Prophecy Update: What Will the Future Hold - Part A

The second coming of Jesus Christ dominates the Bible. Next to the subject of faith, the coming of Christ in the future is the most discussed topic in the book. You know how many times?

1,845 times. That second coming is alluded to or predicted. Today's message is prophecy update. What will the future hold?

And shows you just how important the second coming of Jesus is. But first here's a resource that helps you better understand the end times. Is the end near?

That's a question on many minds. And that's why Pastor Skip Heitzig spent many months in 2023 presenting 26 full length messages in his The End is Near series. The second coming of Jesus Christ dominates the Bible next to the subject of faith. The coming of Christ in the future is the most discussed topic in the book. To complement this excellent series, a study guide from Skip is now available. This study guide is over 100 pages in length and covers all 26 messages in the series. The End is Near study guide includes notes, summaries, and questions for group or personal study.

We need to understand the times, and this study guide will aid in this effort. With your gift of $50 or more to connect with Skip Heitzig, you will receive a copy of the End is Near study guide from Skip's in-depth 26 part series. Your gift will support the production and expansion of the Connect with Skip broadcast. Call 1-800-922-1888 or go online to connectwithskip.com.

That's 1-800-922-1888 or connectwithskip.com. Thank you for joining us. We'll be right back. Sherlock Holmes says, and what does that tell you? Watson said, Astronomically, that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I can deduce that the time is a quarter past three. Theologically, that God is all-powerful and that we are small and insignificant.

Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. And then Watson says, Why, Sherlock? What does it tell you?

And he said, That someone has stolen our tent. Obvious, right? That's the obvious observation. I feel that lots of people do what Watson did when it comes to end times prophecy.

They get so elaborate that they miss the immediate. And the immediate is simply this. Be ready. We should be ready. Watch, therefore, Jesus said.

He told us to be ready. I have read about a week or so ago a new research study by Pew Research that said something that got my attention. It put out these statistics. Four in ten Americans believe we are living in the end times. It stated 55 percent, over half of all Americans, say we're in the last days and Jesus is coming back to the earth one day. That's a significantly high rate of people, group of people.

Though most will say they don't know what the timing will be, some believe that he will return in their lifetime. Here's what's amazing about that research poll. That's not just a poll of evangelical Christians. That's a poll of Americans of all races and religions and political viewpoints.

Which begs the question, why? Why are so many people now more than ever before saying, I think we might be living in the last days? Well, look back on 2022. It's been a turbulent year. It's been a turbulent few years. Back in March, Russia invaded Ukraine. 200,000 soldiers have been killed, about 400,000 civilians. So when you have a half a million plus people dying in a war or rumors of war, that gets people's attention. Also, this is now the third year of the pandemic, and the number of COVID deaths have topped 6.6 million.

Add to that inflation, not just in our country, inflation around the world has touched virtually every country, and it is especially hitting low and middle class income people. So the name of this message today, this prophecy update, is What Will the Future Hold? What Will the Future Hold? And this message is sort of an introduction to something that we'll be looking at in a few weeks after we're done with Colossians, when we look at a series on eschatology or the end times. Now, the Bible does predict the future.

The Bible clearly predicts the future. But I find there are two extremes with people reading the Bible that predicts the future. One extreme is overstatement.

The other extreme is understatement. Some overstate it. Some are fanatics about Bible prophecy. It's all they talk about. They build their entire ministry on it. Everything is sensationalized. They see everything as a sign from God, from a Jewish festival to a blood moon to the logo of Starbucks. Everything is a sign from God. The other extreme is understatement, and perhaps understatement is a reaction to number one, the overstatement, because so many people overstate it, hey, let's just not talk about it.

Let's just not deal with it. It seems for some there is a refusal to deal with the idea of the end times or of prophecy. Partly it's because of number one, an overreaction to prophecy, but for some who don't talk about it at all, it's partly because they have a theological construct. There's a history of their interpretation that sort of forbids them from doing that.

We will go into more depth in our series. But what's interesting about this particular group that makes the understatement of Bible prophecy is that so often this very group is the group that is known for digging deep and championing the great doctrines of the Bible. They're really good at uncovering every stone when it comes to the doctrine of grace, salvation, sanctification, the church, soteriology, but when it comes to prophecy, it's like they're an abysmal failure. They don't talk about it. They don't see it. It's like God is unfolding signs right before their eyes, but their head is in the theological sand.

We want to approach this in a balanced way. So today what I'm going to do, and I'm just going to scratch the surface of this chapter, it's just really a deep section of Scripture, but I am going to predict the future today. I'm going to predict the future through the lens of Luke chapter 21, and I'm going to tell you things that will happen. I'm going to give you four certainties about the future. Here's the first. There will be an end.

I know I'm starting very general here, right? There will one day be an end, an end to the world. Let's pick it up in verse 7. So they, they being the disciples, asked Him, Jesus, saying, Teacher, when will these things be, and what sign will there be that these things are about to take place? And He said to them, Take heed that you do not be deceived, for many will come in My name, saying, I am He, and the time has drawn near. Therefore, do not go after them. But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified, because we've always had wars.

We've always had commotions. Do not be terrified, for these things must come to pass first, but the end is or will not come immediately. That's not to say the end will not come, but the end will not come immediately.

It will come, definitely, but in God's perfect time. So go down to verse 32. Verse 32, Jesus is talking, Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away.

Notice that. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. One day the world will end. We know that from a biblical perspective. We know that one day the world will come to an end, Jesus said in Matthew 24.

Okay, let me pause just for a moment, because you're going to hear me refer to this, and this is sort of nuts and bolts. Matthew chapter 24, Luke chapter 21, Mark chapter 13 are all essentially about the same sermon that Jesus gave called the Olivet Discourse. It's a little more detailed in Matthew 24, less so in Luke 21, less so in Mark 13 for a host of reasons I'm not going to uncover today.

But it's from different vantage points, but same basic territory. So in Matthew 24, the parallel text to this, Jesus said, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. There's Jesus saying the end's going to come one day.

Paul the apostle knew that to be the truth when he gave us that great chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 about the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ. He said, then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom of God the Father, and he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. So Jesus said the end is coming. Paul said the end is coming. Peter not only said the end is coming, but he describes the end of the world.

2 Peter chapter 3, he says, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? The word dissolve in that verse means to unloose or to set free what is bound. The idea is that the elements will be broken up into their component parts like a building being torn down. The physical structure of the universe will disintegrate. If I could put it like this, the creation will be uncreated.

It will be dissolved. Now we know that from the Bible, but we also know that from the scientific community that regularly reminds us that we live in a limited universe. We didn't always believe this. Science didn't always teach this, but we have come to the understanding that the universe is expanding. We have observed radiation echo, which adds credence to that idea. But did you know up until the 1950s, and really the 1960s, the scientific community said that the universe is just eternal. It's just going to go on and on and on. It was called the steady-state theory.

The steady-state theory. That was the prevailing cosmology of the day. Today, we know better. We know different.

We've added to our knowledge base. And so there's different theories as to how the universe is going to end, but one thing everybody agrees on? It's going to end.

It's going to end. The universe is running down. There are certain scientific realities that are undeniable and unbreakable. Laws, scientific laws. One of them is the now famous second law of thermodynamics, which basically says everything in the material universe is experiencing energy loss or heat death. It's like a clock that has been wound up that is running down.

So this is easily observable. Cars, over time, don't get shinier or more efficient. They rust and they break down. Human beings, over time, don't grow stronger as they get really old. They grow weaker.

We don't become less wrinklier over time. The second law of thermodynamics, I checked this morning in the mirror, is at work. There will be an end. There will be an end.

That's one prediction. Second, Jesus will be back. Jesus will be back. In chapter 21, our chapter, verse 27, one sentence. Then, after all these things he talks about, then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. The Son of Man is a messianic term, and all the Jews knew that. He was speaking about a reference of Daniel, chapter 7, a vision of the Son of Man who is given a kingdom. They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now, in Matthew, chapter 24, remember I said that there's three chapters that deal with this Olivet Discourse? Matthew 24, the disciples are walking with Jesus up the Mount of Olives, and they ask him a question. They said, not only when will these things be, but what is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Chapter 24 in Luke 21 is the answer to that question.

What will be the sign of your coming? Now, isn't that an odd question to ask somebody who's standing there with them? He's already there, and he says, so, when are you coming? You might think Jesus is going to say, did you notice I'm with you guys? Now, when they ask that question, they did not think of his second coming. They might automatically go, oh, they're mentioning, they didn't know about a second coming. They didn't believe in a second coming. They thought the Messiah is coming. Okay, he has come.

He's here. When they said the sign of your coming, they believe he's going to stay there, but there's going to be some punctuating event. That was their eschatology. That was their belief that the Messiah is going to now rule over the enemies of Israel and set up his kingdom. That's what they meant by coming, some punctuating event, not a return. However, that's what they thought. In a couple days from that question, he takes them up to an upper room where they have the Passover, the Last Supper, and Jesus unloads the truth on them that he is going to die, that he's going to be crucified and then rise again. Now, when they heard that, I am convinced it was like this, does not compute.

They did not get it at all. But in that conversation, Jesus said to his disciples, because he could tell that they were really bothered by this. He said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house, there are many mansions or rooms or dwellings, literally. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. He says two things, I'm going and I'm coming again.

I'm going and I'm coming again. Ever since Jesus spoke that promise, that has been the blessed hope of the church for the last 2,000 years. That's why Paul and Titus 2 called it that, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is why so many of the hymns of the historic Christian church have been about the coming of Christ, the second coming. We sing them at Christmas because we think they're Christmas songs, but they're not, they're second coming songs.

One is the Isaac Watts anthem, joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King. It's about the second coming. Or the Charles Wesley hymn, come thou long expected Jesus, it's about the second coming. Julia Ward Howe wrote Battle Hymn of the Republic after the Civil War, mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, it's about the second coming. And it's because this is one of the dominant themes of Scripture.

Did you know that? The second coming of Jesus Christ dominates the Bible. Next to the subject of faith, the coming of Christ in the future is the most discussed topic in the book. You know how many times? 1,845 times. 1,845 times that second coming is alluded to or predicted. That's one out of every 25 verses in the New Testament that mention it.

So out of 260 chapters that comprise Matthew to Revelation, there are in the New Testament 318 times the second coming is spoken of. For every one mention of the first coming of Jesus, the second coming is mentioned eight times. So the first coming is pretty important, right? Pretty important, Jesus coming to earth, dying on a cross. We celebrate the first coming every Christmas, pretty important. Eight times more the second coming. For every one time the subject of atonement appears, the second coming is mentioned twice.

So it's pretty important. So we know two things that we can predict. There will be an end of the world, Jesus will be back.

I'll give you a third. Third, there will be signs. There will be signs. You notice the question in verse 7, they ask him, Teacher, but when will these things be and what sign will there be that these things are about to take place? Verse 11, And there will be great earthquakes in various places, famines, pestilences, and there will be frightful signs and great sights and great signs from heaven. Go down to verse 25. And there will be signs in the sun, the moon, the stars, and on earth distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. Go down to verse 31. So you also, so you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

Signs, signs, signals, the Greek word semion, which means markers or indicators or signals. God is a God of signs. He gives indicators when he is about to do something. You know why he does that? Because he wants people to be aware that he's doing something. Hence the sign, just like you have a road sign.

It tells you what is coming ahead. In Amos chapter 3 verse 7, he writes, surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets. So when God is going to do something, he warns his people, he sends a sign so his people will know that he's going to do something. You remember when the religious leaders came to Jesus and they said, we want a sign from heaven, and Jesus responded to them in his loving tone, hypocrites.

And I don't say that tongue in cheek. He was always love incarnate. And even when he unloaded on his enemies, he still spoke that harsh word in love. He said, hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. Now, what was he talking about there? His first coming, his first coming, the Messiah, the Messiah came to Israel.

They should have seen the signs. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series The End is Near. Find the full message as well as books, booklets and full teaching series at ConnectWithSkip.com Right now, listen as Skip shares how you can share life changing teaching from God's word with more people around the world. I believe the Bible has something to say about absolutely every experience in life.

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