Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Beginning of Birth Pains: Christ’s Sovereign Warning (Matthew 24:3–8)

Transcript

The Beginning of Birth Pains: Christ’s Sovereign Warning (Matthew 24:3–8) · Reformed Thinking

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So when you open your news app in the morning, or, you know,
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you turn on the television and the screen is just instantly
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filled with headlines. Oh yeah, constantly.
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Right. It's like a new war breaking out
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or a devastating earthquake or some crazy, shifting global
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alliances. Yeah, your heart rate naturally
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spikes. I mean, the human instinct is
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just blind. Pan sure you assume the worst.
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Yeah, you feel like the world is kind of spinning off its axis,
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But what if that chaos is actually an orchestrated decreed
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scripts leading to a promised birth?
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What if the intense shaking of the world is not proof that God
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has lost control, but you know the clearest evidence that he is
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firmly seated on his throne? Right.
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Welcome to Reformed thinking. Today we are opening up Matthew
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chapter 24. Yes, we're looking specifically
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at verses 3 through 8, just unpacking Christ's astonishing
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warnings about the end of the age.
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It's heavy stuff. It really is, and our goal is to
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cut through the modern anxiety, the sensationalism, and the
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false teachings that cloud this text and just get down to the
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bedrock truth of what Jesus actually said.
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Yeah, because we are dealing with a text that it demands
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absolute reverence. I mean, this is not a passage
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given to us for idle curiosity. It is not here.
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So we can drop speculative timelines or try to predict the
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Evening News, you know? Yeah, that's a huge trap.
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It is. This is Jesus Christ speaking
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with divine authority. He is actively preparing his
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people for the Crucible of deception and, well,
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geopolitical catastrophe. Wow, the stakes really couldn't
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be higher here. How you understand this text
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alters the way you process your daily life, how you view
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history, and how you face suffering.
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Yeah. So to get to the core of those
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warnings, we really have to start by setting the scene.
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Yes, absolutely. Before we even look at the
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specific predictions about Earth clips and wars, we need to
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understand the physical and, well, the redemptive historical
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setting where these words were spoken.
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Right, context is everything. Yeah, we can't just lift these
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verses out of thin air and apply them to the 21st century without
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seeing where Jesus was sitting. No, you can't.
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And what he had just done, you know, the setting itself carries
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massive theological weight. It really does.
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The setting is everything. Here it is, the final week of
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Christ's earthly ministry. Right.
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So we're talking roughly 8033. Yeah, around 8033.
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And Jesus and his inner circle of disciples of Peter, James,
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John and Andrew, they have just walked out of the city of
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Jerusalem. They cross the Kidron Valley and
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sit down on the Mount of Olives. And this is an elevated Ridge
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just east of Jerusalem. From this vantage point, you
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have a breathtaking panoramic view looking westward directly
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back at the Herodian Temple Mount.
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Man, imagine you were sitting there on that hillside.
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Yeah, you are a fisherman from Galilee, which is a rural area.
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Right, a country guy. Yeah, and you are looking across
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the valley at Herod's temple. It is.
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It's hard for modern minds to grasp the sheer scale of this
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structure. Oh, it's massive.
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It was an architectural marvel of the ancient world.
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I mean, the Jewish historian Josephus described it as looking
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like a snow capped mountain. Yeah, because of all the white
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marble. Right, all that white marble and
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the front was covered in massive plates of solid gold.
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Which is just wild to think about.
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Yeah, so when the sun rose over the Mount of Olives and hit that
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temple, it would literally blind you.
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Wow. And some of the foundation
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stones weighed hundreds of tons. To the Jewish mind, looking at
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that massive, brilliant structure, it seemed entirely
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indestructible. Completely permanent.
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Right. It was the center of their
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national identity. It was the physical
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representation of God's covenant with Israel.
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Yeah, it was the epicenter of their entire universe.
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I mean, everything revolved around the temple, right?
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But this private, quiet briefing on the Mount of Olives, it
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follows A devastating public confrontation.
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OK. And that confrontation is the
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catalyst for the entire discourse.
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If you look at the immediate context back in Matthew 23,
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Jesus is inside the temple precincts.
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Right before they leave. Yes, and he delivers his most
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blistering sermon. He pronounces 8 woes against the
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Scribes and Pharisees. Yeah, the heavy stuff.
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Very heavy. He calls them hypocrites, blind
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guides, a brood of Vipers. Just unloads on them.
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He does. He publicly exposes their false
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religion, and that sermon culminates in a chilling
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sentence of divine abandonment. Jesus looks to Jerusalem and
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says, see, your house is left to you desolate.
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Wow. I mean that word desolate must
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have landed like a physical blow to the stomach.
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Absolutely. And notice he does not say God's
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house, he says your house. Yeah, that is a brilliant
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observation. It is no longer the House of
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God. It has become a den of robbers,
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their house, Right. And then the very next verse,
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Matthew 24, verse one notes a profound well, a massive
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redemptive historical. Action.
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What does it say? It says Jesus left the temple
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and was going away. We are witnessing an Ichabod
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moment. Right, Ichabod, meaning the
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glory has departed. Yes, precisely.
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We see that exact imagery in the Old Testament, don't we?
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We do. Yeah.
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This perfectly mirrors the vision of the prophet Ezekiel
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back in chapters 10 and 11. OK, set that up for us.
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So in Ezekiel's day, right before the Babylonians destroyed
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the first temple, Ezekiel sees a vision of the Shekinah glory of
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the Lord. Yeah, the glory physically lifts
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off the mercy seat. It moves to the threshold of the
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temple, then goes out the Eastgate, and finally it departs
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to the mountain on the east side of the city.
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So the exact same path. Yes, it is a slow, reluctant,
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terrifying departure of God's presence because of the apostasy
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of the nation. That is heavy.
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And now, in 8033, Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, the true
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glory of Israel, traces that exact same geographic path.
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He walks right out of the temple.
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He walks out, goes out the Eastgate, crosses the Kidron
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Valley, and sits on the mountain to the east.
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He is acting as the true prophet, declaring divine
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abandonment on a house corrupted by unbelief.
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And as they were walking away, before they sit down, the
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disciples point out the magnificent temple buildings to
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Jesus. Yeah, they do.
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You have to wonder what is going through their heads there.
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I mean, maybe they are trying to comfort themselves after hearing
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him say desolate. Probably.
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Maybe they are pointing at the massive stones implicitly
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saying, look at these rocks, Jesus.
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Surely this building isn't going anywhere.
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Right. Like, look how solid this is,
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yeah. But Jesus responds by just
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shattering that illusion. He says that not one stone will
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be left upon another. Everything will be thrown down
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total. Destruction.
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Yeah, which leads to the disciples coming to him
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privately on the mountain and asking a compound question.
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In verse three. They ask when will these things
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be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of
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the age? Yeah, and that question reveals
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a massive misunderstanding on their.
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Part. How so?
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Well, you have to put yourself in their shoes.
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The disciples were steeped in Old Testament prophecy, right?
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Right. They were currently living under
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the oppressive, brutal boot of the Roman Empire.
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Yeah, they were an occupied nation.
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They were waiting for the Messiah to overthrow Rome, crush
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their enemies, and establish the earthly Davidic Kingdom right
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then and there. Immediate political victory.
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Yes. So in their minds, the
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destruction of the temple and the end of the world were
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concurrent events. Ah.
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I see. They were synonymous.
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If the temple falls, it must mean the immediate earthly
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establishment of the Kingdom. They had absolutely no concept
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of the Church age. Wow, thinking about this if you
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walked up to a modern American citizen today and told them that
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tomorrow morning the Capitol building, the White House, and
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the Supreme Court will all be simultaneously demolished to
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dust. Oh man.
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Right. The immediate reaction of that
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citizen is that the nation is over.
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Sure, the entire framework of security, law and identity is
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shattered. For the disciples, the temple
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was their capital, their White House and their Supreme Court
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all rolled into one sacred structure.
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Yeah, that is a perfect way to put it.
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The destruction of the temple meant the end of the age as they
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understood it. They did not grasp the gap
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between Christ's first advent as the suffering servant who dies
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for sins and his second advent as the conquering king who
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judges the nations. Were two different comings.
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Right, because the King had been rejected by his own people, the
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earthly manifestation of the Kingdom was postponed.
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Jesus is taking this moment to transition from the offer of the
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Kingdom to the prophetic revelation of the delay of the
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Kingdom and, well, the terrifying judgments that will
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precede its final arrival. So hearing that, a question
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naturally comes up. If the disciples are
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specifically asking about the destruction of the temple, why
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can't we read this whole passage as being fulfilled in 8070?
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That's a huge debate. Yeah, because history tells us
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that the Roman general Titus sacked Jerusalem, slaughtered
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the inhabitants and literally burned the Temple to the ground.
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He did. The gold melted into the cracks
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of the stones and the Roman soldiers pried every single
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stone apart to get the gold, fulfilling Christ's words.
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Literally, yes. So why not just say Jesus
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predicted a 1st century event? It happened and we can close the
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book on this prophecy. Well, that is a very common
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theological approach. It is often called preterism,
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right? And while it is true that the
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horrific events of 8070 serve as a local historical foreshadowing
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of Christ's warnings, you simply cannot contain the massive scope
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of Matthew 24 within the 1st century.
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It's just too big. Way too big.
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The cosmic scale of the global wars, the famines, and the
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unprecedented deception described later in this
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discourse catapults the timeline far into the eschatological
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future. Christ is outlining the period
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known in the Old Testament as Daniel's 70th week.
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The future Tribulation period. Yes, the prophet Jeremiah calls
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it the time of Jacob's trouble, right?
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It is a specific future period designed to pour out divine
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wrath upon a Christ rejecting world and to purge national
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Israel, bringing a remnant to national repentance.
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Wow. The disciples asked a compound
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question, and Jesus gives an answer that stretches from near
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judgment to future consummation. He's doing both.
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He uses the fall of Jerusalem as an earnest a pattern of greater
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eschatological realities. Yeah, that makes sense.
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Just as the local judgment fell in Jerusalem, a global judgement
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will fall on the earth. So as believers today, we are
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watching the geopolitical and spiritual stage being set for
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this era of tribulation. OK, so if the stage is being
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set, what is the first thing we should be looking out for?
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That's $1,000,000 question. Right, because the disciples
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just asked for signs at the end of the world.
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You would expect Jesus to point to the sky.
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You would expect him to talk about cosmic disturbances,
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massive invading armies, or natural disasters right out of
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the gate. Right, big cinematic stuff.
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Yeah, but he does not do that. Instead, he points to the
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pulpit. He does.
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The very first warning he gives is about spiritual deception.
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Yeah, and that is one of the most stunning details in the
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entire discourse. It really.
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Is Jesus says in verse 4, see that no one leads you astray.
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Wow. Before he mentions a single
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sword being drawn, before he mentions a single earthquake
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shaking the ground, he commands vigilance against false
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doctrine. That's so contrary to how we
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think. It is spiritual deception is the
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primary threat to the Church. Let's look closely at the
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language Jesus uses here. The specific Greek word used in
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verse 4 is plenisa, which comes from the root plenosh.
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Yes, and the word plenosh means to wander from Orthodox truth.
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It means to be severed from reality and LED into soul
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destroying error. What is fascinating about this
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word is that it is the exact root from which we derive our
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English word planet. Oh wow, I didn't know that.
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Yeah. Ancient astronomers looked at
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the night sky and saw the stars in fixed, predictable positions,
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right? But they noticed these other
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celestial bodies that seem to wander erratically across the
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heavens. They call them Wanderers or
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planets. That's amazing.
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To be deceived in the biblical sense is to become a spiritual
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wanderer, detached from the fixed orbit of God's Word.
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That is a terrifying image, being detached from the fixed
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orbit of truth, just floating out into the darkness.
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Yeah, and Jesus uses a grammatical structure here, a
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subjunctive mood with a negative particle, to issue an incredibly
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strong prohibition. Yes, he's drawing a hard line.
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He is putting up a massive warning sign.
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Satan's primary weapon in the end times is not physical
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violence. It is false teaching.
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This specific word, planish, is used extensively in the Book of
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Revelation to describe the work of the Antichrist and the false
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prophet who deceived the nation's.
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Yeah, because the enemy is a liar from the beginning, right?
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Verse 5 explains the exact method of this deception.
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For many will come in my name, saying I am the Christ, and they
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will lead many astray. Many, he says.
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Many. Those is the repetition of that
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word. Jesus is not warning about a
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tiny fringe cult meeting in a basement somewhere.
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No. He's warning about popular, well
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supported massive movements. And historical records show this
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happening very early on, right? Oh yeah, history records that
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prior to the Jewish revolts against Rome, numerous
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charlatans arose. Like who?
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A prime example is Simon Bar Khokba in AD 132.
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OK, he claimed to be the messianic deliverer.
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The people were desperate. They were crushed under Roman
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taxation and military rule. He just wanted out.
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They wanted a Savior who'd offer political liberation and earthly
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prosperity without the demand for repentance from sin.
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There it is. Bar Coca exploited that national
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anguish. He presented himself as a
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Messiah, he was endorsed by prominent religious leaders like
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Rabbi Akiva, and he led 10s of thousands of people to their
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absolute slaughter. The Romans crushed the rebellion
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and renamed Jerusalem following a false Christ brings total
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devastation, man. But this warning is not just
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locked in the first or second century.
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Not at all. We have counterfeit Christ's
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operating today acting as false messiahs for people who are
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desperate for comfort. The modern applications are
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piercing the text explicitly contrast the authentic Christ of
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Scripture with the multitude of Antichrist who will arise,
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right? Consider the prosperity gospel.
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Oh yeah, it offers a false Christ who promises health,
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wealth in your best life right right now.
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It promises earthly ease and financial breakthrough.
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This directly contradicts the true Christ of Matthew 24, who
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promises global tribulation, war, famine and persecution for
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his followers. It's the exact opposite message.
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It is how can you harmonize a message of guaranteed earthly
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luxury with a savior who says the world is going to fracture
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and you will be hated by all nations?
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You can't. You cannot.
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It is a completely different religion posing as Christianity.
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Yeah. Yeah, then you have liberal
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theology. OK, let's talk about that.
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This offers a stripped down Christ, a sanitized, therapeutic
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Jesus who is void of divine authority, omniscience, and
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eschatological wrath. Just a nice guy.
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Right. It treats Jesus as just a good
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moral teacher who is a product of his time, someone who is
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perhaps mistaken about the end of the world.
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That false Christ cannot save you from the coming judgement.
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And thirdly, we see the danger of mysticism and charismatic
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excesses. How does mysticism act as a
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counterfeit Christ? Well, mysticism trains people to
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rely on subjective emotional experiences and to listen for
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new inner voices beyond the closed Canon of scripture.
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Just trusting their feelings, yeah.
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The biblical worldview affirms that the Apostolic era of signed
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gifts has ceased. We have the complete sufficient
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Word of God. We look for no new revelations.
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To constantly seek extra biblical signs, wonders, and
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private words from God is to expose yourself to the very
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wandering the planah that Christ strictly forbids.
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That is so dangerous. Our sole authority is the
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written word delivered once for all to the Saints.
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When you unmore yourself from the objective truth of
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Scripture, you will fall for the subjective lies of a false
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Christ. Thinking through all of this, a
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very practical question comes to mind.
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Sure, it seems counterintuitive at first glance.
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OK, when society is collapsing around you, when the
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geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting and wars are breaking
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out, why is doctrinal precision more urgent than gathering
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physical survival gear? It's a great question.
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Why does Jesus prioritize theology over physical safety?
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That goes right to the core of the biblical worldview.
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Physical suffering, famine, and even death can only destroy the
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body, right? But spiritual misinterpretation
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following a false Christ destroys the soul eternally.
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If you face the collapse of society with the true Christ,
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you're eternally secure. You are hidden in the cleft of
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the rock. You might starve.
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You might be martyred, but your soul is safe.
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That's a hard truth, but it's true.
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But if you survive a global catastrophe physically, yet you
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are trusting in a counterfeit Savior, you remain under the
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eternal wrath of God. Oh man, the soul's eternal state
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is infinitely more critical than the body's temporary survival.
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Jesus is placing a guardrail of truth around his disciples souls
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because deception is the deadliest threat they will face.
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Spiritual deception is a worse fate than physical suffering.
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It severs the soul from the only source of life.
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Yeah. So once Christ has secured their
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minds against internal theological deception, he shifts
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his focus, right. He moves to the external
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physical threats that will shake the globe.
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He addresses the very things that cause us to panic today.
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Having warns him about false teachers, Jesus now outlines the
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geopolitical reality of the age. Verse 6 says and you'll hear of
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wars and rumors of wars expands the scope of verse 7 for nation
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will rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom.
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And when you look at modern data, it paints a very sobering
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picture. It really does.
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We often hear the secular progressive dream that humanity
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is evolving. Yeah, that we're getting better.
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The narrative is that through political unity, better
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education and scientific advancement, we are moving
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toward a peaceful utopia. We are supposedly outgrowing
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war. That's what they say.
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But the data from the UPS Allah Conflict Data Program reveals
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that the year 2023 saw 59 state based armed conflicts.
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Wow. That is the highest number
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recorded globally since 1946 / 238,000 global deaths resulted
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from armed conflict in that single year alone.
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Those statistics completely shatter the evolutionary
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optimism of secular philosophy. Yeah, it's not holding up.
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The world is not getting better. It is not progressing beyond
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warfare. The frequency of conflicts
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highlights the total depravity of man and the exactitude of the
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Savior's prophetic vision. He called it.
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He did. We are looking at a world that
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is fracturing, just as He said it would.
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Human hearts are wicked, and without the restraining grace of
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God, they plunge into violence. And what is the natural human
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reaction to that fracturing? When we see the death tolls
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rising and the borders collapsing, our reaction is
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terror. Yet Jesus issues a stunning
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command in verse 6. He looks at this future
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bloodbath and says, See that you are not alarmed.
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Yeah, the Greek word translated as alarmed is throwest.
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Throwest. Yes, this is an exceedingly rare
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word. It is used only three times in
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the entire New Testament. When you look at extra biblical
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Greco Roman literature, you find this word used in military
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contexts. OK, give us a picture of that.
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It describes soldiers who are standing in the battle line,
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perhaps in the Macedonian phalanx formation.
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Right? The enemy is charging at them,
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and suddenly they are so paralyzed by terror that they
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lose their minds, break ranks, drop their weapons and flee in
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irrational panic. Wow, so Jesus is looking at a
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future filled with global slaughter, starvation and
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tectonic collapse and he uses a military term to command his
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people. He is effectively saying do not
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lose your minds, do not break ranks, stand firm.
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But how can a person possibly stay calm during global
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slaughter? Right.
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How do you actually do that? How do you prevent that panic
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when the world is literally shaking beneath your feet?
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Jesus does not just give a bear command.
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He provides the theological anchor that makes obedience
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possible. What's the anchor?
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He says, see that you are not alarmed, for this must take
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place in Greek. The phrase for this must take
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place revolves around the word day.
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The word day carries massive theological weight.
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It does. The impersonal verb day
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indicates absolute divine necessity.
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It is the strongest word in the Greek language for divine
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determinism. It speaks of the immutable
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decree of God. Meaning God has decided it, yes.
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The wars, the famines, the earthquakes, they do not thwart
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God's plan, they fulfill it. Wow.
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Theologians often connect this directly to the Westminster
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Confession of Faith, Chapter 3, which states God from all
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eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own
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will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.
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So the chaos is the decreed script of the Almighty.
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Yes, that brings us to a crucial theological clarification.
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This is the pushback that immediately comes to mind for
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anyone listening to this. Oh, I'm sure.
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If God decrees the wars, the famines, and the deception, does
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that make him the author of sin right?
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How do we hold human guilt and God's sovereign decree at the
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same time? If God ordained A dictator to go
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to war, how can that violent ruler be held responsible for
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the bloodshed? That is the essential question
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when discussing God's absolute sovereignty.
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God's decree does not make Him the author of sin, nor does it
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remove human responsibility. OK, unpack that.
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We have to understand the biblical distinction between
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primary and secondary causes. Primary and secondary.
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Yes, God is the primary cause of all things governing the
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universe according to His perfect plan, right?
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But He works through secondary causes.
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The choices and actions of humans, wicked rulers, violent
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men, and false teachers act according to their own sinful
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desires. Who want to do it?
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They do. They are fully guilty for their
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actions because they choose them willingly.
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We see this clearly with Joseph and his brothers in the book of
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Genesis. Well, perfect example.
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His brothers throw him in a pit out of jealousy.
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They want him dead. They act out of pure malice.
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Yes, very wicked. Yet years later, Joseph looks at
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them and says, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for
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good to bring it about, that many people should be kept
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alive. Yes, the violent dictator goes
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to war because he wants to go to war.
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He is driven by his own greed, his pride, and his lust for
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power. He is entirely culpable.
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No one is forcing him. Exactly.
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Yet God sovereignly governs those wicked actions, channeling
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them to accomplish His holy and wise purposes.
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There is an asymmetrical relationship between God and
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evil. He does not create evil, He does
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not force men to sin, nor does He approve of sin, but He
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permits it and overrules it for His ultimate.
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Glory. So it's not fatalism.
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Not at all. Fatalism says blind chance rules
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the universe, so nothing matters and you should just give up.
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The biblical worldview says a perfectly holy, infinitely wise
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Father rules the universe, so everything has meaning.
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That's a. Huge difference.
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This doctrine of absolute sovereignty is medicine for
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trembling Saints. The hand that was sovereign over
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the horrific injustice of the Cross is sovereign over the
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convulsions of the age. The panic of man is cured by
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trusting the sovereignty of God. If you believe God is caught off
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guard by the news, you will panic.
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You have to. Right, but if you believe he
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decreed it, you can stand firm in the ranks.
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This shifts our understanding of the physical chaos.
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It is not a random series of tragic accidents.
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The wars and earthquakes are not just the universe falling apart
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the seams. Jesus places all these terrors
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under one specific, purposeful category.
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In verse 8, Jesus provides the theological lens through which
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we must view all the preceding terrors.
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What she say, He says. All these are but the beginning
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of the birth pains. Birth pains and the Greek
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phrases are condition. The word udin refers exclusively
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to the inescapable, excruciating contractions of a woman in
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labor. And commentaries point out that
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this is not a new metaphor Jesus just invented on the spot to
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sound poetic. No, not at all.
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He is drawing from established Old Testament prophetic
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vocabulary. If you look at the Septuagint,
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the Greek translation of the Old Testament, you see this exact
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term used to describe the unavoidable terror of the day of
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the Lord. OK, give us an example.
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For example, Isaiah 13.8 prophesized the judgment of
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Babylon saying pangs and agony will seize them.
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They will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
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Wow. You see identical imagery in
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Jeremiah 4.31 and Micah 4.9. It is the language of divine
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judgement falling upon the wicked.
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But there is a very specific reason Jesus uses the metaphor
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of birth pains rather than just describing the pain of a fatal
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disease or a mortal wound. Right?
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Birth pains have two main characteristics.
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First, they increase in frequency and intensity.
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Definitely do. Once labor starts, it does not
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stop. The contractions get closer
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together and they get much more painful. 2nd, and most vitally,
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they are teleological. Yes, teleological meaning.
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They have a defined goal, right? They have a purpose.
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The agony of the world does not lead to death, it leads to
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birth. That changes everything.
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It does. The groaning of creation is
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moving toward a glorious climax, the birth of the physical,
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earthly millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
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The present age is not evolving into a utopia by human effort.
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Politics will not save us, but neither is history a meaningless
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cycle of violence. OK, the contractions are
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agonizing. They're deadly.
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But they are producing the new era under the Messiah.
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Imagine you wake up in the middle of the night with severe
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blinding abdominal pain. Oh, terrifying.
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You do not know the cause. Your mind immediately assumes
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the worst A ruptured appendix? A deadly disease?
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Internal bleeding. Right.
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You think you're dying? Yeah, it brings total despair
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because the pain seems meaningless and fatal.
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You feel like you are dying. But if you know you are 9 months
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pregnant and you feel that exact same severe pain, your reaction
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is totally different. Totally different.
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It hurts just as much. The physical agony is identical,
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but your mind does not assume death.
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You know that pain is productive.
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You know it produces life. The pain is deeply purposeful,
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it has an end date, and it results in joy.
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How does this shift your perspective on the Daily News?
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It has to shift it entirely. When you see a massive
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earthquake on the news, or you read about a new geopolitical
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conflict, you shouldn't view it as a random, meaningless tragedy
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that signals the end of everything.
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You should view it as a contraction.
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It shifts your perspective from despair to expectant endurance.
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Expectant Endurance. I like that the biblical text
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rejects both despair and triumphalism.
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Oh, so it rejects despair because the pains are
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purposeful. Under God's plan, He is
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orchestrating history. It rejects human triumphalism
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because the Kingdom does not arrive through the steady
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improvement of the world by politicians, social programs or
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technological advancement. We can't build it ourselves.
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No, it arrives through the sovereign judgement of God and
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the physical return of the King. We have to talk about the
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identity of that king. Yes, the only reason we can
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trust the diagnosis of the birth pains, the only reason we can
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find any comfort in this global chaos is because of the identity
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of the physician giving the diagnosis.
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The entire weight of this passage rests on the person and
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work of Jesus Christ. He's not merely acting as a
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passive prognosticator who made a few lucky guesses about the
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Roman Empire. Some people try to say that.
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They do. Liberal theology tries to argue
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that Jesus was just an apocalyptic Jewish preacher who
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is limited in knowledge, someone who thought the world would end
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in his lifetime and was wrong. That's just wild.
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The biblical text completely rejects that blasphemy.
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Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity.
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He knows the end from the beginning.
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And his physical posture on the Mount of Olives is highly
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significant in proving his identity.
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It is a massive Christological detail.
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Tell us about that. He is sitting on the Mount of
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Olives looking at Jerusalem, answering questions about the
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end of the Age and his glorious return.
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OK, this directly anticipates the prophecy of Zechariah 14.4.
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Zechariah, 14. Yes, Zechariah prophecies that
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when the Lord returns to fight against the nations and
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establish His Kingdom on earth, His feet shall stand on that day
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on the Mount of Olives. Wow, the exact same mountain.
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Jesus is deliberately positioning himself as the
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fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
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He is the sovereign Lord of history.
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When you cross reference this text, you see a Direct Line
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between the events outlined in Matthew 24 and the Book of
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Revelation, specifically the seal Judgments of Revelation
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chapter 6. The sequence is an exact match.
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Really. Jesus outlines a sequence on the
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Mount of Olives, and decades later he reveals that same
29:09
sequence being executed from heaven to the Apostle John.
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OK, walk us through the match. Well, the false Christ Jesus
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warns about in Matthew 24 parallel the rider on the White
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Horse of deception in the first seal.
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OK, wow, the wars and rumors of wars parallel the red horse of
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war in the second seal. Taking peace from the earth,
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right? The famines parallel the Black
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Horse in the third seal. The earthquakes and pestilence
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parallel the pale horse of death in the fourth seal.
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That is just incredible. And who is the 1 opening those
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seals in Revelation? Who is holding the scroll?
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It is the Lamb who is slain. It is Jesus Christ himself.
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He is not a helpless victim watching history unfold.
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He is the executor of the Father's wrath.
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He's driving. It He is the one actively
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breaking the seals and unleashing these judgements upon
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rebellious Earth, He is the one directing the birth paints.
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That is a terrifying reality for the unbeliever.
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It should be. The Jesus of the Bible is the
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one orchestrating the seal. Someone pouring out the wrath?
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Yes. How does that relate to his role
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as priest? How does the cross fit into this
30:10
picture of impending global judgement?
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That is where the Gospel shines brightest in this passage.
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I love that. The one who sits on the mound
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predicting the violent upheaval of the world is mere days away
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from going to the cross. Days away.
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He is about to bear the full, unmitigated wrath of God for the
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sins of His people. The physical temple He just left
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will be destroyed, but Christ is offering the once for all
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sacrifice to which that entire temple system pointed.
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His body will be given. His blood will be poured out to
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secure redemption. He absorbs the wrath for his
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people so they don't have to face it.
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Yes, Therefore, believers do not face the terrors of history as
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condemned rebels. We face them as redeemed
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servants. That is such a comfort.
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Wars, natural disasters, and intense persecutions may afflict
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us, but they are not the punitive wrath of God upon us.
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None of these things can separate us from the love of God
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in Christ. Amen.
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Believers are hidden in the Rock.
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The birth pains of history cannot undo the finished
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atonement. No, they can't.
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Jesus is the true prophet diagnosing the sickness of the
31:18
world, the true priest securing his flock through his blood, and
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the true King whose return is the focal point of all
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redemptive history. Bringing this all together, we
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have covered a massive amount of theological ground today.
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We really have. We've gone from the destruction
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of Herod's temple to the global deceptions of the Antichrist,
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from the military command against panic to the comforting
31:39
sovereignty of God over all evil.
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The believers posture must be one of sober discernment,
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doctrinal precision, and absolute calm.
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We must recognize that panic is a form of practical atheism.
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Practical atheism. It treats events as though God
31:53
has abandoned his throne. Right?
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The application for the Church is piercing.
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We must reject the foolish optimism that the world is just
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going to get better and better through human effort.
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Yes, we must vehemently oppose the false teachers who promise
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ease and wealth when Christ promises tribulation and
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endurance. And there are two specific
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extremes that often trap Christians when studying
32:17
prophecy that we need to guard against.
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Yeah, the first extreme is the obsession with date setting and
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sensationalism. We see that all the time.
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Constantly right? Jesus explicitly says the end is
32:27
not. Yet some believers dishonor
32:29
prophecy by pretending to know what Christ has not revealed.
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They turn every earthquake into a mathematical calculation and
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every political election into a countdown.
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It's exhausting. It produces excitement for a
32:40
short season, but leaves deep disillusionment in its wake.
32:44
It treats prophecy like a puzzle to be solved rather than a truth
32:48
to be obeyed. And what is the other extreme on
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the opposite end of the spectrum?
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The other extreme is the apathy of worldly optimism.
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This is the assumption that tomorrow will be just like
32:58
today, ignoring the prophetic warnings entirely, It is a
33:01
retreat into comfort. It is living as if this world is
33:05
our permanent home. So what is the middle ground?
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How do we live in light of these terrifying but purposeful
33:12
warnings? The call is for ordinary
33:14
faithfulness. Just ordinary faithfulness.
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Yes, prophecy should make us holy, hopeful, and evangelistic.
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The existence of calamity does not cancel the Great Commission.
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Until you return to the Church, must preach the gospel, prize
33:27
the Lord's Day, attend to the preached Word, engage in prayer,
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and suffer faithfully. We do the ordinary things with
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an eschatological urgency. I'd love that.
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We live every day knowing the King is at the door.
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You live in a world that is convulsing.
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You see the geopolitical tectonic plates shifting.
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The safest place in a collapsing world is not an underground
33:47
bunker. No, it's not.
33:48
It is not a diversified financial portfolio.
33:51
The safest place is beneath the calm, commanding voice of the
33:54
Lord Jesus Christ, holding fast to His Word and trusting in His
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finished work on the cross. He has told us beforehand so
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that we might stand firm afterward.
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We wait not for a political idea, but for a person.
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I want to leave you with a final thought to Mull over as you go
34:09
about your day. OK, think back to what we said
34:11
at the very beginning. When you wake up tomorrow and
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see a headline about a new war breaking out or a devastating
34:18
natural disaster, your natural instinct will be to look at the
34:21
screen and ask, what is the world coming to?
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Right? But based on the rigorous words
34:26
of Christ we've worked through today, the better, far more
34:29
accurate question is who is the world coming to?
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That's good. If history is truly laboring,
34:35
groaning through violent contractions toward the arrival
34:37
of a king, how does that change the way you spend your time
34:40
today?