WWUTT 2096 Of that Day and Hour No One Knows (Matthew 24:36-41)

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We've been reading in the Olivet Discourse Jesus telling His disciples what to expect when the

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Temple is destroyed and what to expect at the coming of the Son of Man, making sure they understand these are two separate events when we understand the text.

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Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

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Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we've been in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus telling

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His disciples what to expect when the Temple in Jerusalem is destroyed and that this event is not the same as when

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He will eventually return. Let's pick up where we left off last week. I'm going to start actually back in verse 29.

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We'll review that section again, and I'll read today through verse 41 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

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This is Matthew 24. Hear the word of the Lord. 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.

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And then 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

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Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth

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His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

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Now learn the parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.

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So you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.

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Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

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Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the

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Son, but the Father alone. For just as the days of Noah were, so the coming of the

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Son of Man will be. For as in those days, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark.

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And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the

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Son of Man be. Then there will be two in the field, one will be taken, and one will be left.

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Two will be grinding grain at the mill, one will be taken, and one will be left.

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So let's come back to verses 29 to 31. Well, before hitting that section again, let me review our outline of what we've been looking at here in the

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Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapter 24. And like I said last week, I think the outline helps to demystify some things a little bit.

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It won't answer all your questions. There's still some things here that are mysterious, things that we're going to debate over what they're talking about.

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But the outline itself at least helps us to rightly understand how

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Jesus is piecing these things together with his disciples, according to the question that they asked.

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So at the very beginning, once again, they are leaving Jerusalem. The disciples are awed by the temple structure and the buildings that are around it.

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They're sightseeing. I mean, they're pointing out things going, oh, look at that. Is this not massive? These men are from Galilee.

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They don't typically visit Jerusalem and have the chance to look at all these buildings.

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Or if they do come to Jerusalem, it's during one of the festive days, one of the holidays. They don't really have time to kind of stand around and look at the sites.

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So as they're observing these things, Jesus says to them, do you see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.

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Now, as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age.

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And like I said last week, oftentimes teachers of this section will outline

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Matthew 24 based on the question that the disciples asked. Jesus does not answer their question directly because as I've said throughout

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Matthew, the disciples think that the Messiah is going to be an emancipator, that he's going to free them from the tyranny of Rome, from the tyranny of the

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Herod's, that Israel is going to become a superpower again. So here's Jesus talking about the destruction of the temple.

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He can't possibly be talking about his reign on earth. This has to be about the end of the world because a

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Jew cannot imagine a time when there would not be a temple. And yet 40 years from this conversation, the temple would be destroyed.

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That dispensation would come to an end. There would no longer be sacrifice in the temple.

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As Jesus said to the woman at Sychar, the Samaritan woman at the well, of course this is in John four, but as he said to her, a time is coming when you won't worship in Jerusalem or on this mountain, the worship of God would happen everywhere.

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And that's what's going on after Jesus ascension into heaven and giving of the Holy Spirit. The sacrificial system is done.

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It's over. Jesus accomplished that. He fulfilled it with his death on the cross.

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And so the temple is of no use. It's going to be torn down so that no one is thinking anymore that this is the place where we go and meet with God.

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You have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives you his Holy Spirit and God dwells in you.

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As Paul would preach at the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17, God does not dwell in places built by human hands.

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He dwells inside the hearts of every single believer. And so the disciples think if the temple is going to be torn down, this has got to be the end of the world that Jesus is talking about.

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So what will be the sign of your coming and what will be the sign of the end of the age for them?

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That's two different questions. They think that Jesus is going to ascend to the throne and then the end of the age is going to happen some other time in there.

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They don't even really know what they're asking. And so Jesus simply gives them an answer warning them not to be deceived by certain things.

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Three things, in fact. So we can break this down into three parts. Number one, he says there's going to be wars and rumors of wars.

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There's going to be earthquakes and famines in various places. Don't be alarmed by this. These things must happen.

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But these are but the beginning of birth pains. And as we see elsewhere in scripture, birth pains is what we know all of creation has been subjected to now.

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As Paul talks about in Romans eight, all of creation groans as in birth pains because it has been subjected to futility.

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So Jesus is saying here, these things must happen. These things have always been happening, wars, conflicts, so on and so forth.

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You have a major conflict that happens near to you, especially with regard to the Jewish Roman War, which was coming up within a generation.

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And then Jerusalem would be sacked and the temple would be destroyed. This is not the sign of the end.

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That's what Jesus is telling them about. So though you hear about these things, it's just the way things are.

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This is not a sign of the end. So that was in verses four to 14.

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Then part two is where Jesus is talking about the destruction of the temple, but he's warning the disciples, don't think that that is the end of the age either.

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That's not the end of time. There's still something else that is coming after that. So he talks about the destruction of the temple in verses 15 to 28 and saying that even in the midst of that conflict, many are going to come saying,

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I am the Christ. Don't believe them. Don't follow them. Again, this is during a time when the

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Jewish people think that the Christ is going to be an emancipator. So while all of this conflict is happening, somebody is going to rise up and say,

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I'm he, I'm the Messiah you've been looking for. Follow me and I will free you from all this tyranny and chaos.

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Don't go out to him. Whether he's in the inner rooms, like they're pulling together factions and, and getting their, uh, their militias together, you know, something like that, whether it's that or they're out in the wilderness, this guy's assembling an army out there.

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Let's go out and meet him. Don't go out. For as the lightning comes from the

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East and appears even to the West, so will be the coming of the son of man. His coming will be seen by everybody.

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The destruction of the temple is not it. That's verses 15 to 28.

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Then what we have in verses 29 to 31, which was the section that I began with immediately after the tribulation of those days, then the son of man will come.

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The sun will be darkened. The moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

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And then 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 of the sky with power and great glory.

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And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from the one end of the sky to the other.

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Now, as I said, you could read that figuratively, and I think that you're still within within scriptural bounds if you do so.

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If all of these things are understood symbolically, because Jesus is quoting from various symbolic passages out of the

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Old Testament, out of Isaiah, out of Daniel, out of Haggai. And he's taking these passages and applying them to his return.

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It could be something symbolic with regard to the spread of the gospel that would happen after the destruction of the temple.

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Or he could literally be talking about this is what his return will look like.

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You could read it both ways that symbolically it's about the gospel going out. But then we're also going to see a literal fulfillment of this when

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Jesus will literally be seen in the sky coming forth with his angels, with a great trumpet.

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And they're going to gather together his elect to him in the air, just as the apostle Paul talks about in first Thessalonians chapter four.

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That could be exactly what Jesus is describing here in Matthew 24, 29 to 31. But that statement immediately after the tribulation of those days means that it's the next prophetic event to be fulfilled.

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It does not mean that Jesus was going to return in 70 A .D. that he was he expected to return in 70

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A .D. That's not what he was telling his disciples here, because if it was going to be that soon, immediately after the tribulation of those days, the

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Jewish Roman war, then suddenly Jesus would return. Then he would say that his return would be synonymous with that, because that's basically what that would mean.

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The temple is destroyed. Oh, look, there's Jesus in the sky, you know, and that's not the way that Jesus is describing this because he's clearly warning them in verses 15 to 28 that the destruction of the temple is not his return.

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So don't put his return as the same calendar event as the destruction of the temple, which is what the preterists do, the full preterists, and they're wrong in that.

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In fact, the apostle Paul went as far as putting people out of the church who were claiming that the resurrection of the dead had already happened.

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That has not taken place. That did not take place in 70 A .D. We are still waiting for that day to happen when

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Christ will return and the dead in Christ will rise first. These things have not occurred yet.

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So Jesus telling his disciples, here's the destruction of the temple. Here's my return. They're two separate events.

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Now he gives a general parable beginning in verse 32 to look for the signs in which you will know these things are about to take place.

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Now learn the parable from the fig tree when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves.

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You know that summer is near. So you too, when you see all these things, remember that that was what

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Jesus said to his disciples about the destruction of the temple. These things, when you see all these things, recognize that he is near right at the door.

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So when you see the temple fall, when you see that destruction happen, you know what's coming next is that Christ is going to return.

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That's the next event. So he is near right at the door. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.

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And when he says these things, he's talking about the conflict in the Jewish Roman war, the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple.

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He's not talking about his return because he has already stated that's a separate event from the destruction of the temple.

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Heaven and earth will pass away, he says, but my words will not pass away. So that's with regards to the destruction of the temple.

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But then he comes back to talking about his own return. It's the same succession of foretelling that we've seen thus far in Matthew 24.

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He talks about the destruction of the temple in 15 to 28. He talks about his return in 29 to 31, that these are two separate events.

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And so then he talks about the parable, the fig tree versus 32 to 35 in identifying at what time the destruction of the temple will occur.

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But then he comes back to talking about his return versus 36 to 41, again, it's a separate event verse 36, but of that day and hour, no one knows talking about his return.

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Not even the angels of heaven nor the son, but the father alone for just as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the son of man.

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So we're back to talking about the coming of the son of man, which again, different event than the destruction of the temple.

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Don't think of him talking about the coming of the son of man as being the same as the destruction of the temple.

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And I feel the need to have to emphasize that because full preterism is becoming a more and more popular idea.

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There are more and more people I'm encountering that believe this when for a long time, I didn't encounter anybody that believe this.

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But I think because of, you know, various conspiracy theories and things like that that circulate on social media.

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And because people can fall in with their clicks and you find a certain group that believes a certain way and you find their arguments to be rather convincing and you jump into your echo chamber.

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I think things like this have spurred on this grasping onto full preterism.

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This idea that Christ is already returned, the dead in Christ have already risen. And we're kind of in this state right now of the world perpetually getting better until Christ, until Christ's kingdom is fully set up on earth.

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And then he comes back when things are already really quite good and lives with us on the earth rules on the earth.

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And that is not the way that he is talking about his return in this passage. So we come back to saying of that day of the day that Christ returns of that day and hour.

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No one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the son, but the father alone. That of course is a confusing passage.

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That leads to all kinds of speculations and questions. Why doesn't Jesus know? Is Jesus not very

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God and very man? Yes, of course he is. But there were certain limitations that the incarnate son had taken on in submission to the will of the father.

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It's not that Jesus didn't have the power. It's not that he didn't have the knowledge. It's just that he was in submission to the father's will.

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You think back to Matthew chapter 20, where it was James and John's mother that came to Jesus and said, command that in your kingdom, these two sons of mine may sit one on your right hand and one on your left when you're seated on your throne.

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And Jesus said to her, you don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink?

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And then James and John said to him, yes, we're able. And he said to them, my cup, you shall drink, but to sit on my right hand and on my left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my father.

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Now, I believe that when Jesus ascended back into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father, where he currently is, then he knew he knows now when he is going to return.

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But at the time that he was speaking to his disciples, he does not know.

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It has not been the will of the father as given to him to know so that Jesus cannot sit here with his disciples and start talking to them about things that is not for them to know.

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It's not for us to know either, because as Jesus is going to go on to talk about, we're supposed to have this hopeful expectation of his return.

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We're not supposed to know the day and the hour. We're supposed to continue as if it could happen at any time.

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And we persist in the work that God has in front of us, fulfilling the great commission to make disciples of all nations.

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We're doing that until Christ comes. We'll see the signs, just as Jesus said in the previous parable, there will be signs that we will look for to know that these things are nearing the end.

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But for the time being, we continue in faithfulness to our

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Lord Christ, who told us to go forth and be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.

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So he says here of the day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the son, but the father alone for just as the days of Noah were.

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So the coming of the son of man will be. Now, Jesus goes on to explain what he means by that.

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When he says just as the days of Noah were, he explains what the days of Noah were. Exactly what he says here.

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I'm hearing this more and more often. Matthew 24, 37 being taken out of context and being interpreted to mean the stuff that was going on in the world at the time of Noah will be the stuff that will happen in the world before Jesus returns.

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There will be Nephilim in the land again, giants, just as we're talked about in Genesis before the floodwaters came there.

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And those who will speak of such things, talk about these Nephilim as being the offspring of, of demon seed, you know, demons that mated with human women and then produce this demonic offspring, which became giants, warriors and, and these conquerors in the land.

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There's so much violence that was in the land at the time of the days of Noah. That's not what Jesus means by that.

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He's not talking about Nephilim at all. We're going to see Nephilim roaming in the earth before Jesus returns.

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He explains exactly what he means. Verse 38, for as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark.

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And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the son of man be.

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So just like it was back then, there are going to be people who are going to be carrying on as if nothing's going to change tomorrow.

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It's going to be exactly as it was today. And they will persist in their sin, thinking that there will be no consequences for their sin.

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Becky and I just talked about this in the Psalm that we read Psalm 10 in the

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Q and a that we did just this past Friday. In, uh, in Psalm 10, beginning in verse three, the wicked boasts of his soul's desire and the greedy man curses and spurns

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Yahweh. The wicked and the haughtiness of his countenance does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no

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God. His ways prosper at all times. Your judgments talking to God, your judgments are on high and out of his sight.

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As for all of his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says in his heart, I will not be shaken from generation to generation.

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I will not be in adversity. This is, this is the way the wicked man thinks. There's no judgment for what it is that I do.

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God cannot see there is no God. So he continues on in his wickedness just as it was in the days of Noah, though Noah spent a hundred years building that arc.

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And yet the people saw him doing this and, and they, you know, jeered at him, made fun of him, whatever.

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They didn't think that this judgment that, uh, that Noah was a herald of, according to what said in second

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Peter chapter two, they didn't believe that this judgment was really going to happen until the floodwaters came and swept them all away.

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They did not understand until that day. That's what Jesus is talking about.

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People will continue on in wickedness. Even at the end of the book of revelation, it says, let the evil man continue to be evil.

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These things are going to happen until Christ returns. And then they'll see him. And then they will know.

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So will the coming of the son of man be. And then we have in verses 40 and 41, then there will be two in the field.

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One will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding grain at the mill. One will be taken and one will be left.

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By the way, this is not about the rapture. And if you read John MacArthur's commentary, you know how big John MacArthur is on the rapture.

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And even in his commentary, he says these two verses are not about the rapture. This is talking about judgment here.

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Those that are going to be taken are not those that are snatched up in the rapture. Those who are taken are those who are swept away in judgment.

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So there will be two in the field. One will be taken. That person will be removed from the earth.

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One will be left. This is the one who inherits the earth. Remember Jesus talking about that in the

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Beatitudes. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Two women will be grinding grain at the mill.

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One will be taken. One will be swept away in judgment. And one will be left to inhabit the new heavens and the new earth in glory.

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And so this is the warning that Jesus gives to his disciples in this particular section. Not to think that the destruction of the temple is the same as the coming of the son of man.

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There are certain signs to look for regarding the destruction of the temple. And there are certain signs to look for regarding the coming of the son of man.

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But his return will be seen by the whole world and everybody will know and there will be no mistaking it. As lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the coming of the son of man be.

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So let us continue to be awake, be alert, looking for that day, being found to be faithful servants of Christ.

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If that day should happen in our lifetime, or even if the coming of the son of man happens in such a way as if we die and we go to be with him in glory, our day has come.

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And so we, we go to be with Christ. We see him on this very day because, because our life came to an end.

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If you happen to meet your end today, may it be Christ finding you continuing to serve as one of his children until the day you go and meet with the

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Lord in glory. He warns his disciples that just because you haven't seen that day yet doesn't mean it isn't coming.

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And that's what we're going to read about tomorrow in the conclusion of Matthew 24, not the conclusion of the

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Olivet discourse, but it's the conclusion of chapter 24. Tomorrow we'll look at verses 42 to 51.

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Let's finish here with prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read today. And I pray that we would be diligent to study these things.

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There is a lot of mystery to it because it's talking about things that haven't happened yet. And so what do we need to know about this?

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What else have I not yet said that we need to come back to and learn from the text?

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I pray that we're always clinging onto Jesus words and that they are seeds of promise and seeds of hope that are sown in our hearts.

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We have the promise that has been given in Christ. It fills us with hope looking forward to that day when we will be away from all this sin and death and everything that's happening in the world.

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And we will be with Christ forever in glory where there will be no more dying, no more sorrow.

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Every tear will be wiped away from our eyes. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. We pray in his precious name.

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Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .wutt .com.