Rejoice, The End is Coming!

Luke 21:20-28

The Destruction of Jerusalem

20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Coming of the Son of Man

25 "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

Jesus continued to speak about the end times as both in their generation and at the end of all time when He returns in judgment and deliverance, judgment on the world for rejecting His Word and deliverance for those who believed and received Him according to that same word.  The near end was the destruction of Jerusalem which they had been given as a place to meet with the LORD to sacrifice and worship there.  They continually turned away to idolatry and immortality as they substituted lifeless gods to worship without accountability and lived contrary to the moral Law of God written by His very finger in front of Moses on tablets of stone.  He promised to write those same Laws on the heart tablets of those to come (Psalm 40:8, Jeremiah 31:33-34, 2 Corinthians 3:3) instead that we may be able to live with accountability out of love in a changed nature with this new heart softened to His word by His Spirit.  Yes, those still alive in 70 AD would witness the leveling of their holy city made unholy and razed to the ground as a result, but those who had ears opened to hear and eyes cleared to see would know the very end would come later than this as the nations were all given the chance to hear the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, Romans 11:25, Revelation 11:2) and turn from sin to Him.  They were given general signposts to point the way to the final day which would overtake the world still lost in darkness apart from the light of Christ (Acts 26:23, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Ephesians 5:14, 2 Timothy 1:10) shining bright until that day.  There will be heavenly signs and earthly traumas as hearts fail in fear at the pressing times of tribulation covering the world.  The heavens will be shaken along with the earth (Hebrews 12:27) but we who are in Christ are unmoved because we have a promised kingdom that can never be shaken (Hebrews 12:28) that we look forward to as we serve Him acceptably in godly fear and infinite awe instead of fear of condemnation (Matthew 25:46, 1 John 4:17-18) as the rest who are not in Christ when He returns.  We who know Him and are known by Him will be able to look up at His coming with joy and peace in our excitement at our redemption drawing near (Romans 8:19-20, 23, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 57-58) with the victory over sin’s judgment penalty and death’s rule by that penalty over our souls.  We have been made free indeed in Jesus the Christ and can lift our heads in hope at His coming because of His righteousness that alone makes us worthy to enter into His presence in heaven and in new eternal bodies which will never see corruption again!  Praise Him for showing what is to come in the end in His time!  Though we do not know the day or hour of His return, what matters is that we will not be caught unaware and unprepared.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable grace!  Rejoice, for the end is coming with a new beginning!