80. The Book Of Acts And The Jews Of "This Generation" (End-Times Series Part 30)

Hello everyone and welcome back to the podcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf This is episode 80 the book of Acts and the

Jews of this generation Words and the power of context

Nowadays, if you want to insult someone in the English tongue or undermine the credibility of their position, you know in a self -righteous sort of way

Then all you need to do is call them a racist or a lover of Hitler or some other equally aggressive

Postulate and that Should do the trick now the reason that such a flimsy and lazy tactic usually employed by the left has any teeth at all is because it's undergirded with a contextual meaning that is shared by both the communicator and the receiver apart from the

Grizzly background that those terms were birthed out of the word racist and Nazi have no intrinsic meaning

They are mere sounds you can even imagine a language somewhere on earth where Words sounding kind of like racist and Nazi actually meant something very good like lover of fine wine and expensive cheeses

This lets us know that words are mere sounds that function however as vehicles for meaning that are constricted by a unique and a nearby context

Now the problem generally occurs when you're attempting to understand a word or a phrase that does not happen to be within your near context the reason that Nazi evoke such a visceral reaction among Westerners Europeans and Americans is

Because the events of the Holocaust happened near enough in proximity to where we now stand to provoke a guttural reaction none of us want to be called

Nazis because we know what that means, but If I level an insult at you such as you're as crooked as a tax collector

Well, there's a good chance that many people in our society are so far removed from the political situation of first century

Judah that they would not fully comprehend the degree of infamy that is embedded within that term and there are more examples

Just like this one that I could give That's precisely why as budding Bible scholars and faithful exegetes today

We must attempt to understand the original setting and the context of the words in Scripture If the meaning like we've talked about just a minute ago is carried along through the words that are embedded in a particular context then to the degree that we understand the setting will be to the degree that we rightly understand the potency and the

Accuracy of biblical words now with this in mind I would like us to dive back into Peter's Pentecost sermon one more time to examine the context under one particular

Phrase that that the sermon ends with it's this generation And once we've seen what's underneath that phrase looking at it from Moses to Jesus to Paul I believe that our understanding of what that phrase means will be refined and sharpened

Furthermore once we understand this phrase rightly I believe that we will no longer hold to any futurist interpretation of the passage

But we'll instead see how the various eschatological passages that we've bumbled along in in this book of Acts Have already found their completion in the first century and we'll see that through this one phrase this generation

But before we get there Let us recap quickly where we've been just in case you haven't been with us

And if you have the refresher might be helpful So here is the optimistic recap over the last seven weeks.

We've examined the eschatological passages in the book of Acts Intending to see what they teach us about the end times, you know context

Now as you remember after a brief introduction in week one We saw in week two how

Christ ascended physically and bodily into heaven in fulfillment of Daniel chapter 7 and by doing this

Christ sat on the throne to reign over his kingdom and the sign that he was reigning over that kingdom was the wind and fire

Theophany that was set aloft to his disciples heads in the upper room who according to Daniel chapter 7 would not only

Inherit this worldwide kingdom, but would also participate in its global Dominion Now in week three, we saw how all of these events of Pentecost constitute

Eschatological events and phenomenon and we looked at that in the the post titled the eschatology of Pentecost From there in week four and week five

We move beyond the miraculous events in the Pentecost to examine Peter's magnificent Jerusalem sermon in that message

The one that Peter gave he uses passages like Joel chapter 2 in order to alert his audience

That the Messianic Age had finally begun and that the reign of Christ was inaugurated in heaven

But also the signs of it were inaugurated in their viewing which means that Jesus's reign is

Started now in case we fail to make the connections elsewhere in the Bible to this What we're talking about is the millennial reign of Christ on his throne that is what

Christ has stepped into where he's gonna bring all of the nations under the reign of his government and He's going to bring them under the blessing of his peace by putting all his enemies under his feet

Now after seeing all of that last week or the last time that we were on the eschatology topic

We examine the nature of Christ's reign and we look specifically into what? Milestones that his reign was going to accomplish on earth before he returns to close out human history by quoting psalm 110

We saw that Peter gives us the essential context to know that his reign is gonna go

Unabated on earth until all of his enemies have been put decisively under his feet which means that the reign of Christ is going to continue until Jesus has no more enemies left on earth and Then he will hand the kingdom over to his father in heaven.

And that is the end of human history. That's first Corinthians 15 Here's the pessimistic recap

With all of the optimism that we just described of the newness of this great kingdom coming in full

It would be easy for us to forget the context of impending doom that has come

Upon the reprobate Jews who announced the pilot let his blood be on us and our children

Now this is not an anti -semitism Which is a popular term nowadays that you can accuse someone of being of like a

Nazi or a racist This is not anti -semitism to bring this up It's merely an actual portrayal of the facts of history is recorded in the

Bible The same group of first century Jews who said we have no king but Caesar are the ones who

Jesus is referring to 43 days earlier when he said that all of God's fury was going to be poured out on that generation

Leaving their house the temple in Jerusalem completely desolate Matthew 23 34 through 38

This is the group that Jesus said were the children of Satan John 8 44 whose covenantal status would be taken away and given to the

Gentiles Matthew 21 143 the ones who we who would be cut off from the vine for their fruitlessness

John 15 and because of her crimes against God he was in the armies of Rome to burn down their city and to raise it to the ground

Matthew 22 7 all of these passages and more provide essential context that we must not forget

The meaning of this generation Now understanding his context it's unsurprising how

Luke records the end of Peter's great Pentecost sermon He tells us in verse 40 and with many other words

He bore witness and continued to exhort them saying save yourselves from this crooked generation

Luke doesn't describe Peter as briefly mentioning a few very trifle things in his sermon

He is not standing up and reviewing the list of safety features while uninterested passengers read a nearby vomit bag

Luke tells us that Peter was urgent and he was deliberate and he expended numerous words trying to compel the

Jews to flee From the doom that was coming Luke tells us that he continually testified to the crowds beckoning them to save themselves from the coming destruction almost like a firefighter

Crying out to the to the members of the home to leave the fire before the building collapses

Now you ask yourself. Why was Peter so urgent? Well, because he understood perhaps a lot better than we do today

What the meaning of the phrase this generation or this crooked generation actually meant?

That word that phrase at that particular time was filled with a lot of embedded meaning and context that remains 2 ,000 years removed from us and we have to do a lot of hard work in order to rightly

Understand what this generation and the other phrases that are scattered throughout these Gospels and and accounts really mean

Because if we don't then we will have a flawed view of eschatology and we will have a flawed theology

So we need to do the work so that we understand these words So that our theology will be consistent so that we'll understand the meaning of the text and to do that We have to put our boots on and we have to get to digging the nearness of this generation

Now Peter does not refer to Generations in general terms. He does not tell all

Christians at all times to flee from any crooked people Who exist in any kind of land?

While that could be a responsible strategy It's not what Peter says here and it's not when other New Testament writers come in to us elsewhere take for instance first Corinthians 5 9 through 11 in This case

Peter uses the near demonstrative pronoun saying save yourself from this crooked generation

Which identifies the generation right before him as his referent Peter's looking at the first century

Jews And he's saying you are the crooked generation He was not telling believers in that first century to adopt a strategy of cultural escapism similar to modern -day

Amish folks He was telling them that there was something unique about that particular generation of Jews in the first century

Regarding their sin and the punishment that was coming upon them He said that this particular generation of Jews living in Judea between the ascension of Christ in 80 30 and the harrowing events of 80 70 that generation was a unique grouping of people with a special Impending punishment worthy of the imperative of save yourselves from them

Now put simply Peter was warning any rational person living in the first century in Judah in those days

To convert to Jesus Christ and to flee from the consequences that were coming Now could this be why the

Christians sold their property in Jerusalem that we see in the book of Acts and a few chapters later Could this be why as Josephus records this records that the

Christians were the ones who were spared from the Romans arriving 80 70 because they knew what to be on the lookout for and when

They saw them coming they fled. These are fascinating historical questions Looking at what

Peter has said and the way that he used the phrase this generation We can see that the term applies to the near -term

Events that were soon going to occur in his time and in his immediate proximate location

Yet Peter is not the only one who uses the term Generation in this way and as we look at the other uses of the term

It will only do nothing but confirm what we've already stated So first, let's look at what

Moses says about this generation in his final exhortation to the people of Israel Before he died before Joshua would take over leadership.

Moses says this to the people He says take this book of the law You know the one that he just recorded and he says put it by the side of the

Ark of the Covenant of the Lord Your God that it may be there as a witness against you

For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are Behold even today while I am yet alive with you.

You have been rebellious against the Lord How much more even after my death? Assemble to me all of the elders of your tribes and all of the officers that I may speak these words in their ears and Call heaven and earth to witness against them for I know that after my death

You will surely act corruptly and you will turn aside from the way that I have commanded you and in the days to come

Evil will befall you because you will do what is evil on the side of the Lord provoking him to anger

Through the work of your hands Deuteronomy 31 24 through 29

Now after that scathing rebuke Moses Breaks out into the final song that he would ever sing before he dies and this is one of the verses in that song

They the Israelites have dealt corruptly with God They are no longer his children because they are blemished they are a crooked and a twisted generation

Deuteronomy 32 5 Because Moses knew The character of these people he called heaven and earth and even

God's law to be a witness against him Moses foresaw thousands of years before it happened the inevitability of their future

Rebellion against God and he even prophesied that There would come a time when they would no longer be considered his children where they would be cut off from the covenant blessings

Moses saw it thousands of years before it happened now throughout the

Bible we get glimpses of this prophecy coming to fruition We we see moments of it We see small types and shadows of it for instance the stiff -necked people who were crushed by the pagan people cyclically throughout the book of Judges for their idolatry and It's a sort of fulfillment of this prophecy the hard -hearted people who were repeatedly wiped out by invading empires throughout the era of the

Kings because the Kings were were Idolatrous and you know the good Kings would lead them in good ways and the bad

Kings would lead them in evil ways and and every time they got Destroyed this was sort of a type or a partial fulfillment of this prophecy especially when the northern kingdom of Assyria came in and Absolutely decimated the the

Israelites the ten northern tribes because of their whoredom against Yahweh and especially when

Judah lost all rights to her national sovereignty when Babylon came in and burned her city to the ground

These are events that happened in the Old Testament and their partial fulfillments of this prophecy and the consequences for that being that they were bounced from one

Empire to the next all the way until the time you get to the old or the New Testament where the ultimate

Manifestation of God's wrath was gonna come upon that nation because they did the ultimate covenant breaking act of killing

God's Son You know because she didn't repent through exile. She didn't repent through the reconstruction of the temple

She didn't repent through 400 years of intertestamental period history, and she didn't repent all the way up into the incarnation

She didn't repent when she heard Jesus speaking the truth. She was primed for judgment, but the straw that Broke Jerusalem's camels back was when she brought her unrepentant heart into the

New Testament and Insisted insisted on her rebellion instead of listening to her righteous

God who had come in person with Healing in his wings. She rejected him and she murdered him

Malachi 4 2 for that treachery God's righteous fury broke out against them for the murderous works that they did with their own hands

They didn't only just kill the prophets. No, they they did something much worse and they killed God's one and only son

Now while Moses could not foresee precisely how all of these things were gonna play out when he called that second wilderness

Generation who received the second giving of the law a crooked generation we know that Peter is

Borrowing from the lyrics of this song the exact same language that Moses sang to describe the generation of people in his day

He is using this generation To describe the people of Judah in the first century, which is not a common phrase

This generation or this crooked generation is not common in the scriptures, which means

Peter did it intentionally and it would have immediately alerted his audience that Peter was making this connection all the way back to the generation at the time of Deuteronomy by Connecting these two generations together.

Peter is warning his listeners anyone who would hear his voice He is warning them that the long ago

Mosaic woe that was sung over the people of Israel is now Coming to fruition on them and if they don't repent and turn to Christ it will overtake them

Again, Peter uses Moses's words But Moses was not the only one who used this word

In fact, Jesus also used the phrase this generation and he did so more than any other person in Scripture To describe the covenantal judgment that was soon gonna break out against faithless first century

Judah for instance when Jesus began to pronounce Covenantal woes upon entire cities such as Chorazin and Bethsaida for their astonishing unbelief

He says to them to what shall I compare this generation Matthew 11 16?

He tells them that would be more tolerable tolerable for Tyre and Sidon Even Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment that it would be for them why because Sodom and Gomorrah would have repented

Tyre and Sidon would have repented if they had seen the miracles that Jesus was doing in Judah and yet Because they were harder of heart than the wicked towns of the plain

Genesis 19 their judgment would be even more severe Jesus says later on Jesus calls the

Jews of that day an evil and adulterous Generation Matthew 12 39 because they were looking for signs and for wonders from the

Messiah instead of loving him and living by faith He tells them that the nation of Nineveh and the

Queen of the South would stand up in judgment against them Condemning them because they did repent at the preaching of the word unlike this generation of Judeans Matthew 12 41 through 42 who

Jesus says were behaving as if they were possessed by a legion of demons Matthew 1245 which comports well with their father being

Satan John chapter 8 Jesus announces to this generation who was ashamed of their

Messiah that he would be ashamed of them When he sits down on his throne to rule his kingdom mark 838

And he even asked him how long I had to put up with this evil and unbelieving generation mark 919

He calls them a perverted generation Luke 9 41 a wicked generation

Luke 11 29 and the specific generation who would reject him and kill him

Luke 17 25 and because this generation of first century

Jews rejected their covenant Lord all of the Covenantal woes and curses that were promised in the law would come down upon them

Deuteronomy 18 in Matthew 23 36 More specifically all of the guilt for spilling the prophets blood would be levied against them

Luke 1150 even more specific all of the innocent blood that was spilled on earth from righteous

Abel who was slaughtered by Cain to Zechariah who was slain by the Pharisees between the altar would be poured out on that generation

Luke 11 51 And just in case there was any gen any confusion about this term after listing all the explicit details that we have so far

Jesus says that all of the judgments that God is gonna bring on his enemies Matthew 24 1 through 33 we're gonna happen to that generation

He says in verse 34 of Matthew 24. Truly. I say to you this Generation will not pass away until all these things take place

Clearly Jesus envisioned that all of the curses and the punishments that We're gonna be poured out on this people that are revealed in Matthew 24 are not future events that are supposed to happen a long distance into the

Into the era so that we're still waiting on Matthew 24 to be fulfilled. Not at all

They're gonna be poured out on that Generation the Covenant curses of Matthew 23 are gonna be poured out on that generation.

He was not Jesus was not Gazing aimlessly into the distant future

He was tightening the noose around a specific people for specific crimes

And the crime was that they killed him instead of receiving him This is precisely why

Peter who is sitting there for every single one of those references That's why he has in mind

What this generation means when he tells the crowds to save themselves from this crooked generation

He is bringing Moses to bear on that statement He is bringing Jesus's own view of that statement to bear on that and he's telling the

Jews that are in front of him repent That's why he Vehemently and repeatedly called for them to leave their sin because he knew that the tidal wave of God's wrath was coming

And it wasn't just Jesus and Moses. It was also Paul. Look at what Paul says about this generation of Philippians 2 15

He says Do all things without grumbling or disputing he's talking to the

Philippian Church here who was planted out of a Jewish synagogue he says do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you will prove yourself to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and Perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world.

Moses is being quoted again here by now Paul So just as Jesus and Peter before him

Paul compares the Contemporaries in Judea the Jewish persecutors that he was meeting from one synagogue to the next to the wilderness generation

Who were both crooked and perverse and we're gonna die for their covenant crimes He admonishes the

Philippian Christians to act as lights even amid such a darkened people knowing that God Will judge them for their perversity.

So that's Philippians 2 15 Now if you think that I'm being a little hasty here and in applying

General passages to the Jews when the book of Philippians doesn't mention that look at chapter 3

Paul identifies exactly who the crooked generation is. They're not a generic group of God -hating people

No, it's a specific people that he calls the dogs the evil workers and the fake

Circumcision the latter title circumcision is a reference to the Jews They're the only nation at that time who practiced it.

So he is holding in Juxtaposition the Jews and the church.

He calls the Jews the false circumcision. He calls the church the true circumcision How much more clear could he be in this passage?

He's alluding to the fact that in the same way God left an entire generation dead in the desert except for Joshua and Caleb He would soon leave that whole generation of Judeans either dead in Jerusalem scattered throughout the

Empire without a homeland or Deported to Rome as captives and slaves when the wrath of God in the day of Christ would be revealed against them

Philippians 2 16 and 3 19 and the role of the church the ones who are spared from the judgment the true circumcision the one who's circumcised in the heart by the power of the

Spirit of God was to preach the gospel like Peter beckoning their Fallen brothers to leave their sin to leave their idolatry and to come to Jesus They were to live a life that was worthy of the gospel

Philippians 1 27 even while calling Everyone else to abandon every allegiance except for Christ since he was coming and he was gonna make his people into a heavenly

Kingdom and he was gonna give them citizenship of that kingdom Philippians 3 20 you see the heartbeat of the

Jews Was that they would stop being ruled by these empires the Rome Greece Persia Babylon they wanted their own kingdom again,

Jesus is promising that saying leave your sin and You can have a kingdom that will eventually take over the entire world and you can be

Citizens of that kingdom and I will be your king. But if you do not leave your sins, you will be punished

The book of Hebrews also mentions this this generation. Let's look at that example

It's in chapter 3 verses 7 through 11 The writer says today if you hear his voice

Do not harden your heart as when they provoked me as in the day of trial in the wilderness

Where your father's tried me by testing me and saw my works for 40 years

Therefore I was angry with this generation and said they always go astray in their heart and They did not know my ways as I swore in my wrath and they shall not enter my rest

The author tells us that the wilderness generation that lasted for 40 years Tested God and refused to believe in him despite countless signs and wonders attesting to his power and in the end

God poured out his fury at the end of that 40 years on that generation Refusing to let them enter into the land of his rest in the same way the first century generation of Jews for 40 years the same time frame refused to believe in the

Messiah and Because of that God forbid them for entering into the land of his rest his kingdom

God wouldn't allow them to enter into the kingdom of his rest. That kingdom is the church

They ignored sign after sign miracle after miracle and even acknowledged the empty tomb in Matthew 28 11 through 15 when they told this

Lie to cover it up and yet they still refuse to believe in him to that generation

Instead of marching along with the saints of God towards Zion Instead of living in the

Lamb's Kingdom of Liberty and life They would soak the sands of Jerusalem with their blood

They would lose their place they would lose their nation and they would litter the plain with their corpses and this would occur because they defied the

Living God and Murdered his only son and refused to repent and turn to him

Conclusion as We've seen throughout today's episode The phrase this generation is embedded with deep

Context and meaning that we must understand if we're gonna understand Peter Jesus Paul Hebrews Moses all of them correctly

That context goes all the way back to the wilderness generation Who is a paradigm of rebellion who rebelled against God and would be destroyed for their idolatries and crimes?

And this is precisely why Jesus picks up this phrase and applies it to the first century

Jews That's why Peter picks up this phrase and compares it to his contemporaries That's why the Jews of Jerusalem who killed their

Messiah would be punished that original crooked and perverted generation Was going to be punished now through them

Peter was not speaking about things that would happen thousands of years into the future He was talking about long foretold judgments that were soon to come on the people and they would happen in his lifetime

So when we understand the phrase this generation and all that that entails We will see clearly what

Peter is saying and a futurist interpretation will be unwarranted now

Also, we have to wreck we have to wrestle with this as well After seeing this passage rightly, we are not excused brothers and sisters from a rightful application

If we harden our hearts against God like the Jews did long ago We will likewise perish and while this passage was not written to us.

It was written for us as an example as Paul says in Romans chapter 11 if we reject him like the

Jews did We will be cut off in the same way that they were and if they he says if they repent of their rebellions

Then they like us will be grafted back in Romans 11 17 through 24

Highly recommend you go read those passages so instead of smugness or pride or a sort of superiority that we feel because we are now the chosen people of God, I would ask you to repent of that and with humility

Understand that if it were not for God's amazing grace, then we would be no different We would be covenant rebels and lawbreakers and we too would be punished

With an even more fiery punishment than what happened in 8070. We would be punished in the flames of hell forever

So When we look at different events and horrific circumstances like what's going on in Israel in our modern day.

Let us pray That the Lord would bring our long -lost brothers and sisters to repentance so that they can join with us like the prodigal son and Enjoy fellowship in the family of God.

Let us pray and let us be humble Let us remember that the only reason that we have

Standing with God is because Christ Jesus stood for us It's not because of our works not because of our merit not because of our performance.

No We belong to Christ because Christ purchased us Christ crucified us

Christ buried us and Christ resurrected us and Let us not be so smug and so prideful to think that the same punishment could not happen to us if we so to rebel

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the podcast We are enjoying a time of growth on this show right now

Having just had our very best month to date over the last 30 days we've had almost 800 downloads and listens and I expect that that number will continue to grow as We continue to open up the scriptures and reveal what they are really saying to God's people now to help us with that growth

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Contributions to the Shepherd's Church will be used for gospel ministry in New England Which is a crooked and perverse generation in its own, right?

And we being the very lights that God has called upon to shine here will shine and we will shine through things like this

Until next time may God richly bless you and we will see you again next week on the podcast