________________________________________________

 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2007

THE TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Luke 21:5-19 (Signs of the times)

________________________________________________

TODAY’S SERMON THEME:

Whether we believe it or not, all that surrounds us today will one day be gone. Gone. Nothing on earth is eternal. Only God is eternal.  And those who love Him now will live with Him forever.  And the only proof we need is history.

_______________________________________________

1.   Twice in my life I have touched -- with my own hands -- the walls and the passageways of eternity.  Twice in my life I have rested my forehead against the colossal stones that stood guard over God’s holy Temple.  Both times, in 2000 and 2001, I found myself enraptured in a spiritual moment that literally made time stand still.  Both times I found myself in a state that I can only describe as spiritual ecstasy.  The Temple in Jerusalem was a magnificent structure.  Nothing in the world compared with its beauty and holiness.  The Eastern Walls were covered with gold plate and flashed brightly in the morning sun.  The walls on the other sides were constructed of glistening white marble, which from a distance looked like a mountain of snow.  Huge blocks of white and green marble stood 67 feet long, 9 feet wide, and 7 feet high.  Such incredible workmanship.  Such breath-taking beauty.  Such magnificent holiness.  To the apostles of the Lord Jesus, 20 centuries ago, it was the center of the spiritual universe -- the very Temple of God in Jerusalem, God’s own city.  IT WAS A BUILDING THAT WOULD STAND FOREVER -- or so the Jewish people thought in the First Century AD.  This Temple, to them, was unlike the first Temple, the Temple of Solomon built 900 years earlier, but razed to the ground by the Babylonians in the 580’s BC.  This SECOND Temple, rebuilt and refinished over several centuries, was the holiest place on earth.

            And one day, as Jesus and His apostles were standing outside the Temple precincts, the apostles began to sing and praise the beauty and the magnificence of the building.  And as they spoke, Jesus said:  “Truly I tell you:  Not one stone will be left on top of another.  They will ALL be thrown down.”  And within 40 years, so it was.  Not one stone was left on top of another.  The Temple was destroyed.  Dismantled.  Demolished.  Razed by the Imperial Roman army in 70 AD.

2.  Yes.  The Imperial Roman army.  The most powerful force the world had ever seen.  An Empire so powerful that it toppled the vestiges of the Grecian world and constructed the most efficient society that had ever existed.  Highways and buildings and cities and governments and temples and armies greater than any that had come before.  An Empire that conquered the Greeks, the Persians, the Egyptians, the barbarians of Gaul and the North country, even the northern islands of Britain.  AN EMPIRE THAT WOULD CERTAINLY LAST FOREVER.  An empire so mighty, so magnificent, that even time itself could not bring it down.  AND, YET, the Hebrew scriptures predicted that “nations will rise and fall, the flowers will wither and the grass will fade, and ONLY THE WORD of God will last forever.”  And so it was.  Within 400 years, the mighty Roman empire was gone.  Destroyed from within and from without.  Conquered.  Defeated.  Demolished.

3.  DEAD AND BURIED.

             (1) Just like the Egyptian kingdom of the pharaohs, which lasted 35 centuries. DEAD and BURIED by the first century AD.

             (2) Just like the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who conquered the Western world in the 320’s BC.  DEAD and BURIED within five years of Alexander’s death at age 33.

             (3) Just like the kingdom of Charlemagne, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.  DEAD and BURIED in the 9th Century AD.

             (4) Just like the 1,000-year Third Reich of Adolf Hitler.  DEAD and BURIED after only SEVEN years.

             (5) Just like the great monuments (the wonders) of the ancient world:  The Hanging Gardens of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, gone without a trace;  and the Colossus of Rhodes, gone without a trace; and the Temple of Artemis of the Ephesians, gone with only one pillar left; and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia in Greece, GONE.  And the Temple of Mausollos in Halicarnassus.  GONE.  DEAD AND BURIED. The Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria. GONE.  The things that were supposed to last forever.  DEAD and buried.

4.   The lessons of history are so very, very simple.  Nothing lasts forever. 

            Whether we believe it or not, all that surrounds us today will one day be gone. GONE. Nothing on earth is eternal. Only God is eternal.  And those who love Him now will live with Him forever.  And the only proof we need is history.

            The great English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, from his vantage point in the 1820’s, looked around at the ancient world -- which was dead and gone -- and wrote these lines in his poem “Ozymandias” (written about a desert statue of King Rameses of Egypt):

             “And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away."

            This is the simple point I want to make this morning.  We need to take a good, long look around us.  Everything we see today will one day be gone.  Even those things on which we focus most of our attention, the things that consume most of our thoughts, our words, and our actions.  Even the things we cherish the most.  All of them.  Everything.  One day, all will be gone.  Including us. Only God is eternal.  And those who love Him now, and seek to follow Him now, will have the great privilege of spending eternity with Him in His heavenly Kingdom.

5.   A great many people today are talking about the end of the world.  When will it happen?  How will it happen?  What are the signs that it will happen?  The apostles of the Lord Jesus wanted to know about the end of things, too.  And in our Gospel lesson this morning, they ask Jesus specifically to tell them the signs and wonders that will signal the end:

            (1) Jesus begins by saying that many people will claim to have special insight into the end times, and some will even claim to have divine knowledge.  “Do not go after them,” Jesus says.

            (2) Then He says the apostles will hear about wars and insurrections, “but do not be terrified.”  These things will take place, but they do not necessarily signify the end.

            (3) Nations will rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms; there will be great portents in the skies, earthquakes, and great plagues.  But before these things happen, the disciples will be arrested and persecuted because of their faith.

            (4) When the great persecution arises, the disciples are not to worry about what they say or how they will defend themselves, because the Holy Spirit will teach them what to say and how to say it.  And even when whole households are turned against themselves, the disciples are NOT to be terrified.  “For by your endurance, you will gain your souls,” Jesus says.

            (5) It is fascinating that Jesus never really specifies WHEN the end will be.  As a matter of fact, He NEVER pointed to a specific day or time.  And when those around Him tried to pin Him down about the end, Jesus always focused their thoughts on the present.  ACTS CHAPTER 1 is the classic example.  We are to be His witnesses NOW . . . And not worry about the end.  Because “no one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven” (Matt. 24:36).

6.  So.  What are we to do today, even as we live and move among things that are passing away?

            (1) First, we should give THANKS to God, at all times, in all circumstances.  For our lives.  For the gift of eternal life.  For the hope that He has placed within us.  We must do everything we can to live with GRATEFUL HEARTS -- being truly thankful for the gift of today.

            (2) Second, we should encourage each other (and those around us).  We should do all in our power to reflect the JOY that is within us -- the joy that comes from our faith.  The JOY that is the hallmark of God’s presence.

            (3) Third, we should SHARE our faith, our hope, with others -- our experience, strength, and hope (as we say in the 12-step program).  We can be witnesses each day of our Lord’s love, mercy, and faithfulness.

7.   Six years ago, I stood at the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem -- the only stones left from the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.   As I laid my hands and forehead upon those sacred stones, I felt myself lifted up into the presence of God.  It was such an awesome experience that my words are not capable of communicating the extreme JOY that I felt.  I knew then -- as I know today -- THAT WHILE WE LIVE IN THE MIDST OF THINGS that are PASSING AWAY, GOD IS ETERNAL.  And those who love the Lord NOW, and seek to follow Him in all His ways, will have the great JOY of spending eternity with Him in His heavenly kingdom.  He has given us His Word on it:  Nations will rise and fall, kingdoms will come and go, and only God’s Word will stand forever.  And we have the opportunity TODAY to share His Love, His Joy, His peace, His forgiveness, His mercy.  And once we have SHARED in His blessings, we cannot help but want to share them with others.