Coming on the Clouds

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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We truly believe that it's important for the Christian Church to have an engagement in the public square with the

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Word of God. So we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world. I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this, and that is that I'm not your pastor.

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Though I'd love to be, I am NOT your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

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That is vitally important and actually a biblical command. And so as much as again as we love for your participation, your partnership, and we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives, we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right, Matthew.

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Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24. We are, if you're new here to Apologia Church, we are in a series called the

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Kingdom of God. This is working through the gospel according to Matthew. The gospel according to Matthew.

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We've been in it for a little while. Verse by verse through the gospel according to Matthew.

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Chapter 24 is where we're at now. This is known as the Olivet Discourse. The section with the discussion about the

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Great Tribulation. Now as you all get there, I want to encourage you to do this. If you have not done it yet, you really need to do it.

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Matthew chapter 24 is the Olivet Discourse, but there is the Synoptic Gospels. There are the

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Synoptic Gospels. That's where they are seeing together side by side. You have Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

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And so if you take Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you'll see that all of the Synoptics actually have this section in it, the

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Olivet Discourse. Sometimes a little bit different wording. Luke may actually explain a little bit more in more

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Gentile language than Matthew does. But that's the same section, the Olivet Discourse, the discussion of the

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Great Tribulation. That's where we're at now. And if you're new to Apologia Church, just know that we have a few messages on this passage that are already up now for you guys to listen to and to go through verse by verse.

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We've gone through this section again. We have today's sermon, and then next Sunday's sermon, and then we're actually going to hit pause in the

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Gospel according to Matthew for a little bit. But you will hopefully have this full substance necessary to understand, at least to get a preliminary understanding of what's happening in the

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Olivet Discourse. So for today, I cannot go back over all of the old details to explain where we're at now.

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But we are today in Matthew chapter 24, and we are in verses 29 through 31.

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I'm actually going to be reading today from the King James Version. The King James Version. We have a lot of people online watching this, thousands of people actually watching this, downloading them, listening to them.

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And many of them come from the same kind of tradition I came from. Many of them involved in independent fundamentalist separated

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Baptist churches. And so I'd like this to be beneficial for many of them as well, in terms of trying to use as much of the

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King James Version as possible. I did that last week as well. But I'm going to read today from the King James Version.

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This is Matthew 24, 29 through 31. As far as the reading of God's holy and inspired

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Word, let's pray together. Father, I pray that you'd please bless today. Help me, Lord, as a minister of the gospel, as a pastor over these people, to be faithful to your

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Word. I pray, God, that you would, by your Spirit, teach. Open our eyes to the truth.

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Help me, Lord, to communicate, Lord, your Word in a way that's faithful. Help me to be clear.

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And I pray, God, that at the end of this series, your people will love you deeply, will glorify you, will worship you because of what they've learned about you in your holy

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Word. Please, Lord, allow me to decrease Christ to increase. People need to forget my name and remember yours.

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And that's what I asked for in Jesus' name. Amen. So if you've been tracking with us, very important element here to talk about.

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We're going to talk about a section of scripture that actually, I believe, is very often misinterpreted.

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And I believe it's very often misinterpreted because we don't actually understand that Jesus, here in this section, is quoting from a very famous section of scripture from the

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Old Testament. So there was the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel was written long before the time of Christ.

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And you have what's known as Second Temple Judaism. You have people during this time period that have access to all the

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Old Testament writings. You have the actual Old Testament books laid up in the Jewish temple in that day.

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They have the Septuagint translation, so they know their scriptures. Jesus, of course, is the premier

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Jew, faithful Israelite, servant of God. That's who Jesus is. He knows the

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Tanakh and the Torah. He is God in the flesh. He is a faithful Jew. He knows the

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Torah, the Tanakh. And in this section here, it's not happenstance. It's not just so happens to be the case that Jesus is actually quoting from a very famous section of Daniel.

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This was a very well -known section of Daniel. Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 through 14, specifically.

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Jesus is actually quoting, when he talks about the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, they know that section of scripture.

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It was one of many sections of the Old Testament scriptures that talks about the

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Messiah and his kingdom. Remember this, very important, the question that they ask the

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Lord Jesus in this section. He had just finished denouncing the covenant breakers in Israel, the leadership in Israel.

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He promises desolation upon them. He says all these things are going to come upon that generation.

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Your house is left to you desolate. And we have, of course, all of the language throughout the synoptics even, where Jesus even says things like, these are the days of vengeance, in order that all that has been written may be fulfilled.

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Jesus has denounced the leadership in Jerusalem. He's promised them judgment. That's clear.

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And now he departs now to the Mount of Olives, the same direction Yahweh went in the

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Old Testament before the destruction of the first temple. That's saying something. Matthew knows that background.

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The Lord Jesus then is on the Mount of Olives, opposite of Jerusalem there.

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And, of course, he tells them when they're marveling about this amazing edifice, the temple itself is so glorious, when the sun shines on it in the distance, it looks like a glowing star.

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That's this bright and brilliant edifice. It's an amazing thing. And the disciples of course are pointing it all out.

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And the Lord Jesus tells them, you see all these things, theirs should not be left one stone standing upon another.

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And he promises it upon that generation. This is the context, the background, all of this leading up.

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And then Jesus is asked by the disciples. You mean the temple? All this is coming down?

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That's a very big deal. Their understanding of history is it's divided, according to the

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Old Testament, into two sections. You've got the Old Covenant era or age and you have the age of the

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New Covenant, the age of the Messiah's kingdom. That's how they saw history divided.

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Old Covenant and the promise of the New Covenant, the age of the Messiah and the kingdom of the

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Messiah. Now Jesus tells them that temple which represents that Old Covenant system with all the animal sacrifices, the priesthood, all of the things that they did there in the temple.

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He's saying that's going to be taken down, which is a mark, a sign to them that that Old Covenant age is over.

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Remember the question being asked of Jesus, very important key thing here, is not about the end of the physical cosmos.

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It's not about the end of the physical world, but the end of the age. And it centers around the destruction of the

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Jewish temple. Jesus tells them what to expect in their generation before they all die.

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I've argued throughout the Olivet Discourse, as we've worked through here verse by verse, we've demonstrated that all these things actually did come upon that generation.

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You can demonstrate it from Scripture itself. You can also demonstrate it from external, extra -biblical sources, historical sources, to demonstrate these things did in fact happen exactly as Jesus said.

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I'm going to point you to one verse here, kind of as an anchor, and then we're opening up here. Matthew chapter 24.

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I'm going to point to you to point to your text here. Look at it. Matthew 24, that section there, 29 through 31, is the section, we talked about this last week, where most people will say,

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Pastor Jeff, I get it. I see how you're saying he did promise it upon that generation before they all die.

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I understand it. We can demonstrate those things did in fact take place. But the language here in 29 through 31 is difficult for me to see how that could happen surrounding the events of the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the

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Second Temple, the Roman -Jewish War. How exactly do we get lightning, cosmic deconstruction, clouds of heaven, angels?

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How do we get that around the events surrounding 70 AD? Now, clear point here to make is just pay attention to what takes place right after that.

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The Lord Jesus says, after the description of lightning and cosmic deconstruction and clouds of heaven and angels going out to gather

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God's elect, he says in verse 34, Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until, what?

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All these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

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That is his assurance. All these things are absolutely going to happen. He says all these things before this generation passes away, after sun, moon, and stars, clouds of heaven, lightning from the east to the west, eagles, corpses, all the rest.

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So the Lord Jesus puts before and behind these things in the Great Tribulation.

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This generation is the generation. Which generation? The generation he was then speaking to.

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The generation he was talking to that was right before him. His audience. Now, that's one element that needs to be taken into consideration, is the

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Lord Jesus says, My word is true. This is going to happen.

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Heaven and earth will pass away. My words will by no means pass away. All these things includes all these things upon this generation.

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Which generation? The generation he was then speaking to. Very important. Now, here's what

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I've tried to do. We're almost done with this series, essentially, on the Tribulation, the Olivet Discourse, wrapping up, getting to the climax of Matthew in many ways.

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Of course, we need to talk about the resurrection, the death of Christ, all of that. But listen, this is very, very important to me as your brother and as your pastor, for you to understand why we chose

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Matthew. I wanted to choose Matthew as the gospel that we unpacked because we planted the church about 10 years ago.

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We planted the church out of a drug and alcohol rehab facility. We had essentially all baby believers.

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We have people among us right now that were there, came to Christ at Calvary Addiction Recovery Center.

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Right, Robin? Yes. And they've been here since the very beginning. We started as a church from zero with all babies.

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All babies. It was important for me as a pastor to make sure that if we spend time on the

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Lord's Day unpacking books of Scripture, I did so in a way that would teach the people of God that I'm called to care for the entire

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Bible. And as we've gone through the gospel according to Matthew, we chose it because Matthew quotes copiously from the

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Old Testament Revelation, not just direct quotations from the Old Testament, but Matthew has, in many instances, in the back of his mind, the

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Old Testament narrative, the story of Israel, and it moves and weaves in and out of Matthew's narrative.

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The Old Testament is behind it in the world of thought and in direct quotation.

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So my goal as your pastor, as we've moved through this, was to teach you the entire Bible.

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And as we've gone through the gospel according to Matthew, I believe that we've probably touched every book of the

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Old Testament Revelation as we've worked through it, maybe except for Haggai and Esther, some of those books.

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But we're gonna make sure that we actually do touch those by the time we're done. But Matthew has that world behind him.

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Now, this is what's really, really important. And if you guys are wanting to get a couple of hooks from the sermon, you have to grab a hold of this in terms of interpretation of this section of Scripture.

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We mentioned last week that lightning striking, eagles and corpses, sun, moon, and stars is language not invented by the

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Lord Jesus on the Mount of Olives, but it's language that actually was from the

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Old Testament Revelation used very often. I argued last week that the language of lightning striking and birds of prey over carcasses is language that God used before about destruction and judgment that was coming.

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He even used it against his own people in the past. Now, Jesus is using it when describing the destruction of the old temple itself, that second temple, and the judgment upon that generation.

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We talked about that cosmic deconstruction language, how it's used in the Old Testament of pagan nations, how

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God speaks with dramatic prophetic hyperbole and cosmic deconstruction language, not in a literal sense, but in the sense of actually turning their lights off, destroying their nation.

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And when Isaiah 13 used this language of sun, moon, and stars, which Jesus quoted from, he was using it against Babylon, and Babylon was destroyed.

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Now, what's important here is to think about it in terms of this. Imagine being in a theater and watching a marathon of the first six

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Star Wars movies. The other ones don't count. Imagine being in a theater watching a marathon of the first six

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Star Wars movies. Now, someone comes in to sit down during the last 25 minutes of Return of the

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Jedi. They've never seen it before, and they come into the tail end of the marathon, all the episodes have now been before us, and they come in the last 25 minutes of Return of the

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Jedi. Now, imagine afterwards going to a coffee shop and talking together about the movie, about that whole, the worldview behind it, all the background, the story, the characters, the narrative, the whole thing.

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And imagine this person who showed up in episode six in the last 25 minutes, trying to give their interpretation of all the details of all the characters, the storyline, the arc, the climax.

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You would have to say to the person, be careful, you only saw the last 25 minutes.

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You're trying to interpret the entire series based upon 25 minutes of collected data.

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You don't know everything that was laid down previous to what you saw. Now, what's important about that is we all recognize that somebody coming into the story and trying to give their two cents with only that much information is probably going to start doing damage to the characters, to the arc of the story, the climax, all of that.

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Now, that I believe is what happens when as 21st century Christians, we haven't understood the world of the

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Old Testament, all of the promises, everything that Jesus came out of, and we approach, listen, the

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Olivet Discourse, the promise of the Great Tribulation, because we don't even realize that Jesus is quoting from the

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Old Testament. When he says sun, moon, and stars, Gentile 21st century

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Christians go, oh, amazing, the stars are literally going to hit the earth. Not realizing that Jesus is quoting from Isaiah.

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When Jesus says he's coming on the clouds, Christians today, because they only came in the last 25 minutes of the movie, go like this, oh, where?

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Like surfing, which direction is Jesus going to surf on the cloud from? Not realizing that the

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Old Testament revelation has instances where this language is used. Isaiah 19, one,

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God comes in a cloud against Egypt, an oracle against Egypt. He says, behold, he comes riding on a swift cloud.

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Who? Yahweh. Doing what? It says the idols of Egypt tremble. The hearts of the

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Egyptians melt within them. Yahweh riding on a cloud against Egypt. Literally, the

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Jews didn't see it that way. They saw it as judgment talk, judgment language. Jesus is using that kind of worldview and that kind of language.

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And then Jesus here quotes from the book of Daniel. Again, if we walked into this 25 minutes after the series itself, we're going to do some damage if we don't understand that Jesus is quoting from the

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Old Testament revelation, and he's giving us now that fulfillment of the story, their hopes, their dreams about salvation, the nations, every tribe, tongue, people, and nation coming to worship

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Yahweh. All the families of the earth coming to return to worship Yahweh.

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All those stories of the Messiah's kingdom are fulfilled now in Jesus.

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And all of this is centered around what they expected, the dissolution and destruction of that old covenant system and the coming of the new covenant age and the kingdom of the

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Messiah. So what's important for us is to keep that in mind. Let's talk quickly about background.

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The background, we need to understand this moment before us.

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Is the Old Testament promises of the kingdom. We're going to talk about some of these later, but just keep in mind if you opened up your

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Torah in this day, you would be in the very first book reading about what

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Jesus is talking about here. Genesis, it's in the first book. We see it in the promises to Abraham.

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Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the what? The stars. That's a lot of stars. We see

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Genesis 49, 10. The promise of Shiloh who's coming. Shiloh. And to him, this messianic figure shall be, listen, the obedience of the nations.

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That's in the first book. We can go on about all the promises of the coming kingdom, all the nations streaming up to God's mountain.

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But that's in the background. We need to understand the promise of the new covenant. We've talked about that.

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The promise of judgment in the Old Testament upon the covenant breakers that was coming when the salvation of the

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Messiah and his kingdom arrive. There was going to be judgment and salvation coming together.

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Judgment on the covenant breakers and salvation breaking into history through the Messiah's kingdom.

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Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 4. Isaiah 65. We need to understand, of course, to understand the section of scripture, the biblical language used in the

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Old Testament of the lightning, the birds of prey, the carcasses, the cloud coming in Isaiah. All of that.

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God uses deconstruction language that Jesus quotes from in Isaiah 13.

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We have to understand the Old Testament signposts. Get this. And you're going to love,

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I think, what happens here in Matthew 24. We have to understand this.

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The Old Testament signposts, the symbol of the

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Old Testament imagery, the temple, the sacrifices, the priesthood, everything that they were doing in the

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Old Covenant was a dress rehearsal. It was a dress rehearsal. It was preparing for the big day.

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It was preparing for this moment before us. And when Jesus now comes in and says, that's all going to be taken apart.

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All of that's going to be taken down. It speaks to something for them.

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We need to remember that Jesus, in fact, in the gospels, he refers to himself as the true temple.

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What's he saying? He says, destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up.

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Jesus used that language and it caused major controversy in his day.

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We're going to get into that today. Major controversy for Jesus to be claiming to be the priest and the true temple.

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That's a very big deal to their worldview. The fact that the

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New Testament argues he's the high priest is a very big deal. When the Bible teaches us that Jesus completed the sacrifice once for all so that no more sacrifice is necessary, that is earth shattering to second temple

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Jews. We need to also, as we get to Matthew 24 here, understand the background of Matthew itself.

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A couple of things. Matthew starts in Matthew chapter three with John the Baptist, that forerunner of Messiah promised in Malachi chapter three.

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That's John the Baptist's role. He's saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And listen, what does he say as he tells him the kingdom of God is at hand?

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He tells the Jewish leaders of his day something critical. He says the axe is laid at the root of the trees.

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His winnowing fork is in his hand. And he says to do what? To bear fruits. What does

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Jesus call that generation? A wicked generation. Now in Matthew chapter three and four, when the

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Lord Jesus, who is the Messiah, goes into the temptation, what is offered?

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It is totally relevant to what Jesus says here in Matthew 24. What does Satan offer the

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Lord Jesus as that final test in Matthew chapters three and four? When you read that whole section, what does he do?

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He takes Jesus to a great and high mountain. And he says, here's all the kingdoms of the world.

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I'll give them to you now, Jesus. No death, no resurrection, no suffering.

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I'll give them to you now. I'll give you what you came for, Jesus, which is all the kingdoms of the world.

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All you must do is bow and worship me. That's a very significant temptation coming from Satan, who knows what the

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Messiah has come for. What? All the tribes, tongues, languages, everybody's coming to Messiah.

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That's what Jesus came for. That's at the beginning of Matthew's story, and it's relevant to the cloud coming of the

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Messiah. Jesus came after the temptation, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, something we don't talk a lot about today in modern evangelicalism.

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We don't even know what that means. The gospel of the kingdom, how is that good news? Listen, it was good news to them.

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It was good news to Jesus, because it's the first thing he was preaching out of the temptation. The good news of the kingdom.

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That's the story of the Lord Jesus. We need to understand background again of Matthew 10, comes before Matthew 24.

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10 -23, Jesus was telling his disciples that they, quote, will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the

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Son of Man comes. So Jesus says in Matthew 10 to those disciples, he says that they will not finish going through the towns of Israel before he comes.

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Like final judgment coming, resurrection coming. No, there are many comings in judgment of Yahweh.

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Jesus was coming in judgment upon that generation. And he tells those disciples that they wouldn't finish going through the towns of Israel before he returned in judgment.

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That's what the Lord Jesus taught. We need to understand in Matthew 12 -28. Matthew's careful to record this moment where the

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Lord Jesus says to people in his day who are challenging him, they are saying that Jesus was casting out demons because he was in league with Satan.

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And so what Jesus says to them is an if -then scenario. If, A, I do this, then be this.

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He says, if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

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Question, did he do it by the spirit of God? Yes. Then the Lord Jesus was teaching them that his kingdom, his rule, the reign of the

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Messiah had broken into history. Now, again, we have more Matthew 26.

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Again, before Matthew 24, sorry, Matthew 16 -28, Jesus says, quote, truly,

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I say to you, who's he talking to you? He's talking to them.

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Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here in front of him who will not taste death until they see the

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Son of Man coming in his kingdom. That was a promise Jesus made to some of those who were standing there.

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We need to remember all the threats and the prophecy from 21 -24, the promise of desolation in chapter 23.

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And the leading aspect of the prophecy of the Olivet Discourse is the destruction of the second

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Jewish temple, which was destroyed fully and finally in 70

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AD, literally taken apart, stone off of stone, exactly as Jesus said in that generation.

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Now, quick points here because I know it'll come up. And if you missed last week, I want you to get ahold of this, okay? The word there, when the

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Lord Jesus is asked about his coming, the word there is parsia. It's a Greek word and it is not, listen, an

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Old Testament word. The word there behind coming that's used there in 24, parsia, not an

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Old Testament word, it's a word used about Caesar in Jesus' day.

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This is a normative word used about Caesar, listen, and his royal appearing.

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You see, this word was used when Caesar was away on a long journey, when he would come back to a town to visit a town or come back to return.

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That was his parousia. It was his royal appearing. He didn't come to disappear. He came to have a consequential presence.

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So when we're talking about the parousia, we're not talking about the final resurrection and judgment.

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We're talking about Christ's parousia, his royal appearing. Now, quick thing here.

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It's very important to get this, so important. What I've argued is that what takes place in the Olivet Discourse, the

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Great Tribulation, is not concerning the second coming, final judgment, and the resurrection of the dead.

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If you want a section that describes that in clear detail, read 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

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What we've been arguing is that this section of Scripture is about the coming in judgment of the

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Messiah that was promised in the Old Testament and throughout the Gospels upon that first century generation of covenant breakers.

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This is covenantal. This is very much associated with the

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Old Testament promises of the change of the old covenant to the new covenant. This is about the coming in judgment of the

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Messiah. Got that? Yes, we good? And let's move through. That's laid down. Now, we talked about Jesus quoting from Isaiah 13 in the reference above.

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What reference was that? Isaiah 13, sun, moon, and stars.

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We talked about God using cosmic deconstruction language. I'm going to read to you a section

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I thought was really just an excellent summary. I love this. It's in the book I recommended to all of you called

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Matthew 24 Fulfilled by John Bray. I highly encourage you, if you're struggling through this in any way, to get this book.

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In this book, page 142, I thought this is an excellent summary. We have some good quotes here.

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I want you guys to hear. It says, the sun, the moon, and the stars, the universe of Israel.

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This is interesting. The stars falling from heaven represented the downfall of the entire

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Jewish commonwealth as represented by the leaders. Princes and nobles of the Babylonian kingdom were called, quote, stars in Daniel 8, 10, and were said to be cast down.

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Now the language can relate to Israel. Jewish writers understood the light to mean the law, the moon, the

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Sanhedrin, and the stars, the rabbis. Joseph in a dream saw, quote, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars, unquote, obeying him,

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Genesis 37, 9. And there we see the same kind of typology used as we know this referred to the brothers of Joseph, finally having to yield to Joseph when he became ruler in Egypt.

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The heavenly elements represent people in Old Testament language. This is big. F .W.

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Farrar puts it this way, quote, the powers of heaven were being shaken.

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Suns and moons and stars from Roman emperors down to Jewish priests were one after another waxing dim and shooting from their spheres.

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Clearly the day must be at hand in which the Lord had said it would come ere that generation passed away and that all the things of which he had spoken be fulfilled.

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Jesus said that, quote, the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, 24, 29.

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What would Jewish people have understood these words to mean? Look at Isaiah 51, 16, quote, and I have put my words in thy mouth and I have, this is so powerful, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hands that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, thou art my people.

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Planting the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth was symbolical language for Zion's becoming

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God's people. God did not literally plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth at this late date of writing.

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It has to be symbolic. Therefore, it is only logical that the shaking of the powers of the heavens and the passing away of the heavens and the earth afterward would mean the utter end of Israel, the ending of what

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God had planted and set. Now, I told you guys last week about John Gill.

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Remember that? Who's John Gill? Pastor James, I told him when I said John Gill, I said I failed as a pastor to let you guys know about history.

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John Gill is a famous Baptist in history. John Gill has a quote here concerning this section of scripture.

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John Gill, Baptist theologian and pastor years ago said this, "...and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, meaning all the ordinances of the legal dispensation, which shaking and even removing of them were foretold by Haggai 2, verse 6, and explained by the author of the epistle to the

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Hebrews 12, 26, 27, whereby room and way were made for gospel ordinances to take place and be established, which shall not be shaken so as to be removed but remain till the second coming of Christ."

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That's John Gill on Matthew chapter 24 in this section. Now, this is really cool.

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Very powerful. I want you to see this. By the way,

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I want to encourage you to do this. Go to Sermon Audio and listen. Pastor James did an entire series through the book of Hebrews.

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I think we're really blessed, you guys. But I want you to see this in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12.

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This is so critical when we talk about the powers of the heavens being shaken according to Jesus' first century

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Jewish context. Again, we don't have any right to come into the movie with 25 minutes to go and begin actually putting on the text very novel interpretations that would have made no sense to first century

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Jews, Second Temple Jews, Jesus' audience. Very important. When Jesus talks about sun, moon, and stars, we need to think as first century

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Jews. When he talks about the powers of the heavens being shaken, we need to recognize, listen, Jesus was quoting

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Scripture there too. Did you catch that? He was quoting Scripture there too.

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It's all part of their story, their narrative. And I want you to see it in the divine revelation that's before us in the book of Hebrews chapter 12.

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Now, I believe the book of Hebrews was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. And I believe that this particular section of Scripture actually has to do with the doing away of the old covenant order.

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Many commentators and theologians agree on that, that the writer of Hebrews here is actually talking about the destruction of the old covenant order when they're talking about the shaking of the heavens and the earth takes place.

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So I want you to see it. Hebrews chapter 12. Now, I want you to see starting in verse 18.

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I'm going to read the section here so you can get a full bit of this section. He says this.

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Remember this, watch. What's the message of Hebrews? I got to say this. I forgot to say this and I don't want to miss it. Message of Hebrews, by and large, warning those

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Jews, don't go back. Don't go back. Jesus is a better prophet.

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He's a better priest. He's a better king. He's what it was all pointing to. Don't go back.

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Don't go back. God's about to destroy all of it. Don't return to it all.

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You see, you have people sometimes gone by before after Jesus died and rose again.

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There's some decades that have gone by now. Now you have early professing Jewish Christians who are like, you know, where's the coming?

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Where's the, I don't know. It's still here and standing. And the warning is don't go back. It's about to be destroyed.

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Do not return. And it says in verse 18, for you have not come to what may be touched.

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A blazing fire and darkness and gloom and tempest. And the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

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For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it should be stoned.

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Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But you have, present tense.

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You have come those early Christians to Mount Zion and to the city of the living

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God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and feastful gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

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See, remember the context, those early Jewish Christians being tempted to go back to temple.

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He's saying, you're part of the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, this earthly physical

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Jerusalem. He says, you're part of the heavenly Jerusalem, that heavenly city. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if they did not escape when they refused him and warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

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At that time, his voice, listen to the words, shook the earth.

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But now he has promised and he quotes the passage from the Old Testament.

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Yet once more, listen, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

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Did you catch it? Here's a quotation in Hebrews related. You'll see in a moment to the destruction of the old covenant order about shaking the heavens and the earth.

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Jesus says the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Here we have the writer of Hebrews referring to that passage.

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And here's what he says. Divine interpretation. This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

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Therefore, here it is. Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

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And that's what it does. Let us offer to God acceptable worship and reverence and all for our

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God is a consuming fire. Brothers and sisters in the context of the book of Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews refers to that passage of the shaking in the heavens and the earth.

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And he says, this is in reference to that removal of the things that can be shaken. What physical temple, all those things you can touch and see.

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We've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Ours cannot be destroyed. We're part of the heavenly

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Jerusalem that's come down into heaven from God to the earth. And it cannot be shaken.

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It cannot be moved. That was their worldview. That's what they believed. Now go back to Matthew chapter 24.

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This is so powerful. In verse 30, it says this. And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven.

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And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn.

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And they shall see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

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Remember the worldview and understanding of the second temple Jews. What's the most quote?

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Let's test you now. Test you now. Come back. What's the most quoted verse in the new

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Testament from the old Testament? You sound so sad about that. Psalm 1101, okay.

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Maybe it just sounds like that from here. It's Psalm 1101. It's the most quoted verse from the old

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Testament in the new Testament. I call it often. That's God's favorite Bible verse. Because it's used the most in a new

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Testament. It was the anchor for them. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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That's about Jesus. The apostles point to that. They know it. It's all part of the anchor of their whole belief system.

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Jesus has been exalted. He is seated on his throne.

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He is ruling and reigning. Now putting his enemies under his feet. Some of you guys saw when you walked in today.

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We have, she's back. We've been praying for her. We try to bless her and encourage her.

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We're glad she's feeling better. But one of the things that happened out there before service, I was talking to her.

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And she asked me a question of what we believe about justice. And I told her I've answered it numerous times. And I'm happy to say it.

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We have God's standards of justice. And I believe that as our nation becomes converted, all nations converted to Christ, their heart changes concerning God's law and justice.

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And they desire what God wants for justice. And so I told her, I believe that this should take place.

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And I said, but we're not there right now. We live in a nation that is turned away from God and essentially pagan.

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And we don't have Christian standards of justice. And, but as the kingdom of Christ advances, one day we'll be there.

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And she said to me, she said, oh, when you talk about the kingdom of Christ, she's like, I, she said, she was like fearful.

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And she was scared of us talking about that. I said, well, get ready because it's coming. Why do

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I believe that? Psalm 110 .1. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit in my right hand, till I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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It's the most quoted verse Psalm 110 .1. Now, listen, it's what Stephen referred to when they killed him in Acts chapter six.

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Remember the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts chapter six. That is the thing that Stephen is quoting from when he sees the heavens opened and Jesus at the right hand of the father, he's saying he's on his throne.

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He is the messianic king. Jesus is raised. He is ascended. He is on that messianic throne.

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He's putting his enemies under his feet. That was the worldview. Now, this is critical.

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When we look at what takes place here in this section, where it talks about the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with powering great glory.

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We do need to know where it comes from. So go here quickly to Daniel chapter seven. That's what

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Jesus is quoting from. We cannot properly understand the section of scripture without understanding what

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Jesus was pointing to. In Daniel chapter seven, verse 13, it says,

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I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.

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And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him.

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And to him, who the son of man. After doing what? Coming up to the ancient of days to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom.

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Listen, has everything to do with Matthew 24. You're going to see in a moment that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass, shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

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Just a quick note here. If you look at Daniel, it's not very long.

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It wouldn't take you long to get through it all. You'll see that there are actually a couple instances where prophecy is given about four earthly kingdoms and the

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Messiah's kingdom arrives during the time of the fourth kingdom, which you count down from Babylonian kingdom.

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You get to the kingdom of Rome. That's where Jesus breaks in. So it actually takes place in Daniel.

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You have sea monsters coming out of the sea, dispensational premillennialist literalist.

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Maybe you're looking for like literal monsters to come crawling out of the sea. Not what they meant. It was earthly kingdoms, those sorts of things, but four kingdoms.

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And then the Messiah arrives. When did Jesus arrive? During what kingdom? During the

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Roman kingdom, the fourth kingdom. This whole scene of Daniel takes place in the context of Daniel, where Daniel says all this is going to take place during the time of the fourth kingdom.

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Keep that in mind in terms of timing questions. Now ask this question, everybody. Ask this question.

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Are we aware of what Jesus is quoting from when he says that the tribes of the earth will mourn?

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Did you know that? In this little section that we're doing today, have you noticed that most of what's said here is quotation from the

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Old Testament? Did you hear it already? Sun, moon, and stars, tribes of the earth mourning, coming on the clouds of heaven, and the heavens being shaken.

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Jesus pulls together numerous Old Testament references into this section.

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So again, we don't have a right to come into the movie with 25 minutes to go and begin trying very novel interpretations upon the story.

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Jesus has a background. These are first century, second temple

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Jews. They know the story. Jesus now is giving them all of those references from the

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Old Testament. But did we know that? That Jesus is quoting from what, which book?

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Zechariah 12. Zechariah 12. And you do need to see this. Zechariah, Old Testament, Zechariah chapter 12.

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We're just going to spend a moment just so you can see it. I don't have time to unpack it all today. I'm not going to dare try. But I want you to see what

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Jesus is quoting from. In Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10. I love, by the way, this is so trippy.

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It's one of those instances that causes fear, godly fear to fall on you.

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I was just having a conversation with Stellar Friday. Random discipleship moments.

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By the way, dads, look for those moments. Random discipleship moments. It's those moments where you're just sitting down, eating a meal, driving down the road, playing a game.

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And you get this little hot spot where your child asks a deep question. Take that moment as a discipleship moment.

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My son asked a question about Christ and his death. And we got into this amazing section. I said, did you know something kind of cool?

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I said, you know, in Genesis, when the fall takes place, the fall takes place. God says that as a result of the fall, there's going to bring forth thorns, right?

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I said, so for the Jews, the thorn was a sign of sin and the fall. Like that was a real sign.

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It was a symbol of the fall itself. I said, you know, those Gentile Romans, when they were crucifying

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Jesus, they pierced his hands and his feet as the text promised in the

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Old Testament. But you know what they did? They wrapped a crown of thorns because they were mocking

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Jesus. He says he's the king. Fine. Here's your crown, king. And these

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Gentile unbelievers who don't know the Old Testament are mocking Jesus with a crown.

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You're the king. Here's your crown. And they put onto his head a crown of thorns.

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So that when Jesus died on the cross, he's carrying on his head the beginning symbol of the fall and sin itself.

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Isn't that incredible? And Stellar, we're in the car driving, we're on the 60 coming home.

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He goes, oh my gosh, that is amazing. That is so amazing.

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For like 10 minutes, he was like, that is really, really, he was like, atheism is so stupid, dad.

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I was like, I know. Hashtag that. But watch.

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Here's another example of something written long before Jesus comes. Look at this. It says in verse 10,

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And I will pour out in the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn.

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Watch this. Verse 11. On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad, Ramon and in the plain of Megiddo.

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The land shall mourn each family by itself. What will mourn? What will mourn?

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The land will mourn each family by itself. The family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves.

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The family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves. The family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves.

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And the family of the Shema. You get all the way down here. You've got the land. You've got the families. Clearly, they look upon him whom they have pierced and they mourn.

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And Jesus now quoting destruction of Jerusalem, covenant curses, all of that's coming, this generation, dissolution of the old order, all the shaking of the heavens, all this is going away.

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And he says, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. Now, quick thing.

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Pay attention to the word tribes. What's the context here? Jewish temple.

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What's the context here? Flee from Jerusalem, Judah. All the context is local.

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And we've got the word here, the tribes of the earth. I would argue Jesus is talking about the 12 tribes of Israel.

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Same context of Zechariah, chapter 12, verse 10.

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Context is Jewish. Context is Jewish families, Jewish tribes. And very important here, the word behind earth, all the tribes of the earth, the word is geis.

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And it can be translated as earth, soil or land. As in Matthew 14, 24,

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Mark 4, 1 or Mark 6, 47. It can be translated as lands. So this could appropriately be seen as Jesus saying, all the tribes of the land will mourn, which actually goes perfectly with Zechariah chapter 12, because who's doing the mourning?

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Who's doing the mourning in Zechariah 12? The covenant people of God. They shall look on him whom they have pierced.

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Who was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus? Ultimately, they asked for it.

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They said, what? He says, I find no fault in him. Wash my hands.

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He is not guilty as a matter of record in history. No fault. Shall I crucify your king?

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And they say, what? We have no king but Caesar. His blood's on you then.

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And they said, let his blood be on us. And our children. That's a generation, brothers and sisters.

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Them and their children is their generation. Very important. I believe

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Jesus is actually referring here to Zechariah 12. He quotes it. And I believe that it's about the tribes of the land.

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It's very Jewish. Remember that Jesus referred to the coming judgment when the Jewish covenant breakers of his day asked for his blood to be upon them and their children.

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Remember this also? Just a cool note about the section. When he was going to the cross, they just said, let his blood be on us and on our children.

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Jesus goes to the cross. And in Luke's gospel, in Luke 23, 28, Jesus warns them.

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Right? And I told you this before, but just for the record, I always thought that was kind of chilling and strange because he says so few things on the way to the cross.

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So very few things. But on the way to the cross, the daughters of Jerusalem are weeping.

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And Jesus stops to talk to them. And he says to them on the way to the cross, he says, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves and your children.

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And he says, for the days are coming. And he starts naming what they're going to say. That's judgment upon them.

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You see, they're weeping for him. He says, weep for yourselves. All the tribes of the earth will mourn.

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The look on him whom they have pierced. All of this ties God's narrative, his story together.

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Now, also, this is just for fun. This study has not been about the book of Revelation.

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We'll do that one day. It'll take us 40 years. You'll bury me at chapter 15, okay?

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But I just want you to see it because it is quoted again in Revelation. I just want you to get a taste of it.

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I'm not going to spend time on it today, like a lot of time. But just see it in Revelation chapter 1. I would argue, as you get there,

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Revelation was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. I think there's internal and external evidence for that.

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Read a book by my friend, Dr. Gentry called Before Jerusalem Fell to get the historical evidence and biblical evidence for that.

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But just quickly here, Revelation 1, look what it says. Again, I believe John wrote this in exile to Patmos.

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I believe Nero sent him there. And this is where the revelation comes before the destruction of Jerusalem. That's what

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I believe, not arguing that today. But it says this, The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must happen in 5 ,000 years.

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No? What's it say? The things that must soon take place.

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He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

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Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is really far away.

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No? Come on. What's the text say? The time is what?

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Near. Surely take place. The time is near. So John is writing, but look what it says here in verse five.

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And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings of the earth, kings on the earth, to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom priest to his

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God and father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds.

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There's that Daniel reference. And every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.

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And all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. What's the quoting from? Zechariah 12.

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They will look on him whom they have pierced. He's coming on the clouds. Even they who pierced him will see this coming of the clouds, the kingdom of Messiah, his dominion, his rule, his reign.

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In order to understand this, we have to know the timing of revelation soon to take place.

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But we also have to understand what this meant for the covenant people. We need to see how the

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Lord used Daniel 7 in reference to himself with the high priest Caiaphas. Did you know that this was quoted also to Caiaphas in Jesus' day during his trial before his crucifixion?

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So to see that, go to Matthew 26. This is a famous scene.

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And in Matthew 26, starting in verse 57, we have the conflict of Jesus before Caiaphas.

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Now this is actually critical to get. Remember, the temple there represents the old covenant order.

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Caiaphas is the high priest in Jesus' day. He is the head of that temple's regime, the leadership.

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Now watch what happens in the conflict. Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.

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And Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest. And going inside, he sat with the guards to see the end.

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Now the chief priest and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward.

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At last, listen to this accusation. Two came forward and said, this man said,

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I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.

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And the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?

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They're turning Jesus' statements about him being the true temple and twisting that together with his promise of the destruction of the

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Jewish temple. And this is what happens. Jesus remains silent. And the high priest said to him,

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I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you're the Messiah, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so, but I tell you from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

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Who's going to see it? Caiaphas, the high priest, you will see.

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From now on, you will see Caiaphas. And what's he quote from? Again, Daniel 7, 13 through 14, the son of man comes up to the ancient of days, comes on the clouds of heaven, and he brings all the nations to God.

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Now, what happens when Jesus said this? The high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy.

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What further witnesses do we need? You've now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, he deserves death.

01:00:11

Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him saying, prophesy to us, you

01:00:18

Messiah. Who is it that struck you? That was their response to Jesus quoting Daniel 7 in reference to him.

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And he said to Caiaphas, the high priest in his day, from now on, you will see what?

01:00:32

The fulfillment of Daniel 7, 13 through 14. Now, this is wrapping up here.

01:00:44

In quoting Daniel 7 to the high priest, Jesus was claiming to be the divine Messiah. Why did they freak out?

01:00:55

Why did they tear? Why did they accuse him of blasphemy? If you know

01:01:00

Daniel, you know that worship is taking place. If you know Daniel, you know that that's a significant claim to make.

01:01:09

And they accused him of blasphemy. He was claiming to be the promised king by quoting

01:01:15

Daniel 7, the cloud coming of Messiah. He was telling him that he,

01:01:21

Caiaphas, would see his, Jesus' rule and kingdom.

01:01:28

Finally, what is the quote from Daniel all about? It's about the salvific kingdom of the

01:01:35

Messiah. Who will bring every tribe, tongue, people, and nation to worship

01:01:43

Yahweh? Salvation to the ends of the earth. Listen, not just ethnic

01:01:52

Jews. All tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations. And I highlighted this last week.

01:01:59

I have to do it again. I hope you hear it. I hope you hear it. When you look around just this little room we have before us today, on the other side of the world in a desert, you got a lot of colors in this room.

01:02:13

And we need to praise God for that. Because it is the vindication in the 21st century of Jesus as the true

01:02:23

Messiah that was promised. What was the promise? All the nations coming to worship

01:02:28

Yahweh. All the nations under the rule of the Messiah. All those nations confessing him as Lord.

01:02:35

Think of how strange that is. Most everyone in this room today would not identify as ethnically Jewish, right?

01:02:41

And you worship the Jewish God because of the Jewish Messiah?

01:02:47

That is what we have before us today. You see, we could talk about the Old Testament promises of Messiah.

01:02:54

I told you Genesis 49, 10. To him shall be the obedience of the nations. You have

01:02:59

Psalm 2. The Father says to the Son, ask of me, I'll give you the nations for your inheritance.

01:03:05

The very ends of the earth for your possession. Psalm 22, the passion of the Messiah. After it talks about his hands and feet being pierced, being surrounded by dogs, casting lot for his clothing, it then says what?

01:03:20

It says all the families of the earth will return to worship Yahweh. Of course, you have

01:03:26

Psalm 72, which Gabe read before you in worship today. He shall have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.

01:03:38

The promises of Messiah, Psalm 110, 1. Putting all of his enemies under his feet.

01:03:43

Isaiah 2. What's it say? All the nations stream up to God's mountain and the law goes forth from Zion.

01:03:52

Isaiah 9. God's coming as a son and as a child. And what's it say? He is

01:03:58

El Gabor. He is the Father of eternity. And it says what about his kingdom?

01:04:04

It'll have no ends. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no ends.

01:04:10

These are the promises they were expecting. Jesus has that in the back of his mind. They knew the kingdoms of the world were coming underneath the

01:04:18

Messiah. The one who sits on David's throne is going to rule the world. The one who sits on David's throne is the one who comes on the clouds after the ascension.

01:04:30

He brings the nations, tribes, languages to God. And that's what Jesus is quoting here.

01:04:36

Do you catch it? I want to argue this. The sign that they were supposed to see, understand, was the destruction of the

01:04:50

Jewish temple. After all the tribulation, he promised that final thing.

01:04:56

That final thing of the Son of Man in heaven.

01:05:03

The sign of the Son of Man in heaven was the temple's destruction.

01:05:09

It was the full vindication that Jesus is in fact the Messiah. They were supposed to understand in that vindicating moment in history of the actual destruction of the temple, that Jesus is the

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Son of Man in heaven. He is ruling. He is reigning. He is now bringing all the tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations to God.

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They were supposed to see that. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're like, okay, I see it.

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He's quoting kingdom of God, tribes, tongues, peoples, nations. I get it. You have judgment language, all that's there.

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But this is tough. It says in the text before us, and this is where we're wrapping up.

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And I'm going to do it quickly because I don't think there's really much to it. If you've heard what I've said so far, there isn't much to this.

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The text says in verse 31, he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together as elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another.

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How do you handle the angels? I want to argue this. We get thrown here because many modern translations say angels.

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Now, very important. If we come to the text with presuppositions about what is taking place in the text already, then we're going to see the text with a secret rapture in it.

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Why? Because my pastor told me that. He said that two men will be in a field, one will be taken, one will be left.

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And what that means is the believer is taken and the unbeliever is left. What's the problem with that?

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When you go to the text with that presupposition, you can't even see what Jesus actually says.

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He compares it to the days of Noah, right? And what's he say about it? In the days of Noah, who was taken away?

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The wicked. Who was left? Noah and his family, the righteous. The text is literally reversed, but because of presuppositions, we go to the text with, we can't read the text for what it actually says.

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I'm going to argue that also takes place here with this text. If we have a presupposition that this is about the end of the world and the final resurrection, then we will see angels coming out of heaven, coming down to gather

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God's elect. But I want to argue something different. The Greek word

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Angelus, it can be translated as angels and it is, or as messengers.

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And it refers to human messengers as in Luke 9 .52 or James 2 .25.

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Same word, Angelus, used for human messengers in the New Testament. So I want to argue this,

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Jesus quotes the Old Testament revelation copiously, all in reference to the kingdom of the

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Messiah and the drawing of all the nations. The cloud coming of the Messiah is from Daniel chapter seven, verse 13.

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It is during the time of the fourth kingdom after the ascension of the Messiah, he comes on the clouds and draws the nations.

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Now, as Jesus talks about the destruction of the old covenant age and the entrance of the age of the

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Messiah and the new covenant age, he says this, that he is the son of man in Daniel's vision.

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He is going to bring the nations. He is ruling. And he says this, he will send his messengers.

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He will send his messengers and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

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So who are those messengers? God's people. Doing what? Proclaiming the gospel.

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Who are those messengers? They're God's people going to preach the gospel and to bring together

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God's elect, his chosen ones. Final word, how does

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Matthew end? How does Matthew end? Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

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I say it so much, you have to have it memorized by now. Jesus says, all authority in heaven and where else and on earth has been, past tense, given to me.

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And he says, go therefore, because of that, because I have all the authority, he says, go therefore, and he says what?

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Make disciples of all the nations. See that? Daniel 7, tribes, tongues, people, nations, languages coming to Messiah.

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He says, go get the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe everything

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I've commanded you and law him with you always, even unto the end of the age. And then where's Jesus go after he says this?

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Where's he go? Where's he go? Up. To who? The ancient of days.

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Daniel 7. To do what? To bring all the world into worship of God.

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Quick summary. The sign of the Son of Man in heaven is the destruction of the Jewish temple that the

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Lord promised at the beginning of the discourse. After the events portrayed in the Olivet Discourse, the temple's destroyed.

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The destruction of the Jewish temple is the vindication of the Lord Jesus as the messianic king who is on his throne.

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The destruction of the second temple is proof that he is the true temple and the true priest.

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So what? If you look at this passage, as about the end of the world, something that is future to us, you will see this passage in this story as the end.

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Well, it's about the end, right? The end of the world, the end of the physical cosmos. It's about the end.

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But I believe if you read it biblically, you'll see that it's really about the beginning.

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It's really about the beginning for Jesus and the disciples. The end of the old covenant age, but the beginning of what their hopes were, the kingdom of Messiah, salvation going to the ends of the earth,

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God making all things new. It's about salvation to the ends of the earth.

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What are some things we should take from this? In our modern context, can I say this? Racism is wicked.

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Wicked, evil, destructive, and it contradicts the worldview of the

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Messiah. You might be asking, why bring this up in a message like this? I'm going to say, because as a church, we are faced today with those who are attempting to actually infiltrate

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Christian communities with Marxist, neo -Marxist, ungodly ideologies when they're trying to cause division between God's people based on skin pigmentation.

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It is destructive. It is wicked. It is evil. And it goes against everything that makes this so glorious.

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Jesus here talking about the Olivet Discourse and the Great Tribulation and the coming on the clouds of the

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Messianic King to get the nations should destroy any ungodly attachments we have to our skin color.

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I've said this often. I believe, I generally doubt the profession of the person who is obsessed about their skin color and hates others because of their skin color.

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The reason I have such doubt of their profession, I know Christians, we sin, we're being sanctified.

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The reason I doubt the profession of a person who obsesses about their skin color and hates other people on the basis of their skin color is because the core message of the scriptures is that the

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Messianic King brings together all the families of the earth to worship Yahweh. And we're all from the same parents.

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We all have the same problem of sin and it is not a problem of skin. And I believe as Christians today, we have to highlight the glory of God in the

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Messianic Kingdom, the Messiah who brings all people towards the throne of God.

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And he washes us and he cleanses us. And our skin color has nothing to do with it.

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Nothing to do with it. We should abhor racism outside the church and we should abhor it by those who attempt to bring it within the community of faith.

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Here's the thing. If you see this as the beginning, the glorious beginning of God's kingdom story, then you should see this.

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God is gathering his elect. He's sending his messengers out to collect his chosen ones.

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And God wins. Did you hear it, Daniel 7? He wins. He gets all the tribes, people's tongues and nations.

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Let that be underneath us, brothers and sisters, in all the dangerous ministry that we do. In all the hardship and difficulty that we do.

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Two people today, in the last 24 hours actually, said to me, one was my son, said to me,

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Dad, I'm grateful that God's doing what he's doing. At the abortion mill. But babies are still dying there.

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They're still dying there. There's still all this evil happening. So I'm grateful God saved a baby, but there's still babies that died.

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You know, we ought to see in a passage like the Great Tribulation, the Olivet Discourse, is this. Jesus has the victory.

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He is going to win the nations. That is a sure promise of God. That ought to send us out with godly, risky, missionary sacrifice into the world.

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That ought to send us out into the hard places to do the difficult things, to win these nations to Jesus.

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He's the king. He's ruling and reigning. He's gathering together his elect from the four winds.

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He's the one who's on his throne. He's bringing all these nations to God. We are the messengers going out to collect them.

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And we do it through the proclamation of the good news. That ought to send us into the world, into hardship and difficulty and suffering, to win the world to Jesus.

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Jesus wins. His righteous inherit the earth, not the wicked. That ought to send us into the world to go win this world to Christ through God's good news.

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It also ought to now change your perspective, right? Think about it. If you saw the

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Great Tribulation as something, the end, that's about the end, the final end. That's back over on this side of my story.

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Well, then that'll transform maybe how you actually raise your children. And think about raising grandchildren.

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You see, if we have a perspective change that sees Jesus as ruling now, winning the nations.

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If we see Jesus as the one having authority on earth today, if we see

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Jesus as having total victory with all his enemies under his feet, it's gonna change how we raise our kids.

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It'll change how you build businesses. It'll change how you actually now see your governments.

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You see, when you see wickedness rampant in your society, if you think that's a good thing because it means you're gonna be taken out of here, then you will live accordingly.

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But if you see Jesus as on his throne with full victory and all enemies going under his feet, then you will live and breathe and move in your culture in a much different way.

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When you see an ungodly culture all around you, you will be the one bringing heaven into earth, bringing

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God's culture into the world. You'll see the world in a different way when you realize that Jesus is the vindicated messianic king, bringing the tribes, tongues, and languages to God.

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So brothers and sisters, I wanna challenge us all to live accordingly. Let's pray.

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Father, thank you for your word. Please bless what was said.

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For the glory of Jesus and his kingdom among us,

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I do pray that you'd reshape our hearts and our minds to see things truly through the lens of scripture.

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That you're ruling and reigning now, that you laugh,

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Father, when people try to thwart your purposes. Help us,

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God, to have the strength of your spirit, to be bold to the world around us with your truth.