The following sermon was delivered on November 10th, 2024 at Free Grace Baptist Church in Poulsbo, Washington. The speaker is Roy Lindbury. The title of the message is Coming on the Clouds of Heaven. I'm going to ask you to open with me to the book of Leviticus chapter 25. I'll be reading verses 1 through 34 this morning. Leviticus chapter 25. Let's worship God together through the reading of His Word. The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Your harvests after growth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather. The land shall have a sabbatical year. All of you shall have the Sabbath products of the land for food, yourself and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you. Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat. and you are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of the years, namely 49 years. You shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land. You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee. You shall not sow nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather from its untrimmed vines, for it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field. And on this year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property. If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy from your friend's hand, you shall not wrong one another. Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend. He is to sell you according to the number of years of crops. In proportion to the extent of the years, you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of years, you shall diminish its price, for it is a number of crops he is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God. You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land. And then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely in it. But if you say, what are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops, then I will so order my blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years. When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when the crop comes in. The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine, but you are but aliens and sojourners with me. Thus, for every piece of your property you are to provide for the redemption of the land. If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. Or in case a man has no kinsman, but so recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption, then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it and so return to his property. But if he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of the purchaser until the year of jubilee. But at the jubilee it shall revert so that he may return to his property. Likewise, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption right remains valid until a full year from its sale. His right of redemption lasts a full year. But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to his purchaser throughout his generations. It does not revert in the jubilee. The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall shall be considered as open fields. They have redemption rights and revert in jubilee. As for cities of the Levites, the Levites have permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession. What therefore belongs to the Levites may be redeemed, and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. But the pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession. Amen. So I'm gonna invite you to open in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 24. I'll be reading verses 29 through 35 this morning, and that will take up our time together. I'd sort of hoped to get all the way through the end of Matthew 24, and then I just realized, no, that's not gonna happen. So we're gonna be taking a break here several weeks before we come back into Matthew 24. The other thing before we get started that I will note, even as I've already spoken about, is that I'm taking what's known as a preterist approach to Matthew 24. What that means is that we're looking at the events of Matthew 24 as those things that have already happened, that have happened in the past. They hadn't happened when Jesus spoke them, and they hadn't happened when Matthew wrote them, but these are events describing the first century destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. There is some disagreement on exactly when the change is made from speaking of those events of the first century to the second coming of Christ. Please understand that this preterist approach is not one that would deny the physical second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We look forward to that. And as a biblical truth, there are those who are, we might call them hyper-preterists, who believe that everything prophesied in scripture has already taken place. And I would deny that vociferously. So, please, hopefully we can understand the difference there. Now let's read from the book of Matthew, chapter 24, beginning in verse 29. But 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 the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. Now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near. So you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Amen. So as we get back into Matthew 24 this morning, again, this is part of the broader series of the Synoptic Gospels, the Synoptic Survey. Matthew has the most detailed account of this particular sermon, what we call the Olivet Discourse, because it was given on the Mount of Olives. You'll see the parallel passages listed there in your bulletin from Mark and Luke. But Matthew has the fullest reading of this, and that's why we're spending our time here and Matthew. And if you remember, what's happening here in chapter 24 is Jesus is answering the disciples' questions regarding the destruction of the temple. You remember that, right? After denouncing the Pharisees, after saying to the Pharisees, behold, your house is being left to you desolate, After having told him that all of these things will come upon this generation, he then is leaving and the disciples are pointing out the temple buildings and saying, hey, you know, look how beautiful these are. Look how great these are. They're pointing the temple buildings out to him. And Jesus says, not one of these is going to be left with not one stone left on another that will not be torn down. And that leads to the two questions of the disciples. You remember what they were? When's it going to happen and how are we going to know? When's it going to happen and how are we going to know? And then Jesus goes into answering those questions. He begins to answer with those general signs that we looked at a couple of weeks ago. Those general signs that would indicate that the time is drawing near. We looked at the sign of false Christs. We looked at the sign of wars and rumors of wars. We looked at famines and earthquakes, persecution, betrayal and tribulation. We looked at false prophets. We looked at the increase of lawlessness and love growing cold. And finally we looked at the proliferation of the gospel. And all of these were shown to have happened in the first century both according to the testimony of the scriptures as well as the record of history. It's very interesting because when we look at these things, if we don't understand the scriptural treatment of these topics, it's very easy for us to say, well, that hasn't happened yet, or this hasn't happened yet, or this hasn't happened yet. But when we see the scripture and how the scripture treats these things and tells us all of these things were happening in the first century and were building up, particularly the proliferation of the gospel, the gospel will be preached in all the world as a testimony to the nations and then the end shall come, Jesus said. And again, what did we find? We find that Paul says that the faith of the Roman church is being preached in all the world. We see Paul speaking of that in a couple of different places. When Peter was preaching in the book of Acts, we see the narrative that Luke writes when he says that there were Jews there from every nation under heaven that were hearing the gospel. So we have to understand and allow the language of the scripture to speak. All of these were shown based on the authority of the Word of God and the record of history as well to sort of supplement and support that. They were shown to have happened in the first century. So then he moves into the second part of his answer, which is what I was calling the primary sign. This is the sign which was what? The abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. Luke's parallel tells us specifically what that means. He tells us that this is when Jerusalem is then surrounded by armies. and let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains. That sign was the call to action. All of these other signs were building up, letting people know it's getting here. You're seeing these things. They're the beginnings of birth pangs, but it's not yet. The end is not yet. And then when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, and Matthew says, let the reader understand, this is something that they would understand, then let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains. Again, Luke writing to a Gentile audience says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then her desolation is near, and then let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains. This sign was the call to action. It was the time for the faithful in Judea to flee, to get out of town. The Roman armies are the abomination that brings desolation to Jerusalem. And their siege would bring about, as we saw last week, terrible tribulation to those in the city. And so that brings us to our passage this morning. And we come to some of really the most staggering language to describe this judgment that's being brought upon Israel. Some of the things that are often hardest for us to understand and hard for people on their cursory reading of this to see how this could possibly have happened in the first century. What we call this apocalyptic language. Let me read verse 29 for you again. But 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 the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. But immediately after the tribulation of those days..." Oh, excuse me. I guess I wrote it down there twice. "...the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Now this language is extremely impactful to the reader and to those who understand, the people that understand it literally, they see this as evidence that Jesus is talking about something still in the future. The sun's still shining. The moon's still reflecting that light, that it's still lit up, the stars are still there, they're not falling from the sky. But they will see it as something that is yet future. And we talked about this, I think it was three weeks ago, as we were looking at the contextual elements that help guide and govern our understanding of this passage, so some of this might be review for some of you, but I will say this, it's imperative that we don't read this in a woodenly, literal manner, but rather we understand it in a biblical manner. We have to understand it in a biblical context and a covenantal framework. As we've been doing through this, we've been allowing the testimony of the Scriptures to speak to us, to help us understand and interpret the things Jesus is talking about. It's not for us to apply our own literal reading and then say it must look this way. We have to use the biblical testimony to give us that key to understanding. The Old Testament gives us, by the way, the interpretive key for this type of apocalyptic language. If we understand our Old Testaments, and this is one of the problems I think very often with the church today, is we tend to be more New Testament Christians, don't we? We tend to be Christians who are knowledgeable in the New Testament, we want to read the New Testament, and yeah, we talk about the Old Testament, but how often do we really study it? How much time do we really spend to get to know and to understand all of the covenant aspects of the Old Testament? If we know the Old Testament, then it gives us the interpretive lens by which we should understand what Jesus is saying here. This very same language is used in the Old Testament and each time it refers to God's judgment upon a kingdom or a nation. sometimes Israel, sometimes other nations. And in fact, if we look at the way that the sun, the moon, and the stars are often used metaphorically, they're often used to speak of exalted rulers. They're often used to speak of kingdoms and those who are in power. They're used as metaphors. And so we see this language, the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from the sky, it's often referred to as decreation language or apocalyptic language. But the force of what's being said here is that it's basically God saying, your world is going to be shaken to its foundations. when He says that the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky. He said, your world is going to get rocked. It's going to be shaken all the way to its foundations. As one commentator puts it, God is saying, your lights are going to go out. This is what's happening. This is what God is saying and what Jesus himself is giving to the disciples and recognize that this is language that they would understand. Even if we don't know our Old Testaments well, they did. That was their Bible. But it isn't a literal solar, lunar eclipse. It's not a meteor shower. It's not any literal astronomical phenomenon that he's talking about. It's God coming to judge His people of the Old Covenant who were breakers of that covenant. As I said, His Jewish audience would have understood this. They would recognize the language as figurative. It's being used, in fact, to demonstrate to kings how small they really are. I don't know how many of you have experienced an earthquake. I've not experienced a large one. The Nisqually one in 2000 here was probably the largest one I have experienced. And even that makes me realize how small I really am. There's nothing that I can do. And there's really no place where you can go and hide when something of that magnitude is happening. The idea of the earth quaking is a recognition of how small even the most exalted of kings really is in the sight and the hands of God in all creation. I want you to listen to now how some of this language has been used in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 13, you'll read of God pronouncing judgment on Babylon. This is verses 10 through 19. But listen for the similarity of language. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of His burning anger." And it will be that like a hunted gazelle or like sheep with none to gather them. They will each turn to his own people and each one flee to his own land. And anyone who is found will be thrust through and anyone who is captured will fall by the sword. Their little ones also will be dashed to pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered and their wives Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold, and their bows will mow down the young men. They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, nor will their eye pity children. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. This is Isaiah prophesying the destruction of Babylon. And not just prophesying the destruction of Babylon, but that destruction coming at the hands of an invading army. Their bows will be mowing people down. They will not have any value for even the life of babies and children. But it's described with this very same language, the stars of heaven not flashing forth their light, the sun being dark, the moon not shedding its light, even the heavens themselves quaking and shaking. Hear how God speaks again in Isaiah of judging the nations, this one specifically, Edom, in chapter 34. I'm going to read verses 2-4 and then jump to 9-10 for the sake of brevity, but please go read the entirety of the passage. For the Lord's indignation is against all nations, and His wrath against all her armies. He has utterly destroyed them, and He has given them over to slaughter. So their slain will be thrown out, and their corpses will give off a stench, and the mountains will be drenched with their blood. And all the hosts of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. all their hosts will also wither away as the leaf withers from the vine or as one withers from the fig tree. Now jumping to verse 9, its streams will be turned to pitch. and its loose earth into brimstone, and its land will become burning pitch, and it will not be quenched night or day, its smoke will go up forever, from generation to generation it will be desolate, none will pass through it forever and ever." This is the destruction of Edom happening here with all of this same kind of decreation language. The idea of the sky being rolled up like a scroll, that's the picture that was used. The rivers being turned to pitch. The dirt being turned to brimstone. The idea of smoke rising up from it forever and ever. This is apocalyptic language speaking of the judgment of a nation. Again, I'm going to give you the lamentation then that's given against Egypt. This from the book of Ezekiel, chapter 32, verses 4 through 8. We read this, I will leave you on the land, I will cast you on the open field, and I will cause all the birds of the heavens to dwell on you, and I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you. I will lay your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your refuse. I will also make the land drink the discharge of your blood as far as the mountains, and the ravines will be full of you. And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land, declares the Lord God. You see the similarity of language here as He's pronouncing judgment on nations and kingdoms. We don't need to look far to see that pattern that's there. I'm not going to read these, but you can write them down. Jeremiah used similar language to speak of an Old Testament judgment on Israel. Jeremiah chapter 4 verses 11 through 24, you can read of Jeremiah's prophecy of a judgment that came on them previously with a lot of the same decreation type language. And then Joel spoke of the coming judgment on Israel in the same terms in chapter 2 of the book bearing his name, Joel chapter 2. And so we see this decreation language and we see again how it points to the destruction of a kingdom. God's judgment coming upon the nation of Israel. The sun is darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from the sky, and the powers of the heavens being shaken. Next thing we see is the sign of the Son of Man. Verse 30. I'm going to read from the New American Standard here because that's what I have in front of me, but we'll talk a little bit about some translational things here. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. The sign of the Son of Man. Now there's an interesting thing about the word order here. We talked about this a little bit during our Tuesday Zoom call. I wasn't as clear, I think, as I had hoped to be in terms of what this word order could mean. But if we read as it's written here, the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky, that sounds like we're saying the sign is in the sky. Now the King James Version actually takes the word order a little more literally and follows that where we read, then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. It's not the sign that is in heaven, it's the Son of Man who is in heaven. Then will appear the sign that designates that the Son of Man is in heaven. And that's the way I think that we ought to understand this. Not the sign is in heaven, but the Son of Man is in heaven, and the sign of that will then appear. What is the sign? And speaking of that, you'll notice that I'm saying the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. The Greek word there is ouranos, and it can be translated sky or heaven. It's the same word that gets used and translated for the sky, the atmosphere, where the birds fly. It's the same word that will get translated for outer space, the heavens, where we see the sun, the moon, and the stars, and the same word that will be translated as heaven, the realm and dwelling of God. The idea here, the son of man in heaven versus in the sky. He's the son of man in heaven. So what is the sign then that he is in heaven? Well, it is in fact, the destruction of Jerusalem. It's the rising up of her smoke. Now, in order to really understand how I'm driving at this or why, we need to understand Peter's sermon at Pentecost. Acts chapter 2, I'm gonna read verses 15 through 21. If you remember, tongues of flaming fire coming down, people are hearing these guys preaching in their own language, and then people are saying, oh, they're drunk. And then Peter picks up in verse 15, and he says, these men are not drunk as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day, but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel. And then he begins to quote Old Testament. He said, what you're seeing before your eyes is what Joel spoke of long ago. And he quotes, "'And it shall be in the last days,' God says, "'that I will pour forth of my Spirit on all mankind, "'and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, "'and your young men shall see visions, "'and your old men shall dream dreams. "'Even on my bond slaves, both men and women, "'I will in those days pour forth my Spirit, "'and they shall prophecy.'" And we often look at that in terms of Pentecost and the signs and the wonders that were happening, but often we don't keep reading. Verse 19, and I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come and it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." The same apocalyptic language, this decreation language that we're seeing in Matthew 24, Peter is quoting from the prophet Joel, saying that it's happening now. What you see before you is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel. And he's speaking of these signs that are happening even on the earth below. Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. And then he takes it further. He ties it to Christ's ascension into heaven where He's exalted above all things. If we were to continue reading, I'm going to pick up in verse 32. But if we were to continue reading, we see him now bring the exalted Christ into it. This Jesus, he says, God raised up again, to which we were all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself said, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. This is the sign to Israel that Christ has been exalted, that He has been exalted at the right hand of the Father, where He has been given a kingdom. He quotes, if you remember from our Christ in the Old Testament series, Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament. The destruction of Jerusalem, the smoke rising up, the fire, the blood, the smoke demonstrated that God had vindicated Jesus over his enemies. They sought His death. They had Him killed. His enemies, when He was sent to them, when He came to His own, His own did not receive Him, and His enemies put Him to death. But in God's destruction, that which was promised to the people of Israel who killed the Son of God, in that He vindicated Christ above His enemies, and He proved that Christ indeed is seated at His right hand. Those who rejected their king are being judged because they've proven themselves, as Jesus told them, they've proven themselves to be sons of their fathers who persecuted the prophets and who stoned those who were sent to her. That's why Peter specifically says, therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus who you crucified. And that's why he goes on in verse 30. And then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, he says. All the tribes of the earth will mourn. Again, there's a little bit of a translational thing here, the tribes of the earth. The word there, the Greek word ge, which means, it could mean earth, it could mean world, often means land. In fact, very often in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Matthew, speaks of the land, the land of Israel. It's speaking of, and if you recognize the word tribes there, as Jesus is speaking to a Jewish audience about their rejection of their king, when he speaks of the tribes of the land, that actually contextually makes better sense than just the tribes of the earth. I think we understand this as the tribes of the land. He's speaking of Israel. Therefore, again, I'm going to go back to Peter, therefore let all the house of Israel know, that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Jesus says all the tribes of the land will mourn. All the tribes of Israel. Now mourning can be used of repentant weeping, but it's also used of the wailing of lamentation. which is the way we would normally use it, and I believe that's how it's being used here. That's what is in view here, the wailing of lamentation, because the tribulation of those days was terrible and was unbearable, and the judgment that had been stored up for centuries that was coming now upon Israel, the full weight of God's anger against Israel, His judgment against Israel was coming and falling upon them. And then Jesus tells them, still in verse 30 here, that they will see Him coming in the clouds. Again, another phrase that we often misunderstand. Then will the sign of the Son of Man in heaven Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. This is imagery also that shouldn't be taken literally, as if Jesus is riding down on a couple of clouds, coming down, descending down to earth. We see artistic depictions of that all the time, and often that will color our understanding. But again, if we understand our Old Testament, we would have a better idea of exactly what's being said here. Isaiah chapter 19, we see this very language being used of God's judgment on Egypt at the hands of the Assyrians. Chapter 19, verse 1. The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them." And you can read on about how that judgment comes to pass. But you see there, even the imagery of coming in judgment to Egypt and bringing His wrath is depicted by Him riding on a swift cloud, coming on this cloud of judgment. Jesus, again, is speaking in a way that might seem a little bit foreign to us as Westerners in the 21st century, but He's speaking in a way that His disciples would understand. They would understand in a way that He was warning them of the long prophesied destruction of Jerusalem and that it's coming, that it's in view, the ending of the Old Covenant and the inauguration of the New. But it's not only that judgment imagery there from chapter 19 of Isaiah that's in play, but I would point you also to Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. And this is particularly the reason why I selected the hymn, Crown Him With Many Crowns, this morning. Because what we read in Daniel chapter 7 is the coronation of Christ. We see him being given a kingdom. Verse 13, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like the Son of Man was coming. Does that language sound familiar? We just read in Matthew 24, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. Sorry, back into Daniel. Behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like the Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him, and to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. So what's the heavenly scene where the Son of Man is coming with the clouds of heaven? It's Christ's ascension and coronation, coming up to the Ancient of Days and being given dominion, glory and a kingdom. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Jesus is being given this kingdom and the dominion that will never end and He says that when He comes in judgment on Jerusalem, they're going to know it. They're going to know that it was their king that they rejected. As Jesus inaugurated His new covenant kingdom, He was bringing the old physical Judaic kingdom to an end. And I'll just note this right now. We're going to get there in time. But as he finishes speaking of the judgment on Israel, he begins describing the kingdom of heaven in chapter 25. Chapter 25 says, then the kingdom of heaven will be compared to ten virgins. And he goes and he tells the parable. And then he goes on and speaks of the parable of the talents after that. And then he gets into the final judgment and those kinds of things. So he's speaking to us of the ending of the old covenant right now as he's inaugurating the new. And we're seeing that play out here in Matthew chapter 24. And then as we get into chapter 25, he starts speaking to us about the new covenant kingdom. That's where he's heading. But to see Him coming in the clouds of heaven with great glory is to see Him establishing His rule and His reign at the right hand of the Father. Now, it'll be a bit before we get there. But in Matthew chapter 26, verses 59 through 64, we're going to see Jesus saying this very same thing to the Sanhedrin. to the high council, the priestly council. Let's read this. Now the chief priests and the whole council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus so that they might put Him to death. And they did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on, two came forward and said, this man stated I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. And the high priest stood up and said to him, do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against you? But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of God. And Jesus answered and said to him, you have said it yourself. Nevertheless, I tell you hereafter, you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. the very same thing, and he's telling them, you will see this. I am telling you, that the people to whom he's speaking will see this happening. It's something they will see, those who are accusing Jesus. Not necessarily a physical sight, that they will look up and they will see Jesus on the clouds, that's often how we interpret it literally, but that they will understand. That they will understand, they will see with the eyes of understanding, they will grasp it. Now finally, Jesus tells them that he will send his messengers to gather in the elect. Now it starts with a trumpet. There's your trumpet sound, right? Send forth his angels with a great trumpet. They will gather together his elect from the four winds and from one end of the sky to the other. This is likely a reference to the ultimate jubilee that Christ purchased, that Christ brought about. We read this this morning, but Leviticus chapter 25, verses nine and 10, you shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the 10th day of the seventh month. On the day of atonement, you shall sound a horn through all your land. You shall thus consecrate the 50th year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you and each of you shall return to his own property and each of you shall return to his family. What was Jubilee? Jubilee was the end to the indebtedness of the people of God. It was an end to the slavery or the servitude of the people of God. In the year of Jubilee, people were to return to their own family and to their own property. The sound of the trumpet, the declaration on the Day of Atonement, that this was a day that was consecrated for all of these things to happen. And in His atoning work at Calvary, Jesus purchased redemption for His people. He set them free. He even declared that this was the purpose of His ministry. Do you remember back in Luke chapter 4, the beginning of His ministry, when He stood up in the synagogue to read from the scroll? Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says, Luke 4, verses 17-19 says It was the ministry of Christ to proclaim release to the captives and to set free those who were oppressed. What did he say? Book of John, and if the Son has set you free, you will be free indeed, or you will be truly free. I believe it was Peter that said it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. No longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery. With the beginning of this Jubilee, He will gather in His people. Again, here's a translational thing. We read the word angels, the Greek word angelos, and we often think of these heavenly beings, and it's often used that way, but the word is really more generic in its meaning. The context tells us how we ought to understand it. The word angelos simply means messengers. He will send his messengers. Send forth his messengers with a great trumpet. They will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. Jesus is continuing the theme of the kingdom. This is the closing out of the old covenant economy and the opening up of the kingdom of God, the new covenant economy. And continuing that theme of the kingdom, what is he saying? He's saying that his messengers will gather his elect from around the globe. This is where we move from the land as we've been talking about it and seeing it being used. And we see this language that takes us outside of the Roman Empire, takes us outside the land of Israel, takes us to the four corners of the earth or the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. This takes us out globally. His messengers will proclaim the message of salvation and forgiveness of sins from the rising of the sun to its setting. From the east to the west. From one end of the sky to the other. This is quite literally Jesus' own description of the church fulfilling her great commission. The sound of a great trumpet. He will send forth His messengers, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other." And it's the judgment on Israel that brings about the inclusion of the Gentiles. Paul taught us that in Romans 11. It's also the pattern of the parables that we've already looked at. The parable of the tenants. It was after the judgment and the destruction of those unfaithful stewards, those unfaithful tenants, that then the vineyard would be rented out to others who would produce the fruit of it. It was the theme of the parable of the wedding feast, remembering after the people who were initially invited spurned the king as he was trying to bring them into the wedding feast. And he said that he would destroy those people and set their city on fire. And after that, he would then go out to the highways and the byways, and he would bring them in as many as could be found so that the wedding hall may be filled. And that's what we're seeing here. After the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars fall from the sky, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then will appear the sign of the Son of Man, and heaven and all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He will send forth His messengers. He will send forth His messengers with a great trumpet. They will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. All of this is driving, and particularly think about this contextually in Matthew, it's driving us to the great commission of discipling the nations. It's driving us to the very end of the book. Jesus is, we're taking our time getting there, but that's where He's going. And in sort of a brief closing, verses 32 and 34, Jesus uses the picture of the fig tree to demonstrate how the signs will tell them when it is near. Here's when it's getting near. Hey, look, you know how to look at a fig tree. You can see that when the branch is becoming tender and when it's putting forth its shoot, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things, know that he is near right at the door. And then he goes to that verse that we've talked about a number of times. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. He's speaking of things that his audience was going to see, that they were going to experience. All of the things would take place in the lifetime of his audience. It would not pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. In Christ, God is making all things new. He's creating a new heaven and a new earth. And even as such a seismic shift happens, we often throw that new heaven and new earth out there and we don't think about that it's very much the same type of apocalyptic language that we're reading here. That there is a new heaven being created, a new earth being created. In fact, Peter speaks of it in much more dramatic terms. But He is creating a new heaven and a new earth, and this is a seismic shift. And while it's happening, Jesus is assuring His disciples that His Word endures forever, that His Word is faithful, that His promises are true, and that they will not fail. As crazy as things were about to get, His Word is sure, and they must trust Him in all of it. The same is true today. Even when things look bleak, we can see that all of history is in His hands, that He is the sovereign God of history, that He is the sovereign God over all creation, that His Word will not pass away, that His promises are true, that He is faithful to all that He has said. And as I said, as we're pointing toward that Great Commission, and we see what he's speaking of here, of sending his messengers to gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. I'll leave you with this, because frankly that seems impossible, and it seemed impossible to them. But when he sends his church to do the impossible, to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth, it is in fact the very power of God that stands behind us. that should be a comfort to our souls. As we think of entering in to the relationships that we have and speaking a word of the gospel to our friends, our family, our neighbors, as we think of how we might interact and engage people on a gospel basis, let us remember that, that it's the power of God that stands behind us. That He has sent us out on that mission. That He has sent forth His messengers to gather in His elect from the four corners of the earth. Let's spend a moment in prayer as we close. Our God and our Heavenly Father, we thank you again today for the blessings that you've given us. We thank you that you've brought us here, even as was prayed earlier, that you've given us this day, set aside that we might gather together, that we might worship you together, lifting up our voices in one accord, that we would pray together, that we would comfort one another with your word, that we would encourage and exhort, that we would be united in mind and spirit as we proclaim the glories of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, I thank you for the truth of your word. I thank you for the reminders that we have that your word is sure, that we have a sure promise from you. And we thank you that though you have given us a job, a commission, a task that might often seem too big for us, that we know that You are mighty to accomplish Your will in us. We pray, Father, that You would do so and that this church, this small congregation here, would be used by You to do great things for Your kingdom. Father, I thank You for this church. I thank You for this body and this time. We pray that Christ would be exalted in our midst and in all things that we say and do. Amen.