Some not-so-great predictions:

“Theoretically, television may be feasible, but I consider it an impossibility--a development which we should waste little time dreaming about.”  Lee de Forest, 1926, inventor of the cathode ray tube.
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”  Thomas J. Watson, 1943, Chairman of the Board of IBM.
“It doesn't matter what he does, he will never amount to anything.”  Albert Einstein's teacher, 1895.
“It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become Prime Minister.”  Margaret Thatcher, five years before becoming Prime Minister.
“This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”   Western Union internal memo, 1876.
“We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?: H. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
“640K ought to be enough for anybody.”  Bill Gates, 1981.
“Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.”  Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.
“We don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.”  Hewlett-Packard's rejection of Steve Jobs.
“With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market.” Business Week, 1958
“Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.”  Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, the day before the Wall Street Crash in 1929.

Well today we’ve read another spectacular prediction, or rather prophecy, this time from the lips of Jesus.  He and the twelve are walking out of the Temple in Jerusalem and hear the crowds talking about what a marvellous building it was.  And they were right.  The Temple was a magnificent work of civil engineering.  The smallest stones in the walls weighed two to three tons.  Some weighed fifty.  The largest stone was twelve metres long and three metres high, and weighed hundreds of tons.  So huge were these stones that the builders didn’t need to use mortar between them.  They were held securely in place by their sheer weight.  The walls were over four hundred feet high in places, and the interior floor measured 45 acres of rock, hewn level.   In Jesus’ day a quarter of a million people could fit inside comfortably.  So it dwarfed the biggest of modern sports stadiums.

So there they all were going ‘oooh, aaah’, and Jesus stopped walking.  Looked at the Twelve, looked at the Temple and said, “You see this Temple?  The days are coming when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”  You can understand the Disciples’ shock.   And not surprisingly they wanted to know more.  So they ask, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”  And Jesus answers them by listing a terrible catalogue of disasters, which would strike at his followers and the wider world.  There would be false messiahs, wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines and plagues.  If that were not bad enough he prophesies that Christians would be persecuted and would even be betrayed by members of their families.

Not exactly what the Twelve wanted to hear.  They just wanted to do some sightseeing, and Jesus gets all heavy on them.  But, unlike the predictions I mentioned at the beginning, all this happened.  Just forty years later, in AD 70, the Temple did indeed lie in ruins.  An ambitious but hopelessly naive group of Jewish nationalists led a revolt against the might of Imperial Rome with the inevitable result.  Rome destroyed the Temple, leaving only a small section of an outer wall.  It’s still there today, and is called the Wailing Wall. 

And the rest of Jesus’ prophecy?  All that disaster and suffering?  Well, that came to pass too.  Nation did rise up against nation.  And has been doing so ever since.  In fact, of the 3540 years of recorded human history researchers say only 286 years have not featured a war somewhere on the planet.  More specifically, the revolt which I just mentioned was called the Jewish War and it lasted from 66-70AD.  And during this terrible conflict there was famine, as Jesus prophesied.  The War was brought to an end when Rome lay siege to Jerusalem and starved the city into submission.  A total of 115,000 people starved to death within the walls of the city, and in order to get food some of them deserted the cause and went over to the Romans – some betraying their families – again, just as Jesus had prophesied.  In fact all of these appalling things that he foretold  - war, death, starvation, destruction, persecution – all of it occurred, and all within one generation of his words.

Now that’s the main point we should take from this morning’s Gospel reading.  Jesus’ words relate to a specific period in history, over 1900 years ago.  However, in this same conversation Jesus goes on to talk about another historic event – this time well into the future.  After all this time it still hasn’t happened.  His Second Coming.  Now I don’t want to take up much time this morning with that theme, as we will return to it in two weeks on the first Sunday of Advent.  However, let me prepare the ground for that sermon by saying two things.

First, the doctrine of the return of Christ is a regular part of the Christian faith.  We say it every Sunday, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”  How and when?  No one knows.  But just because it is mysterious doesn’t mean we can dismiss it.  You see there are two mistakes we can make.  The first is to be prophecy addicts.  These are people who obsess about the details and try to project modern events, nations and personalities onto the biblical texts.  Some even claim to find the secret key to unlocking the mysteries of the end times and produce elaborate formulae that they say reveal the real meaning of numbers and symbols in the Bible.  And, according to these teachers, every political event of the past sixty years neatly fits into their scheme of things.  A pastor named David E Leininger wrote this on a website I looked at last week.  “One of my cyber friends this week reported on a TV preacher recently talking for an hour about his new book that supposedly explained everything we needed to know about the coming of Jesus and the end of time. "You must have this book," he said over and over again, a telephone number (not even toll-free) constantly flashing at the bottom of the screen. Seems that he was the only one who had prophetic insight into world events, and for a mere $14.95 we could have the benefit of his wisdom. We would not survive the coming terrors unless we had this book. My friend called the number and suggested to the poor operator that if this preacher really thought this was so vital to the survival of the planet, and that the end was so near, he would be giving the book away! I mean, he won't need the money, right? It's all coming to an end anyway. Who needs a bank account? True, it costs money to print, but he will not have to pay for it if it goes as he says. The woman on the other end of the line was not amused. "Sorry, sir," she said, "but I don't know much about theology," to which my friend responded, "Neither does the writer of the book you're selling."

Now, in the mainline denominations we are not so likely to fall for the error I’ve been describing – the obsession with the end times.  No, our error is the exact opposite of this.  It is the error of wanting to minimize the Second Coming because we’re a bit embarrassed it.  Such folks rationalize it or spiritualize it, so they can embrace Jesus and his teachings without getting all the supernatural trimmings that go with it.  But the rationalist has something in common with the fundamentalist.  They both try to nail down the truth.  There’s a demand that we must be able to understand it.  The fundamentalist over-explains the return of Christ, and so takes away the mystery; while the rationalist accepts that it can’t be understood by the human mind and therefore it cannot be real.  As thinking, Anglican Christians who want to accept Scripture as God’s ultimate authority in matters of faith we can find a middle way.  We can believe in it, but also allow it to be a mystery.  We can live happily without all the answers.  We can be content that God knows the details and we don’t have to.

The second thing I want to mention is that the terrible events that Jesus prophesied are not signs of the end.  Jesus clearly says so.  He says, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.”  And, again, he was right.  These things are signs which had to happen at some point before the end.  Now we ARE in the end times.  St Paul says HE was living in the end times.  So if he was then we are.  The end times started with the Ascension of Jesus and the last 1900 years have been the endgame of history.  Christ could return at any time, but to read this passage this morning and say that he MUST come very soon is to misunderstand his purpose in giving us signs.  He might come very soon, but he might be a very long time yet.  The point is we are to live like it might be today.  But I need to get away from this because this is the subject of Advent, and if I carry on like this I’ll have nothing to say in two weeks. 

So what should we take away from this passage?  Well, I think we need to be encouraged.  There’s one little phrase that Jesus says to the Twelve to encourage them in those desperate times they were going to face forty years later.  He says, “Don’t be terrified”.  Why not?  It seems that any sensible person WOULD be terrified faced with the series of disasters Jesus has outlined.  If you’re not panicking you probably don’t understand what’s happening!  Well, the reason the Twelve need not be terrified is that God is in control.  It might not look like it, but he has planned a way out and will go through the chaos with them.

So, are you tempted to panic or be terrified by your circumstances?  Well, relax.  Look up.  See that God has planned a way out for you.  And in the meantime trust his presence.  Be assured of his promise that he will never leave you not forsake you.  He can give you the grace and the strength to go on, despite the tough situation you’re facing.  It could be that the difficult circumstances you’re facing are actually producing good things.  The trials you face may be making you a better person, a more faithful Christian.  These trials could be the making of you, and you don’t even recognise it.  Let me finish with a story of that.

The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but no rescue came.  Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the thick black smoke rolling into the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.  Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" the weary man asked his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied. 

Just maybe the smoke from the fire that we think has destroyed our lives will actually be the means by which God rescues us.