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Part 6 of 16
Matthew 24:29-31
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Family, before we begin, I want to establish something new in our gatherings. When proclamation ends, I'm asking everyone to remain seated rather than rushing to the parking lot. We're going to sing over you—watering the seed of God's word that's been planted in your heart. The enemy wants to snatch that word from you the moment you leave. Let's protect it together by allowing worship to wash your soul one final time before we pray and release you.
On a recent flight back from London, I was reading the passage we're approaching today—Matthew 24:29-31—and I wept bitterly. I was thinking about all the vain activity in churches across the UK, the United States, and around the world that's completely disconnected from this text. Millions of believers are living lives disconnected from the consciousness of the day we're about to read about.
I thought about the millions of people across the globe who will be swept away in eternal judgment, unprepared—like those caught in a flood they didn't see coming. I'm talking about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a day that will bring life as we know it to an end. It's a day when the Lord will settle accounts with every single person. It's a day when all our deeds will be brought into light. Everything will change for humanity forever.
I believe we may see this day in our lifetime.
We prepare for graduation. We prepare for our wedding day. Yet people called Christians live like this day isn't coming. Our preaching doesn't prepare us for it. Our churches don't prepare us for it. Our devotionals and podcasts aren't preparing us for it. We're not listening to biblical teachers who set our affections on Christ and prepare us for His return.
Yet in this text, we approach one of the most important prophetic events on God's agenda—a day that nobody will escape.
Christ was in the final days of His earthly life when His followers came asking about the end times. He didn't want them—or us—to be unprepared or ignorant. He prophesied about the future atmosphere just before His return:
"All these signs will come to pass before the end."
Now, in Matthew 24:29-31, we read the very last sign humanity will receive before the Lord's return. Matthew, an eyewitness, recorded these prophetic words of Christ.
Matthew 24:29 says:
"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."
Although we don't know the exact day and time, Christ Himself punctuates when He will return: immediately after the great tribulation period.
Christ prophesied in the first century that a time is coming—and I believe in our lifetime—when the church will be raptured from the world. After we're taken, according to Thessalonians, the man of sin will be revealed: the Antichrist.
The scripture tells us:
God will respond by executing His full wrath from heaven, pouring out what Revelation calls "bows and woes and vials and trumpets." There will be:
For those playing church now, reject Christ now—if the rapture happens in your lifetime, you will enter into that seven-year tribulation. If you're living disconnected from Christ, you'll face the wrath God promised to spare His children from.
But immediately after those seven years, the Lord will appear. Watch what happens:
The sun will go dark. This mighty gas giant that lights the entire earth and solar system will turn completely black. The molecules boiling in the sun that give you light in the parking lot will go completely black. The power of Christ is so overwhelming that He'll turn off the sun like a nightlight.
The moon will not give its light. The moon is only a reflector of the sun. Just as you reflect the sun's light, so does the moon. When the sun goes black, the moon has nothing to reflect.
The stars will fall from heaven. Right now, everything is being held together by the power of Christ. You only know the sun will rise tomorrow because of Christ's power. You know the moon will come out because of Christ's power. We can predict solar eclipses only because of the order Christ maintains in the solar system.
"In Him all things consist." (Colossians)
But when Christ comes, He will display such power that He will loosen His grip on the universe, and everything will enter complete chaos. Planets will move out of orbit. Giant lights will go off. Stars will fly through the solar system. There will be crashes. Blackness will cover the earth. Men will be tired, weary, dying, and afraid. There will be great cataclysmic cosmic signs in the sky and on earth.
Luke, the gentile doctor, tells us about men's hearts in that day:
"There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and on the earth distress of nations with perplexity because of the roaring of the sea that will no longer stay in place. And the waves that will no longer stay in place. People fainting with fear." (Luke 21:25-26)
That means people dying from fear. When the sun goes black, the moon goes dark, stars are flying through the galaxy, waves are out of control, and every nation is dealing with global blackness—Luke tells us men will be so afraid they will die. Not from an asteroid. Fear will cause their hearts to stop. Cardiac arrest from the terror of knowing something is happening in the sky they cannot explain.
They will drop dead from dread of what is coming. They will sense something emerging from the sky and some will simply drop dead from fear.
In that day, all the nations of the world will have their eyes fixed on the sky. Every nation on the planet, world governments—all trying to figure out what's happening. Every person's eyes will be glued to the heavens.
This isn't uncommon for humanity. Whenever we announce an eclipse, you buy your little glasses. We all gaze at the stars together. And in that day, all of humanity will be staring at the sky.
Now that God has everyone's attention in the darkness—now watch—God will reveal His sign.
Verse 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."
Some glorious cosmic something will appear in the sky and every person will see it. In America, we'll see it. In South America, Europe, the Far East, Russia—everybody will see it. All of humanity will be gazing in the blackness at this brilliant light.
Jesus tells us what the sign will be: the sign of the Son of Man.
The Lord will prepare every human to see this last solar eclipse. But it will not be a planet or a star. It will be the SON who turned off the SUN and caused the whole world to fix their gaze above.
He will break the sky. He will return with power and glory. It will be thunder. It will be lightning. It will be visible. It will be audible. It will be dreadful. It will be glorious.
"All the tribes of the earth, they will mourn."
Why? Because on that day, there will be no more arguments about theology. We're arguing right now: Is Jesus God? Is Muhammad God? Is Buddha God? But on that day, we will be in perfect agreement about our theology.
The Muslim will know that Jesus is the Son of God. The atheist will know. The Buddhist will know. The Hindu will know. Everybody that rejected Him, played church, played conference, ran to another religion, followed a false messiah—they're going to know that Jesus is the Son of God.
You can argue about theology now. There will be no arguments on that day.
On that day, we will know that Christ was, is, and forever will be the only Son of God.
The tribes of the earth will mourn because:
There will be great mourning—sorrow, late repentance. But there will be no second chance. When Christ cracks the sky, everyone's fate will be sealed.
He will separate real believers from fake believers. He will separate husbands and wives. He will separate siblings. He will separate nations. He will put His true children on His right—the hand of favor—and His fake people on His left, where they will be damned.
But for those who get saved during the tribulation, watch—for them it will be glorious. They will have survived the Antichrist's persecution. When the Lord comes, they'll see Christ coming and feel like their redemption is near. They'll say, "Yes, we're about to be rescued." They'll come out of hiding, saying, "Yes, He's coming."
Some ask: "But we'll miss the party. We'll miss the show." I understand—I want to see His coming too.
But remember: for the believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. If the scriptures don't lie, then anyone who dies in Christ now or will be raptured will be present with the Lord. Wherever He is, we will be.
If the rapture happens before the tribulation and the tribulation lasts seven years, we will be at the marriage supper of the Lamb. The Jewish wedding lasted seven days; the tribulation will last seven years. We'll be at that table—eating wine and grapes and figs, receiving our rewards.
If to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and He's coming on the clouds, then we must be there also.
Colossians 3:4:
"When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."
He's coming from glory. You will be with Him coming from glory.
Revelation 19:11-14:
"Then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and the one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and he makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire. And on his head are many diadems, which are crowns. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. And the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure were following him on white horses."
The armies of heaven—that's you. That's me. Angels don't wear white linen. The scripture is talking about those raptured before the tribulation.
When Christ comes, you're going to ride out behind Him. You're going to ride out on your horse. We're going to come from glory with the Lord Jesus. Get ready. We're riding out in white linen right behind Christ, the armies of heaven.
What will you name your horse? I'm naming mine Onyx. Someone will name theirs Glory. Another, Mercy. Mine could be Redeemed, Saved, Justified, Sanctified, Rescued, Hallelujah.
Are you worried about a car? You have a heavenly horse with your name on it.
When the Lord comes in power and great glory, the world will see Christ. They will see you. They will see me. When He found me, He said, "Follow me." And when He rises up from heaven, I'll be following Him.
Verse 31:
"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."
His return will be:
There will be people saved during the tribulation who survived the Antichrist's persecution and death. When the Lord comes, He will deal with His enemies immediately. But then He will gather His sons and daughters from all around the world—hiding, looking, waiting—and they will see that the real Christ comes from the sky, not from the earth.
This is a prophetic warning for everyone who calls themselves Christian but hasn't understood that Christ is not on the earth. He will come from the sky.
This is a prophetic warning for everybody following a cult of false Christs. Christ is not on the earth. He will come from the sky.
This is a prophetic warning for everybody who rejects God, everybody who wants nothing to do with Christ or the gospel.
This is a prophetic warning for everybody preaching the false doctrine of universal inclusion—that everybody will be saved. The devil is a lie. Not everybody will be saved. There will be billions of people who thought they were Christians, sitting in churches right now playing church far from God, who will be in hell. He is not coming for everyone. The doctrine of inclusion is a lie and a heresy.
He's only coming for His elect—the redeemed, those who were saved by faith and grace alone.
Look at me. Not the words of Philip Anthony Mitchell. These are the words of the One you call Lord and Savior. Therefore, since He cannot lie, we know this prophecy will come to pass. I believe it is right around the corner.
Here is the question for everyone under the sound of my voice: How should you respond in view of the fact that this day is coming?
The scripture teaches us to set our affections on things above. The scripture teaches us to live with a consciousness of this day. It is crazy Christianity to do this life and not think about it.
Do you know what changes your life? Understanding the end. When a person knows they're going to die, they get their house in order. When you know Christ is coming back, you get your life in order.
Listen to 2 Peter 3:1-2, 10-12:
"This is now the second letter I am writing to you, Beloved. And both of them, the Spirit of God is trying to stir up your secure mind. Stirring up your sincere mind. He's trying to stir you in your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord and Savior through the apostles."
Remember biblical prophecy. Twenty percent of the Bible is prophecy. The words I read to you are prophecy from Christ Himself. Remember His words.
"Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires."
People will rise up and try to make you feel like a fool for following the scriptures. Let them scoff. They won't be laughing when that day comes.
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar. And the heavenly bodies—stars and planets—will be burned up and dissolved."
Everybody, look at me. Everything will be dissolved. Your Instagram following—dissolved. Your podcast—dissolved. Your marriage—dissolved. Your business—dissolved. Your 401k—dissolved. Your wraith—dissolved. Everything you're clamoring for right now is going to be dissolved.
Nothing you're fighting for in this life is going to last. We spend so much time tethered to these things, living like this is all God created for us. When Peter is trying to encourage us, he's saying: Don't let your heart be so anchored to the things of this life. They are temporary.
The Lord has increased my favor—that will dissolve. He's increased my platform—that will dissolve. He's opened doors for me—that will dissolve. All the things we're trying to put our stock in will dissolve.
That's why I keep encouraging you: You need to be most satisfied in Christ because everything you're fighting for is going to dissolve.
Stop living like this life is all God created for you. Live like these things are temporary. Set your mind on things that are above.
Listen to how Peter finishes:
"Since this day is coming, what sort of people ought you to be? In holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God."
Since you know this day is coming:
Live holy. I'm not just talking about sexual chastity. Holy means to be set apart. Since you know Christ is coming, be different. Read the scriptures. Pray different. War different. Do marriage different. Disciple your children different. Be different on the job, on campus, on social media.
Live godly. Live set apart.
Live with purpose. The rapture can happen at any moment. The tribulation can happen.
What are you praying about? What are you fighting for?
Is the activity of your life flowing like tributaries into the stream of the great commission?
Where is your money going? Where are your prayers going? What are your activities about? If we know the end is coming, our lives should be marked by a consciousness that this is temporary.
So my prayers are different. My movements are different. The way I do marriage is different. What I teach my children is different. How I show up at a job is different. How I talk on my podcast is different. How I preach is different.
You don't have time to waste.
Christ your example came knowing He had 33 years, and every day He lived like a missionary. His life had purpose and meaning. Even the fun He had had purpose and meaning. He was at weddings, hanging out with sinners and prostitutes, healing, preaching, teaching. His days had meaning. He was living like a man knowing He was going to leave.
You should be living like men and women knowing you're going to leave. You should be living like strangers and sojourners. Stop being so tethered in your heart to the things of this life.
I preach like a man who knows the end is coming. I live like a man who knows the end is coming. I text my wife saying, "I'm falling more in love with you." In my prayer time I ask God to help me love this woman, to adore this woman. If there's resentment in my heart, take it out. Help me have eyes for this woman. When there's lust in my heart, take it out.
Lord, I've messed up with my own children. Teach me to disciple them in the ways of Your kingdom. Lord, I've hurt a lot of people. Teach me to live in such a way that the only people hurt from my life are those who don't like the gospel.
I'm fighting for purity and holiness on the inside. I'm fighting to be different on the outside.
What are you fighting for? What are you praying about? What are you spending your money on?
If it's not going into the gospel, it's in your bundles, your car, everything except winning souls. You fight people all the time. You're caught up with ancillary things that seem noble but are a waste of time.
The end is coming. Live like it.
