Book of Luke - Ch. 21, Vs. 1-38 (11/15/2020)

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all of your blessings. Thank you for protecting us against sickness and against all the things that we're met with today.

Bless us and keep us. Go with us through the service this morning and through the service this afternoon as well or later today as well.

Protect us from all the things that are pushing in against us.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Okay, last Sunday we finished with this passage.

It will be in Luke chapter 20 verse 45. We'll be very quickly into chapter 21 and we may even finish it but I'm not certain.

Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples. Okay, who and in whose presence is he speaking?

Who is he speaking to and in whose presence is he speaking? Well, he's speaking to his disciples but he is speaking in the presence of all the crowd that have been following Jesus.

That includes all the scribes and pharisees that were tagging along as well.

So, I'm going to read that again and then watch the very next verse. Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples, beware of the scribes which desire to walk in long rows and love greeting in the markets and the high seats in the synagogues and the chief rooms at feast.

And yes, the scribes are there along with everybody else. The scribes that he's getting ready to criticize or he's in the midst of criticizing are right there in the audience listening to Jesus tell his disciples to beware of the scribes which devour widows' houses and for a show make long prayers.

The same shall receive a greater damnation. Now, that obviously didn't go too well with the scribes but that didn't matter to Jesus.

He was telling his disciples to beware of them and he was telling them about themselves.

And he looked up and now we are in chapter 21.

And he looked up and he saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

Now, that maybe seems strange to us unless we understand what the treasury was. It wasn't a room.

It was a series or a collection of 13 chests and each chest had a funnel -shaped opening.

And it is into that funnel -shaped opening that the donors would toss in their donation.

It stood in the court of the women and each chest was labeled for a specific use and donations were given accordingly.

So, if you wanted to give to the upkeep of the temple, you would toss it in one basket.

If you want to give it to the poor, you toss it in another chest.

So, whatever you wanted your money dedicated to, that's where it would go. Now, we might infer from the following that Jesus saw the rich men making a great show of casting their gifts into the chest marked for decorating the temple.

I want to read that verse again so that I can follow it up by the next one. And he looked up and he saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.

And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in feather two mites.

Now, I suspect she cast her two mites in a different chest than they were casting their gifts, but I'm not certain about that.

It doesn't say. What I do know is the Greek expression for poor here signifies extreme poverty.

She wasn't just poor. The two mites was all she had.

This woman was desperately poor and was more fittingly a recipient of charity than a donor.

She gave two mites. A mite was the smallest copper coin in use in Palestine.

It was worth about one -eighth of a cent. But the two mites represented all that this woman had to live on.

And Jesus said, now he's still talking to the disciples, and he said, of a truth

I say unto you that this poor widow has cast in more than they all.

Look at that last phrase. This poor widow has cast in more than they all.

It didn't say more than any one cast in. It said more than all of them put together.

He viewed her gift as more valuable than all the gifts of all the rich men that threw all of their donations with such great flair into the chest for decorating the temple.

And he follows up by saying, for all of these have of their abundance cast in unto the offering of God.

But she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

So she cast in everything she had. She gave sacrificially.

They gave out of their abundance. She gave all that she had.

They gave what they felt like they could spare. Now before we get the wrong idea,

Jesus is not advocating that you donate everything that you have. After all, he gave all that you have to him.

What Jesus is teaching here is that God does not view gifts the same way men do.

Now what the rich men wanted to do was to call attention to their gifts. They gave their gifts because they wanted to be seen giving their gifts.

They wanted to be seen giving their gifts to decorating the temple. So when some beautiful sign or a beautiful stone was seen on the wall, they would say, ah, that was given by this scribe or this was given by that rich man.

But there's two things we want to consider or need to consider at this point. In Jesus's eyes, who gave the greater gift?

The widow. And in Jesus's eyes, which gift survived the longest?

The widow. Now we know how long the gifts of the rich men are going to last. Are we there yet?

Do we know how long it's going to last? We'll know before this day is done just exactly how long.

In fact, before this passage is done, we'll know exactly how long the rich man's gifts lasted after it was tossed in this morning.

Some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts.

And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, you may get the idea that Jesus was still in the temple when this was said, but he wasn't.

He was now on the Mount of Olives. He's no longer in the temple. He's now at the Mount of Olives and he's looking across from the

Mount of Olives where he is sitting across the valley to Jerusalem and he's looking at the temple.

So he's on the Mount of Olives looking at Jerusalem and looking at the temple. Now there are three parallel accounts of what follows.

There's this one, which we're going to follow for a while. There's another in Matthew 24 and 25, the whole chapters.

Matthew was skilled at taking notes and at recording what he saw. And so his accounts are always more flowery and more extensive than anybody else's.

The most brief of all is generally Mark. But Mark threw in something here that is more important to the

Jews than it was to the Gentiles. So we get this information from Mark. So we're going to bounce around from one of these accounts to the other as we continue.

Right now we're still in Luke 21 5. And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, as for these things which ye behold, the days will come in which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.

Now Jesus was not all that impressed with the gifts. He saw the wealthy donate or even that impressed with the temple itself.

But apparently his disciples were. And they asked him saying,

Master, but when shall these things be and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?

Now we're going to bounce over to Mark chapter 13 verse 3 and we're going to find out which of the disciples he's talking to and where he was when he was speaking to them.

Mark 13 3. And as he, this is

Jesus, and as he sat on the Mount of Olives over against the temple.

Now that's strange weight for us to put it, but he's sitting on the Mount of Olives and across the valley is the temple and he can see the temple from where he's sitting.

He sees the temple across the valley from him. As he sat upon the

Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately.

Okay. Who was there? Peter, James, John, Andrew, and Jesus.

Just those five. They asked him privately. Tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign when all these things should be fulfilled?

Now they actually asked him three questions. The three questions, number one is when will the temple be destroyed?

The second was what would be the sign of his coming? And the third was what would be the sign of the end of the age?

Now they thought all three of these events would occur at the same time. They think that just in a few days, maybe even starting a couple of days ago when

Jesus rode into the city on the donkey, that the starting of the events would take place, but Jesus explained it differently.

Actually, the temple would be destroyed first and a long interval of time would intervene before he would return to establish his kingdom on the earth.

Remember last Sunday when we talked about the ruler that went away to receive his kingdom and was gone for a long time and came back?

That parable was to prepare his disciples for this event, to prepare them for the fact that he is going to be gone for a while after the temple is destroyed.

So the temple will be destroyed first and a long interval of time will intervene before he would return to establish his kingdom on the earth.

Now twice in these three questions, they ask him for a sign. Now that's natural.

This is a Jewish teacher, Jesus, teaching and speaking to his

Jewish disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Paul tells us this in 1

Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.

If you're a Gentile and you listen to the preaching of the cross and you think it's foolish, we know where you are.

You're going to perish. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.

Verse 19, for it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

It's not going to matter how wise you are. It's not going to matter how prudent you are. It doesn't matter how much you understand.

None of that will save you. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?

Where is the disputer of this world? Hath God not made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not

God. So if that's what you're planning on saving you, understanding the Bible, understanding the scripture, like the scribes thought if they studied hard enough and understood the scripture well enough, then they would save themselves.

That won't happen. For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not

God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Now up until now, Paul is talking about the Gentiles. Now he's going to talk about the

Jews. For the Jews require a sign and the

Greeks seek wisdom and neither one of these will save you. But we preach

Christ crucified unto the Jews. What we preach is a stumbling block.

And unto the Greeks, it's foolishness. To all the Jews, no.

To all the Greeks, no. Not to those that believe. To those that believe it's the power of God.

But into them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

So that was Paul explaining the reason why these four disciples asked twice in just three questions for a sign.

Because they needed a sign. Now we're going to go back to Luke 21 8 and this is when

Jesus begins to speak about that long interval of time between the destruction of the temple and his return to establish his kingdom.

And so here's what Luke says. And he said, this is Jesus, and he said, take heed that you be not deceived for many shall come in my name claiming to be

Christ. I added that. When it says many shall come in my name, what it's saying essentially is they will come claiming to be me.

In our lifetime, in our lifetime, we've seen several men claim to be the

Messiah. One was just down the street from us over here in Waco, Texas, David Koresh.

Another one was the guy that gave the poison Kool -Aid to all of his followers.

Those claimed to be Christ saying, I am the Christ and the time draweth near.

Jesus says, go ye not therefore after them. There's going to be many that claim to be

Christ. Don't go after any of them. When time comes, you'll know the father.

But when you shall hear of wars and of commotions, be not terrified for these things must first come to pass.

So just because there's wars and commotions doesn't mean there's nothing to be terrified by.

They must come first. But the end is not by and by. And I highlighted that, but the end is not by and by.

We're going to go in a few minutes to a time when the end is by and by or when that end is by and by.

Verse 10, then said he unto them, nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines and pestilence and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

But before all of these, before any of those things, before the nations rising against nation, kingdom is against kingdoms, great earthquakes in diverse places, famines, pestilence, fearful sights, and great signs from heaven, before all of these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.

And it shall turn to you for testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before on what you shall answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Now look at verse 16. This is interesting. And ye shall be betrayed by both parents and brethren and kinfolk and friends.

And some of you shall they cause to be put to death.

Now that's what's happening at the beginning, at early on in this long interval, and will continue on way on toward the end.

But the Lord lays down for us a marker. And if we're diligent enough to see it, turn to Malachi verse four,

I'm sorry, chapter four, verse five, Malachi four, five.

Now Malachi is a prophet that came after Isaiah and Daniel and Elijah and all the other,

Jeremiah and all the other prophets in the Old Testament. In fact, he was the last prophet to prophesy in the

Old Testament. And he says, behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet. Now there are two times we know that Elijah came back and maybe three.

Some people say Elijah came back in the form of John the

Baptist. John the Baptist has denied that. Some say he visited with Jesus and the four disciples on the

Mount of Transfiguration along with Moses. And some say that Elijah is one of the two witnesses in Revelation.

When two witnesses are brought in to testify and to prophesy against the

Antichrist, a lot of people think those two witnesses are Moses and Elijah.

I don't think that myself. I think it's Elijah and Enoch. But regardless, in either case,

Elijah is one of them. Elijah is one of the two witnesses in Revelation. Behold, I will send you

Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So the final coming of Jesus Christ has not yet come when the two prophets are prophesying in front of the wailing wall.

Jesus has not returned yet. It says before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the

Lord. And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the father, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Now John MacArthur points this out. This is the very opposite of what happened at Luke's, I'm sorry, at Christ's first coming as described in Luke.

What happened? The children were set against their parents, the parents against their children, friends against neighbors, neighbors against friends, and they betrayed one another and caused them to be persecuted.

This is the very opposite of what happened at Jesus's first coming. It anticipates a general societal repentance so that complete destruction might be averted.

The earth at this time will be restored to an Eden -like wonder. The curse is reversed and the kingdom is established with Messiah reigning and the righteous

Jews and Gentiles entering it. But before that, back to Luke 21 17.

But before that, and you should be hated of all the men. Now it's anytime after the, anytime after Jesus's crucifixion, all the way up to this time at the very end of the tribulation period where Jesus is called back.

It's all of that time. You should be hated of all the men for my name's sake.

But there shall not be a hair of your head perish. Now it didn't say it couldn't be cut off.

It didn't say it couldn't burn. It didn't say you couldn't be hurt. What it says was nothing about you will perish.

Why? You're going to be in either the thousand -year millennial kingdom or in heaven, one or the other, but you will ultimately be saved and you will ultimately, oh you're saved now.

I shouldn't say it that way. You're saved now. And your patience possess you, your souls.

Bad things are going to happen. Just be aware of it. Now to this point,

Matthew, Luke, and Mark are all referring to events from the destruction of the temple, or maybe a little bit earlier than that, to the middle of the 70th week of Daniel when the abomination of desolation will be set up.

And then some of the things that they're talking about continue on until the coming of the

Lord at the very end. But something will happen then in the middle of the 70th week of Daniel.

The abomination of desolation will be set up in the temple. The coming world leader will begin to persecute

Israel and that is described in Daniel 9 and in Revelation 13 and in 2

Thessalonians. I'm going to read quickly the account in Daniel 9, but I'll start at 24.

Verse 24, 70 weeks are determined upon my people and upon this holy city.

That's 70 weeks of years. That's like 70 dozen eggs.

70 weeks would be 70 times 7. That would be 490 years if it's weeks of years.

70 weeks are determined upon by people and upon by holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin.

Now wait a minute. Has sin ended now? It won't end until the end of the tribulation period.

Then it'll end, at least openly, to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and the prophecies and to anoint the most holy.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build

Jerusalem unto Messiah. It says priest, prince, but that's really the word for king.

Unto Messiah the king shall be seven weeks and three score weeks and two weeks.

That when you add it all up, that's written funny, but that's 69 weeks of years.

The streets shall be built again and the wall even in troublous times and after three score and two, and that's also then after the seven, seven and three score and two, that's 69.

The Messiah will be cut off. That's describing Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus will be killed, but not for himself.

That's 69 weeks of years. That's 483 years. Now the disciples thought that the seven final years would follow immediately, but in fact, there's a gap between the crucifixion of Jesus that will last more than 2000 years.

We know that because it's been from the birth of Jesus, 2020 years.

So it's been a long time. And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary and the end thereof shall be with a flood and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined and he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.

And in the midst of that week, he shall call sacrifice and the oblation to cease and for the over spreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate even unto the consummation that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Now, and now we will know where we are on the time frame.

Then we'll know the time of his coming. Until then, anyone who claims to know the time should be avoided.

We have to see a temple in Jerusalem. We have to see a pig sacrificed on the altar.

And then we will know that it's three and a half more years and we can get ready.

Now, in verse 20 through 24, Luke is going to kind of double back and describe something that happened earlier.

Luke's account returns to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and his Roman army in 70

AD. And that destruction does take place. Remember when

Luke said it didn't take place by and by? This part does. The destruction of the temple, it does take place by and by.

In fact, it takes place 38 years later. 38 years after Jesus presents himself as the

Messiah and was rejected. I want to read that passage.

That was in Luke 19 verse 41. And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying,

If thou hadst known, even thou in at least this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.

For the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee, and they shall not lead in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Now, we've read that not too long ago, so I'm sure you remember it. Now back to chapter 21 verse 20.

Luke says, And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the destruction thereof is nigh.

The destruction of what? The destruction of Jesus, of the destruction of Jerusalem.

The destruction of Jerusalem. And now is nigh. And it's the destruction of the temple.

And why was Jerusalem and the temple destroyed? I'm sorry?

Part of the plan. It was part of the plan, but specifically, what was the trigger that initiated? Because they failed to recognize the

Messiah when he presented himself to them, just exactly as he was supposed to, as the

Messiah was required to do four days before the Passover. And we are now in this presentation about two days before the crucifixion.

So a lot has happened, and a lot will continue to happen, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Now, what to do if you're in Jerusalem? Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Get out of town. And let them which are in the midst of it depart out of it, and let them not.

If you're in the middle of town, don't go back to your house. Get out of town now. If you're at home, get out of town.

If you're out in the country, don't go back to town. Just go. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein.

For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which were written may be fulfilled.

I'm going to read that again. For these are the days of vengeance, when all the things which are written about may be fulfilled.

What things? What days? What days of vengeance is he talking about?

Well, Isaiah describes it, and Luke quotes it earlier, and I'm going to read both of them.

This is Isaiah 61, verse 1. And you'll recognize this, and you'll remember us going over this in Luke chapter 4,

I believe it is. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the

Lord hath appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.

He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of God, and the day of vengeance of our

God, to comfort all that mourn. Now, in case you're wondering who that was,

Luke's going to tell us. I'm going to pick up Luke, verse 4,

I'm sorry, Luke chapter 4, verse 15, and I'm going to start reading, and I'm going to ask you to keep in mind what we just read, and consider the part that Jesus did not read, and why did he not read it?

Luke 4, 15. This is pretty early in his ministry, chapter 4, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all, and he came to Nazareth, where he'd been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the

Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. So, this was not once in a while, every time he was in Nazareth, he went in and taught in the synagogue there, and there was delivered unto him the book of Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it is written, the

Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable ear of the

Lord, and he closed the book, and gave it again to the minister, and sat down, and all the eyes of all of them, and the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

So, what did he not read? He didn't read the day of vengeance part.

Why didn't he read that part? That wasn't going to happen right then. It's going to happen when?

No, no, no, no. This is the destruction. This is the destruction of Jerusalem. This will happen when Titus's army overthrows

Jerusalem. This is going to happen at that time. Now, there's going to be an even greater fulfillment at the very end, okay?

And why did he not read it? Because it wasn't time. I'm going to read that again.

For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

Well, there are a few things that are written that will not be fulfilled at this next time, but part of the day of vengeance has occurred.

The part where he's going to destroy Jerusalem and destroy the temple. That is going to happen when

Rome invades and lays siege to Jerusalem.

That part of the day of vengeance is fulfilled, so he's got to put that in now. And then he goes on to say, but woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days, for there should be great distress in the land and wrath upon the people.

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations.

That's why we know this is not at the very end, because that doesn't happen at the very end. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the

Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, okay?

Now, Josephus records this. Over a million people were killed. We talked about that last week.

Over a million were killed by disease and pestilence, and I think it was over 100 ,000 that were actually killed by the edge of the sword of the

Roman soldiers. So over a million people were killed, either by the Romans or by the disease and famine brought about by the siege.

And over 100 ,000 were taken captive and led back to Rome or wherever they were taken.

The time of the Gentiles began with Nebuchadnezzar and will continue until Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation to set up his kingdom on earth.

That will begin at the beginning of the millennial period. So there is a time right at the very end when

Jesus will return. There'll be no doubt about it, and he will set up his kingdom on the earth.

Now, that's spoken of, the destruction of the temple and the destruction of Jerusalem.

That's spoken of in Daniel 2. It's also spoken of in Daniel 7, and it's spoken of in Zechariah 14.

I'm going to read the one in Zechariah 14. Behold, the day of the

Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle.

Whoops, I think I picked the wrong one. That would be the one at the very end of the days.

And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravaged, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

And then the Lord shall come, shall go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the days of battle.

That captivity will not last long. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the

Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west.

And there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall move to the north, and half of it to the south.

And this all happens just before the Messiah returns to restore

Jerusalem. That's when Jerusalem will again be restored, and that's the restoration that Jesus is talking about and is going to talk about next in Luke 21 verses 25 and 28.

So Luke is now back off of the earlier part where he's describing what happened at when the

Romans destroyed Jerusalem, and he's now backtracking with Matthew and Mark, and he's speaking of the time near the end of the great tribulation.

I said at near the end, and I think I mean very, very near the end, not just close to the end, very, very near the end.

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distresses of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's heart failing after them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven be shaken.

Then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Now all men will see this, and there can be no doubt about what they see.

It's not something that's secret that happens. It's not something that some people see and some don't. Everybody shall see.

They shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift your heads for your redemption doth nigh.

And he spake to them a parable, behold the fig tree and all the trees.

When they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is nigh.

So likewise, when you see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is at hand.

There's going to be signs, there's going to be hints, there's going to be indications before, even before the great tribulation period begins.

Even right now there's signs and things coming out that are hinting at what is near at hand.

Verily I say unto you, when you begin to see these signs, verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till it all be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And take heed unto yourself, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life, so that that day come upon you unawares.

For as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the

Son of Man. And in the daytime he was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out and abode in the mountain that is called the

Mount of Olives. And the people and all the people came early in the morning to hear him in the temple, and all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him.

And that's the end of verse 21. I feel like I didn't give enough opportunity for questions and comments and additions, so I'm going to take a little time now.

Anybody got anything they want to say? And yes sir, Brother David? Yes, in verse 28 it says when these things shall come to pass, then look up.

Right before that it talks about the second coming. Verse 27 of the record is the second coming.

Yes. Every eye will see him. And when these things come to pass, look up for your redemption, draweth not.

If you track that phrase, the redemption, in the New Testament there is a teaching on the redemption of the body.

That happens at the rapture. So there we see clearly that the second coming happens first and then the rapture.

Okay. Verse 27 is the second coming, verse 28 is the redemption of the body. Well there's no question, there is no question at all about 27 being a reference to the

Jesus coming in the cloud with power and glory. And there is little doubt,

I believe, I think you're right. It says lift up your eyes. It says lift up your eyes for your redemption is near.

Yeah. And so that does seem to indicate that at this time those that are still on the earth will be raptured out after his coming.

Yes. Okay, okay. Anything else?

Brother David, I think I'm, I think I'm now like 99 .9 % in total concurrence with you and I think we're going to be 100 % as soon as I figure it all out.

There's a few things, there's a few things that still trouble me about the timing.

I am certainly convinced that these two things are like that. And I no longer even think of it in terms of a mid -tribulation rapture, which

I used to believe was the time. And the more you study, the more clear things become to you.

And even, isn't that what Daniel said? Exactly. He said in the times, the times will come, we'll understand better.

Yes. And if you wonder why, you have a second coming and then he says, your redemption draws near.

You might wonder why doesn't the rapture happen immediately? Why would he say, okay, you see me coming, now look up and be ready because your redemption draws near.

And the reason there's a bit of time passes before the rapture is because the resurrection has to happen first.

So you have to have some time for Jesus to come back in the air. And then you have the great resurrection and we come up, we cannot precede them.

So we'll come up after the resurrection or with it. Now, when he comes back, he is going to land on the

Mount of Olives. The mountain will split. And at that time, the new kingdom is established or is it not?

Not quite yet. At that time, there'll be a resurrection. There'll be a resurrection. And at the resurrection,

Paul said very clearly, we will not precede them, but we'll go up with them.

So the resurrection has to happen after Jesus sets foot on the earth. He then separates the sheep and the goats.

There's the first resurrection happens and the rapture happens with it.

And now, where do the people that go into the millennial kingdom come from? After that? There are people that get saved after that.

Okay, after he steps on the mountain, the mountain splits and there's the resurrection of the ones that were dead and those that were alive, what we call the rapture.

And then there is a short period of time and people in that period of time will be, some will be saved.

And that's what's going to keep 100 % of the Jews and a lot of other people.

And they'll be what populate the millennial kingdom. My theory, I don't know that this can be anything other than a theory, but my theory is if you're not saved, if you're not born again before the second coming, then the church age is over at the second coming.

So you won't be raptured if you're not already saved, but by the time he comes in the air. But you can be saved, you just won't be raptured because that's for the church.

And I think the church age is over at the second coming in a sense. I mean, I do know he's coming for his church.

So there's a question there whether people can be saved between the second coming and the rapture and still be raptured.

It's possible. Who knows? It doesn't really say. But there's got to be, there's got to be some people that come in to the millennial kingdom to populate.

I personally think that when he says, look out for your redemption draws near.

I really think it's pretty instantaneous because I think that as he comes back, the rapture actually happens while he's still in the air.

And I think the resurrection probably had happened while he was still in the air too. And they and us go up into the air to meet him there.

That's the way I think it happens. So I think that, I think as he's coming in the air, the graves open up, people come out of them and begin to ascend into the air to meet the

Lord and we go with them. So after that, anyone who's saved, which all the

Jews will be saved after that because by singing is what causes them to get saved. They say, oh, he must be the

Messiah. And they get saved. They're not raptured. They go into the millennial kingdom alive in physical bodies.

So the redemption of the body is for people who are part of the church age.

And see, now that's where theologians will say it's only church people, but I need further study here, but I believe it's

Old Testament saints also because I think the first resurrection is everyone who died since Adam, who's born who is saved.

I think they'll all be resurrected and go up to be with him and we will go with them.

So I don't think it's just the church. No, I don't either. I think so too.

Because it says, blessed are those who are part of the first resurrection. They shall not see the second death.

So I think as that happens, there are

Jews on the earth who see that and they bow the knee and say, you know,

I accept him as Messiah. There are a hundred percent of them are saved and a whole bunch of Gentiles are saved.

For the same reason. They go into the millennial kingdom to populate the earth.

Well, that's basically what the pre -Trib Rapture people say is, but they only put it where they put it because of some things that are kind of shaky at best.

Yeah, exactly. They miss the fact that it can't happen. And that's so clear.

I mean, it's... Well, it does. That is a very clear passage. We cannot perceive them, you know, that have died before us.

Well, if that's it, most gracious heavenly father, thank you. Thank you for bringing us together again today.

Thank you for protecting us. Thank you for giving us all that you've given us. Go through the rest of the service today.