“YOUR LORD IS COMING”

A Sermon Based Upon Matthew 24: 36-44

By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

Advent A-1,  November 27, 2016 

Today we begin the final turn on the home stretch.

It's hard to believe, but Christmas is only four Sundays away.  Christmas, of course, is that wonderful time of year when at least, the story of Jesus is heard.  But strangely enough,  some pastors still struggle with what to preach, especially on this first Sunday of Advent. 

On this day the church asks preachers to preach on the apocalyptic texts proclaiming the second coming of Christ.  Such texts excite some, but they still frighten and confuse others.  This is because too many read too much into these passages, or worst, have ignored them altogether.  This has created a vacuum of ignorance for many to be misled or misinform.

What did Jesus really mean when he told his disciples what the end could be like?   

And what was he saying then, that could still be applied to us now, if anything?  

Was this really a message of gloom and doom intended to frighten his disciples out of their wits.  Or, could this have been a message to bring, as the Christmas Carol promises:

‘God rest ye merry Gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. 

Remember Christ our Savior, was born on Christmas Day. 

To save us all from Satan’s power, when we were gone astray.

O tidings of comfort and joy.   O tidings of comfort and joy?’

So, how could you not “dismay” or find “comfort and joy” with such horridious, cataclysmic, world-ending events on the way?  Where is the salvation from Satan’s power?

SO WILL BE THE COMING…  (37)

In the beginning of this chapter, Jesus points to the temple, telling his disciples that someday, someway, the temple will be gone.  ‘Not one stone will be left’ (24:2), he says.   

If you’ve been to Jerusalem and gone to the “Wailing Wall”, you will see that though there are a couple of stones left on top of each other, the temple is gone.  You may also see Orthodox Jews facing that Wall rocking back and forth in prayer, praying for the temple’s return.   It was only a few years later, in that very “generation” (24:34), that Jews began a war against Rome, their occupiers, which caused the Roman general Titus to invade, win the war, destroying the temple, killing many Jews and forcing the rest to scattered across the earth in what is called ‘the diaspora’ (literally, the scattered, see James 1:1). 

For that ‘generation’, their world ended.  And in the centuries to follow, life changed dramatically for the Jews, as they were forced to live out their life and faith without a homeland, among other cultures, living in small enclaves called Ghettos.   Things were never again as before. 

After the Jews were enslaved by Pharaoh, with God’s help through Moses, they returned.   After the Jerusalem was burned to the ground by the Babylonians, one day, in about 40 years, the exiles were allowed to return.  But this time,  after the Romans came and ransacked and burned the city to ashes in 70 AD, less than 40 years after Jesus predicted, it was, as he said,  ‘the end of the age’ (24:3).   Only recently, in 1949, has an official Jewish State been allowed to return, but this is not the same world.   There is no temple, and for the majority of Jews living in Israel today, religion or faith has much less meaning than race or cultural identity.  Almost 70% of Jews today are secular, non-believers living without a living, vital faith.  Today you don’t have to believe in God to be a Jew.   That ‘world’ is gone.

I’m giving you a lot of history and political statistics to make this point:  Many want to immediately take these apocalyptic texts and make something else out of them, applying them to what we think is happening in our time.   But before interpret them for now you’d better first know what Jesus was really saying then.   Jesus made that most clear when he said, “Truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until ALL these things have taken place (24:34).  If you miss that THESE THINGS have ALREADY TAKEN PLACE then you miss its truth.

Unfortunately, many inside and outside of the church have been mistaken these predictions to be meant directly for us.  It’s an honest mistake, though.    In the book of Acts,  Luke tells us that as Jesus ascended into heaven,  angels told his disciples that Jesus ‘would return just as watched  him go…(Acts  1:11).   Just as Jesus disappears, one day he will reappear.   

For this reason, in the early church early church there arose an irresistible expectation that soon, Jesus will return.    The book of Revelation concludes with these powerful words from John’s vision of Jesus speaking to the churches suffering persecution:  “Surely, I am coming soon”.  The Church answers in chorus to this literary statement: “Amen. Come Lord Jesus!”  (Rev. 22:20).  The apostle Paul also expected that this ‘coming’ or ‘reappearing’ would be soon, which believers should ‘wait’ for (1 Thess 1:10).   In fact most of the church came to believe the ‘end of all things’ was ‘near’ (1 Pet. 1:7), and ever since, it has been part of orthodox Christian teaching to expect that one day, some day, the Lord Jesus will return (2 Pet. 3:4,  1 Jude 1:14;  1 Jn. 2:28, Heb. 10:37).

But of course, it has not been as ‘soon’ as the early Church expected.    And through the centuries, 20 of them, the church has been waiting, expecting, and believing in the second coming of the Lord Jesus, which each generation, believing it may the last, ‘terminal’ generation.   Through the years, the Christian anticipation of the Second Coming has captured the imagination of many who would exploit the simple minded, and the less fortunate, using the book of Daniel, the Book of Revelation, and many other texts, including this one, to try to make a road map to the end of the world.  My father, the most humble, sincere, committed Christian and Bible teachers, earnestly believed that soon, in his life-time, these texts would be fulfilled in a certain way, that he himself would escape death and the earth’s final troubles, through a catching away of the church, through what many still call “The Rapture”.

The trouble with all these expectations, prognostications, or prophetic predictions and diagrams, is exactly what Jesus warned about in this text when he said,  “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (36).   Jesus even takes it further by concluding,  “For the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (v.44).   Here’s the point:  They don’t know.  We don’t know.  My Father didn’t know.  So called Bible Prophecy Teachers don’t know.  The angels don’t know.  Even, Jesus didn’t know.  Nobody knows, but God the Father.  And maybe, just maybe, as the letter of Peter seems to suggest, God even hasn’t decided himself about both ‘when’ or ‘how’ because he is ‘longsuffering’ and ‘not willing that any should perish’ (2 Pet. 3:9).

THEY KNEW NOTHING UNTIL… (39)

And if it’s hard to deprogram your own mind from all the ‘prophetic nonsense’ still being preached in some places,  and you need an illustration of ‘just’ how little anybody knows when nobody knows, just read on and pay close attention to what Jesus says next.   Jesus says that ‘the coming of the Son of Man’ (v. 37) will be like it was ‘the days of Noah (v.38 ff).   Do you know how it was in the ‘days of Noah?’  Read on what Jesus says in verse 38:  “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark… (Matt. 24:38 NRS).  

When I heard that verse interpreted during my youth days, most often I heard preachers that all those people were just partying and not paying attention.   But if you read carefully, you will see that that is exactly what is ‘not’ being said.   The point here is that people are doing ‘normal’ things.  People were going on with life, doing the things of everyday life and not realizing at all what was about to come upon them.  

And even though it is believed in ‘popular’ religion that Noah ‘preached’ and warned about the coming flood, but this is never asserted in the story, other than a very late New Testament text implying that Noah was a ‘preacher of righteousness’ (2 Pet. 2:5) because he was given  grace and saved, not because he actually warned anyone.   Of course, it’s hard for us to imagine God bringing catastrophe without warning anyone.   Of course, that’s just ‘wishful thinking’ because we know all to well that almost never have there been warnings to the worst catastrophe’s; volcanoes, floods, earthquakes, Tornadoes, or plane crashes, etc.  Most of the time, it is only ‘after the fact’ that we people are left thinking: “I just can’t believe what just happened!”.   The truth of the Noah story is just what Jesus says, Noah and his family were the only ones who ‘knew’ what was about to happen (Gen. 6.22).  Everyone else ‘knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away’ (Matt. 24:39).

The point I’m making is simply this: They knew nothing.  We know nothing.   And there is really only one thing we can know and should know: It will be ‘unexpected’  (44).   Even these additional pictures Jesus gives point to this unexpected, random and unpredictable reality concerning the end:  “Two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left”…”Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.”   The picture here is right out of Jesus own experience of occupying armies who invade and pick people at random without rhyme or reason.  They sweep in like a ‘flood’ and randomly ‘select’ some to be ‘taken’ for their own reasons---making slaves out of whomever they please.  But of course the point not that we will know exactly ‘what’ will happen, but that we will know ‘how’ random and unpredictable the end can come.   They only guarantee Jesus makes:  “You won’t see it coming!”  Like a car getting broadsided at an intersection; you are going through a ‘green light’ and suddenly you are broadsided.    You didn’t see it until it was too late.   It will be unexpected.  It will be unexplainable.  It will be unavoidable.   This is how quickly ‘the end’ can come upon you, ‘like a thief in the night’ (24:43).  

Edmund Steimle once pointed to the statue of the Angel Gabriel atop the roof of Riverside Church in New York City.  There, on top of the church,  the angel is poised, horn to his lips, ready to break forth with a mighty blast in announcement of Christ’s return.  Through ice and sleet, heat and cold, summer rain and winter storm, there Gabriel is perched ready to sound the call.  As Steimle continued, "... but there is no mighty blast.  Not even a tentative toot."  from a sermon, "The God of Hope" in Disturbed by Joy, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1967, p. 14.) 

“This is how world ends… This is how the world ends… This is how the world ends… Not with a bang, but with a whimper!”  When the end comes, it’s as if no one sees it coming.  There is no further warning.  There is no real ‘trumpet’.  There is just ‘the end’.  But it will come. (Quote From T.S. Elliot’s Poem, “Hollow Men”: http://allpoetry.com/The-Hollow-Men).

BE READY (44)

So, if Jesus is trying to teach his disciples about the ‘unexpected’,  ‘unexplainable’, and ‘unavoidable’ threats of everyday life,  what is the meaning of all this for us?  

This is exactly the point Jesus is getting to, when he concludes:  “But understand this….” (24:43).

What we can ‘understand’ about all this, should be clear, if we will just get rid of all the ‘clutter’ of everything people have tried to claim about such strange, sobering, or scary apocalyptic passages.  These ‘texts’ all point to one important two-pronged message:  “Be Ready” (v.44) and “Stay awake” (v 43).   Jesus said, “If the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed away and would not have let his house be broken into….” (v. 43).    

Did you catch the words of ‘prevention’: “He would not have let his house be broken into…”? Jesus is, of course, implying the impossible: How can you prepare for the unexpected, unexplained and unavoidable ‘thief’, who is coming to steal away everything that is precious too you?    The point is that you can’t keep that ‘thief’ from ‘coming’, just like you can’t keep the end from coming, but what you can do is keep him from ‘stealing’.  To do this is to make sure that can’t break into your own ‘house’ (v. 43).   And like your heart, you must fortify it.

The final message here is not to compare exactly the ‘coming of Jesus’ to a ‘coming of a thief in the night’.  That doesn’t sound like a good comparison, because Jesus does not come to ‘steal’ or to ‘destroy’.   Where this illustration is headed, demands careful consideration or you will get lost.  What Jesus is saying here is that the coming of the ‘end’ can steal your life and all that is precious to you, unless you prepare yourself.   

And the only way to prepare yourself the end, and for Christ’s return---whenever, however, or whatever it means---is to realize that it can happen in many different, unexpected, unexplainable, and unavoidable ways.   What my Father finally realized is that the ‘rapture’ wasn’t coming, but he could be ‘ready’ for Christ to receive him in death.   What all who have died in hope should have realized is not that their lives were taken from them, but that their lives have been a wonderful gift, given by the creator.  What all of us need to fully and finally realize is that ‘the end’ is always ‘coming’, but even then, Jesus is also ‘coming’ and is never far away from any of us.  Jesus is with us, God with us, in both our beginnings, and our endings.  HE is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning, and the End.  He is the First and the Last.   He is forevermore!  And when we trust him, we trust in His future too.   He is the only ‘promise’ and the only ‘future’ we can have.

William Willimon tells the story of a funeral he attended when he was serving a small congregation in rural Georgia.  One of his members' relatives died, so Willimon and his wife attended the funeral held in an off-brand, country church.  He writes: "I had never seen anything like it. The preacher began to preach. He shouted; he flailed his arms. 'It's too late for Joe. He's dead. But it ain't too late for you. People drop dead every day.  Why wait? Now is the day for decision. Give your life to Jesus.' "

Willimon goes on to suggest that this was the worst thing he had ever seen.  He fumed and fussed at his wife Patsy, complaining that the preacher had done the worst thing possible for a grieving family - manipulating them with guilt and shame. Patsy agreed.  But then she said: "Of course the worst part of it all is that what he said is true.”  (As told by Susan Andrews: “Swept Away” From Sermons on the Gospel Readings, Year A, CSS, Press, 2004).

To get ‘ready’ is to ‘give your life to Jesus and to ‘trust’ him to be the one who comes near, no matter what happens or when it happens.   We don’t have to have road maps, when he is the way.   We don’t have to know any ‘truth’ about the end, because he is the truth.  And we don’t have to worry about losing our lives, because he is our life.   Even the one who ‘loses his life for the sake of the gospel’ and for the sake of living for Jesus, can only die in order to save his or her life.   

This is what it means to be ‘ready’:  It is to come to know, trust, and to follow, the only one who has ‘overcome the world’ and has ever ‘conquered’ death itself.   The end is coming.  But Jesus is also coming.  He’s always coming.  The question is not: ARE YOUR READY, but are you READY FOR HIM?   Just like he came, he’s coming again and will again, and for each one, until that final day, when finally and fully his kingdom will also come.   This is not something to dread, unless you are unprepared.  But for those who know him, this ‘coming’ of the most blessed Son is our most ‘blessed hope’ (Titus 2:13).   He’s ‘coming at an unexpected hour’ (v.44).   But in that ‘unknown’ and ‘unexpected’ how, who you can know and recognize is HIM.   Are you ready?  Be Ready.  Get Ready.  Know Him. Amen.