Chapter 24

 

            False signs of the Tribulation. There are certain things that happen in the Church Age that are not the Tribulation.

            Verses 4 and 5, operation deceit.

            Verse 4 — “And Jesus said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” “Take heed” is a present active imperative, it is an order and it means beware. One of the greatest dangers to the believer is to be deceived and the only way to avoid it is to know Bible doctrine. We are not in the Tribulation now, the Church does not go into the Tribulation, and during the Church Age there is a lot of trouble. The word “deceive” is an aorist tense and it means in any point of time when you receive false doctrine or human viewpoint. The active voice indicates that the believer is a sucker and he is deceived because he doesn’t know doctrine. The subjunctive mood says it is potential, you don’t have to be deceived. If you know doctrine you will never be deceived. So the principle out of the aorist active subjunctive: Don’t be a sucker, learn doctrine.

            Verse 5 — “For many.” The word “many” refers to apostates, antichrists, false Christs; “shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” In other words, there are a lot of people during the Church who are going to try to palm themselves off as Messiah.

            Verse 6 — Operation warfare. “And ye shall hear [keep on hearing] of wars and rumours of wars.” For all liberals: you can’t stop war by disarmament; “see [make it a point] that ye be not troubled [frightened].” One of the worst things you can do as a believer in time of war is to be frightened. You don’t have to go to war to be frightened. Just have a war around, just hear about it and you can be frightened. The worst thing that can happen to any believer under any circumstances is to be frightened but all it takes is a war and some of the disaster information in a war and people are frightened. The best way to take all the fun out of life is to be scared. God’s plan is designed so that you do not have to be frightened — 2 Timothy 1:7; Philippians 4:7.

            “for all these things must come to pass, but the end [the Tribulation] is not yet.”

            Verse 7 — Operation catastrophe. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places [many areas].” These don’t mean we are in the Tribulation even though each of them will occur in the Tribulation. These things occur in time in general.

            Verse 8 — the principle of the pre-Tribulational Rapture. “All these [things] are the beginnings of sorrows.” All of these previously enumerated characteristics are general and common to history.

            Verses 9-26, the signs of the Tribulation. This is the answer to the third question back in verse 3.

            The first sign: Verses 9,10 — persecution of Israel during the Tribulation. Israel is always persecuted but it is concentrated during the Tribulation.

            Verse 9 — persecution from without. “Then [during the Tribulation. When the end comes] shall they [those who are anti-Semitic] shall deliver you to be afflicted [literally, into tribulation], and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of [by] all nations for my name’s sake.” Revelation 12 amplifies this phrase and shows that anti-Semitism in the Tribulation is Satanic and that Satan seeks to destroy Israel so that Jesus Christ cannot return and fulfil the unconditional promises to Israel. This is all persecution from without and this takes place in the Tribulation.

            Verse 10 — persecution from within. In the Tribulation Jew will turn against Jew. “And then shall [the] many [the Jews] be offended.” The word to be offended is a future passive indicative. The passive voice means that they receive offence from each other; “and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” In most cases this is the racial Jew turning against the born again Jew — cf. Revelation chapter seven.

            The second sign: Verses 11-12, apostasy in Israel during the Tribulation.

            Verse 11 — “And many false prophets shall rise.” A false prophet [teacher] is a Jew who is apostate — “and shall deceive the many.”

            Verse 12 — Why do they do it? “And because iniquity [lawlessness] shall abound.” The reason these people are deceived in because the word “iniquity” does not mean sin, it is literally lawlessness and it is a technical word for being minus the Word. Who is deceived? Anyone who doesn’t know the Word. Ignorance of the Word of God is the basis of deception. You cannot deceive a believer with doctrine in his frontal lobe. Lawless means doctrineless, Bibleless, Wordless.

            “and the love of many [Jews who are born again] shall wax cold.” This means that if you don’t know doctrine you can’t love the Lord; if you don’t love the Lord you are not interested in His Word. To wax cold in the Greek means to blow on something until it cools. These people are going to cool off.

            The third sign: Verse 13, the survival of believers who know doctrine. They are not only going to have a wonderful time in the Tribulation but they are going to survive. How do you survive? Knowledge of doctrine. The only thing that will keep the born again Jews who know doctrine alive will be their knowledge of doctrine. This will be illustrated in the verses to come.

            Verse 13 — this verse is mistranslated and misleading as it stands in the King James version. “But” — the conjunction of contrast. The contrast between ignorant believers and believers with knowledge of doctrine. The believer who has doctrine will survive; the believer who is ignorant of doctrine will be deceived and he is the one who will die. In the Tribulation believers are going to die for one reason only: ignorance of doctrine; “he that shall endure,” aorist active participle. The aorist tense gathers up into one point of time his use of doctrine as a means of survival; active voice: he makes decisions whereby he survives; “to the end [the end of the Tribulation, the second advent] shall be saved [delivered]” — physical deliverance, not salvation, as per Zechariah 14:1-4; Isaiah 63:1-6.

            Verses 12 and 13 are in great contrast. In verse 12 the stupid believer is wiped out; in verse 13 the smart believer survives. These verses are talking about Jews but throughout the world the same principle will apply to Gentiles. The ones who use doctrine will survive and the ones who do not will not survive.

            The fourth sign: Verse 14, evangelism in the Tribulation.

            Verse 14 — how did these Jews get saved in the first place in the absence of the Church? “And this gospel of the kingdom.” “Gospel” is the translation of a Greek word that simply means good news, which is the fact that Christ died for the sins of the world. In this case the word “gospel” is in a genitive construction — “gospel of the kingdom.” As soon as you put the word “kingdom” in there people simply fall apart. They think that somehow this is a different gospel, but it is not. All it is is the gospel, but it has a modifier on it to explain it in its context.

 

            The word “gospel” used with various types of modifiers

            1. “The gospel of Christ” — Romans 1:16. The gospel belongs to Christ; Christ is the gospel.

            2. “My gospel” — Romans 2:16. “My” is a possessive pronoun. This doesn’t change the gospel but what it does mean is that now that you are a believer the gospel belongs to you. It doesn’t change the content of the gospel, that remains static. Modifiers simply give a different emphasis, here it is the personal possession of every believer.

            3. “Our gospel” — 2 Corinthians 4:3,4. Again we have a possessive pronoun with the noun “gospel.” This time it is emphasising the responsibility of those who possess the gospel — to communicate it.

            4. “Gospel of peace” — Ephesians 6:15. The emphasis here is on the work and the production of the gospel, a gospel which produces peace, peace between man and God — Ephesians 2:14; Romans 5:1.

            5. “The everlasting gospel” — Revelation 14:6. “Everlasting” is a participle going with the noun “gospel” and the emphasis is on the nearness of judgement. It is the same gospel but eternity is just around the corner so it is called the everlasting gospel.

            6. “The gospel of the kingdom” — Matthew 24:14. “Of the kingdom” is a genitive phrase which simply means that in the Tribulation the kingdom is near and in the gospel there will be emphasis on the nearness of the return of Christ — Believe on Christ, He is coming back soon. The gospel of the kingdom emphasises the second advent and the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants to Israel.

 

            “shall be preached” — talking about the same gospel we have today. The content is the same, the emphasis is on the coming of Christ; “in all the world.” In every generation the world is saturated with the gospel. “In all the world” is fulfilled in four different types of evangelism. The Tribulation is approximately seven years in length and during those seven years the world will be evangelised four different times. First of all by the 144,000 Jewish evangelists of revelation chapter seven. Secondly by the witness of the Tribulational saints — Revelation 14:12,13. The two witnesses will evangelise the world, apparently by television — Revelation 11:1-14. Finally, at the end of the Tribulation the angels will evangelise the world — Revelation 14:6,7.

            “shall be preached in all the world for a witness.” Every person in the Tribulation will be the recipient of the gospel; “unto all nations,” literally, unto all Gentiles; “and then [after the world has been evangelised] shall the end [of the Tribulation, second advent] come.”

            The fifth sign: Verse 15, international religion infiltrates Israel during the Tribulation. The international religion reaches its peak in the Tribulation.

            Verse 15 — “When ye shall therefore see the abomination of desolation.” The abomination of desolation is an image of the Roman dictator. This image is put in churches throughout the world. This is the way the World Council of Churches will develop. A Roman dictator commands a ten-nation confederation which will be in the old Roman empire — Western Europe plus USA plus maybe a couple of other nations in the western hemisphere. This Roman dictator will also hold together his empire just as the Roman empire was held together, “Caesar is God!” In so doing there will be a way in which people will recognise Caesar is Lord [God], just as they did in the ancient Roman empire — image of the Caesar put up in the temple. And so in the temple in Jerusalem there will be in the holy of holies the image of the Caesar and this is because the dictator of the Jews in the Tribulation is in a hot spot and he makes a deal with the dictator of Rome. In the deal the Roman says you must accept my religion, ecumenical religion, and to show that you do so you will put my statue, a gold statue, up in the holy of holies. The abomination of desolation is that statue. This abomination of desolation was spoken of by Daniel the prophet — 9:27; 11:31; 12:11.

            “stand” — perfect tense, it will stand with tremendous results. The perfect tense indicates that when they put this statue up in the holy of holies it is the signal to go. So the Jews who are saved in the first half of the Tribulation get their signal to get out of town. It is a warning to every born again believer in southern Palestine, Judea, to head for the mountains immediately. Their instructions will be given in the verses that follow.

            Who are these people? In the first half of the Tribulation there will be many Jews saved and when the abomination is put up these Jews are told to go, to run. In the last three and a half years of the Tribulation more Jews will be saved and they are told to stay and fight — Zechariah 14. So there are two groups of Jews who are saved in the Tribulation.

            “(whoso readeth, let him understand).” It is important to understand. “Whoso readeth” here means to discern, to analyse, to gather exact knowledge from exegesis. You just don’t read this and get it, you analyse it and get it. “Readeth” means more than just reading, it means to study it. The principle is obvious: the importance of Bible study in order to orient to God’s plan. “Let him understand” is a present active imperative. Present tense: keep on understanding; active voice: you have to learn it, you have to get doctrine in your frontal lobe; imperative mood: this is an order.

            Verses 16-20, the believer in the Tribulation applying the doctrine to experience — the application of doctrine.

            Verse 16 — “Then [at that time] let them [born again believers in Judea] which be in Judea flee” — present active imperative. The abomination going up in the temple is a dramatic moment, Get out — “into the mountains.” The mountains are three sets of mountains: Ammon, Moab, and Edom. We know exactly which mountains because Daniel 11:41 tells us that those who flee to Ammon, Moab and Edom are safe when the king of the north comes through with his army.

            Verse 17 — “Let him which is on the housetop.” The housetop is where they had their gardens; “not come down to take anything out of his house.” Most houses in the ancient world had outside stairs. So the idea is to come down them and keep going, don’t pack your bags.

            Verse 18 — “Neither let him which is in the field.” These are the people down at the office, those who are at work. Don’t go back to the house to pick up anything, go straight from work to the mountains; “return back to take his clothes.” In other words, verses 17 and 18 amplify the present active imperative of the word “flee.” There comes a time when to survive you can’t stand around and think about it, you have to make a decision now. And when you make a decision “now” you have to have the information in your frontal lobe so that the decision is easy. You just say, It is time to go, and you get right now. If a person is going to survive in the Tribulation this is one decision they have to make.

            Verse 19 — “Woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days,” difficulties of travel at that time. Woe to those people means it is difficult. The word “woe” here means misery and they are going to be miserable travelling but the point is: travel anyway. A little misery and discomfort now and you survive.

            Verse 20 — “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.” So the Jews can start praying for this up to three and a half years before. Why in the winter? Because the roads are impassable going into mountains; “neither on the Sabbath day.” Their Sabbath is like our Sunday, the highways are clogged with traffic, too crowded.

            Verses 21,22 — the characteristics of the last half of the Tribulation.

            Verse 21 — “For then.” Literally, at that time; “there shall great tribulation.” The Great Tribulation is the last half of the Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” The worst three and a half years in history will then follow, but being up in the mountains they will avoid it.

            Verse 22 — “And except those days be shortened,” a little shorter than seven years; “there should no flesh be saved,” the whole world would be destroyed; “but for the elect’s sake [believers] those days shall be shortened.” So they are going to be up in the mountains for a little less than three and a half years.

            Once they get up in the mountains one thing is important: don’t live by your emotions, live by the Word. Don’t go by how you feel, go by what the Bible says — verses 23-26.

            Verse 23 — “Then if [3rd class condition: maybe yes, maybe no] any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.” In order to get these believers out of the hills and to massacre them, torture them, kill them, they are going to have sound trucks and they are going to broadcast: “Jesus Christ is in Jerusalem, come back.” But don’t believe it, stick with the Word. How you feel is inconsequential. What the Bible says is important, and that is just as true now as it will be in the future. If there is a conflict between how you feel and what the Bible says, the Bible is always right.

            Verse 24 — “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs.” These great signs are defined in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10, and they include performing miracles and speaking in tongues. And this will be used to suck people in just as it is today; “and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

            Verse 25 — “Behold, I have told you before.” The importance of hearing the Word, the importance of hearing it over and over and over again.

            Verse 26 — You stay in the mountains until Christ comes to get you.

 

             Review

             Matthew 23:37. God has made some promises to the Jews which have never been kept to this moment but will all be fulfilled at the second advent of Jesus Christ. As far as the national promises are concerned they fall into four categories called unconditional covenants. An unconditional covenant means that there are no strings attached and God has to keep His word. They are characterised by the English phrase “I will.”

            The Abrahamic covenant. The first of these four covenants is the Abrahamic covenant found in Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-16; 15:18; 22:15-18. God promised Abraham that he would have a son who would follow him and from his son would eventually come a race, and so on. God promised many races from Abraham and He had some very interesting things for Abraham personally in that covenant.

            The Palestinian covenant. The second of these covenants is the Palestinian covenant in which God promises to the Jews a piece of real estate which they have never inherited even until this moment. It is land which lies between the Nile river and the Euphrates river and goes down into the Arabian peninsula. Even in the hay-day of the Jews they have never occupied that territory and it awaits the fulfilment of the second advent of Jesus Christ.

            The Davidic covenant. The third is the Davidic covenant in which God promises David that he will have a son who will reign forever, and that son is Jesus Christ. There are two primary passages of scripture: 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37.

            The New covenant to Israel. The fourth is the New covenant to Israel in which God promises all regenerate Jews of the past dispensations that they will have eternal life under certain conditions which are specified in Jeremiah 31 and in Hebrews 8:8-13.

            When we use the word “Jew” we refer to three different kinds of people. The first is the racial Jew, and the racial Jew is anyone who has the genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The second is the religious Jew who is the apostate legalist. Thirdly there is the regenerate Jew, i.e. the Jew who in the past [Old Testament] personally believed in Jesus Christ, received Him as his saviour. The Church is not included. Any Jew who accepts Christ today is not a Jew any longer, he is a member of the body of Christ.

            You will recall again the discipline which came to the Jews because they were the custodians of the Word and responsible for its dissemination. As a background for the first part of this passage, 781 BC begins the 4th cycle of discipline to the Jews, administered first under Assyria and then under Egypt in the days of Pharaoh Necho until Pharaoh Necho was defeated at the battle of Carchemish in 606 BC, and finally under Chaldea. Chaldea is often confused as Babylonia. The Babylonians and the Chaldeans are not the same.

            In 586 BC the Chaldeans, under Nebuchadnezzar, administered the fifth cycle of discipline, and this takes us down to 516 BC, a period of seventy years, often known as the Babylonian captivity. This is terminated by the rebuilding of the temple, called the second temple, of Zerubbabel. Then from 516-323 BC, the death of Alexander the Great, the Jews had the greatest period they will ever have until the Millennium. This was their golden age, the age in which they applied Bible doctrine with the result that they had nearly two hundred years of peace and marvellous prosperity. Then from 323 they began to decline and finally we have, beginning in 167 BC, a short period of the 4th cycle of discipline which was terminated in 164 with the Maccabaean revolt being successful. Again they had a short period which was wonderful and then they had to go through the cycles again until we get to 63 BC when Pompey the Great came into Jerusalem and captured it. From that time on, under Rome, the 4th cycle of discipline was administered until 70 AD when Jerusalem fell. With the fall of Jerusalem and the scattering of the people we have the 5th cycle of discipline which lasts until the second advent of Jesus Christ. Beginning at 70 AD and going through to the Rapture of the Church we have the Church Age in which the Church replaces Israel as custodians of the Word and has the responsibility for its dissemination.

            All if this will be background somewhere in this passage which begins in Matthew chapter 23 and goes through the end of chapter 24.

            The Lord Jesus Christ walked out of the temple after the temple discourse. He laid it on the line to religion, in fact He slashed them to pieces. And now we find the religious Jews standing behind fuming. Beginning in verse 37 of chapter 23 Jesus pauses and He looks at Jerusalem as He is walking out of the city, and He says: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets.” The prophets are those who taught doctrine and Jerusalem expressed its free will by killing those who taught doctrine; “and stonest them which are sent unto thee,” God Himself sent men with a message and they stoned them to death; “how often would I have gathered thy children.” The verb “would” is actually an expression of divine sovereignty or the free will of God. The gathering here refers to the fulfilment of these four unconditional covenants, and the reason these covenants have never been fulfilled is because the Jews, generation after generation, kept resisting the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is a perfect illustration: “I would have gathered thee.” The phrase that follows is very significant and helps to resolve one of the problems of theology; “even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not” — free will. “Not” expresses negative signals.

            How do we differentiate between time and eternity? In eternity there was one will, that was God’s. Then we come to history, but this is history — angels. And now we have more than one will, we have at least two wills: the will of God and the will of Satan who said: “I will, I will,” five times. At that point we have a conflict. The creature says, I will, and his I will is antithetical to Satan’s. Then we finally come to history — man. And when we come to category man we have three categories of will: the will of God, the will of angels, and the will of man. And, of course, the whole objective under God’s plan is for man’s will to line up with God’s. We have in history a conflict of wills. So actually it looks like this: eternity = one will; angelic conflict = two categories of wills; history of man = three categories of wills; and in eternity = one will again. But between eternity past and eternity future we have some taken in; we have all angels who made a decision and all saved or elect angels are involved; and all regenerate members of the human race are also involved. Now when we get to the one will in eternity future we have two sets of creatures who are under that one will. Our objective in operation phase two is to do the will of God, of course. This is the ideal situation in the devil’s world.

            “ye would not” — this expresses the negative volition of the Jews in Jerusalem and their negative volition is based upon a concept called religion or legalism. In Matthew chapter 23 we saw what Jesus did to religion. Now we have the principle that in religion man does the doing and God is supposed to receive what man does, and man gets the credit. Therefore when anyone comes along, as Jesus Christ did, He offers grace, and under grace God does the work and man does the receiving, and God gets the credit. “Ye would not” indicates that they were religious and therefore anyone who is religious will reject the truth. As a matter of fact religion develops through the principle that at the point of God consciousness when a person goes on negative volition, later on he will get gospel hearing and at that point he will again go on negative volition and reject Christ. These two negatives create a vacuum into which is sucked the Satanic system of religion. So religion is sucked into the frontal lobe of the individual. We have this coming to its climax when Jesus said to Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, etc., but ye would not. This indicates the principle that coexisting on the earth  

today are three categories of wills. First of all the will of God as delineated in phase two of God’s plan, secondly the will of angels (Satan is the ruler of this world), and thirdly the will of God. These three wills are categories on the earth today.

            Verse 38 — “Behold your house is left to you desolate.” This is divine viewpoint, the viewpoint of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “house” refers to the temple; the temple refers to Jesus Christ.

Note: Acts 7:44 — “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness [a title for the tabernacle] in the wilderness.” The “witness” concerning Jesus Christ. Everything in the tabernacle and in the temple was a witness concerning Christ and here were the religious people in the temple and they had obscured the witness concerning Christ in a very simple way. They had substituted the various meaningful activities of the Levitical priesthood with a religious system, a ritual, and they had unbelief in their frontal lobes which created a vacuum and drew in religion. So Jesus says to them in verse 38 of Matthew 23, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” The Greek word “desolate” means an empty house. In other words, while the temple proclaimed Jesus Christ negative volition at the point of God consciousness and negative volition at the point of gospel hearing had created something that completely obscured the “witness.” Now it was simply a temple but not the temple of witness; this had been completely removed by their negative volition.

            Now there is something that the Jews had not learned. In fact in their religion they were talking about their heritage, they were going back to Moses and everything was Moses. But by their negative volition at the points of God consciousness and gospel hearing they actually had rejected the whole principle that Moses taught concerning Christ and they had accepted religion. As a result the house was empty. Since Jesus Christ was not accepted as saviour, and therefore He was not in their frontal lobes. They walked around with religious frontal lobes and human viewpoint in this temple. The temple still had all the furniture and everything it had previously when it was a witness, but a maximum number of people minus Bible doctrine, rejecting the cross, created a desolate situation. Their spiritual heritage was wonderful but you can destroy spiritual heritage in one generation by two acts of negative volition on the part of a maximum number of people. And that is exactly what they did. Heritage means nothing. When you do not have positive volition heritage is useless.

            Now Jesus said the temple is desolate. “Your house” is the word He used. And when Jesus spoke that was divine viewpoint. Human viewpoint says: It is great; it is beautiful. And who expresses human viewpoint? Eleven born again believers who have been listening to doctrine for three years under Jesus Christ! It isn’t the building that counts, it is the people who occupy the buildings.

            Verse 39 — “For I keep on saying unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” In other words, Jesus Christ is walking out on Israel [in verse 38 He walks out on religion; in verse 39 He walks out on Israel]. He is through with Israel right then and there, and that is why in chapters 24 and 25 He gives something to the Jews who are born again in the future. Chapters 24 and 25 are called the Olivet discourse because this discourse was given on the mount of Olives. In this discourse He is going to talk to future Jews.

            Now He walked out just a week or so before the cross. The temple discourse was finished; He gave the Olivet discourse; and after giving the Olivet discourse which happened on a Tuesday, on a Wednesday He went to the cross. So He is talking about Jews over when the Age of the Jews resumes after the Rapture. In between we have the Church Age and these eleven disciples are going to be the beginning of the Church. When the baptism of the Spirit takes place on the day of Pentecost they are going to be entered into union with Christ and once they are in union with Christ they are no longer Jews.

            “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” is a quotation from Psalm 118:26, and it refers to the second advent of Jesus Christ and explains the failure of Palm Sunday. The religious crowd had confused the first and the second advents of Christ.

            Chapter 24 verse one — “And Jesus went out and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him to shew him the buildings of the temple” — right after Jesus had said, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” It was a very beautiful series of structures. Herod was the greatest of all time building contractors and when he finished the temple it was a very fantastic structure, the most beautiful of all the edifices which he constructed. But now Jesus says it is desolate and the disciples say it is beautiful. In this way the disciples are contradicting Jesus. It was their ignorance of doctrine, and so it is today. Ignorance of doctrine causes believers to contradict the Lord Jesus Christ.

            Verse 2 — “And Jesus said unto them, Stop looking.” For the past three years they had been impressed with these buildings. Their admiration of the buildings was not admiration of an ordinary edification, it was more than that. It was ignorance of Bible doctrine; it was contradiction of what Jesus had just said in the temple. He said the house was desolate and they are now admiring it.

            Principle: Ignorance of doctrine leads to admiration of man’s plans. 

 

            Today we have three sets of plans in operation on this earth

            a. We have God’s plan — God is perfect; His plan is perfect: operation phase one, the cross; operation phase two, the believer in time; operation phase three, the believer in eternity. And this is a perfect plan because God does the work. Christ did the work of salvation, the Holy Spirit does the work of phase two, and all three members of the Trinity do the work of phase three: God does the work.

            b. We have Satan’s plan. Satan’s plan seems to be a plan of producing a perfect environment apart from God. Satan isn’t in favour of all the terrible things that happen in the world but it is inevitable because of the sin nature.

            c. The third is man’s plan. This plan is maudlin sentimentality, greatest good for the greatest number, and many other concepts.

 

            Jesus tells the disciples that the temple is going to be thrown down, destroyed. That is a prophecy of the fall of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. Jesus is speaking in April of 30 AD, just a couple of days before He dies on the cross. In August of 70 AD this would happen, so there would be only a period of forty years grace — grace before judgement. There would be forty years for people to get saved and get out from under this discipline and judgement.

            Verse 3 — the key verse to understanding this section. “ … the disciples came to him privately.” This means they are still looking over their shoulder, they are frightened by the implications of our Lord’s remarks and so they waited until they could question Him privately. And now they ask Him three questions which lack chronological order.

            “When shall these things be?” refers to what He had just said about the temple being destroyed. The answer to that is in 70 AD and Jesus gives the answer but it is not given in context, only Luke records the answer to the first question — Luke 21:20-24.

            “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” This is answered in verses 27-51, because this deals with “the signs of thy coming” [second advent]. It is answered later because it chronologically it is later. The fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD comes first. Then after 70 AD we go down to the second advent for the second question. But the second question is out of line chronologically because then they ask a third question.

            “What shall be the sign of the end of the age?” The end of the age is the Tribulation, the end of the Jewish Age.

            Verses 4-8 are to remind us of the fact that just because we have trouble in the world it does not mean that we are in the Tribulation. Let us notice false signs. We are not in the Tribulation today because there is a war somewhere, because people are starving, because people are slaughtered, because people go through all sorts of terrible sufferings. Suffering is general throughout the world because every member of the human race has an old sin nature, all the fallen angels have an old sin nature, and it is quite a situation.

            Verse 4 — operation deceit. Believers are going to be deceived in the Tribulation but believers are deceived today. So being deceived because of lack of doctrine is not unusual, it is characteristic of all ages. “And Jesus answered and said unto them. Take heed that no man deceive you.” He is speaking to the eleven disciples on the mount of Olives. So far they have not learned doctrine even though they have been with Jesus Christ for three years, but they will learn because the Holy Spirit will bring these things to their remembrance and they will build doctrine upon doctrine. “Take heed” means literally to beware, be alert, and one of the greatest areas of alertness in the life of every believer must be that he is not deceived by false doctrine, by false interpretations of history; “that no man deceive you,” aorist passive subjunctive. The aorist tense of deceive mean in a point of time when you hear false doctrine, or human viewpoint. The passive voice means that they actually receive this deceit because they do not have Bible doctrine in the frontal lobe, they are minus doctrine. The subjunctive mood indicates that this is a potential situation because there will be some believers in every generation who will know doctrine and will not be deceived.

            It is easy to be deceived by history. This is the point that Jesus is making because in every historical era there will be great suffering to some section of the earth. People will bring upon themselves great suffering, other causes will be brought into play which will cause great suffering, and it is easy for people to think the Tribulation is already here.

            Verse 5 — this is why many will be deceived. “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” So to avoid being deceived you must know doctrine.

            Verse 6 — the second point of deception: operation warfare. “And ye shall hears of wars [hot wars] and rumours of wars [cold wars or psychological warfare]: see that ye be not troubled [be not scared out of your wits, do not be frightened].” The worst thing that can happen to you in times of suffering and war is to be frightened and to be worried. If you are worried about anything or if you have fear then doctrine is neutralised in your frontal lobe and you couldn’t be in a worse state. There is no excuse for any believer being frightened or worried about anything because there is no problem, no suffering, no series of difficulties in this life that are greater than the plan of God. And God’s plan does not call for you at any time to be worried or frightened or upset or disturbed or to manifest any of the characteristics of panic palace. We have the promises of God’s Word on which to rest. Stop looking at the buildings; stop looking at the superficial things of life. If you have Bible doctrine you can enjoy the things of this life, but if you do not have Bible doctrine remember that the things of this life are desolate and that great inner happiness and peace comes from Bible doctrine in the frontal lobe and, of course, its utilisation and application.

            Verse 7 — the third false concept: operation catastrophe. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” This is always going on and the only protection for this kind of thing is to have a strong military and maximum use of Bible doctrine among believers. From the divine viewpoint it is Bible doctrine that preserves a nation, believers are the salt of the earth and these believers must know the Word. And from the human viewpoint no one will pick on you if you are strong enough and tough enough.

            “and there shall be famines, and pestilences,” disasters caused by lack of food and by disease; “earthquakes,” disaster caused by nature. The divine expression: nature is often used to judge people.

            Verse 8 — the principle of the pre-Tribulation Rapture. “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

            In verses 9-26 we have the answer of the third question in verse three: What shall be the sign of the end of the age? They are:

            1. Persecution of Israel during the Tribulation [from without and from within] — verses 9, 10;       2. The apostasy of Israel — verse 11-12;

            3. The survival of believers who know doctrine — verse 13;

            4. Evangelism in the Tribulation — verse 14;      

            5. International religion infiltrates Israel during the Tribulation — verse 15;

 

            Verse 14 — The “gospel of the kingdom” is the same gospel that is mentioned by name in any other passage of scripture. Various phrases, usually genitive phrases, are used to place emphasis on the gospel at various times. In the Tribulation this world-wide evangelism will be conducted in four waves:  the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists — Revelation chapter 7; the witnessing of their converts — Revelation 14:12-14; the witness of Moses and Elijah, the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11:1-4; angels will evangelise the world just before the second advent — Revelation 14:6,7. Notice it says “in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” The phrase “unto all nations” requires a close scrutiny for this reason: the basis of evangelism, the basis of presenting the gospel, is order. Various segments of the human race are divided by race, by geography, by language, and they are divided in order that there might within these segments law and order. Law and order in various national entities make it possible for evangelism to occur. In order to protect the human race from destruction and in order to make it possible for the human race to be evangelised God has set up what we call categorically divine institutions, something which is organised for the entire human race. Divine institution #1 is volition which is the basis of human freedom and the basis of making a decision for salvation. Divine institution #2 is marriage, #3 is the family [the home], and #4 is nationalism. Under nationalism a large number of national entities in balance of power gives the best possible spread for the gospel under the best conditions. You have to have law and order for evangelism to be successful in any widespread territory. So we have “unto all nations” because as national entities exist, and as they maintain their stability, and as they provide laws whereby protection is given to all members within that national entity — laws which guarantee privacy, and so on — then of course evangelism continues on a true basis of allowing each individual to make up his own mind after a very clear and lucid hearing of the gospel.

            “then shall the end come.” The end refers to the end of the Jewish age and the point of the second advent.

            Internationalism is always the enemy of evangelism and the Tribulation is one of the greatest periods of internationalism. And even though it is rampant throughout the world we still have national entities in existence and these hold the line in order that evangelism may occur. In other words, nationalism is of God to protect the human race; internationalism is of Satan to destroy human freedom and human volition. All international organisations are designed with one purpose in mind and that is a Satanic system in order to neutralise and to hinder human freedom. Human freedom is absolutely necessary for true evangelism.

            Verse 15 — we have international religion as it will exist in the Tribulation. The key to this particular passage is the phrase “the abomination of desolation.” This is a statue of the Roman dictator which is put up on a pedestal in the holy of holies in exactly the place where the ark of the covenant is kept and the mercy seat.

            The ark and the mercy seat speak of salvation from the standpoint of propitiation. Originally in the holy of holies was the ark, a box made of wood and gold. The wood speaks of the humanity of Christ, the gold speaks of the deity of Christ, and the two together speak of the uniqueness of the person of Christ [His hypostatic union]. Inside of the ark were three things: the tables of the law, a pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. Each one of these speaks of a certain aspect of sin: the law in the sense of violation or transgression of God’s order, the pot of manna is rejection of God’s provision, and Aaron’s rod that budded is a revolt against God’s authority — the Levitical tribe. So we have those things which speak of sin inside of the box and this is a picture of Christ bearing our sins — 2 Corinthians 5:21.

            Over the top of the ark was a mercy seat and on each end of the mercy seat was a cherub. There were two cherubs: one of them represented the righteousness of God and one the justice of God. Once a year on the day of atonement the high priest came twice into the holy of holies and he sprinkled the blood of a sacrifice over the top of the mercy seat. God’s righteousness looks at the blood of Christ and is satisfied; God’s justice looks at Christ being judged for us and is satisfied, so we actually have in the mercy seat and in the ark a picture of God’s satisfaction with the work of Christ, or the divine viewpoint of salvation.

            This will exist again in the Tribulation in the temple which will be built at that time, and right in the middle of the Tribulation after the first three and a half years this great statue will be erected over the top of where the ark and the mercy seat are located. The statue represents international religion and it is set up for one purpose: to indicate that the Jews are accepting ecumenical religion as it will exist in the Tribulation. The reason that the Jews accept it is because the dictator of Palestine finds himself in a tight spot. He finds himself in serious trouble because of the rise of spheres of influence or power politics. There will be the king of the south, the Pan-Arabic bloc, and as the Arabs unite their desire, of course, is to destroy Israel. Then we have the kings of the east, the famous Asiatic bloc, and the king of the north which today is comparable to the Russian bloc. Now we have in Israel a dictator who is smart enough to realise that you can’t deal with the oriental mind because when you deal with an oriental he will break up a deal at any time he finds it necessary to do so. (We have had many illustrations of this in our day) Then to the north he finds another oriental-thinking power and so he rejects all three of theses spheres of influence as being any source of hope and he moves across the Mediterranean to Rome. And there we have a united states of Western Europe. This is the image with the ten toes in Daniel. In other words, we have a ten-nation confederation, and this confederation now has a dictator, sometimes called in the Bible the king of the West, the king of fierce countenance, the little horn of Daniel seven, the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2, the beast of Revelation chapter 13, and so on. He is designated by many titles but he is not only the political leader of the revived Roman empire, the ten-nation confederation, he is also a religious leader. He is the head of the World Council of Churches or ecumenical religion as it will exist in the Tribulation. And as the head of this particular organisation he is pushing his organisation throughout the world as a basis for further conquest.

            Over in Jerusalem we have a dictator who says to the man in Rome: Look, you give me protection and I will give you the advantage of all of these raw materials which we have in the Dead Sea and other places. And so there is an agreement reached in which he has to do a lot of paying and the dictator says, I will give you protection. Now in order that this agreement might be formed up, in Jerusalem there is a new temple which is a replica of Solomon’s and then Zerrubabel’s and then the one that Herod redid. And they have an actual mercy seat and all of the other factors connected with the holy of holies. But the Roman dictator says that his statue must be put up in the most sacred place in the temple. Remember that in the old Roman empire every emperor, when he was declared god by the senate, always had a statue made and the statue was unveiled at the same time. Many of the statues have come down to us today. Hadrian, for example, is said to have had over 200 statues made of him and they were placed in temples throughout the Roman empire. So in the revived Roman empire we have emperor worship also revived and this man sets himself up as God and he says you will have to put this statue of me in the holy of holies. That occurs at exactly in the middle of the Tribulation. Three and a half years into the Tribulation brings us to the point of putting up this statue. Now three and a half years remain before Christ returns.  

            In the meantime, as a result of world-wide evangelism during the three and a half years of this evangelism throughout the world, thousands of Jews in Judea have found Christ as saviour. And so the next segment of this passage is for them. And you will notice it says, When ye shall see. Now “ye” is a second person plural and it refers to the believers in Palestine. They are given warning as to exactly what to do. This statue is suddenly put up in the holy of holies. The statue is called the abomination of desolation and the reason it is called that is because prior to the Tribulation in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (25 December, 167 BC) Antiochus Epiphanes went into the holy of holies and offered pig sacrifices and because of the objection by the Jews he offered human blood. Then he set up this golden statue which he called Zeus Olympias. It looked exactly like Antiochus Epiphanes except for one thing: Antiochus was clean shaven and this statue had a beard. But it was the exact image of Antiochus Epiphanes and this was the original abomination of desolation. Its setting up in the temple began the terrible period from 167-164 BC, the Maccabaean wars which terminated with the liberation of the Jews. So there is some precedent. The Jews understand their history and therefore they get exactly the same thing in the Tribulation. The Church is in heaven being evaluated, the Jews have just accepted Christ as saviour during this period of three and a half years and now if they are going to stay alive they have to obey the Word of God, they have to understand the Olivet discourse. So what we are studying here is the difference between life and death to these Jewish believers in the future. Failure to believe the Word of God, failure to follow the instructions give here will result in their death, and there is a sin unto death in the Tribulation, just as in the Church Age, and the Jewish martyrs in the Tribulation have no excuse for dying at all. God would preserve all of them until the end of the Tribulation but through their ignorance of doctrine, through their stupidity, through their failure to believe the Olivet discourse, many of them will die in Palestine. That is as close as you can come in the Tribulation to the sin unto death.

            So these Jews get their clue now from verse 15. “When ye [you all] therefore shall see,” the aorist tense indicates the point of time when the abomination of desolation goes up; the active voice: subject produces the action of the verb; you have to do the observing. Notice: “when ye shall see,” the abomination of desolation, the statue, goes up in the middle of the Tribulation you have to be alert. Application for us today: In order to know what is going on you have to know your Bible, it is all there. You can actually tell what is going on in the world today by reading you Bible; you can’t always tell by reading your newspaper. “See.” Seeing means to observe, which means to know what is going on, and they will know what is going on. They will see this great statue put up and when they do — we have a subjunctive mood (the subjunctive mood is always for the clucks, the people who won’t study the Word, the people who won’t learn Bible doctrine, therefore the people who do not know what is going on) which indicates that there are some believers who will never figure it all out, and when they get slaughtered a few days after the abomination of desolation goes up they will wonder what it is all about. And they will die praying to the Lord to deliver them but if they had known the Bible they would have known they could not be delivered, for deliverance of the Jews in that first segment of the Tribulation depends upon following instructions. (The Jews of the first half of the Tribulation are commanded to run; the Jews who are born again in the last half of the Tribulation are commanded to stay and fight). In the first three and a half years the Jews who are saved are commanded to run. The Jews who do not learn the Olivet discourse, who do not study their Bibles, who downgrade doctrine (even as we have born again believers today, in fact the majority, who downgrade doctrine), are dead. These people never get clued up, they never know what is going on; they are totally disoriented. That is why we have later in this chapter the words “be alert", know what is going on. Do you know what is going on today? Do you know from Bible doctrine what is going on? It is important to know what is going on because this is the principle of knowing what is going on. So “when ye shall see” is very important, it is orientation to the plan of God. What do they see? This is the image of the abomination of desolation, the image of the dictator of the revived Roman empire. The image is mentioned in about six passages in Revelation: 13:14; 14:9,11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20,24. This same abomination is also mentioned three times in Daniel, that is why we have the phrase: “spoken of by Daniel the prophet” — Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11. God never leaves the believer in the dark but the key to understanding any age, any catastrophe, any difficulty, whether it is national or personal, depends upon understanding the Word of God. In the future the people who are going to be safe in the worst period of history are those who follow Bible doctrine. And those who do not follow Bible doctrine are going to be destroyed violently. The only thing that is going to keep people alive is a knowledge of Bible doctrine, and it starts right here in verse 15 — “when ye shall see.” And at the end of this verse, “whoso readeth, let him understand.” The word “readeth” is not readeth at all, it means to analyse, to exegete, to interpret exactly and correctly; “understand,” understanding is necessary for obedience. You cannot obey unless you understand; you have to know doctrine before you can obey doctrine and live by doctrine. No one can live by doctrine until he has it in his frontal lobe. “Let him understand” is a present active imperative which means, Let him keep on understanding. This is an order.

            “spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand.” “Stand” is in the perfect tense, it will stand in a point of time with the result that it continues to stand in the holy place, referring to the holy of holies. This statue will be put up in the place of the ark and the mercy seat. The statue represents man’s concept “religion” and man’s plans substituted for God’s plan. That is the principle of putting an abomination of desolation, a statue, up in the holy of holies. The mercy seat and the ark of the covenant are removed and in their place you have a statue, and the principle is: religion wins in Judea. Once Judea is taken over by religion, the ecumenical religious system of the world at that time, there is only one safe place for the Jews who are believers and that is out of the land up in the mountains, areas that are off the beaten path.

            Verse 16 — this is the signal. “Then let them [believers] which be in Judea.” Note this is a specific geographical location. Judea is southern Palestine; “flee” — present active imperative, keep on running until you get to the mountains, don’t stop, keep moving; “into the mountains.” The mountains are mentioned in Daniel 11:41, Edom, Moab and Ammon. These are areas of three mountain ranges which surround Judea, so they can flee east or south and get away. And Daniel tells us they are safe there throughout the rest of the Tribulation.

            Verse 17 — some personal instructions begin, very practical. “Let him which is on the housetop” — the place where people kept their gardens in the ancient world; “not come down to take anything out of his house.” That means not come down to pack or take anything for the journey. If they are not packed already, forget it.

            Verse 18 — the people at work. “Neither let him which is in the field.” The Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written and the field represents people at the office; “return not to get his clothes.” If you haven’t a bag with you just move on out.

            So we have in verses 17 and 18 the importance of rapidity of movement. Rapidity of movement always depends upon a certain thing in the frontal lobe; knowledge of pertinent doctrine and decisiveness. You have to make decisions. You have to have this knowledge in your frontal lobe when the balloon goes up. When that statue goes up it is time to move — now! People who are indecisive because they lack confidence because they lack knowledge of the Word of God are always caught in a trap. These people who are sitting around trying to make up their minds are going to be dead, horribly dead, miserably dead, in the sense that they are going to die from violence. For when that abomination goes up it is the signal to kill all believers in the land. This is what ecumenical religion will do in those days; in the name of “brotherhood” they will kill all born again believers.

            Verse 19 — “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!” This is a very interesting verse for two reasons: it says that the Tribulation is a terrible time to have children, but if you do have children you have extra trouble. There will be nothing convenient about this rapid trip into the mountains. It will be much more difficult for pregnant women and small children to get away.

            Verse 20 — “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.” It is very difficult to travel into mountains in winter; “neither in the Sabbath day,” the problem of traffic on the holiday in Judea.

            Verses 21-22, the character of the last half of the Tribulation.

            Verse 21 — once the nucleus of believers who believe the Word of God, who claim the promises of God, who obey doctrine, get safely into the mountains their problems are not over. They will survive without any problems along that line. Their biggest problem is going to be emotionalism once they get into the mountains. They are going to have a test of their emotional pattern and this test of whether emotion or the Word is the criterion comes in verses 21 and 22.

            “For then.” The word “then” is an adverb which means, at that time, and once you get into the mountains, at that time “there shall be great tribulation.” Great tribulation refers to the last three and a half years of the Tribulation and it is said here to be the worst period in human history “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, no nor ever shall be.” It is without precedent. These last three and a half years will be a time when Satan is personally confined to the earth; he is cast out of heaven in the middle of the Tribulation according to Luke 10:18; Isaiah 14:12; Ezekiel 28:16.

            Verse 22 — “And except those should be shortened.” There will a be slight shortening of the last three and a half years in order to save those people who find Christ as saviour in the last half of the Tribulation; “there should no one be delivered” — literally, no flesh will be delivered. This is a physical deliverance rather than a spiritual deliverance; “but for the [because of the] elect’s [believers who are bottled up in Jerusalem] sake those days shall be shortened.”

            Verses 23-26, the emotional versus rational test for these believers.   

            Verse 23 — “Then if any man shall say unto you.” Apparently they are going to hear it over the radios and there are going to be sound trucks brought up to the mountains which are going to beam out a message: Jesus Christ is back in Jerusalem and He wants to see you. Jesus Christ is out in the desert and He has said that He wants you personally to come. This is done in order to deceive those who are up in the mountains to get them out and down where they can be slaughtered. “Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not,” aorist active subjunctive. There is a reason for the subjunctive mood here. The aorist tense refers to the point of time when you become a propaganda victim. The active voice means that you have to take the initiative and make a decision, and the subjunctive mood instead of the imperative indicates the fact that you have free will at this point and that you must operate on the basis of your free will. You are told not to believe it. The subjunctive is really a command, but a command that recognises that some are going to disobey it. And who will disobey? There will always be some who like to emote and they will get all worked up about this and so they will go on negative signals and come running down the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain they are going to be slaughtered, for one reason: because the Bible said specifically, Don’t you believe it.

            There is a reason for all this. We are not in the Tribulation, we will never be in the Tribulation, it is impossible. But this is to remind us by way of application in the Church Age: just as there will be suckers in that day so there will be suckers today, believers who do not take cognisance of Bible doctrine, believers who fail to learn the Word of God. And actually the worst clucks in the world today are stupid believers who are sincere. That is as bad as you can get. Sincerity simply covers the ignorance. We are not commanded to be ignorant; we are not commanded to be sincere; we are not commanded to allow our emotions to be the criterion for the spiritual life. We have emotions; they have a place in our life, but never when it comes to this life spiritually, Bible doctrine. When there is a conflict between how you feel and what the Word of God says, the Word of God is always right and your emotions are always wrong. How you feel does not determine your spiritual life, it is what the Word of God says — always.

            Verse 24 — Here is the principle behind it. “There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders.” The great signs will be speaking in tongues; the great wonders: miracles of healing. So they will pull people out of the mountains with the same old tongues movement and the same old healing movement. There is a principle that applies to us today: miracles are more impressive to some believers than all the doctrine in the world, and anything that titillates the emotional pattern is more impressive to some believers than all of the categories of the Word of God.

            Now there is a place for emotion connected with the soul: it is an appreciator of things of the soul, but the emotion has no place as far as a criterion for the Christian life. Emotion betrays and destroys the believer who makes it his absolute authority.

            “if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Believers who are deceived in the Tribulation scene are going to be martyred, and that is the sin unto death.

            Verse 25 — “Behold I have told you before.” This means that in order to communicate doctrine, to teach it, you have to repeat, repeat, repeat. “You” is dative of advantage, it is to the advantage of every believer to have doctrine repeated and repeated and repeated. This is communicating.

            Verse 26 — “Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” Follow the Word of God and you will have not trouble.

            Verses 27-51, the answer to the second question.

            Verse 27 — we begin with an illustration of the second advent. “For as lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even to the west; so shall the coming of the Son of man be.”

 

The four characteristics of lightning as they apply to the second advent of Christ

            1. Lightning travels at great speed, and Christ returns to the earth with great speed. Lightning is used as an illustration because of the speed of the second advent.

            2. Lightning can be seen by anyone; Christ will be seen by everyone — Revelation 1:7.

            3. Lightning is a warning of a storm, and the return of Christ will be characterised by the storm — the baptism of fire.

            4. Lightning disturbs and frightens people and the return of Christ is going to do the same thing — Revelation 6:15-17. Unbelievers are going to be frightened by the return of Christ.

 

            Verses 28-31, four signs of the second advent.

            Verse 28 — the first sign: the great slaughter of Armageddon; verse 29, the second sign: the celestial disturbances; verse 30, the third sign: the mourning of Israel; verse 31, the fourth sign: the resurrection of regenerate Israel.

            Beginning in verse 27 and going through to the end of the chapter we have the answer to the second question of verse 3: what are the signs of the second coming of Christ? It becomes necessary for the Tribulational believers to know when the second advent takes place so as not to be deceived by false teachers. We have had the phrase several times: at the end of verse 23, “Believe it not”; at the end of verse 24, “they shall deceive the very elect”; at the end of verse 26, “Believe it not.” So we have now a reversal of the question order of verse 3 and we have the signs of the second advent. These signs were written for a future generation of believers so that they will not be deceived and so that they will not lose their lives.

            In verse 27 we have the first illustration of the second advent — lightning. In verses 28-31 we have four signs of the second advent. Sign one: verse 28, the great slaughter of the Armageddon campaign. At the end of the Tribulation and just before the second advent of Christ there will be a fantastic campaign fought throughout Palestine and Middle East area. It will include the invasion of oriental powers into the land; it will include the invasion of the king of the west, the revived Roman empire, the invasion of the king of the north, the pan-Arabic bloc will move in and there is going to a fantastic campaign. Generally it is known as Armageddon although Armageddon is only used in Revelation 16. It is a campaign because it is made up of at least four different battles and there is a great deal of scripture about these four battles in Joel chapters 2 and 3, in Ezekiel 38 and 39, in Daniel 11, Revelation chapter 16, Isaiah 63 and many other passages. But here we look at the Armageddon campaign from the standpoint of its casualties. There are casualties in any war but the greatest casualties in any war always come from someone’s stupidity. We have here someone making a mistake, and that “someone” are the four great spheres of influence who invade Palestine, all of them seeking the destruction of the Jew one way or another.  

            In verse 28 we read of this great slaughter. “For wheresoever the carcass is [a body fallen in battle], there will the eagles [buzzards] be gathered together.” This is a quick description indicating that there will be a lot of corpses and a lot of buzzards working on the situation. There are some other descriptions of this great Armageddon campaign from the standpoint of its casualties. Revelation 14:20 is what we would probably call a bloody description. It says the blood will run as high as the horses bridle for 175 miles, and that is an awful lot of blood being shed. Revelation 19:17 is very similar to this passage in which it talks about the buzzards having a big feast. Ezekiel 39:17 is another description. It will take seven months to bury the dead not taken care of by the buzzards. But the point is there will be a tremendous campaign and an unusual number of casualties just before the second advent.

            Verse 29, the second sign: the celestial disturbances. These celestial disturbances fall into two categories. Apparently there will be some meteor activity and then, all of a sudden, a complete darkness. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.” The moon reflects light and all light to the earth is cut off the day of the second advent. There are two reasons why all of the light is cut off. It protects the born again Jews who are fulfilling the Word of God by fighting in Jerusalem against hopeless odds after Jerusalem has been captured by the king of the north and who do not have the equipment for a prolonged siege, and therefore are about to be wiped out. They stick to their guns, they continue to believe the Word of God and as a result God blanks out the earth so it is impossible for any troops to move. And on the day that the light is blanked out, that is the day that Christ will return. The second reason has to do with an analogy to the cross. There are many words for darkness but the type of darkness here means a total absence of light. Even darkness has some light in it but this darkness has none at all. During the last three hours on the cross when Jesus Christ was bearing our sins there was a total darkness surrounding that cross. We have exactly the same kind of darkness when Christ returns at the second advent. The earth will be covered completely in darkness and this will fulfil the principle of Revelation 1:7, “Behold every eye shall see him.” Christ is the Light of the world and as we find in Zechariah chapters 12 and 14 both of those chapters, in the early part of the Millennium Christ is the Light that lights the world. This is especially emphasised in Zechariah chapter 14. So there will be a day of darkness on the day of the second advent and this means darkness on all sides of the earth. Notice the sun and the moon are both mentioned. The sun gives light, the moon reflects light, both the sources of light and the reflectors are all blanked out.

            There are an amazing number of passages on this particular day. The passages begin in Isaiah chapter 13:9,10. There is Ezekiel 32:7,8; Joel 2:10,11; 3:15; Amos 5:18; Zechariah 14:6; Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-27; Revelation 6:12. And because of this darkness every eye shall see Him, there will be no problem at all in seeing the Lord Jesus Christ.

            “and the stars.” The word for stars here does not necessarily mean stars but it refers to things moving in space, small things, so this could be meteors; “shall fall from heaven.” So there will be some unusual activity at that time. And it may be that the darkness and the meteors all occur at the same time and there is possibly some relationship between the two.

            Verse 30 — we have the third sign: the regathering of Israel. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven [Christ shall appear and all shall see Him]; and then shall all the tribes of the land [not “earth”] mourn.” The tribes of the land refer to the Jews, it is not referring to Gentiles at all. This is also described in Zechariah chapter twelve, verses 11-14. When it says that they shall mourn it actually is not the usual mourning where you weep over someone who has departed, this is a happy weeping, a great happiness expressed — tears of joy. This is a sign of the regathering of the Jews. The tears of joy are based upon the fact that the fifth cycle of discipline is over.

            “and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” The power is the power to regather them, and power is mentioned specifically because until Christ returns no one has the ability to regather the Jews, although a lot of people have tried. The Jews are going to be scattered and no matter how many Israels are organised, no matter how many Zionistic movements are developed, the Jews are going to remain scattered throughout the earth until Christ comes back, only the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to bring them all back to the land. Satan always has a view in hand and he is always going to be trying to annihilate the Jews on the one hand or regather them on the other but he will succeed in neither. The Jews will always have a nucleus in the land and it may or may not be significant. But it is not a great sign. There may be Jews in the land for another thousand years and then the Tribulation, and on the other hand it may be very close. Their presence there today doesn’t mean a thing. There will be Jews in the land at the time of the Tribulation.

            Verse 31 — the fourth sign: the resurrection of Israel. There will be Jews who are alive throughout the earth and they will be brought back and then the Jews of the Old Testament will be resurrected. They all have to be regathered because then they have their baptism of fire — Ezekiel 20. But they are all brought back into the land and then they are separated. The interesting things is that all of the Jews will come, regardless of anything, believers and unbelievers alike. We have Jews alive at the second advent and they are regathered in the previous verse. But now we have Jews who have been first living in Paradise or Abraham’s bosom and then were transferred to heaven living with a soul and a spirit but they do not have a body. In this verse we have the resurrection of all Israel. “He shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet.” Notice again the sound of a trumpet. We have the same thing at the Rapture of the Church which is the resurrection of the Church. The trumpet sounds this time for the resurrection of the born again Jews; “and they shall gather together his elect.” This refers to the born again Jews from Abraham right down to the interruption of the Age of Israel at the cross, and then skipping over to the Jews in the Tribulation who were martyred; “from the four winds.” The gathering together is the resurrection, the elect again are the born again Jews as in Daniel 12:13 and in Isaiah 26:19,20. The four winds indicates that these Jews are resurrected from all over the earth wherever they died. Notice is says “from one end of heaven to the other.” This is where the born again Jews reside at the present time.

            This brings up a question as to the order of the first resurrection. In the first resurrection there are four phases. The first resurrection is made up of believers only. Christ is called “the firstfruits of them that slept,” He is the first person in the history of the human race to be resurrected. People were brought back from the dead but there is a technical difference. The people who were brought back to life in the Old Testament subsequently died. Jesus brought three people back to life, Lazarus, for example. But eventually Lazarus died. That is resuscitation, not resurrection. Under resurrection you cannot die, you have a body exactly like that of the Son of God and it is impossible to die. So Jesus Christ is the first member of the human race. It was His humanity that made the decision to die on the cross and it was His humanity that actually died on the cross (deity can’t die), it was His humanity which was resurrected and He is the firstfruits — 1 Corinthians 15:23. Secondly, we have the Church, the body of Christ — 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; 1 John 3:1,2; Philippians 3:21; John 14:1-3, and other passages. The Church is resurrected at the end of the Church Age. The third resurrection occurs at the second advent, the resurrection of the Jews — Israel of the past plus the Jews who were martyred in the Tribulation. This is brought out by Daniel 12:13; Isaiah 26:19,20; Revelation 20:4; Matthew 24:31. Then if any Jews die during the Millennium for any reason they will be resurrected at the end of the Millennium.

 

Reasons why the resurrection of the Old Testament saints does not take place until the second advent

            The Church is resurrected first.

            1. First of all reference is made to Acts chapter 2:25-29, Peter’s Pentecostal sermon. In this sermon, verse 29, he says that David was still in the sepulchre. David had not been resurrected on the day of Pentecost. The reason for emphasising this is very simple. After the resurrection of Christ we have the very interesting thing that some of the saints were seen walking in the streets, and so on. But later, over in June of 30 AD on the day of Pentecost (thirty days later), obviously David had not been resurrected because the body of David was still in the tomb. David is an Old Testament saint, a Jew, so obviously they are not resurrected.    

            2. We have the identification of the two witnesses of Revelation 11:2-13. They are Moses and Elijah and they could not die in Jerusalem if they had resurrection bodies. It is obvious that two of the great Old Testament saints are not in resurrection bodies because they could not die in Jerusalem during the Tribulation and then be resuscitated. Once you get a resurrection body it is not subject to corruption, it is not subject to death.

            3. The principle of the dispensation of Israel. Under this principle it is not completed yet — Daniel 9. On this side of the Babylonian captivity the Jews were given another 490 years, but the cross was 483 years out and the cross stopped the Jewish Age with seven years to go. Now we have the Church Age and when the Church is removed we pick up the conclusion of the Jewish Age — seven more years. The Tribulation is the end of the Jewish Age and it isn’t over and there is no resurrection until it is. People are resurrected after their dispensation is over. The Church is resurrected at the end of the Church Age; the Jews will be resurrected at the end of the Jewish Age, which isn’t over until the end of the Tribulation.

            4. The fourth concept simply takes two passages of scripture which in their chronology occur at the end of the Tribulation. They occur at the second advent and both of these passages of scripture are talking about the second advent, not the Church Age where often this resurrection is placed — Daniel 12:13; Isaiah 26:19,20.

            5. The reference to the unconditional covenants to Israel: the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New covenants. These are not fulfilled until the second advent and therefore there is no necessity for a resurrection until they are fulfilled. Their fulfilment’s demand a resurrection. Up until then there is no demand.

            6. Matthew 27:51,52 — we do not have resurrection here but we do have resuscitation and transfer. The purpose of running a few people through Jerusalem for a little witnessing on their way to the third heaven is witnessing and transfer.

            7. Ephesians 4:8 — a transfer of souls of the Old Testament saints from Paradise or Abraham’s bosom to the third heaven.

 

            Verse 32 — a second illustration of the second advent. Our Lord Jesus Christ often used the fig tree which has characteristics which illustrate various principles of doctrine, and especially in connection with Israel. We have already studied one use of the fig tree in Matthew 21:19,20. There we have a withered fig tree which depicts Israel’s failure as a missionary base in the dispensation of Israel. We have a missionary base in every dispensation. In the dispensation of the Gentiles the missionary base was the family because nationalism was just in the process, and you take one family which apparently was a family of missionaries, Seth’s family, and it finally goes down to Noah who was the last missionary of that family. Then when you get over to the Age of the Jews it is called the Age of the Jews because Israel is the missionary base. They were custodians of the Word and responsible for its dissemination, and of course they failed — 5th cycle of discipline. Then we have the Church Age and in the Church Age the Church is the missionary base, and believers are responsible for witnessing. In the Age of Christ, which is the Age of the Millennium, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the missionary. We conclude that from Isaiah: “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters that cover the sea,” Isaiah 11. So the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the last missionary before eternity begins.

            Notice something: In the last 1900 years of the Church Age no independent missionary organisation has lasted for 1900 years. But for 1900 years the local church has lasted. The local church is the bona fide basis for missions when the local church is doctrinal, and when it has doctrine then missionaries go. Independent missions have always been formed by some unusual person, some strong person. For example, Hudson Taylor of China Inland Mission. And they do a fine job in certain regards, but always, sooner later, time catches up with them because they do not have the doctrinal stability to stay in one piece. They depart from doctrine in some way and they lose out. And this has always been true of any missions that are independent of an independent church. Now in many ages there is an obvious reason when you get a maximum number of independent churches or local congregations that are apostate, obviously there is a problem. But the answer is not to form independent missionary societies as such, the answer is to form independent churches that are faithful to the Word and then they thrust out missionaries. That is why no missionary society retains its doctrinal purity with which it started, for example. It may over a period of ten or fifteen years do a magnificent work for the Lord but it fades.

            The withering of the fig tree in Matthew 21:19,20 was to show how Israel failed, but now we have new fig tree illustration here. In this fig tree parable the fig tree is successful in the Tribulation. In other words, the fig tree is used two ways. The dispensation of Israel before it was interrupted by the cross is the withered fig tree; the end of the Jewish Age is the Tribulation, and now the fig tree is used to illustrate the success of the Jews as missionaries in the Tribulation.

            “Now learn a parable.” The word learn is very interesting for several reasons because it means to learn from a teacher, and Jesus is teaching. We will carry the implications a little further for this reason: when a believer is a new believer he is called experientially a baby. He has to grow up, and this means that he cannot sit down and study the Bible for himself and grow up any more than a baby can sit down and master mathematics. Someone has to teach the new baby and that is why we have the gift of pastor and teacher in the local church and that gift is designed so that the first things that you will ever learn, if you get it right, will be from a pastor and teacher. Everyone has to start out by being taught by someone. The word “learn” here means to learn from a teacher, to learn through instruction, and it is an aorist active imperative, a command. They are commanded to learn this parable and it isn’t going to be hard because a parable is always a short narrative. Remember, parables illustrate doctrine. Do not try to get your doctrine from parables, you get your illustrations of doctrine from parables.

            “of [from] the fig tree.” The word “from” is the preposition of ultimate source, a)po, which means learn from the ultimate source of the fig tree. The very fact that He would use a)po with the fig tree indicates that the fig tree represents more than just a fig tree, it represents Israel, something big.

            “When his branch.” This is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. One of His messianic titles is the Branch as in Isaiah 11:1 in the Hebrew; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12; “is tender.” The word “tender” isn’t tender at all it means when the branch is about to sprout. And the sprouting of the branch is the second advent of Christ; “and putteth forth its leaves.” The putting forth of the leaves is an illustration of Israel’s evangelism in the Tribulation, the evangelistic production of the Jews; “ye know that summer is nigh.” Summer is the second advent and the Millennium. In other words, the parable of the fig tree this time indicates that the Jews succeeded in doing in seven years what they failed to do in 483 years after the Babylonian captivity. Now you have to remember that this parable of the fig tree goes with the other fig tree incident and the fig tree is generally used in this sense as Israel.

            Verse 33 — “So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,” the things that have been discussed; “know.” Notice the principle here. The greatest thing you can do is be oriented to the plan of God and you have to do this through knowing. This is to know from the experience of learning; “that it is near.” “It” refers to the second advent of Christ; “even at the door.”

            Verses 34-36, the principle that Israel has a future. One of the great doctrines of scripture is the fact that Israel is never removed from the scene. Israel has a future even though they have failed in the past.

            Verse 34 — “Verily” means a point of doctrine is coming up. Jesus is about to enucleate doctrine; “I say unto you, This generation.” Literally, this race, and it refers to the Jewish race; “shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” That is a challenge to Satan and that is why we have anti-Semitism. God makes a promise that the race of the Jews will not pass from the earth until the second advent. Satan would like to meet that challenge and destroy all Jews. The fulfilling here is the fulfilling of the unconditional covenants to Israel. Israel’s eternal security is in the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New covenants.

            Verse 35 — “Heaven and earth shall not pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Even though the worst catastrophe that could be conceived of, the departure of heaven and earth, the Words of the Lord shall not pass away. In their words, you can’t count on the heavens and the earth being where they are now. In fact they won’t be, they will be destroyed before eternity begins, 2 Peter 3, but you can count on the Word. God keeps His word; God keeps His word to Israel and although these unconditional covenants have not been fulfilled yet, they will be.

            Verse 36 — “But of that day and hour knoweth no one.” We are commanded to know the Word but we are never commanded to figure out when the Rapture is going to occur, when the second advent is going to occur, the day and the hour are in the hands of the Lord.

            “no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” The Father has always known when these things will occur, the Father hasn’t lost track. In other words, God’s plan is not too great for God is what this last phrase says.

            Verse 37 — the third illustration of the second advent, an illustration by historical analogy. “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” In the days of Noah, after the flood came, all unbelievers were taken off and all believers continued on the earth — the flood. We have exactly the same situation here. Christ comes, and all believers remain on the earth for the Millennium but all unbelievers are cast off — the baptism of fire. In the days of Noah all unbelievers were saturated with water, at the second advent they will be saturated with fire. There is an exact analogy here and it is the antithesis of the Rapture in which believers are taken off the earth and unbelievers remain. Notice, this is not a Rapture passage, it is the second advent. Notice, too, at the end of verse 39, “the coming of the Son of man.” This is the second advent. The Church is not found in Matthew except by way of prophecy — Matthew 16.

            Verse 38 — description of the days of Noah. “For as in the days that were before the flood.” Actually before the flood people just simply had negative volition, maximum negative volition at the point of God consciousness and at the point of gospel hearing. In fact there was 120 years of negative volition during which time Noah preached. What characterises negative volition at these points? Well people who have negative volition must get everything they can out of life, and therefore they are merely seeking to find happiness in life. These are not sins mentioned here as such but these are ways of deriving happiness from life since they have no interest in eternity.  

            The first is “eating,” a present active participle which means to crunch with the teeth, to crunch vigorously, to enjoy eating. So we have the point that they were

trying to derive happiness by food. The next is drinking and it doesn’t necessarily mean to be drinking alcoholic beverage, though that could be included, it is just drinking

as a social activity. These are not mentioned as sin but they are mentioned as things which indicate apathy and indifference to the gospel. The point that is brought out

is brought out by the third one, “marrying and giving in marriage.” This is one of those things where you have some parallels to illustrate negative volition as it results in

just wanting to enjoy life, that’s all. Marrying and giving in marriage is just another way of trying to enjoy life, so we have all of these things which are preoccupation

with self, a selfish desire for happiness, and to ignore eternity; and these are three general characteristics of the time before Noah. They sinned too but the sinfulness is

not emphasised; simply their love of life and their indifference to eternity.

            “until the day that Noah entered into the ark.” That was the day the judgement came. The ark was the place of safety for the believer.

            Verse 39 — “And knew not.” This is almost parallel to verse 32: “Now learn a parable.” They knew not. This means to know from the experience of learning doctrine; “until the flood came, and took them all away.” Who was taken away? The unbeliever. The unbeliever was taken out of the earth; the earth began all over with believers only, just as the Millennium will begin with believers only. At the end of the Millennium there will be many unbelievers just as eventually there were many unbelievers on the earth after the flood, but you start with believers only. Notice the phrase, “took them all away.” This means being removed from the earth; “so shall the coming of the Son of man be.”

            Verse 40 — “Then.” Here is how it works out at the second advent; “shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” The one who is taken is the unbeliever, he is taken out of the world. The one who is left is the believer staying on for the Millennium. This is just the opposite of the Rapture. At the Rapture the believer is taken and the unbeliever is left.  

            Verse 41 — “Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken [the unbeliever], and the other left [the born again believer].” So we have a direct analogy. Only twice in history have all unbelievers been removed: once at the flood and once at the second advent. All unbelievers are taken off in both cases and in both cases a new civilisation is started with believers only.

            The purpose of the Olivet discourse is to brief Tribulational believers, especially Jews in southern Palestine, with regard to the events of the Tribulation and how to stay alive through them. The command in Matthew 24 is to run, compared with Zechariah chapter 14 where in the last half of the Tribulation the command is to fight. The believer in the Tribulation must have a fantastic knowledge of Bible doctrine and he will have to pick it up in a hurry. The events of the Tribulation are not difficult, in fact a great portion of the scripture describes these seven years. That is itself is significant. Here are seven years in history and yet a great percentage of the Word of God is devoted to describing these seven years. First of all because there are those in the future who are not believers today and who will not be believers until after the Rapture, who will need this information, not only for inner happiness and inner power and impact in witness, but in order simply to remain alive during the time of the Tribulation. So consequently we learn a principle from that which is addressed to a future generation of believers: the importance of Bible doctrine, the importance of making doctrine your life. No matter what you do in life or where you are, ultimately if you are simply seeking happiness, if you are living like any unbeliever would live, you are simply trying to be like anyone else and trying to get a little happiness out of life, you’ve had it. But if doctrine is your life then you are going to enjoy many things in life. You can have inner happiness all of the time and it does not make any difference whether it is suffering or great prosperity and success, you are going to have a marvellous time in this life. Your life will be meaningful and the things that you do will count for eternity. So there is a very strong application to us from this passage even though the Olivet discourse is not directed toward any believer in the Church Age.

            We have studied the detailed warnings as well as the detailed instructions to Jews of Judea. Now we have application which begins with an exhortation in verse 42 — “Watch,” present active imperative. The Greek word means to be alert: Keep on being alert. This is a military word and it means that in order for a sentry to be on a post, an outpost, a picketing line, he must have some pertinent information, some instructions. Any wise military commander, when setting up a picket line, when putting out flankers, and giving a briefing to those who will act as a point, always gives information about the enemy. They always warn you what to expect, what to look for and how to stay alive. So the command which is given here, “Watch,” is a very excellent one because it brings in the military analogy and it brings in the principle of interpretation that the Bible must be interpreted in the time in which it was written. The word “watch” was a command to a picket, a command to a flanker, a command to someone on the march who was on the point or a patrol. And the point is that when you go out on reconnaissance you must know what you are looking for, you must have some concept of the enemy. So the word “watch doesn’t mean to observe, to stand in front of a shop window and look, it has to concept of being on the alert with regard to a situation. This command actually tells the believer of the Tribulation: “Now you have been given your instructions, look for these things. Look for the abomination of desolation, know what to do immediately, make your decision, be alert with regard to Bible doctrine, to divine viewpoint. Do exactly what the Word of God tells you to do. Run. When you get to the mountains, stay there. When they tell you that Christ is waiting for you, believe it not.”

            To stay alert doctrine has to be your life. You have to have doctrine in your frontal lobe, you have to be able to apply doctrine. So alertness here means more than just to be alert, it means to be happy, it means to be oriented, it means to be satisfied, it means to be an island in yourself. And that is exactly the concept of the Word of God at this particular point. Keep on being alert and doctrine in the frontal lobe is the only answer to this.

            “for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” In other words, the actual date of the second advent, the actual time, is unknown. But for the Jews who are born again in the Tribulation they must live constantly alert, they cannot afford to go to sleep at any point. “Watch” means that you have to stay alert to stay alive. The principle behind this verse: alertness in any age comes from knowledge of the Word of God, from Bible doctrine in the frontal lobe. If you do not have Bible doctrine in the frontal lobe you cannot be alert. You cannot be oriented to your situation; you cannot be oriented to the plan of God; you simply do not have the ability to know what is going on. Therefore disorientation leads to fear, anxiety, and to sins which are dishonouring to the Lord, whereas alertness, Bible doctrine in the frontal lobe applied to all situations, results in inner happiness, peace, and productivity, in other words, fulfilling the purpose for which you remain on this earth after salvation.

            The perfect illustration is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When Jesus Christ went to the cross: first of all He didn’t want to go. In His humanity the cross was repugnant because He would come into contact not only with human sin but with all of the sins of the world. Once He got on the cross and the sins of the world were poured out upon Him God the Father could not help Him even though He loved Him with an infinite love. All the Father could do was to judge Him and to pour out divine wrath on the sins that He was bearing. Angels could not help Christ, human beings could not help Christ, the Father could not help Christ. The only thing that sustained Jesus for the last three hours of the cross is doctrine. He had all the realm of doctrine in His frontal lobe. He was able to go to the cross and to die for your sins and mine and to be the recipient of divine wrath through doctrine. In other words, when nothing else could sustain Him doctrine did. And the only thing that can sustain us in time of tragedy and catastrophe and time of success is Bible doctrine, and unless Bible doctrine is your life you’ve had it. And that means it has to be in the frontal lobe, otherwise you’re just another ordinary human being and whatever else you are it doesn’t cut any ice with God at all. They that are in the flesh cannot please God.

            Actually we have that particular principle right here. That word “watch” means doctrine. How can you be alert? Bible doctrine is the only answer. Without Bible doctrine there is no alertness. You’re not living, you’re just a zombie, you’re a shell of your spiritual self unless you have Bible doctrine. So here is a command to get doctrine.

            Verses 43-51, parables to help believers be alert.

            Verse 43 — “But know this.” Notice the contrast. In verse 42: “ye know not.” Again we have a present active imperative. In the previous verse it was “Watch ye”; now is “Know this.” So the two imperatives are related. How do you stay alert? How do you stay alive when you are in a tactical situation where you are outnumbered? You have to “know,” you have to have information.

            “that if” — 2nd class condition, [if and it isn’t true] which means if the good man of the house had known but he didn’t know. So he was caught flat-footed; “the good man of the house,” the head of the house, the master of the house. In other words, the Father. The good man of the house is a Jewish believer in the Tribulation, and we already know something about him from the 2nd class condition: he doesn’t know what he should know — doctrine. He is a believer who doesn’t know the first part of Matthew 24. (By the way, this is a parable analogous to a believer in the Tribulation who is ignorant of doctrine)

            “had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched [he would have been alert], and would not have permitted his house to be broken up.” This story is about the master of the household who has prepared his house against thieves but he relaxes his defence system because he did not know when the thief would arrive. And so when he least expected it and when he relaxed his vigilance the thief came. In the analogy (which is not a true analogy) the thief comes suddenly, and we have already seen from the word “lightning,” the lightning shining from the east to the west; the thief represents Christ returning suddenly. His house is not protected and therefore he suffers. Here is a believer who is not alert and therefore he suffers. He is not alert to the coming of Christ, he is not alert to the dispensation into which he finds himself, and his failure to know doctrine means that he is taken by surprise of the events of the Tribulation. Jesus said in Revelation 16: “Behold, I come as a thief.” That means, “I come suddenly,” and so the coming of the thief here refers to those events immediately preceding the Tribulation which can be summarised by one word: catastrophe. The coming of the thief then are the catastrophes which precede the coming of Christ, and these catastrophes overtake. So in the final analogy the thief refers to the catastrophes of the Tribulation which overtake the good man of the house who is a Tribulational believer, and it is because of one thing stated in this short parable: he did not know. Same problem we have today: did not know. Catastrophe overtakes the ignorant believer, and the principle is true for us today. The believer who does not know Bible doctrine is overtaken by catastrophe.

            Verse 44 — another application. “Therefore be ye also ready.” The Greek says become ready or become prepared. There is only one way to be prepared for catastrophe and disaster and that is Bible doctrine in the frontal lobe. The verb to become is ginomai, which means to become something you were not before. Before, these believers were not prepared, they did not have doctrine; now become prepared. Become means it is a process. Present tense: keep on becoming; active voice: it must come from your volition, you must do it yourself; the imperative mood: it is a command, it is an order. No one is prepared automatically. Doctrine doesn’t become your life by taking it in once a week or even twice a week. The only people who ever make it are the people who take it in all the time, the rest are going to fall by the wayside. Corrected translation: “Therefore become prepared.” There are only two types of preparation for the Tribulation: 1. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; 2. Learn Bible doctrine.

            “for in such an hour as ye think not.” The Greek says, in a time least expected; “the Son of man cometh.” So when they least expect it, that is when it arrives. The only way to be prepared for the least expected is through Bible doctrine.

            Verse 45 — a second parable. This verse looks from the standpoint of someone who is alert. “Who then is a faithful and wise servant,” two characteristics of the prepared believer: wise means he has doctrine and is ready to apply it; faithfulness means that he has stability. Whatever he is doing he is stabilised in it. The faithful and wise servant is the born again believer in the Tribulation. He has Bible doctrine, he applies it; that’s wisdom. In whatever he is doing you can count on him — faithfulness, stability; “whom his lord hath made ruler over his household.” The household here is Israel in the Tribulation. And here is a Jew who is responsible for witnessing in the Tribulation so he is made a ruler over the household — Jews are responsible for witnessing; “to give them meat [bread, food]” — reference to both salvation and doctrine; “in due season?” To the unbeliever you give him the gospel, to the believer you give him doctrine pertinent to the situation.

            Verse 46 — “Blessed is that servant.” Here is a believer in the Tribulation who is prepared and he has great blessing; “whom his lord when he cometh shall find him so doing.” The key here is “so doing,” present active participle. What will he be doing? He will know doctrine, he will apply doctrine, he will have stability and he will be giving out doctrine. He will live by doctrine, he will communicate doctrine, both by his life and by his lips. So there is blessing for the one who is doing that when Christ comes back, and this clarifies these parables. It is doing it in that three and a half years before He comes back.

            Verse 47 — “Verily I say unto you.” Here comes some doctrine; “That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” When Christ returns this person will have reward and apparently this reward begins in the Millennium. So the principle is: faithfulness is rewarded.

            Verse 48 — “But and if.” The word “but” sets up a conjunction of contrast. We are going to have a contrast between a faithful believer and an unbeliever; “that evil servant.” An evil servant is an unbeliever in the Tribulation. What does the unbelieving Jew in the Tribulation say? He says in his heart — “shall say in his heart.” The heart isn’t something you feel in or emote in, it is something you say, the heart is the brain; “My lord delayeth his coming.” He is an unbelieving Jew, Messiah has not come. So what does he do?

            Verse 49 — “And he shall begin to smite his fellow servants.” He begins to bully. Here are the Jews killing the Jews in the Tribulation; “and he shall eat and drink with the drunken.” In other words, he lives it up. The pressure is on, the unbelieving Jew is in the midst of all these catastrophes, so what does he do? Well he blames it on other Jews and so he kills them, then he lives it up — his sublimation, his escapism.

            Verse 50 — “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him.” In other words, Messiah is coming whether he thinks He is coming or not. The unbelieving Jew thinks He hasn’t even come the first time; “and in an hour that he is not aware of.” The unbeliever will be caught flat-footed, he is caught by the second advent. And when the second advent overtakes the unbeliever what happens to the unbeliever? He enters the baptism of fire.

            Verse 51 — “And shall cut him asunder.” Cut asunder here means to inflict extreme punishment. It is a reference to the baptism of fire. It is a future tense to indicate that the baptism of fire does not occur until after the second advent; “and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites [religious unbelievers]: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This weeping and gnashing of teeth takes place at the point of judgement. These people will weep, it is too late; they will gnash their teeth because of the opportunity they have missed to be saved. They have rejected Christ; there is no hope for them.

 

            Introducing the baptism of fire

            From the time of the cross there are seven major judgements in history.

            1. At the cross, the first judgement, Christ was judged for us. That is the basis of eternal salvation, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

            2. The second judgement occurs in time and that judgement is rebound — 1 John 1:9. The believer rebounds for cleansing — 1 Corinthians 11:31.

            3. The third judgement in history takes place after the Rapture of the Church and it has to do with the believer — the judgement of the believer’s works or the production for phase two.

            4. When Christ returns to the earth, second advent, we have the judgement of living Gentiles. We get this in the last half of Matthew 24.

            5. The judgement of living Jews — Ezekiel chapter 20. (Judgements four and five constitute the baptism of fire)

            6. Then we have the Millennial reign of Christ, 1000 years. At the end of that time fallen angels are judged.

            7. The great white throne or the last judgement for all unbelievers since the beginning of time. This occurs at the end of the Millennium.