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Left Behind Luke 17:20-37 20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” 22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23 Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. 24 For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. 25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot’s wife! 33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” 37 “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” In this passage, Jesus taught about kingdom of God and his second coming. But we don’t need to know what Jesus said about his own coming, because Tim LaHaye has done it for us. In case you live on a mountain top somewhere, Tim LaHaye is the lead author for the Left Behind series of books. I knew there were a lot of books, but I was astounded when I saw the whole picture. Left Behind Series · Left Behind #1 · Tribulation Force #2 · Nicolae #3 · Soul Harvest #4 · Apollyon #5 · Assassins #6 · The Indwelling #7 · The Mark #8 · Desecration #9 · The Remnant #10 · Armageddon #11 · Glorious Appearing #12 Left Behind Movies · Left Behind #1 · Tribulation Force #2 · World at War #3 Left Behind Graphic Novels (glorified comic books) · Left Behind: A Graphic Novel of the Earth's Last Days Volumes 1-5 · Tribulation Force: The continuing drama of those left behind Volumes 1-5 Apocalypse Series · Apocalypse Burning #3 Babylon Rising Series · Babylon Rising #1 · The Secret on Ararat #2 · The Europa Conspiracy #3 End of State Series · End of State #1 The Soon Series · Soon #1 · Silenced #2 · Shadowed #3 Left Behind Non-fiction Series · 14 books total Left Behind: The Kids Series Books · 40 books total Before They Were Left Behind Series (prequels) · The Rising #1 · The Regime #2 · The Rapture #3 (to be released 6-6-06) Final Sequel due in 2007 Conclusion · A total of 95 books · Almost 100 million copies in print · Nearly one billion dollars in total sales! Now do you see why I said we don’t need Jesus because we have Tim LaHaye? In one respect, these books are similar to the Da Vinci Code because they teach theology by using an exciting story of fiction. I am not going to debate the fine points of theology found in these 95 books. For the most part they are just harmless entertainment, but if you have read one or more of these books or have seen the movies, I would ask you to set aside the theology of Tim LaHaye so that we can take a honest look at the theology of Jesus in regard to his second coming. Is that fair enough? The first thing we need to know is that the kingdom has already come. But first we need to understand how Jesus’ second coming relates to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God includes Jesus’ first coming, his second coming and his future eternal kingdom. In v. 20 the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom would come. In v. 21 Jesus said, “the kingdom of God is within you.” Here is a simple question—did the kingdom of God abide within the rebellious Pharisees? Of course not. If you have a NIV Bible, look at the footnotes for v. 21—not your study notes, if you have a study Bible, but the footnotes which all NIV Bibles should have. The footnote says, “or among you”. This is the better translation. The kingdom cannot exist within the Pharisees, but the kingdom was among the Pharisees—indeed, the kingdom came in the person of Jesus standing before them. In Luke 11:20 Jesus said, “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” Jesus ushered in the kingdom. People often say that we are in the last days, but we have been in the last days for the past 2,000 years. Do you recall what happened at Pentecost? Peter preached to the crowd telling them that the men were not drunk, but were rather filled with the Holy Spirit. This is what he said. “These men are not drunk. It is only nine in the morning! No. this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Jesus initiated the coming of the kingdom and began the period of the last days and we have been waiting ever since. This is what theologians call the “now, but not yet.” The kingdom of God is with us now, because Jesus began the period of the kingdom, but the fullness of the kingdom is in the future—it has not yet arrived. So we say the kingdom is “now, but not yet.” It has arrived in the glory of the first coming of Jesus Christ, but its glory will be greater still at Christ’s second coming. So when is Jesus coming again? Many people have predicted his coming—and all of them have been wrong! Would you go to a doctor who misdiagnosed patients 100% of the time? Would you hand over your hard earned money to a stock broker who was wrong 100% of the time? Just to be clear, let me show you what to do when someone tries to tell you when Christ will return. (Turn and run out of the room!) You run away! It’s as simple as that. Don’t try to debate the person because they will probably have a hundred verses to support their argument and the average Christian will just get confused. Too many people have been put under the spell of these false teachers, so just run away as fast as you can! Jesus said that no man knows the day or the hour of his return, but Jesus also said that there will be signs which precede his coming. Jesus said his coming will be like flashes of lightening. We are now into the Spring thunderstorm season and if you are like me, you love to watch an approaching storm at night with lots of lightening blazing on the horizon. The lightening is an early warning of the coming storm. The Bible speaks of many changes in the heavens which will indicate his coming. The Acts passage I quoted before goes on to quote the book of Joel saying, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.” Bur prior to the signs and wonders in the heavens, Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” When Jesus made this prediction he was only about 3 months from his actual suffering on the cross. In his foolishness, Peter said that Jesus would not have to suffer and die. Today, a billion of the world’s Muslims claim that Jesus never died on the cross. They believe that is offensive for a great prophet to have died such an ignoble death. We agree with Muslims because it was offensive for the Creator of man to be murdered by man. It was the greatest of all possible offenses. That is why it is a stumbling block for belief. Dan Brown is his Da Vinci Code claims that Jesus survived his crucifixion, moved to France and had a baby girl named Sarah with Mary Magdalene. The cross is a stumbling block and an offense, but it was always God’s plan. Jesus predicted his suffering and death multiple times long before it happened. It was not Plan B in his divine timetable—it was and always had been Plan A. Do not shrink from proclaiming the bloody cross for it is your salvation and a sign of the kingdom of God. Obviously the sign of Jesus’ death and resurrection is long since past, but there are future signs which must first be fulfilled. The anti-Christ must appear. Who is the anti-Christ—is it Nicolae Carpathia? (from the Left Behind series) The anti-Christ is obviously not Hitler, Stalin or Hussein, as many had predicted. In fact, the anti-Christ will be far worse than all of these men put together! This is one place the Left Behind series gets it right—when the anti-Christ is revealed and begins his destruction, we will know that Jesus will come in about 3 ½ years. Do you think you will miss the anti-Christ? I can guarantee you that when the anti-Christ is revealed we won’t have theological debates about the identification of the anti-Christ. We won’t be wondering, “Is it him?” “Could he be the one?” We will say, “It is him!” The coming of the ant-Christ and the Great Tribulation will be an awful but sure sign of Christ’s second coming. Another sign is that the gospel will be preached to all nations. The Matthew 24.14 says “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Out of compassion and mercy, Jesus will not return until everyone has heard the gospel. Indeed, he says he will not return until that time. God is just and not willing that any should perish—so he waits until the nations have heard the gospel. How do we know if this sign has been fulfilled yet? Let me ask you—do you think the gospel has been preached to every nation? We don’t know for sure, but most people would agree that it has probably not taken place yet. Here is another grim but true sign. Did you know that Jesus will not return until enough Christians have died as martyrs? Revelation chapter six promises us that more martyrs must be killed prior to his return. Now let’s put these two signs together. First, the gospel must be preached to all nations. Second, the number of Christian martyrs is not yet complete. Do you see any possible link between these two signs of Christ’s return? Is it possible that the gospel has not gone to all nations because we don’t have enough believers willing to become martyrs? A few weeks ago I told you about the missionary challenge presented at the pastors conference I attended. The speaker had been praying for 140 new missionaries and it looked as if he was well on his way to having that prayer answered. At that same pastor’s conference four years ago a different missionary challenge was issued. It was a unique challenge issued by John Piper. He was not merely asking for missionaries. He said that he assumed all of us would be willing to serve as missionaries. Instead his call was a willingness to be martyred for Christ. It was a call to missionary martyrdom. Before Christ returns w need to reach the unreached nations and more martyrs must die. I think these two are linked together. I’m not going to debate the timing of the rapture, whether it is before or after the rapture, but I will say this. Many people who think they will be raptured before the tribulation believe this simply because they are terribly afraid of suffering. Their thinking is, “Come quickly Jesus—whisk me away from this dark world before anything bad happens to me”. I can sympathize with this mentality, for you may have noticed that I was not one of the missionaries who responded to the call to go and be a martyr! I am grateful for that missionary call, but I wonder how many of those pastors came home from the conference and announced to their wives, “Hey honey, God just called me to be a martyr for Christ so let’s start packin’ our bags!” While we don’t have to like suffering, the Bible is filled with the joy of suffering and trials. Ask my wife—I am an optimist at heart, but when I read the N.T., I am not very optimistic about the world. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better—and that means suffering and martyrdom. It happens all over the globe every day and it will continue to increase until Christ returns. The number of martyrs will increase until the day that Jesus rises from his throne and yells, “Enough!” Some of you may be confused by all of these signs because you have been taught that Jesus will return like a thief in the night. Is that true—will Jesus return suddenly like a thief in the night? In v. 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” Does this sound like a thief in the night? Indeed it does, but let me read what Paul wrote in 1 Thess. “For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” Do you see the difference? For an unbeliever Jesus’ return will come like a thief in the night, but for believers this will not be true. We should not press what Paul means too far. It’s not as if we can go to bed dressed in our best Sunday clothes because we know Jesus is coming at 1:30 am. No man knows the day or the hour but alert believers will be able to know the general time of Christ’s second coming. We have two extremes to avoid. First, do not be like the false teachers who claim to know the precise timing of the second coming. Second, do not be like an unbeliever who has no idea that Christ is coming again. Unbelievers will be utterly shocked by Christ’s second coming, just as they were in the days of Noah and in the town of Sodom and Gomorrah. Another warning is to not be like Lot’s wife. Now to you and I, this doesn’t sound like too harsh of a warning. Lot’s wife? Oh yeah—she’s the one who turned around and was turned into a pillar of salt. But do you really believe that silly story? Let me tell you why we need to believe this strange part of the Sodom and Gomorrah story. We believe it because Jesus believed it. You cannot say, “Yes, Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world, except he got that part about Lot’s wife all wrong, cuz that really didn’t happen. If Jesus is God, is he going to make a mistake about Lot’s wife? Jesus validated the historical reliability of the entire Sodom and Gomorrah story—all the way down to the detail about Lot’s wife. Of course a good Jew in the first century knew what Jesus meant and it would have been a genuine warning—Don’t fall away in unbelief like Lot’s wife! Christ rode into Jerusalem to a heroes welcome. The crowds sang the praises of his name and worshipped him as Messiah—then they tortured and murdered him a few days later. But he is coming again. It is the most certain of promises. His coming will bring justice to the earth. The suffering and tears you experienced recently will be no more. Your worries, fears, trials and pains will fall away. But until that glorious day we wait in expectation. We wait like we believe his promises are true. While we wait we don’t fear persecution because Jesus said it will come. While we wait we don’t fear the call to martyrdom because more of the faithful ones must die first. We do not even fear the anti-Christ because we fear God so much more. We wait like the apostle John on the island of Patmos when he wrote the second to the last verse of the whole Bible: Amen. Come Lord Jesus. Rich Maurer April 9, 2006 |