The Time Has Come to Flee to Christ :: Matthew 24:15-28
[Jesus said:] Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place ... that is, when you see that which arouses God’s wrath ... that which is abhorred by God ... that which totally defiles what God has made holy ... let the reader understand (v 15) ...
THE TIME HAS COME TO FLEE TO CHRIST
This is our theme. This is what our Lord Jesus is telling us in his end of the world discourse from the Gospel of Matthew. Continued sin, most notably idolatry, and the refusal to repent, that is to mourn your sin and to recognize your Savior, these things are abominations of desolation in the sight of God. But let the hearer understand that those who do repent are given eternal life.
I.
Please now open your (Lutheran Service Book) to page 321, and join me in confessing our faithful doctrine on the first commandment. As the head of the family should teach in a simple way to his household:
What is the First Commandment? You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
II.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the end of the church year is nearly upon us, so we will focus today and the next two weeks on those portions of God’s Word that point us to the ultimate end of all things as we know them. We will start with the abomination of desolation and what that really is.
Let’s be clear from the beginning: First and foremost, your sin is an abomination, and it causes your devastation, desolation, and destruction. The most prominent of these abominations is idolatry, as the first commandment declares. Abominations such as this create something detestable. It is sin. Sin is detestable. It creates a state of being that is uninhabitable.
Historically and literally, when our Lord Jesus preached about the abomination of desolation, he brought together two events: first, the destruction of Jerusalem first prophesied by the Prophet Daniel (v 15), and second, the end of this abomination as we know it ... our sin (v 27).
His first prediction came true less than forty years after his death. We can look at history and see this truth. The Roman emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem in 70 AD ... some 35 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. That’s what Daniel prophesied about too. Emperor Titus sent his army to devastate Jerusalem and the temple. Josephus reported that 1.1 million people were killed because they didn’t flee, as Jesus warned. Is it any wonder Jesus said, woe to the women who were pregnant and for those who were nursing infants in those days (v 19).
Ultimately, another abomination of desolation arose where the temple once stood. First, a new form of Judaism that denies the divinity of Christ was formed. Later, the Dome of the Rock was erected in the eighth century. That too is an abomination. And both still stand.
III
But there is a more important abomination of desolation to be on the lookout for ... your sin. Behold, the Word of our Lord is timeless. Whereas our timeline runs like this (move your hand in a straight line) ... his timeline is like this (move your hand like a spiral).
In baptism, God has made you a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation ... God has placed you in his timeline. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, I tell you, the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (4:23). That is, let the reader understand that self-idolatry is an abomination of desolation, too ... the most prominent of them all.
To be sure, I know none of you have actual “golden calves” that you bow down to in your homes, like the Israelites in Exodus 32. But don’t be deceived, we all succumb to some form of idolatry ... self-righteousness ... self-importance ... self-reliance ... selfishness ... self-justification ... These are all forms of the abomination of desolation in the holy place.
These abominations manifest themselves in all kinds of ways. While there are many who say they believe scripture is God’s Word, they won’t say it’s inerrant. They will instead make their reason an abomination. ... There are many who will say Christ is the Son of God but not actually God. They make their faith an abomination of themselves, thinking their faith is some kind of special quality they made (Mt 3:9). ... Then there are many who turn God into a debtor, saying their god is so loving that he would never keep his word by punishing sin but will instead reward all who pay lip-service to him. These are all abhorrent.
We learn to embrace these heresies from false christs who continue to arise and perform great signs and wonders (like these) so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect (v 24). Those false christs will try to convince you that there is no such thing as false doctrine. They will promote evolution and the ordination of women. They will teach that homosexuality and transgenderism are God’s creation. They will promote messages that turn the Gospel into law.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, when you hear these things: FLEE! Jesus is the only name under heaven by which all men will be saved (Acts 4:12). False Christs and false prophets have arisen all around the world, teaching you can live without sin ... that you can overcome your sin all by yourself ... that you can overpower your sin and subdue your sin ... that your sin is forgiven without the shedding of blood (Heb 9:22). Worse, these false Christs say you can make yourselves holy. Some teach that you are born without sin ... that baptism washes away original sin ... that your baptism doesn’t save. They even teach that the Lord can’t possibly give you his body and blood to eat and drink in the sacrament, and that the forgiveness of sins will lose its specialness if you receive it too often.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is abhorrent heterodoxy! FLEE it ... and let the reader understand, how these are abominations of desolation because they all lead you away from Christ and promote a gospel that did not come from Christ. As Saint Paul tells us in his epistles, there is only one Gospel (Gal 1:7). Do not be ashamed of it (1 Cor 1:16). Jesus was crucified in accordance with the Scriptures, he was buried, and the third day he was raised in accordance with the Scriptures. And he was seen! (1 Cor 15:3-5). And he will be seen again ... in the moment like lightning (v 27), coming on the clouds in glory. Because the Lord himself, in command, on the voice of an archangel and trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise (1 Th 4:16).
IV
Don’t be surprised when the end of the world as we know it comes.
As Jesus said, Behold, I have told you beforehand. Therefore, if they say to you Behold, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, behold, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the rising place and shines until the setting, in this way will be the coming of the Son of Man (vv 25-27).
And there is your Gospel. He was not only seen by many between the Days of Resurrection and Ascension, you too will see him as he really is as we heard last week from Saint John (1 Jn 3:1). And you will know where to find your Lord: He will be right where he said he would be.
He reminds you of this whenever you see the crucifix, bearing your sin and the God who saved you. It was on Golgotha, we recognize that our Lord Jesus became sin for you. He became the abomination of desolation for you. Your Lord was separated from our Heavenly Father by your sin (Mt 27:46). He was forsaken on the cross, which is itself an abomination of desolation. God destroyed your abomination in the body of Christ on that cross, thanks be to God.
There is now no punishment left for you. Jesus was buried. The devastation was done. God rested on the Sabbath from all his work of redemption. And then he raised Jesus on the Day of our Lord into victory before finally ascending to the right hand of God, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead and give life and salvation to all who confess with their mouth that this is true.
The signs of Christ’s second coming are now all around us. Behold, our worship before the true God is based on what he has taught us through his Word ... Have confidence in his divine service to you. Since it is God who graciously gives us life and salvation, he eagerly offers his gifts here until the end. This happens every Lord’s Day when God serves us his Word and sacraments ... when he washes and sanctifies us ... when he frees us from the abominations that plague us. He serves us his gifts, nurturing us for the fight against sin and the devil. As Luther teaches us in the catechism: It is certainly not eating and drinking that do these things, but the words written here: Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
True worship then stems from the faith that believes this inerrant truth. False christs won’t preach this. But you know the truth ... in the end, having faith that the forgiveness of sins won by Jesus is for you ... that it comes only from Jesus ... that you are justified only by his grace through his faith in his blood ... This is the will usher you into life and salvation.
So we have come to this holy place where the holy God meets us, receives us, forgives us, declares fellowship with us, rescues us from sin and death, and takes us to himself in heaven where neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor [things] present nor [things] coming nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rm 8:38-39).
For that, we pray, Come Lord Jesus. Amen.