“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3
There came a day during the last days of the ministry of the Lord Jesus, that He considered the spiritual state of Jerusalem, its rejection of Him as the Messiah. In that moment in particular He lamented the situation, being grieved in His heart. His great desire was to save the city, As He put it, “…How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matt. 23:37) It would be at this point that he would declare: “See! Your house is left to you desolate.” And yet, with the impending fall of Jerusalem that would be accomplished seventy years later, He would declare the words of hope, that there would be coming a day, perhaps many years in the future, when Jerusalem would say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” There will come a day in the economy of God when “…all Israel will be saved,” but only God knows that day. For it to occur the risen, exalted, and victorious Christ will need to come again, to establish His kingdom on earth, eventually creating a new heaven and a new earth. But what of the sign, or signs, of Christ’s coming?
First of all, it must be said that Christ’s first coming was as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. When He comes again, He will come as King of kings, and Lord of lords, to deal in judgment with those who have rejected Him. Just as Jerusalem would suffer desolation, and destruction, because of its deliberate rejection of Christ, so again, there will come desolation and destruction. This is the great pattern. God comes to save, but because of the rejection by man of God’s only, yet perfect and eternal solution for man’s need, God brings judgment. The eternal God is ever seeking to save that which is lost, but there comes a day, a time, an hour, when judgment will come.
In Noah’s day, though Noah would preach the righteousness of God to the people of the then known world, there would be the rejection of it. So total was their rejection that only Noah and his family would be saved. God brought judgment when sin had reached almost a total rejection of God. In Joshua’s day, at the point of entering into Canaan, the “iniquity of the Amorites” had reached its fulness. For the very few who recognized God, and turned to Him, there was salvation. Because of the rejection of all the others, destruction and desolation would come, much like that of Jerusalem many years later. The principle and patter here is that God gives light, the light of the truth and life of God, and His ways to save man from his sin, that he might know eternal life. The rejection by man of God will invariably result in “spiritual darkness,” man coming to the place where he is not willing to be saved. He thus incurs the wrath of God, and God’s judgment.
When Jesus answered His disciples concerning the sign, or signs of His coming, He spoke of a period of great deception, wars and rumors of war, of opposition to the message and testimony by believers to the point of causing them great harm, the seeking of their destruction. Lawlessness will abound, and false prophets will rise, deceiving many. It will be a terrible time when love will grow cold because of man’s increasing rejection of God. However, again there is the hope and certainty that “the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world.”
When Christ comes again, it will be to save His people, but to bring desolation and destruction. Christ comes to save to the uttermost those who have trusted Him fully, but He will judge all others, especially those who like Jerusalem, have rejected His salvation.
Dear Father, Deliver us from evil. In Jesus’ name, Amen.