WEBVTT 00:00:00.170 --> 00:00:04.690 Well, howdy. Well, it's the end of the world 00:00:04.690 --> 00:00:09.849 as we know it, and I feel fine. From time to 00:00:09.849 --> 00:00:11.570 time, it's important to take a break from all 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:14.500 the feel -good passages in Scripture and... Just 00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:18.640 be honest about the parts that are intense, cataclysmic, 00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:22.559 and terrifying. Somebody asked one time, how 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:24.059 do you decide what you're going to preach on 00:00:24.059 --> 00:00:28.760 every single week? I basically stick to all the 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:32.039 passages given, because to be honest, it would 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:34.219 be really easy to just preach whichever ones 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:37.719 you're comfortable with. It's a better idea to 00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.500 see what God puts in front of you, because it's 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:42.479 better to let Him be the one to speak instead. 00:00:42.990 --> 00:00:47.590 You see, this is what we look at today, is that 00:00:47.590 --> 00:00:49.850 today we're looking at discussions of the end 00:00:49.850 --> 00:00:52.609 of the world, but it's from our Luke passage. 00:00:53.049 --> 00:00:55.810 It's not Revelation, it's not Daniel, it's the 00:00:55.810 --> 00:00:59.149 gospel. It's Jesus talking about the end of the 00:00:59.149 --> 00:01:03.969 world. And in doing so, maybe we actually understand 00:01:03.969 --> 00:01:07.489 Christ himself. You see, every generation has 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:10.409 its own way of imagining the end of the world, 00:01:10.409 --> 00:01:13.799 and for some reason, Our generation seems to 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:16.879 love putting it on the movie screen. The film 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:20.280 Knowing with Nicolas Cage, there's numbers being 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:23.340 scribbled by a child predicting these disasters 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:26.379 of solar flares and earthquakes, fire from the 00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:30.599 sky, and each prediction comes true and creates 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:33.959 panic. The world unravels, the sky is a threat, 00:01:34.379 --> 00:01:37.420 the sun and its flares are the enemy, and the 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:39.599 adults hope for their children to be rescued. 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:43.760 The whole film pulses with that feeling of people 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:46.480 fainting with fear, the earth, the heavens shaken 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.120 and the world coming undone. And then we take 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.400 Interstellar with Matthew McConaughey. Once he 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.000 gets past saying, all right, all right, all right. 00:01:56.579 --> 00:02:00.519 The world isn't exploding, it's slowly dying. 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:04.239 The sky, it's not on fire, it's filled with dust. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.200 Crops are failing, nations collapsing, people 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.879 losing hope, and a group of explorers look to 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:13.520 the stars, not with fear, but with longing for 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.479 a way forward, a future, redemption that seems 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:20.020 impossibly far away in some other galaxy. The 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:22.599 entire story is driven by fear that the world 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:25.939 can no longer hold us, and by the stubborn hope 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:28.870 that there's still a way through it. And then 00:02:28.870 --> 00:02:32.750 there's Armageddon with Bruce Willis, where Aerosmith 00:02:32.750 --> 00:02:36.949 had one of their best hits yet. The asteroid 00:02:36.949 --> 00:02:40.229 is coming, the countdown is ticking, and they're 00:02:40.229 --> 00:02:42.629 gonna go up with a giant bomb to blow it up. 00:02:43.330 --> 00:02:45.770 The world is bracing for the impact, the governments 00:02:45.770 --> 00:02:50.050 scramble, the scientists argue. People prepare 00:02:50.050 --> 00:02:55.069 for the worst, chaotic, dramatic, loud, great 00:02:55.069 --> 00:02:59.240 soundtrack. But beneath all the spectacle, that's 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:03.340 when the same simple truth comes out. Human beings 00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:06.419 feel very small when the heavens start attacking 00:03:06.419 --> 00:03:09.319 us. See, three different movies, three different 00:03:09.319 --> 00:03:12.680 visions of the end, but they share the same heartbeat. 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:16.919 The familiar sky shakes, people panic, and the 00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.379 visitors to church today wonder why they picked 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:23.259 today to visit. And this is why the words of 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:27.099 Jesus, in Luke 21 hits so close to home. Because 00:03:27.099 --> 00:03:29.960 deep inside, we have a fear of what will happen. 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:32.259 If we look up and discover that the world's fate 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:34.599 is sealed and there's nothing we can do about 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:37.879 it. Jesus talks about signs and the sun, the 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.860 moon, the stars. He talks about nations in distress. 00:03:41.219 --> 00:03:43.939 He talks about people fainting with fear. He 00:03:43.939 --> 00:03:46.740 talks about the heavens shaking. It sounds like 00:03:46.740 --> 00:03:49.479 a blockbuster, but it's not meant to entertain 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:53.860 us. It's meant to prepare us. Because into all 00:03:53.860 --> 00:03:56.520 that imagery, Jesus speaks a word that no movie 00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:00.319 ever dares to say. When these things begin to 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:04.319 take place, straighten up and raise your heads 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:09.099 because your redemption is near. Straighten up. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:11.259 If the world is coming to an end, shouldn't we 00:04:11.259 --> 00:04:14.939 be cowering and running in fear? When Jesus describes 00:04:14.939 --> 00:04:18.660 wars, earthquakes, persecution, though, the disciples, 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:21.600 they lean in because they want secrets and strategies. 00:04:22.540 --> 00:04:25.480 Jesus, though, He's not feeding fear or giving 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:28.639 them a timeline. He's anchoring them in what 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:31.279 faithfulness looks like when the world feels 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:35.060 fragile. Jesus says, there will be signs in the 00:04:35.060 --> 00:04:37.899 sun and moon and stars and on the earth, distress 00:04:37.899 --> 00:04:40.779 of nations in perplexity because of the roaring 00:04:40.779 --> 00:04:43.699 of the sea and the waves, people fainting with 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:46.519 fear, the powers of the heavens shaken, and then 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:48.519 they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:51.860 with power and great glory. Now when these things 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:53.720 begin to take place, straighten up and raise 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.600 your head because your redemption is drawing 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:00.439 near. These vivid, mysterious words of Jesus. 00:05:00.660 --> 00:05:04.139 People have tried to draw charts around them, 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:08.839 decode them, tie them to headlines. October seems 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:12.480 to be a common theme. Align them with eclipses, 00:05:12.740 --> 00:05:15.860 blood moons, astronomical patterns and parties. 00:05:16.699 --> 00:05:19.959 All in an attempt to predict and make sense of 00:05:20.009 --> 00:05:23.870 everything. But when you just let Jesus speak 00:05:23.870 --> 00:05:27.709 without forcing him into our modern anxieties, 00:05:28.170 --> 00:05:30.790 something else rises to the surface, something 00:05:30.790 --> 00:05:34.410 deeper, something calming, something steady. 00:05:35.189 --> 00:05:38.769 Because the point is not the spectacle, the point 00:05:38.769 --> 00:05:43.829 is your posture. But before Jesus even describes 00:05:43.829 --> 00:05:46.009 the shaking of the heavens or the roaring of 00:05:46.009 --> 00:05:48.129 the seas, He starts with the warning that it's 00:05:48.129 --> 00:05:51.730 easy for us to overlook. Right after the disciples 00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:55.069 ask, when will these things be? Right after they 00:05:55.069 --> 00:05:57.350 hear that the temple is going to fall and the 00:05:57.350 --> 00:06:00.850 world will crack, Jesus doesn't give them a date. 00:06:01.850 --> 00:06:05.449 He doesn't give them signs to prevent it. He 00:06:05.449 --> 00:06:08.930 doesn't give them a strategy to stop it. He says, 00:06:09.329 --> 00:06:14.350 see that you are not led astray. Why is that 00:06:14.350 --> 00:06:17.790 his first response? Because the disciples are 00:06:17.790 --> 00:06:20.490 not just scared. They're looking for control. 00:06:20.730 --> 00:06:23.870 They're looking to prevent it. The temple was 00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:25.870 the center of their identity, their stability, 00:06:26.269 --> 00:06:29.610 their world. If that falls, everything falls. 00:06:30.149 --> 00:06:32.230 So naturally they want to know how to prevent 00:06:32.230 --> 00:06:35.629 it. How to hold on to the life that they know. 00:06:36.290 --> 00:06:39.060 But Jesus... He knows that when people are afraid 00:06:39.060 --> 00:06:41.920 of losing the world that they know, losing their 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:45.959 comfort, security, control, that's exactly when 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:49.439 false prophets show up. Jesus knows something 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:52.639 about human fear, and we have seen it for two 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.819 millennia. Fear makes us vulnerable to the wrong 00:06:55.819 --> 00:06:58.800 voices. It makes us cling to certainty. It makes 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.480 us follow those who promise safety. And this 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:04.180 is exactly why Jesus adds, many will come in 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:07.959 my name. Do not go after them. Because when people 00:07:07.959 --> 00:07:10.600 are terrified of losing what they love, their 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:14.420 temple, their community, their comfort, false 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.319 prophets always show up. And the most dangerous 00:07:17.319 --> 00:07:19.579 false prophets, they're not the ones who say, 00:07:19.699 --> 00:07:22.620 follow Zeus or follow Baal. Would that really 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:26.939 be an issue? No thanks, I'm good. It's the ones 00:07:26.939 --> 00:07:30.279 who say, I'm speaking for Jesus. I'm the one 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.220 who can fix it. I can stop the shaking. I can 00:07:34.220 --> 00:07:37.430 preserve what you treasure. Because not everyone 00:07:37.430 --> 00:07:41.329 who claims Jesus is sent by Jesus not every voice 00:07:41.329 --> 00:07:45.529 promising safety comes from God and Jesus Knows 00:07:45.529 --> 00:07:48.350 that when the world trembles the greatest threat 00:07:48.350 --> 00:07:51.589 to his disciples. It's not the shaking It's the 00:07:51.589 --> 00:07:53.829 seduction of a voice that tells them exactly 00:07:53.829 --> 00:07:56.910 what they want to hear the wrong voice the wrong 00:07:56.910 --> 00:08:01.430 Savior the wrong fullness the wrong safety and 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:04.089 So before anything else Jesus says do not be 00:08:04.089 --> 00:08:09.100 led astray Please But wait is Jesus talking about 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:11.759 what's literally going to happen though as much 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:13.680 as we're tempted to jump into the news and look 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:16.019 for specific events Oh, I saw the earthquake. 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:19.620 Oh, I saw something in the heavens Jesus he's 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:21.639 using the language of the Sun the moon and the 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:25.879 stars because in scripture the sky often mirrors 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:29.819 what humans feel when the world shakes in the 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:32.879 Old Testament Cosmic imagery is the language 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:36.399 of upheaval and turmoil The prophets, they reach 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:39.759 for the sky whenever the words on the ground 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:44.019 are not big enough. Amos said in 8 .9, I will 00:08:44.019 --> 00:08:46.799 make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:50.600 in broad daylight. Joel said in 2 .31, the sun 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:53.159 shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:55.120 before the great and awesome day of the Lord. 00:08:55.480 --> 00:08:58.779 Isaiah said in 13 .10, the stars of the heavens 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:01.100 and their constellations will not give their 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:03.480 light. The sun will be dark at its rising and 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:07.100 the moon will not shed its light. Ezekiel in 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:10.360 32 .7, with the fall of Egypt said, when you 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:13.200 are extinguished, I will cover the heavens and 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:16.639 make their stars dark." This is not about astronomy. 00:09:17.539 --> 00:09:20.639 They're describing the collapse of human certainty. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.500 They're saying when empires fall, when nations 00:09:24.500 --> 00:09:27.759 tremble, when the familiar world gives way, the 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:32.159 sky goes dark. Because Jesus, He's not predicting 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:35.200 weather patterns. He's naming what it feels like 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:38.139 when life no longer holds the way we thought 00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:41.269 it did. See, the prophets, they use the sky when 00:09:41.269 --> 00:09:44.870 kingdoms fall and empires collapse. When Babylon 00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:48.490 crumbled, the prophets said the stars were dimming. 00:09:48.769 --> 00:09:51.289 When Egypt trembled, the sun was darkened. The 00:09:51.289 --> 00:09:56.990 sky, it's a symbol of destabilizing worlds. Of 00:09:56.990 --> 00:10:01.149 our world no longer making sense. The distress 00:10:01.149 --> 00:10:04.029 of nations, perplexity, people fainting with 00:10:04.029 --> 00:10:08.269 fear. We've seen nations in distress, haven't 00:10:08.269 --> 00:10:12.600 we? We've seen perplexity. We've seen the sense 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:15.960 when leaders don't know what to do and people 00:10:15.960 --> 00:10:20.860 don't know whom to trust We've seen fear so thick 00:10:20.860 --> 00:10:24.740 that we can feel it when we walk into a room 00:10:24.740 --> 00:10:27.159 Jesus is speaking the language of people who 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:30.100 watch the sky and feel the ground shifting beneath 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:35.259 their feet He's speaking to us But have you ever 00:10:35.259 --> 00:10:38.000 had that moment when the world it suddenly felt 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:41.899 unfamiliar? When something that had always been 00:10:41.899 --> 00:10:46.159 stable and confident is not. When the marriage 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:50.159 has cracked. When the diagnosis came out of nowhere. 00:10:51.019 --> 00:10:53.659 When the job vanished. When the business seems 00:10:53.659 --> 00:10:56.980 to disappear. When the friend has walked away 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:59.580 and the news story makes you wonder what kind 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:02.720 of a future there is for your children or whether 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:06.259 you get to have any. In those moments the world 00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:09.250 feels like what Jesus has described. The sun 00:11:09.250 --> 00:11:12.250 has dimmed. The moon is out of rhythm. The stars 00:11:12.250 --> 00:11:16.210 are moving the wrong way. But the world, it's 00:11:16.210 --> 00:11:19.110 not that the world ended. It's that the world 00:11:19.110 --> 00:11:22.850 as you knew it did. See, that's the space that 00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:25.649 Jesus is knowing. This is what He knows it's 00:11:25.649 --> 00:11:27.509 going to feel like when the temple, it's going 00:11:27.509 --> 00:11:31.830 to be destroyed in 70 AD. He knows that the Jewish 00:11:31.830 --> 00:11:34.529 people are going to be exiled 60 years later. 00:11:35.070 --> 00:11:37.370 As much as we like to talk about Israel being 00:11:37.370 --> 00:11:40.379 eternal, The nation of Israel as a physical place, 00:11:40.539 --> 00:11:43.759 it's never been eternal. It was shattered in 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.919 half after Solomon. It was overthrown and destroyed 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:51.879 in 722 and 586 BC. The temple was destroyed in 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.919 70 AD. The Jewish people were ejected in 135. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:59.899 Israel as God's people are eternal. But Israel 00:11:59.899 --> 00:12:03.360 as a nation by definition never has been. And 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:06.139 the people were about to experience it again 00:12:06.139 --> 00:12:10.529 very soon. What does Jesus say? Doesn't make 00:12:10.529 --> 00:12:13.210 any sense. When everything shakes, straighten 00:12:13.210 --> 00:12:17.090 up. When everyone around is looking down, lift 00:12:17.090 --> 00:12:21.029 up your head. Because your redemption is drawing 00:12:21.029 --> 00:12:24.269 near. The world's falling apart and people are 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:27.370 supposed to be positive? What kind of self -help 00:12:27.370 --> 00:12:29.909 nonsense is this? We're supposed to be happy 00:12:29.909 --> 00:12:32.389 about the terrible things? We're supposed to 00:12:32.389 --> 00:12:36.529 live in denial? No, and not just the river in 00:12:36.529 --> 00:12:39.669 Egypt. It's tempting to think that danger always 00:12:39.669 --> 00:12:42.169 comes from the outside, from the armies, from 00:12:42.169 --> 00:12:44.250 the disasters, the enemies, the unknown, but 00:12:44.250 --> 00:12:47.289 sometimes the world's upheaval, it comes from 00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:50.230 the very people and relationships that we trust 00:12:50.230 --> 00:12:54.070 the most, even as Jesus himself pointed it out. 00:12:54.889 --> 00:12:58.250 Take Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was a man of deep 00:12:58.250 --> 00:13:02.370 faith, a pastor, a troublemaker, clearly, a theologian, 00:13:02.450 --> 00:13:05.409 a resistor of tyranny. He was part of a secret 00:13:05.409 --> 00:13:08.759 circle in the German military intelligence plotting 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:11.720 to overthrow the dictator. And he was cautious, 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:15.860 careful, devoted, trusting his closest friends 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:20.360 like Hans Ulster implicitly. But in a twist of 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:24.360 fate, it was Hans' own diary, his closest ally, 00:13:25.419 --> 00:13:27.899 that chronicled all of the resistance work that 00:13:27.899 --> 00:13:32.500 was found and exposed him to the Gestapo. It 00:13:32.500 --> 00:13:35.700 was not a betrayal by intent. He never betrayed 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:38.299 him as Judas betrayed Jesus, but the very thing 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:42.740 that symbolized trust, connection, shared purpose, 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:47.460 it became the instrument of his demise. The one 00:13:47.460 --> 00:13:51.120 closest to him, the one he trusted implicitly, 00:13:51.340 --> 00:13:55.000 led to his arrest. There's a haunting parallel 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:58.960 in scripture. Looking at Jesus and Judas, Judas 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:02.480 was chosen, trained, trusted. He shared the ministry. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:05.710 He was in the inner circle. And yet, in a single 00:14:05.710 --> 00:14:08.529 moment, Judas became the instrument of betrayal. 00:14:10.129 --> 00:14:12.389 Jesus was wounded, handed over, and condemned 00:14:12.389 --> 00:14:15.450 not by a stranger, but by the one closest to 00:14:15.450 --> 00:14:18.929 him. Because the lesson it's sobering is that 00:14:18.929 --> 00:14:23.649 oftentimes the closest friends do not guarantee 00:14:23.649 --> 00:14:27.490 safety and faithfulness. Even the things we treasure 00:14:27.490 --> 00:14:30.629 the most, the people that we hold dearest, can 00:14:30.629 --> 00:14:34.179 create the circumstances that may hurt us. And 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:38.000 even what seems like loyalty in the grand cosmic 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.659 scheme of things can play a role in the very 00:14:40.659 --> 00:14:45.379 trials that we face. And Luke 21 becomes alive. 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:48.080 Everything will be fine if you pick the right 00:14:48.080 --> 00:14:50.840 friends. Your trust will always protect you. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:55.279 Jesus doesn't say that. He says, do not be terrified. 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:58.419 Straighten up, lift up your heads. Your redemption 00:14:58.419 --> 00:15:03.070 is drawing near. The platform for the gospel 00:15:03.070 --> 00:15:07.710 is not built on stability, safety, even the perfect 00:15:07.710 --> 00:15:11.169 alignment of people around us. It's built on 00:15:11.169 --> 00:15:14.309 faithfulness in the midst of uncertainty and 00:15:14.309 --> 00:15:17.850 trusting the one who endured even in suffering. 00:15:18.429 --> 00:15:21.509 See suffering whether it's from enemies without 00:15:21.509 --> 00:15:24.889 or from the twists and turns of fate that touch 00:15:24.889 --> 00:15:28.529 even our closest allies It does not merely lead 00:15:28.529 --> 00:15:31.110 to the platform of the gospel. Oh all the bad 00:15:31.110 --> 00:15:33.750 things are gonna happen and then the gospel happens 00:15:33.750 --> 00:15:40.409 The suffering is the platform of the gospel Bonhoeffer's 00:15:40.409 --> 00:15:43.110 courage in prison his unwavering witness and 00:15:43.110 --> 00:15:46.179 ultimately his death became the testimony to 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:49.899 God's work in the midst of collapse. Jesus facing 00:15:49.899 --> 00:15:52.980 betrayal in the garden. What looked like defeat 00:15:52.980 --> 00:15:56.820 became the stage of God's redemption. As we see 00:15:56.820 --> 00:15:59.519 the sun, moon, and stars falling all around us 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:01.980 and the nations are trembling and systems are 00:16:01.980 --> 00:16:06.539 failing and betrayals large and small. Jesus 00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:08.899 calls us to lift our heads and to stand firm. 00:16:09.799 --> 00:16:12.679 Not because the world is safe. The world's never 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:16.509 supposed to be safe. Not because the people around 00:16:16.509 --> 00:16:20.110 us are perfect. They're never going to be and 00:16:20.110 --> 00:16:22.769 Not because the fear will disappear, but because 00:16:22.769 --> 00:16:27.049 the kingdom of God is still advancing Even through 00:16:27.049 --> 00:16:29.450 the very places that we thought were going to 00:16:29.450 --> 00:16:33.889 destroy us But where's the hope? You will see 00:16:33.889 --> 00:16:37.409 the son of man coming in a cloud with power and 00:16:37.409 --> 00:16:41.750 great glory That's not about the weather It's 00:16:41.750 --> 00:16:45.019 about the God of the Old Testament who overshadowed 00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:47.840 the mountain, the one seen in Daniel's vision 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:51.120 when God gave authority to the Son of Man. Jesus 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.940 saying when the world feels like it's falling 00:16:52.940 --> 00:16:55.720 apart, that is not the moment when God disappears, 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:00.360 that's the moment when God draws near. Not to 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:05.160 crush you, not to punish you, but to redeem you. 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:09.079 Jesus doesn't del his disciples to run, to hide, 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:12.099 to hoard, to build bunkers, or to interpret the 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.980 news cycle. He doesn't even tell them to figure 00:17:14.980 --> 00:17:17.259 out the meaning of the signs. He tells them to 00:17:17.259 --> 00:17:24.420 adopt a posture, stand up, look up, and have 00:17:24.420 --> 00:17:27.700 hope. Because the one you're looking for is coming. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.740 He's coming to you, not running away. The signs, 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.099 they're not telling you when Jesus will return. 00:17:35.579 --> 00:17:37.480 It's telling you what it will feel like before 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:42.119 He does. Not calm or predictable, not neat. This 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:45.460 is not a question of trying to create a sense 00:17:45.460 --> 00:17:49.359 of calm. Jesus wants His people to know that 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.079 the shaking, it's not the failure of God's plan, 00:17:52.619 --> 00:17:55.880 it's the beginning. The same way that labor pains 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:58.440 are not the death of a child, but the symbol 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:01.859 of something new about to be born. And Jesus 00:18:01.859 --> 00:18:04.720 says, when these things begin, not when they 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:09.730 end, when they begin, raise your heads. and look 00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:13.470 like people who are expecting redemption. So 00:18:13.470 --> 00:18:15.549 who is it that lifts their head when the sky 00:18:15.549 --> 00:18:19.329 goes dark? The people who are afraid? The people 00:18:19.329 --> 00:18:23.390 who are cynical? Not the ones who live for this 00:18:23.390 --> 00:18:28.029 world alone. Because God is not done. Christ 00:18:28.029 --> 00:18:30.450 is not done. Redemption, it's not a metaphor, 00:18:30.509 --> 00:18:34.069 it's a promise. The shaking, it's not the end, 00:18:34.109 --> 00:18:37.200 it's the announcement. Bonhoeffer lived through 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.339 one of the moments when an entire nation was 00:18:39.339 --> 00:18:42.819 terrified of losing identity, losing stability, 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:46.220 losing its place in the world. And into that 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:50.000 fear stepped voices, loud and confident, that 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:53.759 claimed to speak for the church, to restore order, 00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:57.200 strength and pride. And many Christians followed 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:01.519 the voices because they sounded like hope. But 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:03.839 the counterfeit hope of the false prophets is 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.940 always wrapped in religious language. But Bon 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:27.279 Haver said, Because a long obedience in the same 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:31.720 direction is a quiet defiance grounded Not in 00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:35.160 optimism, but in being close to Christ Himself. 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:40.079 When evil tries to take everything, faith stands 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:43.079 taller. When the world is on fire, disciples 00:19:43.079 --> 00:19:46.099 lift their head. When fear says to hide, Christ 00:19:46.099 --> 00:19:51.160 says to hope. Because this is not a time for 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:56.160 fear. It's a time to be ready and confident. 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:00.559 Because the only people who lift their heads 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:02.539 in a collapsing world are the ones who know that 00:20:02.539 --> 00:20:08.380 they are not the center of it Christ is So don't 00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:14.099 look for escape Don't look for weapons Don't 00:20:14.099 --> 00:20:18.480 look for false saviors Even when we see the temple 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:22.140 collapsing But rather let us continue to look 00:20:22.140 --> 00:20:26.220 up Because our salvation is not from within this 00:20:26.220 --> 00:20:30.369 earth but rather is from God sending his son 00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:34.390 to come again with glory to judge both the living 00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:39.089 and the dead. Because when our world ends, that's 00:20:39.089 --> 00:20:43.670 when the kingdom truly begins. Thanks be to God.