Episode 17
Signs of the Times: What the Disciples Really Asked Jesus
Today, we dive into the intriguing topic of the second coming of Christ as outlined in Scripture, particularly focusing on the so-called "terrible day of the Lord." We unpack the significant implications of this day, which is often misconstrued as a distant, apocalyptic event, rather than a critical moment of judgment relevant to Jesus’ contemporaries. Through a thoughtful examination of Matthew 13, we explore how the harvest metaphor highlights the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, ultimately framing the conversation around the end of an age rather than the end of the world as we know it. As we compare the accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we uncover the disciples' genuine quest for understanding the signs of their time, challenging the notion that these prophecies were meant for a future generation. Join us as we navigate these complex themes, seeking clarity on a topic that has perplexed us for years.
Takeaways:
- The concept of the 'end of the age' as discussed in the podcast directly relates to the destruction of Jerusalem, not a distant future judgment day.
- Understanding the second coming of Christ within the context of first-century expectations provides clarity on biblical prophecies concerning judgment and fulfillment.
- The disciples' inquiries about signs of Jesus' coming were specifically tied to their generation, emphasizing the immediacy of the events discussed in Matthew 24.
- The podcast highlights that prophetic signs were intended for those living at the time, negating the notion that they pertain to future generations.
- A significant point made is that the terrible day of the Lord is an event that includes judgment on the wicked, not a complete end of the world scenario as commonly perceived.
- The historical context surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem illustrates the fulfillment of Jesus' teachings, underscoring the importance of heeding warnings for the faithful.
Transcript
Well, good day to you.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us in the study.
Speaker A:We've been talking about the second coming of Christ as it's mentioned in Scripture, and the terrible day of the Lord.
Speaker A:The terrible day of the Lord was the time of judgment when the harvest, which is at the end of the age, would include both the wheat gathered into the barn and the tares that are burned with fire.
Speaker A:That's the parable of Matthew, chapter 13.
Speaker A:And so when were these things to occur?
Speaker A:Well, verse 49 of the same chapter, Matthew 13.
Speaker A:The answer is at the end of the age.
Speaker A:Listen to Jesus as he explains.
Speaker A:So it will be at the end of the age the angels will come forth and take out of the wicked from among the tares, or from among the righteous.
Speaker A:So there you have the metaphor.
Speaker A:So when Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, his disciples had come to him and asked him privately, tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and at the end of the age?
Speaker A:I suggest to you that the sign of your coming and the end of the age was referenced to the same time.
Speaker A:He wasn't saying, when will be the sign of your coming and the end of the world.
Speaker A:That's not going to affect them.
Speaker A:It has nothing, no bearing on them.
Speaker A:They're wanting to know, when's this going to happen?
Speaker A:So this is the same age that has an end in Matthew 13 that we just looked at when Jesus says, so, it will be at the end of the age.
Speaker A:It's that age.
Speaker A:The question in Matthew 24 was in response to the statement that Jesus made about not one stone being left upon another had nothing to do with the universal destruction of the world and fire or anything of the kind.
Speaker A:Jesus just finished talking about Jerusalem's temple and how that one stone will not be left upon another that will not be cast down.
Speaker A:So it's a reference to the utter desolation of the temple in Jerusalem.
Speaker A:Well, the disciples are just asking.
Speaker A:They want to know when.
Speaker A:But not just when, but what will be the signs that when will precede it.
Speaker A:So we'll know it's close.
Speaker A:A sign is of no value if it was given to a generation thousands of years before or after they were born.
Speaker A:It wouldn't be a sign to them.
Speaker A:Why would they be seeking for a sign that they would never see that would take place thousands of years from now?
Speaker A:Obviously they were expecting it to be in their generation, which is what Jesus had already taught them.
Speaker A:And so if it's going to happen in their lifetime, they're wanting to know, well, what would be the signs of it?
Speaker A:How can I know it's going to come soon?
Speaker A:So they're wanting to know how close it's going to get.
Speaker A:Grammatically, they're just three questions, but essentially there's just one that relates to the time of fulfillment, and that's the end of the age.
Speaker A:I'd like for you to do some comparison with me.
Speaker A:Now, as we look at Matthew 24, compare it to Mark and Luke's accounting.
Speaker A:These are the two other synoptic gospels, and they really clarify these time references in Matthew 24.
Speaker A:It's the same language in both accounts that they were at the Mount of Olives and the disciples came unto him privately.
Speaker A:Now, Mark tells us that Peter, James and John and Andrew came to him and asked him privately.
Speaker A:They asked him, may Matthew's record says, when shall these things be?
Speaker A:And what shall be the sign of your coming and the end of the world?
Speaker A:Now let me ask.
Speaker A:Let me repeat what Mark and Luke say.
Speaker A:Tell us, when shall these things be?
Speaker A:That is, one stone will not be left upon another, that will not be cast down.
Speaker A:When will these things be?
Speaker A:And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?
Speaker A:Cease asking.
Speaker A:He's asking about the same time, the same event.
Speaker A:When's it going to happen and what's the signs of it happening?
Speaker A:Luke says a very similar thing, verse seven.
Speaker A:And they asked him, saying, master, when shall these things be?
Speaker A:And what sign will there be when these things shall be come to pass?
Speaker A:See, now, one explanation that's given, it's not shared by me, is that the disciples request their questions.
Speaker A:Their inquiry is about two different periods in history.
Speaker A:And the way they explain it is in these three different.
Speaker A:These two basic questions is when or when is the sign of your coming?
Speaker A:And number two, what's the sign of the end of the end of the world?
Speaker A:And of course, according to that view, Matthew 24 deals with the first question.
Speaker A:The sign of that is the coming against Jerusalem, the destruction of Jerusalem.
Speaker A:And that's in the first half of the chapter.
Speaker A:And the last question is answered in the second half of the chapter and right on into chapter 25.
Speaker A:Now, those who take this view divide the text differently, however, but again, some of them divided up.
Speaker A:I think it's in verse 36 and some in verse 29.
Speaker A:But once again, Jesus was not asked about the signs for the end of the world.
Speaker A:The term is the end of the age.
Speaker A:It's the Greek word aion.
Speaker A:And the end of the age is the words that are used, and it's clearly defined by its use in Scripture as referring to the end of the Mosaic rule, the end of their era, their world, so to speak.
Speaker A:And while no one is denying that three questions are asked, the question to be answered is whether the last two refer to the same event or to two different events in time.
Speaker A:When we compare these passages and look at Matthew 24 as we compare it to the parallel accounts, it's clear the disciples were asking only two questions that relate to the same event.
Speaker A:When and what are the signs?
Speaker A:By noticing that we can see when we look at the Mark's accounting of it and Luke's accounting, they put them together.
Speaker A:They ask simply, when's it going to be?
Speaker A:And what's the sign of these things when they do come?
Speaker A:The first thing that we notice when comparing the three accounts in all three is that they use the phrase these things, referring to the things about which Jesus had told them concerning the destruction of the temple.
Speaker A:Matthew 24:2.
Speaker A:A second thing I think we would notice that is true of all of them is that when contemplating the statement that Jesus makes, Jesus makes that statement.
Speaker A:It brings out the questions.
Speaker A:And Matthew's account of the questions amount to just two questions.
Speaker A:While Mark and Luke, just like Mark and Luke does, Matthew's account looks like he may be asking three on the surface, but when the last two distinguishing the destruction of Jerusalem and the final return expected by a majority at the end of that time.
Speaker A:So the adherence to that view, they either make verse 29, or I think it's 29 or 36, the point of transitioning from the discussion of Jerusalem's destruction to the final judgment of the world.
Speaker A:But the language of verse 37 and 39, which is after, after the transition is made, See, it's claimed that that's a reference to the end of the world.
Speaker A:Yet it's the same language used in Luke 17, which section refers clearly to Jerusalem's destruction.
Speaker A: find that comes after Matthew: Speaker A:Luke ties this to the day of its fulfillment when he writes in the next verse in that day, verse 17, he that shall be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away.
Speaker A:See, Matthew 24 shows no transition of thought from the destruction of Jerusalem and a final judgment.
Speaker A: sus said in that day, in Luke: Speaker A:I hope you see that another comparison illustrates the same conclusion.
Speaker A:In comparing Matthew 24 to Luke 17, and that is to the event when he discusses the one being taken and the other being left, we will immediately see the inconsistency of separating Matthew 24 into two different sections.
Speaker A: the same language as Matthew: Speaker A:Notice 41, 41 is after our supposed or the claim that he's talking about the end of the world.
Speaker A:Then there see, it's after both verse 29 and 36.
Speaker A:In other words, the same wording places Matthew's reference after the supposed transition from answering the first question to answering the second.
Speaker A:According to Luke, as Jesus as soon as Jesus tells them about taken and others left, his disciples said, where Lord?
Speaker A:And he said to them, where the body is, there were the eagles also be gathered together.
Speaker A: the same language of Matthew: Speaker A:You see, if Jesus changed the subject from the destruction of Jerusalem to the final judgment day, then the same language in Luke 17 would find Jesus just jumping back and forth between two different subjects.
Speaker A:We don't know what he's talking about, the end of the Jewish era or the end of the world.
Speaker A:Are we to believe that Jesus is just discussing two different subjects at the same time and he just switches back and forth, confusing the disciples as to which one he's talking about?
Speaker A:The question, the question in Matthew 24 regarding the sign of his coming and the end of the age is a reference to the same thing.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because his coming would mark the end of the Jewish age.
Speaker A:That would be the end of that era.
Speaker A:So the question can essentially be reduced to one essential idea.
Speaker A:They want to narrow in on the more precise time when they can expect the end of the age.
Speaker A:They know it's going to occur in that generation.
Speaker A:Jesus already told them that.
Speaker A:And commensurate with it are the signs that would tell them how close it's getting.
Speaker A:We appreciate that today as travelers, one of the assurances that we receive when given directions to a certain destination or the landmark someone may say went out, it's right before you come to that big blue sign on the left hand side of the road.
Speaker A:That's helpful.
Speaker A:And these things are helpful to start slowing down and looking for the exit.
Speaker A:And so when Paul gave signs to the Thessalonians.
Speaker A:You know, he gave signs too, some of whom had rushed headlong to the reckless assumption that they had missed the resurrection.
Speaker A:It had already been passed.
Speaker A:But he gave signs to the saints in Thessalonica.
Speaker A:You see, Jesus never taught the end of the world.
Speaker A:And verse 34 collaborates with this conclusion.
Speaker A:When Jesus explains that the things prophesied would be fulfilled in that generation, RT France writes and explains, the unwary reader is in danger of assuming a note of finality in the future hope of the Old Testament that is in fact foreign to it.
Speaker A:The eschatology of the Old Testament prophets was not concerned with the end of the world, but with the decisive act of God which will bring to an end the existing order of things in the world and inaugurate a new era of blessing of a totally different order.
Speaker A:I believe that is correct.
Speaker A:From this description, one might easily refer to the change as a different world, as long as we're not referring to a different future physical earth or a different cosmos.
Speaker A:I've often heard grandparents and older people speak of their culture as a different world than the one in which they grew up in.
Speaker A:We don't understand them to be referring to another physical planet or the physical destruction of one and the start of another.
Speaker A:So here are the facts.
Speaker A:Number one.
Speaker A:Their questions were in response to to Jesus statement that's critical.
Speaker A:What would Jesus?
Speaker A:What did he state?
Speaker A:He said not one stone left upon another that will not be thrown down.
Speaker A:He answers two questions relating to time.
Speaker A:When is it happening?
Speaker A:And what are the signs of its coming.
Speaker A:2.
Speaker A:His coming is directly related to the temple's destruction in that generation.
Speaker A:The disciples are not concerned about a time disassociated with Christ's coming for another 2,000 years or more.
Speaker A:The context of the passage and the entire New Testament places Jesus coming at the end of that age.
Speaker A:Incidentally, now is a good reminder to just point out that the change of the age does not occur at the cross or at the Pentecost.
Speaker A:The changes from one to the other were at the coming of Jesus in judgment against that generation.
Speaker A:Number three.
Speaker A:In bringing an end to that present age, Christ would also then usher in the new covenant, the new age, the new Israel that's likened to a new man, a body that included both Jews and Gentiles, this new creation of God.
Speaker A:Now I'd like to turn our attention to another error, the error of applying the second coming of the New Testament teaching to some final judgment day.
Speaker A:I would like for you to consider some reasons why this his return can't refer to a final judgment day and the end of the world in some distant future one, just the time terms, the terms that are used.
Speaker A:Logically speaking, how can we define the end of the age in Matthew 24 to refer to the end of time when Jesus comes to judge the world and destroy the planet Earth and yet still be fair to these prophetic time statements?
Speaker A:Now, we've noted already, we pointed out this, that the prophecies relating to 600 years out did not pertain to those whom it was given and that the words soon or near or at hand do pertain to the present time within a certain generation.
Speaker A:We should point out that those words don't exceed 40 years out.
Speaker A: s about things that were over: Speaker A:I mean, it would lose its relevancy.
Speaker A:There's no value in asking when the signs, what will be the signs of his coming?
Speaker A:They're not going to see it anyway.
Speaker A:So what we've shown is that there is no biblical basis to support that we're still in the last days and that we're still waiting for this projection of Christ coming in judgment.
Speaker A:Now, I'm not suggesting that he's not going to come in judgment again.
Speaker A:I'm suggesting that the passages that teach his second coming, when he teaches this and the Apostle Paul teaches it, it was soon at hand, it was going to come in their lifetime and it was relevant to those then living.
Speaker A:I think I would rather side with Jesus and his apostles over the modern day preachers of our time realize that there's just no biblical basis to support that we're still in the last days and that the New Testament was wrong about its projections.
Speaker A:Another, I think proof, proof for this is that the word of end in itself the end, the word end in Matthew 24, and we've already noted this in a previous lesson, that that reference to end and the coming in our analysis of the questions the apostles are asking the Lord, the very things that provoke the teaching of Matthew 24, we will want to notice two very interesting facts about the use of these words.
Speaker A:First of all, since many people take the view that the end of the Matthew 24 shifts away from the destruction of Jerusalem to the final judgment of the at the end of the world, we would expect to find the word some reference there to that end somewhere in the section of text when the discussion is thought to shift away from the destruction of Jerusalem.
Speaker A:And yet Jesus use of the word is found in the first part of the text.
Speaker A:We're all readily agree that it's referenced to the destruction of Jerusalem, and also into the second part of the text in verse 6.
Speaker A:For these things must needs come to pass.
Speaker A:But the end is not yet verse 13.
Speaker A:But he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved.
Speaker A:Then verse 14.
Speaker A:And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, and then shall the end come.
Speaker A:Now again, lest we think that Jesus refers to the end of time in these verses, this is all said before verse 34.
Speaker A:Verse 34 has Jesus saying, this generation shall not pass away till all these things are accomplished.
Speaker A:Are you listening?
Speaker A:The things about which he'd already said Prior to verse 34, this generation shall not pass away till all these things are accomplished.
Speaker A:See, that's another reason why the word end spoken of is not the end of the world.
Speaker A:It's the end of that present world, that present age, and the consummation of God's plan.
Speaker A:Notice that Jesus speaks of these things being accomplished in that generation.
Speaker A:And that's what the word end means.
Speaker A:It's something that has been purposed, has now been fulfilled, it's been achieved, it's been accomplished, its goal has been met.
Speaker A:And notice likewise that the use of the word coming in this chapter, if Jesus used it of a final return, we would expect to find its use only in the section where it is thought that Jesus discusses the final day of judgment, the end of the world.
Speaker A:Yet the phrase or the term coming occurs throughout the chapter, even, you know, before and after the supposed transition of thought without any regard to it.
Speaker A:And thus Jesus spoke of his coming both before and after the transition, the supposed transition of in the text.
Speaker A:A third thing that I would suggest to you is that the judgment of Matthew 24, its character is inescapable insofar as it describing some universal judgment of the end of the world versus a judgment of a generation of people.
Speaker A:You know, one of the characteristics taught concerning the final judgment day is that that day is a day that everybody's going to face.
Speaker A:It's inescapable.
Speaker A:We're all going to stand before the judgment day, seat of Christ and receive our sentence of life or death.
Speaker A:If that is true, then a simple reflection on the conclusions given in this text, in Matthew 24 and in the other texts proves that this judgment is escapable.
Speaker A:The judgment about which Jesus is talking here is something that can be escaped, that does not Describe the judgment of the end of the world as it's commonly referred to.
Speaker A:Mark says.
Speaker A:In Mark, chapter 13, verse 35 says, Watch therefore, for you know not when the Lord of the house comes, whether at midnight, or at the crop crowing or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
Speaker A:And what I say unto you, I say unto all.
Speaker A:Watch.
Speaker A:Matthew adding that to this record has Jesus saying in verse 42 and 44, watch therefore, for you know not on what day your Lord comes, but know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would have not have suffered his house not to have been broken through.
Speaker A:Therefore be ye also ready, for in an hour that ye think not the Son of Man comes.
Speaker A:Now, these two accounts quoted that we just looked at, they may not change your mind at all, but if we look at Luke's accounting of the same thing, I think you'll be impressed with the feature of judgment that cannot apply to a final judgment at the end of time.
Speaker A:Listen to Luke's wording and he ends his thought with this warning, verse 36 of chapter 21 Watch ye at every season, making supplication that you may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Speaker A:You see, the watching here was not for the purpose of living a faithful life, so you're not caught unprepared at his coming on the judgment day.
Speaker A:Luke.
Speaker A:Once again he adds the thought that preparedness would aid them in escaping these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.
Speaker A:See, this warning to watch is found in Matthew 24, also beginning in verse 42, the same section that some people believe to be referring to the final judgment.
Speaker A:By the way, Luke's parallel account, clearly of the same warning reflects a judgment that can be escaped.
Speaker A:It's escapable, and that it would occur in the lifetime of those living in that generation.
Speaker A:So, my friends, Matthew 24, verses 42 through 44 cannot be referring to a final judgment at some distant future, because the judgment of which he speaks is escapable.
Speaker A:Jesus gives the warning in the early part of the chapter, when therefore you see the abomination of desolation, and then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Speaker A:You see, they could do something to prepare for it and get away, escape it.
Speaker A:Eusebius, who was a third century historian, explains the meaning and the manner of escape when he writes in his book the Ecclesiastical History, he says the whole body, however, of the church in Jerusalem, having been commanded by divine revelation given to men of approved piety.
Speaker A:These, before the war, removed from the city and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan called Pella.
Speaker A:Now again, lest we think that this would be no big deal, remember that Jesus tells the disciples that unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.
Speaker A: resented in the parables Mark: Speaker A:The saints were not taught to stay there and to stay put.
Speaker A:And just don't worry about it.
Speaker A:Just be faithful.
Speaker A:Whatever happens, allow the enemy to do whatever they want to do to you.
Speaker A:Only be strong and courageous.
Speaker A:No, instead, Christians were taught to get out of dodge, get out of the town, flee.
Speaker A:Avoid the temptation to come, compromise under dire circumstances.
Speaker A:Leave that place, Flee to the mountain.
Speaker A:Now, this has nothing to do with the desire to live on earth as long as they could live has nothing to do with that.
Speaker A:It has everything to do with avoiding the pressure to deny the Lord.
Speaker A:To accentuate this thought that the destruction of Jerusalem was a big deal, the historian George Hofford gives a, I think a fabulous quote that defines the the extent of this destruction.
Speaker A: the destruction of Jerusalem,: Speaker A:And of fugitives, not less than 3,000 in the wood of Jaradas.
Speaker A:Titus, having marched his army to Caesarea, he, that is Titus, with great splendor celebrated the birthday of his brother Domitian.
Speaker A:And according to the barbarous manner of those times, he punished many Jews in honor of it.
Speaker A:The number who were burnt and who fell by fighting with wild beasts and in mutual combats exceeded 2,500.
Speaker A:The British Methodist commentator Adam Clark lists the number of people that were killed in other places.
Speaker A:He mentioned Caesarea.
Speaker A:The death toll there of Jews were 20,000.
Speaker A:Scathopolis was over 13,000.
Speaker A: Ascalon was: Speaker A: Ptolemais was: Speaker A:Alexandria's death toll was 50,000.
Speaker A:Joppa, that was taken by Sestis Gallus.
Speaker A: There were: Speaker A:There was in a mountain called Asamon, near Sephorus, or Sepporis, There were like 2,000 at Damascus, 10,000 died in a battle with the Romans.
Speaker A:At Aslan, 10,000 were killed.
Speaker A:Jaffa lost 15,000.
Speaker A:And of the Samaritans, there were 11,600 who died on Mount Gerizim, 40,000 at Jajatapa, 4,200 at Joppa.
Speaker A:And this is all when, when taken by Vespasian, there are others.
Speaker A: After the city was taken,: Speaker A:There's this and.
Speaker A:And Clark goes over this.
Speaker A:Or Adam Clark, excuse me, goes over quite a list of various ones who fled with John of Gashela.
Speaker A:There were 6,000 who died among that number.
Speaker A:Of the Gadarenes, there were 15,000 slain.
Speaker A:So don't just think in terms of Jerusalem.
Speaker A:When they came through there, the Roman army slaughtered thousands upon thousands of Jews all up and down Palestine, Judea and the region.
Speaker A:He says, besides these, many of every age, sex and condition were slain in the war who are not reckoned.
Speaker A:But of those that were reckoned, the number amounts to upwards of 1,357,660, which would have appeared incredible if their own historian had not so particularly enumerated them.
Speaker A:Well, there was this and the siege of Jerusalem, which is what we're talking about in Matthew 24.
Speaker A:There were over a million Jews perished there, 1,100,000.
Speaker A:It is.
Speaker A:It is thought, and another two and a half million were taken into slavery.
Speaker A:Not one faithful individual who heeded the warnings of Jesus given in this chapter would have perished.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Because they would have fled, just as Jesus had commanded them to do.
Speaker A:My friend, if this is a reference to the final judgment day, you're not going to flee that.
Speaker A:You can go to the mountains or in the caves or wherever you want to, but you're not going to flee that judgment.
Speaker A:You see, we're talking about two different things.
Speaker A:We'll attempt to pick up here where we left off and continue to talk about some of these things further and to prove that in effort to show that when Jesus is talking about the.
Speaker A:This destruction in Matthew 24:5, he's talking about the end of that Jewish era, the end of that age.
Speaker A:Thank you so much today.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening, and I hope you have a good day and a pleasant week ahead.
