2024-07-30
Given by Dr Peter Masters from Matthew 24
It is essential to remember that Christ is returning. There is a certain amount of confusion for some, but the scriptures are clear how he will return.
Unbelievers, as it was with me years ago, find the return of Christ extraordinary and you reject i altogether. But here is the Word of God, supported by prophecy and promises of Christ, unswervingly the same throughout Scripture that Christ will return.
There are indications of the long period before Christ returns, and signs of many other things.
Matthew 24.1
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
Christ departs from the temple and the disciples show him the various courts and so on, in those days, those disciples were mainly Gaileleans who would have been astonished by Solomon's temple. It was still undergoing repair and extension at the time of Christ.
In v2, Christ makes a solemn statement.
Matthew 24.2
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
That would happen within about 40 years in AD70, when the Roman armies destroyed the temple utterly. The disciples were staggered by this, and when they got to a place when they were seated, they asked:
Matthew 24.3
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
They knew about Messiah coming again in power and in glory. They knew about a time when the world would end, and they assumed it would be one at the same time. Now Christ will explain that these are two separate events, the destruction of Jerusalem is one, and the return of Christ is another.
Matthew 24.4-5
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
We take this in the broadest sense - that many will claim to present ways to salvation, and how the Lord will return. Whatever denomination it is, represent the true Messianic message, effectively saying "I am Christ".
Matthew 24.6
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Right through the last age of the world, the gospel age from the crucifixion and resurrection to the end of the age, these things will happen - "wars and rumours of wars". Man for all his boast and claims will never be able to control this world, it will be characterised by disorder, peace in one region, war in another, and it will circulate everywhere. Greed and wars that are territorial, wars that are idealogical, constant hatred.
Matthew 24.7
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
There always will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes. We have just seen a pandemic which is one of these great pestilences in a sense.
Matthew 24.8
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
It is made clear that it would be a long time before Christ would return. Not just wars nearby, but wars all over the world. This verse hints that these things (natural catastrophes, epidemics and wars), will get worse in the end, that is all in that verse. The word chosen implies that they will get worse.
Matthew 24.9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Now he is coming to some more distinctive signs of the very end. A great and a widespread persecution of faith in God and in Christ.
Matthew 24.10
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
This persecution, end-time persecution, will involve the betrayal of many professing Christians who have never been saved, nominal and there will be disruption in many churches because of this.
Matthew 24.11
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Attacks from without and attacks from within with false doctrines.
Matthew 24.12
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
The nominals will drift away, a time of apostasy, a turning away from faith in God, a time of great atheism and unbelief also.
Matthew 24.13-14
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
That has just about happened, there may be some tiny places unaffected by the gospel, but it has virtually happened, considerable spread of the gospel through the world via radio communications and the internet and so on. One of the great signs we are at the end is the communication of the gospel everywhere.
Matthew 24.15
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Two events are spoken of - here the original question has been come back to about the destruction of the temple. The disciples mostly would see the destruction of the temple. The temple was desecrated. It was this great sign to disciples that the Saviour spoke of.
Matthew 24.16
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Because there is Roman invasion - the destruction of the temple is a sign of the destruction of all of Judaea, they are told to flee.
Matthew 24.17
17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Get out as soon as you can, Titus will destroy the land.
Matthew 24.18
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Follow the directions and leave.
Matthew 24.19
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
The safe thing is to flee.
Matthew 24.20
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Isn't that amazing, believers could pray for a deliverance of having to flee and live and sleep in the open air in the winter, God in his compassion would hear those believers and withold the arm of the Roman army so that there was no attack during the cold seasons or on a Sabbath so that worship is not disrupted.
Matthew 24.21-23
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
V23 seems to be a return to a discussion of the whole age. The subsequent period of time before the Lord returns, which turns out to be 2000 years.
Why is this particular warning given? It is consolidated in v26.
Matthew 24.26
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.
Why? Because He is coming.
Matthew 24.27
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
It won't be a secret individual. I have often thought about this and it is beyond comprehension, how can the Son of Man appear virtually at once everywhere. This illustration is the closest we can get, but there will be no view as staggering as the mighty return of Christ in power and glory.
Matthew 24.28
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Eagles - better to be translated vultures. Some can think of the Roman Eagles that were symbolic, but not it is vultures.
This world will be virtually a carcase, unbelief will have reduced man to such a state, and so the end will justly come.
I don't like to speak like this because we believers condition ourselves to have compassion for lost souls. Our entire mindset is to win people, however, the scripture does also show the other side. When God acts in judgement, what he meats out to unbelief will be fully deserved, but that is not our normal mindset.
Matthew 24.29
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
We are back to the return of Christ. Indescribable cosmic disturbances will attend the return of Christ.
Matthew 24.30
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
I am just reading the scriptures with comments.
Matthew 24.31
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
That is living Christians - those who are alive at the time when Christ returns. Gathered together with him, and then there is the parable of the fig tree.
Matthew 24.34
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
What does this mean? It means those very people who were listening to Christ here, the disciples, will not entirely pass away before all these things are set in motion. The fleeing of Christians, that is a matter of history, the long period of wars and rumours of wars, of unbelief and false religions, and then the coming of Christ. This generation would not be there the whole period, but they would see the great beginning of the period, the formal end of the period of Jewish worship, the bringing in of the gospel age. All these things. The Greek will be better translated "till all these things begin to be fulfilled."
Matthew 24.35
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Not the celestial heavens, but the sky and the earth.
Matthew 24.36
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
While Christ was on earth, he shut it out of his mind so that he could represent us on earth. But he would have reknew those things at the moment of his ascension.
Let us read a few verses from 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians, because it shows that what is taught by Paul is identical.
1 Thess 4.13-16
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Bring with him? They are in the paradise of Christ, and they will be given resurrection bodies.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Of course, they are alive in the paradise of Christ, they will rise first and then we who are alive, shall be caught up with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
2 Thess 2.3-8
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
A falling away - a turning against faith. Man spends a colossal amount of money on exploration on space and research. What is this in aid of? Apostasy, desperate to find out if there is a materialistic explanation for the origin of makind and the world. Mankind has gone crazy in his application of efforts and funds and learning. It is all the last apostasy.
"that man of sin be revealed" - the last apostasy, we call it Satan's little season, when he does all he can to eliminate faith and the message of Christ which is spread through the world. "sin" would be better translated lawlessness, because it enables you to understand what this means.
We live in an age when laws based upon biblical and Christian morality are being thrown out almost by the month. It is the age of lawlessness - the whole LGTB drive in the schools, what God says is wrong is not wrong. Things are no longer forbidden by God, immoral and wrong. The man of sin is revealed, there will be some end-time thing, maybe an individual or a movement described here. The orchestrated all out effort to drive out God's rules and laws and principles of life.
It should stir us, because it is easy to say, in every century there have been preachers who say surely we are at the end. But for us, we can see some very specific things that have only happened now, that are described as the very end.
Are you thinking of a career for 40 years, maybe, I don't know, no man knows the hour, but I wonder if it is now 5 years, 10 years or 20 years, we better be first and foremost for Christ, otherwise we will see those well-laid plans swept away.
"the son of perdition" - the man fitted for destruction. The person who is headed for destruction.
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
This is obviously a figure, the lawless and unbelievers will be presenting their ideas, rational explanations to God and to faith. Their ideas for the being and existence of life and matter in the universe as the equivalent of God. "Do as you want, break any bounds, don't listen to the Word of God, live your life as you want to, that is all."
Materialism as God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
God is holding back until the last moment of time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
That is the teaching of the Bible, from the lips of Christ, from the words of Paul. We could go to the OT and see the predictions, or the book of Revelation which has so much about it.
Have you never come to Christ? What is your life for? Are you believers in the Lord? When you think of Christ's return, you will be all for him, committed entirely to him.