5/5/02

FAITH BIBLE CHURCH - www.faithbiblechurch.net

RAY RUSS - PASTOR-TEACHER

MATTHEW:  THE KING HAS COME, WEEK 159

TITLE:  BACKGROUND FOR THE OLIVET DISCOURSE

TEXT:  MATTHEW 24:1-3

INTRODUCTION: (1) THERE ARE FEW THINGS AS FASCINATING AS PROPHECY, OR AS PROBLEMATIC!

* PROPHECY IS FASCINATING BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE FUTURE.

** SOME WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IT OUT OF FEAR.  THEY WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO AVOID LIFE’S DIFFICULTIES OR TRAGEDIES.

*** SOME WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT IS COMING IN ORDER TO PLAN FOR IT SUCCESSFULLY.

**** IF THEY COULD KNOW WHAT THE STOCK MARKET WOULD DO IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, THEY COULD BECOME WEALTHY.

(2)  OTHER PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT IS COMING OUT OF SIMPLE CURIOSITY, TO BE ON THE INSIDE TRACK, AS IT WERE.

* SO PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN THE FUTURE AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO SEE THAT IS LOOK AT THE RISE IN INTEREST WITH THINGS LIKE HOROSCOPES, FORTUNE TELLERS OR PSYCHIC READINGS, SEANCES AND TAROT CARDS.

** IN FACT, KNOWING ABOUT THE FUTURE OR SPECULATING ABOUT THE FUTURE IS A GROWING BUSINESS.

*** WELL, CHRIST’S DISCIPLES, THE 12, WERE CURIOUS ABOUT THE FUTURE AND THE QUESTIONS THEY ASKED ABOUT IT PROVIDED THE OCCASION FOR CHRIST’S FAMOUS TEACHING ABOUT THE LAST THINGS RECORDED IN MATTHEW 24&25.

**** IT IS CALLED THE OLIVET DISCOURSE BECAUSE IT TOOK PLACE ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

(3)  AND OTHER THAN THE BOOK OF REVELATION, THE LARGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT PROPHETIC PORTION OF THE N.T. IS FOUND IN MATTHEW 24&25, THE OLIVET DISCOURSE.

* IT IS THE SECOND-LONGEST MESSAGE OF CHRIST RECORDED IN SCRIPTURE, THE ONLY LONGER ONE, THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT IN MATTHEW 5-7, WAS A PUBLIC SERMON GIVEN TO MULTITUDES IN GALILEE NEAR THE BEGINNING OF CHRIST’S EARTHLY MINISTRY.

** BUT BY CONTRAST, THE OLIVET DISCOURSE WAS A PRIVATE MESSAGE TO CHRIST’S DISCIPLES IN JERUSALEM NEAR THE END OF HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY.

*** PROBABLY ON TUESDAY OF PASSOVER WEEK, WHICH ON THAT FRIDAY HE WOULD DIE FOR THE SINS OF HIS PEOPLE.

**** NOW OUT OF MATTHEW 24&25, IT’S PARALLELS IN MARK 13 AND LUKE 21, AND OTHER SPECIFICALLY PROPHETIC SECTIONS OF THE BIBLE HAS COME A DIVERSITY OF ESCHATOLOGICAL SCHEMES, AND MUCH DISAGREEMENT AND ARGUMENT.

(4) FEW CHAPTERS OF THE BIBLE HAVE CALLED FORTH MORE DISAGREEMENT THAN MATTHEW 24 AND ITS PARALLELS IN MARK 13 AND LUKE 21.

* THE MAJOR DIVISIONS ARE KNOWN AS PREMILLENNIALISM, POSTMILLENNIALISM AND AMILLENNIALISM.

** BUT THERE IS ALSO HISTORIC PREMILLENNIALISM, WHICH IS BECOMING POPULAR IN SOME REFORMED CIRCLES AT THE PRESENT TIME.

*** NOW LET ME QUICKLY DEFINE THESE TERMS AS BACKGROUND FOR THE OLIVET DISCOURSE, WHICH BY THE WAY IS THE TITLE OF OUR MESSAGE TODAY.

**** THE WORD MILLENIUM FROM LATIN MILLE, WHICH MEANS A THOUSAND, AND ANNUM, WHICH MEANS YEAR COMBINED POINT TO 1000 YEARS; A THEOLOGICAL TERM BASED UPON REV. 20, INDICATING THE THOUSAND-YEAR PERIOD OF CHRIST’S FUTURE REIGN ON THE EARTH IN CONNECTION WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OVER ISRAEL.

(5)  NOW THERE ARE 3 COMMON MILLENIAL VIEWS HELD.

* NO. 1 POSTMILLENNIALISM.  NOW THIS INTERPRETATION MAINTAINS THAT PRESENT GOSPEL AGENCIES LIKE THE CHURCH WILL ROOT OUT EVILS UNTIL CHRIST SHOULD HAVE A SPIRITUAL REIGN OVER THE EARTH, WHICH WILL CONTINUE FOR 1000 YEARS.

** THEN THE 2’D ADVENT OF CHRIST WOULD INITIATE THE JUDGMENT AND BRING TO AN END THE PRESENT ORDER OR AGE.

** IN OTHER WORDS, MINISTRIES TODAY LIKE THE CHURCH ARE PREPARING THE WAY FOR CHRIST HAVE A SPIRITUAL REIGN OVER THE EARTH, THEN HE WILL COME BACK, POSTMILLENIALLY.

**** POSTMILLENNIALISM WAS PROMOTED BY THE TEACHING IN ENGLAND OF DANIEL WHITBY, WHO LIVED FROM 1638-1726.

(6)  NOW THE 2’D COMMON VIEW, WHICH IS MUCH MORE POPULAR THAN POSTMILLENNIALISM IS AMILLENNIALISM.

* AND THE WAY I LEARNED TO REMEMBER WHAT AMILLENNIALISM WAS ALL ABOUT WAS BY USING BAD GRAMMAR.

** THAT IS “AH, THERE AIN’T GOING TO BE NO MILLENIUM.”

*** AND BASICALLY THIS VIEW MAINTAINS THAT NO MILLENNIUM IS TO BE LOOKED FOR EXCEPT THAT WHICH, IT IS CLAIMED, IS IN PROGRESS NOW IN THE GOSPEL AGE.

**** THIS THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION SPIRITUALIZES OR RATHER, GIVES A MYSTICAL MEANING TO THE VAST KINGDOM PROMISES IN THE O.T.

(7)  ZION IS CONSTRUED NOT TO MEAN ZION BUT TO REFER TO THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

* IT MAKES NO DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH, A DISTINCTION WHICH EVIDENTLY UNDERLIES JOHN THE BAPTIST’S PROPHECY OF THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT AND JESUS’ REFERENCE TO THIS IN ACTS 1:5.

** THIS SPIRITUAL MINISTRY FORMED THE CHURCH ACCORDING TO ACTS 2 AND I COR. 12:13.

*** YET THE APOSTLE PAUL APPEARS TO MAKE A CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH IN I COR. 10:32 AND HE ALSO OUTLINES A FUTURE FOR ISRAEL IN ROMANS 11.

**** BEYOND THAT SOME AMILLENIALISTS BELIEVE THAT SATAN IS AT PRESENT BOUND, WHICH I WISH HE WAS.

(8)  BUT I PETER 5:8&9 SAYS:  (READ THEM).

* AND CHRONOLOGICALLY, IT IS OUR BELIEF THAT SATAN WON’T BE BOUND PERMANENTLY UNTIL REV. 20:10 WHERE IT SAYS:  (READ IT).

** ALSO I MIGHT ADD THAT AMILLENNIALISTS SPIRITUALIZE REV. 20 WHERE THE PHRASE “A THOUSAND YEARS” IS USED 6 TIMES, WHEN WE IN OUR HERMENEUTICS WOULD TAKE THAT LITERALLY FOR THERE IS NOTHING CONTEXTUALLY IN OUR MINDS IN REV. 20 TO TAKE IT SYMBOLICALLY OR FIGURATIVELY, READ REV. 20:6.

*** NOW LET ME SAY, WE HAVE DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS THAT ATTEND FBC THAT HOLD THIS POSITION, AND IF I WOULD GIVE THEM TIME, THEY WOULD MAKE THEIR POSITION VERY CLEAR.

**** AND IF I HAVE SAID ANYTHING THAT DOES NOT COMMUNICATE YOUR POSITION, LET ME KNOW AFTER THE SERVICE.

(9)  NOW THE POSITION WE TEACH IS A PREMILLENNIAL INTERPRETATION.

* AND THIS INTERPRETATION TEACHES THAT THIS AGE WILL END IN JUDGMENT AT THE 2’D COMING OF CHRIST TO EARTH IN REV. 19.

** THE ETERNAL STATE WILL NOT BE USHERED IN AT THAT TIME, RATHER CHRIST WILL RESTORE THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL AND REIGN FOR 1000 YEARS.

*** THE MILLENIUM WILL BE THE LAST OF THE ORDERED AGES OF TIMES.  ETERNITY WILL NOT DAWN UNTIL THE MILLENIUM IS COMPLETE, THEN THE DAY OF GOD, ETERNITY FUTURE WILL START AND THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL BE COMPLETE.

(10)  NOW I ALSO MENTIONED THE PRETERIST VIEW WHEN IT COMES TO INTERPRETING MATTHEW 24&25.

* AND BASICALLY PRETERISM IS THE VIEW THAT ALL OR NEARLY ALL THE EVENTS FORETOLD IN MATTHEW 24 AND 25, AS WELL AS OTHER PASSAGES (SUCH AS THE BOOK OF REVELATION), HAVE ALREADY COME TO PASS AND THAT ALL WE HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IS THE END OF THE WORLD AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT.

** FOR ALL THE THINGS TALKED ABOUT IN MATTHEW 24&25 HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACE, AND THAT THE CULMINATION OF THOSE THINGS TOOK PLACE IN AD 70 WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE AND JERUSALEM UNDER TITUS.

*** SO BASICALLY ALL THE THINGS IN MATTHEW 24&25 HAVE ALREADY TAKEN PLACE.

**** NOW OBVIOUSLY THAT IS NOT WHAT WE TEACH AS A CHURCH, AND THAT WILL BECOME OBVIOUS AS WE WORK THROUGH MATTHEW 24&25.

(11)  NOW WITH ALL OF THAT BACKGROUND IN MIND, I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE TODAY, BACKGROUND FOR THE OLIVET DISCOURSE AS I TRY TO LAY SOME FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS FOR OUR STUDY.

* AND TODAY WE’LL ONLY LOOK AT 3 VERSES, WHICH I’VE DIVIDED UP INTO 3 POINTS.

** NO. 1 THE POINT OF THE DISCIPLES TO THE TEMPLE, V. 1; NO. 2 THE PREDICTION BY JESUS ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE TEMPLE, V. 2; AND NO. 3 THE PLACE WHERE THIS GREAT DISCOURSE TAKES PLACE, THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, V. 3.

*** AND WITHOUT ANY MORE INTRODUCTION, LET’S JUMP INTO MATTHEW 24 BY LOOKING AT V. 1 WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR FIRST POINT, THE POINT.  LOOK AT MATTHEW 24:1 PLEASE.

I.  THE POINT, (READ V. 1)

A.  NOW JESUS HAD SPENT ALL DAY TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY, PROBABLY TUESDAY OF PASSOVER WEEK IN THE TEMPLE, GIVING HIS LAST PUBLIC TEACHING AND PRONOUNCING HIS FINAL AND MOST INTENSE JUDGMENT ON THE FALSE RELGIOUS LEADERS AND ON THE NATION OF ISRAEL.

* AFTER THIS HE COMES OVER FROM THE TEMPLE AREA WHERE ALL THIS TOOK PLACE AND WAS GOING AWAY TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES TO BE ALONE WITH HIS DISCIPLES, PROBABLY ON HIS WAY TO BETHANY WHERE HE WOULD SPEND THE NIGHT.

** WELL, AS THEY WERE LEAVING JERUSALEM, THE DISCIPLES CAME UP TO POINT TO THE TEMPLE BUILDINGS, PLURAL.

*** NOW I EMPHASIZE BUILDINGS PLURAL, BECAUSE AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME WE ARE TOLD THAT THE TEMPLE COVERED ABOUT ONE-SIXTH OF THE LAND AREA OF JERUSALEM.

**** FOR THE TEMPLE WAS NOT ONE BUILDING, BUT A MAJESTIC MIXTURE OF PORCHES, COLONNADES, SEPARATE SMALL EDIFICES, AND COURTS SURROUNDING THE TEMPLE PROPERTY.

1.  AND YOU CAN SEE SOME ARTISTS RENDERINGS OF IT ON THE SCREEN TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE, IT WAS HUGE.

* NOW TO COMMUNICATE HOW BIG THE TEMPLE AREA WAS, NEXT TO THE INNER TEMPLE, WHERE THE SACRED OBJECTS WERE KEPT AND THE SACRIFICES OFFERED, THERE WAS A LARGE AREA CALLED THE COURT OF THE GENTILES (THIS WAS WHERE THE MONEY CHANGERS AND MERCHANTS HAD THEIR BOOTHS).

** AND OUTSIDE THESE COURTS STRETCHED LONG PORCHES.  SOLOMON’S PORCH WAS 1,562 FEET LONG, AND THE ROYAL PORCH WAS DECORATED WITH 160 COLUMNS STRETCHING ALONG IT 921 FOOT LENGTH.

*** THERE WERE MARBLE PILLARS 40 FEET HIGH, CARVED WITH A SINGLE STONE (3 TIMES AS HIGH AS THIS CEILING PLUS 2 FEET).

**** SOME OF THE STONES MEASURED 40 FEET BY 12 BY 12 AND WEIGHED UP TO A HUNDRED TONS.  THE TEMPLE BUILDINGS WERE MASSIVE AND EXCEPTIONALLY BEAUTIFUL.

2.  A LITTLE MORE BACKGROUND.  KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS TEMPLE WAS NOT THE ONE SOLOMON BUILT, FOR IT HAD BEEN DESTROYED BY THE BABYLONIANS IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY B.C., TALKED ABOUT IN II KINGS 25:8-10.

* SO THE TEMPLE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WAS THE 2’D TEMPLE, BUILT BY EZRA AFTER THE RETURN FROM

EXILE IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C., TALKED ABOUT IN EZRA 6:14&15.

** WELL, THIS PARTICULAR TEMPLE HAD BEEN DESECRATED IN THE SECOND CENTURY B.C., RECONSTRUCTED BY THE MACCABEES SOON AFTERWARDS, AND ENORMOUSLY EXPANDED BY HEROD THE GREAT AFTER THAT.

*** FOR AROUND 20 B.C. HEROD THE GREAT HAD BEGUN A MASSIVE RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT OT HELP THE JEWS REMODEL AND BEAUTIFY THEIR TEMPLE.

**** NOW AT THE TIME OF MATTHEW 24, THE TEMPLE WAS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.  IN FACT THIS RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT WOULD NOT BE FINISHED UNTIL ABOUT A.D. 64 (JUST A FEW YEARS BEFORE IT WAS DESTROYED).

3.  SO THE TEMPLE WAS MASSIVE, INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL, AND A SET OF BUILDINGS ADMIRED BY THE JEWS.

* AND THE JEWS WERE CONVINCED OF THE PERMANENCE OF THIS MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURE, NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE STABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT REPRESENTED GOD’S PRESENCE AMONG THEM.

** WELL, WITH ALL OF THAT IN MIND AS WE GO BACK TO MATTHEW 24:1, AS THE DISCIPLES AND JESUS WERE LEAVING JERUSALEM, THE DISCIPLES POINT OUT THE TEMPLE BUILDINGS TO JESUS.

*** AND THE OTHER TWO SYNOPTIC GOSPELS REPORT THAT THEY WERE POINTING TO THE TEMPLE IN ADMIRATION, SAYING: “TEACHER, BEHOLD WHAT BEAUTIFUL STONES AND WHAT WONDERFUL BUILDINGS!” IN MARK 13:1 AND IN LUKE 21:5.

**** NOW THE QUESTION COMES UP AT THIS POINT, WHY WOULD THE DISCIPLES POINT THIS OUT TO JESUS AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME?

4.  WELL, IF YOU RECALL IN MATTHEW 23:38 WHICH WE STUDIED LAST WEEK, JESUS MADE THE STATEMENT, “BEHOLD, YOUR HOUSE IS BEING LEFT TO YOU DESOLATE.”

* NOW WITH THAT STATEMENT, 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.

** AND “YOUR HOUSE” NOT GOD’S HOUSE ANYMORE WOULD BECOME DESOLATE, IT WOULD BE LEVELED BY TITUS ALONG WITH JERUSALEM.  SO YOUR HOUSE, THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL INCLUDING THE TEMPLE WOULD BECOME DESOLATE, BARREN, EMPTY, A PLACE OF DESTRUCTION.

*** AND MOST LIKELY WHAT JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW 23:38 BROUGHT ABOUT THE POINTING TO THE TEMPLE.

**** IN ESSENCE SAYING, MASTER IS IT TRUE THAT THE TEMPLE IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED OR DID WE MISUNDERSTAND YOU?

5.  WELL, BEGINNING IN V. 2, THERE WILL BE NO MISUNDERSTANDING, FOR JESUS MAKES THE PREDICTION OR THE PROPHECY CLEAR, LOOK AT V. 2 PLEASE, WHERE WE’LL SEE OUR 2’D POINT TODAY, THE PREDICTION.

II.  THE PREDICTION, (READ V. 2)

A.  NOW THE DISCIPLE’S JAWS MUST HAVE DROPPED WHEN THEY HEARD THE WORDS OF V. 2.

* I MEAN THEY COULD NOT IMAGINE HOW THE TEMPLE COULD BE DESTROYED OR WHY GOD WOULD ALLOW SUCH A THING TO HAPPEN.

** YET THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT GOD WOULD BRING TO PASS IN LESS THAN 40 YEARS.

*** FOR WHEN THE ROMANS SACKED JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70 AND MASSACRED MOST OF IT’S CITIZENS, THEY ALSO SET FIRE TO THE TEMPLE AND LEVELED IT JUST AS JESUS HAD PREDICTED.

**** HISTORY RECORDS THAT IN THE ATTACK ON JERUSALEM, THEY SET FIRES IN THE MAIN TEMPLE STRUCTURE THAT BECAME SO HOT, THE STONES OF THE BUILDING CRUMBLED.

1.  THEY THEN SIFTED THE RUBBLE TO EXTRACT ALL THE PRECIOUS METALS AND GEMSTONES AND SHOVELED THE REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE INTO THE SURROUNDING VALLEYS.

* SO JESUS’ WORDS ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE WERE FULFILLED TO THE LETTER, NOT ONE STONE WAS LEFT STANDING ATOP ANOTHER.

** IN FACT, JOSEPHUS THE JEWISH HISTORIAN COMMENTED THAT A PERSON VISITING THE SITE AFTER THE DESTRUCTION COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT ANYONE HAD EVER INHABITED THE PLACE, MUCH LESS THAT ONE OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT STRUCTURES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD HAD STOOD THERE ONLY A SHORT WHILE BEFORE.

*** AND LET ME SAY THAT JESUS’ PROPHETIC WORDS WERE BOTH THEOLOGICAL AND PROPHETIC.

**** THE SOVEREIGN JUDGMENT OF GOD WAS TO FALL UPON HIS UNBELIEVING PEOPLE; AND JUST AS JESUS AS LORD OF THE TEMPLE HAD PROCLAIMED IT’S PURIFICATION, HERE HE PREDICTED IT’S JUDGMENT.

2.  SO THE DISCIPLES WERE IN SHOCK, AND IT LEADS THEM TO ASK A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS FOUND IN V. 3, WHICH LEADS US TO OUR THIRD POINT TODAY, THE PLACE WHERE THE DISCIPLES ASKED THESE QUESTIONS.  LOOK AT V. 3 PLEASE.

III.  THE PLACE, (READ V. 3)

A.  NOW THE PLACE THAT JESUS WAS SITTING AT THIS PARTICULAR POINT WAS ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, WHICH WAS A LARGE HILL AS YOUR CAN SEE FROM PICTURES ON THE SCREEN. 

* NOW AS JESUS IS SITTING THERE, THE DISCIPLES COME AND ASK HIM A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS AND SPECIFICALLY ACCORDING TO MARK 13:3, PETER, JAMES, JOHN AND ANDREW WOULD ASK THIS ON BEHALF OF THE REST OF THE 12.

** AND THEIR QUESTION HAD TWO PARTS.  THEY WANTED TO KNOW NUMBER 1, WHEN WILL THIS HAPPEN?   REFERRING TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.

*** WHEN WILL THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE TAKE PLACE.

**** AND NUMBER 2, AND WHAT WILL BE THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING AND OF THE END OF THE AGE?

1.  NOW THE 2’D PART OF THEIR QUESTION REFERRED TO THE MESSIAH’S REIGN IN GOD’S KINGDOM.  FOR IN THE DISCIPLE’S MIND, ONE EVENT WOULD OCCUR IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE OTHER.

* THEY EXPECTED THE MESSIAH TO INAUGURATE HIS KINGDOM SOON, AND THEY WANTED TO KNOW THE SIGN THAT IT WAS ABOUT TO ARRIVE.

** IT APPEARS THAT THE DISCIPLES ASSUMED THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE WOULD LEAD TO HIS RETURN OR ARRIVAL OR HIS PRESENCE TO GET HIS KINGDOM GOING.

*** BUT THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE TIME FACTOR BETWEEN THE TWO EVENTS.

**** NOW JESUS WILL GIVE THEM AN ANSWER, BEGINNING IN V. 4.  BUT AS MANY O.T. PROPHETS HAD DONE, JESUS PREDICTED BOTH NEAR AND DISTANT EVENTS WITHOUT PUTTING THEM IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER.

2.  THE COMING DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE ONLY FORESHADOWED A FUTURE DESTRUCTION THAT WOULD PRECEDE CHRIST’S RETURN.

* LET ME EXPLAIN.  IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE PROPHECY IN THE REST OF MATTHEW 24 IN CHRIST’S ANSWER, PICTURE YOURSELF STANDING ON A MOUNTAINTOP LOOKING ACROSS A DISTANT MOUNTAIN RANGE.

** AS YOU LOOK OUT AT THIS RANGE, THE MOUNTAIN PEAKS APPEAR TO BE NEXT TO EACH OTHER, WHILE IN REALITY THEY ARE MILES APART BECAUSE OF THE VALLEYS IN BETWEEN.

*** WELL, JESUS’ PROPHECY PICTURED “MOUNTAIN PEAKS” (SIGNIFICANT FUTURE EVENTS) LOOKING TO THE DISCIPLES AND EVEN US AS THOUGH THEY WOULD OCCUR TOGETHER, WHEN IN REALITY, THEY MAY BE THOUSANDS OF YEARS APART.

**** AND SOME OF THE DISCIPLES LIVED TO SEE THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, WHILE SOME OF THE EVENTS JESUS SPOKE OF HAVE NOT YET, TO THIS DAY, OCCURED.

3.  AND WHAT WE HAVE IN THE REST OF MATTHEW 24 IS WHAT IS CALLED “PROPHETIC FORESHORTENING” WHERE FROM OUR VIEWPOINT WIDELY SEPARATED MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF HISTORIC EVENTS MERGE AND ARE SEEN AS ONE, AS WE’LL SEE IN THE REST OF MATTHEW 24.

AND AS I WRAP UP THINGS TODAY (1) I’VE GIVEN YOU JUST SOME BACKGROUND FOR THE REST OF OUR STUDY OF THE OLIVET DISCOURSE, THINGS TO COME.  AND LORD WILLING WE’LL START TO LOOK AT SOME BIRTH PANGS IN THIS CHALLENGING STUDY.

* BUT I CLOSE TODAY WHERE I STARTED, SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO KNOW THE FUTURE, FOR MANY REASONS.

** AND THE LORD HAS GIVEN US A PICTURE OF THE PROPHETIC FUTURE FOR BELIEVERS IN MATTHEW 24&25, AND THE BOOK OF REVELATION AND OTHER TEXTS.

*** AND THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR THE TRUE BELIEVER.  IN FACT, THE FUTURE IS AS BRIGHT AS THE PROMISES OF GOD.

**** WE HAVE A LOT TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN ONE DAY BEING WITH CHRIST FOREVER AND THAT SHOULD BE SURE HOPE THAT HELPS US GET THROUGH TRIALS AND HEARTACHES NOW.

(2)  THE PROMISE OF THE SWEET BY AND BY SHOULD HELP US GET THROUGH THE NASTY NOW AND NOW.  FOR WHAT GOD HAS SAID IN HIS WORD WILL COME TO PASS.

* AND WE TEACH AS A CHURCH, THAT WE WILL NOT GO THROUGH THE TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE, THE FULFILLMENT OF DANIEL’S 70^TH WEEK, THE TRIBULATION.

** WE BELIEVE THAT ONE DAY, WE WILL MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR AND FOREVER BE WITH HIM, READ

I THESS. 4:16-18.

*** SO BELIEVER THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT IN CHRIST.

**** BUT ALSO BELIEVER, I REMIND YOU THAT BEFORE THAT TIME, THE LORD HOLDS OUR FUTURES IN HIS HAND AND THAT SHOULD GIVE US PEACE.

(3)  FOR I’M IN HIS HAND BY HIS GRACE, AND NO ONE CAN PLUCK ME.  I KNOW THE ONE WHO HOLDS THE FUTURE, SO LET’S NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW, READ MATTHEW 6:34.

* AND BELOVED, THERE ARE A LOT OF SCARY THINGS THAT CAN HAPPEN, BUT WE WILL NEVER GO THROUGH THOSE THINGS ALONE, NOR WILL THEY HAPPEN WITHOUT THEM FIRST PASSING THROUGH OUR LOVING FATHER’S HAND.

** AND BECAUSE OF THAT, WE CAN BE CONFIDENT IN HIM, AND REST IN HIM, AND STAND ON HIS PROMISES, READ ROMANS 8:28 AND PHIL. 4:6&7.