When will Christ return? At the end of the age...

“Perfect Timing”

(Matthew 24:32-44, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 27, 2008)

Matthew 24:32-44 ³² "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. ³³ So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁴ Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. ³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³⁶ "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. ³⁷ As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. ⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Introduction – Revealed things and hidden things

When Moses was warning the children of Israel about the dangers of disobedience, he distinguished between those things that God had revealed to His people, and those things that He had hidden. He said, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” God knows all things, but He also knows that it is not in anyone’s best interests that we know all things.

Even when things are told to the prophets, technically making them part of that group of things that are revealed, they are sometimes told in such a way that God is telling us that He is not telling us. One of the best examples of this is at the end of the Book of Daniel. Daniel is given the final apocalyptic message of the book about the end of this age in the resurrection of the dead. He is allowed to listen to an interchange about the timing of the end that takes place between two heavenly beings:

Daniel 12:5-13 ⁵ Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. ⁶ And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, "How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?" ⁷ And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. ⁸ I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, "O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?" ⁹ He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. 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. ¹² Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. ¹³ But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days."

I love the note in my study Bible on that final verse. It says, “The significance of these time frames is obscure.” When you consider that Jesus tells us that the angels do not know the details of the timing of the end, it should be clear that God is revealing to us the fact that He knows and controls these things, but that the specific details that Daniel was seeking are not among the revealed things. In all of these passages, what is revealed is a call to obey.

The lesson of the fig tree (32-34)

The verses before us this morning are very similar to the angelic answer to Daniel. In verse 3 of Matthew 24, the disciples had asked our Lord, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” We have seen how Jesus uses His prophecy about the destruction of the building temple to talk about the gathering of the body temple throughout the New Testament era and the final appearing of the resurrection body temple. The question of when this would happen remained. Jesus gives an answer, but it is much like the kind of answer that Daniel received and did not understand centuries before. It was the kind of revelation that reveals that something is not going to be revealed.

In the midst of giving His answer to His disciples, the Lord said quite a lot. He said that there will be many troubles over a period of unknown length that He calls “birth pains.” The resurrection temple baby is coming, but the length of the labor is not revealed. He told them about one of these troubles that will take place very soon in the destruction of the building temple and the city of Jerusalem by the Romans. He used language from Daniel about an earlier destruction of Jerusalem to talk about the latest trouble that soon came, and a still later trouble that comes to the body temple during the whole New Testament period, especially immediately before the coming again of the Son of Man. He told them that His return will not be secret or quiet but that it will be obvious to all that it is the ending of en entire age. While He did not reveal when this would happen, he compared it to the coming of summer. He said that you can tell that the seasons are changing when the branches of the fig tree become tender and then when the leaves begin to appear. At that point it is obvious that summer is near. When you see “all these things” then you know that “he” or “it” is near. He then says that “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (See also Luke 17:24-27, and note that in Hebrew and in Greek the word for generation can mean age.)

I feel like Daniel at this point. Something has been revealed, but I don’t understand it. Surely Jesus is not saying something clever in code language about the exact timing of His return only to immediately deny it in verse 36 where He very plainly reveals that He does not know the day or the hour. If the day and the hour are not clear, what is clear about the timing of this event? It is very clear that it will come at the end of the age, which may also be referred to here as the end of this generation. There is no other age beyond the current age, however long that age lasts. There may be a double meaning here as with much else in this chapter. This literal generation would have a taste of the end in the destruction of the building temple. At some later point, which He says He does not know, the generation-age (not the literal generation) will close with the final events associated with the second coming of the Son of Man and the glorification of the body temple that is being gathered throughout this entire age.

The Word of God (35)

During this entire generation-age the Word of God must be proclaimed. At just the right time this age will come to a close. As Jesus says in verse 35, “Heaven and earth will pass away.” This is a massive statement, and it is plain and clear. It is also something that people regularly ignore. The age that we are in now is temporary. The most permanent things that we see in this world are temporary. More lasting than any mountain, building, or even the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens are the words of Jesus. He tells us that His words will not pass away.

The Word of God is what the church is using throughout this generation-age to gather the body temple of the Lord. This is accomplished in the midst of a hostile environment. The world does not want to consider the Word as more permanent than those things that we see. The world rejects the notion that our souls need to be made alive by this Word. The world imagines that it will be a relatively easy matter to extinguish the Word of God, which it does not see as powerful. You and I need to look at this differently. We need to begin to think more clearly about the fact that heaven and earth will pass away, but that the Word of God will not pass away.

Imperfect knowledge (36)

What will we be left with when heaven and earth pass away? The Word of God that remains is both creative and powerful. By the Word of God the current heavens and earth were made. By the Word of God a new heavens and earth will be made. When will this happen? Verse 36 tells us that only the Father knows. The angels that spoke in the hearing of Daniel in the sixth century BC did not know. Even Jesus who spoke in the hearing of His apostles in the first century AD did not know. But both the angels and Jesus are clear about the fact that God knows, but He is not telling us. Our knowledge of this matter is simply not perfect, which is a good thing. We do not need to know when the Lord will return.

What we do know (37-41)

We do know that our Lord is coming. That will happen at the close of this generation-age. There are certain things that must happen before he returns. The gospel must be preached to all the nations. There must be a very significant apostasy in the church associated with a great enemy of the church demanding to be treated in the Lord’s church as if he were God. Then the Lord will appear. That will be the end of the age, and it will be accompanied by dramatic signs in the heavens. The birth of the resurrection body temple will be immediate. What we do know about timing is that people will be as unaware of this before it happens as they were about the flood in the days of Noah. Look at what verses 37-41 are saying. They are only teaching one point, that there will be an immediate and sudden separation of two groups of people at the time of the coming of the Son of Man. This great divide between these two groups of people as completely connected to the return of the Lord itself.

Stay awake in the present age, and be ready for the age to come. (42-44)

Like Moses and like Daniel, we also know one other thing. We know that we are to be doing the work that God has for us now with a full expectation of the Lord’s return and the coming of this new resurrection age. We know what kind of life of godliness and goodness that He calls us to, and we know that He wants us to demonstrate our readiness for the resurrection world by giving ourselves over to a life of love now. To do something less than this is to treat our Master as if He is very distant, very far away, and easily fooled. What should a reasonable person do to be ready for the return of Christ? What do you have in front of you this week? Is it a new decision that you need to make in the direction of something that is truly good? Is it a faithfulness to a commitment that you know to be right? Remember that the One who died on the cross for you is near. He knows you, and He knows what you are up to. He has resurrection in every pore of His being, and He will soon speak resurrection into every pore of your being. Don’t try to fool Him. Live for Him now. He knows. He cares. His timing is perfect. He is coming again.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What is the lesson that we are supposed to learn from the fig tree?

2. What are we told here about the time of Christ’s return?

3. What teachings are associated with the word “rapture?” What can we affirm? What must we deny?

4. Summarize what this passage reveals and what remains hidden. What have we learned about the “temple?”

Is it best to be agnostic about everything having to do with the return of Christ?

“Gathering and Perfecting the Elect”

(Matthew 24:29-31, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 20, 2008)

Matthew 24:29-31 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. ³⁰ Then 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. ³¹ And 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.

Introduction – The clear and important story of Paul’s hope

To understand Biblical prophesy can certainly be very challenging. The three verses we are looking at here were not written in isolation from everything else in the Bible. They make use of images that come from at least 28 other passages in the Bible. 16 of these are from the Old Testament and 12 from the New Testament. These are only the most significant references. As a small example, the image of a trumpet sounding connected with some final gathering of the elect is found in four other passages, two from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. The two other New Testament passages that use this one idea of a trumpet that gathers the elect are very clearly about the final coming of the Lord. Here they are:

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 ⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ¹⁶ For 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. ¹⁷ Then 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.

The trumpet sounding is not the only image in our three verses. There are 7 stock images from other Bible passages that are used here: An ultimate time of trouble, signs in the heavens, the appearance of the Lord on clouds of glory, the mourning of the earth, the angels as gatherers, and a worldwide gathering of the elect, together with the trumpet call heard by everyone all come together in these three verses. These images are used at other devastating moments of lesser judgments, but the reason they can be powerfully used in those situations is because of the fact that the Lord will finally return in judgment. The fact of the Lord’s return in judgment has been a basic Christian belief throughout the entire history of the church. As we saw with the passages on the trumpet call, some of these can only be understood as referring to the final coming of the Lord. This same fact can be demonstrated with the other stock images that the Lord uses here. By the use of all seven of these images together, Jesus Christ is most definitely saying something about His return and the delivery of the new body temple which is His resurrection church. It is very sensible for Him to talk about these things here since the building temple will soon be destroyed, and the entire period of the New Testament age will be the period of gathering of the elect through the trumpet call of the gospel, the New Testament church. We do not know how long that period will be, but one day the final trumpet will sound and there will be a final resurrection of the dead.

Whenever we encounter hard texts in the Bible, we remember that the Bible interprets the Bible. We use the New Testament to interpret the Old, and the easiest and clearest passages as our commentary for harder texts. Many of these clear texts are in Paul’s letters. That is where we often find the most straightforward presentation of Christian teaching on any number of issues. While some of his writing is difficult, Paul is not trying to be visionary or hidden in most of what he says. He is trying to teach the faith plainly and clearly. It is a very worthwhile question to ask what Paul’s hope for future years and future events was. We especially see this in his dealings with the Thessalonian and Corinthian churches since there were some who were causing trouble in these churches by suggesting that there was no final fulfillment of the coming of the Lord remaining.

In these letters we see a very clear system presented by the Apostle Paul that lines up well with the rest of the Scriptures. First, there are only two ages for us to consider. We have the current age and the age to come. The dividing line between these is the return of Christ. Second, for each of us, the other major event in our lives is our own death. When we die, our spirits go to be with the Lord, and our bodies rest in the grave. When the Lord returns we will be given new resurrection bodies which will be forever united with our spirits. This simple hope is not only one person’s understanding of Paul. It was also the interpretation of the Westminster divines. In the catechism at the back of your hymnals you can read what they say that the Bible teaches on these matters in questions 37 and 38. For Matthew 24:29-31 this all means that Jesus used seven stock images from the Bible to speak about His physical return and the coming of the final resurrection body temple which is the Christian hope.

The apostasy and the tribulation (29)

One of the things that Paul writes of in 2 Thessalonians 2 is also very briefly mentioned here by the Lord with the phrase “the tribulation of those days.” Biblical prophesy can have more than one fulfillment, as we saw when we looked at the “abomination of desolation.” It is the same with this word “tribulation.” It usually refers to the persecution and sufferings that are a normal part of New Testament life. Here and in some other places it is connected to the period immediately prior to the coming of the Lord. In 2 Thessalonians 2 the word “apostasy” or “rebellion” is used to describe something that must take place just before the return of Christ. There is a connection between an intensified period of tribulation and a falling away from the faith in the church.

After the tribulation (29)

In Matthew 24, this tribulation is mentioned as a reference point. Something must happen first, and then immediately after that will come some events that will not be missed. Here we are reminded again that the return of Christ will not be a secret matter. Something will happen with the sun, moon, and stars that will be obvious to everyone. These exact same things are mentioned by the Old Testament prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel and Haggai, and also the New Testament book of Revelation. We find another reference in the Letter to the Hebrews quoting from the prophet Isaiah and the Psalms

Hebrews 1:10-12 ¹⁰ … "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; ¹¹ they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, ¹² like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end."

There is an end to this current age coming, and that end will be visible in the heavens. That end will not be the result of natural processes or even the evil of men and nations. There is a first cause mentioned in these passages. The Lord who made the heavens and the earth that we inhabit today can roll them up like a garment.

The sign of the Son of Man (30)

As amazing as those events will be, there will be something more wonderful happening in the heavens. That something is the Someone we long for coming with power in the heavenly cloud. While God has appeared many times in the Bible in connection with a glory cloud, the particular Old Testament reference for this event is found in Daniel 7 which speaks of the coming Messiah using the title that Jesus so frequently used referring to Himself.

Daniel 7:13-14 ¹³ I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. ¹⁴ And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

This sign of the Son of Man is the Son of Man Himself, the Messiah. The Lord speaks of this when He is being questioned by the High Priest prior to His crucifixion:

Matthew 26:63-64 ⁶³ ... And the high priest said to him, "I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, "You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven."

What better sign than Christ, the fulfillment of every good sign. Yet not everyone will rejoice at His coming. The earth will mourn as Zechariah had said centuries before, but those who eagerly wait for His appearing will rejoice.

A return with a clear purpose, and your life of purpose (31)

We have already referred to the Lord’s angels, the sound of a trumpet, and the gathering of the elect from all over the earth. The return of Christ, spoken of so frequently throughout both the Old and New Testaments, is not some lesser thing. It is not some unimportant item of Christian faith. It is not some little miracle among many other miracles. It is not some smaller religious ceremony. It is not gradual or hidden. It is the main thing. He comes not just because He can do things like this, though He can. He comes with a purpose that fits into all that God has spoken of and accomplished up to this point.

Two thousand years ago a Baby was born in Bethlehem. He was both Son of God and Son of Man. He lived a life of sinless perfection and then He died on the cross. After His resurrection He ascended into heavenly realms, and for these many centuries He has been ruling over every atom of existence. He made you. He knows you. He knows what you don’t know about you. He has brought you to this moment here today, and he has not given up on you. All of what He has done is for this return that He will be doing at just the right time. I cannot tell you when it will happen, but I can assure you that it has not yet occurred, that it will happen, and that you won’t miss it.

You and I would do well to think about this coming Jesus on the clouds of glory. If we see His purpose in living and dying as intimately connected to this coming again, this new resurrection life that He will bring for His elect, we will then find some purpose for our lives that goes beyond the grave. If we cannot see His coming as real and sure and vitally important, it will be hard to feel that anything that we do here matters. That’s why the Apostle Paul sharply corrects those in Corinth by teaching them about the coming of the Lord and the resurrection with these important words: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What is the range of meaning in the Bible for the concept of “tribulation.”

2. Why do we find it so hard to believe in the cataclysmic events described in these verses?

3. Why would people mourn about the coming again of Christ?

4. What are some of the truths that we learn from these three verses concerning the return of the Lord?

What would be enough for you to be happy?

“Looking at the Christ”

(Matthew 24:23-28, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, July 13, 2008)

Matthew 24:23-28 ²³ Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ So, 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. ²⁷ For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸ Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

Introduction – Already and not yet, the birth pains and the Son of Man

When you consider the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, it is an unfolding story. Everything is not told with full detail all at once. The same themes are developed over the course of all 66 books. One of those themes is that the time period after the fall of man is a time of significant trouble.

I was struck by that fact in reading the story of the patriarch Jacob in the book of Genesis. There is much blessing that we read about in Jacob’s life, but there also is profound sadness and trouble. Just one aspect of this had to do with his son Joseph. For many years Jacob’s sons had convincingly represented to their father the lie that their brother Joseph had been torn apart by wild animals. This was a horrible grief to Jacob. When the whole family needed to send the brothers to Egypt for grain, perhaps putting the life of a Joseph’s brother Benjamin in danger, Jacob said in Genesis 42:38: “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.” Jacob knew the danger of losing years of life over grief at the loss of another son. He could speak about this because he knew that the loss of Joseph had taken something out of him. To face that again might be too much.

This theme of trouble is well developed in the Bible. Connected to it is a second theme about a way out of this trouble through someone called “the Son of Man” or “the Christ.” There is an answer for us in all our trouble that is permanently linked with one Person. Because of this second theme of victory over evil through Christ, the trouble that we face now can be called “birth pains.” Birth pains are the kind of trouble that you face when something very good is coming that is worth all the heartache and pain. There is an age of resurrection that is coming, and that age is worth all the difficulty that you could ever experience now. Remember that the second theme of victory over trouble has everything to do with the provision of the Christ, but we must have the real one, the one who died for our sins on the cross. We have no use for false christs or false prophets that announce false christs. The first theme: trouble, the second theme: victory through the real Christ.

The amazing thing about these two themes is that so much that the Lord has promised has already happened. We have been through the entire period of preparation for the Messiah. The Christ has actually been born. He died. He rose again. He is also the first resurrection Man. Not only that, we who believe in Jesus Christ and the resurrection have been given a new spiritual birth that is a genuine down-payment of resurrection life to be enjoyed now. More and more people are experiencing that new life every day. The message of Christ is being preached in many lands. We have the completed Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and there has been a mountain of good consideration of the Word of God and a consensus of belief on many important matters for centuries. All this has already happen. Yet there is much that has not yet taken place. You and I have much to do together with the whole church in every place and in every age. More than anything that we could ever accomplish, we are waiting for the return of the Son of Man and the fulfillment of the life of which we now have a beginning taste. We are waiting for the full revelation of a new temple in Christ, a temple made up of resurrection people.

The deceptive distraction (23)

We do have work to do here. Our worship today is a part of that work. Though we do not yet have resurrection bodies, the Spirit of Christ dwells within us, and we are together a temple of the Lord even now. That temple is on the move, in the midst of trouble (back to theme one). To understand the victory piece gives meaning to the pains that we face now. It is like Jacob hearing that Joseph was still alive. That news did not change the fact that both he and his son would one day die and be buried, but it made a big difference in his life of pain. This is what he said when he found out in Genesis 45:28: “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

This is what you and I need today, that taste of the glory of God, and a sense of the surpassing worth and greatness of the Lord’s plans, that when we come to this communion table, we could say with Jacob, “It is enough.” It will only be enough if the resurrection future we have been promised is secure. That security is in the sure coming of Christ. If Christ is coming, then we can be up and about our business with hope in this world of birth pains. To continue to taste that glory we need to stay focused. We must not be distracted from our hope and our work by false reports of the appearing of Christ. It is for that reason that Jesus warns us not to believe anyone who tells us, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There He is!” These deceptive distractions have been going on for centuries. Even during the writing of one of the earliest letters of the New Testament, Paul addressed the fact that there were false reports that the Day of the Lord had already taken place. We certainly don’t want to be ignorant about the return of the Lord, but in Matthew 24, Jesus gives us solid teaching to convince us that we will not miss the Day of the Lord.

The deceptive signs and wonders (24-25)

The Lord does indicate that false christs and false prophets will seem very convincing. We find that a little hard to imagine right now. There are at least two reasons why we may underestimate the persuasiveness of false saviors. First, it is always easier to dismiss a temptation that is far off than one that is near. A person easily convinces himself that he could say no to dishonest gain when there is none to be had. It is much harder when it is right in front of you and others may be counting on you to do what they see to be the obvious thing. If that is true about money, it is certainly the case with people. I have known some mere mortals that were granted an audience with a famous leader and were overcome by the magnetism of the person they were speaking with. They reported that the person made them feel like they were the only ones on the face of the earth. Secondly, our knowledge of spiritual matters in the church today is not particularly good. Therefore an impressive “christ” or prophet could easily convince many people because they are not aware enough of the truth that would expose someone as a fraud.

Beyond these points, verse 24 says that some of these saviors will perform great signs and wonders. For many people, experiences like that would be very impressive, even completely overwhelming. We need to remember that the Bible tells us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, and that even Old Testament Israel was warned by Moses that false prophets might perform some amazing signs. The Lord has taught us here not to judge the spirituality of a person by the signs and wonders that they perform. Christ performed the greatest signs and wonders, but His teaching and His life were in perfect accord with the Scriptures. This warning against false christs and false prophets is here for us so that we will not be led astray.

The deceptive secret arrival (26-27)

The key fact that you need to know from this passage is that the return of Jesus Christ will not be by some secret arrival. For this reason you can immediately reject all those who are born and grow and rise to power or ability. None of these people are the Christ. The Lord came that way in His first coming. He was born as a baby in Bethlehem. He will absolutely not come that way in His return.

Remember that Christ is already the Resurrection Man. When He returns, it is not to enter into this current age, but to bring in the new one. He will not work through systems of power and influence in either the church or the state. His coming will immediately mean the end of this era, and the beginning of eternity. You could never miss His coming, so you don’t need to be in the least bit distracted by predictions or reports of someone who is here. They are wrong by definition. That is not the way He is going to come. His coming will be as clear as a violent lightening storm that fills up the whole of the heavens from the east to the west.

This is very important, because it means that you can continue with your life serving God day by day. This is what He wants you to do. He will bring the resurrection age here at just the right time, and you will not miss it.

The corpse, the vultures, and the rest of the story (28)

The Lord ends these few verses with these curious words: “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” This sentence is not explained for us, but we should notice that the image that it contains is not a pleasant one. After a horrible battle that brings about the destruction of a city, the dead bodies are picked at by nasty vultures. What can it mean? Those who are led astray by false christs and false prophets are not the living, but the dead, and the false saviors that feed on them are like them. They are all headed toward the world of death.

This is not where Jacob and his sons are. Joseph’s brothers convinced their father that Joseph was dead. They were lying. Joseph was alive then, but the fact is that Joseph is still alive today. He and his father and his brothers are with Jesus now. The true Christ faced the horror of death in order to bring us the glory of resurrection life that shall be revealed. Those who pretend to be Christ are no better than vultures. The real Savior will come with all glory and power as a brilliant rescuing king. He will not come secretly. He will not come in stages. He will not come in such a way that He could be missed. Receive Him now by faith, and prepare to meet Him as Your glorious Reward.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. In what sense has Satan been like a false christ and a false prophet from the beginning?

2. What did the signs and wonders of Jesus display? What about those who come after Him?

3. How can we know for sure that Christ has not already returned?

4. What will it be like when the Lord actually returns?