The Great Tribulation

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 what 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 or 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 Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24 so you might be wondering well what happened to chapter 23 I'm gonna read a section here because today what I wanted to do was to do a foundation message it would prepare us to enter into chapters 23 and 24 in a way that guards us from error in a way that encourages encourages us to faithfully handle the words of God this next section of Scripture has been abused many many times has caused catastrophe in many people's lives and has been used to give rise to many cults apocalyptic cults and so it's important as we enter into this section of Scripture we have a foundation beneath us in terms of how we handle the Word of God so just a section to read there are so many choices here in this section but chapter 24 we're gonna read from verses 15 on Matthew 24 verse 15 here now the words of the living and the true God so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the Holy Place let the reader understand then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains but the one who is on the housetop now go down to take what is in his house and let the one who is in the field not turned back to take his cloak and alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days pray that your flight may not be in winter or on sound a Sabbath for then there will be Great Tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now know and never will be and if those days had not been cut short no human being would be saved but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short as far as the reading of God's holy word let's pray father as we come as your people redeemed by you through your son to this section of scripture we ask for your blessing we ask that you teach us Lord by your spirit guard us from error and in particular guard my mouth from error as we approach this section of Scripture I pray Lord that Christ would be magnified glorified that it would create within us reverence for you godly fear and trust Lord you know all things you know everything God you know how people have so often used these texts of Scripture to hurt people and so we pray Lord you'd help us to understand your word in a way that makes so much of Jesus we pray Lord God that I would decrease Christ would increase that your people would forget my name in this and remember the words of your son in Jesus name Amen so Gospel according to Matthew we've been in this for some time now and we're into this section I told you for a long time we're coming to this climax of Matthew's narrative of the story that Matthew is giving to us very Jewish context you have to keep that in mind and I'm gonna say that we understand that now by now that there's a very Jewish context and background to the Gospel according to Matthew of course to all the Gospels but Matthew writes in such a way as to reach the Jew of the first century using terminology even that even in the section I just read Luke uses different terminology same moment same situation Luke actually gives the Gentile explanation and understanding that maybe if you're not really Jewish what's Daniel in the abomination of desolation what is all that about well Luke has a different way of actually reciting what was said there in a way that could be understood by people maybe who aren't Jewish unpacking it there's a Jewish background we have to make sure that we consider we enter into this section when I say Jewish background a pointing back to the Old Testament Scriptures we need to understand our Old Testament amen yes now it's interesting to get everyone to agree with that because there are people today propagating an idea that we need to unhitch the Old Testament from the New Testament we disregard so much of what God says there and so there's really an ignorance of Old Testament background language symbolism so when we read the Gospel according to Matthew without an understanding of that world that worldview those symbols that language and we enter into a text like Matthew 24 the sky's the limit it can become anything that we want if we don't understand the world that this came from the mindset that this came from remember never forget that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah he's the coming one that Promised One from God in the Hebrew Scriptures and now we have Gospel according to Matthew very Jewish context the Jewish Messiah being put on full display Matthew is demonstrating to us in the Gospel according to Matthew that Jesus fits the bill that he fulfills everything that God said was gonna happen in Messiah that's Matthew's story he's explaining this in such a way as to satisfy all of the waiting of the Jews they've been waiting and longing for Messiah and now here he is in Matthew is demonstrating vats and this of course is the climax of Matthew story moving to the climax of course Jesus as we know we've been here for the last couple of months has come into Jerusalem as expected with that message of salvation and what judgment salvation and judgment we know of all these recent Kandam nations in these recent chapters where Jesus is condemning those covenant breakers he's cursing a fig tree flipping tables we know the story of the temple cleansing and all of that is behind us now and now Jesus in 23 and 24 is going to have contact he's gonna specifically confront the people of his day the leadership in Jerusalem of his day he's going to come in such a way as to give a vivid display that he is the one who was to be expected and he gives specific prophecy here now this is vital this is so important come with me now eschatology the study of last things we've got to be so careful about as Christians we have to be careful because we're handling the very words of God we have to be careful not to bring our preconceived ideas of what the end times is about and to put that into the text to read the text through our eschatological presuppositions we have to be careful because people have used these passages these discussions about the end times they've used them to abuse to hurt to lead people astray we have to also be careful because we have to understand something called a tiara that is issues that are not central issues the central issues the atonement the deity of Christ the Trinity justification through faith we have to be willing to as Christians be gracious with the disagreements that are at the Opera for example all Christians believe that Jesus is returning amen yes we all believe that there will be a final resurrection a physical resurrection amen yes but there are Christians throughout 2000 years of God's kingdom in the world in church history there are Christians who have disagreed on particular areas of areas of timing the nature of particular things we've disagreed over particular passages and we have to be cautious as believers to make sure that we allow the ADI offer of those side issues to be just that out of Ofra and not things that divide us as the body of Christ yes Christian's can sometimes be the nastiest crowd of people when it comes to doctrine you've heard of I think dr. white created the term caged stage Calvinists right when somebody finally sees the reforms doctrines coming off the page of Scripture that's how God speaks about salvation the gift of eternal life election grace all of a sudden they're like let's get everybody right and they go out and we're like no no put you in a cage for a limited period of time we'll feed you will keep you safe and we'll let you out and determine about whether we need to put you back in there right in particular reformed theology is the truth of God amen yes but reform folks can be sometimes the nastiest crowd of people and you just got to confess to that because I think theology can often make people prideful but we need to be careful as believers even though we may have deep convictions about what the Word of God says about something not to allow that to divide us from other believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we should hash these issues out vigorously with graciousness and humility and love and we should do it for the long run but we should not divide over these issues however it doesn't mean that these are not important matters because they are some consequences if you get this area of eschatology wrong if you get it wrong you can get cults like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints what's that mean last day Saints Joseph Smith you can see in the early history of Mormonism Joseph Smith predicted the coming of Christ within his generation he said that Christ was going to return within his generation that people would be alive to see the return of the Son of God of course it didn't happen Joseph Smith's a what false prophet Deuteronomy 18 20 through 22 if you have a single false prophecy you're not from the sovereign God that's and that's a standard we have to apply consistently and even say this if we truly believe that then Jesus Christ has to also abide by that standard amen yes if Jesus Christ gave false prophecies we can't be inconsistent if he truly gave false prophecies that would mean he's not the Messiah so we applied that standard to Joseph Smith or how about this the apocalyptic cults like for example another apocalyptic cult of the 19th century is the Watchtower Bible and tract Society that Jehovah's Witnesses you see it even today if you go not far from here actually it's at the bus stop by my house Jehovah's Witnesses are set up there all the time now and now I know I'm excited very excited to see when they're out there next fall so not far from here is a grocery store and they're always set up inside the grocery store and you could even see today as you pass by that you hope as witnesses they'll have their awake magazine out and you'll see even on the covers of those magazines you'll see things like and times last days those sorts of things last conversation inhabitant Jehovah's Witnesses in kawaiii at sat at a park that was the nature of the discussion the end times discussion so this is vitally important to get the Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted the return of Jesus Christ of a final coming of Jesus so many times it's surprising that anybody still listens in the 70s there was a prophecy about the return of Jesus Christ and they lost a large portion of their membership as a result of this failed prophecy eschatology does matter there are significant things in terms of damage that can be done to people as a result of bad eschatology we could also through bad Christian eschatology end up making Jesus look like a false prophet for example if we take a passage in Scripture that was related to the generation Jesus was talking to and it actually demonstrates highlights the fact that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah that he gave prophecy that was true and sure and it occurred if we take prophecies that were actually directed to that first century generation and highlight the glory of Jesus because it happened and we put those prophecies now as Christians ahead of us than the atheists of our day and others will say you saying that's future to us right well Jesus said it was for them so Jesus is a false prophet he will use this as an attack on the Christian faith we're gonna get into that but also bad eschatology can literally destroy families whole communities another example of an apocalyptic cult fairly recently in our history is David Koresh David Koresh everything if you can see you can see his sermons actually on YouTube now people look up his sermons they are bored you'll get bored to tears with them but you'll see actually David Koresh based much of his teaching about the apocalypse and the end of the world and him and his who he was and all of those things in the book of Revelation there you go picked the most highly symbolic book of the entire Bible and squeezed yourself self into the story David Koresh destroyed a lot of people through his false teaching another example you guys most of you will actually remember this one and this one's funny because sage my son was the sierras 2010 11 sage was about 10 years old and I remember when this was happening sage would ask me to turn the radio on to listen to family radio because he was so excited to see Harold Camping go down Harold Camping sound familiar do you see the billboards anywhere the buses family radio big big Christian radio station globally funded this massive movement saying that the rapture was going to occur May 21st 2011 May 21st 2011 followed by five months of terror in the world in October 21st 2011 would be the final end of all humanity mankind the world the final judgment it's 2019 didn't happen actually this is a I think I would encourage you to take a look at this if heating in a chance to I was so grateful for dr. White's during that time because he got to engage with Harold Camping and do a radio debate on the subject and that's available just go youtube dr. James White Harold Camping not to people you usually put together but you can go listen to that radio debate it was very very helpful now what happened was May 21st 2011 course came and went and of course Harold Camping went kind of silent after that and then after a little bit of time went by he came out and he told everybody actually my calculations were a little bit off and he pointed then to the October 21st 2011 date as the final end of mankind there was some sort of spiritual event that happened on May 21st but give me another chance guys now he has since died and faced the one he lied about but these failed prophecies hurts people there were families communities based upon the false apocalyptic teachings of Harold Camping that lost their retirement funds their houses their property these people were hurt by false prophecy and by eschatology so while we have to be very careful cautious to make sure that the adi offeror those disagreements over eschatological views do not divide us we still need to actually have a firm commitment around the essentials and make sure that we still say as believers this matters it does matter it matters to God and what you believe about this next section of Scripture will impact a lot a lot eschatology is popular if you announce that you're gonna do a conference on the Trinity the triune God of the Bible I dare you to get 50 people to show up but if you say we're gonna have an end times conference blood moons and stars falling from the heavens terror and destruction fire from heaven everyone's like how much your tickets I'm gonna want to be a part of that one right you fill up the room the publications the books all of those things end times discussions sell but we need to be grounded as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we need to be grounded in a proper handling of the Scriptures we need to be grounded in the area of hermeneutics it's not a man named Herman judex hermeneutics is the art and science of biblical interpretation proper handling of the Word of God we talked about hermeneutics we're talking about how to properly handle the word of truth how to handle the Word of God in the way that honors God glorifies him and preserves the truth of his word so we talked about hermeneutics proper handling of Scripture we're talking about knowing the author sometimes it's possible sometimes it's not sometimes we know the author of a particular work and that does help it gives us some background because we know their other works we know what they've said elsewhere we know their worldview their backgrounds all those things knowing the author can help we need to know the audience who was this written to when was this particular work written that can offer a lot of help to us as we're handling the Word of God the historical background of a particular work knowing the historical background what sorts of things were happening at the time what's going on around why is this language being used is it used elsewhere by anybody else in that context how did they use those words we need to understand the language knowing the language getting behind the language itself what does this word actually mean what's the original wording actually testified to what's it mean also context when we're interpreting the Word of God context is key understanding the context the immediate context the context within that book the context within all of Scripture also a comparison proper hermeneutics allows us to compare Scripture with Scripture and to let scripture interpret scripture very important for us as we approach Matthew 23 and 24 to make sure that we allow ourselves to let the text speak and not go and impose our own preconceived ideas onto the text now I know all of us as believers we say that's what we have to do there's those words we know reformed folks really know these words right exegesis and what eisegesis exegesis is where you're drawing out of the text what does the text actually say you go to the text and you say what is it say not what do I want it to say not what I wish it says not what I think it says so I'm going to impose it but go to the text let the Word of God speak draw out of the text the meaning eisegesis is where you take ideas and you bring them and put them into the text you squeeze them into the text we have to be very cautious as we approach these particular areas of scripture not to engage in eisegesis we have to ask those deep questions who's Jesus talking to the words is he actually using what's the historical context and background of this passage what do the other scriptures say about this moment why is it being used in this way how do we compare this to the other parts of the Gospels what does the rest of the New Testament say we need to have listened closely here's that for the summary of this points we need to have the same methods of interpreting passages that deal with eschatology that we do when we are handling things like the Trinity the deity the Lord Jesus Christ the atonement the resurrection justification by faith in other words if we are in our areas of interpreting eschatology now handling in the Word of God in a different way than we handle all of those other subjects in terms of faithfulness and letting the text tell us then we're going to be in big trouble we need to go with the same methods that got us doctrines like the Trinity the deity of Christ the atonement the resurrection and justification by faith now I want to say at the outset as we begin to approach this section of the series my just a quick word here I don't like to put myself in sermons a lot but just in terms of where I've come from my own personal history here is that I wasn't raised in the Christian Church not by a long shot and my first at a profession of faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord my very first Bible study my very first Bible study I had ever attended was in a living room my friend from high school I had met his dad was a pastor I went to youth group and the first Bible study I walked into and what was playing on the screen was a very very poorly made 1970s or early eighties film on the great tribulation and I sat down and I watched this awful movie why our Christian movie so bad I watched this awful movie but it told the story about a secret rapture and seven years of tribulation and those sorts of things and when I understood then early on as a young man is that this is the view of the Christian Church this is what the Bible teaches I didn't know any different so when I went to Bible College the Bible college that I went to taught the same view of eschatology dispensational premillennialism the idea of a secret rapture seven years of tribulation followed by the kingdom of Christ for a thousand literal years on earth and I came from a background wide where I believed that I said to you guys some of you many times before that I was a themed about eschatology and endtime stuff I read Tim LaHaye was my homeboy Left Behind series I remember and I've said this many times before one time when I was newly married surprised I still am because of this but I was reading the Left Behind series and I was at the pool by my house and I was reading I was so excited about it that I was just looking up to the sky and just wishing myself into rapture like now yeah now I used to go to Borders Books and Music just to go and buy The Jerusalem Post as often as it came out so I could see what sort of things were happening in Jerusalem because this was the time of the end I was in Bible College sitting with other guys that were in pastoral studies and I remember being at lunch and having debates with them over how much longer we had before the rapture and I remember that we used to say things like I don't know what do you think like the end of the year people are like I don't know maybe two years but no more than two never at some point someone I think said something like 10 years or 15 years and we all looked at him and we left we left see were you kidding me figure Enki do you know what's happening in Jerusalem do you know they got the wrath these are our discussions like there's no way 15 more years that was in 1996-97 so that's where I come from and I want to just express to you in terms of where this is in my part but it was a period of time where I started talking about endtime stuff and I started coming over great conviction but the kind of thing that happens to you when you're sinning and as I was talking to friends at starbucks about endtime stuff I started feeling like I was sinning I didn't know that was about so I went home I remember I was a deep prayer before the Lord and I was wondering why that I feel like I was doing something wrong why I'm just saying what I was taught and so I felt so odd about this moment that I started to actually question do I really know that the Bible teaches this do I know this did I see it from Scripture or was I taught it and so I committed to actually just read the tax just let it speak and if I was wrong I was wrong if I was right then praise God and so I committed to reading these particular texts over and over and over again and I came to the conclusion that I couldn't get what I was taught to fit into the text itself it seemed to be saying something entirely different now thankfully at the time I learned that many of my great heroes had also seen the same things in many of church history it's seeing the same things that I was and I had only been a part of a particular brand of eschatology that listen closely did not exist before the 19th century it was a new version of eschatological belief that didn't really exist before that was popularized in the 19th century and so that was a great learning experience for me as a believer to understand I need to be faithful when handling the words of God and to test my teachers to make sure that what they're saying is consistent with the words of God there are consequences to handling the section of Scripture in a way that is not faithful consequences couple examples Deuteronomy 18 20 through 22 is that famous passage we just talked about right and what's that about that's one of the tests profit when we go to the Mormons we always lay before them there are two tests and a profit that God gets to us right and Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 13 one through five is attested even if there are signs and wonders it looks like it is from God this seems like it has the hands of God all over it however if that prophet dreamer of dreams if they lead you after another god gods which you have not known that is how you know there are false teaching so what God says there as the people of God are supposed to take the words of God his revelation of himself his self-disclosure and they're supposed to stand on that revelation as the measuring line to be able to test somebody else if they contradict God's previous revelation they're not from God into turning 18 22 22 is that powerful testimony to the sovereign God that we worship don't get awesomeness this is a big one only the biblical faith can say this you understand only the biblical faith only the true and living God can make these kinds of claims what claim Deuteronomy 18 20 through 22 and if you say in your heart how should we know the word of the Lord is not spoken it's the one and the dis one over here it actually says when the prophet speaks and the thing follows not nor comes to pass that is the word which the Lord has not spoken the prophet has spoken it presumptuously you shall not be afraid of do you hear that if somebody gives prophecy about the future they tell you this is gonna happen but then it does not happen that's how you know they're not from the sovereign God and why because the all-powerful sovereign God declares the end from the what beginning he's the one that actually determines the flow encounter of history he's the one who governs every molecule he's the one that actually is in control of all things so God tells his people if you want to know this person's from me if they give you prophecy of the future and it fails that's how you know God knows the future God determines the future God wheels the future and so false prophecy is a powerful testimony to whether someone's from God or not now this is where this gets interesting listen closely in terms of false prophecy not rightly handling the Word of God this is awkward what hey wait wait wait could you not hear me the whole time okay really okay let's start over just kidding I'm just kidding all right next time say something we like okay I won't be offended unless it's coming from dr. white and I'll be like I'm doing something wrong Deuteronomy 18 22 22 you have false prophecy you're a false prophet it's a test we measure Joseph Smith by the watchtower by David Koresh go down the line however this is important as we approach these texts notice this G in the coming tax makes predictions about the future before a living audience in his day he gave predictions about the future and if we're gonna be consistent as Christians and if we love truth we want to be consistent we have to say yes this has to match it has to actually work but we don't want to force it to work or to force ideas into the text we want to let the Word of God speak and it's work here's some consequences of getting this wrong you-know-who CS Lewis is Right Chronicles of Narnia mere christianity famous author this is section from a work he did called the world's last night in terms of consequences getting this wrong history says what's written say what you like we shall be told the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proven to be false it is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the second coming in their own lifetime and worse still they had a reason and one which you will find very embarrassing their master had told them so he shared and indeed created their delusion he said in so many words this generation shall not pass till all these things be done and he was wrong he clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else it is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible yet how teasing also that within fourteen words of it should come the statement but of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels which are in heaven neither the son but the father the one exhibition of error and the confession of ignorance grow side by side that they stood thus in the mouth of Jesus himself and were not merely placed us by the Reporter we shall we surely need not doubt so section from CS Lewis the world's last night another example of mishandling the section of Scripture giving those kinds of unnecessary doubts and questions is the famous Athey Bertrand Russell and one of his works where he attacks Christ and of course the biblical worldview he of course hangs on this particular point because Christians take Matthew 24 the Olivet discourse and place it future to us atheists are able to examine the text for themselves and say well if Jesus was talking to that generation he said to them what they would experience this judgment coming of Christ was gonna happen to them so they would say Jesus failed in prophecy he can't be God in the flesh he can't be Messiah if he got this wrong another example this is actually famous debate Christopher Hitchens debated Douglas Wilson there's a film called collision encourage you guys to check that out actually dr. white was scheduled to debate Christopher Hitchens and then he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer so unfortunately that never happened but in this particular debate if you watch at I believe when they were at Westminster look up Christopher Hitchens Douglas Wilson Westminster when they were debating at Westminster there was a section where I believe this is personal I believe Doug was doing such a great job had taken the legs off of Christopher Hitchens the Christopher Hitchens fell on one of his chestnut arguments and that was that Jesus gave false prophecy and he was referring to the Olivet discourse which is before us here it's the chestnut argument Christopher Hitchens was in trouble he throws out Jesus gave false prophecy now there's a magnificent section there about 60 seconds long where Douglas Wilson responds to that objection entirely takes it away from Christopher Hitchens and demonstrates that Jesus Christ not only did not have a failed prophecy but it happened exactly as he promised and Christopher Hitchens silenced so is it important it is very very important let me give you some words here from dr. r/c sproule who of course is now with the Lord that he testified to his whole life at an eschatology simple in 1993 dr. Sproul said this maybe some church fathers made a mistake maybe our favorite theologians have made mistakes now I can abide with that I can't abide with Jesus being a false prophet because I can I can understand that if Jesus is a false prophet my faith is in vain dr. Sproul recognized the importance of this section of Scripture and he wrote a book on it call the last days according to Jesus I commend that to you guys I think it's a good work but let's just do this briefly today I'm gonna try to have a little bit of a shorter sermon today just to give you a little touch today I'm going to tell you what I've encouraged you to go and spend some time in to prepare you for what we're gonna be doing in the Olivet discourse Matthew 23 leads into Matthew 24 someone appoints you to what we ought to have beneath us first as we approach this section again today's about foundations I'm gonna point you to something the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 many of you know this Romans chapter 1 verse 1 it says this Paul a slave of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God and power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord I want to point you to what the Apostle Paul says there at the opening of Romans what's he saying this apostle set apart for the good news of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures foundational foundational the message of Jesus the story of Jesus that we have in the New Testament itself is not a novelty drop down into history it's not a novelty it's not something that they weren't expecting there was expectation there were promises there was a covenant made there was expectation for the People of God Messiah was coming and there were certain things that were gonna happen in their life and in the world as a result of his coming god gave specific specific instances of it will look like this he is gonna be like this this is how he will atone for your sins all the specifics are there the nature of what the world is going to be like as the Messiah rules over his kingdom all those details but this is a story again not a novelty in history it's something that was promised before hands through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures that's foundational and you might say pastor Jeff we know that we understand that but I want to encourage you to consider that principle that God promised before hands this good news he promised before hands the story of Jesus I've mentioned to you guys before that I witnessed once to this Jewish girl at the hospital devout Jewish family and she avoided me for a while and the finally she was interested in came and talked to me and I sat down with her my office and she told me as I was trying to tell her about Jesus and the gospel she told me I'm Jewish pastor Jeff I don't believe in Jesus so like I don't need to hear any of that and what I told her was I said I'll tell you what I make a commitment to you I will show you the story of Jesus and I won't touch the New Testament I will just use the Hebrew Bible and she just laughed like sure I said no let's do that let's commit to do this we will spend time talking about Jesus and I'm only gonna use the Old Testament to do it sound good and she was like I dare you after about two weeks time or so she called her mom on the phone from the hospital and she was like mom I think I'm starting to believe in Jesus and her mom was like no we're Jewish honey we don't do that we don't believe in Jesus were Jewish and she said well mama I've been spending all my time in the tour on the Tanakh and the in the scriptures and I'm seeing is in the script our scriptures mom he's there in our scriptures can you give me any one good reason not to believe in Jesus and her mom was silent for like 30 seconds she said mom can you give me any reason to not believe in Jesus and her mom said no this story is laid down in God's Old Testament Scriptures which means as we approach a section like the Olivet discourse and we hear Jesus saying things like the stars are gonna fall from the heavens things being darkened in the sky we hear this language about coming on the clouds we need to understand this as a particular context from the Old Testament its language that is maybe unusual to us but it was familiar to those first century Jews we need to not detach ourselves from the Old Testament revelation next as we approach this section of Scripture in terms of foundations after everything I've said let's talk about the pattern the pattern in the Old Testaments and to do this I just want to point you somewhere Deuteronomy 28 you don't need to go there now go there later that is the famous section of the blessings and cursings of the covenant the people of God are there and these declarations are made over the people of God in terms of what will take place if you violate or break this covenant there is a section where God declares the sanctions of the Covenant this is what's going to happen to you if you violate my covenant that's Deuteronomy 28 another example in terms of pattern of the Old Testament we all know the story of the Jews right sometimes I think we need to humble ourselves because we look at the story of the Jews wandering in the wilderness and all the God has done for them and they're like what's wrong with you people he just delivered you out of Egypt you get all these signs and miracles and water and blood and firstborn being taken and the Red Sea just crashed behind you and destroyed all your enemies and your bickering not long after that Red Sea crashes down here at the base of this mountain while God's up there delivering the law and you're dancing around some Idol are you nuts and then we look at our week last week and all the idols that we served the humility is in order but in terms of the pattern we know the pattern the people of God they grow they honor God they obey God they fall into sin syncretism they adopt pagan practices and idolatry God comes in judges them restores them we know that pattern throughout the Old Testament right obedience blessing disobedience cursing judgment that's a pattern through the Old Testament as an example I'm going to point you to something in terms of how God speaks to his people go to Ezekiel 16 again these are foundations and by the way as you get there I want to tell you I have a reason I'm pointing you to this passage there are other examples I can give but there's a reason I'm pointing you to this one Ezekiel 16 Ezekiel 16 this is how God spoke about his bride and again watch you'll find out soon enough as to why I'm pointing you to this particular passage but in terms of understanding the symbolism and how God speaks this is important Ezekiel 16 I'm not gonna do the whole section but let's just start in verse 8 this how God speaks about his relationship with his bride when I pass by you again I saw you behold you were at the age for love and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you declares the Lord and you became mine then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck and I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and if you a crown on your head apparently God's a fan of facial piercings thus you are adorned with gold and silver and your clothing was a fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth you ate fine flour and honey and oil you grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty and your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you declares the Lord hears how God spoke about his covenant people I saw you your mess I brought you I made you beautiful I gave you all this jewelry I beautified you and your renown went out all over the world you are my bride how God talks about its relationship with his covenant people to find linens and the silk in the crown you were my wife but you trusted in your beauty and played the because of your renown and lavished your whoring zhan any passerby your beauty became his you took some of your garments made for yourself colorful shrines and eat on them played the the like has never been nor ever shall be he also took the beautiful jewels of my goal that of my silver which I had given you and made for yourself images of men and with them played the and you took your embroidered garments to cover them and semi oil of my incense before them as you keep reading here and encourage you to do so go read it later you'll see how God spoke about his covenant people and their violating the covenant and turning away from God God used very harsh language yes he called her a a harlot you are my bride and you went out and you offered yourself to any passerby and even says here in Ezekiel 16 he says you're different though you're different than others because other people get paid for what they do and you offered yourself to people and you received nothing for it that's how God spoke about his covenant breaking people and that's the kind of symbolic language that we need to understand from the Old Testament before we ever dare trying to understand who the of Babylon revelation is clothed with silk and fine linens with the mother of harlots on her head Babylon who was riding a seven headed 10 horn beast who is killing the saints who was killing Jesus people and it says of course that beast is about to turn on that harlot and make her desolate and burn her with fire but again if we don't understand how God used that language before we have no right trying to interpret passages from a Jewish believer of Jesus who was using that exact language in the book of Revelation just an example there so again the pattern of the Old Testament the Covenant people breaking covenant with God judgment falling upon them their nation being destroyed scattered at times Ezekiel 16 how God spoke about his wife next lay this down as foundation the promise the promise number one of the New Covenant this is what's before Jesus ministry we're entering into the Olivet discourse Jesus is the Messiah he's cursing fig trees he's cleansing the temple he's condemning the leadership in Jerusalem and we know that behind this story of the gospel of the kingdom is a new covenant here are the covenant breakers here's all the signs of the Old Covenant still around us we have a temple we have a high priest we've got all of these things taking place with sacrifices on the day of atonement or day of atonement we have all these things still happening in Jesus day and these covenant breaking people are now actually resisting the Messiah himself and we know that as the Old Covenant stuff is still hanging around there's a new covenant promise with this Messiah it's coming they're anticipating it they're waiting for it the promise that our new covenant Jeremiah 31:31 to promise in her new covenant and what God's going to do by his Spirit Ezekiel 36 he's going to remove a heart of give a heart of put his spirit within his people and caused them to observe his statutes there's something new coming they know it's coming Messiah is coming his kingdom is coming something new is coming a new covenant not like the one that they broke God says listen Jeremiah 31 even though I was a husband to them it's a new covenant where he will write his law on their inward parts they know that this is coming it's behind the story of Jesus Jesus ministry is not a novelty dropped into history as Jesus comes into Jerusalem and is now confronting and condemning them he promises them judgments he promises things about the temple itself and says there shall not be left one stone standing upon another all of this is part of this great story of the Messiah that has already been told to us in the Hebrew Scriptures it's already there as a foundation next so first new covenant is promised next judgment and salvation coming with the Messiah judgment and salvation I'm just going to point you to the text Isaiah 65 is an example of what that looks like judgment and salvation another one is Malachi chapters 3 and 4 the coming of the Messiah is going to come with salvation and what judgment it's promised that there is going to be atonement and judgment upon the covenant breakers so listen if you know that if you know your Hebrew Scriptures you know what God has promised with Messiah you should have been able to stand back as Jesus is having these discussions in Matthew 21 through 24 you should have been able to stand back in absolute oh right on time exactly as promised exactly as anticipated only now the story is becoming fuller now more detail are being given but the expectation of Messiah is happening all around you it's a powerful testimony number three kingdom a kingdom was promised they know the Messiah's kingdom was coming into the world genesis 49:10 shiloh and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples isaiah 9:6 through 7 l gabor the mighty god the father of eternity to him shall be given this kingdom a kingdom God's gonna do this himself God Himself is gonna come God Himself is gonna come as a child and a son and a son and a kingdom is gonna fill the world Psalm chapter 2 all the kings were to obey Him the nations are his inheritance the ends of the earth his possession Psalm 72 he shall have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth this is expectation psalm 110:1 the lord said unto my lord sit at my right hand until i make your enemies a footstool for your feet i hope you know that 1 you know why it's the most quoted from verse in the New Testament from the Old Testament we say it's God's favorite bible verse another one and this one I want you to see foundations kingdom of God expectation Jesus is not a novelty the Olivet discourse is expected I want you to see with your own eyes go to Daniel chapter 7 Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 through 14 I want you to look at this passage in particular because listen it is used by the Lord Jesus in the coming texts and more importantly this was actually the section Jesus quoted from in his trial it's what forced them to declare that he had committed blasphemy in Daniel chapter 7 verses 13 through 14 it says I saw on the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to him was given Dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations and languages should serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which will not pat which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed expectation this is coming this is coming so when you see Jesus using that very language you know what he's referring to we have to ask the question though what does it mean to come on clouds of heaven is that language that's used anywhere else of God in the Old Testament we're gonna find out as we begin to unpack this text not today but in the future last thing Old Testament expectation needs to be understood as a foundation before you get to the Olivet discourse but then we need to ask the question what about the immediate context what about the New Testament itself what does it say about this judgment coming of Jesus just a quick review Matthew 3 John the Baptist first words what repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand the kingdom of God is at hand synonymous Kingdom of Heaven kingdom of God the rule of God is at hands and what did you say to the leadership there at the time he says who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come he says his winnowing Fork is in his hand the axe is already laid at the root of the trees what's that mean judgments coming fellas it's coming the axe is already laid at the root of the trees you're about to be cut down bear fruit in keeping with repentance that's how Matthew opens up Matthew chapter 3 judgment is coming another example Matthew chapter 10 verse 23 this that section we unpacked before I'm not gonna do it today where Jesus sends his disciples out and he tells them you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes you will not finish going through the cities or towns of Israel until the Son of Man comes so there is a judgment coming of the Son of Man that's going to occur before they even finish going through the towns of Israel there is a judgment expectation within their lifetimes and it's again in Matthew chapter 16 the whole section we were just in of Matthew 21 through 22 Jesus going to Jerusalem they're gonna kill me Jesus comes into Jerusalem Hosanna Jesus cleansing the temple as expected as the high priest had to do Jesus cursing a fig tree with only leaves and no fruit Jesus telling them in the parables what the kingdom of God is gonna be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit what's gonna happen what God's what's God gonna do to the people who kill his son who came to get the fruits what's what's gonna happen he'll destroy those miserable wretches and Jesus points to them that's right or how about their parable the wedding feast he's gonna send his armies to destroy their city all of this judgment coming it's coming Jesus is declaring it to them so here's the final words here in terms of questions to ask here it is who is Jesus confronting in Matthew 23 I have five questions here you don't have to answer now I want us to ask these questions who is Jesus confronting in Matthew 23 people today and principle we could but who is Jesus specifically addressing in Matthew 23 who is Jesus audience in Matthew 24 who is his audience Matthew 24 what are the time indicators in both Matthew 23 and 24 what are the time indicators is this something that was expected upon their generation is the language used in Matthew 24 used anywhere else in scripture when we hear about clouds when we hear about stars falling from the heavens when we hear about the darkening of the constellations and those sorts of things is that used anywhere else in the Bible did it refer to literal stars falling and hitting the earth or was it used in reference to the destruction of nations like Isaiah 13 finally what happens when you compare mark 13 Luke 21 in Matthew 24 the synoptic Gospels the Olivet discourse what happens when you run those side-by-side do you get a fuller understanding of what's taking place do you get a fuller understanding of whether it was a localized judgment or the end of the world next what is the consistent message of the New Testament concerning the judgment coming of Christ not the resurrection of the Dead not this second coming of Christ but this judgment coming of Christ was it anticipated throughout the New Testament I hope to show you that it certainly was now here's what I'd like to accomplish in doing this please hear me what I hope to accomplish as we run through Matthew 23 and 24 and we unpack it I hope to be faithful as a minister of the gospel faithful and unpacking the words of the Living God but I also hope to teach us that we must faithfully handle God's Word always I hope to teach us that bad eschatology has consequences cults apocalyptic cults families and lives destroyed as a result of bad eschatology and here's what I think most important to me and this is what I want you to hear I hope to show us that Jesus truly is the Messiah truly he truly is the Messiah because when you read the Olivet discourse and you let the text speak when you read the Olivet discourse in the light of what God has promised to come then what it demonstrates is that God keeps his word it is sure it is guaranteed it is true it creates in us a godly fear a reverence for God and for his word that he keeps his promises when he says something it is true it is full assurance you can count on it there is no question ever God keeps his word when you can see and I hope to demonstrate it to you through a faithful handling of God's word that the Olivet discourse happens exactly as Jesus predicted it then it demonstrates something about Jesus character he is the Holy One of Israel He is God in the flesh he knows the future and his promises can be trusted this is where watch this goes from okay unpack the text to application here's what I want you to get from this study as we do it not to create a bunch of people who are obsessed about end times and eschatology but to faithfully handle God's Word to demonstrate that he is in fact the promised Messiah that he keeps his promises his character can be trusted and when God says in the Olivet discourse that something is going to happen and then it happens exactly on time it means that you and I as his children can listen to his other promises about salvation and know that he keeps his word even on your bad days even on the days where you feel far from God moms on the discouraging days where feels like everything's falling apart he's as faithful to you in the midst of that is he's always been and always will be it's not your faithfulness that determines his faithfulness he is doing something in Street to bring glory to himself and he's brought us into that story with him when he promises to save he saves perfectly when he promises to never leave you you can be assured of that because here's an example of him keeping his promises once again when he promises to care for all your needs you can trust him you see my hope is not to approach this subject of eschatology and end times to create people who are fanatical about eschatology my hope as a minister of the gospel is to point you to the fact that Jesus kept his promise and that we ought to all fall before him with reverence godly fear because he is the one who was seated on his throne he is that King that was promised he is ruling over the world today and he keeps all of his promises to you and to me he can be trusted that's my hope as we approach these tests is that we can see that he is the one who was promised and my hope is that creates a boldness in you and I to go out and to testify to the world about this great king and to call them to faith in Him let's pray lord I pray that as we talked today about laying foundations that we would meditate on these things think about them and that Lord as we approach the Olivet discourse we would gain understanding not just of this little section I pray that we gain understanding a better understanding of your whole story the words that you have promised long before I do ask the you please to help me Lord to be faithful as a pastor to Lord handle your words carefully and to apply them in a way that blesses encourages and equips your people I do pray that Lord at the end of this section that our reverence for you are all before you will increase and our love for Jesus will increase I do also pray for boldness after we finish this section that you would create within us a boldness about you and your word in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 40,390

Rating: 4.8228631 out of 5

Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia studios, the end of the world, rapture video, great tribulation, great tribulation debate, end times video, are we living in the end times, 7-years of tribulation, left behind, israel and the last days, postmillennialism, kenneth gentry, r.c. sproul last days, are we living in the last days, world war 3, end times proof, proof we are living in the last days

Id: brOMZgRLUlk

Length: 66min 30sec (3990 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 13 2019