...from the desk of Rande Wayne Smith D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.

Heaven – 2

ALMOST THERE

Matthew 24:1-9,11-14,23-25,29-31

Jesus left and was going away from the Temple when his disciples came to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Yes,” he said, “you may well look at all these. I tell you this: not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown away.”

As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him in private. “Tell us when all this will be,” they asked, “and what will happen to show that it is the time for your coming and the end of the age.”

Jesus answered, “Watch out, and do not let anyone fool you. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and will fool many people. You are going to hear the noise of battles close by and the news of battles far away; but do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come. Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be famines and earthquakes everywhere. All these things are like the first pains of childbirth. …

“Then you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and be put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. … Then many false prophets will appear and fool many people. Such will be the spread of evil that many people’s love will grow cold. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved. And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come. …

“If anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ – do not believe it. For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God’s chosen people, if possible. Listen! I have told you this ahead of time. …

“Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The great trumpet will sound, and he will send out his angels to the four corners of the earth, and they will gather his chosen people from one end of the world to the other.”
 

May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing devotion to His glory and our edification.  Amen.

Imagine that you’re taking a long car trip, and there are children in the backseat. After traveling a few miles, what’s the 1st question that they’re certain to ask? … (“Are we almost there?”) When my kids were young and we started on any trip, that question came out of their mouths almost immediately … and then regularly throughout the rest of the journey. “Are we almost there?” Now when we lived in Niagara Falls and made regular trips to my parent’s home in PA, there were landmarks along the way that I’d point out which would give them the sense that we were getting close.

And this morning we’re going to see that Jesus’ disciples came to Him asking the same thing … are we almost there?

Let me begin by putting the disciples’ question into the context of our current series on Heaven. The disciples understood from what Jesus had already taught that there was coming a day when He would bring earth’s history to a close. There was coming a day when Jesus would set up His Eternal Kingdom. And so they wanted to know … are we almost there? When do we get to this new Heaven and new earth?
What landmarks (big events) should we be looking for along the way? And so to answer that question Jesus gives what has become known as His “Olivet Discourse” … a teaching concerning the last days. What will happen between now and when God creates a new Heaven and a new earth? Theologians refer to this as eschatology, which means “the study of last things.” Now we’re going to cover a lot of ground today, and if you come to Sunday School I’ll answer your specific questions … and I think you’re going to enjoy this.

Okay, what are the major events that are going to occur before Jesus returns? And I know this may seem to be spectacular to some of you who have never thought about these things before, but let me remind you … these are the words of Jesus.

“Jesus left and was going away from the Temple when his disciples came to him to call his attention to its buildings. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘you may well look at all these. I tell you this: not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown away.’”

“As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him in private. ‘Tell us when all this will be,’ they asked, ‘and what will happen to show that it is the time for your coming and the end of the age.’” Picture the scene, Jesus and the 12 are at the Temple, and the disciples are just awestruck by this magnificent building.
When Mark writes about this incident he quotes the disciples, “Look, Teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!” Mark 13:1

Well, as we read the account Jesus wasn’t overly impressed, and actually was a little concerned that His disciples were so affected … because that meant that they just didn’t get it.

The disciples were still associating God with this magnificent building, and Jesus wanted them to associate God with His Son … who was standing right in front of them. So He basically told them, “This Temple is no big deal. In fact, a day is coming soon when all this will be torn down. Not one stone will be left on top of another.” So the disciples ask the question, “when is this going to happen?” In other words, when will the destruction of the Temple take place? And then they follow that up with a 2nd question, “what will happen to show that it is the time for your coming and the end of the age?”

Now some people get in trouble because they don’t recognize that there are 2 separate questions here. And what makes Matthew 24 a little confusing is that Jesus answers both questions at once. He’s weaving 2 responses together into one. It’s as if He’s saying that the sorts of events that will lead up to the destruction of the Temple will also precede what will happen at the end of earth’s history.
Now, those of you who remember your history know the year that the Romans finally got tired of the Jews and marched into Jerusalem and leveled the city and destroyed the Temple was 70 A.D. And Jesus is speaking these words in roughly 30 A.D, so the destruction of the Temple is 40 years away.

And what He’s saying is, “these are the sorts of events you can expect to happen over the next 4 decades, until they climax in the destruction of the Temple. And these are the kind of events that are going to take place before the destruction of the world at the end of human history.”

And so to underscore His point, and help them understand, Jesus uses an analogy … and, to be honest, I’m kind of surprised by it because He’s talking to a group of guys, and this seems like an illustration He should use at a “Women Of Faith” conference.

He compares the sorts of events that are going to take place before the destruction of the Temple with those that will occur before the end of time and He says all of these “are like the 1st pains of childbirth.” “What you’re about to see over the next 4 decades … it’s just the beginning of labor pains.”

Have you ever seen a lady in labor? Have you ever been in labor?
I realize I’m not the expert here, but my experience, at least by observation, is that initially when the contractions start, some ladies don’t even notice what’s going on. But then they start getting closer and closer together … and more and more intense … and they realize that a baby is on the way.

Okay, what were “the 1st pains of childbirth” that preceded the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70? According to Jesus, they will be the same “pains” that will keep getting stronger and more frequent until they reach their climax at the end of earth’s history.

In a word, Jesus calls these childbirth pains … tribulation. Before the destruction of the Temple there will be tribulation. And before the end of earth’s history and the creation of a new Heaven and new earth there will be tribulation.

Now “tribulation” is a King James Version expression. Actually, the writers say “great tribulation.” It isn’t translated that way in our contemporary versions. The NIV says, “great distress.” The GNV calls it “terrible trouble.”

“For the trouble at that time will be far more terrible than any there has ever been, from the beginning of the world to this very day. Nor will there ever be anything like it again.”

This is the 1st event that we can expect to see before the new Heaven and new earth … the great tribulation.

What will be happening during this time? Jesus describes 6 milestones.

“Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will fool many people.” The 1st sign … deceptive antichrists arrive on the scene. Jesus says, “Many false prophets will appear and fool many people.” He says, “False Messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God’s chosen people, if possible.”

“More and more,” Jesus says, “there will be religious leaders and religious philosophies that are opposed to me and my exclusive truth claims.”

Have you seen the bumper sticker that’s been recently popping up on cars? It’s a cross, and around the cross are the symbols of all the other major world religions. And some people think this is wonderful because it’s so inclusive, and after all, don’t all religions lead to God?

Well, that’s not what Jesus taught. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.” John 14:6
(Now, I didn’t say that about Jesus … Jesus said that about Jesus.) We’re living in a day and age when everybody thinks it’s okay to make up your own religion. And much of the religion we make up is anti-Christ. I don’t mean that it’s anti-Christ in tone; (people talk about what they believe in attractive terms), but the content itself is anti-Christ. It’s opposed to what Jesus teaches about Himself. It’s opposed to what Jesus teaches about God. It’s opposed to what Jesus teaches about sin, and salvation, and about Heaven, and about Hell. It’s anti-Christ philosophy. So, this is the 1st sign to look for.

The 2nd sign Jesus gives … there will be widespread wars. “You are going to hear the noise of battles close by and the news of battles far away; but do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come. Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another.”

If you know anything about history you know that there have always been wars on this planet. But let me give you some interesting facts to ponder. What did they call the 1st World War? … (The War to end all wars.) Did it end all wars? … No, in a very short time we had a 2nd World War. And do you realize that there have been 250 major conflicts since the end the WWII? And that 23 million people have been killed in those 250 conflicts? And right now, as I’m speaking to you, there are 35 major conflicts going on in the world. And 90% of the casualties of those conflicts will be civilians. ¾ of them will be children and women.

“Noise of battles … news of battles,” and I haven’t even mentioned terrorism. 10 years ago we weren’t thinking terrorism. Now it’s always in the news.

Here’s a 3rd sign … there will be an increase of natural disasters. Does this sound like the front page of the newspaper, or what? “There will be famines and earthquakes everywhere.” Today there are hundreds, if not thousands of people, who go to bed hungry each night, and don’t wakeup the next morning. And there are earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis.

4th … the persecution of believers. “You will be arrested and handed over to be punished and be put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me.” You think we live in an age of tolerance?

Consider this, in the most recent year for which we have statistics, 2004, between 150 and 200 thousand Christ followers were martyred for their faith … in one year’s time.

One of the journals/magazines that I regularly read is “The Voice Of The Martyrs,” because it gives me keep perspective.
Here I am, in a beautiful sanctuary in Rolling Meadows, worshipping with middle class people. … I want to remind myself of what my brothers and sisters in Christ are facing throughout the world. And it’s nasty. Right now, what many Christians are enduring around the world is horrible.

Jesus gives another sign … runaway wickedness. “Such will be the spread of evil that many people’s love will grow cold.” He’s talking about a love for God here. Wickedness is going to become so prevalent that many people will lose all desire for God.

We see that in our culture today. We see it in terms of pornography. We see it in racism. We see it in terms of materialism. We see it in immoral lifestyles that God’s Word says are sinful. And even our culture, 20/30 years ago thought was sinful, but no longer. We see it in the breakup of families. We see it in the glorification of violence.

Back in November I was in a record store, (are they still called record stores?), and picked up a rap CD and read the liner notes … wow, I was offended. You all need to do that. See what our young people are being exposed to … runaway wickedness.

And finally … there will be the spread of the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ.
“This Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come.”

Now just in case you thought that Christianity is a western religion, let me tell you where it’s growing fastest in the world today … Indonesia, India, China, Africa. In fact, over the last several decades, while the Communists have been in charge, the Church in China has grown underground to an estimated 80 million believers.
Time magazine recently reported that for the last 5 years the Beijing Symphony has performed Handel’s Messiah at Christmastime in Chinese. And that’s because the conductor is a committed Christian. This is incredible, but it’s also a sign of the “pains of childbirth.”

Isn’t it interesting that of the 6 signs Jesus gives … this is the only positive one? The others are wars, antichrists, natural disasters, persecution, wickedness. How can the Good News of Christ flourish in an environment like that? It’s simple. Life often has to get bad before people are willing to search for a Savior.

What would have to happen in Rolling Meadows before people would wakeup to their spiritual need and say, “we want to pursue God”? What would it take? What would it take for you, to pursue God so that you want to serve Christ, and worship Christ, and manage your life and finances and calendar for Christ’s benefit?

Would it take a bad medical report before you would say, “I need to turn to God”? Would it take the loss of a job? Would it take the breakup of a marriage? Let me challenge you this morning with this thought … don’t wait for your own great tribulation to turn in hot pursuit of Christ. Do it today. Make up your mind that even before times get tough you’re going to pursue God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.

Now this leads to the next event … the return of Jesus. “Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep … (they’re going to weep because they realize that it’s too late to do anything about this) … as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Did you hear when the return of Jesus was going to happen?

Listen again to how this verse begins … “soon after the trouble of those days.” In other words, Jesus’ return according to His own teaching comes after the great tribulation. Now, I’m underscoring this point because there’s a popular view out there today, which is promoted by guys like Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, in their “Left Behind” book series.
They teach that believers won’t have to go through the great tribulation. That Christ will return before that event and secretly whisk His followers away to the safety of Heaven. And those who hold that position refer to the whisking away as … (the rapture).

Now interestingly, you won’t find the word “rapture” in Scripture. As close as we get is a comment made by Paul, “then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17 That expression, “gathered up” back in the 4th century got translated into the Latin Bible as “rapture.”

Now the problem I have with this view is that it requires Jesus to return twice. He’s got to return once before the great tribulation to whisk away believers, and then He has to come back a 2nd time to set up His Kingdom … and Scripture never states that there will be a double return. It’s always a one time event in Scripture. So, where did Hal Lindsey, Jerry Jenkins, and all these rapture enthusiasts get their notion of a “pre-tribulation” return of Christ? Here’s how they try to prove their point. Now follow closely, this is a bit of a tangent, but it’s an important tangent because this is such a popular view in our culture today.

1st, they say that Jesus wouldn’t allow His followers to go through such a terrible ordeal.
In His grace and mercy He has got to take His people out of this. That’s what God would do.

That is so American Christianity! There are believers all over the world right now who are being beaten, and put in prison, and denied food, and fired from their jobs, and separated from their families, because of their allegiance to Christ. Those faithful folks are already experiencing their own great tribulation. Don’t try to tell them that Christ will rescue His followers from suffering because it doesn’t always work that way.

The 2nd thing that rapturists say is Jesus has to come before the great tribulation because if the great tribulation happens 1st then Jesus couldn’t come at any minute. We couldn’t say, for example, He could come tomorrow … because the great tribulation hasn’t happened yet. And if Jesus can’t come back at any minute, if He can’t come back tomorrow, then why does He repeatedly say in the Gospels to be on the lookout, to keep watch?

Let me suggest that the return of Jesus doesn’t have to be immediate for it to be impending. Immediate means that it could happen in the next second … impending means it could be just around the corner, near at hand. Do you remember how our lives changed just like that after September 11, 2001?
Before 9/11 we thought that we were living in total security … nothing could touch us. Then a couple of planes crash into the side of a building and thousands of people lose their lives and the next morning we wake up and it’s a whole new world.

I think when all these events finally come upon us they will happen so quickly that we could honestly say that the return of Jesus may be just around the corner.

The other thing that we need to consider about this “rapture” view is the way that books like Jerry Jenkins’ “Left Behind” series describe it. They suggest that it’s secretive.

Jesus comes initially and people are whisked away from families and jobs and even babies out of wombs and people off of airplanes … but I have to compare that with what Scripture teaches. Is this how Scripture describes it … that the world is left trying to figure out where everyone went?

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The great trumpet will sound.”

That doesn’t sound like a secretive return to me. It sounds pretty noisy. Sounds like something everybody observes.
So, the rapturists say, “Well, that’s because that’s the 2nd ‘2nd Coming’ of Christ. This is the one that happens after the tribulation. But the one that happens before the tribulation is secretive and it’s described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16.”

Let me read to you 1 Thessalonians 4:16. “There will be the shout of command, the archangel’s voice, the sound of God’s trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven.” That doesn’t sound too secretive to me either. It sounds a lot like what Jesus is describing in Matthew 24.

As I look at what the Scriptures teach, it seems obvious to me that after all this other stuff happens, “the Son of Man (comes) on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” It’s going to be awesome!

In fact one Bible commentator says that this is a good litmus test of your spiritual life. If you’re stifling a yawn right now; if you can hear that Jesus is going to return and don’t get goose bumps up and down your spine, if you’re not thinking “bring it on” then maybe you have overrated your relationship with Christ. In fact, maybe it’s nonexistent. Because those who know Him in an intimate way, those who have crowned Him King of their lives, are saying … yeah! “Marana tha – Our Lord, come!”
(1 Corinthians 16:22)

The last big event is the final judgment.
As I came to this place in my notes this week … the final judgment … I thought to myself that I’ve certainly exercised poor judgment because I thought that I could cover all of eschatology in one message. What was I thinking? So, I’m going to deal with the final judgment in a couple of weeks when we look at the subject of Hell. What happens to those who don’t make it into Heaven?

But I want to underscore as we close, between now and the new Heaven and new earth one of the events that must take place is the final judgment. And none of us gets to escape that. None of us has a “get out of jail free” card for that. We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Let me conclude by reading a passage from The Revelation. There’s one entrance requirement to get into Heaven. See if you can spot it in these verses?

“Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sits on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence and were seen no more. And I saw the dead, great and small alike, standing before the throne. Books were opened, and then another book was opened, the book of the living. The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. Then the sea gave up its dead. Death and the world of the dead also gave up the dead they held. And all were judged according to what they had done.
“Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. (This lake of fire is the 2nd death.) Those who did not have their name written in the book of the living were thrown into the lake of fire.” The Revelation 20:11-15

Scripture says, at the end of time we will all stand before Jesus and the books will be opened. The 1st set of books have recorded everything we have said, everything we have thought, everything we have done, in this life … and that’s not good news. It fact, it probably records things we shouldof, couldof, wouldof done, but didn’t … missed opportunities. And based on the evidence in that 1st set of books every one of us stands condemned before a holy Judge. But there’s a 2nd book, a book that erases your name from the other book, and that’s the book of the living. How do you get your name in the book of the living? Come back next week.

But let me say this morning, you want to be sure, you want to be certain that your name is written in that book. I’m not taking about a matter of life and death; I’m talking about a matter of eternal life and eternal death. And I invite you/encourage you/plead with you to talk to me about this. If you have any questions about how to get your name in the book of the living, or have any doubts about your name being in there, talk to me, please. This is of eternal importance.
 

MARANA THA