Matthew 24-25
Notes
Transcript
Let the Reader Understand
Let the Reader Understand
Now as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciples came to show him the temple buildings. And he said to them, “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!” As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF, SET TIMER.
-Looking at the Last of the Five Major Speeches in Matthew
-Sermon on the mount: Values of the Kingdom
-Mission Speech Matthew 10: Commitment required to Grow the Kingdom
-Kingdom Parables, qualities of the Kingdom, Matthew 13 explaining why some people choose to Join the Kingdom and Some Don’t
-Matthew 18 Was what is sometimes called the Church Life Speech, What should the Kingdom look like after Jesus Hands it over to Church.
-The last speech some people call it the Olivet Discourse, because it happens on the Mount of Olives: I’m not a big fan of when Fancy Bible College people come up with fancy names for things.
-We’re going to call it the end of the world speech. Unless you can think of a better name for it, let me know.
-But that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Now as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciples came to show him the temple buildings. And he said to them, “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!” As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus and His disciples are walking around Jerusalem
-Jesus tells his disciples that the Temple is going to be destroyed.
-And his disciples come to him and ask him 2 Questions
When will these things happen? When will the temple be destroyed
What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age.
_____
-
Jesus answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come.
So far jesus has NOT answered their question. He’s told them there are going to be false messiahs, and wars and rumors of wars. And these are NOT signs of the end. The end is still to come.
For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are the beginning of birth pains.
-Again, these are NOT signs of the end. They are things that’s going to happen, but not signs of the end.
-They’re labor pains.
“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name. Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will appear and deceive many, and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.
Three times in the row, this is not the end. This is something He’s telling his disciples that they are going to endure through.
-The very word endure implies that things are not over yet. because you’re enduring through that thing.
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
And the word there in the Greek is a very vague “then” Sometimes you’ll see the word “immediately” in the bible, and sometimes you’ll just see the word then. And the word “Then” is really a vague term that just means “Some time after that”
So far Jesus Has not answered the Question. In true Jesus style, the disciples ask him a question and he won’t just give them a direct answer.
-Instead he gives him like 10 things that are going to happen that Aren’t going to be a sign of the end of the world.
-They’re like what’s the sign of the second coming?
And Jesus is like there’s going to be wars, and earthquakes, and famines, and and False Messiahs, and you guys are going to get persecuted, and murdered. And the gospel’s going to be preached throughout the world.
And the disciples are like: and all those are signs of the end? And Jesus’ is like nope, that’s just stuff that’s going to happen. The end is going to come after all of that stuff.
-Thanks. That really doesn’t answer the question, but I guess thanks for the heads up on all the other stuff.
-And when we get into verse 15, after Jesus has NOT answered the question, in true Jesus style, Jesus begins to answer the Other question.
-One of the questions was What’s the sign of the end of the world. And as we’ve seen Jesus really didn’t answer that question.
-But we still have more to go, Let’s read verse 15
“So when you see the abomination of desolation—spoken about by Daniel the prophet—standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
-At this point I want to pause and introduce you to the Most valuable Bible Reading tool you will ever use in your entire life.
And it’s about these four words:
Let the reader understand
Let the reader understand
-Jesus didn’t speak those 4 words. Jesus wasn’t writing anything down, Jesus didn’t have a “reader” Jesus had listeners.
-When Jesus wants you to pay attention, what does he say? Whoever has ears let them hear.
-This is something that Matthew wrote.
-This means that what Jesus is talking about is so important, and Matthew wants to make sure the reader is paying attention, he interrupts Jesus, He breaks the fourth wall, and adds this little remark: Let the reader understand.
-Here’s the bible reading tool. He’s not talking to you.
-Matthew wrote his account at a specific time and place in history, with a specific audience in mind, and it wasn’t us.
-This let the reader understand phrase is a signal to the reader to stop and think about what’s going on in the world, and to to understand that Jesus predicted that thing.
-It’s Matthew's way of saying “hey remember that thing that happened” That’s what Jesus is talking about here, you should really pay attention to this.
-I can not stress this enough. The Bible Was not written to you.
-The bible was written For you, but not written to you.
Why is that so important?
-When we think that he bible was written to us, then we start looking at the news. We start scrolling on facebook.
-and we start acting like weve cracked the code, weve connected all the dots
-and its just not a good way to read the bible.
we dont have the right to impose our news cycle and our world view on to the bible.
-And we end up taking our lives. Our culture, our historical context. We take what we see on Facebook, or what we see on the news, and we slap it back onto the bible and try to make it fit.
-What we should be doing is the exact opposite. We should be looking at the culture and history of the Bible, and the people who lived during Matthew’s time and we should be applying the Bible to our lives, not the other way around.
-So the “Abomination of Desolation” This isn’t something Jesus made up. This is him quoting scripture. He’s quoting the book of Daniel.
-So now we have another level. We can’t just look at Jesus’ culture, we have to go back to the book of Daniel, and read what He said about it.
-If we look at Daniel Chapter 9, Daniel is in captivity in Babylon
-and he’s praying for the forgiveness of Sins for Israel.
-And the Angel Gabriel comes to him and basically tells Daniel, don’t worry, there’s going an anointed one who is going to come and he’s going to end sin
-and he’s going to bring about this Everlasting righteousness.
-and in this Message Gabriel tells Daniel this annotated one is going to come, He’s going to be cut off and killed.
-He’s going to confirm a covenant with the people.
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
Not long after this, the king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and no longer to live by the laws of God; also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem and to call it the temple of Olympian Zeus...The altar was covered with abominable offerings that were forbidden by the laws. People could neither keep the sabbath, nor observe the festivals of their ancestors, nor so much as confess themselves to be Jews.
Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering.
-So if we want to understand Jesus’ words, and we want to understand what Matthew Means when he says “Let the reader Understand”
-We need to understand what First Century Jews would have thought about when they heard the phrase “Abomination of Desolation”
-Not what a 21st century american thinks about it.
-If a first Century Jew hears the phrase “Abomination of Desolation” They are instantly going to be thinking about a foreign Ruler who comes in to the temple, Puts something in the temple that goes against the precepts of God.
-Now let’s fast forward again to another Jewish Historian who was writing around the Same time Matthew was writing.
JOSEPHUS
Now Caius Caesar did so grossly abuse the fortune he had arrived at, as to take himself to be a god, and to desire to be so called also, and to cut off those of the greatest nobility out of his country. He also extended his impiety as far as the Jews. Accordingly, he sent Petronius with an army to Jerusalem, to place his statues in the temple, and commanded him that, in case the Jews would not admit of them, he should slay those that opposed it, and carry all the rest of the nation into captivity.
TACITUS
Under Tiberius all was quiet. But when the Jews were ordered by Caligula to set up his statue in the temple, they preferred the alternative of war.
-And indeed we find, that that not long after that event Rome Surrounded the city of Jerusalem and burned the entire city to the ground. Including the Temple. Just demolished the entire city.
Jesus says see this temple, not one stone will be left upon another. In matthew 24, Jesus predicts this
The Destruction of the Temple
The Destruction of the Temple
The one on the roof must not come down to take anything out of his house, and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Remember, I have told you ahead of time. So then, if someone says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him. For just like the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
Notice what he says again? When the temple is being destroyed, when the Abomination is set up in the temple, Don’t come looking for the Messiah. He’s not going to be there.
-You’re not going to see signs you’re not going to hear prophecies.
-Jesus says when I do show up it’s going to be like lightning flashing from the east to west.
-So notice that in 28 Verses, Jesus has yet to actually tell us what the sign of his second coming will be.
-If you read the text carefully, He keeps saying that things will happen, and then tells his disciples:
-There’s going to be people claiming to be the messiah, don’t believe them. The end is still to come, you’re going to have to endure to the end through all this.
-The temple is going to be destroyed, there’s going to be more false messiahs. It’s not me.
And it’s really not until verse 29 that Jesus gives an actual answer
The actual sign
The actual sign
“Immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
“Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you, when you see all these things, know that he is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
So there’s two words there that are kind of hard to understand.
-Theese and those. Immediately after the sufferering of “Those days” What days is he talking about?
-Well given the fact that everything Jesus has talked about, Wars, earthquakes, false messiahs, the temple being destroyed, all of that stuff has happened. It was all happening during the time Matthew was writing, and it’s been happening for the past 2,023 years.
-So those days, has to mean “these days” When are “these days” going to be over, he doesn’t say does he.
And the other word is the word “this” “This generation” will not pass away.
-Which generation? There’s really only two options. It’s either this generation that he’s talking to, the disciples, or it’s “this” generation, as in whatever generation is alive when Jesus comes back.
-The first one’s kind of ruled out.
35 Verses in, let me summarize what Jesus has said.
1)The temple is going to be destroyed
2) There’s going to be bad stuff in the world
3) And then one day Jesus is going to come back. And when he does it’s gonna be sudden, and unexpected. You’re going to know it when you see it. Y
the “sign of Jesus’ second coming” is going to be Jesus second coming, and we’re not going to be able to predict it.
-That’s on purpose.
-Jesus doesn’t even know when he’s coming back. What makes us think we’re going to be able to know?
“But as for that day and hour no one knows it—not even the angels in heaven—except the Father alone.
For just like the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark. And they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away. It will be the same at the coming of the Son of Man. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one left. There will be two women grinding grain with a mill; one will be taken and one left.
“Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
-If you ask 10 different Christians what their “theory” about the end times is, you’ll get 20 different answers.
-There’s people that think it’s going to be like this or like that.
-people try to see all of the signs and calculate it out. There’s going to be a 1000 years of this, or we’re already in the 1000 years.
-If we want a Biblical view of the end times. Not a theory, a purely biblical view about the end times,
-A biblical view of the end times is, Jesus is going to come back some day.
-It’s going to be quick, and unexpected, and by the time you see the signs it’s going to be all over.
-If you look at Jesus teachings, Jesus doesn’t even want us to occupy ourselves with trying to even guess.
Matthew 24:45-51
Matthew 24:45-51
“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
-In this parable, the servant is in charge of the kingdom, and he’s trying to guess when the master is coming back.
-and he comes away with the conclusion that it’s going to be a long time.
-Whenever it is, it’s not going to be in my life time, so why should I worry about it.
-And it doesn’t end well for him.
-If we opperate under the assumption that he’s not coming back in our life time, we will get lazy, and complacent. And we will think to ourselves, why should I bother sharing the love of Christ with people.
-There’s always tomorrow. There’s always someone else.
-Now’s not really a good time.
-Well you don’t know that.
But then look at the next parable.
Matthew 25:1-13
Matthew 25:1-13
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of the virgins were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take extra olive oil with them. But the wise ones took flasks of olive oil with their lamps. When the bridegroom was delayed a long time, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is here! Come out to meet him.’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied. ‘There won’t be enough for you and for us. Go instead to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was shut. Later, the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, lord! Let us in!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I do not know you!’ Therefore stay alert because you do not know the day or the hour.
-at a wedding, it was traditional for women to wait outside of the wedding with lanterns, so when the wedding was over they could lead the wedding party to the reception.
-And these women had the opposite problem. They were convinced that the wedding banquet was coming really soon. Like right now.
-So they didn’t bring any extra oil.
-They were like “I’m not gonna bother bringing extra oil, this things gonna be wrapped up in like 15 minutes, then we can go into the banquet, easy peasy.
-But it took longer than they expected and they ran out of oil.
-Let’s be real, if we knew Jesus was coming back like today. Literally today, right after church…we’re not going to be out trying to save people
-I’d like to think that we would, but I don’t think we would.
-I think that if we knew he was coming back Today, most of us would probably opperate under the mindset of, well I’ve done all I can do.
-He’ll be here in about 30 minutes, that’s not enough time to save someone, so I might as well just sit back and wait.
-So in both instances, the man who thought the master was going to take a long time, and the women who thought the master was coming back right now, they got complacent. on both ends of the extreme.
-That’s why we’re not supposed to know.
-Jesus could come back tomorrow, or next week or a thousand years from now, and we’re not supposed to even try to guess, because that’s going to distract us from the job we have to do.
-Our job is to continue being stewards of god’s kingdom.
-God has given us a gift and he expects us to do something with it
Matthew 25:14-30
Matthew 25:14-30
“For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work and gained five more. In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
-This passage is not about how we handle our money.
-This is not about our spiritual gifts.
-When we read the bible in context we understand that the passage is about what we do with the gift of God’s salvation.
-We grow it, we share it. We invite other people into the kingdom.
-If we think we can just sit back and enjoy God’s grace, because hey why not I’m going to get my reward.
-I think we’ve got another thing coming.
[CHILDREN’S CHURCH]
-And then jesus says this:
Matthew 25:31-46
Matthew 25:31-46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’
Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’
And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
A big theme of the book of matthew has been this idea that the first will be last.
-Jesus says if you want to become great, you need to become a servant
-You want to be His disciple you need to take your cross and die with him.
-you want to be first, you need to become last.
-we want to know when Jesus is coming back, what’s the sign going to be, what am I going to recieve in heaven.
-Jesus is like look I’m going to come back. It’s going to continue to be bad for a while here on earth, then I’m gonna come back, and I’m gonna take care of you. Stop worrying about when it’s going to be, and just get to work.
-If you love Jesus if he is the lord of your life, you’re going to be taken care of.
-and you love God you’re going to take care of his children. You’re going to feed them. you’re going to serve them, and you’re going to teach them about God’s love for them.
Let the reader understand this was true for the disciples, it was true for the early churh, its been true for 2000 years of church history, and its true today