What in the World is Going to Happen? - Tribulation 2
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING TO HAPPEN?
- we've been looking at what the Bible says about end-time
events
- so far we've talked about the rapture, the judgement seat
of Christ, and we began talking about the tribulation
- last week we defined the tribulation as a seven year period
of judgement on the earth and its inhabitants after the
rapture
- so we're not talking about something the church will go
through, but it is a subject the church needs to know about
- we also studied what the scripture says about the duration
of the tribulation
- INPUT - how long did we say it would last? (7 years)
- what passage did we study to show this truth?
(Dan. 9)
- INPUT - God gave Daniel a vision about how many weeks? (70
weeks)
- What did those weeks refer to? (groups of 7 Jewish
years)
- How many of those weeks have already elapsed? (69)
- How many years would that be? (483 Jewish years)
(from decree to rebuild Jerusalem to crucifixion)
- now we are in the gap period - the age of grace
- How many prophetic weeks does that leave? (1 week)
- How many years is that? (7) - thus the tribulation
lasts seven years, divided into two 3 1/2 year
periods
- tonight we're going to look at a passage of Scripture that
adds a lot of truth to our understanding of the
tribulation, and also has some great challenges for us
today - Matt 24-25
- the context of this passage is very important
I. What Is The Context?
A. Jewish rejection of the Messiah
- throughout his ministry, Jesus has faced opposition
from the Jewish leaders
- that opposition intensifies, and then culminates in
Matt. 12, where the Pharisees officially reject Christ
as their Messiah and actually say that his miracles are
done in the power of the devil
- from that time on - Christ begins to speak of the
church
B. Revelation of the church
- in Matt. 16, Jesus and the disciples are in Ceasarrea
Philippi, the city of the dead gods, where statues of
gods and goddesses have been erected on the cliffs all
around the city
- Jesus asks Peter, who do you say that I am?
- Peter rightly responds, thou art the Christ, the Son of
the living God
- Jesus says, Thats right Peter, the Father revealed that
to you, and upon that rock, that confession, I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it
- from that time on, its very important as we read
Christ's words, that we determine who he's speaking to,
Israel, the church, or unsaved Gentiles
C. Woes on Pharisees and Jerusalem
- starting in Matt. 20, Jesus has
given a series of parables including the parable of the
two sons, householder, the marriage feast
- in every one of those he speaks of the forthcoming
judgement on Israel because of their unbelief
- 21:43 - therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God
shall be taken away from you, and given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits of it
- then he starts in chapter 23 to give the woes on the
Pharisees for their hypocrisy and externalism
- liked them to snakes and blind men and whited tombs
- he says that their fathers killed the prophets and now
they were going to kill Him
- then he turns in verse 37 and talks about the judgement
that was to come on Jerusalem
- he says, behold, your house is left desolate
- from that point, Jesus and the disciples are leaving
Jerusalem and heading for the Mount of Olives
- when chapter 24 opens, we're in the final week of
Christ's ministry
- this is after the triumphal entry, the final cleansing
of the temple
E. Disciples comments and questions
- on the way to the mount, the disciples talk about
how beautiful the temple is
1. look at the beautiful temple (Mark 13:1-4, Luke
21:5-7)
- they are talking about Herod's temple that he built
for the Jews, started in 19 B.C. and wasn't
completed till 62 A.D. (one generation later than
these verses) - this temple was known as one of the
wonders of the world
- Mark tells us the disciples said, "Teacher, behold
what wonderful stones and what wonderful
buildings!"
- Jesus' response - read Matt. 24:2
- from that, disciples have three questions
INPUT - what are the questions according to vs. 3?
2. 3 questions
a. When will the temple be destroyed? (answered
Luke 21:20-24
b. What is the sign of your coming to reign?
(answered Matt. 24:29-44)
c. What is the sign of the end of the age?
(Gentike domination) (answered Matt. 24:4-28)
- Jesus is going to answer those questions, and
answer a couple more that they didn't think to ask,
but we need to be sure we divide his answers
according to the groups he's addressing in his
answers
II. How Are The Answers Divided?
A. Jewish - Matt. 24:1-44
B. Church - Matt. 24:45-25:30
C. Gentiles - Matt. 25:31-46
- every one of these groups needs truth about the
tribulation
- Jewish people need this truth as a motivation now to be
saved and as an explanation in the tribulation for what
is happening
- the church needs this truth as motivate us to serve
faithfully now and be thankful we won't have to suffer
these things
- the Gentiles need this truth because they need to
understand where they fit into the end-time scheme of
things
- INPUT - before we move on, what does this tell us about
the Scripture?
(its timeless, its applicable to everyone
regardless of their race, economic background,
or religious belief)
- contrast this to what Doc Welk said - half of
your training will be proven wrong in 6-10
years, and we can't tell you which half
- yet here's what God says about His truth
- "The grass withers and the flower fades,
but the Word of our God shall stand
forever" - Isa. 40:8
- in fact Jesus is going to say that same thing
in the middle of this passage, chapter 24, vs.
35-"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall not pass away"
III. What Are The Answers (to the disciples questions?)
- first question was answered in Luke 21, we won't look
at that answer (just want you to know that it was
answered)
A. Jewish 24:1-44
1. beginning of sorrows - 4-8 - corresponds with
(Rev. 6:1-8) (first 4 seal judgements)
- talks about wars, false teachers,
- read v. 8
2. events leading to the "great tribulation" - 9-14
(Rev. 6-7)
- martyrs and chaos (Rev. 6:9-11)
- worldwide preaching (Rev. 7)
- read vs. 14
- INPUT - who would that refer to in the trib?
(144,000 sealed witnesses)
(#1 & #2 refer to the first 3 1/2 years)
"then shall the end come" - v. 14
3. great tribulation 24:15-28
- abominable one who desolates - v. 15 (Rev. 13)
- INPUT - speaking of who? - AntiChrist who
has broken his pact with Israel
- warning to Jews to flee - 16-20
- description of the trib. - 21-28 (Rev. 16-18)
- read 21-22
- Battle of Armaggedon - v. 28 (read) - comp. to
Rev. 19:7-8 - very graphic presentation of the
terror of the tribulation (Rev. 19:11-21)
- we couldn't overemphasize the destruction and
devastation that takes place during these 3 1/2
years of the great tribulation
- you might say, why was Christ so specific and so
detailed in his description of the tribulation here
on the Mount of olives?
- perhaps there's two answers:
1) to communicate a message to the disciples
- they had rose colored glasses on for sure
- they are walking around enamored by the
beauty of the temple, even after Christ has
talked about the judgement that is about to
fall on the Pharisees, their religious
system, the city of Jerusalem and the temple
- He's saying, guys, you'll never make it in
the ministry you're about to be thrust into
unless you realize how serious a judgement
awaits those who don't respond to your
message of salvation through Me
- if you don't understand that,
- you'll give up
- you won't minister with the right
intensity
- you'll compromise truth
- this is time to be gawking at the temple-
that temple and the religious system it
represents is coming down
2) to communicate a message to us
- this thing is going to be serious
- see, I'm sure that all of us know that the
tribulation is going to be bad, but I'm not
sure what thoughts come into our minds when
we think about bad
- see, would you agree with me, we don't know
experientially what bad is, if the
tribulation is the standard
- now I want to be careful, I don't want to
minimize some of the great difficulties you
may have faced in your life, or the ones you
may be facing now
- but even keeping that in mind, even if we
pooled all of the difficulties that all of us
have faced in our entire lives and packed
them into a 3 1/2 year period, that still
wouldn't be anything compared to the
tribulation
- when I think about that, I'm most concerned
about those of us who are younger
(those of us at the end of the baby-boomer
generation)
- we've pretty much grown up with a silver
spoon
- some of us haven't really experienced war
personally, we didn't have to fear the draft,
we haven't faced real economic difficulties
- the danger for some of us would be to
minimize the seriousness of the tribulation
because we just don't have anything to liken
it to
- ultimately, none of has anything to liken it
to, but thats especially true the younger you
are
- in fact, I was asking myself, What's the
worst day you've ever had - the worst thing
you've ever experienced
- while there have been difficulties, its
almost laughable in comparison to this
- the point is, Jesus had to make this
description specific, because minimizing the
seriousness of the tribulation will greatly
effect a person's relationship and service
for God
- in fact, that subject is so important, Jesus
is going to address it specifically in a
minute
- to close out the Jewish aspect of His
answers, He tells them about:
4. Son of man's return in power and glory - 29-31
(Rev. 19:11-21)
5. He also gives some concluding exhortations to the
Jews
- fig tree - know the time is nigh - v. 33
- Noah - watch - v. 42
- householder - be ready - v. 44
at that point there is a:
6. shift in the content
a. Jesus begins to answer questions that the
disciples didn't originally ask
b. speaking of issues that are primarily
applicable to the church
- there's still the Jewish flavor, but there's
great application for the church
B. Coming for His church - 24:45-25:30
- Christ speaks to the disciples and the church with
five parables, three of which Matthew records
- the parables are these
1. parables
a. faithful servants - 45-51
- where the Lord leaves and entrusts his
servants with responsibilities
- the man who is faithfully doing what the
Lord commanded when the Lord returns is
blessed and faithful and wise
b. wise and foolish virgins - 25:1-13
- where five had no oil for their lamps and
were therefore unprepared when the
bridegroom returned
c. profitable/unprofitable servants -25:14-30
- where each servant was given a different
amount of money, and were judged when the
master returned based on their faithfulness
with what God entrusted them
2. applications
- just looking at the amount of content that
Jesus addresses to the church after talking
about the tribulation shows how practical and
important a study of the tribulation is
- He's saying in different ways and through
different parables, because the tribulation is
coming and because it will be terrible, you
must be ready...
a. be ready by being saved
- the virgins were foolish because they
hadn't taken the first step toward being
prepared
- that becomes so much more weighty when we
realize how bad the tribulation is going to
be
- I can remember what it was like to go
through a portion of my life not being sure
I was saved, and if you are in that
position tonight, I would urge you to speak
to someone about it tonight,
- because we've seen what the Scripture says
about how bad the coming tribulation is
going to be
- and even if you die before it starts, the
great white throne judgement isn't going to
be any better
- this point also gives us something to do
around invitation time, doesn't it?
- INPUT?
- folks who come off the street and here the
gospel often aren't viewing it in terms of
the serious consequences of not doing so
- we can't preach this kind of message every
Sunday morning - but you and I, since we
know these trues, can be fervently praying
that no one would leave without trusting
Christ as Savior
b. be ready by being faithful
- let me ask you - do you believe the average
Christian's lifestyle communicates that
they believe the tribulation could begin
soon? or that when it does begin, it will
be serious?
- a father who believes this is going to be
doing all he can to model truth so that his
children will be saved and not have to go
through the trib.
- we're not being deterministic, the child
might not respond, but the father who
believes in the tribulation is going to be
busy teaching truth and modeling truth
- I don't want my child to possibly face the
trib. partly because I wasn't ready
- I don't want that to happen to neighbors
- friends, family
- Wouldn't it be terrible if someone could
say, well, you obviously didn't believe,
how did you expect me to?
- the truth of the tribulation is a great
motivator
- now you might ask, are you saying we ought
to just be motivated by fear and judgement
- no, but that better than not being
motivated period
- see, we also ought to be motivated by God's
grace, his love for us, his past
faithfulness
- but listen, there are days when I'm just
not being as godly as I should be
- Its at that those times that I need to have
stored in my mind as many reasons as
possible to love and serve God faithfully
- the problem with some believers is they
haven't stored anything in their mind like
we're talking about tonight
- so when they need the truth to keep being
faithful, they go to the cupboard and the
cupboard is bare
- they fail to be faithful and they fail to
be ready because the concept of the
tribulation is either foreign or passe
c. be ready by being "proportionately
productive "
- see, someone could be here tonight and say,
well, my belief in the coming trib. is as
evident as the next guys
- Jesus shows, we're not talking about
comparing you to the next guy
- we're talking about comparing you to the
gifts and abilities God has given
- its staggering to think about all that God
has entrusted with here
- every time I tell someone about our new
land, I'm overwhelmed at God's goodness
- add to that new homes and growth all around
us
- thats looking at it from the corporate side
but its true individually as well
- we have individuals here tonight who are as
well trained in the Word of God as some
pastors
- many here tonight have been put in
positions where they could potentially
impact many individuals for Christ
- many have been given abilities to work with
people and love people and influence people
- as a church, we are in a five talent
situation for sure - and thats true of many
individuals as well
- the day will come, when we will be in
heaven knowing that the tribulation is
taking place on earth
- on that day, wouldn't it be great to hear
the Lord say, well done, thou good and
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy
of the Lord
- question tonight is: