Sermon Tone Analysis

Luke 21:5-36

 

! Introduction

Suppose you have a business.

If that business was not making money and if the employees were not happy and if the product you were selling was not catching on, in other words, if it was all falling apart, would you consider that normal?

Would you think that your business was doing what it was supposed to be doing?

Wouldn’t you think that you were near to bankruptcy?

Suppose you bought a new blender.

The first time you use it to make a milkshake, it makes a terrible racket.

It sounds like the blades are going to go flying, the top is going to blow off and all of a sudden the faceplate where the buttons are falls off.

You stop using the blender and you phone the company which made it and ask them what the problem is.

You would be very surprised if they told you that it was supposed to do that.

It wouldn’t seem right that falling apart was normal.

Jesus came to this world to establish the kingdom of God.

It is a kingdom of peace, a glorious kingdom which is intended to rule over all.

Do you ever feel like everything in God’s kingdom is falling apart?

Doesn’t it look like God’s kingdom is losing?

With the war in Iraq, and all the things that are happening there, with the SARS outbreak and the tragedy of deaths caused by the spring storm which was just dumped on most of Canada, it might seem more like the world is falling apart than like God is establishing his eternal kingdom.

This morning, let us look at Luke 21:5-36 to see what Jesus had to say about this.

!

I. Everything Is Falling Apart

!! A. The Destruction Of The Temple

One day, Jesus was in the temple area with his disciples and they were marvelling at the wonderful structure.

This was not the temple that Solomon had built.

That temple had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar when the Jews were sent into exile in Babylon.

When they returned after 70 years the temple was rebuilt, but not according to its former glory.

In the days of Herod, however, that temple was renewed and apparently it was a most impressive structure.

As the disciples were gazing at its beauty, Jesus told them that this temple would be destroyed so that “not one stone will be left on another.”

This comment must have stunned the disciples as they began to grasp the import of this statement.

We need to understand their perspective on the temple.

When the temple was originally built by Solomon, it was filled with the presence of  God.

In his prayer of dedication, Solomon prayed that this place would truly be the presence of God for Israel and that this would be the place in which they would meet God.

Psalms 27:4 demonstrates the kind of thinking that the disciples would have had, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”

To say that it would be destroyed was like saying that a relationship with God was not possible any more.

Jesus warned that this city and the temple would be destroyed.

He warned that instead of fleeing to the safety of the city walls on that day, the people should flee to the open countryside because it would be safer.

The destruction Jesus spoke of happened in 70 AD.

A group of Jewish Zealots rebelled against the Roman authorities in 66 AD and the resulting war ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and many people were killed in that destruction.

Josephus, a Jewish historian of the period, estimates that in the Jewish rebellion more than 1 million died and 100,000 went into exile.

To the disciples, this prediction would look as if everything was falling apart.

!! B. Persecution

But that is not all.

There is a further word of Jesus here which makes it look even more like everything is falling apart.

Jesus warns, “they will lay hands on you and persecute you.”

Jesus warned that for those who choose to follow Jesus, it will not be easy, they can expect persecution, imprisonment.

Even worse, Jesus indicates that believers will be betrayed by those who are closest to them - even parents, brothers, relatives and friends.

Furthermore, He warned that believers would be betrayed to death.

We live in a society in North America in which we hardly experience such persecution.

As a result, we begin to think that our life is normal.

We begin to think that everything should always be good.

We begin to think that winning everyone to the Lord and having power with the government and being able to live in ease are the norm.

We need to know that this is not the case.

We need to know that persecution is a much greater likelihood.

Our ancestors have experienced it and many Christians in the world today experience it.

Several months ago, when we had a day of prayer for the persecuted church, we became aware that what Jesus warned about here is indeed happening in many places in the world.

This may cause us, and more certainly those who experience it to question, “How can God be winning when his people are mocked, prevented from working, beat up, killed and persecuted in many other ways?”

It looks like everything is falling apart.

!! C. Wars, Earthquakes etc.

A further evidence of the “falling apart” is the words Jesus had to say about wars, persecution, earthquakes, famines and pestilence and also about signs in the sun, moon and stars.

This is an important thing for us to think about now.

We are in the midst of a war in our world.

Every day the images bombard us.

When we hear things like the threat of other Arab nations joining in to defend Iraq, it is even more frightening.

We wonder, will war come to us?

What will the impact of the war be on us?

Is God able to stop the conflagration?

But war is not the only devastation.

The world has been subject to many different kinds of difficulties.

Some of them man made and some of them what insurance companies call “acts of God.”

All of them are terrifying and when they happen to us.

They may cause us to question, “where is God?”

Where is the promise of his kingdom?

So it is not hard to see that Jesus’ words have come true - the Jerusalem temple has been destroyed, God’s people are persecuted and there are many wars and natural disasters which make it look like God’s kingdom is falling apart.

!

II.

It’s Working

One Christmas, I built a little car for one of our children.

The car was designed for the purpose of falling apart when it crashed.

When it was falling apart, it was part of what it was supposed to do.

To us it looks like God’s kingdom is falling apart, but Jesus was telling us that it is supposed to work that way.

!! A. The Son Of Man Will Come

All of these devastations are not the end of things, rather the sign that the former things are passing away and all things are becoming new.

The destruction of the city of Jerusalem and of the temple was necessary in order for the new covenant to be established.

In the Old Covenant, the way to God was through the temple.

In Hebrews, God’s Word tells us that when Jesus died once for all, and when the Holy Spirit was given, the need for the Old Covenant was past because a new covenant was being established.

This was why the temple had to be destroyed, to show that the old covenant was no longer in force and the new covenant was now in force.

Persecution is a necessary part of the transition time.

God’s kingdom is coming in, but as always, it is not accepted by those who do not follow God and so persecution is inevitable.

The destruction in the earth and the devastating things that happen in our world are further signs of the crumbling of the godless world to make a way for the new kingdom which Jesus is establishing.

Therefore, none of these terrible and frightening things mean that God has lost.

They simply are the passing away of the old.

Therefore, we look forward with great anticipation to what Jesus promised in verse 27, “they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

The kingdom of God will come and for us that is good news.

It will be a divine coming.

Throughout the Bible, clouds have been a symbol of the divine presence.

For example, in the Exodus and when Jesus was transfigured, a cloud was the symbol of the presence of God.

So the promise is that God will come down to earth and then what now looks like loss will be straightened out.

For now, it is happening as it should, but that is not the end.

Furthermore, there is certainty about that coming.

Sometimes we forget about this promise, but look again at verse 27 where we are assured that “they will see the Son of Man.”

There is no mystery, no hidden-ness about his coming, it will be clear and visible for all to see.

It will also restore all things, for He will come with power and great glory.

The power and glory of the kingdom of God as it really should be will be revealed.