WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.099 So, in our family, getting ready to leave the house as a family to go somewhere can sometimes 00:00:08.099 --> 00:00:16.000 ! be difficult. I know we're probably the only ones. But here's how it typically plays out. About 30 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:22.000 ! minutes out, we start saying, okay, guys, we're gonna leave soon, so everybody make sure you're 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:29.000 ready. Of course, what do we hear? We're ready. We're ready to go. We say, okay, good. 15 minutes 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:33.000 out. We go around, hey, guys, we're about to leave the house. Everybody make sure you're ready. Get 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.240 everything together. Make sure you're ready to go. Everybody says, we're ready. We're ready. Leave us 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:41.120 alone. Say, okay, great. So, then, of course, what happens when it's time to actually walk out the 00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:48.039 door? Hey, everybody, we're leaving. Chaos breaks out, right? People are running, trying to find shoes. 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:52.280 They're running, trying to, they want to brush their hair. They're running, trying to find books. 00:00:52.620 --> 00:00:56.960 They're trying to use the bathroom or get something to drink or get snacks to the car or find the 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:04.519 candle. All chaos breaks loose, right? And I wish I could say that it was never my fault, but it's 00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:09.799 just as much my fault as it is anyone else's. There was one time recently where we all, we got 00:01:09.799 --> 00:01:15.379 everybody out to the car, and then I realized I forgot the keys. And so, I had to go back in while 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:19.799 everybody stood around the car and waited for me to go get the keys. But this has happened so often in 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:24.799 our family. It's so hard to get out of the house that our daughter has actually introduced a phrase 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:33.000 that we now use regularly. OTDR, which stands for out the door ready. All right, so now, when it's time 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:39.359 to leave, we say, are you ready or are you out the door ready? And I would commend this to you. It's a 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:47.400 very useful phrase. And it's a, this sort of theme is sort of the question that confronts us this first 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:52.299 Sunday of the Advent season. I already said at the beginning of the service that the season of Advent, 00:01:52.299 --> 00:01:56.459 it's the, it's the first season of the church calendar. And it's really the season, it's the 00:01:56.459 --> 00:02:03.859 four weeks leading up to Christmas, where we focus on the coming of Christ to the world. And the first 00:02:03.859 --> 00:02:10.219 Sunday of Advent in particular is always the time where we remember that there are actually two 00:02:10.219 --> 00:02:17.419 Advents. There are two comings of Christ. There's the, the, the first time that, that Christ came, 00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:23.679 Emmanuel, which we celebrate at Christmas. But then there is the promise that we hold on to as 00:02:23.679 --> 00:02:30.859 Christians, that one day Christ will come again. And so the question is, and the focus of this 00:02:30.859 --> 00:02:38.579 morning's gathering, our worship really is this. The question is, are we ready? Are we ready for Christ's 00:02:38.580 --> 00:02:47.160 return? And, and, and, and really are, are we not just ready? Are we out the door ready? If Christ were 00:02:47.160 --> 00:02:55.860 to come this very moment, would we be prepared for his arrival? And our primary passage that we're going 00:02:55.860 --> 00:03:01.420 to be focusing on is Matthew chapter 24. We're going to look at a couple of things in this passage. One, 00:03:01.419 --> 00:03:09.399 what does Jesus teach about this eventual return? What does he tell us it will be like? And then second, 00:03:09.539 --> 00:03:14.739 how does that shape the way we live here and now? Or should it shape the way we live here and now? 00:03:14.919 --> 00:03:21.599 So let's pray, and then we will open God's word together. Our Lord, Heavenly Father, thank you for 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:28.119 this first Sunday of Advent, and thank you for raising questions for us to ponder that we might never 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:35.719 otherwise consider. Lord, it would be so easy to live our lives, to be so distracted, to be pulled 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:41.340 in so many directions, to have so many things occupying and vying for our attention, that we would 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:49.980 never pause to ponder the deepest, most fundamental questions, one of which is this question of what 00:03:49.980 --> 00:03:55.819 does it mean that you came, and what does it mean that you promised to come again? Lord, help us to 00:03:55.819 --> 00:04:01.519 consider these things. Help your word to shape our hearts for your glory, and we ask this in Jesus' 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:08.900 holy name. Amen. So first question we're going to ask is, what does Jesus himself teach about this 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:15.319 second coming, his return? And the first thing we see in this passage is Jesus makes this very clear. 00:04:15.959 --> 00:04:24.539 He says that his return will be unmistakable. It will be unmistakable. This passage is part of a, 00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:31.960 let's call it a private seminar, that happens between Jesus and his disciples. It runs all the way 00:04:31.960 --> 00:04:39.300 through chapter 24 and all the way through chapter 25 of Matthew's gospel. It's this one long discourse. 00:04:39.760 --> 00:04:45.040 It happens on the Mount of Olives, and so we sometimes refer to this as the Olivet Discourse. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:51.700 And Jesus is essentially giving a very long response to some questions raised by his disciples at the very 00:04:51.700 --> 00:04:57.900 beginning of chapter 24, verse 3, where they ask him about the end of the age and about his return. 00:04:58.080 --> 00:05:02.700 When's it going to happen? What's it going to be like? So Jesus answers these questions. 00:05:03.080 --> 00:05:10.300 And in order to understand Jesus' response, we need to understand something about prophetic writing in the Bible. 00:05:10.300 --> 00:05:20.939 Prophetic writing often blends the present, the near future, and then sometimes the distant future. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:27.360 It all gets blended together, and so sometimes Bible scholars refer to this as the two horizons 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:32.980 that exist within prophetic writing. There's a near horizon, the kind of here and now, 00:05:33.300 --> 00:05:38.660 the immediate future, and then there is the distant horizon. And often those can get blended together. 00:05:38.660 --> 00:05:44.480 So in the verses leading up to our passage, the section just before our passage, 00:05:44.900 --> 00:05:51.160 Jesus is focusing on the near horizon. In other words, the time right around when his disciples 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:57.840 are living. So he says, in answer to their question, there's going to be a kind of prefiguring 00:05:57.840 --> 00:06:04.900 of final judgment in the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. Now, at the time 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:11.099 that Jesus is saying this, it hadn't happened yet. But we know that very soon after, in AD 69 and 70, 00:06:11.419 --> 00:06:17.319 these events actually did happen. It was a widespread destruction. The temple was demolished. 00:06:17.939 --> 00:06:23.599 So when Jesus says this present generation will not pass away before these things take place, 00:06:23.719 --> 00:06:30.479 he's most likely referring to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. So this is a foretaste, 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:38.700 a near horizon foretaste of his return. And then after that, he goes on to describe other kinds of 00:06:38.700 --> 00:06:45.020 distress that are going to follow, right? So there's going to be conflict. There's going to be wars, 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:52.680 rumors of wars. There's going to be increasing persecution of Christians. There's going to be 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:58.020 widespread deception. There's going to be false teachers. There's going to be people claiming to be 00:06:58.019 --> 00:07:06.019 Christ returned. And along with all of that distress, Jesus also says, gospel ministry is 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:11.180 going to be happening. He says in verse 14, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole 00:07:11.180 --> 00:07:18.099 world as a testimony to all nations. And of course, as we reflect back on the last 2,000 years, 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:24.680 these things have been happening over the last 2,000 years, right? We've had wars and rumors of wars. 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:32.139 We've had persecution of Christians. We've had lots of false teaching and people seeking to deceive 00:07:32.139 --> 00:07:37.160 and mislead God's people. Lots of people claiming to be Christ returned. And along with that, 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:43.500 the gospel is being preached to the nations, right? The gospel is going all around the world. 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:49.540 Our church supports and prays for and financially supports some of those missionaries who are out 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:53.439 spreading the gospel all around the world, right? So all of these things are happening. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:08:01.600 So all of that is sort of the near horizon focus of Jesus' answer. And then in verse 29, 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:07.519 where our passage, he shifts to the far horizon, the distant horizon. And he says this, 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:11.540 immediately after the distress of those days, what's been happening over the last 2,000 years, 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:17.779 the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:24.059 the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Now, 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:33.339 understand he's quoting the Old Testament prophets, prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel and Joel and Daniel, 00:08:33.439 --> 00:08:40.879 Daniel chapter 7. He probably doesn't actually mean that stars will literally be falling so much as 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:48.220 as he's using prophetic imagery to describe major upheaval, right? This may very well refer to major 00:08:48.220 --> 00:08:55.379 social or political upheaval. People, you know, people who occupied positions of such unquestionable 00:08:55.379 --> 00:09:01.500 authority that they were like stars, like heavenly bodies being cast down, right? The world being turned 00:09:01.500 --> 00:09:08.440 upside down, major upheaval happening. And the point is, and the point that is very clear here, 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:12.680 even though some of the prophetic imagery can be murky and hard to understand, 00:09:13.180 --> 00:09:21.520 is that these events are going to be cataclysmic, global, and public. In other words, everyone in 00:09:21.520 --> 00:09:28.920 the world is going to see these events. Nobody is going to lean over, right? You know, recently there was 00:09:28.920 --> 00:09:34.860 news that you could go outside in D.C. and you could see the northern lights, right? There was a geomagnetic 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:38.879 storm and you could see the northern lights. And I remember we went outside and we kind of looked up 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:43.800 in the sky and kind of leaning over, is that it? Or is that just, you know, is that just the city 00:09:43.800 --> 00:09:49.240 lights? Like what, you know, that's not going to happen when Jesus returns, right? There's, people are 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:54.100 not going to be leaning over and saying, is this it? Or is it going to be something else, right? 00:09:54.460 --> 00:10:00.740 He said, everybody in the world is going to know. It's going to be unmistakable and it's going to 00:10:00.740 --> 00:10:05.600 happen. So that's the first thing he says. The second thing that we see in this passage is that 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:10.779 Jesus' return is not only going to be unmistakable, it's going to be totally unexpected. It's going to 00:10:10.779 --> 00:10:17.480 be totally unexpected. Verses 32 to 44, Jesus says in verse 32, now learn this lesson from the fig tree. 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:22.860 As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that the summer is near. 00:10:23.820 --> 00:10:27.980 Now, for fig trees, there, you know, a lot of the trees in this part of the world are evergreen. 00:10:27.980 --> 00:10:32.379 Fig trees were a little unique in that they lost their leaves. And the leaves are one of the last 00:10:32.379 --> 00:10:37.720 things to return before summer would happen. And so right as soon as you would see the little buds 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:41.659 forming and then right as soon as you would start to see the leaves, that meant that summer was 00:10:41.659 --> 00:10:47.139 essentially here. When the leaves start to return on the fig trees, that means that summer is basically 00:10:47.139 --> 00:10:51.639 here. And so he says, as soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know the summer is 00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:57.080 near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near right at the door. 00:10:57.980 --> 00:11:04.680 Now, his point is simply to say this. When God says that something is going to happen, friends, 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:11.680 it's going to happen. That's his point. When you see the leaves appearing on the fig tree, 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:18.560 summer is guaranteed to be right around the corner. In the same way, this present distress we're experiencing 00:11:18.560 --> 00:11:24.420 guarantees that Christ's return is imminent. That's why Jesus goes on to say, 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:29.120 heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. He's essentially saying, 00:11:29.439 --> 00:11:36.179 I'm saying this is going to happen. It's going to happen. And then he says in verse 36, 00:11:36.659 --> 00:11:44.799 but about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:53.219 Father. In some mysterious way that only Jesus understands, this knowledge is limited even to 00:11:53.219 --> 00:11:59.179 him. Only the Father knows exactly when this is going to happen. In other words, he's saying to 00:11:59.179 --> 00:12:04.539 his disciples and to us, this is going to be completely unexpected. We know it's going to happen, 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:12.039 but as to when, no one knows. It's going to be impossible to predict. Now, it blows my mind 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:18.980 that even though Jesus says very explicitly that no one can predict this, many, many, many people 00:12:18.980 --> 00:12:24.620 throughout history have tried to predict this. And, you know, remember, I think one of the more 00:12:24.620 --> 00:12:31.819 recent ones was Harold Camping. Remember Harold Camping? This was a few years back. He predicted 00:12:31.819 --> 00:12:37.819 very famously that the second coming was guaranteed to happen on May 21st, 2011. 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:44.360 And I remember thinking, well, I wonder if we should, what should we, should we cancel worship? 00:12:44.580 --> 00:12:50.360 What should we, what should we do? And when it didn't happen, he revised his prediction, and he 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:55.820 said that it was going to happen in October, and that he had miscalculated. And then after that, 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:01.640 I think he retired, which is probably for the best. But lots of people throughout history have 00:13:01.640 --> 00:13:06.120 attempted to predict when this is going to happen. But Jesus makes it very clear, nobody's going to know 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:12.759 the day or the hour, only the Father. And then Jesus talks about Noah. And he brings up Noah to 00:13:12.759 --> 00:13:19.899 make this point, that Noah and his family, they were prepared when it came, unlike all their neighbors. 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:26.120 Nobody else was prepared. Only Noah and his family were prepared. And then he describes other people 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:31.600 going about their normal lives when all of a sudden the end comes, and one is prepared, 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:37.060 and the other is not. And so he says, two men will be in the field, one will be taken, and the other 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:41.860 left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill, one will be taken, and the other left. 00:13:42.620 --> 00:13:48.580 Now, some people read this passage in connection to something called the rapture. So I want to take 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:53.620 two minutes to talk about that. If you've ever heard of the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye, 00:13:53.620 --> 00:14:01.139 it was wildly popular when I was in high school back in the late 90s, and it kind of captured the 00:14:01.139 --> 00:14:08.019 imagination of many people in our country, especially in the Christian evangelical world. And the idea of 00:14:08.019 --> 00:14:13.200 the rapture is that before Jesus comes again in glory, before there's the second return, the second 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.659 advent, there's going to be a kind of secret return where Jesus is going to come back in secret, 00:14:18.659 --> 00:14:24.480 and he's going to take his elect away in an event called the rapture. So all of a sudden, 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:30.740 all around the world, a bunch of people are simply going to disappear. And everyone else is going to 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:36.019 be left behind, hence the name of the series. And then there's going to be an extended period of 00:14:36.019 --> 00:14:43.919 tribulation and challenge and struggle and suffering before Jesus comes again, again. And with all due 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:52.779 respect, it's just bad theology. I did a whole series on eschatology, on end times theology, and so there 00:14:52.779 --> 00:14:57.899 are opportunities if you'd like to go deeper into this. This isn't the focus of this sermon. So I will 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:05.799 simply say that for the sake of time, rapture theology emerged in the early 19th century through a man named 00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:12.120 John Nelson Darby. It was spread around and popularized by the Schofield Reference Bible. 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:19.600 Before Darby came along, this was not taught in the church. None of the early church fathers believed 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:26.139 this. It is, again, with all due respect, based on a misreading and misapplication of a few Bible 00:15:26.139 --> 00:15:33.480 passages. So in this passage, for instance, Jesus is simply making the point that the moment is going 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:40.299 to come so suddenly that people are going to have no warning whatsoever. Some people are going to be 00:15:40.299 --> 00:15:47.459 prepared. Some people are going to be completely, completely unprepared. And so the entire point 00:15:47.459 --> 00:15:55.979 of Jesus' answer is what he says in verse 44. His point is essentially this. You know that it's 00:15:55.979 --> 00:16:04.219 going to happen, but you don't know when, so be ready. That's the point. Not just ready, be out the door 00:16:04.220 --> 00:16:12.379 ready. Right? Be ready. And, you know, some people hear this and they're like, well, it's been 2,000 00:16:12.379 --> 00:16:19.220 years. You know? Are we just supposed to sit with our backpack and our shoes on or our hat on, ready to 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:27.759 go by the door? Well, remember what Peter says in 2 Peter to the Lord, a day is like 1,000 years, 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:33.919 and 1,000 years are like a day. So it's basically been a weekend from God's perspective. So it could 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:41.759 happen at any moment. The real question we need to focus on is not when or if we can predict or how 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:47.500 much longer, although it's understandable why we would want to ask those questions. The real question 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:53.740 that we need to focus on, I think the question that Jesus wants us to focus on, is this. If this is true, 00:16:53.740 --> 00:17:01.840 if Jesus is coming again, and if that return is imminent, how does that shape the way we live here 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:09.480 and now? How should that shape the way we live our lives? How does the, so let me ask you, how does the 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:18.839 expected return of Jesus Christ impact our daily lives? And I would suspect that for many of us, 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:24.919 it doesn't really impact our daily lives all that much because there are so many other much more 00:17:24.919 --> 00:17:31.720 immediate things that we have to focus on. And so it's not often that we sit around contemplating 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:39.000 Christ's return and how that should impact the way we live. But the Apostle Paul speaks to this in 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:44.679 Romans chapter 13, our New Testament lesson that Sharon read a little while ago, where he says that we need 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:51.000 to understand the present time. Now, what does he mean by that? Well, he's referring to the fact that 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:57.980 Jesus' return is imminent. He says this, the hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber. 00:17:59.420 --> 00:18:03.680 You know, wake up, get ready, right? That's like when we go around the house and say, we're about to 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:07.580 leave, everybody. You know, get ready, get your stuff together, right? Now's the time to wake up from 00:18:07.579 --> 00:18:14.259 your slumber because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Every day that passes 00:18:14.259 --> 00:18:24.059 brings us closer to Christ's return. The night is nearly over. The day is almost here. So let us put 00:18:24.059 --> 00:18:30.519 aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. So what is Paul calling us to? Well, I would 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:37.799 suggest a couple of things. I would say the overall theme of Paul's answer is this, that if this is 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:45.139 true, if Christ is returning and that return is imminent, we should live now as though he has returned. 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:52.119 We should live as though it is daytime. We should live as though the night has passed. 00:18:53.200 --> 00:19:00.460 So what does that mean? Number one, I would say now is the time. Now is the time. If you haven't 00:19:00.460 --> 00:19:09.000 already done this, to be reconciled to God, now is the time for that. The day is almost here. Now is 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:15.400 the time. For those who are not reconciled to God, the return of Jesus is going to be a very sad day. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:23.420 Jesus himself says, all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see me. And, you know, I think 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:28.600 there are a lot of people in our postmodern world, particularly in the postmodern West, who have really 00:19:28.599 --> 00:19:36.099 tried to move past the whole idea of God, which they regard as sort of outdated and superstitious. 00:19:36.819 --> 00:19:43.759 And there was this great effort put forward in the West to try to move society past belief in God 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:49.899 and into an age of science and reason. And there has been a lot of great progress that has come with 00:19:49.899 --> 00:19:55.879 that. It's not all bad. What's interesting, though, is that that effort to move past the idea of God has 00:19:55.880 --> 00:20:01.960 completely failed in the West. And there are many, many, many people who have jettisoned their faith, 00:20:02.020 --> 00:20:07.640 who have stopped attending church, who have officially disaffiliated from religion, and yet 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:17.240 they are haunted by doubt. But they are haunted by the doubt that comes in the form of the possibility 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:24.640 that all of this might actually be true. There might actually be a God. There might actually be a day 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:30.640 when that God returns and I'm called to give an account, right? They're haunted by that possibility. 00:20:31.100 --> 00:20:37.420 Thomas Nagel is an atheist philosopher at NYU, and he writes about being haunted by belief. 00:20:38.860 --> 00:20:39.940 He says this, 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:43.460 I want atheism to be true. 00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:47.960 Now, on some level, probably people could resonate with that, right? 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:54.519 I want atheism to be true. A complete lack of accountability, right? Nothing really matters, 00:20:54.620 --> 00:20:59.380 no meaning. I want atheism to be true. And I'm made uneasy by the fact that some of the most 00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:03.039 intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. 00:21:05.340 --> 00:21:09.360 He's an atheist, but he holds it with a great disease, a great unease. 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:18.059 Speaking of intelligent and well-informed believers, in June 1927, T.S. Eliot became a Christian. 00:21:19.659 --> 00:21:26.599 He became an Anglican. And at the time, Eliot belonged to this kind of exclusive group in London 00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:33.899 called the Bloomsbury Group, which was a small group of artists and intellectuals. And when news of 00:21:33.900 --> 00:21:41.960 Eliot's conversion got out and the Bloomsbury Group heard of it, they responded with shock and anger 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:49.240 and even disgust. And the de facto leader of the Bloomsbury Group at this time was Virginia Woolf. 00:21:50.080 --> 00:21:55.580 And so the writer, Virginia Woolf, wrote a letter to one of her peers, and here's what she says 00:21:55.580 --> 00:21:57.620 about Eliot's conversion. She says, 00:21:57.619 --> 00:22:06.799 I have had a most shameful and distressing interview with poor dear Tom Eliot, who may be called dead to us 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:15.419 from this day forward. He has become an Anglo-Catholic, believes in God and immortality, and goes to church. 00:22:15.959 --> 00:22:23.759 I was really shocked. A corpse would seem to me more credible than he is. I mean, there's something obscene 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:27.980 in a living person sitting by the fire and believing in God. 00:22:30.140 --> 00:22:37.299 Now, I think the question that that raises for me is, why such a strong response? 00:22:38.579 --> 00:22:42.299 Right? Why such a vitriolic response? 00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:46.779 She doth protest too much, methinks. 00:22:46.779 --> 00:22:53.779 Right? The author, Peter Hitchens, writes this. He's the Christian who's the brother of the famous 00:22:53.779 --> 00:23:00.500 atheist, Christopher Hitchens. But Peter Hitchens writes this about Woolf's letter. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:08.779 Look at these bilious, ill-tempered words. Shameful, distressing, obscene, dead to us all. 00:23:08.779 --> 00:23:17.079 Then he says this. There has always seemed to me to be something frantic and enraged about this passage, 00:23:17.619 --> 00:23:25.579 concealing its real emotion, which I suspect is fear, that Eliot may be right. 00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:35.980 Now is the time to be reconciled to God by coming to Jesus in faith and repentance. 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:43.880 So, if we are someone, if you are someone who is haunted by the possibility that this is true, 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:51.579 now is the time. Now is the time to maybe delve into the questions that have been so easy to put off 00:23:51.579 --> 00:23:59.440 for so long. And for those who have done so, who have given their lives to Jesus and follow him in 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:05.299 faith and repentance, there is great comfort in the promise of Christ's return. There's a completely 00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:11.519 different emotion that we respond in because what this means for us is that all of history is not 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:17.119 spiraling out of control. I don't know if you ever feel like that. Like everything has just gone off 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:22.919 the rails in our country and in the world. But what this means is that that is not the case. 00:24:24.399 --> 00:24:29.299 Right? History is not spiraling out of control. We live in a very distinct, 00:24:29.299 --> 00:24:36.960 time-bounded era. Right? Between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. It has a 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:44.339 very distinct beginning and end. And it's an oldie but a goodie. Probably one of the best analogies for 00:24:44.339 --> 00:24:51.019 this is the analogy from World War II and the difference between D-Day and V-E Day. Right? 00:24:51.019 --> 00:24:58.379 The time between when the allied troops landed at Normandy and victory was secured, it was guaranteed. 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:04.259 Right? Everybody knew the war had been won at that point and yet there was still the mopping up. 00:25:04.539 --> 00:25:09.319 There was still some of the worst fighting in the war that had to happen. There was still a lot of 00:25:09.319 --> 00:25:17.759 conflict and opposition until armistice, until V-E Day, until peace could be established. And the Bible 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:25.059 tells us that we as Christians live between these two periods. Right? Christmas was D-Day. That was the 00:25:25.059 --> 00:25:30.059 securing of the victory. When Jesus entered the world and when He gave His life on the cross and 00:25:30.059 --> 00:25:35.559 when He went into the tomb and then came out of the tomb and when He ascended in glory, that was D-Day. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:45.599 Right? The battle had been won. And yet, we live in this time between His first and second coming, 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:54.719 Christ's victory and Christ's kingship is still being contested. And it is a period characterized by 00:25:54.719 --> 00:26:03.699 tremendous opposition. Some of the worst fighting in the war is happening right now. But also, there is the 00:26:03.699 --> 00:26:10.339 worldwide preaching of the gospel and the opportunity extended to all human beings to come and to be 00:26:10.339 --> 00:26:19.139 reconciled to the true king of the universe. And in this passage, Jesus gives us a glimpse of His 00:26:19.139 --> 00:26:27.039 ultimate victory. This is what V-E Day is going to be like in our world. And what's wonderful is that 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:33.019 the prophets have given us glimpses of this all throughout history. So, our reading from the 00:26:33.019 --> 00:26:39.819 prophet Isaiah describes V-E Day in the world, he says, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be 00:26:39.819 --> 00:26:47.639 established as the highest of the mountains. Right? All, you know, right now, D.C. is known as a 00:26:47.639 --> 00:26:53.900 center of human power and influence. One day, that will not be the case. Right? One day, there will be a 00:26:53.900 --> 00:26:59.519 center of power and influence that is infinitely greater than the greatest of human leaders, 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:05.839 than the most powerful of human leaders. Right? The Lord's temple will be established as the highest 00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:10.519 of the mountains. It will be exalted above the hills and all nations will stream to it. And then 00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:16.019 in verse 4, He, Jesus, will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. 00:27:16.500 --> 00:27:21.759 They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:26.279 take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore because there's peace. 00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:36.160 Right? V-E Day has happened. Right? The fighting is done. So, as we live here and now, and we pray for, 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:42.460 you know, we pray for the things that break our hearts. We pray for the things that make us feel 00:27:42.460 --> 00:27:47.879 like all history is spiraling. Right? We've, many of us have been praying and heartbroken over the two 00:27:47.879 --> 00:27:54.359 members of the National Guard shot in D.C. this week. Right? Sarah Beckstrom, 20 years old, dead. 00:27:54.359 --> 00:28:03.419 Andrew Wolfe, severely wounded. We've been praying for Pastor Jen and those from the Zion Church in 00:28:03.419 --> 00:28:09.740 China who are imprisoned for their faith. We've been praying for those students and teachers abducted 00:28:09.740 --> 00:28:17.079 from the Catholic school in Nigeria. Many of us have our own pain and conflict and suffering and 00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:23.859 struggle that we are enduring right now. And what this tells us is we have the great assurance that God is 00:28:23.859 --> 00:28:31.219 not going to allow these things to go on forever. There is going to be an unmistakable moment where all 00:28:31.219 --> 00:28:39.039 of the suffering and evil in this world comes to a decisive end. So, the expected return of Christ 00:28:39.039 --> 00:28:47.979 will either be very, very bad news or it will be very, very good news, the best possible news. 00:28:47.980 --> 00:28:58.299 Are we ready? Are we out the door ready? The last thing I will say, the other implication of this for 00:28:58.299 --> 00:29:05.880 us is more something that I'm going to encourage you to reflect on in your own time. Now is the time 00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:15.299 not only to be reconciled to God, but now is the time to love one another. If there is any way in which 00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:21.259 the expected return of Christ should shape our lives, according to the Bible, it is not only that 00:29:21.259 --> 00:29:26.859 we focus on loving and being in relationship with the Lord, but it is that we reprioritize our lives 00:29:26.859 --> 00:29:35.200 so that they are aimed at loving and serving those around us. Paul says this in Romans 13 8, 00:29:35.559 --> 00:29:41.480 let no debt remain outstanding. In light of the expected return of Christ, let no debt remain 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:49.039 outstanding except the continuing debt to love one another. For whoever loves others has fulfilled 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:56.079 the law. He's echoing what Jesus himself said. So, this is something that I leave to you to reflect 00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:03.960 on in your own life. Just a few questions maybe to prime the pump. If Christ were to return tomorrow, 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:11.240 what would need to change in your relationships with other people so that you would be prepared? 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:18.759 Where is there forgiveness that needs to happen? 00:30:23.019 --> 00:30:28.460 Where are there opportunities for reconciliation? Where you might be able to take the first step? 00:30:28.460 --> 00:30:37.880 Who is being neglected? Who needs to be prioritized? 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:43.380 As you think about your relationships in your family, 00:30:45.140 --> 00:30:48.779 and coming out of Thanksgiving, maybe some of you are freshly aware 00:30:48.779 --> 00:30:51.700 of relationships that need work. 00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:55.700 As you think about your family, as you think about your friend group, 00:30:55.700 --> 00:30:58.019 as you think about your relationships in this church, 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:05.480 is there someone to whom you owe a debt of love? 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:09.700 Now's the time to pay it. 00:31:10.840 --> 00:31:12.640 For the sake of Jesus Christ, 00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:16.259 who paid his debt of love on the cross 00:31:16.259 --> 00:31:17.920 for us. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:19.500 Let's pray. 00:31:19.500 --> 00:31:27.980 Lord, we dabble and splash in the shallows of great mysteries. 00:31:29.740 --> 00:31:35.119 And would that this humbles us, Lord. 00:31:35.339 --> 00:31:43.359 May this bring us to our knees in awe and wonder and fear and excitement. 00:31:44.779 --> 00:31:48.539 Lord, these are things that only you fully understand. 00:31:49.500 --> 00:31:53.039 But help the focus and the point not be lost on us, Lord. 00:31:54.900 --> 00:31:59.339 Help us not to be distracted by all the speculation of what this may or may not mean 00:31:59.339 --> 00:32:00.299 or when it might happen. 00:32:01.019 --> 00:32:05.700 Lord, impress upon us the urgency of these words. 00:32:06.500 --> 00:32:09.599 That now is the time to come to you. 00:32:09.700 --> 00:32:11.660 Now is the time to love one another. 00:32:12.460 --> 00:32:17.220 Lord, help us each to know what it will take in our own hearts 00:32:17.220 --> 00:32:19.779 to be ready to meet you, Lord. 00:32:20.059 --> 00:32:24.960 And help this electrify us, Lord, as a community. 00:32:25.319 --> 00:32:27.220 As we think about the days and weeks ahead, 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:29.559 as we think about the opportunities that await us as a church, 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:32.299 Lord, the opportunities to serve and to grow 00:32:32.299 --> 00:32:34.019 and to be ministers of your gospel, 00:32:34.180 --> 00:32:35.500 ministers of reconciliation, Lord. 00:32:35.860 --> 00:32:40.759 May this drive us out into the streets, Lord, 00:32:40.759 --> 00:32:43.200 to share the good news with those who need to hear it. 00:32:43.900 --> 00:32:45.799 And we pray all this in your son's holy name. 00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:46.319 Amen. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:46.420 Amen. 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:46.420 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:46.420 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:46.420 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:46.420 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:46.420 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:46.420 00:32:46.420 --> 00:32:46.920 Amen. 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:46.920 00:32:46.920 --> 00:33:16.900 Thank you.