Chapter 16--Solving One of the Bible’s Greatest Mysteries
Do you ever hear adults talking about how bad the world is getting? Some people believe that things are going to keep getting worse and then the world will come to an apocalyptic end with disasters of biblical proportion. Those are big words that mean the whole world will come to a crashing end. But is it true? Put on your detective hats because we are going to see what the Bible clues are.
In the Old Testament, the prophets foretold that there would be a Day of the LORD. This day was going to be disastrous for unbelievers because they would get the punishment that was coming to them. But it would be a good day for believers because it meant that Jesus would be the ruling king and Eden would be restored on earth. But the Old Testament prophets did not foresee that Jesus would come twice—once to do the work of salvation and become the king and then again when he comes at the end of time. To them those times were all smooshed together. They thought the beginning of his reign and the final end would all happen at once.
When Jesus was on earth, he was talking to his disciples one day and he told them about how Jerusalem was going to be destroyed and how the temple would crumble and be burned and the whole city would suffer under God’s wrath because they rejected Jesus. God was going to put an end to the Old Covenant and make it impossible for them to carry out their sacrifices and temple worship. The disciples thought that when this happened, it would be the end of time: As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” But Jesus told them that although Jerusalem would be destroyed relatively soon, the end would not come for a very long time.
In Matthew 24, Jesus told his disciples that he was going to come back twice—once to judge Jerusalem and destroy it once and for all, and then again at the end of time. If you read the first 35 verses of that chapter very carefully, you will see that Jesus is talking about what will happen just before the destruction of Jerusalem. There would be earthquakes and famines and wars and plagues like the world had never seen before. Even the stars in the sky would appear to be falling out of control. These are the things that were going to happen when Jesus was formally introduced to the world as the King of all creation. The entire creation would recognize the ruling King who was ruling for the very first time as a man. He called that period of time ‘the great tribulation.’
There was a historian by the name of Josephus who recorded all these things as they happened around A.D. 70. There were comets in the sky and meteor showers that made it look like the stars were falling out of the sky. Famine took over the entire Roman empire which had never happened before. People were dying by the thousands from plagues and sickness. Even the ocean went crazy and there were major tsunamis and earthquakes. The Romans went after the Jews and destroyed Jerusalem just the way Jesus said they would. Toward the end of the Jewish War, people from all over the city came and reported that they had seen the armies of heaven in the clouds above Jerusalem and even heard the voice of God! So Jesus did come back on a cloud but not all the way to the earth! He came in judgment of the Jews who crucified him.
But back to Matthew 24—you will notice a shift in verse 36. Jesus says, “BUT concerning THAT day and hour no one knows.” We know he is talking about the end of time now because the word for the second coming is a different word in the Greek. What Jesus tells them then is a shocker: “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.”
Looks to me like people were having a pretty good time. There is no reference to wars or famine or plagues or cosmic shifts or even global warming. People are partying for crying out loud! Peter tells us the same thing. He says it will take a very long time for the end to come—not because God is slow to fulfill his promise, but to make sure all the elect have time to repent. And then he says Jesus will return like a thief in the night! In other words, people will NOT be saying, “the end is near.” They will feel so secure that they will be asleep.
So here is the point: the great tribulation has already occurred. That doesn’t mean that things will never get bad again, but we don’t have to live in fear of cosmic disasters. We don’t have to look for any signs of the second coming, BECAUSE THERE ARE NOT GOING TO BE ANY SIGNS! A thief in the night does not give you clues that he is about to rob you! Jesus is going to come back when everybody least expects it. So children, be ready every day. The outrageous, scandalous grace that you have been reading about is coming in its fulness.
In the meantime, continue to have your tea parties
and your spaghetti dinners
and all your good times. Enjoy the life God has given you and DO NOT BE AFRAID of the future.
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