The Signs of Things to Come, Part 1

October 17, 2021 Preacher: Ace Davis Series: The Gospel According to Mark

Scripture: Mark 13:1-13

47:47

View .pdf transcript for easier reading

Resource: Map of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

temple, Jesus, Messiah, disciples, temple grounds, Jerusalem, Kingdom, verse, suffering servant, buildings, Mark, scribes, eschatology, Christ, marvelous, olives, gospel, false teacher, reign, stones

Table of Contents

Introduction.. - 1 -

1.The Destruction of the Temple. - 4 -

  1. The Double Question.. - 7 -

 

Introduction

Well, this morning we are continuing in Mark, the Gospel of Mark, as we've been working our way through this wonderful, glorious, amazing gospel, and we come now to chapter 13. Mark chapter 13. And you can see the title of this sermon here this morning is The Signs of Things to Come.

 

People as you know, are fascinated with the with the end times, and with end-time events. Throughout the centuries, many people have tried to predict the date of Christ's return. The most notable failed Bible prophecy predictor is the late Harold Camping in a radio ministry called Family Radio, and he made his first prediction that judgment day would be September 6, 1994. That obviously failed, that prediction. So, he had to revise it to September 29. Of course, that prediction was wrong. And then so he had to revise it again to October 2. And obviously, none of those were right, so he continued to throw out more and more dates. He later predicted the rapture would be May 21, 2011. And then the final destruction of the world would be on October 21st, 2011. But obviously, the man was wrong. He was wrong. After none of those predictions came true, he was labeled by the mainstream media as a false teacher. And according to one private interview that he did, after his failed attempts to predict the end times, he admitted finally admitted that no one can know the time of the rapture or the end of the world.

 

 All he had to do is open his Bible to Mark chapter 13, in verse 32. And read,

 

But of that day or that hour, no one knows not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (Mark 13:32)

 

And while it's true that no one can know the day or the hour, we can know the signs that are leading up to the end. And that's what we're going to be learning about here as we come to Mark chapter 13, as Jesus begins to teach His disciples about the end times.

 

And just to know the teaching that Jesus gives here, and Mark chapter 13, is the longest discourse by Jesus that's recorded in Mark. fact, it's the longest discourse that He's given after He's asked a question about the end times. We're not going to get through all of this this morning. We're going to get through a few verses here. And then we'll pick up again next Sunday. But if you haven't already, open your Bibles to Mark 13. And follow along as I read our passage for us, Mark chapter 13, beginning in verse 1.

 

  13:1 As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”     3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 6 Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and will mislead many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. 8 For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.     9 “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. 10 The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. 12 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 13 You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. (Mark 13:1-13)

 

What was it that Jesus said they do? They devour widows' houses. They devour widows' houses. And then Jesus showed His disciples how they devour these widows by taking them over to the Treasury in the temple. And having them watch a poor widow drop in all that she had. They took every last cent from this poor widow. The scribes will take all of this money from all of these people, from the rich and from the poor. And these guys would become rich off of this false system that they had set up.

 

Now, last week, we saw the final confrontation that Jesus had with the scribes and the Pharisees, as you warn the people and the disciples about the scribes who were false teachers. He declared them as false teachers. And Jesus said that you can identify these false teachers, you can identify the scribes by not only how they look, but also by what they do.

 

That's important for us to know. Because of all of the wealth that had accompanied the temple. The temple was a massive building that was full of beauty and splendor. Josephus, a Jewish historian compared the temple to a beautiful snow-capped mountain. It's marvelous. It was a beautiful, beautiful place.

 

Just to give you a glimpse of the beauty of this temple, the buildings there in the temple, were made of white marble. Some of the stones that were used to build this temple weighed over 100 tons. They were massive stones. It's still a wonder how they were able to move all of these stones and all of this rock. This was a massive place. Herod the great started the construction in 20 BC, to enlarge the temple, and his team of engineers built massive retaining walls that expanded the entire temple grounds. He was doing a renovation on the temple. Some have estimated the grounds the temple grounds there to be about the size of 25 to 30 football fields. It's a massive place, a large building, the entire eastern wall of this large main structure, there in the temple grounds that you would see peering up over the walls that were there in the temple, the middle there, that the eastern wall of this large building that was there in the middle of the temple, was covered with gold. Gold plates covered the entire eastern wall of this temple. So that as the sun rose up in the morning, the temple would be blinding to look at.

 

And it could be seen for miles and miles around. Luke 21:5 says, “it was adorned with beautiful stones and votive gifts”, gifts that people brought to the temple, they vowed over to the temple, beautiful gifts, the wealthy would come and they would give gifts of gold sculptures and gold plaques and other treasures they would bring to the temple. So, they would take all of these golden gifts and they would display them on the walls of the temple for everyone to see. It was a glorious place. It was magnificent. It was beautiful. And it was this massive, beautiful building that everyone could see.

 

The temple was recognized as one of the architectural wonders of the Roman world and the disciples obviously knew how much money ran through this place. A lot of wealth there in the temple, a lot of money ran through that place. They knew how magnificent this building was. But Jesus gives a prediction about this temple building, and about future events that are to come. That's what we're going to look at here this morning and next Sunday as well.

 

1.     The Destruction of the Temple.

 

So, let's look first of all at what Jesus has to say about the temple. Things that Jesus has to say about the temple, which leads to our first point, point number one, what we'll call the destruction of the temple, the destruction of the temple.

 

Look at Mark 13:1.   13:1 As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”   

 

Now notice there that Jesus is going out of the temple. He's leaving the temple grounds. Jesus came in on Wednesday morning. And as He came in from Bethany, He comes then into the temple grounds there on Wednesday morning, and He taught lots of people there are on the temple grounds. He had multiple people that He was teaching, He had multiple confrontations, then with the religious leaders, we have seen those confrontations that He's had as they come and attack Jesus and try and trap Him.

 

But His public ministry is now over. That's it. No more public ministry of Jesus. We remember from last week in verse 43, you can see up there in verse 43, it says, "calling His disciples to Him."  What happens there is that Jesus leaves the crowds, He leaves the crowds, He leaves the scribes and the Pharisees, and now it's just Him and the 12. And He showed the 12, what the scribes had done to this poor widow, as He brought them over to the Treasury and said, Look, guys, look at this false system that they built, look at the things that they have done. And then they leave.

 

They leave the temple grounds, most likely through the Eastern Gate there. And they would begin then to head back to Bethany. Remember, that's where Jesus and the disciples stayed. They didn't stay in Jerusalem, they made their way back to Bethany, and they would go and stay there. And so it's still Wednesday. It's still Wednesday, they leave the temple grounds.

 

But something happened just before they left the temple grounds that would prompt the disciples to make the comment that they would make here in verse 1. Hold your finger right here in Mark 13. And turn it over in your Bible, to Matthew 23. Matthew 23. Last week, we saw how Jesus told the scribes that their condemnation would be great because of their false teaching. But Matthew gives us a few more details of the account that takes place there as Jesus confronts these scribes and Pharisees. Look what he says in Matthew 23 in verse 38. Jesus says there, "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate."  It's left to you desolate. What is this house that Jesus is talking about here? Well, obviously He's talking about Jerusalem. You can see that up in verse 37, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her."

 

But what was at the center of Jerusalem? The temple was, the temple was the center of Jerusalem. It was the center of Judaism. It was the center of their life of everything that these people did. It was there, this beautiful, massive temple. And Jesus says, that it will be left to you desolate. It'll be devastated.

 

So back over in our passage in Mark 13, it's most likely this statement that would have caused one of the disciples who's speaking for all of the disciples to make this statement in verse one, "Teacher, behold, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!"  Teacher, do you see how beautiful this temple is? You see a marvelous these buildings are. After hearing Jesus say that Jerusalem and the temple are going to be left desolate, they can't imagine how something so marvelous and so amazing could be left desolate. Look, Jesus, these stones in these buildings, they're wonderful. These stones were massive pieces of white marble that laid the foundation for the temple grounds. And then the buildings that they're referred to, are there and the temple itself. They're the outer chambers, that are located there on the Temple Mount.

 

One of his disciples speaking for all of them, makes this statement on their way out of the temple, because they want Jesus to notice how marvelous the buildings are, and to get a response from Him about His comment about them being left desolate. Jesus, you said it's going to be left desolate. Jesus, look how marvelous how massive this temple ground is. How could something so marvelous, be left desolate? So, Jesus answered them in verse 2, look what He says there.

 

Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down." (Mark 13:2)

 

Jesus responds to the admiration of these disciples as they look at the beauty of the temple. And Jesus says, Yeah, look, you guys see all of this? You see these great buildings here? Why would Jesus ask this question? Of course, they see it. They're the ones who brought it up in the first place, right? Why would He ask this question?

 

Jesus wants them to look at all of the beauty and the splendor of these great buildings to put their attention on the magnificence of the temple. so that they understand and how great the fall is going to be of this place. It's going to be destroyed. Essentially, Jesus is saying, Look, do you see how marvelous these buildings are? Look at these massive stones, and the architecture and the glow. And all of the beauty of this massive temple, guess what, guys, it's all coming down. Every one of these stones is going to crumble down, not one stone will be left upon another.

 

What happened to the temple? It came down. It was all torn down. About 40 years later, in 70 A.D. the Romans came in and they conquered Jerusalem, and they killed millions of Jews, and they completely destroyed the temple, destroyed...the ruins set fire to the temple. And they tore down every stone so that not one was left upon another. And if you were to go to Jerusalem today, guess what? You won't find a temple. You want to know why? Because Jesus said, it's going to be torn down. And it was that whole system that they had established, that whole system that had gone so far away from the truth of God's Word so far away from the Gospel, it all came crumbling down.

 

The Romans they tore that temple down and they took all of the gold for themselves. That's why they set fire. They wanted to melt all of it. They melted all the gold and the silver. Then they took it off for themselves. And Jesus prophesied that that marvelous temple would be torn down stone by stone.

 

And it happened because what Jesus says, always happens. Why? Why was this temple torn down? It was God's judgment against the Jews. It was His judgment against the Jews. They had defiled the temple. Look at our beautiful and amazing and marvelous This place is. All of you come and bring all of your gifts to the temple. Widows, you bring everything you have, we will take it all. That false Jewish system that they had set up was destructive, was a destructive system. They defiled the temple and Jesus said they had turned it into a den of robbers.

 

You remember that they've turned it into a den of robbers. You have taken this place, which is supposed to be a house of prayer, where you are coming to worship God, and you guys have turned it into a den of robbers. It's all coming down. It's all coming down.

 

Do you think that they had stopped their false religion after they got rid of Jesus? Remember, they wanted to get rid of Him because He came and attacked their system, right? They want to trap Him and they want to get rid of Him. And after they do get rid of Him, and Jesus sends 40 days later, do you think they stopped their false religion? Nope. They kept it going. We're glad He's gone. Let's keep going guys. And they continued in their false religion. God said, That's enough. That's enough. And God's judgment came upon the Jews. As the Romans came in and completely destroyed. The temple, just as Jesus said, would happen.

 

It reminds me of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. Maybe you've heard of it before. Robert Schuller was the pastor there. The church was completed in 1981, costing $18 million. We're not asking for $18 million just so you know. $18 million was the Crystal Cathedral, it was flaunted as the largest glass building in the world. It is one of the largest musical instruments in the world, the Hazel Wright Memorial organ. With that'd be beautiful to listen to. But Robert Schuller was a false teacher. He' was a false teacher, who promoted self-esteem and positive thinking as part of his gospel, which is a false gospel. He was a false teacher. In 2010, the Crystal Cathedral ministries filed for bankruptcy. And they sold the cathedral to guess who? The Catholics... to another false system. They sold it off. The Diocese of Orange County there, they own it now.

 

Well, for the Jews, their temple wasn't sold off to the Romans, it was completely destroyed. And there is no temple in Jerusalem today. It’s a sign of God's judgment.

 

2. The Double Question

 

Let's move on from the destruction of the temple with point number two, what we'll call the double question. The double question, look at verse 3.

 

 "As He (Jesus) was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:3-4)

 

See Resource: Map of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount for a visual

So they make their way out of the temple, and then they would go down through the Kidron Valley, if you were to go out of the Eastern Gate there of the temple, you would go down into the Kidron Valley, and then you would go up on the west side of the Mount of Olives, basically two big mountains that are there, you would come out of the temple, you would go down this valley, the Kidron Valley and work your way up the Mount of Olives. And this next section here through the end of the chapter is what is called the Olivet Discourse, the Olivet Discourse. It's called this because Jesus now teaches the 12 disciples on the Mount of Olives as they sit there. Jesus walks ahead of them. Jesus goes and sits down in Matthew 24:3 tells us "and the disciples came to him privately." It's a private session.

 

Now remember, Jesus is not doing public ministry anymore. No more public sermons. It's now Him and the 12. He's focused on these guys. And they're sitting there and as they're sitting there, they would actually be on the Mount of Olives. They're 150 feet above the Temple Mount. And so, they would be able to look out from the Mount of Olives and they would look across the Kidron Valley and they would be able to see the Temple Mount there -- in its glory and its splendor and its beauty. There it is.

 

They would see the gold plates on the side of the temple, as dusk is now setting in. Mark tells us that there are four of His disciples who came to ask Jesus this question privately. You have Peter, James, John. Andrew, you have the inner circle of Peter, James and John. And then you have Andrew comes along. Which by the way, these are the first four disciples that Jesus chose; Peter, James, John and Andrew.

 

Now we don't know if the other disciples were listening as well. But most likely they were Jesus is not giving a public sermon here. He is teaching His disciples privately here. What did they ask? Two questions. Notice these:

 

  1. First of all, they said, When will these things be? Meaning when will the temple be destroyed? When is this going to happen?

 

  1. And second, the second question is, what will be the sign when all of these things are going to be fulfilled? Or as Matthew clarifies, for us, he helps us to understand this part of this question. Matthew says, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? They aren't simply just interested in the destruction of the temple, but they're also interested in the future and times.

 

Of course, they weren't going to go "Harold Camping style" and start predicting the date. But they're interested in end times, when is all of this going to take place? They wanted to know the signs that tell us that the end is near. Before we get into what those signs are, that Jesus gives them, we need to understand what these guys' eschatology would be. What is their eschatology? That is, what is their understanding and their beliefs and their view about the end times? We need to know what their eschatology is.

 

Now, remember, the whole concept that the Messiah was coming wasn't new, this is not something new to them. It's not like Jesus showed up and said, "here I am the Messiah." And they all said, well, what's the Messiah? No, they, they knew Messiah was coming. They understood it, they got it. The Jews believed that the Messiah would come. But they obviously had a different view than what you and I have now. What's their view of the Messiah?

 

Well, they would have associated the Messiah with the end times, with the end of the age, because for them, the arrival of the Messiah was one coming. It was one event; it was one arrival. That's it, Messiah comes and that's the end. To them, the Messiah would come, He would establish His kingdom. And that's it. They don't have in their eschatology, in their theology...they don't have two comings of the Messiah. They don't have two arrivals of the Messiah, like we have.

 

We know that Jesus came first, the first time as the suffering servant, right? That's what Mark's gospel is about...this suffering servant who would come. The Messiah would come as the One who would come and suffer and die. Why would He suffer and die? To pay for the sins of all those who would believe in Him. He came to be the sacrifice for our sins. He came to make the payment that you and I could not make for our sins. And He came as that sacrifice. And He came to offer salvation to all who would believe in Him.

 

And He says, repent of your sin and put your faith in Me. And if you do that, you will have eternal life, you will have life in the Kingdom. If you're here this morning and you don't know the suffering servant, come to Him today. Your sin has separated you from God... from eternal life, but He calls you to repent of your sin and put your faith in the Messiah -- in Jesus Christ -- come to Him today. And if you put your faith in Him, He will grant you the free gift of eternal life and you will be with Him in His kingdom forever. And He offers that to you this morning. Come to Christ. Give your life to Him, and you can have eternal life.

 

These guys didn't have a view of a suffering servant. But they thought that when He would come, He would come as the conquering King. That was their only view of the Messiah. But Jesus keeps telling them that He's going to do what? Going to Jerusalem to go and die. Guys, I got to go to Jerusalem to die. Got to go to Jerusalem to die. He tells them over and over again, guys, we're making our way to Jerusalem, and here's why... we're going because I'm going to die. They don't get it.

 

A dead Messiah? They don't know about that. We want the conquering Messiah. We want to conquering King. And so that's their view of the Messiah, that He would come and He would conquer. And He would rule and reign and establish His kingdom.

 

They also knew that there would be a time of tribulation, that there would be a day of the Lord, a terrible time in Jerusalem that would come before the Messiah would arrive and establish His Kingdom.

 

They knew that Elijah would come as a foreigner before the Messiah, because of Malachi 4:5, "behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the profit before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord."

 

They also knew that nations would rise up against the Messiah. But they knew in their eschatology, they believe that the Messiah is going to conquer them all. And they believed in a conquering Messiah, who would then gather up all of the Jews from all over the world, and Israel would be saved, the ungodly would be judged, and the Messiah would reign. And God's people would reign with Him. They believe that all the nations would then be subjected to them ... to Israel.  There is the Kingdom, Israel is now established, the Kingdom is established, the Messiah rules, and He reigns. That's their eschatology.

 

But they have a problem. They got a major problem. Remember back in Mark chapter 8:29?  Jesus questioned the disciples, and He said, But who do you say that I am? And what did Peter respond as a spokesman for all of the disciples?  What did Peter respond with? "You are the Christ" You are the Messiah. You're it Jesus. They know that He's the Messiah. And therefore, they're not looking for a Messiah to come in the future. Because here He is, He's right there amongst them sitting on the Mount of Olives. There's the Messiah sitting right in front of them. They still don't have an idea of a dead Messiah. They only know the conquering Messiah.

 

They don't have two arrivals divided by 1000s of years, as we understand. They have one arrival of Messiah, and here He is. And so, they ask, "when is this destruction of the temple going to happen? And what are the signs of the end of the age?" Because here You are Jesus, Messiah. What are the signs that tell us that You're going to set up Your Kingdom?

 

Remember, they want the Messiah to come and rule and conquer the Romans, who were suppressing the Jews at this time. That's their view of Messiah. He's going to rule and reign and take out all those Romans. That's right. That's our Messiah. And because of their eschatology, these guys think that all of this is going to happen immediately.

 

In fact listen to Luke 19:11. Luke 19:11. This is right before Monday, the triumphal entry on Monday. Here's what Luke 19:11 says,

 

11 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. Luke 19:11

 

These guys think the kingdom is going to be established. Now immediately, it's going to happen. That's their eschatology. And where do they get all of this from? Turn over to Zechariah 14. Zechariah 14. It's important for us to know our Old Testament, right?

 

We are a New Testament Church, but we must know and understand our Old Testament. We can't -- as we talked about last week -- "unhitch" the Old Testament from the New. It's important for us to know our Old Testament. Look at Zechariah 14 beginning in verse 1. This is in their Jewish Scriptures; they would know this and this would be taught. Verse 1

 

Okay, so there's trial tribulation, right coming upon Jerusalem. They know, they see this as coming. Look at verse 3: "then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations as when He fights on the day of battle." 

 

"Behold, the day is coming for the day for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you, for I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle..." there it is, right see the eschatology playing out. I'm going to "...gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured and the houses plundered, and women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.

 

Here comes the conquering King, nations will come against Jerusalem, but who's going to take them all out? The Messiah. Look at verse 4.  "In that day His feet will stand on" Where?  "The Mount of Olives" (exactly where they're sitting at this point in Mark 13.)

 

He will come. "Which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!      In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. For it will be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light.    And in that day, living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter."     And verse 9, "And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day, the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.

 

 

There's their eschatology. You see that? So, these guys can understand... they can see, okay? The city is going to be attacked, it's going to be captured, there's going to be tribulation that's going to come...Alright, we get that. And then verse 3 says that the Lord is going to fight against the nations. But Israel wins, we're going to win. Verse 9 says that the Lord is going to be king over all the earth, the Messiah is going to rule and reign. And then look at what it says in verse 11, "People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security."

 

These guys read Zechariah... their Old Testament, their only testament. And they think all of this is going to happen immediately. This is all going to take place. And here's the Messiah sitting right here with us, which means it's going to happen at any moment. So tell us, Jesus, when is this going to take place? And how do we know the signs?

 

Now quickly turn over to Matthew 24. Matthew 24. And look at verse 3. Matthew's account of this helps us to get a little bit more understanding of what's going on here on the Mount of Olives, as they're there sitting there, and look at what it says Matthew 24:3 "As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen?" (That is when is the temple going to be destroyed?) But look at the second part of their question, "and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"  (Matt 24:3)

 

What is the sign of your coming? Notice that word there... coming. That word in the Greek is the word parousia, parousia. Oftentimes you'll hear of the parousia of Christ. We talked about that. And when we say the parousia of Christ, it means the second coming of Christ

 

Because that word parousia means arrival. The second arrival of Christ. But that word parousia also means presence. So not just the coming of Messiah, or the arrival of Messiah, but the presence of Messiah. And where's the Messiah right now? Right in their very midst, sitting right there on the Mount of Olives.

 

He's in their presence. So here You are Jesus. Here You are Messiah. What is this going to take place? How soon is all of this going to happen? How immediately will we see all of this take place?

 

These guys didn't have a full understanding of all of the details, and all of the facts. They didn't have an understanding that there would be 1000s of years before His second coming. They didn't understand that there was going to be a church age, and that there would be a time gap. They didn't have a time gap in their theology. The reason why they asked Jesus this question is because they believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, is going to establish His Kingdom. And why would they believe that? Because they believed in the promises of God.

 

They believed in the literal reign of Christ, in a literal kingdom, just as has been prophesied in the Old Testament, they believe it. And although they don't understand all of the timing of it all, they did understand that Christ is going to establish His Kingdom, and that He's going to rule and reign. And that's why they ask in Acts 1:6, forty days after the resurrection, right before the ascension of Christ, before He goes back to sit at the right hand of the Father, what are they ask then? Lord, is it at this time You're going to restore the kingdom? Is it at this time You are restoring the Kingdom to Israel? These guys may not have known the exact timing, but they did believe in the promises of God. God said it's going to happen in His Word, and they believed it. And you and I should have that same kind of faith.

 

We may not know the exact timing. But Jesus said he's going to return. He's going to return. And Jesus said that He could return at any time. And if you believe that, which I hope you do, then I want to ask you this morning. How are you living your life?

 

Are you living daily to bring Him glory? Are you living daily to bring Him honor? Are you living daily in full submission and obedience to the Lordship of Christ, knowing that He can return at any moment? Because He's coming again! How do we know He's coming again? He told us in His Word. He promised us, and we, just like those disciples, we believe in the promise of God. How are you living your life? Are you living daily with a burden for the lost? So that they might hear the gospel and be saved?

 

The disciples didn't know the exact timing. That's why they have these questions for Jesus. But they did believe in His promises, and He believes in the promises that He gave to them where? In His Word.  They believed it.

 

May we live our lives in total dependence upon the promises of God, as we await the return of our Savior, the Messiah who's going to come again as the conquering King, just as He has told us in His Word.

 

Well, did the Jesus give them the signs of what is to come? He did. And what are they? Come back next week, and we'll find out.

 

Let's pray. Father, thank You. Thank You for Your promises. We thank You for the promise of Genesis 3:15. The gospel that was given there...that He will come and crush the head of the serpent, that the Messiah, Jesus, would come and conquer sin and death, that He would rule and reign as King overall. We thank You for the amazing promises that You have given to us in Your Word. Father help us to live lives dependent, and reliant upon the promises that You've given to us. Give us faith and strengthen our faith to believe in You. Lord, as we look at the world around us, and how it is crumbling, may we never ever put our faith in this world. But may we grow in our faith in You. We thank You for Christ who came the first time as a suffering servant who came to die on a cross for our sins, to bear the punishment for our sins so that we would never have to take on that punishment. We thank You that although He was dead, He did not stay dead, but He rose again on the third day. And that He lives today, and He sits at Your right hand and that He is coming again. Help us to live our lives in light of that marvelous truth. For Your glory alone, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

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