And
as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him,
Master,
see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
And
Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings?
there shall not be left one stone upon
another, that shall not be thrown down.
And
as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple,
Peter
and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
Tell
us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign
when
all these things shall be fulfilled?
And
Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:
For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
And
when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled:
for
such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
and
there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and
troubles:
these
are the beginnings of sorrows.
But
take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils;
and
in the synagogues ye shall be beaten:
and
ye shall be brought before rulers and kings
for my sake, for a testimony against them.
And
the gospel must first be published among all nations.
But
when they shall lead you, and deliver you up,
take
no thought beforehand what ye shall speak,
neither
do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour,
that
speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
Now
the brother shall betray the brother to death,
and
the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents,
and
shall cause them to be put to death.
And
ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake:
but
he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
What began perhaps as a
pleasant observation about the grand buildings of Jerusalem, including the
rebuilt Temple which was only a shadow of its former glory under Solomon 900
years prior, Jesus used as an opportunity to teach His disciples about the
transitory nature of human civilization, and what really matters all the way to
the very end of history: The
Gospel. The Word of God had been at work
to seek and to save sinners since man’s Fall in Eden thousands of years before
Jesus’ Incarnation, and it would continue working to seek and to save the lost
until He came again at the end of the world.
Jesus taught His disciples not to be overly dismayed when the beautiful
architecture and present systems of government fall into ruin by consequence of
their civilization’s sin and foolishness, because the saving Word of the Lord
endures forever, and whoever endures in that Word by faith unto the end, shall
be saved by the grace which pours forth through it. Within a single generation Jerusalem would fall
under pagan Rome’s fire and sword, but the Incarnate Word would remain unto ages
of ages without end.
This lesson is one worth
pondering in our own age, as well. While
the citizens of any country might think themselves the pinnacle of human achievement,
and their rulers might imagine themselves particularly enlightened more than
any other age which has come before them, the reality is that their
civilizations will almost certainly fall.
As evil begins to permeate a society, the seeds of its own destruction
are sown, and the judgement of the King of the Universe will fall upon it
whenever He deems that time is right.
How many great civilizations were in the Mediterranean, North African, and
Mesopotamian regions 2,000 years before Jesus, when Abraham was called out of
the land of Ur to follow YHWH into a multi-generational covenant that would shower
blessings upon the whole world? Time
would fail to recount all the accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians, the Phoenicians,
the Acadians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians—or at least what clues and
details history has left us to know. And
what of Greece, Sparta, and Persia? What
of Rome that lasted nearly 1,000 years before its fall? Outside that Mediterranean crucible lay ancient
dynasties in what are presently India, China, and Mongolia, as well as sub-Saharan
Africa and northern Europe. One could
spend a lifetime exploring the history of civilizations no longer represented
in the modern world, and still not cover them all.
How will our great
buildings, government, and industries fare 1,000 years from now? What will be the state of geopolitics, the
aspirations of conquerors, or the imaginations of artists? We do not know, and it has not been given us
to know. Jesus was clear that wars and
famines and plagues and tumult would continue in the world until the end; just
as it had since the Fall of man in Eden, so it has been since the rise of
Christ from the grave. Man’s response to
God and His Word in each generation inevitably reveals their fate, as faith and
repentance meet with His grace, while rebellion and evil meet with His
judgment. Our own nation is not yet 250
years old, and whether it will endure for another decade or century or
millennium is known only to the hidden will of God—but His revealed will by His
Word, is that His Law and Promises will remain by the power of His Holy Spirit
until the end of time. No matter who
wins power over our government, or who captains our industries, or who sets the
contemporary fads of fashion, the Word of the Lord was before their advent, and
will be there long after they are gone.
As Christian citizens of our nation, we work for its wellbeing and pray
for its providence before the throne of Almighty God, but we know that blessing
and cursing, prosperity and plague, life and death, all come in their times
according to His will and purpose for man before His Word.
It can be tempting to squint
our eyes into the signs and wonders of our age, trying to detect when the end
of all things may be upon us. But the
comfort Jesus gave His disciples was not to look forward to the judgment of the
world, but to trust His grace and promise in the times they were given. While Jesus did warn His disciples about the
near-term fall of Jerusalem and the long term final judgement of the world, He
did not teach them about what would happen to Rome when the Visigoths invaded,
or how western kings in Christian lands would respond to the tyrannical and
murderous plague of Islam; He did not teach them about rivalries between
England and France, Spain and Portugal, Norway and Sweeden and the Netherlands,
nor their colonial contests across the seas of the world. He did not teach them about the rising
threats of Marxism with Stalin and Mao, or Fascism with Hitler and Mussolini,
even though they would produce the bloodiest world wars in any century of
recorded human history. What He did
teach them is that despite all the wars and tumults and cacophony, His people
would live by grace through faith in Christ alone, because His Eternal Word
made that promise more certain than any human upheaval could displace.
In these last days of the
Church Year, Christians remember again that Jesus has promised to come again at
the end of time to judge the living and the dead, and that His Kingdom has no
end. But the comfort of that knowledge
rests in the Promise of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners in our own age, just
as He was crucified for the sinners in every other age that has ever been, or
ever will be. The Gospel of Jesus Christ
rings out as it is carried to every nation, every hamlet, every village, and
testified before both paupers and kings:
that God has so loved every soul in this world, that He came to seek and
to save His people through the life, death, and resurrection of His only
begotten Son, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus,
the Incarnate Word, who cannot be removed or displaced by any act of man or
accident of history, because it is by Him, and through Him, and to Him that all
things which were made, are made. His
Word comes to all, and to all who will receive Him by grace through faith, He
gives them the right to become the children of God—born not of flesh and blood,
but from above by Water and Spirit. In
this Eternal Word of promise His people both rest and work, trusting in Him who
lives forever, and who keeps our lives safe and secure in Him unto ages of ages
without end. Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.
