Luke 21:25-36

I remember back when I first became a believer, as a 15 year old new Christian, I had this newly found passion for the Word, and I was discovering all kinds of things in there that were really exciting to me (that really hasn’t changed much, actually!) 

One of those ‘new things’ was likely something that I had heard about before, but which never registered in my mind, was reading about the Second Coming of Christ. I can vividly remember laying on my bed down in my basement room, reading from Matthew 25 and Luke 21 and wondering what it would be like to actually see these things taking place. Wondering if these passages were meant to be literal descriptions of these events, or were they symbolic? It was all very mysterious and a little bit confusing, to be honest with you. I felt like I was being given access to ‘privileged information’, which I thought was pretty cool.  Eventually, like all new Christians, I thought, “I just have to read the book of Revelation”, and that’s when I found out what confusion really was! 

Well, it just happened that about that time, (this was the early 70’s) that there was a very popular book out – on the bestseller list for years – by a guy named Hal Lindsay.  The book was called The Late Great Planet Earth, and it explained everything you ever wanted to know about the return of Jesus Christ. In great detail, in fact. 

Now, back then I didn’t know anything about ‘Premillenial Dispensational Theology’ or that there were actually other options, other ways to look at these things.  I just thought, “Here’s a guy who tells it like it is” and I ate it up.  I read that book at least three times. This is one of those areas, like many in my Scripture studies, where I knew a whole lot more 30 years ago than I do now! 

Fortunately, the third time through his book, I decided to look up all the Scripture references that were listed in parentheses after all his various points.  That’s when it started to occur to me that I might need to receive this with a little more caution, mainly because many of those quotations had little or nothing to do with the points he was making! 

But again, I have very vivid recollections of reading parts of this book; in particular, a comment that Hal Lindsey made about the passage that we read a few minutes ago – Luke 21.  Jesus says, 

“Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. ³¹Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.  ³²I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”  

Well, Lindsey pointed out that the olive tree in Scripture always (always!) represents the nation of Israel, so when Jesus said to take the cue from the olive tree – when it begins to bud, that these things are about to happen (meaning, the return of Christ) that the budding of the olive tree obviously refers to the re-establishment of Israel as a nation. 

And when Jesus says that ‘this generation will not pass away until all these things take place’, Lindsey’s logic was simple:  Israel became a nation once again in 1948, and a generation in the Scripture is ’40 years’.  Put them together, and we know: Jesus will return no later than 1988!  It made perfect sense to me, a high school sophomore new Christian reading about this stuff in my basement at midnight… except for the fact that he was wrong. 

I’m not bringing this up to bash Hal Lindsay, he’s still around, and has his own website where he is still assigning meaning to various current events and telling us how they fit into his understanding of Biblical prophecy.  (I wouldn’t recommend it, but that’s just me.) 

I’ll say this for him, though. Whether or not his interpretations were a bit extreme, he played a major part in my spiritual formation in those critical early years. I grew up as a believer, in a lot of ways, like the people in the first generation church that we read about in the Scriptures – I grew up expecting that the Lord could return at any given moment. Certainly within my lifetime. And I grew up wanting to be ready. 

As I read this passage again this week, and as I thought about those early years, I started to see again how deeply that belief has shaped me. 

I remembered a class, in either college, or seminary, a Greek exegesis class, and we were looking at one of Jesus’ parables about prayer. It was from Luke 18, the story of the unrighteous judge.  Remember that one? The poor widow kept coming to this judge who didn’t want to be bothered with her case.  (She was just a ‘nobody’.) But finally, he says, “All right, I’ll hear her case, lest she wear me out with her constant ‘dripping’ (that’s a literal translation!)  So Jesus is making the point that if this guy who doesn’t care about God or people or anything other than himself will eventually respond to a need, if you are persistent enough, how much more likely it is that God will respond to the cries of his people: 

⁶And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. 

I remember studying this passage because of the next line. In the NIV it goes like this, it’s a question that Jesus asks at the conclusion of his little story:

However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" 

Dr. Gerald Miller, my first Greek professor, pointed out to us that in the Greek language this question is formed in such a way that it is expecting a negative response.  More like this:

However, when the Son of Man comes, he won’t find faith on the earth, will he? 

The reason I remember that is because as I’ve been telling you, a major part of the foundation of my walk with Christ was built on the expectation of the immanent return of Jesus Christ. And my desire to be ready for that coming.  And here is Jesus saying, “But when I come back there won’t too many people who are watching for me, will there?”  And I thought, “Maybe not, but, Lord, help me to be one of those who are watching.” 

So, today, we read these passages that talk about strange and scary things: false Messiahs, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes…families divided, the persecution of believers…

“…strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” 

And we wonder together ‘what is that saying to us?’  HHow can we make sense of this? 

Well, as I said, I’m much less likely to talk about these things with any certainty these days than earlier in my life.  But I think there are a couple of things that we can say with great assurance. 

1. Jesus is coming back.

2. We may not know when, but we all need to be ready. 

This is the first weekend of Advent, and one of the kind of forgotten aspects of Advent is that it is not only a time set aside to remember the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, a time for the church to once again welcome Emmanuel – the Word made flesh – the Promised one who has come.  That is certainly part of Advent.  It’s a wonderful message, it forms the foundation for everything that we teach and stand for as a Christian Church.  Jesus was – and is – ‘God with us’. 

But that’s not all there is to Advent.  In this season, we also are called to remember the whole range of the promises and the Prophecies of the Scriptures. And as clear as they are in pointing to the coming of Jesus Christ, as amazing a story as that is, where statements and writings recorded over the course of 1,000+ years came together in one person, in one place, at one time in history; we need to remember that the Scriptures just as powerfully point to a second coming of this same Messiah. 

The first coming was in humility.  The first coming was as the Sacrificial Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. The second coming will be in power and glory.  We live in linear history. That means, it is not cyclical, it doesn’t repeat endlessly.  It is moving forward – in a ‘straight line’ so to speak.  There was a beginning and a middle, and there will be an ending.  And the ending, according to the Biblical writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, will be the return of Christ to fully establish his Kingdom. 

This Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom where righteousness is the rule… it will be a time when there will be no more mourning or crying or pain… a time when God himself will wipe every tear from every eye.  This everlasting Kingdom – which we occasionally see glimpses of, here in this fallen earth – is a Kingdom of Love and Grace and Peace.  And it will last forever.  Jesus tells us – ‘Hold on… I’m coming back.”  Until that day arrives, be faithful… live the life of love.  Live with eternal priorities. Live knowing that there is more to life than just this. More is on the way! 

Advent, then, doesn’t only look back, Advent looks forward to this final coming of the King. And it is then, a season of great Hope.  A season that says to everyone – “Look back and see: God has heard the cries of his people. God has come, he is among us… God is calling us into his grace.  Into that place where we can all know real peace.  Forgiveness.  Purpose.” 

But it is also a season that is saying to everyone, “Look ahead!  The sufferings and brokenness of this life are not forever.  It is going to end.  Hold on, remain steadfast until that day comes.  (Hebrews 3: 14) For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 

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Since 9/11 our nation has been on high alert, something that has touched all of us in various ways. Although for several years, thank the Lord, nothing as catastrophic has happened in this country since that day, as you know, terrorists have struck elsewhere. You might remember that back on March 11, 2004, terrorists exploded 10 bombs in Madrid, Spain, killing almost 200, wounding another 1,800. 

Two months later there was a scare right in Philadelphia. It was May 5th, and a conductor for SEPTA discovered something frightening on the tracks near the massive 30th street station. It was an electronic transmitter, planted alongside the tracks in the commuter rail yard. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI soon swarmed the scene. Investigators discovered that the mysterious gadget was in fact a motion detector designed to send a signal to a nearby receiver. Tension mounted. 

Finally, a train mechanic stepped forward and admitted installing the transmitter. Was he a terrorist, or a disgruntled employee looking for revenge? No, the mechanic worked the graveyard shift and had installed the motion detector to sound an alarm in his work area whenever his supervisor was approaching. That way he could safely take a nap; if the alarm went off, he could get up and look busy when the boss showed up.[1]

Again, one of those ‘clear things’ from the Scripture is that there aren’t any tricks that we can use to avoid being found out.  The day is coming, the scriptures are clear.  People, get ready… 

Listen to the end of this passage from “The Message”

“But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don't go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that's coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man.” 

We need to be ready.  Alert. Watching.  The Day of the Lord is coming.

One the great old hymn writers knew about this.  Isaac Watts wrote a hymn that we all know as a Christmas hymn. But, interestingly enough, in his own collections of hymns, he didn’t include this one in the Christmas sections. Instead, he included it in hymns that looked forward to the Second Coming of Christ Jesus. 

So, today, on the first week of Advent, we sing this Advent hymn remembering the promise of Christ to come again… and of our need to be ready.  Joy to the World, the Lord is COME!