Matthew 24:15-28 - Homiletics

Predictions of the nearer end: The destruction of Jerusalem.

I. THE WARNINGS OF THE COMING END .

1 . The sign. The Lord returns to the first question of the disciples, "When shall these things be?" His eye had been looking forward in prophetic vision through the process of the ages; now he returns to the nearer end, to that awful catastrophe which, to the Jews, seemed like the very end of the world—the destruction of the holy city and of the temple, the dwelling-place of God, the centre of their whole religious system. He warns his followers of the horrors of that awful time. The guilty city must perish; the Lord's people must come out of her, that they be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues. The end of Judaism was to be to the Christian Church the beginning of a more vigorous and independent life. The Jewish Christians must separate themselves from their unbelieving brethren; they must escape for their life, as Lot fled out of Sodom. They would know the time; for they would see the abomination of desolation, spoken of through Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place: this was to be the signal for their flight. The Lord emphatically asserts the authority of Daniel's prophecy. He bids us read it with care and thoughtfulness. He says that this prediction, difficult and perplexing as it may seem, was given by the Spirit of God, spoken through Daniel. We cannot now with absolute certainty say what "the abomination of desolation" was—whether some profanation of the temple by the Romans, or some awful deed of the Jews themselves, such as those horrors and blasphemies related by Josephus. Plainly it was some definite event understood by contemporary Christians, recognized as the fulfilment of the Lord's words and as the signal for departure.

2 . Flight must be immediate. Christians were to flee at once to the mountains before the investment of the city, as we are told they did flee over the mountains of Gilead to Pella, in the north of Peraea. Not a moment was to be lost when once the abomination of desolation was seen in the holy place. All Christians, whether then in the city or in the surrounding country, were to flee at once for their lives; they were not to linger for any purpose, to remove their property or to fetch their clothes. The body is more than raiment. It was a warning to Jewish Christians then; it is a warning to all Christians still. No earthly considerations must keep the awakened soul from fleeing at once to Christ. We hear his warning words; they reach our hearts as perhaps they have never reached them heretofore. We see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. This world of ours was once holy; God pronounced it "very good." But the abomination of desolation is in it—sin in all its forms; uncleanness and dishonesty and cruelty, unbelief and selfishness. The converted Christian must arise at once; he must flee into the mountains, to the clear and lofty height of communion with God, into fellowship with Christ above the dull and heavy atmosphere of this wicked world. We must flee thither, and that at once. If we delay through lingering desires of earthly things, it may be too late.

3 . Difficulties and horrors of the time. The flight would be sudden and without time for preparation; hindrances of whatever kind would be full of danger. The Lord expresses his compassion for the afflicted, "Woe unto them that are with child!" The "woe "here, as in some other places, is an utterance of sympathy. We may cast our care upon him in our troubles; he careth for us. And we may pray for the alleviation of those troubles; he allows it. Only before the prayer for present relief, for daily bread, let us pray, "Thy will be done;" then we may safely ask for such things as are needful for the body. The Jewish Christians in those times of distress might pray that their flight should not be in the winter nor on the sabbath day. The Lord, indeed, had not encouraged the superstitious observance of the sabbath; Christians afterwards were to keep the first day of the week in place of the seventh. But the early Jewish Christians were "all zealous of the Law" ( Acts 21:20 ), and the scrupulousness of those among whom they lived would cause many hindrances and difficulties. It was in the highest degree desirable that their flight should be unimpeded, for the misery of those days would be awful. Such tribulation never was, nor would be ever again. The Lord's words are strong, but not stronger than those in which Josephus describes the actual horrors of the siege and fall of Jerusalem. Never, he says, did any other city suffer such miseries, nor did any age breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was from the beginning of the world. The destruction of life was enormous. It seemed as if the whole Jewish race would be swept away. But the days of tribulation were shortened for the elect's sake—for the sake of those among the Jews who believed or would hereafter believe (comp. Romans 11:5 , Romans 11:7 ). "The Lord shortened those days," we read in St. Mark. God's providence so ordered circumstances that the siege was ended sooner than might have been expected (in five months), and thus the loss of life, though tremendous, was not so overwhelming as otherwise it might have been. "The Lord knoweth them that are his; he careth for them. The great events of history, the convulsions which shake society, are ordered by him for the good, for the salvation, of his elect. Monarchs and statesmen and warriors act from various motives, often from wicked and selfish ambition. But the Lord reigneth. He overruleth all things for the elect's sake. Let us give diligence to make our calling and election sure, and then trust ourselves in entire resignation to his blessed will.

II. WARNINGS CONTINUED .

1 . Deceivers. Then , the Lord says. He looks onward again, beyond the destruction of the holy city. Jerusalem had fallen, but the Lord had not yet come. In a real sense, indeed, the fall of Jerusalem was a coming of the Lord (comp. Matthew 10:23 and Matthew 16:28 ). He came in that awful event to execute judgment upon the guilty, to bring the old dispensation to an end. But he had not come revealed in his majesty. He bids his people beware of false prophets, false Messiahs. Many such there have been, many such there will be down to the times of the antichrist described by St. Paul ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 ). Like that antichrist, these false Christs will show signs and lying wonders, so as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. But that, thank God, is not possible, for we have Christ's word, "They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." He warns us now—"I have told you before"—that we may be prepared in the day of temptation. There will be false Christs, the Lord says, repeating his warning; each will have his followers, who will try to draw people after him. "Behold, he is in the desert!" some will say. Christ's people must not listen. The true Messiah has come; we bear his name; we know him it we are his indeed; and that knowledge is life eternal. We need no other prophet; there can be no other Christ. When he cometh again men will not say, "Lo, here;" or" Lo, there." "Every eye shall see him." When he first came in great humility, men said to one another," We have found the Messias." But he cometh not thus again. In power and awful glory he shall come, a dreadful Judge. Then Christians must not allow themselves to be misled by false Messiahs. They must not believe the stories of ignorance or fanaticism. Some may say, "Behold, he is in the desert!" others, "Behold, he is in the secret chambers!" Some may tell us that we shall find Christ in the free air of the desert, away from creeds, and forms, and systems of doctrine, and antiquated Churches. Others may think to find him in the narrow, confined limits of this or that sect. Believe them not. "Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." But seek not after the Christ here nor there, in the desert nor in the secret chambers; for the true Christ is found everywhere by those who seek him in simplicity and in truth, not only at Jerusalem or "in this mountain."

2 . What Christ ' s coming will be. It will overspread the world at once. "Every eye shall see him." The sense of his presence will fill the whole universe, as the lightning fills the whole expanse of the sky. It cometh from the east, and is seen even to the west. So shall the coming of the Son of man be; in flaming fire, visible throughout the universe, startling quick and dead alike with its omnipresent energy. " Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." The carcase is the festering corruption of sin. There are high authorities for a very different interpretation; but both the fitness of words and the context, which speaks of God's awful judgment rather than of the means of grace and the Bread of life, seem to necessitate the explanation which is perhaps generally adopted. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." That revelation will burst at once upon the whole universe. Those mighty angels are the eagles. They shall gather the wicked from among the just. Wherever the carcase is, wherever there are impenitent sinners, dead unto God and holiness, corrupted with the pollutions of sin, there shall the messengers of judgment be gathered together; as the Roman eagles were once gathered round Jerusalem, to fulfil the awful behests of God. Wherever the carcase is, here, there, far and near, throughout the vast universe of the quick and dead, the angels of judgment will surely find the guilty and the reprobate. There will be no escape. The area of judgment will be coextensive with that of the vast multitude of souls. Then Christians should live in the expectation of that awful day, not eager for novelties, not listening to those who say, "Lo, here!" or "Lo, there!" but living soberly, righteously, and godly, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

LESSONS .

1 . Jerusalem must perish. The Church may not dare to trust in external privileges. It must abide in the love of Christ, in the life of Christ, or the candlestick will be removed.

2 . Christians must flee from the world which passeth away to the city of God which abideth forever.

3 . Live always in the thought of the judgment.