Instability & Forgiveness • Luke 21:5-24

1:05:40 Teaching begins

Notes

The temple of God in Jerusalem took 46 years to build. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was beautiful and valuable.

What a shock to say that there would not be one stone left upon another that would not be thrown down. And the government that ruled the world would itself one day disappear and another government take its place.

The only stability and confidence in an unstable world comes from forgiveness.

I’m reading in Luke 21 from verse five.

1. Jesus pops His disciples’ balloon.

A. The disciples are looking at the Temple in Jerusalem, and it’s impressive. It had so much gold covering it that it was blinding in the Middle Eastern sun. Plus precious stones and offerings donated by wealthy people. You see these kinds of donations in cathedrals today: statues, plaques, decorations, artwork. Just the pillars of the cloister, a roof supported by columns, were single stones of marble over 40 feet high (Plummer in RWP, in loc.).

B. Jesus says all the things you see here will be destroyed. Not one stone will be left upon another. The temple is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, valuable and beautiful beyond value, but it’s doomed.

C. The disciples are understandably concerned. If the temple is doomed, so is Jerusalem, the nation, everything they’ve known is flimsy, insubstantial, temporary.

D. They ask, when will this happen? What’s the sign that it’s about to happen? How will we survive this?

2. You find stability in the truth, says Jesus.

A. Do not allow yourselves to be misled or deceived, says Jesus.

B. The times will be characterised by deception.

1. This is what the world controlled by Satan is all about. He is the god of this world, a liar and the father of lies. He wants to lead astray with intent to lose sight of your goal.

2. If you keep your goal in sight you won’t be distracted into some other path that doesn’t lead where you want to go. The main thing in life is to keep the main thing the main thing.

C. You keep your way in life by holding on to who Jesus is.

1. He says many will come in My name saying I am He and it’s time for the kingdom to come. They want to be recognised as Me and have people follow them.

2. You should know that when Jesus returns as He said He would it would not be in a room or in the wilderness. Secret. You have to go to Him and meet Him.

3. Revelation 1:7 BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. The men who pierced Jesus died two thousand years ago, yet they will see Him. Everyone will see Him. If you have to go to some room to see Jesus it can’t be Him.

4. So if someone from the Jehovah’s Witnesses comes to your door and says that Jesus returned invisibly in 1917 and lives at the tabernacle in Brooklyn, New York, you know that can’t possibly be true.

D. You are to hold on to who Jesus is no matter how long it takes for Him to return.

1. The end does not come immediately. Truer words were never spoken. It’s been longer than anyone would have considered.

2. Jesus said in Acts 1 we are not to know times and seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. We don’t know when He returns.

3. Therefore we are to be ready right now, today, so that if Jesus were to take us, we would not be ashamed when we see Him. We were doing what we were supposed to be doing, not doing what we’re not supposed to be doing.

4. Therefore we need perseverance. He says, by your perseverance possess your souls. We endure throughout our lives by keeping our eyes on the goal of eternal life and glory with Jesus in heaven.

3. The world will be characterised by instability in every way.

A. There will be political instability.

1. Wars and rumours of wars is a prediction that didn’t seem probable. As Jesus spoke the world had peace because of the Roman Empire. Octavian won the Roman civil war with the Battle of Actium, 31 B.C. He was the last player left standing. He became Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor. The peace that Rome brought to the world would last another 140 years, at least three more generations.

2. That’s not going to last, says Jesus. There will be wars. The history of the world is basically war. Peace is the brief periods between wars, when the world is healing up and making more bullets.

B. There will be natural instability. Great earthquakes, plagues, famines, terrors, and great signs from heaven. Men’s hearts will fail them for fear of what is coming upon them.

C. Even as My disciples you yourselves will live in instability because you follow Me.

1. You’ll be arrested, persecuted, treated unlawfully and unfairly, like you were criminals, but you haven’t done anything wrong. They’ll slander you and make you look like evildoers. You’ll be delivered up in synagogues and prisons. You’ll be brought before kings and rulers and have to give an account for turning the world upside-down.

2. Relationships will be unstable. People will betray you, especially. Everyone in your family, your parents, your siblings, your friends.

D. While you’re waiting for Jesus to return, you are bearing witness to Him, that He is the Son of God who died for the sins of the world. That there is forgiveness in Him alone, there’s no salvation in any other name, only in Jesus Christ.

E. It doesn’t mean that your accusers will hear you and say, “You know, he’s right! We need to repent and receive Jesus right now!” They’ll probably kill you for sure, faster than if you kept your mouth shut. The Greek word for witness or testimony is martureo, from which we get the English word martyr. Those early Christians testified to Jesus to the death. They wouldn’t change their minds.

F.  In the midst of all this instability is confidence and certainty. Jesus says don’t try to plan out what you would say if this happened to you. I’ll be with you and give you right then what you need, wisdom that no one can stand against. My Holy Spirit will never leave you, never forsake you. nothing in this world is stable, nothing will be secure, except Jesus. His forgiveness in your hearts gives you stability and confidence to reach your goal.

4. There are consequences to rejecting Jesus. If you will not receive forgiveness and restoration, then vengeance will destroy you.

A. Jesus finally answers the question His disciples asked, when will these things be, and what is the sign when they are about to be fulfilled?

B. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. The Romans besieged Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and destroyed it.

C. Beyond that, Jesus said that Jerusalem would be trampled by the nations until the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled.

1. In the year 135 the Roman emperor Hadrian again destroyed Jerusalem, plowed it, and built a Roman city on top of the ruins named Aelia Capitolina. No Jew was allowed to even come within sight of the city. That lasted into the 4th Century.

2. After that Jerusalem was dominated by the Byzantine Empire, the Roman Empire in the east, to the 7th Century.

3. Then the Muslims controlled it until the year 1099.

4. The Crusaders then conquered Jerusalem and held it until 1187.

5. The Mamluk Sultanate occupied Jerusalem 1215-1517.

6. The Ottoman Turks ruled Jerusalem 1517-1917.

7. The United Kingdom ruled Jerusalem under the British Mandate from 1917 to 1948.

8. The State of Israel ruled over half of Jerusalem until 1967. Jordan began shelling Jerusalem, started the Six-Day War, losing their control of Jerusalem.

9. Now Jerusalem is declared the eternal capital of Israel, unified and owned by Israel. What began in 70 A.D. has basically ended. The times of the Gentiles is essentially over.

E. Jesus talked about the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

1. God knew that He would send the Messiah and His people would for the most part reject Him. Some did follow HIm, and some Jews have always followed Jesus in every period of history since. But the Apostle Paul notes in Romans 11 that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, Romans 11:25.

2. That is vengeance, punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offence. To reject Jesus is to reject the Father.

3. You are already under the condemnation of God for your sins. If you reject the forgiveness of God in Jesus how will you be reconciled to Him? There is only punishment and vengeance from God.

5. So what?

A. There is no permanence or stability in this life. Existence is literally a house of cards. We think people endure, buildings endure, nations or governments endure. But in this life, there is no continuing city. The proof is the temple itself. Not one stone remained upon another that was not torn down.

B. The only thing that gives a solid foundation to life is God’s forgiveness.

1. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and paid the penalty of death. Now we have a permanent basis for being forgiven by God. All of our sins were paid for by Jesus. We have lasting, permanent forgiveness.

2. Whether we are persecuted or rejected by our closest relatives we have permanent acceptance with God. We have the confidence of heaven when we die. Forgiveness is the only permanence in this life. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Not a hair from your head will perish. Nobody else has that divine assurance.

3. You need forgiveness and acceptance from God. Have you received God’s forgiveness through Jesus?

C. If you reject that forgiveness, you have no option but to receive God’s vengeance, that is, His punishment and retaliation for injury, offence, and sin against Him. A whole world is about to reap what they have sown in rejecting Jesus Christ. There’s still time before there is not one stone left on another. God still holds out forgiveness. The days of vengeance are coming, that everything that is written may be fulfilled.

D. Now that a reunited Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, the times of the Gentiles have been completed. God is about to end the world with vengeance.

1. I read the front pages of the newspapers on the BBC website every morning. I’m struck how often nuclear weapons are front-page news. Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, Putin’s nuclear bombers were destroyed by Ukraine, UK is making 12 more nuclear submarines. The UK is preparing hospital services for nuclear war.

2. Nuclear warfare in the past was unthinkable. The doctrine was mutual assured destruction. We can’t risk nuclear war because that would be the end of civilisation. But now you see all kinds of talk about nuclear weapons.

3. The point is, people are changing what they’ve thought for decades. Whatever is thinkable becomes doable. Nuclear war is coming.

F. Before the end of civilisation, Jesus is coming. His government is worth waiting for. Through forgiveness and endurance you will possess your soul.

Let’s pray.