The Day is Surely Drawing Near

The Day is Surely Drawing Near

Based on Heb. 10:11-25

Preached on November 15, 2015


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In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Persecutions. Wars and rumors of wars. False religions. False messiahs. Natural disasters. Oh, you thought I was talking about the newspaper this morning. And for all intents and purposes I could have been. But I was actually reviewing this morning's Gospel text, the first part of Jesus' "little apocalypse" from Mark chapter 13. And yet it sounds eerily like the headlines, doesn't it? War and rumours of war, hurricanes, earthquakes. Hmmmm.

As they were leaving the temple, one of Jesus' disciples had an accidental tourist moment. "Look, Teacher. All these wonderful stones and wonderful buildings." Herod's temple renovation project was in full swing. The sight must have been impressive with all the stone cutters working away on the massive stones. You've probably experienced that same sense of awe and wonder if you've ever visited one of the manmade wonders of the world or a great cathedral. It almost takes your breath away.

Yet Jesus seems unimpressed by the whole business. Blasé, really. "Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

Now - I don't think we can fully appreciate what Jesus was saying and how utterly outrageous this was. This would be like someone predicting 9/11 or the recent Paris attacks forty years before it happened. Anyone hearing it would think, "You're nuts. That can't possibly happen." I imagine the disciples were dumbstruck. So much so they were afraid even to ask Jesus about it, and when they finally did, they sent the four fishermen, the inner core - Peter and James and John and Andrew - to ask Jesus privately and in hushed tones. This kind of talk could get you hauled before the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious authority. How dare someone speak against the temple this way! This is God's temple and He'd never let it be destroyed, would He?

"Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?"

Inquiring minds want to know. They need to know. When? What are the signs? Stuff like this just fascinates us. The end times. The last days. There's a whole cottage industry built around the signs and times of the end. Left Behind. The Late Great Planet Earth. Millennialism. Apocalyptic literature and movies. It seems there is a new prediction every year.

Even better if we can be in on the secret though right? If we can be the ones who know the times and the signs. If we can be the ones to warn others. Wouldn't that be something if we could know the times and signs of the end? But Jesus won't give that, at least, not in the way that Peter and James and John and Andrew want it. Instead, Jesus paints a pattern, some things to watch and take note of.

There will be religious signs. False Christs, false Messiahs, false religions. People coming in the name of Jesus claiming "I AM." Claiming to be God, or at least His spokesman. And people will believe it, because people who believe nothing tend to believe anything. Especially if it can cook up some signs and wonders, because oh we love the miracle, the power, the glory.

There will be political signs. Wars and rumors of war. Nation rising up against nation. Kingdom against kingdom. As we speak today, Israel is on the brink of war. Again. Islamic State has declared war on Russia and France in a little over two weeks - downing a plane and attacking a capital. Canada was at war in Afghanistan for fourteen years, ending only last year. It seems wherever you look in the world, there is some nation at war or on the brink of war. And the middle east, the cradle of Christianity, the place where the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us, the middle east is never at peace.

There will be natural signs, the creation groaning. Earthquakes, famines, not to mention storms, floods, hurricanes, wildfire, pestilence, drought. We've seen it all in the last few years.

And all of this might cause one to despair, but Jesus gives a word of encouragement here: These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

The birth pains. The labor contractions of the new creation. Not the death throes of the old creation, though that's true too. But Jesus chooses, as the apostle Paul also says in Romans, that the pains and sufferings and groanings of this present time are the birth pangs of something new breaking in. The new creation. Life. Resurrection from the dead.

Keep that firmly in mind. The devil, the world, your own flesh would despair, clutch at false hopes and false beliefs, would doubt the goodness and mercy of God in the face of suffering and death. Don't buy into it! Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ has conquered by His dying and rising. The old is already gone. The new has already come in Christ. You are already new in Christ, baptized into Him, believing in Him. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." And the day is coming for that newness to show.

Jesus has some specific instructions for His disciples - Peter and James and John and Andrew. They will be handed over to religious councils, beaten in the synagogues, hauled before the civil authorities. And they would bear witness to them, and in so doing, the Gospel would go out to all the nations.

Just as Jesus bore the brunt of religious and state persecution, convicted by the Sanhedrin, convicted and sentenced by Pilate, so the church in the world always feels the heat of Religion and Government. The book of Acts bears the record. Read it for yourself. The apostles are hauled before the religious court, they're told to stop preaching the name of Jesus, they're beaten for it. The Roman government turns against the Christians and tries to wipe them out. And what happens through all this persecution? "The Word of the Lord grows."

When Christianity is popular and trendy and the "it" thing, be very suspicious. When the government is friendly to the Church, watch out. When religious types of all sorts say nice things about Jesus and His followers, be on guard. The cross is an offense to the religious. The kingdom of Christ is a threat to the kingdoms of this world precisely because it is not of this world. The world would love to tame Christianity, domesticate it, use it. But Christ won't have it. He won't permit it. His Church, which is His Body, always appears weak and beaten and crucified in this world. And especially more so as the end draws near.

Today as we are gathered here, there are countless Christians all over the world suffering persecution. A web site devoted to publicizing the persecution of Christians in the world lists 52 countries today where Christians face severe or extreme persecution. The recent attacks in Paris remind us of the international tragedy being played out in Syria and Iraq, where thousands of Christians have been murdered and beheaded, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes in fear - because they confess the Name of Jesus. But it isn't just there.

Oct. 1st - A gunman in Oregon, USA singled out Christians in a college campus attack that left nine dead and several wounded.

Oct 13 - Nine churches were burned down, one person killed and over 8000 Christians displaced in Aceh, Indonesia.

Oct 18 - a church was attacked in the Afar province of Ethiopia during Sunday morning worship, with several members sustaining non-life threatening injuries.

Oct 20 - six men and one woman in Uzbekistan were arrested for having Bibles and hymnals.

Oct 21 - a man was arrested in Kazakstan after his home was searched and Bibles were found. He had been discussing his faith in Jesus with someone only days before.

Nov 4 - a family was driven from their home in Kyrgzstan, a country near Russia, for confessing their faith in Jesus.

Jesus warned His disciples that the times of the end would be times of great distress. And yet the Word would endure. The Gospel would go out to all nations, as it has, many times over, often powered by persecution. Jesus even told His disciples not to worry what they would say. The Holy Spirit would speak through them and give them the words.

The cross would divide families - brother against brother, father against child, children against their parents. You may have experienced it in your own families, being marginalized because you belong to Christ.

"And you will be hated by all for my name's sake." Anyone who thinks that Christianity is going to be popular religion, needs to hear this word from Jesus and take it to heart. You will be hated by all because you bear the name of Christ.

But take heart. The one who endures to the end will be saved. There is salvation at the end of this road. The sufferings of this present time, whatever they may be, do not compare with the glory that will be revealed on the day of Jesus' coming. When the Roman armies marched through Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, leaving no stone on top of another, people thought the world had come to an end. In a sense, they were right. As goes the temple, so goes the world. But in another sense, they were not right. The world went on without the temple.

Because the world had already come to a much greater end. On a good Friday, outside Jerusalem. In darkness at Noon. On a cross. When Jesus said, "It is finished." That was the end of the world as we know it. Jesus embracing the world in His own body brings the world to its end in His death. He is the persecuted One. The Martyr of all martyrs. The Lord of lords. The King of kings. He endured to the end. And in the end, He saved the world, and you. Baptized into Him, you have died to this dead world, and now live to God in Christ. For you, the end came in the water of Baptism with His Name. You died. And your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

For that reason, the world will hate you. Don't take it personally. It's not you. It's Jesus the world hates. But you can't kill Jesus. Not forever. Three days later, He's back. Alive and well. And the world can't kill you either. Not forever. At the end, you'll be back, alive and well in Jesus, as you are already alive and well in Jesus. (big pause)

Birth pains give way to joy and a birth. The end times pains give way to salvation and life. Present darkness gives way to future light. Your sorrow becomes joy. Your death becomes life. The one who endures to the end will be saved. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. That's you.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. Cameron Schnarr