Radio Sermon 54 <Back to Table of Contents>
Matthew 24 -- A Premillennialist Playground
One of the more difficult passages in all of the Bible is oddly enough one that premillennialists and dispensationalists use to bolster up a false notion about the end of time. Today on this program we will consider the Lord's teaching on Matthew 24. Please get your Bible and be ready to study with us.
But first, the West End Church of Christ presents these fifteen minute sermons each Sunday. We have only one reason for doing it -- we want to preach the truth of God's word without being restri
Matthew 24 -- A Premillennialist Playground
One of the more difficult passages in all of the Bible is oddly enough one that premillennialists and dispensationalists use to bolster up a false notion about the end of time. Today on this program we will consider the Lord's teaching on Matthew 24. Please get your Bible and be ready to study with us.
But first, the West End Church of Christ presents these fifteen minute sermons each Sunday. We have only one reason for doing it -- we want to preach the truth of God's word without being restricted by human doctrines, creeds, and wisdom. That is why we repeatedly ask anyone who listens to communicate with us if you do not agree with what we teach on this program. This is not done out of a spirit of dare, or challenge, but in sincerity and in the interest of being absolutely right about the most important issue of this life and of eternity.
We also want to invite you to attend our services. Bible study begins at 9 a.m. Sunday morning. We have classes for all ages in which the Bible is discussed and made relevant to living in this world today. At 10 each Sunday morning we assemble to worship -- we honor God in the reading and teaching of His word, several prayers, gospel songs, giving of our means, and partaking of the sacred memorial feast of the Lord's Supper. Sunday evening we assemble for worship at 6 p.m. and mid-week Bible study is each Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
We publish a monthly paper called "The Voice of West End." There is no subscription price to it -- no donations are asked or accepted for it -- it is the freest thing you will ever receive in the mail. So, if you want to get it and read it write or call West End Church of Christ. Our address is 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, KY. 42101 and our phone number is 842-7880. I will repeat that at the end of today's lesson.
(Matthew 24:1-3 reads, "Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age'?"
This event occurred after Jesus had finished His public earthly ministry. He was preparing to return to the Father. Yet, He had a few things to say to His disciples. He called their attention to the buildings and then prophesied the utter destruction of the entire city. In fact, the chapter is a chapter of prophecy. Being near the same length as the Sermon on the Mount, some have looked upon this as the Prophecy on the Mount.
Jesus called His disciples' attention to the array of buildings in the sacred city of Jerusalem. From the Mount of Olives, He had a full view of the entire city. The small group of men looked upon the city, and focused on the Temple. Jesus prophesied, "not one stone shall be left here upon another." This prompted an immediate response. The disciples then asked, "When will these things be?" They added, "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" You see, to the Jew, the destruction of Jerusalem meant much more than the mere physical ruin of a city. Other cities had been destroyed and laid waste. The fall of Babylon, Tyre, and Carthage meant little more than the end of a human government. But Jerusalem's fall meant the end of a great age, the close of a dispensation, the end of something that began when God called Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees to be the father of a great nation, chosen of the Lord.
The questions are basically two. First, when will the Temple be destroyed, and with that what will be the sign of your coming, and the end of this age? To them, having now been fully convinced that He was indeed the Messiah, they expected Him to come into power and rule in Jerusalem. The destruction of their holy city meant the same as the Flood did to those who lived in the days of Noah. It meant the end of that particular age or era. Things would all be different. Little did they know what He really had in mind. So, the end of the Jewish age and the coming of the Messiah were the principal factors in their question. Now read a bit further and notice the answers Jesus gives.
Verses 4-8 "And Jesus answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you. 'For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 'And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 'For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 'All these are the beginning of sorrows."
The destruction of Jerusalem was the primary topic of this prophetic utterance from Christ. Yet, He could see even further, even to the end of time -- all time. The first part of this chapter provides us with His answer to their questions about Jerusalem and the Jewish dispensation of time. The last part of the chapter gives His answer about the end of time. We will consider the first answer first.
The first warning is against being misled. How badly that is still needed. There are still misinformed preachers going through the land putting themselves before us as prophets. They blatantly declare that the end of the world is very near. They look at the things mentioned in this section of Matthew 24 and suddenly see that they are coming to pass. They speak of "wars and rumors of wars" and then declare, "See -- we are hearing of wars all the time -- the end is near." They find places in the world where there are famines, pestilences, and earthquakes and become convinced that these are signs that the end time is just around the corner. How wrong and deceiving they are!
What did Jesus mean -- hearing or wars and rumors of wars, or famines, pestilences, and earthquakes? Whatever it meant, it was in direct response to His prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish age -- certainly not the end of time. It is a well established historical fact that shortly before Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Roman army, there were numerous outbreaks of hostilities. One of the very well known ancient historians is Tacitus. In, The Histories he wrote, "The history on which I am entering is that of a period rich in disasters, terrible with battles, torn by civil struggles, horrible even in peace. Four emperors fell by the sword; there were three civil wars, more foreign wars, and often both at the same time." (The Histories, 1:2). Also Josephus, another famous and reliable ancient historian wrote, "Now the people of Cesarea had slain the Jews that were among them on the very same day and hour [when the soldiers were slain], which one would think must have come to pass by the direction of Providence; and all Cesarea was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants" (The Wars of the Jews, 2:18:1). So, Jesus warned the disciples that they would be witness to these things and when this happened, they were to be ready to flee for safety.
He tells them "this is the beginning of sorrows." A stronger word might be "travail." The Cambridge Greek New Testament for Schools and Colleges notes, "Literally, pains of travail, that preceded the birth of a new order of things, a fresh aeon, the Regeneration." F.W. Farrar wrote, "The 'travail- pangs' would end in the regeneration of the present order -- the Palingenesia or Apokatastasis of the world." (Texts Explained, page 39). The old order of Judaism was ending. Christ came and fulfilled the law by which it was governed. He came to offer them everything for which they had so long waited. They blundered in their rejection of Christ. But the travail or pain of birth would bring into being His great messianic reign as King and Lord, at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
There are those who see His statement as the prelude to what is called "The Great Tribulation." This is an imaginary period of time in which the saints are to endure persecution. Last week, on this very broadcast, that topic was dealt with. An offer was made for anyone in the listening area to produce a verse that substantiates this view of a "Tribulation Period." None has been received -- and for a good reason. There is none. Jesus here warned the disciples of the beginning of sorrows, associated with the birth of Christianity -- not some prelude to the equally imaginary "Battle of Armageddon."
Jesus prepared their minds for the gigantic work they would be called upon to do when the kingdom would be established. That was within just weeks from the time He spoke to them. He said, in verse 14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." The end He has in mind is still the end of Jerusalem -- not the end of the world. But someone may wonder, "Did they preach the gospel to the whole world?" Let Paul answer. "If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister" (Colossians 1:23). Can anyone dispute the divine testimony of an inspired man? He claimed the gospel had been preached "to every creature under heaven." So, Jesus' charge to His disciples had been fulfilled before Jerusalem fell.
He said, "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand)" (verse 15). This is identified as a prophecy from Daniel. Daniel prophesied that at the end of the Jewish age, the Temple would be profaned, the holy place would be defiled. This came to pass literally. Listen again to Josephus: "And now, when the multitude were gotten together to an assembly and every one was in indignation at these man's seizing upon the sanctuary, at their rapine and murders but had not yet begun their attacks upon them ... Agnus stood in the midst of them, and casting his eyes he said, 'Certainly, it had been good for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many abominations, or these sacred places that ought not to be trodden upon at random, filled with the feet of these blood-shedding villains ...'" (The Wars of the Jews, 4:3:10.)
F.W. Farrar adds, "'The abominable wing (kanaph) which maketh desolate,' to which Daniel alluded, was the little heathen altar erected by Antiochus Epiphanes, on the top of the great altar of sacrifice, when he desecrated and defiled the Temple precincts. Perhaps the turn of expression in the Hebrew may have been due to the fact that on this altar was carved the figure of the Syrian or Roman eagle.
"The abominations of desolation after the Crucifixion were many, but the definite allusion may be to the Roman eagles and standards carried by the victorious Romans into the very sanctuary at the destruction of the Temple by Titus (A.D. 70), within the lifetime of some whom our Lord was then addressing." (Ibid.). The Romans repeated the desecration of the Temple first done by the Syrians -- and also fulfilled the prophetic words of Jesus Christ. One problem for the millennialists is that there is no Temple in which this can be done. Before this can take place again, somehow there must be the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It so happens that on the very place where the Temple must be built is the second most sacred place in all the world to the Muslims -- the Dome of the Rock. But do not look for a future fulfillment -- Jesus' word was fulfilled when Rome invaded Judea and destroyed Jerusalem.
Next come the warnings. "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be" (verses 16-20). The obvious reason for this warning was for the protection of the disciples. They were given foreknowledge of the destruction which would have taken their lives had they remained in Jerusalem. It is impossible to make this a prophecy relative to anything this side of the fall of Jerusalem.
Finally, verse 34 reads, "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled." That generation meant those living then. And Jesus word came to pass. All things up to this point in His prophecy were fulfilled when Jerusalem fell.
Time forbids today, but next Sunday I will continue this study and we will find out what is meant by the sign of the Son of Man, the Coming of the Lord, the falling of the stars, the sun darkened, and the shaking of the powers of heaven. But today, just remember, everything up to verse 34 is already fulfilled and there is no future fulfillment in store.
Thank you for listening. If you would like to have additional study materials on this topic, or any other, please let us know. If you would like to get the free paper we offer, write us at 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, KY. 42101, or call 842-7880. Thank you very much for listening and until next Sunday, goodbye.
cted by human doctrines, creeds, and wisdom. That is why we repeatedly ask anyone who listens to communicate with us if you do not agree with what we teach on this program. This is not done out of a spirit of dare, or challenge, but in sincerity and in the interest of being absolutely right about the most important issue of this life and of eternity.
We also want to invite you to attend our services. Bible study begins at 9 a.m. Sunday morning. We have classes for all ages in which the Bible is discussed and made relevant to living in this world today. At 10 each Sunday morning we assemble to worship -- we honor God in the reading and teaching of His word, several prayers, gospel songs, giving of our means, and partaking of the sacred memorial feast of the Lord's Supper. Sunday evening we assemble for worship at 6 p.m. and mid-week Bible study is each Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
We publish a monthly paper called "The Voice of West End." There is no subscription price to it -- no donations are asked or accepted for it -- it is the freest thing you will ever receive in the mail. So, if you want to get it and read it write or call West End Church of Christ. Our address is 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, KY. 42101 and our phone number is 842-7880. I will repeat that at the end of today's lesson.
(Matthew 24:1-3 reads, "Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down. Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age'?"
This event occurred after Jesus had finished His public earthly ministry. He was preparing to return to the Father. Yet, He had a few things to say to His disciples. He called their attention to the buildings and then prophesied the utter destruction of the entire city. In fact, the chapter is a chapter of prophecy. Being near the same length as the Sermon on the Mount, some have looked upon this as the Prophecy on the Mount.
Jesus called His disciples' attention to the array of buildings in the sacred city of Jerusalem. From the Mount of Olives, He had a full view of the entire city. The small group of men looked upon the city, and focused on the Temple. Jesus prophesied, "not one stone shall be left here upon another." This prompted an immediate response. The disciples then asked, "When will these things be?" They added, "What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" You see, to the Jew, the destruction of Jerusalem meant much more than the mere physical ruin of a city. Other cities had been destroyed and laid waste. The fall of Babylon, Tyre, and Carthage meant little more than the end of a human government. But Jerusalem's fall meant the end of a great age, the close of a dispensation, the end of something that began when God called Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees to be the father of a great nation, chosen of the Lord.
The questions are basically two. First, when will the Temple be destroyed, and with that what will be the sign of your coming, and the end of this age? To them, having now been fully convinced that He was indeed the Messiah, they expected Him to come into power and rule in Jerusalem. The destruction of their holy city meant the same as the Flood did to those who lived in the days of Noah. It meant the end of that particular age or era. Things would all be different. Little did they know what He really had in mind. So, the end of the Jewish age and the coming of the Messiah were the principal factors in their question. Now read a bit further and notice the answers Jesus gives.
Verses 4-8 "And Jesus answered and said to them: 'Take heed that no one deceives you. 'For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 'And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 'For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 'All these are the beginning of sorrows."
The destruction of Jerusalem was the primary topic of this prophetic utterance from Christ. Yet, He could see even further, even to the end of time -- all time. The first part of this chapter provides us with His answer to their questions about Jerusalem and the Jewish dispensation of time. The last part of the chapter gives His answer about the end of time. We will consider the first answer first.
The first warning is against being misled. How badly that is still needed. There are still misinformed preachers going through the land putting themselves before us as prophets. They blatantly declare that the end of the world is very near. They look at the things mentioned in this section of Matthew 24 and suddenly see that they are coming to pass. They speak of "wars and rumors of wars" and then declare, "See -- we are hearing of wars all the time -- the end is near." They find places in the world where there are famines, pestilences, and earthquakes and become convinced that these are signs that the end time is just around the corner. How wrong and deceiving they are!
What did Jesus mean -- hearing or wars and rumors of wars, or famines, pestilences, and earthquakes? Whatever it meant, it was in direct response to His prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish age -- certainly not the end of time. It is a well established historical fact that shortly before Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Roman army, there were numerous outbreaks of hostilities. One of the very well known ancient historians is Tacitus. In, The Histories he wrote, "The history on which I am entering is that of a period rich in disasters, terrible with battles, torn by civil struggles, horrible even in peace. Four emperors fell by the sword; there were three civil wars, more foreign wars, and often both at the same time." (The Histories, 1:2). Also Josephus, another famous and reliable ancient historian wrote, "Now the people of Cesarea had slain the Jews that were among them on the very same day and hour [when the soldiers were slain], which one would think must have come to pass by the direction of Providence; and all Cesarea was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants" (The Wars of the Jews, 2:18:1). So, Jesus warned the disciples that they would be witness to these things and when this happened, they were to be ready to flee for safety.
He tells them "this is the beginning of sorrows." A stronger word might be "travail." The Cambridge Greek New Testament for Schools and Colleges notes, "Literally, pains of travail, that preceded the birth of a new order of things, a fresh aeon, the Regeneration." F.W. Farrar wrote, "The 'travail- pangs' would end in the regeneration of the present order -- the Palingenesia or Apokatastasis of the world." (Texts Explained, page 39). The old order of Judaism was ending. Christ came and fulfilled the law by which it was governed. He came to offer them everything for which they had so long waited. They blundered in their rejection of Christ. But the travail or pain of birth would bring into being His great messianic reign as King and Lord, at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
There are those who see His statement as the prelude to what is called "The Great Tribulation." This is an imaginary period of time in which the saints are to endure persecution. Last week, on this very broadcast, that topic was dealt with. An offer was made for anyone in the listening area to produce a verse that substantiates this view of a "Tribulation Period." None has been received -- and for a good reason. There is none. Jesus here warned the disciples of the beginning of sorrows, associated with the birth of Christianity -- not some prelude to the equally imaginary "Battle of Armageddon."
Jesus prepared their minds for the gigantic work they would be called upon to do when the kingdom would be established. That was within just weeks from the time He spoke to them. He said, in verse 14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." The end He has in mind is still the end of Jerusalem -- not the end of the world. But someone may wonder, "Did they preach the gospel to the whole world?" Let Paul answer. "If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister" (Colossians 1:23). Can anyone dispute the divine testimony of an inspired man? He claimed the gospel had been preached "to every creature under heaven." So, Jesus' charge to His disciples had been fulfilled before Jerusalem fell.
He said, "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand)" (verse 15). This is identified as a prophecy from Daniel. Daniel prophesied that at the end of the Jewish age, the Temple would be profaned, the holy place would be defiled. This came to pass literally. Listen again to Josephus: "And now, when the multitude were gotten together to an assembly and every one was in indignation at these man's seizing upon the sanctuary, at their rapine and murders but had not yet begun their attacks upon them ... Agnus stood in the midst of them, and casting his eyes he said, 'Certainly, it had been good for me to die before I had seen the house of God full of so many abominations, or these sacred places that ought not to be trodden upon at random, filled with the feet of these blood-shedding villains ...'" (The Wars of the Jews, 4:3:10.)
F.W. Farrar adds, "'The abominable wing (kanaph) which maketh desolate,' to which Daniel alluded, was the little heathen altar erected by Antiochus Epiphanes, on the top of the great altar of sacrifice, when he desecrated and defiled the Temple precincts. Perhaps the turn of expression in the Hebrew may have been due to the fact that on this altar was carved the figure of the Syrian or Roman eagle.
"The abominations of desolation after the Crucifixion were many, but the definite allusion may be to the Roman eagles and standards carried by the victorious Romans into the very sanctuary at the destruction of the Temple by Titus (A.D. 70), within the lifetime of some whom our Lord was then addressing." (Ibid.). The Romans repeated the desecration of the Temple first done by the Syrians -- and also fulfilled the prophetic words of Jesus Christ. One problem for the millennialists is that there is no Temple in which this can be done. Before this can take place again, somehow there must be the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. It so happens that on the very place where the Temple must be built is the second most sacred place in all the world to the Muslims -- the Dome of the Rock. But do not look for a future fulfillment -- Jesus' word was fulfilled when Rome invaded Judea and destroyed Jerusalem.
Next come the warnings. "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be" (verses 16-20). The obvious reason for this warning was for the protection of the disciples. They were given foreknowledge of the destruction which would have taken their lives had they remained in Jerusalem. It is impossible to make this a prophecy relative to anything this side of the fall of Jerusalem.
Finally, verse 34 reads, "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled." That generation meant those living then. And Jesus word came to pass. All things up to this point in His prophecy were fulfilled when Jerusalem fell.
Time forbids today, but next Sunday I will continue this study and we will find out what is meant by the sign of the Son of Man, the Coming of the Lord, the falling of the stars, the sun darkened, and the shaking of the powers of heaven. But today, just remember, everything up to verse 34 is already fulfilled and there is no future fulfillment in store.
Thank you for listening. If you would like to have additional study materials on this topic, or any other, please let us know. If you would like to get the free paper we offer, write us at 1609 Parkside Drive, Bowling Green, KY. 42101, or call 842-7880. Thank you very much for listening and until next Sunday, goodbye.