The End of the World and the Age to Come

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Speaker: 
Andrew Fountain
Date: 
Sun, 2019-08-04
  • We answer 12 common questions about the events leading up to Christ’s return, the day of judgement, and the age to come, with a focus on Matthew 24 & 25. We then consider what the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins really means, and how it challenges us.

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Sermon Outline - The End of the World and the Age to Come

Goal

To answer common questions and give us clarity about what happens between now and the end of the age.

  1. List some common questions
  2. Work through the answers in relevant Scriptures
  3. Focus on the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
  • I risk making enemies today!
  • Please let’s not get divided on these things
  • I’m sure all of us need to grow in our understanding of this subject, including me!
  • So if we are going to disagree, let’s do it in love & humility!

1. Some Common Questions

  • Before the Last Day:
    • Could Jesus come tonight? Could he come in secret?
    • Will there be a “Secret Rapture” before the end?
    • If I die before Christ’s return, what will happen to me?
    • What about Near Death Experiences?
  • Day of Judgement
    • Will Christians be judged?
    • What of people who love God but never heard of Jesus?
    • Is there a reward? and for what?
  • Heaven
    • Will we have material bodies?
    • What will we do with our time?
    • Will married people still be married? male/female?
    • Will we recognize each other?
    • The same personalities (including irritating parts?)
  • Jesus introduces the subject of his return in Matt 24
  • He has just been talking about suffering before his return.
    • v.27 is like the title of this new section, and then he describes how it will happen

Matthew 24

  1. For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.…
  2. “Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
  • Governments falling & chaos. 2 Thess 2:3 says the day won’t come until a revelation of a great evil
  1. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
  2. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
  • Not very secret!
    • but will people be surprised?

Matthew 24 cont’d

  1. For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.
  2. For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark.
  3. And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man.

Matthew 24 cont’d

  1. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one left.
  2. There will be two women grinding grain with a mill; one will be taken and one left.
  3. “Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
  4. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
  • So: this is all one event.
    • Idea of a “secret rapture” is based on this verse, but it does not accord with v.31
  • If I die before Christ’s return, what will happen to me?
    • “Sleep” is often used to refer to death, but that is just describing the body
    • Jesus said to the thief next to him on the cross “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”
    • Paul talks about being with Christ if he dies
    • We don’t know about unbelievers—not enough information to be dogmatic
  • What about Near Death Experiences?
    • It is undeniable that people, both Christians and non-Christians can have very vivid experiences when they were thought to be dead but revived later.
    • The fact that these experiences exist is a serious challenge to atheism
    • But the stories they tell may sometimes be interpreted into their own beliefs, so we can’t take them as concrete truth.

Day of Judgement

  • Will Christians be judged?
  • What of people who love God but never heard of Jesus?
  • Is there a reward? and for what?

Matthew 25:31–46

  1. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
  2. All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
  3. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
  4. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
  5. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
  6. I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
  7. Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
  8. When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you?
  9. When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
  10. And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’
  11. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!
  12. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.
  13. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
  14. Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’
  15. Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’
  16. And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

ESV

  • Every single account of the day of judgment tells us the basis will be on whether we love.
  • But it is not the love that makes us good enough, it is the evidence that Jesus is in us
    • I recently returned to Canada, and at the airport joined the line for returning Canadian citizens
    • Can you imaging it if the office said “you don’t look Canadian enough, let me hear you say “eh”!
    • I had to show my passport. It is the evidence that marks me.

1 John 4

  1. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God,
    and whoever loves has been born of God
    and knows God.
  2. And we have come to know
    and to believe the love that God has in us.
    God is love,
    and the one who resides in love
    resides in God, and God resides in him.
  3. By this love is brought to completion with us,
    so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,
    because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.
  • You need God residing in you! v.16
  • Another illustration would be a dna test.
  • You don’t get to heaven by trying to love, but by having God’s Spirit in you, producing love.
  • You need to be born of God!
  • Keep asking him for this gift until you know he is living in you.
  • What of people who love God but never heard of Jesus?
    • This is a difficult and contentious issue
  • Salvation is only through Jesus
    • But in the Old Testament they didn’t know his name
    • Yet they trusted in whatever God revealed to them. E.g. Abraham
  • Now that Jesus has been revealed, once someone has heard the gospel, things are clear cut (Act 17:30)
  • Acts 10:4 Cornelius, a Roman had a vision: God had heard his prayers and would send someone to explain the truth to him.
  • Eastern China, Gladys Aylward tells of a Buddhist monitory where they had found a fragment of paper with John 3:16 on it and had been praying for years for God to send someone.
  • In the high mountains of Baltistan, an explorer/missionary called Jock Purves told a story of as he was travelling he had a message from a dying man.
  • A man in the outback of Australia saw a piece of newspaper blowing across the barren land
  • Not till heaven will we know the full story of God’s creativity
  • Man in the Scottish highlands...
  • Rewards?
    • Yes, apparently.
    • All of us will have full cups, but some will have bigger cups
    • Parable of the Talents suggests it will be about responsibilities

Heaven

  • Will we have material bodies?
  • What will we do with our time?
  • Will married people still be married? male/female?
  • Will we recognize each other?
  • The same personalities? (including irritating parts?)

Goal

To answer common questions and give us clarity about what happens between now and the end of the age.

  1. List some common questions
  2. Work through the answers in relevant Scriptures
  3. Focus on the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

Matthew 25

  1. At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
  2. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
  3. When the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take extra olive oil with them.
  4. But the wise ones took flasks of olive oil with their lamps.
  5. When the bridegroom was delayed a long time, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
  6. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is here! Come out to meet him.’
  7. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

Matthew 25 cont’d

  1. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’
  2. ‘No,’ they replied. ‘There won’t be enough for you and for us. Go instead to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
  3. But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was shut.
  4. Later, the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, lord! Let us in!’
  5. But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I do not know you!’
  6. Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Questions

  • What is the cultural background?
  • What does the oil represent?
  • Who do the foolish virgins represent?
  • What are we supposed to learn?
  1. Cultural Background: two celebrations
  2. Oil: Danger of trying to spiritualize everything in a parable.
    • There are two other parables that mention olive oil
    • The clever businessman in Luke 16 who marks down 3,000 li of olive oil at a half price discount.
    • The good Samaritan in Luke 10 who cleaned up the wounds with wine and oil.
    • It cannot mean “You are in trouble if you use up all your supply of the Holy Spirit and have to go out and buy more”
    • It does not have a mystical meaning, but is simply part of the story.

The foolish virgins

  • The foolish virgins had missed the whole point of what their purpose was.
  • They were joining God’s people outwardly, but had not even thought through why they were there.
  • They don’t represent Christians, but those who are caught up in the Christian lifestyle but are not actually ready to meet God.
  • How foolish is that!

Meaning of the Parable

  • Wisdom is defined by being prepared for the age to come.
  • So what is wisdom?

“Living as a wise human means being prepared for God’s reign.

Readiness is an attitude, a commitment, and a lifestyle.

It means living in ways that comport with the character of the kindom and being faithful at all times.”

Stories with Intent by Klyne R. Snodgrass, (Eerdmans 2008) p.518

How do we get oil?

  • Mormon President Spencer W. Kimball:
    “In our lives the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living. Attendance at sacrament meetings adds oil to our lamps, drop by drop over the years. Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites…”
  • Revelation ends with something very different:
    “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price…”
    He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
    The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
  • I challenge you to be wise, and make sure you have come to Jesus for oil
  • Does your life in tune with the fact that this world will soon be gone?

Updated on 2019-08-04 by Andrew Fountain