The scripture reading is from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 24:29-51. And in God’s providence, he has brought you here today to hear his word read, amongst many other things he has brought you for, but one of which is to hear his word read. So give your attention to God’s word.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Amen. You may be seated.

Your congregation, I come to you now. We come, I should say, to the end of chapter 24, which is a chapter that is devoted to teaching us about the end of two ages, we might say. Chapter 24 is sort of the last part that begins maybe the last part of the Gospel of Matthew before our Lord Jesus transitions towards the time where he will be crucified and where he gives the institutes, the Lord’s Supper and such, and things of that nature which will come at chapter 26.

Chapter 24 comes obviously after chapter 23, where Jesus gives the seven woes to the scribes and the Pharisees in regards to their sins and how they have led the people astray, and how it was faulty and the bad fruit that it bore. Jesus also gave a lament over Jerusalem at that time for the people who he wanted to bring to himself that were unwilling because of their hardness of hearts.

And Jesus says, “And because of these things, there will be judgment upon you and this in this time and these people.” Jesus then in chapter 24 tells his disciples regarding the temple and the city of Jerusalem as they look at those things. This most important physical space to them was the temple. Jesus says, “You see this temple and how beautiful it is. You need to know something that not one stone upon it will be left. It will be destroyed.”

His disciples asked him an honest question which many would ask, especially if you lived then and had grown up with the temple and its importance. They said, “Can you tell us what this will be like? What’s it going to be like at the end of the age when you return? And how are we going to know it’s the sign of that?”

Jesus tells them in verse 4, and of course to the reader, to see that no one leads you astray. And in verses 4 through verse 15, to the end of verse 14, he gives his disciples a teaching and teaches them not what the time will be like at the destruction of the temple but what the age will be as he is before his coming and before his final return.

He talks about how they are to live in that age as they would be after his ascension, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. That age before he returns. Here’s how they are to live. Now in verses 15-28, Jesus then turns specifically to the destruction of the temple and to the city of Jerusalem that he has promised would come. He tells them about that, regarding the abomination of desolation.

That was last week’s sermon. Now, if you want to know what I think about that, you need to go listen to that sermon because I can’t recap it, as there’s so much to be said and more to be said, I’m sure, than was even said then. But to suffice to say what he promised was that the Roman armies would surround the city of Jerusalem and they would destroy the city and destroy the temple that was there, and it would be left in desolation.

It would be a disgusting act. Yet it was for the reason it happened in God’s providence and ordaining of things was as a judgment upon Israel for its walking away from the Lord, its covenantal breaking over many generations and the ending of that age that was to come. That happened. You can read about this event, that while it happened after the New Testament and after the time with the apostle Paul, it is indisputable that what Jesus said would happen in this chapter did indeed occur.

Now, when we come to verses 29-51, we’re going in one sense back to where he started, which is referring to the future. So let me say that again. This section he’s going to talk about is going to refer to the period of time that is near; that he’s going to refer to in the age where we live now, which is to say, before he returns.

He’s going to talk about that last day when he comes. So, he’s going back to where he started, but that time period he’s going back to talk about is, in fact, referring to the future, and that’s where we’re going to look at now. For the sake of time, because I’ve only got, I don’t know, was it two hours for this sermon? Yeah. Three? Three. Oh, good, good.

So what we’re going to do though is look at these verses in an overview and then I’m going to close with application—so an overview going section by section and then looking at what Jesus is saying and then close with application.

So first we will start with verses 29 through 31. Jesus is telling us here again, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days,” again referring back to that period where the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. Stars will fall from heaven; the powers of heaven shaken.

This is referring to cataclysmic events in the natural and the created order. And he is telling us that after the tribulation of those days—referring as you remember back in verses 3-4 of the difficulties of things that would come—that there would be social difficulties, even relational difficulties, and there would be wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, but fighting within personal times, that false teachers would rise up, and this would be a time of tribulation throughout it.

In some ways, we can also see that Jesus is telling us that this, in fact, will be like the period before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It was a time of great turmoil and suffering, and in many ways the tribulation of those ages, as we look at them and think of them individually and even collectively are helping us to understand what is coming.

He is telling us that as it was described throughout the Old Testament in referring to the end of days, the last day, as second Peter would describe the end of time—that it’s cataclysmic and its figurative language means that the time is going to be where it will feel like everything is falling around you.

He’s using language like this to help us understand because it’s something you can’t comprehend now. There will be a last day, and there is a day coming, but what he is telling us is that it will feel like that thing you understand that is most stable; the very thing itself is going to be shaken and disrupted.

The earth itself, you will see the sky split in two, and Jesus will return. He tells us that then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, which is referring to Daniel 7:13-14 where it says that one of the ancient of days will come on the clouds of heaven, and that is referring in Daniel 7 to Jesus and his return.

The Apostle Paul tells us about this return in 1 Thessalonians 4 that there will be a shout, there will be a trumpet, and the angel of heaven, and the skies will split, and the Son of Man will return. Jesus even says he’s going to send out his angels with the trumpet call, and they will go and gather his elect from the four winds—from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

What is he telling us? That the nations will see, and this event will be universal and cataclysmic, where the order itself is being shaken and disturbed. This again fits with Old Testament prophetic words about the end.

What else will happen in this time? Well, the nations will mourn because they will realize that the judgment that has been promised by Christ is coming. The nations see this and mourn because they know that Jesus Christ has returned. This is the end. There is no more time, and the elect are being gathered by Christ. He is sending out his angels to go and gather his people.

Now, in one sense, the nations mourn, but when you hear this as a Christian, isn’t there a level of comfort that comes because you realize that Christ is with us now and has not forgotten us? He will come, and he will bring us to himself, and he will save us from the judgment that is coming upon the world because, in him, the judgment to our sins has already been given in full upon him on the cross, and the power and rule over us was broken in his resurrection.

But I’m going to come back to that. The nations will mourn, and the elect will be gathered.

Now Jesus also is telling us though in verses 32 and 35 that we need to think about this, and we need to understand how to live and think about it because that’s going to happen. But the question, of course, that they asked was, “Well, when is that going to happen?”

Well, in verses 32 and 35, he says, “I want to give you understanding and give you a lesson from the fig tree.” What does he tell us about a fig tree? Well, the fig tree is not peculiar in one sense to this illustration, but because it was so common, it is helpful that they would have understood then.

He is saying that you know what’s going to happen with the fig tree, that its branches become tender and that when it starts to bloom, and you see the fig tree bloom, you know that’s going to happen. It does every season that when you see that, you can know one thing: that summer is near, and you can also be certain that summer will come because it is a guarantee.

It’s more of a guarantee than the fig tree itself would bloom, and he is saying that it is certain that it will happen. In fact, verse 33 states, “So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.”

What is he saying? The things that you would see, yes, in verses 15-28, when you see those, you know it is near. But also the things that he mentioned in verses 3-14— it is near, and it’s a certainty that it has happened and it will come.

What you can know is that throughout the age in which we live, it will be a time where there will be what? Wars and raging of wars and nations fighting against nation. There will be sin. There will be those who will try to deceive. All of the things that are said, these things happen, and they happen in each generation.

In fact, you might think second Peter addresses this— that people would say, “Oh, where has Christ been? When is he going to return?” But as we go forward and have lived many years since Jesus said this, have you ever considered that those things that he said would happen have happened in every generation?

It is common. It is regular, and one thing that is telling us is that when you see it, it doesn’t tell you that it’s necessarily the last day, but it is a reminder that the last day is coming because things are happening exactly as he said.

As every generation goes forth, these things occur, and it is a reminder to you when you live that we are getting closer. We are getting closer with every passing day to the return of Christ. And he says that that generation that is alive then will not pass away. In other words, what he said would happen in 70 AD, it happened. And what he says will happen at the last day will happen.

God has ordered and ordained all things that will come to pass. And even how things will go and progress, God has ordained that. That generation that would be alive cannot fall away, cannot pass away because he won’t allow it. It will unfold as he says. Nothing can disturb that. What he promised then will happen, and what he promises for the future will come.

Take your lesson of that when you see the fig tree, right? That you can know when you see the signs that it’s telling you that what is coming will come.

Now in verses 36-43, he gives us another example. If you look at verse 35, he sets this up in another way, stating, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” So he concludes it by saying what is certain to you is to know that my words won’t pass away and that they will come to bear and it will play out as I said.

He gives an example of that by talking about the days of Noah. Now in verses 36 and 43, he states, “It’s like the days of Noah.” When Noah lived, God made a promise and told him to build an ark, and in that, he would house his family, and they would be safe there.

Noah was preaching; Peter talks about this in his epistles. Noah’s life was, in many ways, preaching and shows us things about the end, which is to say that as Noah lived in his day and was building a boat on dry land, when rain and flooding did not seem to occur, they often saw this happening. But every day it was a sign and it was a proclamation through the words and a sign to them to say there is a day coming when this is completed, and you can know that.

But how did the people then live? They lived as if nothing was going to happen. They had no care. They looked at Noah and they scoffed at him. They thought he was foolish. They would have thought nothing of what he was doing. They went forward in their lives exactly the same as if there had been no warning. As if there was no warning to them that the last day will come, and you must be ready and you must know that it will.

They went about their lives. Jesus says they were marrying and giving in marriage. They were eating and drinking, which is to say they did exactly what normal life is like, but with no thought that there was an end. That day came upon them suddenly.

Now you say, “Now, how could that day come upon them suddenly?” They were unaware in verse 39. The flood came and swept them all away. You say, “How could it have been sudden?”

Well, it was not sudden in the sense that it was promised to come, but for those who ignored it, when it started raining, it felt sudden, didn’t it? Because all of a sudden, “Oh no, it’s happening. The thing he said was going to happen.”

And Jesus is saying you must understand that the end, the return of the son of man, will be exactly like that if you are not willing to follow him. If you will not turn to him, you have heard of this. There are people who have lived and come to church, or they have read books or they’ve looked at the Bible, and they’ve lived decades and thought they have known of this.

Yet suddenly they find themselves at the end, or suddenly maybe they were cut short quicker than they thought, or their life ended before they knew. Those who grew up in the church and thought, “It’s okay to live and to walk away,” or kids or teenagers even in the church now who in their heart have thought, “I have heard of this. I’ll deal with this later. I want to be respectful maybe of my parents and think on this thing.”

But what will happen? “Oh, I’ll deal with that later.” And yet the end comes quicker than you’re ready for. Or those who live their whole life thinking they will deal with things and they will go forward and address matters of real importance of spiritual things. They look up, and all of a sudden, they’re elderly and they’ve not made peace with God or have not considered what would come.

Or they think, “Okay, now that I’m elderly,” or “Now that I’m in this stage,” or you fill in the blank what that could be. They look up, and what happens? Judgment comes because it is appointed to every man to die and face judgment.

That is a preview of how you should understand that last day because there will be people who will live, and people will live this way all the way to the end, up until the generation that is alive when Christ returns.

As an aside, Jesus makes it clear that no one knows when that day is. No one knows. The angels don’t know, and no one knows. So, you cannot live as if you are ready for that day. And so they do this; there will come a day when they will be alive, eating and drinking, and doing everything in life, and a trumpet will sound throughout the universe, and then it will be known what will happen.

It will become clear on that day where you stand with the Lord. He says then uses the example that there will be two in the field; one taken and one left. There will be two women at the mill; one taken and one left. This is not referring to a secret taking away; he’s using an example of separation, meaning the separation that will come.

On that day, when judgment comes, there will be a separation based on what? Well, not their gender, not their money, but based on Jesus himself. The separation at the last day, when Christ would come, will be based on him. It will not be based on anything else other than you and Jesus.

And that doesn’t put aside anything we might say. But when it comes down to your eternal soul and your eternal destiny, Jesus is saying the separation that marks a distinction ultimately is where you stand with Christ. And that’s what he says.

He is saying in that vein, don’t put this off. Don’t live Christian as if there’s nothing you need to consider. And don’t live outside as if you don’t need to come to Christ. You must prepare because nothing will stop this from happening. You must understand the plans and the works and the intentions of God cannot be thwarted based on other people’s efforts and labors and works. You cannot stop this. You must be prepared.

In verses 43 and 44, he tells us something else. But know this: if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you must also be ready for the Son of Man’s coming in an hour you do not expect.

Okay, so anyone who thinks they’ve got this figured out, Jesus says, you don’t know. This is helpful, by the way, as we put all this chapter together. When someone says, “I think we can assume at the end,” you don’t know. That’s the thing to always remember. Jesus has made clear that you cannot know when this will be.

He says that if a person had known and did nothing, they would be careless and foolish. But so what then can you know? That he will return. You can know that he will, and so you should prepare. To not prepare would be foolish and even disobedient.

Now he closes it out with this in verses 45-51. He says, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?” He is now referring to those that were prepared, those that the master has used, that he has called into his service.

Verse 46 states, “Blessed is the servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” What does it mean to be prepared? What does it mean to be wise and to be faithful servants? Well, it shows you first that this is a clear bond to Christ. It’s a servant who is awaiting his master who is doing the work that his master has set before.

Right? It is someone who is bound to him, whose heart is tied to their master. In other words, what it means to be prepared is for your heart to be united to Christ. But there is more to say; but it starts with that.

Being prepared is having your heart united to him. But it’s also looking and seeing that it’s doing what the Lord calls. The faithful servant, the wise servant is what the master has set in his household who will reward them. It’s the one who the master will find doing what he says when he comes—doing the things he’s told him to do.

That is what it is to be wise. That is what it is to be faithful, which is to say that’s what he means by being prepared. Your heart believes and trusts in Christ, and your hands are doing what God has called you to do.

What does it mean then the opposite? To be foolish would be to be unprepared, to be idle. That’s the example he gives. A wicked servant says, “My master is delayed. He’s not coming back. He’s not returning anytime soon. And so what can I do? Well, I can use the authority. I can use my position of privilege. I can act as if I am entitled to things and can live how I feel. I can live with others how I feel.

He eats and drinks with drunkards and beats his servants. He thinks he has no authority over him. He’s been granted everything to use as he feels. That is foolishness, and that is being unprepared because his master will return.

To be found in this position exposes where he is in his heart. And what will end for him will be not to be rewarded and given all that he hoped to have. He thought that would be blessing and good, but it will be to be under judgment and to be cast away from the presence of his master—to be cast away from the presence of God and to be tossed into everlasting hell.

Jesus tells us that this is how you need to understand the end. You need to see and be prepared. You need to see these signs that will exist as a reminder to you that the end will come. You need to know that the gospel will go forward. I’m summarizing all of chapter now, by the way. Sorry.

The gospel will go forward to all places. The Son of Man will, in fact, come, and he will be known. He will be seen. It will not be a secret return. You can know that in the meantime there will be a fulfillment of what I’ve said—that the city of Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed. It will come under judgment as he had promised, and it happened as he promised.

You can know that these things will go forward. You may not know, and you will not know when that will be, but you are to live prepared, remembering that it will happen.

So, what is the application? I’ve got 10 points of application. I counted this time, and I’m going to go fast.

First, when you think of this chapter as a whole, and you think about the teaching that might tie it into what happened at that time which Jesus talked about before 70 AD, both periods can be looked back upon and thought about in this way: they’re teaching us how we can live now in an age where there will be tribulation, there will be difficulties, and it’s ultimately this: do not live in a slack manner.

It’s to know the truth of God’s word, to prepare for the coming of Christ, to prepare your heart to meet with him even now—to be united to him and to teach and to learn and to instruct. Remember that when you think about what you take away from this chapter, it is teaching you about what is to come and how you are to live, which is to not live slackly, but to know and to prepare and to be aware of what is ahead of all.

Number two: the judgment. You may know this. What is the application? Remember the judgment will come, and particularly for the unbeliever, it will be a day of ruin. It will not be a day of rejoicing for the unbeliever. It says that the nations will mourn. Consider what he is saying.

When the Lord Jesus returns, it will be mourning and sadness and gloom and despair for those that are outside of his kingdom, for those that do not know him. You must know that he tells you that it is a day of ruin for an unbeliever. I say that with no joy in my heart that that day will be a day of ruin.

But as a minister and to proclaim the gospel, it is to tell you, you must know what this will be like. You must know it will be a day of ruin. You must know that if you live and relate to those that are in the days of Noah, thinking, “I’ve heard of this. I’ve known of this. I might have been raised in the church and think all is well,” you must examine and deal with your heart.

One of the ways you do that is knowing that it will be a day of ruin. I would say that to the world to understand that this day is coming, and it will be a day of ruin. Let that sink into your heart, and pray that the Lord would grant you an understanding of what that might mean.

But also, you can know this: it’s actually a day of joy. How so? For the Christian, because it says that God will send his angels to gather his elect from all places. Yes, the dead will be raised in Christ, but on that day they will be gathered and will be raised, and he will gather his elect from the four corners of the earth, from all under heaven.

The gospel promise that he made will go forth. It will bear fruit, and he will gather those people from everywhere. But what will happen when he gathers them? They will gather before him. When we take in the collective works of the Scriptures, it is telling us that in the last day comes, and when we are raised to everlasting life in Christ, we, those that are alive, are gathered to him, and we meet him in the air when all things are what they are.

We will be in the presence of the Lord. We will be with Jesus. That will be a day of rejoicing before him, at his feet, before his throne. This is what Psalm 30:5 gets at: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Joy comes when we are with Christ. It is a day of ruin and is a day that brings weeping if we consider our state outside of Christ, but it brings to us joy to know him.

What else can you know? Remember, God keeps his word. God keeps his word. He will not revoke his promises; he will do everything he said. He keeps his word, and time is only confirming that reality.

The time in between the return of Christ doesn’t diminish the truth of the Word or make it seem less reliable, but only proves it more because it’s continually being proven accurate in its promises and how things would be as it tells us of life in each and every age and period we live in.

God is doing that. He is sending his gospel forward, and yet there is hardship for Christians. God keeps his word. Now if he keeps his word, in these other things, he will most certainly keep his word to the end, where he will return.

So then the next point is this: you should have confidence, dear believer. Have confidence in him. To the unbeliever, I should say when you see and hear that God keeps his word without Christ, that should be something that brings a thought of horror if we’re to live outside of him because he does keep his word of judgment.

But he keeps his word to his people and brings them the good that he has promised. He won’t revoke those promises. Therefore, dear Christian, you can have confidence because he says that the most stern reality that you know—the most stable thing you have in life—can be, it can be shaken to its core.

But do you know what doesn’t change? Do you know what is not changed and is not going away? The earth itself could be dissolved by fire, as second Peter says, but the word never changes. There is stability in the word of God above anything else because it is God’s word, and God is unchanging.

We can look to that. So, Christian, have confidence in the word of God to do what he’s called you to do—to keep going forward in what he has told you.

The next thing he tells us we should apply is to not put off what he has said. Don’t put off what he has said. Christian or non-Christian, don’t hear and say, “That’s the end of all things. I’ll probably be dead by then, so I’m not going to worry about it.” No, that’s not how you live.

You think, “Well, but if I am alive, it’ll work out pretty good for me, so I don’t think about it.” No, we don’t think that way. We don’t cast off truths of God’s word as if they have no matter to us. We don’t put this off. We think about it.

We consider it. We ask the question to the non-believer: why put this off? Why put off the words of Christ? Why think that I’ll think about this later? No, he is telling you that you may have time, but you don’t know how much time you have.

The next thing is to be prepared. What is it to be prepared? It’s to know him, to know his word, and to have your heart united to his. It’s to share of his gospel. It’s to live in a holy and godly manner.

But it’s also to prepare by doing the things he set before you to do, which, in one sense, we—what could that be? Well, it is to read his word; he tells us, instructs us to be in his Word.

It’s to pray. It’s to come to worship and to be fed and to be nourished upon the word and prayer and sacraments. But it’s also to do what he has set before us, which is the very things that we look at and know of the Scriptures.

It’s to, if you’re a parent, to raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That’s how you prepare. We are instructed in the Scriptures. We would pray for young covenant children, that they would, would we, that they would hide their words in his heart that we might not sin against him.

Oh, would we do that? But we would pray that for our children. Parents, one way to help your children prepare is to teach them the word.

It’s to instruct them, and you could do the other things. What else could you say? What has God set before you? Husbands, love your wives. Wives, respect and honor your husbands. Be a faithful worker. Be truthful. Be honest. All the things that you would look at, you would say, “How do I prepare?” You do what God’s called you to do.

That’s how you prepare. You continue to do those things. You don’t get bent out of shape when you see something because you know that the end will come as certain as the Lord has said these other things will happen.

So we do what he has set before us, which is to say ultimately this in closing: don’t live a lazy, self-consumed life. If you take away anything from this, isn’t that it? Don’t live a lazy, self-consumed life.

Which is to say, you can spend your life doing only the things that bring you pleasure, using other people, even if need be, to bring you pleasure. Don’t do that. Live a life devoted to the Lord. Yes, come to him in faith, and all the things we’ve said.

But as you go forward, ask, “What must I do? What does God want me to do?” Live a life for his glory.

Which is to know him, to love him, to understand him, to worship him, to feed upon his word, but also all the other things that he has set before you. Whatever you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God.

Rather than being self-consumed, live for his glory and live for the good of others and sharing of Christ with them, and all of the other things we could say.

But put off being lazy and self-consumed. Be prepared in knowing the Lord and serving him faithfully. That is ultimately what we would see our life as a Christian is between now and when Christ would return.

So, let’s pray to that end.

Father, we do thank you that you give us instruction in your word and you teach us. We do not know the full details, Father. You have chosen not to disclose that to us because, as your word says, the secret things belong to you.

But what you do want us to know, you have revealed. For that, we thank you and we praise you. We pray, Father, that we would put our sins off, that we would be repentant, and that we would believe and trust in Christ.

I do pray that that would pierce our hearts that while it is such a heavy calling and burden to see us putting off our lives for Christ, it can only be done by the help of your Holy Spirit. So, Holy Spirit, help us to that end to live faithfully to you all of our days. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.