Sunday, January 16, PM

Answering the Olivet Discourse with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Daniel

Answering the questions that we have of the Olivet Discourse. So, let's open our Bibles, Matthew 24 verses 15 through 22. Jesus tells his disciples, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads let him understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let him who was on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house, and let him who was in the field not go back to get his clothes, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days, and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be.

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. So, when we read that passage we find very similar language in Mark chapter 13, and as we read both of those passages together, we have so much similarity that there's almost hardly any extra information between Matthew and Mark.

It's just a little bit nuanced here and there. Okay, when we lay us alongside the parallel passage from Luke, extra detail, and one very important clarification. When we're asking the question of the text, and I think everybody this is a natural question that we want to ask, is what is the abomination of desolation?

Especially with Jesus that says, let the gospel writer that says it. I think since we find it both in Matthew and Mark, it wasn't Matthew inputting that, or Mark inserting that. I think it was Jesus. That parentheses, I think Jesus said that to read the Bible.

You know, have you never read? So he says, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing where it ought not, that's Mark 13 verse 14, let the reader understand. Okay, so that's what let the reader of Daniel understand is the idea.

The Abomination of Desolation in Luke and the Flight to Pella

What is the abomination of desolation? Well, in the Gospel of Luke, the abomination of desolation is identified. Verse 20, but when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that it's desolation is near.

And you'll see that the instructions that follow are exactly the same. In Matthew 24, Jesus says, if you're in Judea, flee to the mountains. In Mark 13, he says, if you're in Judea, flee to the mountains.

In Luke 21, he says, if you're in Judea, flee to the mountains. So when we read all three passages together, we receive the identification of what this is. So that's helpful. That's clarifying. So the problem is going to show up in Judea.

The danger is going to be in Judea. And the way to escape this awful danger is to leave Judea and flee to the mountains. Historically, we discover by the records of the church that the early church obeyed the instructions of their shepherd, and they left, and they fled to Pella.

They went to the mountains. Now, Jesus said there were some things that would hinder their fleeing. Things that his generation would find significant. Our generation would not find them significant, but his generation would.

Difficulties such as being pregnant or nursing a child. Difficulties like being in the winter or on a Sabbath day. Those were considerations that they would have to take into account. Also, he talks about not taking the time to go down from the roof of your house to get anything outside of your house.

Which is a funny thing because we don't spend a lot of time on top of our houses, but they did. It was like their front porch. So that was a very common way of talking about things. So, Jesus is giving instructions to his disciples, to the believers of that generation, about what they would see and the instructions that they were to follow when certain things took place.

Now, the challenge to reading the passage this way, even though we are encouraged to by the time indicators at the end of chapter 23 and in Matthew 24, and in verse 34, saying it's all this will happen in this generation.

The challenge is we read things like the abomination of desolation from Daniel. And when we go read those passages in Daniel that talk about the abomination of desolation, sometimes we may scratch our head and say, hmm, how does that happen during Jesus's generation?

Also challenging to reading it in this way is, when we read, that in those days there will be great tribulation such as until this time nor ever shall be. And boy, when you read that, it sounds like, well, it's over, everything's gonna mess up.

We read these passages and it's like, how does this fit together? And so, that's what we're trying to make sense of. So, several parts of this already. We've talked about the, if we can, if we have the time.

Daniel 9 and the Seventy Weeks of Years

The first thing is, okay, he says let the reader understand about the type of, start with reading through Daniel. And there's part of the handout there is a couple of, to Daniel chapter 9. And these passages, I think, are helpful in that they help explain the timing of all of the Old Testament about the arrival of Jesus.

And let's look at Daniel chapter 9 in our Sunday morning services. So, we'll be reviewing this again. But, burdened by the fact that they're still in exile, he recognizes that his people have broken covenant with the Lord, that they deserve to be exiled in the way that they had been, and that God had promised 70 years regarding the dominance of Babylon over the Jews because of their unfaithfulness.

And he's crying out to the Lord and as representing his people, just honestly confessing the fact that they were covenant breakers, but they need the mercy of God and the grace of God. Would you please restore us to the land?

Can we go back to the land and rebuild the temple? All those promises that you made. It's 70 years, Lord, so how's this gonna work? Okay, and so the Lord gives instructions to Daniel and shows him, yes, that the 70 years are coming to a close, that they're wrapping up, and soon they'll be going back and God will keep his promises there.

But that's not all. Not only is there 70 years that needed to have passed, but there's 70 weeks of years that need to pass. There's the 70 years before they go home from exile, but then the 70 weeks of years before the new covenant comes to pass.

And so, determined for you, city, so if my fourth born were here, he'd love to do the math and he'd, you know, it's like, okay, 400 broken up into seven to happen of these 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city.

So, these weeks regard who? They regard the Jews, right? Regard Daniel, regard his people, the Jews, and it regards Jerusalem, okay? So, that's what these 70 weeks are about. It's 490 years regard the people and the city.

And what's going to happen? Notice this list there in verse 24. To finish the transgression, to finish the transgression. So, there's some transgression that's going to be completed and finished and ended by the end of these 490 years.

Interesting. What is the transgression? Well, Daniel's just been praying to the Lord, and he's just been confessing the transgression of being covenant breakers, right? So, God says at the end of 490 years, the transgression is going to be finished.

The covenant breaking is going to come to an end. To make an end of sins. To make an end of sins. To bring the sinning to an end. To make reconciliation for iniquity. So, in these 70 weeks, there's going to come a reconciliation for iniquity.

There's going to come some way of making things right. Well, the next line, to bring in everlasting righteousness. So, regarding your people, regarding the city, in these next 490 years, not only is there going to be an end of the transgression and an end of sins, but there's going to be reconciliation.

There's going to be righteousness that is everlasting. Isn't that the problem with the shadow mediator in the Old Covenant? Israel was sometimes living right, and then sometimes not. Sometimes they were doing well, and then sometimes they were not.

But the righteousness to come in is an everlasting one that doesn't fade and come back. To seal up vision and prophecy. Meaning that this 490, regarding the people in the holy city, that not only will there be an end to the transgressions and there will be salvation brought about, but there's going to be an ending, a sealing up of all vision and prophecy.

In connection with this, to anoint the most holy. And of course, the word anoint is where we get the word Messiah from. So, when you build all this together, of these 70 weeks, by the end of these that are marked out, because the Old Covenant will be wherein we have reconciliation for sins, that the whole new test and prophecy, right?

There's no more books of the Bible, prophecy are sealed up after the 490 is anointed or Messiah is made manifest. So, I think that's the agenda set forth in verse 24. And then now things are beginning to be explained in the following passage.

Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. So, let's look at this.

We have a command, there's a going forth of a command to restore and build Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem had been destroyed, there's a need to rebuild it to bring it back. So, when we read in the Bible, we discover in the book of Ezra that there was a decree given.

There was a Jerusalem and the temple. And if we begin counting from that decree forward to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in AD 27, there are seven months, which is what? 483 years. 483 years.

So, from the decree sent out by the Medo-Persian Emperor to the time that is identified as the Messiah at the baptism of John the Baptist, you have 69 sets of seven. Okay? And the only, and in fact, you remember that Jesus, on what day of the week?

There was a trial on Thursday night, he was crucified on Good Friday, raised Sunday. The only year between AD 27 and AD 34, when Passover fell on a Thursday, the 14th of Nisan was AD 30. Right? So, in three and a half year ministry, and then there is.

What we see here is 69 sets of seven. And why is that significant? Because we read, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, verse 25, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.

So, 69. The street shall be built again and the wall even in troublesome times. Okay? So, now notice this parallel. And then 62 weeks, right? The way that the verse reads, troublesome times. The rebuilding of streets and walls and that kind of thing in troublesome times.

Right? The next part of the passage talks about Messiah being cut off. Now, when you read, as they're trying to rebuild the wall, was that a smooth process? That was not a smooth process. If you read the the post-exilic prophets like Haggai, there was a lot of, there's a lot of difficulty getting the people to do what they're supposed to do.

During troublesome times, there was the stirring up of the royal crown. But they labored and they did rebuild the city and they did rebuild the temple and they persevered. Okay? So, that's the seven weeks.

And then there's the sixty-two weeks. Well, the seven plus the sixty-two is 69, obviously. And after 69 weeks, the Messiah arrives. Now, how do we know this? Well, in Luke chapter 3, in Luke chapter 3 and verses 1 and 2, we read the following.

And Luke's a historian. He's trying to be as precise as he can. So, here we go. So, Luke chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. Now, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was the Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was Tetrarch of the region of Euteria and Checkonitis, and Isaias was the Tetrarch of Abilene, not the one in Texas.

In the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. So, that's about as precise as you can get. Okay? Lining up all of that information is how we get to the 27th, what we call 27 AD.

Okay? We begin with Ezra chapter 7 verses 12 to 26, the decree that goes forth to rebuild and beautify Jerusalem and get it going again. And we count the 483 years, which is the 69 sevens, we count 483 years and land on the dot the baptism of Jesus by John, who had started his ministry just a little bit prior.

Are you following me? Okay. The point is that when you read the New Testament, and then when you read the history about the New Testament, there was a lot of excitement at that time about the arrival of the Messiah.

Okay? And there have been many false messiahs that had arisen. And what did they think of John the Baptist? Are you the Messiah? Why were they thinking that? Because they could do math. Right? They could do math.

They did the math. And there was about four different decrees that could have been the beginning of the countdown. But they could do the math like, hey, Messiah's about to come. Lord, don't let me die before I get to see the Messiah.

Messiah Cut Off, the New Covenant, and the End of Sacrifice

Continuing with the Messiah shall be cut off. Do we see that? After the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off. So you have the seven weeks of the troublesome time, the 62 weeks until Messiah arrives, then after the 62 weeks, when we're in the seven, which is the 69, when we get to the 70th week, but not for himself.

Now, what does that sound like? Isaiah 53. If you read Isaiah 53 about the Messiah and how he is cut off, but he's bearing whose transgressions? Our transgressions. So he's cut off not for his people.

And then we read, the people of the prince who is to destroy the city and the sanctuary, the end of it shall be with the flood of their desolations. So when we read verse 24, we read about people in a holy city.

We come back down here in verse 26 and we read about the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city. The 70 weeks regards the people in the city. So we're still talking about that, aren't we?

We haven't changed subjects, we haven't gone somewhere else. Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, the end of it shall be with the flood until the end of the war, desolations are determined. Alright, so this is going to be helpfully explained by reading the next verse and setting that in parallel as well.

Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate.

Now, honestly, when you read that, you get a little lost. Okay, alright, I'm raising my hand too. Okay, because it's like, well what does that refer to? What does that refer to? And it's easy to get a little lost that I'm trying to read this.

I'm trying to read it in like a Hebrew parallel with the seven weeks and the troublesome times, and then the 62 weeks, and then after 62 weeks Messiah is cut off. So I'm going to come back and we're going to run another, I think this is running another parallel.

Okay, so Messiah is cut off, but not for himself, right? Messiah is cut off after the 62 plus the 7, after the 69 weeks, Messiah is cut off but not for himself. We think of the language from Isaiah and so on that he's he dies upon the cross for our sins, okay?

And in parallel to that, we have the idea of covenant, we see the idea of the middle of the parallel, in that he came and he declares a new covenant through belief in himself, okay? He comes as the fulfillment of the promises.

Now he, remember the weeks, we've been talking about a week, right? We've been talking about it already, that's how we've been interpreting it from the beginning. So in the middle of the week, in the middle of the week, an end to sacrifice occurs.

How long did Jesus minister? For three and a half years, right? Which is right smack dab in the middle of the week. So in the middle of the week, he is cut off, not for himself, but he brings an end to sacrifice.

How does Jesus Christ bring an end to sacrifice when he's cut off in the middle of the week? He's the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Truly this man was the Son of God.

And he dies upon the cross, and the veil in the temple is torn in two from top to bottom and opened up. And then after that, the people of God, who are those who believe in Christ, they don't offer sacrifices anymore.

They don't offer another lamb on an altar anywhere. Siah has come, and he was the Lamb of God, and the shadows of the sacrifices are fulfilled in the substance. And then we see desolation as the other side of the parallel.

Now again, how do we read this? So, come. Come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. So we know that Jerusalem was destroyed, but who was it who destroyed the city? They were already killing each other inside the city, and there was a war going on on the outside of Jerusalem.

So, which way do we read this? Well, to be destroyed and the sanctuary is going to be destroyed. Additionally, we read, I'll be one who makes desolate. The abomination of desolation. Remember that language?

Shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation. What is this consummation? Well again, under consideration. Is the consummation or the end that is determined of what? The Old Covenant. The transgression is completed.

The full punishment of covenant breaking is completed and is done and is poured out on the desolate. Those who have been desolated and the desolate. Now the challenge, of course, when you read this, when you read it in this way, and let's just be clear, we run from, as we said earlier, the 483 years from the declaration in Ezra chapter 7 to the of the Jesus's ministry according to Luke 3, and we have that time frame completely charted out.

Then we're under, now that's the 69 weeks, and now we're into the 70th week. How does the 70th week come to pass? We read that in the middle of that week the Messiah is cut off. However, it doesn't immediately begin.

I understand that to come later. And why is that? Time period, and then all the saints could run away to the mess. Daniel chapter 12, verses 9 through 13. And he said and sealed the end, because there's going to be two.

But the wise, the time that the daily sack and the abomination, three and a half years. And comes the rest and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. Now this is a fun little riddle at the end of times, and it all refers, and each one refers to something different.

Do you see it? The prophecies of Daniel are sealed until the time of the end. Not Daniel's end, but some other kind of end. What end was that? The end of the Old Covenant, which Jesus announced and he unsealed Daniel's prophecies sitting on the Mount of Olives saying, let the reader of Daniel understand.

So that's that end, the end, the coming to the end of the Old Covenant. The end that was proclaimed time and again in the New Testament. Verse 13 says, but Daniel you go your way to the end for you shall rest.

Meaning what? When you die, you rest. You rest in the Lord. You will have everlasting rest, Daniel. And you will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. You know, when Jesus comes back and raises the dead, the end of the Old Covenant.

You have an end in verse 13 talking about Daniel's own personal end, and then you have the end at the end of verse 13. So if you just encounter the word end, it doesn't always refer to the same end. So there's going to have to be a little bit of thinking about what does this mean.

Now again, this is, I think this is a helpful way to look at what Jesus says in Matthew 24, Mark 13, about the abomination of desolation that Daniel the prophet spoke about. So we go over to Daniel, we read Daniel, and in the context where the abomination of desolation is mentioned, in chapters 9 and 12, what do we discover?

We see the time frame of the arrival of Jesus Christ himself, the Messiah. That after 69 weeks of years, after 483 years from the decree in Ezra 7, the start of Messiah, and then he has three and a half year ministry where he's cut off, okay?

Then there is another three and a half years that begins with what? The abomination of desolation appearing. And what is that? Luke says it's the Roman army. Three and a half years, all the vestiges are on the face of the planet.

No biblical Judaism has existed. Biblical Judaism. But there has not been biblical Judaism ever since, which is a grace of God. He makes it clear that the old covenant has passed away, the new has come, and we have what Hebrews says is a better.

We have the, we have the sacrifice that brought an end to all the sacrifices. And so there's no confusion about who is Savior. He's the Savior of the Jews and the Gentiles. And the gospel came to the Jews first and then went the Jews for a long time.

But thanks be to God, the gospel also came to the Gentiles as well. And in Christ we are...