Princeton Presbyterian Church

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1664

December 15, 2024

Matthew 24.1-31      Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“The Promised Second Advent”

 

 ^24.1Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. ²But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” ³As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” ⁴And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. ⁵For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. ⁶And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. ⁹“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. ¹⁰And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. ¹²And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. ¹⁵“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ¹⁷Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, ¹⁸and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁹And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²²And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵See, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. ²⁹“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

 

• Signs of His Advent

 

In this Advent season, we are certainly making preparation to celebrate the first advent of Christ on Christmas day. It is a part of the gospel story that eventually leads to the death and resurrection that defines our existence in God’s grace and mercy all encompassed in the steadfast love of God. Just as there were signs given for the first advent of Christ such as the birth to a virgin, so too we have signs given for the second coming of Christ. In Matthew 24 the disciples ask Jesus directly, what will be the sign of your coming?

Jesus’ first response is to make sure no one leads us astray. Some will come claiming to be the Messiah, even in the name of Jesus. But we know how the Bible tells us Jesus will return and it will be an amazing event as we saw last Sunday in Acts 1. Jesus ascended into the clouds and the promise is that He will return in the same way. In other words, He is not going to come in the same way He did the first time, in a humble fashion born to a young woman in a lowly stable where only a few shepherds were present to see the baby. The apostle Paul gives us a little more on the second advent:

 

¹⁶For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4.16-18).

 

Acts 1 says that Jesus was taken up in a cloud and will come that way again, and here in Paul’s letter we will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord. We used to joke that at least one sign is that the Lord will return on a cloudy day! Okay, He might bring an unexpected cloud on a sunny day!

 

The other signs include hearing of wars and rumors of wars, famine, earthquakes, hatred among people. People through the generations, any time there has been war, have wondered if this was the time. I’m sure during WWI and WWII that was a thought among many. This sign and the others of famine and earthquakes are just the beginning, according to Matthew 24. But I think the most significant message in this is that Jesus tells us to not be alarmed. “See that you are not alarmed.” We need not fear the signs of His coming. We need not fear the Second Advent of Christ. Paul even tells us to encourage one another with the words of His coming. This is good news! This is blessing and salvation and eternal life. This is the end to all the sin and hatred and corruption. This is the promise and hope we have in Christ’s return. Often we read or hear of Jesus preparing a place for us, but we might easily overlook the second coming in those verses:

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (John 14.1-3). “Let not your hearts be troubled...I will come again…” Amen.

 

 

• Endurance to Salvation

 

Matthew 24.13 pivots from the signs of His return to the glory of endurance. ¹³But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Endurance is a part of our calling in Christ. Some might see this as enduring through a period of tribulation, but it may also simply be enduring through our lives and all the troubles we face and all the temptations that seek to lead us astray. We know from other parts of Scripture that endurance is a part of Christian character. In Romans 5 Paul included endurance as a part of our journey.

 

Romans 5.1-5, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

 

The suffering of this life lead to endurance, teach us endurance, because the sufferings, whether they are hardships, illnesses, persecution for faith, or whatever sufferings, we go through them all trusting in Jesus, holding fast to faith and to His Word so that we can endure through all things to the end.

James teaching us the same lesson: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1.2-4). Steadfastness is synonymous with perseverance and endurance. A tested faith is an enduring faith.

We endure because God is faithful, Hebrews 10.23, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. We hold fast, we endure, we suffer for His name’s sake, but all of this is a part of salvation, not earned through it all, but strengthening our faith in salvation.

 

 

• The Abomination of Desolation

 

Back to our passage for today! Jesus of seeing the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. Let me share three of those verses:

Daniel 9.27, And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate...”

 

Daniel 11.31, Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.

 

Daniel 12.11, And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.

 

A great deal of study and energy has been put into the topic of Christ’s return. Folks have gone through Daniel and Ezekiel, the gospels, Revelation and any other parts of Scripture that may speak to Christ’s return. Some have tried to predict dates and have noted modern day signs that could point to His return. I started my journey in the faith with this kind of study. The Second Advent and the end times was my entry into Bible study as a new believer. I am grateful for that time because it eventually led me into all of the Bible and everything the Bible offers us for faith and life. One such book predicted Christ would return in 1988. Needless to say, not so. Some of you probably remember Hal Lindsey's popularity in the 70’s partly through one of his books, The Late Great Planet Earth. There is a great curiosity about these things and that is just a part of our human desire to know things, even the mysteries of God.

The phrase “abomination of desolation” is interesting in that Daniel speaks each time of abominations against God as leading to desolation. That is to say, that sin leads to destruction! Not a new concept and not solely connected to the end times discussion. Abomination make things desolate. It is a characteristic of any abomination. It is anything that causes God to be disgusted or to hate what has been done. Simply put...sin. Some examples:

 

The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 7.25).

And [Jesus] said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God (Luke 16.15).

 

The abomination of desolation is as evident today as much as any time in history, for people are as idolatrous as ever and people are eager to justify their sin to others but God knows their hearts. My take on all this is that the signs are there...but we still do not know the time or the day when Christ will return. Could be today… “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24.36).

 

• The Promised Second Advent

 

In Christ’s return we will rejoice! Just as we rejoice in the first Advent, rejoice in the second. Why consider it any different? We know that all of this is something of a mystery. What will His return actually look like? When will it be? Will the signs be more clear than ones we may have thought clear before? In the end, we walk by faith trusting that Christ will come again. In that we rejoice even if we do not have clarity on the details.

Jesus came the first time to save and while that is great news for all who believe, He also came to bring a sword. In other words, it was not good news for some:

 

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10.34-39).

 

There are those in my extended family who do not believe and it is a wedge between us. Some will be offended when we place our loyalty with Christ before family, when we love Christ more than anyone else. But Christ has come, Christ is Lord, Jesus is the Christ and we trust in Him as Lord and Savior. We trust that He was born into this world and died for us, rose from the dead, and will come again.

 

We spend a great deal of time and effort and resources to celebrate the first advent of Christ, but let us not neglect the joy in the promise of His second coming. Let us not forget the promise of a Second Advent. We may not wake up every day thinking it could be today. We really do not live in that kind of anticipation or excitement, but occasionally we may need to reflect on the promise of Christ coming again and let that sink into our being so that we at least think about it more than we presently do. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Amen.