Trouble is Coming!
Matthew 24:15-28 – The Message - “But be ready to
run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the Temple
sanctuary. The prophet Daniel described this. If you’ve read Daniel, you’ll
know what I’m talking about. If you’re living in Judea at the time, run for the
hills; if you’re working in the yard, don’t return to the house to get
anything; if you’re out in the field, don’t go back and get your coat. Pregnant
and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. Hope and pray this won’t
happen during the winter or on a Sabbath.
“This is going to be trouble on a scale beyond what the
world has ever seen, or will see again. If these days of trouble were left to
run their course, nobody would make it. But on account of God’s chosen people,
the trouble will be cut short.
“If anyone tries to flag you down, calling out, ‘Here’s
the Messiah!’ or points, ‘There he is!’ don’t fall for it. Fake Messiahs and
lying preachers are going to pop up everywhere. Their impressive credentials
and bewitching performances will pull the wool over the eyes of even those who
ought to know better. But I’ve given you fair warning.
“So if they say, ‘Run to the country and see him arrive!’
or, ‘Quick, get downtown, see him come!’ don’t give them the time of day. The
Arrival of the Son of Man isn’t something you go to see. He comes like swift
lightning to you! Whenever you see crowds gathering, think of carrion vultures
circling, moving in, hovering over a rotting carcass. You can be quite sure
that it’s not the living Son of Man pulling in those crowds.
In
today’s passage, Jesus continues to address the disciples’ question about end
times and the second coming. It’s important
to realize, though, that while Jesus is describing His second coming, the
disciples haven’t quite wrapped their mind around the notion that Jesus is
leaving in the first place. They most
likely heard His words filtered through an expectation that Jesus’s “coming” is
what is in process as He speaks to them.
It won’t be until after Jesus is crucified, dead and risen that they are
able to hear these words the way Jesus intended. Decades after Jesus’s resurrection, Matthew recalls
Jesus’s words and hears them in their proper context.
By the time Matthew writes these
words, the temple has been destroyed just as Jesus said it would. The “monster of desecration” has come and
defiled the house of God (the destruction of the temple in AD 70 by the Romans)
and the people still mourn this event to this day. The “trouble on a scale beyond what the
world has ever seen” has occurred.
The people did run for hills when it happened. And there were multiple “fake messiahs” that
showed up, attracting crowds and claiming to be the promised deliverer; all of
them were either quickly disgraced or killed.
Matthew writes for people who knew Jesus was crucified, died, was
resurrected, and then forty days later, ascended into Heaven. When Jesus uttered these warnings, Matthew
Himself did not understand them, but decades later, Matthew’s readers would understand
more fully. Jesus will return and their belief
was that it would be soon. But the trouble they were altogether too familiar
with had to happen first.
Matthew’s
message was to hold on. Jesus said this would happen. It is terrible, but it is not the end. It was a message that Matthew’s first readers
needed to hear. It is still a message
that needs to be heard today. The worst
trouble we can imagine is not the way the story ends. The story of God and God’s people will not
end in destruction, but restoration. As
the saying goes, the “worst thing is never the last thing.” God has a plan and the invitation is trust
God despite what we see and think we know.
We’ll
have more to say about Jesus’s message about the “end of days” next time, but
for now, meditate on the truth we’ve just mentioned; “the worst thing is never
the last thing.”
Questions: What is
the worst time you’ve ever experienced? Looking
back on that now, how did it affect your faith?
Prayer: Eternal God, we
often don’t understand the horrific things that happen during our
lifetimes. Our only hope is to trust
that You have the last word about all of it and that last word is good news. Grant us the ability to trust in that despite
what we see with our eyes and feel in our hearts. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Today, whenever
you hear or read about people that you don’t know who are experiencing troubled
times right now, stop and pray for them.
Song: How Long O Lord
– Sovereign Grace Music
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