First Glimpses of the Last Days, Part 2

None of us truly knows what tomorrow will bring, but gratefully the Bible offers a sneak preview.

These details were written not to satisfy our curiosity, but to shape the way we live. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll teaches from Matthew 24. In this chapter, Jesus gave his listeners facts about the end times.

It's sobering to hear Jesus describe horrific events and then to realize we're watching many of these stories unfold right before our eyes. Chuck title today's message, First Glimpses of the Last Days. We begin with prayer. Guide us, we pray, in our walk with you, and may we live these years, Lord, with our eyes open, with our ears attuned to what you were saying, with our hearts ready for what you have planned. Provide that sense of peace that only Christ can give as we rely on you, not in a passive way, but in a confident manner, knowing that you are in sovereign control and you do all things well. Soften the soil of our hearts today as we hear what you have to say to us from what Jesus taught his disciples. May I handle this passage correctly and may we hear these words well. May we not soon forget them, for you always mean what you say. Accept our thanks for our occupation, the privilege of earning a living and the way we're able to make that living, which includes the money we are provided. We give from that source today, recognizing that you are the one who has made it all possible. And we thank you deeply for that. Accept our gifts and accept these words, which we offer in the name of Jesus and for His sake alone. Everyone said, amen.

You're listening to Insight for Living. To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now we resume the message from Chuck that he titled First Glimpses of the Last Days. We're in Matthew chapter 24. So we read in verse 3, he sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him and they privately asked two questions. One is a question regarding time. The other is a question regarding events. The time question. Verse 3, his disciples came to him privately and they asked, tell us when will all this happen?

And now they ask even beyond that about the events. What will be the sign that will signal your return and the end of the world? What Jesus lays out before them is a survey of the events that will take place that lead to the end of the earth as we know it today.

So what will be the signs? I want to suggest the six that appear in verses 4 through 14. By the way, he uses an interesting word picture for all of this. He uses it in verse 8. In all this is only the first of the birth pains with more to come.

So these are birth pain signs that we'll be going over. Number 1, verses 4 and 5. Don't let anyone mislead you for many will come in my name claiming I am the Messiah. They will deceive many.

One reliable scholar writes, as the number of deceivers grows so will the number of vulnerable people who desperately look for answers to the overwhelming calamities that torment them. He continues, the world will begin to disintegrate. Suffering will become unbearable.

And sin will reach its maximum potential. The moral and spiritual influence of the church will be gone. Remember, we're taken up. We're removed.

We'll be gone. Even more significantly, the restraining power of the Holy Spirit will be removed. So when these false messiahs show up with their phony messages, they'll be believed by many.

Because many, going through this, will be longing for someone who has answers. There will be widespread deception. Second, verses 6 and the early part of verse 7. You will hear of wars and rumors or threats of wars, but don't panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won't follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation and kingdom against kingdom. In the future, before Christ returns to the earth as the judge, there will be, and this is second, international disputes and warfare, which will intensify among nations and kingdoms. From the way this reads, no group of people will be spared from war or the threat of war. Like birth pangs, international hostilities will intensify. Real aggression along with rumored conflicts will interrupt the peace of every nation worldwide. The future clash will be warfare of mind-boggling magnitude, according to what Jesus is teaching. Now the third, if that isn't enough, look at this third characteristic or sign of his return.

Verse 7, the end of verse 7 and 8. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world, but all this is only the first of the birth pangs with more to come. Third, there will be famines, earthquakes, and other natural disasters that will proliferate. They will occur not in one part of the world, but the world over. Geological disturbances will coincide with the current religious deception and error, adding further confusion and wide range panic. If you've never been through an earthquake, you can only imagine.

You can only imagine. If you've never been through a famine, you can only imagine. Starvation will spread disease and plagues will be added to the misery.

Crops and other vegetations will be devastated since the streams and the rivers and the wells and the reservoirs will dry up. And lest anyone think it will soon be over, don't miss that last comment. This is only the first of the birth pains. There will be more to come. In the dreadful natural disasters that will create enormous feelings of panic the world over, number four, there will be severe persecution of believers by those who hate Christ. Verse nine, then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed.

You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. Those who are left on this earth at the rapture will suddenly realize what they have missed. Some will believe at that moment. Some shortly thereafter will believe in Christ. Most will not. But there will be those who will trust in Christ and they will become the targets of persecution and prejudice. Because those believers will be identified with Jesus, the hatred of the unsaved world will rise up against them, resulting in their being hunted down, pointed out, tortured, arrested, tried, and killed. Martyrdom will intensify during this time.

We've only seen a little of it, though there are countries where there has been much, in our estimation. In the future, it will be wholesale. It will be all over. I want to show you a scene out of Revelation 7, which is the other side of the martyrdom. Revelation chapter 7, please look ahead, last book of the Bible, we move quickly now into the scene. Beyond earth, now that these believers have been killed while on earth, the saints have been taken to heaven, and John, who writes the Revelation, picks up the story in chapter 7, beginning at verse 9.

Are you with me? Revelation 7 and verse 9. After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count from every nation and tribe and people and language.

That's a reference to the whole world, of course. Standing in front of the throne and before the lamb, that would be the throne of God, the lamb being the risen Christ who is seated in the heavens. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands and they were shouting with great roar, salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the lamb. You see, they were taken in full belief and they still believe after they are taken to heaven and they make their testimony known right here in the words of verse 10. Look at verse 13.

It's a very moving scene. One of the 24 elders asked me, who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from? Here's the answer.

I said to him, sir, you're the one who knows. He said to me, these are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the lamb and made them white.

Those are words that refer symbolically to coming to know Christ. That is why they stand in front of God's throne and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will give them shelter.

They will never again be hungry or thirsty. They will never be scorched by the heat of the sun for the lamb on the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life giving water and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

It's the very familiar scene of heaven. These who are martyred on this earth will be taken from the earth and they will appear before the Lord completely refreshed and renewed in their glorified state. Now, fifth, we'll go back to Matthew 24 as we move verses 10 through 13.

Here's the fifth sign. Many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. Many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. So this sign will be many supposed Christians will defect.

The masks will come all. Persecution has a way of bringing out the truth. As a consequence of persecution, those who acted as if they were believers, followers of Jesus, will quickly show that they are not as they unmask and fall away. Look at the vivid description in verse 10. Many will turn away, betray, and hate each other.

So it will be a free-for-all among humanity, a miserable time. Because persecution weeds out the phony followers, they will be on display and they will turn against one another as pain brings out the truth. I want to mention something in verse 13, lest you be misled. It says, the one who endures to the end will be saved.

It sounds like salvation by works. If you endure to the end, then you have earned your salvation. That is one way to take it, but I think rather it means that the endurance will be proof of their salvation. Endurance will be a spirit-empowered product of their salvation, proving that the person is already born again.

That's what I believe that statement means. Sixth and last, there will be worldwide declaration of the gospel. Most people don't know this. They've not read far enough along to remember that Jesus promises a magnificent evangelistic effort at the very end of time. Look at that 14th verse. The good news about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world so that all nations will hear it and then the end will come. It doesn't say all nations will believe it. Who will be doing the proclamation if so many are unmasked unbelievers?

I think it could very well be the angels. The angelic host has the ability to become as humans or their voices can be heard as human voices around the world that know all the languages, in all the cultures, and I suggest that they are dispatched worldwide to make a final public proclamation of the good news of Christ announcing all who will turn their lives over to Christ will be born into God's family and ultimately preserved for eternity. The proclamation will be made known and all the nations will hear, though they will not all believe. Ultimately, we will read later and elsewhere, Christ will return to this earth and will judge this earth as he separates the sheep from the goats as those are words for believers from unbelievers and then will begin the ultimate millennial kingdom that has been promised the Jews since the Jews history began. The promises he had made to the Jews will be fulfilled as he takes them into a time of earthly peace.

A thousand year reign when Christ serves as King over all who would call themselves King and Lord above all who would call themselves Lord. After this, will you go back to the end of verse 14? Then the end will come.

Period. Life as it has been known all of these centuries on earth will end. Earth will change from the way it has been for centuries.

All of that ends with the arrival of Christ, the Armageddon campaign and the setting up of his kingdom on this earth. It's not a falsehood. It's not folklore. This is not an imagination or exaggeration. I don't deal in those things.

This is neither a lie nor a scare tactic. I've read you the words of Jesus and explained them just probably pretty much as you would explain them if you had given time to think through them. There will be no second chance. There is no purgatory taught in the New Testament or the old. There will be no opportunity later when one realizes what one has missed any more than there will be when you breathe your last and your time on this earth ends. Brain wave is flat, heart stops beating and you are at that moment a corpse. Life doesn't end because life continues since the soul within us is eternal. The body ends its functioning and the organs of the body end but there is a future of judgment and there is a dreadful future for those without Christ. I end on that rather heartbreaking note because I would love to be able to tell you that there's a verse that will provide you a way out of that.

There isn't. There isn't an escape clause from the end will come any more than your last breath will offer you another last breath later on. It's over.

It's the end. It is appointed unto humanity once to die and after death the judgment. According to God's word my responsibility is to tell you the truth and to leave the decision with you the most important decision you could ever make which will rescue you not only from such times as this but so many other things we've not even mentioned. You will know a joy that is impossible to describe and a peace that passes understanding if you will give your heart, your life to Christ. Will you bow with me please? I'll not linger.

I'll just ask you to bow with me. If there has never been a time in your life right where you're sitting there you look back over your life and you cannot remember a time when you gave your heart to Christ. When you said yes to the Lord Jesus Christ and you told him you wanted him to live in your life to forgive your sins and to provide you with a clean slate for eternity.

Now is the time to take care of that. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be rescued. You will be delivered. You will be saved now and forever. You will be secured in Christ. If that's your decision today for the very first time we would love to talk with you and to help you in your journey as you make your way into the Christian life to learn what's involved in it. My only reason in hoping that these things have disturbed you is to move you toward that decision. For if you are in Christ there's nothing to worry about.

These are things that will not touch you. But if you're without Christ you're among those who will be left when he comes to receive his own. Trust him now. Dear Father thank you for the privilege of declaring your word. May it have its full impact as you would desire when you wrote it and having preserved it. May we not leave as we entered this building. But may we be reminded there is hope.

There is a future. There is the privilege of knowing you on earth and walking with you. May not one soul leave unprepared for what may lie ahead.

And we trust you with that decision in their lives. In the name of Christ we pray everyone say amen. It's possible you took your first steps toward Jesus Christ today and made the life changing decision to receive him and follow him. Well I may be among the first to welcome you into the family of God. And to help you get started in this new journey Insight for Living is prepared to send you Chuck Swindoll's daily devotional by email. By receiving these inspirational emails you'll have God's word the Bible fresh on your mind throughout the day. To sign up just follow the simple instructions at insightworld.org slash devotional. And then for those who are ready to dig deeply into the Bible on your own I'll remind you every sermon Chuck delivers is complemented by searching the scriptures study notes.

Like the devotional email this resource is also free and you can easily download the PDF and print copies for your small group Bible study as well. To access the Searching the Scriptures guide for Chuck's daily teaching go to insight.org slash studies. Your fellow listeners often write to tell us how God uses these resources and the daily program to help them grow.

Well a listener from Alabama said Chuck my husband and I were married a little over 30 years ago. Both of us were raised in the church and were Christians but sadly we knew very little about the scriptures or how to live biblically. But thanks to Insight for Living we have learned and grown together. We just wanted to thank you for a lifetime of blessings we've received from Insight for Living.

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If you're listening in the U.S. dial 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash monthly companion. In March 2022 Insight for Living Ministries is hosting an unforgettable journey to Israel. Carefully plan to deepen your understanding of the Bible and draw you closer to God.

Chuck Swindoll. For thousands of years no place has been more meaningful to God's children than the land of Israel. The rugged landscape reminds us to find refuge in God alone. The fertile valleys invite us to follow our shepherd. Jerusalem's position at the very center of the world announces the good news of Christ to every nation. And now you can see Israel with Chuck Swindoll and Insight for Living Ministries March 6-17, 2022. Every time I visited the Holy Land I returned home with a refreshed heart for God and a renewed vision for the world.

Really I mean it every time. And so I want you to have the same life-changing experience. To learn more go to insight.org slash events or call this number 1-888-447-0444. Insight for Living Ministries tour to Israel is paid for and made possible by only those who choose to attend. I'm Dave Spiker. Be sure to join us again Tuesday to hear Insight for Living with Chuck Swindoll. The preceding message first glimpses of the last days was copyrighted in 2017 and 2021 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R Swindoll Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.