Olivet Discourse Pt 1: Intro & Overview

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Matthew 24 Pt 2 of the Olivet Discourse

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So, tonight we're going to go through something known as the Olivet Discourse, and this is starting in Matthew chapter 24.

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We're actually going to begin at the end of chapter 23, but before that, I just want to give you a little intro and overview as to what we're going to be doing.

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So how are we going to do this study? First we're going to read through the whole passage together, and we're going to start from Matthew chapter 23 and verse,

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I'm sorry, chapter 23 verse 29, and read to chapter 24 verse 44.

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Now, I know I asked you all to read it together, I just want it to be fresh in our minds because we're going to go through it once again.

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Then we're going to summarize the entire passage in a broad way tonight. That's what tonight's lesson is really going to be about.

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Next week, we're going to go through each verse individually and explain it in context because there's going to be some things that are going to be a little bit more difficult to understand and we're going to have to shine a light on them, an exegetical light.

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We're going to have to compare Scripture with Scripture so we know exactly what Jesus is telling his disciples and so that we don't misunderstand what he's teaching them.

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Then we're going to go more deeply address the larger key points of the context. There's going to be certain phrases that you've heard before in Matthew 24, but we're going to explore them a little bit differently, deeper

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I should say. And then we're going to address opposing viewpoints to the point of view that I'm going to put forward tonight.

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So some of the subjects and topics we'll be covering are going to include the temple and its destruction in 70

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AD, that's a very important event. We're going to talk about wars and rumors of wars, that parousia, which is the presence of God.

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We're going to learn about the abomination of desolation, the great tribulation, the coming of the

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Son of Man, the term, the sun, the moon, and the stars, we're going to learn what that means. We're going to talk about this generation and probably finish up with the fig tree, which is what

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Jesus uses. He curses the fig tree and that's always something that people ask questions about. Now to do this study,

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I'm going to be mainly drawing from the work of Gary DeMar, who's a terrific apologist and theologian when it comes to end times.

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Ken Gentry, same thing, R .C. Sproul, these are three gentlemen who've studied this topic extensively.

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So I'm certainly going to be gleaning from their insights and some other online resources.

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So what we're going to do now is we're going to read the text starting at Matthew 23 verse 29.

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And Jerry's going to read the text so I can save my voice and teach the rest of the lesson.

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So whenever you're ready, Jerry, go ahead. Yep. 29 to 36. Correct? Yes. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, 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 the shedding of the blood of the prophets.

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Thus you witness against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

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Fill up then the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

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Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some whom you will kill and crucify and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute or persecute from town to town so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of the righteous

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Abel to the blood of Zachariah, the son of Barakiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

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Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

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Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.

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How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.

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See your house is left to you desolate, for I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

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Lord. Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the building of the temple.

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But he answered them, you see all these, do you do you not truly,

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I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

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As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the signs of your coming of the end of the age.

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And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name saying

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I am the Christ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

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See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place. But the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

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And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

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All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death.

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And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

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And many false prophets will rise up and lead many astray.

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And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

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But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

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And then the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet

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Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.

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Then let those who are in Judea lead to the mountains.

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Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house.

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And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.

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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 winter or on the

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Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now.

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No, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.

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But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the

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Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray.

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If possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.

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So if they say to you, look, he is in the wilderness, do not go out.

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If they say to you, look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the

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Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

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Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

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And the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

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Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man.

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And then all tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

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And he will send out his angels with loud trumpet call.

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And they will gather his elect from the four winds and from one end of heaven to the other.

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From the fig tree, learn this lesson. As soon as its branches become tender and puts out its leaves, you know the summer is near.

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So also when you see all these things, you know that he is near at the very gates.

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Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

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Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the sun, but the

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Father only. For as were in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the

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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

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Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.

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So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field.

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One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left.

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Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your

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Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

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Therefore, you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

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Jerry, thank you very, very much for that. I appreciate you reading that whole thing for me.

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So that's quite a passage and there's a lot to chew on in there. Some of the words that Jesus used were very condemning of the

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Pharisees in the beginning of that. He condemned them to hell. He says, all these things are going to come upon this generation.

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He's going to leave to them their house desolate and on and on and on. So let's begin at the beginning of this, okay?

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I'm going to mute myself, Anthony. No problem. So understanding the present fulfillment of the

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Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 is very important because of the historicity of its actual fulfillment and the dangerous misconceptions of a future fulfillment, which some proclaim it will be.

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The prophetic events in Matthew 24 are also included in Mark 13 and Luke 21.

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So we'll also be considering what they have to say when going through this study. I would also encourage everybody to read

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Mark 13 and Luke 21 because it fills in some missing details that are going to add to our understanding of what

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Jesus is teaching us. Ken Gentry says this, among the vast majority of evangelicals, this passage is absolutely confused as it is immensely popular.

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Indeed, the average evangelical approach to the Olivet Discourse is so seriously misconstrued that it places its fulfillment at the wrong place in history, misses

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Christ's whole point entirely, applies its judgment to the wrong people, and spreads its catastrophes far beyond its intended focus.

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Thus, the popular conception has the wrong time, the wrong purpose, the wrong place, the wrong objects, and the wrong scope for its judgment.

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So those are some serious words. He says most evangelicals are improperly interpreting this verse, and that's what we're going to go through broadly tonight and then deeper as time goes on.

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So there's three ways, three predominant ways to view what

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Jesus said in Matthew 24, and it is a prophecy because he's talking about something that's going to happen in the future.

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So the one view is that the whole event will be fulfilled in the future, and that's also known as futurism.

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So it would say that what Jesus told his disciples then still has not happened, and people are looking forward to that in the future.

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Another view would say that the event has been partially fulfilled with more of it to come, with some of the later aspects of his prophecy to come in the future.

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And finally, there's a group of people that says the event has been fulfilled already in its entirely, it is entirely complete, and they're known as hyperpreterists.

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The middle view, I forgot to say, is called preterism, and that word preterism just means past or gone by.

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Now the view, I'm going to be up front, the view that I take, and the view that Ken Gentry, I'm sorry,

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Ken Gentry, Gary DeMar, and R .C. Sproul take, is known as preterism. So this is a partial fulfillment.

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The first century preterist understanding of the coming of Christ is a coming in judgment, and that led to the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem before that first century generation had passed away.

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And that's in Matthew 24, 34 and 16, 27 through 28.

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While this is neither a popular nor a well -known interpretation today, the majority of conservative

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Bible commentators who have written on prophetic themes in the last 400 years held this position.

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In fact, it can be traced back to the first, second, and third centuries. So I'm going to be taking the preterist position that most of the

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Olivet Discourse has come to pass, and there is more of it to come in the future.

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So what is the popular view right now? And again, Ken Gentry says this, the dominant popular understanding regarding the

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Olivet Discourse holds that Jesus is referring to events in the distant future, which are to occur at the very end of the church age, whereas he is actually speaking of events in the lifetime of his original audience at the end of the

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Old Covenant. The popular view holds that Jesus is prophesying events regarding the future tribulation era temple, whereas he is actually prophesying the destruction of the first century temple and the permanent removal of the

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Old Testament sacrificial system. The popular view holds that Jesus is speaking of catastrophes befalling non -Jews who persecute the

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Jews, whereas he is actually focusing on disasters overwhelming the

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Jews of that time because they rejected the Messiah. The popular view holds that Jesus is declaring judgments overwhelming the entire world, whereas he is actually focusing those judgments upon Judea in the land of Israel.

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Now, these are some good observations, and these are what he puts forward. Now it's going to be up to us to go through the scriptures and see if what he says is actually true.

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So let's continue the overview. To see what the text actually says, we need to lay aside our preconceived notions and look at the context of the entire situation, coupled with an understanding of the

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Old Testament scriptures and symbolism that the Jewish hearers were familiar with. Throughout history, the followers of Jesus believed in this passage's first century fulfillment, but bad theology has been very effective in distorting and minimizing its historical significance.

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This interpretation has even caused some to say that Jesus was a false prophet. Now going back to that first paragraph, it's very important that we understand the

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Old Testament scriptures and the symbolism within those scriptures. One of the hermeneutical principles we hold to is that we interpret scripture by the scriptures.

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So if the scriptures in the Old Testament use the phrase the coming on the clouds, and Jesus uses that in Matthew 24, well, we should go back to those verses and see what coming on the clouds meant.

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Okay, when Jesus uses the term the abomination of desolation, if we could see that the abomination of desolation was in the

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Old Testament, well, we should look at that and see what it means. Okay, that's going to help our understanding of what

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Jesus is trying to convey to the people who were directly in front of him, his contemporaries, the hearers of what he was saying.

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So this interpretation that all of this is completely in the future has caused some to say that Jesus was a false prophet.

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In fact, Albert Schweitzer, though he sought to interpret the life of Jesus against the backdrop of a transcendent eschatology, he concluded that Jesus' own eschatological expectations had been unfulfilled.

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The historical Jesus believed that the kingdom would be inaugurated by a catastrophic act of God, but this divine act did not materialize.

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What he's basically saying is Jesus says all these things were going to happen to this generation, but it didn't happen to that generation.

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So Jesus prophesied certain things that didn't come to pass. That would categorize him as a false prophet.

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In fact, there's a famous atheist by the name of Russell Bertrand and Bart Ehrman. They both consider

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Jesus to be a false prophet because they believe that the things that he was telling his audience at that point didn't come to pass.

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And if Jesus is God, the way the Bible says he is, and he prophesied that something comes to pass and it doesn't, that would lead people to believe he's a false prophet and either is not

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God or is just a liar. So it's very important that we get this passage of scripture correct.

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So could it be that what Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, which is referred to as the

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Olivet Discourse, was fulfilled in the first century? That's what we need to find out.

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We'll have to look very closely and take seriously Jesus' statement when he says,

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Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled.

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Too many people put aside Jesus' clear proclamation, but we will examine this and take him at his word to see if his statement was fulfilled in the generation that he said it would be fulfilled.

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That's what the goal of tonight is going to be. And as we go on and deeper into the study, we'll get more and more information to build on our hypothesis here.

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So the time text of this generation, found in Matthew 23, 36 and Matthew 24, 34, is critical to the proper understanding of this prophecy.

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Prophecy. These two texts form eschatological bookends for the study that we're going through.

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So we see in Matthew 23, 36, Jesus says, Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

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Then at the end of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, 34, he says it again. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

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So sandwiched between these two time texts are the sign text, the verses that describe the signs leading up to the temple's destruction, the end of the age, and Jesus' judgment coming on Jerusalem that would take place before that first century generation passed away.

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Dispensationalists do not believe that the phrase, this generation, refers to the generation to whom

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Jesus was speaking, but rather to some future generation. There are a number of problems with that position, and we're going to proceed to go through them tonight.

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Now I would ask you, just on a prima facie basis, when somebody says, all these things will come upon this generation, if you were standing there hearing that, what would you have thought?

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You would have thought that Jesus is saying, these things are going to happen within my time frame. When he says, this generation will not pass away, in other words, there will be people here who are not going to die.

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They're going to be alive when these things take place. If you were in that first century audience, listening to what

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Jesus says, you would have assumed that these things were going to happen during your lifetime. In Matthew 24, 1,

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Jesus ceremoniously leaves the temple. Jesus came out from the temple and was going away.

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He had just declared it desolate in Matthew 23, 38. Now he acts out her truly desolate condition by personally leaving it and going away, never again to return to it.

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This ends his public ministry for he states, you will not see me until. Jesus then makes an incredible prophecy when his disciples point out the buildings.

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In verse one, Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple.

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But he answered them, you see all of these, do you not? Truly I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.

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So he's talking specifically about the temple. They were standing on the Mount of Olives.

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Okay, that's why this is called the Olivet discourse. And they were looking down across the mountain to the temple.

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And that's what the disciples were pointing to. Jesus looks at that temple and says, not one stone will be left upon another.

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So we see in Matthew 23, Jesus rebukes the Jewish leaders and cast the woes upon them, proclaiming that all the righteous blood of the prophets that had been killed would be poured out on them.

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And now in Matthew 24, the context of the Olivet discourse is the temple in Jerusalem.

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Then Jesus left the city and looking back, his disciples pointed to the beautiful temple. So the subject of discussion that they were asking him about and that he was talking to them about was the temple in Jerusalem.

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It's a very important point. If we miss the fact that Jesus is talking about the temple, we could begin to say and speculate, oh, he's talking about something else.

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But that's not what he was talking to the disciples about. He was very pointed. He spoke to them about the temple and its destruction.

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When they sat down at the Mount of Olives, which overlooks the city and the temple, the disciples asked

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Jesus about when the desolation would take place and what would be the sign.

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So the proper context of the Olivet discourse is the desolation of the temple.

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This is not about end times. It's about the end of an age, the end of the old covenant dispensation, but it is not the end of all time.

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The disciples understood the prophecy in Daniel 9 of the 70 weeks that foretold that the temple and the city would be desolated because the

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Jewish leaders would deliver Jesus up to be killed. So they wanted to know more about when it would happen.

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Jesus referred to Daniel 9, verse 27, when he foretold the sign of the abomination of desolation.

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And this is how it reads. And this is from Daniel 9. It's important that we understand and look back to the

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Old Testament verses that correspond to what Jesus was telling them in Matthew 24.

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It says in the people of the prince, that's Jesus, that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood.

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And unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation.

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And that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Okay, so the disciples knew exactly what

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Jesus was talking about because of Daniel's prophecy about the 70 weeks. And that's why we need to learn what that means also.

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And we're gonna go deeper into that in upcoming lessons, but right now we're just doing an overview. I want you to know why

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I'm taking this position and why I think the disciples would have taken it this way also.

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The disciples then ask him, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

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The disciples were amazed by this prophecy that the temple and everything the temple embodied, the priesthood, the sacrifices and the whole

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Jewish economy would soon come to an end. Their questions could not have referred to Jesus's second coming as some claim.

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They didn't even know at that point that he was going to be crucified and come back to life. Why would they be asking about a distant physical coming of Jesus on the clouds to the earth when they still did not grasp the significance of his first coming that included his death, resurrection and ascension?

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Remember after Jesus rose again, the women came to the apostles and they didn't believe that he really rose again.

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In fact, it was Thomas who didn't believe that Jesus was alive and said,

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I'm not going to believe until I put my finger in his hands. And that's when Jesus appeared to him and actually let him do that.

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So the disciples clearly equated the destruction of the temple with Jesus's coming in judgment and with the end of the age.

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So they weren't thinking about Jesus's physical second coming back to the earth, which will happen in the future.

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But what Jesus was explaining to them was his coming back to the earth in judgment and the end of the old covenant age.

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The destruction of the temple would dramatically mark the end of the old covenant redemptive system with its sacrifices and rituals.

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End of the age is a covenantal phrase. It refers to the termination of the exclusive Jewish entitlement to covenant promises and the inclusion of Gentiles into the blessings of that covenant.

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And then you could look that up in Matthew 21, 41, verse 43 and chapter 22, 10.

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So again, end of the age is a covenantal term and that's something that we can find and look up in the

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Old Testament to substantiate that. There are three recordings of the

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Olivet Discourse and only Matthew added the phrase, and what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?

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When we read this, what Jesus says in Matthew 13, 4, he says, tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?

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Luke 21, 7 says, and they asked him saying, master, but when shall these things be?

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And what sign will be there when these things shall come to pass? Matthew, Matthew's question about the end of the world,

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Matthew's the only one, I should say, that adds that phrase, what is the end of the world?

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What's the sign of the end of the world? Matthew's question about the end of the world, it should be rendered as end of the age.

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That word world, if it meant the entire world, would be cosmos, but it's not, it's the word aeon.

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And aeon is a unit of time as a particular stage of period of history. It's an age or an era.

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So really what the translation should read, and it reads this way in the

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ESV, the NASB and the New King James, which is a literal word for word translation, it reads, what will be the sign of the end of the age?

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Not the end of the world. So again, the contemporary hearers of Jesus' talking to them would have understand that this would be the end of the age, not the end of the entire world.

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Matthew was asking about the end of the Jewish age, as Jesus had just declared that the

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Jewish leaders and temple would be desolated, which would end the existence of the Jewish nation.

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Matthew understood that Jesus was going to come in the clouds to oversee the desolation of the temple, the city and the

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Jews. And we're gonna learn about what that term coming on the clouds means. So as of right now,

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I just want you to understand that this is coming on the clouds is a term of judgment. And we're gonna go through the

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Old Testament again in later lessons and show every time coming on the clouds appears in the

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Old Testament and what the context of that coming on the clouds was. So then

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Jesus goes on to say, see to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in my name saying,

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I am the Christ and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you are not frightened for those things must take place.

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But that is not yet the end for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And in various places, there will be famines and earthquakes.

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But all of these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. So the first item to notice is

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Jesus was clearly addressing his present listeners and warning them about the events surrounding the destruction of the temple that was standing before them.

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See, he says, see to it that no one misleads you, right?

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If you were standing there and Jesus says, see to it that no one misleads you, would you take that meaning you?

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Of course you would, right? They would be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened.

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The disciples will be delivered up to tribulation. They will kill you and you will be hated.

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The logic is obvious. Jesus' warning was to the generation of disciples who asked the question about the coming judgment.

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He was specifically warning them not to be misled, that they would be delivered up to tribulation and that they would be hated.

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In that context, you could see how the early disciples would have understood this was something that they expected to happen in their generation.

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So when exactly would this judgment come? When you see the abomination of desolation, that's exactly what

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Jesus says. Luke's recording of this clearly defines when the abomination of desolation was.

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He says, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.

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Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and let those who are inside the city depart and let not those who are out in the country enter into it, or Jerusalem.

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So Luke is basically saying, when you see the army surrounding Jerusalem, the temple, its desolation has come near.

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The end is at hand. At that point, run, flee, run out of Judea, go to the mountains and don't let anybody come into the city.

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Because if you come into the city, you're going to be killed. Now, here's just something I'm gonna add. If this was about the end times, and this was a worldwide judgment that many people think it is, where would you be able to flee to?

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Would you be able to flee to the mountains if it's a worldwide judgment? No, because it's worldwide.

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There will be no place you can flee if it was a worldwide judgment. So this is specific to the area of Judea.

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When he says flee to the mountains, that means to get out of the city. And again, the early listeners, the listeners who were there listening to this would have understood exactly what

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Jesus meant. Connecting this with Daniel nine, we see how the

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Roman army, the people of the prince surrounding the holy city of Jerusalem, 66 AD was the clear sign that the desolation of the city and temple was near.

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Remember, right before this in Matthew 23, 38, Jesus said, see, your house is left to you desolate.

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So the abomination of desolation means that God's temple was left desolate, empty.

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And how do we know that it was left empty? Because Jesus, who was God in the flesh, walked out of that temple, never to return to it.

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He left their temple to them empty. In other words, God left the building.

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The building was no longer inhabited by God. There would be a future inhabiting of God when the

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Holy Spirit enters into all the believers in the new covenant. And Peter and Paul talk about us being built up into a holy temple.

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So the people of God now become the temple of God. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. Jesus walked out of the temple in Jerusalem leaving it desolate, very important to understand it.

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Jesus goes on to say, for then there will be great tribulation such as not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.

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Some Bible commentators claim that Jesus could not have been referring to the tribulation that led up to and included the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, because that event was not the worst tribulation of all time.

36:38

And once again, we must remember that Matthew 24, 34 clearly says that all these things would happen in this generation.

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That is the generation to whom Jesus was speaking at the time. The language Jesus uses in 21, verse 21 is used elsewhere in scripture to describe extraordinary events related to judgment and calamity.

36:58

This is hyperbolic language. The tribulation that came upon the temple and the city of Jerusalem was the most dreadful and horrifying.

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Why? Because this tribulation was the result of the greatest crime against God in all of history.

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The crucifixion of God's promised redeemer, the crucifixion of God's son,

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Jesus. It's the only time in world history that a truly innocent man has ever been put to death.

37:31

All humanity is guilty in God's sight. We are all lawbreakers. So none of us can stand before God and say we're innocent.

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Jesus could because he didn't sin. So this is the first time that a man was crucified and put to death for being completely innocent.

37:47

No other crime was as heinous as killing the Lord of glory. And we need to let that sink in because if Jesus was who he said he was, and we all believe that he is, putting

37:59

Jesus on the cross was putting God on the cross. Could there be any worse crime than that?

38:08

I can't think of one. So it's very important that we listen to what

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Jesus says, what Jesus says, and who he says it to up to this point.

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Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false

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Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

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See, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, look, he's in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he's in a rooms, do not believe it.

38:43

Now, once again, who is this to? If anyone says to you, look, here is the

38:51

Christ. See, I have told you beforehand. See, if they say to you, look, he's in the wilderness, do not go out.

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Again, he's addressing a specific audience who would have understood exactly what he meant.

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They were the ones who would be listening for someone saying, here's the Christ and warning others, don't believe it.

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From verses 23, 36 to 24, 22, Jesus uses the term you 20 times in those conversations.

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Are we to believe that the people that heard those words thought that this would not happen to them, but to a future generation of people yet to be born?

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No, they knew he was talking directly to them and that these things would happen in their lifetime.

39:43

Very important that we understand that. These were things that they were expecting to happen within their lifetime.

39:51

Jesus then tells his people that he would come just as lightning comes from the East, which means quickly and without warning.

40:00

In the Bible, lightning often signifies the presence of the Lord or his coming in judgment. And that's in Exodus 19, 20,

40:08

Job, Ezekiel, and Zechariah. And hopefully we're gonna be able to go through some of those scriptures in a little bit more depth in the upcoming weeks as we dig in deeper to this.

40:18

Again, this is just an overview at this point in time. God was not physically present during any of those

40:28

Old Testament comings in Exodus, Job, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, but his presence was obvious.

40:35

Deuteronomy 32, two says, the Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir.

40:41

He shone forth from Mount Paran, and he came from the midst of 10 ,000 holy ones. At his right hand, there was flashing lightning for them.

40:50

So there's just a little quick glimpse into the Old Testament about a coming of the Lord, in judgment, and it was called flashing lightning for them.

41:01

So that was not the coming of Jesus into the world. That wasn't the incarnation, but it was a coming of the

41:08

Lord to those at Mount Paran, and he came to them in judgment. Was it the real presence of God?

41:15

Absolutely, but it wasn't a presence of happiness. It was a presence of judgment.

41:22

So was God physically present during those times? No, but did he really come?

41:28

Most certainly he did, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heavens will be shaken.

41:43

So the tribulation spoken of in Matthew 24 was the culmination of events that took place just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

41:53

Jesus said that immediately after this tribulation, the sun and moon would be darkened, the stars would fall, et cetera.

42:00

So whatever these images mean, we know that they followed immediately after the tribulation described in verses 15 through 28.

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Matthew used the word immediately to indicate that there would not be a delay or a postponement, and we're gonna see how immediately is used elsewhere in Matthew 3, 16, 4, 20, 22, 8, chapter eight, verse three, 20, 21, and 26.

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Now, if you take this literally, that the sun and the moon would be darkened, and the stars would fall, you realize that if the sun was darkened, we would freeze in a matter of seconds.

42:37

The whole earth would be gone. There would be no judgment to happen because everybody would be dead.

42:44

If the stars fell out of the sky, again, there would be no light. Gravity would disintegrate.

42:51

The earth would not exist. So this is, again, imagery taken from the

42:56

Old Testament, which again, we're gonna go through in future lessons. I'm just letting you know that it's coming so that you don't have questions about it.

43:05

We're gonna learn about this, and it's important that we do. Jesus' disciples were not asking about the end of the world, cosmos, but about the end of that covenant age, and there's that word aeon.

43:16

When the tribulation of those days was completed, the end of the temple and city would be near at hand.

43:23

As the time for Jerusalem's demise drew closer, other signs would appear. These later signs were described by Jesus as the sun darkening, the moon not giving light, and stars falling away, and the powers of heaven shaking.

43:36

And this is not the sun going out, literally. Then, Jesus says, will appear in heaven the sign of the

43:47

Son of Man. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the

43:52

Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather as elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

44:04

The most powerful Old Testament reference from Matthew 24 30 is found in Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, because it is the passage that Jesus quotes.

44:15

Daniel 7 13 says, I kept looking in the night vision, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a

44:22

Son of Man was coming. And where was he coming? He came up to the

44:28

Ancient of Days, who was presented before him. Now, the Son of Man is Jesus.

44:33

The Ancient of Days is the Father. So where does Daniel say the

44:39

Son of Man was going? Did he say the Son of Man was coming to the earth? Or did he say that the

44:45

Son of Man was coming up to the Ancient of Days? This is

44:51

Jesus's ascension into heaven to the Father. Notice that the coming of the

44:58

Son of Man here is not going down, but going up. The perspective taken by the prophet

45:04

Daniel is from heaven. And the Son of Man is coming up to God the Father to receive his kingdom.

45:11

With that in mind, it's clear that in Matthew 24 30, Jesus was describing to his disciples his powerful and triumphant enthronement in heaven, as he would display righteous victory over his enemies.

45:26

Again, Jesus came to become King of the earth,

45:32

King of all the nations. And where would he be enthroned? He would be enthroned in heaven.

45:38

And where is he now? Seated at the right hand of the Father, ruling and reigning till all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.

45:48

No one would deny that Jesus is King right now. He's ruling and reigning at the right hand of God the

45:55

Father. At first reading, many assume that in Matthew 24 30,

46:01

Jesus was saying that everyone on earth would see him physically appearing in the sky. And part of this assumption stems from a poor understanding of the text.

46:10

First, the text does not speak of Jesus appearing in the sky. In fact, a word for word translation of the

46:16

Greek reads, and then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

46:22

Jesus was telling his disciples to look for the sign of his enthronement in heaven. The destruction of the city of Jerusalem pointed the way to the new

46:31

Jerusalem. All Christians now look to the Jerusalem above, right? That's where heaven is coming down to earth progressively.

46:40

That's what we pray in the Lord's Prayer. Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Your kingdom come.

46:48

R .T. France, who is another commentator and theologian, he argued, it's more likely that the angels are here credited with a missionary role in the in -gathering of God's people.

46:58

The description of the angels in Hebrews 1 14 as, are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

47:09

The phrase from the four winds is a reference to the entire world. Indeed, the phrase, the four corners of the earth is a common expression even to this day.

47:19

Jesus was emphasizing the fact that under the new covenant, his elect are gathered from everywhere, from every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation.

47:30

The great trumpet is the call of the gospel. It recalls Numbers 10 1 -10, where silver trumpets were made to call the people together for worship and to set them on their march.

47:47

Matthew 23 33. Okay, this is, I'm gonna do a real quick recap of the verse and then we'll close with questions.

47:55

So in Matthew 23 verses 33 through 39, Jesus rebukes the

48:00

Pharisees pretty soundly, calling them a brood of vipers. And remember that brood of vipers means that they're seeds of the serpent.

48:08

This goes back to Genesis where God tells Adam, well, tells the serpent that someone is coming that's gonna crush the head of the serpent.

48:20

So the seed of the woman will crush the seed of the serpent, which means that Jesus and his church are gonna be victorious over the sons of Adam and the sons of the devil, they're seeds of the serpent.

48:34

And he pronounced, Jesus pronounces covenant curses upon them to happen when within their generation.

48:41

Then he weeps over Jerusalem, exits the temple, leaving their house to them desolate and says they won't see him again until they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

48:51

Lord. Then in Matthew 24, Jesus leaves the temple and tells his disciples that the temple he just left will be destroyed.

49:00

There will not be one stone left upon another. In verses three through eight, the disciples sit with Jesus on the

49:07

Mount of Olives and ask when will these things take place? Jesus says that there'll be false Christ, wars, famines, earthquakes before the end, but those are just birth pains.

49:18

In verses nine through 13, Jesus warns them that they will be hated and put to death because of him.

49:24

Families will betray each other, false prophets will arise, lawlessness will increase. However, the kingdom will be proclaimed by the faithful to all the nations and then the end will come.

49:35

In verses 15 through 28, Jesus cites the prophecy of Daniel as a sign of the coming of the son of man.

49:42

He warns them to flee from Jerusalem, Judea, when this happens and not to believe anyone who tries to tell them differently.

49:49

The coming of the son of man will be quick and destructive. Verses 29 through 31, immediately after that tribulation, distress, the sun, moon, and the stars, which are the powers of heaven, you'll notice that most flags of countries have stars or moons or a sun on them.

50:13

They really get that from the biblical understanding of the sun, moon, and stars, meaning the powers and the principalities on the earth.

50:21

So immediately after that tribulation, the sun, moon, and stars will fall. Then it will appear a sign of the son of man in heaven and he will come on the clouds, which is judgment with great power, and the trumpet call, the gospel, will go out to gather his elect from all of the earth.

50:41

Jesus then uses a fig tree as an illustration of when to know that he is near. He reminds his disciples that all of these things will happen to this generation and his words will come true.

50:53

They will come to pass. In verses 36 through 51, Jesus assures them that no one knows when that day will be, but that it will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.

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He warns them to be ready at any time so that they can continue to do the faithful work they were assigned to do by their master.

51:15

The clear time references that govern the timing of the Olivet Discourse prophecy from Matthew 23, 36 to 24, 34, make it clear that Jesus was speaking of the events leading up to and including the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.

51:30

Those who manipulate the clear meaning of the phrase this generation by trying to make it to refer to events in the distant future are involved in prophetic speculation that contributes to last day's madness.

51:45

In other words, if we abandon the clear time indicators of this passage, then these verses can be applied to any generation.

51:54

All eras of history have had and will continue to have wars, false prophets, famines, and the like.

52:00

If people fail to recognize the timing of these events set by Scripture and the historical context of Jesus' words, they will always be led astray to look for some future

52:11

Great Tribulation. When Christians are left to wonder whether the

52:17

Great Tribulation might occur in their generation, this kind of speculation often leads to a pessimistic view of society,

52:24

Christian activism, and the future. However, once we realize that the Great Tribulation has already come, and that the

52:31

Church has been promised a progressively victorious future, we will be encouraged to work diligently for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom.

52:40

Let's not forget that we serve the victorious King who has been given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples and nations and men of every language might serve

52:50

Him. Remember the verse that we sing or recite at Christmas time, of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.

53:00

Thankfully, Jesus says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

53:08

So that kind of sums up the lesson for now. So what we'll do, if you guys want, now we'll start taking some questions.

53:20

Let me see, where's my buddy, Jerry? I'm here. You're here.

53:25

I just can't see you. Hold on a second, you. What happened to me? There you are, okay.

53:33

So Jerry, any comments or questions, observations? I honestly,

53:38

I think you did a really excellent job. I really liked the way you laid it out. Dorcas is enjoying it as well.

53:45

I look forward to seeing the rest of it. Obviously, you know, I'm on the same page with you on this. Right.

53:51

I wouldn't add anything else to it. Dorcas, you have any thoughts? No. So good, excellent, very good.

53:58

Okay, great, great. Go ahead. Jake, you out there?

54:05

Hey, bro. How are you, pal? Good, man. How you doing? All right. Any observations, questions?

54:13

I'd have to agree with Jerry, man. That was just a really great presentation. And like he said,

54:18

I'm looking forward to the next week as well. You know, I agree with you. And yeah,

54:24

I think we hold to the same position. Yeah, no, it's just great, man. I know this was just a summary, so I know there's more to come, a lot more detail.

54:33

I'm looking forward to how you go into the Old Testament, you know, because that's obviously rich for understanding this passage.

54:43

Yeah, man, looking forward to it. Good. I'm glad that you were able to drop in and listen.

54:49

Yeah. Anthony. Yes. The Sun, the Moon, and the

54:54

Stars. When we were reading that, it took me back to Joseph's dream.

55:01

Yes. I'm looking for it. But didn't his one dream was that the

55:07

Sun, the Moon, and Stars bowed down to him? Yes. And then Jacob interpreted it that, you know, what do you mean?

55:14

Your mother and I would bow down to you? Right. Well, wouldn't that make a reference to that the

55:22

Sun, the Moon, and the Stars would be Israel? Yes. Jacob representing Israel. They're falling.

55:28

Yes, absolutely. The Sun, you're right on. Sun, the Moon, and the Stars are what bowed down to Jacob, right?

55:39

Yes. The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars represent Israel. They represent all of Jacob and all of his brothers.

55:47

Yeah, because that goes right back to Genesis. Oh, yeah. And wait, you're going to see so many times throughout the

55:54

Old Testament that term Sun, Moon, and Stars used. And again, it also, Sun, Moon, and Stars is also representative of other nations, the other nations that come against Israel.

56:08

Like I said, and I'll show you, there's a chart with a bunch of flags on it, and you'll see a lot of them have a

56:16

Sun, like even our flag. Look at the stars that we have on our flag. I think the

56:22

Japanese flag is a big moon in the center of the flag. They all point to some, I think it's the

56:30

Muslim flag, is that crescent moon, right? All these different flags that have

56:35

Sun, Moons, and Stars on them, and they represent powers and principalities.

56:42

Excellent job, Anthony, really. Oh, good, that's a great point. I'm glad you brought it up, and we're definitely going to explore that more because it bears going through.

56:54

We need to know what the Old Testament says, because if we don't, we're going to misinterpret this.

57:00

We're going to say the Sun, Moon, and Stars are going to fall from the sky, and we're going to think that's a literal Sun, Moon, and Stars falling from the sky.

57:07

Exactly. It has nothing to do with that. Thank you for chiming in.

57:13

I'm going to go to Brother Rob. Is his microphone working?

57:20

Oh, I'm not going to go to Brother Rob right now. I'm going to go. He's not working. Adam, you around?

57:27

Yeah, I'm here. Yep. Hey, buddy. Any questions, observations? Honestly, I just, kind of with everybody else, this was really, really good.

57:37

Very insightful. And I'm excited to hear what you're going to say in the next coming weeks.

57:44

I thought you covered a lot, so to see what else you're going to cover is really going to be awesome. I'm excited. I'm real curious as to what

57:51

I'm going to cover, too. I hope it's good. No, don't worry. We got plenty of stuff to chew on.

57:58

I'm looking forward to it. Listen, this is a learning curve for me, too, because I don't know this in depth.

58:04

I know it basic stuff, and I could navigate my way through it. But this is pushing me to go deeper, to be able to understand it and then convey it to you guys.

58:15

It's a help to me. And hopefully it'll be a help to you so that when you see these things, you'll understand the ramifications of what

58:23

Jesus is saying. Because so many people are under the impression that when

58:28

Jesus comes back, he's going to be taking these people out, the rapture, these people out.

58:34

And all that's going to be left are the unbelievers. Now, if that's the case, what is your motivation to build the kingdom of God now?

58:43

You're just waiting for Jesus to come to pull you out of here. It's very passive.

58:49

But if you understand that Jesus is building his kingdom, and his kingdom is built slowly and progressively over time, and is going to be a gradual increase, and of the increase of his government, there will be no end.

59:03

We have optimism. We now have a greater motivation to build his kingdom because we know that we're not going to be defeated.

59:12

We walk around saying that we're more than conquerors, but we can't wait to get out of here.

59:18

It's escapism. We want out. And listen, that really appeals to my flesh.

59:24

I want out of here too. The problem is Jesus is what? He's ruling and reigning until his enemies are made a footstool of his feet.

59:31

How are they made a footstool of his feet? By us proclaiming the gospel, taking everything under the lordship of Christ, and taking dominion over the earth.

59:41

That's what we're commanded to do. So we have a lot of work to do. We have to get rid of this mindset that we're going to be yanked out of here, and then whatever happens happens.

59:51

That's not the way it's going to work. But I'm glad you chimed in, and I'm glad you're part of this study.

01:00:00

Yeah, no, I'm definitely enjoying it. This is great. Excellent. Rob, are you up? I'm here.

01:00:08

I'm here, Anthony. Can you hear me now? Talking Bob or Rob? We'll do Rob first, and then we'll get

01:00:14

Bob. Okay. Hey, Rob. Sorry. How you doing?

01:00:21

I'm doing good. How about you? Good. One of the things that came to mind when you were talking about the part when

01:00:28

Jesus talks about them fleeing to the mountains. I believe as Josephus talks about how during the raid in Jerusalem, how the

01:00:38

Christians actually knew what Jesus had warned them about, and they actually fled the city before the

01:00:48

Romans got there, which was actually contrary to what happens. Usually when there's an army coming to invade, you go into Jerusalem for protection, where the

01:00:58

Christians actually fled outside. So they actually listened to the prophecy of Christ, and they adhered to it.

01:01:05

Right. And Josephus is an extra biblical historical source that points to that and shows that the hearers in Jesus' audience listened to exactly what he said.

01:01:19

They left Jerusalem, and they were saved. They were spared, thankfully. Thankfully.

01:01:27

So. We have to tell them the dispensation story about Jesus. We were driving down in Florida.

01:01:33

The kids, Jackie, Jumaane, and Carmelo were the only ones we had. They were really, really little. So I'm in the back probably nursing one of the babies, and Jumaane goes, look in the sky,

01:01:40

Jesus. So I was like, the car. Someone was skywriting the name Jesus in the sky. No joke.

01:01:47

We're like, we're dispensation. We missed the rapture. We missed the rapture for our young Christians we were. Oh, that's funny.

01:01:54

That's funny. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it, Bob. Hey, Bob, are you out there?

01:02:01

Yeah, I'm here. I have no questions, but you covered a lot of ground in a short period of time.

01:02:08

I thought it was great. Okay, good. Good, I'm glad. Yeah, I'm looking forward to slowing it down a little bit and going deeper in a lot of this stuff.

01:02:17

I don't know how many weeks it's going to take, but however long it takes, it takes. As long as we get a good understanding of what's going on, that's the whole point, to see what

01:02:25

Jesus really meant when he was telling these things to the listeners at that time.

01:02:31

Well, your overview was excellent. Oh, good. Good. Okay. Hey, Gene, are you out there?

01:02:39

I am, buddy. How you doing? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm doing great, thank you.

01:02:44

And at the risk of heaping on more praise, it really was an excellent job.

01:02:51

Really a great overview. I really don't have any questions, but what I was curious about is whether any of that relates to Revelations, and if so, how does it relate to the

01:03:04

Book of Revelations? Sure. It definitely does relate to the Book of Revelation, and we are going to explore some of the verses that correspond with where this dovetails in with Revelation.

01:03:16

And when we do, obviously, feel free to chime in. I'm not at that point now.

01:03:22

But we're going to get there, definitely. Great, great. Good job, buddy. Thank you.

01:03:27

And thanks for popping in here. Oh, my pleasure. Believe me. Good, good.

01:03:33

Kiana, you around? All right. Yes, I am. Oh, wow. You're nice and clear.

01:03:40

Thank you. No, I don't really have any. That was kind of one of my questions. I was reading

01:03:45

Revelation right now, and I was trying to connect it. And I just confused myself a whole lot more, but that kind of answered that.

01:03:50

So thank you. Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, look, Revelation is probably the most misunderstood book in all the

01:03:59

Bible. And when you understand the Old Testament and the Old Testament imagery, the

01:04:05

Book of Revelation becomes very easy to understand. Maybe that's something that we'll tackle in the future. When you understand the symbolism behind it and the imagery that John is pulling from the

01:04:17

Old Testament, it makes complete sense. It makes things a lot, lot easier. So maybe that'll be a future thing after Matthew 24.

01:04:26

But thanks for hanging in here with the study. Oh, no problem. Thank you. You're welcome.

01:04:32

Miss Michelle Giordano. It was excellent, Anthony. We loved it.

01:04:37

And our question was, so you know how I was telling you that we did, you know,

01:04:44

I was reading that book about left behind and about the rapture.

01:04:49

So there's not a rapture, right? There's not a rapture the way the dispensationalists explain the rapture.

01:05:00

Like that book. Go ahead. Oh, like that book, like that we were reading,

01:05:06

Left Behind with Kirk Cameron. Right. No, there's no rapture like that.

01:05:12

In fact, if you go to, let's go to Matthew 24, verses, call it 37.

01:05:23

Okay, 24, 37. 24, 37. Matthew writes, for as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the

01:05:31

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

01:05:39

Noah entered the ark. They were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the

01:05:44

Son of Man. All right. So in Noah's day, the people who were outside the ark, okay, were swept away.

01:05:52

The people inside the ark were saved. So they were unaware until the flood came and swept them away.

01:06:00

So will be the coming of the Son of Man. The two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one will be left.

01:06:08

Which one do you want to be? The one who's taken away or the one who's left on the earth? Taken away.

01:06:15

The one, no, no, no. If you're taken away, okay, like the days of Noah, who was taken away?

01:06:23

The people who were not in the ark. They were judged. The only people who survived were the ones in the ark.

01:06:29

They weren't taken away. They were left on the earth. So when the two men are left in the field, one will be taken away.

01:06:37

You don't want to be the one taken away. You want to be left here on the earth. When Jesus judges everybody in the last day, he's going to put the sheep on his right hand, the goats on his left hand.

01:06:50

He's going to give the rewards to the sheep. And then what's he going to do to the people on the left hand? He's going to cast them away.

01:06:57

It's exile. This is a picture of exile. So verse 42, men will be in the field.

01:07:03

One will be taken. One will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one will be left.

01:07:10

Therefore, stay awake for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

01:07:16

But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have left his house be broken into.

01:07:24

Therefore, you must also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

01:07:31

So you want to be ready when he comes back physically. Okay. What they're talking about here is his coming back in judgment upon Jerusalem, not the end last day of Jesus's physical coming.

01:07:44

That's what I mean about being a partial preterist. Most of what Matthew talked about in chapter 24 has taken place.

01:07:53

Jesus final coming when he comes back for the last time, that's when the dead in Christ are going to be raised.

01:08:02

They're going to be lifted up out of the grace. That's what the rapture is. People are going to be coming up out of their grace to meet

01:08:08

Jesus where? In the air above the ground. Okay. Then Jesus is going to separate the sheep from the goats.

01:08:16

Okay. The believers from the unbelievers, and he's going to cast the unbelievers out, and he's going to give rewards to those who are with him.

01:08:24

So the left behind series is not good theology. And that's been noted over and over and over again.

01:08:33

Unfortunately, it's affected the way a lot of people read these verses. Thanks.

01:08:39

And I guess one of the reasons why I did get that book is because I thought it was attached to Ray Comfort, who is, you know, we listen to Ray Comfort, but I'm glad that this is pointed out to us so we don't read.

01:08:54

Yeah, Kirk Cameron did those movies and held that view well before he met

01:09:00

Ray Comfort. In fact, now Kirk Cameron holds the view that I'm teaching tonight.

01:09:07

He's a partial preterist. Okay, thank you. Oh, you're welcome. My pleasure, my pleasure.

01:09:13

Mr. Pierre, are you out there? Here, Anthony. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing okay.

01:09:20

That was an excellent job, as everybody said. One thing I would say, if everybody can, and I know when

01:09:26

I was at the Academy, R .C. Sproul made us read by Russell Bertram, Why I'm Not a

01:09:32

Christian. That's the name of the book. And R .C. went through the whole thing, disseminating point by point and just refuting the whole thing.

01:09:41

And when I heard that, particularly what Russell Bertram had gotten me with was the, this generation.

01:09:49

Yes. No, he's right. If this generation, Christ is saying they won't pass away and they didn't see all of this, then

01:09:58

Christ's prophecy is not true. But when R .C. went through dissemination of it, and I looked at it,

01:10:06

I said, wow. And what you did tonight was the exact same thing. And it really, you know, it changed me to a partial preterist.

01:10:15

Right. And it also gives you hope and optimism that the world is progressively going to get better.

01:10:23

Right. It's kind of like the stock market. You know, sometimes you, you know, your stock is going up real, real good.

01:10:29

And then all of a sudden something happens and it drops down. But over the course of time, it's this slow, gradual, incremental growth.

01:10:38

And that's what we see with Christianity. We see the Christian continuing to grow throughout the world.

01:10:46

Now, there are times when there's temporary setbacks, like you look at China.

01:10:53

The communist government in China is suppressing Christianity. But in their suppression of Christianity, what happens?

01:11:00

It grows faster. And they're true Christians because in communist China, if you step out on the street and say, oh,

01:11:07

I'm a Christian, Jesus is Lord, you're put in prison. So the people, the Christians in China are serious.

01:11:14

The Christians in America, not so much. You know, you have believers and you have make -believers.

01:11:20

It doesn't cost you anything to stand outside and say, Jesus is Lord. I mean, maybe your friends might think you're a little nutty, but the government's not going to throw you into prison.

01:11:31

Although we're getting to the point where that might happen. You know, we had the police come to the, you know, to our church the past couple of weeks, you know, kind of questioning us and saying what's going on.

01:11:42

So we don't know, it may heat up. But we have to be ready in the event that it does ugly to stand for...

01:11:50

Who's got that microphone on? Thank you. All right. We have to be prepared to stand for the truth.

01:11:59

And it might hurt, but what's going to happen? The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. So there are going to be people who are going to give their lives over for the sake of Christ, to live as Christ, to die as gain.

01:12:10

When you understand that and you're a Christian, we're not afraid to die. Yes, it's going to be painful.

01:12:15

Absolutely. But the joy that we receive on the other side is going to far outweigh any pain that we receive here now.

01:12:23

So we have to be willing to say, look, we're going to put up with whatever it is that we have to go through for the sake of the name, for the sake of Jesus.

01:12:31

I mean, he died for me. Am I not going to now die, potentially be willing to die for the sake of the kingdom after everything that he's blessed us with and blessed me with?

01:12:43

Of course. Now, it's not going to be easy, but we really have to press in closer to God now.

01:12:51

And I think that this worldwide plague is making lots of people rethink what's going on in the world.

01:13:00

And it's drawing a lot of people closer to God. I was on the phone today with, I called

01:13:05

Optimum to complain about my cable phone and TV bill, right? So I had the girl on the phone and she was like, yeah, no, things are tough.

01:13:13

I'm like, yes. Well, do you have faith in God? She says, yes. I said, really, which one? She says, well, there's only one.

01:13:21

So I said, Jesus? She says, well, he's the son of God. So right away,

01:13:27

I knew that she was not worshiping Jesus as God. She believed that the father was God, but that Jesus wasn't.

01:13:34

So quickly in five minutes, I went through how Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all in the opening paragraphs of the gospels, point to Jesus as God.

01:13:43

Matthew says, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. John says, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God.

01:13:49

The word was God. Mark and Luke both talk about someone who's going to come before Jesus, who is going to make straight the way of who?

01:13:58

The Lord, who is Jesus. John the Baptist made straight the path, the way of who?

01:14:04

Jesus, the Lord. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all point to Jesus as God. So I said, listen, you have to read those verses.

01:14:11

Because Jesus says, if you do not believe that I am, you're going to die in your sins. So I said, will you do that?

01:14:18

She says, absolutely. I'm going to read those verses. Thank you. And then I asked, I said, can I pray for you?

01:14:23

She said, yes. So I started praying for her. And I prayed that God would reveal himself to her through his son,

01:14:29

Jesus. So would that have happened if this worldwide plague wasn't going on?

01:14:36

I may not have been as bold to do something like that. And she may not have been as receptive to be willing to listen to what

01:14:43

I had to say. So I see this starting to soften some people's hearts and embolden people like me who need to be emboldened.

01:14:51

So, you know, this little tribulation we're going through is hopefully going to bring about God's good purposes, because I know that he has a good purpose in the midst of all this.

01:15:05

My brother. All right, brother. Thank you. Say hello to Maritza for us. I will.

01:15:10

All right. Hey, Ro and Pete, how you doing? Hi, it's Ro. And I was the one that sat through.

01:15:17

It was wonderful. Okay. Pete's not here, but he, I mean, he's on the other side of the house, but it was wonderful.

01:15:26

I loved it. Because I know so many different versions of what's going to happen, that I'm very interested in seeing what has taken place already to make it partially fulfilled.

01:15:45

Great. What is coming. And I've had many different philosophies in my walk.

01:15:54

So I'm very interested and can't wait to hear the rest. You presented it very well. Oh, good.

01:15:59

I'm glad, Ro. I'm glad. Yeah, some of this is going to be new to people.

01:16:05

And it's going to conflict with a lot of the popular teaching that's out in Christianity today.

01:16:12

And look, you know, we may end up not agreeing completely on all this stuff. I'm just going to present the view.

01:16:17

I think we got good scriptural warrant to hold to these things. We're even going to look at the history behind the famines and the wars and the earthquakes and the false

01:16:29

Christs that Jesus warned them about. Because a lot of people say, well, there wasn't earthquakes.

01:16:35

There wasn't famines. There wasn't this. And in Rome, historically, all of the things that Jesus said was going to take place during that generation took place.

01:16:46

So, you know, we'll go through it step by step. Hopefully we'll come to some kind of agreement and see what

01:16:53

Jesus had to say and how it was really fulfilled. I can't wait. It sounds wonderful.

01:16:58

And I love the word. So it should be awesome. Amen. I'm so happy that you joined in.

01:17:06

I am too. Thank you so much. Oh, my pleasure. My pleasure. Who else? Do we got Aunt Trish?

01:17:11

Did you have any questions? Aunt Trish is sleeping. Joe! I almost forgot my buddy,

01:17:21

Joe Erso. Hold on, I'm going to mute him. It's a blessing, I'm telling you.

01:17:27

You really know how to break it down and just say for what it really is.

01:17:33

I can see where the misconceptions come from very easily. Right. And I don't have any questions per se.

01:17:40

I just have an insight, you know, where heaven is coming down. Is that a restoration of where Adam felled up?

01:17:50

And we're going to go back to the original Garden of Eden, let's say.

01:17:58

Absolutely. When we look at Genesis 1 -1, in the beginning, you know,

01:18:04

God created the heavens and the earth. Okay. And then we see, you know, God created man and woman on the sixth day and then comes the fall.

01:18:11

And that was the original creation. Along comes the second Adam or the last Adam. Where do we see that most clearly depicted?

01:18:20

John 1 -1. With the very same words. In the beginning was the Word and the

01:18:25

Word was with God and the Word was God. Verse 14. And the Word became flesh and tabernacled.

01:18:31

There's that tabernacle that we were talking about a couple weeks ago. Tabernacled among them. Right. So this is now the restoration or the recreation of the whole earth.

01:18:43

Okay. Jesus came first to declare his lordship over all the earth, to live a perfectly sinless life, to defeat death, to be raised from the dead, and to be enthroned in heaven.

01:18:56

He came here to be the king of the earth. And now, it's a verse that I have on my bookcase.

01:19:04

Let all Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.

01:19:10

He is not just Messiah. He is king of the world. And when you read

01:19:15

Psalm 2, which is a very popular Psalm that we talk about in church all the time. Why did the people's rage?

01:19:21

Why did the nations plot in vain against the Lord and his anointed? All right.

01:19:27

The kings of the earth and the people of the earth rage against God. Why? Because he's the king.

01:19:32

There's only one king. All of these other nations are going to bow down and submit to him.

01:19:38

There's no other way. So after Jesus was enthroned in heaven and sat down at the right hand of the father, he is what?

01:19:48

Ruling and reigning until all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.

01:19:55

Most people are waiting for Jesus to come back to start his kingdom on earth. And I'm saying, well, what are we doing right now?

01:20:04

Jesus says, if I cast out demons, the kingdom of heaven has come upon you. The kingdom is now.

01:20:11

Some people are waiting for it to happen. It's Christians. They're waiting for the kingdom to happen. And Jesus said, listen, these were his last words.

01:20:21

Go into all the nations, teaching them to do everything I've told you, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit.

01:20:28

And I will be with you even till what? The end of the age. Okay. He told that this is the creation mandate in the new covenant.

01:20:36

Take dominion over the world. Bring everything under the lordship of Christ. How? Through the proclamation of the truth.

01:20:44

God's word never comes back void. It will either soften and break the heart of his people.

01:20:50

Okay. Or it will harden the heart of his enemies. But the proclamation of the truth will not come back void.

01:20:57

And God, Jesus knows who his people are. He says, I know my sheep. My sheep know me. So Jesus knows who his sheep are.

01:21:05

They're out there. We have to proclaim the truth. Watch them come to life spiritually. And there's going to be others who mock us and come against us.

01:21:15

But God will harden their heart and they will get justice, unfortunately. There's only three things you can get.

01:21:20

I told you this before. Justice, mercy, and grace. Justice is getting what you deserve.

01:21:26

Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. No one gets treated unfairly.

01:21:33

So even the person who unfortunately goes to hell, goes to hell because they've rebelled against a holy and righteous

01:21:40

God. They don't get anything unfair. They get what they deserve. Nobody gets anything less than that.

01:21:48

The ones who receive grace, Jesus took their penalty for their sins upon himself.

01:21:58

So Jesus takes that penalty. All you have to do is repent, turn from your sin, and trust in Christ.

01:22:04

It's the simplest thing to do and the hardest thing to do at the very same time. We hear it with our ears.

01:22:12

We see it with our eyes. We understand it. And just internally, our spirit doesn't want it.

01:22:19

We reject it. We suppress the truth and unrighteousness. That's why it takes an act of God, an act of the Holy Spirit, to grant us faith, open our eyes and our ears so that we can hear the message.

01:22:29

And he compels us to respond out of love. So Jesus is king.

01:22:37

Okay. You done talking? Where'd he go? Who is that? Uh -oh. Is that Frish? That's Frish.

01:22:44

Frishing trips? What are you rabble rousers gonna stir up some trouble over there?

01:22:57

It was excellent, Anthony. No, I wasn't sleeping. I was trying to get on.

01:23:03

Oh, you were? Yeah. Okay. Well, you're on now. Okay.

01:23:09

Well, it was excellent. Thank you. It was clear? You understood what was going on? Oh, yeah. Everything was good.

01:23:14

We didn't break up once. Excellent. Excellent. Hopefully, it's got this thing down a little bit better.

01:23:19

I know last week was a mess, but it's going to go a lot smoother. Very informative. Very excellent,

01:23:25

Anthony. As always. Good. Good, good, good. I'm glad. Praise God. Praise God. I'm going to ask, where's

01:23:31

Mr. Eric? Eric, you out there? Are you asleep on that big couch of yours?

01:23:39

I'm sleeping. Can you hear me or not? I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yeah. All right. Yeah, obviously, it was really good.

01:23:46

It was laid out really well. Jason, I told Jason because he couldn't be here because he's actually witnessing to a witness.

01:23:53

Oh, nice. Yeah. So he's going to have to watch it on YouTube whenever you post it on YouTube. Yeah, I should be able to do that within a day or two because I thankfully remembered to run.

01:24:06

Thanks to Jerry. Just something I was thinking is we got to remember that when they were listening, there was absolutely zero

01:24:17

New Testament scriptures written. Everything they were listening to was from the view of the

01:24:23

Old Testament. It was nothing from the New Testament, really. I mean, they were living in it, but there was no scriptures that they had to reference.

01:24:35

And then the other thing is, I like how you pointed out how things repeat because that's a big issue.

01:24:42

People see things going on that is listed, and they think, oh, they must be in the time. But there's nothing new under the sun.

01:24:50

Things always repeat. Things are always a microcosm and a macrocosm of themselves, and you can go deep with that.

01:24:57

But the Black Plague, the Black Death killed 30 to 60 percent of the population.

01:25:05

You don't think they thought that was the end? What we're going through today is nothing compared to the plagues of the history.

01:25:11

It really isn't. As much as it stinks, people lost loved ones, it really doesn't even hold up to the ones in the past.

01:25:17

It really doesn't. But think about it. Lots of people thought that World War II was

01:25:23

Armageddon. This is it. We're over. World War I, the

01:25:29

Spaniards killed more people than died in the war. All the people that died in the war. Then you got the

01:25:34

Spanish Flu. People must have thought that was the end. A war, a plague, right? With all that corruption, there had to have been a shortage of food in the supply lines.

01:25:43

They thought it was the end then. And then forget about it. You go back in history. I'm sure every time it turned another thousand, everybody thought, oh, you know.

01:25:54

Just a quick correction. Japan is the land of the rising sun. They have a sun on their flag.

01:26:01

Okay, thank you. Which is the flag with the moon in the middle? A moon in the middle?

01:26:07

I'm not sure. I know a lot of the Muslims have the crescent moon. I'm not sure which one has a big moon in the middle.

01:26:13

I honestly don't know. Yeah, no, that's good. The one with Japan. I know exactly which one that is.

01:26:19

The one with the rising sun. Yep, excellent. Excellent. Thank you, buddy. Thank you for your help with the internet and everything.

01:26:28

All right, who's left? Let me see. Loretta, you out there?

01:26:35

Yes, I am. I won't call your mom. You have any questions, mom?

01:26:44

No, not at this time. Okay, just checking. But as usual, very well spoken.

01:26:52

Okay, good. It costs you two meatballs. All right, all right. Two meatballs and we'll have another one next week.

01:26:58

What do you say? I want meatballs, too. Rose chiming in. Everybody gets two meatballs.

01:27:05

How's that? We'll have a meat now. Everybody gets one. The thing is all over. The what?

01:27:11

We'll have a meatball party when this thing is all over. Oh, praise God. That would be excellent.

01:27:17

Plus meatballs can get together. We can get together on top of Old Smoky.

01:27:26

I knew I said that to the right guy. You reached new peaks. I'd rather eat a meatball than go on Old Smoky.

01:27:36

Yeah, I know. All right, is there anybody with any last questions, comments, anything like that?

01:27:44

Anthony. Yes. The only thing I would recommend is that as people ponder this throughout the week, that they write down their questions.

01:27:54

Yes. And, you know, as they go through it. And they should reread it, too. Okay, yes, keep reading.

01:28:00

Hey, Mike, do you have any questions? Where is he? Where is he? You got any questions, Mike? Can you hear me?

01:28:08

Yeah, I can. No, no, actually, a lot to digest. As usual, you did a great job.

01:28:14

But, you know, Jerry makes a point that maybe during the week, you know, if there's any questions, you know, write them down and I can come back to you.

01:28:23

Okay, make sure, hopefully, and thank you, Jerry, for reminding me. I did want to tell everybody, continue to read this.

01:28:30

Read it once a day till next week so that it's freshening your mind. So that when we go over these things, if you do have a question or a concern, you can raise it and you'll just be familiar with the language.

01:28:40

So when I say wars and rumors of wars or abomination of desolation, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about and where it is.

01:28:47

If you can, you can even cut and paste it, put it on one sheet of paper. So that it's in front of you and you can write on it, you can highlight, you can do stuff like that.

01:28:56

So when we go through it on a deeper level, it'll be right there. And you can ask your questions and write down the answers and that stuff.

01:29:03

Now, look, I'm not an expert. I'll do the best I can. And hopefully, we'll all grow in this study.

01:29:11

All right, Mr. Jerry, do you want to close us out in prayer? Is Mr.

01:29:18

Jerry awake? Oh, wait a minute. I'm muted. Oh. Am I unmuted?

01:29:25

You're unmuted. Okay. I want to make one other comment. I thought your analogy of the sun going out and freezing within seconds was an excellent point.

01:29:39

Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. You get credit. I think it just stands to reason if the sun goes out, we got a problem.

01:29:49

Yeah, but I don't think anybody thinks about that. Oh, okay. That's true. On that note,

01:29:54

I'm going to close in prayer. You better. Bye.