.
Matthew 24:4. And Jesus
answered and said to them:
And so He is addressing now His response to them.
Matthew 24:4b. “Take heed
that no one deceives you.
“Take heed.” So He places a lot of emphasis now beginning here on the possibility of deception for them. If you’ll notice both verses 4 and 5 deal with this. Then down in verse 11, He mentions deception again. On over in verse 24, He mentions it again. And if you read through this, it would seem that this potential for deception increases with intensity. When He gets to verse 24, He’s saying there that if possible, this deception could have an effect on the elect themselves.
And so this response then is directed to the disciples among whom are the elect. Now you might conclude from this, just the way He said that about that this could deceive even the elect, that all of the disciples are not elect. In other words, He may be addressing this to all of us who have come into contact and have declared ourselves or determined ourselves to be disciples of Christ and even among ourselves maybe all of us are not the elect, but He is saying that this deception is going to intensify to the point to where if possible, it could deceive even the elect. So there is something, Brethren, this is something that all of us need to listen up to what He is saying. Let’s read both verse 4 and 5.
Matthew 24:4. And Jesus
answered and said to them: “Take heed
that no one deceives you. 5) “For many
will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
Now I guess after I make this statement that it will be—well, of course, that’s the way it is, but this is something we need to think about. The greatest possibility for deception comes from someone in whom we trust. Think about that. It’s obvious. Once you think it through, it’s obvious. The greatest possibility for us to be deceived is the source of which would be from someone in whom we trust. If we have trust in someone, it’s far easier for us to be deceived by that person. Now the thing of it is: the person in whom we have trust may themselves be deceived and have no direct intent to deceive us. So just keep these things in mind.
Now Jeremiah 17 verse 5, don’t need to turn there. We’ve quoted this so many times over the years, but it says
Jeremiah 17:5b. “Cursed is the man who trusts in [a] man and
makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the [Eternal].
And so I’ve said many times that if we put our trust into a man, the level of trust we put in the man is directly proportional to the amount we depart from the Eternal. It’s automatic. If we put our trust in a man, our trust in the Eternal will diminish. Just think about it. It’s just an automatic thing that will happen.
Now, I think Jeremiah 17:5 is referring to unguarded trust. If we have unguarded trust in someone, then yes, “Cursed is the man who trusts in [a] man” with unguarded trust because you are opening yourself up incredibly if you do that. Even if we put our trust in ourselves, it would have the same effect.
Now the reason why I say I think that this is referring directly to someone who is trusting in someone in an unguarded manner is that out of necessity, absolute necessity, we have to put a certain amount of trust in others. You have to. Husbands, wives, for instance, have to have a level of trust for each other. You absolutely have to. You have to trust one another. Close friends have to have a certain amount of trust in each other. You have to else you could never share a personal thought with anyone else. You wouldn’t be able to do that because you couldn’t trust them to keep that secret if you were asking them to. And so out of necessity, we have to have a certain level of trust. But all the while, Brethren, we need to be aware that the greatest possibility of deception comes from someone in whom we trust.
What did Christ say? Remember in—was that Matthew 16 when He asked them that question, “Who do you say that I am?” and after Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and He said, “Well, God gave you that information.” Remember that? And then a little bit later, He told them that He was going to have to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, be crucified, and resurrected the third day and Peter said, “Not so, Lord.” Now what did He say? “Get from Me, Satan! You’re a stumbling block to Me.”
Peter was a friend. He was someone He knew. Friends you have a certain level of trust. From a friend, you can be misled. Christ could have allowed him to mislead Him in this. He could have become a stumbling block. He could have deterred Him from what He had to do if He would have allowed it. It can happen to us and we need to understand this. It’s just a principle. It’s just an obvious thing once you think it through that we need to be alert to and aware of. If we put our trust in someone, we are susceptible to being deceived.
Now we saw this demonstrated in the Worldwide Church of God. It was so obvious there. I mean there we were. We trusted the leadership. We trusted that it would, that the leadership would provide proper nourishment. We believed that that was the case. Now let me just ask you this: Under the same circumstances, at the very same time, if you had been exposed to the very same teachings from a source in which you had no trust, would it have had an impact on you? Chances are it wouldn’t have. You would have recognized it immediately as being false and not true. You would have just been able to do that. But coming from someone in whom you trust, it had an impact. And it is just the way it is and we need to be aware of that.
Now, back here He said, “Take heed.” “Take heed that no one deceives you.” “Take heed” is from a single Greek word meaning to be able to see, to perceive by the senses, to discern, to observe, to perceive, to discover, to consider, contemplate, to weigh carefully, examine. So it’s rather broad, but it’s just, “Be alert,” He’s saying. “Be alert. Be on guard. Be on guard that no one deceives you. Be especially alert from those in whom we have a level of trust.” Think about it.
Now verses 6 through 8. Christ begins here to enumerate several events and conditions that will occur prior to His return. Some of them we will find to be very general as we’re going to read about real quick here. And then a little bit later, we’re going to get into areas where He’s going to get very specific, in particular about one event that’s going to happen. He gets very specific of something that you can see He said. But here verse 6
Matthew 24:6. “And you will
hear of wars and rumors of wars. See
that you are not troubled; for all these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7) “For nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. And there will
be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
And then it says
Matthew 24:8. “All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Now it’s interesting that this word “sorrows” here from the Greek means pains of labor compared to the pain a woman experiences in childbirth. Now for all of you ladies, you know this far better than I, but witnessing what my wife experienced, at least I know this much. That those pains begin normally mild and they grow in intensity more and more and more until they—and sometimes get almost unbearable at the end—and they get very intense just before the delivery of the child.
Now let’s go to Romans 8 very quickly. Hold your place there. Let’s go to Romans 8 and then let’s read something. Romans 8, let’s go to verse 18. Romans 8 verse 18.
Romans 8:18. For I consider
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
He had just talked about the fact that we are children of God. We’re begotten children of God and we’re joint heirs with Christ and all that He’s going to inherit. It’s an incredible thing when we think about that. And he’s saying,
Romans 8:18. For I consider
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with [that] glory which shall be revealed in
us. 19) For the earnest expectation of
the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20) For the creation was subjected to
futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21) Because the
creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of [decay or]
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
But then verse 22.
Romans 8:22. For we know
that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together
until now.
Actually this whole earth, all nations on this earth, all peoples on this earth fall into this category where birth pangs are taking place. No doubt when Christ gave this statement and began this response here that things were already happening that would be included in this, but they would grow greater and greater, more and more intense down through history to the end of the age. And he’s saying here
Romans 8:22. For we know
that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together
until now.
Verse 23.
Romans 8:23. [And] Not only
[they], but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves,
The people on this earth are suffering now. We will suffer along with them on many of these things. We are now.
Romans 8:23b. eagerly
waiting
We, at the same time, are
Romans 8:23b. eagerly
waiting for [this] adoption, the redemption of our [bodies].
And so at least we have this goal that we can look forward to during these birth pangs.
But He’s saying all of these things are going to happen. They’re happening on this country as we heard in the sermonette and it’s seemingly, very obviously with greater intensity. They’re getting greater, getting worse, getting worse, and getting worse, and not only here, but other parts, other nations around the earth. The difference is, as Mr. Coulter pointed out, we are the birthright nation. God is working with us in a direct manner different from the way He is working with other nations on this earth.
But within that then, His people, whom He has called and are spiritually begotten as His children, He is working with in an even more special way than them. And it is to those individuals that Christ is directing His comments here. And He’s saying
Matthew 24:6. “And you will
hear of wars and rumors of wars. See
that you are not troubled; for all these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
It was going to begin and it was going to continue down through history.
Matthew 24:7. “For nation
will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and
earthquakes in various places.
And we’ve seen that. We’ve seen earthquakes in places where they typically don’t happen. We’ve seen storms of great intensity, far worse than we would normally expect to see. Even though there are those who will say, “It’s just a cycle.” And it’s true. In 1993 we had similar conditions here. There’s a certain amount of truth in the cycles, but I think the cycles, seemingly, are intensifying and they’re getting worse as time goes on.
Matthew 24:8. “All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Then verse 9.
Matthew 24:9. “Then they
will deliver you
Now again, He’s speaking to the four which I believe relate to all of us.
Matthew 24:9. “Then they
will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all
nations for My name’s sake.
Now it’s not clear to me whether He is just limiting this to those four and to the twelve in particular, the eleven. Is He directing it to them only? Or perhaps is it twofold? It happened to them. But will it happen to His servants at the end of the age in like manner? Perhaps. Perhaps.
Verse 10.
Matthew 24:10. “And then
many will be offended,
“Many will be offended.” And that means to lead astray, lead into sin, to fall away from the truth. So, many have. We’ve seen this happen to many ourselves.
Matthew 24:10b. many will be
offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Now perhaps this has happened, perhaps repeatedly. I don’t know. From what we read, this was going on at the close of the New Testament era. We’ve certainly seen it in our day. Very obviously we’ve seen it and it continues to be the case.
Verse 11.
So you see what we’re seeing here now is instruction for us as we are going through these birth pangs and as they intensify. And as we get closer and closer to the end of the age, these things we can expect to happen.
Verse 11.
Matthew 24:11. “Then many
false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
Now again, in Matthew
Matthew 7:15. “Beware of
false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are
ravenous wolves.
They will come to you in such a manner to obtain your trust. They will come to you in sheep’s clothing. They will appear to be coming in Christ’s name, even saying that they are, but they’ll be coming to you in a manner to obtain your trust. And if you trust, if you give them your unguarded trust, you become very vulnerable to deception. Many false prophets, Christ said,
Matthew 24:11b. many false
prophets will rise up and deceive many.
Then verse 12.
Matthew 24:12. “And because
lawlessness will abound, the love
And this is agape.
Matthew 24:12b. the [agape] love of many will grow cold.
And, as we’ve pointed out before, the Greek word there that’s rendered “grow cold” has the meaning of taking let’s say a cup of something that is hot and setting it in a refrigerator and over time it becomes cold. It’s not instantaneously cold. It doesn’t go from hot to cold. It progressively becomes cold. And that’s what this is talking about.
Matthew 24:12. “And because
lawlessness will abound,
So it’s like taking the hot substance, setting it in a refrigerator. Let’s say a hostile environment in that sense. And that’s what this is talking about.
Matthew 24:12. “And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
So in a state of lawlessness, then the love will grow cold more likely than if that’s not the case. But this love—and we’ve seen this, Brethren. And I think all of us recognize it that the love, the commandment that Christ gave that we’re to love one another as He loved us, it has not been kept by so many of us. And I’ll say “us.” I’ll include myself. We’re not keeping it as we should.
I got an e-mail from someone and I thought about bringing it
and I didn’t. I’ll try to paraphrase
what this person said. It was in
response to a sermon I gave. I don’t
remember which one it was now, but he was saying that conditions in the
Church—and I’ll try to paraphrase this—conditions in the Church make it almost
impossible for people to keep that commandment as they should. With the situation as it is, with the
leadership in which we give our trust, in some cases are telling us, “You
cannot associate with anybody that has a
Matthew 24:12. “And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Verse 13.
Matthew 24:13. “But he who
endures to the end shall be saved.
And so Christ is saying by this statement that we all have enduring to do. They did. We do. We’ve got to endure to the end. No matter when we live. No matter what the end is for us. For most of the firstfruits, the end is not Christ’s return. The end is their death. Most of the firstfruits will be in their grave when Christ returns. And so the very end time events, the majority of the firstfruits will not experience. But their end comes at their death and they are required to endure the conditions extant at their day during their lifetime right up until the time of their death. And if we are among those who will be around when the final of these events occurs, we will have to endure all the way till that point. It’s a requirement of us.
“He who endures” means—and it’s from one Greek word—it means to remain under, to persevere, endure, sustain, bear up under, suffer in some cases as a load of miseries, as adversities, as persecution, as provocations and do it with faith, not losing faith.
Now in context of Matthew 24 we would think of the events that are to come and the great tribulation and all these things that are going to come on this earth and we think about those. Think about James and Linda right now. They’re not thinking about that. Their adversity is right there. It’s very personal. And that’s what they’re enduring right now. That’s their adversity. That’s what they’re having to face up to and endure right now. And God’s calling on them. And as the words of Linda herself, she is retaining and maintaining her faith. And perhaps in conditions like this, her faith will even deepen. In many cases that is what happens. But she’s being called upon to endure with faith what she is being confronted with to her end whether that’s going to be quick or whether she lives and God intervenes and heals her and she lives all the way to the end. Whatever her future holds, she’s required to endure as all of us are. Every one of us must endure whatever it is. And this is the instruction that Christ gives to you and to me.
And so not only are we to be cognizant of and aware of what events are taking place around us on this earth—and we should; we should do that—but we don’t forget what we need to be doing in our personal lives, in our personal relationship with the great God during all of this. That’s far more important. And as we finally get through this and I can see now this is only going to be Part I to this sermon. It’s going to be more. I’ll have to make it at least Part II, but we’re going to see that His instructions has to do with us personally and what we’re to be doing in our personal lives as we are cognizant of what goes on around us.
Then verse 14.
Matthew 24:14. “And this
gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the
nations, and then the end will come.
Now this word “end” here, once again, it’s not an instantaneous end. It doesn’t mean that. It actually means a goal, a goal that we are reaching for or trying to reach. It can mean completion or conclusion. Many times completions and conclusions take place through a process. There is a process of something coming to its end or its conclusion. And it could very well be that the process of the end has been happening for some time now and will happen for some time before the process completes itself. I don’t know. I’m just suggesting that.
But of all the statements that He makes throughout, this statement right here in verse 14 seems to be the only one that answers to “the sign” of verse 3. I don’t see anything else that answers to what is “the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age.” This one seems to be the one that does. It includes right within the statement that once this happens then the end will come.
Now the question then would come to probably most of our minds is: Has this already happened? Has this gospel have been preached in all the world as a witness? Has that been satisfied? Or is it yet to happen? That would make a huge difference if we knew for sure that this was the case. Are we past this step? Or is there still things that have to happen for this step to be completed? And I don’t know that any of us can be absolutely certain about that one way or the other. There is much that the two witnesses have to do yet. Will their work complete this statement? I don’t know. Has it already been done? Mr. Armstrong was spending himself trying to complete this. Did he do it from God’s perspective? I don’t know for sure. I don’t know if he did or if he did not. But if he did, then we can say that we must be in the process of the end. We’re in the process of the culmination. We’re in the process of the conclusion of the events that will lead to the return of Jesus Christ.
Now let’s go to verse 15. Jesus here begins to describe then if, if, if this is the key, this is the sign and once this happens then the end is going to come, if that’s the case and we’ve already seen it happen, if we have already seen it happen, then He is beginning now to explain the conclusion. He’s beginning to show how things will conclude. Then verse 15.
Matthew 24:15. “Therefore
when you see
So now He’s going to relate to us something very specific that you and I will be able to see and actually the whole world is going to be able to see it. When it happens, it’s going to be published by the news media all over the world. Everybody will know that this is happening. Whether we’re going to recognize it as it happening or not is another matter.
Matthew 24:15. “Therefore
when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
And then He goes on to talk about those who are in the
vicinity of
Okay. Over in Luke 21 verse 20, it states there
Luke 21:20. “But when you
see
And so, so here’s something we can all see. We can see a time when
Now I’m going to briefly read up through verse 31 here without a great deal of comment and let’s just notice what we read.
Matthew 24:16. “Then let
those who are in
So, when we see that, when we see the armies surrounding
Then verse 21.
Matthew 24:21. “For then
there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of
the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And so, this is the trigger, apparently, that is going to
result in this great tribulation that is going to affect a whole lot more than
just
Matthew 24:22. “And unless
those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved;
So it’s going to involve the whole world.
Matthew 24:22b. but for the
elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
And I’ve pointed out before that I really feel that what this is meaning is that there has to be individuals salvaged to live over into the Millennium. There has to be people and it’s for the elect’s sake that this happens. The elect, the Bride of Christ, will need to have individuals alive during the Millennium for them to function as the Bride of Christ and establish the government of God over the earth at that time and those who are still alive. And so there must be those that continue over. I don’t think that this is saying that it’s for the elect’s sake that God is going to stop these things. In other words, to keep the elect from being affected by it. I don’t think that is what this is meaning. “For the elect’s sake,” for their sake certain ones have to survive and live over into the Millennium in order for all the prophecies about the Millennium to be fulfilled. There have to be physical individuals living over.
Then in verse 23.
Matthew 24:23. “Then if
anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is
the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24) “For false christs and false prophets
will rise and show great signs and wonders [Here it is!] [so as] to deceive, if
possible, even the elect.
And so the deception is going to get very, very great and very intensified as we approach this stage of things.
Matthew 24:25. “See, I have
told you beforehand. 26) “Therefore if
they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’
Do not go out; or ‘Look, He is
in the inner rooms!’ Do not believe it.
I’ve heard stories that Christ has already returned. He’s on this earth now and all this kind of malarkey. That’s what it is. It’s malarkey.
Matthew 24:27. “For as the
lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming
of the Son of Man be. 28) “For wherever
the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
Then verse 29.
Matthew 24:29. “Immediately
after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will
not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens will be shaken. 30) “Then the
sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the
earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory. 31)
“And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will
gather together His elect
As the margin says, “chosen ones.”
Matthew 24:31b. from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
And so this concludes, then, His enumeration of the events that will unfold and precede His return.
Now I want to go to Luke 21. I want to read the verse that many of us memorized, and maybe can still quote, here Luke 21 and verse 36 which is the conclusion of His response. This is the way He concludes everything that He says. In Luke 21 verse 36.
Luke 21:36. “Watch
therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these
things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Now if you want to give a title to this message, it is Watch And Pray, and it is obviously
going to be Part I. Watch And Pray, Part I.
Let’s back up to verse 20 and let’s read up to this. I won’t need to read all of this because it’s basically a parallel to what we just read in Matthew 24. Verse 20 says
Luke 21:20. “But when you
see
And so forth, begins at that point on up through and then verse 25.
Luke 21:25. “And there will
signs in the sun, in the moon,
All of that, down to verse 28. So these are the same events that He’s talking about there.
Then in verse 29, let’s notice what He says. Luke 21 verse 29.
Luke 21:29. Then He spoke to
them a parable:
So after concluding saying these things, enumerating these events, He says this parable to them.
Luke 21:29b. “Look at the
fig tree, and all the trees.
He said. “Not just the fig tree, but all the trees. Look at all of them.”
Luke 21:30. “When they are
already budding, you see and [you] know for yourselves that summer is now near.
And all of us can tell that. Here in this area, I don’t say that summer is near. I say it’s spring is near. When I see the budding and the leaves beginning to shoot out and that sort of thing, I think in terms that it’s spring. Spring is here. And the real key for me is when I see the magnolia blossoms out. When the magnolia trees bloom in this area, to me it’s spring. It’s time. The winter’s past and now we’re into spring. And so we all see these things like this.
Then verse 31.
Luke 21:31. “So you
[likewise],
As you can tell by the budding of the trees that in this case summer is near
Luke 21:31b. [likewise], when
you see
Now once again we see that terminology here.
Luke
“When you see these things happening.”
Now Matthew 24, let’s go back. Hold your place in Luke 21. Let’s go back to Matthew 24 just briefly here and read the parallel account to that here, verse 32 and verse 33. Matthew 24:32 and 33.
Matthew 24:32. “Now learn
this parable from the fig tree: when its
branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
33) “So you also,
Now notice this carefully!
Matthew 24:33b. when you see
all these things, know that it
Or as the margin has it, “He.”
Matthew 24:33. cont. know that [He] is near—at the [very] doors!
So when we see all these things, well whoa! Now, if we see all these things, we’ve got to
be somehow where we’re observing all these things and we are at the end, the
very end of this. And when He says, “Now
when you’ve seen all of them, then you know,” that He’s near. He’s at the very door. So clearly we’re to be observing these world
events. There’s no question about
it. We are to be cognizant of and trying
to look and see what it is that’s happening. And are any of these beginning to unfold
before our eyes? We’ll be able to
recognize, hopefully, when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies. We’ll be able to recognize that,
hopefully. We’ll have our eyes open
enough that at least we’ll recognize this as a very significant event because,
no doubt, it’s going to play out in such a manner that we know that “Hey,
Israel’s days are numbered,” when this happens.
They’re at a point to where they’re being bombarded. They’re not going to escape this time even
though
Now it’s interesting that where He clearly, when we go
through this and He clearly is instructing us to observe world events, He’s
saying, “When you see, when you see this happening, when you see that
happening.” He mentions specifically the
abomination that makes desolate, when you see that. And then here He’s saying, “When you see all
these things.” He doesn’t ever use in
that context and while He’s saying those things, He doesn’t use the word
“watch.” I wonder why. He doesn’t say, “Watch you therefore. Watch to see when the armies have surrounded
Let’s go to Luke 21 and verse 34. Let’s read up to verse 36 and let’s notice what He is saying there. Luke 21 and in verse 34.
Luke 21:34. “But take heed
to yourselves,
Once again, He’s saying, “Take heed.” Remember He started off “Take heed that no one deceives you”? Now “take heed.” Now it’s “take heed to yourselves.”
Luke 21:34. “But take heed
to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness,
and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.
So here He is instructing all of us that we need to take
heed as to how we’re conducting our lives.
Us personally! Us as begotten
children of God and these birth pangs are intensifying around us and we’re
looking now for a sign that we can see that is going to, no doubt, be the
trigger of these end time events. We’re
looking for that. At this time, be
careful about how you’re conducting your lives.
What is it that you are doing? He
knew that many would live their lives out and not see these things. He knew that.
Think about it. When He gave
these words to them, He knew that many of them would live out their lives and
they would never ever see this abomination that makes desolate surrounding
So He’s giving instruction that applies to all of us no matter when we live. And He’s saying, “Take heed to yourselves.” Even at times that people have lived, the firstfruits have lived, when they don’t suspect that the end is near. They may not see anything happening that they think the end is near. At times like this a person surely should be cognizant of how are you conducting your life. Where do you stand now in relationship to your God? Where do you stand now in relationship to the Brethren? How are you conducting your life?
Luke 21:34. “But take heed
to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness,
and cares of this life,
And boy are some of us so involved in all that we’re doing to make a living. Things are getting more difficult as Mr. Coulter was mentioning about the cost of fuel now. And it’s not only the cost of fuel, it’s other things. Cost of food is escalating very rapidly. Cost of energy in general and heating our homes and all of that is escalating. It’s getting worse and worse. It’s getting harder and harder especially for young couples to make it. It’s hard. I know it is. And it’s so easy to get all wrapped up in the cares of this life and forget about the things that are so much more important in the long haul.
Luke 21:34. “But take heed
to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness,
and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.
It will be at a time when we think that it’s not going to happen is probably when it will. And you wonder, how could that be? How could that be? When we have the media so alert to everything going on on this earth and we have access to all of that, how could it be that we would be caught, that Christ would return unexpectedly when all these things have to happen? But it says that more than once. More than once the warning is be careful.
Verse 35.
Luke 21:35. “For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face on the whole earth.
So the general public is going to be caught unawares. There’s no question about that. The people that don’t have their eyes open and don’t understand and know what we know are clearly going to be caught unawares. It’s going to come on them like a snare. And it’s going to be quick and it’s going to be devastating. We always think, “Well, this is just another event,” and everything is going to be okay. That’s kind of the way we as human beings approach things. “Yeah, it’s bad now. It’s flooding and all this sort of thing, but down the road things are going to be okay. We’ll get back to normal. Things will be okay.” That’s kind of the way all of us approach life. But this is going to come as a snare. It’s going to come on them and it’s going to be severe and it’s going to be unrelenting. It’s going to just get worse and worse and worse.
But then it says in verse 36
Luke 21:36. “Watch therefore,
and pray always
So it’s not just watching.
It’s praying also that He’s talking about. So the title of the sermon is Watch And Pray. And we hope to develop this more again next
time.
Luke 21:36. “Watch
therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape
Now it’s obvious from what we read here that there’s
potential for some to escape all these things, it says. And those escaping, from what it says here,
must be counted worthy to do so.
Just because we’re watching visually and even though we might see
certain things happening, we still we have to be counted worthy to escape. What’s involved in that? What’s involved in that?
Luke 21:36. “Watch
therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all
these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
So there’s potential for some to stand before Jesus Christ when He returns. An incredible opportunity! We talked about that. In Romans 8 there where we’re joint heirs with Christ and we can stand with Him and be glorified together with Him. And the potential is incredible! But we have to be counted worthy for that to happen. We must be counted worthy to stand before Him. Now to be counted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before Jesus Christ this verse says that we must watch and pray. We must watch and pray.
I intended to go further today. I’ve got probably four or five pages of notes yet. I intended to go further and I know it’s a little bit early, but I think I’m going to cut it off here. It would be a good place to stop and we’re going to pick it up next time. We’re going to delve into what is it He’s instructing us to do here.
He’s telling us to watch and pray. Just watching, Brethren, we’re going to see involves a lot than just what we can see with our eyes and what we observe and what might be going on around us. It involves a lot more than that. And the praying certainly involves a great deal. When we just see the word “pray”—I mean all of us pray—but I think this reflects something far more than just the general understanding of what it means to pray. We are to watch. We are to pray with sincerity, with genuineness. It reflects a whole way of life. It reflects a whole attitude on our part as we approach this time.
So anyway, we will attempt to complete this next time.
Transcribed by kb