Let us open to Matthew chapter 24. I'm going to be reading this morning from verse 9 through 28. Last week we covered verses 4 through 13. This morning we're going to cover verses 14 through 28, but let's read from verse 9. Then they will deliver you, Jesus speaking to his disciples, to tribulation and will kill you. and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. That time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. But pray that your flight will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then, if anyone says to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, Behold, he is in the wilderness, do not go out, or behold, he is in the inner rooms, don't believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. This morning we continue in Jesus' Olivet Discourse. Jesus has left the temple for the last time. He's walked with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. He was sitting on the Mount of Olives. The disciples looked across the valley at the temple buildings and said to Jesus, as recorded in Mark 13, 1, Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And it's Jesus' reply that sets all of this discourse off. In his reply, Jesus tells them that this magnificent building complex is soon going to be entirely destroyed. "'Truly I say to you,' he said, "'not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.'" Well, the disciples then ask, well, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Now, remember, the disciples appear to believe that the destruction of the temple would coincide with Jesus coming and that both of those events would mark the end of the age, whatever that meant to them. And some interpreters do believe that in answering their questions, Jesus spoke of events surrounding and leading up to the destruction of the temple and also to his return and glory at the end of the world. And I'm not here to castigate any of those people, but as you know, I believe because of verse 34 and because of the history that we see, that there's great evidence that all of these things occurred during the first century. And when we interpret this passage through the rest of Scripture, And when we look at the history of Jerusalem and Judea between the time of Christ's ascension and the destruction of the temple, we see that at least all of what we read about in verses 4 through 26 speaks of events leading up to and including the destruction of the city and the temple in 70 AD. Now, things become far more difficult and complicated after verse 26. And we'll look at those things next week. But last week we saw that all of the things, and we went through them in great detail, all the things described in verses 4 through 12, false messiahs, false prophets, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, the delivery of most of the apostles to tribulation and death, all those things occurred in the years before the fall of Jerusalem. We also saw that Jesus was speaking in this passage to his disciples about those things that they would face in the early days of the church. Now all of those things continue to happen and will continue to happen until Christ does return, and that's one of the complicating factors in understanding this discourse. But because all of these things have always occurred, we saw that none of them could be very helpful signs in recognizing that the end of the world was near. Which false messiah is the sign of the end? Which earthquake's the sign of the end? Which famine's the sign? Those things have always been with us. But what these things were, Jesus said, were the beginning of birth pangs. I believe he's speaking about the birth pangs of the church. The foundation of Jesus' church was going to be and was laid in the midst of all this violence and all these trials. And Jesus warned His disciples, in verse 4, not to be misled by the false prophets and false messiahs. And He's told them, see that you're not frightened by all these things. All these things must take place. God had decreed them. Nothing was going to occur outside of God's will. His church will be established on earth, but it's going to be established in the midst of many obstacles. And he's told his disciples that they would be hated. Hated. Now imagine, somebody gives you a job, sends you out and says, I want you to go to this job. And we saw it with Isaiah as well. And everybody you go to, to relate this to, is going to hate you. But they were emboldened by the Holy Spirit. And he told them, because they would be hated, that persecution would come. Verse 10, not only that, many will then fall away because of the persecution and will betray one another. See how fortunate we are, how blessed we are to live in the times in which we live. Jesus exhorted them. He gives them an exhortation. The one who endures to the end will be saved at the end of his life. Those who persevere in the faith to the end of their lives are the ones who will receive the blessings of eternal life. Now, verse 14, Jesus says this, The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Well, this verse isn't going to be any more helpful than any of the ones we saw last week. Many think this has not occurred yet, and in a sense that's correct. And many believe also, though, that Jesus spoke here of a time near the end of the age. And that's possible, but Scripture teaches that the gospel of the kingdom had been preached in the whole world as it then existed during the time of the apostles. Matthew 28, 19, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, Jesus said, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now look at Romans 1.8, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed where? Throughout the whole world. Romans 16.25, my gospel in verse 26 has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith. Colossians 1.3, Beginning in verse 5 toward the end, the gospel, just as in all the world, also it is constantly bearing fruit in all the world. And then Colossians 123, the gospel that you have heard which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven. This doesn't mean that the gospel has not continued to go forth into the world and into new nations as they are declared and set up on earth. We see the gospel going forth into all the world today. And we celebrate that. The main point Jesus is making here, though, is that the gospel of salvation through faith in Him is not just for the twelve tribes of Jacob or the people of Judea. It is to go into the whole world. And for what purpose? As a testimony, as a witness. The word is the same word from which we get martyr, hamartorian. a witness of the resurrection of Christ. That's what the gospel is. Jesus of Nazareth said he was the Messiah, he was killed, and he rose from the grave, and he conquered sin. That's the big point here, is that the gospel is to go into the whole world, and it still goes into the whole world. But as of that point in time, we see four passages from Paul where he said the gospel had been preached in the whole world. So that's another item that doesn't provide for us a very good indicator of whether we're in the first century or near the end of the age. Well, what about verse 15? Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, or sometimes translated the desolating sacrilege, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet. If it's spoken through Daniel the prophet, by the way, who's the speaker? the Holy Spirit. See, these prophets were merely instruments of God. But when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Now, we have almost 200 sermons on Sermon Audio right now. Which one do you suppose has been the most listened to, by far? The one entitled The Abomination of Desolation. You know, we have to be careful when we're looking at prophecy in Scripture. Humanity has developed an appetite for fortune-telling, for fantasy. That's why we have one movie made, whatever it is, 70 years ago, The Wizard of Oz, on over and over and over again, every single year. That's why the most popular movie and book series of the last 15 years has been Harry Potter. All of this stuff. That's why you have horoscopes in the newspaper every day. And of course, this is all just made-up stuff. It's why there's an attraction to this part of Scripture. And I think, regrettably so, I think I would prefer, and I think God would prefer, that we'd be more drawn to passages dealing with love and serving one another than worrying about all of this future stuff. We can't rightly understand Scripture unless and until we rightly define the terms that are used in Scripture. And here we have two terms. We have to define the abomination of desolation and what's the holy place here. Well, abomination, desolation, refers to something that happened more than once. the holy place is clearly the temple and or jerusalem the holy place refers most likely to the temple in the city but jesus spoke of the abomination of desolation spoken through daniel so we look to the prophecy of daniel eleven now daniel was in captivity in babylon during the years between five eighty six and five sixteen bc by the point that he's writing in chapter eleven The Medo-Persians had defeated Babylon. Babylon had conquered them in the first place, King Nebuchadnezzar, and Darius the Mede was now king. Daniel prophesied primarily, not about the future, but about the period between the Babylonian Empire, which was the dominant world power at the time they were taken into captivity, and the time of the emergence of Rome as a world power in the first century BC. And he does this over and over again. He does it in chapter 2 when he interprets the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and he has these visions in chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10, and he interprets them to some degree in chapter 11. He receives the interpretation. And the verse that's cited by Jesus in Matthew 24-15 is in Daniel 11-31. Now, here's Daniel's prophecy. I'm going to read from Daniel 11-29, and I have inserted identifiers so you can tell who he's talking about here. this is the first year of Darius the Mede and at the appointed time he the king of the north he calls him referring to Antiochus Epiphanes four now Babylon ruled at the time that they were taken into the people of Judah were taken into exile in Babylon but during the time they were in exile the Medo-Persian Empire defeated Babylon and they became the world empire It was a couple centuries later before the Greeks, Alexander the Great, became the world power and defeated the Medo-Persians. Alexander the Great's empire only lasted a few years, because he only lasted a few years, but he traveled all over the world and spread the Greek language. And when he died, the kingdom didn't go to any of his descendants. It was divided among four generals. one in Egypt, one in Syria, and two others, but the one we're interested in here is Antiochus Epiphanes IV, a Seleucid ruler. And so he's at war with the king of Egypt. So at the appointed time he, the ruler of the north, will return, come into the south, but this last time it will not turn out the way it did before. It didn't. Egypt defeated him because Rome helped them. For the ships of Kittim, referring to Cyprus, will come against him and therefore Antiochus is going to be disheartened and he's going to come back to Jerusalem. He's going to be enraged at the Holy Covenant and he's going to take action against the Jews in Jerusalem. And the way it reads is, He will come back and show regard for those who forsake the Holy Covenant, those who turn traitor against God, in Judaism. And then verse 31, forces from Him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary forest, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. And in 167 BC, that's exactly what happened. 167 B.C., about 200 years before the time Jesus is talking. Here's what happened. It's 172 B.C. when Antiochus Epiphanes IV took control of Jerusalem. He abolished the Jewish sacrifices, abolished all Judaism and about four years later in 167 BC that very person prophesied by Daniel set up a pagan altar on the altar of burnt sacrifice at the temple and he offered swine and other unclean animals in sacrifices right at the temple to the imaginary God Zeus. Now in the original King James The Apocrypha, which is not part of Scripture as we know it, was included. And we've got the 1611 version, which is almost unreadable. I put it in your Scripture sheet. But the Wycliffe King James, from about the same time, is readable. And here's what it says about Antiochus Epiphanes 4 in 167. Now it says 145th year. It says that's the 145th year of that empire. Now, the 15th day of the month, Kazlu, in the 140th and 5th year, they set up what? The abomination of desolation upon the altar. And they builded idle altars throughout the cities of Judah on every side. So there's the abomination of desolation, but what? That can't be what Jesus is talking about. So we know this has to happen more than once. This is not a one-time event. That was 200 years earlier. Now let's look back to Jesus' words to his disciples. Now when you see the abomination of desolation to his disciples. And look what happened when the Romans entered the city of Jerusalem. Now the siege begins around 66 AD, about 33 years after Jesus ascends to his father. The Roman siege around Jerusalem begins. And one of the things in 70 A.D. they enter into the city and burn the temple to the ground. Now this is from Josephus, Wars of the Jews, a historian, a Pharisee, a Jew, not a Christian, but he's writing in 75 A.D., five years after, ten years after the siege. And here's what he says, and now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious, that's the Jewish rebels, into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, And of all the buildings lying around it, they brought their ensigns to the temple and set them over against its eastern gate. And what did they do? Now, these ensigns were big banners representing their imaginary gods, and in some cases, the emperor. And what did they do? They offered sacrifices to them in the temple, just as Antiochus Epiphanes had done 200 years earlier. One more abomination of desolation appears to have occurred in the temple before the siege of Titus. There were three factions in Jerusalem at the time that this Roman siege began. Some of them wanted to go out there and fight Rome. Some of them wanted to simply submit. One just wanted to go out into the hills and stay away. The rebels were called zealots. We have an apostle named Simon the Zealot. who had been part of that party, most likely. And they took control of the temple by force, probably around 66 A.D. They took control of the temple, they let some Idumeans in, and in the temple, they killed 8,500 people. And they splattered blood all over the place, including into the most holy place, the Holy of Holies. The Jews made their own temple an abomination in that event. So we've got three events here, and we can't be certain precisely which one Jesus is speaking of, but at the siege of Jerusalem, these horrific things took place. Zealous Jews fought over the temple, and they were warring with each other. There was civil war going on in Rome and in Jerusalem at the same time. And at the same time, Rome is going against Jerusalem. These are the wars and rumors of wars we talked about last week. But Jesus is saying that there's going to be some sacrilegious happening here that will pollute and empty the holy place and that his followers should be aware of it. Now, given what we see is a thoroughly Jewish nature of the details in verses 15 through 20, and it's all about Judean houses with housetops where people actually lived, and the fact that these things that Jesus is talking about actually happened in that time, there's really no reason to view verse 15 as looking beyond the events that culminated in the destruction of the temple. But the destruction of the temple, to us it may not be that big a deal. To them, it was everything. And really, when we look back, that was the end of the system of worship that God had put in place and had kept in place for 1,500 years. It was a landmark event, to say the least, in both human history and the history of redemption. So Jesus says to them, though, when you see this abomination of desolation, then those who are in Judea, I'm not talking to us, I'm talking to them, must flee to the mountains. Normally, when you had an invading force, what you would try to do, particularly if you were outside the city, was get into the city behind the city walls, to the safety of the city, behind the walls. But he's saying those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Mark writes it this way, 13-14, when you see the abomination that causes desolation, standing where it doesn't belong, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. But look how Luke writes it in 2120. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, there's your siege. When you see the siege, you'll know that its desolation is near, and that's when you should be planning to flee to the mountains. And that's what Luke says. When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you'll know that its desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Those who are in the midst of the city must leave. And those who are in the country must not enter the city. Don't do what you would normally do. Why? Because these are days of vengeance. Vengeance. So that all things which are written will be fulfilled. Which things do you suppose he's talking about? about those curses that God told the people in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 30. This is God's vengeance on the people of Israel and Judah. Remember what God was doing. He was judging the sons of Jacob, pouring out His vengeance on them for what? For their rejection of Him and the murder of His Son. They had just murdered his son. And he was bringing Judaism and the nations of Israel and Judah to an end. That's what happened. They were over in 70 A.D. Verse 23, Jesus says in Luke 21, Woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days, for there will be a great distress upon the land and wrath to this people, this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, not by gunfire, swords. You see the first century Jewish flavor of this. And they'll be led captive into all the nations. And that happened too. You know, those gladiators that we see in Rome in the movies? Taken captive from here, many of them. And then he says, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. And to this day, Gentiles are occupying Jerusalem. Now, yes, a Jewish nation was reestablished there in 1948. But to this day, the spot where the temple was sits a Muslim mosque. Well, Matthew conveys these same thoughts, quoting these words from Jesus. Matthew, verse 17. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days. Those who are in Judea, from verse 16, are all the Christians. They're Jewish Christians, including those in Jerusalem. They are to flee to the mountains, but not to the mountains in Judea, because that's where they're trying to escape from. It would never be safe there. These mountains lay outside of Judea. Did anyone follow Jesus' advice to flee to the mountains? Who would have done what Jesus said? Those who believed him. Those who believed him. And some did. Eusebius was the Christian writer of history. This is 325 BC. This is not scripture, but it is a historical account. And he reports here. This is Eusebius 3.5. Here's what he said. The congregation in Jerusalem, following a revelation received by reliable men before the war, migrated to Pella in Piraeus. As far as one can judge, this must have been done at the very time when these rival factions in the city were making an abomination of the temple. Now, anybody remember where Perea is? Perea was the land to the east of the Jordan River, and that's the area through which Jesus and his disciples traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem, where he has come to be killed. Perea, the land to the east of the Jordan. In the early months of the Jewish Rebellion, there's a lot of history written about all this, the Zealots had quickly organized for this Roman attack, and they got ready to fight them. And the Roman legate, the one who was running the show here for the Romans, was named Cestius Gallus. He was an Antioch in Syria. He had about a hundred miles to go to get to Jerusalem. So he responds, but he wasn't a very good general as far as we can tell. And so he, as his troops are about to break through the city wall, and he's got the city surrounded, for reasons that no one has ever explained, he retreated. And when he retreated, the people escaped. into the mountains. Josephus 2.19.1. Josephus is the Jewish historian. This is from 75 AD. But when Cestius had marched from Antipatrus to Louta, he found the city empty of its men, for the whole multitude were gone up to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Tabernacle. And so on the way to Jerusalem, he did destroy 50, those who showed themselves in a city. He burnt that city. He marched forward and he camped out six miles away from Jerusalem. But for the Jews, Josephus continues, when they saw the war approaching their city, they left the feast and took themselves to arms, and taking courage greatly from their multitude, went in sudden and disorderly manner to fight. So they begin fighting with the Romans, and they actually go outside the city walls and win some victories. And now it was, Josephus says, that a horrible fear seized upon the rebels, so much that many of them ran out of the city as though it were to be taken immediately. But the people upon this took courage. And if Sezgis had continued the siege a little longer, he would have taken the city without any trouble. And many suppose this to be the case. Josephus writes, I suppose, owing to the aversion that God had already at the city and the sanctuary, that he was hindered by God from putting an end to the war that very day. And then it happened that Cestius, as they're winning and charging toward the city, retreats from the city without any reason in the world. And when he did, the people broke through and escaped. That's those who flee to the mountains. Our best ancient authorities tell us that at the beginning of that Roman siege in the 60s, many Christians did indeed flee Jerusalem, perhaps recalling Jesus' words. I believe they did, and headed for Perea, east of Jordan. The way Eusebius writes it, book three, chapter five, section four, the members of the Jerusalem church by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons, they were ordered to leave the city before the war began and settle in a town in Perea called Pella. Also a remarkable story. Jesus had stressed the urgency of fleeing in that time. And He spoke of anyone who was on the housetop. Houses had flat roofs. And these were part of their living quarters. But He says, pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. And don't go down to get your suitcase. Don't go down to get anything. If you're in the field, don't go back to the house. Just flee. When the opening in the siege comes, don't delay. In verse 21, Jesus refers to all these things as a great tribulation, a great tribulation of those days. Now, certainly, you have heard people teach, perhaps, that this great tribulation is something in the future. And we're working our way here into some prophecy again of Jesus. And nobody has, as I've said before, the market on perfection in interpreting prophecy. But I'm going to tell you what I believe this says. there will be great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will." And as I said, many in our time have been drawn to a system which would take these words of Jesus and cast them far into the future. They say this is a future tribulation which will follow Jesus coming and removing all believers from the earth while leaving all the unbelievers. I have to tell you that idea did not exist in the church prior to 1830, didn't exist in America prior to 1909, and it claims that believers, after being removed from the earth, will hover in the air with the Lord for seven years, during which He will inflict great physical damage on those who are on the earth for seven years. And then they all come back to earth to reign with Jesus on the present earth for another thousand years. Now you know I don't believe any of that. And the reason I don't is because there's really no sound scriptural basis for any of that. And I've told you many times, and I'll say it again, I can take you to some very good preachers, very good theologians who do believe that. I just have to say that by way of full disclosure, but I don't see any scriptural basis for it, and so I'm not going to teach that, and I'm not going to preach that. First of all, that idea appears nowhere in the Gospels or the Epistles. Second, Jesus explicitly states this terrible tribulation is among those things that will occur before that generation passed away, around the time of the destruction of the temple. This is the horror in Jerusalem between 66 and 70 A.D. that Jesus has been talking about. And third, if this were a future time of great tribulation, He doesn't say anything about anybody going into the air. He says, your only hope is to flee to the mountains. That's your hope here. And to me that's all really just a very questionable account of the future that has been developed by some probably well-meaning Christians trying to learn something about what God has decided not to reveal to us, which is when he's coming back. And as I said, there's a human appetite for for prophecy. I mean Nostradamus is still around five hundred years later. Harry Potter all over the place. The Wizard of Oz. People like fantasy. Alice in Wonderland remains a classic. Because people are drawn to these things. I was heartened to see that most of the commentators, the five that I've regularly used for years in the New Testament, all see these things as happening in the first century. Although they part with me in places. Those days, though, are the days of this fanatical rebellion and invasion which resulted in this war. It was a period of just four or five years from 67 to 70, and the Great Tribulation refers to those years when Rome surrounded, then entered and destroyed the city. By the way, it killed 1.1 million people, destroyed the temple, destroyed the city, and put an end to the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah. Look at the language Jesus uses. I want to explain something about this. He calls this Great Tribulation, "...such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will." Do you suppose that is to be taken literally or as hyperbole? Well, let me show you six other times that's used in Scripture. Exodus 11.6 Moreover, there will be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and shall never be again." 2 Kings 18, King Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah. nor among those who were before him. But five chapters later, 2 Kings 23-25, before Josiah, there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his might, nor did any like him arise after him. And then, referring to Jerusalem 600 years before, Ezekiel 5-9, and because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again." And Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city. Either this will be worse than the flood, where the entire creation except eight people and some animals were spared. Or Jesus is speaking in hyperbole, which is what he is. This is a figure of speech, an idiom in the Hebrew language, and we see it here several times. There's no indication Jesus is speaking of any time other than the time in which his disciples lived. So this is not to be read literally, even though this was going to be pretty bad. It was going to be in the top ten, probably. 1.1 million people were slaughtered in Jerusalem between 68 and 70 AD, most by the sword. It means blood everywhere, not the clean gun-like killings that we have today. And six million Jews were killed by Hitler during World War II. Whole world destroyed by a flood 1600 years after Adam. So understand, these words and this way of speaking is an idiom, a figure of speech wherein Jesus is warning his disciples that terrible, horrifying times lay ahead for them and for all Judea when God comes in vengeance on Jerusalem in that generation. And you know what? As we've seen, Jesus said back in chapter 23, no nation had ever piled up such guilt as that of the Jewish people, who were the chosen of God, who were greatly blessed, yet crucified God's Son and trampled on His grace. So Richard Lenski writes, for the Jews, that time of tribulation was the vengeance of God falling upon them. No judgment could ever be more severe in the history of the world, and I would say other than the fall of Adam, no judgment can be compared with this, that wiped out the Jews not only as a nation, but as the people of God. They were the people of God until that time. Calvin says, no words can express the degree of wickedness in putting to death the Son of God who had been sent to die for the people of God. For the unbelieving Jews, this would bring their utter destruction. And all who hate God and reject the gospel will receive the same punishment. In one sense, God here demonstrated This is one of the things that gets missed when you get into all this future stuff with this. And when you understand it rightly, God is demonstrating by His judgment and vengeance on the Jews that the coming of the Savior of the world must be regarded with reverence and gratitude. Unless those days had been cut short, Jesus says, no life would have been saved. Not talking about salvation, He's talking about staying alive in this life. But, for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. God's reason for cutting those days short, for limiting that tribulation, is that even after the Christians had fled to the mountains, there were still some people who God had chosen in that city, who didn't yet believe, who hadn't yet come to faith, like we all were at one time. See, he waited, he's patient, he's loving, and he waited, and so he, for the sake of the elect, he cut that short. And the word if here, if anyone says to you, it indicates that false christs and false prophets will arise. It's like saying, if they do, and they will. This says this will happen. And Jesus is concerned, as Jews, even though they were now believers in Jesus, they might have been susceptible to false prophets. Now listen, here's verse 23. Then if anyone says to you, behold, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I've told you in advance. So if they say to you, behold, he is in the wilderness, don't go out or behold, he's in the inner rooms, don't believe them. Folks, Christ isn't coming that way. He's coming in glory with trumpets and angels and flaming fire. Not going to have to run out into the wilderness to say, oh, yes, there he is. There were such men, Josephus writes, who were deceived and deluded by people under the pretense of divine inspiration. And these prevailed with a multitude to act like madmen and went before them into the wilderness. There was an Egyptian false messiah, Josephus writes, about who pretended to be a prophet also and started, quote, from the wilderness with 30,000 men. 30,000 men followed this guy. They ended in miserable defeat on the Mount of Olives. And we're not told what these great signs and wonders would be, but that some would be persuaded that they were seeing the power of God. And that, theoretically, they might even impress the elect. But since the elect are God's own and kept by the power of God, it wasn't possible for them to be led away by these charlatans. But Jesus is showing the persuasive character of the lies of Satan and those who work for him. Behold, I have told you in advance, I have foretold it to you. Don't believe them. Jesus' warning is clear. Don't believe the charlatans. And this is the same warning with which He started this whole discourse. Don't be led astray. See to it that you are not led astray. Here's our authority. And you're right. Martin Luther gave us back this. Because they hid the Word of God from the people for over a thousand years. Verse 27, for just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. The coming of the Son of Man, His return, His presence is going to be very different, not hidden away, We're all going to notice. Whoever's alive is going to notice. And you know who else is going to notice? Everyone who's dead, because everyone's coming up out of the grave. His coming, he says, will be as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west. The whole world will see him in the brilliance of his heavenly glory. And he is comparing the false messiahs and their idea. And he's saying, look, when this really happens, You'll know. You'll know. And no man's going to cry, behold, come and see. Yeah, I mean, imagine this. He's out in the wilderness. Somebody comes up to you and says, yeah, I just saw the Lord. He's out there. No. Don't worry, you won't miss it when he comes back, if we're alive, you won't miss it. And if we're dead, you won't miss it because he's going to raise us all up. Well, what about this last verse? I was going to simply say, I don't know what this means. I've seen at least half a dozen different explanations. None of them make any sense to me. But Christ's words about what Lenski calls the carry-on, the corpse, drawing the eagles, he says, have perplexed the commentators for 2,000 years. That's the truth. And after 2,000 years, I am not likely to figure this out this morning. But Jesus has been speaking of the end of the Jewish nation, end of Jerusalem, of the temple, and of Judaism. Vultures are a clear sign that what? That there's some dead bodies somewhere. Here, the temple stones on the ground may be that sign. They may be that corpse. They will be seen by all who are left. And they are the sign of the end of Judaism, at least a sign, and of that nation. Now, Jesus' message to us through all this, and I know this is far more Bible study and history study than it is sermon, but we cannot simply pass over passages because they happen to fit into another category, this being prophecy. Jesus' message, though, hasn't changed, and He weaves it throughout what He's telling them. First, don't be misled by false religions, first of all, or by false messiahs or false prophets or false preachers who don't accurately bring the Word of God given in Scripture. There will be many trials, secondly. Many trials for the Christian, especially for the Christian. The trials and tribulations didn't end then. All of those things we've seen, they're still with the church. He was just talking to them about what their experience would be, but that's not any different from many people's experience. And Paul wrote Philippians 129, it has been granted to us not only to believe, but to suffer for his sake. As the apostles did. when they were arrested and flogged for their witness of Christ, and when they were all eventually executed, boiled, sawn in two, hung, crucified, right side up, upside down, X-shaped cross, dragged through the streets by horses, beheaded, But folks, the one who endures in faith, who perseveres in faith to the end, that's the one who'll be saved. And that's Jesus' message all through here. Jesus will return for His people, those who believe in Him and who manifest that belief by their obedience to Him in their lives. He's going to return in glory. We won't have to go look for Him. When He returns, all the dead are going to be raised, the saved and the reprobate. They're all going to be given new bodies fitted for all eternity. And those who trust in Him, and this is the message, and His offering of Himself on the cross as the payment of the penalty for our sins will live with Him in glory forever. Christ will be victorious. You all know that, right? He will be victorious. And He calls us this morning. to share in His victory. Father, we thank You for Christ. We thank You that we can trust Your Word. We thank You for the fact that He has told us, Lord, over and over again, and that You have told us of Your great plan of redemption. Lord, we pray for all of those people, Jewish and otherwise, who've turned away from you and not believed in you. We pray you'll call people to you by the millions, even in this day. We thank you for Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and Knox and all of those, Lord of the Reformation, who brought your word back to us. Instruments of yours, servants of yours, We thank you for this gathering, for the knowledge that you are here in our midst. And I pray, Lord, that your word here has been declared accurately and that, Lord, we will hear you not only in our minds but in our hearts and we'll respond rightly in gratitude, worship, and obedience for your kingdom and for your glory. In Christ's name, amen. Amen.