Matthew 24 - The Tribulation
Introduction: Getting Things in Focus
Man, it is good to be together with you. If you missed last week’s Home Church House Party, I highly recommend you go and watch it because truthfully, we had so much fun. We did a joint gathering with St. Rest Baptist Church here in town and some of our dear friends, and we lit it up in terms of worship. We had Miss Jackie on the organ, and we had Big Mike banging away on the drums. It was like a sea of joy and praise, and it just lifted our spirits. I am so grateful for our worship team inviting some of those volunteers back to bring that same energy with us this week.
If you are a guest with us, welcome to Home Church. We are so glad you are here. My name is Brad, one of the elders and the lead pastor here at The Well. Today, I get the privilege of handling some of the most fascinating Bible passages in all of the scriptures. We are going to see Jesus calling the shot of what is to come in terms of the flow of human history.
If you have your Bibles, we are in Matthew chapter 24. I want to give you a heads-up as we start: I am going to take a little time to get to the text because I really want to set this up as best I can.
When I was a kid growing up in Clovis, we lived off the canal bank down near Dry Creek School. We were a pretty simple family, but my dad had a couple of things that he said, “Whatever you do, do not mess with that.” For some reason, he had this pair of binoculars. I do not know why—I guess they were nice or expensive—but every time he left the house, I played with those binoculars. They had a couple of settings that were fascinating. In the middle, they had the zoom and the main focus. Back when there was nothing but orchards and fields around us, you could zoom in what seemed like miles away. Then right by your eyes, it had two additional dials. If one eye was not as strong, you could dial it in. If you adjusted it just right, it felt like you could see all the way to Sanger.
When we look at our Bibles, there are a couple of factors that, if we get them in proper focus, allow us to see what is coming very clearly.
Four Lenses of Biblical Interpretation
The theological term for how we interpret Scripture is hermeneutics, which simply means the method and principles by which you interpret your Bible. I suggest there are four critical elements we need to get in proper focus to help us see what is to come: we interpret the Bible literally, grammatically, historically, and Christocentrically.
First, we interpret the Bible literally. By that, we mean we read it in its normative meaning. By and large, the Bible says what it means and means what it says. There are genres like prophecy and poetry that use figurative imagery, but overall, you can take Scripture at face value. When you do that, the end comes into focus.
Second, we read the Bible grammatically. Normal grammatical tools help us. We examine words, nouns, and verbs. Normal grammatical language gives us road signs—things like comparison and contrast, cause and effect. As you read it grammatically, the future comes into focus.
Third, we read it historically. The Bible was written in very specific historical contexts. We have to ask: What was happening behind the scenes in history? What was the political landscape? What was the culture? Where was it written, and to whom was it written? As you ask those questions, the real meaning of the text emerges.
Fourth, our hermeneutic must be Christocentric—centered on Christ. From Genesis to Revelation, the ultimate hero of the text is Jesus. Jesus told the religious leaders in John 5 that they searched the Scriptures thinking that in them they had eternal life, yet it is those very Scriptures that testify about Him.
John 5:39 (NASB)
’You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
Much like those binoculars my dad had, when you get the lenses focused literally, grammatically, historically, and centered on Christ, the future comes into clear view.
Now, when you talk about end-times issues in the Bible, people often pick fights over which interpretation is correct. It is not my intent to fight over this. This is not an issue we divide over. But when you look at Scripture through these four lenses, the prophetic future becomes remarkably clear.
Consider this: there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning the first coming of Jesus, all of which were fulfilled literally. If 300 prophecies about His first coming were fulfilled literally, is it not safe to assume that the prophecies about His second coming will also be fulfilled literally? Absolutely.
The Big Picture of God’s Redemptive Timeline
Let us look at the broad flow of human history and God’s redemptive purposes. It begins in eternity past. Jesus is preexistent; He did not come into being in the manger in Bethlehem. God created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1. In Genesis 3, the fall occurred. Mankind rebelled against God, and the image of God was defaced—not erased, but defaced.
Then in Genesis 12, God established an incredibly significant covenant with Abraham. Genesis 12:1–4 might be one of the most important passages in the Old Testament.
Genesis 12:1-4 (NASB)
Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
God promised Abraham and his descendants—the nation of Israel—three specific things: land, seed, and blessing. These three promises are unpacked throughout the rest of the Old Testament. The land promise is developed in the Palestinian covenant in Deuteronomy 30. The seed promise is developed in the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel 7. The blessing promise is developed in the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31.
Deuteronomy 30:1-10 (NASB)
’So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call [them] to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. ’If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. ’The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. ’Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. ’The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. ’And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. ’Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.
2 Samuel 7:12-16 (NASB)
’When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ’He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ’I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took [it] away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ‘Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.’‘’
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NASB)
‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ’I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ’They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’
If you read Scripture literally, you are looking for a time when God’s people enjoy all three in full, and when all the nations of the earth are blessed through them. Has that happened in its totality in human history yet? No, which points us directly to what is to come.
As you move forward into the book of Daniel, Daniel provides an extraordinary prophetic timeline. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he stated that from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem—which took place in Nehemiah 2—until Messiah the Prince arrives at the Triumphal Entry, there would be sixty-nine weeks of years.
Daniel 9:24-26 (NASB)
’Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy [place]. ’So you are to know and discern [that] from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince [there will be] seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. ’Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end [will come] with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
Nehemiah 2:1-8 (NASB)
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine [was] before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, ‘Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.’ Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, ‘Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?’ Then the king said to me, ‘What would you request?’ So I prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the king, ‘If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.’ Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, ‘How long will your journey be, and when will you return?’ So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. And I said to the king, ‘If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors [of the provinces] beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.’ And the king granted [them] to me because the good hand of my God [was] on me.
Sixty-nine “weeks” of seven years equals 483 prophetic years, or exactly 173,880 days. If you calculate the time from the decree in Nehemiah 2 to the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in Matthew 21, it is precisely 173,880 days. You cannot make this stuff up.
Jesus arrives at the Triumphal Entry, goes to the cross, rises from the dead, and then ascends to the Father in Acts 1.
Matthew 21:1-11 (NASB)
When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ’Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied [there] and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. ’If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.’ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ’SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’’ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!’ When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.’
Acts 1:9-11 (NASB)
And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.’
This brings us to eschatology—the study of end times. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, beginning what we call the Church Age. Daniel spoke of a seventieth week, but there is a prophetic gap between the sixty-ninth week and the seventieth week. That gap is the Church Age. We are currently living in that gap, waiting for that final seven-year period where God once again turns His prophetic focus toward Israel. That period is the Tribulation, described in Revelation 4 through 19.
At the close of that seven-year period, Revelation 19 describes Jesus returning bodily to the earth. In Revelation 20, He establishes His kingdom in Jerusalem for a thousand years. Why do we believe it is a thousand years? Because Revelation 20 literally says a thousand years six times. During this Millennial Kingdom, God fulfills every covenant promise of land, seed, and blessing given to Abraham. Following the Millennium, Revelation 21 introduces the New Heaven and the New Earth, ushering us into eternity future.
Revelation 19:11-16 (NASB)
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it [is] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes [are] a flame of fire, and on His head [are] many diadems; and He has a name written [on Him] which no one knows except Himself. [He is] clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white [and] clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.’
Revelation 20:1-6 (NASB)
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut [it] and sealed [it] over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I [saw] the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Revelation 21:1-4 (NASB)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be [any] death; there will no longer be [any] mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’
The Rapture and the Judgment Seat of Christ
Right now, we are living in a time of imminence. In the prophetic timeline, nothing needs to be fulfilled before the church is caught up to be with the Lord. Jesus could return for His church at any moment. That event is called the Rapture, described in 1 Thessalonians 4.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NASB)
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
The comfort Paul speaks of is that before God pours out His wrath in the Tribulation, believers are taken to be with Him. Furthermore, 2 Thessalonians 2 tells us that the “restrainer” will be removed before the lawless one is revealed.
2 Thessalonians 2:5-7 (NASB)
Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains [will do so] until he is taken out of the way.
Who is the restrainer? Some say the church or individual believers. While believers reflect God’s presence, the restrainer is specifically the Holy Spirit, who indwells the church. When the church is caught up, that restraining influence is lifted.
When we are taken to be with the Lord, believers will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ—the Bema seat.
Romans 14:10 (NASB)
But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
2 Corinthians 5:10 (NASB)
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (NASB)
Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is [to be] revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
In a Roman city, the Bema seat was used for observation, condemnation, and commendation or reward. Because Jesus took all our condemnation upon the cross when He declared, “It is finished,” our appearance at the Judgment Seat of Christ is not for condemnation. It is for commendation and reward. Paul wrote about this in 2 Timothy 4.
2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NASB)
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
If you remember the end of the original Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca walk down the grand hall, Princess Leia presents them with medals, and the whole assembly cheers. That is a picture of the Bema seat—a celebration where Christ rewards His servants. And as Revelation shows us, we will take those crowns and cast them right back at His feet in worship.
Prophetic Foreshortening: Why the Wait?
People often ask: “If the apostles wrote in the first century that the end was near, and two thousand years have passed, how can that be? Does that undermine the truth of the Bible?”
Scholars call this prophetic foreshortening. When we look at a timeline from the side, we see large gaps between events. But if you look down the timeline from the front, all the mountain peaks line up behind each other, and you cannot see the valleys between them. From the vantage point of the New Testament writers, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, the Church Age, the Rapture, and the Second Coming were stacked together. It could happen at any moment. Peter explained God’s perspective on time in 2 Peter 3.
2 Peter 3:8-9 (NASB)
But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
I am so thankful Jesus did not return before 1993, because had He come before then, I would not have known Him. By God’s grace and patience, I had time to trust Christ, and I hope you feel the same way.
You see this foreshortening throughout Scripture. In Luke 4, Jesus read from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me… to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” He stopped mid-sentence, rolling up the scroll before reading the very next phrase: “and the day of vengeance of our God.” The first coming and the second coming were stacked together in the prophecy, separated by a gap of thousands of years.
Luke 4:18-19 (NASB)
‘THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.’
Isaiah 61:1-2 (NASB)
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
The Olivet Discourse: The Destruction of the Temple
Let us look at Matthew 24. At the end of Matthew 23, Jesus gave a sobering word to Jerusalem.
Matthew 23:39 (NASB)
’For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’’
That statement intrigued the disciples. They had long assumed that the Kingdom of God would appear immediately, as Luke 19:11 notes. Even after the resurrection, in Acts 1:6, they asked Jesus, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
Luke 19:11 (NASB)
While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Acts 1:6 (NASB)
So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’
In Matthew 24, as Jesus leaves the temple, the disciples point out the magnificent temple buildings.
Matthew 24:1 (NASB)
Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.
Herod’s temple was an architectural marvel covering roughly thirty-five acres. Some of the foundation stones were massive—up to forty feet long and weighing hundreds of tons. Yet Jesus delivered a staggering prediction.
Matthew 24:2 (NASB)
And He said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.’
That prophecy was fulfilled literally in AD 70 when the Roman general Titus put down the Jewish revolt, leveled Jerusalem, and tore the temple down stone by stone. Today, the Arch of Titus in Rome still depicts the Roman soldiers carrying away the spoils from that very temple.
After leaving the city, Jesus sat down on the Mount of Olives, and the disciples came to Him privately.
Matthew 24:3 (NASB)
As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things happen, and what [will be] the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’
They wanted to know when these things would happen and what signs would mark His coming—His parousia, His royal arrival in full glory.
The Beginning of Birth Pangs and the Tribulation
Jesus answered by describing the conditions that will characterize the period leading up to the end.
Matthew 24:4-8 (NASB)
And Jesus answered and said to them, ’See to it that no one misleads you. ’For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. ’You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for [those things] must take place, but [that] is not yet the end. ’For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. ’But all these things are [merely] the beginning of birth pangs.
False messiahs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes—does that sound familiar? People often ask, “Do you think we are living in the end times?” Every day brings us closer. But Jesus said these global upheavals are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
Labor contractions start out spaced apart and mild, but as the delivery approaches, they grow closer together and far more intense. The book of Revelation outlines three successive sets of seven judgments that unfold during the Tribulation: the Seal judgments, the Trumpet judgments, and the Bowl judgments.
In the first half of the Tribulation, the Seal judgments are opened:
- The Antichrist rises, offering a false peace.
- Peace is taken from the earth, and war breaks out.
- Widespread famine strikes.
- Death claims one-fourth of the world’s population.
- Martyrs under the altar cry out for divine justice.
- Cataclysmic natural disasters shake the earth.
- The Seventh Seal opens up the even more severe Trumpet judgments.
Some people say, “I will just live my life now, and if all this happens, I will believe then.” Do not make that mistake. A fourth of humanity dies under the fourth seal alone. It is a time of unprecedented devastation.
Yet, even in that dark period, God’s mercy is evident. Revelation 7 tells us that God seals 144,000 Jewish believers—12,000 from each tribe—who will boldly proclaim the Gospel across the globe. Jesus describes the perseverance required in those days.
Matthew 24:13-14 (NASB)
’But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ’This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
To endure (hypomeno) means to stand your ground, to hold fast, and not be moved. Those whose faith is genuine will endure through the intense persecution of the Tribulation. The Gospel will be preached to every nation (ethnos), and then the end will come.
Living with the End in Mind
Why did Jesus have this private conversation on the Mount of Olives? Why did He adjust the focus of their binoculars so they could see what was ahead?
Because these disciples needed hope. Jesus was only hours away from the cross. He had told them that the world would hate them because it hated Him. They needed to know that the cross was not the end of the story. Jesus was going to the cross, He would rise, He would ascend, He would send the Holy Spirit, and the church would proclaim His glory until He returned to catch them up into the air.
Stephen Covey famously coined the phrase, “Begin with the end in mind.” Let me flip that: Live with the end in mind. If we know how the story ends, let us live like it. When crises happen and people panic, we do not need to be shaken. We know that God is in complete control of the flow of history.
Paul wrote powerful words to Titus about how this future hope shapes our daily lives.
Titus 2:11-14 (NASB)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Do not get so lost in charts and debates that you miss the main point. The point is comfort and hope. Jesus is not done. When you look at the news and see brokenness, injustice, wars, and famines, remember that these are just the beginning of birth pangs. A day is coming when the trumpet will sound, and we will be with the Lord.
If you have never placed your trust in Jesus Christ, what are you waiting for? The end will come quickly and without warning. Place your faith in Him today and anchor your soul in the blessed hope.
Let us pray.
Father, thank You that we have a blessed hope. Thank You that You have promised to return. By Your grace, draw our hearts to Yourself. Secure us in Your truth and fill us with hope when we see turmoil in our world. Remind us that You will return and make all things new. On that day, there will be no more sin, sadness, or brokenness—we will simply be in Your presence forever. Anchor us in that truth today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.