"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is such an honor to come together with you today for the study God's Word. I humbly ask you would join us in praying for our brothers and sisters who are facing severe persecution, that their witness would help to turn the hardened hearts of their persecutors, leading others to Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, knowing that their suffering would not be in vain, but rejoicing and glorifying our Lord.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is such an honor to come together with you today for the study God's Word. I humbly ask you would join us in praying for our brothers and sisters who are facing severe persecution, that their witness would help to turn the hardened hearts of their persecutors, leading others to Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, knowing that their suffering would not be in vain, but rejoicing and glorifying our Lord.
Many of us grew up playing childhood games outside with our friends, like tag, tether ball and hide and seek, where one person covered their eyes and counted while everybody else ran and hid. When the person who was counting reached the specified number, they would yell, "Ready or not, here I come!" I believe that directly relates to this section of the Olivet Discourse, the unexpectedness of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth.
This sermon is in response to the disciples question in verse 3, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" In verses 4 through 28, Jesus began giving them the general signs, triggered by the first of the signs, the abomination of desolation in verse 15. All of these signs come in a very rapidly, in brief period of time. Scripture tells us 1260 days or three and a half years. These signs are called the "birth pains," because much like child birth, they rapidly increase, intensifying as they get closer to the moment the baby comes. In this case, the signs which Jesus has been describing beginning with the abomination of desolation, culminating in the appearance of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.
I believe we are living in an extraordinary time, indicating the nearness of the coming of the Lord Jesus. The church, the body of Christ, is not only to meet the needs of it's members, but to fulfill the Great Commission, proclaiming the Gospel of Truth to the world, warning the lost and the deceived of the coming day of judgement.
As we return to this profound teaching from our Lord Jesus Christ, remember He is only hours now from betrayal and crucifixion on the cross. He is preparing His disciples for a very difficult time and, at the same time, giving them great hope. "Things may look dark, but don't you worry, because I will be back!" Indeed! Jesus is coming back, that is the blessed hope of every true believer.
Since the pandemic, people are fearful about their lives, about their health, about their jobs, wondering what the future holds. The Bible looks beyond the things of this earth and toward the glorious day when Christ returns, and eternal life in the heavenly city. Even though we are surrounded by a lot of bad in the world today, let us be reminded of the Good News of Jesus Christ. May these realities become the anchor of your soul.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank You for Your Word, this great truth, reminding us that we could be the generation to see the Rapture. Lord, help us to be alert, rightly read the signs of the times, to live in light of Your return, knowing it will happen without warning. While the unredeemed world is enduring the holocaust of the Tribulation, we will be rejoicing in Your presence. Lord, we pray for those who do not yet know You as Lord and Savior, that You will touch every heart, that they may come to Christ in repentance, confessing Him as their Lord and Savior, that they may be kept from that hour unmistakably marked by unbelievable terror, when the whole world is going to be destroyed.
We ask and pray in Jesus' name
Amen
Today's Message: Jesus is Coming! Are You Ready?
Jesus has already given us a lot of information about the signs of His coming, so that we have a general idea of that time. It's funny how we often anticipate questions, don’t we? It’s almost as if Jesus is anticipating the next question, "When specifically will He come?" Beginning in verse 36 and all the way down through chapter 25, verse 31, He speaks specifically about the "when," the time when it will happen.
This has been a fascinating portion of Scripture, dealing with the unmistakable, observable, visible signs that directly precede His Second Coming, that the generation that is alive during that period of time will see. The first thing, I like you to notice, is the sureness of the Second Coming. We can have a confident expectation of the Lord's return. In Matthew 24:33, Jesus said "When you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door." Jesus is coming back, and it will be known. To be clear, He is not talking about the Rapture, He's talking about the second coming.
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left."
Let's start with verse 36 and we’ll look at some specifics. Jesus begins by addressing the "when" issue head-on, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
He starts by saying "But of that day and hour no one knows," it's not known because God has chosen not to reveal it. God has His reason for that. So, the specific moment in time that it will occur has not been revealed, and there's no specific sign given. But we do know, whatever generation it starts with, it’ll end with. I imagine if mankind knew the exact moment, life would be dramatically affected, people who are prepared might suddenly be in a panic and may become godless, even godly people stumble. They might think the time was too short rather than to live every moment in anticipation, expecting His coming. So, the exact moment is not shared with anyone except the Father. Therefore, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is shrouded in secrecy. That's why He's told us what the signs are, He’s told us what will happen and He's told us to stay alert.
Interestingly enough, even though He says "no one knows," there still some people who think they can predict when Jesus is coming back, if they can just calculate it correctly. The problem with that is, how do you do you calculate something that cannot be known? The other problem that often arises, in people understanding this verse, Jesus says "not even the Son knows." Some use this to claim that if Jesus doesn't know, then He's not omniscient, meaning He is not God. That's not how we should understand this, Jesus is God. God incarnate, God in the flesh. By veiling His deity, He deliberately chose not having access to the day and hour of His return, does not make him any less God. Besides, we know He was omniscient on some occasions.
Each member of the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have unique roles. The Father ordains the time when the Son will return, while Jesus, the Son, obediently returns and accomplishes His work of rescuing His own and judging sin. Jesus’ knowledge in His incarnation was qualified by what the Father had revealed to Him. The Father was constantly revealing things to Him. We also must understand the dual nature of Jesus while He was on the earth, He was both fully human and fully divine. One-hundred percent God and one-hundred percent man. Jesus willingly submitted Himself to certain human limitations, in order to live fully as a human being. The natural world does not know it and neither does the supernatural world, "not even the angels of heaven," even as close as they are to God. The angels are around the throne of God. Even though He is God and is fully worthy of all glory, becoming human, He became a "little lower than the angels." The angels are very involved in the gathering in of the godly and the ungodly at the tome of Christ's coming, yet, God has not chosen to reveal it to them. We're not privy to His reasons, so we have to just accept that it cannot be known by mankind, or the supernatural beings.
In Philippians 2 Paul says, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
In verse 37, He says "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah."
He's saying that people will be living their ordinary lives, doing ordinary every day things, that is until suddenly, something drastic happens. It will happen very suddenly, like an earthquake or tsunami, and people will be caught off guard, totally unprepared. In the days of Noah, Noah preached and preached, he warned the people about needing to repent and to turn back to God, they would not listen. They carried on with their normal everyday lives, and when the flood suddenly came, everybody drowned, except for Noah and his family who entered into the Ark. I do not know when Jesus will return; but I am certain that He is coming again, and only those who have safely entered into Christ will be saved from the Great Tribulation. That's why the Lord wants every generation to live in expectancy of His return. We don’t know what generation it’s going to come upon, are you ready? True Christians will live in preparedness.
I've often been asked, "What is He waiting for? Why doesn't He just come back and put an end to all this sin?" Sin has run its course. It’s hard to imagine looking at our world today that the fullness of sin has not yet run its reckless course, but it's true. There’s another reason, He's waiting for all those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life to receive salvation. God doesn’t keep a clock, He's waiting until all those who will be saved are. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." What seems like a long time to us is no time at all to God. How foolish are the scoffers who say He's not coming back, there’s evidence every day, all over the world. Believe me, when the time is right, He will come, because God's Word says He's going to come!
Numbers 23:19 says, "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" Not only do people not know the day and the hour the Lord is coming, most of them don’t even care. Even with all the things that are going on in the world today, and everything’s going haywire, it’s almost impossible to believe. But it's true. The natural world is blinded by Satan, they don't even see the signs of His coming. The same is true even with many religious leaders, who haven’t got a clue about what God’s doing, they're still preaching man-centered messages rather than warning people of the impending day of judgement. Just like in the days of Noah, he preached for 120 years and still people ignored the truth, they didn’t believe a word of it until they were washed away in the flood. Listen, Jesus Christ will come at a time no one knows and when He does, He is going to judge the wickedness of this world, only those who are in Christ will escape.
Look at verses 38-39, "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be."
I've had a number of people say, "What's the big deal, those aren’t sins." That isn't the point, it simply means even though faithful preachers are preaching the Truth, warning people to get right with God, life will go on as usual. I often hear people say there's going to be a revival, people are going to wake up before Christ returns. Well, that's not what Jesus is saying here, there will be some who come to saving faith, but the masses will continue to live just as they always have, going on with their normal routine as if nothing is happening.
You know what happened when the flood came? Noah and his family went in the ark and he shut the door. So shall it be for the coming of the Son of Man. It will be just the same way for all the people who have been warned and warned, until it's too late. People are still being warned right now and yet, many are not going to wake up, until it's too late. Some will be saved during the Tribulation, but they will be left to endure it, in that time, the true believers are going to be afflicted and they’re going to be murdered for the faith. No other persecution in history will even begin to compare with this.
That brings us to verses 40-41, "Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left."
Some people will be left and some will remain in the midst of their routine of life. There's been much debate about whether those taken away will be those taken to judgment or whether those taken away will be taken to glory. Some people say this means they'll be taken in the Rapture. The problem with that is, this is long after the Rapture. It has to mean they were taken in judgment. When the flood suddenly came upon the earth during seemingly ordinary events, who were swept away in the judgement? The unbelievers, the believers, Noah and his family were preserved. Remember verse 39, "they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away." True believers will be preserved in the day when the Lord comes too. I believe there will be some who will call upon the name of the Lord in time to be saved. The ones who are left will be those who live through the reign of terror of the Antichrist to populate the Millennial kingdom, along with those who believed before that during the Tribulation. The Lord knows who to leave and who to sweep away.
That's in verse 42, the Lord says, "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming." We'll look deeper into that next time.
In Closing..
Some of you are thinking, "I know I'm a sinner, I'm not right with God, but I will wait until the last hour, then I will repent. I still still have plenty of time." Do you really? This could well be the generation that will see the Rapture, the Tribulation, the sign of the Son of Man coming on the clouds. Are you absolutely certain that you will recognize that moment He is coming? Jesus says "No know what day or hour the Lord will come, "not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone...For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah." Are you correctly reading the signs of the times? This is not some fictional fairy tale, as some would like to believe, this is fact. This could be this generation that sees His return.
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ today, you're not prepared. Only those who recognize that He is coming will be ready. At that moment, every knee will bow to His Lordship. Why wait? Get right with the Lord Jesus Christ, while you still have time. Any one of us could be struck down by a vehicle, or have a heart attack and die before today is over. None of us know when or how we will die, only that we will. Unless we're taken up in the Rapture first. I pray that you will take advantage of this opportunity to confess your sin, and accept Him as your Lord and Savior.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved