Matthew 24:15-31--The Olivet Discourse (Part 2)

​Matthew 24:15-31 English Standard Version (ESV)
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Matt.24.15-Matt.24.31
The Abomination of Desolation
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

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Both of these teaching of Christ are deeply rooted in passages from the book of the prophet Daniel  I would actually like to stop and include those passages with today's reading so that may have a better understanding that this is not a new teaching coming from Jesus, but yet Jesus saying "These are things that are still going to happen at the end of days,'" as the picture was kind of distorted for the prophets at times like seeing two mountains far off in the distance and them looking like they are part of the same mountain because you didn't have the correct depth perception to understand what was near and what was far because everything was far away.  In that sense Jesus was explaining to the disciples that some of the prophecies about Messiah had come true already and some were about to come true in His first coming, but other things were still yet to be fulfilled in His second coming.  We also see the idea here of prophecy having a way of being fulfilled sometimes incompletely by me past but it has its ultimate fulfillment at some point in the future.  For instance the people at the time of Daniel probably would have thought that "The Abomination that Causes Desolation" already happened with Antiochus Epiphanes, a Greek general, who set up turned the temple in Jerusalem into a temple to Zeus and slayed a pig on the altar of God in order to defile the altar and spread the blood of the pig on everything that was holy in the temple to defile it.  This was a way for the Greeks to say "Our gods are superior to your God," and was a common practice when they conquered another nation.  We see that the Babylonians robbed the treasury of the temple when they took Israel into exile and used the sacred chalices to drink toasts to their gods (God used this event to tell the Babylonians that their kingdom would fall to the Medes and the Persians that very night), and we know that the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant at one point and put it in the temple of their god Dagon--thought that didn't turn out so well for them.  This was something that was normal behavior for the pagans and it seems like this will be par for the course for Antichrist when he appears.

Daniel 9:24-27 English Standard Version (ESV)
The Seventy Weeks
24 “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. ​26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

​Daniel 7:9-14 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Ancient of Days Reigns
9 “As I looked,
thrones were placed,
    and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
    and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
    its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued
    and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
    and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
    and the books were opened.

11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
    there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
    and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
    and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
    which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
    that shall not be destroyed.

There is much more in the book of Daniel revealing what will happen to the nation of Israel in the end times, but let's go back to what Jesus had to say about in the book of Matthew.  Jesus adds that when they see the true fulfillment of this prophecy that they should literally run for the hills, probably to the mountain fortress of Petra, because it will be a place of safety--just like God did not pour out the plagues on His people that lived in the land of Goshen when He poured out His wrath on Egypt, so God will make a place of protection for His covenant people--just like He did when He put Noah and His family inside the ark.  Remember, history and prophecy are cyclical, but the ultimate fulfillment of this teaching is that all who are in Christ will be given safety and deliverance from the eternal wrath that is to come for those who are outside of Christ.

Jesus gives the same kind of warning that was given to Lot and his family when they were told to flee Sodom and Gommorah--do not turn back and do not look back.   Interesting that we miss that God told Lot and his family, "because I cannot do anything until you are safe." (see Genesis 19:22).  Since someone asked me this directly the other day, i will answer here.  I can't say for certain that God's people will escape from the tribulation by way of "the Rapture," but I am certain that because God is the same yesterday, today and forever that God will provide a place of safety and deliverance for His people to come through the tribulation and to come out like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who came out from the fiery furnace and did not even smell of smoke and it was clear to all those around them that this was because God was with them.

Back to the warning of Christ--Jesus specifically tells the Jews to pray that this event doesn't happen in winter or at a time when they are pregnant which would make it hard to flee or make them desire to stay behind and that they are to take no provisions with them that would slow them down...they are to run for their lives (literally) because the peace treaty that Antichrist made with Israel is now broken and he's about to commit genocide against any of the people of God that he can get his hands on.  Sound familiar?  It should since Satan has been at war with God and the people of God from the very beginning.

Jesus warns that this time of tribulation will be like nothing ever experienced before, even the Holocaust will pale in comparison to what is about to happen, and He says that unless God was in control to make the days be short that no one would escape.  Even in this time of wrath, God shows mercy in that this time is for a season and for a purpose--to warn people that the end is upon them and to give a taste of the coming wrath that they need to be delivered from.

Jesus then admonishes the Jews to not believe anyone who comes and says "I am the Christ" at this time because many false Christs will arise but one in particular whom we call the Antichrist.  Jesus says, "I have warned you ahead of time," because anyone giving their allegiance to the Antichrist is giving their allegiance to the devil and is an enemy of God and is marking themselves for destruction--God's remnant will not be tricked though Satan is sure going to try to do so as we are told that if possible he would deceive even the elect.

Then Jesus says that just like you don't know that lightning is coming and in a flash it's gone, that is how it is going to be with the return of the Son of Man.  If this is literal speech even though in a poetic form, Jesus could be talking about the even that we've called The Rapture where "in the twinkling of an eye" those who are dead in Christ will be raised and those who are alive and in Christ will be transformed and we will meet Him in the air and be with the Lord forever.  If this is simply figurative it could just mean that like lightning you can see the thunderclouds form but the lightning itself comes without warning and when you hear the thunder, it is too late--the destruction will have already occurred.  There will will be no last-second conversions because the even will be so quick they will miss it.

While it is unclear if the previous verses were talking about the Rapture or the coming of Jesus at the end when He descends on the Mount of Olives as the rider on the white horse to wage war with all of His enemies, it is very clear that this passage is talking about the very end of days just before what is known as the Great White Throne judgement.  The sun will go dark and the stars will fall from heaven and the heavens will be shaken.  It is as if God changes the cosmological constant and everything starts to fall apart and shake itself apart.  Remember Colossians 1:16-17?  "15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. "  What would happen if Christ stopped holding everything together?  I think we find out at this point.  It is what Peter describes in 2 Peter 3:10, "10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."

We see again Jesus talking about the angels being sent out to "harvest" all men...specifically the harvest of the righteous here, which we've already talked about in other parables and referenced in the book Revelation.  We see that the righteous will not be swept away in the judgement that is coming for the unrighteous.

As the time approaches let us not forget this truth and let us live and minister as if the day of Lord is imminent.  No matter your viewpoint on eschatology, we have a limited amount of time to be laborers in the Lord's vineyard and to bring in the entire harvest before the end of the age (the day of the Lord).  At that point there will be no more harvest.  Let us be about the mission that we have been commissioned for and live as if today could be our last day and that it could be the last day for any and all of those around us.  We do not know how much time we have left, but the Resurrection is the glorious hope of both the living and the dead who are in Christ.
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