#171 Lu. 21:7-24 SIGNS OF THE LORD'S COMING AND THE END OF THIS
AGE
Introduction:

    This is the same text that I used last Sunday.  In that
message I focused almost entirely on the signs of the destruction
of the temple.  In this message will focus primarily on the sign
of the coming of Jesus and the end of this Gentile age.

I.  A brief review of the signs concerning the fall of the temple

	Perhaps you will recall that before Jesus and His disciples
left the temple Jesus told them that the temple would be
destroyed.  Not one stone would be left upon another.  After they
got to the Mt. of Olives the disciples began to ask questions.
Luke mentions only that they asked about the destruction of the
temple.  However, as I pointed out to you last Sunday, Matthew
says that they also asked for a sign which would show when the
Lord and the end of the age would come.
	I also pointed out to you last Sunday that the disciples did
not understand that Jesus would go away and be gone for about two
thousand years or more.  They knew that Jesus had told them that
He would be put to death, but they still thought that somehow some
way He would very soon establish His throne in Jerusalem and that
it was at that time that the temple would be destroyed.  In other
words, they did not think of the coming of the Lord and the
destruction of the temple as being two separate events.  They
thought they would be one and the same event.  So when they asked
about when the temple would be destroyed and what would be the
sign of His coming they were not talking about His second coming
but His coming to power on the throne in Jerusalem.  Likewise,
when they asked about the sign of the end of the world, they were
not asking about the melting of the elements, but rather about the
end of the Gentile age.  Therefore, the reading as we have it in
Luke embraced the whole question even including His coming and the
end of the age.
    The disciples did not expect Jesus to go away to heaven and be
gone for nearly two-thousand years.  In spite of what He had told
them that He would soon be crucified, they expected that somehow,
some way, Jesus would soon take over the throne and bring an end
to the Gentiles ruling over Israel and occupying Israel's land.
They thought that was when the temple would be destroyed.  In our
    message last Sunday, I dealt with the signs of the fall of the
temple, which Jesus had predicted.  Jesus had predicted that the
temple would be destroyed and that not one stone would be left
standing upon another.
    In His answer at the first,  Jesus tried to point out to them
what the signs of the fall of the temple would not be.  They would
soon know for sure that He is not going to stay here on earth and
He was not going to establish the throne at any time soon.  When
they see Him rise from Mt. Olives and go up into the clouds at
that time they will know that He has gone back to heaven.
However, two angels will appear at that time and inform them that
at some point of time in the future, that same Jesus which they
have seen go away will return back to earth again.
    So after they realize that He really is gone away, unless they
were informed otherwise, they would be expecting that He would
soon return and that He would destroy the temple at that time.  So
unless they were informed otherwise, when they would hear that the
Christ is over in such-and-such a city or such-and-such a place in
the desert, they would go out expecting to find Jesus and
expecting Him to destroy the temple at that time.  In other words,
they would think that the news that the Christ was in
such-and-such a place was a sign that the temple was about to be
destroyed.
	Therefore, Jesus told then, "Don't go out.  It's a hoax.  It's
not me.  It's a false christ.  This is not a sign that the temple
is about to be destroyed any time soon. It would serve as a long
range sign.  God will not just continue to allow the false Christs
to come.
    Likewise with the wars and rumors of wars.  It would just
naturally enter the minds of the disciples that the temple might
be destroyed in a war.  Wars can be so destructive.  And so it
would be destroyed in a war, but not just any war.  Jesus would
give them a sign whereby they could know which war it be in.  But
unless they were otherwise informed, they would expect with every
war or rumor of war that the temple was about to be destroyed.  So
Jesus informed them that such wars and rumors of war was not a
sign that the temple was about to be destroyed.
    Jesus knew also that unless the disciples might think of an
earthquake as possibly being the cause of the destruction of the
temple.  Therefore, every time an earthquake would come along,
unless they were informed otherwise, they would think, "The next
one just might get the temple."  So He let them know that it would
not be destroyed by an earthquake.
    Then Jesus named some things which the disciples would know
could not cause the destruction of the temple, but they might
suspect that such things are signs that it was about to
immediately fall.  He named such things as famines, pestilences,
fearful sights, great signs in the heavens, and severe
persecutions.
    Yet none of these things were signs that the temple was about
to be destroyed immediately.  Actually, they were long range signs
that the destruction was yet to come, but they were not signs that
it was about to take place immediately.  In Matthew 24:8 Jesus
said, "All these are the beginning of sorrows."  They indicate
that things would continue to get worse.  The false Christs, the
wars and rumors of wars, the great earthquakes, the famines, the
pestilences, the fearful sights, the signs in the heavens, and the
great persecution of Christians were all signs that it was not
going to get any better.  It was just going to get worse and worse
until the destruction of the temple would come.
    But it would come and He gave them a sure sign whereby they
could know just when the destruction of the temple and the Lord's
coming was about to take place.  Jesus told them that when they
would see the armies of an enemy nation come and surround
Jerusalem, they could know that the destruction  of the temple was
very near at hand.  It came in 70 A. D., just as Jesus had
predicted.  The Jews rebelled against the Romans and the Romans
came and destroyed the city of Jerusalem.  Not one stone of the
temple was left standing upon another.
    Then in verse 24 Jesus predicted that from that time forward
the city of Jerusalem would be occupied by Gentiles until the time
of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

II.  The signs of the return of Jesus and the end of the age

    But now, let us get back to the questions which the disciples
asked.  The disciples did not have in mind that Jesus would go
away.  They expected Him to set up His reign in Jerusalem very
soon.  However, He did go away and has been gone for near 2000
years.   So now the question is: What are the signs of the coming
of the Lord and the end of the age?
    The answer is that the signs are the same for us today as they
were for those disciples.  The same signs that signaled the
downfall of the temple for those early disciples serve us today to
signify the second coming of Jesus and the end of this age.
    First, there are the long range signs.  These are the signs
that in Matthew's account Jesus called "the beginning of sorrows."
 Perhaps the name that you are most familiar with in this category
is David Koresh.  David Koresh led his followers to believe that
he is the Christ.  Even yet, some of them still declare that he is
the Christ and that he will return to life again.
	Yet David Koresh is but one of many false Christs to come.
You may not have heard about one at Longview, but somebody brought
me one of his pamphlets.  Somebody else brought a pamphlet from
one at Jacksonville.  Out on the west coast, there have been a
flood of them.  It seems to me that a new one is reported on the
news every few weeks and many of them we never hear about.
    But the Bible speaks of one very special false Christ who will
come in connection with the end-time events.  The Bible calls him
"the man of sin," "the Beast," and "the Anti-Christ."  This is the
world's most corrupt and wicked man.  The Bible says that he will
sit in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God.  God is
most certainly not going to allow this man to continue but a short
space of time.  The coming of false Christs are a sure sign that
God is not going to put up with this forever.  God will finally
call a halt to the coming of false Christs by sending the real
Christ back to this world.  When Jesus, the real Christ, will come
He will defeat the Anti-Christ and his armies.  He will cast the
Anti-Christ alive into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.
    Then are the wars and rumors of wars.  The constant war and
rumor of war in the world gives testimony that there is something
drastically wrong with this world.  There is something wrong that
must be corrected.  But it never will be corrected until Jesus
comes back to this earth.
    There will also be great earthquakes.  I wish we had Bro.  Tom
McElmurry here to show his slides and talk about the earthquakes.
Bro. Tom showed you clearly that since the nation of Israel has
been re-established in 1948 the earthquakes have increased
greatly.  They have increased in number and they have increased in
intensity.  They will continue to get worse until the end of the
age comes.  Yet even the earthquakes are not a sign that coming of
the Lord is immediately at hand.
    Then there are the famines and the pestilences.  One of the
most recent pestilences is a bacteria which brings with it a virus
which destroys human flesh at the rate of one inch per hour.  Once
the disease is contacted drastic action must be taken to save the
patient's life.  Jesus said also that there would be fearful
sights, the signs in the heavens and the persecution of
Christians.  All of these things are the beginning of sorrows.
They are the long range signs that Jesus is going to return again.
    But the one sign that is designed to show us that the return
of our Lord as almost upon us is the mid-east war concerning the
nation of Israel.  When the nations of the world begin to amass
their armies to come to the middle east, then we can say that the
end is almost here.  "For they are the spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the
whole word, to gather to the battle of that great day of God
Almighty.-----And he gathered them together into a place called in
the Hebrew tongue Armageddon,"  Rev. 16:14, 16.  When the armies
of the world surround Jerusalem, it is a positive sign that the
coming of Jesus to the earth is going to take place very soon.  He
will return in the air and His feet will touch down at Mt. Olives
and Mt. Olives will split asunder.  The rapture, of course, will
have already taken place before then.
	The Bible even gives us a sign whereby we can know when the
coming of the Gentiles against Jerusalem is near at hand.  In I
Thessalonians 5:3 we read, "For when they shall say, Peace and
safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a
woman with child; and they shall not escape."
	Listen, I do not know just when Jesus is going to come.  I do
not know when the rapture will take place.  I do not know just
when the Anti-Christ is going to rise and the armies of the
Gentiles will come against Jerusalem.  But I do know that on
September 13th of 1994 the nation of Israel and the PLO signed a
peace treaty between the Jews and the Arabs.  The leaders of the
nations have already begun to cautiously say, "Peace at last."  I
know that the signs are ready and it appears that the end of this
Gentile age is about to come to and end and the millenniel age
begin.
	As John the Revelator said, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," Rev.
22:20.

Conclusion:

    If you are already saved, then thank God.  Thank God again and
again.  Yet I counsel you also to renew your efforts to serve the
Lord.  We need to get a hurry on in this business of preaching the
gospel and supporting mission work around the world.  We need to
dedicate our lives to the Lord so that our lives will count for
Him.
    If you are unsaved, then I counsel you to come today and get
right with God.  I ask you to come as we have an invitation hymn
and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to save your soul.
    If you are saved and you need to follow the Lord Jesus Christ
in Scriptural baptism then we invite you to come and say so.
    If you are saved, but you have been living like you are one of
the Devil's crowd rather than a child of God, then I am going to
ask you to come and rededicate your live to God.