Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Don't feel bad if you feel confused by Matt.

24.

The greatest Bible scholars in the world are confused by this chapter, and the preachers of the world are so confused they contradict their own system of theology in preaching on it.

Dr. Earl Rudmacker, the President of Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, is a leading promoter of the Pre-trib rapture school of thought.

He is so angry at the preachers in his system because they do the very thing their system rejects.

They teach that none of the signs are relevant to the Christian.

They are all meant for the Jews after the Christians are raptured out of the world.

There will be no signs of Christ coming for His church.

That is a fairly simple principle to grasp, no signs for the Christian.

But if you go to your Christian Book Store you will see books on the signs everywhere, and who writes the vast majority of them?

Those from the Pre-trib school of thought.

Dr. Rudmacker is embarrassed about this, and he responds to his critics with these words: "I would admit that there is a glaring inconsistency in those who preach about the signs of a sign less event.

There are no signs of the times because we are not in the time of the signs."

Here is a leading scholar of our day admitting that most of the authors who write about Matt.

24 and the signs of the times are confused.

So you have every right to be confused if these who are the so-called experts are confused.

The only way to avoid endless mysteries and confusion is to believe every word Jesus speaks in this passage just as He states it.

It is hard to believe Him when He says in verse 34 that all of the signs up to that point would happen in that generation.

But if you don't believe it, you are forced to join the ranks of the perpetually confused.

Now as we come to the last part of this chapter we are compelled to again state what ought to be obvious: Believe Jesus and take His words literally, or you will again go astray into endless nonsense of interpretation.

I can't believe all the sermons I read that take this text and use it to prove the very opposite of what Jesus is teaching here.

In fact, most everything that gets into the hands of people distort this passage beyond recognition, and to the shame of Christians they listen to the popular authors and ignore the words of their Lord.

For example, I just read a sermon that was spread across this country in a major periodical.

The title was "The Days Of Noah Repeated."

The point of the message was that when we see the conditions of our world become like those in the days of Noah, then we know the end is near.

In other words he is saying that Jesus is giving us signs to look for so we can know when His coming is at hand.

He then goes on to show how our day parallels that of Noah, and so we see the signs of the end everywhere.

There is only one mistake in the sermon, and that is that he totally ignores the point of Jesus in this paragraph.

The essence of what Jesus is saying here is that there are no signs of His coming.

It is, in fact, so secret that no one knows just when it will be, not even the angels in heaven who are in on all God does, and not even the Son.

This is one bit of information so highly classified that only God the Father knows.

Then Jesus illustrates the point of it being totally unknown by referring to the days of Noah.

In those days before the flood he says they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, and just living life as usual with no sign of judgment about to fall, when all of the sudden the flood came and swept them all away.

That is the way it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

People will be just carrying on life as normal.

Two men will be in the field, and one will be a Christian and the other an unbeliever, and the Christian will have no more idea than the unbeliever.

Two women will be grinding at the mill, and neither will have any idea that the day of the Lord is near.

The whole point of this passage is that the coming of Christ will be totally unknown, and be a surprise to Christians and non-Christians alike.

Those who greet it with joy, and those face it as judgment, are all in the same boat.

They have no idea when it will happen.

The people of Noah's day were wicked, but Jesus does not refer to that here, for that is not the point.

The point is, they were totally unaware to the judgment coming on them.

It took them completely by surprise, and so they coming of Christ will be completely unexpected.

People will be eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, and suddenly in the midst of life as usual the end will come.

Many twist this passage to say that Jesus is giving signs of His coming, and they ramble on for pages about how Jesus is saying how awful they were in their eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage.

They take what Jesus is saying to be just normal life of any generation of people, and they go on and on about drunkenness and adultery, and point out how we live in just such an age like that of Noah.

It is all true, but it has nothing to do with what Jesus is teaching here.

If you think eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage is describing awful wickedness, then you need some therapy.

This is the description of life as usual for Christians as well as non-Christians.

To twist this into some kind of description of depravity is to ignore the meaning of language.

Jesus does not refer to a single sin of that generation, because that is not His point.

His point is that they just went about life as usual unknowing of the fact that the end was right at the door.

In contrast to the thousands of sermons preached on this passage as a sign passage, Jesus is teaching that there are no signs.

That is the point.

You have to be ready at all times, for He will come when life is just going along as usual, and nobody is expecting the end.

This is in total contrast to the teaching He has just given on the signs of the coming of judgment on Jerusalem in 70 A. D. Jesus knew every detail of that event, and of His coming in judgment.

In verse 15 He says when they see the abomination of desolation that is the time to flee to the mountains.

Luke clarifies this for us and tells us exactly when this is in Luke 21:20.

"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.

Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."

Jesus makes the sign of the end of Jerusalem so clear that the blind could see it.

Then in verse 29 He says the other signs in the heavens will be immediately after the tribulation of those days, and He goes on to say that when you see the leaves on the fig tree you know summer is near, and so when you see all these things you know the end is near right at the door.

Now notice that everything about the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A. D. is sign oriented, and there is evidence galore when it is to take place.

All of it will happen in that generation Jesus said.

The whole point of all the signs is because Jesus wanted His people to escape this awful judgment.

Then in verse 35 there is a transition where Jesus says that "heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

Just when will this final end take place-this passing of the heaven and earth, and the beginning of the new heaven and earth?

This is not just the end of Jerusalem and the temple, but of the whole world.

Jesus now deals with His final second coming, and it is in total contrast to that of 70 A. D. with all of its signs.

There is no sign whatever, for He was without a clue, and so is everyone else.

There is no sign to watch so that you can flee anywhere.

There is no where to go for this coming anyway, for it is the end of the world.

Getting to the mountains can save you from the Roman army, but it won't do you any good at the end of the world.

The whole point of Jesus in dealing with His final coming is, nobody knows, and there are no signs to be given, and so you have to be ready for the end at all times.

Those who are careless in not watching for the Lord's return will risk getting side tracked and out of His will, and they will face judgment when He comes.

Jesus will come like a thief in the night, and no thief gives signs of his coming.

He does not put a marker out front saying, "Hit this home at 11P.M. on Saturday night."

So also Jesus does not give us signs of when He will come, for if He would have said it will be in the year 2002, then every generation of Christians up to that year could be careless and unprepared for it.

In order to keep every Christian in every generation on alert, Jesus had to keep the time of His coming secret and unknown, and that is the whole point of the closing part of this chapter.

There is a sign filled coming of Jesus in judgment in 70 A D., but His final coming is a sign less coming.

Jesus expected all Christians to see through a glass darkly on the issue of His coming.

Nobody who listens to Jesus will be persuaded by any sign fanatic that they have figured out the schedule.

God did not let Jesus use that schedule, and it is presumptuous for any man to think he has been able to calculate it.

But in spite of this clear teaching of Jesus many godly men and women have spent a major portion of their lives trying to figure out the exact time of the second coming.

They are often ingenious, and when you read them you are almost persuaded they must have some validity.

The only problem is that they are trying to go over the head of Jesus.

He said you can't know, but they are saying that you can.

Many have chosen to follow them, but I choose to follow Jesus and recognize that all schemes for prediction His coming are not only always wrong, but they are a form of rebellion against His Lordship.

Life will be going along as usual, and there will no particular reason in the world why this should be the end, and then like a lightening flash it will be over, and the day of judgment will be upon the world like the flood in the day of Noah.

You don't need to be a Sherlock Holmes to find the clues Jesus is dropping all over the place in reference to His coming in 70 A. D. in judgment.

But the best in the business will not find a clue to His final coming, because Jesus says there is no clue.

It will be a surprise for everyone, and so be ready.

What does that mean?

Do we stand gazing into the sky?

Of course not.

By watching He means be doing what He expects you to be doing.

Don't be like a servant who thinks his Lord is gone for a long time, and so he can goof off and abuse his privileges and power, and let his duties go undone.

The watching servant is one who goes on faithfully doing the master will, and taking care of his household no matter how long he is away.

Watching is simply being faithful so that whenever he comes it doesn't make any difference, for you are ready to meet him as one who is living in obedience.

It you are not living for Jesus and seeking to fulfill His will as a servant of the body, He will not be impressed that you have calculated that there are more people eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage than ever before, or any other such nonsense.