Incomparable Matthew 24: These and Those

and I tell you friends it's an exciting time to be alive and we're gonna see that in really tangible textual ways this morning because we're gonna be in Matthew chapter 24 open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 24 I think without question the most complicated potentially complicated chapter in all of Matthews so tune in get ready and this is gonna be a great one I am super excited about it it's not going to be great because of the delivery though I'm hopeful God will give me clarity and and power to communicate but I think it's gonna be great because of the content there is so much going on in Matthew chapter 24 the sermon this morning is titled these and those these and those we'll get to that in just a little bit all right let's remind ourselves of where we are in Matthew's Gospel seven chapters the way that Pastor Jared and myself and pastor helped have divided this up the first chapter was Jesus as son followed by Jesus as preacher Jesus as healer Jesus as leader Jesus as teacher we are now in the penultimate chapter Jesus as seer the word seer is another word for profit these chapters chapter twenty two twenty three twenty twenty-one twenty-two twenty-three twenty-four twenty-five have an Old Testament feel to them it's it's Jesus pronouncing judgment it's Jesus overturning tables it's you get a sense of foreboding not unlike a prophecy of say Jeremiah's or Hosea's or Isaiah's in the Old Testament this is Jesus as prophet this is Jesus as seer and we find ourselves today in Matthew chapter 24 which is really at the height of that that prophetic urgency and that prophetic judgment just last night after the fry yay evening how many were there four fry yay last night okay good I see a few hands over the age of the requisite 30 including my own I was there 44 years old Jeffrey you were there and I know you're older than 30 yeah Merv I saw you there yeah you're over 30 that's all right it was really great really wonderful and I want to thank Luke and the team for putting that on Estelle and Craig and Rhiannon god bless you all it's great to see a space being created here at the kingscliff church for our young people can the church say Amen good so anyway I'm driving home and Nate if you could bring down the lights just as insofar as it's possible at least just for this picture driving home last night and get just out here let me orient myself to where I am just over here and there was this amazing lightning storm happening just over the Tweed River did anybody else see this last night it was just absolutely phenomenal so I pulled my car over and took some pictures and I took all of these pictures last night this is nine pictures that I took on my iPhone that tells you it was a really awesome lightning storm when you can get pictures of that quality just on your iPhone and I sat there for probably 15 or 20 minutes and and the weather and the lightning and the storm just did its thing it was amazing and for me it was really special really spiritual and really profound because it's one of the best lightning storms I've ever seen top ten and I had just spent the whole day ruminating and studying on Matthew chapter 24 and right at the heart of Matthew chapter 24 is this text for as the Lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west so also will the coming of the Son of Man be and so it was a perfect and profound and deeply spiritual beginning to my Sabbath and also introduction to the sermon and it has even greater profundity that all impact as we come to the end of the sermon but I just want to sort of leave that out there for you now now this might not look like much to you you can bring those lights back up now if you need to Nathan this might not look like much to you but what you're looking at here is a top-down map of the 3rd largest cave system in the world ok it's a cave system that comes from the area that I'm from in the United States South Dakota and it's called Jewel Cave National Monument and it's the as I say the third most expansive cave system in the world I've actually been to jewel cave on a number of occasions there are some 200 miles of mapped caves and they're not done mapping it yet 200 miles so 320 kilometers are not done mapping it in fact I read just this morning on the Internet that the the the space that they have mapped they think is only about three to five percent of the total air volume of the cave so it could be even astronomically larger than what they presently know and if you look down in the if you look in the upper left hand corner and just right down in the in the middle section at the bottom those are two smaller sections that are carved out of larger sections very small sections within the larger map above these are the actual tours you can take in the cave I've taken two of these tours the one for example in the effort upper left-hand corner last about two hours and if you it's hard to tell from this map but that section that little box in the upper left hand corner is a very very very small percentage of what you see in front of you there okay this this section down here on the lower section that is a slightly larger section but still a very small percentage of the overall labyrinth that is Crystal Caves I remember when I took that tour we went down and they take you into this great room and it's just absolutely astonishing you're down there for an hour and a half and then they tell you you have seen only two percent of the known explored part of this cave and maybe as little as a tenth of a percent of the total cave that's out there in order to explore this cave they have to go down for days camping for 3 and 4 and 5 days squeezing through little holes sometimes the size of a basketball right I mean it is a very dangerous amazing thing now our text today Matthew chapter 24 is a little bit like Crystal Caves we there is a labyrinth of theological and Biblical complexity that lies underneath Matthew chapter 24 that we have no hope of exploring this morning it's just not going to happen but what we are going to do is we're going to take that little one hour tour okay we're gonna go into the into that first great room there of Matthew chapter 24 we're gonna orient ourselves so we get a feel for the shape of Matthew chapter 24 but I want you to know there is a theological depth below that very much like jewel cave here that you could spend the rest of your life exploring and still not plumb the depths of this single chapter that's what we're dealing with today this is a chapter that is rich in typology rich in poet a poetic structure rich in Old Testament symbolism there is so much going on in Matthew chapter 24 all of these different convergences and all we're going to be able to do this morning is go in take a look around for about an hour and say man that is amazing now we're gonna have a flashlight in our hands I'm gonna tell you a little bit in a moment what that flashlight looks like but let's talk about the overall shape of Matthew and where this tremendously complex and tremendously rich chapter chapter 24 fits into that complex or into that structure we've talked about how Matthew has built his gospel around five major discourses or sermons of Jesus these are structured you might recall in what theologians called a chiastic form ABCB a right where you have correspondence between the A's and the B's and the punchline is that Center thing the see you can have other chiastic formulations you can have ABCD CBA etc but in the case of Matthew there are five discourses five major sections that some New Testament scholars believe is designed to sort of mirror the five books of Moses Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy Jesus is the new Moses the mounts of of the the mounts of blessing there in Matthew five to seven is the new Sinai so there's a whole lot going on in the Gospel of Matthew there is a symmetry there is an organization and a structure here that is profound where Matthew chapter 24 fits into this is really fascinating because Matthew chapter 24 comes in the lowest a they're the closing address right Matthew opens with the Sermon on the Mount three chapters of uninterrupted monologue from Jesus and then it closes with chapter this sermon here chapters 23 24 and 25 which is mostly uninterrupted as well again three chapters another fascinating similarity is that the first takes place from a mountain the New Testament Sinai and this closing and fine this course also takes place from a mountain we'll talk about some other similarities when we get together next week the next discourse was Jesus sending of the disciples in chapter 10 then at the center was this whole idea of the kingdom of heaven is like the kingdom of heaven is like is like is like those parables that were absolutely central to Jesus teaching and preaching ministry follow then by the preparation of the disciples and then now the closing address so even within the larger chiastic structure that is the Gospel of Matthew Matthew chapter 24 is right at the center of this three parts sermon series that were in here 23 24 and then 25 if you look in your Bible you will notice that if your Bibles like mine in the words of Jesus are in read all of chapter 23 is in red let us say this is an uninterrupted narrative there's no camera change here there's no Jesus is at the temple this is on the this is on probably the Wednesday not later than the Thursday of the final week of Jesus life right so there's Matthew chapter 23 the whole thing is in red then if you look at Matthew chapter 24 with the exception of verses 1 & 3 everything else is in red there's only a very small scene change here and that's where Jesus leaves the temple we'll get to this in just a second and goes out to the Mount of Olives ok whether or not Jesus knew that he was purposefully going to a mountain to bring closure to his closing address in the same way that he was on a mountain when he had the opening address we don't know but we know that Matthew has constructed his gospel that way so then if you look at Matthew chapter 25 you will notice that that is also entirely in red so 24 23 24 25 is one virtually uninterrupted sermon right what a long discourse with a single scene change from in the temple to the top of the mountain we find ourselves now right at the end of Matthew chapter 23 where Jesus has gone into the temple and he has said woe to you woe to you woe to you woe to you and we had that sermon two weeks ago fools and blind fools and blinds and Jesus gives that impassioned appeal right at the end of Matthew chap 2:23 Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you how often I wanted to gather if you were in the habit of underlining in your Bible or marking in your Bible just I want you to appreciate the depth and the beauty of that single phrase and what it tells us about the character of God I want to gather can the church say Amen that's what's in the heart of God the heart of God is not to disperse the heart of God is not to judge the heart of God it's not to punish there is no punitive element within the heart of God God wants to gather I want to gather but you were not willing I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings but you were not willing see your house is left to you desolate for I say to you you will see me no more to you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord then chapter 24 verse 1 then Jesus went out and departed from the temple how different this story might have been how different this story might have been if Jesus had been received and believed on as the Jewish Messiah as the Promised One Jesus would have never left the temple because he would have been slain there as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world Jesus knows that this is not going according to plan God's plan for Israel he goes to the temple that's supposed to be the last place he ever goes he's supposed to lay down his life in the temple but as it turns out in fact he will be betrayed he will be crucified not on the outside of the temple but outside of the city so those words right there are not a part of God's plan a they're a part of Plan B and Jesus departed from the temple he will never again step foot in the temple precincts he has left the temple now we're gonna spend our time in Matthew chapter 24 before we do let's continue to orient ourselves we've asked the question in a previous sermon how could Jesus predict his death I mean how did he know he was gonna die all the way back as far as Matthew chapter 16 Jesus had said who - the who do people think I am and some say or Jeremiah some say you one of the prophets etc who do you think I am you are the Christ the Son of the Living God Peter speaks up on behalf of the others and from that time on Matthew says Jesus began to tell his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem that he would be betrayed that he would suffer and die jesus knew that there was that there was going to be an inevitable conflict between him and the religious leaders and ultimately him in Rome so you get this sense and we've mentioned this before that the Gospel of Matthew is picking up a kind of momentum a kind of steam and that it is racing ineluctably towards Jesus death when Jesus when we get here to Matthew chapter 24 Jesus knows that he is in the very last hours of his life the last few days and he you could number his life in ours at this point and so the question is is how did Jesus know he was gonna die that the answer is how could he not have known because of the tension that existed between Rome and between Israel that is to say the Jews and between Jesus and the Jews Jesus could read the handwriting on the wall there had been many Messiah figures before the time of Jesus that had been slain or otherwise dispatched and there would be many Messiah figures after the time of Jesus jesus knew that when you finally and fully set yourself out as a messiah that was not only unsettling to the religious leaders of the day the Jewish leaders but it was hugely disturbing potentially to the Romans and death was an inevitable consequence of setting yourself forth as the Messiah this is one of the reasons why we see Jesus again and again in the Gospels not being right upfront about who he is and actually urging people not to disclose the nature of identity his identity he would heal people and say don't tell anyone he would reveal who he was and say don't tell anyone don't tell anyone to tell you when Jesus knew that this snowball was gonna get rolling down the hill eventually but he was doing his best to slow it insofar as it was possible but here in Matthew chapters 23 24 25 the snowball is racing with unstoppable force and speed its it's hurtling toward the cross and Jesus knows it and so he leaves the temple precincts and he begins to wind his way up to the top of the Mount of Olives how could he not know in the words of NT right he has come to Jerusalem knowing knowing what he has come to Jerusalem knowing that by continuing his dramatic mission of summoning Israel to repentance he will precipitate hostility yes violence yes and his own death Jesus death is not going to catch him by surprise he's been he's been anticipating it he's been prophesying it and predicting it for the better part of three years he knows what's coming and the courage and the bravery the poise and the calmness with which he faces this inevitability is phenomenal we've talked all the way back way back in Matthew chapter 3 we talked about some of the tests that historians use to identify historical veracity how do we know that an event of history actually happened how do we know that an event from 700 years ago or a thousand years ago or 2,000 years ago what tests do historians use to ascertain whether or not something actually happened and there are scholars both secular and sacred that debate did Jesus really say that or was that something that was added to Jesus later did he say that did he say that and liberal scholars come to the Bible and they try to decipher and discern and surgically figure out what Jesus was likely to have said and the stuff that his followers supposedly added later Matthew chapter 24 is almost universally agreed upon the majority of it almost universally agreed upon between both secular and sacred scholars as being basically absolutely certain that Jesus actually said this in other words just from a secular standpoint there are so many little elements in Matthew chapter 24 it's like yeah Jesus said that Jesus said that Jesus said that I'll give you one case in point right in the heart of Matthew chapter 24 Jesus is going to say of that day an hour nobody knows not even me it is impossible to imagine that the early church would have invented that you would not take your Messiah figure your God in human flesh figure and have him announcing a very obvious limitation on his omniscience this is a criterion that historians call the criterion of embarrassment we talked about this back in Matthew chapter 3 you can go watch that again and remind yourself that if you find something that's recorded that's potentially embarrassing to your central figure your protagonist or potentially embarrassing to your cause and it somehow survived down through history a historian looks at that and says that's probably true because you wouldn't make that up so to have Jesus saying right in the center of this of that day of that coming of that return no one knows I don't even know a secular historian looks at that and says that's almost certain that Jesus said that's a virtual certainty insofar as we can know anything historically for certain that happened that happened Jesus came and he knew this is Jesus raw this is Jesus uncut he has poured out his emotions woe to you woe to you woe to you fools hypocrites blind and then finally those plaintiff words with tears in his eyes I wanted to gather you and so he has left the temple precincts he knows he's on God's plan B now he goes to the top of the mountain and what we have here is one of the most dense complicated rich passages in all of Scripture and certainly in the Gospel of Matthew we're going to just take a tour here in the opening compartment of Matthew chapter 24 there is a palpable tension between Jesus and the temple and it's been building in the Gospel of Matthew in fact every gospel creates this tension in its own unique way mark has his way of creating this Gospel tension between Messiah and temple Matthew has his own way of doing it John has his own way of doing it Luke has his own way of doing it for example Luke is the only gospel writer who records the story of Jesus being lost at the age of 12 by his parents when they went to Jerusalem then his parents leaving him realizing they'd lost him and then going back to Jerusalem locating him and when his parents found him in the Gospel of Luke does anybody remember where Jesus was he was in the temple and what he's doing in the temple is he's confounding and he's cross-examining the religious leaders of the day Luke is setting intention Jesus and the Temple John sets it in intention right at the very outset of his gospel when he shows the cleansing of the temple for the first time something that not met something that neither Matthew Martin or Luke record the first cleansing of the temple only John records the first cleansing of the temple and Jesus in his own words standing there on the gates of the temple after standing there on the steps of the temple after the temple has been cleansed it says this destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up and the people were scandalized by this are you kidding what an absurd claim it took us 46 years to build this building and now you're saying and then John wants you to know he wasn't speaking about the literal temple he was speaking about the temple of his body every one of the Gospel writers has their own unique signature their own idiosyncratic way of saying look the temple was the place the location of God's action the location of God's presence the location of God's forgiveness it was but now Jesus is the place of God's location God's mercy God's forgiveness and God's action on earth and Matthew has his way of doing it mark has his way of doing it luke has his way of doing it john has his way of doing it but every gospel writer is absolutely unanimous in their basic their basic thesis that what was happening here is now happening here the temple is no longer made of marble and stone and gold and cedar the temple is now made of flesh and bone and ligaments and sinew and when Jesus went into the temple this is an amazing marvelous thing that's actually prophesied in the Old Testament that Jesus the physical bodily flesh and blood Jesus would come in to the wood stone gold marble temple that the temple is in the temple and he's fleeting hey all of those sacrifices all of that the calendar events all of the feasts all of that hey that is about something it's about someone it's not just a religion it's about a person and I'm here hello I'm here I'm here can you hear me but they wouldn't hear all of the arrows were pointing singularly and wonderfully to Jesus and so the temple has gone into the temple the temple has been rejected from the temple and so the temple leaves the temple and then says the temple will be destroyed because that is no longer the place where God's action and God's forgiveness and God's mercy that's not the place anymore this is the place I am the place I am the way the truth and the life and Jesus knows all of this he understands that they are not merely rejecting another potential political messianic figure he knows that they are rejecting what amounts to the nucleus of their own religion and ancestry and and legacy so you can imagine there is tremendous pathos and urgency and pleading in his voice destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up here's our flashlight I mentioned a flashlight we're going down into the subterranean depths of a very complicated passage a passage that we are only going to be able to skim the the surface of and we're gonna need a flashlight in our hand and for our purposes today our flashlights gonna be this really simple bipartite structure and it's simply this when Messiah is rejected the city in the temple will be destroyed that's it keep that in your mind a B when Messiah is rejected the city and temple will be destroyed a V Jesus has been saying this again and again and again in Matthew look at Matthew chapter 21 Jesus tells a parable about a vineyard hey there was a there was a landowner and he had a vineyard and he put a hedge around it and he put a winepress in it and then he sent servants to receive the vintage they were rejected he sent other servants they were killed and last of all he sent his son saying they will reverence my son but the son was beaten killed and rejected in Matthew chapter 22 he says there was a king he had a son and he held a feast for the son and so he invited those were invited to the feast but they made fun of it they made light of it and so he went out to others and invited them to come the sun's wedding invitation was rejected in Matthew chapter 23 Jesus goes in and formally denounces and also as I mentioned in our sermon invites fools and blind is not only ad annunciator m-- fools and blind is an invitation because God is in the business of forgiving folly and healing blindness can the church say Amen so here again but Jesus is rejected and then in Matthew chapter 24 Jesus final departure from the temple this is the story he's been telling in parables this is the story that the Old Testaments been telling in prophecy and now it's happening in flesh and blood it's actually happening and Jesus understands the full portent the full gravitas of the situation and so he wines his way up to Jerusalem Mountain up to the Mount of Olives not merrily not cheerily not positively not happily there was a somberness a sobriety a gravitas in his effect they the disciples they besought Jesus like man he is down he is discouraged he is some things he's wrecked something is wrong with Jesus they've not seen Jesus with this demeanor because he knows we are off of plan a we are on Plan B now and Plan B is gonna wind up terribly and here's the beauty of it all Jesus it's not primarily concerned for his own terrible torturous death that is yet just just in front of him on the horizon Jesus is chiefly concerned for the city and so as he winds its way up the mountain and takes his seat the disciples come to try and cheer him from his forlorn condition oh Jesus don't despair we'll get him next time you know that's a tough crowd look at the buildings of the temple Jesus look at how it glistens in the sunlight look at those grand edifice ha's and structure some of the stones in the Jerusalem Temple weighed as much as four tons look Jesus at the temple how beautiful it is and with absolutely no change no positivity no optimism creeps in to Jesus demeanor he looks at the disciples absolutely deadpan and he says in verse two do you not see all these things assuredly I say to you not one stone will be left here upon another that will not be thrown down you try to encourage me with the temple you try to encourage me with its beauty you try to encourage me with its stones do you see it it will be absolutely decimated it will be so raised that not two stones will be wobbly wobbling li resting upon another the disciples are like what what there is nothing in a first century Jewish mindset that can prepare a Jew who've already had their temple destroyed some six centuries earlier by Nebuchadnezzar for the destruction of the temple again there's just nothing there is no it's it's it's 911 with the fall though the the fall of the twin towers and what that did to capitalism and to Americanism and to democracy and all of that it's that on another level emotionally psychologically socially to see those towers came down that was something that I suppose we'll always be etched in every American's heart and I suppose to some degree in every person's heart that aligns themselves with America but but that can't even begin to capture the pain and the poignancy and the depth of what it would mean and what it would sound like to a Jew to talk about the destruction of the temple again we've already been down that story jeez we've already been down that road Jesus we've already seen that movie Jesus we've already heard that story Jesus look at the temple look at how beautiful it is but friends even the most beautiful edifice constructed to God's glory when God has abandoned it and left it behind his under judgment so Jesus finds himself at the top of the Mount of Olives preparing to give now right at the center of this sermon here this closing sermon is this verse that has been historically an embarrassment for Christians and the reason it's been an embarrassment is that many regard it as either totally unclear or an unfulfilled prophecy and I want to sort of navigate our way through Matthew 2:24 with this verse in mind right in the heart here of Matthew chapter 24 is this verse a verse that's been used by Jews a verse that's been used by Muslims a verse that's been used by atheists a verse that's been used by critics of the Christian faith to say unfulfilled prophecy didn't happen can't take scripture seriously can't take Jesus seriously and here's the verse assuredly I say to you Jesus speaking this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place this generation there are various interpretive hurdles and gymnastic maneuvers that theologians have used to try to get around this but it says just what it sounds like it says all of this stuff is going to happen in this generation of course one of the things that Jesus talks about one of the central things that Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 24 is his return in glory what we in seventh-day Adventist nomenclature called the second coming and of course the second coming did not happen within 40 years of Jesus incarnation so it looks suspiciously like an unfulfilled prophecy it looks like Jesus laid an egg he got that wrong and again this is a verse that has been used by various critics of the Christian faith to say that is an unfulfilled prophecy and I want to use this verse today to try and help you to understand the basic architecture of Matthew chapter 24 and the depth and the beauty and the complexity of what's going on and in that subterranean labyrinth that lies beneath the disciples ask a question in verse 3 and verse 3 is the Rosetta Stone for all of the rest of Matthew chapter 24 if you get verse 3 writes you stand a pretty good chance of getting the rest of the nearly 50 verses right if you get verse 3 wrong you have almost no hope you've dropped your flashlight and you're 20 kilometers into a cave good luck wiggling and finding and navigating your way out you likely will not be able to let's look at the question when the disciples try to cheer Jesus and he is uncheered he is unmoved and when he says to them all of this will be thrown down there would not be too wobbly stones resting against one another now as Jesus came to the Mount of Olives the disciples said to him privately of course you had to talk about these things privately you couldn't dare to talk about these things publicly the destruction of a temple the end of Judaism as we know it you couldn't talk about that publicly those that was the most profoundly emotional revolutionary language it's just there's nothing there's no Australian equivalent to it how a Jew would have felt about that there's no American equivalent either I don't think they came to Jesus privately you couldn't talk about these things and they said tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age the disciples probably think they're asking one question in a Jewish mindset a world without a temple is at this point an inconceivable concept yes the temple had been built and destroyed before but to imagine the destruction of the temple again know when Jesus talks about the ends when Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple and the minds of the disciples these are synonymous events these are the same situations right the there's going to be the end and there's going to be the return of the destruction of the temple all of this they think they're asking a single question but in fact they're asking to and Jesus knows they're asking to any answers in the most profoundly sophisticated poetic brilliant way and I want to I want to show you the structure of Jesus answer because it is phenomenal several things before we get into the structure the disciples specific question is tell us when will these things be and what would be the sign of your coming the word coming here is the Greek word paru SIA paru SIA paru SIA was a word that was reserved not reserved but it was a quasi technical term that was used when a head of state or a very important governmental figure would come to a locale to a village to a hamlet and they would have a parousia and appearing literally the Caesar is coming the governor is coming the mayor is coming this word whenever this word is used particularly in the Gospel of Matthew it means the return of Jesus in glory not as a babe in Bethlehem's manger and there's another little word here what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age the word end here is sin Tahlia this is the word that is consistently used in the Gospel of Matthew for the end not the end of the movie not the end of the school year not the end of the sermon but the end end the end of all things that will become important for us and you'll see why in just a second they think they're asking a single question the destruction of Jerusalem the end the sin telia that's got to be the same event but what Jesus does is he answers there are two questions in poetic fashion it's absolutely fascinating I want to introduce it to you the Rosetta Stone the the the Rosetta Stone there in verse three the the the thing that we're going to extract from verse 3 that will give you an insight into what's happening in Matthew chapter 24 it works really well in the English as well as in the Greek you're not a Greek scholar I'm not a Greek scholar but fortunately for us in this case the Greek and the English are very similar in the way that these words are used and it kind of boils down to these words that you have appear on the screen this and these verses that and those so if if you are speaking about this you always mean something close this table these microphones something that is proximate to you something that is close to you ok that is also sort of a general term but it's it's signifying not something that's close to you but something that's away from you those speakers that wheelchair that door there's this curtain here or if I'm over here there's this curtain and there's that curtain right there's there's this stage and there's that doors this and these that's the pleura something that's close and proximate that in those something that's further away hold on to that because this again works really well in the English as well as in the Greek I want to walk you through this and I think you're gonna love this because it's gonna be a great insight here's the short version I put it up on the screen for you here here's the map of the Crystal Caves of Matthew chapter 24 this is the map this is what this when I talk about this complex city underneath and we're only gonna just be able to scratch the surface of it this is what I'm discussing Matthew chapter 24 is is is divided up into a classic Hebrew poetic structure not a chiasm ABC BA but a simple parallelism a B a B okay now the a is the destruction of Jerusalem and that takes place in verses 4 to 20 Jesus and those verses is going to describe the events in and around the destruction of Jerusalem in verses 21 to 31 Jesus is going to be describing the events in and around the second coming Jesus will then revert back to the destruction of Jerusalem in verses 32 to 35 and then he will conclude with the events in and around the second coming in verses 36 to 44 now let me show you that from the text so you don't just have to take my word for it let's go to verse 4 well actually before we go to verse 4 verse 3 again the disciples have specifically asked the question these things when will these things take place and Jesus is gonna take that phrase these things he's gonna use it again and again and again in verses 4 to 20 let's look at it take heed that no one deceives you for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and will deceive many so I've already mentioned Messiah figures were quite common in 1st century Judaism this is not Jesus saying look there's gonna be other messiahs that will come they will try to deceive don't buy into it you will hear of wars and rumors of wars this was fulfilled in the first century see that you are not troubled for all these things these things close próxima right here these things must come to pass but the end is not yet just very briefly here bear with me the word for end back in in verse in verse three was sent Elia the end the end the end the end the end the consummation but the word that Jesus uses here for end the end is not yet is the word Telos and it never means the end end it means the end of a thing the end of the sermon the end of the book the end of the dinner so Jesus when he uses this word and and it's a little complicated in our greet and in the English because the word end is translated two very different words are translated as the same word ends but Jesus says here all of this it's not the end these things these clothes things verse 7 nation will rise against nation Kingdom against Kingdom there will be famines pestilences and earthquakes in various places all these these right here these clothes things these proximate things it's a very same word in the Greek by the way all these these things are the beginning of birth pangs they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake all of that was fulfilled in the first century in the years immediately after Jesus crucifixion and resurrection then many will be offended and will betray one another and they will hate one another false prophets will rise up and deceive many and because lawlessness will abound the love of many will grow cold but he who endures to the Telos to the end not to sin Tahlia the end end but the end he will be saved and this gospel same greek word this this gospel right here the one that i've been teaching you day in and day out of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come tell us not Santayana let me just pause right here and say something if some of you are slightly confused that's because you have heard preachers like myself go through all of those signs of the times in verses 1 to 14 and say these are all signs that Jesus is coming soon these are all endtime signs how many of you have heard that by a raising of hands you've heard preachers preach these verse and say these are endtime signs of course you have and they are endtime science because of something called typology this is a type the destruction of Jerusalem is a type of the end of the age yes that is true but the primary thing that Jesus is describing in these opening verses verses 4 to 20 is not the parousia the end it's the Telos it's the destruction of Jerusalem now let's continue to watch this verse 15 therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the Holy Place whoever elite reads let him understand then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains that's local that's local that's right there Judea hey when when the Gentile armies around this city then you need to get out of this city into these mountains it's proximate it's local it's right then and there let him who was on the housetop don't go down to take anything out of the house let him who was in the field not go back to get his clothes but woe to those who are pregnant and nursing and to those who are nursing babies in those days oh now things are changing there's there's these things and this gospel and this and now Jesus has made this fascinating little transition to those days jesus knows that the destruction of Jerusalem is not coming immediately in fact the destruction of Jerusalem will come in approximately 40 years here's a little heads-up on where we're going a generation a biblical generations forty years it will come and Jesus knows this so he knows that the destruction of Jerusalem and the fleeing and the difficulty of travelling with an infant he knows that that that's not right now but it's not way off at the centella the end end end so these are transitional verses verse 20 and pray that your flight meet maybe not in the winter nor on the Sabbath okay all of that takes place Jesus is describing the destruction of Jerusalem and we know historically that all of the things that are described there took place now somebody says wait the gospel didn't go to the world in verse 14 well it's true the gospel did not go to the world in terms of the total global enveloping of the world by the gospel but it did go to the world by representation Paul says as much when he says the Gospels been preached to every nation right representatives of every nation have heard the gospel in other words Jesus is saying here you're gonna be witnesses to me in Jerusalem Judea into all the earth my representation the gospel was no longer just a Jewish phenomenon it was going to the Gentiles it was going to the world but in verse 21 Jesus transitions and he stops talking about the Telos the destruction of Jerusalem and he starts talking about the centella the parousia the return of Jesus let's take a look at this verse 21 for then there will be a Great Tribulation transition a Great Tribulation such has not been since the beginning of the world until this time nor will ever be and unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved but for the elects the elects sake those days will be shortened not these days not these things those days this and that these and those for those of you that are students of Bible prophecy what Jesus is referring to here is the 1260 years of papal supremacy those days this is a period in fact when we're gonna get back into Matthew chapter 24 when we go through Daniel and revelation but when he says those days here in verse 19 are excuse me verse 22 he's talking about the 1260 days or prophetic days are literal years verse 23 if anyone says to you look here is the Christ or there do not believe it for false Christ's and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect so there are there are significant similarities between the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Santelli of the end end the parasya similarities but they're not identical watch this see I have told you before therefore if they say the look he's in the desert he's in the wilderness like John the Baptist was many thought he was the Messiah do not go or look he's in the inner rooms do not believe it well why not for as lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west so also will the parousia of the Son of Man be for where the carcass is there the Eagles will be gathered see the disciples asked two questions when will these things happen and what will be the sign of your parousia they think it's one thing it's two there's this and that and there's these and those and Jesus spoke about these and now he's talking about those and we know he's talking about those because he says the parousia and the parousia is not the destruction of Jerusalem it is the return of Jesus to the earth let's continue on here verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days not these days those days the 1260 perfect days are literal years of papal persecution described in Daniel described in Revelations immediately after the tribulation of those days the Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light the Stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heaven will be shaken then the sign of the Son of man will pay rusia in heaven then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds to one from one end of the earth to the other okay there's a B do you understand the basic distinction between this and that and these and those do you see that these is the destruction of Jerusalem those is the end of time the Santelli of the parousia now here's where the study pays off the study pays off in verse 32 all of that little hard work that we did there by the way again we're just skimming the surface here but that work that we put in there is now gonna pay off in verse 32 and if I've done my work right here it should basically jump off of the page now we're back at a if you see there on the screen you see your roadmap now we're back at a the destruction of Jerusalem how do you know that David what gives you the right to say that verse 32 now learn this parable from the fig tree when it's branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves you know that summer is near pause remember that just back in Matthew chapter 21 Jesus came and he found a fig tree that had no fruit and he Kirsten we had a whole sermon on this titled that fruity difference and we talked about there the the center piece of Matthew chapter 21 was there was no froot where there should have been fruit the Jewish nation should have had fruit the trees should have had fruit there should have been fruit but there wasn't fruit Jesus now transitions back to that analogy of the fig tree which by the way only happened maybe the day before not more than two days before the disciples are still wondering about the cursing of that fig tree they're still wondering how it withered so quickly and so when Jesus transitions and says let me tell you about a fig tree they're like all the fig tree oh the fig tree when you see it when it's branch has become tender and it puts forth its leaves you know that summer is near the leaves the bloom the blossom the fruit verse 33 this is going to jump out at you so you also when you see all these things these things Jesus has transitioned back from those to these when you see these things these close things these proximate things you know that it is near even at the doors what the destruction of the temple the very thing you ask about when will all of these things happen Jesus and what will be the sign of the parousia and of the sin Telia how will we know Jesus transitions back when you see all of these things know that it is near even at the doors assuredly I say to you this generation BAM the reason that this is not a failed prophecy the reason that our friends the Muslims and our friends the Jews and our friends the atheist have misunderstood this is they have understood Matthew chapter 24 to just be a general announcement about all the stuff that's gonna be happening before Jesus returns and look none of that stuff happened in the days of Jesus none of that stuff happened in the immediate 40 years but Jesus has switched back to the destruction of Jerusalem and he says I Got News for you this generation will by no means pass away until all these things take place and friends it is a tragic fulfillment and yet somehow profoundly a beautiful fulfillment of prophecy that within about 40 years of when Jesus is speaking Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus in AD 70 this is such a profound fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and I remind you that even secular scholars even secular historians say yeah this stuff here Jesus said that stuff this generation which raises a really fascinating question how did Jesus know that I mean really how did Jesus know how did Jesus know when he told the parable of the vine dressers in Matthew 21 when he told the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew chapter 22 how did Jesus know at the end of Matthew chapter 23 that your house would be desolate how did Jesus know that there wouldn't be two stones left omona how does he know this stuff is it because he's got and don't say it's because he's gone cuz that's not how he knows if Jesus gets to play the god game while he's walking around down here on earth as a man then he's not a man he's just God dressed up like a man he didn't know because he was God he knew because scripture had been saying it for centuries scripture had been saying it for centuries now this is a part of this subterranean we're not gonna go into these depths but you can come with me come here look look inside of this cave I'm gonna shine my flashlight into this giant amphitheater inside of these cave and you're gonna see something beyond which there are mysteries within mysteries within mysteries but here's just a little glimpse in Matthew chapter 9 in Matthew chapter 9 by the way we should just quickly show you this slide Matthew chapter 24 is wrapped in the envelope of the Book of Daniel you cannot make any sense of Matthew chapter 24 without the Book of Daniel let me just give you a few instances here number one Jesus uses the son of man and he comes with clouds that straight out of Daniel chapter seven the abomination of desolation we just saw in verse 15 that straight out of Daniel chapters 8 and 9 the destruction of the city and the temple that's going to come straight out of Matthew chapter 9 I'll show you that in a second rumors of war that's straight out of Daniel chapter 11 the Great Tribulation is out of Daniel chapter 12 Jesus is speaking the language of Daniel and every first century Jew would have known it they would have known it oh Jesus is talking the language of Daniel so check this out at the very center of of Daniels prophecies to me the most profoundly beautiful prophecy in all of Daniels prophecies we're gonna get into this and I cannot wait some time next year God willing Daniel chapter 9 verses 24 to 27 you have again we're just peering in just briefly to this beautiful subterranean chamber we'll talk about this later but I want you to see the complexity here Daniel prophesies some almost 600 years before the time of Jesus guess what the Messiah will come and the temple will be rebuilt that's Daniel chapter 9 verses 25 a and B first part of the verse second part of the verse then verse 26 the Messiah will be killed and then the temple will be destroyed take a look at that Messiah will be killed temple will be destroyed Messiah will end the temple sacrifices 27a and the temple will remain desolate forever friends let this settle into your minds right now let this settle into your complacent perhaps complacent I don't want to be judgmental my own I have complacency myself I freely admit that but let's let this settle into our complacent 2016 first world sunny Australian coast plenty of clothes to wear nice cars to drive buying new chairs world the Bible is right the Bible is real the Bible is profound and it's telling you something prophetically that is absolutely impossible to have manufactured the reason that Jesus could tell the story of the vine dressers the reason that Jesus could tell the story of the feast the reason that Jesus could go into Jerusalem and say your house is left to you desolate and the reason that Jesus could say there's not going to be two stones left upon one another it's not because he was God and he was guessing it's because he was going off of a prophecy that came before him six hundred years before now here we are twenty-six hundred years later and with all due respect all of us myself included we read these things at times with such a casual ambivalence we cannot wait to get on to the sports page we cannot wait to get on to the political stuff we cannot wait to turn on the television we cannot wait for the Sabbath to end we cannot wait I'm telling you friends just it's just right there in the middle of your life is this glowing unag Nora below beautiful reality that God's Word is real and it's true and it demands your attention and we throw blankets over it we throw blankets over it we throw blankets over it so that it just occupies just the right amount of our lives we bring it to church we sort of coddle it and we put it back the friends I want to tell you something there is a depth there is a profundity and there is a beauty and a truth to what's going on in the text of Scripture that demands our attention demands so let's just wrap this up out of Matthew chapter 24 verse 35 is the last part of a heaven and earth will pass away but my words will note by no means pass away he then transitions back to the end of the world verse 36 but of that day do you see it not this that that day an hour knows no one not even the angels of heaven but my father only for as the days of Noah were so also will the parasya of the Son of Man be the language is now switched back to the language of B we're not describing the destruction of Jerusalem now now we're describing the return of Jesus in glory for as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and they did not know until the flood came and took them all away so also will the parousia of the Son of Man be then to will be in the field one will be taken the other will be left two will be grinding at the mill the one will be taken and the other will be left watch therefore incidentally for all of this theological beauty for all of this theological urgency the message that Jesus is telling is watch therefore that's the two word that's that's that's that's what he's saying watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming but know this that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched would not have allowed his house to be broken into therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over all of his household to give them food in due season blessed is that servant whom is master when he comes will find so doing assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods but if that evil servant says in his heart my master is delaying his coming it begins to beat his fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunkards the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour when he is not aware of verse 51 this should jump off of the page at you and he will cut him into an appointment or ssin with the hypocrites the hypocrites the professor Lee apparently supposedly religious people that Jesus is speaking to at that very moment in Matthew chapter 23 then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth alright let's wrap this up I want to give you two statements here from Ellen White two statements from Ellen White one of the founders of the 7th Avenue Church and I want to drive a stake right in here and I want to go over here and I want to drive a stake in right here and the truth about what it means to live as a seventh-day Adventist in 2016 is between these two stakes some people go on this side they they they go too far and some of you go too far this way but I want to give you two stakes and I want to urge you to live your life between that one and that one and here they are number one the shortness of time is frequently urged as an incentive for seeking righteousness and making Christ our friend this should not be the great motive for us for its savers of selfishness can you say Amen some people they all Jesus is coming soon Jesus is coming soon look what's happening with the World Trade Center look at what's happening with Donald Trump look what's happening with the Russians look what's happening Jesus is coming soon Jesus Jesus is coming really soon he's coming so soon Jesus is coming really soon he's coming so soon you need to be ready because he's coming soon and a lot of people they orbit around the idea that Jesus coming is so soon by the way there are millions of people in their graves right now that we're just sure Jesus was coming in their life you might be one of them right okay so this is one place and Ellen White says we shouldn't do that we shouldn't say to people hey get your act together because Jesus is coming soon she says that looks like selfishness then watch what she says is it necessary that the terrors of the day of God should be held before us to compel us through fear to write action this ought not to be Jesus is attractive he is full of love and mercy and compassion can the church say Amen so the urgency is not his coming the urgency is Jesus Jesus is beautiful Jesus is awesome Jesus is compassionate Jesus is forgiving the urgency is not the coming the urgency is the man so there's one stake I want to drive in but here's another stake I want to drive him because there's some people to say Oh Daniel and revelation oh and time events we've been said I've been saying that for years okay check this out here's another stake I want to drive it over on this side let no one feel that he is secure from the danger of being surprised I guess that would be the pastor as well who just spent hours studying this this week I should not feel secure just cuz you're a seventh-day Adventist just cuz you know Daniel you know a little bit about Revelation and you've read the great Conover seed of it don't think let no one feel that he is secure from the danger of being surprised let no one's interpretation of prophecy rob you of the conviction of the knowledge of the events which show that this great event is near at hand so it's urgent and it's near but the nearness and the urgency should not override the basic attractiveness of Jesus I want to drive those two stakes in the lesson here is watched therefore that's the takeaway with all of that subterranean beauty all of that subterranean complexity and profundity the point that Jesus is driving at is pay attention pay attention pay attention but here's something I want to sort of bring to your attention I've said this Jesus himself is urgent and therefore his coming is urgent I tweeted two things just this week the principal urgency in Jesus second coming is Jesus himself because Jesus has always been urgent can somebody say Amen you don't have to manufacture some Donald Trump Illuminati conspiracy theory you don't have to manufacture anything for Jesus to be hugely urgent Jesus is urgent because he invites you come to me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest that's where the urgency resides not in some artificially concocted and you know passionate conspiracy that you might be interested in that's not where the urgency lies second tweet this week too often Jesus second coming is preached as an urgent event quite apart from the principle and inherent urgency of Jesus himself let me tell you it's something there is no way to be ready then and not be ready today the best way to be ready then is to be ready today and the way to be ready today is not by stock filing dry stock piling dried food and having your own plot of land though that might be helpful to you but the way to be ready is to come to Jesus and to put your faith in Him so the last night when I was watching that lightning storm I had no idea that at that very moment one of my dearest friends was not only sleeping but was sleeping in Jesus or very near it the message is not Jesus is coming at the end of time therefore be sure that you know Daniel and revelation inside and out that is great it's wonderful we're gonna study it in this church the message is these things and those things because readiness then is about readiness today there's this and there's that that is the second coming but this day is the day that you have today a day that a lot of people didn't get and this is the day to be honest this is the day to be a servant this is the day to spend your money in a way that brings honor to God this is the day to decide who you're living your life for whether yourself for some larger purpose this is the day that you have this as the psalmist said is the day that the Lord has made that day is coming but this day is a day that you have it's a gift and someone has said that's why they call it the present yes those things matter and that is important but all that you can be certain of is this day and these things and I want to invite you to be certain of the things that are near of your today of your now because even 40 year olds and thirty year olds and 20 year olds die and they die tragically and they die terribly and they die in the very same way that 70 and 80 and 90 year olds do and I hope that you will be that generation that sees the return of Jesus I want to be that generation I think I will be but I cannot live my religious experience savoring of selfishness anticipating that when what I have is this I leave you with the words of NT right our calling then is to hold unto Jesus himself to continue to trust him to believe that the one who was vindicated by God in the first century by the resurrection will one day be vindicated before the world in his return that day will sort itself out if this day Jesus is your Lord and Savior and those things will be alright if these things are in order Father in Heaven these in those forgive us where we have oriented ourselves to those and we have forgotten these and forgive us father what we have oriented to that and have forgotten this today father we have just begun to barely plumb the depths of this grand and beautiful passage that is Matthew chapter 24 but in all of its complexity and beauty and profundity these two words come bubbling to the surface watch therefore be awake the alert know your own heart to know its conditions know its weaknesses know its temptations watch therefore cling to Jesus today believe in Jesus today trust in Jesus today father teach us what it is to live this that we may be gifted with that and teach us father what it is to use these and to know these that we may be entrusted with those we do believe that that day is coming in the not-too-distant future when the Lightning will shine from the east even to the west and father there is an extremely high probability a certainty that people in this room will not live to see that day but we have lived to see today and this is a day that you have made may we rejoice and be glad in it may you be our Savior not only then but now let everyone say Amen hey greetings from beautiful and sunny kingscliff Australia I want to take just a moment of your time first of all to thank you for tuning in watching the program I trust it was a blessing to you and your soul drawing you closer to God in His will for your life I also want to let you know that we are planning a significant expansion of our existing media ministry here at the kingscliff Church to find out more about this expansion and how you can get involved go to bring it kingscliff com you can go either to the homepage or to the our gifts page to find out how you can come alongside us and support not just with your viewership but also financially and with your prayers hey thanks again so much for watching and take care [Music]

Channel: Kingscliff Church

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Length: 66min 48sec (4008 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 04 2016