National Geographic did a survey about the End of the World back in 2012. With tsunamis, earthquakes, and financial concerns dominating headline news, National Geographic asked what Americans’ thought about a potential “Doomsday scenario. More than 62 percent of Americans thought the world would experience a major catastrophe in the next 20 years. And nearly three out of every four people (71%) envision a major disaster in their lifetime as an act of God, not man. When the question was asked, ”Which of the following, if any, do you think might happen in the United States in the next 25 years? these were the responses: earthquakes (64%), hurricanes (63%) and terrorism (55%) are the most feared, followed by financial collapse (51%), significant blackout (37%), a pandemic (29%) and nuclear fallout (14%). It’s clear from these stats that the ‘End of the World’ is on people’s minds. In today’s podcast, we continue our series on ‘What the Bible says about the End of the World.’

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You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This weeks call is:

Jesus is coming again. That’s a Bible fact. It’s as real a fact as Jesus first coming was. But just like Jesus first coming, there were many who didn’t believe it. The same is true of His Second Coming. Here are you in these truths?

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: We are certainly closer to the end that we are to the beginning. How does that thought motivate your heart to live solely for God? Please leave your comments in the comments section below.

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of the End Times by clicking on the links above.

1. #S4-043: Prophetic End-Times: What You Need to Know [Podcast]
2. #S4-045: Why You Should Believe in the Rapture [Podcast]
3. The Second Coming of Jesus: What You Need to Know
4. #S4-050: Why Did the Disciples Ask Jesus about the End of the World? [Podcast]
5. #S4-049: What the Bible Says about the End of the World [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

Question Two – ‘What Shall Be The Sign of Your Coming?’

• Again let’s reiterate the three questions the disciples asked about End-Times.

Matthew 24:1–3 (ESV) — 1 Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

• The questions are as follows:
  • When shall these things be? (referring to the temple destruction)
  • What shall be the sign of thy coming? (referring to the Second Coming)
  • What shall be the sign of the end of the world?

What Israel Was Looking For

• What does the phrase ‘your coming’ refer to?
• We understand this to refer to the Second Coming of Jesus.
• The disciples of Jesus who were asking the question though, didn’t see it that way.
• The disciples of Jesus knew nothing about the church age.
• The only age they were looking for was Messiah’s age: the Age of the Conquering King who would restore Israel to greatness.
• They thought Jesus was that king.
• For many hundred’s of years, Israel was under the bondage of successive nations because of their idolatry and their disobedience to God’s covenant.
• Israel as a nation was divided into Israel and Judah, nine tribes for Israel: Reuben, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulon, and Issachar.
• Three tribes for Judah including Benjamin and Simeon.
  • Remember that Levi had no inheritance of their own.
• The division of the Twelve tribes took place during the reign of the ungodly reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son.
• The two groups, Israel and Judah, continued as separate entities for over two-hundred years after which Assyria conquered Israel taken them away into exile.
• This is where we get the ‘lost tribes’ of Israel.
• Judah continued one-hundred and fifty years after Israel was taken over.
• That’s because Judah had some kings who were godly followers of the Lord.
• I say some because not all of them stuck with the Lord.
• In Israel, also known as the Northern Kingdom, had not a single ruling king to follow the Lord, not even half a one.
• Having some godly kings was not enough to stem the tide of judgment for Judah.
• They eventually were taken over by the Babylonians.
• The Babylonians allowed the captured people of Judah to stay in the land.
• They only took the elite of Judah back to Babylon with them.
• That’s how Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo end up in Babylon.
• To gain their loyalty, Babylon elevated the poor and gave them positions of authority in the land.
• The Babylonians were taken over by the Persians, the Persians were taken over by the Greeks, the Greeks were taken over by the Romans.
• And of course, with all these successive conquests, went the nation of Judah.
• Now here you are a good Jew.
• Your tired of hundred’s of years of servitude.
• You’re enslaved.
• You have no voice.
• You’re heavily taxed.
• You have to put up with foreign captors and all their requirements.
• Roman law, for example, made it legal to grab a Jew and make him carry your bags any time anyplace for up to one mile.
• Jesus added to this law the concept of ‘second-mile living.’

Matthew 5:41 (ESV) — 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

The Prophecies of the Conquering King

• So here you are a good Jew, a good tired of the oppression of hostile powers Jew.
• And as a good Jew, you are familiar with the Bible texts which promise a Messiah who will slay the wicked and restore to Israel her glory.
• Prophecies like the following:

Isaiah 45:17 (ESV) — 17 But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.

Isaiah 54:6–10 (ESV) — 6 For the Lord has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. 7 For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. 8 In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. 9 “This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. 10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

• And there’s several of these prophecies.
• Paul, aware of these prophecies, writes these words in the book of Romans.

Romans 11:26–27 (ESV) — 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

• So, these good Jewish disciples of Jesus had these verses on their mind. They thought Jesus was the one: the fulfiller of these prophetic passages.
• That’s why they were following Jesus.
• They thought He was the Messiah.
• Jesus, one day, multiplied bread and fish.
• Look at the crowd’s reaction.

John 6:9–15 (ESV) — 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

• The crowd filled with nothing but good Jewish ‘Conquering King’-minded people saw what Jesus did and were ready to promote Him. *What does Jesus do?
• He turns around and walks off and leaves them standing there.
• The point is that these disciples had a Messianic idea of Jesus.
• The idea of a Messiah would come and suffer and die at the hands of his enemies rather than conquer them was totally foreign to their minds.
• They had no clue of the Plan of Redemption.

Why did the Disciples Ask Jesus What Was the Sign of His Coming?

• So, when the disciples said, ‘What is THE Sign of Your Coming,’ they were referring to THE Coming of the Great Deliverer of Israel.

Reason One: Because they finally believed Jesus wasn’t the conquering king the Jews were looking for to establish the earthly Kingdom of God.

• Jesus told them that He was going to die.
• He reiterated this many times before the disciple got to this point of asking these end-time questions in Matthew 24.
• See the following references:

Matthew 17:12 (ESV) — 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.

Matthew 17:22–23 (ESV) — 22 As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

Matthew 20:17–19 (ESV) — 17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death 19 and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Matthew 20:28 (ESV) — 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

• This can’t be the reason for the disciple’s questions because in Acts 1:6, the disciples indicate that they still view Jesus as the Great Deliverer.

Acts 1:6 (ESV) — 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

• The disciples still had the restoration of Israel from underneath foreign powers on their mind.

Reason Two: Because they didn’t believe what He plainly told them about His death instead they were insistent in believing that Jesus was the Conquering King who had come to restore Israel.

To Help Understand the Reason Know the Word ‘Sign Is Singular’

• The first thing you should note is that the word ‘sign’ is singular.
• The disciples of Jesus were not asking for ‘signs’ of His coming, plural.
• That’s what we hear.
• We hear wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes in divers places, the love of many waxing cold.
• But that’s not what the disciples were asking.

The Answer to Question Two: What Will Be the Sign of Your Coming?

• The answer is found in Matthew 24:27–51

Matthew 24:27–51 (ESV) — 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

• This is THE sign of the Coming of the Conquering King, His appearing, in the heavens, is like a huge lightning type global flashes of light.
• Actual lightning in connection with God’s appearances is documented in scripture.

The Lightning’s of God

• The scriptures clue us to the ‘lightenings of God’.

Job 36:30–32 (ESV) — 30 Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea. 31 For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance. 32 He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark.

Psalm 77:18 (ESV) — 18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.

• Thunder and lightning are twin sisters of the atmospheric heavens.

Jeremiah 10:13 (ESV) — 13 When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

• The Hebrew word ‘tumult’ means a boom, a deep prolonged loud noise.
• When God utters His voice, there is a boom of waters in the heavens.
• God uttered His voice in response to Jesus prayer in John twelve.

John 12:27–29 (ESV) — 27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

• The crowd who heard it said it sounded like thunder.
• Some are desiring to hear God’s voice but if God obliged you, you wouldn’t be able to articulate the words, they would sound like thunder.
• The truth is you can hear God’s voice every day in the pages of the Bible.
• You can gain His insights via the promptings of the Spirit in your heart.
• And, you can have it every day of your life because He is as close to you as the breath of your mouth.

God Visits Israel with Lightning and Thunder

• The Lord spectacularly delivered His people from the cruel hands of Egyptian bondage.
• One day as he was leading His people through the wilderness, God decided to personally introduce Himself to His people.

Exodus 19:9 (ESV) — 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD,

• Notice the words, ‘a thick cloud’.
• God said, ‘I’m coming to you inside a cloud.’
• You know where there are clouds there is the opportunity for thunder and lightning.

Exodus 19:16–18 (ESV) — 16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly.

• Awesome, awestruck, that’s the only words you can use for this.
• Thunders, lightning, and a thick cloud, what’s the point?
• The point is that when great God things happen sometimes the fireworks of heaven accompany His arrival.
• Jesus is coming again, that’s a great God thing.
• And His arrival will be like lightning.
• That’s THE sign of His coming.

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