What is...? The Eschatology of Hope

Hello and good evening. This is truth and love comes from Ephesians chapter four verse fifteen but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even

Christ. So, that's what we wanna do tonight is is speak truth and speak the truth in love. Dan is with me again.

Thankful for his commitment. I'm thankful for him uh helping us walk through scripture, learn scripture, and and help us to grow in Christ and um thank you for watching.

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Um tonight, we're going to look at continue to look at the the eschatology of hope which is also known as post millennialism.

Um I'm enjoying this conversation that I'm having with Dan walking through scriptures, learning more about post millennialism and and how hopeful it is and optimistic it is.

Um I I was so tired of of being drained. Um feeling like I only had one option.

Um half of me was was living in the world of I don't know.

I don't know um what to believe. You know, I I even fell into the the column of the pan millennialist.

You know, everything will pan out just because yeah, I didn't know which direction to go but then the only other um eschatology that that I really knew of was the you know, the pessimistic um eschatology where we're looking for all these bad things to to continue to happen and get worse and am

I going to go through the tribulation? Am I not? Um if if I do happen to be left behind, am

I going to be saved? Is there an opportunity to be saved? I mean, all these questions and people have different answers for all those questions but but that eschatology was uh is pessimistic and kind of leaves you without hope and and you live with dread and and your eschatology does affect how you live out your life and we want to share with you what we believe is a biblical eschatology and this eschatology is one of hope and you can live in optimism growing um and being a part of uh growing

God's kingdom here on this earth. It's so amazing. It's so consistent. Hey apps, hope you're doing well.

Thank you for joining me. Um if you have anything to to add to the conversation, we'd love to hear from you that post meal.

That's that's right. That's right. Um so yeah, uh we believe it's the most consistent.

It makes the most sense. Um you as you interpret the

Bible, you want to do it in context and you want to interpret scripture with scripture and that's what we do to come up with post millennialism.

It's so fantastic and so consistent. Uh some of the things that that I feel like we should address in these videos in this conversation that we're having together uh

Dan and I and with you is looking at some of these things that are that are posted over and over again uh on social media which even before we had social media, you know, these theories, these conversations, they they were happening already.

They but but now with social media, they're they're everywhere and you can just share them, you know, with a click of a button and you don't even have to to read what it says.

You know, it may have a keyword or phrase in there and you're like, oh yeah. Um I need to and let me say this too and I think

I said this in a previous video um when when I something else about social media.

I believe that most if not all these folks that that quickly share these um social media uh memes, charts, um post, whatever it may be.

I feel like it comes from a sincere heart. I really do because if you if you hold to, you know, we'll just say it uh premillennial dispensationalism uh the the pre -trib rapture uh position.

You do want to warn people that there's a, you know, there's an end coming and there's a rapture coming and you want people to be saved and so I really believe that it comes from a sincere heart.

So, I I'm not speaking to anyone's heart. We're speaking to to scripture and what we believe is the most consistent with scripture.

The most consistent interpretation. That's why I feel like it's important to talk about truth as we look at these social media posts and be aware of what we share.

Uh the first one that we're going to look at is um someone sent it to me and they thought it was a good idea for us to talk about it and so I feel like they were correct and I haven't done this live.

So, I'm trying to pull up uh pull up the tab here. Uh yeah, here we go.

There it is. The first one that we're going to look at is called the the end that is the end of days prophesied in the first word of the

Bible. It's called the Beresheet Passover Prophecy. Uh you can find it on YouTube and uh and I don't post this to promote it.

I post this to show you that it that it's there. This is the stuff that's on social media. This is the stuff that you will see shared and and you have maybe even shared it yourself but uh we wanted to briefly discuss it.

Uh Dan and I talked about how we don't feel like it's necessary because it's an hour and 5 minutes sounds similar to one of my videos but we don't feel like it's necessary to go through and debunk um every single part of this.

But there is something that we can address about this video and Dan, I wanna turn it over to you and and give us your thoughts on how we can view something like this on social media.

Yeah. Specifically this video. Well, this video is good to have a basic understanding of what what they're trying to say.

Um just so that way you understand the uh I don't know the the nuts and bolts of what they're actually doing.

Uh so so what they do is they go into the book of Isaiah into uh chapter forty -six verses nine through ten and pull out something where it says that god speaks the end from the beginning and he talks about all these things.

Um he said it in the beginning and so they latch on to that phrase in the beginning and they go back to Genesis.

They go back to Genesis and they look at the first word of the Bible and they take the first word of the

Bible which is and they put it into paleo Hebrew which is sitting up there on the uh on the uh the screen up there and then they they instead of exegeting the the text itself uh in the way that we would think where you look at what the

Bible is actually saying in. They look at the individual letters and the pictures there in order to draw out some sort of meaning and it's kind of deceptive because what they do is they they take that first letter and they say that it's a tent.

They say who is in the tent and then they look at that little chicken looking guy with the hat on.

I don't know. That's what I think it looks like. They say it's it's a sun and they they put the

Hebrew letters together. The first one uh being bait and then race uh which is uh bar which means son.

They say well the son was in the tent. Then they go to the third one. Uh they say what do they say?

Uh they ask whose son is it? Um they find out that the son is the son of the creator.

They find that he's coming to either destroy or to be destroyed or both uh by that little uh tooth looking letter in there.

Um they they go on to the rest of them saying that there's gonna be a new beginning and all it's going to be as you see that last letter uh looks like a cross.

Now, at that point, there's not much wrong with it.

Basically, what they're rehearsing is the overarching narrative of the that Jesus is coming to the world.

He's coming into the world to uh to crush the head of the serpent. Uh he's going to be crushed himself or bruised we would say uh on the cross and he's going to purchase for a a people for himself.

As far as that goes, it's fine and that's kind of why it's deceptive because the first little bit of this whole thing talks about something that is true but then they start asking other questions.

When is this gonna happen? Where is this gonna happen? When is the end of all things going to take place?

So, they say it's gonna happen on Mount Moriah which ends up being Calvary. Uh that's even not so much of a big deal except then they start multiplying the numerical values of the different letters in order to pinpoint a date when

Jesus is supposed to return when all of this is supposed to come together and it's all based on a 7 ,000 -year idea of um the six days of creation that on the seventh he rested.

So, there'll be 6 ,000 years and then the seventh year or the 7 ,000th year, 7 ,000 years would be a the fullness of time.

They try to pinpoint the point where Jesus says he's gonna come back and here's the thing.

When we are told to look to the word of God, we're not told to look at the shape of the letters and to derive meaning from them.

We're told to listen to what God has told us in those words and to listen to them.

It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. We don't dissect the shapes of the letters.

We look at what it says that in the beginning, when everything started, God, our maker, our creator, created the heavens and the earth.

That's what we're supposed to learn. We're not supposed to pull uh secret knowledge out of it.

It's almost like the uh the Gnostics of old who had uh the secret knowledge is extra light that they were trying to get a hold of.

Um that's not what we're trying to do here. In fact, I I told Robert a couple weeks ago, I'm gonna tell y 'all this.

Um with this very same logic that they were going with with the pictures and the letters, I can prove to you that fire engines are supposed to be red.

Now, if you think about a fire engine, a fire engine has eight wheels and four people in it. Eight plus four is twelve.

Twelve, twelve inches and a foot. A foot's also a ruler. Queen Elizabeth was a ruler.

Queen Elizabeth was also a ship. Ships sail in the ocean. There are fish in the ocean. Fish have fins.

The fins fought the Russians and the Russians are red. Therefore, fire engines should be red.

And the thing is it's that same logic. The first letter looks like a tent.

So, who goes in it? Well, the second one kind of looks like a man. So, it must be the son who's in the tent.

The third one looks like an ox. So, it's there's some work gonna be done. Uh there's gnashing of teeth. So, there's crushing going on.

That's that's not what we're here to do. It's not what we're looking at. Uh we we don't need to look at the shapes of letters.

In fact, I did my own little thing. Uh the first one to me looks like a car. The car then goes after the chicken.

Which I think would be uh Bojangles which I don't have up here but I wish I did. Uh after you get done with Bojangles, run next door, get some

Pizza Hut. Uh the only one I know of, run over to Mount Pleasant, North Carolina.

There's a Whataburger there. After that, you're gonna be taking a nap. There you go.

And then you need to repent because you're gonna cry. You can read into the letters whatever it is that you want to.

The point was not to make any more fun of anything because some people really do believe these things. Yeah. Yeah.

But the serious point that we that we wanna make here is that we do not look at things in in a way that we've not been told to.

There is nowhere in the Bible that tells us to look at the numerical value of the letters. There's nowhere in the

Bible that tells us to look at the shape of the letters. In fact, there's uh many warnings against looking at a wives tales and myths and legends as opposed to the clear revealed word of God.

Right. And that's what's important. That as we look at the Bible, we're not looking to seek uh secret knowledge but that we allow the

Holy Spirit to speak to us the clear words that are on the page. Um some of them may be harder than others.

Some of them you may need a pastor to help you walk through but none of them are going to require you to try to seek uh special knowledge about the shape of letters or anything like that.

And so that's kind of why we wanted to bring this up uh this evening. Um to to make sure that we're looking at the word of God as the communicated message of God from him inerrantly through his written word to us that's been preserved for us as we go through our lives together.

Yeah. And the most important person that we can look at in scripture of course is

Jesus himself and you have him traveling um on the road to Emmaus and he's he's teaching them about himself from the

Old Testament. Um you know, he's just looking at the Old Testament and then you look at the other parts of his teaching where he says, have you not heard?

And he's just quoting the Old Testament. He's quoting the words from the Old Testament. That's and you have all the other authors of of the

New Testament that that quote, that's what they do. They quote the Old Testament, the words of the

Old Testament. Like like Dan said, there's no example. Uh there's absolutely no teaching telling us to uh or command teaching us to interpret this way and there's not even an example of um interpreting the scripture this way.

So, it's not a method like Dan said. It leans toward narcissism, a secret knowledge, and the

Bible warns against that. Dan, the only place in the Bible that would even remotely hint towards something like this,

I would think would be um where it talks about the the mark of the beast is gonna be the number of a man.

Right. So, that's the only place that's even remotely close to something, you know, something like this.

But that's it. No, no other place. Um and the the word that you used um to describe the the picture graphs there, what was the big $1000 word that they call it?

Uh paleo Hebrew. Paleo Hebrew.

Hebrew. And and then the the numerology part uh from my understanding, the the word that they use, it starts with a

G uh or something. I think

I I saw that word when I was uh look looking into this kind of thing. Uh I'm pretty sure that's

I probably butchered the pronunciation but I think that's what they call it. That that look and looking into numerology.

So, that that's basically it. We're we're not taught to interpret the Bible that way.

We're not we're not given any examples to interpret that way. Um but you know, this is a free society.

You can watch the video and and get your own opinion of what's going on. Um they even set a date just like so many others before them.

They set a date there in the video and we'll see. We don't, we of course, we don't believe that that's what the scripture teaches but there they have a date set.

When they uh when they go to set that date, uh they had two options of starting points, 30

AD and 33 AD and of course, they picked the earlier date. So, that way, if they're wrong, they can give themselves a second chance.

Exactly. The the next thing that we're gonna look at um has a relationship to this this math that they were doing because they they have to use this.

I mean, it's part of scripture. They have to use this part of the math. Um the next thing that we're gonna look at is is using some of that math um and it is another thing that Okay, good.

I'm hoping I'm not messing anything up but I think I'm doing okay so far. Um another thing that's been going around on social media is probably not going around anymore um because well, you'll see one.

Um every so often, you're gonna hear an argument. You're gonna hear um date setting based on um generation.

Um I hope you don't mind but I'm gonna add something else to the screen.

Um hope it's okay with you. I'm gonna pop it up here because we're on different formats.

Um app says a lot of it is just mysticism and Kabbalah.

A lot of Christian Christian scientists tend to lean towards that type of stuff.

Yup, exactly. But this um this generation idea is gonna come up with with date setting.

It's gonna come up with um warning about the future looking at the the times um you know just trying to figure out when when things are going on.

The what was the famous book by Hank Hanegraaff uh or was it him?

Not Hank Hanegraaff. No, who was it? No, leave Hank out of this. He's got enough trouble. Yeah, I apologize

Hank. He'll never watch this but I apologize. Late great planet

Earth. Yup. Hal Lindsey. Hal Lindsey. Yeah. You you've got him and of course he's looking at this idea of a generation and um hat says oops

I'm in a lot of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. Yup. Um he's he's using this generation doing the math and coming up with um a date and he was looking at um

Israel becoming a nation again as kind of a starting point and then he why does why

Dan does he look at generation to help him figure out a timeline? He you know also did um he he looks he looks at a generation instead of timeline because he he believes that well in in Matthew twenty -four it says that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

So, what they they do is they put these events into the future and when they believe that that starting point when

Israel becomes a nation again that the time clock starts ticking again for them to uh to to have those prophecies fulfilled.

So, they believe that that when Israel became a nation that within the time within the lifetime of the generation that saw that happen that all of the things that that were prophesied will then take place.

There's gonna be a time of great tribulation. There's gonna be a time of I know the Antichrist coming to the

Earth. Uh at the end of it, um you're going to see Christ return and set up his earthly millennial kingdom.

Um so they they latch on to that that phrase uh this generation and they they throw everything into the future uh because they don't see they don't see the language uh previous to verse thirty -four as being something that um that can be taken as as as having already happened in the past.

Yeah. Um I'm trying to text my son to ask him to turn down his music a little bit.

He's in there having a good time. Um absolutely and so what's going on here is the same thing similar thing to what um

Chuck Smith as as Happy said and um how Lindsay as as he does or did with his book and so he took the nation of Israel, you know, becoming a nation again in 1948 and then he his idea of a generation was was 40 years and then he predicted that if if I'm correct, the the rapture was gonna happen around 1988 somewhere around that time frame because the generation um according to his calculations was going to be 40 years and of course the rapture didn't happen in 1988.

So what was his what was his comeback for that? You can you recollect uh

I do not remember. Okay. Uh if I'm not mistaken, he he did have a response um the his calculations were wrong.

I think maybe it was because he um the year um something about the timeline the beginning of timeline between um

BC and AD and there was some kind of year off using a different calendar.

Anyway, he pushed it of course forward and then it didn't happen again and of course there was silence and then there was uh

I think we've talked about it before there was even a book called um 88 reasons why or there was the raptures in 1988, you know something like that and so that it's they use this generation.

They they calculate from from their opinion, a generation being 40 years. Their starting point was

Israel. Of course, it didn't get it didn't happen and so but this idea generation as Dan talked about is in Matthew chapter twenty -four verse thirty -four.

This generation will not pass until all these things happen. So it's it's gotta be in the formula.

It's gotta be in the calculation and what we have up here on the screen is just another one of those calculations um and like I said,

I don't think it's going around too much anymore. Um they've got their chart up here.

Um they've got their timeline. Um they've got Israel becomes a nation 1948 um but of course they have to do this.

They change their understanding of of generation from forty to eighty.

They say that there's from 1948, there's gonna be 73 years and then the rapture happens and then there's gonna be that that seven -year uh tribulation period.

The um says Isaiah, that's supposed to be

Isaiah sixty -six eight. Um you got the seven -year tribulation period um and that takes us to 2028 full generation past That's what he says.

Uh says it's all revolved around Israel becoming a nation one day. Yeah, that's that's the the kickoff point.

That's the starting point point for this this math, this formula, this calculation. So, what's what's the big deal about this chart?

What's the problem with this chart? Well, um if it will let me go back. Uh the description says um so May 14th um 2021 came and went.

So, the prediction was and I'm gonna take this off the screen so that I don't show anybody's name that I shouldn't um the the time came and went because um

Israel become a nation May 14th 1948 and then the the date that we're looking for the 73 years later,

I guess was May 14th 2021 and it has come and gone.

So, that's why you won't see this chart. These these measurements, this calculation spreading around Facebook anymore because it's another calculation that has come and gone.

So, Dan, how do we understand if this is how they see

Matthew 2434? Um how should we um let me before before I ask you to do that um and I just did a

Google search. Um you know, I'm not promoting these websites. I'm just gonna give you credit for where I look.

Um got questions .org. You know, this is just a Google search. Their answer was 30 years for a generation.

Um Bible study tools .com. They said pre flood was a generation was around 100 years post flood 30 to 40.

Bible gateway .com assumed 40 years but it could be 30 to 40 um based on um the those in the wilderness that said, you know, this generation will not make it into the promised land so you can do some calculations there to see uh what a generation might be and uh and then

Bible sprout .com 20. They give a range of twenty to 100 years and of course they get that from the context that we just talked about whether it's pre flood or or post flood um different calculations.

So, that's kind of the range of options for what a generation is. So, if we wanna understand scripture, interpret scripture with scripture, how do we understand

Matthew 2434 and it's and Jesus speaking of a generation?

I think the folks who said it's about 30 to 40 years are probably fairly close.

I don't know that the Bible puts a definite date on it. Right. Um but we do see uh the nation that was in or the generation that was in the the uh the wilderness.

Uh they were there for 40 years or around 40 years. Um I think that's somewhere between forty and eighty years is a good way of thinking about it.

Um I think the the real key to interpreting uh this text in Matthew thirty or twenty -four thirty -four is the word this or the word this generation.

When he's saying this generation, is he speaking of a generation that he's been describing earlier or is he describing the generation that he is himself a part of?

Right. I believe that he's speaking of the generation that he himself is a part of. Um we if we look back into uh well, if you go back into chapter twenty -three as well but um if you look at uh chapter twenty -four in verse one, it says,

Jesus came out from the temple and he was going away when his disciples came up to him and pointed to the temple buildings.

Um they pointed out to him and said, hey, you know, look at all these things. He says, do you not see all these things? Truly, I say to you, not one stone will be left upon another which has not uh been torn down.

So, he's talking about the destruction of the temple. He goes on and his disciples say, tell us when will these things happen?

The destruction of the temple. Uh and what will the sign of your coming be and of the end of the age?

So, he's got uh uh a couple questions there. Now, when will these things happen? These things being uh the uh the destruction of the temple and then when will be uh the sign of your coming of the end of the age?

I think those are going to be the same thing. The sign of his coming in the end of the age. Um I may backtrack on that in a second but um what what he goes on describing in the next few verses is perilous times.

Uh things that are going to happen. It uses very apocalyptic language. I mean, this uh it sounds like utter destruction.

Uh even in in to the point in verse twenty -nine, it says uh but immediately after the tribulation of those days, uh the destruction of the temple,

I believe uh in 70 AD. Uh the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of heavens will be shaken.

Then, the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky. Then, all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds.

Uh I lost my place. Uh and all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with great power and glory.

Um that sounds like the world is completely over and done with.

Right. Um it sounds like stars falling, moon turning to blood. I was going to say it's not it's not just apocalyptic but it's cosmic language.

Yeah, it sounds like everything is completely destroyed. Mm hmm. And if we did not have some other place in the

Bible that told us or had that same language. Right. We should think that everything is going to be destroyed.

Right. But that's not what we see. Right. Uh we have spoken of uh Babylon and uh

I believe Egypt as well. Egypt. Um that these same things are going to take place.

When in talking about the destruction of those nations, when the judgment of god for their sin came upon them, it these same things were were were said of them that the moon would turn to blood, that the sun would be darkened, that the stars would fall from the sky.

Uh all that same language is used. So, what what that language is, it's it's a metaphorical uh sign that excuse me, that the sun will go down on that nation for good.

Yeah. The moon, the night, we turn to blood.

The stars fall from the sky. Um then goes on and talks about the the fig tree.

Um to to give a further um explanation saying you're going to see a whole bunch of stuff happen.

It's going to get bad. It's going to get real bad. Uh when you see these things happen, you know it's about time that that the nation of Israel is going to be judged and then he tells them this generation, the one that I'm talking to, this generation is going to witness the fall and destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, the passing away of the old covenant age and they're going to see the son of man coming in judgment upon the nation of Israel.

In that metaphorical language of the sun being darkened, the moon turning to blood, uh and things like that.

Uh so, the way I understand it is is right about there.

He uh and maybe even a little bit further on. Um he's speaking of the the uh destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, the end of the people of Israel as a national entity.

Uh not that they, you know, can't make another nation of Israel. Clearly, they did in 1948 but that that was as far as what god is doing.

Um it says uh in verse thirty -one, he will send forth his angels in a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.

Uh at the time of the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, there was a a great gathering of the saints.

Uh the church was exploding at that time uh through persecution which is why he gave them uh ample warning that those those

Christians in uh Jerusalem, when they saw the signs of these things coming, they should flee and they should pray that their flight is not in winter because it would be terrible or on a

Sabbath day because they wouldn't be able to gather the provisions to leave. You know, when they see the armies uh gathering run and from what we understand from from extra biblical sources, uh very few if any

Christians were caught up in the destruction of Jerusalem uh in in the siege.

They heeded the warnings and they fled. Uh so far from uh pointing to a future uh time period.

I believe this is speaking of things that have already come to pass. Absolutely. So, so what

Dan was describing was if you're in Matthew chapter twenty -four verse thirty -four, he says, uh truly,

I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things and that's what

Dan was um discussing with us. All these things will have to take place.

They will pass um or they will come to come to pass uh while this generation still exists while they still live and um and what

Dan was doing is interpreting scripture with scripture and that's what I encourage you to do is interpret scripture with scripture.

You you will see how consistent this end times theology is. This eschatology is when when you understand or when you read it this way, you let the

Bible interpret itself. Look, look in other places in the

Bible where this type of language is used. Um I'm gonna read off a list of verses and I'll put them in the comments after the video but if you're interested in letting the the

Bible explain itself, let the Bible interpret itself. Uh I would challenge you to to look up these verses.

Um Isaiah thirteen ten Isaiah twenty -four twenty -three

Ezekiel thirty -two seven Amos eight nine Joel two ten and two fifteen and two thirty -one.

Um Micah one Isaiah nineteen verse one.

Um that's a starting point. Look at those verses.

See if you see similar language and and maybe it would help you to understand and interpret what

Jesus is trying to tell his audience there. Um the reason why

I I wore this shirt and you may or may not be able to read it but um I think

Gary Demar has a has a great quote. Um he says, every time this generation is used, it is always referring to the generation to whom

Jesus is speaking. Mm hmm. But if just like Dan was doing, if you if you go back to chapter twenty -three and and I wrote down these verses as well.

Um if you look at if you look at Matthew eleven sixteen,

Matthew twelve forty -one and this is just in Matthew. Uh Matthew twelve forty -one, Matthew twelve forty -two,

Matthew twelve forty -five, Matthew twenty -three thirty -six, and then of course Matthew twenty -four thirty -four. That's where you see this generation and every time uses

Jesus uses that word this generation, he's referring to the the generation to whom he's speaking and and that's called reading the

Bible in context. Um it it would be a mistake. It would be um opposed to a good

Bible interpretation to understand this generation one way and then once you get to Matthew twenty -four thirty - four completely take it out of the context that it was in to mean a generation thousands of years from now.

Right. Now, I would caution um just because something means something in one place doesn't mean that it always means that same thing everywhere.

That's true. So, so the reason why we say in this instance, it means the same thing all the way through is that you have clear contextual evidence.

Right. That uh this generation means the people that Jesus is speaking to. So, when you come through the entire book of Matthew and you come to this point at Matthew twenty -four thirty -four, you have absolutely no context clues, no anything in the text that gives any idea that it would be anything other than what he's been saying throughout the rest of the book.

Okay. Now, if there had been some sort of context clue or he was talking about something else or he was in a different sort of uh vein of thought or idea or context or argumentation, we might be able to make a case for something different but there's none of that.

All of it is consistent right through the book of Matthew. So, while it a word or phrase may not have the same meaning everywhere through scripture, um there will be context clues to tell you how we should understand that word in any given instance.

Right. Exactly. And I appreciate that explanation and I hope I hope that helps you as as someone who's joining us.

I hope that will help you in your uh personal study as you become a student of God's word and you grow in Christ because that's that is very very helpful information.

Um so, here's the last question on this particular topic for you Dan. We discussed the the number, the possible number of generation, how long a generation might be.

So, after we've looked at the context of Matthew 2434, does it really matter how long a generation is?

Do we it's it's almost irrelevant now, right? Um it it matters that we keep it within a lifespan.

Yeah. Um I mean, if you stretch it, the the Bible says uh that the the years of a man will be 70 years or if by strength, eighty.

Uh so, even if you wanted to length it out to the to that point or uh even if you take the language of the new heavens in the new earth that someone will be uh 100 years old and considered young if they die.

Uh push it out to 150, 200 years old. It's still not 2000 or 2000 plus.

Um so, it it doesn't really matter too much but we do wanna keep it within a reasonable span of life for a single individual.

That would be that would be something that we would um that's how you would determine how long a group of people would last would be the average lifespan of how long somebody would last, right?

I'm really, I'm really glad that you said that because once you said it, I'm like, he's right and and here's a verse that would that would be a a perfect example of why we should why you're correct.

Um Matthew sixteen verse twenty -eight. Jesus tells them, truly I say to you, there are some of you, some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

Right. Well, if we could expand a generation for as long as we wanted to, you know, there may still be some people alive that were alive then.

Well, there there are some people who say that uh that that that promise uh would have been true except that the the

Jews of that day refuse the kingdom and so it's been pushed off and so they have to somehow while claiming a literal hermeneutic fit in some sort of allegorical or metaphorical meaning to to that phrase.

Right. It makes much more sense to take the text at face value. Yeah. It it's always been interesting to me how the the folks that claim to interpret literally how often they find themselves having to interpret allegorically or figuratively or metaphorically.

In fact, I've I've found uh and this has been weird for me but it it's been it's been good.

I've found that while adopting a post -millennial hermeneutic throughout scripture, um

I find myself reading the Bible in a very literal fashion. Absolutely more literal than than some of the dispensationalist that I know and I'm taking classes at a dispensational seminary.

So uh yeah, it's it's been interesting. I feel the exact same way. Same same way.

Alright, let's let's go to our third and and final topic um and this doesn't have anything to do with um anything that I've seen lately on social media.

It's just an aspect of end times that we need to discuss and interpret well from scripture.

Um this idea of Jesus coming on clouds.

Of course, one position is is looking for Jesus to to come back on clouds um midway make a stop midway and and rapture folks out.

I think that's how it goes. Um and so according to you know, these verses, they are looking for Jesus to come and in the first instance halfway and then at the end, at the fruition of everything, he's going to come back to earth completely.

Am I correct on that? Well, they they don't actually call it a coming but they do they do say that Jesus will will return um at and rapture his church.

Take the church out of the world. Uh they'll have uh uh time of uh fellowship in heaven.

Then he'll return 7 years later to establish his kingdom with the raptured saints upon the earth where he'll then reign for a thousand years.

So, the second coming actually comes 7 years after the tribulation. So, at what point if if you hold that position, the the pre meal, pre trip dispensational position which step are they looking for him to come on the clouds?

Is it the rapture? Is it the at the end of the 7 years when he comes to establish his kingdom or as is it at the end of the millennium when he comes finally?

Uh it's debated. Okay. That's something that they debate amongst themselves.

Um some say that that the rapture is going to be uh you're not going to know when it happens except that there's going to be a bunch of people gone and then they expect to see

Jesus come back uh on the clouds with his saints. Uh some believe that both instances are going to happen where he's on clouds.

Uh some people say it's just one or the other. Um it yeah they they debate amongst themselves.

It depends um really on on the the school of the person you've been taught from or the teachers you've had cuz yeah.

Alright. So, what we wanna do is do as as Dan was telling us earlier when we were looking at the generations.

Uh we want to look at scripture. We want to um interpret scripture from scripture or scripture with scripture.

Um one second. Um sorry about that.

So, we wanna interpret scripture with scripture. We wanna be, we wanna see consistency because god is not the god of confusion.

Um we want to know what the Bible says. We wanna understand what what does this coming mean?

We're looking for Jesus where Jesus tells us you will see him coming on the clouds.

What does it mean? And um we haven't been and I you have you and I haven't um actually discuss this but I'm I'm assuming and you can grab me if I'm wrong.

We would both hold to the grammatical historical method of interpretation. Uh grammatical, historical, theological.

Theological, okay. So, yeah, I would, that's the suggestion that we want to give to you.

Grammatical, historical, theological, reading god's word in this context, interpreting scripture with scripture.

You see something in the Old Testament. Did it mean something in the Old Testament? Do you see that language other places?

So, let's do that now with this particular, in this particular instance. Um so, we're gonna start our first verse is in Matthew chapter twenty -four.

We're still there. Matthew twenty -four verses twenty -nine through thirty -one and let me read that for us real quick.

But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds and here's here's our our uh phrase here.

They will see the son of man coming on the clouds uh of the sky with power and great glory.

So, we're looking for him to be coming on the clouds but who who is looking?

He says, they will see. Of course, we have to ask ourselves the question, who were they?

Um Dan, do you wanna do you wanna continue or do you want me to take us through the verses or um oh yeah, go ahead.

If you want me to comment, just have me comment. Okay, sure. Um if you want, if you need to say something, let me know too.

So, um so there we have we we wanna understand this son of man coming in clouds.

We wanna know who the they are and and of course, in Matthew twenty -four, this is Jesus speaking and around uh from my understanding around 2 days somewhat.

Um if you flip over to Matthew chapter twenty -six, you have

Jesus saying something very similar and here he's speaking to the high priest. He's he's on trial.

He's he's going through this this trial period where he's being brought uh back and forth to different people.

Here, he's running in front of the high priest and the high priest is asking him questions um that one of the accusations is this man stated,

I am able to destroy the temple of god and rebuild it in 3 days. Verse sixty -one um and then in verse sixty -two, the high priest stood up and said to him, do you make no answer?

What is it that these men are testifying against you? Verse sixty -three, but Jesus kept silent and the high priest said to him,

I adjure you by the living god that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the son of god and then here

Jesus answers in verse sixty -four. Jesus said to him, you have said you have said it yourself.

Nevertheless, I tell you here after and II think that that word hereafter you can correct me if I'm wrong um means from now on maybe um after you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

So that kind of helps answer one of the questions um in in chapter 24 verse twenty -nine to thirty thirty -one um verse thirty.

They will see well here Jesus is speaking specifically answering directly to the high priest and he says you shall see the son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.

So we're going back to that context of this generation. Who is

Jesus speaking of somebody in the far off future or is he speaking to um those people directly that he's having a conversation with um here he is very specific and says you will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.

Now, I was I was explaining this to a gentleman today. Um. The the other position that we've been talking about and and of course in in our common vernacular,

I would say when someone says they are coming, we understand it to mean or our first inclination is to understand it to be they are coming from somewhere else to us.

And so that's how that um that position somewhat and I guess interprets the this phrase coming that Jesus is somewhere else and he is coming back to us.

Um. But if we if we're looking at the context interpreting scripture with scripture, we go to we wanna go to the

Old Testament and what we wanna do is flip over to the Old Testament and see if we see this this language and explanation somewhere else.

Um so where we wanna go is Daniel Daniel chapter seven and while I'm finding it, did you have anything you wanna add?

I did real quick um the the phrase before that um and you know it says from now on or hereafter, you will see uh let me get to the right words.

The son of man sitting at the right hand of power. Um the cross reference for that is uh it's a cross reference.

It's a quotation is what it is. It's from Psalm one ten one like uh pastor

Durbin says it's god's favorite Bible verse. Yeah. Uh it says the lord says to my lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Uh what Jesus is claiming is is deity. Uh what he's claiming is

I'm going where I'm going. I'm going to sit next to god in heaven and while I'm sitting there, he's going to take all of my enemies and put them under my feet, right?

You high priest being one of them. So yeah, there's there's no wonder he gets so angry at him.

It's blasphemy. We're gonna kill you. He's uh he's coming right right at him.

So you would say that the high priest in this case knew and understood Psalm one ten one.

Uh yeah. Yeah. I think he understood it. I I don't necessarily think that he wanted to believe that Jesus was was that man, right?

But he definitely understood the uh the implications behind it that that was going to be the messiah, the the god who uh the son of god who was going to sit there.

Uh yeah, he knew exactly what what Jesus was claiming when when Jesus said it. So, Jesus really answered his question.

Absolutely. He didn't say the word. Yes, I am the son of of god.

What he did was like you said, he quoted Psalm one ten one. Right. The high priest knew what he was talking about and so by quoting that, he was claiming like you said, something for himself.

Right and notice the language here because it helps interpret the uh the phrase you're about to look up in uh the quotation in uh

Daniel. Mm hmm. It says uh the lord said to my lord, sit here at my right hand.

So, it means Jesus somewhere else and he says, sit here, come from where you are and sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

Right. But now, what is coming in the clouds mean? He was somewhere else.

That's right. Coming to the throne but go ahead. I'm not gonna take your thunder. That's exactly where we're going and we wanna see.

Does the Old Testament speak to that? Does it tell us what coming on the clouds means? So, we go to Daniel chapter seven and we are in verse starting in verse thirteen.

I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him verse fourteen and to him was given dominion glory and a kingdom that all the people's nations and men of every language might serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed and we're speaking of his kingship.

We're speaking of his authority that he's been presented. God has God has done this thing here at this time and we learn in Daniel chapter seven verse thirteen.

What Jesus is speaking of is that him coming from heaven to earth

Daniel chapter seven verse thirteen tells us one like the son of man was coming and he came up to the ancient of days and who's the ancient of days

God the father right and so Daniel tells us that we're not to be looking for Jesus to be coming on the clouds back to earth, but that whoever was to see this would see

Jesus coming up on the clouds to the ancient of days.

I'll also. Yeah, go ahead. I'll point out something real quick. Caiaphas the high priest absolutely had the authority to put anyone on trial and actually examine the facts.

That was part of his job as a high priest. The law of Moses says that on the testimony of two or three witnesses, someone will be condemned.

So when he asked him the question that would have incriminated him that he would have incriminated himself if he were guilty of claiming to be the son of God when he wasn't his answer was two witnesses from Psalm 110.

One was the father calling the son to sit at his right hand in heaven and take his kingdom from Daniel.

The quotation is the son of man coming on the clouds to sit down.

So he says the father's calling me to go sit on the sit on the throne with him and receive a kingdom that will never end and I'm going to sit on the throne and receive a kingdom that will never end.

So on the basis of two witnesses, Jesus is vindicating himself before the earthly the the the actual earthly authority that was put in place by God according to the law of Moses.

That's right. So in that instance, we see the son of God, Jesus completely vindicated by the law perfect and now going to die for us.

Yeah. So this is the point where we actually see his perfection vindicated under the law.

Yeah. And then brought before us as the perfect spotless lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.

Right. It is an incredible thing to watch. It's not just an amazing eschatology.

It's pointing us back to an even greater, more amazing gospel. Mm hmm.

It's it's so powerful. Thank you for pointing that out. That was that was amazing.

Uh what a worshipful experience to talk about Jesus. To interpret his word and to let the

Bible speak for itself and and and point to Jesus so we can we can worship him and celebrate him for his his goodness and then his truth.

Um but we've got one more place to go because we've been in Matthew. Matthew twenty -four.

Matthew twenty -six. Jesus is saying, they will see me or they will see the son of man coming on the clouds.

Then he says to the high priest, you will see me coming on the uh or the son of man coming on the clouds. He's quoting uh

Psalm 110 and he's quoting Daniel chapter seven verse thirteen. Now, we've understood that coming is not coming from heaven to earth on a cloud but Daniel tells us that the coming is coming up to the ancient of days.

Has that been fulfilled? Have we seen that? Did they see that?

Was Jesus a liar or was it fulfilled in their day? Our last text that we want to look at is is that fulfillment and this is the exciting.

When you look at the consistency of scripture, when you look at how wonderful it is, it's it just becomes so amazing.

Um Acts, if you want to flip over to the Acts chapter one, we'll start in verse seven where he's he's speaking to um those that have have gathered there with him um before his ascension.

Verse seven, he said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the epochs which the father has fixed by his own authority but you shall receive power when the

Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and on all

Judea, Samaria, and even the remotest part of the earth. Verse nine, and after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of their sight.

What what an amazing gospel. What an amazing book that it can become so clear if you will let it interpret itself.

It tells you what coming on a cloud means and it shows you

Jesus to be faithful and true and where it was fulfilled.

Any last thoughts or comments on that? Oh yeah, don't stop there. Go down to verse eleven. It gets better. Go ahead.

Go ahead. Well, ten and eleven uh and as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going.

So, while he was fulfilling that prophecy, um behold, two men in white clothes of clothing stood beside them.

Uh I believe they were angels. Uh they also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?

This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you have watched him go into heaven.

Now, remember all these prophecies that that we've been looking at where Jesus was called by the father up to sit at his right hand until he made his enemies a footstool for his feet.

In Daniel, we see uh the the son of man going up into heaven there where he's gonna receive dominion and power in the kingdom.

He's gonna take over the nations of the earth and then it says that he's going, he went, he actually did go up on the cloud and at his ascension, at his going up into the cloud in the heaven to receive all those things, the angels say, by the way, when he returns, he's returning in the same way.

Now, in first Corinthians fifteen, it talks about him coming back. So, what's going to happen in between the time that Jesus ascended on the cloud into heaven, received the kingdom, what is going to happen before he returns?

What's gonna happen before the end? And if we start in verse uh twenty, remember, eschatology is always always linked with the gospel.

They run hand in hand. Uh starting in verse twenty, but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who are asleep.

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

Christ being the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits. After that, those who are

Christ at his coming. That's the coming when he returns the same way on the cloud that his that the angels were talking about.

Uh at his coming. Then comes the end. When he hands over the kingdom to the god and father.

When he has abolished all rule and authority and power. For he must reign which we know he already is.

He has not yet returned. But the end comes when he comes back. Until then uh he it says uh where was

I? Where he must reign verse twenty -five until he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

For he has put all things in subjection under his feet. Amen. What you see here is is what so many people try to take about Christ's gospel.

His um purchasing of salvation. His rising into heaven to seat at the right hand of the father to have dominion and have a kingdom to have authority as he said in Matthew twenty -eight uh eighteen that all authority been given to him in heaven and on earth.

So many people try to push off into the future. What this in first Corinthians fifteen is saying is that his victory, his dominion, his kingdom is going to be pressed into every part of the world in such a manner that the only thing that's going to be left is death and Christ will return and defeat death as well.

That's right. At the last day. So, what are we awaiting for when Jesus comes back on the cloud the same way that he left?

When his coming up to the father in the cloud is now his coming down to the earth on the cloud.

We're we're awaiting is between then uh between his first ascension and his second coming is watching as his gospel permeates the earth puts his enemies under his feet and he rules and reigns from his seat on the throne in heaven as he will do when he finally puts death to death and sin no more when he wipes away all tears when sin is finally gone for good and hurt and pain or no more and he returns.

We're watching all of that be put away as his dominion is taking over each and every day in fits and spurts in ways that we don't always see but just remember he said that the sins of the

Amorites were not filled so that way they couldn't be defeated yet. We're awaiting sin in its self -destructive nature to run its course to watch

Christ and his righteousness overtake it and have the earth be made redeemed.

Perfect. Purchased by the blood of Christ. Uh just like uh John 316 says, for God's to love the world, the cosmos, the all of creation that he sent his son.

Why? For the salvation of men. Because men is where sin entered. So that is where Christ attacked the devil and saw sin removed from the earth.

He's now sitting in heaven until that has run its course. He's coming back to put death to death. Amen. And eternal bliss and glory to God forevermore.

That's what we're awaiting. Amen. So it's not we're not awaiting him to do something special in the future.

He's doing it now. He's doing it through the power of the gospel, power of the Holy Spirit, and his church.

So we need to get to work. That's right. The very first thing we need to do is pray. Absolutely.

Because it's the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the gospel. Not the power of Dan or the power of Robert. Right. Uh I'm preaching this weekend so I started a little bit early

I guess. And that's absolutely wonderful. Wonderful for me. Wonderful for us because we appreciate it.

Uh Tim we are definitely in the well I would say that we are probably in the early stages of the church.

We may not be. God can do things in an incredibly fast rate. Um but I think we're kind of early on and we need to plan ahead for the future.

We need to leave a legacy that will preach the gospel to our great -grandchildren that we may never meet.

Or if we do meet him, I may not have the mental capacity to actually speak to them anymore.

Right. But I need to do, I need to be working to leave a gospel legacy that my great -grandchildren and great -great -grandchildren will will hear the gospel and know the

Lord on down uh through through time. And my response to that is

I've heard that um thought from Douglas Wilson and I'll just say

I'm not one to argue with Douglas Wilson. Except for on Pato Communion. Except for that.

Well, what did you say? Except for Pato Communion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that.

Um but that's a different topic for a different night. Um yeah, what

Daniel was saying, uh we want we want to end on that exclamation that we we hope that you have um gleaned.

We hope that you have gained something from from hearing us talk about how to interpret scripture, grammatical, historical, theological, in context, uh letting scripture interpret scripture, uh looking the

Old Testament just as Jesus did, just as the the other authors did. They looked to the Old Testament to to understand the

New Testament and um we we hope you can see that uh when we look at these last days passages that that you have seen how consistent it is all throughout scripture.

You can see how optimistic it is and you know that's I'll I'll say this, you know, that's an that's not an argument to to prove that it's right or not.

The fact that it's optimistic is the consistency that you see interpreting, you know, interpreting the

Bible. Um it's it's the fact that that's what

God is word is telling us but the benefit of this understanding is the fact that it's optimistic.

It's hopeful and and like Dan was saying, we don't have to wait for God to be doing something special.

This next event in Bible prophecies, they like to say but God is doing something great now and and whether we're in the early stages of the church, the mid stage, the end stage,

God is working to build his kingdom and and as Dan was telling us, we need to be doing that um with our great great grandchildren in mind.

Um it with with our current families and and our and and not just in your home but but how you live your life, your your job, your profession, um the what you leave behind, you know, the material things, what's going to be more important, the material things or the the the spiritual things?

Well, the spiritual things are are most important but you know, we're commanded to to leave behind uh material things or or an inheritance for our children.

I think that includes spiritual and I think that includes monetary things because you know, we're commanded to subdue the earth and um to to fill the earth and and so while we're doing that, we are um we we are growing his kingdom physically and spiritually and we're leaving this this legacy um to our children and our grandchildren and that Jesus is is killing his is putting his enemies under his feet.

That's what he's in the process of doing and we get to be a part of that and we get to see that unfolding um and as Dan said, there there's ups and downs on the scale.

Um there's there's going to be more bad times but the trajectory of of the timeline is that Jesus is doing a great work and we want you to be a part of of that kingdom.

We want you to know Jesus as king. We want you to know him as savior and if you do not know him as as your savior, as your lord, as your king, we would encourage you to come to know him tonight.

The bible commands us to repent of our sins. We have all stolen. We have all um told lies.

We've all committed adultery at least in our hearts. We've never kept god first completely totally all the time.

We fell miserably at keeping god's law. Our righteousness the bible says is is as filthy rags to him.

There's no good that we could ever do to make up for or to to please him. We need someone to come rescue us and that person is

Jesus Christ. So we would encourage you to to repent of those sins and turn to him trusting in him um to to save you trusting in his work and that he did on the cross that that he um ascended that he was raised from the dead that he ascended that he seated on the right at the right hand of the father and has all authority in heaven on earth and that he's doing a work right now.

So trust in Jesus Christ today. Uh and with that being said, Dan, would you mind to close this in prayer?

Sure. Uh dear heavenly father, we thank you for all that you have done. Thank you for sending your sons down on the cross for the sins of men.

We pray that you would uh bring your kingdom to the earth that we would see your will done upon the earth.

We pray that you would give us what we need and uh to continue to work a great work among us.

Pray that you would uh keep us from sin and give us what we need. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Amen. Hope you guys have a great evening. Remember that Jesus is king. Go live in that victory and let's continue to go out there together and share that gospel.