Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand! (Matthew Chapter 3 - Part 1)

So open up, if you would, to chapter three of Matthew's gospel. Last time, let's see, we were in chapter two talking about the birth of Jesus and how the holy family took up residence in Nazareth. So from the end of chapter two to the beginning of chapter three, verse one, basically you have a span of about 25 to 28 years that have passed.

Most of you are aware of this, that we don't know anything about Jesus and his upbringing. Jesus as a young man, the Bible has nothing to say except for that one occasion when he was 12 years old and he visited the temple.

So basically in chapter two, Jesus was two years old at the very most. And now it's jumping ahead to where now he's 30 years old, but it's jumping to the ministry of John the Baptist. So let's listen along to Matthew chapter three, verses one through 12.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way for the King

This is the ministry of John, who was of course the forerunner of Jesus. John's purpose was to prepare Israel for the coming of their king, which John says all of this is at hand. So let's listen along, Matthew three, one through 12.

In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,.

Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance and do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees, therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. Then he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn, but he will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire.

So this is a hard message that John is preaching. He's not making a lot of friends here. Just imagine this. We know that God sent John the Baptist to Israel to deliver this message. Imagine if the Lord sent a prophet to our nation to deliver a message like this.

Like you all better repent now. And he addresses the religious authorities, the leaders of the churches as a brood of vipers. And how can you all escape the damnation of hell? Can you imagine what the response would be?

Yeah, they'd be like, okay, let's kill this guy. How do we get rid of this guy? Yeah, and of course that's what ended up happening. John the Baptist was killed and he was despised by the religious leaders.

So we're hearing some judgment language from John the Baptist. So that's gonna be important to remember going forward. He has a message of repentance, but it's really a message of judgment because does God know what's going to transpire with the ministry of Jesus?

Yes, he does. So Matthew chapter three, verses one and two says, in those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea in saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So this phrase kingdom of heaven is unique to Matthew's gospel.

In the other gospels, it's referred to as the kingdom of God, but kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, basically it's the same thing. It's believed that John, because he's writing to a Jewish audience in order to not use the name of God, just kind of in a willy nilly way, he's saying the kingdom of heaven instead of the kingdom of God, just to kind of appeal to the Jews more because they were sort of afraid to use God's name.

So kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, same thing. So what is he saying is at hand? Okay, the kingdom is at hand, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be at hand? Well, basically the Greek word means it's drawing near.

The kingdom is approaching. John says the kingdom is at hand because the king was getting ready to reveal himself. So as of right now, where is Jesus? What is Jesus doing right now? Jesus, as far as we know at this moment when John is preaching this message, Jesus is living in Nazareth working a normal job as a carpenter.

As far as we know. Chapter three begins with these words, in those days. Well, in what days? The only context we have for that is to go back to the end of chapter two. So Jesus is dwelling in Nazareth with his family.

He's living a life of obscurity. And that's when John begins his message. The kingdom is at hand because something is about to take place. Jesus in his ministry is going to begin very, very soon. How long has it been since there's been a prophet in Israel?

John the Baptist, if you think about it, how long? Okay, so about 400 years or maybe a little more. So God has been silent for 400 years and here comes a true prophet of God, John the Baptist. So who is the last prophet before John?

This all matters as far as John's ministry. Who is the last Old Testament prophet? Malachi. Okay, so let's turn to the book of Malachi. And I don't wanna confuse you, but technically John the Baptist is the last Old Testament prophet.

I know we're reading about him in the pages of the New Testament, but these are still technically Old Testament times because Jesus hasn't died on the cross. But the last Old Testament prophet in the Old Testament scriptures, yes, is Malachi.

So turn to Malachi chapter three. As you're turning there, John is the forerunner of Jesus. What did he do? He went out to prepare the way of the Lord, he says, to make his paths straight. So Jesus, who is the king, you might say that he slowly begins to show himself to the people of who he is over a period of three and a half years.

And then finally, on what we call Palm Sunday, at the very end of his ministry, Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey. That's when it's official that he's declaring himself the king, the Messiah.

But people kind of wake up to this realization over the course of his three and a half year ministry. But this hasn't happened yet. Jesus, as far as Israel goes, they don't even know who he is. So his birth 28 years earlier, however big a stir it caused at the time, you were there the past few weeks.

I don't know about you, I almost get the impression that most Israelites, most Jews probably didn't even hear anything about it. Or if they did, they've long forgotten. So all this time has passed and they're on to different things.

They're not even thinking about the Messiah coming. So that's why John needs to come to prepare them, to remind them and to kind of wake them up. All right, so this is how the Old Testament ends. You're in Malachi chapter three.

So look at verse one. John, he says, behold, I send my messenger. Now who's talking? It's Malachi writing, but who's speaking? Right, God is speaking. He says, behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And then if you keep reading in verse two, it says, but who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire.

So this is more judgment language. John the Baptist shows up, he's preaching judgment. The Old Testament ends with Malachi. How did Malachi end? Preaching judgment. But along with that, he's preaching that the Messiah will suddenly appear.

He will suddenly, the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. All right, now let's skip over to chapter four. This is all important context. If you don't see the significance yet, just trust me.

We get more judgment language in verse one, Malachi chapter four, verse one. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven. John the Baptist said something like that too, right? Unquenchable fire.

So the day is coming, burning like an oven. And all the proud, yes, and all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts. So he's clearly talking about this time period known as the day of the Lord.

When you hear the day of the Lord, what do you think of? Okay, the second advent when Jesus comes, it's the day of the Lord, right? That's true. These events, the day of the Lord, this is sort of like the end times.

These are the events of the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is just filled with judgment. So that's where the day of the Lord is described in the most detail in the book of Revelation. Jesus returns, of course, in Revelation chapter 19.

He sets up the kingdom in chapter 20, and that's what John is preaching, the kingdom is at hand. Here's what the Jews didn't understand. They didn't understand the difference between the first advent and the second advent.

They thought this all just happened, it all happened together. They did not know about the 2000 year plus church age that is in between. So when John the Baptist shows up with this message, the judgment, they think the judgment should be directed where?

Yeah, it should be directed at the Romans. They're God's enemy, they're oppressing the children of Israel. And yet, who does John the Baptist direct God's wrath towards? He directs it towards Israel. So you have to see how unpopular this message would be.

Indeed, it was. But they were thrown off by that, but they would have expected that all this would happen and Messiah would show up and drive out the Romans, God's wrath would be poured out against the Romans, but nothing's going according to plan.

So that would lead a lot of people to think that John the Baptist is what? If he's not preaching what we think he should preach, he's not a true prophet, he's a false prophet, or he's not someone we want to listen to.

Well, who thought that? The religious leaders, not the average person. So this is usually the way it is, the average person who's seeking God, who's humble, they will accept the word of God. But those who are proud, those who are in charge, they reject it, and that's what you see.

All right, Malachi chapter four, verse five. This is where Malachi is tied in with, his prophecy is tied in with John the Baptist. "'Behold, I will send you,' who? "'Elijah the prophet, before the coming "'in great and dreadful day of the Lord.'".

So who were the Jews waiting for? In the time of the New Testament, it was written, who are they waiting for? Yeah, they're waiting for Elijah. So when the Messiah comes, when the kingdom comes, Elijah will come first, and then the day of the Lord will occur.

The day of the Lord has been described as the time where God intervenes in the affairs of men, which is a good thing, but it's also been described as a dreadful day, a day of darkness. So the Jews, they just can't really reconcile all of this in their mind, but they have that narrative that the Messiah will come and drive out the Romans.

So whatever the Jews were expecting about this day of judgment, this day of the Lord, they didn't understand the dual nature of prophecy. Remember, we talked about this last week, how prophecy, when it's fulfilled, there is a fulfillment that happens near the time the prophecy is given.

It happens on a small scale, but then there's that ultimate fulfillment of prophecy at the end. So the day of the Lord, is it fulfilled in the pages of the New Testament? Yes. Is God intervening in the affairs of men?

Yeah, he's sending Jesus into the world, but is it the end of the world and the coming of the kingdom? Well, no, because that's at the very end. So it's being fulfilled now, but the ultimate fulfillment is at the end.

Okay, so the Jews are waiting for Elijah the prophet, but who do they get instead? Yeah, they get John the Baptist. So in Matthew chapter three, verses four through six, Matthew three, four through six describes the way John is dressed and he's dressed wearing what?

A leather belt, camel's hair. He's in the wilderness. This is reminiscent of John the Baptist, excuse me. John the Baptist is reminiscent of the way he dresses, the way he acts, he's reminiscent of Elijah.

What do we know about Elijah? He was a hairy individual, right? And he spent much of his time in the wilderness. And who did Elijah preach against? Ahab, Jezebel preached against the nation. So John is acting as Elijah the prophet.

In fact, in Matthew 11, verse 14, Jesus said to the Jews, if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who has come. So we could say theoretically, if the Jews had accepted the message and repented and embraced Jesus as the Messiah, in theory, it all would have happened right here and the kingdom would have come and they would have got what they wanted in theory.

But of course, did they accept it? No, they didn't. Okay, I know some of you probably turned back, but if you're in Malachi chapter three, let's look at Malachi three for a moment. So Malachi is speaking judgment language.

I will send my messenger in a sense, that is fulfilled in John the Baptist, but it is going to be fulfilled in Elijah at the end of the age. Look at Malachi chapter three, verse one. The Lord says what?

Behold, I will send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. So this is what John the Baptist is doing. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. So John did prepare the way, and of course the Lord Jesus, he did come and he did enter into Herod's temple.

So this was partially fulfilled with John and Jesus, but it's going to ultimately be fulfilled with Elijah and Jesus. So when does Elijah actually come back? Because Malachi says Elijah will come in chapter four.

When does Elijah come back? Does the New Testament tell us? What's that? Revelation. Revelation. I think Elijah does come back in the book of Revelation. Chapter 11, you see the two witnesses. And I believe one of the witnesses will be Elijah the prophet.

So in the end of days, Elijah does come back. Revelation 11, again, Revelation 19, then Jesus comes back. Then you get the kingdom at the end of the age. Okay, so now go back to Matthew chapter three.

Hopefully all of that gives you some sort of context for the ministry of John. He is fulfilling the words of Malachi the prophet, at least to a certain degree. What was the problem with the Jews? They didn't understand all of this.

I know there's probably some of you, you're hearing this and you don't, this is a lot to take in. It's a lot to process. I'm sure there are plenty of Christians today who have never been taught Bible prophecy or this is all kind of confusing.

But if you have it all straightened out in your mind or most of it, the benefit we have is we are able to look back with clarity and see what Malachi wrote, see what John did, see what Jesus said. And hopefully we have a good idea of how the end times will go.

Do you feel like you have your arms wrapped around how the end of the world is gonna take place? I think we do. I think we have the correct understanding of this. The church age will continue on. It'll continue on as is like this.

And then all of a sudden it's gonna happen quick, but the Lord's going to return for his church. And there's people that debate the timing of the rapture, but that is all gonna happen suddenly. The tribulation is gonna happen.

And then it's all quick and it's gonna take place in seven years. Jesus comes back at the end of it, destroys the armies of antichrist, sets up the kingdom. And we have it all mapped out. So if you've been listening to the preaching for years and you have read Revelation, you have an idea of how this is gonna take place.

The Jews really had no idea. They had certain concepts going around in their head, but they had been taught wrongly, right? This is the problem of the Jews in that day. They had been taught the wrong thing.

So this is where we get into some of the application. How many Christians have been taught the wrong thing about the return of Christ? I would say the majority of Christians have been taught the wrong thing.

What are some of the ideas that people have about Jesus? Again, things are gonna continue on like they are now. And then at a certain point in time, we don't know when, but everything's gonna change. It's gonna change quickly.

And you have seven years of cataclysmic judgment. Jesus comes the kingdom. What are the other ideas about the return of Christ that are out there?

Dad. My cousin believes that Jesus is gonna come back someday, and he's gonna help us build a new heaven and a new earth right here.

Okay, that's interesting. We generally have the idea that things get worse and worse and worse, and then Jesus comes back and fixes it, and then it gets better and better in the kingdom. Another idea people have is the church is going to, maybe this is what you're talking about, but the church is gonna usher in the kingdom.

Things are gonna get better and better and better as time goes on, and then Jesus will just show up and, hey, good job, guys, and here's the, actually, you build the kingdom yourself. Good job, and I'll take over from here.

That's one idea, and if you can conceive of it, there's somebody teaching it, so there's all sorts of different ideas. Actually, when the antichrist shows up, he will be accepted as Christ for many professing Christians all over the world.

They're not gonna accept Jesus. They're gonna accept the antichrist when he shows up, so I say all of that to say this, that the Jews had Bible prophecy all mixed up. They didn't know what was going on, and really, most Christians today, many if not most, they're pretty mixed up on this as well, so people who have been taught a wrong eschatological view, they either think that God is finished with Israel or they think that the church is the new spiritual Israel.

Some people will say that this is the kingdom. I mean, look around you. Look around, right? This is the kingdom. Yeah, that's another belief, that heaven is life, it's what you make of it, or if you have a bad life, well, that's hell, and heaven and hell is here on Earth.

There's a song, right? There's a song about heaven is a place on Earth or something like that. There's a lot of professing believers who think that way, so if you're taught the wrong thing, you can get just as mixed up as the Jews were, and here's why I'm going to these lengths to say all this.

We don't wanna be in the same position they're in, that when Jesus actually shows up, we're totally taken off guard, we don't know what's going on, or God forbid, people actually accept the Antichrist, so Israel in Matthew chapter three, in general, they seem to be a mixture of the ignorant and the indifferent, and again, I think that describes the landscape today.

Most people either don't know or they don't care. Convince me otherwise, because that's what I'm seeing to a large degree, so when John the Baptist, you know I'm not describing the church congregation, but that's what I see out there, so when John the Baptist comes on the scene, he's not praising Israel, he uses judgment language, and he calls them to repent.

If they had understood the scriptures, they would not have been surprised by this, because if you read the Old Testament, God is judging Israel right and left. He's calling them to repent all the time.

Didn't we see that in the book of Exodus, and Numbers, and Joshua, and certainly in Judges, it's the same story over and over again, but the people, again, that were humble, who were seeking God, who did know something about the scriptures, they were willing to say to John the Baptist, or they were willing to say to the Lord, you're right, I do need to get right with God, and hopefully we should have that humble attitude as well.

When we're convicted by something, if God were to send, and we don't expect him to send a prophet in this age, but if we're reading something in the scripture, we should be able to say, Lord, you're right, and I'm wrong, and I need to fix that.

But that's not the attitude of most people. So John preaches judgment, and he is absolutely despised. So John takes this message of God's wrath, and like Larry said, he doesn't direct it at the Romans, he doesn't direct it at Herod, he directs it at the Israelites.

He directs it at God's own covenant people. Why? Because Israel, like the church today, they were living in darkness. They had been deceived to a large degree by the false teachers of their time. You have heard me say it enough times that churches today, so many of them have been deceived and led astray by false teachers.

Who are the false teachers of this time in the first century? Who were they? In Israel, who are the false teachers? Judaizers. Okay, there were the Judaizers, but at this time, we're thinking of the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, right?

Those were the three main groups. So when John sees the false teachers coming to his baptism, what does he say? "'You bunch of snakes!' He calls them a brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.".

He's basically telling them, you're going to hell. As it stands now, you're all going to hell. And we know that when preachers say stuff like that, people get mad. So he tells them, and you shouldn't just say it for the shock value, I mean, John has a message from God, okay?

So he's doing the right thing. He's preaching the Lord's message. But he gives them an out because John the Baptist does love the nation of Israel. He does love the people of Israel. I think he actually has enough love for the scribes and Pharisees to tell them the truth.

He gives them a way out. He gives them an option. He tells them that they need to bear fruits worthy of repentance. So what does that mean? They couldn't just say the right thing. They had to do the right thing.

The Greek word metanoia translated repentance. It's true, it does mean a change of mind, but a true change of mind, at the very least, over time will produce some change in behavior. So if the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees were willing to repent and amend their ways, could they enter into the kingdom?

Yes, they could. And actually we know of probably two Pharisees that did get saved. Well, actually three. Apostle Paul was one, right? Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. And these are probably three leaders of Israel that we could say were saved or were probably saved.

Paul definitely was saved. We know that much. But they had an option. Paul, speaking of Paul in 2 Corinthians 7, speaking of repentance, he says that true repentance comes from a godly sorrow. This is not the sorrow of the world that, hey, I'm sorry that I got caught, or that I'm sorry that it makes me look bad.

No, this is a genuine sorrow that you have offended a thrice holy God. So this is what the religious leaders of Israel needed to do. They needed to recognize that they had offended God. And really all of the Jews, because this is a baptism of repentance, they needed to say, Lord, please forgive us.

I am willing to go through baptism to show you that I am sorry for my sin. And do you know how scandalous this was? John is telling the Jews who were considered, they thought they were holy, they were God's people, and he's saying, you need to cleanse yourselves.

Because the typical attitude back then was, hey, I'm Jewish, I'm going to heaven. Or I'm Jewish, I'm in the kingdom. You're saved because you're Jewish. That was the common mindset. But he says, no, you need to repent.

Okay, any questions or comments so far? So John the Baptist, his ministry was, it was scandalous. So John knows, in saying all this, he knows what their response is going to be. Their response is going to be what?

What's the average Israelite when they hear John the Baptist saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand? What's their response going to be? Repent from what? Yeah, repent from what? We're God's chosen people.

We're holy. Or today, if we want to fast forward, people would say, but I'm a good person. I do all the right things. Now, if God were to examine their life and lay it all there, I mean, it'd be the opposite of the truth.

Because nobody's living up to that perfect standard. But their response is going to be, but we're children of Abraham. Look at verse nine. He says, anticipating this, he says, and do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from what?

From these stones. And in other words, God is not impressed with you. And another thing we see, it's not about your bloodline, that you're related to Abraham. So what? That's not what God cares about.

God doesn't care about their circumcision. He doesn't care about who their grandparents were. I mean, that played a role in it all. I understand that. But what does God truly care about? He cares about the condition of their heart as displayed in their behavior.

So God wanted his people to love him and to obey him. And that's the same thing for us today. Some people think they're right with God because they say the right words or because they're baptized or because they have the label of Christian.

But it goes back to showing the fruits of repentance. You have to come to that place where you recognize and you're willing to admit and actually admit publicly that I have sinned and I have fallen short of the glory of God.

So if you've never heard me say it, let me tell you I have sinned and I have come short of the glory of God. And without the Lord's grace, there is not a single chance for me. There's not a single hope for me.

Can you say the same thing? See, the Jews, they were not willing to say that because they thought they had a free ticket into the kingdom. So again, when John shows up and he preaches this, this is something they had never heard or were not willing to consider.

Now, God has been long suffering toward Israel. He's been patient. I think he's been patient to the visible church as well. But there comes a time when things get so bad, it's like God, he's gonna step in and say, that's it, I've had enough.

And Israel gets to that point. They're right about there. And then of course, when they reject and crucify Jesus, I mean, that's it. And the handwriting is on the wall and the nation, the temple is destroyed in 70 AD.

And then they're just scattered all over the earth. But really it had got to that point or just about when Jesus was born. As a baby, the news went out that the king had been born. What was the people's reaction?

Nobody knows, nobody cares. Even when the chief priests and the scribes found out, remember the wise men, they show up to worship Jesus. And the chief priests, what do they do? Do they go and worship?

Send somebody to kill him. Yeah, they consult with Herod. They knowing Herod and who he was, they told Herod where to find the baby. So when Jesus comes to earth in Bethlehem, the reaction from Israel collectively basically was either indifference or let's kill him.

Some 30, 33 years later, when Jesus presents himself on Palm Sunday, within a few days, the crowd is crying out, crucify him, crucify him. So God has had enough and he's going to do something about it.

God, knowing what they're going to do to his anointed king, he is now speaking through John the Baptist, giving the nation one last chance as it were. And what he says, it isn't good. Look at verse 10.

He says, and even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. In other words, this is your last chance. It's all coming to an end.

I've thought about this. Has God ever done anything? Of course we don't have, it's not the same. But I remember back in 2001 after 9 -11 happened, you remember when everyone was talking about God bless America and everyone was interested in seeking God and there's God this and God that and they sang God bless America at all the baseball games.

And it really seemed like for about two weeks, America had repented and were willing to let's turn to the Lord because he's lifted his protection on the nation and there's sort of like a wake up call, right?

Am I wrong? That's the way it seemed. But again, it didn't last. And since then, and I'm not saying that's what was going on or that's what God was doing, but if it was, have we gotten worse since 2001?

Well, we've gotten a lot worse, far worse than could even have imagined. But that's what's happening here. It's like, this is your last chance. The kingdom is at hand. Your King is coming. So you better show evidence that you love God, repent, prove it.

You need to bear good fruit because if you don't, I'm gonna bring judgment. Look at verse 11, John says about himself, I indeed baptized you with water unto repentance, but he who is coming after me, who is who?

Jesus, right? He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, I know some people think that the fire mentioned there is like the day of Pentecost, the little flame above there.

That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about the fire of judgment. Verse 12, his winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with what?

Unquenchable fire. So he's either talking about the fires of hell, but if not the fires of hell, he's talking about the great wrath that is going to come upon the nation. And again, when they crucified Jesus within a generation, 70 AD, the temple was destroyed, the city of Jerusalem burned, and the Jewish people were scattered all throughout the world.

So we're gonna cover those verses next time, verses 11 and 12, we'll pick up there. But remember, as of this moment, to try to apply this to the church and to take away something from it. So far, what are your takeaways from this?

You need to be ready, you need to know what's going on because if you don't, this indifference and not knowing and not caring, it didn't work out well for them. But remember, as of this moment, the Jews, they were still under the old covenant.

Again, John the Baptist technically is the last Old Testament prophet because they're still under the law of Moses. The book of Hebrews describes this, the new covenant doesn't really come in until Jesus's death.

And then there's a transition over the next 40 years. So the book of Acts is like that transition period. But they're under the old covenant right now. And if they were to obey God, they would be blessed.

And if they were to disobey God, they were to be cursed. And what did they do? They disobeyed. So if you understand Bible prophecy, here's where it becomes important for us. If you understand Bible prophecy, then you understand that all of this same type of thing is going to happen again.

What happened to Israel is going to happen to the church. Again, there's people who think the world's gonna get better and better, the church is going to get better and better, and the church will usher in the kingdom and everything's gonna be great.

That's not what the Bible teaches. Israel ended in apostasy and the church also will end in apostasy. At the rapture, when the Lord takes Christians to meet him up in the air, what's gonna be left? It's gonna be a false church.

There's not a mixture of wheat and tares at that point, it's only tares. So what's the application? If you understand Bible prophecy, you understand the same type of thing is gonna play out again. There is one fulfillment in the first advent with John, he comes first and then Jesus, right?

But the ultimate fulfillment at the end of the age, Elijah comes first, Revelation 11, and then Jesus, Revelation 19. Elijah will be treated the same way as John the Baptist. John the Baptist was killed by Herod and the two witnesses in Revelation will be killed by the beast or the Antichrist.

Israel falls into apostasy. In the end times, the church will go through the great falling away, as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2. Israel was described in the Old Testament as the unfaithful bride of Jehovah.

If you read the book of Hosea, you know that. Israel was the unfaithful bride of Jehovah. In Revelation 17, the false apostate church is described in a similar way as the harlot of Babylon. Apostate Israel rejected Christ, the apostate church will reject Christ by accepting the beast and the false prophet, the Antichrist.

So along with this line of dual fulfillments and prophecy, a similar thing is going to take place. Here's the main difference. When Jesus came the first time, it was Jesus meek and mild, as people say.

He was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. When Jesus comes back the second time, what's he gonna do? John the Baptist told us, what's it gonna be? Unquenchable fire. When Jesus comes back at the second advent, he really is gonna be the glorious king.

He's gonna be a warrior king like David. Yeah, and most churches, they're still thinking he's coming back as Jesus meek and mild. Their Jesus would never do something like that. Well, the question is, what does the scripture teach?

So in conclusion, the benefit we have is we have this example from Israel to learn from so that we might stay faithful and watch for his coming. And we're not gonna be like John the Baptist. I mean, that's not our calling.

He was a little in your face, but we do have a message to share with people, and it's a dire message. It really is. So we don't wanna be caught off guard like the Jews were. To close, here's one more similarity.

What was John's message? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Like it's gonna happen. It's about to happen. It's at the door, right? Well, what is the New Testament church told? James 5 .8, the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Revelation 22, verse 10, do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. And then 1 Peter 4, verse seven, but the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers.