Jesus' Last Tuesday

We have reached Holy Week. And maybe you're wondering, "What was Jesus doing on the Tuesday before he died?" He was very busy. His enemies were trying their hardest to find a reason to arrest him and put him to death. They kept challenging him with different questions, hoping he would slip up. Again and again, Jesus rose to the challenge.

 Jesus also uses this time to teach his disciples a few final lessons. We usually read Matthew 24 and 25 at the end of the church year, during the End Times season. But if you want some context, Jesus talked about the end times only three days before his time on earth came to an end.

 As Jesus is leaving the ring where he just gave a knockout blow to the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, the disciples "came up to him to call his attention to its buildings" (Matthew 24:1). This leads Jesus into teaching about the destruction of the Temple, which would come in 70 AD, and from there to the end times.

 And then he gives this warning, "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:4-14).

 We see those signs of the end times right now. False Christs. Wars. Famines, earthquakes, diseases. More and stronger persecution against Christians. The love of many growing cold and turning away from the truth of the gospel. Even now, maybe especially now, we are reminded that Christ could return at any moment for "about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36).

 But why does Jesus speak about all these things right before his death? Wouldn't this have been a conversation more fitting for a less anxious time? Why not continue to prepare the disciples for the events of the coming days instead of for days still long to come?

 Jesus' time on earth was coming to an end. The disciples' time was not. Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension would usher in the End Times era, the time between his first coming and his second. They would be living, preaching, and teaching in the End Times. It would often look like Christ's death and resurrection were meaningless. That things were only getting worse. But in reality, Christ's death and resurrection started these End Times. When earth meets heaven, earth pulls away.

 No matter how many Holy Weeks you've walked with Jesus, how many Good Fridays you've sat at the foot of his cross, how many Easters you've celebrated your risen Lord, when you see the signs, it can feel like Christ never came at all. But know this: these signs are the sinful world's reaction to the death and resurrection of Christ. The sinful world has been reeling, "subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:20,21).

 At the end of all these terrible signs, Jesus gives this promise: "The one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:13,14). "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28).

 My dear friends, as we celebrate this Holy Week and Easter with the world in a panic around us, we will stand firm, with our heads lifted high, because today, even more than yesterday, our salvation from this world is drawing near.