April 10, 2016 Worship the Lord your God.

Matthew 24: The Olivet Discourse

Examine: Our focus verse is verse thirty and this would lead us to think that this chapter is about the final judgment. But when we look at some parallel accounts and keep our study in context we see Jesus is talking about AD 70, when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. 1) I believe the entire chapter foretells the destruction of Jerusalem, based first upon the setting leading up to the discourse, which includes… a) Jesus’ words spoken in the temple 1) His parable about Israel’s rejection of Him-Mt. 21:28-32, ; 22:1-14 2) His condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees-Mt.23:27f

3) His lamentation over Jerusalem-Mt. 23:37-39 b) Jesus’ prophecy spoken about the temple-Mt. Mt. 24:1-2 c) The questions of the disciples, which Mark and Luke’s account are considered, appear to be: 1) “When will these things be?” 2) “what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?” cf. Mt.24:3; Mk.13:4; Lk. 21:7 2) We see that in verses Jesus describes…. a) What will “not” be the sign (other than the gospel preached to all nations) – Mat. 24:4-14 b) What will be the sign- Mt. 24:15

1) The abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel- Dan. 9: ) Which Luke explains to be Jerusalem surrounded by armies- Lk. 21:20 c) What to do when they saw the sign-Mt. 24: ) Those in Judea were to flee to the mountains. 2) They were not to be misled by false Christ’s or false Prophets.

3) Verses again make it seem like Jesus changes His prophecy and now speak about the end of times but when you read verse 29 closely it is connected with the tribulation and destruction of Jerusalem. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days”.. (vs.29) He speaks about comic disturbances, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, stars will fall from heaven, the heavens will be shaken, the sign of the Son of man coming on the clouds, the elect will be gathered, sounds of the trumpet, angels will be sent. All of this was to be connected to the time of the tribulation and was to occur at the conclusion of the siege of Jerusalem.

a) The events are similar to those used to foretell God’s judgment of other nations. Babylon (Isa. 13:1,6- 13); Egypt (Isa.19:1-2; Ezek. 32:2, 7-9; Tyre (Isa.23:1; 24:21-23); Edom (Isa. 34:4-6); Nineveh (Nah.1:1-5); Israel (Am. 8:9); Judah (Jer. 4:5-6,23-28). b) Like other Jewish prophets, Jesus uses figurative language to depict: 1) The judgment to befall the wicked (in terms of worldwide destruction). 2) The provisions made for the righteous (in terms of the gathering by angels).

Even verse 34 says this “ Truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place”. So again he connects all that He has said with the judgment on Jerusalem. Explain: So what do we see? 1) Christ involved in judgment of His enemies, even His chosen people. (Israel) 2) Christ judging the wicked in the world. He is all powerful and all knowing and will punish the wrong doer. 3) Christ seeing to the protection of His chosen people. (Christians) This occurred approximately 40 years after Christ foretold it.

Experience: Church even as Christ sits at the right hand of God, He is aware and active in the world. Dealing with the rise and fall of nations and the protection of His chosen people even today. Some judgments are locally just as we see in Mat. 24 but a day is coming when it will be a universal (worldwide) inescapable judgment at the Last Day. ( I Thess. 5:2-3; II Thess.1:7-10; II Pet.3:10-12). Are you ready for that Day? In Mt. 24: we find the admonitions for them in those times to be prepared and productive. The admonitions for us to be prepared are very similar. In II Pet. 3:10-14, you will read, “looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.”