Morning, everyone. We're continuing our studies in Matthew. We're in Matthew 24. We're looking at what's called the Olivet Discourse. It's called that because Jesus gave it on the Mount of Olives. And this is Jesus' longest explanation of what's coming at the end that we find anywhere in the Bible. Matthew 24. What we're looking at today, is there something that the world can watch for And when we see it, then we know that the end of the world is near. That's the question that Jesus is addressing, and the answer he's going to give is, yes, there is a sign of the end. He's going to tell us specifically what that is. Look at Matthew 24, verse 3. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Now, I believe that Jesus' specific answer to that question, what's the sign of the end of the age, is going to come in verse 15. And then what Jesus will do in the verses in between, verses 4 to 14, he's going to talk about, in a general way, what the world's going to be like between his first coming and his second coming. So the sign of the end of the age comes in verse 15, and until then, verses 4 to 14 describes the area that we live in now as we wait for that sign. Okay, so here's why I want to approach this text today. You kind of have to understand verse 15 where he talks about the sign that's coming that shows that the world is about to end, that Jesus is about to return. You have to kind of know what that is before you can go back and look at the first 14 verses and how should we live until then. So what we're going to do today on the first side of your handout, Jesus gave us a specific sign. Jesus gave us a specific sign that the end is near. We'll look at what that is and then we'll get to the back side and what are Jesus' instructions for us while we wait for the end to come. Okay. So first, what is the sign that Jesus is coming and at the end of all things, the answer is the abomination of desolation. So, on your sheets there, if you see the abomination of desolation, then you know that Jesus is about to come back. Jesus gives us a sign. If you see the abomination of desolation, you know Jesus is about to come back. Look at Matthew 24, verse 15. Jesus says, in answer to what's the sign of the end of the age and of your coming, Jesus says, 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. Okay, now the abomination of desolation, if that's the sign of Jesus' coming, we'll want to know what that is so we can recognize it. But before we look at what the abomination of desolation is, I want you to see how the chain of events that the abomination of desolation starts. Because the abomination of desolation, according to Jesus, this is the first event of a chain of events that brings things to the end. And so there's letter B on your sheets, and we'll come back to what the abomination of desolation is. But what's the sequence of events that kicks off with the abomination of desolation? So that's going to be the rest of the chapter. Abomination of desolation is the first event. Then Jesus says, the next event you should expect after you see that is the great tribulation on earth, worse than anything ever seen before. After this abomination of desolation, there's going to be a great tribulation on earth worse than anything that's ever been seen before. Look there at verse 15. We read, Jesus says, the abomination of desolation is coming. Then 16 to 20, he talks about what do you do if you see that? Then verse 21, he talks about the next event. For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Until, 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. So event two, the great tribulation. After that event, number three in the future, something is going to go horribly wrong with the sun, the moon, and the stars. After the Great Tribulation, something will go horribly wrong with the sun, the moon, and the stars. We take all these prophecies literally, like we really think something's going to go horribly wrong with the sun, because Jesus is the creator of the sun, and he's telling us what's coming. Right? So, look at verse 29. He says, Matthew 24, 29, 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. Okay, after that, what comes? Event number four, Jesus returns with power and glory. Jesus returns with power and glory. That's in verse 30. And then, so after the signs in the sky, 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. There's Jesus' return. And there's a fifth event that Jesus is gonna talk about in these chapters that comes after his return. That is, number five, all the people of the earth will be gathered before Jesus to be judged and sentenced to eternal life or eternal death. Look here, Matthew 25, go to the next chapter, Matthew 25, verse 31. What happens when Jesus returns? The next thing that Jesus says is this, Matthew 25, 31. But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But what does He say to those on His left? Look at verse 41. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. Skip down to verse 46. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. This is a sobering order of events. This is how the world ends. It ends with you. standing before Jesus. It's true for every single one of us. And on the day when that happens, what will be Jesus's verdict for you? Right? There's two destinies and it just can't be more sobering. Can it? Because Jesus says, everyone's going to stand before me and then there's going to be some on my right and some on my left. Those on my right, they're going to be receiving their spot in my kingdom that I've prepared for them and they'll be there forever. and those on my left, those will be headed into eternal fire, the eternal fires of hell. And what makes the difference, right, when you're standing for Jesus, what makes the difference whether you get into the kingdom or you get into the eternal fire, it's not how good you lived, because none of us have lived good enough. If we stand before Jesus and the judgment is going to be there, all of us are guilty. Our only hope, your only hope, when you stand before Jesus at the end of time, your only hope is that your sins will have been forgiven. There's one way that happens. Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. He rose again. He offers free forgiveness to whoever will receive him. Have you received Jesus? Have you heard that he died for you and rose again and said, Jesus, I'm done going my own way. I trust in you. Do you know him? Only those that know him can look at the end of time and be secure. So this is the sequence of events, right? But what we're talking about in this chapter, the question the disciples asked is, what's the sign, right? We know you're going to come back. What's the sign of the end, end of your coming? And his answer is the abomination of desolation. So, that's the first event that kicks it off. We want to know what the abomination of desolation is so that if we see it, we know we're coming close to the end, right? So we're going to back up to verse 15. What is that abomination of desolation? Verse 15 of Matthew 24. Okay, this is the sign of the end. First, what's abomination of desolation mean? I'm getting really good at saying it. But it used to be people would take notes on sermons by marking down how many times a pastor says a certain word. If you're marking down, you're counting how many times they say abomination to desolation, your hand's gonna get tired. So what is it? Well, the word abomination, it refers to something that is morally disgusting. So if something's an abomination to God, it makes him want to vomit, It's repulsive to him. That's abomination. The word desolation refers to destruction. So Jesus says, hey, there's going to be an event. It's going to show that the end is near. It's going to be morally disgusting and it's going to lead to destruction. What else does he say? Because the world's supposed to watch for it. When it happens, he's almost back. What else does he say about it? In verse 15, there's a couple of other details we pick up from Jesus. One, we know that Daniel talked about it in the Old Testament. See, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet. And Jesus takes the Old Testament prophecies literally. If Daniel said it's going to happen and it hasn't happened yet, then Jesus expects it to come still. So Daniel told us about it, we know that. Also, Jesus says that this abomination of desolation, it's going to be standing in the holy place. I take that to be the temple in Jerusalem. What I want to do, though, is go back to Daniel and find out, Jesus says, hey, you know about this abomination of desolation from Daniel. Well, what's Daniel say about the abomination of desolation, this sign that Jesus is almost back? Okay, I'm going back to Daniel. And there's this prophecy in Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 to 27, and this is one of the key prophecies of Scripture. It's all about these 70 weeks. Essentially what Daniel says in his prophecy of the 70 weeks, that each week is years. So it's weeks of years, so each week is seven years. Daniel says, and it's coming from the Lord, he's writing it down, There's 490 years until God finishes and he completes all of his promises that he gave to the nation Israel. And then as you read through Daniel chapter 9, realize that these 490 years, it breaks up into two pieces. First, there's 483 years and there's some prophecies that Daniel gave and have already been fulfilled. We've seen them happen. Then there's a break in the fulfilling of these prophecies, 483 years, this stuff's already happened. But there's also prophecies about what's going to happen in the last week, the last seven years, and none of those things have happened. So we're still waiting for the last seven years of Daniel's prophecy. I just walked through this because it's fascinating. What are some of the things that Daniel prophesied? Well, the first thing that Daniel said would happen, that would kick off the 70 weeks, is a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. That was our Xerxes of Persia in March 5th of 444 BC. This prophecy was fulfilled He made this decree the Jews could go back and rebuild their city. He told it to Nehemiah Another thing that Daniel prophesied was that the city would be rebuilt It was destroyed in Daniel's day and it was rebuilt 395 BC that came true Then Daniel said and this is fascinating Daniel said okay, you can you can time it and From when this decree happens until Messiah the Prince, it's going to be 69 weeks, going to be 483 years. And if you did, you start timing, you start your timer from March 5th of 444 BC. What happens exactly 483 years later to the day? Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. Daniel said, look for the Messiah, and there he is. And everybody's saying, Hosanna. And they're right, because this is Messiah, the prince. Daniel has more that is fulfilled. He says that when the Messiah comes, he's going to be cut off and have nothing. And we know what that means now. Jesus was crucified. Daniel also predicted that the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city. The prince who's to come is this Antichrist who's going to come in the future. His people is Rome. And Rome did destroy Jerusalem in AD 70, just after Jesus' life. So those are the things that have already been fulfilled in Daniel's prophecy, but there's things yet to come. Here's the other things that are still future to us that are going to happen in the last week when it starts. Daniel says the Antichrist is going to make a covenant with Israel. That's going to be the official beginning of this seven-year period. That's what starts that clock. Then the Antichrist, halfway through, three and a half years in, he's going to stop sacrifices in the temple, and he's going to set up the abomination of desolation. That's what we're here in Daniel for, because Jesus said, go back to Daniel and find out about the abomination of desolation. It's going to be set up halfway through this tribulation, and then at the end of the tribulation, the Antichrist is going to be destroyed when Jesus comes. Okay, look at Daniel chapter 9, verse 27. This is the First of the two times in Daniel 9 that he talks about the future abomination of desolation. I know it's a lot. You can go back and listen to my messages on Daniel where I took more time to explain it. I'm supposed to be explaining Matthew now. So, but Daniel 9, 27, so it says, and he, the Antichrist, will make a firm covenant with the many. So he's going to make a covenant with Israel for one week. But in the middle of that week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate. See the abomination of desolations here? Halfway through that last seven year period, even until a complete destruction is decreed, is poured out on the world, poured out on the one who makes desolate. So, halfway through this future seven year period, the abomination of desolation. But this still doesn't give me a lot of detail, like if I'm supposed to be watching for this, this is the sign of Jesus' return, eh, I don't even know what I'm looking for. Daniel helps us a little bit more when he, in Daniel chapter 12 verse 11, the next time that he talks about the abomination of desolation, he says, from the time the regular sacrifice is abolished, the abomination of desolation is set up. So whatever this is, it's something you can set up. All right. And Jesus said the same thing. He said it's going to be set up in the holy place. Now, thankfully, we have more than just Daniel that tells us about the abomination. I don't have time to look up those verses, so I want to kind of help you. Revelation 13, you can go look it up. Revelation 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, tell us more about what the abomination of desolation is. Here, I'll summarize it for you on your sheets. What is the abomination of desolation? Here's what it is. The Antichrist will set up an image of himself in the temple in Jerusalem. This Antichrist, this future world ruler, he's going to set up an image of himself in the temple in Jerusalem, and he's going to demand that the whole world worship him and him only. And if you don't worship him, you're dead. That's the abomination of desolation. It's abominable because in God's temple, a man says, here I am, worship me, and he sets up an idol of himself. That's abominable. It's desolation because if you don't do it, he's going to kill you. Right? And so Jesus says, what's the sign of my coming? How do I know that I'm close to the end? He says, watch for the abomination of desolation. If you see that, you know the end is upon you. And then these five events are going to happen. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Three and a half years it's going to take from the abomination of desolation to the return of Jesus. Okay. I think it's helpful for us to have that tucked away. Jesus has given us a specific sign. When we see it, the end is near. But some of you are second level Bible prophecy students. You'll know who you are. You already have a question in your mind. You're thinking, OK, now wait a minute. If the sign of Jesus is coming, it's going to happen halfway through the tribulation. Well, as we understand the events of time, the rapture happens before the tribulation. So if you're a believer that's alive today, We believe we're going to be gone by then. The rapture's going to come. Jesus is going to tell them, and all true believers from this era, he's going to take us up to be with him in heaven, and we're not going to have to live through the tribulation. So if that's the case, why would Jesus say, hey, you know that the end is close when you see the abomination of desolation, but none of us are going to see it because we're gone? A couple of thoughts on that. Number one on your sheet. So why would Jesus give us a sign that we won't be here to see? Number one. The sign is for the believers who will be alive at that time. The sign is for the believers who will be alive at that time. There will be believers during the tribulation. They'll be going through it and they'll have Bibles. And so for them, it's going to be the sign like, oh boy, we see this. Now we know what to do. So the sign is for believers who are alive at that time. Another thought, number two, you might see the abomination of desolation if you're not a believer today. You might see the abomination of desolation if you're not a believer, because the rapture Jesus comes and he takes those who know him to be with him in heaven. But if you don't know him and the rapture comes today, you're going to be left on the earth. And then it's just three and a half years to the middle of that tribulation. So by. What, 2024? We could be seeing the abomination of desolation set up if the rapture comes. And so if you don't know Christ, boy, I hope you remember. I hope you remember, boy, trust in him, right? Because that means the end is just around the corner, three and a half years away. Another possibility why Jesus would give a sign that we won't be here to see. You might see it if Pastor Mike's wrong about the timing of the rapture. You might see the abomination of desolation if I'm wrong about the timing of the rapture. Look, I think if you look at the Bible, the rapture fits here on this timeline, but there's other scholars that say, actually, I think it comes later in the tribulation. And so if we're all going along and we're all still here, and one day we see on the news that the Antichrist has set up an idol in the temple and he said, everyone worship me or die, then I'm not gonna be like, nope, can't be, the rapture has to come. I'm gonna be like, well, I missed it guys, let's hide, right? Because that's what Jesus said. If you see that, the end is upon you, right? So we know that happens there. The rapture we're pretty confident, but it could be I'm wrong and when that comes Okay, so there's that That's a specific sign that Jesus gives the end is upon us. You see the abomination of desolation. It's there Okay now backside of your sheets. Somebody was complaining today that only had one and a half pages of notes instead of two like last I'm sorry next week I'll try to do my best below. Okay number two. Yeah, and this is it gets incredibly practical here. I Jesus gave us specific instructions on how to live while we wait for the end. So we know the sign that the end is coming. What do I do until then? And I think that that's what we have next in these verses, verses four through 14. Now, verses 4-14 are kind of tricky. We know when the abomination of desolation happens because it tells us in Revelation, Daniel tells us, we know about that. We know verse 15 is right in the middle of the tribulation. What we don't know is verses 4-14, it comes before that. Some Bible scholars that I believe, that I trust, that would teach the Bible the way I do, think that all of verses 4-14 happen like at the very beginning of the tribulation, like all that's not our era, it's gonna happen in the future after the rapture. But I don't think that's the best way to take it. So for me, verses four to 14, Jesus is saying, hey, listen, okay, so here's the sign, it's gonna come in the middle of tribulation, you see that? The end's coming. But until then, church, until then, Christians, here's what you can expect in between my first coming and my second coming. Part of the reason I think that's the best way to take that, if you look at verse six, look at Matthew 24, verse six. So they asked him, what's the sign of your coming? Verse six, Jesus says, you'll be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not frightened, for these things must take place, but that is not yet the end. So how I take it is all these signs in verses four to 14, these things are gonna happen, but it's not the end. Jesus is giving us general things that are going to happen throughout this whole, between His comings, that we can expect, but when we see these things, we shouldn't think, oh no, this is bringing the end, no. All these things are going to happen, but the end, you'll know that's coming when you get to verse 15, you see the abomination of desolation. Okay, so verses 4 to 14, I take it to be a description of the era in which we live, that Jesus is saying, listen, in between when I leave and when I come back, here's how it's going to be, and here's what you need to know. So that makes it super practical. Okay. So we have anybody seen the abomination of desolation yet? Anybody here? Nope. Okay. So that means we're not to verse 15 yet. We're living in the verses beforehand. Jesus is going to give us some instruction. Number A on your sheets. Number A. When the first thing that Jesus tells us while we wait, be doing this. When people claim to be the Messiah, do not believe them. Jesus says people are gonna come, they're gonna claim that they're the Messiah. Jesus says, don't believe them. Look at verse four, Matthew 24, four. And Jesus answered and said to them, see to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ and will mislead many. So Jesus predicted before his second coming that there would be people who would come along and say they're Jesus. And Jesus is like, I'm not coming back early. Like if you see somebody and they're claiming to be Jesus, it's not me. I went to Wikipedia, that inexhaustible supply of knowledge is not, you can't use on papers this week. And there's a list there, list of people that claimed to be Jesus. And it's an incomplete list they've got there, but it's crazy long. So many people have come and claimed to be Jesus. And so many people believed them. You can read there about Anne Lee, founder of the Shakers in the 18th century. Her followers believe that she was the female incarnation of Christ on earth. You can read there about Haley Selassie I. This man didn't himself claim to be Jesus. But the Rastafari movement believes that he is the second coming and that though he's dead, he still lives. That he was Jesus coming back a second time. You can read there about Krishniventa. This one's my favorite because of the pictures. This guy lived in 1948 in Simi Valley, California. I know it because I used to disc golf there. There's a great course, we should go sometime. But this guy, Krishniventa, came out and his quote was, Mmm, I may as well say it. I am the Christ Right, and he even dressed like Jesus. So how can you argue? You can read about soon young moon His he was believed by members of the Unification Church to be the second coming of Christ and apparently he believed in marriage as well Here he is Now I'm kind of laughing at this but Some of these stories have been tragic, right? You can read about Jim Jones. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, right? And then it led to the group of people went and they lived with him and then there was a murder-suicide of 909 people because they believed he was the Messiah and they drank what he gave them. You can read about David Koresh, who claimed to be the son of God, the Lamb. And because people believed him, it led to the death of 75 people in Texas in 1993. And so one of the first things Jesus says, while you wait for my coming, there's going to be people that are going to come and they're going to claim to be me. And don't believe them. Don't believe anybody who says they're the Messiah. It's going to happen the way it's written in the Bible. He's not going to come back early before then. So there's that. Many have been misled. Don't be among them. When people claim to be the Messiah, don't believe them. Second thing Jesus says here in these chapters is this, when you see world-shaping disasters, do not be frightened. When you see world-shaping disasters, do not be frightened. Look at verse 6. So I think Jesus is talking about this whole era between his first coming and his return. In which we live right and he said you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars See that you are not frightened for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes but all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs and What's Jesus saying in verses six to eight? He's saying not everything that seems to be the end of the world really is, right? Don't be afraid. Many in our world today are afraid, right? Unbelievers are afraid about the world. Even Christians who shouldn't be are afraid. I mean, in the last year, 500,000 Americans died with COVID, three million people around the world. And to try to stop COVID, we shut down our economy. We have people dealing with financial troubles and depression from all the isolation. Extreme weather seems to be increasing. You watch the news, they'll talk about that all the time. And just last year, Iowa was hit with this derecho. According to the Washington Post, that derecho that went through our state is the most costly thunderstorm disaster in US history. And our nation is increasingly divided and angry. In my lifetime, I don't remember racial tensions ever being this high. And China is threatening the United States, and North Korea is developing nuclear weapons, and North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, is someone who we don't want to have nuclear weapons. What's Jesus say to us, his followers in America and his followers around the world? Jesus says, verse six, do not be afraid. You say, well, why not, Jesus? It's scary. Why, why not be afraid? There's three things that Jesus says in this text that, why we shouldn't be afraid. First is this, the Lord knows about every disaster before it ever happens. The Lord knows about every disaster before it ever happens. And Jesus tells us right here in verses six to eight, the kinds of things that will mark the era in which we live. This whole era between his two comings and the things that Jesus said about our era have proven true. Look at verse six. Jesus said, you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. I saw a stat this last week. So over the last 3,400 years of human history, the nations of the world have been at peace for 268 of those years. So, in world history, there have been peace between nations on the planet 8% of the time. 92% of the time, somebody's at war. And most of that time, it's more than one war going on at the same time, right? Will America go to war with China, with North Korea? Will America survive? Jesus says kingdoms will rise, kingdoms will fall. But Jesus says, don't be afraid until I come back. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars and kingdoms will rise and nations will fall. But that's not the end. Verse six, Jesus also said there will be famines. I actually think it's verse seven. Yeah. National rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. In various places, there will be famines. And Jesus is right about that. There have been so many famines in this time period. One of the worst famines that I read about this week, the greatest famine in history in terms of death, the Great Chinese Famine from 1959 to 1961 in the People's Republic of China. And this famine was man-made entirely. I don't want to show pictures of this famine. It's just so sad, people starving. But what happened was, in China, the communist government instituted new policies known as the Great Leap Forward. They prohibited farm ownership and they established people's communes to do the farming instead. And in response, grain production in China plummeted to the point where 20 to 50 million Chinese people died because they didn't have any food. There was nothing to eat. It was 1960. Other famines that have come have come from natural disasters or disease. This picture here was painted during the Irish potato famine. That happened 1845 to 1853. Potato disease came and it struck Ireland's main crop. So many people lived off of potatoes and here's a drawing of a family and they've realized that their potato crop has the blight and how are they going to survive? And in Ireland, in those years, Nearly one in four Irish people died of starvation. And Jesus was right. There have been famines. Verse 7, Jesus says that in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. The largest earthquake ever recorded on the Richter scale is a 9.5. That took place in May of 1960 in Valdivia, Chile. There's a picture of it here, some of the disaster that came from it. In that earthquake, 1,655 people died, 3,000 were injured, 2 million were displaced. But the deadliest earthquake in history, it happened way back in 1556 in Shaanxi, China. There was an earthquake that killed an estimated 830,000 people. 830,000, like the whole population of greater Omaha or all of South Dakota died in one earthquake. Boy, if you lived in Ireland during the potato famine, or you lived in Shaanxi, China in the 1550s, or if you lived in France during World War II, you might be tempted to think the world is coming to an end. But Jesus says, don't be frightened. I'm telling you these things ahead of time, so you don't lose perspective. It's going to be rough. on planet Earth this whole time between my two arrivals. Verse 6, you'll be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not frightened, for those things must take place, that's not yet the end, for nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there'll be famines and earthquakes. Let's see what he says in verse 8. But all these things, and he's talking about all these disasters that have happened in our era since he was here, all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Verse 8 gives us a little sense of how horrible it's going to be on earth in the tribulation. Right? Because he's pointing all the worst disasters we've been through. And it says these things, it's like an early labor pain compared to the labor that comes at the end. Boy, when the tribulation comes, it's going to make these things seem small in comparison. But Jesus says, when you see, and you're gonna go through, there's gonna be world-shaping tragedies all through this era. When you, my followers, go through world-shaping disasters, and your nation falls, and all these things are happening, Jesus says, don't be frightened. Well, why not be frightened? Number one, the Lord knows about every disaster before it ever happens. Number two, second thing Jesus says here is this, every trouble that comes into the world is a necessary part of God's good plan. Every trouble that comes into the world is a necessary part of God's good plan. Let's see it in verse six. He's talking about all these things that will come on the world. He says, you'll be hearing of wars, rumors of wars. See that you're not frightened for those things must take place. Those things must take place. The wars, famines, earthquakes. You could translate it. It's necessary for these things to happen. Mankind looks at these disasters and they call them senseless evils or they call them the cruel hand of fate Jesus looks at all these disasters and he says It's a necessary part of God's plan These things must take place These horrible tragedies loss of life and the great harm that comes from their necessary part of God's plan to deal with sin and sinners and to bring God's ultimate victory and I think to understand this, we have a hard time with it because we underestimate the seriousness that God takes sin. Really, from God's perspective, right now we have a world of people that are just shaking their fist at their Creator. And we just live for everything else and we ignore Him. And God has said, all these tragedies that are going to come, it's a righteous God now deems them necessary. This phrase, all these things must take place. I want to show you another time where Jesus says it. All these things must take place. So hold your finger here and go ahead with me a couple of chapters to Matthew 26. And we just studied this not long ago. Here we're going to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has been praying this night. He's been pleading with God because he's headed to the cross. He's pleading with the Father. Father, if possible, please remove this cup. Please don't make me go through the cross. And if it's your will, then I'll do it. That's where we're stepping into the story. So Jesus has been saying, if there's any other way, please take this cup from me. And then the soldiers arrive to arrest Jesus. And as they're coming, Peter draws his sword and he starts swinging it. And Jesus says, stop. Look at Matthew 26, verse 60, Matthew 26, verse 52. Jesus said to Peter, Put your sword back into its place for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you not think I can appeal to my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels? How then will the scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way? Jesus knows there is no other way for mankind to be saved than for him to be arrested and crucified. Jesus knows, thinking of Michael Linsky, thinking of you, there's, there's no way for your sins to be, to be removed from you. There's no other way for them to be removed unless, unless he goes through the cross on your behalf. And so Jesus says, it must happen this way. There's a hard road Jesus had to endure, but Jesus knew that on the other side of that difficult road, there's victory. And he trusted that God's plan, though difficult was good. It must happen this way. Interestingly, Matthew 24, six in the Greek, it's exactly the same phrase. When Jesus, when Jesus is talking about all the troubles that are going to come upon our world, he says, these things must take place. So when we see tragedies come upon the world, disasters, We should weep with those that hurt. We should run to their aid. But those of us who know Christ should not be afraid. Jesus said these things must take place. Why? I don't know. Maybe part of it is that if life was easier down here that no one would take God's word seriously. We were all just happy. Maybe we wouldn't listen to the message and more of us would end up in hell. Maybe the disaster or God's mercy, merciful saying, Oh, listen, listen to what I have to say. I don't, I don't know. Um, I don't know all the reasons, but just as Jesus, when he was walking towards the cross, he knew the difficulty he was going to have to walk through when Jesus said it must be this way. And so he trusted his father as he walked through the difficulty. And so it is for Christians in our world. We we see the tragedies that come in the real pain and the loss of life and the hurt we go through and we can say the same thing it Jesus said it must be this way and So we weep with those that hurt and we help them and we point them to Christ because we know that if we get through this Difficulty on the other side Jesus wins right we just trust our father this plan is good and so Jesus says don't be afraid don't be afraid the I knew about all this before it happened, that's why I'm telling you ahead of time. Secondly, any trouble that comes into the world is a necessary part of God's good plan. And thirdly, Jesus says, the reason why we shouldn't be afraid, God knows exactly how he will bring the world to its end, and none of these things are it. God knows exactly how he will bring this world to an end, and none of these things are it. See verse six, see that you're not frightened, for these things must take place, for that is not yet the end. When I was a single guy in college, me and a buddy, we went to watch an end-of-the-world film. And I don't remember the film. I don't remember what happened. But it's, you know, one of those things, the world's coming to an end, you're trying to survive. And so there's a big asteroid that came and crashed into the planet, or there was an ecological disaster, and everybody's freezing to death, and you're trying to survive. It was that kind of a movie. The world comes to an end. And I thought it was kind of fun. We're walking out of the theater, and my friend's face is white. And, and I was in Bible college at the time. I think I'd been in school for like a year. So therefore I'm an expert on all things Bible. And, and so, so he says to me, he says, Mike, could that happen? Could that really happen? What's the Bible say? And I was able to tell him, no, that's, that's not going to happen because the Bible tells us how the world comes to an end. The Bible tells us that the world comes to the end when, when Jesus steps in and brings it to an end. We don't have to fear that the world is going to end. It's not going to end in an ecological disaster. The world's not going to end in a nuclear holocaust. None of these things are going to bring the world to an end. We know how it will end, and God has told us details of it. And so Jesus says, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Look for this, the abomination of desolation. When you see that, the world's about to come to an end. Other than that, there's going to be all this horrible stuff that happens. You trust in me. It's got to happen. It's not the end. Don't be afraid. We only got through verse eight and Jesus has more to say to us about what to do while we wait for the end. And what I'm super excited about, it's just a preview, like, why not be afraid? What what Jesus is gonna say to us is we can't be afraid because we've got a mission to accomplish And if I get distracted by all these worldwide my nation's falling apart There's disasters here if I get distracted and afraid because of those things that I'm gonna lose sight of my mission and God has sent us on a mission that is eternally important or on a rescue mission and So we can't let those things distract us stay on mission he's gonna say but all this advice Jesus can give to us because he knows the end and and we can trust in him, we do not have to fear as his followers. Will you join me in prayer? Lord, thank you for... Your truth that you've given to us Jesus you've given us way more than you had to tell us You wouldn't have had to tell us all about the era in which we live all these general signs It'll take place You wouldn't have had to tell us that we could look for the abomination of desolation and that'll bring the end but in your mercy you gave us these things so we can hold on to them when things are swirling around around us and just remind ourselves my God created the world my God's gonna bring the world to an end my God has it in his hand and And so I just pray for us in this room. I pray as things swirl around us in the news, that we might be people not afraid and focused on the mission that you've given to us to do, knowing that you're going to bring it to an end in your way, just in your time. And pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.