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MATTHEW 24a
The Olivet Discourse
Intro: These are the final days of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows it… He has shared this… But, it seems nobody is getting it.
He rides into Jerusalem on Sunday upon a donkey, and is worshipped by some, rejected by others.
On Monday He arrives at the Temple and turns over the tables of the scam artist priests, clearing the way for the lame and blind to enter…
He comes right back on Tuesday and teaches in the Temple. Chuck Smith believes this will the last time Jesus is in His own Temple.
Jesus is thinking of the weakness of the Temple… His Disciples are mesmerized with its strength. Let’s listen in on their conversation….
CHAPTER 24
1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.
· Dr. Luke records the conversation like this: Luke 21:5 (NLT) Some of His disciples began talking about the majestic stonework of the Temple and the memorial decorations on the walls.
· Having visited the Temple sight… I understand their fascination with these amazing stones. There is only one layer of original stones – Just as Jesus prophesied… The stones are the size of school busses!
2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
· This would be like me prophesying that the White House was going to be destroyed…
· It was SO shocking that it will be brought up at His mock trial in a few days.
· Don’t you wonder which of His Disciples leaked that comment to His accusers?
· BTW, Israel’s own historians wrote that after the Temple was torn down some 40 years after Jesus’ prophesy, It was hard to see where the Temple had ever stood – Its devastation was SO complete by the Roman Emperor to be, Titus.
THE OLIVET DISCOURSE
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? (Meaning the destruction of the Temple) And what will be the sign of Your coming, (Meaning, setting up His kingdom) and of the end of the age?" (Meaning the apocalyptic end of the world)
· SO… His Disciples ask Him three intertwined questions, AND Jesus gives them an intertwined answer… It is WHY there has been SO much dispute interpreting His answer…
· They asked:
o 1. When will the Temple be destroyed?
o 2. When will You take over the Government?
o 3. When will the world end?
· It’s like the bracelets that are made by braiding three or four colors together… In the end, what color is the bracelet?
o The Olivet Discourse is an answer to three questions…
o See if you can tell which question Jesus is answering when!
BE NOT DECEIVED
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.
· Jesus knows, AND WE ARE seeing that spiritual deception is a last day’s ploy.
o Cults of all kinds are claiming to have “secret revelation” about the plans of God that DO NOT coincide with the Letter He already wrote!
o The ploy of “Did God really say that?” has been used in and ever since the Garden of Eden!
o The only way to avoid the double speak of deception is to take God at His word… And stand on it!
o 1Corinthians 16:13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
THE DECEPTIONS
False prophets
5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
23 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
· This is an end times prophecy about the deceiving false prophet who will assist the antichrist…
· The Apostle Paul clearly tells of it in 2 Thessalonians 2… Let’s read it
2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, (Miracles) 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
· In THESE days, as in the last days, people will rise in fame claiming to be the answer to all of mankind’s problems… They will want to be adored, admired, and eventually worshipped. DON’T DO IT!
· REV 13 is another reference to this prophecy…
· Already, 100’s of people have made this claim – That they are the returning Messiah… There are even top 10 lists of them… (Don’t waste time looking…)
o BUT… When one comes along doing miracles that aren’t the fake ones you see on TV…. You had better hope you were raptured before then…
o THE False Prophet will be able to call down fire from the sky…
RUMORS OF WAR
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
· Here the Lord is answering the third question – When is the end?
7 For nation will rise against nation, (IE a world war) and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, (Zika? – Which hit our shores this week - Ebola? HIV, AIDS? SARS?) and earthquakes in various places.
· This could be modern day couldn’t it?
· Our Haiti teams deal with ALL of these problems at the same time!
· So – IS Jesus speaking of the present, past or future here? (Who said YES?)
· Does it seem to you like we are having more earthquakes these days? I printed off a list from Earthquake-report.com…
· Our planet is getting shaky!
o Chuck Smith was saying that now just is California we have the Arrowhead fault, the Arroyo fault, Baseline, Baker, Banning, Cabrillo, Chatsworth, Cleghorn, Clark, Clearwater, Copper Mtn, Cucamonga fault…. That’s just the A’s, B’s and C’s. It’s getting to where when an earthquake happens, it’s hard to tell whose fault it is…
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
NOW AS WE SPOKE OF JESUS RETURNS TO PRESENT TENSE
9 "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
· Nancy Pelosi this week… Taking a quote from our President and stealing it said that my demographic struggles with her candidate because of the three “G’s” - GOD – GUNS and GAYS.
· Well, that is pretty blatant, isn’t it? We have been called out for our faith right here in the USA…
o Chuck Smith, back in the 1980’s warned that we should keep our eye on those pushing the “Hate crime” bills. They will be the ones coming after us too someday. Chuck thought that eventually Fundamental Christians would be lumped together with other terrorist groups and be regarded as: Dangerous.
o The interesting thing is that we aren’t haters… We love the world as God did, we just HATE SIN! Especially our own.
HATING ONE ANOTHER
10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
· The Roman’s Historian, Josephus, recorded that in the overthrow of Jerusalem in 70 AD, more Jews were killed by Jews than by Romans.
· That is just heart breaking!
Again V11
11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
· Are we at our coldest as a human race?
· I do not think so… Times will be even worse in the last days – The Great Tribulation Period.
13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
WHAT… DOES THIS… MEAN?
I really like Jon Courson’s commentary on this. He writes:
Matthew 24:13 is not only applicable prophetically but also presently, for in this world, Jesus said we would have tribulations. Our Christian life is a race to be run (Heb_12:1). And that race, dear people, is not a one hundred-meter sprint. It's a marathon.
James repeated this call to endurance in James 5:10 My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
The word “Endure” V13 means- to stay under, remain; figuratively to undergo, bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere: - abide, endure, (take) patient (-ly), suffer, tarry behind.
That WILL be true for the End Times believers, but it is true for us too… If the world is giving us a hard time, that means we are doing something right.
When called upon to suffer for the Lord will we run, or will we endure?
Smith42