Let the Shepherd Lead

Originally Proclaimed: 04/14/19

Intro:

• When I was in one of the later grades in elementary school, I remember the teachers sending home assignments to read a passage and then write a one sentence summary of the passage.
• Their goal was to help us to summarize the contents and put down only the main idea of the passage.
• Throughout my time in school, I can remember doing my homework under the close supervision of my Mama.
• As we got to those assignments, and Mama read my long overly descriptive sentences she stopped and shared this phrase with me.
  • She said “you have to see the forest for the trees.”
  • Then she proceeded to tell me that every detail was like a tree.
  • My assignment was not to describe each tree.
  • My assignment was to describe what made the trees a forest.
• While it took time and practice, I still often think of that phrase when I am trying to figure out what ties a number of individual items together.

Hook:

• As we come to today’s passage it is easy to become focused on one detail of this debated passage and miss the forest of information that we can see when we try to tie this passage together.
• My goal today is to share with you the four major items that tie this passage together.

Message Points:

• As we have celebrated this morning, Jesus entered into Jerusalem seemingly with the entirety of the population welcoming him as their coming king.
  • The emotional climate of those shouting Hosanna doubtless led many who may have only scarcely known Jesus to join in the excitement.
  • Further those who gathered at the Triumphal Entry expected that Jesus would come as they expected to overturn the Roman rule and the oppressive rule of the Sadducees  who colluded with them but further reinforce their Jewish identify and traditions.
• As the events of the week proceeded instead of opposing Rome, Jesus has opening refuted challenges from all forms of Jewish leadership.
  • But this does not deter the excited believers from thinking he has come to purify or reestablish a Davidic kingdom.
  • Even as we pick up with chapter 13 presumably on Wednesday of Holy Week, one of Jesus’ disciples in verse 1 marvels at the magnificence of the temple.
    • Like so many in his day, this disciple echoed the words of a Rabbi who said, “he who has not seen the temple in its full splendor has never seen a beautiful building.” Surely Jesus could see the benefit of such a place for God. (France, 496)
    • But the disciple also commented on the massiveness of the stones. And truly the temple was a marvelous symbol of human engineering. It has stones reportedly as large as 45 cubits that comprised its structure. Forty-five cubits would be about 25 yards or the red zone of a football field. Surely Jesus could see the permanence of the structure.
    • This attitude betrayed the belief that this disciple and many others could not imagine the Messiah coming to abolish the need for the Temple.
  • And yet verse 2 tells us that Jesus’ response was to foretell the total destruction of the Temple so that those large stones would be toppled and thrown down.
    • Jesus’ prophecy was not haphazard or coincidental. He purposefully foretold the end of the temple to emphasize that something better was coming.
    • Jesus wants his disciples to see and understand the significance of the sacrifice He was about to make.
    • His sacrifice would be so great that there no longer would need to be a Temple for a daily schedule of sacrifices to remove sin.
    • Jesus would be the only payment required for sin to be removed.
    • Because of Jesus, the Temple’s time of prominence is over.
• That is the first major theme that ties all of this chapter together. In the introduction to the End Times in the first four verses, Jesus’ theme is that there is Someone more massive and marvelous than the Temple. (13:1-4)
  • Verses 3-4 further reinforce this concept as the four leading disciples – Peter, James, John, and Andrew – come to ask Jesus two questions.
    • They want to know when the end of the Temple Age will come.
    • They also want to know the signs that lead to the fulfilment of that prophecy.
    • They cannot conceive of a Judaism without a temple, and they have not yet come to understand the centrality of Christ for salvation.
    • So their question opens the door for Jesus to offer this teaching time.
  • So, whatever else chapter 13 discusses it must be drawn naturally from the discussion in this context about the end of the Temple Age.
    • Some interpreters thus look at chapter 13 and say that all or a majority of the text deal primarily with events that occurred in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the temple. So for us today this chapter describes past events not future events.
    • This approach ignores the trend in Hebrew prophecy called typology. Darrell Bock describes typology in this way, “prophets often referred to a short-term judgement in such a way that I pictures what the final decisive judgment will be like. Thus the temple destruction pictures a period of intense disruption that is like the end. One event is the pattern for the other or mirrors the other.” (Jesus According to the Scriptures, 338).
    • The problem with seeing much or all of what is discussed here as in the past is that until Jesus comes in His glory, we will constantly deal with different “temples” of humanity that claim to be more massive and marvelous than Jesus.
    • But we must also avoid such a future perspective to these signs that we would begin to make definitive statements about current events. For instance every generation has labeled some leader as the antichrist only to have to reassess that upon the leader’s death.
• In any case let’s move on to the beginning of Jesus answer.
  • READ VERSES 13:5-13
  • Notice with me that Jesus describes these are the beginning of the birth pains in verse 8.
    • Jesus is comparing this major transition to something greater than the temple with the labor that brings forth a baby.
    • While Jesus did not have the term Braxton Hicks contractions, I think this aptly describes this stage. The pain is real, but genuine labor is far away.
• That is Jesus 2nd Theme that ties this passage together. Jesus’ 2nd Theme is that believers must persevere through many pains (13:5-13)
  • What signs are those that we should see as Braxton Hicks contractions? I listed them on your notes page but let’s briefly talk about each one.
    • Even as early as the latter NT we see a struggle against false teaching beginning (13:5-6).
    • Similarly there has always been wars and rumors of wars. This sort of terrorism of what might happen has always been around (13:7).
    • World War and the bloodshed that comes with it is nothing new in the world (13:18a).
    • Natural Disasters and the want and poverty created by them  have occurred throughout history (13:8b).
    • Even for believers, throughout church history there has been a pattern of Isolated Persecutions and Death (13:9, 12-13).
    • Further, as the persecution occurs, the gospel has Spread to more and more nations. Once it reaches every nation then we may have something more definitive to discuss (13:10-11).
  • These signs show up in every age and generation. Whenever they appear, they hurt and cause suffering, but they do not automatically lead to the arrival of a new age.
  • Note with me as well Jesus’ parenthetical comments in this passage.
    • In verse 5 he warns that we should “Watch out that no one deceives you.”
    • In verse 9 he tells us that we “must be on your guard.”
    • In verse 11 he says that we should not “worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”
    • Finally verse 13 tells us that “everyone will hate you because of me but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
  • Just as those Braxton Hick pains will be present in every age and generation, Jesus’ encouragement to endure must be present in believers in every age and generation.
    • Friends we cannot look at the descriptions of the end times expecting to escape all pain.
    • We must look at the descriptions of the end time so that we will be strengthened to persevere no matter what trial may come our way.
• Jesus now transitions to describe the Genuine Labor to Deliver the New Age (13:14-27).
  • READ VERSES 13:14-27.
  • Rather than speaking directly about the destruction of the Temple, Jesus speaks in a typological way so that his words about the destruction of the temple also apply to the events of the end of the age.
• This is another of Jesus’ themes in this passage. Jesus’ theme is to speak to his generation and to every generation (13:14-27).
  • How does he do this? Let’s look over those major signs he describes and see how they appeal to both audiences.
    • We commonly look at verse fourteen and assume it speaks about the Rise of the Anti-Christ (13:14)
      • That said, notice Jesus speaks about “the abomination that causes desolation”.
      • This reference comes from Daniel 8:13; 9:27; 11:31 and 12:11 each one referring to a force that will trample the temple and take away the regular offering. In Daniel this was a reference to Antiochus Ephiphanes of Syria.
      • In 70 AD, during the Jewish revolt, the Romans surrounded Jerusalem, attacked in, destroyed the temple, and effectively ended the sacrificial system.
      • But notice what Jesus says “let the reader understand”. This points towards a typological understand which allows us to also look forward to the ultimate abomination of desolation – the Anti-Christ.
    • Next we look to the Flight of the Church (13:15-18).
      • Verse 14 begins alluding to this saying that those in Judea should flee to the mountains.
      • Notice the urgency and temporal examples Jesus uses in verses 15-18.
      • In 70 AD as the Romans began their march to Jerusalem, many reports tell us that Christians left the city and the area, moving to areas where they could avoid the conflict and continue to practice their faith.
      • In a typological sense this could refer to the rapture of the church, however one might describe that event.
    • Jesus then goes on to describe a Great Worldwide Tribulation (13:19-20)
      • Whatever happened in 70 AD with all of the bloodshed and the cataclysmic shift that the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple meant for Judaism is but a type of the type of shift the great Tribulation will bring.
      • When we read that the distress has been “unequaled from the beginning” as well as the phrase “and never to be equaled again” it seems difficult to see any time of tribulation as great as this language requires.
      • So these verse seem to look more to the future, though we are told the Lord cut short this tribulation for the elect. Jerusalem’s siege was for the relatively short period of five months.
    • Notice that Jesus prophesies that there will be many false Messiahs during this age. These leaders provide signs and Wonders to Confirm False Teaching (13:21-23).
      • During the leadup to the Jewish rebellion in 66 AD a number of leaders arose who convinced the people to rise up against Rome with all sorts of messianic hope and signs to reestablish a Judean kingdom. His disciples would have to be on guard against such false messianic claims.
      • The boldness and brashness of these leaders to revolt against Rome claiming God’s blessings were the main reason for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70AD. So plain was the spiritual connection that the Romans forbade the rebuilding of the Temple or the continuance of the name Jerusalem. They renamed the ruined city Aelia Capitolina.
      • But the important verse to read is verse 23. Jesus again tells us that no matter what false teachers or seemingly confirming signs arise, we should be on guard because he has warned us.
    • Notice that in the days following that distress there will be certain Heavenly Signs (13:24-25).
      • In his most typological language Jesus foretells the dramatic change that will occur using imagery from the prophets, especially Isaiah 13:9-11.
      • This is language of divine judgment that points to the end of a seemingly natural order like the stars darkening, falling, or being shaken.
      • From 70AD forward Judaism had to change because Temple sacrifice ended.
      • The end of the Temple age had come, in the same way that this “church” age will eventually come to an end by the hand of God.
    • Jesus finally describes Herald Signs – using the image in verse 26 of people seeing the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. (13:26-27)
      • This is an almost direct quote of Daniel 7:13-14 where one like a son of man comes with the cloud of heaven to the Ancient of Days. He receives dominion, glory and a kingdom so that all peoples, nations, and languages can serve him.
      • Seeing that AD 70 marked the end of the 2nd Temple Judaism this period also marked more plain focus upon the authority of Jesus.
      • His prophetic words in verse 2 are confirmed, and after 70AD there is a new freedom for his apostles, evangelists, and witnesses to gather in more and more of the redeemed from every corner of Creation.
      • But typologically this points to the ultimate return of Christ in fully realized power to establish his Heavenly kingdom.
  • Thus Jesus speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem in a way that speaks not only to His audience but to every Generation.
• So we now come to the final theme and overarching theme of this passage. These final verses tell us that Jesus wants us to  Watch for Jesus and Be Ready for anything! (13:28-37).
  • He does this with two specific examples.
  • He talks about a fig tree and how when it gets tender you know summer is near.
    • Verse 29 teaches us any time we see these signs of genuine labor should alert us that major change is coming.
    • Verse 30 tells us that in Jesus’ generation they would see those signs and the Temple Age would end.
    • Verse 31 points to the importance of Jesus typological words. They were for his generation but for every generation by His words will never pass away.
  • He also talks about the day being like a man going away, putting servants in change telling them to keep watch.
    • Jesus begins by sayi8ng that no one but the Heavenly Father knows the hour of such cataclysmic changes whether for the Temple or the structures of our day.
    • He tells the parable, to emphasize that we as believers have a task though he is away.
      • Keeping watch is not only about looking at the times but about living in a way that points other people to Jesus.
      • Keeping watch is doing what will please Jesus no matter what.
    • He wants his servants to be at their task no matter when He might come back.

Conclusion:

• So here is the forest of God’s judgement – There is only one way to be prepared and to watch out for what is to come.
• To do that we must turn away from any safe space we think we have in this world and turn to Jesus alone for our refuge. That is how we watch for Jesus.
• Will you turn to Jesus today for your refuge?