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This year saw the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of the Somme – the bloodiest battle of World War 1. And one part of it was fought in Delville Wood, which I've visited. A South African regiment was told to hold it against the German army – and they did. The wood is now a memorial you can walk around, and although it's grown over again, they've left every trench and bomb crater just as it was. And in the middle is an old hornbeam tree, full of shrapnel, and an engraved stone which says:

This hornbeam is the only surviving original tree of the battle of 1916

Everything else was blown to bits, which explains the statistics for that South African regiment – because 121 officers and 3,032 men went into the wood, while a week later, 3 officers and 140 men came out. 'The war to end war', as they called it, claimed 10 million lives. Its successor, World War 2, claimed over 60 million. And just this week, after the US election, there's been talk of the next one. The Mirror, for example, ran the headline, 'Are we heading for World War 3?' So as well as remembering today those who've fought and died for our freedoms and privileges, we also need to remember that God is on the throne of this universe. And we need to turn to his Word, the Bible, to get his perspective on the state of our world. I don't just mean the international world of politics and war. I also mean the personal world of each of us – which can be just as scarred by evil and suffering and tragedy. And I say that very conscious of Tunde and her family on this tenth anniversary of the loss of Steven, Abigail, Funke and Yemi. So we're going to turn to some of Jesus' last teaching – just before his death and resurrection – which he gave to help us trust him when the international world or our personal world is dark. So would you turn in the Bibles to Matthew 24.1-2, which was part of our New Testament reading earlier:

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. [And Mark's Gospel tells us they were saying to him, 'Aren't they wonderful?']. But [Jesus] answered them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."

Those words were spoken in AD 30. Forty years later, they were fulfilled, because in AD 66 there was a Jewish uprising against the Roman occupiers of Israel. Rome responded brutally in what became known as The Jewish War. Jerusalem was besieged, starved and then (in AD 70) finally over-run. One reporter described the fall of the city like this:

As soon as the army had no more people to slay… Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and Temple… [and] it was so thoroughly laid [to] the ground… that there was nothing left to make those that came [there] believe it had ever been inhabited.(Josephus, Jewish Wars)

So that's how Jesus' words here were fulfilled. But why did God allow that? Well, listen to what Jesus said a bit further on than our reading. This is from Luke's record of the same piece of teaching. Jesus said (Luke 21.20-22):

… when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near… for these are days of vengeance [in other words, retirubution, judgement], to fulfil all that has been written.

So as he spoke these words, Jesus knew that in just a few days' time he would be crucified thanks to the leaders of Israel. And he knew that, on the one hand, that was his Father's plan – he came to die, to pay on the cross for the forgiveness we need if we're to come back into relationship with God. But he knew that, on the other hand, those who rejected him would inevitably bring judgement on themselves for doing so. And the fall of Jerusalem was a terrible sign of that judgement. So the first thing that Jesus calls us – implicitly – to do here is to:

1. Trust that God is Sovereign over Everything – Even War (vv1-2)

So, on one level, most people would have seen that Jewish War as nothing more than the Roman superpower doing its typical, brutal thing. But as we've seen, Jesus predicted it and explained how it was part of God's plan. So that, on another level, over and above what the Romans chose to do, God was both allowing them to do it, and using it for his purposes. And the truth of God's sovereignty is that everything and everyone is under his ultimate control, so that whatever happens – however bad – is both allowed by him, and will in some way serve his purposes.

Now let me say one thing that does not mean when it comes to war. It does not mean that the winners are the ones God sees as the good guys (wearing pure, white hats), while the losers are the ones he sees as entirely bad (wearing black hats). Take, for example, the Romans in this Jewish War. They were in many ways nasty and brutal, with a whole mixture of motives. But God nonetheless used one group of sinful people to bring judgement on another group of sinful people. To take a modern example, I guess many saw the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in the second Gulf War as, in some sense, justice coming his way. But Jesus allows us to go further and say God was sovereignly using that war to bring justice his way. Not that the American-led forces were wearing remotely pure white hats – either in terms of motives, or conduct. But God can use sinful people to bring judgement on other sinful people – without condoning or excusing the sins of those he uses – their judgement will ultimately come, too.

And God's sovereignty extends not just over war, but over everything in our personal worlds – however evil or painful. That does not mean we have the comfort of knowing why God has allowed things to happen to us. But it does mean we have the comfort of knowing that he has allowed them – in other words, of knowing they haven't just happened because things are out of his control. And it means we have the comfort of knowing they will in some way serve his purposes, even if we can't at present see how.

Many of us were here at the Thanksgiving Service for Rachel Tasker, who sadly died so young. But one of the family taking part reminded us that God's purposes are like a piece of embroidery – where the picture is emerging on the upper side, but if you look at the underside, it just seems like a tangle of threads. And if you imagine human history as God's embroidery, then for now, we live on the underside. And all we can see is the tangle, with maybe some sense of what some parts of the picture might be. But God calls us to trust that under his sovereignty a picture is emerging – and that beyond this life, when we who trust in Jesus are finally with him on the upper side, we'll be able to see it, too. So the Lord Jesus predicted the fall of Jerusalem. And now look on to verse 3:

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?"

Now Jesus had often talked to his disciples about his coming again in the future. And they didn't really understand that, yet. But when he predicted something as apocalyptic as the fall of Jerusalem, it seems they thought that was going to be part of his coming again to end history. And so they rolled those two things into one in their question:

Tell us, when will [the fall of Jerusalem] be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?

And in the rest of Matthew 24, Jesus does two things. For one thing, he says they're wrong to roll those two things together. So he says the fall of Jerusalem is on the very near horizon – it's going to happen in their generation (see v34). But he says that his coming again to end history is on a much farther horizon – and that we don't know which generation it's going to happen in (see v36). And then what Jesus also does is to prepare us for the challenges of living between his first and second comings. So the next thing he says here is:

2. Don't Be Deceived by False Hopes (vv4-5)

Look on to verses 4-5:

And Jesus answered them, "See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ', and they will lead many astray."

Now 'Christ' is just another word for 'Messiah'. And years back, I was impressed by how The Chronicle newspaper clearly understood what that means, because Kevin Keegan had just resigned as manager of Newcastle, and the headline was:

Messiah leaves Tyneside: Keegan's reign ends

That showed they understood exactly what a Messiah is - because in the Bible, a Messiah is a king-figure who comes to rescue and put things right. And the Messiah was the ultimate King whom the Old Testament promised God would send to rescue us from our rebellion against him, with all its consequences – from war on the grand scale to personal and marital and familial conflict on the small scale.

Jesus said he was that Messiah, or Christ, and that his rescue would come in two stages. Stage 1 was his death on the cross for our forgiveness, and then his resurrection and return to heaven. And since then, from heaven, he has been calling people in every generation to stop living their own way as if he wasn't there, to be forgiven for that, and to start life over again with him as their King, and with his Spirit in them, helping them to live for him. That's stage 1. But that leaves a lot of the world still living in rebellion against him; and it leaves those of us who have accepted him as King still living very imperfect lives for him. In other words, it leaves a lot of sin – both around us and in us. That is why it needs stage 2. And Jesus said: stage 2 is when he comes again to end history – when he'll deal with everyone who's ever lived (because death is not the end of us). And that's when those who've said to him, 'I don't want you as King' will hear him say, 'Then you can't be part of my eternal kingdom.' And it's when those who have accepted him as King will finally be resurrected and transformed into sinless people who can be part of that eternal kingdom without spoiling it – where, as the Bible says (Revelation 21.4, NIV):

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 

And Jesus is saying here, 'Don't be deceived by anyone else or any other message or ideology saying they or it can fix the world's problems.' Verses 4-5 again:

See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name [in other words, posing as substitute-Saviours], saying, 'I am the Christ', and they will lead many astray.

So, for example, I was watching the coverage of the US election night and they had a string of soundbites from Republicans after Trump was declared the winner. And one of them said, 'I'm so relieved – America is saved!' And I'm sure, if it had gone the other way, that they would have found plenty of Democrats to say exactly the same thing. But can Trump or Clinton save America from… racism? Or sexism? Or greed and complacent inequality? Or any other aspect of sin? No: you can educate and legislate against sin, but at best that just restrains sinners. Only Jesus can transform sinners.

But I doubt that our main false hope is in leaders – I guess we're too cynical for that. I suspect our culture's main false hope is in the belief that the human race is getting better – that we and our society are evolving and that all change is progress. But isn't Remembrance Sunday the day of all days to give the lie to that? In 1937, two years before World War 2, H.G.Wells wrote this:

Can we doubt that… our race will more than realize our boldest imaginations, that it will achieve unity and peace, and that our children will live in a world made more splendid and lovely than any palace or garden… we know, going on from strength to strength in an ever-widening circle of achievement? What man has done, the little triumphs of his present state… form but the prelude to the things… man has yet to do.

But then just one year after World War 2 he wrote a book called 'A Mind at the End of Its Tether', in which he said this:

The cold-blooded massacres of the defenseless, the return of deliberate and organized torture, mental torment, and fear to a world from which such things had seemed well nigh banished—has come near to breaking my spirit altogether… "Homo sapiens," as he has been pleased to call himself, is played out.

So, 'Don't be deceived by false hopes,' says Jesus, because the root problem is sin, and only he can solve that. And then the next thing he says here is:

3. Don't Misinterpret the State of the World (vv6-8)

I was talking recently to an older Christian. And he said, 'With all the political uncertainty and all the war and war on terror – I can't remember a time when the world has seemed so unstable.' And then he added, 'It makes me wonder whether the end might be very near.' And that's a classic thing that Christians have done down the ages – trying to read current events for some sign that Jesus is on the brink of coming again. That's probably how the disciples were thinking, as well – after all, back in verse 3 they asked Jesus,

…what will be the sign of your coming…?

So just like you pass the sign that says, 'Dual Carriageway 1 mile', and you know you're on the brink of getting two lanes and going 70mph, the disciples were thinking, 'What's the sign that will let us know that Jesus is on the brink of coming again?' And Jesus basically says that there isn't one. He says there is no sign that will tell us the timescale of his coming again, but that history will be charactererised throughout by things that point to the fact of his coming again. So look on to verses 6-8, where Jesus said,

And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. [In other words, no war is the sign that I'm on the brink of coming again]. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

So Jesus pictures history like a woman in labour. And it will ultimately give birth to his eternal kingdom – when he comes again. But right now, we live in a world that rejects him, and which therefore experiences the pain of sin – including war. And Jesus says that pain is like birth pain. So just as contractions in labour both point forward to the birth and are a foretaste of what the birth will be like, in the same way, the pains of war and the rise and fall of nations and kingdoms both point forward to Jesus' coming and are a foretaste of what will happen.

So the next time you hear about an invasion somewhere, or a coup, or just the change of a President or Prime Minister through an election, that's pointing forward to when Jesus comes again, and it's a foretaste of what it will be like when all kings and presidents and dictators and governments are brought to an end – because Jesus is recognised as the sole King. Jesus says the same goes for natural disasters. So next time you hear about an earthquake or a volcanic eruption or a tsunami, that's also pointing forward to when Jesus comes again, when this present created order, by which we're often threatened because of the fall, will be completely transformed into what the Bible calls a new creation. So that's why God allows the instability of politics and of war and even of the environment we depend on. It's to remind us that so long as there's sin in it, this world will be unstable in every way – and that only the coming of Jesus and his eternal kingdom will bring the stability we long for and pray for. So Jesus says:

1. Trust that God is sovereign over everything – even war
2. Don't be deceived by false hopes
3. Don't misinterpret the state of the world

But his final word to Christians here this Remembrance Sunday is:

4. Remember your Purpose in the World (vv9-14)

Let me read verses 9 to 14, to end with:

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. [So that's saying we will experience a good deal of rejection for our witness to Jesus.] And then many will fall away [from their profession of faith in Jesus] and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And [and here is the number 1 purpose of the church:] this gospel of the kingdom [in other words, the news that Jesus is the rightful King of all, and can rescue from sin, and will bring about his eternal kingdom] will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

And with all the needs of the world that this Remembrance Sunday brings to mind, you might be asking, 'Is that really the answer to the state it's in? Proclaiming the gospel?' To which the answer is: that's not all we're called to do. Even just in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, to be salt and light in a morally decaying and dark environment, to care for the sick and disadvantaged, and so on. But important as those things are, they only treat the symptoms of sin; they don't transform sinners. And if we believe that sin is the problem and that only Jesus can solve it, then whatever else we do for the world in all its need, we will keep trying to tell it about him.