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The Unshakable Word in a Shaking World (Matthew 24:35) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed thinking. This is the deep dive where we
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take God's Word and while we hold it up against our world,
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looking for the truths that stand firm when it feels like
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everything else is shaking. We all build our lives on these
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assumptions of stability, don't we?
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We do. You assume the sun will come up,
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that your bank is going to be there tomorrow, that gravity
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will work the same way it did yesterday.
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We treat these big realities, the economy, the cosmos, the
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ground under our feet, as if they're permanent.
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That's the human default setting, isn't it?
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We look for the biggest, oldest, most solid thing we can find,
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and we try to anchor ourselves to it.
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Maybe it's a career, or a country, or just the physical
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world, but what if the things that look the most permanent are
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actually the most temporary? That is the startling idea
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behind our dim tive today. We are looking at a single
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sentence from Jesus in the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24.35,
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where he lays out a hierarchy of reality that just flips our
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whole cosmic order on, it said. And the verse is just stunning
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in its simplicity. Heaven and earth will pass away,
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but my words will not pass away. Yeah, I mean, Christ doesn't
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stand up and promise that the temple or Rome will last
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forever. He says the opposite.
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The most permanent things we can even conceive of, the entire
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physical universe, They're temporary.
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They're contingent. So the stability we all crave is
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actually destined to be transformed.
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Right. Well, the stability.
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We often just ignore his own speech.
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That's what's truly eternal. So our mission today is to
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analyze this dramatic contrast. We've got sources looking at the
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the linguistic force, the theology, the prophetic context
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of this one verse. We want to grasp what it
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actually means for Christ's word to be stronger than the fabric
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of reality itself. All right, so let's start right
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at the beginning of that force. Let's grapple with the absolute
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certainty of dissolution in that first clause.
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Heaven and earth will pass away. This clause right away confronts
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the core assumption of of materialism and naturalism.
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The idea that matter is the only thing that's real, the first and
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last reality. Right.
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And Jesus defines the scope of what's temporary by using this
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sweeping phrase. When he says heaven and earth,
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he is using a classic Hebraic figure's speech.
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It's called a mirrorism. And a mirrorism, for anyone less
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familiar, is a literary device where you use two opposing parts
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to express a whole thing, like saying from head to toe to mean
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a person's entire body. That's it.
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Jesus picks the highest point, the heavens, the galaxies, and
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the lowest point, the ground, the atoms, to encompass
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everything in between. So he's talking about the
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totality of the created order. Everything.
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The stars, the planets, the laws of physics, time itself, and
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yes, even the empires and political systems built on that
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Earth. He takes the things that feel
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the most solid, the most enduring and just says they're
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moving, they're perishable and they're going to be replaced.
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And the certainty of that statement is what makes it a
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prophetic decree and not just some poetic thought.
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Oh, absolutely. The grammar here carries a ton
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of weight. If we look at the Greek verb
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Pereira pomai, it means to pass by, to move aside, or to pass
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away. But when it's used here in the
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future indicative tense paralusi, it signifies A factual
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certain future event. It's not a possibility that the
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world might end. It's a destiny declared by the
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one who made it. It's a prophetic fact.
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It's as secure as the fact that the sun rose this morning, and
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it implies the creation is totally contingent upon God's
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will. Right, which is a central theme
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in our Reform standards, isn't it?
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We talk about God's Providence, the truth that God the Creator
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is actively upholding and governing all his creatures and
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all their actions. The universe isn't just running
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on its own steam. No, it only exists because God
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is actively be willing it to exist, moment by moment, holding
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the elements together. So if that's true, then the
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passing away isn't some catastrophic system failure,
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it's the king signaling the end of the current age and the
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eventual withdrawal of this sustaining grace.
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That's the correct theological frame and Scripture, you know,
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It gives us this shocking peek behind the curtain at the
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mechanics of this dissolution. It's not just a metaphor for
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cultural change. Which is often where modern
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interpreters try to dilute the text, isn't it?
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They'll suggest Jesus was only talking about the end of the
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Jewish age or to the fall of Jerusalem.
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Yeah, but that approach just completely clashes with the
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cosmic language he's using here. It does.
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We have to let Scripture interpret Scripture, and the
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Apostle Peter writing later gives us this graphic commentary
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on this very event. In second Peter 3.0, he says the
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heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements
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will melt with fervent heat. The elements melting with
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fervent heat. I mean, that pushes you way
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beyond political metaphor and straight into hard physics.
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It has to. The Greek word for elements
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there is Stowyer. It refers to the basic
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components of the physical world.
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Peter's describing the literal unmaking of physical reality.
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The dissolution of the atomic bond.
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That's what it sounds like, the most fundamental structural
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integrity of matter. Christ, who is the Logos, who
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holds all things together, is revealing that He also holds the
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off switch to the very laws of physics that govern existence.
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So the current universe is, in a way, like a massive custom built
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stage set. It's intricate, it's vast, but
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it exists to frame a specific drama, God's plan of redemption,
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and once the play is over. The set is cleared.
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That a perfect analogy. The current structure which is
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marred by the fall. It's just not fit, for eternal
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righteousness is being held in this temporary state for the
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fulfillment of God's purposes. So if the whole created cosmos
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is temporary, if the laws of physics are basically on a
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timer, what does that mean for where we place our confidence
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right now? Well, it strips us naked of our
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false refuges, doesn't it? It exposes the complete folly of
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idolatry. If the very stars are destined
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to pass away, then than placing your ultimate hope in any lesser
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stability, a nation, an economy, a medical diagnosis, your
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assets, it's spiritual foolishness.
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We tend to equate permanence with security.
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You look at the sheer weight of an institution or a pile of
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wealth and you think this will hold me?
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But Jesus shows us the true weight of things.
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If you build your identity on your career, that career exists
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in an economic system on a planet that's going to melt.
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If your confidence is in political stability, that
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stability rests on an Earth that will be rolled up like a scroll.
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The text forces the anxious soul to look away from the crumbling
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creation. To the only person whose words
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will not decay, the world is sinking ship.
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And you have to grab onto the 1 anchor that isn't part of the
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ship. That's it.
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And that gravity leads us straight to the strategic
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placement of this verse. Matthew 24.35 doesn't just float
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randomly in the text. It's a hinge verse.
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It's an anchor clause and it's positioned perfectly.
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It's weighs right between two statements that historically
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have caused Christians more anxiety and speculation than
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almost any others. On one side, verse 34.
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This generation will not pass away until all these things take
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place. On the other verse 36.
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But concerning that day and hour, no one knows.
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So verse 35, the guarantee, seems calculated to address the
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temptations those other two verses always provoked, the
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temptation to skepticism on one hand, and the temptation to
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sensationalist calculation on the other.
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That is absolutely right. Verse 35 works as a divine
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guarantee clause. It's placed there by Christ, who
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knew exactly how the complexity of this prophetic material wars,
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persecution, false prophets, would challenge the faith of his
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followers through history. Let's start with verse 34.
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Interpreters debate fiercely over what this generation means.
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Is it Jesus as contemporary as the Jewish people, As a race, or
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a future generation? But the rhetorical function is
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the same regardless. The function is to bind Christ's
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credibility to the reality of his predictions.
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He's saying, in essence, I am making claims about history that
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you can and must test. My prophecies will come to pass.
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So before the hearer can get bogged down in the chronology,
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before they stumble over the complexity of it all, Jesus cuts
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through the fog with verse 35. He secures trust in the speaker
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himself. He anticipates the challenge.
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The disciples are being forced to settle this huge question.
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Can I trust this man to make statements about the future?
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That will certainly happen. And his answer is yes, because
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my words are more permanent than the world you're standing on.
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And then immediately after that unbreakable guarantee, you get
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verse 36, which is this intentional and really critical
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restraint on our curiosity. It's a powerful discipline.
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Verse 36 immediately denies knowledge of the precise timing.
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But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the
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angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
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So he joins absolute certainty and absolute secrecy.
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He does. And that prevents the believer
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from doing exactly what we're so tempted to do, using the
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permanence of the word as fuel for date setting, for making
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speculative charts for sensationalism.
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The structure redirects all that energy.
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So we're not called to be masters of the King's timetable,
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we're called to be faithful servants of the King's decree.
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Exactly. The energy is pulled away from
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sensationalism and toward faithful readiness,
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watchfulness, obedience. Christ gives enough light for
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his people to walk in, and enough mystery to keep them
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humble and dependent on Him. And since this whole discourse
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is also warning repeatedly about deception false Christ's false
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prophets, how does verse 35 work as the guardrail against being
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LED astray? Well, deception thrives when
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your confidence in Christ's speech is weak, when you treat
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the true word as uncertain or negotiable, or you know just not
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enough. For today, verse 35 is the
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anchor. It's the fixed point.
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It's the fixed point. It tells the disciple,
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regardless of the political turmoil, the headlines, the
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chaos, or even the shaking of the physical heavens, Christ's
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words remain. They don't move.
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His word is the bedrock. Everything else is shifting
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sand. That placement is just genius,
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and it leads us to the spectacular claim in the second
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clause. My words will not pass away.
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This is where the Christology really comes into focus.
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We mention the symmetry. The universe will pass away, His
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words will not. But let's look closer at the
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sheer linguistic force of that negation.
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So what does the Greek structure tell us about the impossibility
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of failure? The Greek uses the strongest
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possible construction for a negative ume We translate that
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as certainly not, or by no means or never.
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This is not Christ saying my words are probably going to last
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a while. No, it's an absolute denial of
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any possibility of failure or revision.
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It asserts an absolute existential impossibility of
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failure. He's claiming an
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indestructibility that belongs only to the essence of eternal
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divine truth. His words aren't just durable,
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they're eternally fixed. And we have to talk about the
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shockwave in that phrase. My words.
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Yes, this is the high Christological claim.
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He doesn't say the Lord's words will not pass away, which every
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faithful Jew would have agreed with.
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He claims this unassailable durability for his own sayings,
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the words he is speaking right there on the Mount of Olives.
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That puts him in a category far above any prophet or apostle.
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Far above prophets always said thus says the Lord, they were
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delivery agents. Christ is saying I say this, and
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the authority of my speech is greater than the existence of
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the physical world. He places his own personal
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utterance on the far side of cosmic dissolution.
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Which is a breathtaking appropriation of divine
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prerogative. It echoes declarations that were
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only reserved for Yahweh in the Old Testament.
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It does. His audience would have
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recognized the direct link to passages like Isaiah 40 verse 8.
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The grass Withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God
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will stand forever. Christ just takes up this
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language without apology, testifying to His own deity.
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He is the Logos, the Word made flesh, whose utterance carries
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the same permanence as God's eternal decree.
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So if we accept that claim that Christ's words are imperishable
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and divine, it has huge ramifications for our doctrine
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of Scripture. It provides the ultimate
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security for the doctrine of Scriptures, inerrancy and
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infallibility. If Christ's words are eternally
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fixed, then the record of those words, Scripture, is objective,
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durable, and authoritative. A.
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Reformed tradition talks a lot about how the authority of the
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Bible comes not from men or from the church, but solely from God
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himself as the author. That's the core of it.
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The permanence of Christ's words confirms that God has bound His
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authority to this objective written historical document.
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We are bound to this word not because we like it, but because
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the Divine Speaker guarantees it.
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This also clarifies the relationship between the word
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revelation and reality, the events we experience.
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Yes, because we're always tempted to read God's truth off
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the surface of current events. When there's a war or financial
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collapse, we ask, is God still in control?
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Is his truth still relevant? And Jesus forbids that reversal.
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He does. Events do not authenticate his
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word. His word interprets events.
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The reality you see is contingent and fading.
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The revelation you have is fixed and eternal.
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His words are the only interpretive key to reality that
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will survive the dissolution of reality itself.
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That clarity takes us into the systematic theological
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consequences of this statement. If Matthew 24.35 is true, what
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specific theological conclusions are logically required of us?
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Well, if the verse stands, then certain non negotiable truths
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follow. The first, as we've already
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hinted at, is the requirement of a high Christology.
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The permanence of his speech demands the immutability of his
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person. Precisely if His words are
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permanent, then He must be the same yesterday, today, and
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forever. As Hebrews 13.8 says, His
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sovereignty over creation is confirmed.
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The writer of Hebrews applies the psalmist's words about the
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Lord creating and eventually destroying the heavens and earth
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directly to the sun. The sun is the one who remains
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the same when the works of His hands perish.
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And this forces us to address some modern attempts to limit
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Christ's divinity or his knowledge during his earthly
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ministry. We have to firmly reject
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theories like the liberal canonic doctrine.
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So for those less familiar, what exactly does canonic theory
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claim about Jesus? The.
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Term canosis comes from a Greek word for emptying.
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So these theories broadly claimed that when Christ became
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human, he temporarily emptied himself of certain divine
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attributes, maybe even his omniscience.
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OK, so the argument is that he limited his knowledge and
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therefore his statements could contain errors.
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Exactly that he was just reflecting a limited 1st century
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understanding. But that idea is totally
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incompatible with Matthew 24.35. A fallible Jesus cannot offer an
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infallible guarantee that his words possess the permanence of
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God's decree. The one speaking is the divine
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Logos, the unchangeable Son of God.
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His words are permanent because he is permanent.
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Secondly, the permanence of the Word speaks directly to its
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sufficiency and finality for the Church today.
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Right. If Christ's words do not pass
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away, they can't become obsolete.
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This means they are fully sufficient.
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They don't need to be supplemented by new insights
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from psychology or sociology or fresh revelations to keep the
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Church relevant. That hits hard at a very modern
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temptation, doesn't it? The idea that the church needs a
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new word or a new direction to keep up.
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But the truth is, the church matures not by moving past
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Christ's words, but by going deeper into them.
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The objective, written word is the instrument of God's
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sanctifying process. The moment we start thinking we
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need something more than what's written, we're undercutting the
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very permanence Christ guarantees.
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And thirdly, this verse establishes all of human history
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as a governed story, not just a random flux.
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History isn't just a random series of events where truth
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evolves. It's a governed story where
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God's decree stands fixed. The World's End isn't random
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chaos, it's moving toward a divinely appointed climax, and
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the interpretation of that story comes from the King who speaks
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the end from the beginning. Finally, within the immediate
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prophetic context of Matthew 24, this guarantee has huge
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implications for how we view eschatological fulfillment.
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For any robust biblical view of the future, this guarantee
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demands literal fulfillment. When Christ predicted a great
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tribulation, such as has never occurred since the beginning of
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the world, His words secure the reality of that event.
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And if that level of unparalleled global upheaval
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hasn't happened yet? Then the certainty of his words
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means it must lie in the future. The physical universe that whole
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stage set is being held in existence specifically to
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fulfill these detailed prophecies concerning Israel,
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the nation's and his return. The immutability of his speech
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guarantees the detailed destiny of the world.
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That is an incredible audacious claim, and it must act as a
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serious critique against so many of the popular spirituality as
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we see today that try to downgrade or sidestep the Bible.
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Let's talk about how the permanent word stands against
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passing errors it. Stands like a fortress against
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any spiritual approach that tries to locate ultimate
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authority anywhere outside of Christ's fixed words.
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And the first major error is liberal reductionism.
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So liberalism as a theological approach, it tends to treat
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Christ's teachings as, you know, historically interesting, maybe
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morally inspiring, but tied to the 1st century, they see his
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words as needing revision by modern insight.
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But verse 35 just demolishes that viewpoint.
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If heaven and earth pass away, then passing academic fashions
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and shifting cultural tastes are certainly not permanent.
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The attempt to domesticate Jesus, to treat his warnings
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about judgement as metaphorical or negotiable, it just clashes
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head on with his claim to absolute permanence.
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The core arrogance there seems to be placing the interpreter,
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the modern scholar, the church leader, above the text, trying
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to edit Christ to make him more palatable.
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Exactly. The verse insists the
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interpreter has to kneel before the word that outlasts the
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cosmos, not stand above it. The claim that we need to rescue
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Christ from his own ancient words is just exposed as utter
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foolishness. A second major error, then is
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experientialism, which often bleeds into a kind of unhealthy
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mysticism. This error treats the written
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word is not enough, always seeking fresh words, private
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revelations, spiritual novelty. Yeah, the human heart tells
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people they need something new to keep their faith alive.
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They start chasing subjective depressions or feelings instead
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of objective truth. And yet Christ, after warning
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against deception from false prophets, plants the ultimate
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antidote. His objective publicly revealed
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word. The written word is the fixed
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point. The moment you elevate
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subjective experience above the objective Word, you create this
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massive vulnerability to deception.
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We have to remember the Holy Spirit works to illuminate the
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word the Son has already spoken. He doesn't compete with the Son
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by providing rival updated messages.
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The church matures by deeper submission to what Christ has
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already said. Not by graduating from scripture
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to some higher form of knowledge.
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Then there's the error of pragmatism, which measures the
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truth of a ministry by results, metrics, crowd size, social
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media, and then edits Christ's words to fit what works.
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Pragmatism assumes that Christ's countercultural words on the
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exclusive of the gospel, the reality of hell, are liabilities
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that need to be softened to achieve growth.
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Yet verse 35 exposes the absolute folly of that short
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sighted approach. If heaven and earth will pass
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away, then every ministry method, every innovative
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platform, every impressive building will also pass away.
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Only Christ's words remain, and the Church is constantly tempted
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to apologize for the King's message to gain short term
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cultural acceptance. But that's an act of spiritual
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suicide. The verse forces us to build not
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on fleeting relevance, but solely on the King's message.
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And finally, a critique has to be levelled against rival
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traditionalism. If Christ's words outlast heaven
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and earth, then no ecclesiastical customs or
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inherited opinions can sit beside Scripture as a parallel,
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binding rule of authority. Every tradition must constantly
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be measured against the unchangeable standard of the
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Word. Tradition has to serve the Word,
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not govern it. So the error across all these
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forms, liberalism, experientialism, pragmatism,
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traditional, is exchanging the imperishable word for a
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perishable authority. It's trading the infinite
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durable bedrock for a limited, unstable preference, and Matthew
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24.35 permits no such trade. So now we take this massive
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theological claim and bring it home.
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What does this mean for the listener's life?
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How do we build our lives and our churches based on the fact
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that we can't keep the world, but we can't lose the word?
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This is our final section, Pastoral and ethical
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applications. The verse presses itself onto
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the conscience, it completely rearranges the necessary posture
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of a life lived in a volatile age.
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And the first application is deep, real comfort for the
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anxious believer, right? Christ promises a sure word, but
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He does not promise a smooth Providence.
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We live in a world where health fails, markets crash, nations
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tremble, and the temptation is always to interpret God's
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faithfulness by our immediate circumstances.
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But Jesus reverses that damaging logic.
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The circumstances, the shaking around, are temporary.
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His words, the bedrock, are fixed.
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The antidote for fear is not gaining control over events, but
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steady confidence that Christ's promises cannot decay.
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So when the news is overwhelming, the remedy is not
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to frantically seek new information, but to steady
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ourselves with the old reliable promises of Christ.
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It presses the believer toward the ordinary means of grace.
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If the word is the one imperishable reality, then
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neglecting scripture reading, neglecting hearing the word
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preached, neglecting prayer that's shaped by that word, It's
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spiritual self starvation. We have eternal bread and yet we
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look around for moldy scraps. And on the other side of that
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coin, the same permanence that comforts must also confront the
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complacent Christian. An imperishable word cannot be
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treated as a suggestion or a light preference.
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If Christ's warnings about judgement, the need for
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endurance, and the necessity of holiness will not pass away,
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then neither can our excuses for remaining complacent and
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unchanged. Jesus gave this discourse not to
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satisfy intellectual curiosity, but to produce watchful
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servants. Exactly.
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The verse corrects the temptation to be fascinated by
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end times discussion while remaining passive about personal
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obedience. Speculation is cheap.
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Watchfulness and endurance require costly submission.
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The word demands obedience, not hobbyism.
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And for the church as a body, this truth completely reshapes
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our mission. We have to organize our entire
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ministry around the central enduring reality.
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That means preaching can't be reduced to therapeutic self
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help. It must be the authoritative
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heralding of the King's message, the law that condemns and the
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Gospel that saves. So the church is calling isn't
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to keep pace with culture, but to be faithful to the word that
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will ultimately judge culture. And that fidelity will often
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make the church appear strange or weak or outdated.
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But the verse reminds us that outdated is a category that
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applies to everything external to Christ's speech.
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The most relevant thing a church can offer a dying world is the
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one thing that will not die. Finally, we have to look at the
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evangelistic summons this verse delivers to the unbeliever.
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The claim that heaven and earth will pass away unmasks the
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tragedy of building your life on things that won't last.
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Success, Reputation. Pleasure.
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Everything you cling to for security that's part of the
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created order is guaranteed to dissolve.
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So you can't evade death and judgement by just clinging to
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the earth. The permanence of Christ's
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warnings means they can't be evaded by delay.
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Every description of hell, every call to repentance, is more real
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and more permanent than the ground you are standing on right
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now. But conversely, the permanence
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of the Gospel promise is just as assured.
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The good news, the call to repent and believe in Christ is
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not a fragile, temporary option. It is the enduring royal command
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of the risen King. The sinner's only hope is to
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flee to Christ. Before that day arrives, the
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unpassing Word confronts every hearer with a decisive choice.
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Will you cling to a dissolving world, or will you come to the
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enduring Christ? So let's reiterate the central,
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immovable truth of Matthew 24.351 last time.
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The single admission by Christ that heaven and earth will pass
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away shatters every single idol of permanence we hold dear.
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It's a command to let go of the illusion that anything created
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can be trusted with ultimate weight.
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And in the same breath, Christ guarantees a ground stronger
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than the cosmos, His own words, which will stand when everything
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else collapses into fervent heat.
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His words won't fade. They won't rot.
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They will never prove mistaken. They are the fixed reality.
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This truth, of course, is a choice on every soul.
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We are all standing on shaking ground.
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We have to settle the matter. Will you cling to a passing
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world destined for dissolution, or will you come to the enduring
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Christ whose word defines eternity?
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The question that confronts every one of us that this verse
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makes impossible to ignore is simple.
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On what foundation have you built your life?
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So here is the thought we leave you with when the world in the
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sky flee away from the presence of the one who sits on the
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throne. As Revelation 20.1 Dew
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describes, the only reality that persists, immutable and whole,
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is the Word of the Son of God. The wise response isn't just
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intellectual agreement, but a complete rearrangement of life
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built on the recognition that you cannot keep the world and
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you cannot lose the Word. Build now on what will still be
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standing then.