Matthew 24:35

Matthew 24:35

In Matthew 24:35 Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.” One of the questions that the disciples asked Jesus at the beginning of Matthew chapter 24 was, “What will be the sign of the end of the age?” There will be an end to this age of grace in which we live, and then there will be other ages. But eventually there will also be an end to the world. God has the authority to end the world because He is the creator and the owner.

Not only will the world end, but the heavens will also end. It appears that Jesus is talking about a total transformation of the physical universe. Do you ever think about the immensity of the universe? Modern science has done us a very good service to help explain the vastness of this universe in which we live. The galaxy in which our sun exists is a great spiral and swirl of millions of stars. And we are talking about just one galaxy. There are actually millions of galaxies, and scientists are far from identifying all of them.

The power of God is awesome: to think that all this came into existence by His mere words! He spoke and the universe was created. One day He will again speak and the heavens and the earth shall pass away. Peter wrote of this event and said in First Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

You do not have to fear the end of the world the way that some unbelievers do. The world will not end by some giant meteorite crashing into it, because the world will not end until after Jesus returns. And the world will not end by a nuclear war, either. There could be a nuclear war that destroys millions of people, but if there is, it will not kill everyone and it will not destroy the world.

Did you ever wonder why God will have to destroy the earth? Perhaps it will be because of pollution. God gave the earth to man to tend and to keep. Man has horribly failed at this responsibility. Not only do humans kill each other, but they also annihilate God’s other creatures that share this earth. Humans poison and pollute the environment in every country of the earth, and death and sickness are the result; but God will fix it one day because He will totally destroy the earth and create a new one.

Perhaps God will have to destroy the earth because of sin. God is a merciful God who wants to forgive people their sins, but when humans resist God and refuse to repent, the judgment of God must come because He is a holy and righteous judge. The sin of man eventually corrupts everything that he touches. Because of the sin of man, man has corrupted his religions, his governments, his educational system, his entertainment, his literature, and his art. We are each responsible to make the earth as good a place as we can, but eventually, the only way to fix it will be to completely do away with it, and to start anew. Jesus said, “The heavens and the earth shall pass away...”

The abomination of desolation, the time of great tribulation, and the return of Jesus. We know that these events will happen, but we don’t know when they will happen. Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

Jesus told us what would pass away: the heavens and the earth. He also told us what would not pass away: His words. He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” The word of God is eternal. Which is more important, that which is temporary or that which is eternal? What should you love, that which will perish or that which will last forever? Which should you desire to know more about, that which will pass away, or that which will not pass away?

Did you ever think of the logic behind God giving us His words? We communicate with words, and so does God, through His written Word, the Bible. Because we have God’s words, we can be certain about His truth. We don’t have to rely upon what someone else says. We can read it for ourselves. Because we have God’s written words, we don’t have to listen for the audible voice of God, and then wonder if it was only our imagination or just the wind blowing through the trees.

What a contrast between the words of Jesus and our words! Everything that He said was powerful and significant and important. So often we will wish that we had said less, because our words were spoken without enough thought or preparation behind them. Everything that He said was effective: it was always the right thing to say at just the right time. The words of Jesus are full of compassion and tenderness. So easily our words are vain or selfish; and may God forgive us, even angry or cruel. It’s no wonder that the Word of God admonishes us to be slow to speak and to study to be quiet. It also says, if any man speak, let him speak as of the words of God.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Your education is not complete, if you don’t know God’s Word. Your vocation is not what it should be, if you do not approach it by attempting to apply the principles of God’s Word to it, because His Word is eternal and without it, all else is vanity.

In spite of all the “isms” of the world, there will always be some who will honor the words of Jesus. These are the ones who have found forgiveness of sins in Christ their Savior, and they are the ones who find spiritual strength on a daily basis in the words of Jesus. When Jesus said to Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep,” Jesus was giving to Peter one of the things that Jesus wanted him to do. If we believe in Jesus, we all have at least one gift with which to serve Him. Some have been given the gift as teachers of God’s Word, so that His sheep will be fed. If you have such a gift, never forget what you have been called to teach: His words and not your words, because His words will not pass away.

In Matthew 24:37-39 Jesus explains to us what will be the general condition of humanity when He returns to the earth. He said, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Jesus told us that the heavens and the earth shall pass away after His return. The first time that the earth was destroyed was by means of a great flood, and there is much scientific evidence to verify that such a flood took place. The earth will be destroyed again one day, and of course it will be destroyed in a different way than it was the first time. But the attitude and the spiritual condition of the people of the earth will be the same the second time as it was the first time: not interested in God or His Word.

Notice very carefully the problem that people had during the time of Noah, and the same problem that they will have at the time that Christ returns. Jesus said, “they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” There are two big problems. 1. Eating and drinking. 2. Marrying and giving in marriage. What’s wrong with eating and drinking? Absolutely nothing. If you don’t eat and drink, you’ll be dead in just a few days. We thank God for what we eat and drink: He is the giver of life and the sustainer of it.

What’s wrong with marrying and giving in marriage? Nothing. God created marriage. You can choose to marry or to not marry. If you choose to marry, you might have a different set of joys and sorrows than if you do not marry, but you have done nothing wrong. The love of a man and a woman for each other was meant to be symbolic of the love of God and His believers for each other. Few relationships ever come close to that symbolism, but nevertheless marriage is good because it was created by God. Marriage is a normal expression of human life. There is a religious organization that forbids marriage for its clergy. They have found that when you forbid the normal, you invite the abnormal.

Why did Jesus list these two things that are both good and normal, as being what would characterize people who were not ready for the end, and people who were not ready to meet God? What Jesus is indicating is that the problem will be that people will become too preoccupied with living their own lives to have time for the things of God, or to even have time to stop and think about God. Even in the Christian life one of the constant challenges for us is to make sure that we are not too busy to the point where we fail to have time to be alone with God. Even Jesus our Savior took time out from His busy schedule to be alone with the Father.

After someone has gone to work, then they have their home to take care of: the gardening and the fixing. And then there are the kids to take here and there: to soccer practice and music lessons, etc. Of course, there will be several trips to the store each week, not to mention the golf course or racquetball whenever possible. And we know that when they flop down in front of the TV, it’s hard to turn that thing off. Jesus told us that things would be like this. It’s the preoccupation with life that will keep people from having time and that will lull them into a feeling of false security. They will think that things will always be the way that they are now. But it will be a fatal mistake for anyone who thinks that way.

There is another way in which the time of the flood was the same as it will be in this time that Jesus is talking about, and that is the fact that there is only one place of salvation. When the flood came, all the earth was flooded and the only way to be safe was to be in the ark that God told Noah to build. Noah and his family entered the ark, and others could have entered the ark, but they chose not to. They laughed at the idea of an ark, and they did not take seriously the warnings from God’s servant about a judgment to come. They chose the wrong way, and therefore they perished.

Today, there is also only one way to be safe from the judgment that is to come; and that is to be in Christ, who is the Savior of the world. If you come to Christ and ask for forgiveness of your sins, He will save you; if you do not, your eternal destruction is assured. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”

Jesus said in Matthew 24:40-41, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” When this event takes place, it will happen suddenly, with little or no warning. It also appears that this snatching away or taking away of the believers from the unbelievers is imminent: that means that it can happen at any time.

What Jesus is talking about here appears to be the same event that is mentioned in First Thessalonians 4:16-18 which says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

This event we sometimes call the rapture, which means a catching up, because it says that we shall be “caught up together with them in the clouds.” It’s an event that can happen at any time. Evidently, even the apostles thought that it might happen in their lifetime.

We also know that Jesus made it very clear that there would be some definite signs to His Second Coming. He will not come again until the events take place that must precede His Coming. Those events that must precede His coming are the abomination of desolation (which requires a temple having been built in Jerusalem), the time of Great Tribulation, and the powers of the heaven being shaken.

How can we possibly have the return of Christ that is described, on the one hand as being imminent and perhaps happening at any moment, and then on the other hand as not happening until certain signs take place? The best answer seems to be that the Second Coming of Christ will actually have two parts to it. The first part will be His appearance in the sky when He will take the believers out of the earth to be with Him. This will take place at the beginning of the seven-year great tribulation period. The second part will be His spectacular, yet one-sided and easy victory over the evil forces of this world, when Jesus destroys the antichrist and his armies in the battle of Armageddon. This part will happen at the end of the time of great tribulation.

When Jesus said, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left,” He is not only teaching us that this prophetic event can happen at any moment, He is also reminding us of the condition of the human race. All the people of the world are really divided into two groups: those who are servants of the one true God through faith in Jesus, and those who are not. You make a big mistake if you do not view the human race on these terms. Some people divide the human race on racial lines. They are wrong to do so. Some people divide the human race on religious lines. They are also wrong.

The two main groups that God sees are the believers and the unbelievers. The Lord loves both groups, but He has different priorities in regards to them. For the believers the Lord is doing things to increase their faith and love in order to make them fruitful in His service. For the unbelievers the Lord is doing things to introduce them to faith and the knowledge of His love.

When you receive Christ, you become a member of the family of God. Until you receive Jesus, you are outside of the family of God. But the moment that you receive Him, you become a part of God’s family; and everyone else who has received Christ is your brother or your sister in Christ; no matter what is their denomination or religious background. Some people seem to forget this great truth, and seem to think that the only ones who walk with God are those who are members of their own denomination.

Jesus makes it very clear that there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who know Christ as their Savior and those who do not. The same thing is said in First John 5:12. “He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life.” Jesus Christ is the difference between life and death. He is the difference between forgiveness and condemnation. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

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