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
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