PT-3 "Intro to Matt. 24:4-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/30/2023 11:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-3 “Intro to Matthew 24:4-14”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 24:4-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. 10 “And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. 11 "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. 12 “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. 14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.”

 

          In this passage known as the “Olivet Discourse,” Jesus made it clear that the fulfillment was in the future.  The message of Matthew 24-25 is a prophetic sermon that sweeps the Twelve into a time not yet come, and a time they themselves would never experience.  I have to say that no one has really gone through the prophetic message of these two chapters, and won’t until the tribulation period begins. 

 

          John MacArthur writes the following, and I will be quoting from this introduction from his commentary for the next couple of days in order for us to best understand what he is going to talk about when we get to the verses (4-14).

 

          “There are at least seven indicators in the message itself that it refers to the distant future and could not apply either to the events related to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, as many interpreters have suggested, or to the church age, as others propose.

 

          “The first indicator will be like birth pains, of which the false Christs (Matt. 24:5), international warfare (vv. 6-7a), and famines and earthquakes (v. 7b) are ‘merely the beginning’ (v. 8).  The figure of birth pains was commonly used by ancient Jewish writers, especially in regard to the end times.  The great modern Jewish scholar Alfred Edersheim wrote, ‘Jewish writings speak very frequently of the labor pains of Messiah.’

 

          “Labor pains do not occur at the conception or throughout pregnancy but just before birth.  The figure of birth pains therefore would not have been appropriate to represent either the destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred very near the beginning of the church age, or the church age as a whole.

 

          “Paul reminded the Thessalonians that the return of Christ would come as a their in the night—unexpectedly, quietly, and suddenly.  Using the same figure Jesus used in the Olivet discourse, the apostle said that ‘while they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape’ (1 Thess. 5:1-3).

 

          “Labor pains do not begin until shortly before delivery time, and they occur with increasing frequency until the baby is born.  In the same way, the events connected with the Lord’s return will not begin until just before His return, and they will occur with increasing rapidity, building up to an explosion and catastrophic events.  The same epoch is pictured in the book of Revelation, as the seal judgments unfold over a period of perhaps years (see 6:1-8:1-6), the trumpet judgments over a much shorter period of time, perhaps weeks (see 8:7-9:21; 11:15-19), and the bowl judgments over the period of perhaps of a few days or even hours (see 16:1-21).”

 

          Lord willing we will look at the second indicator in the next SD.

 

11/30/2023 12:18 PM

PT-2 "Intro to Matt. 24:4-14"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2023 9:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 24:4-14”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matt. 24:4-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. 10 “And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. 11 “And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. 12 “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. 14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.”

 

            I think that there are times when people hear the truth about something, but block it out of their mind because when they hear it they just don’t want to believe it and so they just pay no attention to it.  Now when it comes to the salvation of a person people can hear the truth of the gospel message, that they were born sinners, that on their own can do nothing about it, but perhaps think that they can do something about it on their own and so they just don’t want to pay any attention to it.  Then one day after hearing the truth about how they are sinners and can do nothing on their own the Holy Spirit of God opens their eyes to the truth and they believe it and become a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.  Now we have been talking about the disciples of which eleven of them were truly believers, but when Jesus told them a number of times that He was going to die, not only for them but for all who will accept this they just seemed to put it out of their minds, and when it happened, that is His death on the cross, a couple of them remembered that He had told them that in three days He would arise from the dead, that they finally began to believe it.  Their minds were so much put on the things that they had been taught about the Messiah coming only one time and then set up the Kingdom and get rid of the Romans.

 

            There is a lady that lives next to me and a week or so ago he daughter who was visiting here told me that he mom was dying of cancer.  The family is catholic and so it is difficult for them to understand the real truth of the gospel.  I spent the day helping her daughter clean the leaves from their property and I explained the gospel to her daughter, and she told me that she was raised catholic.  I pointed out that what I was telling her was the truth and how it changed my life almost 50 years ago.  I said that I am telling you the truth of the gospel, but there is no way that I can make her or anyone else to believe it, as it would take a miracle from the Holy Spirit to open her eyes to the truth and then to accept the truth that Jesus loves her very much, and that He died in her place on the cross almost 2000 years ago, and to then understand that she, like everyone was born a sinner and sin because you are born a sinner, and can’t do anything on your own, but you can listen to the call of the Holy Spirit and accept what Christ did for you and then you will at that very moment have eternal life.  The disciples had their own way of understanding about what the Messiah was going to do, but it was wrong, as first the Messiah had to die for their sins and then He would go back to heaven, and then one day, and I pray it is soon, that He would come back for them and all true born-again believers as He meets us in the clouds at what is called the Rapture and then as Paul says we will ever be with the Lord. 

 

            Next soon after that what is called the Tribulation period of seven years will begin and it will be the worst time in the history of planet earth.  Seven years later the Lord will return to planet earth as He sets His foot on the Mount of Olives where He had left planet earth almost 2000 years ago.  He will end the greatest war ever fought and then He will separate the sheep from the goats, send the Antichrist and the false prophet and the goats into a place where all unbelievers are, and then set up His Kingdom for 1000 years.  At the end of those 1000 years there will be what is called “The Great White Throne Judgment” where only unbelievers will be at along with the Lord who will judge them and at that time all these unbeliever will tell the Lord what good deeds they did for the cause of Christ, but in the end they will all go into the lake of fire, into hell where they will be forever.  After that heaven and earth will be destroyed as Peter writes about in 2^nd Peter 2:9-10 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”  The word for “elements” in the Greek is stoicheion, and means basic building block.  I have learned that what Peter is talking about is “atoms” which are the basic building block of the universe.  No one knows what holds the atoms together, and so when they are loosed at this time the entire universe will blow up with “intense heat.”  Now notice verse nine of 2 Peter chapter two and listen to the plea as he writes “The Lord is patient, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”  God’s patience will run out and in the end we see what will happen in verse ten.  That is not the end as mentioned the unbelievers will all enter hell and the believers will go into what is described in the later part of the book of Revelation.  “1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:1-2).  This is only a taste of what is said, so open up to Revelation 21-22 and read it on your own to see what God has planned for all who believe, all who have personally but their faith in the Lord for salvation as they repented of their sin and trusted Christ for their salvation.  One more verse and then I will stop for today, and hopefully pick up on the intro to these verses in Matt. 24.  “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:14).  Yes you can “know” for sure that when you leave this earth through death or at the Rapture that you will have eternal life.

 

11/29/2023 10:20 AM

 

           

PT-1 "Intro to Matt 24:4-14"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/28/2023 9:51 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 24:4-14”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Matthew 24:4-14

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. 5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. 6 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7 “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. 10 “And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. 11 “And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. 12 “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. 14 “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.”

 

            We are finally into what we can call the Olivet discourse proper, which begins in verse four as Jesus gave response to the disciple’s question, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (v.3). I think, from what I learned that this is the longest answer to any question found in the Scriptures, as this answer will go from verse four of chapter twenty-four to the end of chapter 25.  There are parallel passages in Mark 13, and also in Luke 21, but this are much shorter than this one in Matthew’s gospel.  Now as we have observed in earlier SD’s that the disciples though that the kingdom would begin right away.  “11 While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately” (Luke 19:11).  Notice the highlighted portion of this verse.  In the past SD’s I have talked at length why it was that the disciples thought that the kingdom would come very shortly, but when one looks at the Old Testament they will not see prophecies about the church age despite what some think.  Paul calls the church age a mystery because it was not seen in OT prophecy.  I have heard it described of one looking off into the distance and seeing two mountain peaks which seem to be right next to each other, but when looked at when getting closer it is seen that there is a very large valley between the two peaks.  That large valley represents the church age. 

 

            In John MacArthur’s commentary on his introduction to these verses he has a lot to say again about why the disciples believed that the kingdom was actually coming within a week or so.  Now going back to talking about the church age and how it was not seen in the OT and was a mystery I want to look at a series of verses from the 61^st chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy. 

 

            “1 ¶  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; 2  To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3  To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

             

            4 ¶ Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. 5 Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your

vinedressers. 6 But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast. 7 Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs. 8  For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them. 9  Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.

            10 ¶  I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11  For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations.”  Now as you read over these eleven verses you will see that they speak of Messiah’s coming, and there is nothing in them to indicate the two comings of the Messiah.

 

            Ok Now we want to look at Luke 4:18-21 “18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD." 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”  I have mentioned that in the NASB that when a passage comes from the Old Testament the letters are all caps and this quotation from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah 61.  Notice that Jesus did not repeat all of Isaiah 61, and that is because the rest of those verses will not be fulfilled until the Lord comes back at His second coming.

 

            With that I will close this SD, but we will continue looking at more of the introduction to these verses in the next SD, Lord willing.

 

11/28/2023 10:23 AM

 

           

PT-3 "On the Mount" (Matt. 24:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/27/2023 10:00 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  PT-3 “On The Mount”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 24:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”

 

            I have to say that this SD is going to be very short, but I think it will be worthwhile to read over.  I mentioned that I wanted to talk about the word “End” at the beginning of this Spiritual Diary and so what I usually do when it comes to better understanding a word in a passage is quote from John MacArthur’s commentary.  “End translates sunteleia,a compound word that refers to completion, as in the final culmination of a planned series of events.  In the disciples’ minds the end of the age would accompany Jesus’ full manifestation of His messianic power and glory, bringing to a close the era of man’s sin and rebellion against God and ushering in the divine kingdom of righteousness and justice.”  The truth is that the disciples’ had the right idea, but the wrong timing.  In our very long introduction to this 24^th chapter of Matthew I quoted much from John MacArthur’s commentary showing why it was that the disciples believed the way that they believed, and it is important to understand this truth or you will miss out on some important things in these first three verses of Matthew 24 as they set the stage for not only the rest of chapter 24, but all of chapter 25 as well.

 

            Let us go back to a parable that Jesus told where we also see the end of the age, but this time Jesus is the one using these words.  The parable is the one about the wheat and tares, and also one about the parable of the dragnet.  I want you to remember why it was that in this 13^th chapter of Matthew that Jesus began to speak in parables, and that is because the Jewish leaders were accusing Jesus of doing his miracles in the power of Satan.  It was at that time that Jesus spoke to them about the unpardonable sin, which is the sin against the Holy Spirit who was the One whom gave the power to Jesus to do miracles.  It was over for them as far as having Jesus preach to them directly, but began to use parables which because of their blindness would not understand what He was talking about. Now in both of these parables we see that they represented the gathering of the wicked by God’s angels in preparation for judgment (Matt. 13:39, 49).  He used the phrase the end of the age at the conclusion of the Great Commission, assuring the disciples, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

 

            I will conclude this SD, which concludes this first chapter in MacArthur’s 4^th commentary on the gospel of Matthew with a quote from this commentary.   “The disciples’ question was about the ultimate end of the age, not simply the end of an era or epoch of history, but the final end of the present world system of darkness and sin—an end they expected son.  It was also, of course, a question about the beginning of a new and eternal age of light, righteousness, truth, and justice.  The ungodly would be forever damned, and the godly would be forever blessed.  When would that transpire, they wanted to know, and what sign would herald its arrival?”

 

            In my different studies of the book of Revelation I learned that chapters 6-19 parallel what we will begin to study in the rest of chapter 24 and 25 of Matthew, which speaks of the tribulation period, that seven year period of time that begins with the antichrist signing a peace treaty for seven years with the nation of Israel.  As I look at what is going on in Israel today as they are fighting for their existence on a number of fronts because the Arab nations who surround them desire to kill every Jew in the world, that it could surely be described as a miracle to have someone come in and forge a peace treaty to end the conflict that is going on now.  I am not saying that this is the time for this to happen, but I am saying that it will happen because that is what the Bible teaches.  I mentioned that earlier this month that I began my 5^th year in the study of Matthew, and perhaps the timing of it is lining up with what is going on now in Israel at this time, I don’t know, but God does know.  On my other blog I began eleven days ago going over the introduction to the book of Daniel, something that I prayed that God would lead me into what book that I would use to go onto that blog after my study of Acts, and Daniel is the book that I believe that the Lord desires me to use.  I am doing that a bit different than what I usually do on that blog as I usually go over older Spiritual Diaries that have been posted on this blog and go over them perhaps correcting some spelling errors and then put them on that second blog.  This time I am using two sermons that John MacArthur preached in the fall of 1979 to give his introduction to Daniel, and then will go back to what I wrote beginning in March of 2013.  I just pray as always that the Lord will use the Spiritual Diaries that I write to be used of the Holy Spirit to bring glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

11/27/2023 10:43 AM  

PT-2 "On the Mount" (Matt. 24:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/26/2023 7:48 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                             Focus:  PT-2 “On the Mount”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 24:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”

 

            After living with Christ for almost three years, and ministering with Him all of that time this time on the mount could possibly the most exciting part of their experience with Him.  The reason is that they were contemplating the imminence of His millennial kingdom, and even though they did not really have all the true details of that period of time it was exciting for them.  In order to truly understand this you will have to go back to the different introductions on this wonderful chapter.  In order to give a little hint of what was said there I want to quote from MacArthur’s commentary where he writes:  “Based on what Jesus had just said, the disciples believed that the next time the unbelieving Jews whom Jesus had just confronted in the Temple would see Him would be when He came in His glory and they would be constrained to declare, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ (Matt. 23:39).  More than ever, they were persuaded that that day could not be far off.”  Based on what is happening in the Middle East at this time with the war that Israel is fighting, perhaps that time is very close, that is my prayer at any rate.

 

            As we just concluded going over the study of Acts that I did and put onto my other blog it can be seen that even after the resurrection of the Lord that they still felt the same way, that Jesus would bring the Kingdom at that time, but it has been almost 2000 years of the church age and He is still in heaven.

 

            Now here is another important quote:  “The coming that the disciples had in mind was not a second coming.  They saw His coming just as the Old Testament prophets had seen and predicted it, compressed into an unbroken series of events that would occur over a relatively short period of time.”  In the book of Acts when the disciples were asking Jesus about how soon His kingdom would be coming they had no idea that there would be a church age that was about to begin.

 

            “Coming translates parousia, which has the basic meaning of presence and secondarily carries the idea of arrival.  The disciples’ question might there be paraphrased, ‘What will be the sign of Your manifesting Yourself in You full, permanent presence as Messiah and King?’  They did not use parousia in the specific and more technical sense that Jesus used it later in this chapter (vv. 27, 37, 39) and as it is often used elsewhere in the New Testament in referring to His second coming (see, e. g., 1 Thess. 3:13; 2 Thess. 2:8; 1 John 2:28).  They were not thinking of Jesus’ returning because they had no idea of His leaving, but were thinking rather of His perfected Messianic presence, which they expected Him to manifest presently.”

 

            There are a couple of more words that we need to look at in this section, but because it is Sunday morning I will wait until the next SD to write about them.

 

11/26/2023 8:14 AM

PT-1 "On The Mount" (Matt. 24:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/25/2023 10:21 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  PT-1 “On The Mount”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 24:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

 

            I think that the questions that His disciples asked to Him are questions that people everywhere around the world should be asking, and after asking searching the Bible for the answer.  People die every day and many have never asked this question, and if they did never searched out to find the answer that Jesus gives to His disciples.  The answers to these questions are what I will be going over as I go through the 24^th and 25^th chapters of Matthew in the next few months.  One of the things that I truly like about following the sermons and the commentaries of is that he goes into great dept in his studying of the Scriptures.  There are 225 sermons that MacArthur has in his study of Matthew and four commentaries there is a total of 1726 pages in them.  I have mentioned in earlier SD’s that I don’t like “airplane preaching,” but love to dig into the Scriptures to see what God is teaching me.

 

            Jesus and His disciples leave Jerusalem through the eastern gate, crossed the Kidron Valley, and ascended to Mount of Olives a place where it is believed that Jesus spent some nights there before He went to the cross.  I want to look at a question that Peter, James, John, and Andrew were asking found in Mark 13:3-4 “3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?’”  Perhaps these disciples were asking these questions as they were walking along, and when they got to the destination they would then ask Jesus.  Now remember the introductions that we looked at before we began to dig into these verses and you will have a better idea of why they were asking Jesus these questions.

 

            MacArthur gives more insight into this as he writes:  “For some time the disciples had been convinced ‘that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately’ (Luke 19:11).  Therefore, in the context of the situation and of the disciples’ probable frame of mind, the word when seems to imply immediacy, suggesting the time might be tomorrow; the day after, or no later than the end of Passover.”

 

            I became a born-again believer in January of 1974 while listening to sermons from a man named Hal Lindsey’s on cassette tapes, which I still have although I am not sure they can be listened to because of their age.  I know that the Lord is going to return to take His bride, the church back to heaven with Him as the Bible makes perfectly clear and as I look back on almost 50 years of being a believer I have seen different signs or shall I say birth pangs which make it clear that the time is not too far off, and so I can ask the question “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?’”  I hope and pray that it will be soon.

            Now the words these things referred to what Jesus had just been talking about namely, the former house of God that would soon be left desolate (23:38) and also destroyed (24:2).  His disciples were expecting the final stages of the Messiah’s work to unfold in rather quick succession.  It is true that the nations surely would rise up against Him, He would defeat them swiftly, purify Jerusalem, regather the Jews from around the world, and establish His glorious kingdom.

 

            What they wanted to know was “what will be the sign of Your coming?  MacArthur adds “What would the first indicator be? How will we know when those remaining events transpire?”  They still understood the Messiah’s coming as a single continuum of events, having no comprehension of the church age that would intervene between His two comings.  And they probably thought that the sign of Christ’s coming would be something appropriately spectacular, such as a great darkness at midday, a brilliant light at night, the appearance of an angelic host, or a great blare of heavenly trumpets.”

 

11/25/2023 10:59 AM

Near The Temple (Matt. 24:1-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/24/2023 10:36 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus:  “Near the Temple”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 24:1-2

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down.’”

 

            The first thing that I want to say is that I am happy that the introduction to chapter 24:1-3 is done, but I am also happy to have a much better understanding of what went on and why the disciples asked Jesus these questions.  I have a pretty good understanding of what the rest of the chapter says, along with chapter 25, but could not understand why the disciples were asking Jesus the questions that they ask before looking at MacArthur’s introduction.

 

            We have been looking at Jesus’ last week of teaching and preaching and also cleansing the temple for some time now, and now that ended up at the end of the 23^rd chapter.  It took a pretty long time in going over the time when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the colt to ending His last public teaching, but now that that is finished we get the privilege of looking at chapters 24-25 before looking at the last hours of our Lord’s life and then the resurrection.  I suppose that this will take perhaps another year of studying, but it will be well worth it.

 

            After Jesus was done with His last public teaching we see that He went away to the Mount of Olives to be alone with His disciples.  Jesus’ teaching His disciples is coming to an end, but what He has to say to them is very important, especially from chapters 24-25, as they are even important in the time that we live in, for after May 5^th 1948 when Israel became a nation again things have begun to happen that could never have happened before that time of them becoming a nation because as we look at the end time prophecies Israel is in their land.

 

            Now as they were leaving Jerusalem, the disciples come up to point out the temple buildings to Jesus.  Now as we look at the other two synoptic gospels they report that the disciples were looking at the temple in admiration, saying, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings” (Mark 13:1; cf. Luke 21:5).

 

            One can look on their computer to see where the temple mount is today as the Dome of the Rock is pretty much on that site where the Temple was.  MacArthur writes “A massive retaining wall on the south and west sides helped support the mount itself as well as the Temple.  The Temple was awe-in-spiring by any standards, but to a group of common men from rural Galilee it must have been a breathtaking marvel.  They could not conceive how such an enormous structure could have been built or decorated so magnificently.  The Roman historian Tacitus reported that it was a place of immense wealth, and the Babylonian Talmud said, ‘He that never saw the temple of Herod never saw a fine building.’  Some of the stones measured 40 feet by 12 and weighed up to a hundred tons, quarried as a single piece and transported many miles to the building site.”  Now remember as you think about the sight that this temple was build, along with the first one we see the sight first in the book of Genesis where Abraham went to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, but the Lord stopped him.  Next we see it when David sinned against the Lord in numbering the people and the Lord has mercy on Israel and stopped the slaying of the people of Israel at this point where David bought the site and offered a sacrifice at that very point.  This was the very sight where Solomon built the first Temple.

 

            MacArthur goes on “The disciples were perhaps wondering how such an amazing edifice, especially one dedicated to the glory of God, could be left desolate, as Jesus had just predicted.  They should have remembered Ezekiel’s vision of God’s glory departing from the Temple and going ‘up from the midst of the city’ (Ezek. 11:23).  The holy sanctuary that had once been God’s house was His no longer.  It is now ‘your house’ Jesus had said to the unbelieving Jews before He left the temple, and it ‘is being left to you desolate’ (Matt. 23:38), because the glory of the Lord would soon depart from it.  The beautiful buildings that had been devoted to God’s glory and that should have honored Jesus would henceforth be devoted to desolation and destruction.”

 

            The following is how Jesus responded to His disciples:  “"Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down.’”  It would perhaps been nice to have a camera to take a picture of the disciples as their mouths probably were wide open in surprise to what Jesus had just said.  The undoubtedly could not believe that God would have this beautiful temple destroyed.

 

            We know the story as the Roman General Titus came into Jerusalem in 70 A. D. and destroyed the city and the temple and not one stone was left upon another, and it is still that way today as the stones sit at the bottom of the hill where the temple once was.  I may have mentioned earlier that I learned that Titus did not want to destroy the temple, but from what I read earlier there was gold between the stones and he wanted the gold.

 

            Perhaps the disciples would have thought that this would be a part of the Messiah’s expected purification of Jerusalem, which would occur immediately after He destroyed the nations.  This was looked at in the previous introductions to these verses.

 

11/24/2023 11:14 AM

 

 

 

           

PT-5 "Intro to Matt 24:1-3

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2023 10:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                          Focus:  Intro to Matthew 24:1-3

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 24:1-3

 

            Message of the verses: “1 And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down." 3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”

 

            I desire to finish up this introduction from John MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew.  This is actually his fourth book in his commentary on Matthew, and it is the start of my 5^th year in my study of Matthew.

 

            “In the eight event of the Messiah’s coming Palestine would become the center of the world, and all nations would be subjugated to the Lord.  ‘And all the isles and the cities shall say, How doth the Eternal love those men!  For all things work in sympathy with them and help them….Come let us all fall upon the earth and supplicate the eternal King, the mighty, everlasting God.  Let us make procession to His Temple, for He is the sole Potentate’ (Sibylline Oracles 3:690ff.).

 

            “Those ancient views of the coming of Christ were extrapolated largely from Old Testament teachings, and they closely correspond to New Testament premillennial doctrine about His second coming.  The major difference is that those Jews had no knowledge of His coming twice, the first time to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the world’s sin and the second to establish His millennial kingdom on earth.  The Jewish people were not looking for inward deliverance from sin but for outward deliverance from political oppression.

 

            “In the minds of the Jews of Jesus’ day, the time was ripe for the Messiah’s coming.  They had suffered persecution and subjugation for many centuries and were at that time under the relentless power of Rome.  When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, reminiscent of the preaching and life-style of Elijah, the people’s interest was intensely piqued.  And then when Jesus began His ministry of preaching, with unheard of authority and of healing every sort of disease, many Jews were convinced that He was indeed the Messiah.  When He rode into Jerusalem on the colt, the crowds were beside themselves with anticipation, and they openly hailed Him as the Messiah, the long-awaited Son of David (Matt. 21:9).

 

            “At that point, however Jesus’ ministry rapidly and radically departed from their expectations.  According to their thinking, the next steps would be the gathering of the nations against the Messiah and His dramatic and effortless victory over them.

 

            “The idea apparently was also still in the minds of the Twelve.  Jesus’ many predictions that He must suffer, die, and be resurrected had simply not registered withthem  In some way or another they either had discounted those teachings or had rationalized and spiritualized them into being something other than literal, physical, and historical realities.

 

PROPHETIC DISCUSSIONS WITH JESUS

 

            “In fairness to the disciples, the Old Testament prophets also saw the Messiah’s coming and establishing His kingdom as a single event.  The church age was a mystery to them, a mystery, as Paul explained, ‘which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested’ (Rom. 16:25-26).  Because Israel had obviously experienced tremendous tribulation, because Jesus declared Himself to be the Messiah and identified John the Baptist as His forerunner, and because He had accepted the Messianic acclaim of the people a few days earlier, the disciples understandably thought that the sequence of events would continue as they expected.  They were now certain that Jesus’ next move would be to demonstrate His inexorable power over the nations that would soon rise up against Him.

 

            “It was doubtlessly such thoughts that had kept Judas superficially committed to stay with Jesus.  He expected to be in the Messiah’s inner and prestige commensurate with that position.”

 

            This finally ends the introduction to these first three verses in the 24^th chapter of Matthew.  I have to say once again that I have studied the 24^th chapter of Matthew before and read over it many times, but those first three verses have always been somewhat of mystery to me and after listening to MacArthur’s sermon on the introduction to this chapter, and reading over his commentary those first three verses are much less of a mystery to me.

 

            Lord willing in our next SD we will begin to look at the first two verses of this 24^th chapter of Matthew. 

 

11/23/2023 10:41 AM

PT-4 Intro to Matthew 24:1-3

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/22/2023 12:28 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 “Intro to Matt. 24:1-3”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 24:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:   “1 And Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down." 3 And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”

 

            I continue to quote from MacArthur’s commentary on the introduction to Matthew 24:1-3.

 

            “Second, the popular eschatology of Jesus’ day held that in the midst of that turmoil would appear an Elijah-like forerunner heralding the Messiah’s coming.  It was for that reason that so many Jews were drawn to John the Baptist.  Jewish oral tradition maintained that the ownership of any disputed money or property would have to wait ‘till Elijah comes’ before being finally settled.

 

            The third even of that eschatology was the Messiah’s appearance, at which time He would establish His kingdom age of glory and would vindicate His people.

 

            The fourth event would be the alliance of the nations to fight against the Messiah.  The Sibylline Oracles declared,

 

The kings of the nations shall throw themselves against this land bringing retribution on themselves.  They shall seek to ravage the shrine of the might God and of the noblest men whensoever they come to the land.  In a ring around the city the accused kings shall place each one his throne with the infidel people by him.  And then with a mighty voice God shall speak unto all the undisciplined, empty-minded people and judgment shall come upon them from the mighty God, and all shall perish at the hand of the Eternal. (3.363-72).

 

            In 2 Esdras [4 Ezra] is the prediction, ‘It shall be that when all the nations hear his (the Messiah’s) voice, every man shall leave his own land and the warfare they have one against the other, and the innumerable multitude shall be gathered together desiring to fight against him’ (13:33-35).  In other words, unbelieving mankind will interrupt all its other warfare in order to unite against the Messiah.

 

            The fifth eschatological event would be the destruction of those opposing nations.  Philo wrote that the Messiah would ‘take the field and make war and destroy great and populous nations.’  The writer of 2 Esdras declared that the Messiah ‘shall reprove them for their ungodliness, rebuke them for their unrighteousness, reproach them to their faces with their treacheries—and when he has rebuked them he shall destroy them’ (12:32-33).  The book of Enoch reported that ‘it shall come to pass in those days that none shall be saved, either by gold or by silver, and none shall be able to escape.  And there shall be no iron for war, nor shall one clothe oneself with a breastplate.  Bronze shall be of no service, and tin shall not be esteemed, and lead shall not be desired.  And all things shall be destroyed from the surface of the earth’ (52:7-9).  All the vast armaments and defenses of nations will be useless against the Messiah.

 

            Sixth would be the restoration of Jerusalem, either by renovation of the existing city or by the coming down of a completely new Jerusalem from heaven.  In either case, the city of the great King would henceforth be pure, holy, and incorruptible.  In the book of Enoch, Jerusalem was envisioned as having ‘all the pillars…new and the ornaments larger than those of the first’ (Enoch 90:28-29).

 

            Seventh, the Jews scattered throughout the world would be gathered back to Israel.  Many Jews today still utter the ancient prayer ‘Lift up a banner to gather our dispersed and assemble us from the four ends of the earth.’  The eleventh chapter of the Psalms of Solomon gives a graphic picture of that regathering:

 

Blow ye in Zion on the trumpet to summon the saints,

Cause ye to be heard in Jerusalem the voice of him

That bringeth good tidings;

For God hath had pity on Israel in visiting them.

Stand on the height, O Jerusalem, and behold thy children,

From the East and the West, gathered together by the Lord;

From the North they come in the gladness of their God,

From the isles afar off God, hath gathered them.

High mountains hath he abased into a plain for them;’

The hills fled at their entrance.

The woods gave them shelter as they passed by;

Every sweet-smelling tree God caused to spring up for them,

That Israel might pass by in the visitation of the glory of their God.

 

Put on, O Jerusalem, thy glorious garments;

Make ready thy holy robe;

For God hath spoken good for Israel forever and ever,

Let the Lord do what he hath spoken concerning

Israel and Jerusalem;

Let the Lord raise up Israel by his glorious name.

The Mercy of the Lord be upon Israel forever and ever.

 

11/22/2023 1:00 PM