Game Of Thrones 12: A Study In The Book of Matthew
Matthew 24
November 30, 2014
Last week was a rough week for a lot of reasons; there was a lot of pain nationally with the
grand jury verdict and subsequent riots and protests in Ferguson, MO. On top of that, there
were countless stories in the local news and then of course all of the strife that comes with
families, broken or otherwise gathering together. The sum total of it all might have been a
bit much for some of us. It might have been enough to make us lose faith in humanity and
the direction we are all headed. Then you see a story like this that makes you believe
humanity is going to be okay, that we are getting smarter, stronger and more unified.
YouTube video
Of course I am joking. This video was one of the most viewed videos last week. That could
be a commentary on our country, or it could be a reminder that we need a little distraction
because things are pretty bleak. Considering all of the recent disasters and upheaval in the
world, it is kind of making me uneasy. I want you to consider the happenings of the last few
years: complete worldwide economic collapse, a loss of wealth and security unlike anything
we have ever seen. The United States continued to fight in two theaters of war. AIDS,
poverty and malnutrition have torn the third world in half killing millions in places like
Africa. In recent years, we have seen wave after wave of political upheaval in the Middle
East as countries like Egypt and Libya overthrow their governments. There was also the
earthquake in Haiti and the ensuing disasters, the earthquake in New Zealand and the
massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It seems to be endless. It seems like the world is
spinning out of control and it is coming apart at the seams. Not just human suffering, but
we are watching the earth corrode. A simple question then comes to our mind, how is this
going to end up?
This isn’t a question reserved simply for those in the church. It is the subject of countless
movies and books. Pop culture is enthralled with revisiting this topic. How is this going to
end up? Consider a spate of recent movies: there is the post-apocalyptic thriller; I Am
Legend, where a man is confronted with the end of all things. In 2012 he watches as the
earth explodes according to the Mayan calendar and everyone scrambles to survive. Then
again, there is The Book of Eli, the tale of a shattered world on the brink and two people
trying to survive. Dave Matthews sang the explicitly poignant song, “When The World
Ends.” Even a strong writer of literature, a man of prose, Cormac McCarthy, wrote The
Road, a haunting tale of a boy and his father traversing a devastated earth in a post-human
era.
Why does our mind so often wander to this idea? How is this going to end up? As we
recognize our own mortality and as we recognize the earth’s mortality, as it seems to
corrode and teeter further on the brink, our mind naturally goes to this question.
In Matthew 24:1-3 Jesus was asked this question by his disciples, “How is this going to end
up? How is this going to end up?
We are going to jump around within this passage and cover a lot of verses, and we are
going to answer three main questions: When is the end coming? How? Now what?
We are in the final weeks of our series through the book of Matthew called King and
Kingdom. We are seeking to know our King better and how to live in his Kingdom. Today
we are asking about the end of all things because as we discussed several weeks ago, the
Kingdom is “already not yet." Sometimes and some places the Kingdom is near and other
places and time is near, but one day this world will come to a close and the Kingdom will
come to complete fruition. No more pain, no more tears, no more disease, no more death.
Before we get the new world, the old one has to pass away. The question today is, what will
that look like and how should that affect what we do in the here and now?
Before we get to that, I want to give you what I think is an appropriate lens with which to
read this and all apocalyptic prophesies. I believe that in most prophecy, and especially in
apocalyptic prophecy, there is an idea of dual fulfillment. Dual fulfillment means the
prophecy has a near and a far fulfillment. When the prophecy was uttered, it had
pertinence for the hearers and a near fulfillment of the prophecy. However, it also has a far
fulfillment meaning and the details will be filled in in the last days.
There is some debate about this with at least two groups. Preterists believe that most
prophecy has a near and past fulfillment. Futurists believe that all prophecy has only a far
and future fulfillment. I think the answer can be found in both within this idea of dual
fulfillment with a near and far component.
I say all of this because in this passage today, Jesus refers explicitly to the destruction of the
temple and Jerusalem. He looks at the temple and says this thing will be left without one
stone on top of the other. This was unthinkable, but it was true. In AD 70, according to
Josephus, the noted Jewish contemporary historian, the future emperor Titus and the
Roman army decimated the revolt of the Jewish people killing over a million Jews and
enslaving another 100,000. Jesus says in this passage, “This generation will not pass away
until they see this happen.” Some 35 years or so after Jesus, this event takes place. It had a
near fulfillment, so it is in the past. However, Jesus mixes this with prophecies about the
future that have a far fulfillment. I tell you all of this to give you context for this passage.
Prophecy is hard enough to understand, and it is easy to get discouraged by someone who
tells you that a prophecy has already been fulfilled. Dual fulfillment is a common way that I
think Paul read the Old Testament and even how Matthew writes his gospel. They are
referencing Old Testament writings that clearly had significance and meaning for their
respective audience, but they also have a dual fulfillment in Christ.
Now to our three questions today, when, how and now what?
When? King Jesus will come back in the fullness of time.
Galatians says that Jesus was born in the fullness of time, at just the right time. Not a
minute too soon and not a minute too late. It wasn’t that God got bored or just figured,
“What the heck. Now is as good a time as any.” Jesus came into this world at the perfect
time, during the PAX Romani, an unprecedented era of 200 years of peace. This afforded a
perfect time for the message and life to be the unhindered focal point. Additionally, way
back three centuries before Christ an insecure general by the name of Alexander took over
the world, modernized it and unified it, especially in culture and language. The Greek
language, like English today, was a primary language that most people knew and used. This
made the spread of the gospel all the more expedient. Things were going on in the world
that made the timing perfect, the fullness of time. If that is true for Jesus’ first coming, I am
certain it will be true of his second coming. He is not dilly-dallying. There will be a perfect
alignment of all things. All of this to say, his timing will be perfect, but we don’t know when
it is.
Matthew 24:36
No one knows the day or the hour except the Father. Jesus refuses to put a date on it, but he
does give you hints. Jesus calls them the birth pains. This is actually a very nice illustration.
No one could have guessed when our daughter would be born. Doctors try and give you an
estimate, but all they can really do is tell you to look for the signs. When you start to have
contractions or birth pains, the baby is coming.
Jesus gives some examples of birth pains in this passage of Matthew 24:4-13. Some of the
birth pains include false messiahs, wars, famines, earthquakes, Christian persecution and a
loss of love. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. These are the birth pains that signal
the end is near.
BUT near can be five minutes or it can be five centuries or five millennia. The idea that
needs to be addressed here is the difference between imminent and immediate. Imminent
means it may be about to happen. Immediate means it is about to happen. They both carry
the idea of action, but imminent knows it’s coming just not when.
Here is why I can say the return of Christ is imminent. We are in the final act. If God’s grand
story were a play, we are in the final act. The first act was the creation and fall. The second
act was the calling of God’s people and their subsequent exiles and sin. The third act was
the coming of the Christ to be killed and resurrected. We are in the final act. Jesus has come
and risen again. We are in the age of the church on a divine cosmic timeline, all that is left is
the return of Christ, but it is not immediate. Here is what I want to caution you against: do
not obsess over this and don’t fear this. Don’t obsess over this; there are a lot of people who
are end-times scholars on the side. They consume all the books and look for all the
prophecies. This can be a healthy anticipation of Christ’s return, but it can also be an
unhealthy obsession.
Harold Camping and his followers believed the world was going to end on May 21, 2011.
Harold Camping had developed an insane system of Biblical numerology and prophecy that
led him to this date. What is amazing is that he did the same thing in 1994, he was wrong
then and yet people still listened. Why? I think people have a desire to be in control. We
want to know when it is going to be over. Some people have lost sight of the idea of
abundant life. All they can think about is the life to come and they are missing everything
that is right in front of them. Don’t obsess over this. No one knows the date. Jesus goes out
of his way to say this, so don’t try to figure it out. Of all of this eschatological studies,
dispensationalist, premillennial, postmillennial, amillenial, rapture, no rapture, in the end it
doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Jesus is coming back.
Second thing; don’t fear. For those in Christ, there is no condemnation and there should be
no fear. Imagine if you went out to interview people yesterday and asked them, “When do
you think the world is going to end?” Some people would hazard a guess, but some people
would probably say, “I don’t want to think about it.” For a pagan, I can understand this, but
this shouldn’t be a fearful topic or one that you avoid. I think Christians avoid this topic for
a couple of reasons. They are fearful because their life isn’t in order, and they are fearful
because they misunderstand heaven. To the first one, let me remind you that your life will
never be in order. You will never deserve or merit entry into heaven. To the second one, I
want you to know that heaven has been hijacked. It has become a sterile, boring, harpplaying cloud town. Heaven is going to look like a new and better earth. It will be the
beaches of California without the high property taxes. It will be the plains of Africa without
the disease and war. It will be the beauty of Texas without the heat. Heaven will be
heavenly. Do not fear. Jesus is going to come back in the fullness of time and it will be
amazing.
How? King Jesus will come back in his glory.
Basically they tell us to watch out for false prophets, but more so to let you know how he is
coming back. With a flash so no one will miss it. We all will see it. I think he is drawing this
out to contrast with his first coming. Jesus’ first coming was humble, quiet, poor and poorly
noticed. Jesus’ second coming will be glorious, loud, powerful and seen by everyone. This
isn’t going to be a community theater production of Our Town; this is going to be a summer
blockbuster movie. It is going to be huge, and all out. Why?
I think God is a respecter of narrative and story telling. The story has been amazing so far
from the Garden to Egypt to the desert, to the cross and the expansion of the church. For
such a grand story, there is going to be an amazing ending. The book of Revelation paints
an awe-inspiring almost fearful picture of a glorious Christ on a white horse with legions of
angels. There is no more concealment; this is the drawing back of the curtain. The true
miracle of Jesus’ incarnation among us on his first visit was the concealment and the
temporary cessation of his glory, power and might. He is coming back to declare the victory
and gather the spoils.
Gospel means victory. The good news was given to a herald to preach. Victory has been
won over sin and death. Victory is here and now. Jesus is coming back in the frame of
reference. We aren’t going to get beamed up or just kind of vanish or become invisible. This
is going to be an event where Christ the victor comes back and takes us home.
Now What? Jesus will come back so be ready.
Verses 42-51: Therefore be prepared. A very vague concept. What level of preparedness?
How do I prepare? If Jesus is the victor and I don’t bring anything to the table, then what
am I expected to do?
How do we prepare? I think the heart of this passage is proactive readiness. In this passage
and the passages to come, the parable of the ten virgins and the parable of the talents, God
values preparedness in the form of proactive readiness. The people in the wrong in these
passages are not wrong because they didn’t have sufficiently low sin levels. It is because
they forsook their given calling.
Many people will use this idea of Jesus’ imminent return to scare and shame people. You
can just hear a mother telling a child, “You don’t want Jesus to catch you doing that when he
returns.” “Do you want to be in a bar when Jesus returns?” “Can you imagine Jesus riding in
on his white horse and you are smoking a cigarette?” This is moralism. This is not the
gospel. Moralism is the utilization of Christian teaching to curb “bad behavior.” It is a
parenting technique and a sin management technique. Moralism makes bad people a little
bit better. The opposite of moralism is gospel-centered proactive readiness. Again, the
people in this passage and the virgins and stewards forsook their calling. They weren’t
prepared because they became passive and inward looking. The man in our passage forgets
his call to serve and chooses instead to live like he is on vacation. I do not think that the
reason the master is upset is because of his moral shortfalls but his dereliction of duty.
Proactive readiness. God is interested in your faithful proactive service and worship and
not your sin-management and moralism. What does this mean?
In the movie, The Departed, Jack Nicholson says, “My mother is on her way out. We all are,
act accordingly.” The King is coming back. Act accordingly. Live in a state of readiness not a
moralistic, passive approach but a proactive readiness.
When Casey goes away on a trip I devolve into a sub-human species. Cheetos lay around,
soda cans are thrown around, movies and video games are left plugged in. Bauer is
sprawled out on a pile of uneaten Snausages. Then the call comes, “I’m coming back.” I then
go into this Tasmanian devil mode of cleaning and picking up. Of course, I don’t do that
anymore, I keep the house in order and I am ready for the call. With the house in order, I
have time to honor my beloved with some flowers or a gift, or start a new project. I want
this to be your picture of readiness. If you are living in a state of disrepair at the moment,
wallowing around like a sub-human species and waiting for the call and only then will you
feverishly get your life in order. Instead, be proactively ready. The King is coming back, act
accordingly. If you will live in anticipation, you will find joy in starting new projects and
offering acts of gratitude and worship to your king.
Conclusion: “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the
present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves,
who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the
Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark
on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven” (The Joyful
Christian, p.138).
Our focus as a church in the coming years is to make and send out Kingdom Entrepreneurs.
Men and women who see broken things and fix them in the name of Jesus. It doesn’t have to
be something revolutionary. It doesn’t have to be something huge or earth shaking. It just
has to be something God has called you to do. For some of you, this will be your passion for
stopping human trafficking. For some of you, it will be addressing the lack of community in
your neighborhood. For some of you, it will be offering your physical strength to help
donate goods or build a house. For some of you, it will be offering your emotional strength
by being a listening ear in your workplace or neighborhood. The beauty of the Kingdom is
that there is so much to do and so many ways to do it.
Our goal, moving forward, is to equip you and release you as a loving community of
Kingdom Entrepreneurs. The pastors and elders are here and ready to work with you
through prayer, advice, coaching or possibly seeding you with people or cash. You let us
know what God has placed on your heart, and let’s see how he will do it!