1. So, What Are We Supposed to Do? Matthew 24:34-51 One difficulty No one knows What are we supposed to do?

2. One difficulty There is always one The issues for us today is linguistic “this generation”

3. Matthew 24 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

4. Genea: Begotten Multitude of people Descendant Race of people

5. Matthew 24 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

6. The clue we get in this chapter… Jerusalem will face harsh times No stone left on another Temple will be destroyed But “this generation” will not be obliterated

7. From history… 70 AD temple destroyed 136 AD Jerusalem virtually destroyed, Jews sold to slavery, banished from Jerusalem City renamed Aelia Capitolina Jews become a homeless people Spoken Hebrew almost disappeared Countless persecutions

8. There are people now and in the past who believe Israel should be wiped off the earth They held Israel guilty of Christ’s death They don’t know or forgot the covenant

9. God has a covenant with Israel that will not be broken He will watch over them There will always be a faithful remnant from Israel

10. Matthew 24 the descendants of Israel 34 I tell you the truth, this generation (the descendants of Israel) will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

11. “no one knows” Yet many say… It already happened Soon Today Next year

12. 36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

13. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

14. No one knows. (Period) Even though there are signs and warning most people will be clueless Most people won’t get it until they see God’s elect ascending to Jesus

15. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

16. 44 …the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

17. As many clues as we are given to us in scripture Christ’s second coming will catch us off guard Unexpectedly

18. So what can we do? 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

19. The obvious question is… What does it mean to “keep watch”?

20. 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

21. Now we hear it in negative terms Because there is a need to hear both sides Reward and punishment Success and failure

22. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

23. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

24. God will keep watch over his people Israel God will return at a time of his choosing when all the sign have been fulfilled

25. Our responsibility… Is not to second guess God’s time It is to be good servants To feed the Word to the world To be doing To be faithful and wise