Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 24?
We will read from verses 1 through 14. Again, I will read it in English first, and my brother will read it in Chinese.
And Jesus went out from the temple, and was going away: and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.
But He answered and said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
And as He sat on the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray.
For many shall come in My name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled; for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places.
But all these things are the beginning of travail.
Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for My name’s sake.
And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.
And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.
But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh;
even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.
But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.
And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left:
two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left.
Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for giving us this time. What a privilege Thou hast bestowed upon us, that we can gather together in the church.
We praise and thank Thee because Thou hast set before us the way of life. We thank Thee for the blood that Thou hast shed for us. We thank Thee for the body that is broken for us.
O dear Lord, may Thy love touch us deeply, that we will give ourselves totally over to Thee and allow Thee to work out Thy full salvation in us, bringing glory unto Thee.
We commit this time into Thy hand. Speak, for Thy servants hear. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have come to the last of our time together. As we have mentioned from the first day, our burden during this time is the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens.
The reason why we feel such a burden is because this gospel of the kingdom of the heavens is the one that brings in the age of grace.
We know that God is going to change the age. When He changed from the age of the law to the age of grace, it was this gospel that brought in the change.
That is why we find John the Baptist beginning to preach, “Repent; for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand.” Even when our Lord Jesus began His ministry, this was the very gospel that He preached: the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens.
First of all, the King has come, and He is looking for His kingdom. He is looking for His people. What the Lord did when He was on earth was to prepare the people. That was the work of our Lord on earth.
But we find, at the same time, that it is also the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens that makes another change. It changes from the age of grace to the age of the kingdom.
Why is it so? Because we find in Matthew 24:14:
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
In other words, when the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens was preached in the beginning, it was to tell us that the King was coming. Because He has come, therefore His kingdom will follow.
But again, when this gospel of the kingdom of the heavens has been preached in the whole habitable earth as a witness to all the nations, then the end will come.
It means that after the King has come upon this earth, He is building His kingdom and gathering His own people. When His people have gathered enough strength to destroy the work of the enemy and to thrust through the air and arrive at the throne, that means the end of this age.
So we find how important this gospel of the kingdom of the heavens must be. We must not only hear it, but we must enter into it.
The Lord Jesus said, “What is this kingdom of the heavens?” We find in Matthew 5 through 7 that the kingdom of the heavens is none other than the King ruling over all.
When His people begin to take upon themselves the character of Christ the King and prove themselves truly to be citizens of the kingdom of the heavens, then one day that kingdom will appear publicly upon this earth.
Today, the kingdom of the heavens is already here. Because our Lord Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.”
So, brothers and sisters, in one sense, the kingdom of the heavens is already here. It is still in the making, and it is hidden from the world; but spiritually, it is already here.
One day, when that kingdom has grown to maturity, it will appear publicly upon this earth. That is what we find in the Gospel according to Matthew.
Now, as we see the world today, we find that the present appearance of the kingdom of the heavens is a mystery. Why is it a mystery? Because it does not look like what it is.
That is why we find these parables in Matthew 13. From these parables, we realize that when our Lord Jesus was planting His seed, the enemy at the same time was planting his own seed in the same field.
That is the reason why the kingdom of the heavens looks very, very confused today. Even God’s people are confused.
For instance, the common explanation of the parable of the mustard seed is that it shows us the wonderful growth of the church. But we know this is not the truth.
You find that it is an abnormal growth. A mustard seed, when it grows, is a plant. This is what God ordained it to be. But it becomes a tree. That is out of its kind and out of God’s order.
The result is that the birds come and lodge in it. In other words, evil forces of the world will be there.
The same is true with the leaven. It tells us that evil teachings will leaven the whole thing. The three measures of meal are supposed to be an offering to God, but now they have been so leavened that they are not fit for God.
So, brothers and sisters, what you see today is Christianity, or Christendom. The influence of so-called Christianity has spread, but within it you find a mixture.
But thank God, there is truth in it. It is like the treasure; it is like the pearl. But it is hidden.
We say that Matthew 13 reveals the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens. But thank God, one day the kingdom of the heavens will appear publicly upon this earth.
That is the time of the end of this age, and that is the time of the second coming of our Lord Jesus.
This morning we would like to turn to Matthew 24 and 25. These chapters tell us how the kingdom of the heavens will come publicly upon this earth. That is the end of this age, and it is also the second coming of our Lord Jesus.
The record in Matthew 24 and 25 is also found in the other Gospels: Mark 13, Luke 21, and some portions of Luke 17.
Here we find that, as our Lord Jesus was leaving the temple, His disciples showed Him the greatness and beauty of the temple.
This temple was actually the second temple, built by the remnant who returned from Babylon. It was small, but later King Herod enlarged it. The temple was built with great stones and gifts from the nations. It was a wonderful building and the pride of the Jewish people.
Even the disciples of our Lord Jesus were Jews, and they were proud of their temple. This was the center of their national life; it was the glory of Judaism. So the disciples pointed out to the Lord, “Look, how wonderful is the temple.”
To their surprise, the Lord Jesus said, “What you have seen today, one day not a stone will be upon another stone.” In other words, there would be total destruction.
It was a shock to the disciples. They dared not ask Him again in public, so they waited until our Lord Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Then the disciples came quietly. In the Gospel according to Mark, we find who these disciples were: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These four people came privately to the Lord and asked Him, “When shall these things be? When will the temple be totally destroyed? What is the sign of Your coming? And what is the sign of the end?”
When the disciples asked these three questions, to them they were really one question. They thought that when the temple was destroyed, it would mean the end of the age and the coming of our Lord Jesus.
Then our Lord Jesus began to answer them. When you read Matthew 24 and 25, you find that He answered them in three different sections.
From Matthew 24:4 through Matthew 24:31, He was answering the question concerning the Jews. From Matthew 24:32 through Matthew 25:30, He was speaking concerning the church. Then, from Matthew 25:31 to the end of the chapter, He was speaking to the Gentiles, to the nations.
In other words, when our Lord was answering this question, He divided the whole matter into three sections: the Jews, the church, and the Gentiles. This is what the world is composed of.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, we do not have time to go through all these things. We will try to concentrate on the section concerning the church.
We know that after our Lord Jesus ascended to heaven, there would be wars and rumours of wars upon the earth. There would be those who come saying that they are the Christ. There would be earthquakes and pestilences.
But the Lord said these are the beginning of the throes, the beginning of birth pains. You know, when there are birth pains, something is to be produced out of those birth pains. Out of them will come the kingdom of the heavens.
In Matthew 24, our Lord Jesus did not directly answer them concerning the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. If you want to know that, you have to go to Luke.
But He began to tell His disciples what would happen in the world, so far as the Jews were concerned, until the end. We will leave that aside and concentrate on the matter of the church.
What will happen to the church at the end of the age and at the second coming of our Lord?
In Matthew 24:32, we find a parable. Our Lord Jesus said, “Learn the parable from the fig tree.”
You know, when our Lord was on earth, there was only one thing that He cursed: the fig tree.
In Matthew 21:18, our Lord Jesus spent the night in Bethany. Early in the morning, when He came to the city of Jerusalem, He hungered. Seeing one fig tree by the way, He came to it and found nothing but leaves only.
He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward for ever.” And the fig tree immediately withered away.
Now, we know that a fig tree is a symbol of the Jewish nation. Our Lord Jesus spent time seeking fruit from that fig tree, but all it grew was leaves. There was no fruit. Finally, our Lord cursed it, and it dried up immediately.
So, brothers and sisters, when you find the fig tree, you know that it is a symbol of the Jewish nation.
The Gospel says not only that the fig tree begins to put forth leaves, but also all the other trees. Here you find a reference to 1948.
The Jewish nation had been destroyed for a long, long time. There was no government anymore. But, to the surprise of all the world, in 1948 the Jewish nation was restored.
Not only that, but during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, you find many nationalities beginning to come up. Many nations in East Asia and Africa declared themselves to be nations.
But the restoration of the Jewish nation is not what the Bible is really after. Even though the Jewish nation has been restored, it is only a political restoration; it is not yet a religious restoration. But anyway, it is the beginning.
The Lord said, “When you see this sign, then you know that the summer is near.” When you see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors.
Brothers and sisters, here you find that “doors” is plural. In the Western world, when you are at the door, it means that when the door is opened, you are already in the house.
But if you have an Eastern background, such as in China, you know that in the old days a large house could have a number of doors. The very outside would be a door, but when you opened it, you entered a court; you were not in the house yet.
If it was a large house, you might have to go through one or two more doors before you really came to the house. But anyway, if you are at the doors, it means that you are very close.
That is why we believe that the coming of the Lord is very near, because He is already at the door. We do not know how many doors He has to enter, but it is near enough.
The Lord Jesus said, “This generation shall not pass away until all these things shall come to pass.”
Usually, we think of a generation as thirty or forty years. But here it is different, because this generation is marked by a special characteristic: it is a wicked and adulterous generation.
What marks this generation? It is a wicked generation. It was like that in the time of our Lord, and it is like that even in our days. This generation will not pass away until all these things shall come to pass.
But nobody knows the hour or the day. Even the angels do not know. There are all kinds of predictions concerning the end of the world, but, brothers and sisters, the Lord said nobody knows. Only the Father knows.
We should not try to figure out when it will come. You know, the great scientist Isaac Newton calculated that it would be 2040. But we know that we cannot believe in such things. The Lord said nobody knows.
But it is near. It is already at the door.
What are the symptoms of the time? The Lord said, “As were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.”
Brothers and sisters, in the Bible there are several words that represent the coming of the Lord. For instance, apocalypse means the appearing of the Lord. One day, He shall appear upon this earth.
But here the word used is parousia. Parousia means presence. It means that there will be the presence of the Lord.
Today, so far as the Lord is concerned physically, He is absent. We remember how He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father. Spiritually, He is with us, but physically He is absent.
But one day He will be present. That is the coming of the Lord.
Now, how will He come? You have to turn to Acts 1, because it tells us how our Lord Jesus left.
The Lord took His disciples to the Mount of Olives, and there He left them and ascended. In Acts 1:9, we read:
And when He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Even though they could not see Him anymore because a cloud had received Him, He was still ascending. The disciples were still looking upward.
In Acts 1:10-11, we read:
And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.
Here you find that our Lord Jesus departed from the Mount of Olives visibly. The disciples could see Him. Then the cloud took Him, and He became invisible; but He was still ascending until He was seated at His Father’s throne.
So the departure of our Lord Jesus was in two sections. The first section was from the Mount of Olives to the cloud—visible. The second section was from the cloud to the throne—invisible.
Thank God, He arrived there. Why? Because on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down. That was proof that He had arrived at the throne.
The two men said that the way He left would be the way He would be present with us. Therefore, the presence of the Lord is also in two sections: from the throne to the air—invisible; and from the air to the Mount of Olives—visible.
The Bible uses two different signs to show this. The Lord said His coming is like a thief.
If a thief is visible, he is not able to steal anything. The thief comes when you are not aware, and he suddenly comes and then leaves.
When he comes, what will he steal? Will he steal your garbage? Of course not. He knows where your treasure is. He comes for your treasure and leaves your trash.
That is the way the Lord will come in the first section.
In the second part, the Bible uses lightning. The Lord said, “Do not hear people say, ‘The Lord is here,’ or, ‘He is there.’” When He comes, He is like lightning. It flashes from the east to the west, and everybody sees it.
That is the appearing of the Lord Jesus, from the air to the Mount of Olives, and everybody can see Him. It will be at that time that the Jewish nation will turn to Him, as we find in Zechariah.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus tells us that His coming is like the days of Noah. Before Noah entered into the ark, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Everything seemed to be normal. They were simply engaged in the things of the world.
But when Noah entered into the ark, then the flood came and caught them unaware.
In Luke, there is another illustration: the coming of the Lord is like the time when Lot left Sodom and Gomorrah. The people were buying, selling, planting, building, and carrying on business. Everything seemed normal.
But suddenly, after Lot left, fire came upon those cities. The Lord said, “So shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.”
So far as the world is concerned, everything will seem to be going on as usual. Everyone will be engaged in this world. But suddenly, something will happen.
What will happen to Christians? This is what we are interested in.
The Lord said that at that time two men will be working in the field. One is taken, and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One is taken, and one is left.
In Luke, He also said that two would be sleeping; one would be taken, and one would be left. That will happen when He comes as a thief.
Why are there two? Two is the least cooperative number. It refers to Christians.
But why two? We find that the complete number is twelve. Here you have only two. Where are the ten? In Matthew 25, you have the ten virgins.
The ten virgins refer to the saints who have died through the ages. Through the centuries, those Christians who loved the Lord have been looking for His coming. They all took their lamps and went out to meet the Bridegroom.
But because the Bridegroom seemed to delay, they all went to sleep. Not only did the foolish ones go to sleep; the wise ones went to sleep too. You cannot explain that spiritually; it is physical.
From the first century onward, those who loved the Lord were waiting for the coming of the Lord. Because the Lord delayed His coming, they went to sleep. They died.
Then suddenly the cry came, saying, “Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him.” They all woke up in resurrection and tried to trim their lamps.
The five wise ones had oil in their vessels, so they could put oil in their lamps. But the foolish ones did not have the extra oil.
The oil is the Holy Spirit. They all had the Holy Spirit within them, but they did not have the extra oil—the fullness of the Holy Spirit. They found that their lamps were going out.
When they went to buy the extra oil, the Bridegroom came and the door was shut. You know, the extra oil has to be bought. The indwelling Holy Spirit is given to you, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you need to pay a cost.
Brothers and sisters, the two spoken of here refer to those who are living at the coming of the Lord. Yet you find some are sleeping, some are working, and some are grinding.
Not that you have six people here—only two. It shows that the earth is round. When the Lord comes, in some places people are sleeping. In some places it is early in the morning and people are grinding. In other places it is midday and people are working.
The same thing is true: one is taken and one is left. There is no outward difference.
Brothers and sisters, go to sleep tonight. Do not be afraid to sleep, because even when you are sleeping, you may be taken. Do not cease working, because when you are working, you may be taken.
In history, we find that people, thinking the Lord was coming, left their work and went to the wilderness to wait for Him. But the Lord did not come.
So, brothers and sisters, just continue on. It is not the outward thing that matters. The Lord knows your inside.
Are you really waiting for Him? Are you watching? Are you following Him? Those whose hearts are toward Him will suddenly be taken.
One day, brothers and sisters—hopefully it is today—suddenly someone will disappear. That is the beginning of the coming of the Lord.
In Christianity, we have a number of hymns concerning the coming of the Lord. There is a beautiful hymn that says, “When the trumpet shall sound.” Brothers and sisters, by the time the trumpet sounds, it is too late for this first stage, because that is His coming as lightning, His visible coming from the air.
What concerns us is His coming from the throne to the air, because we will all be taken to the air.
The overcomers of the church will be taken before the great tribulation. Even those who are not overcomers will eventually be taken, together with the resurrected saints, to the air.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, we find that we shall all be gathered together in the air. There will be the judgment seat of Christ. There it will be decided who will be rewarded with the kingdom that comes, and who will be disciplined in order that they may be completed.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is roughly what we see concerning what will happen at the end of the age.
Seeing such things, how watchful we must be! So far as life is concerned, we need to be like the wise virgins—not merely to have the Holy Spirit, but to let the Holy Spirit teach us and to obey Him.
Let us deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord, that we may be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, so far as our work and service are concerned, let us be like the wise and faithful servant.
What the Lord has entrusted to us may be different according to our ability. But if the Lord gives you five talents and you earn five talents, or if the Lord gives you two talents and you earn two talents, you are a good and faithful servant.
The Lord will say, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
But if the Lord has given you one talent and you bury it, the Lord said that you are wicked and slothful, because you misunderstand the Lord’s heart. You bury what He has given to you.
So let us be faithful to the Lord: in life, be filled with the Holy Spirit; in service, be faithful. When the Lord comes, we will see Him with joy.
Dear brothers and sisters, that is what we need today. May the Lord be merciful to us. Let us pray.
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee because Thou dost love us and lovest us to the uttermost.
Thou dost want us to follow Thee, even though it may lead to the cross, because it is a crown that Thou hast in view.
Dear Lord, do encourage all the brothers and sisters. Lord, how we long that we may see Thee. Prepare us day by day, that we may receive Thee with joy.
May all glory be unto Thee. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.