Sermon Tone Analysis

Formal Elements / Descriptive Data

Text: Matthew 24:15-28

CIT: Matthew is talking about how Jesus sought to help prepare His disciples for things to come by giving them the drill and guiding them through deceptions

Proposition:

An “Always Ready” Disciple:

Knows the both the Signal & the Evactuation Plan

Is a student of Scripture sensitive to the signs of the times

Puts others first, prays like there is no tomorrow, and lives in light of the true Parousia

Statement of Purpose:

(1) MO – Ethical: to strengthen the conduct of Believers.

(2) SO –

I want my hearers to be an “Always Ready Disciple.”

Title (Topic/Name): Things to Come: Unparalleled Tribulation & Unbelievable Testimonies

Structural Pattern: Causal Relation, Cause-to-Effect starting with the cause and determining “What would the effect be?” Contextually, the Cause = the Signal; the Effect = Flee

Informal Elements / Rhetorical Data

Initiation — Life Interest — Beginning Movement/Episode/Issue: LM

Attention Getter - WARNING FOOLS

The following warnings were found on consumer products:

• on a Duraflame fireplace log: “Caution: Risk of Fire.”

• on a Batman costume: “Warning: Cape does not enable user to fly.”

• on a bottle of hair coloring: “Do not use as an ice cream topping.”

• on a cardboard sun shield for a car: “Do not drive with sun shield in place.”

• on a portable stroller: “Caution: Remove infant before folding for storage.”

—Amy Simpson, Winfield, Illinois [1001 Illustrations that Connect]

Illustration - Life in the Fire House

Describe my times on FD Ride Alongs when an Alarm comes in.

An Engineer or Paramedic who is repeatedly distracted, or habitually ignores the bell will not remain such for long.

So too, if we are to be followers of Jesus, dedicated to His cause, we also must be “Always Ready” as believers.

LI: When I went through ballistics training as an armed guard, it was ingrained in us that it’s not a matter of “If” it’s a matter of “When.”

Sinners are going to do what sinners do.

And sometimes, God’s people are the ones that wind up in their way.

What does it mean then to be an “Always Ready” Follower of Jesus?

Continuation — Progress — Middle Movement/Episode/Option: LM

Illustration - Tornado Alarm in School

TR: Sometimes, drills can be ludicrously ineffective, at other times, they serve to keep us sharp for potential conflicts

What if the worst happened here today?

You’ve heard the horror stories of gunmen ascending unawares on congregations.

What are you going to do in the fate of that moment?

I’m not pulling the fire alarm here (though we’ve had that happen in our services before), but think it through before hand.

Be prepared.

Be always ready.

Be not idle.

There are a million ways this applies to every aspect of life, whether driving and the tire blows out, or eating and someone starts choking, or coming up on a scene as one of the first to witness an accident, or just everyday dangers in our backyards.

TS: Don’t dismiss what Jesus is saying here, be an always ready disciple.

Be alert.

Watch and pray.

Next Movement/Episode/Option: LM

Illustration - Preparations for Hurricane Ivan

EXP:

Unparalleled Tribulation to Come: Severe Pressure on God's Elect (Believing Israel) During the Great Tribulation

I. Jesus Gave His Disciples Flight Instructions in Preparation for the Time of Jacob's Trouble (Matt.

24:15-22)

A. The Signal Alarm: The Abomination of Desolation (Matt.

24:15)

1.

The Prophet Daniel - Yes, That Very One

2. The Person of Discernment - Understandest Thou What Thou Readest?

3. The Person of the Abomination of Desolation - The Antichrist

Application - There are several reasons why the abomination of desolation must be a future event in God’s eschatological program.

First, verse 15 is in a context of verses that describes events that have not yet happened (vv.

14–21; cf.

v. 29).

Second, Daniel’s seventieth week with its unique tribulation has not yet happened.

Third, Mark described Jesus saying that the abomination of desolation would stand (masculine participle estekota) as a person who set himself up as God in the temple (Mark 13:14).

This has never happened since Jesus made this prophecy.

Fourth, other later revelation points to the future Antichrist as the abomination of desolation (2 Thess.

2:3–4; Rev. 13:11–18).

[Tom Constable, ENB]

4. The Place of the Abomination of Desolation - The Temple

Illustration - [Something] that should be noted about the Third Temple concerns the Tribe of Levi.

The Tribe of Levi was the only tribe permitted by Mosaic Law to take care of the Temple and conduct the sacrificial system.

It is interesting to note that while all other eleven tribes have lost their identity since the records were destroyed in a.d.

70, the Tribe of Levi has not.

Unless a Jew is a member of the Tribe of Levi, he is unable to know from which tribe he is a descendant.

Jews having names such as Levi, Levy, Levin, Levine, Leventhal, Cohen, and other comparable names are members of the Tribe of Levi.

For the purpose of conducting service, only the Tribe of Levi matters.

It is not important to know who the members of the other tribes are, but it is very important to know who the Levites are, and the Tribe of Levi is known.

So in every way, the stage is set for the Temple to be rebuilt, and it is possible that it will be rebuilt before the Tribulation.

If it is not, then it will certainly be rebuilt during the first part of the Tribulation; by the middle of the Tribulation, the Temple must have been built and functioning and been in operation for a little while.

[Arnold Fruchtenbaum, The Messianic Bible Study Collection]

Application - Rapture versus Return

The New Testament describes two facets of Christ’s second coming: (1) He will come for His church to escort her to His Father’s house (John 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16), and (2) He will come with His saints when He descends from heaven to judge His enemies and establish His glorious one-thousand-year Kingdom on earth (Zechariah 14:4–5; 1 Thessalonians 3:13).

How can these facets both be true of Christ’s second coming?

I believe pretribulationism best resolves the seeming contradiction.

This first facet is what I call the Rapture of the church: the Lord takes believers from earth to His Father’s house (John 14:3).

The second facet is commonly called the second coming of Christ: believers return with Christ from heaven to the earth (Matthew 24:30).

Both describe the Lord’s coming, but their differences indicate that they are two unique stages occurring at two separate times.

Between these two stages, the Tribulation happens.

The first stage—the Rapture—is imminent and signless and could occur at any moment (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

The Second Coming, on the other hand, will be preceded by all kinds of signs (Matthew 24:1–29).

The same event cannot be both signless and yet preceded by numerous signs.

This is patently contradictory.

It is difficult for the other views to make sense of the passages that describe these two stages so differently.

But, by calling them two stages of the same event, the pre-Trib view successfully harmonizes these two descriptions of Christ’s coming.

However, some students of Bible prophecy strongly object to the notion that the Rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ are distinct events.

They contend that this perspective is teaching two future comings of Christ, whereas the Bible only presents one event.

On the contrary, I view Jesus Christ’s coming as a single event in two stages; these stages are separated by at least seven years, during which the Tribulation happens.

[Mark Hitchcock, The End: Everything You’ll Want to Know about the Apocalypse]

Application - I am not looking for the abomination of desolation—I wouldn’t know it if I met it on the street—but the people in the last days will be looking for it because it will be the sign to prove that they are in the Great Tribulation period.

Instead of our looking for Antichrist and his abominations, we are told to be “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

[McGee, TTB]

B. The Evacuation Plan: Flee for Your Life (Matt.

24:16-18)

1.

Those in Judea - Run for the Hills (Matt.