Posted on 09/05/2017 11:02:52 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.(Matthew 24:1-4)
Matthew 24 is the definitive account of Jesus’ teaching on the end of days, the destruction of the Jewish State, and the judgment coming on the whole world at the end of time.
As attention is increasingly being turned to these subjects and to this chapter of scripture, it would be fitting to take into consideration the larger context of the teaching of Matthew 24, and consider all else in the light if it.
There are several things to consider in order to bring this chapter into proper perspective and enhance our understanding of this vital teaching of Jesus our LORD.I will list what factors I know and am open to consider any others;
* First we must consider the timing of the arrival of Jesus and John the Baptist on the scene of world history and Salvation history.
*Secondly we must remember that the sermon in Matthew 24 came in the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
*Thirdly we must remember that it was given at the Passover feast, and take into consideration the 118th Psalm which was considered a Passover Hymn as part of the Hallel (The Praise, Psalm 113-118).
*We must also take into account the curious miracle of the fig tree and the pronouncement about the “Mountain which shall be thrown into the Sea”.
*Finally , we must remember that Matthew 24 comes on the heels of the scathing prophetic denunciation of the nation of Israel in Matthew 23, sand especially the final two pronouncements, that the “house is left desolate” and that the nation would never see him again until they confessed, Baruch, Haba, b’Shem ADONAI.
We will look at the first of these, in this article.
When did the LORD send Jesus and John the Baptist into History? Paul tells us that it was in the “fulness of time” , that God sent us his Son. The Prophet Malachi warned that “Elijah the Prophet’ (i.e. John the Baptist) would arrive before the “great and terrible Day of the LORD”.
History tells us that Jesus and John the Baptist arrived almost forty years before the execution of the greatest and most severe judgment which ever fell upon the Jewish people. It is a judgment so devastating and severe that the Jewish nation has yet to recover from it’s blow.
In 70 Ad Roman Legions surrounded jerusalem, built ramparts and siege works, subjected the Holy city to a devastating siege in which the inhabitants of the city were forced to eat after birth and women even ate their children!
Among the residents of the region beyond Jordan was a woman called Mary, daughter of Eleazar, of the village of Bethezuba (the name means “House of Hyssop”). She was well off, and of good family, and had fled to Jerusalem with her relatives, where she became involved with the siege. Most of the property she had packed up and brought with her from Peraea had been plundered by the tyrants [Simon and John, leaders of the Jewish war-effort], and the rest of her treasure, together with such foods as she had been able to procure, was being carried by their henchmen in their daily raids. In her bitter resentment the poor woman cursed and abused these extortioners, and this incensed them against her. However, no one put her to death either from exasperation or pity. She grew weary of trying to find food for her kinsfolk. In any case, it was by now impossible to get any, wherever you tried. Famine gnawed at her vitals, and the fire of rage was ever fiercer than famine. So, driven by fury and want, she committed a crime against nature. Seizing her child, an infant at the breast, she cried, “My poor baby, why should I keep you alive in this world of war and famine? Even if we live till the Romans come, they will make slaves of us; and anyway, hunger will get us before slavery does; and the rebels are crueler than both. Come, be food for me, and an avenging fury to the rebels, and a tale of cold horror to the world to complete the monstrous agony of the Jews.” With these words she killed her son, roasted the body, swallowed half of it, and stored the rest in a safe place. But the rebels were on her at once, smelling roasted meat, and threatening to kill her instantly if she did not produce it. She assured them she had saved them a share, and revealed the remains of her child. Seized with horror and stupefaction, they stood paralyzed at the sight. But she said, “This is my own child, and my own handiwork. Eat, for I have eaten already. Do not show yourselves weaker than a woman, or more pitiful than a mother. But if you have pious scruples, and shrink away from human sacrifice, then what I have eaten can count as your share, and I will eat what is left as well.” At that they slunk away, trembling, not daring to eat, although they were reluctant to yield even this food to the mother. The whole city soon rang with the abomination. When people heard of it, they shuddered, as though they had done it themselves.( From Josephus )
Moses predicted such horrors would come upon the Holy people, as a result of unrepentant idolatry;
The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book( Deuteronomy 28:56-58)
Five centuries before the siege, the prophet Jeremiah predicted such horrors would befall the unrepentant people;
“The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.”Jeremiah 7:30, 31
“I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters and they will eat one another’s flesh during the stress of the siege imposed on them by the enemies who seek their lives.” Jeremiah 19:9
“Look Oh Lord and consider: Whom have you treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for?” Lamentations 2:20
“With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed.”(Lamentations 4:10)
Jesus and John the Baptist were sent to the last generation before these horrors happened. This gives new light to the urgency of their message, and the Jeremiad passion of their preaching that men should repent.
Jesus knew that the very children he was blessing and who praised and followed him, would be adults in those dreadful days. Many would be slain and the vast majority of the others enslaved, (the slave markets of the whole world were glutted with Jewish slaves after Seventy Ad), the temple would be destroyed and the Jewish state would be dissolved, scattered to the ends of the earth and remain so, (Dead but in kept in State) until the very last of the last days.
Jesus and John the Baptist were “Last days” preachers to their generation, a generation which had no idea the horrors which were about to befall them and were unprepared spiritually and in any other way.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
During the ceremony for the fallen, while Billy Graham was speaking and preached the Gospel, one of the commentators mentioned that the broadcast was being beamed to every nation of the world, in a first. And Ingtar pondered these things in his heart.
So the “end of the world” (as translated in english) was really referring to what happened in 70 AD
I have to admit that one thing that throws me is where, in the OT the phrase “for the time is short” is used. Way back in the day I used to apply the ol “A day is as a thousand years...” thinking but, as I study scripture more and more, I realize that this is human language making a warning to human beings.
So “the time is short” meant what it said, in human terms. It means that anything it was referring to is not something we should still be waiting for to happen over two thousand years later. He was talking about something that happened soon after the words were penned.
Paul did always seem to be talking as though the “end of the world” was upon them. And in a real sense, it was. This is why he said “don’t get married” at that time. It would be like getting married in Warsaw in Summer of 1939.
I don’t agree entirely...
*The end of the World is The end of the Age...
*70 Ad is only a type and shadow of the end of the Age
The time is short...behold I come Quickly... the word for quickly is “tachu” and we get our word “Tachometer “ from it...it is a f=reference to the fact that once these events begin, they escalate quickly(like a vortex, many revolutions per second)
stay tuned, this is a series...
I confess that as I listen to the bible on my daily three hour commute for going on three years now I am completely rethinkng what I thought I believed the bible says. Couple that with what I’m seeing in the lexicons in Blueletterbible.com and Biblehub.com, and a lot of the nuances of my beliefs are being turned on their ear.
Is your belief changing or is it deepening?
Both.
I’m no longer a believer in “hell”. This guy sums up what I now believe: Jewishnotgreek.com
I’m lightening up on a lot of my dogmas that were based on scant biblical evidence. I no longer believe the bible is the word of God but, rather, it contains the word of God and the words of men inspired by God.
Do you mind if I ask, “What has changed?”
I’m not so concerned with what you thought in the past, but what do you believe now?
Never mind. Asked and answered.
Too bad.
See my post just before yours.
Also, I’m in the middle of rethinking Revelation 7:14.
I’m wondering if the “great tribulation” discussed there is actually the entire history of man since Adam was kicked out of the garden.
I used to study end times prophesy all the time. I had a lot of strong views, but the more I read, the more those views softened. First I was a pre-tribulationist, I then became a mid-tribulationist, aka pre-wrath.
I used to believe the lost would suffer for all eternity after the second death. I now believe that the second death, for them, is just that: Death. Jewishnotgreek.com sums up my position nicely, I came across it about six months ago, though I’ve had the belief for about seven years now.
Too bad.
The more I study and the more I pray, the more is revealed. This has been a 34 year search. I keep finding more and more gems in His word. What is fascinating is how often I listen/read a part of the bible that I never used to get and it is suddenly crammed with exciting revelation. Seriously.
It really is a lifetime search.
A pastor once told me that the more a person knows about the bible, the less certain they are about peripheral issues. The people that are POSITIVE about things that the bible is not all that clear on are the dogmatists you really need to watch out for.
And would you read 2 Peter 2 and 3?
They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
It’s interesting how ideas change when we throw away gifted pastor-teachers,in-depth research from gifted teachers of the past (commentaries), the original languages, Hebrew idioms, and historic context, I can actually derive God’s guidance on the NFL playoffs. It’s quite amazing!!! And I impress myself at how I’ve grown as a Christian too!!!!!
That should read, “the end of the Age”, which did occur in 70 AD. The OT always expressed the view that the Messiah would usher in the end of the age. But Jesus also ushered in the beginning of the new age, the age of redemption and full restitution with our Creator. This was not possible in the old age without complete fulfillment of the Law, which was impossible except by Jesus. And once fulfilled (completed), the book was closed and the new age took effect in the judgement of and complete destruction of Israel.
Yes. I believe His return is eminent. And when people say “people have been saying that since Jesus died I just point out that yes, they have been, and they will be saying it the day He returns. i.e. 2 Peter.
And it definitely says the ungodly will be destroyed. I strongly believe that.
Yep.
Where I find myself challenged nowadays is when people read revelation, Daniel and all the other prophesy in the bible and are “positive” that it means such and such when, in fact, nobody ever knows what it means until AFTER it happens - unless they were given divine revelation.
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
As attention is increasingly being turned to these subjects and to this chapter of scripture, it would be fitting to take into consideration the larger context of the teaching of Matthew 24, and consider all else in the light if it.
Buildings = Establishments. The living parable of the throwing down of the global political Establishment is a warning to the religious Establishment. Settled doctrines... until they are thrown down. It's a major theme of the NT.
Amen, sister!
I picked a TERRIBLE name when I created this account. I’m a brother. :-)
Thanks! I’ll try to remember that!
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