[Note: This sermon expounds Matthew 23:31–24:3, approaching the Lord's teaching on the last days. Delivered 14 June 1981, Montreal.]
Today we continue our exposition from Matthew 23:31 through Matthew 24:3, where we begin gradually to approach the Lord's teaching concerning the last days. In theology this area is called eschatology — from the Greek word eschatos, meaning last — the teaching concerning the things that come as this age draws to a close.
We must approach this subject with great care and accuracy. There is a great deal of sensationalism exploited in this area, and that is not our purpose. We want to look soberly at what the Lord Jesus says, remembering that his prophecy concerning Jerusalem was fulfilled right down to the last detail, both in AD 70 and in AD 135. Just as those prophecies were fulfilled without fail, so everything he says concerning the close of this age will also be fulfilled, for heaven and earth will pass away but his word will not pass away.
An important distinction must be made immediately: we are not speaking about the end of the world, but the end of this age. The scripture in verse 3 of chapter 24 speaks carefully of "the close of the age." We have not yet reached the millennium, let alone the new heaven and new earth that Peter describes. But this present age — the New Testament age, this period of church history — is coming to an end, and it will end with the return of the Lord Jesus in glory. The first time he came in humility, born in a stable, the king incognito. The second time he will come as the manifest, reigning king.
But why should there be an end at all? Why not let mankind continue indefinitely? To understand this, we must grasp a scriptural doctrine that is the key to how God deals with both individuals and nations: the doctrine of the measure of wickedness. Look at verse 32 of chapter 23: "Fill up then the measure of your fathers." This phrase captures the whole principle. God will not allow wickedness to go beyond a certain measure. Up to that point he is patient; beyond it, judgment comes and that is finished. This principle is found throughout both the Old and New Testaments, with the two key words being fill and measure.
We see it first in Genesis 6:11 and 13, concerning the world before the flood: when the earth was filled with violence, God sent the flood and wiped out that generation. He could not allow wickedness to continue beyond that measure. We see it in Genesis 15:16, concerning the Amorites: God told Abraham that the wickedness of the Amorites was not yet complete, so they could not yet be destroyed. But by the time of Joshua their wickedness had reached the full measure, and the order came to wipe them out. The same principle is applied in 1 Thessalonians 2:16 — speaking of those who hindered the preaching to the Gentiles — "so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but God's wrath has come upon them at last." And in 1 Peter 3:20, it says God's patience waited in the days of Noah: he saw the wickedness multiplying but gave time for the measure to be filled, time to repent.
In Jeremiah, the same word — fill — appears repeatedly: chapter 16:18, chapter 19:4, Ezekiel 8:17, Jeremiah 51:5–6. Jeremiah constantly warned Israel that their wickedness would bring desolation; the same principle was applied to the Chaldeans who were Israel's enemies, and to the great city of Tyre. And in Matthew 24:6 and 12, the Lord applies the same principle to the end of the age: wars and rumours of wars, but "the end is not yet"; wickedness multiplied, men's love growing cold. Why is God so patient? Because he is waiting — giving every person a chance to repent. If God reacted instantly to every act of evil, no one would survive to repent at all.
We feel the tension when we are on the receiving end. People imprisoned at Auschwitz and Dachau heard others screaming in the gas chambers — mothers clutching babies, people scratching at the walls as the carbon monoxide came through what appeared to be shower heads. And they cried: God, why don't you do something now? Yet some people who are not suffering say: why should there be an end at all? Some Christians get a long face when you speak of the Lord's coming because they have not yet married, or have not yet finished their degree. It depends entirely on your perspective. God does not act according to any one person's timetable; he acts according to his overall plan, and until that plan is complete he remains patient. A rabbi in a Nazi concentration camp, hearing the screams and seeing no immediate divine intervention, abandoned his faith and concluded that God does not exist. That is the fatal mistake of not understanding the principle on which God acts.
And this principle applies not only to nations but to individuals. Proverbs 29:1: "He who is often reproved yet stiffens his neck will suddenly be broken beyond healing." God gives warning, disciplines, is patient — but there comes a point where, if you keep stiffening your neck, the judgment comes suddenly. I know of a pastor who conducted himself unbecomingly before God; people prayed for him and he was dead before the week was out. We are dealing with the living God. 2 Chronicles 36:15–16 is almost an exact parallel to Matthew 23: "The Lord the God of their fathers sent persistently to them by his messengers... but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, till the anger of the Lord rose against his people, till there was no remedy." When the measure was filled, there was no remedy — no more turning back. That is the warning to Israel in Matthew 23, and that is the warning to every individual who hears the word of God: do not test God's patience beyond its limit.
[Continues in Part B]
# The Measure of Wickedness — Matthew 23:31–24:3 (Part B) — Desolation; Israel as Barometer; The Four-Stage Framework; Blessed Is He Who Comes
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Matthew 23:31–24:3, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 14 June 1981, Montreal.]
The Lord Jesus seemed like an alarmist. When he warned Jerusalem of coming destruction, people thought: this is doomsday talk, unnecessary. We are doing all right here; life is stable; why speak of the end? I suspect many people today regard talk of the end in exactly the same way — particularly those of us in Canada, where life is comfortable. Whether we like to talk about it or not, I am telling you what God's plan is. That is my task. What you do with it is your own business, just as what the Jews did with the Lord's warning was their business. But when it came, they realized he had spoken the truth — and by then it was too late.
The word "desolate" in Matthew 23:38 is the Greek word erimos, the same word for desert. This fertile, blessed land would be turned into a desert. The same word appears in Luke 21:20: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand." This word runs all through the book of Jeremiah: Jeremiah 4:7, 7:11, 7:34, 22:5, 32:4, 51:6, 51:22. In passage after passage Jeremiah warned Israel that they would be turned into a desolation because of their disobedience, and they called it alarmist nonsense. They were doing fine; there was nothing to worry about. Yet in 586 BC the armies of Nebuchadnezzar advanced on Jerusalem — shining in gold, silver, bronze and steel — and reduced it to ashes. Jeremiah was right. The Lord Jesus now uses the identical word: as your fathers experienced that desolation, so you will experience it again, as you fill up the measure of your fathers. And of course we know from history that this is precisely what happened in AD 70 and AD 135.
Now let us consider the framework the Lord Jesus gives us in these closing verses of Matthew 23 for understanding the last things. Israel has always served as God's spiritual barometer in the world, by which we can see how close to the end things are. We are always sitting on the knife-edge in the Middle East — suddenly Israeli jets strike an atomic reactor in Iraq, and we are surprised, wondering what will happen next. The six-day war: you went to sleep, woke up, and the whole Middle East was in flames and nearly drawing in all the superpowers. That is how close and sudden things are. And this is the barometer by which we read the hour.
The framework the Lord gives us has four stages. First, the rejection of Christ by the Jewish nation: he prophesied that he would be rejected, and that is still true today. Second, as a result of this rejection, the Jews would be forsaken for a certain period — what Luke 21 calls "the times of the Gentiles." During this period they would be under judgment and scattered. Third, during this time they will not see him: "You will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Their seeing him again marks the end of this period of forsakenness. Fourth, there will come a time when they turn back to him — a change of heart, a repentance — when they will accept Jesus as their king and Messiah.
These words "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" are from Psalm 118:26, part of the Hallel — the psalms of praise sung during the killing of the Passover lambs. The Passover lamb was the means by which Israel was delivered from the destroying angel in Egypt: those covered by the blood of the lamb were not destroyed. This Hallel was sung in anticipation of that deliverance. So when the Lord Jesus says, "You will not see me again until you say these words," he is saying: you will not see me until you recognize that I am the Passover lamb, that I died for your sins, that my blood covers you and cleanses you. Furthermore, "he who comes" — in the Hebrew, baruch habah bershem Adonai — is itself a messianic title in the New Testament: Matthew 3:11, 21:9, John 11:27. The Messiah is the Coming One. When Israel at last sings those words in genuine recognition of Jesus as their Messiah, that will be the fulfillment Paul speaks of in Romans 11:26, "all Israel will be saved," and Ezekiel 36, where God promises: "I will take your stony heart from you and put a new heart into you."
These are the four stages of the framework, and into this framework all other details of eschatology can be fitted. As we look at the Middle East today, we can see the signs of how the hour is moving forward. And what about yourself? God has given you much chance to repent — whether you are a Christian or not. Are you testing his patience, or are you living a life of willing obedience? Remember this: the words of the Lord Jesus never fail. I have served the Lord for over twenty years, and I have never once seen his word fail — not once. What he says will come to pass. What he promises, he will do, if you fulfil his condition. And I know that when he says the end will come, it will come. Let us therefore be most responsive and open to his word. Let us be quiet now, in prayer. Yes.