It's Not the End

 Luke 21:5-19

November 16, 2025

 

The Beginning is Near
Imaginary Foundation

As a kid in the 70’s and 80’s

I used to love watching shows on 

TV about Nostradamus.

They stick out in my mind because

I would watch them with both interest and dread.

 

Remember Nostradamus?

They have some current shows about him,

But he was all the rage in the 70’s and 80’s/

He was a  man who lived in the 16^th century France

He was a healer, who wrote several books of

short poems that were called Prophecies

that some people felt had come true in history.

 

The predictions were vague, like “three fires in the east”,

but some people believed they predicted world events.

The shows said that he predicted

like the rise of Napoleon and Hitler.

And the assassination of JFK.

It was pretty convincing stuff.

 

And then my favorite part of the show

was when they would try and interpret

some of his poetry and apply it to future events.

Does the “Great war with the eagle and bear” mean 

that there will be a war between Russia and the US? Ominous music.

Does “the celestial fire” mean that a meteor

will hit the earth? Picture of a meteor hitting the earth.

Wars, earthquakes, famines, plagues.

 

I would watch these as a child  with a combination of

dread and delight wondering what the future would hold for our world. 

I envisioned the end of everything.

Everything familiar and beloved.

Even if you don’t remember these Nostradamus

shows, you have seen a lot of  preachers try and do this

on television. They talk about the future in

horrifying terms, leaving people with a sense of dread.

 

Of course, we have experienced terrible events

There was AIDS, 9-11, terrible earthquakes,

hurricanes, and tsunamis, the pandemic,

nuclear disasters, ongoing fires, rising tides and floods,

terrorism, Endless wars in Syria, and the Middle East,

the Congo, Yemin, now Ukraine, and the list goes on.

And sometimes it has seemed like the world is ending.

 

And through all these events, the world has changed.

and natural and human disasters

are just one part of those changes.

Technology, attitudes, the way we behave,

sexuality, racial relations, economic situations,

things that Nostradamus didn’t even touch on

have changed the world.

The world is not same place that it was in the 80’s

Some changes are actually good, and some are actually bad.

 

And yet, when you think about it,

there is still so much that has remained the same.

Even though things seem bleak at times,

the Mad Max/post apocalyptic future hat I feared –

the end of everything—

still hasn’t really materialized.

 

Now Jesus seems to be doing a little Nostradamus

in today’s gospel.

He’s talking about the future in frightening terms.

Earthquakes, wars, famine, disease, and persecution.

It’s a hard message to hear from Jesus,

one that has thrown many people into a sleepless frenzy, I know.

 

But I don’t think Jesus is saying these things to make people frightened. 

Believe it or not,  I actually think he’s saying these things to try and comfort people.

 

Jesus is saying: Terrible things will happen,

these things happen all the time. Which history has proven.

We will see plenty of pain and destruction, violence,

and death, maybe even your own death.

But them point is, when you see and hear these things:

don’t be afraid. Don’t lose hope. Because the bad things,

 the trials and tribulations, that is not the end.

In the midst of them, remember:

God has not lost, hope has not lost, love has not lost.

 

Jesus wants us to put things like this in perspective.

Things may seem disastrous, unrecoverable, hopeless.

But don’t believe what you see. It is not the end.

 

This temple that they were sitting by

when Jesus said this was amazing.

Many of the stones that were used to build it weighed 28 tons.

Some were bigger than that.

The outer court was like a city almost, it could hold up to

four hundred thousand people at Passover time,

it was a marvel of architecture and ingenuity

It was beautiful and impressive,

It still would be today if it were still standing.

  

So when Jesus to talked about the destruction of this place

The disciples’ imagination must have been racing:

what kind of force would make that happen?

What kind of violence and destruction would our people see?

And this was God’s house, where God’s people came to worship.

If the temple was destroyed, would all our people be destroyed?

And what would become of God?

Would the world lose trust in God

if God’s house and God’s people were gone?

 

And at the same time, even though it was God’s temple

and where the people of God worshipped,

the disciples and other Jewish people knew how

King Herod had built it:

He levied brutal taxes on the people.

He worked in collusion with the Romans

who oppressed Jewish citizens.

He built it abusing thousands of slaves and low paid workers.

 

And they also knew why King Herod built it to be

so big and so impressive.

He built it so he could out-do the pagan temples

built by pagan rulers.

It was a statement by Herod to show off his choice of gods

and to show his own power and glory off before others.

 

In a world of many gods, the ruler with the biggest temple wins.

and Herod believed he won.

And Herod’s glory was solidified in those 28 ton stones.

Herod’s faith in God rested on his achievement,

it rested on the grandeur of the building,

it’s strength, it’s ability to stand, it’s beauty.

To many people the temple itself had become an idol.

  

And Jesus said it would come down.

So the end of the temple would also

mean the end of Jewish dominance in the area.

It would be the end of the Jewish place and rule in Jerusalem.

It would be an end to the life they knew.

 

Jesus says, you will see many frightening things,

but don’t lose hope– it won’t be the end.

The end of the temple is not the end of God.

It is not the end of Christ, it’s not the end of

God’s relationship with God’s people.

 

Of course we know now,

the temple would be destroyed less than 50

years after Jesus lived.

The people who read or heard the gospel of Luke for the first time

would have remembered it first-hand.

Many people died, many things were destroyed

and life would never be exactly the same for any of them.

 

But like we have seen happen in so many other places,

the remnants stood up in the midst of the devastation

and doctored their wounds and helped one another and

bravely went on to the next day

adjusting their lives around the calamities,

with renewed faith and stronger dependence on God

because of what they’ve been through.

 

There will be wars and rumors of wars,

Nation will rise against nation kingdom against kingdom,

there will be earthquakes, plagues,

and dreadful signs everywhere.

But do not lose hope.

  

God does not stand or fall with buildings or

governments, or economies, or stock markets,

or cities, or churches, or leaders.

God does not depend on things being the same.

And God’s relationship with God’s people does not depend

on the outward signs of peace or prosperity or beauty

so we shouldn’t look to them for our security.

 

This world is flawed and fragile and volatile

there is pain and suffering in it.

But our trust is not in the world or what it holds.

Jesus is telling his friends and us:

Don’t anchor your faith in the strength of a temple,

Or in success, or comfort, or in beauty,

or in your good fortune.

 

Rest your faith in God and God alone.

Then you will be able to see strength

and beauty and joy in spite of and

in the midst of turmoil.

Every painful end is the gateway to a new beginning.

Every struggle is a opportunity

to feel the presence of God.