Bible Red Thread 15a: A Glorious Future (Matthew 24)
sermon Gospel of Matthew 24 : Patrice Berger, 2023_01_01, AB Lausanne church
title : Bible Red Thread 15a: A Glorious Future (Matthew 24)
Bible Red Thread 15a: A Glorious Future (Matthew 24)
Our life is not just the period between our birth and our death. Much will unfold after our life on earth. Let’s start getting ready now.
Be vigilant and persistent: God foresees a glorious future at the end of all things, the last sorrows of the earth will be terrible. When Jesus’s disciples ask him when and how all this will happen, his answer is unambiguous. But before answering this legitimate question, he first encourages his people to remain persistent and busy with the work of the mission to make disciples of all nations. Then he warns them not to be misled or frightened for many will arise in the name of Jesus, performing great miracles, whose sole purpose, unlike Jesus, will be to deceive and mislead the greatest number. Finally, to reassure his people, Jesus reminds them that these things must happen, like everything else in God’s perfect plan. But he assures that these days will be shortened.
The Beginning of Sorrows: Due to the progress of evil throughout the earth, there will be wars and rivalries all over the planet. Natural disasters, epidemics, famines or earthquakes will multiply. Atypical cosmic signs will appear. However, this will not be the end yet. In this troubled geopolitical and cosmic context, the enemy of God, the Serpent, will be unleashed by waging a merciless war against the family of God, in accordance with God’s announcement in Genesis 3.
A contradictory dynamic: Persecutions targeted against all those who claim to be disciples of Jesus will be carried out by the one whom Paul calls “the Son of perdition.” This man will rise up against all that is called God, proclaiming himself God. The trouble will be so great, nothing like it has not occurred since the world began, and never will again. The people of God will experience a paradoxical situation, where on the one hand many will stumble, betray one another, and hate one another, because the love for God will wax cold due to these persecutions, and on the other hand, some people will continue the mission of spreading the good news of reconciliation to all the people of the earth. Only then will the end come!
In a flash, STOP: Suddenly, the History counter will stop. Jesus will appear in heaven with great power and glory. All people will mourn because the end of all enterprise will have sounded. The son of perdition will be destroyed by the breath of the mouth of Jesus and all the people of God will be gathered from the four corners of the world to live with him forever. As with Noah, the birth of Jesus and his resurrection, Jesus’s return will come when no one expects it. For as regards the day and the hour, neither the angels nor even Jesus, know them. From beginning to end, God alone is in control of time!
The peoples of God, in the territory of God, under the authority of God: “Then I see a new heaven and a new earth because the first heaven and the first earth have disappeared, the sea no longer exists. And I see the holy city, the new Jerusalem. She descends from heaven, sent by God. She made herself beautiful like a young bride waiting for her husband. Then I hear a loud voice coming from the royal seat. She said, “Now the house of God is in the midst of human beings. He will live with them. They will be his people, God himself will be with them and he will be their God. He will wipe away all the tears from their eyes. Death will no longer exist, there will be no more mourning, or cries, or suffering. Yes, the old world is gone (Revelation 21:1-4).
God your judge or Jesus your saviour? The Bible says that one day the offer of reconciliation will be finished. So as Creator, God will be the only judge of his creatures. There will be only two possible verdicts: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not be lost but have eternal life.” God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. He who believes in the Son is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned because he did not believe in the only begotten Son of God. (John 3.16-17)
REFLECTION
In Noah’s time, God had warned Man. Some have bet everything on the present moment and are no more, while others have acted according to God’s warnings, which saved them. God warns you in the same way in the face of the inevitable end of what you know. Do you bet only on the present moment, or do you act now according to what God will do?
Biblical texts: Available in Darby: Matthew 24; 2 Thess. 1 and 2; Revelation 21
Matthew 24 / Darby
1. And Jesus went forth and went away from the temple, and his disciples came to [him] to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
2. And he answering said to them, Do ye not see all these things? Verily I say to you, Not a stone shall be left here upon a stone which shall not be thrown down.
3. And as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be, and what is the sign of thy coming and [the] completion of the age?
4. And Jesus answering said to them, See that no one mislead you.
5. For many shall come in my name, saying, *I* am the Christ, and they shall mislead many.
6. But ye will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not disturbed; for all [these things] must take place, but it is not yet the end.
7. For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.
8. But all these [are the] beginning of throes.
9. Then shall they deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you; and ye will be hated of all the nations for my name's sake.
10. And then will many be offended, and will deliver one another up, and hate one another;
11. and many false prophets shall arise and shall mislead many;
12. and because lawlessness shall prevail, the love of the most shall grow cold;
13. but he that has endured to the end, *he* shall be saved.
14. And these glad tidings of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole habitable earth, for a witness to all the nations, and then shall come the end.
15. When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation, which is spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in [what is a] holy place, (he that reads let him understand,)
16. then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains;
17. let not him that is on the house come down to take the things out of his house;
18. and let not him that is in the field turn back to take his garment.
19. But woe to those that are with child, and those that give suck in those days.
20. But pray that your flight may not be in winter time nor on sabbath:
21. for then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from [the] beginning of [the] world until now, nor ever shall be;
22. and if those days had not been cut short, no flesh had been saved; but on account of the elect those days shall be cut short.
23. Then if any one say to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or here, believe [it] not.
24. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
25. Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26. If therefore they say to you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold, [he is] in the inner chambers, do not believe [it].
27. For as the lightning goes forth from the east and shines to the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
28. [For] wherever the carcase is, there will be gathered the eagles.
29. But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the land lament, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from [the one] extremity of [the] heavens to [the other] extremity of them.
32. But learn the parable from the fig-tree: When already its branch becomes tender and produces leaves, ye know that the summer is near.
33. Thus also *ye*, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors.
34. Verily I say to you, This generation will not have passed away until all these things shall have taken place.
35. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall in no wise pass away.
36. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of the heavens, but [my] Father alone.
37. But as the days of Noe, so also shall be the coming of the Son of man.
38. For as they were in the days which were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day on which Noe entered into the ark,
39. and they knew not till the flood came and took all away; thus also shall be the coming of the Son of man.
40. Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left;
41. two [women] grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left.
42. Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes.
43. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be dug through [into].
44. Wherefore *ye* also, be ye ready, for in that hour that ye think not the Son of man comes.
45. Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman whom his lord has set over his household, to give them food in season?
46. Blessed is that bondman whom his lord on coming shall find doing thus.
47. Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all his substance.
48. But if that evil bondman should say in his heart, My lord delays to come,
49. and begin to beat his fellow-bondmen, and eat and drink with the drunken;
50. the lord of that bondman shall come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour he knows not of,
51. and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
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Related Links / Notes
Bible Study: Red Thread through the Bible
Study Notes are translated from the original French and available in the online magazine TaJeunesse (literlly “Your Youth”). The orginal texts are magazine articles. The texts provided here follow that form and include some of the images from the magazine, and help provide a deep understanding of the main themes of the Bible.
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