"Lessons For Our Final Day

From Jerusalem's Final Days"

Sermon on Matthew 24:15-22

July 11, 1999

Saint Mark's, Watertown, WI

Pastor Karl Walther

Introduction: Relationship Between Jerusalem's Final Days and Ours

As we approach the end of the millennium, Jesus tells us: Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Amen.

God's Word, which will resume our consideration of Judgment Day as the days of this millennium ebb away-- God's Word for our consideration today is Matthew chapter twenty-four, verses fifteen through twenty-two. There Jesus says:

"So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel -- let the reader understand -- then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath."

"For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-- and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened."

This is the Word of the Lord.

Dear fellow Christians-- who are approaching the end of the millennium, and who are always considering the arrival of this world's final day:

So, the words we just read: do they describe Judgment Day-- or what? That's probably the first question that popped into your minds as I was reading the sermon text. These words-- do they describe Judgment Day? Let's take a look at the evidence....

On the one hand, we read: There will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-- and never to be equaled again. And we read: For the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. Words like that bring to mind Judgment Day.

On the other hand, we read: Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Judgment Day, in contrast, will take place world-wide. We read: Let no one on the roof of his house go down.... Let no one in the field go back.... Judgment Day will happen so quickly that those won't be options. We read: How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! On Judgment Day neither pregnancy nor nursing will matter. And we read: Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. And again, Judgment Day will take place so quickly that neither the season nor the day will matter.

So, what is Jesus talking about here? Well, do you remember...?-- when we started this summer sermon series, the disciples asked Jesus two questions (which they thought were the same). First of all: When will all this happen? When will not one stone of the temple be left on another and every one be thrown down? That's the first question. And then, secondly: What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? For three weeks we studied the Bible's answer to that second question. Today we study the answer to the first-- as Jesus describes the destruction of Jerusalem's temple.

God's Word: Jesus Narrates Jerusalem's Final Days

Jesus begins: You will see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel -- let the reader understand.

Jesus is saying: "It's true. This temple, God's chosen dwelling place for the last thousand years-- it's going to be destroyed. These several large courts, these dozens of buildings, these many gates, and these several large covered porches called colonnades-- they're all going to be pulled down. And this city, God's chosen capital for the last thousand years, home to tens of thousands of people-- it's going to be destroyed, too."

"And here's how you're going to know that Jerusalem's end is near. 'The abomination that causes desolation' will appear. Just the way Daniel prophesied that the Gentiles would set up a pagan image in the temple itself, and that happened two hundred years ago when Antiochus Epiphanes set up an altar for the chief Greek god Zeus-- that's going to happen again," Jesus says.

And when it does, Jesus continues: Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, where they can hide themselves well. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house; there won't be time, and it will just hinder his journey. And for the same reason, Jesus adds: Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.

How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women, who aren't feeling well and aren't very mobile, and nursing mothers, whose responsibilities force them to stop every couple hours to tend to their kids. Pray that your flight will not take place in winter, the rainy season when streams run high and are hard to cross, or on the Sabbath, when God's prohibition against work led people not to travel more than three quarters of a mile from home.

How bad was it going to get in Jerusalem? For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-- and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

So, did Jesus' words come true? -- Yeah, forty years and a couple months after Jesus spoke these words they came true. Emperor Nero, whose habit it was to throw Christians to the lions, was ruling in Rome. A new governor named Florus was ruling in Judea of Israel on Nero's behalf.

This Roman, Florus, got things started by stealing ten million dollars from the temple treasury. The Jews of Jerusalem publicly mocked him for this. So, he slaughtered hundreds of them. The people of Jerusalem rebelled against Florus. Although they offered his Roman troops safe passage out of the city, the Jews put those soldiers to death-- along with another six thousand Roman soldiers later.

It was war. The Romans sent in full military power. Christians took Christ's advice in the words of our text today. They fled to the mountains, to a place called Pella: across the Jordan River, some fifty miles northeast of Jerusalem. The Jews, however, remained.

The Romans succeeded in locking them up in Jerusalem, devoid of food. There the Jews had three choices: death from the Roman soldiers, death from starvation-- or eat one another (and some chose to do that...). Josephus, the chief historian of the day, wrote that they suffered great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world.

Finally, the Romans ended up killing a million rebelling Jews. Another hundred thousand were taken captive. The Romans set up their pagan standards in the temple itself. Then they pulled down its stones and torched it. If the conflict had broadened from there, rather than ended, the Roman Empire would have destroyed all the Christians, too. But for the sake of those whom God had chosen, the Lord drew an end to the conflict.

So, my friends, what's the message for us? Why did Jesus see to it these words were recorded for you and for me-- and not just spoken to a few of his disciples? Well, the way the Christians in those days had to prepare for that crisis on that day of judgment, you and I need to prepare for the final crisis of the final great day of judgment. And in view of that, this account teaches us two things most forcefully: "Don't get attached to this world" and "Do get attached to Christ."

Application One: Don't Get Attached To This World

Friends, don't get attached to this world. There's nothing here that's going to last...! God's own temple, the one he had built at his command-- even that didn't last; it suffered ruin because of the rebellion of God's people. God's own city, the one he himself said he chose-- even that didn't last; it was destroyed for the sin of its inhabitants. God's own old covenant, his old official agreement with his people (that if they'd listen to him, he'd listen to them)-- even that didn't last, because people couldn't keep it.

And your toys are not going to last. And your computer is going to get outdated (I can guarantee that one!). And your automobile and your home are not going to last either. Nor will your money, or your job, or your reputation. So, you just can't get too attached to them. You can't become enslaved to gaining them or maintaining them. And you can't take your concept of who you are from your possessions.

...They're not going to last! Sinners made them. Sinners use them. And when God comes to judge this sinful world, they'll be swept away, just like those sinners!

Application Two: Do Get Attached To Christ

But do you know what? Christ will remain. Christ's sinlessness is so scintillating that he will stay. Christ's holiness is so wholesome that he will remain. After toys and computers and cars and houses and money and jobs and reputations, Christ will still be here.

And so will his new covenant, his new official agreement with people. The Bible puts it in these words: I will forgive your wickedness and will remember your sins no more. That's God's agreement with you, through Jesus' bloody death-- and it will never fail.

Christ's new city will also remain. The Bible describes it this way: The Holy City, Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God; it shines with the glory of God, and its brilliance is like that of a very precious jewel. It's in that city that God promises you will live, through Jesus' glorious resurrection-- and it will never fall.

And Christ's new temple will stay strong everlastingly. And the Bible says that you are a part of it: You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone; in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

Conclusion: Detachment From World & Attachment To Christ

Brings Eternal Blessings

So, what's the message of Jerusalem's destruction? Stay attached to Christ! The effort you make to read his Word will last. The time you spend in Parochial School or Sunday School or Bible Class, getting to know him, will last. The enthusiasm you display worshipping Christ here in church each week-- that will last ... eternally. Amen.

As we approach the end of the millennium, Jesus tells us: This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Amen.