tHE END TIMES FRAMEWORK: “LET THE READER UNDERSTAND”
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse #2
Matthew 24:15-29
S-1744
TITLE SLIDE #1: Today we continue a four-Sunday emphasis on Jesus discussion concerning future events in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24. We will call this series, “Fast Forward.”
Jump right in. Just a moment of review for those of you who missed last week.
Jesus leaving Temple for last time: “Temple will be destroyed—no stone left on another—won’t see me again until 2nd coming when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
SLIDE 2: Matthew 24:3: As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Stunned by Jesus’ pronouncement regarding the destruction of the Temple, the disciples asked three questions.
SLIDE 3: When will this (the destruction of the Temple) happen?
What will be the sign of your coming?
What will be the sign of the end of the age?
Disciples lumped all three events together (if temple is destroyed the end must be near!)
They are not at all simultaneous.
PLEASE SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER
(Note that I will use several of the following slides off of my computer before returning to your control.)
SLIDE 4: The Mountain Peak Principle: Events that seem close together may in fact be separated by varying lengths of time.
Draw three separated mountain peaks with distance between and eye looking and show all questions lumped together.
Temple Destroyed——Sign of your coming (lightning flash)——–End of the age
Temple destroyed during “their generation” (Matthew 24:34-35.) The prophecy was fulfilled in 70 a.d. when the Temple was torn down.
Jesus mentions all sorts of signs in our times and surrounding 2nd coming.Deceit, War, earthquakes; Famine; Apostasy, Persecution; Gospel preached
Lightning flash…appears in sky…two in bed, one taken other left, etc.
SLIDE 5: The Multiple-Fulfillment Principle: Prophecies may be fulfilled multiple times.
SLIDE 6: Matthew 24:15: “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand—
The Abomination of Desolation predicted by Daniel (Daniel 9:27) is at least a triple fulfillment.
168 B.C. Antioches Epiphanes, the king of Syria, determined to wipe out the Jews and their religion in 168 b.c. erects an altar to Zeus and slaughters a pig in Holy of Holies, turned the treasury rooms into public brothels and great persecution begins.
70 a.d. Titus desecrated the Holy of Holies—and great persecution begins
“Get out of town: pray you’re not pregnant or nursing; pray it does not happen on the Sabbath.
Don’t take time to pack a suitcase….”
Titus and Romans came in
Anti-Semitism
Future: The Book of Revelation and Paul suggests this future fulfillment (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4).
The false prophet will erect an image of the Anti-Christ in the Holy of Holies: and the persecutions to end all persecutions begins—world-wide!
Signs of Matthew 24:4-14 are not the end. Fulfilled before Abomination. Double Fulfillment around the time of the second coming (Revelation).
“Let the Reader understand”—Daniel.
Inspired by God Daniel prophetically lays out the prophetical framework of world history from his day to the second coming of Christ to the end of the age.
Daniel’s dream image of a multi-metallic man and what is commonly called Daniel’s “70 Sevens” prophecy provide the skeleton for all of prophecy.
All other prophetical passages are the meat on the skeleton. Revelation, the Olivet Discourse, 1 & 2 Thessalonians are only understood with a foundational understanding of Daniel 2 and 9.
SLIDE #7: THE MULTI-METALIC MAN (DANIEL 2:31-35)
SLIDE #8: The Dream (Describe the dream)
Golden Head
Silver Arms
Brass Belly and Thighs
Iron Legs
Feet and Toes of Iron Mixed with Clay
Rock Descends from the sky and hits the Man on his toes.
Man is crushed to fine powder which the wind blows away.
Rock grows into a Mountain which fills the earth.
RETURN COMPUTER SLIDES CONTROL TO TECH SUITE UPSTAIRS
The Interpretation (DANIEL 2:36-45)
SLIDE #9: The Head Of Gold–Babylon
SLIDE #10: DANIEL 2:37-38: You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
SLIDE #11: The Arms And Breast Of Silver—Media Persia
DANIEL 2:39a: “After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours.
Two arms picture a divided kingdom.
Literally fulfilled in Daniel 5:28 during handwriting on the wall by the Medes and the Persians.
SLIDE #12: The Belly And Thighs Of Brass—Greece
DANIEL 2:39b: Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth.
Next Kingdom to arise after Media-Persia was Greece.
Alexander ruled the whole earth. Positively identified in DANIEL 8:21-22
Incidentally, this passage greatly impressed Alexander. Had besieged Jerusalem. Jaddua the High Priest came out and read this to Alexander, and he was so impressed that he gave special protected status to Jerusalem and Israel.
SLIDE #13: Legs Of Iron—Rome
DANIEL 2:40: Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron — for iron breaks and smashes everything — and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others.
Every schoolchild has heard of the iron legions of Rome. The Roman legions were noted for their ability to crush all opposition with an iron heel.
Two legs of Iron, Strong Empire, divided into Eastern and Western Empire (get Roman Catholic Church and Greek Orthodox from that)
SLIDE #14: Feet Of Iron And Clay—?????
SLIDE #15: DANIEL 2:41-43: Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
This federation will be in existence when Christ returns.
Final stage of Kingdom will be a loose confederacy of ten countries—represented by ten toes of iron and clay – not mixed well.
The kingdom of Rome exists today in the broken fragments of the many kingdoms of Western Europe. (Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hapsburgs of Austria and Holy Roman Empire) German Kaisers, Hitler’s Third Reich.)
SLIDE #16: The Rock Which Grows Up To Fill The Whole Earth
SLIDE #17: DANIEL 2:44-45 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands — a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
“Who?” or “What” is this stone “cut without human hands?”
Man can make a brick; but, only God can make a stone.
Jesus knew who this stone is. It is He Himself.
SLIDE #18: MATTHEW 21:42-44: Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?’ He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
SOME LESSONS:
SLIDE #19: All human governments stand on delicate foundations.
Look at the foundation of the colossus. Heavy gold, silver, bronze and iron is supported on a foundation of mud. Picture of the tottering nature of man’s government.
The foundation is based on humanity and humanity is unstable, weak, and unpredictable.
Average length of nations is 200 years—most less.
SLIDE #20: All human governments eventually deteriorate and decay.
The descending values of the metals suggests the degeneration of government: Gold is more valuable than silver… silver than bronze… bronze than iron…iron than iron mixed with clay.
Verse 39 – another kingdom shall arise “inferior” to you. It will be better? NO! It will be worse.
Over time governments degenerate from strength and unity to disunity and destruction. You start with gold and soon you are down there in the mud.
Professor Alexander Tyler wrote about the fall of the Athenian Republic 2000 years earlier when the thirteen colonies were still a part of Great Britain:
SLIDE #21: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury.
SLIDE #22: From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policies and is always followed by a dictatorship.
SLIDE #23: “The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith… to great courage… to liberty… to abundance… to selfishness… to complacency… to apathy… to dependency… and back to bondage.”
Where are we? We are on the downward cycle. We are in a combination of iron and clay. Iron and clay don’t mix. Iron stands for authority and clay stands for people. They don’t mix. We have a deteriorating form of government.
SLIDE #24: The power of human governments is increasing.
Look at the image. Gold is followed by silver which is stronger than gold… silver followed by bronze… bronze by iron.
This is overwhelming to realize that as we degenerate in morality and unity and ability to rule that we increase in force.
Nuclear weapons spread all over the soviet republics.
These lessons soberly remind us that the days of man’s rule are just about over. We are living on the threshold of the end of the age.
SLIDE #25: THE SEVENTY “SEVENS” PROPHECY (DANIEL 9:24-27)
As we come to Daniel 9, Daniel has some questions about God’s plans for Israel.
Daniel reading Jeremiah where God related that after 70 years in Babylonian bondage Israel would return home to Jerusalem. It is now 69 years later: Plan of 70 years of bondage drawing to an end.
God now reveals that He has another program for Israel. This one is for 490 years: 70 X7.
PLEASE SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER
SLIDE #26: Daniel 9:24: “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
“Sevens” = Hebrew word “Heptad.” Generic word which can mean seven of anything. Like our word, “Dozen.” Dozen Bananas = 12 bananas. Heptad bananas = 7 bananas.
Context is years: One “heptad” equals 7 years.
70 X 7 Heptads (years) = 490 years.
This program will continue for 490 years until second coming and Christ establishes His Kingdom.
SLIDE #27: Daniel 9:25: “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
When 62+7= 69 “sevens” conclude the Anointed One, the Ruler comes.
The decree went forth: Nehemiah 1:1; 2:5-8: March 4, 444 B.C.
SLIDE #28: March 4, 444 B.C.
7+62=69 “sevens = 483 years
483 X 360 days per prophetic year = 173,880 days
173,880 days after March 4, 444 B.C. is Palm Sunday, April 6, 32 A.D.
483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Pam Sunday.
By the way, The 69 “sevens” are broken down into two phases. 7 sevens and 62 sevens.
7 sevens tells of time during which temple was rebuilt. Temple rebuilding took 49 years.
SLIDE #30: Daniel 9:29: After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
There is a time gap after the end of the sixty-ninth week and before the beginning of the seventieth.
Three events occur before the seventieth “seven” begins.
First, “The Anointed One” will be crucified.
Here is one of the clearest testimonies in the Bible of the death of Jesus Christ in prophecy.
Second, “The people of the ruler who will come” will destroy Jerusalem.
Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. See arch of Titus in Rome today. Masada occurred.
“Ruler who is to come” is Anti-Christ – He’s little horn of Daniel 7:8 and the Beast of Revelation l3.
Third, there will be no peace on earth. Wars will continue unabated.
At the Triumphant Entry when Christ entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, 32 A.D., God’s prophetic time clock stopped. The hands stand poised at 69. There is still one “seven” to go.
Like time clock at end of basketball game: time out with ten seconds left. All fans anxious, waiting for final play. How much time left in the game? About 10 minutes.
God’s clock for the team of Israel has been stopped since 32 A.D..
SLIDE #30: Daniel 9:27: 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 on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
SLIDE #31 DRAW LAST 7 YEARS and summarize.
The prophetic clock will restart—time out will be over—when the Anti-Christ makes a peace covenant with the nation of Israel.
Peace treaty will be between Anti-Christ (probably western Europe and Israel (feet and toes of Iron and clay).
We will not recognize the peace treaty: Sadat … Jimmy Carter … George W. Bush … Don’t get excited. We are told to look for the Abomination of Desolation.
We’re told elsewhere that the Jews will accept the Covenant with the Anti-Christ who rules Europe because they are fearful of the threat of the “King of the North.”
When a Bible student sees Israel aligned with the West, and not the North or South or East, he is not surprised! Just a sign of the times. Teams are lining up. Anti-Christ takes over control of ten nation confederacy in Europe by subduing three nations.
In the middle of the 70th “seven” (3 l/2 years), the Antichrist breaks the treaty.
Satan falls from Heaven and indwells this man. Read Revelation 12:9, 12; 13:4.
Satan does not know who this antichrist will be. He always has one ready.
Adolf Hitler; Alexandr Zherinovski; Vladamer Putin, Osoma ben Laden—Bill Clinton.
Now, the Antichrist forbids the offering of sacrifices in the Temple.
Indicates Israel will have a Temple! Plans underway this moment to rebuild it.
Then he erects the Abomination of Desolation and demands to be worshipped.
Period of Great Tribulation now begins as Anti-Christ tries to wipe Jews off face of earth.
Will launch greatest wave of Anti-Semitism that the world has ever seen.
All the plagues, seals, trumpets, and bowls of Revelation take place.
The Anti-Christ will last 3.5 more years until Jesus returns with Armies of Heaven and defeats him at the Battle of Armageddon
RETURN COMPUTER SLIDES CONTROL TO TECH SUITE UPSTAIRS
SLIDE #32: SOME MORE LESSONS
1. Discerning Christians have no reason to be baffled nor confused regarding the events of the end of the age.
2. Investing in global outreach is personal involvement in bringing in the Kingdom of God on earth.
3. Living holy lives is the best preparation we can make for the return of Christ.
VIDEO: ON THE MOVE
