Signs of the end of the age.

1. When will these things be?

2. What will be the sign of your coming?

3. And of the end of the age?

I will go through only the first part today, when will these things be?

Matthew 24:1-2 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.”

Also in Mark 13:1-3 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” ² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 3. And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,

The beautiful majestic temple is going to be destroyed. When will these things be? What things? Jesus is talking of the previous verses. Jesus is talking destruction of the temple. After 40 years of Jesus death, in 70 A.D this prophecy was literally fulfilled. This magnificient marble and gold building was completely demolished by Titus the Roman emperor as the Roman Army came and utterly destroyed it.

This was the time for the Passover where thousands upon thousands of pilgrims came to Jerusalem, they allowed them to go into the city but prevented them from leaving the city, according to history Roman army starved them to death and then massacred about 1 million Jews. This was a heavy punishment for rejecting their own Messiah.

Jesus came to his own people and his own people did not recognize him. They loved the church not Jesus, they obeyed the traditions of the church not the words of Jesus. How many trust in a denomination, not Jesus of the Bible? How many are proud of their denominations but Jesus is outside. The lesson we can learn today, do not trust in church buildings! The church building cannot save you. Church is not a building but the believers gathered together to worship our Lord. If you remember how the Lord spoke to the seven churches in the book of Revelation, he was in the midst of the churches. (Revelation 1:12)

The Bible is clear there is another Jesus, another gospel and another spirit. (2 Corinthians 11:4) There is a counterfeit Jesus, counterfeit spirit and a counterfeit gospel. How to know of a true church? God is glorified and exalted and man is humbled, Jesus and the Bible is the center of everything, gospel is preached where there is repentance, promoting holiness of life, evangelism and discipleship making, observing the sacraments. If your church is practicing the above then you are in a growing church, if not you are in a lukewarm or a dead church. If you are growing in the Lord Jesus Christ you are in the right track.