Hope for Now
December 1, 2009 4:30 AM -0600
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Outline
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There are scary things going on in the world around us, but Jesus offers the hope of things that will never fail if we will only be ready and working.
Thesis: There are scary things going on in the world today, but God knows all about them and promises salvation to those who are ready.
Objective: Call believers to not worry about the things which are going on in the world nearly so much as doing the things they've been called to do.
- There are scary things going on (3-28).
- Global catastrophe precedes eternal renewal (4-8; Just as birth pains come before the joy of a new baby, terrible things will happen in the world before the joy of the new world is revealed.).
- Wickedness prefaces salvation and effectiveness (9-14; Just as the darkest time of the night is right before sunrise, the levels of wickedness in the world will continue to increase to sift out the lukewarm from among those who are to be saved. It will also prompt those who are resolute in their faith to evangelize!).
- Apostasy preludes the return (15-28; The increase in wickedness will reach epic proportions such that people will have an utter disregard and disdain for the things of God. False teachers, prophets, and even messiahs will come, all to distract people from the truth. Jesus, though, will come in such a way that will be clear to all. (illustration: the Germans in WW2 built massive defensive fortifications all along the European coast)).
- Jesus is coming (29-35).
- The world will mourn (“all the nations of the earth will mourn” (30); At the appearance of Jesus, the whole world will mourn because it will be absolutely undeniable that He is the one in charge – He is God – and they are not.).
- The elect will be gathered (“they will gather his elect from the four winds;” At the coming of Christ, the saved will be brought together from wherever circumstances have scattered them to.).
- The word of God will be true (35; Everything that we see and know will be destroyed, but the Word of God will remain.).
- We must be ready (36-51).
- It will be business as usual for most (36-41; The world will go about life as normal all, eating, drinking, marrying, etc., right up until the day Jesus returns. They will do as they will, even as the gospel is proclaimed.).
- We must be prepared (42-44; Because we don't know exactly when Jesus is coming, we must be spiritually ready at any time, waiting for Him.).
- We must be working (45-51; Because we don't know exactly when Jesus is coming, we must be doing what we're called to do all the time.).
Ryrie
- (3) The Mount of Olives is just east of Jerusalem
- (3) According to Mark 13:3, the disciples who came were only Peter, James, John, and Andrew.
- (3) Jesus only answers two of the disciples' three questions. He leaves unanswered the question of timing.
- (14) “this gospel of the kingdom” “is the good news that will be preached during the Tribulation concerning the coming of Messiah and the setting up of His kingdom. Evidently many will respond.”
- (15) “This [abomination that causes desolation] is the man of sin, the Antichrist, who at this midpoint in the Tribulation breaks the covenant he made with the Jewish people at the beginning of the Triulation and demands that they and the world worship him. Those who resist will be persecuted, and many will be martyred; that is the reason for the urgency of the instructions in verses 16-22.”
- (22) “The elect” here refers to those who will be saved during the Tribulation. (personal: Ryrie is clearly pre-millennial, pre-tribulation here. If you work from a different eschatological view, this could easily be interpreted to mean all believers. Perhaps it would be better to say, “those who are redeemed who are in the world at this time”?)
- (25) “This is a warning as well as a prediction.”
- (29) These things parallel Isaiah 13:9-10 and Joel 2:31; 3:15
- (30) “Some think [the sign] is the lightning of verse 27, others the Shekinah, or glory, of Christ; still others leave it unspecified. At any rate, the Son of Man Himself will come visibly.”
- (30) “There seems to be no reason for not taking this part of Jesus' teaching as plainly as other parts.” (personal: I agree that Jesus' words here can be interpreted plainly, but I must also acknowledge that in other places, he used some rather oblique parables. There is still room for the figurative here.)
- (34) “No one living when Jesus spoke these words lived to see 'all these things' come to pass. However, the Greek word can mean 'race' or 'family,' which makes good sense here; i.e., the Jewish race will be preserved, in spite of terrible persecution, until the Lord comes.”
- (37-39) “The days of Noah were times of carousing and unpreparedness, as they will be at the Second Coming. The flood removed the wicked. Christ will do the same at His return.”
- (40-41) “The ones taken will be taken to judgment and death. The ones left will be left to enter the blessings of the millennial kingdom.” (personal: I don't know about this one. Verse 31 talks about Jesus gathering his elect. Further, in other eschatological passages, there are references to the new heaven, new earth, etc., and the old will perish. It seems to me that, if you were “left,” you would still be in the old which was destined for destruction. In either case, of course, the message is still the same. One ends up with Jesus; the other ends up in serious trouble.)
- (48-49) “The evil servant's belief (that the master would not return soon) affected his conduct toward others (as is always true).”
Reflecting God
- Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.