"He Will Surprise"
[Matthew 24:36-44]
December 2, 2007 Second Reformed Church
When Jesus, the Savior, was born, people were surprised. They didn't expect Jesus to come then. They had the prophecies, but they had neglected them and settled into living "normal" lives. Matthew tells us, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.' When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it was written by the prophet: "And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by now means the least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel"'" (Matthew 2:1-6).
Would we have been ready? Would we have recognized the signs and remembered the prophecies and known Jesus for Who He is? Would we have been ready?
It's easy with twenty-twenty hindsight to say, "Of course I would have been ready. I'm not Bible scholar, but I know the major passages and prophecies about the coming of Jesus. I wouldn't have been taken off guard. I wouldn't have been surprised."
Are you ready this morning?
"For what?"
Well, our Scripture this morning is about Jesus' Return -- His Second Coming -- His Coming as Judge -- are you ready for that?
"Oh, sure. When He comes -- it'll be no problem."
Really. What if He came during the service this morning? Would you be ready?
We remember from I Peter that only about thirty years after Jesus' Ascension, even people in the Church were wondering what happened. Jesus didn't return. They were asking if their faith was in vain, and Peter told them to stand strong in their faith, because God's time was not like our time -- Jesus would return when He was ready, when the time was right. Will you be ready?
Jesus prophesied that the Temple in Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed, and it was. And then his disciples asked Him when the end of the age was going to come, when these things that He was talking about would happen, when His Return in judgment would be.
And let us notice that Jesus did not say, "O, you've got it wrong, I am not actually returning -- I mean, I am not returning in My Physical Body. This Return is just a spiritual metaphor." No, the angel in the book of Acts said that Jesus will return in the same way that He left -- through the clouds, in His Perfected, Human Body.
So let us be sure, on this first Sunday of Advent, that we understand that Jesus is going to return. And when He returns, it will be as Judge.
Jesus told the disciples, that they, and we, are not to speculate as to when His Return will be, "But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." We have signs to look for, but the actual date and time of His Return, we are not to know. God has not seen fit to give us the time and the date that we can mark on our calendars. Instead, He expects that we will be ready for His Return whenever it occurs.
People have speculated on the date of Jesus' Return since the Ascension, and they have always been wrong. People have even tried to excuse their search for the date by saying that Jesus said no one would know the day and the hour, but He didn't say that we couldn't discern the month and the year. But that is foolishness -- it is disobedience and sin. We are not given when, but we are to be ready, whenever.
And we may wonder why Jesus said the Son did not know when He was returning, but only the Father did. How can that be? If Jesus, the Son, is the same God as God the Father, wouldn't God the Son know what God the Father knows?
We need to remember that Jesus is both 100% human and 100% God -- He is Two Natures in One Person. There is surely mystery in how this can be. Yet, it follows from the fact that Jesus has two complete, distinct natures, that one nature could keep information from the other. Jesus' Divinity knows when He is going to return, but His Humanity has not been allowed to know. So, Jesus is fully God, the God Who knows when Jesus will return, and He is also fully human, a real human being Who has not been given that information.
And Jesus told the disciples that the day of His Return will be just like the days of Noah -- people will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage -- right up until the Ark door shut, and so they will be until the moment Jesus is visible in the sky. Understand, the problem is not that they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Those are all lawful and good things. The problem was that God came to Noah when Noah was 500 years old and told him to build the Ark. Noah and his sons worked on the Ark for the next hundred years, and we can presume that they warned their neighbors and called them to repent and turn to the Lord and enter into the Ark. But when Noah entered the Ark at age 600, their were only eight passengers -- his neighbors did not believe that the judgement was coming (cf. Genesis 5-7). They didn't believe the Word of God. They believed in eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage. So the judgment of God was swift and sudden: the rain fell for forty days, and every other person on the planet drowned.
The day Jesus returns with judgement will be like the days of Noah: most people will not believe the Word of God. They will not believe that judgement is coming. And the judgment that comes will be swift and sudden.
Jesus told them that when He returns, the judgment will come upon humanity like two women grinding grain at the mill: suddenly one will be taken and one will be left behind. Rather than Noah gathering two and seven of the animals and also his family, Jesus, Himself, will gather up His people. The judgement will be exacting -- it will be particular. One will be chosen, another left behind, according to the Will of God.
So, Jesus told them, "Stay awake!" "Be alert!"
The commentator David Dickson, says that this warning against immoderate sleep should remind us of the wicked general, Sisera, and how he sought a place to hide in the tent of Heber. And when Sisera had fallen asleep in the tent, we read the following, "But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness, so he died" (Judges 4:21). Sleeping at the wrong time can cause us to lose our life. If we are not ready when Jesus returns, we may find ourselves impaled by the Angel of God.
Jesus told them again that His Return will be like that of a thief to a man's home. Anyone who knows the hour that the thief will come to his home will stay awake and prevent his home from being broken into. But, Jesus warned them that when He comes with judgment, most will not be ready -- He will surprise them, and then it will be too late. The judgement that He brings will be spiritual -- of greater value than a thief breaking in and stealing material possessions.
When Jesus Returns, it will be with judgment. When He meets out that judgment, it will be swift and sudden. It will be particular -- for one and against another. And it will be a surprise -- at least to those who do not believe -- like a thief who breaks into the house in the middle of the night.
But He ought not surprise us, brothers and sisters: Jesus said we should be awake. We should be alert. We should be prepared for His Coming. We should be looking for the signs -- patiently waiting for Him, hoping in Him, warning others of Him, calling them to His Salvation. We ought to be alert, spreading the alert, calling others to alertness.
How ought we prepare?
Well, how do we prepare for a friend or a family member coming to visit?
First, we know who's coming. We are likely to prepare in different ways depending on who's coming. So, if Jesus is coming, we should know that, believe it, look to the Scripture to see Who this is, as well as meeting Him in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Second, we prepare things that will please our guest. We prepare food, arrange the house, dress, etc., in ways that will please the person coming to visit. Likewise, we ought to be about those things that will please Jesus. We should not be doing anything that we would be embarrassed to do if Jesus walked through the doors right now – or in the moment your are doing whatever it is that you do. We should always be doing those things that we would be glad to have Jesus walk in on and see.
If we do those two things, we will be ready; we will be alert; we will not be surprised when the trumpet is sounded and Jesus appears in the sky as the Judge of all men.
But, if we do not know Who He is, or we do not prepare for Him -- if we fall asleep or spend our time engaged in things that would be embarrassing before Him -- He will surprise us, and when He appears in the sky, we will shake with fear.
Let us pray:
Soon and Coming Judge, we thank You for revealing signs -- for choosing some to be Your people -- and for giving us Your Word that we might be prepared and not surprised on the day You Return. Stir a fire within us, that we would warn others and call them to repentance before it is too late. For it is in Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.
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