A Primer on Revelation

Sinner? Yeah, me too. Duh. Okay, you know, all have sinned.

If you're not a sinner, why are you here today? Because the only thing I have to offer you is

Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. If you don't need that, it's like, why are you at church? Okay, so that's all

I got to offer is Christ. But you'll note that the Christian position is one of love and kindness, and in that calling all sinners of all stripes to repent, to be forgiven, and that Christ is bled and died for them because of his great love.

But see, that's hate now. So, but yeah, the thing is, is that the devil is working over time, and I mean this, over time, to silence the gospel, silence

Christians. And there's a, I will say this, that what used to be known as Christendom or Western civilization, it built on a lot of the capital of Christianity in the decades and centuries past, and that's gone.

And every single human being is born dead in trespasses and sins, and as the

Church has abdicated its responsibility to preach the word and has gotten involved in everything other than preaching the gospel, you'll note that the number of, just by volume, percentage -wise, the number of people who are not

Christians as a percentage of the population continues to grow at an alarming rate, and the solution to this is what?

Preaching the gospel, right? So, but hard to find the gospel nowadays. It's becoming more and more difficult.

It's very fascinating. Alright, so he notes then that, Lyris notes that she's our former interior minister, but currently only an

MP. She has expressed her views on homosexuality as a Church member, a private person, and her view is also shared by the

Christian Democrat party, but it seems that democracy and freedom of opinion is more democratic and free for certain opinions than others,

I would agree. Yeah, so, was it, the book 1984, you know, that -

You're thinking of Animal Farm. Animal Farm, right. Yeah. Some animals are more equal than others.

Yeah, some animals are more equal than others. It's a great line from, you know, from that,

Animal Farm, that's right, from Animal Farm. Some animals are more equal than others. Yeah, that book is,

I would think is mandatory reading nowadays, yeah. So, Heather asks, at what point is someone preaching false doctrine no longer under free from condemnation?

Is it possible for someone to have the Holy Spirit and preach false doctrine? Is that a persistent sin?

How is it worse than my own sin of not loving my neighbor as myself, or is the distinction not necessary?

When I read the warnings against false doctrine, and to be aware of false teachers,

I have difficult time reconciling my thoughts, feelings about it all. Was I just, was

I still justified when I believed false doctrine? Okay, so, Heather, so, let's kind of work this out in this way, and I think

I taught on this recently, but I don't mind the redundancy, is that when we talk about the distinction between error and heresy or false doctrine and heresy, we have to use the scriptural definitions for these terms.

And so, the idea then is we recognize that the Bible teaches that Christians who have the

Holy Spirit, who are truly justified and saved, that they can hold erroneous doctrines and believe them.

And so, we'll make the distinction that scripture says, but where the scriptures draw the line from error and heresy is when we get into the category of a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel, alright?

So, those are your, those are your kind of three things that you can point to biblically where when somebody errs regarding that, where they have now a different Jesus than the

Jesus of scripture, they have a different gospel than the biblical gospel, or a different spirit than the

Holy Spirit, the real one, that now their error actually puts them outside of the faith and they are marked as those who are condemned and people we should not listen to at all, whereas those who err in other doctrines, and this is where people will come up with the concept of secondary and tertiary doctrines.

So, for instance, alright, so there are profound differences theologically between the

Lutherans and Calvinists. And Calvinists, they're on a spectrum as well. So, you can talk about how on the spectrum of Calvinism, there is the

Presbyterian version of Calvinism and there's several different forms or confessions of Calvinism in that camp.

Then you could talk about the Reformed Baptists who believe in the doctrines of grace and have a completely different view of baptism than the

Presbyterians do. And so, you'll note then that when you make these distinctions, then we

Lutherans, we recognize there are brothers in Christ, but regarding the sacraments, the issues are profoundly different enough that we do not anathematize them and say that they are outside of the faith.

Instead, we say that they are Christian brothers who are in error and therefore we, because of those errors, we're not free to be in open fellowship with them.

And so, the dialogue continues, but the dialogue must continue as brothers. When it comes to non -negotiables, though, like different Jesus, different spirit, different gospel, those are things where we do not speak of somebody as a brother, we put them outside of the

Christian faith and we speak of them as those who are unbelievers who are trying to masquerade as believers.

And these are the biblical categories. Now, where do we get this from is always a good question because I don't want you to think that, well, there's the answer.

No, we've got to find the answer in scripture. And so, we'll start with the concept of kind of secondary doctrines where somebody is in error in Acts chapter 19.

And our text says this, it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus and there he found some disciples, oh, wait a second,

I think I'm in the wrong text. Because I want to be where Apollos is, hang on a second, I think it's at the end of this chapter, maybe.

Let's see. No, hang on a second here. I hate when my brain pulls the wrong text.

The older I get, the more that happens. Thus is life, right? Okay. Yeah, let's see.

There we go. I was close. I was close. It was just right before that. So, Acts 19, and if I head up, here we go, here we go.

My apologies, mea culpa. All right. Now, a Jew named Apollos, native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus, it says, he was an eloquent man, he was competent in the scriptures, he had been instructed in the way of the

Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John.

So, you'll note here, we've got Apollos. He's accurate for the most part. His baptismal theology, we would say, is all wet.

All right. So, what do you do with somebody who has an errant baptismal theology?

So, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

All right. And so, you'll note then, an erring brother is treated as a brother, and you take him aside, and you open up the scriptures, and you say, here's what's going on here.

All right. Now, here's the thing. Persistence and error is a dangerous thing,

I would say. You know, I think that's a really, really dangerous thing. But you'll note then that we

Lutherans, we recognize that there are true Christians in Baptist churches, there are true

Christians in Presbyterian churches, there are true Christians in Evangelical churches, and I would argue there are true

Christians in Charismatic churches. And it's because God is the one who raises people from the dead spiritually.

And so, you'll note then, as Christians, and this is the tough part, is that as Christians, we are constantly, by God's word, being exposed to the truth and our own, well, unbelief regarding the truth of I've found that as I wrestle through the biblical text,

I continually still shed bad understandings or bad doctrines that have been rattling around in my psyche for a while, but the

Holy Spirit continues to work them out. And so, you'll note then, we are not saved by our orthodoxy.

If you start to think of it in those terms, orthodoxy becomes a good work, okay, by which we become saved.

This is not it, okay? We're saved and the word of God continues to work in us and work out of us erring doctrines.

Now, regarding then the non -negotiables, our standard texts on this are going to be

Galatians 1, where the Apostle Paul says to the churches of Galatia, who are under the sway of the

Judaizers, who are saying that you're not saved unless you're circumcised, unless you're obeying the

Mosaic covenant commands, you know, regarding the ceremonial laws and stuff, he says,

I'm astonished, he says, you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, okay?

Not that there is another, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach, let him be anathema.

So, the idea here is that here we see an actual anathema. Anathema is strong, it really means like damned, that's really kind of the idea.

So, you'll know, you teach a different gospel, you're gone, alright? You're not in the faith, alright?

As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel that is contrary to the one you received, let him be anathema.

And there it is. So, there's an example of that and a secondary example of this you're going to find in 2

Corinthians 11. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul is correcting the church at Corinth because they've fallen under the sway of the so -called super apostles, you know?

You have to put that in air quotes, you know? The super apostles. And I remember years ago when

Stephen Frenk was actually silly enough to actually embrace the term super apostle as if it was a positive thing.

He quickly corrected himself and pulled it off the internet, but man, I wish I had screenshotted that.

It was embarrassingly bad. Anyway, so here's what the apostle Paul says about the so -called super apostles.

He says, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness, do bear with me. For I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you received a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accepted a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

And this is not praise, this is condemnation because he's concerned that they're going to be deceived by the serpent the way

Eve was. And then he goes on to declare his judgment against the so -called super apostles, and his judgment is actually quite strong.

And let's see here. So, what am I doing? I'll continue to do in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms we do.

For such men, these so -called super apostles, they're false apostles. They're deceitful workmen, they're disguising themselves as apostles of Christ, and no wonder even

Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So, it's no surprise if servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, their end will correspond to their deeds.

And he's not talking about them spending eternity with Jesus in the new earth, he's talking about, well, the eternal pains of hell.

So, that's the idea. So then, when we talk about non -negotiable doctrines, it's also important to note that Paul, in defining the gospel that he was given, and he was given it by Jesus Christ, that he lays this out.

So, the gospel that Paul preached, he did not get from humans, he got it from God. We know this from Galatians 1, and it says, near the end of Galatians 1, let me get there,

Paul says, I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. I did not receive it from any man, nor was

I taught it. I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. So, Paul's, the gospel he preached, he got it directly from Jesus himself, and it's recorded for us in 1

Corinthians 15, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, that he appeared to Cephas and to the twelve, and then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time.

So, the idea here is, is that then wrapped up in the gospel itself, are also other pieces of it that are non -negotiable.

So, when some liberal, you know, gets up in the pulpit and says something to the effect of, the

Jesus didn't rise bodily from the dead, the resurrection is a metaphor, a metaphor for how in spring the flowers come back, and there's new life, and the birds are chirping, and the eggs are hatching, and all the cute little bunnies are out in the field.

And so, he didn't really bodily rise from the dead, you know, that's the denial of the resurrection of Jesus is wrapped up then in the gospel itself.

Which means, by necessity, the person who denies the resurrection has denied a fundamental doctrine and that makes them a heretic, not an erring brother.

And so, we carefully make this distinction so that when, you know, we don't end up like certain witch hunting groups that I've recently gone after, oh man,

I can't wait for my response, it's just going to be ridiculous. Anyway, so, the idea then is, is, you know, witch hunters, you know, it's like, if you don't agree with my view of eschatology, then you are outside of the

Christian faith. And I'll note this, this is one of the reasons why the fundamentalists, fundamentalists historically went off the rails, is they took the

Schofield Bible and the views of the rapture and they turned it into a primary doctrine, alright?

Where you're outside the Christian faith unless you're following their particular schema regarding how the end of days is going to go down, and all of that's speculation at best, poor speculation, you know, at best, and they turn it into a primary doctrine.

So, we recognize then that within orthodoxy, there is going to be debate regarding baptism, the

Lord's Supper, and eschatology, and how it's all going to go down. Now, that does not mean that somebody is a heretic because they deny the doctrines of baptism and the means of grace.

What that does mean is, is that they have an errant view, and we would argue it from scripture. We argue it always from the biblical text, but we argue it then as brothers.

This coming October, I have agreed to debate a Wesleyan on the doctrine of baptism.

And the reason why I agreed to that particular debate is that the people who are putting the debate on want to showcase it as an example of a dialogue between Christian brothers on the doctrine of baptism, and they are insistent that, you know, that this is going to be a model for how

Christian brothers can sit down with an open Bible and, you know, not anathematize each other and look at and debate what the biblical texts say regarding baptism.

That piqued my interest. I'm interested in that because that seems, that type of approach seems to be disappearing in droves nowadays.

So, always beware the person who takes a secondary or tertiary issue, exalts it to a first issue, and anathematizes the person they disagree with.

That's a bad thing altogether. That's really bad. Anyway, so hopefully that answers your question,

Heather. And again, if this is redundant,

I apologize. But the idea then here is that each and every one of us, God's Word is still working in us, okay?

I really do believe that none of us is going to have perfect theology until we get to heaven.

That's just how this is going to work, okay? That does not take away from the fact that the scriptures are true and that they can be rightly understood.

It's just that our sinful nature just wants to go this way and that way and doesn't want to believe this, wants to reject that and embrace this other thing over here.

And this is a constant temptation that we all face and we're going to face this until we die.

So, we're not saved by our orthodoxy as if it's somehow a good work, but orthodoxy then is a fruit then of the

Holy Spirit working in us, the Spirit of Truth, in order to conform us to the image of God in thought, word, deed, by what we believe and by what we do.

So, that's the idea. Alright, so Elizabeth says, parable of the soil, too many pronouns in this parable, them to be about different soils of a true

Christian heart. I believe I have been given a good soil by God, but my sinful nature doesn't allow it to produce a hundred percent.

Yeah, that's true, you know? And so, you'll note then, I think it's right to sit there and say, well, you know,

I don't really produce a hundred percent, but that's always the temptations. You'll note that the temptations are described as the rocks and the hard path and all these kinds of things, and those temptations we still face as Christians, each and every one of us.

Okay, Eric says, we call that a bodge job. Okay, instead of janky, let's call it less than optimal.

Alright, so our solution next week is going to be less than optimal. Okay, so the question regarding my email address,

Stephen Elliott, yes, that is my email address. You can also email me at talkbackatfightingforthefaith .com,

I do get those as well. Okay, alright, do you have a teaching series on the book of Revelation, End Times, Rapture, the

Second Coming of Christ? We're new believers. Thank you, happy we found Pirate Christian on YouTube.

Okay, so regarding the book of Revelation, alright, I've made, I've publicly stated

I'm an all -millennialist, which is a position that is highly misunderstood and the best way

I can put it is that in reading the book of Revelation, the book of Revelation itself is a very difficult book because the numbers and the pictures that are being presented in the book of Revelation, they're all symbolic.

This is a genre of scripture where the numbers and like the dragon and the woman and the beast and the mark and the this and the seals and the things, these are highly symbolic pictures and what

I found is that pre -millennials, and I used to be pre -millennial, they have a really funny way of approaching it where they kind of lay it all out and make it a linear thing when that's really not the structure.

And so, one of my seminary professors put it this way, when it comes to eschatology, you don't start in the book of Revelation.

When it comes to eschatology, you start in several passages. You're going to begin in like Revelation, not

Revelation, Matthew 24. That's a great place to start. Then you would go into 1 and 2

Thessalonians, and these are clear texts telling us about the end of the world. Another one, a really good one, is 2

Peter. So, the idea here is as you go into the clear text and what they do is they create the structure and he described the structure of the end of the world like a vehicle, it's like a car.

And then what you do once you've got the structure in place is you go into the book of Revelation and the book of Revelation creates the really cool and wicked paint job that goes on that thing.

Okay? And so, kind of a weird way to put it, but it makes sense.

So, what happens is that where so many premillennials err is they go to Revelation first and then they try to interpret the rest of the passages, the clear passages, according to the symbolic.

What we do instead is we go to the clear passages that are not symbolic and we go to them to create the structure for eschatology and then the book of Revelation then gives us more color and drama to it.

Alright, Bruce, I see that hand. Let me unmute you. Yes, sir. You got to turn your microphone on. There you go. So, is that also an example of homologomena?

Yes. Being the source of doctrine and not the disputed texts? Correct. Now, so, one of the things that we

Lutherans get accused of is that we apparently don't believe that James is canonical.

That's not true. And we apparently don't believe that Revelation is canonical. That's not true either.

It's like, no, we do. Now, Luther had kind of a love -hate relationship with the book of James and I can't blame him for that, but the reality is when you really pay close attention to what

James is saying, we Lutherans should be trumpeting James a little bit more given the tendency towards antinomianism that seems to come up in certain circles.

But all of that being said, so, when we talk about the New Testament, what

Lutherans generally do is that those books of the

Bible that are not part of what's known as the antilogomena. Antilogomena means not that they're not canonical, but that they were disputed.

They were questions as to whether or not they were legitimately apostolic.

The idea then here is this, is that when a book of scripture is antilogoma, it's part of the disputed text, we do not build a doctrine by first going into those texts.

Instead, we go to the texts that are widely accepted and that are clear and then the antilogomena is interpreted in light of those passages that have never been disputed.

So, that's kind of, that's one of our hermeneutics. So, the idea is that we never have a sedes doctrinae, the seed of a doctrine, biblically, within a text that is part of the antilogomena.

So, justification by grace through faith alone, it is not, it cannot, you don't start in the book of James, you start in Romans.

And then James is interpreted through Romans, all right? Not against it, all right?

So, that's the idea. So, then the idea then is Matthew, never disputed. So, Matthew forms the basis for eschatology and then

Revelation has to be interpreted in light of Matthew, not the other way around. Because what ends up happening when you take a symbolic book, which is what

Revelation is in most part, and then you think that you've cracked the code and the symbols to what it is, and then you go and you go into the other clear passages and interpret them in light of your code cracking, man, over and over again, we've seen so many people shipwreck their faith and they end up, they end up doing really dumb things like predicting the end of the world or the rapture next week and stuff like this.

So, if you wanted a crash course on eschatology, I can give you one. I think that'd be kind of fun, a crash course on eschatology.

All right, so, let me show you. We'll start in the clear texts, all right? So, we'll go to Matthew 24.

Matthew 24. I do find it fascinating, I was accused because of being an Amillennial that I don't take

Matthew 24 literally. It's like, really? Really?

Do you know anything about Amillennials? We take Matthew 24 quite literally, okay?

So, here's the question that is before the disciples. Jesus left the temple and was going away as disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple and he answered them.

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

Now, put yourself in a Jewish context here. Where do people go for the forgiveness of their sins?

The temple, right? Has Jesus died on the cross yet? No. Do the disciples understand how the crucifixion is going to work and all this kind of stuff?

No. So, here's what happens. The disciples are like freaking out. Okay, what? The temple's going to be destroyed?

What? So, as Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, which is right adjacent to the

Temple Mount, you know, just across the Kidron Valley, so the disciples came in privately saying, well, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

That's two questions, but they think it's one. So, notice, they've taken two concepts and they've mashed them together.

And so, Jesus, rather than teasing them out, what he ends up doing is kind of this weird thing that we see in Old Testament prophecies, where you take two different things and you braid them together and these are called proleptic prophecies.

So, the idea then is that in what follows, you will hear specific prophecies regarding the destruction of the temple, which took place in 70

AD. But interwoven with it, kind of braided together with it, are also prophecies regarding the end of the age.

Now, the Preterists, now there's a group of people out there, the Preterists, that's a whole other group. The Preterists basically approach

Matthew 24 and it's all been already fulfilled. And the Lutheran goes, what? What?

Okay. And they're right about the portions of the temple being fulfilled, but what they do is that they overcook it.

So, the Lutheran and the Amillennials will say, listen, what we have here is a proleptic prophecy with remainder.

Part of it has been fulfilled in the destruction of the temple and there are parts of it that are yet to be fulfilled.

So, here's your crash course on eschatology, all right? Okay. So, here's what

Jesus says. All right. See that no one leads you astray, all right? And so, you'll note, Jesus leads off and what he leads off with is important, because in the ancient world mind, you lead off with your first, strongest, most important point.

Don't be led astray. So, the end times is going to be marked with what? Deception.

There will be many who will come in my name. Well, if they're coming in my name, where do they show up?

In the church, right? Okay. Many are going to come in my name saying,

I am the Christ. And I think it's better to say here, I am the anointed one, okay?

Because how many people out there are claiming that they have special anointings? Okay. Within the

Charismatic and the NAR, these are little Christos. These are little Christ. They will lead many astray.

So, what's the end of the world going to be like? Well, immediately before the return of Jesus, man, the church is going to be in complete shambles.

Many are going to be led astray by false Christ, false prophets, false teachers. That's what

Jesus told us ahead of time. So, he says, now, watch where it comes up next. You're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars, and you'll note that all the prophecy experts are always keying in on, where's the latest conflict?

What's happening in Israel today? And, you know, are we getting ready to go to war with China? What if China attacks

Hong Kong? What Now, watch what Jesus does with the wars and rumors of wars part, all right?

You're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not alarmed. This must take place, but the end's not yet, okay?

So, you know, World War I, World War II, yeah, okay, yeah, those will happen, but Jesus is like, yeah, that's not the big stuff.

Okay, nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There's going to be famines, earthquakes in various places.

As Ghostbusters says, there's going to be cats and dogs living together. It's just, you know, it's going to be nuts, right?

But here's what Jesus says, all these are but the beginning of birth pains. And watch the major metaphor because this is the important part.

These are birth pains, all right? So, this is your primary metaphor.

Now, I remember when my wife was pregnant with Joshua and I had no clue how labor worked, okay?

When we finally got into the hospital and Barbara had started labor, you know, you're this thing's going to happen quickly and no, it doesn't, okay?

And what ends up happening is that the contractions come on, they're kind of strong in the beginning, but they increase in intensity to where your wife becomes very irritated and agitated against you, you know?

That's all I want to say. Okay, so, but the idea here is that, so, the idea here is this is our overarching metaphor.

So, what are we going to expect regarding the last days? As these things are coming on, these are all birth pains, which means that there's going to be cycles where these are going to get intense, they might ease back, but the next cycle will be more intense and then it might ease back and then the next cycle after that will be even worse.

These are birth pains. And what's given, what's going to be born? The new earth, okay? New heavens, new earth, all right?

So, they will deliver you up to tribulation, you're going to be put to death. Wait a second, what? I didn't sign up for that.

I signed up to have my best life now. No, no. So, what's going to happen? Christians are, real

Christians are going to be delivered up to tribulation. They're going to be put to death. You're going to be hated by all nations.

How many of them? Every one of them, okay? You're going to be hated for my name's sake.

And this is not figurative, this is for real, okay? Many will fall away, all right?

So, note here, the end times is marked by Christians falling away from the faith and then betraying one another and hating one another and many false prophets will arise and they will lead many astray.

Just tune into a prophecy bingo segment, right? And then watch this, and because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.

You sit there and go, well, how do I endure under the midst of all that? As the great prophetic band from the 70s and 80s,

Journey used to sing, Don't Stop Believing. Don't stop. All right,

I won't sing it. I'll sing it off key anyway. I cannot hit those notes. But anyway, so how does one endure?

You keep believing the faith, you keep believing and trusting in Jesus, right? All right, so this is, so, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.

All right, so when you see, now this is where he switches it up. Now Jesus is going to go right into a prophecy that folds in together with Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks.

Now, I would note something here. The prophecy of the 70 weeks was not a literal time prophecy of a literal 70 weeks, okay?

70 weeks is what, a year and a half, okay? A year and a quarter, it's not a lot, okay?

So, the 70 weeks themselves were allotted periods of time. And so, he talks about the abomination of desolation and some people point to the desecration of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, but there was also a secondary desolation, an abomination within the temple.

Was it the Roman Emperor Caligula? I forget the exact Roman Emperor who set up a statue to himself in the

Roman temple after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. So, watch what he says here.

So, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, okay?

Where? In the temple, right? Let the reader understand, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, man.

Let the one who is in the housetop not go down and take what is in his house. Let the one who is in the field not turn back and take his cloak.

Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days. Now, a little bit of a note here, and you'll have to do the research on this yourself, but in the book of Deuteronomy, when you look at the curses section of the

Mosaic Covenant, I think it's going to be in like Deuteronomy 32, watch the increasing magnitude and intensity of God's judgment for impenitent

Israel as they continue to break the Mosaic Covenant. God's judgments get stronger and stronger and stronger.

And by the end, God threatens that if Israel persists in sin and unbelief, that it would result in their destruction and as part of their destruction, mothers would eat their own children.

That's in Deuteronomy. And I know that's really strong, but that's what Jesus is referring to here.

And when you read Eusebius' ecclesiastical history regarding the siege of Jerusalem, before the destruction of the temple, the siege was so intense that one of the things that was marked by how terrible it was, was that there were actual women who were truly eating their own children and hiding their infants from their spouse so their spouse couldn't get any.

Okay? That's how awful it was. So, this is referring, this part of it is referring to the destruction of the temple, for sure.

So, pray that your flight may not be in winter on a Sabbath, and this is not talking about something coming up, this is talking about something that's already happened.

And you'll note that when the Christians saw these signs taking place, what did they do? They skedaddled out of Jerusalem, alright?

Historically, we know this is the case. They got out of town. They did exactly what

Jesus said, and the Christians were spared. For then there will be great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now and never will be.

And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. Now, this is the part where I think Jesus is transitioning back into a discussion of the end of the world.

But you'll note then that the destruction of the temple is a type and shadow of then the coming end of the world, and in part of what

Jesus is talking about. So, he says, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. So, if anyone says to you, look, here is the

Christ, or there's the anointed one. There he is. Don't believe it.

Alright? So, you'll note then, Jesus is talking to Christians here. This is, again, a feature of the book of Matthew.

So, Jesus is making clear, you Christians, pay attention. If anyone says, there's the

Christ, don't believe it. Now, I like to imagine, what would this look like in fulfillment?

One potential way, you know, because I don't have any doctrinal, I don't think the

TBN teaches anything sound, okay, is that I kind of foresee a day when TBN goes wall to wall, alright, 24 -7, that Jesus is in Africa somewhere and, you know, and they've sent a film crew to, you know, and this kind of stuff, alright?

And then all the buzz in evangelicalism will be, is Jesus really in Africa? And guys like me will be saying, no,

Jesus said, if they say that, don't believe it. And what are they going to say to me? They're a hateful, terrible, antichrist, spirit 666, tattooing

Lutheran. This is how they talk, right? Okay. So, what

Jesus said, don't believe it. And then he says this, false Christ and false prophets will arise, and listen to what he says next, and they will perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

And so, you'll note with the increasing deception, false Christ, false prophets, there's going to be a change.

And that is, is that we're going to go from non -miracle working prophets like we have today, you know,

I don't know if you've noticed, but somebody lengthening somebody's leg, you know, you think of Todd White, you know, he lengthens their legs.

That's not a miracle, that's a parlor trick, okay? But there is a day coming when people like Todd White, according to Jesus, they will perform magos, great signs and wonders.

So, you know, imagine how dangerous Todd White would be if he could perform real miracles. That's what we're talking about.

That's still coming. Until Jesus says, see, I've told you beforehand, okay?

So, if they say to you, look, he's in the wilderness, don't go! If they say, look, he's in the inner room, don't believe it!

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is there, the vultures will gather.

And then you'll note then, here comes the wind down and then also a way of synchronizing the rapture.

By the way, I believe in the rapture, but just not the way pre -millennials believe, I'll explain. So, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light.

So, what's coming? Oh, boy! Everybody's going to look at the sun one day and go, oh!

Okay, it's not going to be at its normal brightness. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven.

This is not figurative, okay? This is coming. The powers of the heavens will be shaken, then will appear in heaven the sign of the

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

Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. So, you'll note, what precedes

Christians joining Christ up in the air? Well, before that, the sun's darkened, the moon doesn't give its light, the stars fall, and somewhere in the heavens is the sign of Jesus' imminent return.

And then, and then it says, then he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and pay attention to this part, all right?

So, he's going to send out his angels with a loud trumpet, okay? So, I think this destroys the whole concept of a secret rapture, because before people are gathered up, there's a loud trumpet, all right?

Everybody's going to hear this. And they will then gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

So, the angels are gathering up the elect. So, from the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

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

So, when you see these things, sun darkened, moon not giving its light, you know, right after the tribulation of all the deception going on, the false

Christ, the false prophets, the false signs, the false wonders, all this kind of stuff. So, he says that Jesus then says to the generation who sees those things,

I say to this generation, you will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, my words will not pass away.

But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the

Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, you'll note that some people will actually schedule their wedding day for the day

Jesus returns, right? Okay? Until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the

Son of Man. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, one will be left.

And so you'll note here, this is the standard text that pre -millennials go to for the rapture.

But when are people taken? After all of these things.

This is at the tail end. There's only one return of Christ, and it ain't a secret, okay?

You'll note that nobody's gonna sit there and go, I wonder if that was Jesus. You know, there's one return of Jesus, all right?

And so you'll note, everyone's being gathered and separated. You know, are you a goat, are you a sheep, are you wheat, are you chaff?

So therefore, stay awake. You don't know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore, you also must be ready, okay? So you'll note that Jesus wants us all to be ready, because Jesus can show up when?

Tomorrow. I always like to say Jesus is gonna show up on a Thursday, because no one's expecting him on a

Thursday, okay? So my bet's on a Thursday. But you don't know when he's coming.

It could happen any time, okay? He's coming at an hour when you do not expect. So then who is the faithful, the wise servant, whom his master has set over his household to give him their food at the proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all of his possessions.

But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.

In that place there will be weeping and there will be gnashing of teeth, right? So there's your picture of the end of the world.

Jesus gives us the thumbnail sketch of it. This is not symbolic. This is really talking about the details of what's going down, okay?

So you'll note then, well, we seem to be in days of great deception. Does that mean we're in the last days?

Yeah, we've been in the last days since Jesus ascended to heaven, okay? That's the thing.

And it's just getting more and more intense. When is Jesus coming back? I don't know, you know?

I always like to say I work in marketing, you know? The Trinity is in management and they never talk to me, you know?

They never send me memos and let me know these things. So my job is to keep preaching the word, proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins, making disciples, baptizing, and teaching all that Christ has commanded.

I get to do that until when? I die or Jesus shows up, okay? Nothing changes, okay?

So then let me add another text into here. Second, let me see, 1

Thessalonians 4, I think that's right. Hang on, yeah, let's see.

I think this is right. Okay, yeah, here, so 1 Corinthians, 1

Thessalonians 4 and then we'll take a look at 2 Thessalonians 2. Now, we don't want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep.

So, those who are asleep are people who've died in the faith. These are Christians who are dead. So that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

So, this is talking about the return of Jesus, alright? So, when Jesus comes back, who's coming with him? The dead, they're coming back, alright?

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the

Lord, we will not precede those who have fallen asleep, alright? Now, you know, you're going to note here some of you say, well, it seems to be like the

Apostle Paul thought he was going to be alive when Jesus returned. That's immaterial. This is still a standing order to this day.

If you're alive when Jesus returns, you're not going to precede those who have fallen asleep. This is another argument against the rapture.

Why? Because who comes first? The dead, they rise first.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God.

And there, you're going to note here, this synchronizes perfectly with what

Jesus said in Matthew 24, with that trumpet, right? Okay? So, then the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, we will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the

Lord in the air. And so, we will always be with the Lord, therefore, encourage one another with these words, alright?

Now, 2 Thessalonians 2 also gives us a clear text regarding eschatology, and here's what it says.

Now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect of the day of the

Lord has already come. You've been left behind. Life was filled with guns and wars and everyone got trampled on the floor.

I wish we'd all been ready. Sorry, sorry. Working, still working out the eschatological

PTSD I suffered from when I was a Nazarene. So, okay. So, don't worry about it.

You haven't been left behind. Let no one deceive you in any way. That day will not come unless the rebellion, and this is where we get the idea of the great apostasy, unless the apostasy comes first, because that's what rebellion, the

Greek word there is apostasia. Okay, and where is this rebellion? Within the visible church, okay?

The rebellion is in the visible church, because everybody's born dead in trespasses and sins and that means that everybody who isn't a

Christian is already in active, hostile rebellion against God. So, you'll note, the apostasy referred to here is what

Jesus was referring to. False Christ, false prophets, false teachers, deceivers coming in His name and all this kind of stuff.

So, where does the rebellion take place? In the visible church. So, unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed.

Now, alright, has that guy shown up yet? I am of the opinion, and I'm a millennial, that we're still looking for a singular fulfillment of this.

Now, I would note that Lutherans kind of have this funny thing. There's one generation of Lutherans that'll say, that's referring to a particular singular person, and then the next generation of Lutherans come along and they go, well, that seems kind of symbolic.

I'm of the opinion this is talking about a particular dude, alright? This is a fellow who I believe is the bookend to Adam, the best way

I can put it, because it says of this guy that Christ is going to destroy him with the breath of His mouth, which is the reverse of how

Adam was created. So, the way I kind of picture this, and I could totally be wrong, is that as everything goes nuts, goes to hell in a handbasket, the man of lawlessness takes the stage, the whole goal of all of this is the suicide of humanity.

That on the last day when Jesus returns, everybody is cut down by Christ, see details in the book of Revelation, that everything will come down to one man at the end of it.

So, humanity starts with one man, I think it's gonna end with one man, the man of lawlessness. And just like Jesus breathes into the nostrils of Adam and breathed in him the breath of life,

I personally believe, and again, this is based on how I'm reading the scriptures, that the man of lawlessness is this ultimate

Adam guy which Jesus kills with the breath of His mouth, the reverse of giving the breath of life.

Is that how it's gonna go down? I don't know, but that's kind of how I picture it, okay? So, this is the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so -called

God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God. Is this referring to a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem?

Not in Pauline theology. The temple of God is the body of Christ, okay?

So, you'll note, you know, look at the other, look at Paul, how he uses the concept of the temple of God.

We are individual stones. We are individual bricks being built up into the temple of God.

The temple of God is referring to the body of Christ. So, Lutherans see this and they say, well, this means that the man of lawlessness, that the office of the

Antichrist, if you would, is going to be within the visible church, all right? That's the idea.

And then this fellow will proclaim himself to be God. Wow, okay?

All the more reason why Jesus' salient warnings that they say he's in the wilderness, don't believe it.

If you say he's in the inner room, don't go, okay? This now folds perfectly with what

Jesus said in Matthew 24. So, do you not remember that I was still with you,

I told you these things, and you know that what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. So, the devil seems to have a restraint on him, okay, during the last days and those restraints as we get closer to the return of Christ are coming off.

So, the mystery of lawlessness, it's already at work, only he who restrains it will now do so until he's out of the way, then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the

Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth. That sounds like the opposite of Adam to me, you know?

I'm just saying. And bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. And then note then, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.

And so, you'll note, the coming of the lawlessness is preceded by and trumpeted by what? False signs, false wonders.

Boy, we've got a lot of that going around right now, you know? A lot of that, okay? And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.

Therefore, God sends a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

So, you'll note then, these are clear texts, these are not symbolic texts. These are didactic texts that lay it out and they all work perfectly together, okay?

Now, having gone into those, you can pull in 2 Peter which is part of the Antilogomena and now you can go into the book of Revelation and begin to interpret

Revelation according to these texts, alright? Let Revelation be governed according to these texts and you'll get a far clearer picture of what's going on and Revelation then will not be scary,

Revelation becomes very comforting, very comforting when you consider what's going on in there.

But that's my crash course in eschatology from an amillennialist who thinks these texts are literal, not figurative.

It's Revelation that's figurative. So, I think in the future I'm going to have to do something about this.

I'm just, I'm going to have to teach on Revelation. I get the feeling I'm going to have to do that. Anyway, alright, yeah, let's see.

Let's see, Bruce says, if pastor doesn't object, I put together a playlist of Bible studies on Revelation by Reverend Fiske.

Yeah, please, yeah, in the meantime, since I haven't done a series of sermons or teachings on Revelation, Fiske's work is good.

So, you have a link to Fiske's channel there, that's in there, so if you all want to grab that, okay?

Okay, let's see here. The video's in reverse order. Here's the list in the correct order. Okay, Bruce put that in.

Alright, let's see. The most intolerant people have coexist bumper stickers, that's true. Can someone tell me what it means when someone says

God is moving? Now is the time. I hear that kind of language a lot and it bothers me.

Sylvester family, it should. I don't know what that means. Is that like saying Aslan's on the move? I don't know.

You know, I point you back where Christ has moved for us and bleeding and dying for our sins.

Okay, can a secondary doctrine infringe on a primary doctrine, Elizabeth asks. Yes, it actually technically can.

And so, we never say that secondary doctrines cannot lead to error which will put you outside of the faith, but in and of themselves they're not.

But you're going to note that what ends up happening is the method by which you deny a clear secondary teaching often becomes the method by which you will end up denying a clear primary teaching.

And so, we never say that secondary doctrines are not dangerous. They are. And they can undermine faith and pull it apart, alright?

But the idea here is that, and so this is why we always approach scripture humbly and what does the scripture say, okay?

Mormons believe that both Jesus and Satan are sons of God, so would that make them brothers? The answer is no.

So, they do not believe in the biblical Jesus. So, Mormons believe in, their central doctrine is called the

Law of Eternal Progression and here's their statement, as man is, God once was, as God is, man can become.

That's the central doctrine of Mormonism and their whole cult is centered around obedience to Elohim so that you can become a deity yourself.

And the Jesus they believe in is not the biblical Jesus at all. And so, that's a different Jesus.

Mormons are not Christians. They are, for real, heretics and cultists.

So, yeah, but you ask a great question, but the answer is that's a totally different Jesus. The details matter.

Okay, yeah, so yes, it keeps Mormons out of heaven, their Jesus can't save them and salvation for them is, by works, it's by grace after everything you can do, which is a totally different gospel altogether.

They do not believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, salvation by grace through faith alone. In fact, they believe that you merit salvation and for them, the ultimate salvation, the goal that you should be aspiring to is to becoming a

God yourself. And apparently, Elohim lives near a mysterious star named Kolob right now.

Okay, so concerning hate speech and blocking on social media, hopefully A .G. Barr's recent discussion concerning these platforms will come to the rescue.

I don't know, the SJWs are working hard to make sure that it doesn't. So, I have no hope along these lines.

All I can say is, buckle up. Jesus said we're going to suffer tribulation. All nations are going to hate us and they're going to put us to death.

So, if you're expecting anything other than that, why? Okay? So, you get the idea.

All right, let's see here. Oh boy, you know, I'm running out of time. Tony says,

I find partial preterism plausible. I understand that. I understand that completely.

I do reject preterism though. I do not think it is an accurate reading of Matthew 24 and I also reject the post -millennial way of reading

Matthew 24. I find them both to be, I don't agree.

Not only are they not consistent with the rest of the text and how the Church has understood them historically, you know, that's kind of the best way

I can put it. Okay. Elizabeth says, the sixth seal in Revelation has the same language as in Matthew 24 concerning the rapture.

Exactly. Now, here's, and I'll just say this and then we'll have to end here because I have another congregation I have to leave to go serve.

So, the idea then is, is that when you read the book of Revelation, you're going to note something very interesting that happens.

The world ends more than once in the book of Revelation. The world ends more than once.

And so, with the breaking of the sixth seal and then the final seventh, you have the whole, you have the world come to an end.

And so, the idea then is, is that in the book of Revelation, you have, for lack of a better way of putting it, different word pictures that are put forward to really the

Church age culminating in the return of Christ and the end of the age. And then once you've taken a look at it from this view, you circle around and you ascend the ladder and you get to see the same event with different pictures, okay?

Revelation is not linear, it's a circular book. At least in the portion, once you get past the letters to the different churches and you get to the beatific vision of John in heaven and the things that he saw up there, what ends up happening is that those pictures that you see, these are different ways of looking at the end of the world and they're given, you know, you got the seals broken, you got the trumpets, you got the bowls, these are all different pictures of how the world ends.

And you'll note, the world ends with each of these different views and then it circles around and goes back to the beginning.

It's a very difficult book to understand if you do not, if you do not have the

Old Testament symbols in your head. The Old Testament really goes a long way towards helping you understand

Revelation. But if you also don't pay attention to the structure of it, then you're oftentimes going to err.

And when you understand that this is all symbolic, it's written to comfort you and to give you hope in the face of the trials and persecutions and the slanders and the attacks of the devil, which are quite intense, and it gives you that hope that gets you through all of that so that you're on the other end so that, as Jesus said, the one who endures to the end will be saved.

So don't stop believing. That's the idea. All right. I have to leave there. So, and again, next week our services will be online from Kongsvinger and there'll be like a 30 -minute break, but we will also have, we'll have the

Divine Service and a participatory Bible study at Kongsvinger.

And so, we'll just remember that next week our solution is less than optimal. Less, less than optimal.

So, bear with us as we transition into some better technology. So, peace to you. We will see you next time.