Jesus and the "End Times"

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January 10, 2019

Join us for this special edition of Apologia Radio in which Jeff Durbin does the show all by himself and talks through critical points of the "end times". He walks through some important points of prophecy from the Old and New Testament concerning the end of the Age. We encourage you to take a listen and share! Is the popular (and new!) version of eschatology truly biblical? Let's see!

00:04: I would say if the authorities didn't want us involved in the public square, they ought not to have crucified
00:09: Jesus in the public square. Use humanistic principles. It's the same idea. It's the same answer.
00:15: I would say, what's the problem with stardust bumping into stardust? In the cosmic picture? None. There's no problem.
00:21: In the cosmic picture, it won't matter. No, Mr.
00:27: President. You are not protecting reproductive freedom. You are authorizing the destruction of freedom for one million little human beings every year.
00:46: I'm sorry, my friends, but I am tired of seeing Jesus presented as a weak beggar.
00:55: He is a powerful savior, and the gospel is not a suggestion.
01:01: It is a command. Reverend Huller, don't you sympathize with that?
01:11: I sympathize with every single human heart wishing to know the one true and living God, but I believe there's only one way that that can happen through Jesus Christ, and the gospel is about repenting of sin, not celebrating it.
01:22: A threshold of an amazing adventure.
01:29: We will explore the spiritual abyss. You have not experienced this before.
01:39: Vent. Hey, guys. Welcome back to another episode of Apologia Radio.
01:46: I am Pastor Jeff Durbin, the Coleman Ninja, and as you can see, I'm all by myself today, very excited about this particular episode.
01:54: What I'm going to do is I'm going to take you through Matthew chapter 21, and actually some parts of the book of Revelation.
02:02: Yes, very, very excited. I'm going to take you through some of the stuff that I've been doing at Apologia Church on Sunday, on the
02:10: Lord's Day, in the sermon. I'm going to take you through a lot of the texts we've been going through to unpack
02:16: Matthew chapter 21. Actually, very important section of Scripture. This is actually a section of Scripture that is,
02:21: I believe, often misinterpreted, even abused, very often abused by the
02:28: Word of Faith, people in the Word of Faith, prosperity gospel preachers. You'll often, and not just that crew, but people will tend to look at when
02:36: Jesus talks about, if you have faith, you can say to this mountain, cast into the sea, and it will be done.
02:42: Oftentimes, people will talk about a passage like that, and they'll say, well, that's Jesus talking about your financial mountains,
02:48: Jesus talking about your relationship mountains, Jesus is talking there about having enough faith to actually speak to the mountain,
02:55: Osteen says, speak to the mountain and say to it, be cast into the sea, and it will be done, and God will hear that prayer.
03:02: Is that really true? Is that how the early disciples of Jesus would have understood the Jewish Messiah, the one who came in fulfillment of all the
03:09: Old Testament Scriptures that used that kind of language before? Would they have understood when
03:15: Jesus was referring to that mountain, Mount Zion, that He was near in Jerusalem?
03:20: Would they have understood that as our financial mountains, our relationship mountains, our mountains with our children, our job mountains?
03:28: Would they have understood that, or was there a different worldview? Did they view that symbol differently?
03:34: Did they understand the context differently? Did they understand the promises of the Old Testament differently? I think we need to really, as Christians, commit ourselves to not simply sola scriptura, which is the principle from the
03:48: Reformation, and of course this goes all the way back to the Bible, that the Word of God is the sole and fallible rule of faith and practice for the
03:57: Church. There is the principle of sola scriptura. The Word of God is the principium, it's the standard, it's the reference point for all questions.
04:06: But there's more, though, and the more is the tota scriptura principle, and that is the principle that it's not merely me alone with my
04:15: Bible, it's not merely just this one verse, but it's all of Scripture interprets Scripture.
04:21: It's tota scriptura. The Word of God interprets the Word of God. We should actually stand on the Word of God in such a way that we let
04:28: God's Word speak and dictate to us how do we interpret the Word of God. What is God's total message?
04:33: What's the whole narrative say? What's God's consistent thematic thing that He's doing here on this particular issue or that issue?
04:40: And so with that, we're going to talk about eschatology today, a very popular subject to talk about and very often abused, particularly where we're at today in the
04:48: West. We have some really funky eschatologies out there and some really interesting things that are believed by professing believers.
04:56: And I want to say this very, very important thing to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are listening to this right now. There are probably going to be some things said today in terms of what we do when we go to the
05:06: Book of Revelation, timing issues, those sorts of things that might contradict some of your very, very firmly held and committed beliefs.
05:14: And I just want to challenge you with this. I'm going to challenge you to let the Word of God do the speaking.
05:20: I'm going to challenge you to examine your traditions. All of us are impacted by our environment. It's impossible not to be impacted by it.
05:27: All of us have been impacted and instructed by preachers and teachers, people that we respect, highly respect. We've all read books.
05:33: Some of us have been to Bible college and we learn particular eschatological views in Bible college. And on that basis, we adopted a particular view.
05:39: We have a tradition. Now, I want to just challenge you to be willing as a believer to examine your traditions.
05:46: And as Dr. White has often says, the person who says they have no traditions is the one who is enslaved to the most of them.
05:52: If you're not willing to admit that you have traditions, that means you're not on the lookout for them.
05:57: You're not willing to examine them. All of us have traditions that we must be willing to examine.
06:02: It's not to say that traditions are bad. They're not always bad. You can have a biblical tradition, something that's actually in accord with the scriptures, something that's actually good.
06:12: But we have to ask the question, is this tradition biblical or is this a man -made tradition?
06:17: Is this something that's in accord with the scriptures? So, I want to ask you to do this today. As we go through the text in Matthew 21, as we talk about the mountain cast into the sea, as we go into the book of Revelation, I want to challenge you to actually for this moment to set aside your traditions in terms of full -on commitment to them and be willing to look on the outside in and examine the tradition.
06:38: What does the word of God say? Very, very important. And so with that, let's kind of get right into it today.
06:44: So, I want to show you some important things here in terms of the kinds of things that can impact you, the kinds of things that can be said because of eschatology, views of the end times.
06:55: But before we get to that, I want to just challenge you with this point here. And this is sort of underneath everything that I'll be teaching today from the scriptures as a foundation.
07:05: And this is what I wanted to point you to. It's in the gospel according to Luke. And it's in chapter 24, verses 13 through 35 is where you go to it.
07:12: You're very familiar with this, I'm sure. It is Jesus resurrected from the dead. The king has accomplished his work.
07:19: He is walking around now fully resurrected. And now he's on the road to Emmaus and he runs into some disciples.
07:26: And there's two of them who are on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem.
07:32: Together they were discussing everything that had taken place. And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk along with them.
07:38: But they were prevented from recognizing him. Then he asked them, what is the dispute that you're having with each other as you're walking?
07:45: And they stopped walking and looked discouraged. The one named Cleopas answered him, are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that happened here, happened there in these days?
07:58: What things? He asked them. So they said to him, the things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet, powerful in action and speech before God and all the people and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him.
08:12: But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it's the third day since these things happened.
08:19: Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb and when they didn't find his body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.
08:28: Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the woman had said, but they didn't see him. And he said to them, how unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts.
08:39: All, here it is, that the prophets have spoken. Didn't the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into his glory?
08:45: Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself and all the scriptures.
08:50: There is an amazing Bible study to be a part of. What I've said actually at church, an apology at church, was this has to be the most epic
08:59: Bible study in the history of the world. I'm convinced of it. Can you imagine being able to sit there with Jesus, the promised
09:07: Messiah, God in the flesh, resurrected from the dead, fulfilling all those promises, and to sit there with Jesus while he takes you through the scriptures from beginning to end, showing you all the things that the
09:18: Bible had promised about him that he fulfills. That is an epic
09:23: Bible study. I'm not sure how long it took. I'm sure it was a long Bible study, but worth every minute.
09:29: And it says, of course, they, and when they talk about it, they said, weren't our hearts ablaze within us while he was talking with us on the road and explaining the scripture to us, right?
09:37: You ever experienced that? Like the word of God is being preached and expounded and you're just, your heart's burning within you.
09:43: Can you imagine Jesus doing that to you? Can you imagine Jesus teaching you and giving you that? But here's the point
09:49: I wanted to make in terms of us approaching the issue of eschatology and times, the stuff that happened in the first century, the promises that Jesus made about the soon coming judgment upon them.
09:59: Eschatology matters. Hashtag it. Hashtag eschatology matters. It impacts us in dramatic ways.
10:06: It doesn't just impact us in terms of our practice in the world. How will we live out our faith?
10:12: How will we actually work and labor in the kingdom of God in this world? It doesn't just do that.
10:18: It also impacts our ability to properly interpret the scriptures to actually lead people into a proper understanding of the
10:25: Bible. And here's what I mean by that. Say you take a person like Ben Shapiro, Ben Shapiro, Christians love
10:31: Ben Shapiro. He's got some solid conservative thinking. He is an Orthodox Jew, so he does believe the old
10:37: Testament. That is his claim, his profession. He does believe the word of God, the old Testament. So we have this common ground with someone like Ben Shapiro.
10:44: He has our old Testament scriptures, but he rejects Jesus as the Messiah. He doesn't believe in God's revelation in a new
10:51: Testament. And so with that, a lot of times we think about an Orthodox Jew like Ben Shapiro. He has reasons as an
10:58: Orthodox Jew as to why he rejects Jesus as the Messiah, as the promised Messiah. And when you listen to him talk about his reasons, he, like many
11:07: Orthodox Jews, will hang on to the text in the Old Testament that promise that the Messiah is going to be the ruler of the world.
11:14: He's going to sit on David's throne. He's going to bring the nations to God. He's going to bring peace on earth and all those different things.
11:19: And they look at that and they say, well, Jesus, he didn't do that. Like, you know, they're looking for a physical throne sitting in Jerusalem, on a throne in Jerusalem.
11:28: And they say, I don't see that Jesus is doing what I think the kingdom of God looked like. And so they'll say, so you're saying that he didn't do it and it's coming later.
11:35: That means he's not the Messiah because the Old Testament knows nothing of two comings of Jesus. It knows of a coming of Jesus with a kingdom and how it impacts the world.
11:43: And in some sense, they're right. In some sense, they're right. The Bible does teach in the Old Testament that the
11:48: Messiah would come. He would accomplish, of course, his redemptive work. He would draw the nations up to the mountain of God, Isaiah chapter 2.
11:55: The Torah would go forth from Jerusalem, the law of God from Jerusalem. And the promise is that the
12:01: Messiah would actually establish justice in the earth, Isaiah chapter 42. Now, of course, they ignore all the passages that give the vivid details of Messiah in terms of Isaiah 9, 6 through 7.
12:12: It's God himself coming as a son and as a child. They ignore the text like Isaiah 53.
12:19: They talk about him being our substitute, pierced through for our transgressions, that he would justify the many as he would bear their iniquities.
12:26: They ignore passages like Psalm chapter 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The Messiah is surrounded by dogs.
12:32: They're reviling the Son of God. You have him pierced in his hands and his feet. But they do acknowledge, and they ought to, the clear promises from God, from Yahweh, in the
12:42: Old Testament that the Messiah would come, sit on David's throne, and actually have a kingdom that had increasing peace throughout the earth.
12:51: They do acknowledge that. And they say, well, that has to happen with the Messiah. The problem is they're seeing it in the same errant way that the first century
12:58: Jews saw it when they would reject Jesus as Messiah. They wanted a military kingdom with military strength and power and might.
13:05: A physical guy on a physical throne in Jerusalem. That's what they were anticipating. They didn't realize that the kingdom of God, the rule of God is within you.
13:14: But, however, watch this. Oftentimes, Christians will take something like that, the kingdom of God is within you, and they're almost dismissive about the kingdom of God, like it has no impact in the world.
13:23: And because of badass catology, we say, well, it's only spiritual. It has no impact in this world.
13:31: Some hint of Gnosticism will start to happen in the view that the kingdom of God, the spiritual is the better, it's out there, it's above this.
13:39: And this down here, this lower story, this is a world filled with sin. God has nothing to do with this.
13:45: He's not really concerned with this world and what happens here. So there's hints of Gnostic thought that go on there in terms of when we reject the biblical view of the kingdom of God, which does impact this world.
13:55: Or when we say the kingdom of God is future to us, hasn't actually really, really arrived yet.
14:02: Christians will say things like, well, it's now, but not yet. Well, what that tends to really mean is now, but not really.
14:10: And I think we can say accurately with what Jesus said about the kingdom, that he actually brought it, there was a present reality.
14:17: What Paul said about the kingdom of God, that it was actually a present reality. I think we can say that the kingdom of God is now, really, really now, actually now.
14:25: It's just not finished yet. It's being completed, but we're not waiting for it to drop in history later.
14:32: The New Testament knows nothing of that idea. Jesus brought the kingdom. Proof can be multiplied, but I'll give you this one because it's a familiar one.
14:42: In Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew, they're challenging Jesus and they're doing what the religious abusers in their day and in our day do to God's people.
14:49: They accuse Jesus of having a demon. They say things like, of course, he's casting out
14:55: Satan because he's working with Satan. They're bedfellows. And what Jesus says is he gives them this. He says, if then, if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
15:07: And so as Christians, we need to embrace that. Listen to Jesus there. If I do A, then B. So if Jesus cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God had come upon them.
15:20: The kingdom of God was promised at a particular time in history. If you read Daniel chapter two, you'll see that God promises there are going to be four earthly kingdoms.
15:29: And this is counting down from Daniel's day, Babylon, four earthly kingdoms. And it's during that time of the fourth kingdom, which is
15:35: Rome, just count down from Babylon and you'll land on Rome and the fourth kingdom. It's during the time of Rome.
15:40: It says that the God of heaven himself will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed.
15:46: The promise in Daniel seven, 13 through 14 is the Messiah in his work would come up to the ancient of days.
15:53: I believe that's the ascension. And he'd be given a kingdom, dominion, authority, all the people's tribes, people of every language were going to serve him.
16:01: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. That's Daniel seven.
16:07: So my point in saying that I'm going very fast here because we have a lot to get to. Is that eschatology matters.
16:12: It can even impact our ability to witness to Jews in an effective way. When we take a lot of eschatological passages that have to do with this graphic language, dramatic prophetic hyperbole, blood and fire, pillars of smoke, the constellations falling from the heavens, all those sorts of things.
16:30: When we take those passages that were familiar, they were familiar symbols and words and promises of judgment to the old
16:38: Testament saints, the Jews. When we take those and we put them future to us, we dramatically wreck our ability to properly actually interpret the
16:46: Bible. We hand fodder and things to the atheists to call Jesus a false prophet.
16:52: Trust me that we do. And I think I can demonstrate that to you. And we actually ruin our ability to properly minister to Jews because we lose all these amazing, important texts that actually vindicate us in terms of Jesus is the
17:06: Messiah. They vindicate him as Messiah. But I want to show you the impact of eschatology, bad eschatology on the church.
17:14: One of the things that you'll often hear today with the popular view today of, say, dispensational premillennialism, you know it as a left behind series.
17:22: It's a new view in history. It's about 200 years old. And this particular view of eschatology, we have things like the secret rapture.
17:33: We have seven years of tribulation. And then the kingdom comes and arrives. Thousand -year literal reign of Christ on earth.
17:38: All of that. And sometimes you have even that split up. You have people who are pre -trib, mid -trib, and post -trib.
17:44: What I want to say is, what if that's all wrong? What if the popular view today in the
17:51: West of dispensational premillennialism and the secret rapture, seven years of tribulation, what if in the history of the church, no one had any idea of that?
17:59: What if that only started in the 19th century in the West? Because that's true.
18:06: This view didn't exist in the mind of the church before the 19th century.
18:11: So it's a new view. What if it's all wrong? What if actually there are Christians historically who never saw that at all in the
18:18: Bible? What if the Bible actually doesn't teach that particular view of eschatology? You see, when we think about the impact of this view, we can hear people saying, popular teachers that believe that, saying things like this, why bother polishing brass on a sinking ship?
18:35: That's what they say. Like what's the purpose of actually working and laboring in the world to, you know, in the fulfillment of the prayer,
18:45: Father hallowed be your name, your name be holied all over the world. Your kingdom come, your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.
18:53: You know, what if we believe that actually at any moment, we're just going to be raptured out of here.
18:59: And, you know, it really doesn't matter what happens in the world because the world's going to hell in a handbasket. You know, why bother doing anything in the world?
19:05: I mean, that actually does change the way we live in the world. And I want to just say this for those of you guys are hearing this, maybe hearing us for the first time, this is really important.
19:16: When I first came to Christ and when I first heard the gospel, I wasn't raised in a Christian church, not in a
19:22: Christian community. I knew very, very, very little about the Bible at all. And the first Bible study that I ever went to in my life was at youth group.
19:34: I was about 16, 17 years old. And I walked into the room, I'll never forget it. And everyone's in the room and the
19:40: TV was playing a video, a very terrible movie from like the 1970s. And it was on the tribulation.
19:47: And so when I first entered into my experience in the church, I just assumed this is just the truth.
19:54: This is what the Bible teaches. Why? Because this is what all these Christians believe. And this is the story, this really terrible movie from the 70s, right?
20:00: Awful graphics and all that stuff like this. This is what's supposed to happen. Then I went to Bible college. And in Bible college, this is what
20:07: I was taught. I was taught dispensational pre -millennialism. I was taught the secret rapture and pre -trib.
20:12: I was taught seven years of tribulation. Of course, I worked with friends who were mid -trib, post -trib. I went to Borders Books and Music.
20:19: Every time I got the chance to go and get a copy of the Jerusalem Post, because the Borders Books and Music would always have this section where they had like newspapers from all over the world.
20:29: So you can go there and you can pick up like a newspaper from a country in Africa or from somewhere in South America, or you can get the
20:37: Jerusalem Post. I used to always go there to get the Jerusalem Post to see what were the happenings in Jerusalem and how soon would we be raptured.
20:44: I was looking for that. I read Hal Lindsey like he was my family member.
20:50: Like he was a best friend. I read him all the time. I watched the report he used to give weekly. What was it called? What was that show called?
20:55: The Tribulation Report? I forget what it was. Like a news report from Hal Lindsey. Tim LaHaye was my homeboy.
21:02: I mean, I read his books all the time. Loved that view. That's what I believed so deeply that I had moments.
21:08: I remember one in particular where I was reading The Left Behind series at about I think 19 years old outside of my apartment at the pool.
21:17: Reading The Left Behind series. Closed it. I was so excited. I was just wishing myself into rapture. Lord, any moment, any moment.
21:23: That's all I could think about. It's all I could talk about. I just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. The world is evil and it's fallen and there's sin.
21:31: I just can't wait to be taken out of this thing. It impacts your labor in the world.
21:36: If you see the world going to hell in a handbasket, if you see that all this is going to get burned up anyways, what's the point?
21:43: The church is going to have to get rescued out of this. Then it affects how you minister in the world.
21:48: Do you see the kingdom of God and the work of Jesus in history like the apostle Paul in 1
21:53: Corinthians 15, where when he gives the gospel message, he says that Jesus came, died, buried, and he rose again.
22:01: He appeared. And then he says that he must reign. And then he quotes Psalm 110 .1,
22:06: the most popular verse in the New Testament drawn from the Old Testament by the inspired writers of the
22:12: New Testament. Capture that. This is God's favorite Bible verse, apparently, because it's used the most in the
22:18: New Testament. When Paul refers to it as he is explaining the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, he says he must reign until he's placed all of his enemies under his feet as a footstool for his feet.
22:30: And then the last enemy to be defeated is death. So Paul refers to Psalm 110 .1.
22:36: He says that it's a present reality. Jesus is on that throne at the right hand of the father in the position of authority as the
22:43: Messiah. He is reigning now, and he must reign until every enemy is placed under his feet as a footstool for his feet.
22:49: And then the last enemy to be defeated is death. So for Paul, it's all enemies defeated by Jesus.
22:56: And then finally death is defeated. So the resurrection, according to Paul, takes place after Jesus has put all of his enemies as a footstool for his feet.
23:06: Paul says Jesus is reigning now. On what throne? On the Messiah's throne. On David's throne.
23:12: So he is presently ruling as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Not kind of, not sort of, almost, maybe, but really later.
23:20: No, he's on that throne now. His kingdom has arrived, and now it's growing as Jesus promised, like a seed that becomes a large tree, like leaven in a lump of dough that permeates the entirety of the loaf.
23:32: Paul says he has delivered us from the domain of darkness, from darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son.
23:40: We are under the rule of Jesus now. And think about this. When Jesus saves somebody now, from whatever tribe, tongue, people, or nation, they are drawn to God.
23:50: They are made alive and made new, and they experience salvation and peace with God. And that is taking place worldwide right now.
23:58: People are experiencing the peace of God, reconciliation, forgiveness through Christ, the
24:03: King, the Messiah. Now they are brought into his kingdom now, and that kingdom is ever -growing, ever -expanding.
24:11: And as people experience salvation in Jesus, as they experience the new heart, the indwelling of the
24:16: Spirit, now they love and they want to obey the Lord God of Israel. Now the nations are being drawn to God, experiencing salvation.
24:25: And now the Torah, the law of God, is going forth from the people of God.
24:31: As the world experiences the blessings of redemption in Jesus, they experience new life in Jesus, the world begins to transform and change.
24:40: So what should be the goal? Let's win the world to Christ through the proclamation of the gospel.
24:45: That ought to be the goal. But I digress. Here is an example. And I don't want to slam these people who profess faith in Jesus.
24:54: I don't. I don't want to attack them. I just want to show you the kind of mindset that comes from believing in the popular view today of the secret rapture, seven years of tribulation, those sorts of things.
25:08: Here's just an example. And again, this is not to denigrate these believers, or if you believe that, just know that I used to believe it as well.
25:15: It was when I committed to go to the Bible to let the Bible speak that I realized that I was wrong.
25:21: I was completely wrong. But here's an example. And I know that I have gotten a lot of encouragement from other people's videos.
25:31: So anyway, I came across a video where a brother in Christ had mentioned that he had asked
25:37: God for a specific confirmation that Jesus is coming for us soon, and he asked to be shown a purple butterfly.
25:46: So I was like, oh, that's so awesome! And I wonder if God would give me a confirmation if I asked him for it.
25:55: So before bed that night, I prayed and I asked. I said, God, you know, show me a lamb if you plan to rapture the church soon.
26:09: And then I was like, well, that's kind of general, you know, so let me get more specific.
26:15: And I said, show me a lamb with a blue ribbon around its neck if you're going to rapture your church soon.
26:21: And I went to bed that night and I didn't dream anything. And I was just kind of like, oh, whatever, you know.
26:26: I mean, I'm not trying to challenge the Lord. I was just kind of more like, you know,
26:34: I'm so excited as it is and I don't have to have that, God. But if you want to give me a fun confirmation to share, certainly
26:44: I would be excited about that. And so I kind of went about my day. Well, later that day,
26:50: I sat down with my son. And I honestly, this is my one -year -old, and I never show him my phone or really like show him videos.
27:04: Very extremely rarely when we're out, like if we're at a restaurant or something like that and he's cranky or whatever,
27:11: I will briefly, but never at our house. And for whatever reason, you know, we're sitting in the living room and I pulled out my phone and was just showing him.
27:20: I clicked on the very first Baby Einstein video that came up on YouTube.
27:26: I didn't look at the title or anything. I just clicked on it. I saw that the length was fairly long and I clicked on it.
27:32: And he was just sitting on my lap. We're on the couch in the living room and I'm playing this little video for him.
27:38: And I'm not paying attention to the video at all. I'm just kind of off in space. And I get that little like nagging, you know, in the back of my mind, like, look at the video.
27:48: And I look down and like a couple seconds later on this little video, I see a lamb with a blue ribbon around his neck.
27:57: And I was just like, God, you are so awesome. I can't believe you showed me that in that way.
28:06: Like I literally, I never show him videos. So you get the point. And again, this is not to denigrate this woman who has faith in Christ.
28:17: It's just to show the kind of place that our mind goes in terms of how should we be thinking about the world?
28:24: How did Jesus tell us to pray? Your hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The prayer that Jesus tells us to pray is very, very different in terms of mindset.
28:33: That's the focus of our hearts in terms of asking for God's name to be holied, for God's will to be done here on this earth as it is in heaven.
28:41: It's just a different mindset. It's in terms of a mindset that just wants to just sort of disappear and be out of here.
28:47: It's a mindset that takes away, I think, and to my mind, takes us away from our obligations and the call of God in the world.
28:55: What does Jesus say when he actually ascends? He says, Matthew 28, 18 through 20, all authority, where?
29:02: In heaven and on earth. All authority, all of it, every inch of it, all is his, has been given to me.
29:12: Jesus says, past tense, that's already taken place, friends. He is the king now. He has all authority now.
29:18: He's not waiting for some authority later someday. He has every inch of it right now over every single thing, you, your family, your church, the state, government, every nation in the world.
29:31: He has all authority now. And the call of Jesus, the Messiah, the king, the long anticipated king, his call is this.
29:39: Therefore, because all authority there and here is mine, has been given to me, he says, therefore go and make disciples of all the nations.
29:49: Disciple the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey. Our focus should be on not merely just disappearing and going to heaven one day.
30:00: That is coming for all who have faith in Jesus. You have eternal life today. You've been declared righteous.
30:05: There is no more condemnation. You are gonna have eternity with God forever, absolutely.
30:10: But you are here for a purpose. And the command of our king is to go disciple the nations and to teach them to obey.
30:17: That's the call. Not the constant thought of like, let's get raptured out of here. Let's leave the world behind us.
30:23: Let's leave it all behind us. Of course, we have a longing to be with Christ, which is far better.
30:29: But to be here is more fruitful for the world, for you, for this place around us.
30:34: The command of God is to actually disciple the nations. I'll give you another example of this, how it impacts, eschatology impacts your practice.
30:42: Guys, hope y 'all are doing well. We just wanted to come on and make a quick video. Her and I have had a...
30:48: Real fast, the title of this video is Two Rapture Messages in Two Days. And then it says, time to fly!
30:55: Big exclamation point. So, two rapture messages in two days, exclamation point, time to fly!
31:02: Exclamation point. And here we go. Couple of rapture dreams just recently.
31:07: The last couple nights. Yup. His was last night and mine was the night before. Yup. And so we just wanted to share them with you just because it's encouraging and just kind of share what we saw and just kind of the message behind it.
31:21: And we feel like it's like imminent at this point and you're going to get that by the end of this. So there you go.
31:27: Now, the rapture dreams. Now, I want to be fair to brothers and sisters in Christ who still believe in that particular position, who would say that's just weird, hooey, and that's not balanced and all that.
31:39: I recognize that. That this is... You know, we had dreams about the rapture. That means that it's imminent.
31:45: And I asked for a sign with a sheep and with a bow or a lamb with a bow. I realize that's even weird for some people that believe that particular position.
31:54: But I wanted to say this. Ideas have consequences. Theology matters. Eschatology matters.
31:59: And it begins to impact you in very negative ways. If you accept the principles of that particular view, people start to flesh out the consequences and the meaning of it all.
32:11: And so it has consequences. Theology matters. Eschatology matters. And so I wanted to demonstrate that to you in terms of how people think.
32:17: And I want to just... A personal confession here. I was completely excited about leaving at any moment.
32:24: I remember being at Bible college and sitting with other men who were in Bible college with me. And we would sit at lunch time talking about how much more time do we think we had.
32:31: Now this was in 1996 or 97 when we were having these conversations.
32:37: I remember sitting with these men and we were arguing over how much time we had left before the rapture would take place.
32:44: And I remember that some people were like, oh man, not more than two months. Not more than maybe six months.
32:50: And people were like, really? You think like that? Yeah, what's possible? Okay. And some guys were like, maybe a year or two years.
32:56: People were like, no way. Not with stuff happening in Israel right now. No way. Not with the signs that we see now.
33:02: And then some people were like, I don't know, maybe 10 years. And I remember that people were like, are you out of your mind? Are you out of your mind 10 years for the rapture?
33:10: That's ridiculous. It can't possibly be that long. No way. No way. Can't. I mean, we would say things like the nation of Israel, and I know there are people who are dispensational who reject that view, but nation of Israel, we don't have so much time in a generation.
33:24: You just can't do that. We've got a couple of months, maybe one or two years at best.
33:30: Well, here we are in 2019 now, and we are 20 years away from that.
33:38: I wonder how I would have felt back then if I could have told myself, nope, nope, not true. Not gonna happen.
33:43: You have way more time. Would it have affected how I lived in the world?
33:49: Most certainly. It would have affected me to know that, no, God has you here and has you here for a purpose, and you have work to do, because you're not going to be raptured.
33:58: It would have affected me, certainly. So, okay, let's get to it. Quickly, I mentioned to you that Jesus had the
34:05: Bible studied with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. I mentioned to you that he took them to the scriptures from the
34:11: Old Testament, from beginning to end, all the places that talked about the Lord Jesus. So I wanted to point that out to everybody to point out this important point.
34:22: Can you do that? Can you do that as a Christian? Do you know the word of God in the
34:27: Old Testament well enough to be able to demonstrate to Jews that Jesus is, in fact, the promised
34:34: Messiah? Do you know the Old Testament revelation of God, which is as inspired as the
34:39: New Testament? Do you know it well enough to demonstrate to somebody that Jesus is the promised Messiah? Do you know it well enough to know the language of the
34:47: Old Testament to understand the symbols? How did God speak? What did God use in terms of judgment language when he was going to destroy a nation like Babylon or Egypt?
34:56: Do you know the language that God uses when he uses this cosmic deconstruction language to get across the point of judgment?
35:04: Are you familiar with that language? Are you familiar with God's word in the Old Testament? Because the New Testament followers of Jesus, the
35:11: Jewish followers of Jesus, his disciples in the first century, those were Jewish people. They were raised in the
35:18: Old Testament. They were saturated in the Torah and the Tanakh. They knew the word of God. Now, of course, clearly, they didn't know it perfectly to understand all the glorious things of Jesus the
35:30: Messiah, but that's the benefit of having Jesus walk among us to exegete the Father for us, to explain
35:35: God to us, to explain to us the scriptures as God in the flesh.
35:41: So, of course, we're not saying that they understood it perfectly, but they certainly understood the worldview.
35:46: They understood the flavors of the Jewish scriptures. They understood what God had said to them.
35:52: They actually understood it in many ways so much better than many modern evangelicals because they didn't have the benefit of the evangelical today, of the word of God just easily accessible at the fingertips.
36:02: They didn't have the word of God right there on their phones. They actually had to go to synagogue and they had to memorize the word of God through hearing it.
36:09: They had to hear it. They had to recite it. They had to, in the mornings, they would pray their morning prayer and, of course, evening prayer.
36:16: Shema Yisrael, Yahweh Eloheinu, Yahweh Echad. Deuteronomy 6, 4, Hero Israel, the
36:21: Lord our God, the Lord is one. Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is...
36:26: Yeah, okay, sorry. I got thrown off there. So, these first century Jewish followers of Jesus were saturated in the
36:34: Old Testament scriptures. They knew that worldview, again, the flavors and the colors and all those things.
36:39: Well, when we look at the Old Testament, we have to pay attention to something very, very important, and that's that as Christians, we oftentimes, as Christians, understand the element of the
36:48: Old Testament promises of Messiah that involved salvation. So, it's true.
36:54: Many Christians are very, very good at actually going to the Old Testament and saying, this is the
37:00: Messiah's work. He's going to save His people from their sins. He's going to be pierced through for our transgressions. The Lord's going to be pleased to crush
37:06: Him. And they know those texts about justifying the many as He bears their iniquities, pierced through for our transgressions, hands and feet pierced,
37:14: His heart like wax melted within Him. They understand what the Bible says about the salvific work of the
37:19: Messiah, redemption for all the nations coming to God, all that stuff. But oftentimes, we miss the other aspect of the
37:28: Messiah's work that's promised in the Old Testament, and that's judgment, salvation and judgment.
37:35: The Messiah's coming was predicted, prophesied to come with salvation and judgment.
37:40: And so, here's one of the texts I want to point you to, and just, it's easy to access. It's right before the
37:45: New Testament starts. It's in the book of Malachi, Malachi 3. Malachi 3, it says,
37:50: Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple.
38:00: The Lord is coming to His temple. So this is the Lord. This is the
38:06: Lord's temple. And it says, the messenger comes first, and then the Lord comes to His temple.
38:13: And the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight, behold, He's coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when
38:19: He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap.
38:24: He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver.
38:31: And they will bring offerings and righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the
38:38: Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. So what do you have there? Think about this in a timeline, brothers and sisters.
38:44: You've got a promise in Malachi, in the Old Testament, long before the coming of Christ, that first the messenger comes, he prepares the way before the
38:53: Lord. And then the Lord, whom you seek, is coming to His temple, His temple. What's the first aspect of His coming that's discussed in this text?
39:02: One, salvation. He purifies His people. He has them now bringing offerings and righteousness.
39:09: So that's the salvific aspect of the Messiah and His work. But then right after that, right after it, verse five is this, then
39:18: I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely.
39:27: Remember that, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker and his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the
39:37: Lord of hosts. By the way, all I would encourage you to do is look at Deuteronomy chapter 28. That's the blessings and cursing section of scripture.
39:44: We have the curses of the covenant. And read Isaiah chapters one and two. And you'll see that this is the kind of language that God uses against His covenant people.
39:53: These are the things that He condemns them for, for not doing. So again, read those passages.
39:58: You'll see that this is very Jewish context. So here's the point. Malachi says the messenger comes first, and then the
40:05: Lord comes to His temple. One, He brings salvation, purification. Two, He brings judgment.
40:13: And that's a clear promise. The next thing is right here in the same book, Malachi chapter four, it says,
40:20: For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.
40:26: The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so He'll leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall rise.
40:34: With healing in its wings, you shall go out leaping like cows from the stall, and you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet.
40:42: On the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts, remember the law of my servant
40:47: Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. See, very Jewish context.
40:53: What is God saying? Here is this judgment coming. Listen to the language that God uses here. Listen to the dramatic prophetic hyperbole that is common throughout the
41:03: Old Testament burning like an oven, stubble. You have the day is coming, sets them ablaze, not a root nor branch, leaping like calves from the stalls, tread the wicked, there'll be ashes under the soles of your feet.
41:18: Remember the law of my servant Moses. Here it is. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the
41:24: Lord comes, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of children to their fathers as I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
41:31: Here's what I want to point out. When Jesus enters into the story, Matthew chapters three and four, first Matthew three,
41:38: John the Baptist comes. In John the Baptist, the very first words out of his mouth in Matthew chapter three are repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
41:46: Very important thing here. Kingdom of heaven in the scriptures, read this, you can look at this yourselves, is synonymous with kingdom of God in the gospels, synonymous.
41:57: Kingdom of heaven was another way of saying kingdom of God. The rule of God, the rule of the Messiah is at hand.
42:04: So John the Baptist comes as the messenger calling Israel to repentance, preparing the way before the
42:11: Lord. Jesus said John the Baptist was the Elijah who was to come.
42:17: He was calling Israel to repentance. The ministry of Elijah, the prophet of repentance,
42:23: John the Baptist is that fulfillment. Jesus says that he called Israel to repentance.
42:29: Now that is amazing because when you think about the ministry of Jesus, John the Baptist comes first, prepares the way for Jesus.
42:35: Then the Lord comes and literally the Lord comes to his temple. Literally, the Lord comes to his temple.
42:41: And then what does Jesus do? He comes and he brings salvation and judgment on the covenant breakers, the first century generation.
42:52: It's all in the text. Now I'll just say this quickly, very important thing in terms of language in the
42:59: Bible. This is so very, very critical. Let's try this. Let me see, let me work down through here.
43:07: If you, I'll do this first. If you think about the biblical imagery in the
43:12: Bible, we're all already familiar with this imagery. So let's just try this as Christians for a moment here, okay?
43:18: Now I don't have you right in front of me right now, but let's just try this, a little experiment. When I say lamb to you, what do you think of when
43:27: I say lamb? What's that symbol in the scriptures supposed to communicate to you now? Because God has used it in the scriptures throughout and he's defined its meaning for us.
43:37: We know what it originally was. We know what the fulfillment is in Jesus. We know what that imagery is throughout the scriptures.
43:43: What does lamb mean to you when you hear it? Because of the scriptures.
43:51: Jesus, sacrifice, substitute. How about when you hear the word blood in a biblical context?
43:59: How does God use the word blood? Well, we know the Bible teaches that the life is in the blood.
44:04: Your life is being poured out. How about this one, rainbow? Now watch how this works.
44:09: In the context that we live in today, people have taken the symbol of the rainbow that God put in the sky.
44:15: And rather than saying, well, what does God tell us with his inspired word? What does he tell us the symbol of the rainbow is?
44:22: What does it mean to God? Because God's put it there and God defined it in scripture.
44:28: Well, today people would actually say, no, we've adopted the symbol of the rainbow. And we're telling you what it means.
44:34: It means love wins. It's all the colors of the rainbow. LGBTQ, RS, LMNOP, like all those things.
44:41: People take that symbol and they distort its meaning. And the symbol becomes infinitely malleable.
44:47: You can do whatever you want with it. But thinking like a Christian with the word of God as the foundation, what does the rainbow mean?
44:54: It's God's covenant not to destroy the whole earth with a flood again. Right? It's the symbol of God's love of his mercy of his grace.
45:02: Right? And so we know what that is as a sign of God's covenant. Next is when you hear things like dry bones in the scriptures, well, spiritual death,
45:11: God actually resurrects those dry bones, but spiritual death. When you hear harlot in the old
45:17: Testament in particular, what did God say about the harlot? Well, he actually called Israel harlot.
45:23: He actually describes her as this beautiful woman that he made beautiful. And then she went and lied by the side of the road, essentially.
45:29: And she opened herself up to whoever would come. And God says, you're different than other prostitutes because they get paid for what they do.
45:36: And you just receive everybody and you get paid nothing for what you do. God uses that symbol of a harlot or a prostitute.
45:45: Sackcloth and ashes. There's a biblical symbol for you. Sackcloth and ashes. What's it mean? According to the
45:50: Bible. Not what we say about it. How do you interpret it? But what does the Bible give to us when it gives us the sackcloth and ashes symbol?
45:58: We know what it means. Repentance, right? Grief over our sin. Now, I can keep going, but in terms of symbolism in the scriptures,
46:06: I think we all understand what that means, right? God uses imagery, symbolism, metaphor. He tells us, though, how it's to be applied because he gives us a consistent use of that kind of symbol.
46:16: Now, with that, I'm just going to point you to a place in scripture I think will be important for us to know, and that is
46:22: Isaiah chapter 19 first. So if you go to Isaiah chapter 19 in your Bibles, I want to give to you a really familiar way of speaking.
46:34: This would be familiar to many of us who know our New Testament because the language is so close.
46:39: So here's what we're going to do. Go to Isaiah 19, and here is how it works. An oracle concerning Egypt.
46:45: Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the
46:54: Egyptians will melt within them. Now, this is important because in this particular text, here is
46:59: Yahweh riding on a swift cloud against Egypt. Now, the question to ask is this, did
47:08: God literally ride surfing on a cloud against Egypt? Did the heart of the
47:13: Egyptians literally melt into their bellies? Or is this language that God uses when he is bringing his judgment upon a nation, it's actually pretty common in the
47:26: Old Testament for God to use this kind of language. And the question is, well, did it happen?
47:32: Did God actually judge Egypt? The answer is yes, he did, as promised. But were they looking up into the sky and seeing
47:40: God literally surfing on a cloud? Was the hearts of the Egyptians literally melting into their bellies?
47:45: No, it's language that God uses to describe judgment. But notice the language of this, Yahweh riding on a cloud.
47:53: That is Yahweh, God, coming in judgment. Yahweh on a cloud coming against Egypt.
48:02: That is actually wording that means that God is coming to judge
48:08: Egypt, riding on a swift cloud. Remember that language, God coming on a cloud is judgment language.
48:16: Next, I'll point you to Isaiah 13. This is actually, I think, more interesting and probably more familiar to many of us.
48:22: This one in Isaiah 13 is an oracle concerning Babylon, Isaiah 13, which
48:28: Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. Now, again, you read through this and you see the same kind of language.
48:33: Verse four, I'll do this one. The sound of a tumult is in the mountains and as of a great multitude, the sound of an uproar of kingdoms of nations gathering together, the
48:42: Lord of hosts is mustering a host for battle. They come from a distant land from the end of the heavens, the
48:49: Lord and the weapons of his indignation to destroy the whole land. Listen closely to verse six. Wail for the day of the
48:56: Lord is near as destruction from the Almighty, it will come. Therefore, all hands will be feeble and every human heart will melt.
49:05: They will be dismayed, pangs and agony will seize them. They will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
49:12: They will look aghast at one another. Their faces will be aflame. Question, do we really expect everyone's faces to be set on fire?
49:21: For everyone to actually look at each other aghast? Do we actually understand the wording here of hearts melting and being dismayed?
49:31: Are we actually expecting every human heart to melt or do we understand that this is language that God uses to describe judgment and the penalties that will come upon those who are set against him?
49:41: Here we go, verse nine. Behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land of desolation and to destroy its sinners from it for the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light.
49:52: Here it goes. The sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.
50:01: So here is an example of Isaiah chapter 13. God is speaking against Babylon and the language that he uses, hands being feeble, women in labor, people looking aghast at each other, faces set aflame, hearts like wax melted within them, the constellations of the heavens not giving their light, the sun being dark at its rising, the moon will not shed its light.
50:25: All that language, actually, interestingly, is God condemning a pagan nation called Babylon promising to judge them.
50:32: And when you look in Matthew chapter 24, where Jesus promises that generation will not pass away until all those things take place that he's describing there, you'll notice that Jesus uses similar language.
50:43: And I'll go ahead and go to it now. I'll leap ahead to Matthew 24. This is after Jesus condemned the Pharisees and the religious leaders in Matthew 23.
50:51: And in Matthew 24, he leaves the temple, goes to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples come to point out the buildings to him.
50:59: And he answered them, you see all these things, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
51:07: He's talking about their temple and their day. He just condemned the religious leaders.
51:13: He just said, according to all of the discourses brought together, these are the days of vengeance in order that all that is written be fulfilled.
51:21: He just said that all the blood was gonna be upon that generation. He just accused Jerusalem for killing the prophets and stoning those who were sent to her.
51:30: And now Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives. And on the Mount of Olives, they asked the question. They said, tell us, when will these things be?
51:36: What things? The judgment he promised upon that generation. Those things.
51:43: The temple being destroyed. All of that judgment. Those things. That's the question they were asking.
51:50: They were not asking about the end of the space -time continuum. They were asking about the judgment upon Jerusalem that Jesus was promising.
51:57: That is the context. And they said, when will these things be?
52:03: What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Now, oftentimes we look at a passage like that because we import things into the text.
52:11: We say the coming of Jesus. Oh, that's the final resurrection, the end of the world. No, there were many days of the
52:17: Lord in the Old Testament. Many comings of God to judge. For example,
52:22: Isaiah chapter 19, 1. It says very clearly, I'll go to it again. Isaiah chapter 19, in verse 1, about Egypt.
52:32: Oracle against Egypt. The Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt. This is talking about Yahweh coming in judgment.
52:40: And then it says, the question is, what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?
52:46: The word there is aion. That's the Greek word that describes an age. And in all of scripture, you see in the
52:53: Old Testament, in particular, you see the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The promise of the coming
53:01: New Covenant is in the Old. So they understood there was a New Covenant age coming. They knew there was a new world that was coming.
53:07: The age of the New Covenant, the spirit being poured out, God changing our hearts, filling us, the Messiah ruling on his throne.
53:14: So the Jews saw history divided into two sections, the Old Covenant economy and age and the
53:20: New Covenant economy and age. When Jesus tells them the Jewish temple is about to be destroyed and not one stone is going to be left upon another, it's going to be upon that generation.
53:29: These are the days of vengeance, all of that. And now he goes over to the Mount of Olives, same direction, by the way, that Yahweh took when he departed from the temple in the
53:37: Old Testament. Jesus follows that course now. They're freaking out and they say, what's the sign of your coming and the end of the age?
53:44: Temple's gone. Old Covenant age gone. Jesus begins to tell them what to expect.
53:50: But here's what I wanted to get to, a long way to get to this point here. And that's that this is a part that gets people tripped up here.
53:58: It's because we don't, we're not familiar with the Old Testament language and the way that God actually spoke in the
54:04: Old Testament about judgment. And here's what he says in Matthew 24, 29. 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 heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
54:17: A lot of people have said, well, that couldn't have happened in the first century, right? Like the stars falling from heaven.
54:24: I mean, the earth's still here because we get the point, right? If you had that kind of cataclysmic event happening in the world, literally it would destroy everything.
54:34: Our sun is a star ultimately, right? Imagine it coming a little closer to earth.
54:40: What would it do to us? You can't have the constellations literally hitting the earth. And besides, that's not what it ever meant in the
54:46: Old Testament when God used that language. What did it mean? Well, in Isaiah 13, when God used it against Babylon, it was describing his undoing of Babylon, his judgment on Babylon.
54:57: It was dramatic prophetic hyperbole against Babylon and Babylon was judged and destroyed, just like God promised.
55:05: And now what's interesting here is that Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, the Jewish prophet who knows the Old Testament, for goodness sakes, right?
55:11: He gave it to us. Here's Jesus now promising judgment upon the temple and his covenant breaking people.
55:19: And now he takes language from Isaiah 13 that was used to describe judgment upon a pagan nation.
55:26: And now he uses it against Jerusalem. They would have understood the meaning. God's talking now to the covenant breakers like he used to talk to the pagan nations.
55:36: God is coming to judge before they all die. This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
55:44: What generation? The generation that he is talking to. In the New Testament, you can check it for yourself, whenever the word genea is used, generation, it always refers to the generation that is being spoken to, when they're being addressed.
55:58: That's what it means. You cannot say the generation that sees these signs. You cannot say, well, generation could be, you know, it could be this many years or whatever.
56:07: It's the generation that Jesus is talking to. And besides, Jesus is speaking to them to tell them what they are going to expect, what they're going to see in reference to the
56:18: Jewish temple being destroyed. So there's just a quick discussion about biblical language used in the
56:25: Old Testament, also used in the New Testament. And let's go to a text to sort of get us into this.
56:33: When you look at the New Testament, particularly the Gospel according to Matthew, let's just say for the minute, the
56:41: Gospel according to Matthew, you can look all the way from the very beginning of Matthew's writing, the beginning of his story, and you see this intense pointing towards the imminent judgment upon that generation.
56:56: So for example, if you look in Matthew 3, you see John the Baptist is warning that generation.
57:02: And I'll give you, this is important. I don't want to just say it to you. Let me read it to you. I want you to hear it with your own ears and be able to go to it later.
57:08: Matthew 3, very important text. John the Baptist, who was that promised messenger making way for the
57:16: Messiah. Here's what he says, first words. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet
57:23: Isaiah. When he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, we know what John the Baptist said there. And here's what happens when
57:30: John confronts the religious leaders of his day. In verse seven, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
57:47: Now the word there is mellow and it's eminence. It's about to come.
57:52: Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have
57:59: Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
58:06: Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
58:13: I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals are not worthy to carry.
58:20: He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn, but the chaff he'll burn with unquenchable fire.
58:32: By the way, you do not want that. You don't want the Holy Spirit and fire, right? You want the
58:37: Holy Spirit. You do not want the fire, right? That is judgment language. Notice also
58:43: John the Baptist says this, who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? He says the ax is laid at the root of the trees.
58:49: It has already been swung. It's in motion. The teeth are meeting that tree.
58:54: It's already there. And you notice that it says his winnowing fork is in his hand.
59:01: He's not going to pick it up. He's bringing it with him, right? He's coming now to gather.
59:07: So John the Baptist in Matthew chapter three is already announcing to these covenant breakers.
59:13: You're about to be judged, repent of your sins. And when Jesus comes first words out of his mouth in Matthew chapter four, after the trial in the wilderness, after he's driven there by the spirit of God into the wilderness, and he has victory in the wilderness.
59:27: He first comes out and he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of God is at hand.
59:32: And it says that Jesus goes about proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. Do you know what that is? I fear,
59:40: I really do fear. I fear that modern evangelicals could not articulate why the kingdom of God is good news.
59:48: Because that's the first thing Jesus is preaching. Matthew chapter four, he's preaching the gospel of the kingdom. I think many of us, when we think about the gospel, we understand the good news of Jesus dying for our sins and rising from the dead.
59:58: I love that. Like that's the truth. And we ought to love that. That's our hope. But there's the good news of the kingdom.
01:00:05: Do you know what it is? Do you know why the kingdom of God, the rule of the Messiah in history is good news?
01:00:11: The Jews of Jesus day knew why it was good news. The Messiah was coming to reign. They knew it meant salvation, but they also knew it meant the nations are being brought to God.
01:00:19: The Messiah is going to bring justice and peace on the earth. They knew why it was good news. And Jesus was out proclaiming that.
01:00:25: But importantly, he was also proclaiming, and so was John the Baptist, that they were about to be judged.
01:00:31: In Matthew chapter 27, verse 25, they asked for his curse. They asked for the curse of God upon them.
01:00:40: They said his blood be upon us and our children. That's very, very important, brothers and sisters to consider that at the trial of Jesus, all of these false accusations,
01:00:50: Pilate, a pagan ruler, went on record in history. It is a matter of historic record that a pagan judge declared
01:00:58: Jesus not guilty. He washed his hands of the murder of Jesus. And he says,
01:01:04: I find no fault in him. A pagan ruler says he is not guilty.
01:01:10: I'm washing my hands of this. But what did the Jews of Jesus day do? These covenant breaking
01:01:16: Jews who rejected their own Messiah, they said his blood be on us and our children.
01:01:24: We'll take the curse for it. And it's interesting, remarkable, I think, that on the way to the cross in Luke chapter 23, verse 28,
01:01:36: Jesus actually can't make it to the hill, to the place of the crucifixion.
01:01:43: He is so tattered and so torn and bruised and beat up, crown of thorns, smashed face, beard pulled, spit on, whipped with a cat of nine tails, organs possibly being exposed.
01:01:56: He can't make it. And so they commandeer a man from the audience, Simon. He carries the cross.
01:02:01: And this is interesting because Jesus says in Luke 23, 28, on the way to the cross, he says to the women, don't weep for me.
01:02:10: Weep for yourselves and for your children. And then he warns them about what's coming upon them.
01:02:17: Go read that later. And that, I think, makes perfect sense of what Jesus was doing there. He's warning those
01:02:22: Jews, don't weep for me. Weep for yourselves and your children. There's gonna be days coming where people say that blessed are the wombs that never bore children and the nurses that never gave suck.
01:02:31: They're gonna say to the mountains, they're gonna say to the mountains, fall on us. You see, Jesus actually was warning them perpetually over and over and over again.
01:02:39: You're gonna be judged. You're gonna be judged. He says in Luke 21, 22, these are the days of vengeance in order that all that is written may be fulfilled.
01:02:47: And so with that, you have very clear indication that there is a theme throughout the
01:02:53: Synoptic Gospels, throughout the New Testament really, of soon coming judgment upon that generation.
01:02:59: But there's an emphasis upon judgment on the covenant breakers. And now with that, let's take a look at what
01:03:07: Matthew continues to say here. Matthew chapter 21, and this is where Jesus is coming with the triumphal entry.
01:03:14: Now, just a quick note here, in Matthew 20, verse 17, that's where Jesus foretells his death.
01:03:20: And he tells his people they're going to Jerusalem and that they're gonna flog him and they're gonna crucify him and he'll be raised in the third day.
01:03:27: He's just done that in Matthew 23, 17. And in Matthew 21, Jesus comes in now for this beautiful moment of the triumphal entry in Matthew's account.
01:03:36: And this is really interesting. And this is one of the things that, I didn't make this up. I actually learned this from my brother and I think it's powerful in the narrative of Matthew.
01:03:46: In Matthew 21, it says, when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the
01:03:52: Mount of Olives, Bethphage is the house of figs and Jesus comes
01:03:57: Mount of Olives. Jesus sends the two disciples to get the colt. He's coming to ride on this donkey and the disciples do as they're asked.
01:04:06: But notice that Jesus was at the house of figs, Mount of Olives, and now
01:04:12: Jesus gets the donkey. And when he comes into Jerusalem, they are now with this amazing profession of faith saying,
01:04:20: Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna and the highest. Interesting, that psalm that that is from is the same psalm that says the stone of the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, right?
01:04:34: So it's in the same psalm, Hosanna to the son of David, right? Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And the same psalm is what they were gonna do and that's reject the chief cornerstone, right?
01:04:45: And so, but here's this moment where he comes into Jerusalem. There's a profession of religion and faith in Jesus, but what are they presenting to the
01:04:52: Messiah? They're breaking off these branches and spreading them on the road. So what do you have now in Matthew 21 already?
01:04:58: You have one house of figs. What do you have now? Mount of Olives, figs and olives. And you have blessed is who comes in the name of the
01:05:06: Lord. They're laying down these branches and then the whole city stirred up and they say, this is
01:05:11: Jesus of Nazareth. Nazareth means branch. So there you go again, a branch. Now, when Jesus goes to Bethany and lodge there, we should notice that you have now
01:05:20: Bethphage, house of figs and Bethany, house of dates. Here's the Messiah now coming into Jerusalem.
01:05:27: He's coming as priest. He's coming as King. He's coming as judge. And here now the high priest comes into Jerusalem.
01:05:35: They're all with this shouting of faith and religion in him. They're all coming down with those branches, but he's coming to look for fruit.
01:05:44: House of figs, Mount of Olives, branches, dates.
01:05:50: And it says right here, as the King comes into Jerusalem in the morning, verse 18 of 21, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
01:06:00: Of course, house of figs, house of dates, Mount of Olives, branches, all this talk of food.
01:06:06: And now Jesus is hungry. Right? Matthew 21, 18. And he goes to this fig tree by the wayside.
01:06:13: He went to it and found nothing on it, but only leaves. And he said to it, may no fruit ever come from you again.
01:06:19: And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled saying, how did the fig tree wither at once?
01:06:24: And Jesus answered them truly. I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, think about context, think about his disciples, think about the promises of judgment.
01:06:37: Think about what's happening here. Think about the cleansing of the temple that just happened. And he says, say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea.
01:06:44: It will be, it will happen. And whatever, whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith.
01:06:51: Here is Jesus now coming into Jerusalem. They're going to kill him and crucify him.
01:06:56: The very first thing he does there in 21, after he enters, is he goes to cleanse the temple.
01:07:02: And this is the second cleansing of the temple you have recorded. John records at the beginning of John, the first cleansing of the temple, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the other synoptics record another cleansing of the temple.
01:07:14: People have tried to use that to show contradictions in the Bible. Look, John says it happens at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, but the synoptics say it happened when he came to Jerusalem at the end of his ministry.
01:07:25: And they say, look, a contradiction. No. If you know your Old Testament, Leviticus chapter 14, the priest had to go, when he examined a house for corruption and disease, he'd come the first time.
01:07:36: And then the second time he would come, if he found corruption and disease, he had to take that house apart, stone off of stone.
01:07:43: It had to be leveled and destroyed. Well, John has the first cleansing of the temple. Jesus, the high priest, comes in, cleanses the temple.
01:07:51: And then now as Jesus comes into Jerusalem as the priest in fulfillment of Leviticus 14,
01:07:57: Jesus cleanses the temple once again. And what does he promise to it? He promises that it's going to be leveled, not one stone upon another.
01:08:04: Why? Because he's the high priest and there's disease and there is corruption. And that's what Jesus, the
01:08:09: Messiah, is going to do. He's the perfect priest and he's going to level their house. So one, he comes in as priest.
01:08:17: He finds disease and corruption. He's going to level the house. And two, he comes looking for fruit as a judge.
01:08:23: And he finds no fruit, fig tree, symbol. He curses it. It withers.
01:08:29: Now, if you look at the synoptics, there is some telescoping going on there. There is a narrative thing being done there.
01:08:36: Mark and Matthew and Luke all have different purposes, different audiences, different reasons for their narrative and things they're choosing to include or not include.
01:08:43: Dr. White's actually going to do a great thing for us on February 7th. It's going to be for Apologia Academy. Get it with all access at ApologiaStudios .com.
01:08:52: He's going to explain to you how you work through some of these synoptic issues and how you explain them. But I want to just point this critical thing out.
01:08:58: And this is where I'll end for today. And hopefully, you guys will catch us next time for the discussion of the book of Revelation.
01:09:04: I just love to teach this stuff, so forgive me. I'm not following a time thing, although my team has just told me I have to wrap it up.
01:09:10: So, blame them. So, when Jesus now comes, cleanses the temple, second time, as the priest, as was promised and necessary for the priest to do, he now looks for fruit, doesn't find any.
01:09:24: It's clear. The fig tree is a symbol there for Israel. There's no fruit. So, he curses and says, no fruit from you ever again.
01:09:31: And it withers. Then Jesus, after doing these amazing signs, then
01:09:38: Jesus says, you can say to this mountain, be cast into the sea and it'll be done for you.
01:09:44: It'll be done. Your heavenly father will hear you. Question is this, what's the context? All of this is about Israel.
01:09:51: All of this is about covenant breakers. All of this is about cleansing the temple and disease and corruption and no fruit.
01:09:57: This is very specifically Jewish in context and specifically Jewish covenant breakers in context.
01:10:03: This is very much in line with what John the Baptist was saying at the beginning of this book.
01:10:10: And that's that the ax is already laid at the root of the trees. His winnowing fork is in his hands. He's about to baptize you with fire.
01:10:16: Repent and bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Bear fruit, covenant people.
01:10:24: And they wouldn't. And as Jesus comes in to examine, no fruit, he sees disease. And he says, if you have faith, you can say to this mountain, which mountain?
01:10:33: Mount Zion. The representation of all those covenant breakers and that old covenant economy and all that stuff.
01:10:40: And he says this, you can say to this mountain, be cast into the sea and your heavenly father will do it.
01:10:45: What is that? That's Jesus telling the people of God who understood the context of the day with the covenant breakers about to be judged by God, disease and corruption, no fruit.
01:10:55: That is the Messiah saying, our father will hear your imprecatory prayers. He will hear your prayers to remove this old system, this old age, this old order.
01:11:07: These covenant breakers will be judged. Your father in heaven will hear your prayers.
01:11:12: It'll be done. So I'll wet your appetite with that. If you want to know more before next week's episode, we actually talk about how this connects to the book of Revelation and other issues that we're going to bring up.
01:11:23: If you want to know more, you just go ahead and go now. I believe it should be up by the time you hear this to our YouTube channel,
01:11:28: Apology of Studios on YouTube. I did a two part message on this. Hopefully that'll help you guys. You can review some of these things, but I'm excited to go through this again.
01:11:36: I feel honored to be able to do so. Thank you guys for listening to the show today. Go to Apologyofstudios .com
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