7/6/08 End Times Pt. 2

Matt. 24:4-27 And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place ( let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains; Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or ' There He is,' do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance.

Matt. 24:26 "So if they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go out, or, 'Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Obviously we are going to continue

our study of Biblical prophecy this morning,

and we are going to do so

by returning to the passage we were looking at last week in Matthew 24.

Last week I suggested an outline for Matthew chapters 24 and 25

that helps me to better relate to what’s being said

and who it’s being said to.

We looked at the first 5 verses

of Jesus’ prophetic comments last week in Matt 24:4-8.

In those 5 verses we saw the Lord

presenting 5 signs that He called, ‟merely the beginning of birth-pangs”.

Those signs included:

• False Christs

• wars and rumors of wars

• increased tensions between people groups

• famines

• and earthquakes

He was telling us that

as we see an increase in the frequency

and intensity of these signs

we can know that we are approaching

the beginning of the final events

that will ultimately culminate in the return of Christ.

Then we concluded last week

by looking at some statistics

that give strong evidence

that those birth pangs have begun.

Now, let’s jump back into that amazing passage in Matthew 24

and see where Christ goes with it.

We began this morning

by reading a portion of the section

immediately following those 5 birth pangs.

I mentioned to you last week

that the comments Christ makes

in Matthew 24:9-44

are comments directed specifically to the Nation of Israel

concerning their life during the Great Tribulation.

Now, why do I say this passage is closed circuit to Israel,

rather than being open comments

to the entire Body of Christ?

I’ll just list several of the obvious clues I see in the passage we read earlier.

Matthew 24:16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains...

In this verse He gives a special warning to the people who are living in Judea.

Matthew 24:20 "But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath...

He tells us that He is speaking to a group of people

who are continuing to honor and keep the Old Testament Sabbath.

Yet, for the body of Christ as a whole

the Sabbath observance died out

during the first few years of the Church.

In verse 24:27 we read,

"For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

He refers to Himself not as the Lord, but as “the Son of Man”,

the Old Testament title He used to identify Himself to the Jewish people.

And in verse 24:15 we read,

"Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place ( let the reader understand),...

He tells us that He is talking to a people who’s life centers around the Temple,

a people who are deeply offended

by some form of desecration brought into the Temple by the Anti Christ.

Now, there is no reason to assume that these are anything other than literal statements.

This is not symbolism with hidden meanings.

Everything he says suggests that He is talking about

a literal Judea,

and a literal Sabbath,

and a literal temple,

and a very real and literal desecration of that temple.

He is talking to the nation of Israel.

OK, so what?

So let me read the first verse in this section for us again.

Matt. 24:9 "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

Do you see anything that troubles you about that statement?

Why will the NATION OF ISRAEL be hated by all nations because of the name of Christ?

The only possible reason

is that by the time we reach the point in history being discussed in Matthew 24:9

there has been a major, massive national turning of the nation of Israel

to Jesus Christ as the Messiah,

a turning so dramatic,

and so powerful,

and so revolutionary that the world sees Israel and the work and message of Christ as being virtually synonymous.

Now, to help us with what Christ is saying here in Matthew 24

I’d like to take us to 3 other prophetic passages,

all of which can help us better understand what’s going on here.

The first one is two verses written by the Old Testament prophet Hosea.

In Hos. 3:4-5 we read,

For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols.

And that’s where Israel has been

for nearly 2000 years - without king or prince,

without sacrifice or temple or nation.

But then the prophet goes on to say,

Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

...and they will come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

We have seen the Jewish people being restored as a nation

after nearly 2000 years.

We saw that take place in 1947.

But we have yet to see the nation of Israel

come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days.

Then, I want us to turn to a second prophetic passage

found in Romans 11:25-29.

And before I read these verses

a little background will help.

Paul wrote these words to a church

made up mostly of Gentile (or non-Jewish) believers.

During the months immediately following

Christ’s resurrection

and return to heaven,

when the Christian church was just beginning,

those who responded were almost exclusively Jews.

But it wasn’t long before God made it clear to those 1^st believers

that the message of God’s grace and forgiveness through faith in Christ

was not just for the Nation of Israel,

but for the entire world.

Spearheaded by the missionary work of the Apostle Paul,

there soon followed a massive response

to the message of Christ

among the Gentile world,

to the point that,

within a few years

the non-Jews far outnumbered the Jews within the early church.

In Romans chapter 11

Paul wrote to explain to these Gentile Christians what was happening and why.

Rom. 11:25-29 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, " The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Paul tells the non-Jewish believers

that there would be a period of time

in which a partial hardening of Israel

would take place

so as to push the Gospel into the Gentile world.

But then he says that, once the fullness of the Gentiles has come,

in other words, once God’s work among the Gentile people is completed,

He will once again focus on the Nation of Israel,

and all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, " The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."

In other words,

he predicts a massive, national turning of Israel to Christ as their promised Messiah.

And if you’d like just one additional

confirmation passage,

I won’t take the time to read it now,

but I’ll give you the references

so that you can check it out on your own.

Revelation 7:5-8 talks about 144,000 Jewish converts who are sealed by God

for a special role during the last 7 years

prior to Christ’s return.

In Revelation 14:4-5 we are told that these are an army of celibate Jewish male evangelists

who follow Christ wherever He leads them,

and who walk blamelessly before Him.

Now, if 144,000 celibate Jewish evangelists

isn’t an indication of massive national revival in Israel, I don’t know what is.

Just picture 144,000 Jewish Billy Grahams spread out across the world.

It also helps to explain why

the nation of Israel is suddenly,

dramatically identified with the Person of Jesus Christ

and hated by all nations because of their Lord.

Now, that’s the first missing piece

between Matthew 24:8 and Matthew 24:9 - the return of the Nation of Israel to their God,

and to their Messiah.

The question, of course, then comes up -

what could possibly serve as a sufficient catalyst to wake Israel to the truth about Christ?

Possibly it is simply the working of God’s Spirit within them.

But I believe Scripture talks about

one other essential piece in the puzzle

that may help explain this as well.

And we need to look more closely

at that passage in Romans 11.

In Romans 11:25-27 he says:

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, " The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."

Now, I think I can show you

what Paul is saying here most quickly

by offering another time line:

And the main thing I want us to see here

is that Paul seems to be telling us

that two major events

in God’s prophetic plan

will happen simultaneously:

the time of the gentiles will end,

and Israel will turn to Christ.

He says - Rom. 11:25 ... a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

Once the fullness of the Gentiles is completed,

the partial hardening will be removed,

and the Israel will respond to their Savior.

OK, two big questions then come up.

First, how will God end the time of the Gentiles?

And second, how will that ending impact Israel?

The first question is answered for us clearly in Scripture,

and I think the answer to the second question is strongly implied.

To get the answer to the first

we need to go to two other passages in the New Testament.

Both of these passages come out of

the two letters Paul wrote

to the church at Thessalonica.

From comments Paul makes within these letters

it appears as though prophecy

and end-time events

was a huge topic of interest to the Thessalonians.

In his first letter

Paul described for them

the event that will bring to a close the time of the Gentiles

and catapult the world into the final climactic events of human history.

Then, in his second letter,

he offered them a time-line of the order in which these events will take place.

The first passage is in I Thess. 4:13-18.

It was written by Paul

in response to a growing fear

among the people in the Thessalonian church.

They knew that Christ had promised He was coming back.

They, of course, like us, did not know

when that return would be.

But as persecution increased in the early church,

and many of the believers were being killed,

the Thessalonians became deeply concerned

about what would happen to those Christians who died before Christ returned.

Paul wrote these words

to clear up the matter:

1 Thess. 4:13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

So, Paul says three major things to them here:

First, when Christ returns

He’s not coming back alone -

He’s bringing all of us with Him.

Second, in order for that to happen

He has to first come get all of us.

Third, He will do that in the twinkling of an eye,

by pulling all Christians suddenly, instantly off this earth,

meeting us in the air,

and then keeping us with Him,

and bringing us back with Him

when He returns to set up His earthly kingdom.

And yes,

you did hear both me and Paul correctly.

There will be an event coming in the future

like nothing this world has ever seen before.

As the great kick-off event

for the final days of human history as we know it

Christ is going to literally,

physically pull all living Christians off this world in an instant.

The church has tagged this event THE RAPTURE,

a term that is not found in Scripture,

and one that I personally think is kind of stupid.

I prefer to call it THE DEPARTURE.

OK, the Thessalonians got all excited

about this up-coming event,

but then rumors started flying around that somehow it had already taken place,

and they’d missed it.

So, Paul wrote a second letter,

and in it he laid out for them

a clear time line of events.

I want to read the passage in its entirety,

and then I’ll give it to you in a time line.

This is from II Thess. 2:1-12

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

Now, very quickly,

Paul talks about 6 major future events in this passage,

and then puts them in chronological order for us.

The 6 events are:

1. Removal of the restrainer

2. Deluding influence

3. Apostasy

4.Revelation of Anti-Christ

5.Return of Christ in Power

6. Judgement and destruction of wicked

And let me give it to you on a time line:

So, there are two major missing pieces

between Matt. 24:8

and Matt. 24:9.

The first is the end of the Gentile era

through the Departure,

and the second is national revival in Israel.

And I think the two are linked.

I believe when Israel suddenly sees

hundreds of thousands of Christians gone

it will serve as the catalyst to drop them to their knees before the Lord they rejected.

And why won’t the rest of the world

respond the same way?

2 Thess. 2:11-12 And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

And then, just one additional comment before we end this short series.

Paul’s chronology in Thessalonians is extremely clear.

In fact, it was his purpose for writing.

He wanted God’s people to know

first of all, that there is currently on this earth

a Person who is making it impossible for the Anti Christ to take power,

a Person who has been here for the past 2000 years,

the Person of the Holy Spirit as He indwells the Church of God.

He wanted us to know that he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And THEN that lawless one will be revealed...

Which means, of course,

that no one on this earth can know...will know who the Anti Christ is

until after he who restrains is removed.

So... those are the basics,

the things we know for certain.

And everything else we come up with

has to fit within this basic prophetic framework.