Did Jesus Give False Prophecy?
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Did Jesus Give False Prophecy? Watch and Share the 1st live broadcast of Apologia Radio on YouTube! We are very excited to present this first live broadcast of one of the most popular Christian radio programs and podcasts. Apologia Radio has found its spot in the top 10 on ITunes a number of times and has over 1-million downloads a year. Now, we introduce it to our friends on YouTube. It will be live every Thursday on YouTube.
On this episode we examine a very important question: Did Jesus give false prophecy. Recently, a soon-to-be Mormon missionary attacked the character of Jesus and the character of the Scriptures by alleging that Jesus Christ gave false prophecy in Matthew 24. This is a common fallacious attack on Scripture that is also used by Atheists and Agnostics. Jeff and the crew open the Scriptures and demonstrate with solid exegesis (and historical examination) that not only is this not a false prophecy but that it is prophecy that demonstrates the divine nature of the Lord Jesus.
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- 00:00
- Non -rockabotas must stop. I don't want to rock the boat. I want to sink it!
- 00:07
- Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie? Or are you gonna bite? We're being delusional. Delusional, yeah.
- 00:14
- Delusional is okay in your worldview. I'm an animal. You don't chastise chickens for being delusional. You don't chastise pigs for being delusional.
- 00:20
- So you calling me delusional using your worldview is perfectly okay. It doesn't really hurt. Is he hung up on me?
- 00:31
- Desperate times call for faithful men and not for careful men. The careful men come later and write the biographies of the faithful men, lauding them for their courage.
- 00:44
- Go into all the world and make disciples. Not go into the world and make buddies. Not to make brosives. Right. Don't go into the world and make homies.
- 00:51
- Right. Disciples. I got a bit of a jiggle neck. That's a joke, pastor.
- 00:59
- When we have the real message of truth, we cannot let somebody say they're speaking truth when they're not.
- 01:05
- Take an homies journey to a place that will blow your mind and move your heart so you will never be the same again.
- 01:21
- From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.
- 01:29
- So also when you see all these things, you know that he is near at the very gates.
- 01:36
- Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
- 01:41
- Heaven and earth will pass away. My words will by no means pass away. What's up guys. Welcome back to another episode of Apologia.
- 01:48
- You know that that passage, that analogy doesn't work here. What? Which analogy? When the leaf sprouts are over what's worded.
- 01:57
- When the branch produces a leaf. Go on. Here, that means spring.
- 02:04
- When it's summer here, it falls off and dies. That's right. That's right. And withers. Yeah. Withers up.
- 02:10
- So yeah. Hey, Apologia Radio guys, this is our first live streamed
- 02:15
- Apologia Radio in the history of Apologia Radio. Big day. It's very big day.
- 02:20
- We've been going for a long time. No, no. Six years. With just Apologia Radio, right? Yeah. A regular six years in December.
- 02:27
- Redemption Radio was before that and we decided let's do this ourselves. So we did Apologia Radio. It's been a while now and this is our first live stream broadcast of Apologia Radio.
- 02:37
- So you'll be seeing this from now on, on Thursdays. What are we saying? About 1130? 1130
- 02:42
- Arizona time? And you notice I have to say Arizona time because Arizona has its own time. That's right.
- 02:48
- We don't change. Follow Pacific. We don't follow all that nonsense. Eastern, Central. It's Arizona time.
- 02:53
- Yeah. We have our own time. Get on our level. Zone. That's right. So we open carry.
- 03:00
- We have our own time. That's it. So yeah. So we'll be doing this live streaming across YouTube and hopefully
- 03:06
- Facebook as well. We'll be doing that every week Thursday around 1130 Arizona time. I'm Jeff.
- 03:12
- They call me the Ninja. You can get more at ApologiaStudios .com. All of our TV shows, aftershows,
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- 03:37
- That is Luke the Bear. What is up? With a Spurgy shirt on. Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
- 03:44
- You know something else unique about Arizona right now is there's actually a portal straight to hell.
- 03:51
- Because of the... It's so hot. It's so hot here. It's terrible. Yeah. Thank God for air conditioning. It's the worst right now.
- 03:57
- I was thinking lately, like, how did people honestly survive out here a hundred years ago?
- 04:03
- My wife and I were talking. Right. If you notice, like, the first, like, housing booms here really didn't come until, like, the 1950s.
- 04:09
- Oh, I see. I see. And so when they figured out how to cool their houses down before that... No, we lived in the valley. Native Americans lived by the rivers and that was about it.
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- But we did have our hundred -year anniversary recently. Yeah, but they lived up north in the mountains. That's why Prescott used to be the capital.
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- That was Arizona's hundred -year anniversary. Oh, I see. Okay. Well, and also before we, like, all the development here, like, holds all the heat in.
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- So in the desert, it's supposed to get cold at night. But because we have all this asphalt and concrete here, it, like, holds the heat.
- 04:35
- That's why it doesn't cool down. Didn't know that. Yeah, it's a real nightmare. Don't let anybody ever tell you that, you know, oh, it's a dry heat.
- 04:41
- You'll get used to it. Never. I've been here 20 -some -odd years and never been used to it. No, it's... And you don't realize what a blessing
- 04:47
- AC truly is until you don't have it. That's right. And then when you get it, it's like candy canes on Christmas.
- 04:53
- That's right. It's beautiful. Speaking of candy canes on Christmas, that's Zach Attack. Hey, what's up, y 'all? Director of Communications at EndAbortionNow .com.
- 05:03
- When you go to EndAbortionNow .com, you partner with over 250 churches across the country who are saving lives.
- 05:08
- Thousands of children have been saved now through the gospel ministry outside of abortion mills. And when you go to EndAbortionNow .com,
- 05:14
- you'll get connected to Zach Conover. He'll connect to your church. He'll get you free resources, free training.
- 05:19
- Absolutely zero, zero, zero cost to you. Everything is absolutely free.
- 05:25
- We want to do that to get churches worldwide on mission to save the lives of children, preach the gospel.
- 05:31
- And by the way, I want to let everybody know that Lord willing, by the end of the year, this year, because of your participation and support with End Abortion Now, because many of you prayed and you gave towards this year's budget for End Abortion Now, End Abortion Now is now going to be active and happening internationally.
- 05:49
- By end of the year, we're going to have Australia, churches in Australia, really for the first time, mobilizing to go out to abortion mills as one unified voice in Australia.
- 05:59
- Good day, mate. That's right. So we're going to be coming out there for a conference in Australia, in Brisbane and in Sydney. And we're also going to be doing the same thing in New Zealand.
- 06:08
- We have stuff happening now in Ireland and North and South Ireland and in Canada.
- 06:16
- So you didn't do it. Hey, there you go. I did it in my mind. Yeah, I did it in my mind. So that's what's up, guys.
- 06:22
- And get connected to this guy over here. And this is Joy, the girl. Hello. Who's been with us since the very, very beginning.
- 06:28
- So it's an exciting milestone, right? Yeah, it's weird. Radio station, then to here, and now we're broadcasting live around the world.
- 06:36
- This is actually, this is a brand new set. Oh, we didn't even mention that. We didn't talk about that. Oh, there it is, by the way.
- 06:42
- Oh, it looks weird. Yeah. Hey, Luke did it. Luke did this. These aren't red lights. This is just the portal that I was talking about.
- 06:49
- That's right. That's what I was saying is that this side of the studio is very cozy.
- 06:54
- It's very cozy. It is. You get the fire and everything. Yeah, it's an amazing thing. So right now we have, you've seen all the sets built at Apologia Studios.
- 07:03
- You've seen the first one for Apologia TV. That was brought to you by Pastor Luke. You saw the second one for next week with Jeff Durbin, which is actually coming back near the end of August.
- 07:12
- Very soon. We're all new format for next week. Very excited about it. Soon and very soon. That's right. It's going to be
- 07:18
- Joy, Pastor Luke and myself in next week, and that's coming near the end of the month. Every Tuesday, that will be
- 07:23
- Tuesday evening live broadcast. But we also have the end abortion now side and church office side.
- 07:29
- What you're seeing now, right now, this is the set Pastor Luke has been working on. So this is the first time now anybody has seen it.
- 07:35
- And we're happy that you get a chance to see all the hard work from Pastor Luke. I don't know if you can see in the camera, but I think we're, we are the only ones in the world with those three posters.
- 07:46
- That's right. Hey, and can I talk about the posters? You probably can't see him right now. Next week's live broadcast.
- 07:52
- You'll get to see more of the set. But I just want to point out that we have the Calvinist movie signed by one less land fear.
- 07:59
- That's right. And we have the free speech apocalypse. Our friend, Darren Doan, collision, Darren Doan, Doug Wilson, Christopher Hitchens over here.
- 08:06
- One of our favorite movies, gentlemen, Broncos. And then, of course, I love what Luke did here. He put the poster for the apostle in front of Joy's face.
- 08:15
- A constant reminder. So it's a reminder subliminally that someday you will watch this.
- 08:20
- Can you be honest with everyone now worldwide? Have you watched it by now? No, I've never watched it.
- 08:27
- Joy, you're seriously not ever going to watch it? No. And I hardly am noticing that.
- 08:33
- How are you missing that? It's an amazing thing. So if you guys really wanted to make me watch it, I think you'd be a little more creative.
- 08:39
- I think the real problem here is that you guys aren't really committed to forcing me to watch it.
- 08:45
- No, we'll find a we'll find a way. So I've been hearing that. First, what is it? Six years. The apostle is one of our favorite movies.
- 08:51
- And Joy refuses to watch it because she's stubborn favorite because he has never actually tried to make me watch it.
- 08:59
- Well, well, maybe we'll just plan some family event where we actually have like a barbecue and then we say, hey, we're watching a film together because then you would have to leave.
- 09:07
- A film. You'd have to trick her. You would have to really highbrow. And it would be very rude.
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- Or we'll organize a special meeting directly after the film and we'll say, here's what
- 09:18
- I'm going to do. Okay. I'm going to sit down and I'm going to have painted eyes onto my eyelids.
- 09:27
- You'll fall for it and I will still have not watched it.
- 09:32
- Yeah. Unbelievable. If I watch it, all this fun goes away. This is proof that sanctification is a real thing and it takes time.
- 09:41
- It's a lifelong process. If you haven't seen it, you really should watch it. Yeah. You're missing out. Don't worry about it.
- 09:46
- You are. I care about you, Joy. Just watch it. So we're back. Apologia Radio. Again, you guys get more at ApologiaStudios .com.
- 09:53
- Hey, let's get into today's show. If you guys missed last week's show, I want to encourage you guys to go to ApologiaStudios .com.
- 10:00
- Check out the last podcast we dropped of Apologia Radio. We did a bit of a response to a young Mormon.
- 10:08
- He was adamant this week to let me know that he's not officially a missionary. I told him from a
- 10:13
- Christian perspective, it doesn't mean much to us. You're going on your mission soon. You're committed to preaching the false gospel of Mormonism.
- 10:20
- Right. In our mind, you're a Mormon missionary, but he wants to make sure it's very clear he is not a Mormon missionary yet.
- 10:25
- He hasn't gone through the missionary training stuff and he's not quite released yet. And so - Well, to encourage him, he's much, much, much, much more knowledgeable than the average missionary.
- 10:34
- I was just commenting to somebody in the studio that as poor as I believe his arguments are, and as unbiblical as they are, and as illogical and disconnected as they are,
- 10:44
- I have a great deal of respect for Jackson because Jackson actually is engaging with the
- 10:50
- Christian world in a way that many Mormons today just refuse to do. And so I respect them.
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- I respect the young man. We did a show responding to his claim that there's a false prophecy from Jesus in the
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- New Testament. It came about because in a thread somewhere, somebody had told him he needed to test
- 11:11
- Joseph by scripture, and Jackson claimed that he had. And of course, the question of false prophecy had come up, and he then went on to say that there's a false prophecy from Jesus.
- 11:22
- I think he's essentially trying to say that, well, I'm not saying Jesus actually gave false prophecy because that would make him a false prophet.
- 11:28
- He said that ultimately he believes that there's a false prophecy attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. He believes that the
- 11:34
- Bible's corrupted. He takes more of a higher critical view of the scriptures, very liberal approach to the
- 11:40
- Bible, believes the Bible's been corrupted, those sorts of things. And we don't know ultimately what
- 11:45
- God said, what Jesus said. So at any rate, we did an episode where we tried to respond to the claim that Jesus has false prophecy.
- 11:52
- Of course, that comes from one of the texts was from Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus tells them the things that are going to befall them in their generation.
- 12:02
- And he says that that generation will not pass away until all those things took place. So we are going to deal with that today.
- 12:07
- Last week, we gave a bit of a startup to that. This week, we're going to unpack the text a little bit. But before we do, this is
- 12:14
- Apologia Radio. Do you see that's the universal symbol for Apologia Radio. This is jazz hands,
- 12:21
- Apologia Radio. And with that, we need to talk about some very important things.
- 12:26
- Pastor Luke, I think you have something. Well wait, first I want to like, I just had a thought and I'd like to pull the table really quickly.
- 12:33
- Is there anyone at the table right now that's feet are touching the ground in these new chairs?
- 12:38
- Negative. No, negative. Okay. I just didn't know if I was the only one. I figured you probably weren't. But we were worried about these chairs because when
- 12:45
- Marcus was the producer here, he was worried about getting chairs that did this because he said we would just do it the whole time. And we were like, we're grown people.
- 12:52
- He was wrong though. We can stop ourselves. Yeah. As we do it. So we just did an
- 12:59
- Apologia Radio episode and we're all sitting still in our chairs and then our new pastor Zach Morgan is over there in his chair and always doing the whole time as he was like, he's just like.
- 13:08
- It's a lot of fun. He's going in whole circles. You remember that skit from SNL with Will Ferrell, he's like on the spinning thing.
- 13:16
- He gets all sick. So perhaps. Anyways. Marcus is right. Maybe he was right. Yeah. Before I get into the fun news story,
- 13:24
- I just saw on Facebook, it just popped up. Donald Trump's doing some live make
- 13:31
- America great rally thing right now. And I was laughing to myself because it perfectly summed up the state of our nation.
- 13:39
- Half of the things were angry faces and half of them were hearts.
- 13:45
- Which is angry face, heart, angry face. That is, that is. Oh, made me laugh.
- 13:50
- Anyways. Okay. So I came across this story this week and I think Joy will really appreciate this.
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- And I really laughed hard when I saw it. So I'm going to go ahead and play a quick video here.
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- A news report. Go for it. Oh, sorry. I haven't seen this.
- 14:08
- I had it all loaded and then now it's refreshing. I'm a little excited. She's excited. Because I haven't heard any of it.
- 14:14
- You'll, you'll have to tell me. Well, I apologize. I had this all loaded and ready to go. And then I go to play and it's right.
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- You'll appreciate this. So Joy, the apostle. So actually what's funny about just while he's loading that gentlemen
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- Broncos. It surprises me as to how many people actually hate that movie with a passion.
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- Yeah. It's one of those movies that people do not feel sort of like in the middle about.
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- They either absolutely love it or they hate it. I can't even stop it.
- 14:48
- Suspects stole a two foot shark from a San Antonio aquarium tank over the weekend.
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- The thieves pulled the animal from the tank. They wrapped it in a blanket. They smuggled it from the building in a baby stroller.
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- It sounds like a well thought out plan. The trio was hoping to sell the shark on Facebook. The story does have a happy ending though.
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- The shark was recovered last night. Returned to the aquarium seemingly unharmed. That's good for the shark.
- 15:15
- Yeah, so they actually have it on. There's like CCTV footage of the shark put in a blanket and stick it in the stroller and walking out like you dummies.
- 15:27
- That means Miss Helen is the name of it. That means that people like sat down together and they conspired around a table.
- 15:35
- Yeah, they sat down. They were like, okay, what are we missing here? Problems, questions, concerns.
- 15:42
- An article I was reading and this is on the New York Times. It said that these people, they recognize them.
- 15:48
- They've been coming for a while and actually casing it out. Casing it, scoping the place out. Yeah, they said that they were like animal rights activists.
- 15:57
- But then the water was like 76 degrees. But then they put it into some water. It was like 56 degrees or something.
- 16:02
- And then like, you don't care about it. Some animal rights activists were trying to take a shark out of water.
- 16:09
- Yeah. For like a period of time. They were going to sell it. Does it sound right? You know what that does to a shark? A baby carrier.
- 16:15
- Was it flopping around? I mean, I'll do that. Yeah. And what was that? I'll put a little Facebook. Put a little bonnet on it.
- 16:21
- What was that like on Facebook in the marketplace? We're planning on putting it up there. Yeah, it's right next to the home decor section. These things and then you can buy a baby shark.
- 16:28
- A baby shark. Okay, hold on. My only question about it is like in this whole plot to like, you know, capture this shark and then put it in a baby carrier, which is amazing.
- 16:38
- That could totally be in a cartoon. That could be a cartoon episode. They need to do like an
- 16:44
- Ocean's Eleven style. Yes. Pun intended. Yes. What's really funny is in the article, they call them the
- 16:52
- Ocean's Three. They didn't earn that. But it's funny that you're thinking the same thing. She said they didn't earn that.
- 16:59
- That's awesome. I don't know. Come to me when you've like stolen a tiger shark. My quote is here.
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- Okay, so from the aquarium to the baby carrier, all that stuff.
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- But what do they put it in? Because isn't a shark need to be in salt water? Did they have like a special salt water? I guess so.
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- And they actually had all that down. I wow. Kudos. Ingenuity. It did took preparation. Did anyone see this happening?
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- Yeah. Well, they got very quickly. They saw it and they actually found them onto the parking lot, but then they wouldn't let them inspect the vehicle.
- 17:33
- And so they had to get like a warrant or something and actually go to their house or something.
- 17:38
- Question. Did you watch the CCTV stuff? How in the world did they catch a shark that quickly?
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- It's one of those petting. It's like a touch tank. A touch tank. Oh, I see. You see them. They literally just reach in and put them in a blanket.
- 17:54
- Walk off. That's the official word. The word I'm looking for here is when you steal a shark.
- 18:03
- That's the sound. It's a sound that goes into baby. It's like Batman or plop.
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- Free. And you have to see actually requires that.
- 18:15
- Oh, boy. Wow. Okay. So we're going to end this segment of Apologia Radio.
- 18:22
- We take a quick break. We're going to come back and we're going to dive right into pun intended. We're going to reach right into.
- 18:31
- We're going to reach right into the text and then we're going to show you. We'll try to keep our heads above water.
- 18:38
- Yeah. Yeah. I think it's maybe it's in the Apocrypha. It's Book of Maccabees Chapter one.
- 18:43
- And it's a Jewish term. Yeah. I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
- 18:53
- All right, guys. Apologia Studios. I'm going to get us Apologia Radio tons episode.
- 18:58
- Go share an episode and don't forget to sign up for all access. When you do, you pardon with us. You make everything possible. That has led to what happened over the last couple of weeks.
- 19:05
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- 19:40
- So thank you for blessing us, being a part of this with us. We'll be right back. Stay with us on this first live broadcast of Apologia Radio.
- 19:54
- I think there's actually nothing better that a student can do.
- 20:08
- Prepare for that which you cannot prepare for. You have to prepare in general in order to be able to handle any situation.
- 20:16
- In order to do that, you need to study broadly. That's right.
- 20:56
- That's right. We're big on Christmas at Apologia. Hey, so we're back. Apologia Radio. Get us at apologiastudios .com.
- 21:04
- For all you guys who are watching this live across the internets right now. Thank you for watching. We like to address on Apologia Radio cultural issues, important philosophical worldview issues broadly.
- 21:18
- And so you might see us talking about current events stuff with government things. You might see us talking about things that are impacting the church.
- 21:25
- You might see us talking about just larger cultural issues. All kinds of things. Sharks. Yeah, sharks. We have a lot of fun on Apologia Radio.
- 21:33
- We like to have a good time. So if this is your first time listening to us, thank you for tuning in. Really want to strongly urge you to go to the long history we have at apologiastudios .com.
- 21:44
- There are just hundreds of hours now of radio shows, podcasts, all kinds of great content there.
- 21:51
- So I encourage you to go check that out. So, hey, we're back. Before we get into this, my wife just sent me an article.
- 21:59
- The Rome, I've been sounding like Ivan, the Pope has officially pronounced the death penalty as inadmissible.
- 22:12
- Yeah. And they will work towards abolition around the world. That's interesting. The death penalty.
- 22:17
- Well, another example as to where your principles are and your foundational stance.
- 22:24
- Rome denies sola scriptura, the doctrine, principle of sola scriptura, that the scriptures alone are only infallible rule of faith.
- 22:33
- So you would anticipate that ultimately coming when you don't stand on the Bible as your central authority, but your central authority is some other authority or standard that runs alongside the
- 22:42
- Bible. That other authority will eventually eat up the Bible. And take its place. And so you can't get away from the death penalty in scripture.
- 22:52
- It's from beginning to end. God is constantly pointing to it in terms of judicial rightness and for murder, for rape, all that stuff.
- 23:03
- It's also in our New Testament. First Timothy chapter one highlights that point. So Romans 13.
- 23:08
- Yeah. This actually is a good transition into our topic because we were just the debate that Dr.
- 23:14
- White did with Alma Allred. Yes. It just got released last night.
- 23:20
- It was a Mormon bishop and Zach and I were just talking about this. It's funny. At the end of the debate, they do
- 23:27
- Q &A and the questions brought up the fact that there's differences between say a
- 23:33
- Reformed Baptist and a Reformed Presbyterian. Does that prove Mormon's claim to the church going away?
- 23:40
- The apostasy. The great apostasy. Right. And Dr. White's response was amazing.
- 23:46
- And it's perfect for this. He said, as long as Christians are united on Sola Scriptura, there won't be apostasy.
- 23:56
- You see apostasy when you go away from Sola Scriptura, Catholicism, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.
- 24:04
- And so it's a perfect transition right into this discussion because that's right where you lose it. I'm actually glad you brought that up because I did hear that this morning.
- 24:11
- I encourage you all to go check that out. I believe the name of the channel, our friend Jason Wallace, his channel is
- 24:17
- Ancient Paths, I think is what the name of the channel is. It's on YouTube. Look up the discussion between Dr. James White and Alma Allred.
- 24:23
- But yeah, it's near the end when they're having the discourse section of that. That comes up and what
- 24:29
- Dr. White highlights and I think is important. He says that when you have people who are centered around Sola Scriptura, that's their standard, the
- 24:37
- Word of God is the ultimate authority, then the disagreements between them are actually minimal.
- 24:43
- And it's good to point out, too. So let's say, for example, our Presbyterian brethren, we're Reformed Baptists, but we have Presbyterian brethren that we love and adore and goodness, they're our heroes.
- 24:53
- We have Presbyterians at Apologia Church who are members of our church. The differences between, say,
- 24:59
- Presbyterians and Reformed Baptists are so, so, so small. And I'm not saying they're not important issues in terms of baptismal mode and those sorts of things, but in terms of who
- 25:10
- God is, Christ, talking about the Trinity, we talk about the doctrine of Scripture, inerrancy, we talk about justification through faith,
- 25:17
- Christ's return, everything's the same. We have minimal disagreements around the edges of things, but it's all in -house debate stuff.
- 25:25
- Essentials, we're all unified and together. And so that's powerful. Or you look at Reformed Anglicans and Reformed Baptists, I mean, very little difference.
- 25:32
- Liturgical differences and things like that. Important issues, but not things that divide us as a church.
- 25:39
- That's a powerful thought. Sola Scriptura is what unites. And of course, you can hear the
- 25:44
- Roman Catholic in the background saying, what about the 30 ,000 different denominations? Well, first of all, that's false.
- 25:50
- That number is completely blown out of proportion and inaccurate. However, Sola Scriptura unites us around all the essentials.
- 26:00
- So even if you have disagreements in some denominations between others, it's all in -house debate stuff.
- 26:06
- And usually some of the differences are negligible. Whether you should be singing out of the
- 26:14
- Presbyterian hymnal, you want to follow those. Should Christians smoke cigars or not smoke cigars?
- 26:20
- How should you come dressed for church? Some of those differences are just so minor.
- 26:26
- But yeah, so let's get to it. And by the way, any one thing you want to add? Anybody before you kind of dive right in?
- 26:32
- I would just say that that's the attitude that we should have. Like the Apostle Paul gives the example. He does not want to go beyond what is written.
- 26:38
- He doesn't want to exceed scripture, as it says in Corinthians. So that catch cry of the
- 26:44
- Reformation is our guardrail for maintaining truth and our standard of truth and how we know what's true about God, what he requires of us.
- 26:52
- So we should line our position up with the Apostle Paul's and that we are not to exceed or go beyond what is written.
- 26:58
- That's our authority, the final authority over us. But those other groups have placed it underneath their feet rather than placing it over their head.
- 27:04
- Well, let's hang on this thread because it's really important. I'm glad you brought that up. The Apostle Paul in 1
- 27:10
- Corinthians chapter 4, it's in verse 6, chapter 4, verse 6. He says, I've applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one another.
- 27:26
- So what's interesting here is the Greek construction here is actually that you might learn the meaning of the statement, not to go beyond what is written, which means there, and many scholars affirm this, that the way this is constructed here is the
- 27:43
- Apostle Paul is actually giving one of the early formal creeds of the church.
- 27:49
- It's a tradition. It's a tradition. Consistent with what Jesus says, thy word is truth. Yes. For example, when the
- 27:55
- Apostle Paul says, I delivered to you, that's a construction of he's giving them a formal creed or confession of faith of the early church.
- 28:04
- So what you see from Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6 here and onward is one of the recitations of one of the earliest
- 28:11
- Christian creeds. And that's given to us by an apostle where he says, don't go beyond what is written.
- 28:18
- What's that sound like? It sounds like sola scriptura, sola scriptura. Not solar scriptura.
- 28:27
- So that brings us, of course, to the topic at hand.
- 28:33
- Was Jesus a false prophet? And let me just go ahead and say this with respect to someone like Jackson, who tries to use
- 28:41
- Matthew 24, 34 to say there's a false prophecy attributed to Jesus. Just know that in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 20 through 22,
- 28:50
- God actually gives his people a test. That if someone comes and speaks in the name of the Lord and the thing follows not, nor comes to pass, that is the word which the
- 28:59
- Lord hath not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him. So God, the
- 29:04
- God of the Bible, the only God, the true and living God, the triune God says to his people.
- 29:10
- Deuteronomy 13, even if there are signs and wonders, but they lead you after other gods, they contradict
- 29:15
- God's prior or previous revelation. That's how you know they're a false prophet. And two, Deuteronomy 18, 20 through 22, if they have a false prophecy, they are not from the true and living
- 29:26
- God. Why? Well, read Isaiah's chapters 40 through 46, and you'll see that only the true and living
- 29:32
- God can tell you the future before it happens because he sovereignly wields it. And only the true and living
- 29:37
- God can tell you the past and why it happened that way. So God sets up this acid test for prophets.
- 29:44
- False prophecy, false prophet. You don't represent the true and living God. So if Jesus uttered a false prophecy, then he's a false prophet according to God's own standards.
- 29:57
- So it's one of those things where it's like, you may want to give this argumentation because it protects your
- 30:03
- Mormonism. It protects your Mormon prophet to make it look like Jesus gave a false prophecy.
- 30:08
- But just consider what you're doing there. You're saying in an effort to protect Joseph Smith, this 21st, sorry, this 20th or 19th century, 19th century, this 19th century, is that right?
- 30:19
- Yeah, 19th century, New England prophet. In order to protect him and to call him a prophet because he has so many false prophecies, you need to say that the
- 30:30
- Lord of glory also had a false prophet. I just want you to consider that. I want you to consider what you're doing to protect the testimony of Joseph Smith.
- 30:40
- You impugn the character and ministry of Jesus. That's the kind of desperation that you're in.
- 30:48
- So we need to point out that according to God's own standards, if Jesus is a false, if he gave a false prophecy, he's a false prophet.
- 30:55
- You must reject him. Otherwise, you're living in an incoherent worldview. And of course, the standard in scripture, we talked about this last week.
- 31:03
- I'd like to get everyone caught up to speed at just at least in a small way. The standard in scripture is always
- 31:08
- God's prior revelation. So for example, Deuteronomy 13, one through five, there's one example of testing by God's previous revelation.
- 31:18
- Isaiah 820, to the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it's because there's no light in them.
- 31:24
- And then of course, you have numerous other instances. You can point to Mark chapter seven, Matthew 15, where Jesus confronts a tradition of his day that was seen as divine tradition, ordered by God, essentially running alongside the
- 31:37
- Torah and the Tanakh. And they said, well, why aren't your disciples following the tradition of the elders?
- 31:42
- And Jesus told them, Moses said, so God says, but you say, and he says, thus you invalidate the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
- 31:52
- Jesus tested their tradition by God's previous revelation. And he says, you're avoiding the word of God, you hypocrites, fakes.
- 32:00
- So for Jesus, that's right. For Jesus, the standard was always scripture. Unless of course he was speaking by his own authority, which is by the way, what shocked people about Jesus.
- 32:09
- Just read the first two chapters of Mark. What shocked people about Jesus is that when he spoke, he spoke as one having authority and not like one of their scribes.
- 32:20
- But when Jesus was applying that test and standard, he always appealed to the previous revelation.
- 32:25
- He quotes from the word of God copiously, and he challenges them because their traditions and teachings were contradicting
- 32:32
- God's word. It was a standard for all the apostles. How do you know that Paul's revelations from God? He says in Romans chapter four, what does the scripture say?
- 32:42
- So in essence, I want to say this, this debate really comes down to this question.
- 32:49
- Do you have the same view of scripture as Jesus? Or is your view of scripture some other view?
- 32:55
- Because the way that I can tell fundamentally that if you're from God or not is do you hold to the same view as Jesus?
- 33:04
- Yes or no. And if you don't believe scripture like Jesus believes scripture, then you obviously don't represent the
- 33:11
- Christ of scripture. And I'll just say one last thing I want you guys to fill in here just on this particular subject.
- 33:16
- In second John verse nine, the test for the early Christians when the Gnostic heresy was coming into the church, the test for the early
- 33:24
- Christians was this. It was if someone doesn't abide in the teaching of Christ, they don't have
- 33:30
- God. They don't know him. So if somebody doesn't abide in the teaching of Christ, they don't have
- 33:35
- God. What teaching? The doctrine of Christ, the apostolic teaching of Jesus. And what's clear about that is that how the early apostles said you were to deal with this kind of person is they said, you don't even let them into your house.
- 33:47
- Now, of course, that was where early Christians met was in their homes. So the point is you don't let one of these false teachers that contradicts
- 33:54
- God's word into your fellowship to disrupt it. Don't let them in. Don't be so gracious that you let this person sort of get a part of your body and just propagate this stuff.
- 34:04
- If they don't abide in Christ teachings, they don't know God. Does that mean you can't let them literally into your house?
- 34:10
- Well, that's some Christians, unfortunately, have seen that text and thought that like, I can't let a Jehovah's Witness into my home to witness to him because the
- 34:17
- Bible says don't let him in my house. Stay on that porch. Yeah, stay on the porch. Has to do with not letting him into your church.
- 34:23
- I wonder if that's when you fail an acid test. Like you mentioned, they're like, oh, that dude's definitely on acid.
- 34:35
- I was thinking it, but I didn't want to let you know I was. These guys are very punny over here.
- 34:41
- They love the puns. And it's true. Yeah. You were thinking that too? Yeah. Oh. You got it.
- 34:48
- Anything you want to add to that before we kind of go? One quick thing, maybe. I would say if the idea of the
- 34:55
- LDS Church is built on the restoration of the true prophetic witness in the world, what are you restoring if you claim that Jesus was a false prophet?
- 35:03
- It's called restoration. Right. So what are you restoring if not true prophetic witness? And who better to be the centerpiece of that than Jesus Christ himself?
- 35:10
- Yeah. So it internally breaks down, I think, if you look at it that way. So I would just say that one quick thing.
- 35:17
- Yeah. So let's get into it. Last week, we tried to say that this isn't a matter of proof texting, first and foremost.
- 35:26
- In other words, just ripping a text out and trying to import stuff into it, taking out of its context, its cultural context, who wrote that text, those sorts of things.
- 35:35
- It's not a matter of mere proof texting. It's a matter of holding the entire narrative of the Bible together.
- 35:41
- What Jackson, and I would encourage you to see this, what atheists will try, is they'll try to appeal to Matthew 24 to say
- 35:49
- Jesus is a false prophecy. Jackson does that. Atheists do it. And what is important to note here is that what they're suggesting is that what
- 35:57
- Jesus is talking about in Matthew 24, Luke 21, Mark 13 is the final coming and resurrection of Jesus.
- 36:05
- The problem is, is if you read in the Old and New Testament together as one narrative, you'll see that the coming of the
- 36:11
- Messiah was twofold. It was to bring purification, salvation, and it was to bring judgment, swift judgment.
- 36:19
- So we talked last week about Malachi chapter 3, Malachi chapter 4. Did you notice in that text it calls
- 36:25
- Jesus the messenger of the covenant? Yes. Isn't that incredible? Isn't it? Yes. He's the messenger of the covenant.
- 36:31
- His prophetic witness is based on telling Israel that they violated the covenants. Yes. Of God.
- 36:37
- Very good. That's right. I didn't see that before until I was reading it just a few moments ago, but he's a messenger of God's covenant.
- 36:42
- Yeah, and what we would argue is that the language in Matthew 24, Luke 21,
- 36:47
- Mark 13 is covenantal language and judgment. And it's consistent with what you anticipated the
- 36:53
- Messiah to be doing. If you know the Old Testament narrative of the coming of the Messiah, it was a coming that was going to be associated with purification and salvation and judgment together.
- 37:04
- So the coming of the Messiah anticipated the judgment on the covenant breakers, right, as all together.
- 37:11
- So when Jesus comes in, in the Olivet Discourse, and he departs from the Jewish temple after denouncing it and saying, these are the days of vengeance in order that all that is written may be fulfilled.
- 37:21
- When he says, all the blood of the righteous will be upon this generation. And he departs from the temple and goes to the
- 37:27
- Mount of Olives, same direction as the glory of God in the Old Testament, when he left the temple to judge it.
- 37:34
- And Jesus says, all these things, do you see them? He says, there should not be one stone left upon another.
- 37:40
- All that was part and parcel to everything you expected about the Messiah to be doing, because it was judgment upon the covenant breakers and salvation for God's people.
- 37:51
- So in this text, it's not about the end of the world. The text is about the judgment on Jerusalem.
- 37:58
- So this coming language of Jesus, he's coming to judge, coming on the clouds, all that's language that was already used in the
- 38:05
- Old Testament. And it was about the two ages, the Old Covenant age, temple, sacrifices, priests, blood sacrifice, all that.
- 38:16
- And then the age to come, which was the New Covenant age. That's how history was divided in the
- 38:21
- Old Testament into Jews, Old Covenant age, New Covenant age. Age of the Messiah. Age of the Messiah. So when
- 38:27
- Jesus comes in and he says, this is all gonna be destroyed, temple's gone, the
- 38:32
- Jews knew right then, this Old Covenant age is over, temple's gone, all this is done, judgment's coming. And then they say, what's the sign of your coming in the end of the age?
- 38:42
- Aeon. Not the world. Very important, aeon. It's not cosmos. The word is not world, physical world.
- 38:49
- It's aeon. It's the word for age. And so that's the question. It wasn't the end of the space time continuum.
- 38:57
- It was, it was the end of the Old Covenant age.
- 39:03
- And so we're gonna get into that. We're gonna unpack it today. But you had something, it looked like you were about to say. I was just wondering,
- 39:09
- I was hoping since we talked a lot last week about the Old Testament buildup to this. Yeah. I wonder if we could go into the gospel of Matthew and just show there's a consistent story being told there and then a climax that the story's reaching.
- 39:22
- Do you want to kind of give a brief summary of that? Just real fast. Just very quickly. Can I just point to, I'll point to three texts to give everyone if they missed last week's episode.
- 39:30
- Well, three books, Malachi chapter three and four. That says the forerunner's coming.
- 39:36
- Then the Lord comes to his own temple. And then there's judgment against the covenant breakers, those who swear falsely.
- 39:42
- Note that by the way. And then also there's purification. And then it says in Malachi last chapter, he's sending
- 39:48
- Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord. I think that's the wording there. Make sure I get that right. Burning like an oven, arrogant, evildoers will be stubble.
- 39:57
- The day is coming. So set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts. So judgment, obviously. But Elijah's coming first.
- 40:03
- Who did Jesus say Elijah was? John the Baptist. So he came and then Jesus comes to do what?
- 40:08
- To set it ablaze, to judge. That's Malachi. The next witness is Isaiah 65.
- 40:14
- Just read it and try to read with no preconceived notions and import things. Let the text speak for itself.
- 40:20
- Isaiah 65 says that God's going to judge the covenant breakers and give his people a new name. Okay. And then the next one
- 40:27
- I'll just point you to is, oh goodness, Daniel chapter seven, chapter nine.
- 40:33
- And that would be Daniel 7, 13 through 14, where it says he's looking in the night visions and one like a son of man is coming on the clouds.
- 40:41
- He comes up to the ancient days and was presented before him and to him has given dominion, glory in the kingdom that all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him.
- 40:49
- His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away. His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. And then
- 40:55
- Daniel nine is a 70 weeks prophecy that prophesies the destruction of the second Jewish temple.
- 41:00
- Right. Okay, go ahead. Yep. So just the conflict in Matthew that builds up from the beginning, John the Baptist calling the religious leaders of the day, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
- 41:11
- And then Jesus taking up that same mantle and scorning them. And then that conflict that you see building up in Matthew, right?
- 41:16
- They attribute the works of Jesus to Beelzebub. Yes. They say that you're doing the work of Satan.
- 41:22
- Your ministry is the work of Satan. So this conflict continues to get hot and heavy as it goes through the gospel of Matthew.
- 41:29
- But then it really culminates right before Matthew. This is the air.
- 42:08
- Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?
- 42:17
- They said to him, he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.
- 42:24
- Jesus said to them, like we talked about, have you never read in the scriptures? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- 42:31
- Yeah. Jesus telling that parable in response to the religious leaders of his day, the prophets were sent in the
- 42:37
- Old Testament and they were executed by the people of God who put them to death, who stoned them. Right. Who didn't accept the covenantal call of repentance to come back to their
- 42:46
- God. Yeah. And then God says, well, I send my son to them. Surely they'll respect him. They kill the heir.
- 42:51
- And what do you think Jesus says God's going to do with them when he comes and finds out? Well, he's going to destroy them.
- 42:57
- And then he says, that's you. Yeah. Right there. And it says they perceived that he was talking about them.
- 43:03
- Exactly. So they knew what he was saying. Yeah. And then quickly moving on to Matthew chapter 22, starting in verse one, right there.
- 43:10
- The parable of the wedding feast, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for a son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
- 43:19
- Again, he sent other servants saying, tell those who are invited. I've prepared dinner, my oxen, fat calves.
- 43:25
- The calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went off. One to his farm, another to business.
- 43:31
- While the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully and killed them. The king was angry and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city, which is what happened by the way.
- 43:43
- Yes. Then he said to his servants, the wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.
- 43:52
- And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
- 44:01
- And then as the parable goes on, there's a separation of those, Jesus refers to them as the weeds elsewhere that were allowed to grow among the other plants, but then they're uprooted on the day of his coming and judgment and the true people of God are left to shine.
- 44:15
- So you have God in that passage saying his people are the ones that he's going to send because his people, the ones that were supposed to be his people did not come when they were invited.
- 44:25
- So he sends his true people, the true Jerusalem out into the world to invite in the highways and byways, all who will come.
- 44:32
- The indiscriminate call of the gospel, right? To the nations, Jew and Gentile, everybody come. Everyone that will come, come.
- 44:38
- Yeah. That's the call of the gospel that goes out. But the point is, Jesus is saying those, that generation, that group of unfaithful covenant breakers, they're the ones that are going to be judged.
- 44:49
- And then in Matthew 23, very, very quickly, that's when Jesus lays the smack down. Yes. That's the seven woes that he pronounces upon them.
- 44:56
- And then he says, all the blood of the prophets is going to be upon you. Lays it all on them. This generation. This generation.
- 45:02
- This generation. Right. What's key thing there is we're going to wrap up this segment, take a quick break. A key thing to point to there is the language that Jesus uses there, this generation.
- 45:11
- Well, we need to read it in terms of proper biblical hermeneutics. How do you read the Bible? We don't read a text like that and say, well, he's talking about me.
- 45:19
- He's talking about me, my generation. No, Jesus had a real audience before him in the first century. These were people in front of him.
- 45:25
- He said to them, this generation upon you will be the blood of the righteous. All of that.
- 45:31
- Jesus is saying, these are the days of vengeance. What? 21st century? Yeah. America? No. These are the days of vengeance.
- 45:37
- Their days. What happening? What's happening with them? Got to pay attention to the pronouns. That's right, Jesus. You got to think of author, background, style, genre.
- 45:46
- What kind of language is being used there? That's going to come up in a minute. So we're going to do all that. We're going to actually get into Matthew chapters 23 and 24 in a minute here.
- 45:53
- We're going to unpack it. We're going to have a great time doing it because watch, this is not just about an eschatological debate.
- 45:59
- Like which team are you on? Our team's best, by the way, just so you know. No, just kidding.
- 46:06
- It's not about which team you're on. It's not about a clique. It's not about a club, theological club.
- 46:11
- It is about holding together the narrative of the Bible as God gives it. And more importantly, this is why
- 46:18
- I'm excited about it, is that you can do this in a wrong way and import your own ideas into the text, destroy the text and end up making
- 46:28
- Jesus look like a false prophet. So how you read the text, if you let it speak for itself, it gives us a glorious display that Jesus is a
- 46:36
- Jewish Messiah and prophet speaking exactly like the Jewish prophets did in line with the
- 46:42
- Jewish promises in the Old Testament. And he is exactly what we're looking for in terms of this is the identification of the
- 46:49
- Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah. And I gotta say, how offensive.
- 46:55
- I mean, truly, I wanna be gracious and loving and respectful and gentle, but how offensive for a young Mormon, soon to be missionary, to so want to protect
- 47:04
- Joseph Smith, this American prophet, that he actually denigrates the Lord of glory by attributing a false prophecy to him.
- 47:12
- As I said last week in the show, and I think it's important, second century Christians were using these texts that Jackson points to to say false prophecy in the text.
- 47:22
- They were using these texts to show to the Jews as an apologetic argument, Jesus did all these things to Israel, to Jerusalem.
- 47:29
- It was destroyed as he promised, exactly as he said, you, Mr. Messiah, turn to Christ and live.
- 47:36
- In other words, second century Christians were using these texts to prove to the Jews that Jesus is the
- 47:41
- Messiah. And now you've got 21st century young Mormons trying to say that Jesus is a false prophet because of it.
- 47:48
- Now, of course, he wouldn't say Jesus is a false prophet, but trying to attribute a false prophecy to Jesus, let me just say this, dangerous ground.
- 47:55
- Yeah. Dangerous ground that I wouldn't wanna be on. Be right back, guys. Apologia Radio. I got my
- 48:01
- Shiach now. That's right. Wow, yeah.
- 48:40
- That was pleasant. Nice and calm, yes. Welcome back, guys. Apologia Radio talking to you guys today about prophecy.
- 48:49
- Now, I wanna just highlight one important thing here, and that is that this text is often used by people to attack the credibility of the
- 48:58
- New Testament and the Lord Jesus. And I wanted to say this very humbly to my brothers and sisters in Christ.
- 49:04
- I used to hold to a particular view of eschatology that's popular today. It wasn't popular before actually the time of Joseph Smith.
- 49:13
- The most dominant eschatological view in the United States before the 19th century was post -millennialism.
- 49:22
- It was the eschatology of the Puritans. You can find it in our patron saint, Athanasius. You can find it all the way back early on in the church.
- 49:31
- The popular view today of the Left Behind series, that particular view, dispensational premillennialism, is actually a new view in history before the
- 49:40
- Skolby... Schofield reference? Skolby. Why did
- 49:45
- I say that? Scooby -Doo. That's Skolby. The Skolfield. You said it and I was like, where are we going?
- 49:53
- Where, what's happening right now? The Skolfield reference Bible. Before that, I was like,
- 49:59
- I'm not as smart as you, but I feel like that's not right. Skolby. That dang
- 50:08
- Skolby. Before, written around, actually popular around the same time as Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon.
- 50:21
- So two great inaccurate theological works during that time period. Also known as the Morby. Yeah. The Mofields reference
- 50:29
- Bible. Oh my goodness.
- 50:35
- Oh, back on track. So before the Skolfield reference Bible, dispensational premillennialism was unknown in the history of the church.
- 50:44
- But it is, of course, the popular view of today. And I wanted to say that it's important because a wrong view of eschatology that I believe is imported into the scriptures, it's not just about the theological club you're a part of.
- 50:58
- These are big time issues. Hashtag eschatology matters. You get it wrong and you feed ammunition to the atheist, to the agnostic, to the young Mormon potential missionary who uses it to try to cut the throat of the writers of scripture.
- 51:17
- And they ought not have it. There's no reason for them to have it. We give it to them when we build these things upon faulty premises.
- 51:25
- And let's not do it any longer. It's important. And also, I want to show you that in action. This is a clip to show you this happening in terms of taking the legs off the unbeliever.
- 51:34
- This is Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson. Debate with Douglas Wilson, Christopher Hitchens at Westminster Theological Seminary.
- 51:43
- Hitchens, of course, well -known famous atheist, my favorite atheist in history. This was his chestnut argument.
- 51:49
- I think he couldn't handle Wilson. So he threw out the argument about Jesus giving a false prophecy. And I want to just show you how effective proper interpretation of the scriptures letting the
- 51:59
- Bible speak is against the unbeliever who attempts to take something and demonstrate that Jesus is a false prophet.
- 52:07
- Look what Wilson does here. It's powerful. Your argument about resurrection was the same sort of thing as forgery and fabrication.
- 52:17
- Lazarus was a resuscitation. Lazarus died again. Jesus was raised from the dead, never to die again.
- 52:23
- The resuscitations that Jesus accomplished and that Peter did and happened in the Old Testament. Resuscitations occurred, yes.
- 52:29
- But Jesus was the first person in history to come back from the dead, never to die again.
- 52:34
- And say he would reappear in the lifetime of his disciples. No. Yes. No, he said he was going to come back and destroy
- 52:40
- Jerusalem, which he did in 70 AD, right on the money. The Roman Empire didn't do this.
- 52:47
- He said this generation will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled. The moon, hang on a second.
- 52:55
- This is really important, actually. I know it is, yeah. Yeah, when Jesus says in Matthew 24, the sun's going to go out and the stars fall from the heavens, he's quoting from Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 34.
- 53:09
- There's decreation language throughout the Old Testament. Every time it occurs in the Old Testament, it always refers to a military destruction of a nation or a city -state.
- 53:20
- Always. In Isaiah 13, an oracle against the king of Babylon. And then you have the same decreation language.
- 53:26
- Then Jesus says in Matthew 24, not one stone's going to be left on another. The disciples say, when is it going to happen?
- 53:32
- Jesus quotes Isaiah. So Jesus is not talking about the end of the space -time universe. It simply isn't.
- 53:39
- Has nothing whatever to do with that. It has to do with the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened within one generation, just as Jesus said, authenticating him as a prophet.
- 53:47
- Don't you have an abnormally unsuspicious mind? If you see someone saying, I'm saying this so the prophecies can be fulfilled.
- 53:55
- He knows what the prophecies are. And he says, the prophecies say, if the redeemer comes to Jerusalem, he'll come riding a donkey.
- 54:02
- Where's my donkey? So my point there, and that goes on, no response to the refutation of what
- 54:08
- Wilson says there in context with scripture, with the language that Jesus used. Hitchens has no ability to counter that.
- 54:16
- So he's going to go on to some next thing about, aren't you, you know, unsuspicious minds, you know. Yeah, he just moved right on.
- 54:21
- The king's going to come riding on a donkey. He finds a donkey. And Wilson's funny there. Wilson goes, I'll give you the donkey. The donkey could be arranged.
- 54:28
- I get it. But what you can arrange is the destruction of Jerusalem within the lifetime of the messiah and the messiah's disciples in that time period.
- 54:36
- What's up? What? No, no, no, I was just thinking about something. The scoby? No. Doink.
- 54:44
- All right. So, so I wanted to point to that because I think that demonstrates, here's a famous atheist who uses that argument.
- 54:51
- His leg's taken right off. I'm not just saying this is an interesting argument, argument that takes people's legs off. I'm saying it's the truth.
- 54:59
- Jesus is the messiah. All of this is in accord with the old Testament promises. Don't give ammunition to unbelievers that they shouldn't have in the first place.
- 55:08
- I use these texts to demonstrate to Christians the divine origin of our faith and of the messiah.
- 55:16
- And so it's important, I think, to note that, that you're either going to go one direction with a false interpretation that says that Jesus has a false prophecy, or you can go the other direction demonstrating from the scriptures that it shows that Jesus is in fact the promised messiah.
- 55:30
- So let's get into the text, shall we? Anything anybody have to say here before we dive into the text? Let's do it.
- 55:36
- Let's do it. Okay. So if you have your Bibles with you, I encourage you to go to your Bible to Matthew chapter 23.
- 55:41
- And I want you to keep a finger over in Malachi chapter 3.
- 55:46
- So you got one finger over here in Matthew 23 and one in Malachi chapter 3.
- 55:51
- So I told you that in Malachi chapter 3 it says the forerunner is going to come and then the Lord himself comes to his temple and he says he is a swift witness and he gives the promise of judgment upon the covenant breakers and then salvation and purification upon God's people.
- 56:05
- So here's one thing I want to highlight for us all. In Malachi chapter 3, note what it says.
- 56:12
- After it says the forerunner and then messiah, it says this in verse 5.
- 56:33
- So I want you to note that language and now move to Matthew chapter 23. Now, of course, this is the epic smackdown of the
- 56:40
- Jewish leadership that Jesus gives and I just want you to note some of the language here. When Jesus has his woes that he pronounces upon the
- 56:47
- Jewish leadership, notice what he says in the woes. He calls them hypocrites.
- 56:53
- He says they shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces, verse 13. And he says, verse 15,
- 57:07
- Here it is, verse 16. It is nothing.
- 57:13
- But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath. You blind fools. Which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
- 57:21
- And you say if anyone swears by the altar, it's nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he's bound by his oath.
- 57:29
- You blind men, for which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and everything on it.
- 57:37
- And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
- 57:45
- So what's he condemning here? Swearing what? Falsely. Falsely. What is the promise of Malachi 3 about the coming of the
- 57:52
- Messiah? Forerunner, Messiah, comes to his temple, salvation, and then judgment upon those who swear falsely.
- 58:00
- See the connection? The promised judgment from the Messiah on the covenant breakers.
- 58:06
- And then it says here, of course, more about the blindness of the Pharisees. This is what
- 58:11
- I wanted you to see about Matthew chapter 23. He says this in verse 29, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
- 58:18
- By the way, woe to you means a curse upon you, God's judgment upon you. For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.
- 58:30
- Thus you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
- 58:36
- Fill up then the measure of your fathers, you serpents, you brood of vipers.
- 58:43
- How are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of Venice and Abel to the son of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
- 59:06
- Truly I say to you." Who? Who's he talking to? You. The Pharisees. Those Jewish leaders.
- 59:12
- Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Now, Christians, brothers and sisters,
- 59:19
- I want to sort of press us on this. Can we be consistent? When Jesus uses the terminology here, this generation, who's he talking to?
- 59:28
- Talking to you? He's talking to me? Who's he talking to? He's talking to those people.
- 59:34
- That generation right in front of him. And we need to remember that that is what's happening here in this text.
- 59:40
- And when Jesus says, all these things, it says to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place in Matthew 24, 34.
- 59:50
- This generation there is the same generation he's talking to in 23. This generation.
- 59:56
- Read throughout the New Testament. Every instance of this generation is referring to the generation that they're currently living in.
- 01:00:04
- It's not race. You can't do that. Or the generation that sees these signs, that's importing stuff into the text.
- 01:00:10
- It isn't there. He's talking to that generation. And then he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.
- 01:00:18
- How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not see your house is left to you desolate.
- 01:00:28
- For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So watch. Jesus just announced them.
- 01:00:34
- He just declared woes on them. He just promised judgment upon that generation. And then he says that their house is left to them desolate.
- 01:00:41
- I want you to think about what that means to a Jewish person listening to him. If this is the Messiah, he just told us that our house is going to be left to us desolate and that we're going to be judged in this generation.
- 01:00:52
- For all the guilt upon our heads. And now all of a sudden the text goes,
- 01:00:57
- Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
- 01:01:05
- So now they're freaking out. He says, your house has left you desolate. All of it's going to be upon you. And now they're freaking out.
- 01:01:10
- They're pointing to the temple. What do you mean? What's going to happen with the temple? They understood. They knew what he was saying. And that's the context.
- 01:01:17
- But he answered them. You see all these things. Do you not truly? I say to you, who that generation, those people, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
- 01:01:28
- Okay. If you know the story, the history, within 40 years of this prophecy, a generation within 40 years of this prophecy, the
- 01:01:38
- Roman armies came into the Jewish temple. They sack the city. It was the three and a half year war between the
- 01:01:43
- Romans and the Jews. The blood Josephus says was so awful and so deep that it was just pouring down the streets like a river.
- 01:01:52
- The famine was so bad that people were reported as eating dung to survive. And one woman was reported to have boiled her own child and was offering it to people that were passing by.
- 01:02:04
- The famine was so awful in the city. Sounds like Planned Parenthood. Yeah. It's an awful, awful thing.
- 01:02:10
- As he sat on the Mount of Olives. So I want you to think about the context here. Jesus departs from the temple.
- 01:02:17
- And then he sits on the Mount of Olives. If you read the Old Testament, we can't do all these texts today.
- 01:02:23
- But you'll see that that's the course that God took in the Old Testament when he left the temple to leave it desolate.
- 01:02:29
- He went towards the Mount of Olives. And this is where Jesus sits now. And it says in the text that the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be?
- 01:02:40
- Which things? The things that are going to come upon this generation. What was Jesus referring to?
- 01:02:45
- What's the only thing he's been referring to at this point? The desolation of the house. Desolation of the house, temple itself, this not one stone upon another, all the blood of the righteous upon this generation.
- 01:02:55
- So they say, when will these things be? We're not talking about the end of the physical cosmos here, brothers and sisters.
- 01:03:02
- It says, tell us when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming? And of the close of the age, the end of the age.
- 01:03:09
- The word there is not cosmos. It's not about the physical world. And Jesus answered them, see to it, no one leads you astray.
- 01:03:17
- For many will come in my name saying, I am the Messiah. And they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
- 01:03:25
- See that you are not alarmed for this must take place. But the end is not yet. The end of what?
- 01:03:31
- End of the world? The end of the age. The end is not yet. The nation for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
- 01:03:39
- And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. And these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
- 01:03:44
- Now watch, this is really important. Why would it be any kind of interesting prophecy? For someone to say,
- 01:03:51
- I have a prophecy. There's going to be wars and rumors of wars in the 21st century. What would we say to that?
- 01:03:58
- What a joke. Why is that interesting to tell me that there will be wars and rumors of wars in the next two years?
- 01:04:06
- People be like, that's anybody can say that. It's happening all over the world right now. But in Jesus context, where he was living the time period, this was during the time of the
- 01:04:16
- Pax Romana. It was called the peace of Rome, where Rome essentially enforced peace.
- 01:04:24
- So when Jesus says this, there's not the problem we have today of constant wars and rumors of wars and conflict.
- 01:04:31
- It was during the Pax Romana for so for Jesus to be saying, there's going to be wars and rumors of wars.
- 01:04:37
- That's like, come on, Lord Jesus, this Pax Romana, this Roman forces peace.
- 01:04:44
- And then when Jesus says here, wars and rumors of wars and false Christ and nation rising against nation, famines and earthquakes in various places.
- 01:04:51
- I want to point some stuff out to you guys. History is replete with examples here, but I just want to read some of these things to you because I think they're important.
- 01:05:00
- So first thing, I'd encourage you guys all to get a copy. I even brought one on set today, Josephus. The Essential Works by Josephus.
- 01:05:10
- I encourage you to pick that up. Josephus recorded the wars of the Jews between the
- 01:05:16
- Romans. Brief summary of Josephus' record here about the phenomena that was happening during the time of the generation that Jesus was talking to.
- 01:05:27
- During this time period, there was a star resembling a sword that hovered over Jerusalem, a comet, a bright light shining around the altar and the temple, a vision of chariots and soldiers running around among the clouds and all the cities of Palestine.
- 01:05:43
- They saw these amazing, Josephus records, amazing signs and wonders. As a matter of fact, he said that this comet that was hanging over Jerusalem, it hung like a sword over Jerusalem.
- 01:05:54
- And they all thought that it was some sign of impending divine judgment because hanging over the city was a comet that looked like a sword hanging over the city.
- 01:06:05
- Earthly phenomena reported by the priests. There was a quaking, a great noise.
- 01:06:12
- And coming out of the temple, the temple doors blow open. And they reported that there was a sound of a great multitude coming out of the temple that said, let us remove hence.
- 01:06:25
- Let us leave now. That was reported by the priest, by Josephus, that there was all this heavenly phenomena.
- 01:06:31
- There's all this crazy stuff going on. A sword over the city. Crazy. Earthquakes. And it says that the temple priests actually reported that a voice boomed out of the temple that said, let us remove hence.
- 01:06:42
- Now I love that because how does God speak in the Old Testament? What's he say? Let us create man in our image.
- 01:06:49
- Let us go down and confound their language. The priests reported hearing a noise coming out of the temple. Let us leave.
- 01:06:57
- Wow. And again, this is coming from a Jew. That's the Jew. Oh, I didn't explain
- 01:07:03
- Josephus. Yeah, it's not coming from a Christian. There you go. This is important. If you don't know Flavius Josephus, Josephus was in the war between the
- 01:07:12
- Romans and the Jews. He's the OG Flavor Flav. That's right. Yeah. Flavor Flav Josephus.
- 01:07:20
- Flavor was hot. He was, we can go on for days with this. He actually was in Jerusalem when the city was being attacked and he actually hid himself under dead bodies when the
- 01:07:32
- Romans made their ways in. We're just gonna keep going, Carmen. He was in the city under dead bodies and he hid under them.
- 01:07:40
- They found him. And the person who was in charge at that time basically was so impressed with his will to survive that he kind of took him under his wing and he ended up having him write a history of the war and the history of the
- 01:07:54
- Jews. So Josephus records these things. He was a Pharisee. He was a general in the
- 01:07:59
- Jewish army. And we have a firsthand account of what Jesus said was gonna take place. Now, this is a couple things
- 01:08:07
- I wanted to point to. I'm gonna try to do this quickly. We could go for days with this, but I think it's important. In terms of false prophets, false messiahs, this is from book 20, chapter eight, section six.
- 01:08:20
- He says, these works that were done by the robbers filled the city with all sorts of impiety. And now these imposters and deceivers persuaded the multitude to follow them into the wilderness and pretend that they would exhibit manifest wonders and signs that should be performed by the providence of God.
- 01:08:35
- And many that were prevailed on by them suffered the punishments of their folly. For Felix brought them back and then punished them.
- 01:08:41
- Moreover, that came out of Egypt about this time to Jerusalem, one that said he was a prophet and advised the multitude of the common people to go along with him to the
- 01:08:49
- Mount of Olives, as it was called, which lay over against the city. And at that distance of five furlongs, he said further that he would show them from hence now at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would fall down.
- 01:09:00
- It goes on. But Josephus records the false messiahs that were prevalent at that time.
- 01:09:06
- Also, if you read your New Testament, you have examples in our New Testament of false prophets, false
- 01:09:12
- Christ in the New Testament itself. And then when you look at, well, let me just move through here.
- 01:09:20
- By the way, do you have anything you wanna add to that? I noticed you were, look at you, you're about to say something there.
- 01:09:27
- I don't wanna take over all the time here. No, I was just listening. I think false Christ, we have examples of that even in scripture for deceivers, imposters, like Simon the
- 01:09:36
- Magus in Acts chapter eight verses nine and 10, right? People operating under the divine power, false workers and conjurers of these things.
- 01:09:48
- But you also have many false prophets arising and leading many astray, alluded to in John's epistle too, 1
- 01:09:54
- John 2 .22, 1 John 4 .1, people that are teaching falsely. Yes, so in terms of the earthquake, the earthquake, one of the greatest earthquakes in history was in Pompeii, I believe 62
- 01:10:08
- AD. And that occurred shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem. So history does record that at this time period, the
- 01:10:16
- Pax Romana broke and there was wars, rumors of wars, false Christ, messiahs, earthquakes, all these heavenly signs and wonders, all of that is testified to in the first century generation.
- 01:10:28
- But here's some more. Verse nine, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
- 01:10:36
- And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
- 01:10:43
- And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
- 01:10:48
- And the good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.
- 01:10:54
- The end of what? The end of the age. I say one thing about that. Absolutely. A lot of, like if you read some systematic theologies by dispensational pre -millennial authors, maybe even not dispensational, just pre -millennial, they'll reference that passage and say, that's one of the signs that has to happen before Jesus makes his second coming.
- 01:11:12
- And they'll reference Matthew 24. They'll say the gospel has to be preached to every single nation, every single person, right?
- 01:11:19
- Before the end comes. But the Greek word in that section is oikumene.
- 01:11:26
- Yes. For word, it means the inhabited earth. Yes. Right? All the known. The known world. And that's from Luke chapter two.
- 01:11:32
- Yeah. When Caesar declares that the census be taken of all the known worlds. Yeah. It wasn't
- 01:11:37
- America. Right. It was the known Roman empire, the world they were living in, the economy they were living in.
- 01:11:43
- Right. And Paul says that that has happened, by the way. Yes. If you look at scripture. I wanna emphasize this.
- 01:11:50
- Hold on. I don't want people to check out here. Jesus says here in this text, Matthew chapter 24, the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.
- 01:11:59
- And then the end of the age will come. You're saying that the inspired apostles actually say that that took place in the first century.
- 01:12:06
- Right. So if you read Romans chapter 16, for example, you have the apostle Paul, I mean, book ending.
- 01:12:13
- Romans chapter one, bringing about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. Then in Romans chapter 16, this gospel has been preached.
- 01:12:19
- And same with Colossians chapter one, verse six. This gospel has been preached to every creature.
- 01:12:26
- Yeah. Let's read it. Yeah. I think it's important. This is what the apostle Paul says. First century before the destruction of Jerusalem.
- 01:12:33
- Chapter one, verse three. We always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world.
- 01:12:49
- It is bearing fruit and growing as it is also does among you since the day you heard and understood the grace of God in truth.
- 01:12:55
- So Paul says in Colossians chapter one that this gospel is bearing fruit in the whole world.
- 01:13:02
- And it's been heard in the whole world. Yep. Also Romans chapter 16.
- 01:13:09
- Now to him who was able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed.
- 01:13:17
- And through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God. Romans 16, another one is
- 01:13:24
- Romans chapter one. Right. In Romans chapter one, he says this, he says, I'll just try to skip to the pertinent part.
- 01:13:30
- We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
- 01:13:38
- He says in verse eight, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
- 01:13:45
- That's the inspired apostle speaking about what Jesus talks about here and onward.
- 01:13:51
- You guys stop me if you want. I was just going to quickly mention, I know you're talking about wars and rumors of wars and all that.
- 01:13:58
- This is a why I think dispensationalism and pre -trib and all that grew so much in the last century because you know, this was the
- 01:14:09
- Schofield came out in the Scolby or whatever you call it. It came out in 35 or whatever, you know and then you have the civil war and then you have all the world wars and that really is what pushed the growth of that eschatology because they see the world's ending.
- 01:14:27
- So people are freaking out. They think that the end of the world's coming and the tribulation, you know and then now then the
- 01:14:35
- Christians just left the culture and we're picking up the pieces. That's right. That's right. Here we go. Okay.
- 01:14:40
- So I want you to keep a finger in Luke 21. If you're following with us, tracking with us guys I want you to follow what
- 01:14:46
- Luke says here next to Matthew. So you can see how Luke actually gives some interpretation here.
- 01:14:51
- That's very helpful. In Matthew chapter 24, verse 15. So when you see who sees us 21st century
- 01:14:59
- Christians in Arizona, that generation the people he was talking to about the end of the age.
- 01:15:04
- As a side note, I was just looking at the Greek in there and that for this for generation is autos or attain in that case.
- 01:15:11
- And that means those in that audience in that setting.
- 01:15:17
- Yeah. It has to mean those that couldn't have been something else. That's right. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet
- 01:15:24
- Daniel standing in the holy place let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
- 01:15:31
- Let the one who is on a housetop not go down to take what is in his house and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
- 01:15:37
- And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on Sabbath.
- 01:15:44
- Pause there. Very important text. Because if you look at Luke 21, this is what
- 01:15:50
- Luke says in the same section, instead of saying when you see the abomination that causes desolation
- 01:15:56
- Luke says, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies then know that his desolation has come near then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
- 01:16:05
- And then Luke has the same discourse there. And that's how you know that the judgment is local. Yes. Is flee to the mountains.
- 01:16:12
- Flee to the mountains. And then also the indication about the housetops, right? Back then they had the flat roofs, right?
- 01:16:18
- And that was where everybody hung out. So it's saying, don't even go back for your cloak also because that was a commodity.
- 01:16:23
- You traded that and you were able to get money for that. And he's saying, don't even worry about your cloak. Yes. You don't wanna be around.
- 01:16:29
- Flee to the mountains. For what's gonna happen next. But notice what Jesus says. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, well, what we know took place in the first century and you guys can all research this.
- 01:16:38
- It's a powerful thing to study. Is that the Roman armies came in and they surrounded Jerusalem, the whole city.
- 01:16:43
- They sacked the city, they surrounded it. And what took place was some back and forth between the Jews and the Romans, some mockery and things like that.
- 01:16:50
- Then things fell apart in Rome and the Roman armies turned back around and walked and left the city.
- 01:16:58
- And what happened was, is the Jews were mocking them. Like, yeah, that's right. You leave kind of thing because things fell apart.
- 01:17:05
- Well, what happened was, it's a matter of historic record. Is the Christians under divine command, after the city was sacked by the
- 01:17:13
- Romans and the city was surrounded by armies, the armies left, the Christians in Jerusalem were the only ones to escape the judgment on Jerusalem because under divine command, they immediately fled the city to a town called
- 01:17:27
- Pella. So the Christians escaped the judgment on Jerusalem. They fled to Pella. And as soon as the
- 01:17:32
- Christians left the city, the Roman armies turned right back around, re -sacked the city, surrounded it, three and a half year war, and they destroyed
- 01:17:41
- Jerusalem. Now, why is it that the Christians in the first century in Jerusalem fled the city and went to the mountains?
- 01:17:48
- Because Jesus told them to. They were told by Jesus. Because they interpreted Matthew 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13 as divine directive toward them.
- 01:17:57
- They understood that. Onward. Okay. So it says here, chapter 24, verse 21, for then there will be great tribulations such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
- 01:18:10
- By the way, just wanna encourage you to see that's the same language used in the Old Testament from prophets in the
- 01:18:15
- Old Testament. They talk like that about judgment that was coming upon a nation or a city state, same kind of language.
- 01:18:22
- It was said in Egypt and all the rest. Jesus says, you know what Jesus sounds like here? He sounds like a Jewish prophet.
- 01:18:28
- That's what you were talking about earlier where in Ezekiel chapter 16, those were the judgments promised against Israel was famine, earthquakes.
- 01:18:34
- War, pestilence. War, right, pestilence. Yeah, that's right. Ezekiel 16, God promises upon Jerusalem these particular judgments.
- 01:18:41
- It says this, and if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
- 01:18:47
- Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ or there he is, do not believe it for false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders.
- 01:18:55
- So as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you, who?
- 01:19:01
- His audience beforehand. So if they say to you, look, he's in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he's in the inner rooms, do not believe it.
- 01:19:09
- For as the lightning comes from the East and shines as far as the West, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
- 01:19:17
- Can I just say, it's a powerful thing. Do you know what direction Rome came from? From the
- 01:19:23
- East to the West. East side to the West side. Also lightning language, that's judgment language.
- 01:19:31
- Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. It's actually a powerful testimony in the first century. There's testimonies and accounts about the
- 01:19:37
- Roman armies actually picking on the carcass of Jerusalem. Some powerful things.
- 01:19:43
- Also, there is some noteworthy things in terms of Greek language here. I like Gentry.
- 01:19:49
- Gentry actually points out that the word here is eagles, not vulture. So there's a better way to translate the
- 01:19:55
- Greek language here and it's not vulture, it's eagle. So it's actually, wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather together.
- 01:20:03
- Like the eagle, the Roman eagle. Well, that was their symbol. That was their symbol. And Josephus refers to the
- 01:20:09
- Roman enzymes as eagles. That's right. That's right. So when the Roman armies marched into Jerusalem, they had the insignia of the eagle on their flags.
- 01:20:17
- Not the Philadelphia eagle. No, coming from the East. Coming from the
- 01:20:22
- East to the West, the Roman eagle coming in to pick on the corpse of Jerusalem. And here's more, 29.
- 01:20:29
- Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be dark and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
- 01:20:37
- This is what throws us off. It's been a long day. Scooby -Doo. I just heard you say eagles and I was like, this is definitely about America.
- 01:20:45
- That's right. Yeah, it's America. So this is what throws us, right? Because we open
- 01:20:51
- Matthew 24, we see Jesus talking about a blood moon and the light going out and the stars falling from heaven and we go,
- 01:20:59
- I guess, look up, right? The problem is we're not reading it like Jewish people. They never would have interpreted a
- 01:21:05
- Jewish prophet like that because that's how they talked in dramatic prophetic hyperbole, cosmic deconstruction language, brought about the idea of judgment.
- 01:21:17
- We're about to be judged. Can I just say that our sun is a star? And if it came a little closer to the earth, we'd all be toast?
- 01:21:25
- You can't have stars actually connecting with the earth. It doesn't work like that.
- 01:21:31
- Also, the text here is an actual quotation. This is where we needed sort of like firm ever commitments to the word of God as interpreting itself.
- 01:21:38
- Can we read that quotation? Yeah, did you already have it pulled up? I have it, yeah. So what is Jesus quoting from here? So Isaiah chapter 13, judgment of Babylon in verse chapter starting at nine.
- 01:21:50
- Behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.
- 01:21:58
- For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light.
- 01:22:07
- I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
- 01:22:16
- Stars, moon, sun. Sounds a lot like what Jesus is saying. Yeah, and that was a local judgment in Isaiah's day.
- 01:22:25
- Did that literally happen? Did the stars hit the earth? It was prophetic language that the prophets always employed to say judgment was coming.
- 01:22:34
- And watch, it actually happened. The judgment, total destruction actually happened. But this is language the prophets used.
- 01:22:41
- And if you want proof of that, I would encourage you to go to Isaiah 34 where it's used again.
- 01:22:46
- Here's another example of it used in Isaiah chapter 34. And this is where the text, this is,
- 01:22:55
- I think, this is, who is this? Edom? I believe that it's Edom. Yes, Isaiah 34 is
- 01:23:00
- Edom. Look what it says here. It says, verse three, their slain shall be cast out and the stench of their corpses shall rise.
- 01:23:07
- The mountains shall flow with their blood. All the host of heaven shall rot away and the skies roll up like a scroll.
- 01:23:15
- All their hosts shall fall as leaves fall from the vine like leaves falling from the fig tree.
- 01:23:22
- For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens. Is that literal?
- 01:23:28
- Like God's literal sword? Like God's holding a literal sword that's drinking? No, it's dramatic, hyperbole judgment talk.
- 01:23:39
- But you notice that this exact language is used against Edom. And what happened? Judgment. So when
- 01:23:44
- Jesus speaks like that, I say we interpret him in light of scripture as a
- 01:23:49
- Jewish Messiah. And here's the thing, everything he said took place. Okay, quickly, and I'm gonna wrap this up here.
- 01:23:56
- It says here in 24, it says, then will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man.
- 01:24:03
- I like the construction. Then will appear the sign that the son of man is in heaven.
- 01:24:08
- And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. The what? The tribes.
- 01:24:14
- And they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Now, where's that from?
- 01:24:22
- Deuteronomy 7, 13 through 14, the son of man coming on the clouds. Daniel 7. Sorry, that's right.
- 01:24:28
- What did I say? Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy, sorry. Daniel 7, the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with his kingdom.
- 01:24:34
- Also, you can point to the fact that Isaiah 19, 1 shows Yahweh riding on a swift cloud against Egypt for judgment.
- 01:24:41
- Was he literally riding on a cloud? Were they supposed to look up and see Yahweh surfing on a cloud into judgment?
- 01:24:48
- No, it's judgment language. The son of man coming on a cloud is him coming in his kingdom in judgment, in victory.
- 01:24:55
- And here's what it says. It says, and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
- 01:25:04
- Quick thing, the word here in Greek is angelos. He will send forth his messengers.
- 01:25:10
- That's what angelos means. Messengers to go gather his elect. Go get the nations.
- 01:25:15
- Go get the nations. Who are the messengers? The people of God, people preaching the gospel.
- 01:25:22
- They'll send forth his messengers to gather his elect, right? All right, so just a quick thing. Learn from the fig tree the lesson.
- 01:25:30
- As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see all these things, what things?
- 01:25:37
- Everything he talked about in Matthew 24. Who sees it? The people he's talking to. Know that he is near at the very gates.
- 01:25:45
- Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
- 01:25:51
- Heaven and earth will pass away. My words will not pass away. Brothers and sisters, it happened.
- 01:25:56
- It's so appropriate that that is a scripture we quote a lot of times in dealing with Mormons to talk about the firmness of God's word, right?
- 01:26:06
- Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. And then you have someone who's LDS challenging the very validity of Jesus' words.
- 01:26:14
- In this prophecy. Amen. Quick thing just to whet your appetite. Some of you guys might be saying, okay,
- 01:26:19
- I'm tracking with you. I see it. Yeah, that happened. That's the clear teaching.
- 01:26:24
- Run those texts side by side. You'll see Jesus taught it. Yep, it happened. Matthew 10, Jesus says, you won't finish going through the cities of Israel before the son of man comes.
- 01:26:32
- He said it to those Christians. You won't even finish going through the cities of Israel before the son of man comes.
- 01:26:38
- He said he was returning in judgment before they all died, before they finished what they were doing ultimately in the cities of Israel.
- 01:26:44
- But someone might say, well, what about the rest of the text? Right. It says, but concerning the day and hour, that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the son, but the father only.
- 01:26:55
- For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the son of man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when
- 01:27:04
- Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. Who got swept away?
- 01:27:12
- The unrighteous, the ungodly. And then it says this, so will be the coming of the son of man.
- 01:27:17
- Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill.
- 01:27:24
- One will be taken and one left. Quick question, please follow me here. I know this will be a jolt for many brothers and sisters, but let the text speak.
- 01:27:33
- In Noah's day, who was taken and who was left? The unrighteous were taken.
- 01:27:38
- The unrighteous were taken and who was left? Noah and his family. We've read this text because of ideas we're importing into the text.
- 01:27:47
- And we see the rapture here. We say two people in the field, one's taken, one's left. Jesus raptures the believer and he leaves the unbeliever on the earth.
- 01:27:56
- But listen to what he says. Judgment's coming on Jerusalem. As in the days of Noah, when they were swept all away, the unrighteous, two will be in the field, one will be taken and one will be left.
- 01:28:08
- Who's taken in Noah's day? The unrighteous and the righteous are left. Let the
- 01:28:14
- Bible speak. It's not just sola scriptura, the scriptures alone.
- 01:28:19
- It's tota scriptura. All of scripture interprets scripture. It sounds a lot like the righteous will inherit the land.
- 01:28:26
- Or the meek will inherit the earth. The meek shall inherit the earth. Another way to ask that is who was raptured away?
- 01:28:33
- The unbelievers were snatched away. They were judged. The covenant, more specifically, the covenant breaking
- 01:28:40
- Jews were swept away and judged. Who was left to live? Who were the only people that survived the destruction in Jerusalem?
- 01:28:48
- The Christians in that time who were given divine warning to escape. Jesus did what the
- 01:28:55
- Bible said he was going to do. He came as the covenant judge and he brought sanctions. He judged the covenant people of God.
- 01:29:03
- He destroyed them. He gave his people, Isaiah 65, a new name. The builders rejected the cornerstone and God destroyed those miserable wretches.
- 01:29:14
- He sent his armies into their city to set fire to it, to make it desolate, to burn it and to destroy it.
- 01:29:20
- The temple was taken apart. Now one stone upon another, amazing calamities fell on that generation and Jesus is vindicated at the end of this as the
- 01:29:30
- Messiah himself. Yeah, he was the ark, right? The ark. They're talking about Noah and the ark.
- 01:29:36
- He was the ark. Jesus is the ark. Saved his people. That's right. The unrighteous were swept away. That's right. They entered into him by faith.
- 01:29:42
- And entered into him by faith. The door. Amen. He's the door. He's the door. I got that with Ken Ham. Well, another thing about that too, Jesus is the cornerstone and we,
- 01:29:50
- Peter says, are being united together like living stones. Amen. We are the temple that he now indwells by the presence of his spirit.
- 01:29:58
- Yes. Not only is Jesus, he says, destroy this temple and I'll raise it up in three days. He is the temple, but we have become and are becoming the house which he inhabits and indwells.
- 01:30:08
- The new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem. That comes out of heaven. Down out of heaven. As a bride adorns her husband. As a bride that hit the earth and when it hits the earth, the invitation goes out, come all who are thirsty, come and drink.
- 01:30:18
- Drink from this water of life. Who's outside of the city gates? The dogs, the cowardly, the unbelieving, right?
- 01:30:25
- They're outside of the gates, but the invitation comes from the new Jerusalem to the world. Come and drink the water of life.
- 01:30:31
- That's one of my favorite passages is right at the end of Revelation where it's the tree of life. Yeah. And the leaves are for the healing of the nations.
- 01:30:38
- If that's in heaven one day, why the nations need healing? It's heaven, right? Powerful stuff.
- 01:30:44
- We're getting ahead of ourselves. Yeah. For sure. We're going to do a Revelation episode. I know. So I just want to give you guys some resources if it'll help you guys.
- 01:30:51
- He Shall Have Dominion by Kenneth Gentry is a very, very helpful book. I encourage you to go buy it.
- 01:30:57
- Sell your shirt and shoes and buy it now. Read that book. It'll bless you big time. Get The Great Tribulation Past or Future.
- 01:31:03
- It's a debate between Tommy Ice and Kenneth Gentry. It'll bless your socks off. Get The Last Days According to Jesus by R .C.
- 01:31:10
- Sproul. Get Postmillennialism by Dr. Greg Bonson. That'll bless you. Am I missing any?
- 01:31:15
- These are, I've got them all. The Puritan Hope by Murray. Gary DeMar's got some great stuff.
- 01:31:22
- End Times Fiction by Gary DeMar will really bless you guys. Joy, what are you thinking? Isn't it awesome?
- 01:31:28
- Yeah. I'm tripped. It is. I'm tripped. I just love it. Amazing, man. This is amazing. So Jackson, I encourage you, turn to Christ and live.
- 01:31:36
- Turn to the true Christ. I just want to speak to you with humility, kindness, and love here and gentleness.
- 01:31:43
- I want you to just take a step back and to search your heart, search your mind, and to search the scriptures first and foremost.
- 01:31:53
- Is what you think consistent with the Word of God? Do you think it's a testimony of somebody who knows
- 01:32:04
- God? The testimony that says, I will impugn the character of Jesus Christ and of the scriptures by saying that Jesus has false prophecy in order to protect the prophecy of Joseph Smith, his false prophecy.
- 01:32:19
- Do you think that sounds like somebody who knows God that has to attack the scriptures and Jesus himself in order to make their case?
- 01:32:27
- I just want you to consider that. And then I want to point you to the true and living Christ. And the Word of God is foundational.
- 01:32:33
- Jesus didn't give false prophecy here. Everything Jesus said happened because he's Lord of glory and he is the way and the truth.
- 01:32:40
- He's the embodiment of truth. He can't give falsehoods. And also if you say, well, I believe the
- 01:32:46
- Bible has been corrupted. Well, then you don't believe in the God who made this Bible because the God who made this
- 01:32:51
- Bible can control its transmission. He can control his words and he's not thwarted by men like you believe.
- 01:32:59
- And so that's my final word for today. Anybody else have any final words? Amen. Come be a part of the story that God is telling throughout history.
- 01:33:08
- It's not about us as individuals. It's about God inviting his people to come take part in the story that he's telling, which is the subduing of all history and the placing of all things underneath the feet of Jesus.
- 01:33:23
- That's your part in the story. Come be a part of it. You're invited to turn from sin, be washed, be cleansed, be indwelt by God's spirit, and then to be put on mission alongside his people to go get the nations, to destroy the works of the devil.
- 01:33:37
- That's right. To advance the gospel. As far as the curse is found, he's digging it out.
- 01:33:45
- All right, guys, I'm Jeff the Ninja. That's Luke the Bear. Peace out. Tacky tack. Later. Joy the Girl. See ya. Lovely day today on Apologia Radio.
- 01:33:51
- Encourage you all to share this episode. Get it out across the world. We'll catch you guys next week on Thursdays around 1130
- 01:33:56
- Arizona time. God bless you all. Thank you for supporting us, making everything we do possible. We love the