Not Signs (Matthew 24:4-14)
Jesus begins the Olivet discourse by telling His disciples what NOT to look for. The things that would NOT be signs that the end was near. “See that you are not led astray.” Many people since the time of Jesus have come to the church claiming to be the Christ, or claiming to see signs that the end is near. One thing you can be sure of is that these people are wrong. Jesus listed many things that would be normal events in the age of the world to come between His declaration and the end:
False Messiahs
Wars
Rumors of Wars
Famines
Earthquakes
Tribulation against believers
Martyrdom
Apostasy
Betrayals
Lawlessness
All of these things, things that many throughout history have seen as signs of the end, have come and gone. Many today declare how unbelievably bad things have gotten, and yet they are nowhere near as bad as the days of the Black Plague, the holocaust, or even our very time in other parts of the world where persecution against Christianity is real and not just perceived.
Persevering through all of these things is part of what we are called to do as followers of Jesus.
What Jesus does say will come, and must come, before the end of the age, is the proclamation of the Gospel to all nations. But notice, this is a sign and not a condition to be met. While some see signs of the end around every bend, others see here in this last statement a chance to trigger the end. That too is a mistaken interpretation. God alone knows when the end will come, and it is not something that we can cause to happen. The Great Commission is an ongoing, standing order, not the sort of mission that can be accomplished. We share until the end, we do not, through our sharing, bring about the end.
False Messiahs
Wars
Rumors of Wars
Famines
Earthquakes
Tribulation against believers
Martyrdom
Apostasy
Betrayals
Lawlessness
All of these things, things that many throughout history have seen as signs of the end, have come and gone. Many today declare how unbelievably bad things have gotten, and yet they are nowhere near as bad as the days of the Black Plague, the holocaust, or even our very time in other parts of the world where persecution against Christianity is real and not just perceived.
Persevering through all of these things is part of what we are called to do as followers of Jesus.
What Jesus does say will come, and must come, before the end of the age, is the proclamation of the Gospel to all nations. But notice, this is a sign and not a condition to be met. While some see signs of the end around every bend, others see here in this last statement a chance to trigger the end. That too is a mistaken interpretation. God alone knows when the end will come, and it is not something that we can cause to happen. The Great Commission is an ongoing, standing order, not the sort of mission that can be accomplished. We share until the end, we do not, through our sharing, bring about the end.
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