Luke (Session 21) Chapter 21

well we're in the 21st chapter of the book of luke it's going to be the background of what most people call the olivet discourse but we're going to present a view that you may find a surprise not free of controversy but we'll give you the whole background it has to do the future of the nation israel both in the near term and in terms of the gospel but also further and the destruction of the temple and so forth so chapter 20 where we just came from that's where jesus's adversaries questioned him and turned the day he turned the tables on them by asking them questions well in chapter 21 it's the disciples turn to ask some questions and they do that we get into chapter 21 the first couple of verses and he looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury and he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites now it's actually the word is lepta it's each one's about a fifth of a cent at least by some reckoning it's a very small amount of money obviously i want you to notice though however small it was what people miss is she put both of them that's all she had it was small she could kept one and certainly acquitted herself by giving half of all she had no she gave both of them all she had in there and jesus said of the truth i say unto you that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all for all these have given of their abundance cast in the offerings of god and but she of her penury have cast in all the living that she had wow aren't we in the same category as those pharisees and so forth we give out of our abundance indeed she went far more than that and she uh obviously caught god's notice as in that regard and she gave more than all the others god sees more than the portion he sees the proportion see i don't think any of us are uh have gone to the extent of giving all that we have and men see what is given but god sees what is left and so i think that's uh we go on and on about that uh paul in the second corinthian letter in chapter eight deals with much of this but let's just keep moving here and as some spake of the temple how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts he said jesus said as for these things which ye behold the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down right here it's clear he's talking about the fall of jerusalem and the destruction of the temple that occurred some 38 years later 70 a.d when it comes down and he'd already told him that the city would be destroyed back in chapter 19 and he drew his reference from daniel chapter 9 verse 26 we talked about that then now there are parallel accounts here we're looking at luke 21 most people categorize this in accordance with matthew 24 and mark 13. in matthew 24 and 25 clearly we have a discourse that was on the mount of olives and we'll look at that here shortly because of the important background but i want you to notice we're going to see this is a little different matthew gives us the most complete account and he knew shorthand so we think he took much of it down verbatim mark highlights the same material it's really peter's gospel but he highlights what he'd learned from the four that were present at the gulf of discourse namely peter james john and peter's brother andrew those four it was an insider's briefing to those four and so matthew's account and mark's account are focused on that of course and they receive what really was a confidential briefing because they came to jesus privately at night is the whole point of the olivet discourse it's commonly assumed by many scholars and many other helps that you may encounter bible handbooks and other things that luke 21 is the same discourse but we're going to try to show you that it was very similar but distinctive in some very important aspects and we want to suggest that we should study this more carefully i'm going to suggest you and i'll show you why that what luke records is not the olivet discourse a discourse very similar in content it's going to there's a danger you see when we harmonize parallel accounts we see two or three accounts that seem very similar we sometimes try to put them together to really glean all that we can but these are two accounts that are similar but they're distinctively different they were a different occasion a different audience and a different focus i'm going to suggest you want you to test this in your own study and i suggest that we need to distinguish between the account in luke 21 and the accounts that are in mark and matthew known as the olivet discourse let's do this by looking at the olivet discourse first in matthew 24 and mark 13. essentially there's a one verse difference really and we'll just get into this we'll take a quick skim through this to refresh our memory in matthew 24 verse 1 and jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple she said and see not all these things verily i say to you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down that obviously is very similar to the luke account and as he sat up on the mount of olives the disciples came and we're going to discover that luke account is not at night or in the mount of olives it's in the temple during the day but we'll get to that at the end as he sat upon the mount of olives the disciples came to him privately saying tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world boy those are some good questions we obviously he gets our attention immediately the disciples came to him privately as a very key point here and in the mark account which is very similar as he went out of the temple his disciples said unto master what manner of stones and buildings he says same thing that one stone left of honor but then you get to verse three of that of them of the mark account he says something interesting here he gives us the names of the attendees and he sat upon the mount of olives over against the temple peter and james and john and andrew asked him privately so we know there's four those four they're listed by by peter in effect as marcus's immenuences and the same situation there's a very similar except for another verse i'll show you shortly he had his followers but there's a group within those followers that's the general public there are the 70 that we uh find out about um in the para where he gave public parables only after matthew chapter 12. the 70 were privileged inside that we have the 12. inside the 12 we have his inner circle of three guys peter james and john and these were the ones that were close did you were allowed to go into jabs his daughter were raising they were the three that were present at the transfiguration those are three that were closer in a special circle at gethsemane and of course there are three of the four that were at the uh oliver discourse so we recognize there is a inner circle aspect to what we're talking about here and getting back to the matthew account jesus answered and said to them take heed that no man deceive you it's interesting jesus in all of his accounts both the beginning at the end warns us not to be deceived that's a command not a suggestion okay he says for many shall come in my name saying i am christ and shall deceive many and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see that you not be troubled for these things must come to pass but the end is not yet i want you to notice something the things that we're going to list here are non-signs i see there's many books on prophecy written about these signs of the times jesus designates these as coming but they're not signs because the end is not yet notice the distinction he's making we're going to make more of that in a minute so all these things shall come to pass but the end is not yet here are the signs he's mentioning nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes and divers places all these are the beginning of sorrows or beginning of birth pains matthew clusters these and gives them a label we're going to use matthew's label as we go forward here of these particular things that are not signs they're preliminaries but not science okay and so these and we find these beginning of sorrows these things listed in matthew and luke and in the book of revelation false christs are listed the wars the famines pestilence earthquakes flow in that order in matthew we'll see them later in the luke account and if you read revelation chapter 6 from verses 1 through 12 you find the same pattern lined up with the horsemen and so forth so these are a cluster of things that seem to go together jesus continues when they deliver you up to be afflicted and they shall kill you and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake and then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another and many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many so this colors the flavor of what he's warning them not to be deceived about he's continuing here but notice there's a very important word in verse 9. he's just talked about the beginning of sorrows that cluster of things then shall they and all this he's now going to focus here in this account on that which will follow the beginning of sorrows we're going to discover that luke does the opposite that's why i'm making a point of this here because all that follows here happens after the beginning of sorrows the beginning of birth pains and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold and that's agape by the way the word agape is there my wife makes a point of that and so for publications but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved for in this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come and then we get to the pivotal verse in the gospel in the matthew account verse 15. it's the 14th verse in the in mark account but here's the key verse in many respects in matthew county says jesus says when he therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by daniel the prophet stand in the holy place let whoso readeth let him understand and here's where i like to pause and ask how many of you have just read that with me can i see you in front of hands i did a dirty trick because i've just obligated you to understand it so you know this is part of that parenthetical comment here who so readeth that you now let him understand you and i have a command this is a highly technical thing not easy it's not obvious but you now have a commitment to understand this so you want to pursue it to the end we won't get into it all tonight but i'm gonna expect you to be good to do what jesus said here the abomination of desolation that's a technical term we know a lot about it because it happened three centuries before jesus uses it as an idiom here abomination refers to idol worship the abomination of desolation is the ultimate extreme of that and that's an idol put in the holiest place on the planet earth namely in jerusalem in the temple in fact in the holy of holies we know that from history and so it's apparently going to happen again in the future and he in fact he does something else here he authenticates daniel for you daniel the prophet he's pointing them incidentally to daniel chapter nine which is a chapter that you want to learn he's he's highlighting that chapter is the key to understanding end time prophecy spoken of by daniel the prophet so you know who wrote daniel jesus told you right here and stay and this is this is an event that occurs in the holy of holies there's a lot of other conjectures by various people that are not correct this is precise it's highly technical but it's well specified trust me get into it when you can stand in the holy place okay and there's the command you need to understand this we won't do it all here but that's what matthew is or should i say jesus in the matthew account is focusing on now a little background antiochus iv son of antarcticus the great as he's called became the successor to his brother so lukas iv who had been murdered by his minister doris the king of syria back in the prior to the big event occurs in 164 bc he antiochus the fourth was a desperate he was very eccentric very unreliable cruel and obviously tyrannical he adopted the term epiphanies which is an abbreviation if you will in the greek theos epiphanes a designation he gave himself the god who appears or reveals himself that's very very humble title he took on for himself um the kids in the street called them epimenese which means the madman you change that just a little bit and make it make a parody of it but moving on antagos undertook the total eradication of the jewish religion and he was trying to establish the greek polytheism in place of judaism and he did that by force the observation of all jewish laws especially those relating to the sabbath and the circumcision were forbidden under pain of death you were as a parent suddenly had a problem do you obey the law ex you did it under risk of death so very very difficult times all jewish practices were set aside in all cities of judea sacrifices had to be brought to pagan deities you can imagine how that went over and the representatives the crown of the crown that is of antiochus were everywhere enforcing this by police methods once a month the search was instituted and whoever had secreted a copy of the law had it or had observed a right of circumcision was condemned to death think of that especially as a parent your dilemma that you're facing there in jerusalem on the 15th of kislev in december 168 bc which happens to be his birthday i forget whether we point that out or not he broke a league that he had made it's interesting from a prophecy point of view he made a commitment that he violated his own commitment that's going to be pattern also it's reproduced in the end in time time a pagan altar was built upon the great altar burn offering the temple he stripped the temple of all his treasures of course pillaged the city of jerusalem took ten thousand captives compelled them to forsake worship he forbid circumcision violated the crucifix crucified the violators the torah was forbidden and destroyed all this isn't josephus by the way it's well documented if you want to get into it on the 25th of kislev that's right that was his birthday sacrifice was brought on this altar for the first time they offered a swine in every village they erected an idol to zeus in the holy of holies that's the biggie that was the abomination of desolation it's called a desolating sacrilege in the book of maccabees the first book of mathematics and uh it was considered that's made of the temple to the jupiter olympus and so on that led to a revolt a very spontaneous revolt would turn into a full-scale war the when the arrival of the officers came to carry out attack as the degrees of the village of madigan there an aged priest named bethias lived with his five sons he becomes very very famous when matthias killed both the first jew who reproached who approached the pagan altar to offer sacrifice and he killed the royal officer that was presiding he and his sons fled to the hills obviously this was just not just an outburst tactic it escalates to become a cost celeb for the whole country and they actually succeed in throwing off the yoke of the greek empire bethesda's five sons became the nucleus of a growing band of rebels against attackus his five sons the hell had nicknames but judas macabees was the judas was called macabeus which means the hammer and that becomes the label for the whole gang if you will the maccabean revolt they call it because judas was really the leader here matthias died soon after leaving his leadership in the hands of judas whose surname is became the source of popular name and so forth he was a brilliant leader and what had begun as a guerrilla war turned into a full-scale military engagements in which the smaller jewish forces managed to defeat the much more powerful syrian armies judas's most notable achievements see the recapture of jerusalem except for one part of it the rededication of the temple after the defiled altar had been demolished and rebuilt that rededication is celebrated to this day in what they call hanukkah and that's mentioned in the new testament by the way in john 10 verse 22 it makes allusion to this by the way the rededication of 25th of kislev was celebrated as hanukkah and taka's death also took place in 164 and praise god for that and judas continued successfully to press what is now was now a war for independence they achieved that and ushers in a period of history called the hasmonean period and we could talk much about that but uh so much for that for here so we have this interesting verse in matthew 24 15 that indicates this abomination is going to happen again so all this is history but it's indicative of what jesus is pointing he uses it as an idiom for what's coming and so we obviously want to understand what happened to understand what's coming okay then jesus gives them instructions then there's another then let them which be in judea flee into the mountains not the ones that are in la or new york or hollywood no no then which be in judea flee in the mountains let him which is on the house stop not come down and take anything out of his house if you visited there you realize most houses are on a hillside and the top of the house is usually the garden where they have dinner and stuff it's the it's the neat places to be on the roof let's him who's on the housetop not come down and take anything out of his house neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes you know he says you split and you split now you don't even grab your coat you get out of there and one of them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days and pray that your flight be not in winter either on the sabbath day key point sabbath day the matthew account is aimed at jews a gentile doesn't worry about fleeing on the sabbath day as you would so that's going to be more important as we go for then again there's that then shall be great tribulation jesus is quoting from daniel 12 i'll show you in a minute such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no ever shall be and except those they should be shortened there should no flesh be saved ah but for the alexay those days shall be shortened and that's incidentally a comment on technology if those days weren't short no flesh would be saved you can't accomplish that with muskets and bayonets that's a technology term which is very very a cloud on our immediate horizon to this very day the great tribulation where do you get that term well he was quoting from daniel 12 1 which reads as follows at that time shall michael stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people and there shall be a time of trouble such was never since the nation there was a nation even at that time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the book so that's the promise in daniel there is a time it's going to be an unprecedented time of trouble now since we have the holocaust behind us now it's hard to imagine a time that's going to even be worse than germany during the thirties time of trouble sisters never since there was a nation even at that time wow allah jeremiah calls it he says the last for the day is great there's none like it it is even the time of jacob's trouble and he shall but he shall be saved out of it so it's a that's why the time of jacob's troubles is jeremiah's term for the same thing we're talking about here but then jesus goes on if any man shall say unto you low here is christ who there believe it not for there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders and so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very lack behold i've told you before we're going to see a lot of similarities with the luke account so let's not let that throw us i'll come to get to that when we get in a moment jesus continues wherefore if they say unto you behold he's in the desert go to the forth behold he is in the secret chambers believe it not for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even to the west so shall also the coming of the son of man be don't confuse this with the rapture that's a whole other study but let's go on here then you have this strange phrase for wheresoever the carcass is there will the eagles be gathered together a very enigmatic illusion that many scholars have slightly different views over and i won't try to get into that here but let's leave it where it is right now and then matthew then jesus continues in the matthew account immediately after the tribulation tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened the moon shall not give her light 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 question has this happened yet not so you'd notice so whatever this is it is still yet future fair enough let's go ahead here that's immediately after the tribulation of those days not just tribulation of the tribulation of those days so we have the typical diagrams that we use in some of our presentations we have the 69 weeks we have the interval between the 6th 9th and 70th the 7th week is defined by a covenant enforced by a world leader that covenant is enforced for actually six years 11 months but anyway in the middle of that week of years the abomination of desolation sets up it's your milestone that jesus made so much of in the in this passage he himself jesus labels the time after that the last three and a half years of the seven year period the great tribulation and that's interrupted by the second coming of christ the establishment of what we call the millennium and his kingdom on the earth wow okay there are different views among different church folk there are some that believe the rapture occurs simultaneously or just before a second coming so that's what they call a post-rapture view there are others that believe that it happens before the 70th week of daniel we we are in that group pretty much there are some that say they put it in the middle of the week they call them mid tribulation which is sort of misnomer because the tribulation is real what they really mean is they see the the rapture occurring prior to or approximate at the middle of the week the trouble with these last with the mid-trib and the post-trib thing is they deny a doctrine of eminence the idea that jesus can back can come back at any moment donald great barnhouse used to kid his students by coming to the office and saying sad day sad day jesus can't come back today meaning that if they held mid-trib or post-trib views i mean if they held those views jesus can't come back because there's specific things that have to happen first and that's contrary to the new testament tells us we should expect them at any moment now let's talk about the rapture not the second coming but okay so we're pre-trib here whether you are not up to you you make your own study but we'll tell you why we have this view anytime you want to get into it but clearly we're in this interval during this interval that jesus is crucified the temple is destroyed and we know it lasts at least 38 years we'll see that express in the luke account but obviously it's been longer than that's been almost 2000 years okay so remember that the pre-trib view has the rapture occurring some interval prior to the beginning of the seventh week it might be an hour might be 30 years we don't know because there's some preconditions after the rapture but before the 70th week can start but we'll move on here continuing the matthew account and he shall send his angels with a great sound of the trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds and from the one end of heaven to the other now learn the parable of the fig tree when his branch is yet tender and put forth leaves he know that summer is nigh many people try to make the fig tree israel and there's some sense in the there are occasions when that is appropriate but some people may be making too much of that we'll come to that back in that in a minute but when the fig tree puts forth leaves you know that summer is nice so likewise when you see all these things know that it is near even at the doors for verily i'm say unto you this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled and we'll get back at that generation thing later heaven is shall pass away but my word shall not pass away but if that day and our knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven but my father only very important verse many people set dates they think this or that is that one now the second coming we know and that's going to be because we know the preceding conditions that lead up to it but of that day in our hours north no man no not the angels of heaven but my father only this is one place where the mark account throws in a little a boomerang in here because in the mark count peter's account it's recorded slightly differently it says heaven shall pass away but my word shall not pass away but of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven neither the son but the father only now this verse catches our theologian's attention because apparently at least at that moment there was something the father knew the son didn't and that punctures some of the some of the glib cliches that we sometimes banded about i don't think it's too material except just to improve our understanding but the main point is we think that if you look at the first sentence of the book of revelation you realize that's the father's disclosure to jesus that he then insignified it to his servant john and so forth so there is at least a time when he he comes into his full knowledge some people feel that happened at his baptism but this happened this remark was after his baptism and yet it's prior to the revelation the unveiling of jesus christ which god gave unto him unto whom jesus christ first sentence very important in the book of revelation let's move on neither the son interesting phrase but anyway jesus continues in matthew 24 at verse 37 but as the days of noah were so shall also the coming of the son of man be for as in the days that there were before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day that noah entered the into the ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the son of man be so there's obviously some similarities between the days of noah and the days when jesus comes back how far you apply this as a point of scholastic debate it could simply mean that business as usual until he returns fair enough many scholars think there's more here than meets the eye they feel you can't really understand this unless you understand genesis 6 and the conditions that led up to the flood of noah because the as the days of noah were what were the days of noah like and they were very very strange and there's some strangeness there you may want to get into we won't take the time here to get into it let's just be aware of it though but he goes he continues then she'll be two in the field one she'll be taken the other left two women shall be grinding at the mill one shall be taken that's that happened early in the morning see one fields the middle of day two two women grinding at the mill one shall be taken to the left that's a breakfast thing a pre-breakfast thing watch therefore for you know not what our lord does to come and but know this that if the good man of the house had known in what and what watch this thief would come he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up don't be thrown by this verse because of the term good man we misunderstand that that's simply the a term for the owner if you will or the good man is it means the master or the head of the house and what he's really talking about here who is the head who is the god of this world satan so strangely enough that's the point that's why i personally hold the view the reason that the rapture of the church is indeterminate from our point of view is the whole idea is to catch satan by surprise because when the rapture happens he knows that he has a small window of opportunity and so uh that may not that this is misleading if you take the good man as being a good man knows the term means the master of the house really they would not have suffered his house to be broken up therefore be ye also ready for such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh who then is a faithful wise servant whom his lord has made ruled over his household to give them meat and due season blessed is that servant whom is lord when he cometh shall find so doing verily i say to you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods so this is one of those verses that instructs us to occupy till he comes yes we study prophecy yes we look we with excitement expectation but meanwhile we keep busy doing his work and that's the call obviously but if that evil servant shall say in his heart my lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken the lord of that servant shall come in the day when he that looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth by the way this is one of the uses of that phrase it doesn't necessarily mean going to hell it's a it's a hebrew hebrew term of extreme disappointment and it isn't just used here it's pretty pretty serious stuff but it's used wherever there's major disappointment i want to indulge in a concept here called not from optics called resolving power if you get a cheap telescope and go out at night and look at a star you see a bright spot big deal you go back to the store and spend a lot of money and get a really good telescope and look at that same star you discover something amazing you discover that what single star is actually a double star there are properties of really good optics that are called resolving power they can discern distinction between two things that are very close together there are many stars that are dual stars and this is one way you want a good telescope will discern that the concept of resolving power in optics is a concept you can apply to language often there are words or expressions that are almost synonymous be careful with that word almost because we have two accounts here the olivet discourse package and the luke 21 package and i'm going to suggest to you that they are not identical they share some phrases that are identical especially what we're going to just lump and call the beginning of sorrows but the luke account talks about things before though it mentions those but before that it talks about some things matthew uses that term and then talks about so luke is focusing before the beginning of sorrows matthew what follows and it turns out there are two destructions of jerusalem this destruction number one is the one that occurred in 70 a.d destruction number two is the one that's going to be the subject of the battle of armageddon if you will so we're going to look now at this point we will look at now we're prepared to take a look at luke 21 having refreshed ourselves a bit on matthew 24. luke 21 starting about picking up blood verse first five and as some speak of the temple how it was born with goodly stones and gifts he said as for these things which ye behold the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down they ask them saying master but when shall these things be and what shall what sign shall there be when these things shall come to pass fair question very similar not exactly but very similar to matthew thing okay see even god's people will be in danger of being deceived that's the point for centuries satan has led people astray and blinding their hearts perhaps his greatest coup is to convince people he doesn't exist if you don't think satan's exists try opposing sometimes and obviously that's a subject of studies you can take on your own and out of all of this there have been date setters all through history that have their reasons for setting dates even though jesus says don't for such an hour as you think not the son of man cometh nobody knows the time of his return we know there's some precedent events that preach that precede his setting up his kingdom so that's easier but the rapture could happen at any moment it could happen before we finish this discussion he says be not deceived but i'm going to seek balance and obedience in second peter three hammers away on that if you want to get into that continuing verse eight 8 jesus said take heed that shall be not deceived for many shall come in my name saying i am christ and the time dropped near go ye not therefore after them notice that's a command not a suggestion be not deceived and when ye shall hear of wars and commotions be not terrified for these things must first come to pass but the end is not by and by does it sound similar notice that these are not signs there are cluster events that are going to occur but they're not signs then he said in the nation shall rise against nation kingdom against kingdom and their great earthquake shall be in diverse places and famines and pestilences and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven now again this is the same list that we saw before the false christ the wars the famines the peasants earthquakes that are listed in matthew listed here in luke and and there can be some more coming and a book of revelation for 12 verses and it continues but before all these they shall lay their hands on you before all these notice this very important phrase luke lists the beginning of sorrows idioms but then what he talks about happens before those signs okay we've already seen some of those signs but he's talking about something that for us is history before all these they shall lay their hands on you persecute you delivering you up to the synagogues and the prisons being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake and it shall turn to you for a testimony settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer for i will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain say or resist and ye shall be betrayed both by parents and by brethren kinsfolk and friends and some of you shall they cause to be put to death and you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake but there shall not a hair of your head perish in your patience possess you your souls and when ye shall see jerusalem compassed with armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh then let them which be are in judea flee into the mountains and let them which are in the midst of it depart out and let not them that are in the countries enter there into for the these be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled this obviously is very parallel it would seem to the matthew account except we're going to quickly discover that this refers to events that are right on their horizon okay in fact he's telling them that they this will happen within their lifetime not hundreds of years later now you need a little history here vespasian was commanded by nero to attack jerusalem he and his son titus were to they had succeeded in dealing with the the uh cities north of judea in in in the region we call israel the spatial and the sun titus attacked the cities in the galilee and so forth but then a strange thing happens that people overlook nero dies it was under nero's orders they were doing that but nero's died when he dies his orders expire so to speak there was a struggle for power in rome a couple of guys tried to take over and didn't pull off galba and ortho and vitellius they vie for the throne they murder each other and whatever the spacian figures it's his opportunity to play his trump card so he leaves and goes to rome and takes over the empire he becomes the he becomes the caesar if you will and when he does that then he tells his son titus to go ahead and finish the job okay to complete the siege this is all in josephus in volume six of the wars of the jews and so forth now once you get the picture their soldiers were encamped around there they weren't set up with the siege yet until for about six months while all this is going on in rome when it gets resolved titus is to go forward and he sets up the siege jesus had warned his believers when you see the army out there get out of town and don't let your friends come back right okay we know from eusebius one of the church fathers his records in book three that the christians escaped to the mountains and pella which is in korea and paris was under a syrian administration under a different situation and i've always wondered eusebius said that not one christian died during the there's over a million people that were killed during the siege titus the siege of jerusalem when jerusalem fell in 78. i kept running in and said well no christians died how do you know well because eusebius records that the christians because of what jesus told them to do got out of town before and they didn't they survived it so but then jesus continues woe to them that are with child into them that gives suck in those days for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations and jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled indeed they were that's what that was the diaspora and to this day really times of the gentiles don't confuse that phrase used here with the phrase fullness of the gentiles that paul uses of the church in romans 11 25 times the gentiles actually begin with gentile dominion all the way to the antichrist the fullness of the gentiles is the term of the church it ends with the rapture moving on here and there shall be signs of the sun and then the moon and the stars and upon the earth distressive nations with perplexity and the sea and the waves roaring men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken and they then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory that's not the heart also that's the coming in power when you get to verse 26 we always used to hold our breath when walter martin was whenever he ran into this verse he would always gesture he says men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth and he'd always gesture like a flying saucer he was convinced that this was ufos he was really on that kick we tried to keep him away from that so he wouldn't discredit this ministry for a lot of reasons but anyway in fact chuck smith kitted mark eastman and i when we did our book for alien encounters he says you always tell people not to get into this because it will discredit their ministry and we explained it to chuck the same way explaining to walter they have ministries we don't want to discredit mark eastman we have nothing to lose so to speak and we were all just kidding about it but still anyway moving on here and then shall see they shall see this sign the son of man coming in power and great glory and he spake unto them a parable and again the fig tree comes up here but notice luke's account he speak unto them a parable behold the fig tree and all the trees it's because of this account by luke i think the point that's of this parable is simply that it's spring not a specific uh uh development of the fig tree as israel or something speaking of them parable behold a fig tree and all the trees when they now shoot forth ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand so likewise you when you see these things come to pass know that the kingdom of god is not at hand the peril to me is straightforward and simple i don't think it needs to be you know pushed further than that and all the trees he says verily i say to you this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled in this case here he's talking to people in the temple and he's telling them when you see the armies get out of town because he says that they do there is a prophecy that most people miss where jesus predicts this and it happens 38 years from the time he said this jerusalem falls the same generation period 38 years that is in deuteronomy 2 as the period of the wanderings and numbers 40 years in round terms 38 years precisely but jesus says heaven earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away take heed to yourselves less than any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and with drunkenness or cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares otherwise it can come at any moment so he's talking about the rapture there of course for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth watch out for that one the book of revelation has two groups of people the believers and those that do and the earth dwellers those that dwell on the earth the term is used there for those that are dwelling on the earth and contrasted being obedient to god so as a snare shall come upon all of them that dwell on the face of the earth don't be an earth dweller we're just pilgrims passing through jesus continue to watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the son of man boy as a general instruction this tells me a lot this tells me the church is not scheduled to go through the tribulation because apparently you can watch and pray that you will be kind of worthy to what to escape these things to be caught up before the big stuff all right so let's move on here beginning of sorrows we've been through these now those after this all both matthew and luke also talk about cosmic upheaval that's not part of the beginning of sorrows it's at the end of their discard don't make the mistake of lumping that in there i'll show you why because in luke account situation it says the great earthquake shall be in diverse places famines pestilence fearful sights but be but before all these see there's that phrase again this is the i want to highlight the fact that verse 12 of luke 21 tells you that what luke is focusing on that which occurs before all this okay so there's a different error luke says before all these things all these beginning of sorrows matthew says then after those so there's a fundamental dichotomy here between the luke and matthew account and so the false christ wars famine so without the beginning of sorrows okay so again there's this resolving power we have luke 21 24 beginning of sorrows is the common part here before these after these desolation of first desolation of jerusalem back in 70 a.d the desolation that's yet coming the when the this generation will not pass away is talking to the generation that is dealing with the first fall he's going to use that same phrase in matthew but i'm going to suggest he's referring to those that are in the end times and there's an issue there we'll come to here's a diagram that i hope really unlocks the whole program for you let's assume there's matthew 24 and there's luke and we're going from smallest versus to larger the right both of these accounts deal with wars famines earthquake the beginning of sorrows both of these accounts make reference to these wild cosmic upheavals at the end okay no problem matthew when he talks about the beginning of sorrows then and i was after that we have the abomination of desolation right and we have the great tribulation the time of jacob's trouble and so forth and so on no problem there luke though when he gets to the wars family he says before these things and he talks about the fall of jerusalem in 70 a.d i'm going to call that desolation number one matthew doesn't even touch on it matthew doesn't even touch on it he talks about desolation what i'm calling desolation number two that final desolation of jerusalem with a great tribulation and all of that now when when um jesus says to to luke 21 he says this generation will pass that's the generation right then matthew use he uses that phrase referring to those that are seeing those signs of the abomination of desolation following something very interesting in the luke account oh one other thing we have the seven letters to seven churches where do they fit in well they obviously fit in prior to revelation chapter six therefore prior to the wars famines and so forth okay so we're together there i think i hope right now if you look the seven letter seven churches they have a number of applications not the least of which though is a historical history of the church from the apostolic church the persecuted church the church that's married to the world the medieval church the denominational church the missionary church and the apostate church which both are characteristics of all churches throughout history but they also dominate certain periods of church history now we know that the first group the promises of the overcomer are post-scripted strangely enough the last four the promises of the overcomer are in the body of the letter so that for some reason there's a structural difference between these two and we discover upon inspection that this last four have an explicit reference to the second coming of christ buried in a letter explicit reference to second coming now we know that one of them thyatiro is promised that if they don't turn around they're going to go in the great tribulation wow that's pretty hairy there's one that's promised it won't even see the time of the great tribulation so we see that distinction very early a couple of others a little problematical we can guess about that so that's one profile here but the point is that's the seven letter seven churches there's something interesting that luke's account doesn't even mention he mentions nothing about the abomination of desolation this final thing he's left it to our own confusion to mix those up no no he's kept it very clean if you will and just because he climaxes with the same cosmic of evil that matthew does shouldn't confuse us there's a clear focus of luke on the fall of jerusalem 70d and his followers took advantage of that and survived it and the matthew account is a private briefing for the end times responding to those four to three yeah there's four disciples so again matthew luke 21 before all these they shall leave their hands and so forth and shall turn to you for testimony the english word martyr comes from the greek word mortis which means to be a witness the word martyr today means to be a dead witness but okay fine and peter talks about all that set it there for your hearts not to meditate be what before what you shall answer for i will give you a mouth and wisdom which your all your adversaries shall not be able to gain say or resist see in other words god will provide the holy spirit and extremists at the time when you need it and you should be betrayed both by parents and brethren kinsfolk friends and some of you shall they cause to be put to death pretty hard matthew 10 not 24 matthew 10 says it pretty straightforward jesus think not that i come to send peace on earth i cannot send peace but a sword who yes and you shall be a hated of all men for my name's sake but there shall not a hair of your head perish and your patience possess your souls that's quite a phrase not a hair on you can perish apart from his sovereign will is the whole point of that in your patience possess you your souls matthew picks up this in chapter chapter 24 verse 9. but in your patience possession your souls believers show that they are members of the believing community in opposition to those who turn away from the faith during times of persecution that's what separates the men from the boys as we might say and the ones who are saved are those who are preserved by god's sovereign power and when ye shall see jerusalem compassed with armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh and that is exactly what luke's listeners responded to his account refers to the destruction of jerusalem and the temple by titus and the roman army in 780 38 years after jesus prediction which is exactly the length of the generation the famous generation in deuteronomy and in numbers but then let them which be in judea flee to the mountains let them which are in the midst of it depart out and let not them that are in the countries and or they're into for these maybe these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled it's understandable by people casually reading this co-mingle this presentation with one of matthew because many of the phrases are very parallel obviously and more to them that are with child and them that give sucked in those days for there shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people and they shall fall by the edge of the sword shall be literally captured in all nations and jews will be trodden down of the gentiles until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled which is when the antichrist pride takes over or really it's when when christ does his and does him and there should be signs of the sun and the moon and the stars these are the cosmic things at the end obviously and above the earth distress of nations and perplexity and the sea and waves roaring see the population of earth dwellers in the book of revelation is a term you want to be sensitive to because all through the book of revelation the earth dwellers do not repent or turn to god it's astonishing at one thing after another there's no repentance it just hardens them in their in their way in their rebellion if you will and especially in revelation 9 and in revelation 16 it comes to a climax men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth and i won't give you the martin gesture with that one okay for the powers of heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the sort of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory and this was very much quoted in his trial in mark 14 and it's an illusion of course from daniel 7 where even in daniel 7 the same illusion is make by the son of man coming in cloud with heaven and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for redemption draweth nigh and what an interesting time for us to it is for us to read this because not a day passes when the papers aren't full of these signs they're not signs in the sense they're the non-signs they're the things that the end is not yet but the increase in the earthquakes and the tsunamis and these problems are escalating so it's an indication that we're moving into towards a climax don't set dates no no no but look up for your redemption is sooner than when you first believed there are those that we that ridicule all these anticipations and peter answered those taunts in ii peter 3. in fact he links our awareness of the second coming with believer in the creation many people don't realize that the creation and prophecy are really the same thing in the sense of god's intervening in the history of man every day that the lord tarries every day that goes by with the lord hasn't come back for the church is a day of opportunity because once the lord comes back for his church we're going to be scheduled for our confrontation with him at the bema seat every day that goes by gives us another day to improve our report card before that seat our presence before that seat is a function of his completed work on the cross if you're saved you'll be before him but you will be giving an accounting for the fruit bearing of your ministry you're speaking to them in a parable behold the fig tree all the trees we've been through that when you when they now shoot forth see know yourselves as summer is now an eye at hand so likewise you when you see these things come to pass know you the kingdom of god is nigh at hand and again we this is uh similar to what we saw in luke 12 and matthew 16 has a similar thing where he quotes red sky in the morning sailor take warning red sky night sanders light these are calls that say that hold us accountable to be sensitive to the seasons we're in and jesus here though verily i say this generation shall not pass away till i'll be fulfilled when luke said when he says it in the luke passage he's talking to those that are to escape the forthcoming desolation of jerusalem when that phrase is used by jesus privately matthew the context there is the end times that final big deal so there are three possibilities of this phrase that people point to that jesus are simply referring to apostles that they will you know that this generation will drop this way till until all things are fulfilled well none of these signs mentioned took place before during the subsequent period so that view isn't correct the greek word translated generation can mean race it could refer to israel in general as a race jesus used it that way in mark 8 and 9 and satan continues to attempt to destroy the nation but will not succeed as we see in revelation 12 and following so some people just make it apply this approach to the use of that phrase which i think is weak it's really a tautology it's saying the obvious in a sense the biblical generation can be arguably 40 years or say 38 precisely but timing it is a whole other thing i've expressed the views that we have here what's the trigger here some say well the formation of the state of israel may 14 to 48 uh that's one suggestion except that there's been more than a generation since then the regaining of jerusalem june 6 well the problem is they haven't regained jerusalem is still a point of contention so be careful with that one neither of these by the way of textual support there is another suggestion that i think is very provocative i think norm geisler was the one that first pointed out the triggering event may be the harpazo itself and that does seem to fit all the pieces but moving on i have an initial pass away but my word shall not pass away take heed to yourselves unless any time your hearts be overcharged with surfing drunkenness cares this life and so that day come upon you unawares well see the christian won't be surprised paul makes this very clear in the fifth chapter of first thessalonians that the believer we're children of light not greater children of the day and out of the night that that day should overtake us it takes it comes as a thief of the night to those that are in darkness not those who are the light but as a snare shall come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth watch you therefore and pray always that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the son of man boy that needs to be our prayer indeed that needs to be our prayer indeed we're not looking for signs we're listening for sounds we're listening for the sound of the trumpet and it's not this judgment trumpets of the book of revelation it's not the shofar of israel it's the trump of god it only shows up two places in the bible exodus 19 when the law is given and first thessalonians 4 at the rapture and it's the shout of the archangel what will you hear your name i believe you'll hear your name just as lazarus did and uh anyway we'll move on here even so come lord jesus and there's a final couple of verses to show you that i'm not often never never land here as we see the chapter close there's a detail mentioned that i'm surprised isn't put earlier i was always tempted to make the opening phrase to the study of luke 21 and in the daytime not the night time in the mount of olives and in the daytime he was teaching in the temple and at night he went out in a boat in the mountain which is called mount of olives and all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him so i think there's a distinct i think this very similar passage you know it's interesting those that travel with me we go to different audiences they'll hear me give a talk i may use the same verses and the same anecdotes sometimes the same jokes whatever and yet the point i may may be very different from one audience to another because it's a different audience different emphasis different situation and yet there's similarities in my presentations that that those that travel with me sometimes recognize right away gee he's going that way but he's gonna he's taking a slightly different turn i think jesus the same way the talk he gave during the day to those that were going to be faced with the the overhang of the first desolation he presented that to to them with that emphasis at night with the disciples his focus was the end times what i'll call the second desolation of jerusalem so we need to understand they're similar but it's our it's through diligence and careful study that we can see the distinctives and i encourage you to do that and matthew spoke to the jews of the last days a private briefing in the mount of olives clearly so designated luke spoke to the local believers at that time in the temple not in the mount of olives and so it says for what it's worth so in conclusion some other issues we've gotten a little bit in eschatology i try to not get into too much of that because there's each one of these passages loaded with insights the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place there's a whole study you need to do to really understand what that's all about because it's so pivotal jesus punched it as being pivotal the whole career of antiochus epiphany is what all that's about something else about collegiate patronus you know it's interesting that uh under caligula issued an edict to have his image put in the holy of holies petronius who was the general in charge at that time this would have been anyway in the first century after uh before or before buck walked by right in that region anyway petronius knew that if he followed those orders there would be a mess of another repeat of the maccabeas the the uh rebellion so he didn't carry out the orders when caligula found out he didn't he ordered him killed but caligula dies and the message of his death got to the to israel before the order of pretoria's death so it was null and void fortunately but it's interesting to see attempts to create an abomination of desolation were thwarted by god's own hand and uh the hiatus of the siege in 70 a.d the fact that titus troops were they were held back while vespasian does deals with the politics in rome that gave the christians an opportunity to respond to what jesus told him to do and get out of town and under his spirit and so forth and so there's other implications here the deity of christ hovers all over this because there's it's clear that he has a grasp of all the details in fact he's following a script that was agreed to with the father long before the foundation of the world in the coming chapters we're going to see that unfold not only in gethsemane at the last supper in gethsemane and on the cross all the way through every detail is following a script that jesus is in control of judas had not planned to betray him that night he was specific time that would pick a time that wouldn't um cause an insurrection and an upset to the romans he had to do it the worst possible time from his point of view right in the middle of passover so the point is the deity of christ you're going to see that really crisply emerge in the final chapters as we go through the climax of this gospel and so let's stand for closing word of prayer

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Published: Thu Oct 15 2020