Coming on the Clouds

hey everybody I'm pastor Jeff Durbin with apologia Church I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on apologia Studios channel well you're about to watch is a sermon a message from apologia church's worship service and again I want to thank you all so much for watching for liking for commenting for sharing the sermon itself we truly believe that it's important for the Christian Church to have an engagement in the public square with the Word of God so we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this and that is that I'm not your pastor though I'd love to be I am NOT your pastor and it's very important as you're watching this you know that it's God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local Christian Church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders and so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons and we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you to encourage you I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers particularly I think important a reformed church would be it would be best but we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship where you can worship where you can serve where you can be connected that is vitally important and actually a biblical command and so as much as again as we love for your participation your partnership and we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church you can though actually partner with apologia church as we proclaim the gospel and provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world you can do that by going to apologia studios.com you can partner with us by becoming all access when you do you help to make all of this possible and you get all of our TV shows our after shows and apologia academy all of that and you're a part of all that God is doing with us in the world to proclaim Herald the gospel of the kingdom you can partner with us and I want to say one last word about that do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards apology a chirp Church interferes with your giving your worship your tithes your offerings to a local body of believers in your area so thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them god bless you alright Matthew Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24 we are if you're new here to apology a church we are in a series called the kingdom of God and it's working through the Gospel according to Matthew the Gospel according to Matthew we've been in it for a little while verse by verse through the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24 is where we're at now this is known as the Olivet discourse the section with the discussion about the Great Tribulation now as you all get there I want to encourage you to do this if you have not done it yet you really need to do it Matthew chapter 24 is the Olivet discourse but there is the synoptic Gospels there are the synoptic Gospels that's where they are seeing together side by side you have Matthew Mark and Luke and so if you take Matthew Mark and Luke you'll see that all of the Synoptics actually have this section in it they all have a discourse sometimes a little bit different wording Luke may actually explain a little bit more and more Gentile language than Matthew does but that's the same section the Olivet discourse the discussion of the Great Tribulation that's where we're at now and if you're new to apologia Church just know that we have a few messages on this passage that are already up now for you guys to listen to and to go through verse by verse we've gone through this section again we have today's sermon and then next Sunday sermon and then we're actually going to hit pause in the Gospel according to Matthew for a little bit but you will hopefully have this full substance necessary to understand at least to get a preliminary understanding of what's happening in the Olivet discourse so for today I cannot go back over all of the old details to explain where we're at now but we are today in Matthew chapter 24 and we are in verses 29 through 31 I'm actually going to be reading today from the King James Version the King James Version we have a lot of people online watching this thousands of people actually watching this downloading I'm listening to them and many of them come from the same kind of tradition I came from many of them involved in independent fundamentalist separated Baptist churches and so I'd like this to be beneficial for many of them as well in terms of trying to treat to use as much of the King James Version as possible I did that last week as well but when we read today from the King James Version this is Matthew 24 29 through 31 here now the words of the living and the true God immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other as far as the reading of God's holy and inspired Word let's pray together father I pray that you'd please bless today help me Lord as a minister of the gospel as a pastor over these people to be faithful to your word I pray God that you would by your spirit teach open our eyes to the truth help me Lord who communicates the Lord your word in a way that's faithful help me to be clear and I pray God that at the end of this series your people will love you deeply will glorify you will worship you because of what they've learned about you in your Holy Word please Lord allow me to decrease Christ to increase people need to forget my name and remember yours and that's what I asked for in Jesus name Amen so if you've been tracking with us very important element here to talk about we're gonna talk about a section of scripture that actually I believe is very often misinterpreted and I believe it's very often misinterpreted because we don't actually understand that Jesus here in this section is quoting from a very famous section of scripture from the Old Testament so there was the book of Daniel the Book of Daniel was written long before the time of Christ and you have what's known as second temple Judaism you have people during this time period that have access to all the Old Testament writings you have the actual Old Testament books laid up in the Jewish temple that day in that day they had this of too--it entrace oh they know their scriptures Jesus of course is the premier Jew faithful Israelite servant of God that's who Jesus is he knows the Tanakh in the Torah He is God in the flesh he's a faithful Jew he knows the Torah the Tanakh and in this section here it's not happenstance it's not just so happens to be the case that Jesus is actually quoting from a very famous section of Daniel this was a very well-known section of Daniel Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 through 14 specifically Jesus is actually quoting when he talked about the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory they know that section of Scripture it was one of many sections of the sections of the Old Testament Scriptures that talks about the Messiah and his kingdom remember this very importance the question that they ask the Lord Jesus in this section he had just finished announcing the covenant breakers in Israel the leadership in Israel he promises desolation upon them he says all these things are gonna come upon that generation your house is left to you desolate and we have of course all of the language throughout the Synoptics even where Jesus even says things like these are the days of vengeance in order that all that has been written may be fulfilled Jesus has denounced the leadership in Jerusalem he's promised them judgments that's clear and now he departs now to the Mount of Olives the same direction yahweh went in the Old Testament before the destruction of the first temple that's saying something matthew knows that background the lord jesus then is on the mount of olives opposite of jerusalem there and of course he tells them when they're marveling about this amazing edifis the temple itself is so glorious when the Sun shines on it in the distance it looks like a glowing star that's this bright and brilliant edifice it's an amazing thing and the disciples of Akko course of pointing it all out and the Lord Jesus tells them you see all these things there should not be left one stone standing upon another and he promises it upon that generation this is the context the background all of this leading up and then Jesus is asked by the disciples you meet the temple all this is coming down that's a very big deal their understanding of history is it's divided according to the Old Testament into two sections you've got the Old Covenant era or age and you have the age of the new covenants the age of the Messiah's Kingdom that's how they saw history divided Old Covenant and the promise of the new covenant the age of the Messiah and the kingdom of the Messiah now Jesus tells them that temple which represents that Old Covenant system with all the animal sacrifices the priesthood all of the things that they did there in the temple he's saying that's going to be taken down which is a mark assigned to them that that Old Covenant age is over remember the question being asked of Jesus very important key thing here is not about the end of the physical cosmos it's not about the end of the physical world but the end of the age and the centers around the destruction of the Jewish temple Jesus tells them what to expect in their generation before they all die I've argued throughout the Olivet discourse as we've worked through here verse by verse we've demonstrated that all these things actually did come upon that generation you can demonstrate it from Scripture itself you can also demonstrate it from external extra biblical sources historical sources to demonstrate these things did in fact happen exactly as Jesus said I'm going to point you to one verse here kind of as an anchor and then we're opening up here Matthew chapter 24 I'm going to point to you I want you to point to your text here look at it Matthew 24 that's they're 29 through 31 is the section we talked about this last week where most people will say pastor Jeff I get it I see how you're saying he did promise it upon that generation before they all died I understand it we could demonstrate those things did in fact take place but the language here in 29 through 31 is difficult for me to see how that could happen surrounded the events of the destruction of Jerusalem the destruction of the Second Temple the Roman Jewish war how exactly did we get lightening cosmic deconstruction clouds of heaven angels how do we give that around the events surrounding 70 AD now clear points here to make is just pay attention to what takes place right after that the Lord Jesus says after the description of lightning and cosmic deconstruction and clouds of heaven and angels going out to gather God's elect he says in verse 34 truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until what all these things take place heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not pass away that is his assurance all these things are absolutely going to happen he says all these things before this generation passes away after Sun Moon and stars clouds of heaven lightning from the east to the west eagles corpses all the rest so the Lord Jesus puts before and behind these things in the Great Tribulation this generation is the generation which generation the generation he was then speaking to the generation he was talking to there was right before him his audience now that's one element that needs to be taken into consideration is the Lord Jesus says my word is true this is gonna happen heaven and earth will pass away my words will by no means pass away all these things includes all these things upon this generation which generation the generation he was then speaking to very important now here's what I've tried to do we're almost done with this series essentially on the tribulation the Olivet discourse wrapping up giving to the climax of Matthew in many ways of course we need to talk about the resurrection the death of Christ all of that but listen this is very very important to me as your brother and as your pastor to understand for you to understand why we chose Matthew I wanted to choose Matthew as the gospel that we unpacked because we planted the church about 10 years ago we planted the church out of a drug and alcohol rehab facility we had essentially all baby believers we have people among us right now that we're there came to Christ at Calvary addiction recovery center right Robin yes and and they've been here since the very beginning we started as a church from zero with all babies all babies it was important for me as a pastor to make sure that if we spend time on the Lord's Day unpacking books of Scripture I did so in a way that would teach the people of God that I am called to care for the entire Bible and as we've gone through the Gospel according to Matthew we chose it because Matthew quotes copiously from the Old Testament revelation not just direct quotations from the Old Testament but Matthew has in many instances in the back of his minds the Old Testament narrative the story of Israel and it moves and weaves in and out of Matthew's narrative the Old Testament is behind it in the world of thought and in direct quotation so my goal as your pastors we've moved through this was to teach you the entire Bible and as we've gone through the Gospel according to Matthew I believe that we've probably touched every book of the Old Testament revelation as we've worked through it maybe except for Haggai and Esther or some of those books but we're gonna make sure that we actually do touch those by the time we're done but Matthew has that world behind him now this is what's really really important in you guys are wanting to get a couple of hooks from the sermon you have to grab a hold of this in terms of interpretation of this section of Scripture we mentioned last week that lightning striking eagles and corpses Sun Moon and stars is language not invented by the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Olives but it's language that actually was from the Old Testament revelation used very often I argued last week that the the language of lightning striking and birds of prey over carcasses is language that God used before about destruction and judgment that was coming he even used it against his own people in the past now Jesus is using it when describing the destruction of the old temple itself that second temple and the judgment upon that generation we talked about that cosmic deconstruction language how it's used in the Old Testament of pagan nations how God speaks with dramatic prophetic hyperbole and cosmic deconstruction language not in a literal sense but in the sense of actually turning their lights off destroying their nation and when Isaiah 13 used this language of Sun Moon and stars which Jesus quoted from he was using it against Babylon and Babylon was destroyed now what's important here is to think about it in terms of this imagine being in a theater and watching a marathon of the first six Star Wars movies the other ones don't count imagine being in a theater watching a marathon of the first six Star Wars movies now someone comes in to sit down during the last twenty five minutes of Return of the Jedi they've never seen it before and they come into the tail end of the marathon all the episodes have now been before us and they come in the last twenty five minutes of Return of the Jedi now imagine afterwards go into a coffee shop and talking together about the movie about that whole the worldview behind it all the background the story the characters the narrative the whole thing and imagine this person who showed up in episode six in the last 25 minutes trying to give their interpretation of all the details of all the characters the storyline the arc the climax you would have to say to the person be careful you only saw the last 25 minutes you're trying to interpret the entire series based upon 25 minutes of collected data you don't know everything that was laid down previous to what you saw now what's important about that is we all recognize that somebody coming into the story and trying to give their two cents with only that much information is probably going to start doing damage to the characters to the arc of the story the climax all of that now that I believe is what happens when as 21st century Christians we haven't understood the world of the Old Testament all of the promises everything that Jesus came out of and we approached listen the Olivet discourse the promise of the Great Tribulation because we don't even realize that Jesus is quoting from the Old Testaments when he says Sun Moon and stars Gentile 21st century Christians go oh amazing the stars are literally going to hit the earth not realizing that Jesus is quoting from Isaiah when Jesus says he's coming on the clouds Christians today because they only came in the last 25 minutes of the movie go like this oh we're like surfing which direction is Jesus gonna surf on the cloud from not realizing that the Old Testament revelation has instances where this language is used Isaiah 19 1 God comes in a cloud against Egypt and Oracle against Egypt he says behold he comes riding on a swift cloud who yahweh doing what it says the idols of egypt's tremble the hearts of the egyptians melt within them yahweh riding on a cloud against egypt literally the jews didn't see it that way they saw it as judgment talk judgment language Jesus is using that kind of worldview and that kind of language and then Jesus here quotes from the Book of Daniel again if we walked into this 25 minutes after the series itself we're going to do some damage if we don't understand that Jesus is quoting from the Old Testament revelation and he's giving us now that fulfillment of the story their hopes their dreams about salvation the nation's every tribe tongue people and nation coming to worship Yahweh all the families of the earth coming to return to worship Yahweh all those stories of the Messiah's Kingdom are fulfilled now in Jesus and all of this is centered around what they expected the dissolution and destruction of that Old Covenant system and the coming of the new covenant age and the kingdom of the Messiah so it's important for us to keep that and mind let's talk quickly about backgrounds the backgrounds we need to understand to understand this moment before us is the Old Testament promises of the kingdom we're going to talk about some of these later but just keep in mind if you opened up your Torah in this day you would be in the very first book reading about what Jesus is talking about here Genesis it's in the first book we see it in the promises to Abraham Abraham's descendants as be as numerous as the what the Stars that's a lot of stars we see genesis 49:10 the promise of shiloh who's coming shiloh and to him this messianic figure shall be listen the obedience of the nation's that's in the first book we can go on about all the promises of the coming Kingdom all the nations streaming up to God's mountain but that's in the background we need to understand the promise of the New Covenant we've talked about that the promise of judgment in the Old Testament upon the covenant breakers that was coming when the salvation of the Messiah and his kingdom arrived there was going to be judgment and salvation coming together judgment on the covenant breakers and salvation breaking into his through the messiah's kingdom Malachi chapter 3 Malachi chapter 4 Isaiah 65 we need to understand of course to understand this section of Scripture the biblical language used in the Old Testament of the lightning the birds of prey the carcasses the cloud coming in Isaiah all of that God uses deconstruction language that Jesus quotes from in Isaiah 13 we have to understand the Old Testament signposts get this and you're gonna love I think what happens here in Matthew 24 we have to understand this the Old Testament sign posts the symbol of the Old Testament imagery the temple the sacrifices the priesthood everything that they were doing in the Old Covenant was a dress rehearsal it was a dress rehearsal it was preparing for the big day it was preparing for this moment before us and what Jesus now comes in and says that's all gonna be taken apart all of that's gonna be taken down it speaks to something for them we need to remember that Jesus in fact in the Gospels he refers to himself as the true temple what's he saying he says destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up Jesus used that language and it caused major controversy in his day we're gonna get into that today major controversy for Jesus to be claiming to be the priest and the true temple that's a very big deal to their worldview the fact that the New Testament argues he's the high priest is a very big deal when the Bible teaches us that Jesus completed the sacrifice once for all so that no more sacrifice is necessary that is earth-shattering to Second Temple Jews we need also as we get to Matthew 24 here understand the background of matthew itself couple things matthew start in Matthew chapter 3 with John the Baptist that forerunner of Messiah promised in Malachi chapter 3 that's John the Baptist role he's saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and listen what does he say as he tells him the kingdom of God is at hands he tells the Jewish leaders of his day something critical he says the ax is laid at the root of the trees his winnowing Fork is in his hand and he says to do what to bear fruit what does Jesus call that generation a wicked generation now in Matthew chapter 3 and 4 when the Lord Jesus who is the Messiah goes into the temptation what is offered it is totally relevant to what Jesus says here in Matthew 24 what is Satan offer the Lord Jesus as that final test in Matthew chapters 3 and 4 when you read that whole section what does he do he takes Jesus to a great and high mountain and he says here's all the kingdoms of the world I'll give me a now Jesus no death no resurrection no suffering I'll give them to you now I'll give you what you came for Jesus which is all the kingdoms of the world all you must do is bow and worship me that's a very significant temptation coming from Satan who knows what the Messiah has come for what all the tribes tongues languages everybody's coming to Messiah that's what Jesus came for that's at the beginning of Matthew's story in its relevance to the cloud coming of the Messiah Jesus came after the temptation proclaiming the good news of the kingdom something we don't talk a lot about today in modern evangelicalism we don't even know what that means the gospel of the kingdom how is that good news listen it was good news to them it was good news to Jesus because it's the first thing he was preaching out of the temptation the good news of the kingdom that's the story of the Lord Jesus we need to understand background again of Matthew 10 comes before Matthew 24 10:23 Jesus was telling his disciple that they quote will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes so Jesus says in Matthew 10 to those disciples he says that they will not finish going to the towns of Israel before he comes like final judgment coming resurrection coming no there are many comings in judgment of Yahweh Jesus was coming in judgment upon that generation and he tells those disciples that they wouldn't finish going through the towns of Israel before he returned in judgments that's what the Lord Jesus taught we need to understand in Matthew 12 28 Matthew's careful to record this moment where the Lord Jesus says to people in his day who are challenging him they are saying that Jesus was casting out demons because he was in league with Satan and so what Jesus says to them is an if-then scenario if hey I do this then be this he says if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God has come upon you question did he do it by the Spirit of God yes then the Lord Jesus was teaching them that his kingdom his rule the reign of the Messiah had broken into history now again we have more Matthew 26 again before Matthew 24 Matt sorry Matthew 16:28 Jesus says quote truly I say to you who's he talking to you he's talking to them truly I say to you there are some standing here in front of him who will not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom that was his promise Jesus made to some of those who were standing there we need to remember all the threats in the prophecy from 21 through 24 the promise of desolation in chapter 23 and the leading aspect of the prophecy of the Olivet discourse is the destruction of the second Jewish temple which was destroyed fully and finally in 70 AD literally taken part stone off of stone exactly as Jesus said in that generation now quick points here because they know it will come up and if you missed last week I want you to get a hold of this okay the word there when the Lord Jesus is asked about his coming the word there is Parsi a-- it's a greek word and it is not listen an Old Testament word the word they're behind coming that's used there in 24 parousia not an Old Testament word it's a word used about Caesar in Jesus day this is a a normative word used about Caesar listen and his royal appearing you see this word was used when Caesar was away on a long journey when he would come back to a town to visit a town or come back to return that was his parasya it was his royal appearing he didn't come to disappear he came to have a consequential presence so we're talking about the parousia we're not talking about the final resurrection and judgment were talking about Christ's parousia his royal appearing now quick thing here it's very important to get this so important what I've argued is that what takes place in the Olivet discourse the Great Tribulation is not concerning the second coming final judgment and the resurrection of the Dead if you want a section that describes that in clear detail read first Corinthians chapter 15 what we've been arguing is that this section of Scripture is about the coming in judgment of the Messiah that was promised in the Old Testament and throughout the Gospels upon that first century generation upon of covenant breakers this is covenant --all this is very much associated with the Old Testament promises of the change of the Old Covenant to the New Covenant this is about the coming in judgment of the Messiah got that yes we good and that's moved through that's laid down now we talked about Jesus quoting from Isaiah 13 in the reference above what what reference was that Isaiah 13 moon and stars we talked about God using cosmic deconstruction language I'm gonna read to you a section I thought was really just an excellent summary I love this it's in the book I recommend it to all of you called Matthew 24 fulfilled by John Bray I highly encourage you if you're struggling through this in any way to get this book in this book and page 142 I thought this is an excellent summary we have some good quotes here I want you guys to hear it says the Sun the Moon in the Stars the universe of Israel this is interesting the stars falling from heaven represented the downfall of the entire Jewish Commonwealth as represented by the leaders princes and Nobles of the Babylonian Kingdom were called quote stars in Daniel 8 10 and were said to be cast down now the language can relate to Israel Jewish writers understood the light to mean the law the moon the Sanhedrin and the stars the rabbi's Joseph in a dream saw quote the Sun and the moon and the Eleven stars unquote obeying him Genesis 37 9 and there we see the same kind of typology used as we know this referred to the Brothers of Joseph finally having to yield to Joseph when he came became ruler in Egypt the heavenly elements represent people in Old Testament language this is big fw Farrar puts it this way quotes the powers of heaven were being shaken suns and moons and stars from Roman emperors down to Jewish priests were one after another waxing dim and shooting from their spheres clearly the day must be at hand in which the Lord had said it would come ere that generation passed away and that all the things of which he had spoken be fulfilled jesus said that quotes the powers of the heavens shall be shaken 24:29 what would Jewish people have understood these words to mean look at isaiah 51:16 quotes and i have put my words in thy mouth and i have this is so powerful and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine here that I'm a plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth and sands a Zion thou art my people planting the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth was symbolical language for Zions becoming God's people God did not literally plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth at this late date of writing it has to be symbolic therefore it is only logical to the shaking of the powers of the heavens and the passing away of the heavens in the earth afterward would mean the utter end of Israel the ending of what God had planted and sets now I told you guys last week about John Gill remember that who's John Gill Pastor James I told them when I said John Gill I said I failed as a pastor to let you guys know about history John Gill is a famous Baptist in history John Gill has a quote here concerning this section of scripture John Gill Baptist theologian a pastor years ago said this quote and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken meaning all the ordinances of the legal disciplines dispensation with shaking and even removing of them were foretold by Haggai chapter 2 verse 6 and explained by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 12 26:27 whereby room and way were made four gospel ordinances to take place and be established which shall not be shaken so as to be removed but remained till the second coming of Christ that's John Gill on Matthew chapter 24 in this section now this is really cool very powerful I want you to see this by the way I want to encourage you to do this go to sermon audio and listen Pastor James did an entire series through the book of Hebrews and they go really bless you guys but I want you to see this in Hebrews Hebrews chapter 12 this is so critical when we talk about the powers of the heavens being shaken according to Jesus first century Jewish context again we don't have any right to to the movie with 25 minutes to go and begin actually putting towards putting on the text very novel interpretations that would have made no sense to first century Jews second temple Jews Jesus audience very important when Jesus talks about Sun Moon and stars we need to think his first century Jews when he talks about the powers of the heavens being shaken we need to recognize listen Jesus was quoting scripture there to catch that he was quoting scripture there - it's all part of their story their narrative and I want you to see it in the divine revelation that's before us in the book of Hebrews chapter 12 now I believe the book of Hebrews was written before the destruction of Jerusalem and I believe that this particular section of scripture actually has to do with the doing away of the Old Covenant order many commentators and theologians agree on that that the writer of Hebrews here is actually talking about the destruction of the Old Covenant order when did talking about the shaking of the heavens and the earth takes place so I want you to see it Hebrews chapter 12 now I want you to see starting in verse 18 I'm gonna read the section here so you can get a full a full bit of this section he says this remember this watch what's the message of Hebrews I gotta say this I forgot to say this and I'm gonna miss it message of Hebrews by-and-large warning those Jews don't go back don't go back Jesus is a better profit he's a better priest he's a better King he's what it was all pointing to don't go back don't go back God's about to destroy all of it don't return to it all you see you have people sometimes gone by before G after Jesus died and rose again there are some decades that have gone by now now you have early professing Jewish Christians who are like you know where where's where's the coming where's that I don't know it's still here in standing and the warning is don't go back it's about to be destroyed do not return and it says in verse 18 for you have not come to what may be touched a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and Tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers bag to know further messages be spoken to them for they could not endure the order that was given if even a beast touches the mountain it should be stoned indeed so terrifying was the sight that Moses said I trembled with fear but you have present-tense you have come those early Christians to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and feasto gathering and to the Assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel see remember the context those early Jewish Christians being tempted to go back to Temple he's saying you're part of the heavenly Jerusalem the heavenly Jerusalem this earthly physical Jerusalem he says you're part of the heavenly Jerusalem that heavenly City see that you do not refuse him who is speaking for if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven at that time his voice listen to the words shook the earth but now he has promised and he quotes the passage from the Old Testaments yet once more listen I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens to catch it here's a quotation in Hebrews related you'll see in a moment to the destruction of the Old Covenant order about shaking the heavens and the earth Jesus says the powers of the heavens will be shaken here we have the writer of Hebrews referring to that passage and here's what he says divine interpretation this phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be sure can may remain therefore here it is let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and that's let us let us offer to God acceptable worship and reverence and all for our God is a consuming fire brothers and sisters in the context of the book of Hebrews the writer of Hebrews refers to that passage of the shaking and the heavens and the earth and he says this is in reference to that removal of the things that can be shaken what physical temple all the things you can touch and see we've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken ours cannot be destroyed we're part of the heavenly Jerusalem that's come down to the heaven from God to the earth and it cannot be shaken it cannot be moved that was their worldview that's what they believed now go back to Matthew chapter 24 this is so powerful in verse 30 it says this and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory remember the worldview and understanding of the Second Temple Jews what's the most quote let's test you now test you now come back what's the most quoted verse in the New Testament from the Old Testament he sounds so sad about that someone's am one okay maybe just sounds it that from here psalm 110:1 it's the most quoted verse from the Old Testament in the New Testament I call it off and it's God's favorite bible verse because it's used the most in her New Testament it was the anchor for them the Lord said unto my lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet that's about Jesus the Apostles point to that they know it's it's all part of the anchor of their whole belief system Jesus has been exalted he has seated on his throne he is ruling and reigning now putting his enemies under his feet some of you guys saw when he walked in today we have she's back we've been praying for we try to bless her and encourage her we're glad she's feeling better but one of the things that happen out there before service I was talking to her and she asked me a question what we believe about justice and I told her I've answered at numerous times and I'm happy to say it we have God's standards of justice and I believe that as our nation becomes converted all nations converted to Christ their heart changes concerning God's law and justice and they desire what God wants for justice and so I told her I believe that this should take place and I said but we're not there right now we live in a nation that has you know turned away from God and essentially pagan and we don't have you know Christian standards of justice and but as the kingdom of Christ advances one day we'll be there and she said to me she said oh when you talk about the kingdom of Christ she's like I said she was like fearful and she was scared of us talking about that I said well get ready because it's coming why do I believe that psalm 110:1 the Lord said unto my lord sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet it's the most quoted verse psalm 110:1 now listen it's what stephen referred to when they killed him in Acts chapter 6 remember this the the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts chapter 6 that is the thing that Stephen is quoting from when he sees the heavens opens and Jesus at the right hand of the Father he's saying he's on his throne he's the Messiah a messianic King Jesus is raised he is ascended he is on that messianic throne he's putting his enemies under his feet that was the world view now this is critical when we look at what takes place here in this section where it talks about the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory we do need to know where it comes from so go here quickly to GNO chapter 7 that's what Jesus is quoting from we cannot properly understand the section of Scripture without understanding what Jesus was pointing to and Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 it says I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to him who the son of man after doing what coming up to the Ancient of Days to him was given Dominion and glory and a kingdom listen has everything to do with Matthew 24 you're gonna see in a moment that all peoples nations and languages should serve Him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which will not pass shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed just a quick note here if you look at Daniel it's not very long it wouldn't take you long to get through it all you'll see that there are actually a couple instances where prophecy is given about four earthly kingdoms and the Messiah's kingdom arrives during the time of the fourth Kingdom which you count down from Babylonian Kingdom you get to the Kingdom of Rome that's where Jesus breaks in so it actually takes place in Daniel you have Seamonsters coming out of the sea dispensational premillennial s literalist maybe you're looking for like literal monsters to come crawling out of the sea not what they meant it was earthly kingdoms those sorts of things but four kingdoms and then the Messiah arrives when did Jesus arrive during what Kingdom during the Roman Kingdom the fourth Kingdom this whole scene of Daniel takes place in the context of daniel where daniel says all this is going to take place during the time of the fourth kingdom keep that in mind in terms of timing questions now ask this question everybody asked this question are we aware of what Jesus is quoting from when he says that the tribes of the earth will mourn did you know that in this little section that we're doing today have you noticed that most of what that here is quotation from the Old Testament did you hear it already Sun Moon and stars tribes of the earth morning coming on the clouds of heaven and the heavens being shaken Jesus pulls together numerous Old Testament references into this section so again we don't have a right to come into the movie with 25 minutes to go and begin trying very novel interpretations upon the story Jesus has a background these are first century second temple Jews they know the story Jesus now is giving them all of those references from the Old Testaments but did we know that the Jesus is quoting from what which book Zechariah 12 Zechariah 12 and you do need to see this Zechariah Old Testament Zechariah chapter 12 we're just gonna spend a moment just so you can see it I don't want time to unpack it all today I'm not gonna dare try but I want you to see what Jesus is quoting from in Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 I loved by the way this is so trippy it's one of those instances that causes fear godly fear to fall on you I was just having a conversation with stellar Friday random discipleship moments by the way dads look for those moments random discipleship moments those moments where you're just sitting down eating a meal driving down the road playing a game and you get this little hot spot where your child asks a deep question take that moment as a discipleship moment my son asks a question about Christ and his death and we got into this amazing section I said did you know something kind of cool I said you know in Genesis when the fall takes place the fall takes place god says that as a result of the fall there's gonna bring forth thorns right I said so for the Jews the thorn was a sign of sin and the fall like that was a real sign it was a symbol of the fall itself I said you know those Gentile Romans when they were crucifying Jesus they pierced his hands and his feet as the text promised in the Old Testament but you know what they did they wrapped a crown of thorns because they were mocking Jesus he says he's the King fine here's your crown King and these Gentile unbelievers who don't know the Old Testament are mocking Jesus with a crown you're the King here's a crown and they put onto his head a crown of thorns so that when Jesus died on the cross he's carrying on his head the beginning symbol of the fall and sin itself and then incredible and stellar we're in the car driving we're on the 60 coming home he goes oh my gosh that is amazing that is so amazing he for like ten minutes he was like that's really really he was like atheism is so stupid dad I was like I know hashtag that but watch here's another example of something written long before Jesus comes and look at this it says in verse 10 and I will pour out in the house of David and the habitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so that when they look on me on Him whom they have pierced they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over her firstborn watch this first eleven on that day the morning in Jerusalem be great as great as the morning for had a dream on and in the plain of megiddo the land shall mourn each family by itself what will mourn what will mourn the land will mourn each family by itself the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves the family the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves and the family of the scheme' is you get the all the way down here we've got the lands you've got the families clearly they look upon him whom have pierced and they mourn and Jesus now quoting destruction of Jerusalem Covenant curses all that's coming this generation dissolution of the old order all the shaking of the heavens all this is going away and he says and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn now quick thing pay attention to the word tribes what's the context here Jewish temple what's the context here flee from Jerusalem Judah all the context is local and we've got the word here the tribes of the earth I would argue Jesus is talking about the 12 tribes of Israel same context of Zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 context is Jewish context is Jewish families Jewish tribes and very important here the word behind earth all the tribes of the earth the word is gase and it can be translated as earth soil or land as in Matthew 14:24 mark 4-1 or mark 647 it can be translated as lands so this could appropriately be seen as Jesus saying all the tribes of the land will mourn which actually goes perfectly with Zechariah chapter 12 because who's doing the morning who's doing the mourning in Zechariah 12 the Covenant people of God they shall look on him whom they have pierced question who was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus ultimately they asked for it they said what he says I find no fault in him wash my hands he is not guilty as a matter of record in history no false john crucify your king and they say what we have no king but Caesar his Bloods on you then and they said let his blood be on us and our children that's a generation brothers and sisters them and their children is their generation very important I believe Jesus is actually referring here to Zechariah to all be quotes it and I believe that it's about the tribes of the land it's very Jewish remember that Jesus referred to the coming judgement when the Jewish covenant breakers of his day asked for his blood to be upon them and their children remember this also just a cool notes about the section when he was going to the cross they just said let his blood be on us and on our children Jesus goes to the cross and in Luke's Gospel in Luke 23 28 Jesus warns them right and I was I told you this before but just for the record I always thought that was kind of chilling and strange because he says so few things on the way to the cross so very few things but on the way to the cross the daughters of Jerusalem are weeping and Jesus stops to talk to them and he says to them on the way to the cross he says don't weep for me weep for yourselves and your children and he says for the days are coming and he starts naming what they're gonna say that's judgment upon them you see they're weeping for him he says weep for yourselves all the tribes of the earth will mourn the look on him whom they have pierced all of this ties God's narrative his story together now also this is just for fun this study has not been about the book of Revelation we'll do that one day it'll take us 40 years you'll bury me at Verte at chapter 15 okay but I just want you to see it because it is quoted again enroll in Revelation I just want you to get a taste of it I'm not going to spend time on it today like a lot of time but just see it in Revelation chapter 1 I would argue as you get there revelation was written before the destruction of Jerusalem I think there's internal and external evidence for that read a book by my friend dr. Gentry called before Jerusalem fell to get the historical evidence and biblical evidence for that but quickly here revelation 1 look what it says I again believe John wrote this in exile to Patmos I believe Nero sent them there and this is where the revelation comes before the destruction of Jerusalem that's what I believe not arguing that today but it says this the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants the things that must happen in five thousand years no what's it say the things that must soon take place he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John who bore witness to the Word of God into the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is really far away no come on what's the text say the time is what near shortly take place the time is near so John is writing but look what it says here in verse five and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings of the earth kings on the earth to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a Kingdom priests to his God and Father to him be glory and Dominion forever and ever amen behold he is coming with the clouds there's that Daniel reference and every eye will see him even those who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him even so amen what's quoting from Zechariah 12 they will look on him whom they have pierced he's coming on the clouds even they who pierced him will see this coming of the clouds the kingdom of Messiah his Dominion his rule his reign in order to understand this we have to note the timing of Revelation soon to take place but we also have to understand what this meant for the covenant people we need to see how the Lord use Daniel 7 in reference to himself with the high priest Caiaphas did you know that this is quoted also to Caiaphas in Jesus day during his trial before his crucifixion so to see that go to Matthew chapter 26 this is a famous scene and in Matthew 26 starting in verse 57 we have the conflict of Jesus before Caiaphas now this is actually critical to get remember the temple there represents the Old Covenant order Caiaphas Caiaphas is the high priest in Jesus day he is the head of that temples regime the leadership now watch what happens in the conflict then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest where the scribes and the elders had gathered and Peter was following him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest and going inside he sat with the guards to see the ends now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death but they found none though many false witnesses came forward at last listen to this accusation two came forward and said this man said I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days and the high priest stood up and said have you no answer to make what is it that these men testify against you they're turning Jesus statements about him being the true temple and twisting that together with his promise of the destruction of the Jewish temple and this is what happens Jesus remained silence and the high priest said to him I adjure you by the Living God tell us if you're the Messiah the Son of God jesus said to him you have said so but I tell you from now on you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven who's gonna see it Caiaphas the high priest you will see from now on you will see Caiaphas and what's he quote from again Daniel 7 13 through 14 the Son of Man comes up to the Ancient of Days comes in the clouds of heaven and he brings all the nations to God now what happens when Jesus said this the high priest tore his robes and said he has uttered blasphemy what further witnesses do we need you've now heard his blasphemy what is your judgment they answered he deserves death then they spit in his face and struck him and some slapped him saying prophesy to us you Messiah who is it that struck you that was their response to Jesus quoting Daniel 7 in reference to him and he said to Caiaphas the high priest and his day from now on you will see what the fulfillment of Daniel 7 13 through 14 now this is wrapping up here in quoting Daniel 7 - the high priest Jesus was claiming to be the divine Messiah why did they freak out why'd the terror why they accuse him of blasphemy if you know Daniel you know that worship is taking place if you know Daniel you know that that's a significant claim to make and they accused him of blasphemy he was claiming to be the promised king by quoting Daniel 7 the cloud coming of Messiah he was telling him that he Caiaphas would see his Jesus rule and Kingdom finally what is the quote from Daniel all about it's about the salvific kingdom of the messiah who will bring every tribe tongue people and nation to worship yahweh salvation to the ends of the earth listen not just ethnic Jews all tribes tongues peoples and nations and I highlighted this last week I have to do it again I hope you hear it I hope you hear it when you look around just this little room we have before us today on the other side of the world in a desert you got a lot of colors in this room and we need to praise God for that because it is the vindication in the 21st century of Jesus as the true Messiah that was promised what was the promise all the nations coming to worship Yahweh all the nations under the rule of the Messiah all those nations confessing him as Lord think of how strange that is most everyone in this room today would not identify as ethnically Jewish right and you worship the Jewish God because of the Jewish Messiah that is what we have before us today you see we could talk about the Old Testament promises of Messiah I told you genesis 49:10 to him shall be the obedience of the nation's you have Psalm to the Father says to the son ask of me I'll give you the nation's for your inheritance the very ends of the earth for your possession so I'm 22 with the passion of the Messiah after it talks about his hands and feet being pierced being surrounded by dogs casting lot for his clothing it then says what it says all the families of the earth will return to worship Yahweh of course you have Psalm 72 which Gabe read before you in worship today he shall have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth the promises of Messiah psalm 110:1 putting all of his enemies under his feet Isaiah chapter 2 what to say all the nations stream up to God's mountain and the law goes forth from Zion Isaiah 9 God's coming as a son and as a child what's it say he is El Gabor he is the father of eternity and it says what about his about his kingdom it'll have no ends of the increase of his government end of peace there will be no ends these are the promises they were expecting Jesus has that in the back of his mind they knew the kingdoms of the world were coming underneath the Messiah the one who sits on David's throne is gonna rule the world the one who sits on David's throne is the who comes on the clouds after the Ascension he brings the nations tribes languages to God and that's what Jesus is quoting here to catch it I want to argue this the sign that they were supposed to see understands was the destruction of the Jewish temple after all the tribulation he promised that final thing that final thing of the son of man in heaven the sign of the son of man in heaven was the temples destruction it was the full vindication that Jesus is in fact the Messiah they were supposed to understand in that vindicating moment in history of the actual destruction of the temple that Jesus is the Son of man in heaven he is ruling he is reigning he is now bringing all the tribes tongues peoples and nations to God they were supposed to see that now I no worry I know what you're thinking you're like okay I see it he's quoting kingdom of God tribes tongues peoples nations I get it you have judgment language all that's there but this is tough it says in the text before us this is this is where we're wrapping up and I'm gonna do it quickly because I don't think there's really much to it if you've heard what I've said so far there isn't much to this the text says in verse 31 he shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another how do you handle the Angels I want to argue this we get thrown here because many modern translations say angels now very important if we come to the text with presuppositions about what is taking place in the text already then we're going to see texts with the secret rapture in it wine because my pastor told me that he said that two men will be in the field won't to be taken one of me left and what that means is the believer is taken and the unbeliever is left what's the problem with that when you go to the text with that presupposition you can't even see what Jesus actually says he compares it to the days of Noah right and what's he say about it in the days of Noah who was taken away the wicked who was left Noah and his family the righteous the text is literally reversed but because of presuppositions we go to the text with we can't read the text for what it actually says I'm going to argue that also takes place here with this text if we have a presupposition that this is about the end of the world and the final resurrection then we will see angels coming out of heaven coming down to gather God's elect but I want to argue something different the Greek word Angelus it could be translated as angels and it is or as messengers and it refers to human messengers as in Luke 952 or James 2:25 same word Angelus used for human messengers in the New Testaments so I want to argue this Jesus quotes the Old Testament revelation copiously all in reference to the kingdom of the Messiah and the drawing of all the nations the cloud coming in the Messiah is from Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 it is that it is during the time of the fourth Kingdom after the Ascension of the Messiah he comes on the clouds and draws the nations now as Jesus talks about the destruction of the Old Covenant age and the entrance of the age of the Messiah and the new covenant age he says this that he is the son of man in Daniels vision he is going to bring the nation's he is ruling and he says this he will send his messengers he will send his messengers and they will gather together his elect from four winds from one end of heaven to the other so who are those messengers God's people doing what proclaiming the gospel who are those messengers they're God's people going to preach the gospel and to bring together God's elect his chosen ones final word how does Matthew end how's Matthew end Matthew 28:18 through 20 I say it so much you have to have it memorized by now Jesus says all authority in heaven and where else and on earth has been past tense given to me and he says go therefore because of that because they have all the authority says go therefore and he says what made disciples of all the nations see that Daniel seven tribes tongues people nations languages coming to Messiah he says go get the nations baptize them in the name of the Father the Son the Holy Spirit teach them to observe everything that commanded you and lo I'm with you always even unto the end of the age and then where's Jesus go after he says this where's he go where's he go up to who the Ancient of Days Daniel 7 to do what to bring all the world into worship of God quick summary the sign of the son of man in heaven is the destruction of the Jewish temple that the Lord promised at the beginning of the discourse after the events portrayed in the Olivet discourse the temples destroyed the destruction of the Jewish temple is the vindication of the Lord Jesus as the Messianic King who is on his throne the destruction of the second temple is proof that he is the true temple and the true priest so what if you look at this passage as about the end of the world something that is future to us you will see this passage in this story as the end well it's about the end right the end of the world the end of the physical cause it's about the end but I believe if you read it biblically you'll see that it's really about the beginning it's really about the beginning for Jesus and the disciples the end of the Old Covenant age but the beginning of what their hopes were the kingdom of Messiah salvation going to the ends of the earth God making all things new it's about salvation to the ends of the earth what are some things we should take from this you know in our modern context can I say this racism is wicked wicked evil destructive and it contradicts the worldview of the Messiah you might be asking why bring this up in a message like this I want to say because as a church we are faced today with those who are attempting to actually infiltrate Christian communities with Marxist neo-marxist ungodly ideologies we're trying to cause division between God's people based on skin pigmentation it is destructive it is wicked it is evil and it goes against everything that makes this so glorious Jesus here talking about the Olivet discourse and the great tribulation and the coming on the clouds of the Messianic King to get the nation's should destroy any ungodly attachments we have to our skin color I want I've said this often I believe I generally doubt the profession of the person who's obsessed about their skin color and hates others because of their skin color the reason I have such doubt of their profession I know Christians we sin we're being sanctified the reason I doubt the profession of a person who obsesses about their skin color and hates other people in the basis of their skin color is because the core message of the scriptures is that the Messianic King brings together all the families of the earth to worship Yahweh and we're all from the same parents we all have the same problem of sin and it is not a problem of skin and I believe as Christians today we have to highlight the glory of God in the Messianic Kingdom who brings the Messiah who brings all people towards the throne of God and he washes us and he cleanses us and our skin colour has nothing to do with it nothing to do with it we should have racism outside the church and we should abhor it by those who attempt to bring it within the community of faith here's the thing if you see this as the beginning the glorious beginning of God's kingdoms story then you should see this God is gathering his elect he's sending his messengers out to collect his chosen ones and God wins G here at Davos seven he wins he gets all the tribes peoples tongues and nations let that be underneath us brothers and sisters and all the dangerous ministry that we do in all the hardship and difficulty that we do to people today in the last 24 hours actually said to me one was my son said to me down I'm I'm grateful that God's doing is doing at the abortion mill but babies are still dying there they're still dying there there's still all this evil happening I'm so I'm grateful God saved a baby but there's still babies that died you know we ought to see and it pastors like the Great Tribulation they all of a discourse is this Jesus has the victory he is going to win the nation's that is a sure promise of God that ought to send us out with godly risky missionary sacrifice into the world that Allah send us out into the hard places to do the difficult things to win these nations to Jesus he's the king he's ruling and reigning he's gathering together his elect from the four winds he's the one who's on his throne he's bringing all these nations to God we are the messengers going to collect them and we do it through the proclamation of the good news that out has sent us into the world into hardship and difficulty and suffering to win the world to Jesus Jesus wins his righteous inherits the earth not the wicked that on a sent us into the world to go win this world to Christ through God's good news it also ought to now change your perspective rights think about it if you saw the Great Tribulation as something the end that's about the end the final end that's back over on this side of my story well then that will transform maybe how you actually raise your children and think about raising grandchildren you see if we have a perspective change that sees Jesus is ruling now winning the nation's if we see Jesus is the one having authority on earth today if we see Jesus is having total victory with all his enemies under his feet it's gonna change how we raise our kids it'll change how you build businesses it'll change how you actually now see your governments you see when you see wickedness rampant in your society if you think that's a good thing because it means you're gonna be taken out of here then you will live accordingly but if you see Jesus as on his throne with full victory and all enemies going under his feet then you will live and breathe and move in your culture and a much different way when you see an ungodly culture all around you you will be the one bringing heaven into Earth bringing God's culture into the worlds you'll see the world in a different way when you realize that Jesus is the vindicated messianic King bringing the tribes tongues and languages to God so brothers and sisters I want to challenge us all to live accordingly let's pray father thank you for your word please bless what was said for the glory of Jesus and his kingdom among us I do pray that you'd reshape our hearts and our minds to see things truly through the lens of Scripture that you're ruling and reigning now that you laughs father when people try to thwart your purposes help us God to have the strength of your spirit to be bold to the world around us with your truth in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 29,473

Rating: 4.7914252 out of 5

Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia studios, apologia church, great tribulation, olivet discourse, jeff durbin sermon, left behind, left behind movie, rapture, pre tribulation rapture, post tribulation rapture, is jesus coming soon, jesus coming on the clouds, postmillennialism, greg bahnsen debate, r.c. sproul eschatology

Id: vZtYrGtuKPg

Length: 78min 27sec (4707 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 05 2019