The End of the World and The Truth

hey everybody I'm pastor Jeff Durbin with apologia Church I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on apologia Studios channel well you're about to watch is a sermon a message from apologia church's worship service and again I want to thank you all so much for watching for liking for commenting for sharing the sermon itself we truly believe that it's important for the Christian Church to have an engagement in the public square with the Word of God so we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this and that is that I'm not your pastor though I'd love to be I am NOT your pastor and it's very important as you're watching this you know that it's God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local Christian Church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders and so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons and we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you to encourage you I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers particularly I think important a reformed church would be it would be best but we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship where you can worship where you can serve where you can be connected that is vitally important and actually a biblical command and so as much as again as we love for your participation your partnership and we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church you can though actually partner with apologia church as we proclaim the gospel and provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world you can do that by going to apologia studios.com you can partner with us by becoming all access when you do you help to make all of this possible and you get all of our TV shows our after shows and apologia academy all of that and you're a part of all that God is doing with us in the world to proclaim Herald the gospel of the kingdom you can partner with us and I want to say one last word about that do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards apology a chirp Church interferes with your giving your worship your tithes your offerings to a local body of believers in your area so thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them god bless you alright open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 23 we are in the kingdom of God series it's an exposition of the Gospel according to Matthew we are in chapter 23 such a vitally important section of Scripture and I hope today I can illustrate that for us all chapter 23 chapter 24 really you have to do these together you have to understand background context redemptive narrative the promises of God what he said was going to take place in the life and kingdom of the Messiah Matthew chapter 23 is not random potshot text thrown down there is a redemptive story here divinely inspired redemptive story Gospel according to Matthew chapter 23 we're gonna be in this section of Scripture for a bit and I truly believe that you will enjoy it you will find great joy in it and my hope and what I've been asking the Lord for as he prepares me to present this to you his people I've been asking the Lord that he would equip you that he would create within you all godly fear before God that you would see Christ vindicated here as the true Messiah that you would be prepared against the onslaught of attacks against the Christian faith current that of course has been since the beginning but there are so many things even connected to this particular passage that come against us today I'm going to talk about that today but my hope is is that you would find in Jesus your hope your salvation you will find in him that he truly is the Masaya without any question whatsoever you will find in him what many early Christians in history found in him through even this passage as they used it to defend the fact that he truly is the Messiah so Matthew chapter 23 I'm actually gonna start today where we left off last time 23:23 verse 23 I'm gonna read to the end of this chapter now I want to encourage you as we're doing this sort of in pieces because we have to because of the the the size of this section of Scripture would encourage you as you're reading through this at home as you're studying it as you're meditating on it what I encourage you to actually do something now just make a note of this I'd like to encourage you to actually read Matthew 23 and 24 alongside mark 13 and Luke 21 those are the parallel passages of the Olivet discourse the Great Tribulation so again mark 13 Luke 21 and then the section that we're in here and read it together read it in context make note of things language being used by Jesus ask the question is it used elsewhere elsewhere in the Gospels elsewhere in the New Testament elsewhere in the Old Testament take a lot of notes will be making resources available to all of you as we go through this section of Scripture my hope is again that you would gain understanding from this passage that it would not be cryptic but that you would have a biblical understanding and foundation for what you read here and again that it would cause you to be in awe of Jesus Matthew 23:23 here now the word of the Living God woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of justice and mercy and faithfulness these you oughta have done without neglecting the others you blind guides straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence you blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup in the plate that to the outside also may be clean woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness so you also outwardly appear righteous to others but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous saying if we had moved in the days of our fathers we would not have taken part with them and shedding the blood of the prophets thus your witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets fill up then the measure of your father's you serpents you brood of vipers how are you to escape being sentenced to hell therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes some of whom you will kill and crucify and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth from the blood of righteous abel to the blood of zechariah the son of berechiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and they altar truly I say to you all these things will come upon this generation o Jerusalem Jerusalem the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen her brood under her wings and you were not willing see your house is left to you desolate for I tell you you will not see me again until you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord thus far as the reading of God's holy word let's pray together as his people Lord we come before you humble Lord and grateful God that you gave to us your inspired Holy Word we hold in our hands what is say on estas what is breathed out by you God we give you praise that you preserved your word for us throughout history Lord you've been carrying all things along and together Lord you carry everything along to its intended destination in this very moment as we hold on to your word here before you this is from your hand and I pray God that you would teach us today by your spirit through your word guard me from error speak Lord through your word to your people prepare us Lord to be witnesses for you in this world and help us to understand your word hear Lord as you gave it to us help us Lord to walk in truth guard us from error stop us Lord from putting our own concepts and beliefs into your word I pray that you'd protect us Lord from the kind of evil that we've even seen in the last couple of hundred years even in a land that we are in people that have used even this section of scripture to abuse other image-bearers of God to lie to them in your name and we pray Lord that you would prepare us with a solid foundation to demonstrate to the world that Lord Jesus you are the Messiah you've kept your promises in Jesus name we pray amen Matthew chapter 23 is a big section of Scripture of course this is a moment that's many modern evangelicals aren't comfortable with and 23 Jesus calling people whitewashed tunes brood of vipers snakes Jesus saying to people woe to you bring it calling down the curse of God upon people seven woes perfect completion that's a big deal by the way in Scripture the number seven is symbolic where's the first appear first chapter of the Bible right we have God creating and he lays down a pattern creation itself becomes a symbol in some ways that number now is laid down in Scripture as a number of completion God's completion six days of creation seventh day God rested and you have now a symbol a number and now you have this complete number seven and we have these woes of the Lord Jesus upon his generation the covenant breakers of his generation woe to you woe to you woe to you Jesus calling down the curse of God upon them this isn't the meek and mild Jesus that we like to propagate today in Western evangelicalism right Jesus is the hippie surfer right it just wants to love you bro and just want you to give him a chance a 90 day trial let him into your heart or something right this is Jesus coming now in many ways with a covenant lawsuit against the people of God condemning them for their hypocrisy for their pretending for their false religion their swearing falsely they're pretending before people to be righteous and clean but inside they are full of dead people's bones Jesus just think about what he's doing here he's actually talking to people who claim to know God who will have his word who say they're the Covenant people of God and he's saying on the outside you're this beautiful whitewashed tomb right not very offensive clean on the outside but inside you are filled with stench of death you stink you are style you are and rancid on the inside that's you you are a brood of vipers you are snakes liars hypocrites God curse you that's what Jesus is saying Jesus is God in the flesh he's the one who is coming to bring the covenant lawsuits against the people of God these people profess to know God and Jesus comes to tell them the truth this section of Scripture we have been in from really Matthew chapter 20 on to where we're at right now Jesus comes into Jerusalem he's already told his people he's coming to Jerusalem they're gonna kill him he's gonna rise again he comes into Jerusalem and of course you have the people of God saying Oh Hosanna Hosanna and they're laying down leaves he's coming to get fruit from the people of God they present leaves you have all this amazing imagery symbolism right there embedded into the text that if you know the Word of God you see what Matthew is saying to Jews in his day he's speaking directly to their covenant unfaithfulness Jesus coming for the second cleansing of the temple as was promised in the Old Testament coming now to see if they're faithful to find fruit to look for sin and he finds corruption now of course that testifies their temple is going to be taken down Jesus coming to look for fruit cursing the fig tree finding none saying no fruits gonna come from you again Jesus telling them parables giving them stories about the impending looming judgment upon the people of God this is an intense moment of Scripture Jesus now is coming in not in a way that ought to have surprised them now this is key I want you to hold on to this very very important thing as you approach the Great Tribulation passage the all of that discourse this section of scripture that has been used by cultists and agnostics and atheists and liberal theologians to undermine the message of the gospel and the testimony of Jesus for a long time this section of Scripture was to be expected if you know the Old Testament revelation of God and what God foretold was going to occur in the Messiah in his Redemption in his kingdom then what takes place here in this moment in Matthew and of course in mark and Luke as well is something that they should have anticipated in other words if you were holding the Old Testament text the scrolls that foretold what Messiah was going to accomplish in his ministry then you should have been able to follow Jesus along in these moments and point to the text this is what God said was going to happen this is what we were supposed to anticipate this is what Messiah was going to come to do and to say in other words the life and ministry the message of Jesus listen closely is not a novelty dropped into history this is God's redemptive story played out it is a symphony in history all of these parts and pieces play together and I want to say when we neglect that essential truth that this is God's symphony and story of history that is where we fall into grave eschatological error when we fail to see that this is a story about covenants when we fail to see that this is God's promise toward his covenant people then we come to these texts and we mangle them and as we mangle these texts we mangle other image bearers of God and their lives and we're going to talk about that right now so we are gonna unpack verse by verse all of these parts and pieces we're going to talk about the Stars from the heavens we're gonna talk about lightning coming across the sky we're gonna talk about the son of man on the clouds of heaven we're gonna talk about all those pictures and symbols and all that imagery everything there in the text but I know that it is vitally important for me as a minister of the gospel as your pastor as your brother to lay down a foundation of how we have to approach God's Word in particular than we talk about passages like this that are so often used to abuse people so let's do that we're gonna now build a foundation how do we approach a section of Scripture like this the importance of this section first cults have been born literally born out of this section of scripture they've been born out of it Joseph Smith Charles taze Russell David Koresh all these modern cult leaders from the last 200 years have actually used sections of the all of that discourse the section about the great tribulation that jesus promised that would occur in that generation they've used this section of scripture to strike fear into people they've used this section of scripture to actually lay down the foundation for their movement as a matter of fact it's in the name if you think about it for a moment now the Church of Jesus Christ of what latter-day saints which means what last days Saints and you can see throughout the writings of the early Mormon prophets and apostles including Joseph Smith even to moments where Lyman White is prophesying in the congregation he's quoting from sections of Scripture like the great tribulation to do what to tell the Mormon people that they were living in the last generation that before they all died the son of man was going to return in their generation before they all died and that he would destroy all the wicked with his coming cults have literally been born out of this section of scripture and continue to be born out of this section of Scripture atheists have used this section of scripture to claim that Jesus was an error that he was just another apocalyptic prophet in error giving example Douglas Wilson was debating Christopher Hitchens for the film collision that's right collision they had a debate at Westminster seminary and that debate is on available for everyone to see online for free you can see it just look up Douglas Wilson Christopher Hitchens Westminster about two hours I think then that debate Christopher Hitchens I think if you I think you'll agree with me as you watch if Christopher Hitchens really struggles with Douglas Wilson Douglas Wilson takes his legs off constantly constantly just takes away his foundation and Christopher Hitchens I think actually had a great respect for Douglas Wilson because of Douglas Wilson's intellect and his ability to take his legs off well there's a moment in that debate where Christopher Hitchens I believe was really struggling in the debate and so what does he do he throws out the chestnut arguments and what's the chest an argument oftentimes for atheists that Jesus had a false prophecy about us coming right people take this section of Scripture and say that it's about the end of the physical cosmos and so atheists say well if this is about the end of the physical cosmos if it's about the end of the world and the final resurrection in judgment well then Jesus promised it's going to happen in their generation and so of course Christopher Hitchens whips out the chest and an argument often used by atheists Jesus had a false prophecy here he clearly predicted that all these things will come upon this generation what generation it's clearing the tax the generation that he's talking to so if this is about the end of the world and the end of the world didn't happen then Jesus is a false prophet and so if you watched that debate you'll see one of my favorite moments and that's where my friend Doug actually for about 60 seconds gives a 60-second burst demonstrating that this is covenant 'el that all these things occurred exactly as Jesus said they would occur and Christopher Hitchins response nothing took his legs off again in 60 seconds he removes the chestnut argument of the atheists how by giving a very creative arguments no exegesis letting the text speak for itself and when you let the text of God's Word speak here it vindicates Jesus as Messiah it demonstrates that he is in fact the one that was promised but atheists do use this text to try to say that Jesus is a false prophet more recently Harold Camping a family radio now this is actually interesting because Harold Camping of family radio was somebody that Pastor James was warning people about for long before May 21st 2011 the name of the book was dangerous airwaves dangerous airwaves dr. white was trying to warn the church against Harold Camping and the dangers of following Harold Camping for some time and of course many of you guys remember how many guys remember Carol Carol her Harold Camping how many guys remember Harold Camping remember the signs they were all over the world billboards everywhere May 21st 2011 Judgment Day is coming and what did it say on the side it said the Bible guarantees us the Bible guarantees at May 21st 2011 Judgment Day Harold Camping through some very strange numerology and really just creative old man mind came up with this weird system and here's the great thing if you listen to him explain it it didn't make any sense it was the craziest most outlandish thing and people bought it hook line and sinker and Harold Camping said that the end of the world was in the May 21st 2011 Judgment Day the Bible guaranteed it now I remember that time sage was young really young at the time and I remember how excited sage was every night he's a dad turn on family radio I have to hear it he was like 9 how old was he only 9 10 years old he wanted to listen to Harold Camping every night because he thought it was the most amazing thing that people would be following a man saying something like that and of course May 21st came and May 21st went Harold Camping seen of course as a false prophet now we can say you know shame on the people who listen to him they should have known better they should have read their Bibles but people were hurt by that people were seriously hurt by this man May twenty first came and went Harold Camping was hiding in his house the news came to his house and they were like what's the deal mr. camping right we're all still here and he said no I I and I need to live I mean I need to figure this out I need time to think about this and What did he say he said it must have been sort of like a silent judgment and it was really in five more months that the end of the world was coming and of course October 21st comes and goes everyone's still here and people were dramatically hurt by this man bad eschatology hurts people bad eschatology hurts people as I was praying and preparing for the series coming up through the Great Tribulation candy and I turned on TV the other night and we're looking for something to watch and in God's providence just came up a documentary came up in my feed called wheat and tares and it was a documentary about Harold Camping and May 21st Judgment Day 2011 I really encourage you to watch it wheat and tares it's on Amazon and I'm gonna give you actually two to watch to show you how important it is to actually get this right first documentary I watch just popped up was called wheat and tares it's about Harold Camping May 21st and this particular documentary was interesting because it followed the people who were following Harold Camping going out handing out leaflets doing the billboards driving the cars all the rest this particular one is interesting because it shows the impact on people's lives how people were dramatically hurt by this false prophet by bad eschatology the impact the impact of telling people who have faith in Jesus that the ultimate goal right now is to escape that in any moment we're all getting taken out of here May 21st 2011 we're all gone nothing else matters nothing matters we're all getting out of here anyway so what her to do well you'll see in the film that an impacted people because their mindset of escape led them to actually tap out all their financial resources and some of the stories you saw the families actually bought into what Harold Camping had said about the Great Tribulation and the final day of judgment May 21st and so they actually tapped out their financial resources to the dollar and to the day so you had families who actually had quit their jobs and abandon everything they were required to do and they just were living down through their pennies down to that final day and they were even asked what are you gonna do if that day comes and goes what do you know we don't know there were people that walked up to Harold Camping on camera and said mr. camping I I'm really struggling because I need to know like should I spend all my money before May 21st I don't want money sitting in my accounts and not to be testimony about my unfaithfulness to God my distrust I want to show them that I believe that the end is here and I don't want any money left in my accounts so there were families with children that tapped out their financial resources until May 21st because of this false prophet what else did it do well it took people who profess faith in Jesus out of the mindset of Christians in history giving it just a quick burst of examples as Christians have gone into nations in history to preach the gospel they've gone into nations to win those nations to Christ to bring the message of his kingdom and his salvation and his lordship into every nook and cranny of that culture and society the Puritans when they would come into a place to bring the gospel their mindset was to bring the message of Christ's gospel and his lordship into every area of life to bring the lordship of Jesus Christ into every area of life individually the family the church the state everywhere they wanted to take Dominion with the gospel with the message of Jesus in every area of life but Herald Camping's followers had a different mindset their mindset was a mindset of escape of nothing else matters we're all getting out of here anyways all this is burning up anyways and so what did they do they didn't establish a stake with the gospel to build the kingdom of God with the message of and his kingdom into all of the world what did they do they went into a mindset of retreat they went into a mindset of escape nothing else matters May 21st is coming the end of the world all this is getting burned up it's meaningless it's all sound and fury signifying nothing essentially and their mindset was escape not to win the world to Christ and to establish and grow his kingdom another film that popped up after I saw Wheaton terrors was called apocalypse later now this one is vital I'm so glad that I ran into this apocalypse later follows mostly liberal theologians in our day it was amazing it was like a who's who's list of people the dr. white is debated in this film it really was but one of the main got main players in the film was Bart Ehrman and in the film this is what you need to hear very very important guys to grab hold of this in the film Bart Ehrman and the other liberal theologians from Yale and Harvard and all the rest argue that Jesus was an apocalyptic creature like Harold Camping and he got the timing of the end of the world wrong - so these liberal theologians and higher critical scholars of the Bible approach Jesus and they say well listen Harold Camping isn't the first you see really Harold Camping is just the modern version of Jesus because you see Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher in his day and he predicted the end of the world in the Olivet discourse in the great tribulation passage as well he was just a 1st century version of Harold Camping Harold Camping is the 21st century version geez the first century version both are just apocalyptic preachers who falsely predict the end of the world in their day and they said the interesting thing about Jesus is his movement didn't die when he falsely predicted the end of the world now what's interesting here is you have someone like Bart airman who prides himself on being a scholar and a proper exegete of scripture who can't properly handle Matthew 24 to see it's coven ental context and that it's not about the end of the space-time continuum but the end of the Old Covenant age and the judgment upon the temple but when Christians take this section of Scripture and apply it to the end of the world and out of the Jewish covenant or context that it is actually in we give actual resources to the unbelievers to use as weapons against the Christian faith and the message of Jesus so let's talk about foundations again as we approach this text of Scripture there are essentially two schools of thought two schools of thoughts if you're taking notes I'm gonna read to you a little section here from my friend Ken dr. Ken Gentry his book called the Great Tribulation pasture future it's actually a debate book between Tommy ice and Ken Gentry on this section of Scripture I highly recommend this resource to you and in his book he says this in terms of foundations of looking at this debate in this passage he says our debate is ultimately over the relative merits of two schools of prophetic thoughts preterism and futurism the word preterist is based on a latin term which means gone by or past preterism holds the tribulation prophecies occur in the first century thus in our past futurism on the other hand holds the tribulation prophecies loom in our future though presently enjoying strong both preterism is a decidedly minority viewpoint among modern evangelicals nevertheless the view of a first century Great Tribulation is not a newcomer to the prophetic debate in fact it has enjoyed a powerful influence in the last few centuries as we may discover from the writings of such influential Christian scholars as John Calvin John Lightfoot John Owen Matthew Henry John Gill Thomas Scott Adam Clarke Moses Stuart Jay a Alexander Albert Barnes Philip Schaff David Brown FW Farrar milton terry benjamin warfield jay Marcellus kick and Lorraine bender to name but a few historic preterists people who took a pret eristic interpretation of these passages nor does the preterist principle arise in these relatively recent centuries in fact a preterist understanding of the Great Tribulation appears among early church writers for instance Origen 81-85 254 and Eusebius 82-62 340 clearly hold to this position when speaking about the great tribulation passage in Matthew 24 Eusebius points to quote the infallible forecasts of our Savior in which he prophetically expounded these very things after citing many paragraphs from quote the history written by Josephus to document the ad 70 fulfilment of this discourse so here's the question make it simple is the great tribulation passage the Olivet discourse is what's discussed in Matthew 24 mark 13 and Luke 21 something that is going to occur in our possibly near future or are the events foretold and sections of Scripture events that occurred in that generation before they all died as the text I believe clearly says so the question is is it future to us or is it passed in fulfillments is it a preterist view past and fulfillment or is it future to us that's the question those are the schools of thought and the question watch is not which system do I want to adopt what tickles my fancy what do I like what sounds better what seems to work for me we should never approach any section of Scripture based upon what we would like to be true what we hope to be true we need to approach the Word of God with awe and humility and we need to approach the Word of God unpacking what it is teaching not what we want it to teach amen we should have an approach to the Great Tribulation and the Olivet discourse that matches our approach to the Bible when we're handling texts of Scripture that are dealing with the Trinity the deity of Christ justification by faith or any other essential doctrine we need to approach the scriptures and let the Bible speak it's a question of two schools of thought futurist or preterist past and fulfillment or is it future to us it's a question actually of two other things exegesis versus eisegesis the words you hear a lot at apologia church right exegesis means to draw out of the text what does the text say draw out of exegete the passage not i sujeet read into the passage for in thoughts that aren't actually in the passage itself exegesis versus eisegesis there are rules we need to follow as Christians when we approach passage of Scripture give an example questions we have to ask like this who wrote this do we know it's helpful at times to know who wrote say a book or a letter in the Bible because if we know who wrote the book maybe we can compare it to other books or letters that that author wrote to say what is their what is their train of thoughts have they used this language before have they talked about this before elsewhere is it anywhere else we need to know maybe who wrote it maybe we know maybe we don't do we know when it was written it's helpful at times to know when something was written what's the language being used what's the immediate context of this section of Scripture what's the immediate context is this talked about elsewhere in this current book is it talked about elsewhere in the whole of Scripture how does this hang together with the rest of God's redemptive story these are questions we should ask as we approach really any section of Scripture here's a rule let the Bible speak let the Bible define let the Bible interpret I'll say that again let the Bible speak let the Bible define let the Bible be the interpreter resist putting our 21st century concepts into the text of God's Word resist placing our concepts into the text itself give an example let the Bible be the definer let it lay down the standard let it lay down the rules let it lay down the definitions so give an example when I say the word let's test it out now ready to show you that we're already here we already know this it's already in our minds like for example I'll use a modern example if I say to you 911 what happened in your minds some of you guys remember exactly where you were some of you guys remember that horrible day I remember so much of that day I remember the phone ringing I remember my sister yelling into the answer machine kids there were these things I could hear her saying get out of bed get out of bed right now turn the TV on I remember I remember every moment of that first hour I remember the day I remember that night I remember going to Mill Avenue that night for the candlelight vigils Jerry were you with me were we there together I seen her or we were maybe hanging out that time I remember so many details but that day has become that 9/11 days become a symbol 9/11 and you have a context that immediately Falls as soon as that said 9/11 or how about this has to use it in a biblical context now because of biblical history because of real history something God really did in history he lays it down it becomes a symbol now that all of a sudden now your mind connects to and you started having emotions feelings definitions understandings because of a symbol I'll give you the word Ark let it happen for a minute ready Ark what happens in your mind just don't shout out just think about it for a second what you get any images go into your mind what are you thinking about what are you thinking about you thinking about some very large you're thinking about water a lot of water you thinking about judgments you're thinking about God's grace hopefully right not just judgment but God's grace upon undeserving people that he puts into an ark you thinking about people who actually remained on the earth question ready who was swept away from the earth the righteous of the wicked the wicked who remains the righteous so you think about ark Noah his family judgment the wicked swept away the righteous remain it becomes a symbol its historic narrative it really happens it's not a fable it's not a tale it's real people recipients of God's grace in history but now the Ark's become a symbol and did you know it's actually used in scripture in the New Testament as a symbol that it was really a real event that was pointing to Jesus he's the arc of our salvation we come into him were preserved in him do you see that not real event becomes a symbol that we can all carry now to have understanding I'll give you another one manna manna from heaven real historic event people of God God feeding his people manna from heaven they had their lives sustained supernaturally divinely by God through manna from heaven it's a real event it really happens fell from the sky and they ate and had life but now it becomes a symbol for the people of God to understand and Jesus uses it that way and says in John 6 I am the bread of life come from heaven whoever believes in Me will never die Jesus now takes an historic event manna from heaven God really did that and he says that was really about me I am the true bread from heaven eat my flesh drink my blood or you have no life in you Jesus is teaching us now through this historic event now becomes a symbol it's supposed to connect to our minds and we understanding in its whole context I'll give you another one ready temple what are you thinking of what God lays down and his word from the Old Testament that was a real event a real place a real structure a real thing God commanded them here's your temple here's how that here's how to build it here's how to design this thing you know about a Holy of Holies you know about a veil you know about a priest you know about a Day of Atonement all that stuff but the temple now is not just this historic place it's not just this historic event it becomes a symbol for something even greater and in a New Testament the concept of the temple the real thing becomes something greater for the people of God how about when you hear the word priest what are you thinking of how about this when you hear the word lamb when you hear the word harlot or now this is where it gets important what's this this is where it gets key in terms of letting the Bible give you the definitions the Bible give you the interpretation we do not have the right as 21st century Christians to look at things and say the book of Revelation and come up with fanciful interpretations and grab things from our day and start cramming them into the text we need to let the Word of God give us the definitions and the understanding for example when you tell a Jewish Christian in the first century there's a Babylon immediately a Jewish Christian who knows their Bible starts thinking not in creative ways but in biblical ways where else did God use the terminology harlot oh he spoke that way about his bride Israel and he says in Ezekiel he says you're different you're different than other harlots you're much different see other harlots get paid for what they do he says but you sit by the side of the road and you offer yourself to everybody and you get paid nothing for what you do he says you are my bride I made you beautiful I give you all this beautiful jewelry all these beautiful clothes I picked you up I made you beautiful and mine and you went off and played the harlot with all the surrounding nations that's how Israel heard the word harlot and God used it about the unfaithful bride his wife who went off and played the harlot with all the surrounding nations so again the Bible gives you the foundation the symbol the definition so when you go to passages say like in the book of Revelation the most symbolic book of all of Scripture I'll give you this example here in Revelation chapter 17 quick thing here the book of Revelation is over 400 verses and over half of those verses are direct quotations from the Old Testament or allusions to Old Testament passages so it is the most biblical book in all of the Bible by modern standards the Apostle John could be accused of plagiarism for copying much of the Old Testament to pull into his revelation now give you an example if you use the Bible as the definer if you use the Bible as the foundation if you let the Bible give you the definitions then how will you approach revelation 17 consider the biblical imagery then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me come I'll show you the judgment of the great prostitutes who's seated on many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual and morale and with the wine of whose sexual morality the dwellers on earth have become drunk and he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness question follow me here think with the Bible's symbolism think with the Bible's definitions when you hear the word wilderness think with the Word of God is that a good thing or a bad thing bad what happened in the wilderness a lot of wandering why unfaithfulness not trusting in God and His Word right so they wander in the wilderness so the wilderness now real historic event people have gone really in the wilderness they were actually there God was with his people there of course that actually occurs but now wilderness becomes a symbol and so now you have John saying hey let me tell you about this prostitute who's in the wilderness who committed sexual immorality with the kings of the earth are you starting to get it now the biblical imagery and symbolism we don't have the right to cram into this text whatever we wish the harlot to be we ask the question who else is gone call a prostitute who else does God accused of committing sexual immorality with what's this wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet so here's a harlot in the wilderness wearing the priestly colors and it says this and she's adorned with gold and jewels and pearls holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities her sexual immorality and on her forehead is written the name Mystery Babylon the Great quick thing in terms of what in the Bible give you definitions let the Bible tell you what the symbols about quick question Babylon good or bad bad for who Israel where'd they go in the captivity where Babylon so Babylon becomes now not only an historic event but now a symbol of something for the people of God why did Israel go into captivity to Babylon for faithfulness or unfaithfulness for the very things God was charging Israel with he says you're a harlots committing fornication going off and offering yourself to all these other nations doing what they do you're the unfaithful bride and now John in the first century says I'll tell you the story of a harlot who's got Babylon written on her forehead now quick thing for the people of God what's supposed to be on our forehead what's Deuteronomy chapter six verse four say Shamala L Yahweh Elohim Yahweh Akkad hear o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one what does Deuteronomy chapter six say to the people of God he says you shall bind this as a sign on your head and on your what hands God says in Deuteronomy chapter six to his people I'm your God the only God that you get I'm the one God he says you shall talk about it as you rise up as you're on the way you shall put it as a sign on your head and your hands now here's a a harlot of prostitutes committing sexual immorality with the temple and priests colors adorned with jewels Babylon is written on her head and she's in the wilderness who is this harlot if you know the Word of God John is shouting it at you but look what it says it says that this woman who's riding this seven headed ten horn beast hmm first century Jews Jewish Christians that know the coins in their hands know that it says that wrong mrs. septa montien the city of Seven Hills and Rome had ten Imperial provinces and weird this harlots whose in the wilderness who has Babylon ridden her forehead who's got the priests colors who's committing sexual morality of the kings of the earth she's riding the seven headed 10 horn beast hmm sounds a bit like what Israel was saying at the trial of Jesus when he says shall I crucify your king and they say what we have no king but Caesar is there any example of a prostitute riding a seven-headed ten horn beast who's drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus what did Jesus say in Matthew 23 and 24 about that generation he was gonna send to them what wise men scribes and what were they gonna do to his people some of them you'll kill and crucify and flawed what is this harlot in the wilderness with Babylon on her head where in the temple stuff riding the seven-headed ten horn beasts drinking the blood of the martyrs and saints Jesus what's she doing exactly what Jesus said was going to occur if you let the Bible to find these symbols and explain them and not try to get fanciful and in and creative but let the Bible do the definite defining and isn't it interesting that here in this text in Revelation chapter 17 in all this imagery and symbolism it says that this harlot is riding the seven headed ten worn beasts and it says that soon that beast is going to turn on the harlot make her desolate and burn her with fire what occurred in 70 AD Rome did what sacked the city burned the temple and there wasn't left one stone standing upon another so there's just an example in terms of foundations quick thing and I know we're running on time here but I want to show you this so you have something to work with this week as you study this passage if you go to another text Matthew 24 and just give you an example of foundations letting the Bible give you the definitions letting the Bible interpret the Bible in Matthew chapter 24 this is a popular one it is used very very often in Matthew chapter 24 verse 29 tell me if it's familiar to you immediately after the tribulation of those days the Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken now 21st century modern evangelicals come to a text like this and say what hasn't happened yet right I mean pastor Jeff that can't be passed because I mean look the stars haven't fallen from the heavens right we have the description of the Sun being darkened the moon will not give its light I mean how can that possibly have already happens well brothers and sisters couple things first and foremost the Sun is a star right if it came a little closer to us we'd be toast the stars falling from the heavens what is this language here's the question we should ask has this language been used before answer yes Jesus here in Matthew 24 is quoting from Isaiah chapter 13 use the Bible to interpret the Bible so let's all do this together in terms of foundations how do we approach these texts everyone keep one finger in Matthew 24 and just move over to Isaiah 13 Isaiah chapter 13 this Isaiah 13 some of your Bibles will even say about the chapter is the judgment of Babylon the judgment of Babylon and here's what God says in Isaiah 13 he says in verse 6 wail for the day of the Lord is near the day of the Lord is near as destruction from the Almighty will come there for all hands will be feeble and every human heart will melt question is that literal is that literal human hearts literally melting this is dramatic prophetic hyperbole that's used throughout the Old Testament as you'll see through this study they'll be dismayed pangs and agony and agony will seize them they'll be in anguish like a woman in labor they'll look at gassed at one another their faces will be a flame on fire behold the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it here it is for the stars of the evans and their constellations will not give their lights the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light i will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity i will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant here is yahweh speaking in Isaiah 13 about the judgment upon Babylon and what kind of language is he using he's saying things like this I'm gonna turn your lights out I'm gonna turn your world upside down here God uses cosmic language to talk about destroying their worlds and what did he use it against or who did he use it against this is the judgment concerning Babylon question when God used this language against Babylon was it literal did the stars literally fall from the heavens where the heavens literally undone no question did God mean this judgment against Babylon yes did it occur yes did God you guys met any Babylonians lately any Babylonians lately you know never Cano's there was kind of a big dude right kind of an important guy and do you know God took his kingdom out and when you have God using this dramatic prophetic hyperbole he uses it throughout scripture not as meaningless language but saying that things that we understand today I'm gonna knock your lights out I'm gonna take your legs off I'm gonna destroy your world that's the kind of language God used and he meant it give you another example you have one finger in Isaiah 13 move over to Isaiah 19 in terms of the language being used you're gonna see in Matthew 24 God's used it before Isaiah 9 one in Oracle concerning Egypt's here it is watch this an Oracle concerning Egypt's behold Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt and the idols of Egypt's will tremble at his presence in the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them brothers and sisters does God judge Egypt yes question was Yahweh literally surfing on a cloud when he came to judge Egypt could they look up and see Yahweh God is riding on a cloud or better the hearts of the Egyptians did their hearts literally melt into their bellies all of them this is dramatic prophetic hyperbole its judgement language used throughout the Old Testament the judgment literally fell upon them but God used graphic dramatic prophetic theatre to communicate the message of their lights going outs and amazing in Matthew 24 Jesus has just finished condemning the covenant breakers he just condemned them for their fair swearing falsely he just came and promised judgment upon their generation he departs from the Jewish temple the same direction Yahweh left the temple in the Old Testament and he rests on the Mount of Olives exactly like Yahweh did in the Old Testaments and the disciples come to Jesus they start pointing out the temple in the buildings and he says do you see all these things there should not be left one stone standing upon another and he tells them it's all going to take place before that generation all passes and now watch this amazingly Jesus uses the language that Yahweh used about pagan nations in the Old Testament about turning their lights out and now he uses it about them this is covenant oh this isn't about the end of the world it's about the end of the age which age the Jewish age the Old Covenant age think again about letting the Bible provide the foundation and the definitions in the Old Testament what did God promise in Messiah a new covenant what did he promise in Messiah that he was going to come and bring purification Malachi chapter three and four and judgments upon the covenant breakers they knew that when Messiah came he would bring salvation and judgments and now enter Jesus coming to bring the salvation confronting the covenant people promising them that their lights were about to be turned out they were about to be judged their temple taken apart not one stone left standing upon another all before that generation passed away and brothers and sisters what occurred by 70 AD in the first century what happens Rome turns on Israel Sachs the city sets the city on fire takes the temple apart literally stone off of stone within a generation of Jesus promised they were gonna be judged it was gonna fall upon them that's what occurred now here's what I want to end on just quickly because I think all this stuff is powerful and amazing and it vindicates jesus as messiah and it's just gonna get more and more interesting but I wanted to lay some foundations for you I wanted to do one point of so what today so what here I think is what can become theologically dangerous for us oftentimes particularly I think in reformed communities we I think rightly and it's good want to be theologically right and precise so we allow text like this to be about theological precision but it becomes something that's up here conceptual right I know the concept it's up here but it never finds its way here into the so what's right how does this affect me how do i how do i consider this passage in relation to me and my walk with jesus here's the thing we just talked about harlots and prostitutes and sexual morality and babylon and wilderness and unfaithfulness we talk about jesus given a covenant lawsuit against israel confronting them swearing falsely Apocrypha whitewashed tombs dead men's bones snakes woe to you woe to you and it's easy for us now to look in hindsight and say well jesus kept his word he judged that generation it all occurred exactly as promised those wicked covenant breakers those unfaithful jews those who pop crete days those pretenders it's easy for us to look down our noses at them and say well they were unfaithful they were fakes jesus judged him like he promised he would but i have a question for myself am i the fake am i the hypocrite am I just a 21st century Pharisee right oh I know about justification by faith I know about the triune God I know that I know the scriptures I respect God's Word I couldn't be a Pharisee I couldn't be like the scribes and the hypocrites Jesus would have no rose to Claire on apology a church right why because we're Calvinists really do we look down our noses at first century Jews who were unfaithful and were rightly judged by Jesus and just looked down their noses and say that nut not me couldn't be me why because I believe in the five points and the SOLAS right because I believe in justification by faith my question is this watch Jesus condemns them for their swearing falsely Jesus condemns them and it was promised judgment upon them for their robbing God and the tithes and the offerings by the way I want you to we're gonna touch this you're gonna see this promise passage in Joel and in Malachi about the judgment upon the covenant breakers one of the promises of judgment was because they robbed God isn't it interesting that in this very section of the Great Tribulation in the Olivet discourse mark and Luke both include before the promise of the judgment on the temple they both include the section about the widow and the might it's all right there so my question is this am i the hypocrite am i the Pretender am i the whitewashed tomb am I the one who Rob's God am I the one who swears falsely she it's easy for us to say it's important to be theologically accurate but it's not as easy for us to ask the question are we theologically honest and deep with the Lord our God is a consuming fire when I read Matthew 24 mark 13 Luke 21 and I see that jesus promised judgment upon those people and it occurred exactly as he said on time and as planned it creates within me fear and awe before God's the Jesus is the truth and when he speaks he speaks the truth and when he looks into his people he expects honesty integrity true worship are we the people that pray so people see us praying are we the people who give so people see us giving are we the people who fast so people see us fasting are we just a 21st century expression of all of that false religion with the veneer of Calvinism and reformed theology or are we the kind of people who will walk with the Lord Jesus in truth and worship God in spirit and in truth are we husbands and fathers who look on Facebook and Twitter and at church like we're faithful fathers and husbands and at home were abusive and unloving to our wives and our children are we wives who have blogs and posts that look like we respect our husbands but at home we bite them we attack them we insult them we disrespect them are we children who pretend to honor our fathers and our mothers but the moment our parents ask us to do something we bite them we attack them we snip at them we disobey them oh we Christians who stand outside of abortion Mills and proclaim the truth of the gospel into that abortion mill but as soon as we turn our backs we never speak it to our own hearts are we the kind of people that are willing to go and confront our culture about its sins and sexual morality and when we get home behind our closed doors we're online at places we know we ought to not be what kind of people are we my prayer is that God would allow this moment in this text to change us our hearts and our minds let's pray father I pray that you would allow these texts to transform us to make us new I pray that you would bless us as we unpack the section on the Great Tribulation the Olivet discourse bless us Lord help us to be faithful guard us from error and provide for us a foundation that allows us to see you Lord as the faithful and true God but also a foundation to proclaim Christ and his Excellency's to the world in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 79,420

Rating: 4.7210279 out of 5

Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia studios, apologia church, harold camping, end of the world, great tribulation, rapture, left behind, left behind movie, are we living in the end, john hagee, john hagee blood moons, preterist, preterist debate, n.t. wright sermon, n.t. wright kingdom of God, end times debate, end times proof, signs of the end, rapture sermon

Id: MM5vVde4Jso

Length: 74min 55sec (4495 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 28 2019