Hermeneutics: Matthew Chap 24 Pt. 7

OK, we're still at this, I think, part 12 of hermeneutics. And we're reviewing.

We've been examining Matthew 24 as a way of practicing. I think this is part four, five, maybe even six of practice.

And remember that I'm doing this intentionally, reviewing this, because context is so important.

And this portion of scripture is so misinterpreted so often because people take it out of context.

That's why I'm overemphasizing the fact that context is important. And remember, the discourse is occasioned by the questions of the apostles coming out of the temple.

And the first three verses set the context of the entire chapter. If you miss the first three verses, then the whole chapter is up for grabs.

And that's where you get all this wild speculation. So look again at those three verses.

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 will these things happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

Notice the three questions. When will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

And remember, we concluded that these are not three unrelated questions. They are all related to the events concerning what?

The destruction of the temple. Because that's what prompts the whole discussion is prompted by the disciples looking at the temple and then

Jesus saying, not one stone is going to be left upon another here. So that's the whole context. If you take it out of that context, then it's up for grabs, the meaning.

Jesus begins his response by describing the events leading up to the destruction of the temple.

Remember, we've seen that the times will be very chaotic, a time of false information abounding.

Verse 4, and Jesus answered and said to them, see to it that no one misleads you. And that's why it's interesting that he starts off with that and yet this text has been used to mislead many people.

Jesus describes the time leading up to the destruction. False prophets will arise, wars, rumors of wars, natural disasters, famines, earthquakes.

These things are not the end yet, just the beginning of birth pangs. Great tribulation, which will include persecution for the cause of Christ.

Tribulation will spark apostasy, betrayal, many false prophets. It will be a time of lawlessness.

And during this time of trouble, the gospel will be preached throughout the known world. That's a very important point.

Things will grow worse and the abomination of desolation will take place in the holy place.

And then Matthew inserts the parenthetical phrase at this point, cautioning readers of the gospel to pay attention, understand what

Jesus is saying. There are so many cautions in here that it's amazing that this portion of scripture is so used to being mishandled because the cautions are built right into the text, and yet people read right over them and go into wild speculation.

Then Jesus warns that when the abomination of desolation appears, flee from Judea. He shows the urgency of the warning.

Why the urgency? Because when the abomination of desolation appears, the tribulation will reach its zenith.

That's when it will get so bad that if the days were not cut short by God, no life would be saved.

So this is one of the most heinous and awful times in the history of mankind.

Then Jesus again warns about the dangers of false Christs, false prophets. And then

Jesus links the destruction of the temple with his coming in judgment. Verse 27, so will the coming of the

Son of Man be. So whatever he is describing, it's also described at the destruction of the temple.

It's also described as his coming of the Son of Man. Verse 28,

Jesus links these events to the end of the old covenant age, wherever the corpse is, and where the vultures will gather.

We saw that this is the language of God's judgment, and that's why we went through so many Old Testament portions of scripture, showing that this is certainly the language of judgment.

And again, here's another reason why I chose Matthew 24 to do this hermeneutics class on, because we don't talk like that.

We have a tendency not to talk like, well, wherever the corpse is, our language, we've lost a lot of the poetry and the use of figurative language.

And I'm guilty of that. I grew up in the rationalistic age of going to engineering school and everything else, then being a detective, logic.

And somehow, we lose the beauty of language, which the

Bible is certainly rich in language. So that fact was confirmed by the next verses.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.

Look at this language again. Stars of heaven and the powers will be shaken.

And again, we saw how this, again, what is this? This is apocalyptic language. The old covenant age was ending to make way for the new covenant age.

That's what this is referring to. Sun, the moon, the stars falling. Talking about governments, rulers falling.

Yes? Well, in Genesis, when Joseph told his parents to dream, didn't they say it was the sun, the moon, and the stars that fell down to heaven?

And they took it that it was them, the father and mother. Yeah, if you didn't miss a class, you recovered that.

You walked right into that one. Come on, let's be. No, you're absolutely, you're right, you're spot on with it, all right.

So this evening now, we're picking up our stuff. Oh, that was last week, and you weren't here. That's right.

We pick up our study this evening in verse 30. And first notice, but before we get to verse 30, notice the time text that are built in this verse.

Here's verse 29 again. Notice what it says. But immediately after the tribulation of those days.

And then, and again, if you look at the original language, it's this came, that comes next.

And then the tribes of the earth will mourn. OK? The wording itself doesn't allow for any type of a gap or time interval between these events.

Because there are those people who try to say, well, yes, he's talked about the temple destruction. That's what started the conversation.

But then he switches, and he's talking about the end, Christ coming at the end of the world. But the wording itself does not allow for that.

You have to wrench it out of the context. So we need to keep that in mind.

Yes? I just have one thing, because it says immediately after the tribulation.

So the tribulation was 70 AD, right? It started before that. It started before that?

OK. What we're looking at is the tribulation starts.

And if you want to look at it, if you want to apply it to the book of the Revelation, about seven years ahead of that,

OK? But I mean, it had actually started even before that. But it starts to reach its zenith.

And what we're talking about here all takes place leading up to 70 AD, all right?

But with the actual fall of Jerusalem, that took place in 70

AD. But these are the events leading up to it. And that's what he's talking about here. And now in verse 30.

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn.

And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. The sign of the

Son of Man will appear in the sky. Now we need to pause for a moment and remember the context.

Because many people attribute this to the second coming. Just the grammar alone disallows that.

And then the sign of the Son of Man. We've already seen that the Son of Man coming is the Son of Man coming in destruction.

That's what we looked at in verse 29. The judgment on Jerusalem appears similar to events we know will occur at the end of the world, all right?

Because both will be coming in judgment. What's the difference in his coming at the end of the world to the coming in judgment on Jerusalem?

Here's the difference. Yes, the second coming is going to be a physical coming of Christ.

The coming in judgment is not. It's a coming in judgment, all right?

That's why we must keep the context clear. The generation alive at the time of Christ is singled out for a harsher punishment than all the other generations.

All right? That's why Jerusalem is being destroyed at that particular time. Why? Because they rejected the

Christ who dwelt among them and they crucified him. And we could go into a big, lengthy explanation here where there's, you know, before Pilate.

Pilate says, you're king. He says, we have no king but Caesar. You know, well, his blood is not on my hands.

Well, may his blood be on us and on our children. They actually called down an oath, what they call a self -maledictory oath, upon themselves.

And then Jesus tells them, I think I have it up in here. Yeah, we see this in Matthew 11.

He says, Jesus, and you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to the heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades.

For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Imagine that.

He's looking, Jesus is standing and looking at first century Capernaum and saying that Sodom is less culpable than you are and what happened to Sodom.

Okay? Nevertheless, I say to you, that you'll be more tolerable in the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

Yes? You know, going through the book of Nahum, that city is actually Capernaum.

All of the commentators say that it's a good chance that that city was named after Nahum. And Nahum was the one who spoke of the

Babylonians, the Medes coming in and crushing the Assyrians and saving the remnant. Well, now, this will be

God coming after Jerusalem because they still, after they saw the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, they still rejected him.

Sure. And remember what Jesus said, all the blood from Abel to Zechariah will be upon this generation because of all the benefits they had.

Imagine. You ever, in fact, let me before I say that. You ever hear somebody say to you, you know, it was easy for the

Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints, you know, to believe because they had Christ with them.

They had the miracles and everything else. If I saw that, you know, I'd believe.

No. No. They had it and they didn't believe. And that's why they incur such a stricter judgment.

I won't get into why we're even going to incur a stricter judgment than that generation because of all the benefits that we have.

We have the risen Christ. All right, so let's move along.

Jesus tells them the parable of the vineyard owner. All right, and this is very important.

Jesus, and then at the end of that, Jesus said, did you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone.

This came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it.

That's where you see the sun, the moon, and the stars falling. That's the kingdom being taken away from Israel at that point and given to a people producing the fruit.

What is that? That's the Gentile church, okay? Matthew 21, 45, when the chief priests and the

Pharisees heard his parables, they understood that he was speaking about them. Make no mistake about it.

It's amazing to see modern -day commentators or pastors saying, oh, well, Jesus wasn't talking about them.

He's talking about the end of the world. They knew he was talking about them and they say that he's talking about us.

That's why they got so ticked. That's why they were so angry. That's why they wanted him silenced because they knew he was talking about them.

And here is what Jesus said to the high priest. But Jesus kept silent and the high priest said to him,

I adjure you by the living God. Isn't that something? Imagine the high priest looking at Jesus and he says,

I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said it yourself.

Nevertheless, I tell you, and here's what I wanted you to see. Hereafter, you shall see the

Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. That's what he says to the high priest.

Notice the wording. He doesn't say they will, some future generation.

He looks at the high priest and he says, you will. So what he's telling him is something's going to happen in the lifetime of the people in the

Sanhedrin at this particular time. And what is Jesus speaking about to them?

Going all the way back to Daniel. Daniel says, I kept looking at the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like the

Son of Man was coming and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. Behold, with the clouds of heaven.

Oops. One like the Son of Man was coming and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.

How many times have you heard this applied that this is a description of the second coming?

Anybody ever hear that? Yeah. Why can't it be a picture of the second coming?

Say it. Yeah, he's going the wrong way. Jesus is coming up to the throne room in heaven and sitting down.

This is a picture of the ascension where Jesus is coming up and he's sitting down at the right hand of God the

Father. He came up to the Ancient of Days, was presented before him. What was he doing when he was coming up? What did we read in the scriptures?

He's being seated. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make all your enemies a footstool for your feet.

So this is where he is seated even now. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

What is this? Everlasting dominion which will not pass away. He was given that at his ascension.

One will not be destroyed. Go back to the text.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky now.

Unfortunately, the English translations are not the best on this verse. And the reason the

Greek word for heaven or sky, because it can be translated either, in the Greek modifies the

Son of Man, not the sign. And unfortunately, I think almost all the

English translations have it the wrong way. This is probably the best translation.

Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. It's not that the sign will be in heaven.

The sign will be that he is in heaven. You see it's a subtle difference, but it's an important distinction.

And that's the best Greek, which is what we have to make sure that we look at. So what is the sign that is going to appear that the

Son of Man is in heaven? Go back to verse 3 again. Tell us when these things will be.

What will be the sign of your coming? The sign that Jesus is in heaven, ruling over his kingdom with all authority, is the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and the entire old covenant.

That's the sign. People looking for mysterious signs. What did

Jesus say about those who were seeking signs? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.

And what did he say? The only sign you're going to get is the sign of Jonah. All right.

And now he says, you want a sign? Here's the sign. When Jerusalem is kaput, when it's destroyed, when your beautiful temple is not going to be there anymore, that's the sign that I'm sitting in heaven, the one that you have rejected.

And he repeats the warning, but first he adds a phrase. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn.

This is another interesting phrase. There's actually a couple of ways you can interpret this. The words tribes of the earth, and actually earth can be translated land.

It usually is. It usually refers to the tribes of Israel. If you go through your scriptures, usually when you see the word tribe, it's associated mostly with Israel.

It can have a broader range, but not usually. So what's he saying?

The context is consistent with Israel, since she is the object of the prophecy of Jesus. So what's going to happen?

All the tribes of Israel will mourn. Mourn at what?

Their land is being overrun by Romans, Jerusalem is being destroyed, and the temple.

You can't have an old covenant system without the temple. So the whole land is mourning.

So when the tribes see the sign, they will mourn. Verse 30,

And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. That's exactly what's been described.

Coming in judgment, not coming in a physical manifestation, but coming in judgment.

And it's almost verbatim to what Jesus says to the high priest. Remember, we just saw what Jesus said to the high priest.

That's exactly what he's saying to them. You will see the Son of Man coming in power and glory.

Again, this is apocalyptic language, which is very common in scripture. And again, this is another reason for hermeneutics.

Now, we started this class actually back last summer, and then I took a long vacation in between.

And so do you remember I talked about there are gaps when

I was talking about the necessity for studying hermeneutics? And I talked one of the necessities of hermeneutics is that there are gaps.

Anybody remember what gaps I was talking about? I made a big impression.

No. Yes. Gaps. Gaps in language, gaps in culture, gaps in how we see things, even how we speak.

But definitely the language gap because we just talk so differently.

We're products of the Renaissance and the Reformation in how we think.

How did Jesus teach? Almost exclusively in parables.

He sat down to teach them, and he taught them in parables. Figures of speech, apocalyptic language.

We don't usually think that way. And so that's why we need to study and understand how was

Jesus communicating and how did the Holy Spirit use the scriptures to communicate to people?

Because, for example, if I say, and the whole land was out from Dan to Beersheba, what does that mean to you?

The two ends from top to bottom of the land of Israel. Dan and Beersheba were on the opposite sides.

So that would be like me saying, from New York to California. You know what I mean? All right.

But the scripture uses from Dan to Beersheba. And, for example, if I were to say,

I was going through Greenport, yes, last week. How do you go through Greenport?

If you keep going through Greenport, you're going to fall into the ocean. Just ask Emily. She knows.

She goes out there. All right. So when we learn in Matthew 16 that Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi, it would be a place that you have to go to.

You're not just passing through. Nobody just passes through Greenport. The only reason you go to Greenport is if you're going there for a particular reason.

So Jesus goes to Caesarea Philippi because he's taking disciples away from the madding crowds and speaking to them alone.

If we don't study hermeneutics, we don't get these little innuendos and inferences.

And, again, Middle Eastern culture is so different than ours. We need to understand how the

Middle Eastern person thinks if we're going to get the full impact of scripture. Okay.

But this is the language of judgment. We see similar language in the letters to the churches in the revelation of Jesus Christ, to the church in Ephesus, all right,

Revelation 2 .5. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen and repent. Do the deed you did at first, or else what?

I am coming to you. And why is he going to come to them if they don't do what? If they don't repent?

And what's he going to do to them? Take the lamp stand. What does that mean? They won't cease to be a church.

It's the language of judgment. He's coming to them, you know. To the church in Pergamum, the same thing.

Repent, or I'm coming to you quickly and will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Language of judgment. An objection often heard is that these men never saw

Jesus since they were not physical comings. All right. You hear that a lot. No, it couldn't have been because, you know, it says that he came.

The word see, that's edo in Greek, is also used to mean to be aware, to have knowledge, to be sure, to understand.

Do you see? We even use that language today, don't we? To see.

We use that word, you know, I see. I see what you're saying. Do I literally see what you're saying?

Are the words coming out of your mouth? Only if you have bad breath, maybe. Okay. All right.

John Gill, famous Reformed Baptist theologian of years gone by, says, And then they shall see the

Son of Man, et cetera, not in person, but in the power of his wrath and vengeance.

This shows that the sign of the Son of Man in Matthew 2430 is the same with the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, having taken vengeance on the

Jewish nation to set up his kingdom and glory in the Gentile world. The old covenant is passing away.

The new covenant is coming in. Now, we need to understand something, too, that this period from 30

A .D. to 70 A .D., when Christ is crucified to 70 A .D. with the destruction, is a time of transition.

Okay. The old covenant definitively ended when

Christ was crucified on the cross. Sacrifice is everything else, no longer any use.

All right. And the new covenant definitively began. All right.

But what happens? It takes time for the new covenant to expand.

Remember, when Paul was on his missionary journey, he comes across a policy.

He had the Holy Spirit. He didn't even know there was a baptism of the Holy Spirit. They hadn't heard. So they had that transition time where the kingdom is starting to expand, and the old covenant is waning, which becomes complete.

The old covenant is completely obliterated by the destruction of the temple because there can be no old covenant without the temple.

Okay. All right. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.

What does everybody—what does 90 % of evangelical Christianity attribute this verse to?

The rapture? Okay. All right. At some future time.

But as we've seen contextually, these are all singular events, all talking about the destruction of the temple.

So it can't possibly be the rapture. All right.

And there's another thing in here that would kind of prevent it from being the rapture. The rapture is this secret coming.

They're coming with a trumpet. What kind of a secret can you have if the angels are coming with a trumpet?

We're going to gather all the elect out of the world. Here's the trumpet blowing. If it's a secret, it's not a very good one.

All right. I'm just saying, you know. All right. However, following the time text of the previous verses, this cannot be since this too occurs within the time period of the whole discourse, 730 to 70

AD. So what does it refer to then? He will send forth his angels.

What's an angel? Angels are messengers.

The letters to the seven churches are addressed to the angels of the churches. Who are the angels of the churches?

Which all theologians, dispensational and reformed alike, who are the angels that the seven churches are addressed to?

Yes. To the pastors. The pastors are the messengers. All right. So the angel does not have to be a heavenly being.

In fact, when the word is used in scripture, there has to be a certain connotation for it to be a heavenly messenger.

All right. Other than that, it's just a messenger. Angels are messengers, those who proclaim something.

These angels are equipped with a trumpet. What is the symbolism? Again, biblical language.

Let's not use our language. What is biblical language? What does a trumpet symbolize? I was in the spirit on the

Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.

These are messengers of God with something to proclaim. When you see the trumpet, it's proclaiming something.

Remember the context. The kingdom of God is no longer relegated to Israel.

The apostles are told to begin in Jerusalem and spread out to the remotest parts of the world. These angels or messengers are the apostles, pastors, evangelists, and missionaries.

They preach the gospel, which goes forward like a loud trumpet. And this verse prophesies the action of the

Great Commission being a reality in the time of the apostles. What's the

Great Commission? Make disciples of all the nations. So it can be said that if you want to use biblical imagery, every

Sunday morning I get into the pulpit and I blow the trumpet. Okay?

Just got a good score, that's all. To the four corners of the world, east, west, north, and south.

So what is this verse describing? Is it describing the secret gathering together of the elect and taking them up to heaven?

No, it's describing the messengers of the church going to every known location in the world, preaching the gospel, and gathering the elect together.

Gathering the elect together. Does that fit? Let's see. From one end of heaven to the other.

That will result in the gathering together of all the elect. What does that mean? Good translation of the

Greek word. It's a good translation of the Greek word, episonago. Anybody know another word we get from that root, episonago?

Think about it. Hmm? No? Sunagoge? Synagogue.

All right. Which means what? It means to gather together, not to take out.

All right. It's from the word we get, synagogue. Same word that's used up here.

Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together.

What does Jesus want to do? He wants to gather people together. Right? The way her hen gathers her chicks.

But you're unwilling. He was 1025. More on target. Not forsaking our own assembling together, episonago.

So it's not a secret taking out of the world. It's when the gospel goes forward, gathering the elect into the synagogue or the assembly of the church.

Isn't that just what happened? When Jesus ascended into heaven and he commissioned the disciples, they went to the four corners of the world.

And you can see that even not so much even from the scriptures, because we only get

James, John, Paul, Peter. But if you go to travel around Eastern Europe, everywhere you go, there's a

St. Thomas or a St. Andrew church named after the apostles. And we know that others went to India.

The gospel went to the known world. John Lightfoot said of this verse, when

Jerusalem shall be reduced to ashes and that wicked nation cut off and rejected, then shall the son of man send his ministers with the trumpet of the gospel, and they shall gather his elect to the several nations from the four corners of heaven so that God shall not want a church.

Although that ancient people of his be rejected and cast off, but that Jewish church being destroyed, a new church shall be called out of the

Gentiles, send his ministers. They'll gather and elect from the four corners of heaven.

Question? Yes, Mike. It's kind of unrelated, but in terms of church history, the gathering of the saints, using church bells, is that sort of a problem?

Yes, yes. And even the early

Americans, our forefathers here used to do that. If you notice in the small towns, every church had a steeple with bells.

And before the service would start Sunday morning, somebody ring the bell calling people to worship.

A trumpet call was a call of warning to those who were going back to the sacrificial system.

Yes. Remember, the Scriptures is a two edged sword. When the gospel goes forward, think of it this way.

The gospel is a form of judgment. Repent. Right.

Repent. And you have the good news. Reject the gospel call and judgment comes.

That's why Francis Schaeffer, in one of his books,

I'm not sure if it was the God who was there or how shall we then live? I think it's how shall we then live?

So evangelism is cruel. And he says, why? And he says, evangelism is like going to somebody who's living nice and comfortable in their house and you blow the roof off.

He says, once they've heard, they have no excuse. They're not ignorant anymore. And if they reject the gospel, now they're exposed to all the elements in God's judgment coming right on top of them.

And you've left them worse than before. Anyone who rejects the gospel. Yeah. Going along the trumpet, does it also reminiscent of Ezekiel 33 where it talks about, you know, we're talking about Ezekiel being

Israel's watchman. He sees the enemy approaching, he blows the trumpet.

Yeah. And if the people listen to them, but if they don't listen to them, they're going to be on their own head.

Absolutely. Absolutely. You don't want to be, if you're a believer. All right. And you know the gospel and you don't warn the people that God brings into your sphere of influence.

Yeah. You're the watchman who has been negligent. And yeah.

And the blood will be on your head. That's what he says. Clearly. It's also interesting to see in the book of Revelations, how

Hermeneutics is used about the Jews. They're now the synagogue of Satan. Yes. Yeah.

Any other questions? Do you see how important hermeneutics is? I mean, if you,

I mean, when you start digging into this and then looking up words and seeing the meanings, the

Bible, it's just, it just comes together even more so than our English translations will say.

So if you do, you just take the time to dig into it a little bit more. You see how, what an intricate web and like a tapestry.