The Third to Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Matthew 24:15-28 “Jesus is Present, Even in the End”
November 9, 2025 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, we most heartily thank You that by Your Word You have brought us out of the darkness of error into the light of Your grace: We beseech You, mercifully help us to walk in that light, guard us from all error and false doctrine, and grant that we may not become ungrateful and despise and persecute Your Word, but receive it with all our heart, govern our lives according to it, and put all our trust in Your grace, through the merit of Your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 165)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 24th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.
“So, if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who warns you about the vultures that will gather around in these last days of trouble, who remains with you until the end, dear fellow redeemed:
As you cook in the kitchen and accidentally burn something, why do you try desperately to fan the smoke out of a window or into a vent? You know what comes next is a flashing light and the scream will be heard throughout the house as your fire alarm lets the world know you burnt something. While we may find alarms annoying, we know that we have warning systems for our own protection. It can be fire alarms and as we see in Scripture, God gives us a warning system for our very life. This warning is recorded in His Word and was heard by those he called to say it. While this warning doesn’t have bells and sirens, it is very important, and we must listen to it every time. On a whim, some will listen to the warning. The prophet Jonah had a warning for the people of Nineveh that God would overthrow the city, and they listened. While they listened, the people of Israel and Judah, God’s own people, did not. Our text for today was a warning for the people of Jesus’ day and is a warning for us. We are in the end times, there will be claims that Jesus has arrived or soon will, and while many will want to cling to this hope, we wait for Jesus to come and as we wait we know that He is present now, even in the end.
This is a great comfort for us, and it would be great if we would always remember this and hold onto it. In history, we see many who forget how close their God was with them. While He was with them, His people were going to face something that would rock them to their core. The prophet Daniel prophesied the evil that was to come. Then Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate (Daniel 11:31). Daniel’s prophecy fits well with the year 167 BC. Antiochus Epiphanes who was leading one of the pieces of Alexander the Great kingdom, went up to Jerusalem and put a statue of Zeus into the temple. This was an abomination for the people. So what abomination is Jesus talking about since the first one is over a hundred years before Christ? The abomination may have been the infighting of the Jewish sects and their sacrifices in defiance of the torn temple veil. At the time of Titus’ destruction, the Zealots had taken over.
This infighting hadn’t come to a head yet during Jesus’ day. The factions were well known as we see the Pharisees, Sadducees who ruled, the Herodians, and the Zealots. While the fighting wasn’t as crazy as it was during the time of the temple’s destruction, they found something they could unify themselves against. A common enemy against their power. I’ll give you a hint, it wasn’t the Romans. While they would go on the offense against Jesus, He knows how their future would end. It was an end that would be very bad and very bloody. While Jesus warns how visible this end will be and it won’t happen at a convenient time, He then gets into the end times and how they will look. As the end of Jerusalem was in the end times, people had a lot of anxiety and still do. Others will prey on it. And this end will also happen when people least expect it. Scripture tells us that it will be like the days of Noah. Though we see the problems and have the anxieties, many will be acting as if nothing is wrong and the world is functioning as is.
Since no one knows the day or the hour when all of this ends, and since the days will look normal, it is hard for people to change their habits. Why should we react to the warning siren when we don’t see anything immediately coming. This is kind of like hearing a tornado whistle going off but there isn’t a tornado in the sky back home. St. Paul writes what happens if we would ignore all warning signs and jump headlong into our “daily activities.” The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). By putting on blinders, it is easy to be sucked into thinking that nothing is wrong. This makes it very hard to hear and believe the sirens and what they have to say.
The sirens that are ignored come right from Christ. “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.” When things turn desperate because of not listening to the warnings, people instinctively recognize the need for a spiritual answer. Under such bad conditions, it is no wonder that false teachers can attract so many followers. They will tell you exactly what you want to hear just as the false prophets did to the kings of old. It is hard to hear the truth. Yet, the truth is what will prevail and get rid of our anxieties. And while some will look at attractive spiritual help, our spiritual help is right beside us. The warning sounds and as we prepare ourselves, Jesus is present even in the end.
With Jesus present, those who experience the trials of the end will see how great His presence is. “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” In history, the Christians understood Jesus’ warning. They saw what kind of danger was coming and by God’s mercy, they were able to escape the city of Jerusalem before the Romans arrived. They didn’t fall into the trap of the false prophets. This was not done by a random chance. On their own, they also would have been destroyed. They could see the the days cut short because, in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace (Ephesians 1:5) Here is a miracle of God. A God who could have destroyed all; a God who chooses love.
This love is witnessed with the presence of Christ. He told His followers He would never leave them. So, as they watched as people would stand up and say they were the Christ or spoke on behalf of the Christ, they knew that this was false. As Jesus had warned, the spiritual comforts from the false prophets couldn’t provide them with true comfort that Jesus was already bringing them. They understood what they were taught, that the comfort they would receive would be a heavenly comfort. Knowing that in the end it will be difficult, with Jesus there they would persevere as St. Paul writes, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). Jesus, the great goal and prize, came down to be with them and remained with them until He brought them to be with Him, cutting the days short for them.
Since Jesus keeps His promises, those He holds in His arms will hear and see the false prophets and know that what they say is false. You know the truth, even when you know it is hard to hear at times. It points out how the warning signs are always there and there have been times when they have been simply ignored. As you have gone through life hearing the many ways “Jesus” will come, again, you know the truth He has told you in His Word. He will come the same way He returned as the Angel said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). If someone tells you it is a different way, right here you see they will be wrong.
Jesus says they will try hard. “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.” You have no reason to doubt even as the false teachers will swoop down on those confused and suffering. They will gather and you can chase them away. Though the truth that you know isn’t felt in the world, you come here to hear and see it for yourself. You hear how your Savior spoke the truth, gave the warning, knowing the sinful world would hate it, and dying on the cross to forgive those sins. You confess your sins, remembering your baptism and being adopted into His family. You then see the truth in His body and blood in the supper. This is not the visibility the world searches for. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). What you hear and see every week is the truth from your God. The truth is that your Savior is present with you, even in the end when everything looks to be falling around you because it will be short.
What a great blessing that these days will be short. The prayers of the faithful are for Jesus to come soon. It is hard to hear warnings when there is no immediate danger. The temptation to become stagnant in life is strong. Jesus says, “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42). As your eyes are opened, you will see the vultures circling. Their presence should not worry you. The truth is with you, and the truth will strengthen you as it is your Savior with you in these short days. The end times do look like all will fall apart. There will be announcements that what is here is not enough. You have been warned beforehand of all this, and in that warning, you see Christ, present with you until the end. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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