SEE TO IT
Matthew 24:3-6, 14
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
This chapter is a discourse from Jesus on the end of the age. I wish I could tell you I understand it all, but I don’t. But there are some things that I do understand.
The disciples asked Jesus about the end of the age and the sign of His coming. What Jesus describes in the next forty-nine verses are some cataclysmic events. And Jesus warned the disciples to make sure they are not deceived. There will be false Christs rising up who will deceive many. I am not sure who or what these false Christs will be, but there is a tendency in man to look to man for salvation. Hitler’s deception of the German people in the 1930s and 40s reminds me of a false Christ. Now, if you are thinking I am way off here, the good news is that it doesn’t matter now. Jesus said to be on the lookout for false Messiahs.
The next verse is sobering and enlightening at the same time. Verse six says that there will be wars and rumors of wars. For all my life, there have been wars and rumors of wars. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan come to mind. And this is not to mention the other wars and rumors of wars taking place all over the world. That is the sobering part. The enlightening part is that Jesus gave a directive. See that you are not troubled. How is it that we see wars and human trauma, but we are not troubled? One thing is that we know that this life is so temporary.
With God, a thousand years are like a watch in the night. Time to us and time to God are two completely different things. We are not troubled because we know who we believe. In life or death, we put our trust in God. We believe that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, so we are not troubled. We believe that to be with Christ is far better than anything on earth. And because of what we believe, we have a sense of peace even when things turn bad. And the fact that Jesus told His disciples to not be troubled means we, as His followers, have the ability. With all the things that will be taking place on the earth, not troubled is a good place to be.
Verse fourteen is the verse that gives another hint as to the end of the age. The gospel of Jesus and His kingdom will be preached in all the world. I wonder if this news even registered with the disciples. Even after the resurrection and the day of Pentecost, the disciples were not going to the world. It took a few years to get the disciples out of Israel to Samaria, and it took more years to get the gospel preached to the Gentile nations. Going to the world was not a priority of the disciples, but it is to God. This gospel must be preached in all nations as a witness, and then the end will come.
One reason we support world missions as a church is this verse. The gospel must be preached to the nations. God loves America because America is part of the world He loves. We have a small part to play in seeing this gospel preached to the world, but we do have a part.
So there are two things we are to see to. We see to it that our hearts are not troubled by world turmoil because it’s not the end. And we see to it that we are involved in taking the gospel to the world because it will help bring about the end. And don’t let end time events bother you. Whether we go to be with Christ before all literal hell breaks out or whether we stay and see it all, we trust in the Lord. And that makes up the third thing we are to see to. See to it that we put and keep our trust in Him.
PRAYER
Lord, whatever happens at the end of the age, I will see to it that I am staying with You!