So, What Are We Supposed to Do?Matthew 24:34-51

One difficulty

No one knows

What are we supposed to do?

One difficulty

There is always one

The issues for us today is linguistic

“this generation”

Matthew 2434I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Genea:

Begotten

Multitude of people

Descendant

Race of people

Matthew 2434I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The clue we get in this chapter…

Jerusalem will face harsh times

No stone left on another

Temple will be destroyed

But “this generation” will not be obliterated

From history…70 AD temple destroyed

136 AD Jerusalem virtually destroyed, Jews sold to slavery, banished from Jerusalem

City renamed Aelia CapitolinaJews become a homeless people

Spoken Hebrew almost disappearedCountless persecutions

There are people now and in the past who believe Israel should be wiped off the earth

They held Israel guilty of Christ’s death

They don’t know or forgot the covenant

God has a covenant with Israel that will not be broken

He will watch over them

There will always be a faithful remnant from Israel

Matthew 2434I tell you the truth, this generation (the descendants of Israel) will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“no one knows”

Yet many say…

It already happened

Soon

Today

Next year

36“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

No one knows. (Period)

Even though there are signs and warning most people will be clueless

Most people won’t get it until they see God’s elect ascending to Jesus

40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

44…the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

As many clues as we are given to us in scripture

Christ’s second coming will catch us off guard

Unexpectedly

So what can we do?42“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

The obvious question is…

What does it mean to “keep watch”?

45“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

Now we hear it in negative terms

Because there is a need to hear both sides

Reward and punishment

Success and failure

48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

God will keep watch over his people Israel

God will return at a time of his choosing when all the sign have been fulfilled

Our responsibility…

Is not to second guess God’s time

It is to be good servants

To feed the Word to the world

To be doing

To be faithful and wise