Jesus’ Olivet Discourse is not about the end of the world. But it is about the end of a world, and because of that it instructs the church in every age.

Since Jesus ascended, a number of worlds have come and gone. Most of us believe that the Roman empire collapsed, and gave way to something new, the medieval world. The early medieval world ended sometime in the 11 ^th or 12 ^th century, and the later medieval world ended in the sixteenth century.

Jesus formed each of those worlds, and Jesus eventually tore them down and built something new from the rubble.

Christians have been saying that something similar is happening to the “modern world.” For decades, Christian have predicted a judgment against America or the West. Yet things seem to go on smoothly, and even get better. People eat and drink, marry and give in marriage, add house to house, and expand their portfolios, and we see few signs of any storm clouds or heavy rains.

But we can’t get complacent. For a couple of centuries, we as a civilization have ignored Jesus and flagrantly disobeyed Him. We can’t keep killing babies and hope He turns a blind eye. If He doesn’t judge us for our sexual sins, He’ll have to send a letter of apology to Sodom . If God doesn’t discipline us for our greed, we have reason to conclude that He doesn’t care about it.

If there is a God who judges on the earth – and there is – we know that He will not let wickedness flourish forever. Soon or late, He will come. In the meantime, we must be alert, ready, vigilant, prepared for a coming, another coming, of the Son of Man.