What on Earth is Happening?
What Jesus Said About the End of the Age
RAY STEDMAN
EDITED BY JAMES DENNEY
Discovery House Publishers
Box 3566 Grand Rapids, MI 49501
What on Earth Is Happening?
What Jesus Said About the End of the Age
© 2003 by Elaine Stedman
Discovery House Publishers is affiliated with RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512. Ail rights reserved.
Discovery House books are distributed to the trade exclusively by Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version, © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. Verses marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version. Quotations marked ASB are from the American Standard Bible © 1901.
Interior design by Sherri L. Hoffman
Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data
Stedman, Ray C.
What on earth is happening? : what Jesus said about the end of the Age / by Ray C. Stedman.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-57293-092-6
1. Jesus Christ--Teachings. 2. Eschatology--Biblical teaching. 3. Bible. N.T. Matthew XXIV-XXV--Commentaries. 1. Title. BS2417.E7S742003
226.2'077-dc21
Contents
Editors' Preface
The Olivet Discourse: Matthew 24 and 25
1. The Long Look Ahead--Matthew 24:1-3
2. The Age of Deception--Matthew 24:4-14
3. The Worship of Man--Matthew 24:15-22
4. When the Dam Breaks--Matthew 24:21-22; 36-42
5. God's Plan for Israel--Matthew 24:16-20
6. Russia, Religion, and Ruin--Matthew 7:21-23; Revelation 17:1-6
7. The Secret Presence--Matthew 24:23-28
8. The Power and the Glory--Matthew 24:29-31
9. A Thief in the Night--Matthew 24:32-44
10. Faithful and Unfaithful Servants--Matthew 24:45-51
11. The Wise and the Foolish--Matthew 25:1-13
12. Living Dangerously--Matthew 25:14-30
13. The Stunning Surprise--Matthew 25:31-46
Editors' Preface
Ray Stedman (1917-1992) pastored the Peninsula Bible Church from 1950 to 1990, where he was known and loved as a man of outstanding Bible knowledge and wisdom coupled with a depth of Christian integrity, love, and humility. Born in Temvik, North Dakota, Ray grew up on the rugged landscape of Montana. When he was a small child, his mother became ill and his father, a railroad man, abandoned the family, so Ray grew up on his aunt's Montana farm from the time he was six. He came to know the Lord at a Methodist revival meeting at age ten. Ray immediately felt called by God to preach and would often go out to the pasture and preach to the cows.
As a young man he tried his hand at different jobs, working in Chicago, Denver, Hawaii, and elsewhere. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II while in Hawaii, where he often led Bible studies for civilians and Navy personnel, and even preached on local radio. At the close of the war, Ray was married in Honolulu, though he and his wife Elaine had first met in Great Falls, Montana. They returned to the mainland in 1946, and Ray graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1950. After two seminary summers interning under the widely regarded Bible teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, Ray traveled for several months with another renowned theologian, Dr. H. A. Ironside, pastor of Moody Church in Chicago.
In 1950, Ray was called by the two-year-old Peninsula Bible Fellowship in Palo Alto, California, to serve as its first pastor. That new and thriving ministry later became Peninsula Bible Church, where Ray eventually served a forty-year tenure, retiring on April 30, 1990. During those years, Ray Stedman authored a number of life-changing Christian books, including the classic work on the meaning and mission of the church, Body Life.
The book you hold in your hands is the product of Ray's careful study of the Olivet discourse of Jesus, found in Matthew 24-25 as well as in Mark 13 and Luke 21. Here we find the Lord's own description of the end of history--a description that dovetails with other prophetic passages of Scripture, from the Old Testament prophecy of Daniel to the New Testament Revelation of the apostle John. In light of current events in the Middle East and heightened interest in Bible prophecy throughout our society, we believe the message in this book has never been more timely and relevant.
Before he passed away in 1992, Ray Stedman left this book, now published for the first time, eleven years after his death. Unlike so many books that sensationalize the subject, What on Earth Is Happening? is a sober, rational, thoughtful approach to Bible prophecy. It is not a lofty theological treatise but a readable, friendly conversation. Although the subject matter is serious, Ray's warmth and humor make this an enjoyable and comforting book to read.
In these pages, you will discover the future as Jesus first unveiled it to His disciples on the Mount of Olives two thousand years ago. We believe this book will do more than inform you about the future. It will change your life right here, right now. So settle back, turn the page, and begin your journey.
The future begins now.
- The Editors
The Text of the Olivet Discourse
Matthew 24 and 25 (NIV)
Matthew 24
1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let the reader understand-- 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 "Immediately after the distress of those days
" 'the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you. also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master is staying away a long time,' 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25
1 ''At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 ''At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
7 "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'
9 "'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'
10 "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 "Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'
12 "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
14 ''Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19 ''After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22 "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23 "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24 "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26 "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 "'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
1. The Long Look Ahead
Matthew 24:1-3
In 1870, a bishop came to an Indiana college campus for a denominational conference. During his visit, the bishop heard the president of the college say something that shocked him. "We live in an age of wonders," said the head of the college. "I believe the day is not far off when men will fly in the skies like birds."
"Sir," the bishop said, "you are speaking blasphemy! The Bible tells us that the gift of flight is reserved strictly for the angels!"
Ironically, that bishop's name was Milton Wright. Only three decades after he spoke those words, Bishop Wright's two sons, Wilbur and Orville Wright, made the first successful heavier-than-air flight from a windy hill at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Before judging Bishop Wright too harshly, we should ask ourselves: Are our powers of prediction any better than his? The fact is, when it comes to forecasting the future, some of the best and brightest minds have had very cloudy "crystal balls." A few examples:
In 1899, Charles H. Duell, Director of the U. S. Patent Office, assured President McKinley, "Everything that can be invented has already been invented."
In 1903, the president of the Michigan Savings Bank denied a loan to a young car-building entrepreneur named Henry Ford. The banker told Ford, "The horse is here to stay, and the automobile is only a novelty--a passing fad."
In 1921, a New York Times editorial ridiculed rocket pioneer Robert Goddard, who predicted that human beings would eventually explore space in rocket-powered vehicles. "Professor Goddard," said the Times, "does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." In July 1969--less than five decades later--the same newspaper used its largest headline type to announce MEN WALK ON MOON. Inside the paper, the newspaper printed a retraction of the 1921 editorial.
In 1949, Popular Mechanics predicted, "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." By the end of the century, mass-produced computers, thousands of times more powerful than those envisioned in 1949, could fit in the palm of your hand.
In 1954, the manager of Nashville's Grand Ole Opry told a young singer, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You'd best stick to drivin' trucks." The singer's name was Elvis Presley.
In 1962, the Decca Recording Company turned down a mop-haired rock-and-roll quartet, saying, "We don't like their sound, and besides, guitar music is on the way out." The band they rejected was The Beatles.
Foretelling the future is a risky undertaking--unless you have the ability to see the future with absolute clarity. Who has that ability? Only God! In Isaiah 46:9-11, He says, "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do."
Some people claim to have power to predict the future. But if you closely examine their "predictions," you find their forecasts either riddled with error or so vague as to be meaningless. But God's predictions are neither vague nor faulty. Why? Because He has a power that far surpasses that of mere human beings: He not only sees the future, He ordains it and brings events to pass.
Wouldn't you like to know the future? If it were possible, wouldn't you like to lift the curtain of tomorrow and read the future as if it were a history book? Well, there truly is a Book of future history. Unlike the mystics and psychics with their fuzzy hit-or-miss "prophecies," the great Book of future history, the Bible, has a batting average of 1.000. Many of its prophecies have already been fulfilled with astounding precision and reliability. The rest are either being fulfilled right now in our newspaper headlines, or they await an inevitable fulfillment in a certain future.
Most books do well if they are merely "up-to-date." But the Bible isn't just up-to-date-it's ahead of its time!
The Olivet Prophecy: The Most Detailed Prediction in the Bible
There are many predictive passages in both the Old and New Testaments, but none is clearer or more detailed than the message Jesus delivered from the Mount of Olives. This message was given during the turbulent events of the Lord's last week before the cross.
Olivet, or the Mount of Olives, is a ridge to the east of Jerusalem overlooking the city. In the Old Testament, Olivet was the place where King David fled to escape the murderous conspiracy of his scheming son, Absalom (2 Samuel 15:30), and the place where Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel 11:23). It is also the place where the Messiah will stand against the horde of nations that come to attack Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:4). Olivet is the place Jesus often went for rest and refuge; it was also the site of His ascension (Acts 1:12). The towns of Bethany and Bethphage are located high on the eastern side of Olivet, and the Garden of Gethsemane is situated on its lower western slope.
A discourse is a lengthy discussion on a single topic. The topic of the Olivet discourse is a theme that continues to fascinate us today: the ultimate fate of Earth. From that crucial point in time, Jesus looked forward and predicted the destruction of the city of Jerusalem (AD 70) and the social upheaval connected with that event. Then He looked beyond, across the centuries, and outlined the perils of that period between His first and Second Coming--the age in which we live.
Then He looked past the present day to a time called "the end of the age," and He set the events of that age before us in searing and vivid detail. His prophecy of the end of the age culminates in His own return to earth and the dawn of a new day.
The Olivet discourse of Jesus is found in three parallel accounts: Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. We will use the Matthew account as our primary text of the Olivet discourse, while drawing upon the parallel accounts as necessary. We will also take side trips to the remarkable Old Testament prophecy of Daniel and the New Testament prophecy of the book of Revelation. In fact, the Olivet prophecy of Jesus is the key that unlocks the true meaning of Daniel and Revelation--two prophecies that also describe many of these same "end of the age" events.
As we read this astonishing prophecy of Jesus, we will discover that the future He predicts is nothing more or less than the unfolding of events from trends that are already at work in human society. The future has already begun. Even as you read these words, we are living out the prophecy that the Lord outlined for us on that Judean mountainside shortly before His crucifixion. As we study the Olivet prophecy, we will not only have a deeper understanding of the future, we will have a more complete understanding of the events taking place around us in our own day.
Leaving the Temple
This amazing prophetic message is introduced to us in the opening verses of Matthew 24. These three verses give us the key to the structure of Jesus' prophecy and the outline of future events:
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:1-3)
Isn't it strange that the disciples came to Jesus and pointed out to Him the beauty of the temple buildings? He had often been with the disciples in the temple area, teaching in those same temple courts. So why were they suddenly interested in pointing out the temple buildings to Him?
This incident grows out of the astonishment the disciples felt at the recent actions of the Lord. The chapter opens with the significant phrase, "Jesus left the temple." It is important to realize what a profound statement that is. He didn't just walk out of a building. He left the temple--and He would never enter the temple again. He left after having pronounced a sentence of judgment upon the temple and the corrupt "worship" conducted there:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (Matthew 23:37-39)
This comes at the close of the most blistering sermon Jesus ever delivered. That sermon, addressed to the scribes and the Pharisees, consisted of a series of "woes" pronounced upon the hypocrisy of these religious leaders. They were supposed to be the teachers of the people but were actually hindering them from knowing the truth of God. Having begun His ministry with a series of eight blessings (the Beatitudes, recorded in Matthew 5), Jesus closed His ministry with a series of eight woes.
Nothing arouses more vehement anger in the heart of God than self-righteous religious hypocrisy. Throughout the Scriptures, God's most scorching terms are reserved for those who profess to know Him but whose behavior betrays and belies their profession of "faith."
Cleansing the Temple
Many people do not realize that Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem twice. The first cleansing of the temple is recorded in John 2:13-21, where John tells us that Jesus drove the money changers from His Father's house at the beginning of His public ministry. The second cleansing of the temple took place three years later and is recorded in Mark 11:12-19. It cannot be the same event that John mentions, for this cleansing of the temple takes place near the end of His public ministry, shortly before the Crucifixion.
In the case of the second cleansing, Jesus went to Jerusalem during His final week on earth and began to drive out all of those who bought and sold in the temple area. In this account, Mark records a significant action of Jesus that is often overlooked. Note the words I have inserted in brackets in this passage from Mark 11:
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry [a vessel] through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'" (Mark 11:15-17)
Most of us are aware of the fact that Jesus shut down the commercial activities in the temple area. Merchants made a profit by selling sacrificial animals there; money changers profited by exchanging Roman coins (with the offensive image of Caesar on them) for temple currency. The merchants and money changers reaped huge profits from this business, and Jesus stormed in and swept the whole mess out.
But He also did something else, something extremely significant though often overlooked. Mark says that Jesus "would not allow anyone to carry [a vessel] through the temple courts." I have inserted the phrase "a vessel" in that statement because that is what the text literally says. The New International Version uses the term merchandise, which is not what the original Greek text says. The NIV is a sound translation, but the usage of the word merchandise here is not the best choice. Mark is not talking about the merchandise of the traders and money changers at this point. The King James Version accurately states that Jesus would not allow anyone to "carry any vessel through the temple." The word "vessel" refers to a utensil of worship. Mark is telling us that Jesus not only shut down the commerce of the temple but He also shut down the religious rituals of the temple.
Why is this significant? In the Old Testament books of Leviticus and Numbers, God instituted rituals for the temple at Jerusalem. These rituals required the priests to carry many things through the temple area. They had to bring animals into the temple, bind them upon the altar, and slay them. They carried the blood from these sacrifices in basins into the holy place to sprinkle on the altar of incense. Then they had to take the burned carcasses of the sacrifices out again. So there was a continual procession of priests through the temple area all day long, carrying out the system of rituals God Himself had given to the nation of Israel.
But on this day, when Jesus came into the temple He stopped all of the religious rituals in their tracks. He brought to a close--for the first time since the days of the Maccabees in 164 BC--the offerings of Israel. Why? Because Jesus refused to acknowledge the temple worship as having meaning or value any longer. Though the Jewish priests, money changers, and traders went right back to their former activity as soon as Jesus left, and though these practices would continue for forty more years until the Romans destroyed the temple, God no longer accepted those sacrifices.
When Jesus went to the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, He declared all other sacrifices to be null and void. The Old Testament rituals and sacrifices were mere symbols and shadows pointing to the reality of the true "Lamb of God"--and Jesus Himself was that Reality.
Having stopped the sacrifices, the Lord stood in quiet dignity the next day and pronounced the official sentence of rejection:
"Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.''' (Matthew 23:38-39)
Having said this, Jesus left the temple, and the disciples went with Him. Silently, they walked down through the valley of Kidron and up the other side to the Mount of Olives. There Jesus sat down on one of the rocks that overlooked the city and the temple area. The disciples were troubled and confused. They could not understand His actions and words concerning the temple. The temple was the focal point of the nation's life. They regarded it with holy awe as the very dwelling place of God among His people. Its beauty was famous throughout the earth and they could not believe that God would allow any harm to come to it. So they pointed out to Jesus the strength and beauty of the temple. To this, Jesus responded with even more distressing words:
"Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." (Matthew 24:2)
The disciples were dumbfounded. They could not believe this would ever happen. True, the nation was in bondage under Rome, and the people of Israel had no final authority in their own land. But the Romans had been in power in Palestine for many years and had not harmed the temple. They were lovers of temples, and they generally preserved the temples and monuments in the lands they conquered. There seemed no reason why this temple should ever be destroyed. Yet Jesus solemnly assured His disciples that there would not be one stone of the temple left standing upon another. It would be razed to the ground.
The Test of a Prophet
What was Jesus doing when He predicted the
destruction of the temple in Jerusalem? It is easy to miss the significance of
His prophecy. The fact is that He is presenting His credentials as a prophet.
The law of Moses requires that whenever a prophet claims to foretell the
future, the prophet must give a sign by which his prophecy can be tested. In
Deuteronomy 18, in the midst of a prophecy concerning the coming of the
Messiah, Moses said:
"I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account." (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
Many Bible scholars agree that this prophecy was a foreview of the coming of Jesus Christ. He was that prophet, raised up by God among the people of Israel. He would be like Moses and would speak words that the nation should hear. Moses went on to say:
"But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death."
You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?" If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him." (Deuteronomy 18:20-22)
When this admonition was carried out in Israel, it became customary for the prophets to give the people a prediction of something that would occur in the near future. When it came to pass as foretold, the people would know that this was a true and authenticated prophet. But if the sign did not occur as predicted, the prophecy in its entirety was to be rejected as not from God, and the prophet was exposed as false.
So Jesus predicted the downfall of the temple in the near future (about forty years hence) as a sign that all else He included in His discourse was true. This is what lay behind the request of the disciples for a sign associated with His coming.
The parallel account in Luke 21:20 provides additional details of the predicted overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple. In that account Jesus says, "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near." Forty years later, the Roman armies commanded by a general named Titus surrounded the city and fulfilled the prediction to the letter. Along with Titus was a Jewish historian named Josephus, who recorded the terrible story in exacting detail. It was one of the most ghastly sieges in the history of warfare. When the Romans came, the city was divided among three warring factions of Jews who fought each other so bitterly that they were unaware of the approaching Roman army until it was too late. The forces of Titus gave the Jews every opportunity to surrender and save their capital from destruction, but the Jewish people refused to give up.
The long siege inflicted a terrible famine on the city. The bodies of the dead citizens of Jerusalem were stacked like cordwood in the streets. Mothers ate their own dead children to preserve themselves. The toll of Jewish suffering was horrible but they would not surrender.
When the walls were breached at last, Titus tried to preserve the temple by giving orders to his soldiers not to destroy or burn it. But the anger of the soldiers against the Jews was so intense that they disobeyed the order of their general and set fire to the temple. The gold and silver that was stored in the temple melted and ran down between the rocks and into the cracks of the temple stones. The Roman soldiers took long bars and pried the massive stones apart. In the end--just as Jesus had predicted--there was literally not one stone left standing upon another. The temple itself was totally destroyed, though a portion of a wall around the temple area was left partially intact. This lone portion, called the Western Wall, still stands in Jerusalem today.
This prophecy, so remarkably and exactingly fulfilled and confirmed by secular history, is convincing proof that God will fulfill every other part of His plan for the outline of history. As Jesus Himself said when He sat upon the Mount of Olives, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
Now that we have demonstrated the certainty and reliability of the Lord's Olivet prophecy, let's take a look at the structure of the Olivet discourse as Jesus outlines it for us in these opening verses.
Three Tough Questions
In Matthew 24:3, the disciples ask one question that is actually three questions. They say, "Tell us when will this [the destruction of the temple] happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" The three questions embedded in this sentence are:
(1) When will the temple be destroyed?
(2) What will be the sign of your coming?
(3) What will be the sign of the end of the age?
The Lord's answer to the first question, as we have already seen, is recorded in Luke 21:20. The temple would be destroyed after these disciples saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies. A number of these disciples were, in fact, still living when the Roman general Titus fulfilled that prediction.
The second and third questions are perfectly natural in view of the instruction of Moses to demand a sign from those who claim to prophesy in God's name. There is a major difference between what the disciples had in mind when they asked these questions and what we think of when we read them. The disciples asked out of confusion. There were many things they could not see, or would not believe, and so their questions were difficult to answer.
They were like the little boy who asked his father: "Daddy, why does the sun shine in the daytime when we don't need it, and not at night when we do?" That kind of question is difficult to answer not because the answer is so hard but because the question is so wrong.
To a significant degree, we can understand much better than they what their questions meant, for we have the history of twenty centuries to look back upon. We also understand the importance of Christ's death and resurrection--an idea they were not ready to accept. They could not understand all that Jesus said to them. Though He had repeatedly predicted His own death and resurrection, they couldn't conceive of such a thing. Since they would not allow themselves to face the terrible specter of His death, they could not have any clear idea of what He meant when He said He was coming again.
So what did the disciples mean when they asked Him about His coming? They did not picture a second advent. They did not envision Jesus coming from heaven to earth. What they had in mind when they asked about His coming was a political revolution, which would lead to Jesus being crowned King and Messiah of Israel.
In this passage, the disciples use an interesting word for "coming." It is the Greek word parousia. This word appears four times in Matthew 24--in verses 3, 27, 37, and 39. It is not the usual word for "coming." This word means more than the mere arrival of a person. It also implies that the person will have a continuing presence after his arrival. This is important to understand, because the meaning of the entire Olivet discourse turns on the definition of this word parousia, or "coming." There are other places in this passage where the English word coming is used, but it is not the same Greek word; hence, it conveys a distinctly different meaning.
Even after the Resurrection, the disciples continued to ask Jesus questions that reflected a political concept of His coming. In Acts 1:6 they asked, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" They were still expecting Jesus to reign in a political sense over the nations of the earth. He did not deny that this would eventually occur, but He reminded them that the times and seasons are the Father's prerogative to determine.
So when they asked Him on the Mount of Olives, "What will be the sign of your coming?" they were not asking about His return to earth--the Second Coming of Christ. They were asking about His coming into His political and messianic kingship over the nation of Israel.
Like the boy who asked why the Sun didn't shine at night when it was needed, these disciples had asked a question that was fundamentally wrong in its assumptions. Yet Jesus treated that question as if it were a legitimate inquiry about His second advent.
The Close of the Age
The disciples also asked for a second sign concerning the close of the age. They do not ask, as the King James Version translates, about "the end of the world." Their question has nothing to do with the end of the world. The world will go on for a long time after the events of the Olivet discourse are fulfilled. What will end is not the world itself but the age in which we live. In this matter they seemed to have a clearer understanding than they did of the Lord's "coming" or parousia. Even so, they clearly believed that the "end of the age" lay immediately ahead, not centuries away.
It should not surprise us that the disciples misunderstood the nature of Jesus' message. They had heard Jesus teaching the parables of the kingdom (see Matthew 13) and had heard Him speak of the close of the age when He would send His angels throughout the earth to gather men to judgment. They also knew the Old Testament predictions of how the promised Messiah would reign over the earth. They surely knew of Daniel's remarkable prophecy (see Daniel 9) that there would be a period of 490 years (seventy weeks of years, or 490 years) from the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity until the time of Messiah the Prince. From that prophecy, they may well have known that the 490 years were almost completed. Little wonder that they expected the close of the age to be imminent.
What they did not understand and could not be expected to see was that there would be a wide chasm of time between the hour in which they asked their question and the close of the age in the distant future. We cannot blame them for failing to understand this, because it is difficult to distinguish between the two comings of Jesus in the Old Testament prophecies. It is rather like looking at the evening sky and seeing the moon and the planet Venus side by side. They may appear to be side by side, yet the moon is about 240,000 miles away while the planet Venus is at least 25 million miles beyond the moon. Those two objects are literally worlds apart. So it is with the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah.
Peter wrote that the prophets foresaw "the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow" (1 Peter 1:11). But to those ancient prophets, it seemed as if the sufferings and the glories were all part of one great event. What looked to them to be one great mountain range of fulfillment was actually two widely separated ranges with a great valley of time in between.
For instance, Isaiah 9:6 records the well-known prediction of a coming child: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given." That is a prophecy of our Lord's first advent as a baby in Bethlehem. But the rest of the verse says, ''And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." So the latter part of the verse clearly refers to His reign in the days of a kingdom that will eventually cover the earth. The first half of this verse was fulfilled 2,000 years ago. The second half will not be fulfilled until the Lord returns to earth again. Yet these two events were brought together into a single verse with no hint of any intervening time.
The Sign of the End of the Age
Next, the Lord takes their questions and answers them in reverse order. They asked about the sign of His presence and the sign of the end of the age. He answers the last question first. The sign of the close of the age is found in Matthew 24:15--"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel. . . ." We shall examine that sign later in this book.
Jesus gives the sign of His coming in Matthew 24:30. ''At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory." This, too, we shall closely examine later in this book. But for now it is important to understand that, throughout the Olivet discourse, Jesus takes pains to make clear to His disciples that the end of the age is an event that takes place in the distant future.
In this great prediction, Jesus illustrates two important principles of prophetic fulfillment: First, God's prophecy is fulfilled according to His timetable, not ours. We cannot know when the fulfillment of a prophecy will take place. Jesus warned in Acts 1:7, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority."
Second, God's prophecy is often subject to what we might call "double fulfillment." In other words, a single prophecy may be fulfilled in two different ways at two different times. For example, Jesus predicted the encirclement and destruction of Jerusalem by hostile armies, and his prophecy was fulfilled just forty years later. But that historic fulfillment was also a preview of another day in the distant future when Jerusalem would again be surrounded by armies and face a time of destruction on a never-before-imagined scale. That second destruction will come at the close of the age in which we now live.
Notice that Jesus spoke to His disciples as though they would live to see all the events He predicted. Obviously, therefore, He was speaking to them as representatives of Israel and of the Christian church. Some of the disciples did in fact live to see the destruction of Jerusalem as Jesus foretold it--but none of them would live to see the end of the age; none would pass through the Great Tribulation.
The disciples were uniquely representative men, because they were both Jewish and Christian. They were men of Israel and men of the church. They represented the nation of Israel and God's dealings with that remarkable people. But after the cross and Pentecost they were Christians, part of the church, so they also belonged to the unique body, the Christian church, that would fulfill God's purpose throughout the intervening centuries before the end times. So the message Jesus spoke on Mount Olivet includes truth for the church in its relationship to the present age, and also truth for Israel in its time of trouble at the end of the age.
As Jesus sat on that mountainside, facing the darkest hour of His life, He knew about the scheming of His enemies, the betrayal that Judas planned, the frailty and unreliability of His friends, and more. The very disciples who clustered around Him, to whom He entrusted this message, would forsake and deny Him within a few short hours. He saw the darkness of those next few hours, but He looked beyond those moments of suffering to the light and glory that lay beyond. Though everything around Him seemed utterly hopeless, He quietly and resolutely declared what the end would be, without a hint of uncertainty or doubt.
All things, He said, find their significance and meaning in relationship to Him. Any event not related to His purpose in the age is without meaning or significance. As we listen to His declaration of the outline of human history, we face the inevitable question: How does my life relate to these great events? Am I contributing to the anarchy and horror of the last days, or am I part of the eternal program of God, a program that is bringing human history to its appointed climax? When the Son of God returns to establish His kingdom on the earth, will I rejoice to see Him? Or will I despair, knowing that I am about to be judged for my sin and rebellion against Him?
We do not live our lives in an isolated segment of time. All the events of human history are interwoven into a great plan that is bringing the Olivet prophecy to pass. We are either working in concert with God's eternal plan--or we will be swept away by it. What part are you playing in the great events that Jesus prophesied from the Olivet mountainside?
These are the questions that confront us in the Olivet discourse. These are the questions that, as we move through the coming pages, you must answer for yourself.
2. The Age of Deception
Matthew 24:4-14
In 1925, followers of the Indian mystic Krishnamurti built a 200-seat amphitheater overlooking the harbor of Sydney, Australia. From this amphitheater, members of Krishnamurti's Order of the Star of the East planned to await the Second Coming of Christ. Krishnamurti had promised that Jesus would walk across the waters of the Pacific Ocean and greet the followers of the Indian mystic in the amphitheater. Several years passed, and Jesus didn't return. In 1929, the group of followers dissolved, and Krishnamurti went on to other religious pursuits. Where the amphitheater once stood, there is a block of apartment buildings today.
The history of religion is filled with such stories. Again and again, various groups, cults, and congregations have decided upon a date for the Lord's return. Then they have sold everything they had and gone to a beach or a hilltop or a rooftop to await the Second Coming--only to be bitterly disappointed.
Jesus knew that there would be many religious leaders claiming to speak for Him while leading their followers astray. That is why Jesus, in Matthew 24:4, emphatically says, "Watch out that no one deceives you."
At every stage of the Christian era, there has been much confusion over the time of the Lord's return. This confusion continues in our own age. But you and I don't have to be confused by the times or deceived by false, misguided, or self-serving religious leaders. Jesus has given us the truth of His coming in the Olivet discourse. No, He didn't pinpoint the day and the hour--but He did give us all the information we will ever need to live wisely and faithfully as we await His return.
Don't Be Deceived!
If there is one word that dominates the Olivet discourse, it is the word "deception" in its various forms. The age Jesus describes in the Olivet prophecy is a time of great confusion and deception. There will be widespread uncertainty about the meaning of the events of this age, and people will be easily misled. So Jesus warns in verse 4, "Watch out that no one deceives you."
He amplifies this warning in verse 5, where He adds, "For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many." Again in verse 11 He says: ''And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people." And once again in verse 24: "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible."
Again and again, Jesus warns against being deceived--and He tells us how to avoid being deceived: "Watch out!" In other words, Keep your eyes open! Don't be gullible--test those who claim to speak for God! Demonstrate godly skepticism to keep from being confused and deceived. Then Jesus proceeded to show the disciples that they were already confused in thinking that the end of the age lay immediately ahead of them. From verse 5 through verse 14, Jesus plainly showed that there will be a long (though indeterminate) period of time before the end of the age. These disciples knew from the prophet Daniel that the end of the age would not be a single spectacular event, but rather a series of events covering several years. So the Lord carefully traced the age which they could not see--an age that is the very parenthesis of time in which we now live.
Jesus chooses His words carefully in the Olivet discourse, and we should heed them carefully. Many people get the wrong impression of Jesus' meaning. They read, for example, verse 6, in which Jesus says, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come." I've heard many Bible commentators and pastors say that "wars and rumors of wars" are "signs of the times," signs that the end is near. But that is not what Jesus says. In fact, He says the very opposite! Jesus says clearly that if you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don't be alarmed because these events do not signal the end! Such events, He says in verse 8, are merely "the beginning of birth pains." So Jesus does not give us the "signs of the times" here.
In verses 9 to 14, He lists a number of evil events that will come: Believers will be persecuted, hated, and killed for the sake of Christ; some will turn away from the faith and betray true believers; false prophets will appear, deceiving many; wickedness will increase and love will grow cold. Jesus is saying, in effect, "These events all lead up to the end of the age, but they are not signs that the end has arrived."
What, then, are the true signs of the end of the age? He gives the first such sign in verse 14: ''And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Then, in verses 15 through 31, Jesus gives a detailed account of the events of the end of the age.
Because we live in this time before the end of the age, this time of growing confusion and deception, it is important for us to understand the events Jesus outlines in His prophecy. As we have seen, the dominant theme of the Olivet discourse is "Don't be deceived!" Jesus warns us against the allure of the false, the glamour of the phony. Deception is the pervasive threat that drenches human minds, turning people away from the unseen spiritual kingdom and toward a reliance upon what can be seen and touched in the material world.
Deception is at the heart of a series of perils that Jesus warns us about in the Olivet discourse. Once each of these perils is introduced into human society, it will continue to rule over human minds until the end of the age. Those perils are: (1) false messiahs; (2) wars and rumors of wars; (3) natural calamity; (4) persecution; (5) apostasy; and (6) cynicism. Let's take a focused look at each of these perils, all of which are a part of our world.
Peril 1: False Messiahs
Matthew 24:5 introduces us to the peril of false messiahs, of counterfeit Christs. Jesus says, "For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many."
The apostle John wrote at the close of the first century, "Even now many antichrists have come. . . . They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us" (1 John 2:18-19). The term antichrist does not indicate someone who is openly against Christ, such as an atheist or a pagan. Rather it is a person who subtly undermines true Christianity by substituting a false and deceptive "Christianity." An antichrist is a counterfeit Christ, a false messiah. ("Christ" is the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Messiah.")
Who, then, are the false christs that Jesus warns us against? Certainly this would include the originators and propagators of all the false cults that have arisen throughout the course of this age, from the first century to the twenty-first. We have witnessed the rise of many cults in the past few decades--groups that have a Christian flavor and may even speak highly of Christ but which alter and twist His message. They downgrade His deity, diminish the value of His sacrifice on the cross, or substitute subtle deception in the place of the simple truths of biblical Christianity. Some of the more obvious of these cults are the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Christian Science, and the Church of Scientology. But the spirit of antichrist has also reared its deceptive head in many mainstream Protestant denominations.
Some denominations are now debating whether the claim of Jesus in John 14:6 is still valid: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." A few of these denominations have concluded that Jesus is merely one way, not the way; there are many paths to God, they say. These denominations have been led into error and deception by the spirit of antichrist.
So it is a mistake to think that antichrists are found only in such obvious places as the pseudochristian cults. They are sometimes found in the highest levels of our oldest and most prestigious Christian denominations. It is exactly as Peter predicted when he wrote that "there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves" (2 Peter 2:1).
Individuals, groups, and churches that seem outwardly Christian in their talk and behavior, yet reject the true Jesus Christ of the Bible, are antichrists--counterfeit christs, false messiahs. Any person or organization that purports to be Christian but does not present the biblically complete and accurate picture of Christ is antichrist. It is the rise of such groups that our Lord predicts. The subtle deception spread by these groups and individuals, both within and outside the true Christian church, poses a tremendous danger to faith.
So cults are a deceptive danger to faith, and so are churches that have been invaded and infected by the spirit of antichrist. But there are other antichristian voices that surround us, threatening to undermine and destroy our faith through deceptive means. Some false messiahs come with a bold proclamation, such as "I am the Messiah" or "Our group has the true Christian message." But other false messiahs are more subtle. They do not openly confront the Christian faith, but instead they seek to lure us away from it.
Some antichrists may come to us as political or patriotic movements, like the messianic political movement the disciples thought Jesus had in mind when He preached about a coming kingdom. Many people today believe that the salvation of society and of the individual lies in some political "ism"--liberalism, conservatism, libertarianism, socialism, and so forth. While patriotism and conscientious political involvement are good things, they are not a substitute for Christ and His salvation.
Some antichrists may come to us as social movements, charitable organizations, and activism on behalf of various causes from the environment to human rights to feeding the hungry. Meeting human need and caring for the Earth are Christian obligations commended to us in the Scriptures, but social and charitable action are not the same thing as faith in Christ. In fact, some people--including many who claim to be Christians--have substituted social action in place of Jesus, offering to lead people into "peace" with God through caring activities, a "peace" without the cross and without forgiveness of sin. This is a false peace, based on deception. If we allow good things like social activism to replace an authentic saving relationship with Christ, then those things are an antichrist in our lives, destroying true faith and we have allowed ourselves to be deceived.
Peril 2: Wars and Rumors of Wars
The second peril Jesus foresees is that of conflict of "wars and rumors of wars." He says:
"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." (Matthew 24:6-7)
Clearly, Jesus is not predicting any one specific war or revolution. He is characterizing the general course of the age. It will be marked by continual turmoil among nations, producing a torrent of fear, death, horror, terror, and misery. His words telescope together all the effects that war can produce in the human heart.
War is a powerful threat to faith. Many a young man has been deceived by the "glory" of war and has left home to proudly march against the enemy. But amid the carnage and butchery and sheer, stark terror of battle, his eyes have been opened. If he survives at all, he returns home disillusioned, sickened, and embittered by all he has witnessed and experienced.
War is often used by atheists and agnostics as a reason for rejecting faith in God. One writer for The American Atheist commented on a tribal war in Africa in which a half a million people died, most of them hacked and butchered by machetes. At least 100,000 of the victims were children. "If there is a god," this atheist observed, "he is intensely cruel. . . . By what great irrationality can we possibly believe that there is a god who, having completely neglected those precious, mutilated children, nevertheless has concern for us?"
This is a deceptive question, for it ignores the obvious fact of human free will. It is impossible for human beings to have free will unless they are free to do evil. God did not cause this slaughter, nor did He cause the Holocaust or any other war or genocide in history. True, He didn't stop it--but the only way He could stop it is to overrule human free will, and that He will not do. When we human beings choose to terrorize each other and slaughter one another, He can do nothing but weep with us and agonize with us. But He will not take away from us the terrible, awesome gift of free will.
Men who choose not to believe in God will continue to use human evil as an excuse for their unbelief. But war is something we do to each other, not something God has done to us.
Peril 3: Natural Calamity
Another peril to faith that Jesus foresees is the peril of natural calamities. He says:
"There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." (Matthew 24:7-8)
Natural catastrophes have occurred for as long as history has been recorded. Famines are described in Genesis, Ruth, and elsewhere in the Old Testament. And earthquakes are mentioned in 1 Kings, Amos, and other Old Testament books. Natural calamities have always been a part of human existence. They are not "signs of the times." In the Olivet discourse, Jesus states that during the intervening age in which we live, there will be famines, pestilence, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Whenever such events occur, they are a threat to faith in God.
Christians sometimes try to convince skeptics that God is love by parading the evidence of nature. They describe the beauty of the sunset, the glory of the mountains, the abundant provision in the natural world for the needs of man. But what becomes of that argument when tornadoes and earthquakes destroy homes and schools, burying children in the ruins? What becomes of that argument when famine destroys life and hope, leaving thousands of children with distended, malnourished bodies? Where, then, is the argument for the love of God as revealed in nature?
How do you preach God's love to those who are fleeing the horrible wrath of a volcano or the thundering destruction of a hurricane? Who has not doubted the Christian faith in the face of such natural calamities as a devastating plague or a ship-swallowing typhoon. It is one thing to say that God is not responsible for war, which is attributable to human free will--but how do we square the reality of natural calamities with our belief in a God who rules and reigns in the midst of all human and natural events?
Granted, our doubts can be answered by a clearer understanding of the purposes and workings of God. But many people who suffer pain, grief, and loss due to a natural calamity are led to a conclusion that an all-loving, all-powerful God could not possibly allow such calamities to happen. I have known people whose faith was scorched and even burned completely away by the fires of natural calamity.
When terrible things happen to good people, we must watch out, as Jesus warns, that we are not deceived or led astray. We must learn the art of clinging tightly in the darkness to what we have learned in the light.
Peril 4: Persecution
Another terrible threat to faith is the threat of persecution. Jesus describes this peril in these words:
"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me." (Matthew 24:9)
The peril of religious persecution has been an aspect of the Christian life since the very beginning. The persecution of Christians began shortly after the day of Pentecost, when Stephen and James were slain and the disciples scattered. In the ensuing twenty centuries, Christians have been thrown to lions, burned as human torches, mangled by wild beasts, killed by gladiators, drawn apart by horses, and martyred in numerous other dreadful ways.
When we hear about such oppression, we tend to think of the first few centuries of the Christian era, or the persecution that broke out at the time of the Reformation. Many of these crimes are laid out in gruesome detail in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
But the greatest time of persecution of Christians was not the first century or the sixteenth. It was the twentieth century! More Christians have died for their faith in our own time than in any other century in history. More Christians were tortured and slain in one twelve-month period during World War II than died under Rome in all the early centuries. Some authorities estimate the death toll of Christians under communism (including the Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc in Europe, China, and other Asian communist nations) at over 15 million souls! Since Christianity began, no generation has seen such worldwide persecution as has been taking place in our own lifetime.
Living in freedom and prosperity in America, we can scarcely imagine the cost of discipleship in certain parts of the world. In many Islamic nations, for example, Muslims who convert to Christianity are often subject to execution by the state--if the convert's own family doesn't kill him first! Other believers are tortured or enslaved for their faith.
Ask yourself: Would you want to be a Christian if it could cost you your freedom, your livelihood, your comfort, or your very life? How attractive would the gospel of Jesus Christ seem if you could be tortured and killed for receiving it? Jesus spoke of seed that would fall on shallow ground and spring up, but when the sun came out in burning heat, it would wither and die. How many Christians would there be in America if persecution suddenly broke out across the land? Many of us can be cowed into an embarrassed silence at just the hint of being laughed at for our faith. If our faith is so weak that it cannot stand up under a little ridicule, how could we hold on to our faith if the cost of discipleship included being burned at the stake?
Persecution is a cruel and relentless enemy of faith.
Peril 5: Apostasy
Next, the Lord identified another ever-present danger to faith--the peril of apostasy. He said:
''At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold." (Matthew 24:10-12)
Now it becomes clear that we are seeing signs of the approaching end of the age. The symptoms Jesus has listed for us demonstrate a gradually increasing manifestation of evil. We see in these words of Jesus the very same thing we see on our TV screens and read about in our newspaper headlines. Standards that were once respected and upheld are now sneered at and held in contempt.
''At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other," Jesus says. He describes here the terrible pressure of apostasy. When combined with persecution it produces a powerful double attack upon a faith in Christ. It is hard to stand alone against the pressure of apostasy. When we see that everyone has forsaken the faith, when we feel that others have betrayed us and turned away from us, then it becomes easier to succumb to the pressure, to surrender to the attack.
The apostle Paul knew the pain of this kind of pressure. He had a close friend named Demas whom he mentioned fondly in Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 1:24. But near the end of his life, writing from a prison in Rome, he told his friend Timothy, "Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica" (2 Timothy 4:10). Paul's grief and sense of betrayal are poignant and palpable. He had suffered a shattering emotional blow from a trusted fellow worker and friend--a friend who had surrendered to apostasy.
The pressure of apostasy is as severe now as it ever was. This world offers many seductive pleasures and many antichristian pressures. It is harder than ever before to maintain standards of moral and sexual purity. The belief in moral relativism is rampant in our society. Few remain who believe in absolute standards or absolute truth. The church is rapidly accommodating itself to the world rather than setting the standard for holiness and godliness.
So it is not surprising that the faith of many today is trembling and even reeling under relentless hammer-blows of apostasy.
Peril 6: Cynicism
Look again at these words of Jesus: ". . . many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold" (Matthew 24:10-12). Here, Jesus warns of the peril of cynicism--that cold and unfeeling indifference that arises out of increasing wickedness and the teaching of false prophets and counterfeit Christs.
Who are these "false prophets" Jesus warns against? They are not necessarily religious people. Jesus previously warned of false messiahs, of people who would come claiming, "I am the Christ." False messiahs would unquestionably be religious people, but when Jesus talks about "false prophets" I am convinced that He has a much broader definition in mind. By "prophet" He is referring to anyone who claims to speak authoritatively--philosophers, professors, scientists, and statesmen, as well as false clergy and cult gurus. A false prophet is anyone who is a leader of people and whose teachings help to shape our society and influence the thinking of the common man.