Father, we pray that you would make our study this evening profitable. Lord, because you gave us the Bible as a book to understand, so that we might know how to live in the world in which we find ourselves. Lord, you say in Scripture, my people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge. We pray that you would impart us knowledge of the Word of God, but not merely as knowledge, but Lord, as that which would motivate us to seek you with all our hearts, that we might shine as lights in the world, and that you would use that knowledge to stir our hearts to a greater and growing affection for you in Jesus' name, amen. All right, we are looking at Matthew 20. Thank you. I forgot my code. I thought I left it over here. Usually I have to let them dry out after I preach on Sunday morning. Anyhow, Matthew 24. Matthew 24, I believe, divides itself for us clearly into two parts. But once you've said that, there's a part of it that is very unclear and therein lies the difficulty. I think it's very plain as we saw a couple of Sunday mornings ago on December 26th. What's really clear is, in verse 36 of Matthew 24, page 1539, it's very clear we're talking about the second coming of Christ. And the reason I say it's very clear is this. You notice that Jesus talks about the fact that this is a thing that he himself does not know. And when you compare Matthew's account with Mark and Luke's account, it's very plain that Jesus says explicitly that he doesn't know when he's coming back. Only the father knows that and that, of course, takes us for just a moment to the very nature of Jesus. Jesus is fully God and fully human. In his divinity, he cannot be tempted with sin. In his humanity, he can be tempted with sin. Because Jesus, our Lord, was tempted in all points, such as we are, yet without sin. But God can't be tempted with sin. As man, he could die on the cross. But God didn't die on the cross. But he who died on the cross is God. But he didn't die in his divine nature and so on. As God, he never had a beginning. But as man, he had a beginning. As God, he couldn't be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And yet Elizabeth refers to Mary as the mother of my Lord, referring not to the deity but to the humanity of Christ. So just that little statement, and yet it's clear Jesus says in verse 36, no one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the sun. Some Greek manuscripts submitted in Matthew's account, but as you compare the synoptics, it's there. Nor the sun, but only the Father. And as we talk about the second coming of Christ, it's very plain that it isn't something that we can prepare for other than by being a Christian. If you're a Christian, you're okay. If you're not a Christian, you're not okay. And the reason I say that is, you notice, and I pointed this out, there's a say on Sunday morning, December 26, that it isn't something that we have to take action in order to prevent bad things from happening to us when the second coming occurs. Notice so plainly, he says in verse 40, Matthew chapter 24, verse 40, two men will be in the field. One will be taken the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill. One will be taken the other left. It's very obvious that at the time of the second coming, it's not action that you need to take. It's action that you are totally passive about. It's action that's going to be taken with regard to you. You're just there doing what you're supposed to do. Working in the field, grinding at the mill, a man in one case, a woman in the other. You're just doing the business of life. And right there in the middle of the doing the business of life, something happens to you. You're taken. So it's really clear, I say, this portion of what we call the Olivet Discourse. It's called the Olivet Discourse because it refers to the Mount of Olives. And it's where Jesus sat with his disciples privately to explain his comment as they pointed out to him the beautiful temple to explain why he had said not one stone would be left on another. So what I submit to you is that at least from verse 36 on all the way through chapter 25, the end there, Jesus is telling us about his second coming. Now it's also very plain by way of contrast if we look at verse 15 of Matthew 24. It's very plain that he's not talking about his second coming in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 15. He's talking about something else and notice it by way of contrast. He says, so when you see standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes desolation. And as we saw last week, when you compare Matthew's account with Luke's account, if you haven't heard last week's message, you can get it on the internet or you can baritate from the tape library. You can buy one. What do we sell them for? A dollar. You know, we're really into making a lot of money on those dates. So you can buy a tape for a dollar. You can listen to it free on the internet. But it is probably important to listen to that tape as kind of filling out tonight. And also to listen to Sunday morning December 26. And I want you to notice what's really plain here. When you see the abomination of desolation, he tells you to do something. He said, if you don't act, if you don't do this, then bad stuff's going to happen to you. And it's so different, by way, of contrast. And we know what this is when we were in Luke 21. We know this is Jerusalem's surrounded by armies, Luke 21. So he said, when you see standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes desolation, according to Luke's account, Luke 21, as he interprets this for a Gentile audience, he tells them, when you see Jerusalem's surrounded by armies, that's this abomination because the Romans were idolaters. And they carried on staffs, their idols. And so he says, when you see standing in the holy place, spoken off through Daniel the prophet, then notice both Matthew and Mark have this editorial comment because they're writing to readers giving them what Jesus himself had said but Luke doesn't have let the reader understand. There's no reason in Luke because Luke tells us exactly and literally what this abomination is, these armies, he doesn't have this comment, Matthew and Mark do, let the reader understand. Now notice verse 16, and how this contrasts so black and whitely, blackly and whitely, with verse 36, in verse 36, with a second coming of Christ, there's nothing you can prepare for except be ready spiritually, be ready spiritually. But that's not the situation in Matthew chapter 24 verse 16, he says in verse 16, if you don't do something, you're going to be destroyed, look at verse 16, when those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let no one go down on, let no one on the roof of this house go down to take anything out of the house, let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. So you see it's very plain, you have two separate events talked about in Matthew 24, this is why the chapter is confusing. Now it's interesting if you compare these things, Luke chapter 21, not even the whole chapter deals with this olive at discourse, starting at verse 5 and going through verse 38 of Luke 21. So you can see that Luke devotes only 33 verses to this message that Jesus gave to his disciples privately on the Mount of Olives. The entire 13th chapter of the gospel of Mark is devoted to it, but there are only 37 verses in Mark 13. But Matthew gives us by far and away the most extensive account of what Jesus said. Matthew's account, chapter 24 and chapter 25, adds up to 97 verses. So there's much, much more material in Matthew's account than there is to Mark's. You know that shouldn't surprise us, Matthew's account of the life of our Lord is by far and away the largest of the gospels. Matthew's 28 chapters, Mark has 16, Luke has 24, John has 21 chapters. Why does Matthew have so much? Because Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and he site scripture over and over and over again to prove to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. And so he gives the fullest accounting generally of Jesus' messages. My point is this, it's very plain that two events are being talked about. But when you come to Bible scholars or Bible interpreters or radio or TV preachers or even people that get books published, they tend to err on one side or the other. How do they err? Most people who are on the radio and TV today, if they talk about this at all, or most people who write books today, tend to talk only of this as referring to the second coming of Christ. But there's a whole other group of set of people who write about the whole thing as if it doesn't have anything at all to do with the second coming of Christ and that it all refers only to the destruction of Jerusalem and 70 AD. Now you know the trouble with both uses is that they're easy. They're easy to get a handle on. If it's all about the second coming of Christ, then we just simply gloss over everything and put it all in that category. It's all about the second coming of Christ. If on the other hand, it's all about the destruction of Jerusalem and 70 AD. Then we just say, well, this is figurative, this is figurative. It doesn't mean by the way that every interpreter says this refers only to 70 AD that every one of those interpreters denies the second coming of Christ. There are some that do that. By the way, we call that viewpoint that denies the future second coming of Christ, hyper-preterism. Hyper-preterism means that it's a doctrine that says that all Bible prophecy has already been fulfilled. Jesus is not going to come back literally. It's sometimes called hymanianism because one of the heretics that St. Paul warned about was a man named Hymanias who said that the resurrection had already passed. He said his doctrine was like gangrene and ate like gangrene. Hymanianism or hyper-preterism doesn't believe in a second coming of Christ, but not everybody that believes that Matthew 24-25 refers only to events that occurred in the first century is a heretic. What's a heretic? A heretic is somebody that denies one of the basics of Christianity. What's a basic of Christianity? Jesus is going to come again. Somebody that says Jesus isn't going to come again is a heretic and their false teachers and we should be really wary of them. But the minute that you say that Matthew 24-25 talks about two separate but related events separated chronologically perhaps by thousands of years, but yet united in the theme and united in terms of a basic frost, then you've got to try to scratch your way through the passage. I submit to you that anyone who honestly reads Matthew 24-25 has to conclude that two separate events are in view. In the first part of Matthew 24, he's answering the question that is disciples ask him in verse 3, where as Jesus was sitting, Matthew 24-3, as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came in privately. Tell us, they said, when will this happen? What are they talking about? They're talking about what Jesus said in verse 2. Do you see all these things? He said, I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another. Everyone will be thrown down. So they're asking a question, when will these things be? Jesus is answering it. When you read part of Luke's account in to Matthew's account, it's really plain that part of this section is about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. And again, I just want you to keep this in your mind because it's black and white. The one event says, if you're on the roof, jump from roof to roof. Don't go down and get in the streets. Jump from roof to roof. Remember that people in order to stay cool caught the breezes of the city by being on the roof and had a little shelters up there. And just run from roof to roof. Very close, so while he was jump, get out of town. If you're out in the field and you've left something in town, don't go back in the town because terrible destruction's going to come. If you don't do this, Jesus said, you're going to die. But when Jesus comes again, it doesn't make any difference if you're in the field on the rooftop down in the cellar of the house or whatever. You don't have to get out of Alexandria and go out to boys. It doesn't make any difference because when Jesus comes again, it doesn't matter whether you're alive or dead. If you're dead, you're going to come popping up out of the ground in a resurrection body and your spirit that's been with the Lord is going to be reunited with your body. There's nothing you've got to do except be ready. So you see the contrast. I hope does everybody see this contrast. It's really clear to me as I've worked through this and I've tried to read this in Greek over and over and over again in part of a review for myself for this. It's just black and white. The one event, something you could see and it says, when you see this happen, then you better prepare and you better do this and do this and if you don't do it, you're going to die. The other event, hey, I don't even know when it's going to happen, says Jesus. Just always be ready. And there's nothing you've got to do. Just be ready. Because if you're ready, whether you're grinding at the mill or whether you're out in the field plowing, you're going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Any comments or questions on that before I press further? If we can mark clearly the two events, we're in pretty good shape to understand. Now, if you look at Matthew 2436, it's really plain that it's the second coming that's in view. No one knows about that day or hour. Not even the angels in heaven or the sun but only the Father as it was in the days of Noah. A lot of people said, well, what was it like in Noah's days? Well, there was violence in the earth and you had the sons of God co-abiding with the daughters of men and there was this and there was that. But Jesus doesn't say as it was in the days of Noah that it's going to be in days like that. That's not what he says. That's to cut short what Jesus says because Jesus doesn't say that. He doesn't say that when you see Noah like days, then know that Jesus is about to return. That's not what he says. Notice what he says. He says as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In what way? Here it is. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking. Is this gourmet, having gourmet restaurants? Is this the prophecy of the creation of the bistro on the bayou? And having the gourmet channel, the food channel on TV where you watch what's his name. My wife hates that. She watches these home decorating things. Actually, I didn't watch them. She has a TV on it. It works on her computer. I hate to have television on. I get distracted by it. Give me loud music to blare everything out. But I have played Flip the Channel, and I've caught that guy to just kick it up. Emerald, you know? Is this a prophecy that when you see Emerald and other gourmets, it's not that. He's not talking about excessive eating or public drunkenness here. He's talking about ordinary life. They're eating and drinking. And that's very plain because notice it's not what? Marrying and giving and marriage. It's not a time. He's not prophesying Elizabeth Taylor with. Well, how many husbands did she have legally? Six. He's not prophesying, you know, rapid marriage divorce, marriage divorce, marriage divorce. That's not it. What he's obviously talking about here is the state of mind of the people who were destroyed. Not their terrible way they were living. It's just ordinary life. Eating, drinking, marrying, giving and marriage, ordinary life. What's the key to understanding what he's saying is right here. Up to the day Noah entered the ark and they knew nothing. If you really want to understand Jesus' point in your mind, at least, or maybe in your Bible's underscore those words and knew nothing. That's Jesus' point. How is the second coming of Christ going to be like it was in today's Noah? People won't know anything until it happens. You see, in Noah's day, the pagans didn't know. Noah had a special word from the Lord. Look, how am I going to wipe out the earth? You better prepare an ark. Now God has told us to prepare our hearts to be ready for His coming. But the point is the world around us has no warning. That's how it is in Noah's day. No warning until it happens. It says, and they knew nothing about what would happen to the flood came and took them away. That's how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. You see, his point is it's not that the days near the second coming are going to be just like it was in the days of Noah. It's that it's going to happen with just that lack of warning and that suddenness and people will be shocked. That's how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Notice again, verse 40. The key verse, two men will be out in the field. The point is, neither guy was expecting that Jesus is coming. Neither guy is waiting for the rapture to happen. And he doesn't want you to wait for the rapture to happen. He wants you to get out there and do your job. If your farmer gets out in the field, if your job is to prepare food and grind grain so that you can make meal and make flour for baking bread, that's what you're to be doing. Because right in the middle of it without any warning at all, one's taken, one's left. One's taken, one's left. You see, that's the way it is. Now notice something else here, verse 42. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know what day your Lord will come. Understand this. The owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming. He would have kept watch, would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready because the son of man will come at an hour. Is he talking to Christians? He's talking to the inner group here. They've asked him privately, tell us about all this stuff. And he says, you, he says, you also must be ready because the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. You see again, there's no preparation other than having a good heart. Having your heart right with the Lord, living for the Lord, doing your job. Grinding, working in the field, just be ready. He's going to come when you don't think he's coming. You think he's coming tonight? How many people expect Christ to return about sunrise tomorrow? Well, he's going to come at a time he's thinking, nah. Now then go on here. Who then is the faithful and why I serve? And he goes on, he talks about good stewardship, you do what God has told you to do. Now once you notice, verse 48, but suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, my master is staying away a long time. I want you to notice again a contrast in the first part of Matthew 24 which talks about events that were going to happen in the lifetime of the people that were listening to Jesus. And here, throughout this section, the last half of Matthew 24 and all of 25, there's this hint that it isn't going to happen very soon. It's going to happen when you don't expect it. It's going to happen at a time when people say, well, man, he's sure it's going to come now, because he's been waiting an awful long time. Notice that again. Notice what happens. Verse 48, suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, my master is staying away a long time. A long time. And he begins to beat his fellow servants to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and an hour he is not aware he will cutting to pieces, assigning a place with hypocrites where there will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now notice chapter 25. And again, the Bible was written with chapters and verses. So 24 and 25 are all part of one big unit, the Olivet Discourse, 97 verses that deal with Matthew's account of what Jesus told his disciples privately as he sat there. So he gives the parable of the 10 versions, 10 smart versions, a five smart versions or wise versions, five foolish versions. The foolish versions, excuse me, the foolish versions do not bring extra oil with them. Why didn't he get extra oil? Because there might be delay. They were never in scouts. They were not prepared. You know, if the bridegroom came quickly, you wouldn't need the extra oil. The wise versions are prepared for the long haul. They got extra oil. And what happens? Let's notice again this theme of delay. Verse 5. The bridegroom was what? A long time coming. There's a hint you see that runs throughout these parables that Jesus gives about a second coming of delay. The bridegroom is a long time coming. Everybody gets sleepy. Everybody doses off to sleep. And all of a sudden, at midnight, verse 6, the cry rang out. Here's the bridegroom come out to meet, and then all the versions woke up and trimmed their lamps to foolish ones said to the wise, give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out. No, we don't, if we give to you, we're not going to have enough for ourselves. You go by. So the head out in the middle of the night to try to find somebody to sell them some oil. But what happens is, in verse 10, while they're going out on their way to buy the oil from rats, the versions who were ready went in with him to the wedding band quit. The door was shut. Then he tells another parable. Verse 14. Oh, oh, I need to, again, notice what he tells. He says there, verse 12, verse 13, therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day the hour. See, it's liable to be in the year 2005. Well, that's an awful long time from 30 A.D. when Jesus was giving these words. 38 A.G. Jesus is telling him, look, this generation isn't going to pass away till they see the city of Jerusalem and this beautiful temple knocked down so not one stone's left on another. But in terms of that day and hour, the coming of the Son of Man, it's going to be a long time possibly. It may come quickly, maybe long time. I don't even know myself, see. I don't even know myself. Maybe real soon, maybe a long time off. You don't know, how do you not know? Because I don't know, he says. I don't know. I don't even know, he says, how are you going to know? Just be ready. Just do your job the way you're supposed to do it. You know, eight to five. Well, no longer five and a half days a week. That ended after I got out of high school. Five and a half, five days a week. Do your job. Do your job. But do it as a Christian. Do it with a heart that's right for God. Do it ready, because right in the middle of doing your job, when you think, boy, sure it's taken a long time, that's what he's going to come. Again, verse 13, therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day, the hour. So then he tells them the parable of the talents. Look at verse 14. Matthew 25, verse 14. Again, it'll be like a man going on a journey. You called it servants and entrusted the property to them. To one he gave five talents of money. That's a lot of money. To another two talents to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. Then he went on his journey. Now, verse 19, let's look at that. After what? After a long time. After a long time. Hold your hand there and turn over to second Peter chapter three. Because we're going to go right back to Matthew. Second Peter chapter three. Listen to what he says there. People in Peter's day were concerned about what was going on the day of the Lord. He says this to him. And he says in verse three. Second Peter chapter three. Starting verse three. Page 1896. First of all, you must understand that in the last day, scoffers will come. Scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, where is this promise, this coming he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as as since the beginning creation. Verse five. But they deliberately forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens existed, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, and by these waters, also the world of that time was delusional and destroyed. By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends, where the Lord today is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. The Lord is not slowing keeping his promises, some understand slowness. He's patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come, like a thief, the heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed with by fire and the earth and everything, and will be laid there. What's he saying? Well, Peter's dealing with the same basic problem. Peter is writing some 30 years, perhaps 35, 36 years, from the time that Jesus gave this teaching on the Mount of Olives, and Peter's having to deal with people saying, look, we've been told about Jesus' second coming, ever since Daddy died. I remember Daddy saying, Jesus is going to come. Jesus is going to come. Now, my daddy's dead. And he's been dead for some 20 years. And Jesus hasn't come yet. And Peter's probably writing around 64, 65 AD. And he's saying, look, the Lord in the Lord's eyes, a day is like 1,000 years. And 1,000 years like a day. And is he delaying? Is he slow to keep his promise? No, he's slow to send people to hell. That's what he says. He's slow to send people to hell. Look at what he says. He says explicitly in verse 9, he's patient with you. Not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. It's because of God's desire that people turn from their sins and come to him that he's holding back the judgment. Because the second coming of Christ, which for us is a wonderful event, and we pray with the Apostle John at the end of the book of Revelation, even so come Lord Jesus. Isn't really a great thing. It's a horrible thing. If you're not a Christian, it's the worst thing in the world, because it's the end of today. See, today is the day of salvation. Now is the day of opportunity. But when Jesus comes again, if you're not a Christian, it's all over. There's no second chance. It's all over. Listen, I want Jesus to come, but you gotta understand what Peter says here. Lord, the second coming of Christ is a horrible thing. Verse 10. The day of the Lord will come like a thief. See, unexpectedly. The heavens will what? Listen to this. The heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it be laid there. That's awful. It's not awful for me because before that happens, I'm gonna be taken off the planet and so will you. But for those that are left behind, as Christ presses his return to the planet, it's gonna be awful. I mean, you know, we're all grieving over what happened two weeks ago with the tsunami. And now they're saying 140,000, all of a sudden, 144,000. 140,000 people have died, and now many more will die of disease. I don't know. And we don't have any accurate counts. Other nations of the world, except for a few aren't like us. They don't keep records of everybody. Who knows how many people died? I want to tell you, though, that's dwarfed when we think of the second coming, because when Christ comes, this world is gonna be... It's gonna be reshaped. You know, remember that God destroyed the world and Peter makes reference to it, once by water. And when people say, everything's going on for Peter chapter three. Everything continues on as it's been since the beginning of the creation. You see, in verse four, they deliberately forget, verse five. God destroyed the world with a flood of water, but God gave the rainbow as a covenant, token, promising Noah. He would never destroy the world again. Is that what he promised? He didn't promise that. He promised he would never destroy the world again by water. But God is gonna destroy the world by a flood of fire. And it's gonna be so hot that the very elements are going their molecular structure of our universe is going to be radically altered. It's gonna be that hot. Wow! So when you say, oh, it's great, the second coming of Christ. Well, it's great for you. But what about for that unsaved loved one? What about for that parent or that child or that brother or sister or cousin you prayed for? Christ comes again, it's all over. See, so there is delay, says Peter. There is delay. So now, just keeping second Peter three in mind, let's go back to Matthew chapter 25. And you see, the second coming of Christ in these parables, in most of the parables that Jesus gives in Matthew 24 and in Matthew 24 and 25 there's that hint of delay. So we've seen that hint of delay, what? We've seen that hint of delay in the parable of the wise and foolish versions. Virgins, Matthew 25, one through 11. You see, the bridegroom delays. It's in the parable of the talents, isn't it? Yes, verse 19. After a long time, the master of those servants returned. And so then there's this horrible, horrible judgment. And then the final parable is the parable, the sheep and the goats. And it's just saying that when he returns, there are two destinies that have been prepared, Greek perfect tense. For those who have been blessed, Greek perfect tense, they go to the place that's been prepared from them for eternity. For those who have been cursed, perfect tense. They go to the place that has been prepared not for them, but for the devil and his angels. Hell was not built for man. Hell was built for Satan and his angels. Look at that, by the way, that's an interesting thought. If you look there, Matthew 25, just in passing, he says, verse 41, page 1542, Matthew 25, 41, then he will say to those who has left the part for me, you who are cursed, the Greek grammar there is the Greek perfect tense. You who have been cursed with the result that that curse continues, you who have been cursed into the eternal fire that has been prepared for who. Hell was not prepared for men. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Men go there who decline the second chance of salvation.
Got your attention? Everybody gets the second chance. The gospel is the second chance. The first chance is do the best you can. Did you know what? Nobody does the best you can. For all of sin to come short of the glory of God. So everybody needs the second chance because everybody messes up. Everybody comes short. Everybody fails. Everybody sends. Nobody lives up to the light that he has of Romans 2. Even though we have God's moral law written on our hearts, we don't live up to that light. So God gives a second chance. And the second chance is for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son, the gospel, that second chance. And God is delaying the second coming of his son because he wants people to repent and come to Christ. Okay, now we've looked at the last half of Matthew 24. And all of 25, and I think it's very plain that it's about the second coming of Christ. There's a delay. The only thing you can do to be ready is to live right for the Lord, to have your heart right. There's no sign that you're going to look at and say, oh man, I better get out of Alexandria and go to Memu. There's nothing to do like that. There's no escape like that. It doesn't need to be because one will be taken, one will be left. Very plain, this part. And I think the other part is very plain, but now let's look at the difficult part. And this is where we will find that we have some difficulty, and we'll see how far we get into it. Matthew 24, we've already talked about the figure of speech that's used here. In Matthew 15 through Matthew 28, I believe that Jesus is talking about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem that literally and actually occurred at the end of the Jewish revolt against the Romans that began in 66 AD and climaxed in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and their temple in 70 AD. Now the second coming is mentioned here, but only by way of contrast. Let's look at it right here. Verse 26. So if anyone tells you, see he's warning them about false prophets, false Christ and Josephus, then we talked about last week, said that at the time that this is going on, there were false Messiahs and false prophets who told him, God is on our side, we're going to win. Don't worry about these Romans, and they were all wrong, and that's why so many people were killed. So Jesus says in verse 26, so if anyone tells you there he is out in the desert, do not go out, or here he is in the interooms, do not believe it. So now he introduces his second coming, but not to deal with the second coming, but simply to show them by way of contrast that once Jesus would lead this earth, that when he would return, everybody would know it. This is what he says, verse 27. When you hear of Son Young Moon as a new Messiah, or a Jim Jones, or some other cult figure who tells you that he's the embodiment of Christ, that he is Christ return, you know that's not so, says Jesus, because when I leave planet earth as I'm about to do in just a matter of days, you won't ever see me physically again till everybody sees me. Look at what he says. For as lightning that comes from east is visible even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Is he dealing with the second coming there? No, he's simply mentioning it by way of contrast. The topic he's on in this part of this message is the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. So he's saying when somebody says to you, you know, when this happens by the way Jesus is saying, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, when all this terrible stuff begins to happen to you, when you see the sign that I foretold and get out of town, but when somebody says, look, the Messiah is over here, let's go out and see him, or let's go out and visit here, or let's go to this building, or he's in the inner room over here. You know that's not so because when I come again, everybody will know about it. It's going to be as visible and climactic as lightning that shines all the way across the sky. Everybody sees it, it's that visible. But notice, he mentions the second coming, but that's not the subject he's dealing with. The subject that he's dealing with is the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, that did occur, occur literally actually in the year 70 AD. Now he goes on, wherever there's a carcass, there will the eagles gather, the word for eagle there, as also can be translated, buzzered. So, you know, if we were writing about America and our national symbol, perhaps Benjamin Franklin was right after all. You know, Benjamin Franklin back in the 18th century suggested that our national symbol ought to be a turkey, a turkey buzzer tag ass. Maybe he was closer because the words are indistinguishable in Greek. It's a buzzered, it's an eagle, kind of interesting. The Romans worshipped their eagles. He's simply saying this rotten corpse of a religious version of Old Testament religion that does not embrace the Messiah and humility is a rotten corpse. And the carrion are coming into feed on it, symbolized in the eagles on the staffs of the Roman soldiers. But now notice he says to us what's so difficult, verse 29, it's difficult for us to understand because of the very nature of the language, immediately after the distress of those days. Now what's he saying here? This isn't after the second coming of Christ. It's after the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. Notice he says it's going to happen immediately. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light. And the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. You've got a little footnote there, don't you? In the few Bibles, footnote A. Can anybody get trifocals like me? Can find that A. What does that A refer to? Got two references there, don't we? We looked at them last week. Let's turn to them. Isaiah 13, 10. Just again, Isaiah 13, 10. What does it say? This is a quote. The stars of heaven, page 10, 79. The stars of heaven, their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be dark, and the moon will not give its light. What's this about? Sounds fierce and it sounds like the end of the world, and it sounds like the language of 2 Peter 3. But it falls short of that. What's it referring to? I'll punish the world, verse 11. For it's evil, the wicked, for their sins. I'll put an end to the arrogance of the hottie, and we'll humble the pride of the ruthless. I'll make man scarced of the pure gold. More rare than the gold of oath, or therefore I'll make the heaven strumble in the earth, or shake from its place, at the wrath of the Lord Almighty in the day of his burning. Well, this is awful, isn't it? Sounds like the end of the world. But what is it all about? Well, look at verse 1 of Isaiah 3. What 13? What does Isaiah 131 tell us about this that we're reading? Who's this about? An article concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amos saw. And then let's look at verse 17. This fearsome language that sounds to us like the end of the world is actually about an historical event that occurred in the year 539 BC when Cyrus the Persian accompanied by derias the need, the meadow Persian Empire, conquered the city of Babylon. It's all written about in the book of Daniel. That's the night of Belch Shazr's feast when they saw the handwriting on the wall. That's when many, many tickled the person.
Did you ever hear that? Somebody was preaching, got caught up and said, they were having this drunken feast and they called for the gold vessels that had been in the temple they were drinking. And right in the middle of the feast, many, many were in over there and tickled the person. And yeah, sorry, many, many, tackle Oofarson. You've been weighed in the scales and found wanting. And what happens is this very night, the kingdom is going to be taken from you. And it was 539 BC. Literally, the kingdom of Babylon fell, the Persians took over. And that's exactly what he's saying. Cyrus the Persian, derias the need, they come. See, I will stir up against them the needs who do not care for silver, have no delight in gold. Their bows will strike down the young men. They will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children. Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of Babylonians, probably overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. Some of this doesn't happen until centuries later. But on that night, what happened to Babylon? On that night, Babylon was eclipsed. She went into her dark ages until that time she had ruled the world through her knowledge through enlightenment. All false religion in the world comes out of Babylon. Because Babylon is the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. All religious systems in this world are Babylonian, if they're not biblical. I want to introduce to you, and this kind of takes us in a middle section. But it's important to understand that I don't want to go on too long. We're near the end. But I want to introduce it again, the sense of what is apocalyptic language? What is apocalyptic language? Let's turn over one chapter in Isaiah from 13, because Isaiah 13 describes the literal actual fall of the neo-Babolonian empire in the year 539 BC. But it does so very graphically in the sense of the falling of stars and the sun and moon not giving their life. And there's a reason why they do that, and I just want to say it in passing down later on in much more depth. The reason they do that is that every single judgment that occurs in history, this side of the second coming of Christ, is part of the second coming of Christ's judgment in that they are signposts of it. Let me see if I can illustrate as you turn over to Isaiah 14. Here's what I mean. On the 14th day of Nissan in the year 1446 BC, the Jewish people in the land of Egypt, every one of them, took a lamb that they had been watching for several days to make sure it was a pure and spotless lamb. And on that night, they slit that lamb's throat, caught its blood, took that blood in a little basin, went to the doorpost to their house, and with his splattered that blood on the top and the sides of the door. And that night, they ate that lamb, they roasted that lamb and they ate it. And what I want to say is that every one of those past gold lambs, and every Passover lamb from that time on until Christ was crucified, really in essence was a part of Christ. Think about it. When we take to Lord Supper and we eat the bread, there's a contact point there with us in Christ. And what I'm saying is that every one of those Passover lambs is a contact point with Christ, our Passover lamb, who was sacrificed for us. In the same way, in a negative sense, every cataclysmic judgment of God in history is a contact point with those people. And the ultimate destruction of the world that's going to come in the future literally and absolutely and graphically, as Peter describes it, to the point that the very molecules that make up our material universe are going to be superheated. But every one of these judgments is a signpost, a foreshadowing and a contact point with it, just saying that and passing. Now I want to introduce for next week a little more in depth understanding of what apocalypticism is and how it works. Isaiah 14, I want you to just see this real fast, Isaiah 14, one chapter over. This is a prophecy about the king of Babylon. Look at Isaiah 14, verse 3, Isaiah 14, verse 3, page 1080. On the day the Lord gives you relief from suffering and turmoil and cruel bondage, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon. Now this is all about a literal king of Babylon. And we see that, we go right through. You know this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened. Now look at verse 12, Isaiah 14, verse 12, how have you fallen from heaven, old morning star son of the dom? You've been cast down to the earth. You once laid low the nations. You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven. I'll raise my throne above the stars of God. Was that the king of Babylon? No, that's not the king of Babylon, that's somebody else. Who do you think that is? Satan, that's exactly right. Hold your hand there and turn over to Zechial 28. You'll see the same thing. And it's even clearer there. Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel chapter 28, this is how this stuff works. And this is laying the foundation to really understanding this confusing part, the middle section of Matthew 24. Ezekiel chapter 28, page 1329. Ezekiel chapter 28, verse two, son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre. Who's he talking about? He's talking about a literal earthly king. Isaiah 28, too, a literal earthly king, the king of Tyre. And he says this, he's, he's talking about this guy said in the pride of your heart, you say I'm a God. Remember kings in the ancient world, believe what politicians would like to believe today. But you're a man, not a God, though you think you're as wise as God. Are you wizards and Daniel? Is no secret hidden from you? Blah, blah, blah. He goes on and on and on. He says, you know, verse six. Here's what the sovereign Lord says. You think you're wise. You as wise as a God. Not a, not a, not so long. And then notice what happens? Turn to page page 1330. The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him, this is what the sovereign Lord says. Now notice what follows here in verse 12. It's no longer about the king of Tyre, but it is about the king of Tyre. But it isn't about the king of Tyre. And that's the very nature of this kind of stuff in scripture. It is about the king of Tyre. And it isn't about the king of Tyre. And we're going to see how it isn't. You were the model of perfection. Is he talking about the king of Tyre? Was he the model of perfection? No. Full of wisdom and perfect and beauty. Verse 13. You were in Eden. The Garden of God was the king of Tyre who lived in, in Ezekiel's day in the, in the seventh century before Christ. Was he ever in the Garden of Eden? No, of course not. You were in Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you. Ruby, Topes, Emerald, Chrysalod, Onyx, Jasper, Sapphire, Turcois, Burrell. Your settings and mountains were made of gold. As the day you were created, they were prepared. Verse 14. You were the, anointed as a guardian cherub. So I'd danger you on the holy mount of God. You walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your way from the day you were created to wickedness was found in you. Was the king of Tyre ever blameless? Was he ever thinless? No. Well, the person being talked about here was blameless and thinless till he fell from grace, till he fell from glory. And the person being talked about here is not a human being. He's a guardian cherub. Now what is this all about? What is this all about? It's very confusing. I'm going to give you in, before 7 o'clock, we'll be out at 7. I'm going to give you to see clearly what this is all about. Turn with me if you will to 2 Kings, chapter 6. 2 Kings, chapter 6. Page 579. Page 579. He lost his in big trouble. His servant is terrified. Verse 15. 2 Kings 6, 15. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning and army with horses and cherics, heads around to the city. Oh my Lord, what should we do, the servant? Ask. Servant upset. Wouldn't you be? It's just you and the lone ranger, huh? Man, we're in big trouble. We're in big trouble. What are we going to do? Listen to what Elisha says to him, verse 16. Don't be afraid to profit answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with him. What do you mean? What do you mean more with us? It's you and me. And they've got armies all around us. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Don't tell me. What do you mean more with us than with them? Look at what he says. Verse 17. Elisha prayed. Oh Lord, open his eyes so we may see. Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and cherished the fire all around Elisha. When Elisha prayed, did those cherites come into existence? No, they were there already. Elisha with the eye, faith, realized that he was constantly surrounded by supernatural forces protecting him, the angel of the Lord and camps around those of him. So what is an apocalypse? An apocalypse is exactly what we have here in a literal way. An apocalypse means comes from the Greek word apocalyptic, which means to unveil. The veil that's over the statue that's about to be dedicated on the day of dedication. They pull the big canvas off and you see what's behind the veil, what's under the curtain. What's an apocalypse? An apocalypse is designed to open your eyes to see what's really going on in the world. What's really going on in the world is not being decided in the Pentagon and the White House, nor is it being decided in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, nor is it being decided in Baghdad, nor is it being decided in Belgium. It isn't the trial- lateral commission to council on foreign relations of the builder burgers that are deciding the destiny of this world, much less than the knighted politicians that we elect. But it isn't the money people in New York or the culture leaders of Hollywood. What does an apocalypse do? It pulls the curtain back and lets you see who the string pullers are. There is a conspiracy, dear ones. Things are fitting into a plan, a cosmic plan. But it isn't a plan that's being hatched out in some smoke-filled room in the Ritz Carlton hotel in Washington, DC. The curtain is pulled back and we see something. What we see in Isaiah 14 when the curtain is pulled back is that the king of Babylon is being manipulated and worked on by Satan himself. And so the satanic, demonic destruction that the king of Babylon reeks on the city of Jerusalem when he destroys the city of Jerusalem in 586 BC and not one stone is left standing on another when the first temple is destroyed. And the way the Babylonian armies went and grabbed little Jewish babies by the heels and slammed their heads up against the walls. And the Jewish people wrote about this in the lamentation in Psalm 137 by the waters of Babylon. We sat down when our tormentors demanded a song from us. That violent anti-Semitism that was perpetuated on the Jews by the king of Babylon, he was being manipulated. An apocalypse pulls back the curtain and lets us see who's pulling the strings. Who's the real Godfather? Where is Beto Corleone, you see? Who is the Godfather? Who's pulling the strings? Why is this happening? Why this violence? Why this rage? Why are the incompetence and ineptitude and impotence of political leaders at times? It's not just predestination, that's an answer to, but there's something else that works. And what an apocalypse does is pulls the curtain back and lets us see. So in what? In Isaiah 14, it's the king of Babylon, but the curtain is pulled back and suddenly the spotlight shifts from off the face of the literal earthly king of Babylon to Satan himself behind the scenes. Raging our ancient foes to seek to work as well. And in Ezekiel 28, the spotlight shines on the king of Tyre, a literal earthly king, but suddenly in the midst of that, just like in a Broadway play, the spotlights on the actor here, but suddenly the curtain is pulled back and the spotlight swivels from this guy back to this one. And behind the scenes, behind the king of Tyre is that once magnificent, anointed cherub who surrounded the very throne of God and he strutted up and down in the garden of Eden, Satan himself. And the same thing is true in a certain sense, as we look at the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The reason why it's confusing to us in a way is that it did actually happen 1900 plus years ago. It really did happen, but in an apocalyptic way we're able to pull back the curtain and see that it's part of a bigger picture. It's part of an ultimate destruction of the world that's coming, and every terrible event is a signpost of that. And so what happens then is, as in Isaiah 13, this graphic language that speaks of the fall of the city of Babylon to the Meads and Persians is a language that allows us to connect it with the end of the world. And it means that their civilization now comes into an eclipse. So what is Jesus saying, turning back and we end where we ended last week in Luke 21, but having tried to fill in the gaps. What Jesus is saying to us in the Olivet Discourse about the fate of the Jewish people, Luke 21, he says there, verse 25, 26, 27, page 16, 36, the fall of the city of Jerusalem would immediately be followed, not by a temporary exile as it had been in the year 5, 86 BC, where 70 years later they're back in their homeland with a rebuilt temple, but this time there is going to be a long period of Gentile domination over the Jewish people that will stretch out over time for a very long time. And what he's saying is, in verse 24, they will fall by the sword, will be taken as prisoners to all the nations, Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles of the time of the Gentiles who are fulfilled, and in verse 25, that's described apocalypticly as a long period of Jewish dark ages that extends down through time. But maybe just maybe we're at the end of that period of time, as Jewish people once again lived in the promised land, but not yet in possession of the key piece of real estate, the Temple Mount, we'll take it up next week, let's pray. Lord, we pray as we try to understand a difficult portion of Scripture that we will keep in mind at least the two walls of this strange piece of real estate to us. The one cliff wall clearly talks about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem that has already happened, and the other cliff wall that's so clear is that we are headed toward something the second coming of Christ that hasn't yet occurred. But as we're in between these two cliffs, some of this is difficult to understand. We pray as we look again next week, perhaps for the last time at it, that you will give us insight how we can pick this apart and have a sense of an understanding of the layout of this terrain clearly in Jesus' name, Amen.