Today, we dive into Matthew 24 on the line of fire.
Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. Thanks so much for joining us in our series on the end times. What does the Bible say about the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world? The textbook that we're using by Professor Craig Keener and yours truly, Not Afraid of the Antichrist, Why We Don't Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Regardless of where you stand on that, you'll find the book a fascinating resource. It may strengthen your arguments against what I believe, may change your thinking.
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Pray about it. If we've been a blessing to you, stand with us. One reason only, so we can reach more people together and make an impact for Jesus. Before I go to Matthew 24, I want to go to 2 Peter chapter 3 and read something really remarkable to you. 2 Peter chapter 3.
He's talking about the scoffers. Peter's older now. He's soon to die. So he's not 80 years old, but it's been decades now and Jesus hasn't returned. So he says this is now the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved, and both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. That you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets, the commandment of our Lord and Savior through your apostles. Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, where is the promise of his coming?
Oh, I thought he was returning. Now, this was in Peter's lifetime. How much more? A hundred years later, two hundred, five hundred, a thousand, two hundred.
Oh, yeah. Two thousand. Where is it? Where's the promise of his coming? He says they will say, where is the promise of his coming for ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.
Nothing's changed. There's no return of Jesus. There's no world impact. For they deliberately, Peter writes, overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished by the same word, but by the same word, the heavens and earth that now exist are stirred up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. So we're saying, hey, they forget the fact they forget the fact that God judged this world once. There was a flood.
It really happened. He judged this world. There will be a second coming, but not with a flood of judgment, but with fire. Then he says this, but do not overlook. Whoops. Somehow we skipped from second Peter to Genesis.
There we go. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises.
Some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. So it's mercy that his coming is delayed. His second coming is delayed.
That final judgment is delayed. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But according to his promise, we were waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
So notice this. What kind of people ought you to be? How should we live? We should live in holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening. The Greek word used there is a word for speeding up. Peter saying we can speed up the day of God. We can speed up the coming of Jesus by living godly lives. We can speed up the coming of Jesus by bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth. We can speed up the coming of Jesus by growing in maturity as a body. We can speed up the coming of Jesus by praying for the redemption of Israel.
We are working together with the Lord. So yes, he knows the very split second. He can tell us the exact date and which is similar return.
But that was not set in an arbitrary way. That was set based on the foreknowledge of God watching how we would work with him to speed that day. Oh, I want to speed his coming.
Don't you? How do you do it? Live a godly life. Live a holy life. Share the gospel.
Pray for his return. These things will hasten the return of Jesus. We can speed the day of his coming. You say, Dr. Brown, it does say it's coming like a thief in the night.
And you mentioned on yesterday's broadcast that you don't believe in a preacher of rapture, but thief in the night. That means coming without signs. That means coming when no one's expecting.
Yes. But what does Paul say to us in First Thessalonians five? That he's not coming as a thief for us because we're not asleep in the night and we're not drunk in the daytime.
We are alert and awake. So we will be ready when he returns. OK, let's go to Matthew 24.
And how about we read this through together and see what we can unpack. So Jesus leaves the temple. He's going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. You say, how many times have they been to Jerusalem? Well, many, but still it's just astounding. You know, my wife and I, Nancy and I, we could look out at the yard, the amazing yard, which is landscaped and all the beds and her hosta garden and all of this.
And I don't appreciate as much as she does. But every day we say, wow, isn't that beautiful? Look, isn't that beautiful? So you're around something stunning. If you're by the Grand Canyon and every few months you take some friends over there that are in town, you're stunned every time you see it. Wow.
Wow. As many times as I go to the old city of Jerusalem and pray at the Kotel at the wall, what's called outside, not by Jews in Israel, but called the Wailing Wall, I'm always moved. I'm always stunned by the antiquity of it and the moment. So the disciples are like, wow, look at this.
And Jesus said, you see all these things, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be here left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. So this glorious temple with these massive stones, because you couldn't cut them and chisel them there on sites, these massive stones had to be moved and put in place and fixed together there. Not one stone will be left upon another. It seemed impossible.
Looking at that, it seemed utterly impossible. As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will all these things be? Meaning what? Well, when is the temple going to be destroyed and what will be the sign of your coming of the end of the age? So in their mind, this is one event that the temple will be destroyed. The Lord will come. So they have some anticipation of him coming in power, even though they don't fully get everything with his death and resurrection, he's going to be revealed in power.
So when is this going to happen? Assuming it's all one event, the destruction of the temple, the Lord coming in power and the end of the age. Now, we know what Matthew means by the end of the age. It doesn't mean the age of the temple, the end of the age of the temple. It doesn't mean the end of the age of sacrifice. It means the end of the age, meaning the end of this world. And we know it in Matthew 28 when Jesus says to his disciples in verse 20, and look, I'm with you always to the end of the age. That's the always is how long always in this world to the end of the age.
So what's this going to happen? When will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming? And they assume his coming is simultaneous with the end of the age.
But they think all these things are going to happen at once. So he answers them all in once, but they're layers. They're layers. Any of you old enough to remember overheads, you'd use them in a lecture or you'd use them maybe in church for putting the lyrics of a song up if it wasn't in your hymn book. Right, so maybe you're giving a chart. Okay, and you put down the first slide, this acetate is transparent, like almost plastic kind of thing.
You lay it down on the overhead projector and it projects it on the wall. Right, now let's get into more detail. You lay out the second one on top of it, then the third, the fourth. It's more and more detail, one layer on top of the other. That's what Matthew 24 is like. It's multiple layers because they asked multiple questions and Jesus answers all the questions together. So there are things that are specifically applicable to them and things that are specifically applicable to us at the end of the age. They are intertwined and related. But you have examples like this in Old Testament prophecy, friends.
In fact, let's go there and we'll use this as a segue for getting into Matthew 24. First, let's take a quick break, an important announcement for you, and we'll be right back on the other side of the break. I'm Paul Burnett, a board-certified doctor of holistic health. I have never met anyone deficient in caffeine or sugar, but I have met many people deficient in energy-supporting vitamin B12. Unlike other oral B12 supplements, Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12 is fast-acting because the formula is scientifically developed to dissolve under the tongue, bypassing the digestive process, making it immediately available for use in the body. Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12 is also formulated with other natural energy-supporting ingredients, such as folate, ginseng root, and other natural ingredients. You deserve to live with greater energy and mental clarity, and now, like millions of others, you can with Alfred Libby's Slow Dissolve Super B12, sold only by your wellness partner, TriVita. To order Alfred Libby's B12 for yourself, call 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. Order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of your order proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast.
Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. All right, so before we go through Matthew 24, let us now go to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. Now, when is Ezekiel 36 written?
It's written while the Jewish people are in Babylonian exile by the prophet Ezekiel, and the enemies of Israel are mocking the enemies of the Jewish people because the Jewish people are in exile. Where's their God? Oh, powerful God, Yahweh, the God of the universe. His temple's destroyed. His people are in exile. He's nobody.
He's nothing. They're gonna rot and die in exile. So, this is the context, okay? The land of Israel, it's suffered, the reproach of the nations, and it's laying there just desolate in so many parts. And now, there's a prophecy that the land is going to be re-inhabited, and there's going to be growth and beauty there once again. All right, now, let's go to verse 16 of Ezekiel 36. What I want you to see is that biblical prophecy is often layered, all right?
That there's something applicable to that day and other things applicable to a future generation, but they're layered side by side. For example, the end of Isaiah 52 speaks of the exaltation of the servants of the Lord, but he'll first suffer terribly. Then 53 talks about his suffering and his glorification, but there's a final glorification that hasn't happened yet. First and second coming, all sandwiched together in one place. We have that often in the Old Testament.
Here, we have the return of the Jewish people from Babylon in exile 2,500 years ago, and a final return altogether. But they're not separated in the text. They're written as one, one layer upon another, just like Matthew 24.
So, let's look at this. Ezekiel 36, the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, verse 16. Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. So, I put out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land for the idols with which they had defiled it. I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries in accordance with their ways and their deeds. I judged them, but when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name. And that people said of them, these are the people of Yahweh, and yet they had to go out of his land. But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came. So, he's saying as the Jewish people are scattered in exile out of the land, they're bringing reproach. They're giving him a bad name.
It would be like your family every day, there's another news story about this one arrested, this one in jail, and all your kids and your spouse, they're all in jail for different crimes. Gives your whole family a bad name, gives you a bad name. Therefore, verse 22, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel, I'm about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations in which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you, I will vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. Did that happen? Did that happen 2,500 years ago?
Yes, yes, yes. Let's keep reading. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. Well, maybe you could say that happened. God forgave. God said, all right, you've served your time for your sin of idolatry and breaking my law. So I'm going to cleanse you and bring you back. Okay.
You could argue that happened on a certain level. Verse 26, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I'll put within you and I'll remove the heart of stone for your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Did that happen? No, no, it didn't read Ezra and Nehemiah and look at all the sin they had to deal with and the marrying of foreign wives. This was right after the return from exile. Read the exhortations in Zechariah and Haggai to the people after the return from exile. And then a couple of generations later, the book of Malachi and all the strong rebukes, and then realize that Israel is first under the rule of Persia, then under the rule of Greece, the Jewish people in Israel, then they break free shortly from Greece, and then they're under the rule of Rome, and then the temple's destroyed.
So they're never even a completely free people except for a very short period of time. They're still under foreign domination and they end up in rebellion and sin and the temple's destroyed. So where was this? When did they get the new heart and the new spirit? When did the heart of stone get removed?
I'll put my spirit within you, cause you to walk in my statutes, be careful, obey my rules. When did that happen? It didn't.
It never did. You said it was Ezekiel the false prophet? Obviously not if it's in the Bible.
Well what does it mean? It's still gonna happen. It's future still.
Even though it's just stated as one thing there, that's how it is that many things were stated but only came to pass in part, the rest is still for the future. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people. I will be your God and I will deliver you from all your uncleanness and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good. You will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for you, it's not for your sake that I will act to clear as the Lord God.
Let it be known to you be ashamed and confounded of your ways. Thus says the Lord God on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places shall be rebuilt and the land that was desolate shall be tilled instead of being the desolation that it was and the sight of all who passed by and they will say this land that was desolate has become the Garden of Eden like the Garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and name ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. Then the nations that are all left all around you shall know that I am the Lord. I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord.
I have spoken and I will do it. Well that happened in part. The return happened in part. There was the rebuilding of cities.
There was the filling of villages. There was the renewing of the crops and but yet the nation never served God with one heart and one soul and didn't have the stony heart removed and a new spirit and new heart put within them that they would serve God complete obedience. So either you say false prophecy throw it out or the first part happened the second part will happen.
It's the same with the book of Jeremiah. He prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem. Did it happen? Yes.
He prophesied the burning of the temple. Did it happen? Yes.
586 B.C. He prophesied the exile of the Judean people. Did it happen? Yes.
He prophesied their return after seven years. Did it happen? Yes.
He prophesied the rebuilding of the temple. Did it happen? Yes. He prophesied that the nation would serve God with one heart and that all the nations would be drawn in because of Israel's obedience to God.
Did that happen? No. Was Jeremiah a false prophet? God forbid. Rather, rather because the first things he prophesied came to pass the rest will also come to pass and just like in Ezekiel's day God brought the people of Judah the Jewish people back to the land the people of Judah and Benjamin brought them back to the land not because of their repentance but because of his mercy and he brought many of them back to the land still in unbelief and he brought many of them back to the land still in unbelief that's what's happened in the 20th century the return of the Jewish people back to the land in unbelief but what's remarkable is whereas in 1948 there were probably less than 15 messianic Jews in Israel less than 15 one five Jewish believers in Jesus in 1948 today they're probably about 30,000 in the land oh it's a beginning it's a start but it's happening but it's happening friends that's how we need to read Matthew 24 it applied to the first generation that hears it it applies to the last generation that will hear it it applies to persecution of God's people especially Jewish believers in the land in the first century it will apply to Jewish believers persecuted in the land in the final generation it applied to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple then and then no deliverance for the people back then except flee at the end of the age there'll be a marvelous deliverance and God will fight for his people so we're gonna we start at Matthew 24 we're going to dig into it when we start next week together this is Dr. Michael Brown thanks so much for tuning in just a reminder that we are listener supported if we have been a blessing to you if you're being enriched in the word and prayer in your own walk with God through this broadcast then stand with us so that we can reach many many more and bless many many more together friends we're making a difference so go to thelineoffire.org thelineoffire.org and click donate
