He's Coming Back

Theme: The King’s Return

Scriptures: Matthew 24:1-44

Notes and questions

B1 Different views on the passage

B2 Basic

• Matthew 24 & 25 are Jesus’s answer to the disciple’s question in Matthew 24:1-3.
• 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?” (Matthew 24:3, NKJV)
• When will these things be?
• What is the sign of your coming?
• What is the sign of the end of the age?
• Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, says Israel must call for the Lord to rescue them as a condition for the second coming, based upon Matthew 23:39. Dr Fruchtenbaum explains: But then He declares that they will not see Him again until they say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. This is a messianic greeting. It will mean their acceptance of the Messiahship of Jesus. So Jesus will not come back to the earth until the Jews and the Jewish leaders ask Him to come back. For just as the Jewish leaders lead the nation to the rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus, they must some day lead the nation to the acceptance of the Messiahship of Jesus  Link   “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under [her] wings, but you were not willing! “See! Your house is left to you desolate; “for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed [is] He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ” (Matthew 23:37-39, NKJV)
• Cross references (Mark 13 and Luke 21)
• Does this passage mainly speak of the time before the Rapture or of the time in the Tribulation? (Tribulation)
• The are two main views of Matthew 24-25
• Preterism, which is that all has been fulfilled by 70 AD (most hold that Messiah, Lord Jesus, did not return then).
• Literal interpretation sometimes
• Symbolic interpretation sometimes
• So it depends how they can wrest the Scripture to support their view.
• One point: The Temple was totally destroyed in 70 AD as predicted in Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 19:44. But the Temple in Matthew 24:15 is desecrated, not destroyed.
• Tribulation time
• Plain, normal sense interpretation throughout
• Some things cannot have happened yet as in “Immediately after the tribulation 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 the heavens will be shaken. “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31, NKJV)
• Tribulation
• 7 years
• First 3.5 years are the tribulation.
• Last 3.5 years are the great tribulation.
• In the tribulation, God is dealing with Israel primarily, not Gentiles.
• The Church is gone. Jesus came in the air to take us home. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NKJV)

Link to above: https://bible.org/article/biblical-prophecy

B3 Questions

• Matthew 24:1-3
• The people of Israel, both leaders and citizens, have rejected Messiah. What is the result of this rejection?
• What stones is Jesus referring to?
• How does He know this information?
• What is the role of prophecy?
• Proof of Jesus being Yahweh
• Warning, comfort, and knowledge of the future.
• Why did He speak to them privately?
• Did the Lord Jesus answer the question when?
• Matthew 24:4-14
• What is the first thing that the Lord Jesus tells the disciples? (Don’t be deceived).
• How many Messiahs are there? (One)
• How many claim to be Messiah? (Many)
• What is the motive for all the wars? What is the spiritual condition of these people?
• Why are there so many false prophets during this time?
• Why does the love of many grow cold?
• In light of Matthew 24:13, what does persecution accomplish for believers? (It separates the true from the false. When we are persecuted, God’s grace will help us endure. Now to Him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to make you stand before His glory, blameless with exultation, (Jude 1:24 [EMTV]
• Four things in light of Matthew 24:14
• This is speaking of the tribulation period.
• There will be 144,000 Israelite evangelists. Revelation 7:14
• There will be the 2 witnesses. (I think they are Elijah and Enoch; most others believe Elijah and Moses. Regardless, there will be 2 witnesses). Revelation 11:3
• Finally an angel will go through the earth, traveling in the sky, to preach the Gospel. Revelation 14:6
• Matthew 24:15-28
• Matthew 24:15 refers to the actions of The Antichrist: desecration of the Temple, self worship, causing others to worship him, and ultimate rebellion. The passage refers to Daniel 9:27 and Daniel 12:11.
• Matthew 24:16-22 refer to those wise Jews who believe God. Note the word Sabbath, for Jews had limitations on travel. Those who believe God will flee, those who don’t will stay. Is it OK to flee persecution?
• Matthew 24:23-28, who is our deliverer, our Messiah? Why do people turn to false messiahs? Do all false messiahs have to be religious figures?
• The New Living Translation has Matthew 24:28 as: Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.
• Matthew 24:29-31
• Has this happened yet?
• Will it ever happen?
• Matthew 24:32-35
• Who is this generation? Some believe it is the people Jesus is speaking to, while others believe it is the people living at the time of the things happening in this chapter. It is most likely those who are living the incidents in this chapter, thus it is not those to whom Jesus was speaking but those living in the future.
• Note the words all these things.
• Tommy Ice writes: Since "all these things" did not take place in the first century then the generation that Christ speaks of must be future. Christ is saying that the generation that sees "all these things" occur will not cease to exist until all the events of the future tribulation are fulfilled. Frankly, this is both a literal interpretation and one that was not fulfilled in the first century. Christ is not ultimately speaking to His contemporaries, but to the generation to whom the signs of Matthew 24 will become evident. Dr. Darrell Bock concurs: What Jesus is saying is that the generation that sees the beginning of the end, also sees its end. When the signs come, they will proceed quickly; they will not drag on for many generations. It will happen within a generation. . . . The tradition reflected in Revelation shows that the consummation comes very quickly once it comes. . . . Nonetheless, in the discourse's prophetic context, the remark comes after making comments about the nearness of the end to certain signs. As such it is the issue of the signs that controls the passage's force, making this view likely. If this view is correct, Jesus says that when the signs of the beginning of the end come, then the end will come relatively quickly, within a generation. Link: http://www.pre-trib.org/articles/view/an-interpretation-of-matthew-24-25-part-31
• In light of Matthew 24:35, does Jesus make mistakes in His words?
• Matthew 24:36-44
• “Nor the Son,” “Ed Glasscock echoes this understanding: "The Lord did not attempt to display His deity but rather, in contrast, emphasized His humanity. As an obedient servant in His humanity, Jesus did not know the day or the hour of His return." Source: Ed Glasscock, Matthew: Moody Gospel Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1997), p. 476.
• What happened in the days of Noah? How does that compare to the time the Lord Jesus is referring to?
• In Noah’s day, were the people aware or did they make fun of the dire warnings from Noah? How do people today view the judgments coming on the world?
• How are people to be ready?
• Next week:
• Embracing purity
• Theme: Biblical purity
• Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 and Romans 12:1-2