Warnings of Coming Peril

Matthew 24:16-28

One of the great joys in our time of worship together is to study God's Word. How can we worship God unless we know who He is? How can we worship Him fully unless we worship Him in truth?

And that truth comes to us through His Word. Let's open our Bibles to the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew's gospel, Matthew chapter 24.

It is with excitement that we come to this passage, this morning, as we continue our look at this great sermon on the Second Coming preached by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is known as the Olivet Discourse. And on the one hand, as I say, while it's a greatly exciting experience to come back to this passage, I must also apologize to those of you who haven't been with us because you're going to have a few things missing as we approach the sermon from the vantage point we do so today. Because we've already moved into the sermon and find ourselves really in verse 16 of Matthew 24, picking up where we left off last time.

But just a few things by way of introduction may sort of help us to find ourselves a little bit. I don't think there's any more intriguing, any more fascinating subject than the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know of no biblical subject which can create the same amount of curiosity that this subject can create. And really, there are few things in Scripture that are as highly motivating to the believer and to the unbeliever as the sense of reality regarding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul said, "Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." In other words, realizing that Christ will come in judgment and bring a terrorizing holocaust upon the earth, we present the gospel so that men may escape that. Also, Paul said, "We labor whether present or absent that we may be in a sense accepted by Him." So, we who are believers serve the Lord knowing that some day He'll come to reward us and we want to be found faithful.

So, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, both from the standpoint of warning an unbeliever of the judgment to come and of encouraging a believer with the reward to come is a highly motivating subject. And there's no place in the Scripture where it's presented more wonderfully than right here in Matthew 24 and 25 by the Lord Himself. Now remember, this is one sermon given by our Lord on the Mount of Olives to His disciples. He has previous to this sermon spent His last day speaking to the crowds of Israel and He has pronounced judgment on Israel. Told them their house is left desolate. They have rejected Him and He has rejected them.

At the end of that time, He left the temple, went to the Mount of Olives and there He preaches a sermon to His disciples. It is a sermon in answer to questions that they ask. Notice them in verse 3 of this chapter. "Tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the age?"

From what Jesus has been saying, the Disciples feel that the Kingdom is very near. They don't realize that it is yet thousands of years away because they don't understand that there are really two comings of Christ. He comes the first time in humiliation to die, there's a long period of time, He comes the second time in glory to reign. But they don't see those two comings, they see it as one. And so, as He has come, as He has preached and taught and healed, as He has now cleansed the temple, they believe He is readying things for His Kingdom. In fact, we find them in chapter 24 at the height of their expectation for the Kingdom to come.

And then He makes a prophecy to them in chapter 24 verse 2.

Speaking of the temple which they're now looking down on from the Mount of Olives, He says, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." He predicts the total destruction of the temple to the point where one stone is not left on top of another. Now this is a massive structure...just a massive structure made out of huge stones weighing tons. Yet Jesus predicts its total destruction.

Now when He says that, this raises their curiosity and anticipation even more because it probably makes them realize that this is all going to be the judgment on what is to establish what God would have. Christ having cleansed the inside earlier in the week, threw out the money changers and the sellers and buyers, and now He's going to knock the whole thing down and we're going to have the Kingdom temple and the Kingdom worship and it's all going to come. So they're at a moment of great expectation. And they ask this question. When is it going to happen and what is the sign that we look for to indicate Your presence in Kingdom glory and the end of man's age? So they think that is imminent.

And then Jesus answers them, beginning in verse 4, with a sermon about His Second Coming. Now some people have tried to say that this is a sermon about the destruction of Jerusalem, that this whole sermon was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed. For many reasons that is impossible, as we've tried to point out in our previous message. But just one other thought that I'd like to give you. People say, "Well, why does He describe and predict in verse 2 the destruction of the temple if that's not His subject? Why in verse 2 does He say that all these stones are going to be thrown down so that no two are left stacked up? And then why would He move from there thousands of years later to the Second Coming? Why talk about the destruction of the temple?"

I'll tell you why. It's very simple. A prophet could only believed to be a true prophet if his prophecies always...what?

Came true. Now how can Jesus be believed when predicting His Second Coming when everybody who's hearing the prediction is going to be dead long before it happened? In other words, it's very easy to predict something. I could predict all kinds of things way off in the future, things that wouldn't occur, or couldn't be verified or proven right or wrong until all of us were dead. How could I be known as a prophet if there was no way to verify it?

Typically, the prophet of the Word of God assigned by God to give a far-future prophecy gave also a near prophecy to establish his credentials. In other words, if he proves to be accurate in the historically verified prophecy, we can believe him for the one that's so far in the future that we can't see it. And the reason Jesus mentions the destruction of Jerusalem in verse 2 as prophecy is not to introduce the whole sermon on that same destruction, but to give you a historical point in which to verify that He speaks the truth. And so He said there shall not one stone be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.

Now what you have to understand is that the temple built by Herod was massive, I mean, absolutely massive. And we've described it in some detail. Let me just add a couple of other terms that might help you in your full description...in a full description understanding. The temple was built from 20 to 10 B.C. There were 10,000 stone cutters and setters working on it for that ten years, and that was just the main building. There were also one thousand priests who were trained as stone cutters and carpenters because only a priest could build a sacred place.

So you had ten thousand just workers and a thousand priests building the sacred parts of the temple. And that was just the main part of the temple. The building then went on from 10 B.C.

to 64 A.D. So, you're looking at an 84-year building project before it finally reached completion in 64 A.D. and was then totally destroyed in 70 A.D. So, 80 years is undone in a matter of months.

And you say, "Well, did the prophecy that all the stones would be thrown down come to pass?" Yes, not one stone was left upon another and the Romans literally tore it down to the very ground. Now that's been historically verified. History doesn't argue that at all. That happened in 70 A.D. exactly the way Jesus said it would. It seemed to be ridiculous as a prophecy, it seemed to be impossible as a prophecy, it seemed that it could never come true. And that's what makes it such a good credential. Jesus predicts something that really could never have been anticipated, never have been foreseen. No one ever dreamed they would...that anyone could come along as powerful as that to tear that thing down, or who would want to tear such a magnificent edifice to the ground.

But that is exactly what happened. And I told you about the fury and the passion of the Roman soldiers being so great that the Roman general himself standing in the middle of the temple, screaming for them to stop burning it down, couldn't even get them to obey his own orders. They were so possessed, I believe, by Satan's forces that they tore that thing to the ground trying to remove all remnants of the worship of God, but in fact fulfilling the prophecy of Jesus, giving Him credentials as one who speaks and speaks the truth.

Now, when we know that Jesus can be verified in the past in a near prophecy, we can believe Him for a far prophecy, right?

And therein lies the reason for the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem in verse 2, as an establishment of His credentials as a truthful prophet.

Now they think this is...the disciples do...this is all part of the end. And so they ask, "What is the sign that it's all going to come to an end?" And that's their question in verse 3 and that triggers the sermon that goes from 24...verse 4, right through chapter 25.

Now by the way, this act of Jesus in using a near prophecy to give credentials to Himself so that He would be believed for a far prophecy is something that Daniel did, Isaiah did, Zechariah did. It's typical of prophets to do that very thing.

So, they posed the question then: what is the sign of Your coming, Your presence, Your Kingdom, Your glory, the end of man's day? And the Lord responds by giving them a series of signs from verse 4 through 14 which He calls in verse 8 "the beginning of birth pains...the beginning of birth pains." As we said, birth pains are right at the very end, and they give birth. They are that which causes birth to occur in a woman. And so there will be certain things happening at the very end of man's age which will result in the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, verse 4 to 14 gives these general things that are going to happen and they will be the beginning of the end, just prior to the coming of Christ.

But Jesus goes one step further in verse 15 and says there's one single event that kicks the whole thing off. "When you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the Holy Place, whoever reads, let him understand." Now when you see the abomination of desolation, you know that's the trigger that kicks the whole thing off. Verse 21 says, "For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be."

So, when you see that one event, that's the trigger. That's the signal that starts the birth pains. And last week we went into detail into verse 15 and discussed the abomination of desolation. What it is is the antichrist coming in to the temple which will be rebuilt in the end time, the Jews will be worshiping there. He comes in as their protector. He comes in as their ally. He comes in as the one who defends them against the threat of Russia and Arab aggression. He comes in to sort of be their savior, as it were. Daniel 9 says they sign a treaty with him. He's the leader of a revived Roman Empire, a western European confederacy.

That is exactly what Daniel predicts that they will all come together and out of them will rise this one great leader who will be the protector of Israel in the middle of a year...of a seven- year period, he violates his treaty with them, he desecrates their worship in the Holy Place. He sets up an idol, an image of himself, according to 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 13, he demands the whole world to worship him. And that is the trigger that breaks loose the whole holocaust of the end time.

So, verse 15 describes that as the abomination of desolation. Abomination meaning a detestable thing; desolation meaning that ruins. A detestable act of idolatry that ruins, that brings sacrilege in the temple of God.

Now, when that happens, all the things from verse 4 to 14 will break loose. Pseudo-saviors will come, wars, rumors of wars, nations against nations, kingdom against kingdom, famines, earthquakes, and people delivered in persecution to be killed and hated. And there will be betrayals and false prophets and deceivers and sin will run rampant, iniquity will abound, it says in verse 12. The love of many will grow cold. And all of that is going to be triggered by the abomination of desolation at the midpoint of the seven years. Satan's counterfeit king becomes king of the world and he is a demon-possessed, hell-inspired, Christ-hating, God-defying, Christian-killing, Jew-despising man of sin who takes over the reigns of rulership in the world. And Satan pulls out all the stops to try to destroy all Christians, all Jews, the nation of Israel and stop Jesus Christ from establishing His Kingdom.

By the way, I believe at this point in time, the church has already been raptured. So we're not going to be there. We're looking forward to that time when the Lord takes us out and then brings that judgment on the earth and we return at the end of the time with Him from heaven when He establishes His Kingdom. And that subject we'll cover more in later studies.

So, the Lord has given us a clear picture of His Coming. He says, here are the birth pains, here are the kind of things that are happening and here's the trigger that starts it all.

Now, as we come to verse 16 to 28, He warns us. And He warns all the readers who will read this, who will know this in the time that it happens. And He warns about four things: severe calamity, subtle confusion, spiritual collapse, and Second Coming. And these are really something to see.

Verse 15 says, "When," it starts with when, "When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation," then jump to verse 16, "then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains." Now what is the response when this happens? When this happens, flee...flee. The Greek word is pheugo from which we get the word "fugitive." Run, get out because as long as you stay in Jerusalem, you're going to be vulnerable to death.

You're going to be vulnerable to persecution, especially if you're a Jew because the antichrist wants to stamp out Israel. Satan has wanted to do that all through history because if he can eliminate Israel, he can thwart the whole plan of God which is fulfilled ultimately in bringing Israel to salvation and to their Kingdom. Satan has tried to wipe out the Jew throughout history.

And when antichrist takes over in Jerusalem, sets up his throne right there in Jerusalem, the Jews that are left there are going to be very vulnerable and so He says in that day you better run...you better run.

And not only that, if there happen to be any who are believing people, who refuse to worship the antichrist, who are Christians, you better run too if you're in Judea. Judea is the area in which Jerusalem is the main city, the southern part of Palestine. Any of you who are believers, you better run also because he'll want to wipe you out. Revelation 13, he says he wants to make war with the saints. And we know in Revelation 12 that he wants to wipe out Israel. So the general command here to run is to anybody who refuses to bow to the antichrist image, be they Jews who refuse to do it, or be they Christians who refuse to do it, you better run.

And so, we believe that when this happens there will be a sort of an exodus out of the land, out of the city of Jerusalem for protection. Not everybody's going to make it. Go back to Zechariah for a minute, next to the last book in the Old Testament, next to the last chapter in the book, verse 8 of chapter 13. "And it will come to pass," Zechariah looks at the same time period here, "It will come to pass that in all the land, says the Lord, two parts in it shall be cut off and die."

Not all the Jews are going to make it. The antichrist is going to move against them and two out of three are going to die.

There's going to be a terrible slaughter. The holocaust on the Jews of the future is going to be as great, or obviously from verse 21, far greater than anything in the past. Two out of three are going to die. Verse 9 says, "A third part will be spared and refined and kept by God."

So, Zechariah tells us that when the Jews flee, not all of them are going to make it, not all of them are going to survive.

Go to Revelation chapter 6. And keep in mind now, we're talking about a time like this time, and people like our people and this is not some kind of space fantasy, this is here and now kind of thing. And when this political ruler out of the revived Europe takes over and says he's God and makes this image and pulls all of these kinds of things and starts to slaughter the earth and starts right there at Jerusalem, people are going to have to run for their lives. This will be a real holocaust. And the Jews, many of them are going to perish, as I just read. Two out of three are going to die. And many others as well. In Revelation 6 we find in verse 9 that when the fifth seal is opened, and this is a seal that describes that same time period known as the Tribulation. "Under the altar are the souls of those that were slain for the Word of God and the testimony which they held."

Here are believers. Here are Christians...Gentiles or Jews, whatever, out of the Tribulation time who have been martyred for their faith. They didn't escape either. They got martyred.

They lost their lives. And they're sort of pictured here, crying, "How long, O Lord," verse 10, "How long until You avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" How long until You stop this carnage where antichrist is massacrying the saints?

"And white robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season." The Tribulation isn't over yet. It's just getting started. "And your fellow servants and your brethren have to be killed."

That's part of fulfillment. There will be martyrdom.

So, Zechariah seems to see Jews being killed. And Revelation seems to see saints who have believed in Christ being killed. Not all are going to escape. The ones who don't, the point I'm making, they're going to pay with their lives. That's why He says run fast because your life is at stake.

In Revelation chapter 11, it talks about seven thousand people dying in the city of Jerusalem through an earthquake. In chapter 12 verse 11, it says there are martyrs who loved not their lives unto the death. In other words, while some are betraying Christ, and some are denying Him rather than die, there are some who don't love their lives that much, they're willing to die for the testimony of Christ and they will. In chapter 13 verse 7, it says he makes war with the saints and overcomes them.

That again indicates martyrdom. Chapter 17 verse 6 pictures the false religious system drunk with the blood of the martyrs.

So, all of those passages show us that when this thing happens, the abomination of desolation is set up, the antichrist becomes the ruler of the world, he's energized by Satan, he's assisted by demonic forces and by men and women all over the world, he moves against Israel and they have to run for their lives and only a third of them are going to make it. He moves against the believers all through that period of time and they have to run for their lives and not all of them are going to make it either. But for those who do flee, there will be some supernatural help.

And particularly is this made indication...in Revelation 12 regarding Israel, it's a most fascinating passage. In Revelation 12, you have some imagery here. There's a woman and there's a child. And the woman is Israel. And the child is Christ. And it describes the fact that out of the nation Israel, Christ was brought forth. And then there is a dragon in this picture and the dragon is Satan and the dragon persecutes the woman, of course, and wants to kill the child. But there's a great champion for the cause of God to protect the woman and child and it's none other than Michael, verse 7. And Michael fights the demons and Michael prevails in verse 8. And Michael is the victor.

And then we go a little further in the chapter to verse 14.

And it says...well, go back to verse 6 first, let's look at verse 6 first, this will tie the two together better. "And the woman-- that is Israel, here we are in the Tribulation time, when Satan is doing all he can to destroy Israel and, of course, Christ's Kingdom--the woman fled to the wilderness." Here's Israel running for the protection. "And she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days," 1260 days or 42 months, or three and a half years, that's always the time period of this Great Tribulation. That's not ever violated, it's always three and a half year period because in the middle of the seven-year covenant Daniel talks about, the antichrist makes this seven-year pact, he breaks it and for three and a half years, 42 months, 1260 days, you have this holocaust. So Israel flees and for the 1260 days is protected by God in a place prepared by God.

Now, it's a good place to flee, Israel is, cause there are caves every place...every place and all around that land. Down into Edom and over in Moab and everywhere. Many places to hide in the desolate wilderness of that area.

Now verse 14, "And to this woman who is persecuted," verse 13 shows Satan persecuting the woman, she's running now, "And the woman is given two wings of a great eagle." I kind of think it's Michael. Michael the protector of God's people. And I think it's supernatural that this great champion of the people of God, this great protector of Israel is going to fly into the wilderness carrying the people and there they will be nourished a time--that's one--times--that's two--half a time-- that's a half. One plus two plus a half is three and a half, there we are with the same time period.

So, for three and half years, supernaturally Michael and his angels are going to deliver the people who are able to escape into a place of safety and a place of protection. That certainly refers to Israel and may well refer to believing Gentiles and others who escape the massacre of the antichrist. Now we can go back to Matthew 24.

So, what our Lord says is, "Look, when you see that event, run as fast as you can run. Get out of there." In fact, verse 16 says, "Get in the mountains, flee into the mountains where you can hide." And then verse 17 gets descriptive, "Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house." If you happen to be on that housetop--in those days the housetop was where the patio was, there was an outside staircase going up, you still see some like that in Israel even today and people would be on the housetop.

If you happen to be caught up there, don't even go inside to get your belongings, get down the stairs and out of town because when that thing happens--as it says in Revelation--devastation will come and death like a flood. It's going to come like a flash flood, like a fire across the land. Get out, don't even go in the house to get your belongings, don't take anything out. Jump off the roof and run as fast as you can.

This is how terrible a time is coming. And any delay means death. And so the Lord expects and urges normal retreat for safety. The Lord doesn't have them stay there and face the bullets, He just says get out of there. He's not advocating a martyr complex. Run. And verse 18 says, "Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his garment." Garment refers to the outer cloak and if you're out there working in the field and you've laid your cloak on the cart a quarter of a mile away and you're out in the field doing something and the word comes that it's happened, don't go back to the cart to get anything, get out. Just run because Satan has taken over. The forces of hell are in place and the holocaust is coming. Get out of there.

And then verse 19, "And woe unto those--literally the Greek says--women having something in the stomach, those who are pregnant and to those--literally it says--the ones nursing, woe to the pregnant women and the nursing mothers." You say why?

Well, some commentators say because it's...it's so hard to run when you're pregnant, it's so hard to run when you've got a little nursing baby in your arms, and there's no question that that's true. But I think there's something more than that in this. And as I studied the Bible to try to see exactly what the Savior was saying here, I was drawn to the thirteenth chapter of Hosea and a time when Hosea looks at the end and talks about the salvation of Israel and the bringing back of Israel and how God will bring judgment on those who have judged Israel wrongly.

And in verse 16, just the last part of the verse, it says this and this is sort of interesting: "Samaria shall become desolate for she hath rebelled against her God."

Now, when God comes to bring His judgment against His rebellious people, when God comes to tie up all the loose ends of the iniquity of Ephraim, when God comes to restore, first He must purge. And it says in verse 16, "They shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed in pieces." That's why He warns those with little babies. I believe when antichrist comes, this is an indication that there's going to be the devastation of infants. You see it here prophesied in Hosea 13:16, you see it fulfilled even when Christ was born. When Satan tried to stop the birth of Christ what did he do? Massacred all the babies. When Satan wanted to kill the prophet of God like Christ who was Moses, what did he do? Massacred all the babies trying to get to Moses. And it won't be any different in that period of time either. The antichrist, I think, is going to bring upon the world such a hellish kind of activity that it will encompass infants being smashed to pieces and pregnant women, women with child, will be ripped open. And that, I believe, is primarily why the Lord warns in that regard that the kind of things that are going to happen in that day are almost inexplicable to us, almost unbelievable to us. But that's because we don't understand the nature of the holocaust when Satan has total control of the world, the church is removed, the restrainer has taken back His restraining power, all sin runs rampant, all hell breaks loose and that's what happens.

And so the Lord says in that day you better run and you better run fast. And oh how sad for those who have little babies which will be dashed to pieces and those who are pr