Eric Ennis: We are on a study series called The Road to Resurrection, and
we're looking at the last week of Christ.
Now, I had warned the worship team and all staff beforehand that, Hey,
I'm gonna need as much time as I can today because I am covering two topics.
That's very interesting.
And here's the irony of this.
One of the stories I'll be covering is probably one of the most common
stories we talk about all the time in our church fellowship.
Uh, every contribution, this is one of the top picks that we go to.
The very next thing that we talk about that's by the, in case you didn't get the
hint, it's the offering of the Poor Widow.
Uh, the very next story is what's known as the olive discourse.
And I have never seen a sermon preached on this in my 30 years
of this sur of this church.
And depending on how today goes, it may be another 30 years before
we see a sermon on this again.
Um, but I'm gonna try to go through it how these two stories and, and what Jesus
is talking about really go together.
Because oftentimes what happens when we read the Bible, we, we kind of go in
and, and read a story and then forget that things happen beforehand and after,
and there's context to what's happening.
And so as we dive into Luke 21, know that we're on a mission for Jesus looking
at the cross and ultimate resurrection.
And I'm gonna begin with Luke 20 verse 45.
I'm gonna back up just a moment.
Again, Marcel covered Luke 20 last week, but I want to give just a little bit of
context to what I'm gonna be going into.
Uh, by the way, I put these other verses up there and Matthew and Mark,
in case you want to do a deeper dive yourself of parallel scriptures on
what we're gonna be covering today.
So Luke 20 verse one.
I'll start here just to give us some context.
One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and
proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and teaches the law together
with the elders, came up to him.
Tell us by what authority you're doing these things they said,
and who gave you this authority?
So this is what Marcel talked about last week.
Jesus was being confronted in the temple.
He's at the temple and he's being confronted by these different groups,
chief priests or Sadducees, the Pharisees, the the teachers of the law, the scribes.
And he's being challenged.
He's being challenged politically.
He's being challenged theologically, and he's having to answer back.
I'm gonna skip ahead.
To talk about these groups here.
'cause I, I need you to understand who's having these discussions.
'cause oftentimes we hear these names, Sadducees, Pharisees, teachers
of Law, and we think they're the same thing and they're actually not.
In fact, they oftentimes don't like each other.
The only thing they seem to agree on is they don't like Jesus.
That's about the only thing they got in common.
So who are these people?
The Pharisees are very strict religious leaders, uh, oftentimes known as rabbi.
They're very respected by the people.
Uh, the way I think of them is, is a quote from The Dark Knight.
If you've ever seen that film, and if you haven't, you should.
But there's a line in there that says you either die a hero or live long
enough to see become of the villain.
And that's how I see the Pharisees, the Pharisees during the Maccabean,
uh, revolt, where the people that held the Jewish nation together,
which is why they're so respected.
But over time, uh.
Their need for recognition and their desire for authority and
specifically, uh, their altering of scripture to match their, their
traditions will sideline them.
But they're a minority group in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Ruling
Council, and they're resisting Rome.
They don't like the Hellenization.
The Greek influence.
The Roman influence.
So that's who the Pharisees are, the Sadducees, they're the cheap priests.
They're the ones who control the temple at this time.
They only believe in the tour and a little interpretation of that.
They don't believe in like the resurrection, for
instance, or any resurrection.
Um, but they're in charge of all the ceremonies, all the finances.
So when Jesus is overturning the tables in the temple, he's directly
going against the DUIs and they are in charge of the Sanhedrin, and they
have a lot of political power because they've been given it by Rome, which is
why the people don't like them because they're very much in line with Rome.
And then you have this third group.
The teachers of the law also, not those scribes, they're the ones
who are copying down scripture.
Now these guys are oftentimes aligned with the Pharisees, but sometimes
not These guys are legal scholars.
Uh, also they are known to be brought in to kind of help interpret things.
So these are very powerful groups at this time at the Temple.
I just wanna make sure you understand the major players here because here we go.
Into this next verse in Luke 2045 to 47, while all the people were listening,
so all the people were listening to Jesus having this discourse with these
groups who are all very powerful.
Jesus said to disciples, beware of the teachers of the law.
They like to walk around and flowing rows and love to be greeted with respect
in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues.
And in the places of honor at banquets, he's calling out their vanity.
He's calling out, man, this is what they truly love, but here we go.
They devour widow's houses and for show, make lengthy prayers, these
men will be punished most severely.
You can imagine this would get the ire of those two groups.
Yep.
When he's just called them out and said all they care about is, is
their shall, their religion has become a means by which they dominate
the people rather than serve God.
And he has this line, they devour widows houses.
What is that about?
Well, oftentimes women would not receive inheritances.
Uh, if their husbands died, it would go to their sons and in some cases
the estates would be transferred to.
Teachers of the law, and they would run their estate for them as a
trust, but sometimes that would be mishandled and these poor widows
would suffer the consequences.
And so he's just mentioned this, talking about the most powerful
people in the temple and that he turns his attention to somebody else.
And I put continue here because oftentimes when we read the Bible,
we hit a chapter and we end the chapter and we think, okay, I'm done.
But the chapters work to help us understand what's, you
know, how to reference things.
But that doesn't mean that the story ends there, right?
And so I, I want, you know, as much as I love chapters and verses, I think an
unintended consequences, we read a chapter a day, you know, keeps God at obey.
I don't know, you know, we love this idea of keeping your chapter.
We stop, but the idea is the stories going.
And here we go in Luke 21, as Jesus looked up.
He saw the rich putting their gifts in the Temple Treasury.
He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.
Truly, I tell you, he said, this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she, out of her
poverty, put in all she had to live on.
He's comparing this widow to these teachers of the law, these Pharisees,
these Sadducees, these groups here.
That outta their abundance give.
And he says she gave hardly anything.
In fact, the coins that she's giving is what's known as a leptin
in Greek or might in English.
They're very small.
They're one 64th of a common day's wage.
And so I, I quickly did some math based on minimum wage here, and it's
basically like someone working a full day and just dropping in a couple
dollars and that's all they got.
And this is all she's got.
And when I say it's a very small coin, that's what it looks like.
These are very small coins
and this is what she has and this is what she gives.
And God is calling out these Pharisees who, man, they could write the big
checks, they could put it in there.
And he says, what influence should she have or what, what influence should
they have in comparisons to hers?
None.
And I think this is hard for us here in our politics.
You know who writes the biggest checks?
The biggest donors.
They get the seats, you know, they, they get the influence,
but that's not true with God.
Those who write the biggest checks don't, but those who give
the most outta their heart do.
So he's making this comparison here.
He's talking about these teachers of the law and, and they put
their confidence in their, in their vanity and in their wealth.
And here's this poor woman who, here's what she has, and she gives it.
And then the Bible keeps going into Luke 21, 5.
Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful
stones and with gifts dedicated to God.
Notice the disciples don't get it.
What's their focus right now?
Look at this temple, how magnificent it is.
Jesus just pointed out this woman who just gave two coins.
That's matters.
And what do they get excited by?
Man, look at this amazing building.
Look how awesome it looks.
So Jesus.
Is gonna help redirect them again.
I want to explain a little bit about the temple because again, uh,
most of us haven't been to Israel.
You've probably never seen a temple, uh, or seen the temple, uh, in
its heyday 'cause we were never alive because it was destroyed.
Uh, but maybe you don't know much about it.
This is a mockup in Israel.
It's a scale drawing because it has been wiped off the earth.
Um, it's almost a football field just to scale alone.
It's huge.
It's massive.
If you see that little door, I'll try to point out to you that little door,
that's the door you would enter in.
This is the road that Jesus would've taken.
Palm Sunday d enter as coming off the hill.
This is the heart of the temple is right here.
On both sides.
You have the gentile court and the Jewish court.
Uh, the gentile cord is where the woman could also go, which is where
she's putting her two copper of corns is, it's connected to the temple.
This is the temple mount here.
It's also being overlooked by heritage troops.
Oh, they did not like that, but it's a massive structure.
It's huge.
But to give you some concept and how big this is, I want you to just take a
look at these walls here and this large area, just to give you some context.
The size of the temple Mount is about 36 acres.
In case you don't know what 36 acres is, because, let's face
it, math and numbers and art.
Strong suit here in America.
I know this 'cause I'm a teacher.
Um, an acre is about the size of a football field.
So the temple mount is about almost 36 football fields.
The whole mount itself,
the walls, oh, the temple itself is twice the size of the Roman form.
So you haven't been to Rome?
The Roman form's massive.
The temple mount, the temple itself is twice the size.
The walls leading up to it are about 150 feet tall.
I try to find an object that's about 150 feet tall.
Just to get in comparison, the Arc Day triumph is about a
little over a hundred feet tall.
So if you get an idea of the little people there and how tall the walls
are, it's a massive structure.
So you could see why the Jewish people were very proud of this thing, but
also took a lot of security in it.
In fact, many people would swear by the temple.
Because they felt the temple was so strong.
And here's Jesus, you know, and here's the disciples going look at, look
how great this temple is after just commenting about this poor widow.
And Jesus is gonna come in and kind of obstruct them, because for them,
the temple is the center of Jewish worship for them, the temple is
what the Jewish nation has to live for, because that's how they see it.
This is where all the festivals are.
This is where the sacraments go.
This is where they see themselves.
Uh, getting forgiven is at the temple.
It's connected to their identity.
Even to this day, it's still connected to the nationalism and there's a lot
of expectation that the Messiah was gonna rule over Jerusalem and restore
this temple, and restore, uh, the nation, as the nation in the world.
And that was the expectation of this messiah, of wanting to be king.
Instead, Jesus is going to say, after all this gifts dedicated to God.
But Jesus said, as for what you see here.
The time will come when not one stone will be left on another.
Every one of them will be thrown down.
Mind blowing.
They could not perceive that.
You know, we hear all the time that empires rise and empires fall and
there are people go, the American Empire, it's gonna fall someday.
But we look at our military and our military might, I don't know
if you know this, anything about America, but the number one, uh.
Our, our air force in the world is our, the Air Force.
The second largest air force in the world is the United States Navy.
Amen.
We are massive.
Some people applaud this.
Again, we are massive in strength and so the thought that we could ever
fall, it's just like, what do you mean?
How could that be?
And when they looked at the temple and looked at the hot thought
that God is in his presence there, there's no way it could fall.
And Jesus going, every stone's gonna be overturned here.
This thing that you're trying to put your security in.
Don't, don't.
This is the rubble still left from that destruction.
You could actually see the burn marks on these rocks.
Now, what's hard is, is is the scale.
These rocks are about the size of cars, just to give you scale.
They're massive stones.
When Herod built this temple.
He did so out of his own ego.
He wanted it to be magnificent, one of the great wonders of the world.
And so the thought that this was gonna be destroyed, there's no way.
And Jesus is going, yeah, it's gonna go
teacher.
They asked, when will these things happen and what will be the sign
that they're about to take place?
So, man, this is crazy.
This is gonna happen.
When's this gonna happen?
And what's gonna be signs?
What are we gonna look out for?
And I wanna remind you that this is a conversation that Jesus
is having with his disciples.
He's instructing them.
Sometimes when we read the Bible, we think that Jesus is talking personally
to us, and that's good to some degree.
We want to hear the lessons that he has to teach.
But we also to realize that sometimes we're watching a conversation
between Jesus and his disciples.
There's lessons to be learned there, but just know there's a conversation
being had here and Jesus talking to his disciples because they have just
had their minds blown yet again.
By Jesus.
Now here's where we're gonna have some fun today.
There you go.
This is what's known as the All of It discourse.
Uh, there are many books on the next civil passages, uh, alone.
Just many books about this.
And I gotta try to sum all this up, uh, without getting too controversial.
And all of about another 15 minutes.
Um, so I might go an extra little five, but just know there's a lot to
be said here a lot and I know this.
And then we're starting to biblical prophecy.
Oh my gosh, which side are you?
Are you a millennialist?
Are you a post millennialist?
Are you pre millennias?
Which side?
And we jump into that place and I realize that.
So let me throw out an olive branch to you.
We can all agree no matter which side you wanna play here, we can all agree
that there'll be a time of tribulation.
We'll, we believe that Christ will return, the righteous will be
resurrected, and those not of God will be judged and separated from God.
We can at least agree on this.
So just know as we go down this road and I'm about to head down it.
If, if you start to get weighed a minute, wait a minute, just let's,
let's remember what we agree on.
Okay, just stay here.
You know, I might take us down a few rows, but we all agree
we're all brothers of Christ.
We'll all give each other hugs at the end.
Um, but here we go.
Come on, bro.
Come on.
I'm gonna try to keep this simple.
Uh, believe me, I, I started reading this and going down the hole, uh, this week.
I, I was asked last week to talk on this and, uh, Dallas looked at me with ever
eager eyes going, please cover this.
Um, I do not want to.
Uh, and I got it.
I understand.
But I wanna remind us that Jesus is giving pastoral care
and guidance to his disciples.
He's trying to help them, but there are some questions for our personal
application, for our lives here.
First, where do you put our security?
That's a great question to think through with this topic.
And the second, how are we supposed to live when life is outta control?
These are two great questions for your own personal heart and life
as we drive through this area.
Let's get into it.
First up, where do we put our security?
Do we put our security in our wealth, our honor, our reputation like the Pharisees
and the Sadducees and the teachers of law?
Do we put our temple in great structures, in great might in great
wealth, in great opulence, or we like the poor widow and put our security in?
God?
Alright, where do we put our security?
What matters to us most?
I was talking with, uh, Chad Hoffman last week and, and talking about the stock
market and, uh, in case you've not been paying attention, it has not been great.
Um, I stopped looking, but is that where my security's in?
Is that where my trust is in, where my trust in God?
And I think this story reveals that, which is why it's been put
there with these other stories.
But the ex part, how should we live when our life is outta control?
Let's get into verse eight.
Here we go.
The all of it discourse.
We'll see how this goes.
He replied, watch out that you are not deceived.
For many will come in my name, claiming I am he, and the time is near.
Do not follow them.
When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened.
These things must happen first.
But the end will not come right away.
Then he said to them, nation will rise against Nation
and Kingdom against Kingdom.
There'll be great earthquakes and famines and PEs and various places, and fearful
events, and great signs from the heavens.
So his first thing is, listen, when all this is starting to
go down, don't be deceived.
There'll be a bunch of people walking around going, follow me, follow me.
You know, the end time's new year, time is coming.
Here we are.
Don't follow them.
But also don't be frightened.
God's got this again, back to where do we put our security and how do
we live when life is outta control?
And then he goes on with that verse 10, about these nation will rise up against
nation and kingdom against kingdom
wars, earthquakes, famines.
And certainly we could see that in the last a hundred years.
We can look at the last two, two world wars and, and the war is in between.
And go, man, it feels like this is right now, but we could also go back 500 years.
And they probably would've said, you know, what it feels like right now.
And they would've also felt like that right after the
destruction of the Jerusalem.
And they would've been, it feels like right now.
And every society feels like this is right now.
And that's kind of the point.
It's the point of human condition.
Stay watchful, stay mindful.
But times will get tough.
But before all this, they will seize you.
And again, remember he's talking to disciples.
They will seize you and persecute you.
They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison.
You'll be brought before Kings and governors and on and all
on account of my name, and so you will bear testimony to me.
But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you'll defend yourself.
For, I'll give you words and wisdom and wisdom that none of your adversaries
will be able to resist or contradict.
You'll be betrayed by parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends.
They will put some of you to death and everyone will hate you because of me,
but not a hair on your head will perish.
Stand firm, and you'll win life.
But before all this takes place, you guys are gonna be persecuted,
but you're gonna bear testimony to me.
Even in the toughest persecution, you'll reveal God through it.
Sometimes when we're going through hard times, we feel like,
why am I going through this?
Why is this happening?
And God's going, you're showing my glory, and it says, you'll be betrayed by whom?
All the closest people to you, parents, brothers, sisters, relatives, and friends,
when you're trying to live this life, those closest to you will reject you.
Which is why it's so important that this church isn't just a congregation,
but we are the family of God because some people don't have family.
Uh, I help out in the campus ministry and one thing that's been very
different helping out with this campus ministry than my experience was how
many of them grew up in the church.
It's just different.
It's a different perspective that they have.
There are things that they see that I was like, I never saw it that way because
they grew up in a different environment.
When I told my parents I'm gonna get baptized, they were like, why?
My dad's first question, how much money has this church taken from you?
My dad's first question, I'm like, dad, I give a contribution.
Um, because again, it's an offering, you know, because again, they do a lot.
All right, as long as it's not too much.
That was my dad's full response.
My mom was like, how no, we're gonna go back to our church, come back.
Like, mom, you haven't been to church in 10 years.
Yeah, but we're gonna go back.
It was hard.
It was real hard.
And now the campus ministry is like, Hey guys, stop going home to your parents.
'cause stay with us for a little bit.
You know, hang out.
Like it's, it's a different environment.
'cause for their home life is, man, they're not being persecuted.
In fact, their parents are like, get out, go, go.
You know, it's a differing environment.
It's amazing.
To go home and pray with your parents.
What?
That's a thing.
Come on.
Who knew?
You can go share your faith with your parents.
Come on, go do that.
That's crazy.
We have to be the family of God for people here.
We can't just be a place where people come see us on a Sunday.
We give a hug and see you next week.
If we are, we've just become a congregation and we stop
being what God wants for us.
'cause some people need us to be a family.
Right.
And thus, that's what we need to be.
I'm gonna point this back out and that verse 16 says, they'll
put some of you to death.
Everyone will hate you because of me, but not a hair of your head will
perish, stand firm, and you'll win life.
Um, this verse had more comfort for me before I started
shaving my head, but amen.
Um, but the idea that they will put you to death.
But not a head or hair or perish.
And people go, man, look at Jesus.
He contradicts himself.
He's not that stupid.
He just said the same sentence.
He, he, he knows what he's talking about.
'cause what he's saying is, yeah, you might die,
but not the least bit of you will perish.
Not the least bit of you.
The thing that you know, in case you don't know, this hair is dead as it
grows up, as it gets outta your head.
I feel like an expert on hair.
I shouldn't be.
But as it gets outta your, your head, it's actually dead.
That's why you can cut it.
It doesn't feel anything.
And Jesus saying, even that won't perish because when you're with
me, stand firm, just stand firm.
Now you can feel like as you're reading this, man, this is a lot of defense.
Right now we're just being attacked.
That's all it is in Matthew.
It gives a little more context and the gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world and as a testimony to all nations.
And the mean will come.
Yeah.
But as this persecution ISS coming, as this harsh is happening,
my name will be preached.
It'll go out because of you.
Now, here's what's tough, and here's probably the controversy
with the olive discourse.
Is what's Jesus talking about is some people will argue that Jesus is gonna go
back and forth talking about the temple destruction and the end of the age and,
and so one sentence we'll be talking about the temple, another sentence,
he'll talk about the end of the age.
And that is one belief and there is a lot of great scholars and people smarter
than me that absolutely believe that.
I don't necessarily hold that view.
I think what Jesus is talking about is the destruction of the temple.
Yeah, so that's my personal belief and I, and I'm gonna walk you through why.
And again, we can Absolutely.
Again, we can go back to what we agree on.
There's a tribulation.
Christ will come, we'll all be good.
But I absolutely believe what this passage is actually talking about as a temple.
Not to say there's not lessons to be learned about our life and what's
to come, but I do believe this is a conversation that Jesus is getting
his disciples ready for, because that temple's gonna be destroyed and he's gonna
make sure they remind them that, hey.
I'll be gone after the resurrection, but you'll be here,
but everything's gonna be okay.
And I think that's the conversation.
But again, I recognize there's, there's great theologians on both sides of this.
But I'm gonna go with this is talking about the temple and,
and I'll make the case we can, happy to have a discussion later.
Here we go.
Verse 20.
When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you'll
know that its desolation is near.
Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains and let those in
the city get out and let those in the country not enter the city.
For this is the time of punishment and fulfillment of all that has been written,
how dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers.
There'll be great distress and land and wrath against this pe.
This people, they will fall by the sword and will be taken
as prisoners to all nations.
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the
time of the Gentiles are.
Fulfilled the church of Jerusalem was, you know, after Jesus resurrection became the
church, but then it's gonna be overthrown and its destruction will be imminent.
This is the arch of Titus.
It's in Rome.
It, it's celebrating a Roman general, the Roman general who
would conquer Jerusalem in 80 70.
So Jesus is gonna make this preach about this temple.
He says, some of you in this generation is gonna see it, and in fact, less than
40 years later, the temple is destroyed and it's destroyed by this general named
Titus who would be celebrated in Rome.
And in fact, on the engraving of this is this picture here.
Now, in case this is harder to see, I have a differing image of it.
And it's this.
This is the Romans carrying off the emblems from the temple.
They'll actually take the altar and burn, uh, sacrifices to the
Roman gods on the Jewish altar as a way of saying your God is nothing.
We've just conquered it.
And this is still in Rome today, the celebration of we conquered Jerusalem.
And so you can see how devastating this would've been for the early
church to see this temple destroyed and Jesus is warning them.
Yes, this will come.
And it'll be hard for people, in fact run fully to the mountains when it does
Verse 25.
There'll be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars.
On the earth.
Nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and the tossing of the sea.
People will faint from terror, apprehensive what is coming on
the world for the heavenly bodies will be shaken at that time.
They will see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift your heads
because the redemption is drawn near.
Now again, some people think he's just talked about the temple and
now he's talking about end times and and I understand the belief,
you know, these signs of the sun and the moon and the stars.
But he's actually quoting a differing verse, a verse in Isaiah.
By the way, I'm gonna come back to this son of man part.
I'm just pointing it out.
Don't worry, I'm gonna, I see it.
I'm gonna come back to it.
But I wanna read the verse in Isaiah that he's referencing and why I still
believe he's talking about the temple, because when we hear this apocryphal
language, man, it can be confusing.
Yeah.
What does this mean?
But we are also our 21st century people reading ancient Hebrew.
They speak a little different than us.
For instance, there's, there's 12 phrases in Hebrew that say None has
liked this before and none after.
Like for instance, in Josiah, there's no king like Josiah before,
and there's no king like Josiah.
After then Hezekiah comes in.
No king like Hezekiah before, no king like Hezekiah.
After we can understand apocryphal language, Jesus himself engages in it.
When he says things like.
If your eye cause you a sin, gouge it out.
I don't think he's literally meaning gouge it out, or You must eat in
my flesh and drink in my blood.
Again, I don't think he's saying that.
I think he's being hyperbolic here and I think we can understand that and this,
this language that they're using, he's quoting an ancient prove, uh, prophet that
also uses this kind language is trying to give imagery to something catastrophic.
So let me read to you, Isaiah.
Listen, a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude.
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms like, like an like nations massing together.
The Lord Almighty is ma mustering an army for war.
They come from far away, lands from the ends of the earth, the
Lord, and the weapons of this wrath destroy the whole country.
Whale for the day of the Lord is near.
It will come like destruction from the almighty.
The stars of the heaven and their constellations will not show their light.
The rising suns will be darkened.
The moon will not give its light.
See, I will stir up against them.
The meads, their bows will strike down the young men, Babylon.
The jewel of the kingdoms will be overthrown by God.
I think what Jesus is referring to, that this temple and Jerusalem has
become like Babylon and it's gonna be overthrown just like Babylon was.
I don't think the heavens and the stars stopped showing the
light when Babylon was conquered.
I think what he's doing is referencing a language that's apocryphal, that's saying,
Hey, this is gonna be catastrophic.
And I think when Jesus is referencing this verse here, he's
not talking about the end times.
I think he's talking about this destruction of this temple.
It's gonna be like nothing you've ever seen.
And in fact, it has been because that temple has yet to be rebuilt.
When Solomon's temple was destroyed, it was rebuilt by Ezra.
Whenever Ezra's temple was rebuilt it, it was done by Herod.
Since Head Edward's Temple has been destroyed, it has yet to be rebuilt.
2000 years later, I think that's what he's referencing
in verse 29.
He told them this parable, look at the fig tree and all the trees when they
sprout leaves, you can see for yourself and know that summer is near even.
So when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
Truly, I tell you, this generation.
Again, he's talking to disciples.
This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
Heaven, earth will pass away.
My words will never pass away.
He's looking as disciples and going, some of you're gonna
live, in fact, a generation now.
We go, well, what's a generation?
Think?
40 years.
40 years in the desert, you know, 40 years.
And in fact, we estimate the timeframe from this destruction is about 37 years.
He was almost to the year.
That this temple was gonna be destroyed.
He said, this generation will see it all.
You're gonna go through hardship.
So what's his response to them?
What's his encouragement?
Be careful.
Or your heart's we laid down with carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of life and that day will close on you.
Suddenly like a trap for will come on.
All those who live on the face of the whole earth, be always on.
Watch and pray.
So you'll be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you'll be able
to stand before the son of man each day.
Jesus was teaching at the temple and each evening he went out to spend the
night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in
the morning to hear him at the temple.
So what's our response to this?
What's, what should be their response and what should be ours?
Be careful.
Don't let our hearts be weighed down with all the anxieties
of life, but be on watch.
And pray, and I think that's still good advice for us to be on.
Watch.
You know, every time I get in the car, I put on a seatbelt, not because I'm
expecting to be an accident, although sometimes driving to LA I feel like it,
but I put on these seatbelt as assurance.
So every time I'm pray, I'm just putting it on as insurance.
God, I, I'm watchful, but I don't live in fear, but I also don't get
distracted by the anxieties of life.
Yeah,
so what are our practicals?
Wow, that was a lot.
I just sat through a bunch of prophecy and, and what does all this mean for me
today as I leave here on a Sunday morning?
Come on.
Well, I think first put your security in God alone.
If your security's in anything else, I think there's a problem.
Yeah.
I think our security can only be in God also, do not be seated.
Man, there is gonna be people that'll pop up all the time saying,
this is the way God should go.
This is the way we should go.
This is what's happening in the world.
This is what's going on.
No, we're gonna follow Jesus.
And as these things pop up, we're not gonna live in fear and in speculation,
but we're gonna be watchful and we're gonna pray and we're gonna stand firm.
'cause those who stand firm
will make it to the end.
Yeah,
I say I'll come back to the son of man.
So I start heading to communion.
I'm gonna take a detour into Daniel because the son of man
is the favorite term that Jesus loves to talk about himself as.
That's what he commonly refers to himself as.
He is the son of man.
What's this son of man about?
It's coming from a, a vision of Daniel in chapter seven.
And he has these vision of four great beasts, and each beast
represents a different nation.
And there's all kinds of beliefs on what those nations would be.
Is it, uh, the Babylonians and the the Mead Persians and
the Greeks and the Romans.
And you know, obviously it's apocryphal, we don't fully know.
But this idea that there's be this fourth beast that was more powerful than the
others that would ultimately be destroyed.
Let's read Daniel.
In my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like the son of
man coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence.
He was given authority, glory and sovereign power.
All nations of people of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom
is one that will never be destroyed.
I think the reason.
Jesus loved referencing himself as the son of man is because as he's
going through the hardship, he's seeing what's on the other side.
He's seeing that he will be given glory and sovereign power in all nations
and people will worship him and it will be an everlasting dominion.
I think sometimes in our lives we, we think of the timeline of our
birth and our death, and thus the beginning and the end, but Jesus is
reminding us here that there's a birth.
And there's a death.
But that's just a part of the timeline because the timeline
keeps going after this.
And I think that's what gave him encouragement because the son of
man was given authority by God.
He has risen up from death and destruction of this world to heaven,
and he's taken up the kingdom over the world and to think this is what
Jesus sees in himself as a son of man.
And I think this is what he sees as he's going to the cross that very week.
As someone who's gonna have to once again leave the death and destruction
even his own death, but he'll be risen up to heaven seated at the right hand
of God where he'll take up his kingdom and a dominion that will be forever.
As it says his, he was given authority, glory and sovereign power.
All nations and people of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away.
He may pass away, but his dominion won't.
Yeah.
Why?
'cause he'll be resurrected again and that kingdom when one
that will never be destroyed.
I think as we walk into communion here and we think through it,
what do we get out of today?
I think we get outta the fact that our security, once again
goes back to who Jesus was and is.
He was a man who walked with us, died for our sins and resurrected.
And his kingdom lasts forever, and we get to be a part of that kingdom
as long as we stand firm to the end.
Let's pray.
Father, as we come before you, uh, we are grateful, uh, for the love that
you have for us, uh, the love that given us and the hope that you bestow.
Father, as we, as we.
Walk through these final weeks or this final week of Jesus and in
these final days, um, we realize that they're not final days
because his dominion still stands.
Yep.
God, nothing can shake us with you And God, as we go to the cross, uh, we
see the son of man leaving death and destruction and rising up in power.
Uh, in resurrection and it gives us hope that our life isn't a
timeline of, of birth and death, but it's birth, death and beyond.
And father, I pray that we have the heart to put our security in you,
to trust in you, God, to not fear, to not give way, to speculation, but to always
have our hope in you as we watch and pray.
Waiting an expectation for the day we're reunited with you.
God, knowing that in you is perfection and ultimately perfect love.
And Father, we pray all this in your son's name.
Amen.