Hermeneutics: Matthew Chap 24 Pt. 3

If you remember, we actually were doing hermeneutics last summer and then I went on vacation and then an extended vacation and so now here we are. I would really recommend that any and for anybody who's seriously interested in studying hermeneutics that you go back and look at the videos.

We had gone through all the principles and actually we're up to number eight, which is practice. And if you remember, who can remember what portion of scripture we chose to do practice on? Anybody remember?

Matthew 24 as the Practice Passage for Hermeneutics

Matthew 24. Yeah, Matthew 24. And I chose this very specifically because this is one of the most controversial portions of scripture. And Matthew 24 is prompted by the discussion of Jesus that he has with the Pharisees.

Remember, one of the things that we looked at in Matthew 24 is you have to read Matthew 22 and Matthew 23 if you're going to understand Matthew 24. Coming to Matthew 24, so in the first session on practice hermeneutics, what we did was we looked at verses in 22 and verses in 23 to set the stage.

One of the most important principles of hermeneutics is context. And we also looked at some of the other principles of we believe in historical grammatical exegesis, which means that we take the words as they were intended and as they were used in the time that they were used.

Now, we can't import 20th century meanings into words. We can't change the grammar. We can't change the rules of speech. They hold true for whoever was writing it. So, Matthew 24 is prompted by the discussion of Jesus with the Pharisees and the observations of the disciples concerning the magnificence of the temple.

Remember, we see this in both the Luke portion of the Olivet Discourse plus the Matthew 24. They're walking out of the temple. And remember, what's the disciples' reaction? Yeah, how magnificent. Look at this temple, how beautiful it is and whatnot.

That's the immediate context, all right? So, and this is what we're going to read now. So, I'm going to just do a very brief review. Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to him.

And he said to them, do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another which will not be torn down. As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when these things will happen.

Notice there. What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age, okay? This is prompted by them commenting about the temple, all right? Now, we concluded when we, this was the first of the practice sessions.

We concluded that these are not three unrelated questions, all right? They're all related to the events concerning the destruction of the temple. And we looked at verses to demonstrate that that's what they were referring to.

We also saw that based upon the grammar, these events would take place during the days of the apostles. Remember? We saw how he talks about that they would not finish going through the cities of Jerusalem before the kingdom of God came upon them.

All different verses. So, if you have any questions on that, go back to the first session on practice, all right? We also looked at other texts that indicate the same timeline. So, what we're looking at is whatever Jesus is saying here in answering those questions, it's something that is happening in the time frame of the lifetime of the apostles.

And then we continued by looking at the next five verses. All right, now we looked at those verses, okay? And we saw, again, we went through each of those verses and showed from Scripture that all of these things happened within the lifetime of the apostles prior to the destruction of the temple.

But he said, but all these things are just merely beginning of birth pangs. That's where we left off, okay? That was six months ago. So, eight months ago. I was a math major. Who are you going to believe, him or a math major?

All right.

Tribulation and Persecution in the Apostolic Era

So, we saw that the events contained in verses four to eight were fulfilled within the period from the crucifixion of Christ to the destruction of the temple. And remember, Jesus is speaking to his disciples privately, which is another important thing which is often missed when people interpret this portion of Scripture, is that Jesus is not talking to the masses.

He's not warning the masses of what is going to come. Specifically, he's talking to his disciples. So, his words serve as a warning to what is to come upon Israel during the lifetime of the apostles. So, look again at verse eight.

But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. And we know what happens to anybody here who has children. Wife begins very slowly, a couple of little contractions, and then when the baby is born.

Okay. In other words, things are going to get worse. Okay. So, that brings us to the verses we're going to look at today. Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.

Tribulation, killing. At that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. And then the end will come.

Okay.

So, we have some questions to ask here. Verse nine begins with the subject of tribulation. In fact, trouble, hatred, and death. This is some serious stuff. Then they will deliver you to tribulation. They'll kill you.

Be hated by all nations because of my name. But notice there's a particular reason for the attitude of the nations. Because of their relationship to Jesus Christ. It's not just general persecution. The persecution that Jesus is warning about is because of the testimony of Jesus.

Okay.

So, now the question then is this. If what we have seen in the first few verses that this is speaking about specifically the destruction of the temple, etc., did this happen to the apostles? If it didn't, then we have to throw out our eggs of Jesus and start all over again.

So, as far as verse nine, virtually all of the apostles suffered in the ways that are listed up here. We have examples in scripture of James, Stephen, and Paul, very specific. But we also have church history, which may not be sacred scripture.

But nonetheless, tells us that virtually all of the apostles suffered in some form or another. But the ones that we know about specifically from scripture. Now, about that time, Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.

And he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword. He's one of the first of the apostles we see. Then, when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him. They went on stoning Stephen.

Here's the account of Stephen, the martyr. In 2 Corinthians 11, in these verses, Paul talks about how he was treated because of the cause of Christ. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned.

Three times I was shipwrecked at night and the day I had spent in the deep. I've been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren.

So, that's just three examples from scripture. But I don't think anybody can deny the fact that exactly what Jesus said would happen to the apostles within their lifetime. Oh, and then one last verse.

I have been in labor and hardship, etc., etc. So, we have numerous other examples from tradition and church history. The persecution of Christians in the Colosseum is well documented by historians. Again, I mean, how many movies have been made documenting this even so?

So, the cause of this persecution is also well documented. Tertullian wrote this, there was war against the very name of Christ. This is what the early church fathers suffered. War against the very name of Christ.

Now, again, following through, if this is something that was going to come upon the church, we follow through in the verses that Jesus gave in this discourse. And what do we see? The persecution leads to apostasy.

And at that time, many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. Alright, so again, fall away, deliver one another up. Did this happen in the era of the apostles? 2 Timothy 1 .15, You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phrygilis and Hermogenes.

And again, make every effort to come to me. This is Paul still writing to Timothy. Make every effort to come to me soon, for Demas has loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Christians has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. You get a sense of what Paul's saying there? He's in despair.

Everybody is deserting him, even some of the ones that had been close to him. Only Luke is with me. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourselves, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.

At my first offense, no one supported me, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them. So just as Jesus predicted, once the persecution came, there would be great apostasy. Verse 11 continues, and many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.

Jesus has warned of false messiahs earlier in the text. Now he's warning against false prophets. Did false prophets arise during this time? That's the other question we always have to keep answering. Peter tells us, but false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be also false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

False prophets, false teachers, secretly introducing destructive heresies. Paul also warned about false teachers in his day. 2 Corinthians 11, 13,. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

But he also names names. But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus. These names should be familiar to us, right?

Why are these names familiar? What was their heresy? They said the resurrection had already occurred. Their talk will spread like gangrene. Men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and thus they upset the faith of some.

You know, sometimes we forget just how much the church of Jesus Christ was under attack in those early days. I mean, this is exactly what Jesus was warning his disciples against. Paul also warned the elders from Ephesus.

Remember, Paul was leaving. He was heading back to Jerusalem. He meets the elders of Ephesus in the city of Miletus. He said, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

And from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Look at the danger. Here's Paul to that early church, saying some of them, from your own selves, men will come.

And then John 2 warns, children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have risen. From this we know that it is the last hour. And remember what he warns.

They had to go out from us to prove that they were not of us. Jesus continues that in verse 12. And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. The lawlessness and love growing cold.

Did this happen during that time period? Lawlessness and immorality were epidemic at this time in the Roman Empire. Rome was super proud of their legal system, but under Caligula and Nero, do you remember what the perversions, you know, that they conducted in the state house in Rome and whatnot?

And their conflicts with the Senate were legendary. I mean, it's incredible if you read any of the Roman history. The murders and atrocities they committed should not be spoken of in polite society. I mean, the perversion was just so gross and so out of bounds that I don't even like to talk about it.

It's not necessary to elicit it all here. That being said, I don't think that was the primary reference of Jesus. I think it weighs on what Jesus said, but I don't think that's what he had in mind. Because remember, who's he talking to?

His apostles, and what's he warning of in the immediate context? False teachers, people falling away from the faith. So if you keep that context, the church was affected as well, okay? The early church, 1 Corinthians 5.

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you and immorality of such a kind as does not even exist among the Gentiles, that someone has had his father's wife, and you have become arrogant and have not mourned instead in order that the one had done this deed might be removed from your midst.

Notice what he's saying. The church had been corrupted, and in fact, Joe Bianchi, who was a former pastor here on Long Island, he wrote a book called 20th Century Corinthians, where he compared the morality in the church today to what was taking place in Corinth back in the 1st century.

So was immorality and lawlessness a symptom of what Jesus warned about in the 1st century? And it's clearly it is. All right, remember what Jesus wrote to the church in Ephesus. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

It's exactly what he said earlier in the Olivet Discourse. You have left your first love. So for everything the Lord had warned them about came true with precision and accuracy. All these verses we've looked at, we can take it.

What did Jesus warn? And then look and see that this is exactly what happened in that time period. But in the middle of that, Jesus offers words of encouragement. Verse 13, but the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.

Jesus says perseverance pays off. Though the tribulation they will experience will be great, the one who perseveres will be saved. And this is not the only time Jesus encourages them. He says, these things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world. And this too was spoken directly to the apostles. And the next verse is very interesting and is subject to misinterpretation if not taken in context.

Verse 14, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come. Now this is the one that is often used to try to refute the idea that this Jesus is warning about things in his day or in the days of the apostles.

First question you got to ask is, what is the end that Jesus is speaking about? All right. It can't be the end of the world since we have already seen that some of the disciples will be witnesses to these events.

Remember what he said? He said, some of you, this is in Matthew chapter 16, he said, some of you who are standing here will not taste death until you see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And then again, that they will finish going through all the cities of Israel before the kingdom comes.

So it can't possibly be the end of the world if the disciples are going to witness these things. He's speaking about the end of the old covenant age and the destruction of the temple. Remember, think of the context.

What started this whole conversation? The disciples talking about the temple. And when Jesus says, I'm going to destroy it, now one stone will be left upon another. What does he say? What do they say?

They ask those three questions, including the end of the age. And it's the old covenant age. I just put this. This is the same slide I had earlier. I just put it up. Remember, when will these things happen?

What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Three questions, same event. One of the signs of the events is that the gospel will be preached in the whole world. Now, most futurists claim that that never happened.

That claim also is based, I believe, on faulty hermeneutics. The Greek word translated world, Greek words translated world are not always the same. Remember, in the Greek, they have more words for our words than we can even count sometimes, like how many words for love?

There's at least five Greek words for love, and depending on what word is used, it's important. Same thing with the word world. Even in this chapter, verse 21, Jesus used a different word than the word that we're looking at here.

The word is kosmos. In verse 14, the word that's used is okamene. It's a completely different word. Now, according to Strong's, that word that's okamene usually means the land or a specific part of the land, such as the Roman Empire.

And that's the predominant use of the word by the gospel writers. For example, look at Luke 2 .1. Now, it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.

That's quoted in, like, King James is the world. That's the word okamene. The census was the entire Roman Empire, not the entire earth. We know that because Rome did not know that there were certain civilizations beyond its borders or borders that they didn't take a census to because they hadn't conquered it yet.

So there are many parts of the kosmos that were not under Roman rule. Another example is found in Acts 17 .6. And when they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authority, shouting, these are the men who have upset the world, have come here also.

Now, did they upset the entire world? No, because they were confined at this point to the Roman Empire. So the preaching of the gospel in verse 14, it's not worldwide evangelism at the end of time, all right, which from my particular perspective, I believe there will be worldwide evangelism at the end of time.

It is worldwide evangelism witnessing the end of the old covenant age, and that's specifically the language that Jesus uses. And that leads to another obvious question. Did this occur during the time period that we have been studying?

Because if we can't show that it reached the entire Roman Empire, then we have to discard, then our hermeneutic is faulty. This Romans 10 is a very important portion of scripture for evangelism. We know Romans 10, 9, and 10, right?

If you believe with the heart, confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, you will be saved, all right, and going on. And then coming down here, we see this portion, which we use often at missions conferences when we send out missionaries.

How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them who bring glad tidings of good things. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings. For Isaiah says, Lord who has believed our report. So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

But Paul continues in verse 18, and look what he says right after verse 17. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have, their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

He uses the same word. So according to Paul, worldwide evangelism had taken place. Again in Colossians 123, if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and have not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and which I, Paul, was made a minister.

I believe that one might be a little hyperbolic in that one, but nonetheless you get the idea of worldwide evangelism. And then one last historical reference by Henry Cowles who wrote a commentary on both Matthew and Mark.

He says it appears from credible records that the gospel was preached in Edomia, Syria, and Mesopotamia by Jude, in Ethiopia by Candace's Eunuch, and Matthias in Pontus, Galatia, and the neighboring parts of Asia by Peter, in the territories of the seven Asiatic churches by John in Parthia, by Matthew in Scythia, by Philip and Andrew in the northern and western parts of Asia, by Bartholomew in Persia, by Simon and Jude in Medea, Carmania, and several eastern parts, by Thomas through the vast tract from Jerusalem round about under Illyricum, by Paul as also in Italy and probably in Spain and Gaul, in most of which places Christian churches were planted in less than 30 years after the death of Christ.

In other words, before the destruction of Jerusalem. Questions?

In the quote that you did, Paul in Romans chapter 10, and he says that it's gone to the end of the world. Does that mean Roman Empire?

Contextually, I believe that's the Roman Empire. Not the whole world, no. No, because there's no indication from either Scripture or from extant historical data that the Roman Empire, that the church ever expanded beyond the Roman Empire in that time frame.

Other questions?

Just another verse. You mentioned 123 about all creation under heaven. In verse 6 of chapter 1 of Colossians, it says, which has come to you as indeed the whole world is bearing fruit and increasing.

Right.

It's just interesting.

It's the same thing as we've seen in Romans and the other verses of Colossians.

That most people are thinking,.

Well, it couldn't have possibly gone to the whole world yet, but according to the Testament of the Apostles, it has.

Now, again, the whole idea here is we want to look at the primary interpretation of the text. Now, can you now take this and apply it to other time periods, time eras of church history? Yeah, because some of these things are cyclical and will take place.

We know that there's going to be tribulation in the church right up until the end of time, to some degree or another, because we know in Revelation 20, there's going to be an apostasy that's going to come against the church just before Christ returns.

So you can take application, but the point is you have to keep it in the context of what Jesus was specifically talking about, and here he's specifically talking about the destruction of the temple, the time period from the time of Christ ascends to heaven until the destruction of the temple, to the disciples, because that's who he's speaking to privately, and he uses the pronouns you.

Be careful nobody misleads you. Now, again, can we take application for this, and can I preach a message and say, based upon this, this is what you need to be aware of? Yes, we can do that, but you have to keep things in the right context.