LUKE 21:5-19 EXPECT THESE SIGNS2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 21:5-19 Expect These Signs

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014. I can remember a time in my life where I was completely devastated. I mean, my world changed. Everything was different after this day. And it was related to, well, what I was watching as I was watching Karate Kid 2. You remember that?

You remember when Daniel, he was there in Okinawa, right? And Chosen, the bad guy, he was there on the island with Daniel and he had been cut off from all of the friends and the family and now they were going to battle it out. And as they face off, Danielson, well Daniel, he does his, well his ultimate pose, right? He's all like that. Remember that? And in my mind I thought, it's over now. I mean this guy is going to get it. He's going down.

But he does the kick. I'm not going to try to do that. I'll probably break something. But he does the kick. And I was completely shocked because Chozen, the bad guy, he blocked it. And in my mind, I was convinced that that kick was unstoppable. I mean, there was nothing that could, there was no way getting around. So I knew when he did that, I was like, this fight's over.

But then it wasn't. And I was completely shocked. Now, as an adult, looking back, I realize, okay, someone goes like this. It's kind of obvious, you know, especially he was taught the same style of karate, right? So, I mean, he knew what was coming. Of course he could block it. It makes so much sense now. But in those days, I didn't get it. I was like, I could not believe that that kick could be stopped. Stopped.

But when he went like this, that was telling about what was to come. Well, this morning as we look at Luke chapter 21, we're going to be talking a lot about Karate Kid. No, I'm just kidding. No. We're talking about signs that are to come. And Jesus is telling us to expect signs.

these signs. And it reminded me of that because, you know, when you go like this, then it's pretty obvious what's about to come, right? You're really telling what is next. It's a sign of the move that you're about to perform. And in a similar way, Jesus here is explaining that before the end comes,

There's going to be some signs. You're going to see some specific things, specific postures, and you're going to be able to tell what is about to come. And that's what we see Jesus explaining here in Luke chapter 21. We're looking at part of it this week and we'll continue it next week looking at these end times and the signs that are preceding it.

But we kind of set the stage in verses 5 through 7. And so I want to read that once again with you. It says, Then as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, he said, These things which you see, the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. Here's the setup for Jesus explaining the signs that are to come.

The disciples are with Jesus on the Mount of Olives. Now this is directly across from Jerusalem and the temple. And so they have a direct view, a very good view of the temple from where they're at.

And they're out there on the Mount of Olives and they're admiring the beauty of the temple. Now, Herod the Great had began an expansion project on the temple that was built by Zerubbabel. Remember Zechariah and Haggai? We went through them in the Bible in three years, just not too long ago. And there was that rebuilding of the temple after the Jews came out of Babylon. Well,

Well, Herod began building upon that temple and expanding it and then beautifying it. And so by this time, the temple is overlaid with gold for the most part. What's not gold is a brilliant white marble. And so there was this just amazing beauty as they're looking upon the temple and

They see this gold and white building. And not only that, but there had been all kinds of donations of various elaborate decorations, huge like gold vines with grapes clusters and such. And it was just adorned. It was absolutely beautiful. And so the disciples are just taking in this scene and

And they're talking about, wow, this is an amazing building. This temple is absolutely beautiful. Well, Jesus then tells them, hey guys, what you're looking at, as beautiful as it is, it's not going to be here for very much longer. He says, the days will come and not one stone of this temple will be left upon another. It's all going to be cast down. The temple will be destroyed.

And as we look at the area now in Jerusalem where the temple used to be, we can testify this indeed has been done.

What we see there in Jerusalem where the temple used to be, all we see is the platform that the temple used to sit upon, that it was built upon. So you see the giant walls and the, you know, it's really retaining walls for the platform that the structure of the temple was built upon. But there is no temple. And the destruction was so complete that

We really do not know for sure exactly the placement of the temple on that platform. There's some debate, there's some discussion because, well, the destruction was that great. You know, there's not like a remnant of a wall that was left there. It was just completely destroyed by the Roman Empire.

Now this happened not too long after Jesus was prophesying these things. It was about 40 years later that this occurred and that the temple was destroyed in the fashion that Jesus is talking about. But the disciples don't know that yet. They're just taking in this beautiful scene and Jesus says, you know...

That's not going to last for very much longer. And so then in verse 7, they asked Jesus, saying, well, when is this going to happen? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place? They asked Jesus, what signs will we see? What should we expect to happen before the temple is destroyed?

And that's what we're going to be looking at, these signs that Jesus says we are to be expecting. Now as we look at these things, it's important to understand this passage is primarily speaking about Jerusalem's destruction. That's the first really priority and focus of this passage. As Jesus is explaining what is about to occur, he's talking about the signs that the temple is going to be destroyed.

However, there are also parallels that we can see that Jesus is not only talking about the temple, but that he's also talking about the end time scenario that we understand. The tribulation that will come upon the earth, the rapture of the church, the second coming of Jesus Christ. Those are things that are yet to come. And these signs that preceded the destruction of Jerusalem are the same kinds of signs that we should expect

As we look forward to the final scene of the tribulation and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Warren Wiersbe says it this way. He says, keep in mind that this was a message given to Jews by a Jew about the future of the Jewish nation. Though there are definite applications to God's people today, the emphasis is on Jerusalem, the Jews, and the temple.

And so as we walk through these four different signs that Jesus says we should be expecting, I'll take a moment to give you some of the history and show how it was fulfilled in 70 AD or before 70 AD when the temple was destroyed. But then also talk about what we're seeing today and how that affects, you know, what we believe and how we should live. But as we look at the things that have been fulfilled, understand that that's a

even more, you know, evidence. It's further evidence that we need to believe Jesus at his word and pay attention to these signs as we see them. Because just as he said it would happen to Jerusalem, it happened. And so just as he said it will happen, you know, with the rest of the end time scene, that is going to happen as well. Well, we get started looking at the first sign that Jesus gives in verse 8. And

And here he tells us to expect deceptions. We are to expect deceptions. Verse 8 says, And he said, Take heed that you 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. So Jesus says, here's the first thing that you want to be on the lookout for.

Pay attention because there's going to be deceptions that will come. Jesus says people are going to come in my name. And they're going to proclaim themselves to be me or to be God. And they're going to call people.

to follow me. Now we did see this take place as we look back at history. We see that this warning, this sign was fulfilled in the years leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, just as Jesus said it would be. Now there was a group that was there in Israel known as the Zealots.

And the Zealots, they were a political group, but they believed in God. And here's what they believed. They believed that God would deliver Israel from Rome with the sword.

They would look back at the judges of Israel and how the judges with war, with battle, delivered themselves or delivered the nation from the others that oppressed them and ruled over them. And they looked at that. They looked at King David and how he was valiant in battle.

And the zealots believed God wants to do this again with us. And with the sword, we're going to be set free from Roman rule. And we're going to overthrow them. And we're going to be established as our own nation once again. And so with this group, those who believed fiercely to these things, leading up to the final destruction of Jerusalem, there is a series of revolts against Rome

Now if you're looking at the timeline, it's around 32 AD when Jesus is speaking the things that we're reading about today. And it's

Well, happening very soon after his death and resurrection, that there are others who rise up and claim to be the Messiah. For example, around 44 AD, so about 10 years later, there was a guy by the name of Thutis. And he was a Jewish rebel. He led a group to try to overthrow Rome. His rebellion was not very long. It didn't last very long. It was not very successful.

But he did so under the name of that he was the savior of Israel. And so he rose up, he led a group to try to fight against Rome and failed. There was another guy by the name of Judas the Galilean. And he also led a revolt that was not successful against Rome, also claiming that he was the savior and calling people to follow him.

Then in 66 AD, there was another guy, Menahem, and he was the son of Judas the Galilean. And he tried to follow in the footsteps of his father, raised up men, led a revolt, and

He proclaimed himself to be king of Israel. He put to death the high priest Ananias. And because he didn't, you know, they weren't part of the same political party. So, you know, he was kind of taking over and taking charge. And his revolt against Rome did not last very long. Actually, an angry mob seized and killed him when he was dressed in royal robes inside the temple.

Well, that was 66 AD. Then the next year, 67 AD, there was a guy by the name of John of Gishkala or something like that. And he also led a revolt and proclaimed himself to be king. And he led a bunch of men to their death as he was conquered and defeated by Rome and lived out the rest of his life in prison.

So those are a few examples. You know, there were others before, there were others after. But the point is that as we look at history leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the destruction of the temple specifically, we saw these guys, like Jesus said, who raised up, called men unto themselves, and proclaimed that they were the Savior to deliver the nation.

Now as we look and consider the end times scenario, we can also see and understand that deception is a big part of what is to come and that there are signs of deception that are continuing to go on.

I was considering what John said in 1 John chapter 2. He says,

John says we know the Antichrist is coming. That's the ultimate false messiah. And so he's going to come on the scene. And as we read these things, that's still yet to come. Part of the tribulation period, part of the future that God has declared will come to pass. But John says also many Antichrists have come. That is, it's not just the one ultimate false messiah, but there's been many false messiahs.

And you know, we continue to see that today. Although we don't necessarily see a lot of people standing up and proclaiming themselves to be the Messiah. That still happens from time to time. It happens occasionally. But much more frequent, much more dominant than that, is we have those who are proclaiming a false Messiah. Not claiming that they themselves are the Messiah necessarily, but people are teaching false

Another Jesus. Another Savior. They're teaching other ways of salvation and deceiving people and leading them astray. Paul talks about that in 2 Corinthians. I think it's chapter 11 or chapter 10 where he declares that there are those who preach another Jesus. There are those who come preaching a different Messiah. It's a false Messiah. A false Savior who cannot save.

So many preach a false Messiah and we can expect that to continue. We need to expect deceivers. We need to expect deceptions. So take heed, Jesus says in verse 8, that you not be deceived.

Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 13. He says evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived. So again as we look forward to the end times as we know those things are about to come to pass. Paul says here's what you can expect.

evil men and imposters, false messiahs, those who proclaim a false savior, they're going to grow worse and worse. So we shouldn't expect more clarity as far as religion is concerned in this world. We should expect more deception. He says it's going to get worse. They're going to be more and more deceiving and being deceived.

And so here's what Paul tells Timothy to do. Since that's the case, since that's the sign of what is to come, he says in verse 14 of 2 Timothy 3, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

So here's the application for us. What must we do? Jesus says, this is the sign. You're going to expect that deceivers will come. They're going to come on the scene and lead people astray. So what should we do? It's going to get worse and worse, Paul says. So what should we do? We should continue in the things in which we have learned. We should continue and be steadfast in

in what has been revealed to us. This is why we took the time a few months back to go through together the Equipped to Believe course. Because it's important for every believer to know what they believe and why they believe it. Because, well, evil men and imposters are going to grow worse and worse. And deceivers are going to be more and more. It's going to be deception increasing increasingly.

As we continue to work our way to those last days, to those final events that are prophesied about. And so we need to continue. We need to be steadfast. We need to be grounded in the Word of God so that we are not led astray with the great deception that continues to grow. Well, the second sign that Jesus gives for His disciples is that they are to expect wars.

So they can expect deceivers to come, but they should also expect there to be wars. In verse 9 he says, But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified. For these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately. Then he said to them, Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Here Jesus tells his disciples, you're also going to hear lots about war.

Now, what's interesting here, he says, do not be terrified. Don't let that freak you out too much, guys. You're going to hear about lots of war, but don't be freaked out. Don't be terrified about that. He says, look, this has to happen. He says, these things must come to pass. Jesus here is giving us the signs. He's like, this is one of the things that has to happen.

Now that doesn't mean that the end is immediately after those wars, but it's one of the signs of what is to come. It's one of the indications that these things are about to be fulfilled. Now as we look back at history and the destruction of Jerusalem, we can see that before that final destruction of Jerusalem,

There was wars and commotions and rumors of wars and these battles that were going on. Now, as we talked about all those false messiahs, you can understand it's not a big surprise that there was lots of wars and rumors of wars because they were leading lots of revolts and rebellions against Rome. And so this was something that was fulfilled just as Jesus said it would be fulfilled.

The final, well, the final attack on Jerusalem actually happened in a few waves because in AD 60, about 30 years after the life of Christ, the Jewish people stopped their daily sacrifice unto Caesar or in Caesar's name.

And this started the series of conflict that led to the final destruction of Jerusalem. Because they had negotiated that, you know, they would be able to continue as long as they continued that sacrifice. But that was the kind of like they said, no, we're done with that. We're not going to offer this daily sacrifice any longer.

And so there was this conflict now that was beginning. And the revolts that were going up. And Rome was against them because of their rebellion. So they set to destroy Jerusalem in 66 AD. And Rome laid siege to Jerusalem.

And we don't actually know why, but they stopped. So they started the siege, they began it, but they didn't carry it through and they retreated. It's not clear why. It's not recorded why they stopped. But in that time, the Jews took advantage and killed some of the Romans and tried their best to humiliate the Roman army as they were retreating, as they were taking off. And it kind of bolstered the confidence of the rebellious saying, yeah, see, God's going to deliver us.

Well, then the next year, 67 AD, Rome came back and once again laid siege to Jerusalem under the ruler Vespasian or the general Vespasian. Now, as he was laying siege...

the Caesar at that time was Nero, he died. And so Vespasian retreated from the siege at Jerusalem to go and take the throne because he was next in line. And so he goes back to Rome and so the siege against Jerusalem stops.

So the first one came, it stopped. The second one came, it stopped. And then in 68 AD, the following year, the new General Titus, he comes against Jerusalem and lays siege. And this is the final siege of Jerusalem. And he lays siege to Jerusalem for two years.

It was horrific. We talked about it a few weeks back when we saw Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and the different things that Jerusalem would suffer as a result of that siege. But it was particularly bad because Titus began the siege during the Passover time.

which means that many from around the Israel region were in Jerusalem for Passover, and then he began the siege. And so the population of Jerusalem was doubled or tripled from what it normally was because he did this at the Passover time, and that added to the severity and the atrocities of that siege.

Well, that siege concluded in 70 AD when they penetrated the walls and they defeated Jerusalem. The temple was set on fire by accident. And so they actually took apart stone by stone, like Jesus said, in order to get all of that gold that was there in the temple.

But Jesus says you should expect wars. And so you can see these series of sieges and battles and wars and rumors of wars that would have been going on showing that this destruction of Jerusalem is about to happen just as Jesus said it would.

Well now as we look forward to the things that are yet to be fulfilled, the end time scene, the tribulation period, the return of Jesus Christ, the rapture of the church. As we look forward to those things, we can also see these signs continue and they continue to increase

As we are looking at these things today, are there any wars or commotions that you've been hearing about lately? Anything happening in the world? Just for fun, I checked out the website warsintheworld.com. And if you want to go there, it lists like all the different conflicts and things that are going on around the world. You know, the various degrees of battles and wars that are happening. Okay.

Let me just run you through a few of them. And they have them categorized by region. So in Africa...

You have the Central African Republic that is involved right now in civil war, this battle for power amongst the region. Then in Egypt, I'm sure you've heard about the different uprisings that have been happening against the government, similar types of civil war going on. You also have a battle of various natures in Mali, Nigeria, the Sudan or South Sudan, you have the civil war going on there.

You jump over to Asia. You have things happening in Afghanistan with the Islamic militants. You have in Burma and Myanmar the rebel groups and the battles that are going on there. In Pakistan and the Philistines some more Islamic militants and the battles that are happening there. In Europe you've got some things going on in Chechnya. You have of course the whole situation in the Ukraine with Russia and the battles that are going on with that. The tensions and rumors of wars there.

In the Middle East, of course, there's a lot going on. You have the battles and things that are happening in Iraq. All around Israel, you know, the battles that are going on, the rockets that are being fired. In the northern part of that, you have Syria and the civil war that's happening there. More Islamic militants in Yemen. Then you have issues in Colombia and Mexico. On and on and on we could go. Wars and rumors of wars. Now as believers, we

Here's what we need to understand. This is to be expected. This is not a surprise. There's going to be an increase in these things. These are part of the signs that the end is near, that we are living in the last days. You and I, we need to expect wars. Now this is a little bit

I think, more difficult for us as American Christians. We live in something that's very unique. We've experienced our Christian life is very different than the lives of, well, all the other Christians who've ever existed. Our experience is unique. And sometimes we relate Christianity to a comfortable life. And we kind of like think that they go hand in hand and that's how it's supposed to be.

And when it's not, sometimes we get pretty freaked out. Because we kind of expect the American dream is, you know, what we should have as Christians. But that's not what Jesus says. And that's not what the most, you know, Christians around the world have experienced right now. But then also throughout history. Jesus says, when you hear of wars and rumors of wars or commotions, do not be terrified.

He says, look, you're going to hear about battles and there's going to be wars and you're not supposed to be freaked out. Don't be an all-out panic mode. Instead, be expecting that those battles are going to take place. Listen, if we enter into World War III tomorrow, that really should not be a surprise.

Jesus says you need to expect those things. This is part of the signs. In other words, things aren't going to continue to get better. Things aren't going to be like there's going to be more and more peace and more and more peace until finally Jesus comes. No, there's going to be more and more battles and more and more wars and more and more atrocities and then Jesus comes. That's what we need to expect. And we kind of need to be preparing ourselves and maybe kind of shifting gears in our hearts because again, our experience as Christians is very unique to

compared to the rest of the world and compared to the rest of history. Maybe I should say it this way. If the U.S. fails tomorrow, listen, God will still be on the throne. That doesn't change God's promises. It doesn't change God's prophecies. It doesn't change God's working in your life. If China is our ruler tomorrow, well, I was thinking about this as we were singing that song, all our hope is in you.

And sometimes, you know, we kind of need to be challenged by that. Because sometimes, although we sing the words, all our hope is not in God. You know, Peter said, set your hope fully on the grace that is to be given to you at the return of Jesus Christ when he appears in glory. That's where our hope needs to be. But many times, we're really shaken when that job is gone, that home is gone, when that nation falls, when that war happens. Because all our hope was not on God, but it was on things of this life.

We need to expect that there's going to be wars. Yeah, World War III, very likely. World War IV and V and VI and VII, very likely. Things are going to continue to progress. More battles, more wars. It's something we should expect. It's in heaven that we will have peace. That's where our rest is going to be.

Not that we have to live in some doom and gloom kind of condition. Hey, we can enjoy the grace that God has given to us today and enjoy the freedom that God has given to us today. But expect and don't be surprised.

When more wars and battles and things take place. There's going to be more 9-11's. There's going to be more like that. And we need to be expecting it. And not shaken by it. Not terrified by it. But just seeing that the scriptures are being fulfilled. What Jesus said would happen is indeed happening.

Well, another sign he gives us in verse 11 is that we're to expect disasters. This kind of sums up a few things. He says in verse 11, there will be great earthquakes in various places and famines and pestilences and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

So here Jesus says there's going to be a variety of things happening. Earthquakes and weird signs in the heavens. And these things are going to be the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem and also the coming of the end times. Now the destruction of Jerusalem, this is something I found really interesting as I was preparing for the service. Because

I hadn't really looked into this part before, but there's actually some records by Josephus. Josephus was a Jewish historian.

who lived during the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. And he recorded the wars and the battles that were taking place. And he wrote about some of these things happening. He wrote about earthquakes that were happening around this time leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. And he wrote about some of the fearful sites. For example, he writes about a situation that happened around 66 A.D.,

He says, So Josephus writes about this star standing over the city or a comet. Now, the details of what he's writing about, we don't know exactly.

There's not a whole lot of detail here. We don't know astronomically what's happening. We can't say for sure. It's possible that what they saw was Halley's Comet because that returns every 75 or 76 years. And so that would have happened or it would have been visible around that time frame in 66 A.D.,

But there was something significant, something different that they had not seen before. There was this star, this comet in the shape of a sword. And he was correlating that with the issues that were happening in Jerusalem and the battles that were going on there, the destruction that was happening. We also see in the history leading up to that,

There was famine in Acts chapter 11 verse 28. It talks about the great famine that's going to be happening in the days of Claudius Caesar. That was a little bit earlier in history. And then also in 62 AD there was a great earthquake in Pompeii that devastated a couple of the cities right there around it in Rome.

And so on and so forth. You know, lots of different events that were happening along the lines that Jesus is saying. Great earthquakes, famines and pestilences, and fearful signs in the heavens. Well, as we look forward to the things that are yet to come for us,

the things of the tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ, as we look forward to the rapture of the church, Jesus is saying we should expect these similar kinds of things, these similar kinds of disasters. We should expect earthquakes. They're going to increase. They're going to continue. They're going to become worse and worse. And as you look at the different information and data that's available,

different people approach and evaluate the earthquakes in different ways. But generally speaking, what we see happening is not so much more earthquakes numerically, but we see more larger earthquakes happening. A lot more, you know, in the six, seven, and eight point range that have been increasing. And so that's an interesting fact. And it's something we should expect to continue. Now, Jesus isn't saying, you know,

Once you get the 8.5 earthquake, then that's it. That's when the rapture happens. He's just saying you should expect in general there's going to be a large variety of earthquakes in a large variety of places. I was reading some articles recently in Oklahoma and Kansas. They're kind of like freaked out and wondering...

There's a new kind of slew of earthquakes that have been happening in the region. They're trying to figure out why. Is it induced by what they're doing with industry and such like that? Or is this just something new that's happening? They can't figure it out. They don't know. But we can kind of say, you know, we expect that there's going to be an increase in earthquakes. There's going to be an increase in famines and pestilences. And then also signs from heaven.

I'm sure you're going to hear a lot about, over the next year or so, what's referred to as the four blood moons. And that is actually a way, the idea of a blood moon is a way that the Jewish writers would refer to a lunar eclipse.

And so this is going to be happening twice this year and twice next year, corresponding with certain feasts of the nation of Israel. And so a lot of, you know, smart people have kind of looked at that and looked at in the past when that's happened and correlated that with some major events that happened to the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem.

And so there's some possibilities there. I'm kind of more like the wait and see, you know, let's see what they say is going to happen is going to happen. But you'll hear a lot about it. And if you want more information, you could talk to Dave Burnt because he's the expert in that kind of stuff. But signs in the heavens, we're going to see. We're going to see comments. We're going to see, you know, the book of Revelation talks about stars falling from the sky. Those are the kind of things that we should expect.

So, if a star, you know, does something freaky tomorrow, we can kind of say, yeah, Jesus told us that those kind of things are going to happen. If suddenly, you know, the moon starts rotating the opposite way around the earth, does that could happen? I don't know. But anyways, school failed me. I just, I can't remember. Does the earth rotate? I think the moon, so if it just, anyways. Ask Dave Burnt afterwards. But if it happened, we could say, you know what, Jesus told us to expect these kinds of things.

That this is not something that we should be terrified about, freaked out about, surprised by. No, no. These are things that are going to happen. Our universe is going to fall apart. And so there's going to be earthquakes and famines and pestilences and signs from heaven. We need to expect disasters. Now, again, not that we're living in full-on panic mode.

But that we're not surprised. And that as we see these things unfold, we recognize we're getting closer. We're closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ. Well, the final sign he gives is in verses 12 through 19. And here he tells us to expect persecutions. Expect persecutions, he says. In verse 12,

It says, So Jesus says...

Before all these things are going to happen, here's some signs. You can expect that there's going to be deceivers. You can expect the wars and rumors of wars. You can expect these various disasters to happen. But before those even, you're going to experience persecution. They're going to lay hands on you and persecute you.

Now that's something we do know a lot about as we look at the history leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. We start reading about it in the book of Acts. Soon after Jesus, you know, was ascended into heaven, the Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin, began to persecute the church. In Acts chapter 4, in Acts chapter 5, you see the apostles on trial a couple times. You see them beaten,

By the Jewish leaders commanded not to preach in the name of Jesus anymore, commanded not to work miracles in the name of Jesus anymore.

In Acts chapter 7, you have Stephen, the first martyr of the church, as they stone him to death for his testimony of Jesus Christ. You have, you know, Saul of Tarsus, and later in Acts chapter 9, where he was, you know, enraged against the Christians, and going to Christians' home, dragging them out of their house, torturing them, causing them to blaspheme the name of Christ, and this great persecution that was going on.

And so that was happening immediately amongst the Jewish leaders against the Christians. But later on that expanded under Caesar Nero in around 64 AD. Again, just a few years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem.

In 64 AD, there was a great fire that broke out in Rome. Nero blamed it on the Christians, and that kind of began a whole, you know, persecution worldwide by the Roman Empire and those areas against Christians. And so they were tortured, they were beaten, they were burned, and so on and so forth. And so all of these things that Jesus said about persecutions came to pass in Jerusalem,

Leading up to that final destruction of the temple. Well as we look now at the things that are yet to come. We can see that this continues to be a sign as well. That we see persecution continuing today. And although you and I personally probably don't see it. But we also see it in the world continuing to increase. I read an article recently. It was referred to by Joel Rosenberg.

Who follows Israel closely. He's a real big time prophetic guy. But he was looking at and commenting on an article. That was talking about persecution today. And how persecution in the 20th century. Is greater than.

than all the other centuries combined. Now this is kind of staggering to think about, but what they were saying, what the research shows is that more Christians died for their faith in the 20th century than in the 1900 years leading up to it.

So during, you know, the time of the Roman persecution against Christians, lots of Christians died. And over the years, throughout history, lots of Christians have died for their faith. But in the 20th century, more have died for their faith than all those other years combined. That there is great persecution going on all around the world. Oh,

One example that we're very familiar with is Pastor Saeed. We're familiar with this example because he is from Calvary Chapel. He was a Calvary Chapel pastor and he is imprisoned in Iraq right now and being denied all kinds of things. And so, you know, lots of people have been praying for him. We've been reading about it a lot. That's one example though. That's normal life for most Christians around the world.

The majority of Christians suffer persecution. Now, in our culture, where we live here in America, it's very different for us. If we, what we would call persecution, you know, is not bodily harm, but it's, you know, things socially, things perhaps economically, you know, family divisions and things like that. But

what the rest of the world, you know, calls persecution is much more severe. And so what Jesus is saying is that we should expect that kind of persecution. And the rest of the world reads that and they say, yeah, that's our experience. But I think for you and I, again, we kind of need to start shifting gears a little bit and preparing ourselves because the Christian life is not about comfort. It's about Christ.

And if it costs us our life, it's worth it. If it costs us our body, it's worth it. If it costs us whatever it costs us. There's no cost that's too great that makes Christianity not worth it. That makes believing in Jesus not worth it. Because our hope is in eternity. And we see our nation, I mean we can just watch, we can kind of look ahead at

The path that we're on as a nation. And we are more and more and more against Christ. And if we keep on this course. Now we're praying, hey God intervene. We're praying for revival. And God could do that. But if God doesn't intervene. We're on a path where you and I could very quickly begin to experience actual persecution. And it's something we kind of got to prepare ourselves for.

And we'll be surprised by it because, you know, from our cultural. But we shouldn't be that surprised because it's what Jesus told us would happen. Now here's the thing. As you think about the idea of persecution, I'm sure it's not something pleasant for you. But notice what Jesus says in verse 13. He says, but it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. So there's going to be persecution. It's going to increase.

But it's going to be an occasion for you to testify of me, Jesus says. You're going to be a better witness. You can be a better witness, you know, by being persecuted than, well, the other ways that you're trying to be a witness right now. That you're going to be a greater witness. It's going to be an occasion for you to testify. People are going to know that Jesus Christ is real, that you really believe in him. And it's going to be a great testimony to the world around you.

Paul reflected this idea in Philippians chapter 2. Remember, he wrote the book of Philippians from prison, yet it's the book of joy. I don't know if I would write the book of joy from prison. I would write the book of joy on vacation, right? And write a different kind of book in prison. But Paul wrote the book of joy in prison. And he tells the Philippians in Philippians chapter 1, he says, I want you to know that these things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

They chained me up to stop me from preaching the gospel. But the chains that they put on me have increased the spread of the gospel. And that's what Jesus said would happen. And so here's the thing that you and I need to understand. We need to expect persecution.

But with that, understand that when there is that persecution, now we could scale this down to the types of persecution that we face today as well. When there's persecution, when there's anything that's against us for the name of Christ, it turns out to be an occasion for testimony, for the furtherance of the gospel.

And so we can endure and represent Christ well in that and be a great testimony of Jesus Christ to the world around us. Verse 14. He says,

So he says, it's going to be an occasion for your testimony, for you to declare me. So don't worry about it. And you don't have to have it all figured out. Well, what am I going to say when they call me before that judge? When they call me before those rulers? When they call me to give an account of these things? He says, don't worry about it. The Holy Spirit will give you what you need to say. We saw this fulfilled in Stephen, again, the first martyr in the book of Acts.

As it says that he was full of the Holy Spirit and they weren't able to resist his words or contradict his words. But so they were so frustrated by that that they stoned him. They put him to death because he was such a great witness to Jesus. And in his death, well, the gospel was spread even further.

Verse 16, you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. Here's what Jesus says you can expect. You can expect this to go even to the closest relationships, that even brothers and parents and relatives and friends are going to betray you

Because you hold fast to the name of Jesus. So much so that, well, some of you will be put to death. Now again, that's not something that you and I realistically face here in our culture for now. But it's not necessarily out of our reach. It's not necessarily something that we can't experience in our lifetime. Very easily and quickly we could enter into a time like this. But the point is, we should expect it. Don't be surprised.

When you're the outcast, don't be surprised when your parents, your family turns away. Don't be surprised. Expect it. Expect it. But it's okay because, well, it's a testimony of Jesus. And that's what our lives are about now. As Christians, we are to testify of Jesus Christ, to be his witnesses. And we do that well in the midst of persecution.

His name is proclaimed much louder in those times of persecution as we walk with Christ in the midst of great difficulty. He says, you're going to be hated by all for my name's sake. Don't be surprised when there is that antagonism. We're surprised because we know where our nation was founded upon and where we've come from. So it's kind of surprising in that sense. But in another sense, again, we kind of need to shift gears a little bit and remember that

Jesus said we need to expect these things. It's not really that surprising that people hate us. That there are strong forces and lots of finances being invested in and poured into getting rid of us, shutting us up, taking away our rights. It's not surprising. And again, it kind of is just working our way to being more normal as far as the rest of Christians throughout history are concerned.

Our job is to be witnesses to Jesus. And he may call us to do that and it might be more effective. Sometimes people get freaked out about all the persecution and things that happen amongst the church. And I kind of sit back and wonder, you know, maybe it's necessary. Because, well, it would be good for us to be much more effective witnesses to Jesus. And so maybe persecution is one of the ways that the Lord will do that. He will allow us to endure the fire.

To be a bright light testifying of his name to the world around us. Verse 18. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. Verse 19. By your patience possess your souls. Now if you don't have verse 18 highlighted. Please highlight it. Underline it. This is probably the most important verse in all scripture. Because it shows it's biblical in heaven. I will have a full head of hair.

Because in verse 16 he says, some of you they're going to put to death. But then he says, not a hair of your head shall be lost. What's he talking about? He's not talking about the physical, obviously, because some are going to be put to death. He's saying, in eternity, you're going to have hair. You may have lost it here. It's not lost for eternity. It's found. It's there. In other words, they can touch your body. They can put you to death. They can burn you at the stake. They can cut off your head. They can do all of that.

But that only affects the physical. It doesn't affect eternity. In eternity, you are whole. You are complete. You are perfect. So by your patience, possess your souls. So endure, he's saying. Endure what you have to go through. Endure the persecution. And you will have fullness, wholeness in eternity. You know, Jesus said, hey, don't fear those who can only kill the body.

Fear God who can kill the body and then cast your soul into hell. Because this life is temporary. Don't forget that. This life is temporary. As we talk about all of these things we're to expect, they're not really pleasant things. And you could kind of think like, wow, this is, I don't want to sign up for this. This is pretty rough. Deceivers and wars and disasters and persecutions. But it's all worth it. It's all worth it. Because what we're talking about is eternity. Eternity.

These are the signs that precede the final events. They preceded the destruction of Jerusalem and these same signs will continue and will increase as we draw nearer and nearer to the rapture of the church, the tribulation period, and then the second coming of Jesus as he comes to establish his kingdom here upon this earth.

I remember Pastor Rick sharing an illustration. Richard says it was Pastor Dylan's illustration. So whoever. It was somebody's illustration. They talked about looking at these signs and kind of comparing it to when you're traveling down an interstate. Now I don't know if you've driven great distances like that. But let's just say we're on the interstate. We're headed to Phoenix. Now you're going to see a sign on the interstate that says Phoenix 400 miles.

And then you won't see anything for a long time. And then you'll see another sign, maybe like 250 miles, Phoenix. And then you'll see another sign, Phoenix, 100 miles. And then as you get closer, the signs will become more frequent. They will increase. So then you'll see Phoenix, 40 miles. Phoenix, 38 miles. Phoenix, 35 miles. Phoenix, 34 miles. I mean, you'll see the bah, bah, bah, bah, after, after, after, after, after. Sign, sign, sign, sign, sign.

In the same way, that's what the Bible says will happen with these signs that precede the return of Jesus Christ. We're going to see it more and more. These are the things that we need to expect. Deceivers, wars, disasters, and persecutions. Listen, Jesus can return at any moment. And so we need to be expecting the return of Jesus Christ. He's going to talk about that at the end of chapter 21. But also...

Things for you and I today could be a whole lot worse at any moment. Our nation could fall. We could be in the midst of war. We could be taken over. Our economy could fall apart. There could be a great earthquake and now, you know, we're underwater. Things could be worse at any moment. Check it out. Either one fulfills prophecy. Jesus coming to catch us up, the rapture of the church, or the whole world falling apart. They both fulfill prophecy.

They both, we're told, are going to happen. And so we need to be living in expectation. Prepared for either one. For Jesus to return or for these signs to increase that we might experience even more the testimony of Jesus Christ. Now as I look at all this, one final thought. This all causes me to be very thankful. You know, we are so blessed to live in this time together.

to live in this community, this culture, to have this freedom. It causes me to say, thank you, Lord. Great blessings. Help me not to take it for granted and just live comfortably, just live casually because I don't have to face things that others face. Lord, help me instead to take full advantage of the blessings and the grace that you've extended and to be faithful to you in the midst of comfort.

Just as those who are faithful to you in the midst of a great adversity worldwide. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you for your grace towards us. And Lord, even though we do have struggles and hardships in our life, Lord, we can recognize that they're very different than what others have experienced, what others are continuing to experience. And so Lord, we want to thank you for your grace towards us in that. We ask that you would help us

To be expecting your return. To be expecting these things and recognizing that eternity is worth it no matter what happens. That faithfulness to you is far greater. The reward for that faithfulness to you is far greater than anything that could be brought against us. Help us, Lord, to not be consumed with this life, but to set our eyes on eternity. Help us, Lord, to do what Peter told us to do.

to set our hope fully on the grace that is to be revealed when we are joined together with you. Help us, God, not to trust in the things of this life, not just to expect everything to just happen as it's always happened or plans to go as we want them to go. Help us instead, Lord, to be more concerned with your glory, with your good, with your name being proclaimed to the world around us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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