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?”