And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple..

"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple... And as he sat upon 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 deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many... For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places... Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another... And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains... For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not... Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be...

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other... But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (From Mat. 24). What we see here is a majority of Matthew chapter 24, which is the main sermon Jesus taught about the end time and his second coming. I might note that the verses that have been left out of the chapter have not been left out to hide any meaning, but rather to show a more condensed and simplified meaning of what the chapter is really about. First of all most people like to make either two or three questions out of what the disciples of Jesus asked him in the beginning of the chapter. That is incorrect. It's true that they asked the question with two or three references, depending on how you see it, but it was actually one question that they were asking him. They wanted to know when he was coming back, which coming back would be the fulfilling of all things in this world, and also the end of this age in the world.

So there were two or three things that pertain to his coming again, and the disciples mentioned those things in their question about his coming and the end of the age. He begins his answer by going straight to the end time, at the beginning of the end, which is pretty close to where we are getting to now. He warned them that there would be those coming in his name deceitfully, and when it's all said and done, he was more pointedly referring to 'The Beast' and 'The False Prophet' of the book of Revelation, but more on that in a bit. He speaks of wars and natural disasters that are rampant at that time, and then he focuses on persecution and betrayal of brethren, along with the reality that many will turn back from God; and the fact that we will have to "endure unto the end [to be] saved." Next he speaks of 'the abomination of desolation,' which is the same thing as 'the image of the Beast' in Revelation; and warns those in Judea to flee to the mountains when it is set up (Rev. 13:14,15). That image will be set up by 'The Beast' in the temple in Jerusalem that will yet be built, and when it is there will be the time that Jesus referred to as 'great tribulation,' like the world has never seen; and it will be upon both Israel and the world. Jesus also referred to this time in Luke as the time that "Jerusalem [will be] compassed with armies" (Lk. 21:20-24). Next in this marvelous sermon Jesus brings it right up to the time just before his coming, and warns everyone to not believe in some 'secret' coming of his before he comes from heaven for all to see. That in fact will be how 'The False Prophet' of Revelation will show up, claiming to be Jesus returned. He also mentions here what we are told in Revelation, that this 'False Prophet' will "do great wonders... and deceive them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast" (Rev. 13:13,14). Jesus made it crystal clear that his ONLY coming back to this world will be something quite visible in the heavens, even as lightning is visible when it shines from one side of heaven to the other.

Then he immediately goes on to describe that coming with some more vivid detail, and he clearly said it will be AFTER the time that is known as 'great tribulation.' He also said that at his ONE coming back to this world, which is at the very end, will be when he will "gather together his elect;" which is to say the faithful, both dead and living, will be 'caught up' to meet him on his way here, as we are told in First Thessalonians: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thess. 4:13-17). Then he backtracks a bit and warns that no one will know the day or hour of his coming, and reminds how the whole world was going on with life as usual when the flood came and destroyed them all for their unbelief. He makes it plain that when he comes there will simply be people who are saved, and people who are lost. They will all be people, and they will all be living their lives in some capacity, whether ready for his coming or not. What we do NOT see in this sermon is any evidence or possibility of a secret 'rapture' where God's elect are caught out of the world either before things get really bad, or during things getting really bad. Nor is there any escape by the faithful from the persecution or the things coming upon the world. He did not paint that picture. The only solace we can take in these things is that we know God does not judge the righteous with the wicked (Gen. 18:25). The only escape from all that is coming is given to us in Revelation: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them" (Rev. 14:13). That verse is in fact written about the time of the reign of 'The Beast' and 'The False Prophet' shortly before the Lord's coming, so it is evident why it will be a blessing to die at that time, rather than to remain and endure. So there we have a general idea of what is yet to come, and all I can say is that it won't be long. That, and BE READY!! Amen.