Whoa! – Back to Day 057 – Matthew 24- Our Lord on “end times” – Part 1 of 3
I’ve been accumulating notes on this story for over a month now. I’ve been in prayer on what to post – call it a prayer within a prayer within a prayer.. And yesterday, I was driving the 1 mile to work, trying to establish a new habit with a prayer: “Lord, what do you have planned for today? What would you have me do?” And suddenly , I have a tug on my shoulder that says: “Check this out – tell My story! ” So , I proceeded to listen to Zach Williams’s “Rescue Story” that had just started on the radio, a first listen.
Here is the song I heard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3aP5iuJITg_
I think He is telling me to keep on keeping on, telling His story, be it when no one seems to be listening or if it is a stadium full of enthusiastic listeners. Notice this song shows both in the video. The song includes the line: “You are my voice from the desert, calling me out in the middle night”. He has been getting me up around 4:00 am with the command: “Post to the blog!” I reply with: “Lord, is this the blog that no one seems to be reading?”
Funny, to the side, the venue is Red Rocks Amphitheatre , just outside Golden, Colorado near my old stomping grounds growing up in my middle school and high school years. I remember trying to crash a Peter , Paul and Mary concert with friends back in 1971. I remember our family going to Easter sunrise service together at Red Rocks. That was really special, even moreso that the usual Sunday worship growing up was for my brother Mike to attend mass with my Dad at St. Anne’s Catholic Church while the rest of us went with Mom to Peace Lutheran. Mike has lived in Wheat Ridge the past 35 years right down the road from the amphitheatre.
Zach William’s song: “Fear is A Liar” in front of a prison audience reminds me so much of the first day in prison minstry back around 1993 in what was to be become a 7-8 year service to His kingdom at the Jester III unit in Sugar Land , Texas. In that instance too, I still remember going through those gates the first time, having finally relented: “Lord, Ok, I will do this for you, for these guys!” My heart wasn’t quite right but the Holy Spirit would change that. I remember how the old vets would all tell their testimony behind prison ministry with a recurring emphasis : “It is humbling”. That puzzled me initially, but I would get it through a showering of His grace!
For brevity, all I can say was it was amazing! It answered my prayer within a prayer, we’re talking up levels towards the “grand picture.” He raised the curtain on me! I believe yes indeed, heaven is perfect. But as I have noted, it is good that it is eternal, because that is how long it will take us to know God. If we think of it in terms of time here on earth: We wake up each day with: ” Wow!, it’s even more amazing, I think I know Him now.” And each day, the pattern repeats itself, without end! As you know, I will move on to our reading, after one more note, an endless reference: Luke 12:48: “To whom much is given, much will be required”. Note to self: “Get ready Jimmy!; more prayer!… the mission is going to get much tougher!” (Psalm 27:1 / Psalm 23 / Leviticus 11:14 / Ephesians 6:13 / 1 Peter 4: 1-19)
Quick FYI: I sense it is no coincidence that the Holy Spirit is calling to post this Matthew 24 commentary, immediately preceding our Jeremiah – Ch 12 -16 reading yesterday. I am delaying, perhaps not to squelch a post from our brotherhood in Christ. I don’t know; I don’t have to know….
Ok, quick overview of the 3 parts today, bearing in mind all of this is like taking a drink of water from a fire hose.
- Part 1 of 3 : Jesus on End Times – Unravelling the strands within Ch24, with just a few focus points for future study and prayer.
- Part 2 of 3: The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple – 70 A.D. This is fascinating to me, but it is history buff stuff. It will not be an early go to for us in defending our faith or witnessing to others. In that sense, I am surprised that the Lord is asking me to include it. Funny quick personal note: I would trade my history buff inclinations with my brothers that have practical hands on gifts. But it is like D-Day: We are all in the same “invasion task force”, but we are assigned to different beachhead landings. I am going to share some visuals on the 1st temple – “Solomon’s temple” and the 2nd temple, a helpful aid in our year read through the entire Bible.
- Part 3 of 3: “Day of the Lord” – 2nd coming – “Parousia” – I will share for starters, a plethora of biblical references to “Day of the Lord”.
Ok, let’s get started with Part 1, our “drink from the fire hose” – an overview of the entire Chapter.
First and foremost, let’s unravel all these “Interweaving Strands” in Chapter 24 , as William Barclay’s commentary refers to.:
- Verses 1,2: “The Doom of the Holy City” – our Part II of III
- Verses 15 – 22: “The Grim Terror of the Siege” – our Part II
- Verses 6-8, 29 – 31 – “The Day of the Lord” – our Part III of III – from here down..
- Verses 9,10: “The Persecution to Come”
- Versed 4,5,11-13, 23-26 “Threats to the Faith”
- Verses 3,14,27-28 – “The Coming of the King”
Ok, in conclusion for this part 1, I am only going to highlight some minor points:
- #1 above – Jesus prophecy about the destruction of the temple would come to pass less than 40 years later in 70 a.d.
- From verse 34, although I am not taking this directly from by Bible: “This is the truth I tell you – this generation shall not pass away, until these things have happened.” This prophecy gets alot of attention for it in fact on the surface appears at first blush that he missed on this one. I will submit here three possibilities , on my educated “guestimate ranked from highest probability to lowest: 1) what if the phrase “until these things happened to us” has absolutely no reference to the 2nd coming? Is it the 2nd coming or the Kingdom of God? Jesus said the Kingdom of God is here (in this world) so I submit – What if He is speaking of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit’s breath of life to the world. What if it is referring again to 70 a.d., less likely in my mind, but at any rate , the passage is not clear particularly given that we have interlocking threads. Mark 9:1, Jesus said: “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” (supportive to the Pentecost premise); 2) Jesus, in His humanity, had limitations in knowledge, as he noted within this chapter: “Only the Father knows the time”. But why would this single verse be in the Bible if that were the case?
- Verse 24:15 re: “desolating abomination” – We can’t be sure what this means. But the phrase comes up in Daniel 12:11, where it is very clear that it was a reference to Antiochus Ephipances, king of Syria, and his evil goal to remove Judaism. The evil included: introducing public brothels on the grounds, erecting an altar to Zeus in the Temple Court and sacrificing swines flesh upon the altar.
Some of you may be thinking: ‘Jimmy, you’re not giving much attention to Eschatology (end times theology). I have two quick thoughts on that as I sit here in Dallas metro, perhaps the epicenter of premillenial dispensationalist dogma. First, if you are going to cover it, it is probably best to spend a fair amount of time in group study like our couples Friday night class did about three years ago. Second, does it really affect:”How then shall I live as a Christian warrior going forward?”; or, “Does it affect my evangelization as a messenger of the Holy Spirit?” The answer, I would submit leans more to the negative on both , relative to other witnessing faith areas. I present the following “other areas “: Worldview: “Who is God”?; “Who is man”, and what is our relationship to man? // Sin and Redemption // Spiritual warfare // God’s unfathomable Holiness // Prayer discipline and the Sanctication process that ends only with our last breath.
Last note that I have noted on numerous occasion in cross witnessing with other Christians: “We are saved only by God’s grace, but we all will go through a judgment.” And I have a hard time picturing God noting: “Too bad Jimmy, you just didn’t completely buy into the Rapture like you should have.”
To me, I intentionally ignore the rapture as much as possible. Why? Because, I think it could be used by the devil and his minions to make me spiritual “lazy”, as in : “Oh well, I am just going to sit on the sofa and wait to beamed up here soon….” God forbid!; for, He not only saved me from something (eternal damnation), but to something (my mission to His Kingdom!) When I participated in sporting events as a youth, my main concern was to make sure that I gave it my all between the lines. I won’t even cover not bothering to show up for the game. So worldview perspective: Apply it first to your faith and walk with God and then, let it apply to all facets of your life naturally and in line with God’s will. For, it is all intertwined like our Matthew 24.
Final note: And Matthew 24 ties sublimely into our Jeremiah study. But I won’t go further here.