Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / The Signs of Christ's Coming & The Abomination of Desolation | Mark 13:1-23 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

Transcript

The Signs of Christ's Coming & The Abomination of Desolation | Mark 13:1-23 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

• 0:02
  I invite you to meet me in the 13th chapter of the Gospel of
• 0:06
  Mark. We have now arrived at the most
• 0:18
  extensive and lengthy answer that the Lord Jesus Christ gives
• 0:26
  to any question that was asked of Him in the Gospel of Mark.
• 0:32
  And the nature of this teaching, which spans, at least in Mark's
• 0:35
  account, 37 uninterrupted verses, deals with the subject,
• 0:43
  the exciting subject of the end of the age.
• 0:47
  And as thrilling as this discourse may be, it has also
• 0:52
  presented interpretive challenges for students of the
• 0:55
  Bible, primarily when it comes to the timeline of the events
• 1:02
  that the Lord Jesus unfolds before us.
• 1:07
  But prayerfully, here's my goal, here's my heart, here's my
• 1:10
  prayer, is that what will be presented to you today and in
• 1:13
  the days to come is that this would be as clear as possible,
• 1:17
  as simple as possible, as memorable as possible.
• 1:22
  Because my desire for us is to all leave here with a greater
• 1:27
  confidence about what we believe concerning the final moments of
• 1:33
  human history and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 1:38
  And so I want to tell you upfront, even with this
• 1:40
  teaching, lean in, pay attention, focus, jot these
• 1:48
  references down. I'm sure that by the end of this
• 1:51
  teaching today, your heart will flutter as you realize of the
• 1:54
  absolute brilliance of the mind of God.
• 1:56
  When we see the harmonization of the Bible, that what we find in
• 1:59
  the epistles and what we find in the Gospels and what we find in
• 2:02
  the Hebrew Scriptures, they're all saying the same thing.
• 2:05
  They're all pointing to the same truth.
• 2:08
  And so my job will be to teach this as effectively as possible.
• 2:16
  And I believe it is your responsibility to give a
• 2:19
  listening ear and to really focus.
• 2:21
  If you're prone to allowing your thoughts to just go with the
• 2:25
  wind, try to hone in today because this will be a more
• 2:29
  dense teaching than usual. Because it is a dense subject.
• 2:33
  And in order for us to even begin to unpack this teaching, I
• 2:38
  believe we have to consider 3 overarching truths about this
• 2:43
  particular monologue. So you ready?
• 2:48
  Don't get distracted now. See, you can't get distracted
• 2:51
  already. I want to tell you about 3
• 2:56
  overarching truths that will help simplify Jesus teaching
• 3:00
  about the events leading up to his return.
• 3:03
  Number one, this teaching answers a twofold question.
• 3:11
  Let's read the first few verses of Mark chapter 13, beginning in
• 3:14
  verse one. And as he came out of the
• 3:18
  temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, Teacher, what
• 3:23
  wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings.
• 3:26
  And Jesus said to him, do you see these great buildings?
• 3:31
  There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not
• 3:35
  be thrown down. And as he sat upon, sat on
• 3:39
  rather the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and
• 3:41
  James and John and Andrew asked them privately, Tell us when
• 3:46
  will these things be? And what will be the sign when
• 3:50
  all these things are about to be accomplished?
• 3:55
  Now, this teaching is found in Matthew 24.
• 3:58
  It's found in Luke 21. And I believe Matthew gives us
• 4:01
  greater detail. And in fact, when you look at
• 4:04
  Matthew's account, it's not just Matthew 24.
• 4:06
  It spans into Matthew 25. It is an incredible discourse
• 4:11
  that Jesus gives, but the way Matthew presents the question
• 4:16
  that these disciples ask, I believe will help us have a more
• 4:19
  accurate framework of Jesus's answer.
• 4:22
  So turn with me to Matthew 24 and look at verse three.
• 4:25
  And remember, as we're looking at this question or set of
• 4:28
  questions, it was provoked by Jesus prophetic declaration that
• 4:33
  this temple, Herod's temple, would come tumbling down.
• 4:38
  And what a statement that was. If you just historically look at
• 4:42
  how grand and spectacular and amazing that temple was, it was
• 4:48
  very difficult to imagine how these giant stones with all its
• 4:52
  enormous and all its everything else coming to a place where,
• 4:56
  well, it will be dust essentially.
• 5:00
  So listen to what they asked for in Matthew 24, verse three.
• 5:05
  As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to
• 5:07
  him privately saying, tell us, when will these things be and
• 5:12
  what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the
• 5:17
  age? That's different than how Mark
• 5:19
  puts it. It's it's blossoms out a little
• 5:22
  bit more. It's expanded.
• 5:24
  There are two questions, I believe here you can say there
• 5:27
  are three, but the last two are really one.
• 5:30
  The first question that these curious disciples are asking is
• 5:33
  when will these things be? What things?
• 5:36
  Well, again, Jesus just said this temple is going to be
• 5:39
  destroyed. And so the first question of
• 5:41
  disciples is when is that going to happen?
• 5:43
  When is that going to happen? But notice the second question
• 5:47
  and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of
• 5:50
  the age. Now you and I read that with
• 5:54
  Christian lenses and you know what we would rush to in terms
• 5:58
  of conclusion of what the nature of their inquiry is.
• 6:02
  When are you returning? When is the second coming going
• 6:06
  to occur? But that can't be what the
• 6:09
  disciples are asking. They're not asking about the
• 6:12
  second coming of Jesus Christ. You and I are seeing that in
• 6:16
  this text because we see that as we read on in the New Testament
• 6:19
  library that there is a truth. There is a doctrine known as the
• 6:21
  second coming of Christ. We as a church are waiting for
• 6:23
  Christ to come back. But these disciples at this
• 6:26
  moment can't be probing about this.
• 6:31
  How do we know that? Because you and I have been
• 6:32
  studying over the past few weeks how these same disciples
• 6:35
  couldn't even wrap their minds around what Jesus dying and
• 6:39
  resurrecting and ascending. So how is it that they are
• 6:45
  asking about his return when they don't even think that he's
• 6:48
  going to go anywhere? They haven't even figured that
• 6:52
  out yet. And so this is not asking them
• 6:55
  about the second coming. The second coming is not even in
• 6:58
  their theological framework, at least yet we see it that way.
• 7:04
  The disciples are still under the impression, you know this
• 7:07
  very well, that the Lord Jesus is going to manifest his
• 7:10
  messianic Kingdom, his glory, his worldwide government any
• 7:16
  moment now. And that anticipation has only
• 7:20
  been building as we've been studying Jesus in the temple in
• 7:23
  the final moments of his earthly ministry.
• 7:26
  He's flipping tables, He's cleansing the courts.
• 7:30
  He's challenging and he is overcoming the tricks and the
• 7:34
  traps of the religious leaders. People are saying, Hosanna, I
• 7:38
  mean, you can, you can just feel it that that they're
• 7:40
  anticipating that this is going to break open at any time,
• 7:42
  anytime, any second even. And so with urgency, they're
• 7:46
  saying, oh, when is this going to happen?
• 7:48
  When is this all going to occur? And if you need confirmation
• 7:51
  that this is what the disciples believed, listen to this
• 7:54
  commentary from Luke 19, verse 11.
• 7:57
  You don't have to turn there, but listen, it says here in Luke
• 8:00
  1911, as they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a
• 8:03
  parable because he was near to Jerusalem and because they
• 8:07
  suppose that the Kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
• 8:13
  That's the angst that the disciples had, and Jesus
• 8:16
  perceived that. So with this in mind, what's
• 8:20
  really being asked by the disciples is when is this age
• 8:25
  coming to an end? And when is the age of your
• 8:29
  Kingdom going to start? When will the sinful epoch
• 8:35
  cease? And well, when the glorious,
• 8:38
  righteous and perfectly just government promised by God to
• 8:42
  David arrive by your power and might, When's that happening?
• 8:46
  Jesus? So they're asking really about
• 8:51
  what the Old Testament said, what happened.
• 8:55
  But here's the thing that you have to wonder, why are they
• 8:59
  asking about the Kingdom of God? What triggered that?
• 9:03
  I believe what triggered that is when Jesus said this temple is
• 9:06
  going down because in their minds for this temple to
• 9:11
  experience such judgment for for this edifice that symbolizes the
• 9:16
  heart of the people and so many other things, for that to come
• 9:22
  under that kind of effect certainly means that there is
• 9:27
  going to be something new starting.
• 9:30
  They saw Jesus prediction about the temple and his inauguration
• 9:35
  of the Kingdom occurring at the same time.
• 9:39
  That's how they perceived it. Where did they get that idea
• 9:43
  from? From the Hebrew scriptures, go
• 9:47
  with me to Zechariah 14. I want you to see this with me
• 9:50
  again. Let me remind you, Jesus says
• 9:52
  this temple is going down and that triggers something in the
• 9:55
  disciples. Oh, if this temple is going
• 9:57
  down, then certainly your Kingdom is going to come.
• 10:02
  That is going to be the trigger of a new age.
• 10:06
  And I believe that Zechariah 14 plays a part in their
• 10:10
  understanding of that. Look at verse one of Zechariah
• 10:14
  14, hundreds of years before the time of Jesus.
• 10:17
  You would think that this is something written in the Book of
• 10:19
  Revelation. It's not.
• 10:22
  It says here in Zechariah 14. One, behold, the day is coming
• 10:25
  for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided
• 10:29
  in your midst. For I will gather all the
• 10:32
  nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be
• 10:37
  taken. Pause.
• 10:38
  You know what's in the city of Jerusalem?
• 10:40
  The Temple. So here's Zechariah saying
• 10:43
  there's a time coming when nations will surround Jerusalem
• 10:47
  and the city will be taken, and let's continue.
• 10:50
  And the houses plundered and the woman raped.
• 10:54
  Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the
• 10:57
  people shall not be cut off from the city.
• 11:00
  Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as
• 11:05
  when he fights on a day of battle.
• 11:08
  On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies
• 11:13
  before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be
• 11:16
  split in two from east to West by a very wide valley, so that
• 11:20
  1/2 of the Mount shall move northward and the other half
• 11:24
  southward. Very detailed.
• 11:27
  Here's the gist of it. Jerusalem will be surrounded,
• 11:29
  the city will be taken, and at that time the Lord himself will
• 11:33
  descend from heaven. Plant His feet on the Mount of
• 11:35
  Olives, and He will defend Jerusalem and the people of
• 11:40
  Israel. He's going to destroy these
• 11:43
  nations, but not just destroy them.
• 11:44
  Look at verse nine. What will happen?
• 11:47
  And the Lord will be king over all the earth.
• 11:51
  Three important words. On that day.
• 11:55
  The Lord will be one and His name one.
• 12:01
  The disciples, I know they didn't get everything right, but
• 12:03
  they had some knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• 12:06
  So you understand here that this is one of the most hopeful
• 12:09
  messages that the Jews of all time, especially the time when
• 12:12
  they were under Roman oppression, something that they
• 12:14
  can hold on to. And this was the promise of
• 12:16
  Zechariah by the Spirit. Jerusalem one day will be
• 12:19
  surrounded, the city will be taken, and God Himself will
• 12:22
  defend the nation of Israel, and on that day He will establish
• 12:26
  His Kingdom not just in that nation.
• 12:29
  Read the rest of Zechariah for the whole world to behold and be
• 12:32
  subject to so you understand where the disciples are coming
• 12:36
  from. Now the disciples are hearing
• 12:39
  Jesus saying this temple is going down.
• 12:41
  Well that sounds like Jerusalem being taken in the city being
• 12:44
  sieged. But with their background of
• 12:47
  Zechariah, at least Zechariah and many other places, they also
• 12:51
  think, well then the Lord surely has to come and if he's going to
• 12:54
  come, then he's going to establish his Kingdom.
• 12:55
  So Jesus, when is this going to happen?
• 12:59
  We believe you're the Messiah. And don't you find it
• 13:02
  interesting that Jesus is teaching this discourse?
• 13:03
  Where, where did he teach it? On the Mount of Olives?
• 13:08
  So you're, they're putting all the pieces together and they're
• 13:11
  getting excited. What does the Lord do?
• 13:15
  And I think this is important to understand right from the
• 13:17
  beginning because what the disciples believed was going to
• 13:20
  happen all at his first coming. Jesus is about to explain, will
• 13:26
  happen in a distant future. Yeah, the disciples understood
• 13:31
  these passages, but what they failed to understand was that
• 13:33
  there was a gap. The Messiah would come, as you
• 13:36
  know, and one coming. Then there would be a period,
• 13:40
  undisclosed amount of time, and then another Advent where Christ
• 13:44
  would return. But the Jews of this times
• 13:47
  mushed all of those promises, all of that activity into one
• 13:52
  arrival. And Jesus now in Mark 13 is
• 13:55
  about to clarify it's not going to happen the way you think it's
• 14:00
  going to happen. It's not going to happen when
• 14:03
  you think it's going to happen. Establishing this again is
• 14:09
  crucial because not for us to understand merely what's taking
• 14:12
  place here, but because you have Christians today who hold to the
• 14:17
  theological view that everything Jesus predicts and prophecies
• 14:21
  here already occurred and happened in the 1st century.
• 14:27
  That precisely by and around 70 AD, everything Jesus explains
• 14:33
  here is accomplished. Now why would some hold to that
• 14:39
  view? You might be somebody hold to
• 14:42
  that view. Well, because the temple was
• 14:45
  destroyed 70 AD by the Romans under the rule and the rather
• 14:52
  the general Titus, the son of the emperor at the time who came
• 14:59
  and attacked Israel and essentially fulfilled what Jesus
• 15:04
  said in verse 2. And so because of that
• 15:07
  historical landmark, it has brought people to believe that
• 15:10
  surely what Jesus said here has been accomplished.
• 15:13
  But they don't just go to history to find that, they
• 15:15
  actually find something from Jesus teaching.
• 15:17
  Look at verse 30 in our original text of Mark 13 and Mark 13
• 15:23
  verse 30. Jesus says, truly, I say to you,
• 15:31
  this generation will not pass away until all these things take
• 15:36
  place. So those who hold to the view
• 15:39
  that everything Jesus spoke about concerning the events
• 15:41
  leading to his return have occurred in the 1st century,
• 15:45
  specifically 70 AD, they don't just look to history, say look,
• 15:49
  the temple is destroyed. There's no temple today that
• 15:51
  happened. Jesus said it would happen.
• 15:54
  They also come to this verse to say everything because Jesus
• 15:57
  said everything would take place when this generation.
• 16:04
  Generally it's agreed upon that a generation is no longer than
• 16:07
  40 years. And if that's the case then
• 16:10
  Jesus predicting this, prophesying this around 33AD70AD
• 16:16
  you add close to 40 years. That makes sense.
• 16:20
  So they'll take this verse and say this generation will not
• 16:23
  pass until all these things take place.
• 16:25
  And it is this one verse that draws a hard line between 2 main
• 16:29
  differentiating thoughts. The one is that that again, this
• 16:32
  teaching, it's done away with, it's been accomplished, happened
• 16:36
  in 70 AD and Jesus said this generation would not pass until
• 16:39
  it all takes place. The second main differentiating
• 16:43
  view to which I hold and I believe has the most biblical
• 16:47
  weight to it, is that this generation refers to the
• 16:50
  generation that will be alive to witness the events that Jesus
• 16:54
  said would come. And So what you have here is
• 16:57
  Jesus explaining that this generation, the generation he is
• 17:00
  Speaking of that will experience these things, not the generation
• 17:05
  he is speaking to. So the Lord is not referencing
• 17:08
  here those who are surrounding Him in that moment.
• 17:12
  He's speaking about the generation that will exist at
• 17:15
  the time when all these events will unfold.
• 17:21
  And some would disagree with me the right away.
• 17:22
  And again, I believe the latter view provides greater clarity
• 17:27
  and assurance from the Bible than the former.
• 17:30
  And we're going to see that as we comb through the signs that
• 17:33
  Jesus presents that will precede His return.
• 17:36
  But let me give you 2, at least two or three from the beginning.
• 17:40
  Look here again with me again, we're doing an overarching view
• 17:43
  of this chapter. I know we haven't gone deep yet,
• 17:45
  but we're just needing to clarify some things.
• 17:47
  Look at Mark 13 and look at verse 24.
• 17:55
  But in those days after the tribulation, that tribulation,
• 17:58
  the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its
• 18:00
  light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the
• 18:03
  powers and the heavens will be shaken, and they will see the
• 18:07
  Son of Man coming in clouds from great power, with great power
• 18:10
  and glory. And then he will send out the
• 18:13
  angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of
• 18:16
  the earth to the ends of heaven. So Jesus here is speaking about
• 18:21
  the culmination of the age after all these signs take place.
• 18:24
  What's the climax of it? Well, we read it that the sun
• 18:27
  will be darkened, the moon will not give it slice, the stars
• 18:29
  will fall from heaven, the powers of the heavens will be
• 18:31
  shaken. And what Verse 26, they will see
• 18:35
  the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
• 18:40
  So what was that verse? That is is drawing a hard line
• 18:43
  between 2 main camps interpreting this passage that
• 18:46
  it all happened in the 1st century because Jesus said this
• 18:50
  generation will not pass away until all these things take
• 18:53
  place. Well, if you're going to say all
• 18:55
  these things take place, that includes what Jesus just
• 18:57
  finished explaining here, that the sun, the moon, there will be
• 19:02
  these cosmic celestial signs, and more than that, the Son of
• 19:07
  man bodily returning. Did that happen in 70 AD?
• 19:13
  So how do those who hold to the the first view that I explained,
• 19:17
  explained this? Well, they'll say that this is
• 19:20
  this is symbolic, that the signs in the heavens represent
• 19:24
  governments and and they represent this and they
• 19:27
  represent that. And Jesus did come back in a
• 19:31
  phantom kind of way, invisibly, not in his return, but to judge
• 19:37
  Jerusalem. So His coming was invisible, and
• 19:41
  it was not to return but to judge this people.
• 19:46
  And all these other signs are just apocalyptic language that
• 19:49
  denotes judgment. OK, hypothetically speaking,
• 19:55
  let's say that that is true. Let's say that this is all
• 19:58
  symbolic and Jesus coming was invisible and it was just to
• 20:01
  judge Jerusalem but not to fully return.
• 20:04
  How do you explain verse 27? Look at verse 27 and Mark 13
• 20:09
  after we're told that the Son of Man will come in the clouds with
• 20:12
  great power and glory. And then he will send out the
• 20:15
  angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of
• 20:20
  the earth to the ends of heaven. How did that happen in 70 AD?
• 20:29
  Well, the Lord will bring his people to Himself when he comes
• 20:33
  back. How does that fit in the idea
• 20:37
  that Jesus is coming back invisibly and He's only coming
• 20:39
  back to judge because you have to.
• 20:42
  You can't tear up these prophecies because He's going to
• 20:46
  come back and then coming back. He's going to gather his people
• 20:49
  to him. This is very important to
• 20:53
  consider. Let me move on to another point
• 20:56
  that would prove, I believe, the futurist view, and that is the
• 21:00
  global landscape, the global landscape of the events that
• 21:04
  Jesus speaks of. What happened in 70 AD was very
• 21:08
  local. It was regional, but when you
• 21:12
  read Jesus teaching here and the characteristics of the end of
• 21:15
  the age, it does not fit that notion.
• 21:19
  The breath of His warning and His teaching goes beyond just
• 21:23
  one specific place and one specific event.
• 21:27
  All you have to do is read Matthew 24, read Mark 13, Luke
• 21:30
  21, and look at all the times nations are mentioned and
• 21:34
  kingdoms are mentioned and the magnitude of some of the
• 21:38
  catastrophes. It does not satisfy the scope
• 21:42
  that is limiting in that view that everything took place in
• 21:44
  the 1st century. Here's an example.
• 21:46
  Look at Mark 13 verse 19. For in those days there will be
• 21:51
  such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation
• 21:56
  that God created until now, and never will be.
• 22:01
  And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being
• 22:06
  would be saved. No human being, not just the
• 22:11
  Jews, no human being would be saved.
• 22:14
  But for the sake of the elect whom he chose, He shortened the
• 22:17
  days. The historian Josephus in
• 22:21
  writing about what took place in 70 AD records that 1.1, around
• 22:27
  1.1 million Jews died, that Roman invasion, that is
• 22:33
  heartbreaking. That is a catastrophe, that is a
• 22:36
  tragedy. But as you know, in recent
• 22:39
  history, Hitler killed how many Jews 6,000,000, just that alone.
• 22:46
  If we're going to go to history and we're going to say that
• 22:48
  things were fulfilled, how do we how do we make sense of Jesus
• 22:51
  saying that in those days there will be such tribulation has not
• 22:55
  been since the beginning of creation that God created until
• 22:58
  now. The Holocaust alone eclipses a
• 23:03
  lot in the past concerning this people group.
• 23:08
  And so we have to understand the global landscape of this
• 23:10
  prophecy. Yes, he does focus on Israel in
• 23:13
  one particular moment, but it's not limited to Israel.
• 23:17
  Here's another thought, just a final overarching thought before
• 23:19
  we even begin. I don't know how long we're
• 23:21
  going to be here today, but hang tight.
• 23:26
  I love this little phrase that Jesus includes in this teaching.
• 23:28
  It's in Mark 1314. Read it with me, please.
• 23:34
  But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he
• 23:38
  ought not to be, let the reader understand.
• 23:46
  Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
• 23:49
  Don't you love that statement in parentheses?
• 23:52
  Let the reader understand. You know what that tells me?
• 23:55
  It shows that what the Lord Jesus and His teaching did was
• 23:58
  anticipated, that there would be a coming reader who would see
• 24:04
  this record and who would study it.
• 24:08
  The Lord Jesus understood that there would be a larger audience
• 24:11
  who would have this copy of these truths in their hands, and
• 24:15
  He's calling them to understand what these things mean.
• 24:19
  And this charge for the reader to understand would be
• 24:22
  especially helpful for who? For the generation that would
• 24:25
  witness the abomination of desolation coming to the place
• 24:29
  that they would realize that Jesus teaching gives them
• 24:32
  instruction of what to do in the very moment that they're
• 24:35
  standing in the midst of. So to say let the reader
• 24:40
  understand is not very necessary if Jesus is just speaking to the
• 24:45
  12 who would see everything that would be fulfilled in their
• 24:49
  lifetime. I believe Christ here has
• 24:53
  another audience in mind, yes, his immediate audience, but a
• 24:56
  reader to come. And I got giddy when I when I
• 25:00
  read this. Let the let the Lord knew that
• 25:02
  one day in 2024 you and I were going to read this.
• 25:09
  So as a recap, the disciples hear that Jesus says this temple
• 25:12
  will be destroyed. That caused him to ask about the
• 25:15
  establishment of his messianic kingship promised by the Old
• 25:19
  Testament prophets, thinking that he's going to do so anytime
• 25:22
  now. But the Lord Jesus is going to
• 25:25
  teach them what he's going to teach you and I that the
• 25:28
  complete manifestation of his Kingdom.
• 25:31
  Yes, it's going to come. There's going to be a delay, and
• 25:37
  then that delay, it will be characterized and outlined by
• 25:39
  false Christ wars, famines, earthquakes, persecutions, as
• 25:45
  well as the preaching of the gospel, among other things that
• 25:48
  you and I are going to examine. And remember I told you that
• 25:52
  there's three overarching truths that we have to analyze before
• 25:55
  we get in. That was number one.
• 25:57
  I promise. The other two are very quick.
• 26:01
  So this teaching not only answers a very focused twofold
• 26:04
  question #2 this teaching is designed not to be an exhaustive
• 26:11
  play by play timeline of the last days.
• 26:17
  Because the frustration of some may not be whether you believe
• 26:19
  it was all fulfilled in the past, or it's all going to be
• 26:21
  fulfilled in the future, or some happy medium.
• 26:24
  For some, it's studying Jesus discourse and feeling as though
• 26:27
  they can't identify every piece in the timeline of the last
• 26:32
  days. Because if you just take the
• 26:34
  discourse alone, at least in market account, you won't find
• 26:37
  Satan being defeated. You won't find, at least in
• 26:42
  great detail, the resurrection. You're not going to find a
• 26:46
  detailed profile of the Antichrist.
• 26:49
  You're not going to see what Christ will do with death, what
• 26:51
  Christ will do to the grave, or what even the Millennium will be
• 26:55
  like. Those things are absent here.
• 27:01
  And you know this. I'm sure that this Bible has
• 27:03
  been authored in a way in which we are to investigate and we are
• 27:09
  to collect and gather the truths from the entirety of the Council
• 27:12
  of God to arrive to the strongest conclusions of
• 27:15
  whatever doctrine you're trying to study.
• 27:18
  So not everything is going to be fine here.
• 27:20
  In fact, like many of Jesus teachings, they will be expanded
• 27:24
  upon through the ministry of the apostles.
• 27:28
  Not just about the last days, about many, many things.
• 27:31
  And that's what the epistles are for.
• 27:34
  And John is going to be the chief apostle who's going to
• 27:37
  receive a revelation that will unpack with greater coverage the
• 27:41
  very things that Jesus speaks of here.
• 27:43
  In fact, it's so fascinating when you look at Jesus discourse
• 27:46
  about the last days, it parallels so beautifully with
• 27:48
  the timeline of the Book of Revelation.
• 27:52
  So don't get frustrated if you don't get everything in and your
• 27:54
  initial introduction here of Jesus discourse about the end of
• 27:58
  the age. The Lord in His perfect wisdom
• 28:00
  knew exactly what amount of data He should give at this time to
• 28:03
  His disciples, and what He's doing here is just giving them a
• 28:06
  general timeline of the signs before His arrival and His
• 28:10
  kingly glory #3 this teaching not only what?
• 28:15
  It not only provides us an answer to a precise twofold
• 28:19
  question, and not only does not give us an exhaustive play by
• 28:23
  play timeline of the last day so that you can be relieved in that
• 28:26
  and not frustrated. 3rd. This teaching is prepared for
• 28:31
  Christ followers to remain faithful and hopeful in
• 28:36
  difficult times. Jesus doesn't answer this simply
• 28:41
  to satiate the curiosity of his disciples.
• 28:44
  He's kind enough to answer it, yes, but he has a purpose in it
• 28:49
  by declaring to them and to the readers of this very same
• 28:52
  teaching of the assurance of his victory right that that's really
• 28:58
  this is all about I will, I will establish my Kingdom.
• 29:03
  I will gather my elect, I will come and I will finish when I
• 29:08
  started and that's supposed to infuse this grace and the
• 29:13
  strength and his followers. Whether that endurance is
• 29:16
  necessary to what dodged deception as false teachers will
• 29:21
  arise or to remain intact and to remain hopeful when all these
• 29:26
  disasters, whether they are humanly engineered or naturally
• 29:30
  caused. You can remain anchored or
• 29:33
  whether it is you and I feeling like we can't stand as growing
• 29:40
  persecution comes. That's a word for America, by
• 29:42
  the way. Christ here provides these
• 29:46
  insights with the intent of energizing His people in
• 29:51
  unpredictable times and to be pure for Him and to Him until He
• 29:56
  returns. I just want you to look very
• 29:58
  quickly at the admonitions that Christ gives throughout this
• 30:01
  incredible teaching. Look at Mark 13, verse five.
• 30:04
  We're going to do these quickly. Mark 13, verse five.
• 30:07
  And Jesus began to say to them, see that no one leads you
• 30:10
  astray. See that no one leads you
• 30:14
  astray. Look at verse 9.
• 30:16
  But be on your guard, for they will deliver you over to
• 30:19
  councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will
• 30:22
  stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness
• 30:24
  before them. Look at verse 11.
• 30:26
  And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be
• 30:30
  anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is
• 30:34
  given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the
• 30:37
  Holy Spirit. Look at verse 13.
• 30:40
  And you will be hated by all for My name's sake, but the one who
• 30:43
  endorsed to the end will be saved.
• 30:46
  Look at verse 21 and if anyone says to you, look, here is the
• 30:49
  Christ, or look, there he is, do not believe it. 23, But be on
• 30:55
  guard. I've told you all these things
• 30:57
  beforehand. 33 Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when
• 31:03
  the time will come. 35. Therefore stay awake, for you do
• 31:10
  not know when the master of the house will come.
• 31:11
  In the evening we're at midnight when the rooster crows, or in
• 31:14
  the morning 37 And what I say to you, I say to all stay awake.
• 31:23
  So the Lord isn't just giving us puzzle pieces and wants us to be
• 31:29
  burdened with cracking every code to our eschatology.
• 31:34
  Yes, he, he does give us these signs, but for what purpose?
• 31:39
  To do the very things that he told these disciples and us to
• 31:42
  do. To stay awake, be on guard,
• 31:45
  don't be anxious, don't believe it.
• 31:50
  And so with that being said, I believe really the rest of this
• 31:53
  teaching will be still an overview, but enough for us to
• 31:58
  have a grasp of the events and the signs and the signals
• 32:03
  leading up to the culmination of human history.
• 32:07
  There are five. There are 5 signs that I want
• 32:10
  you to take note of. The first four we will glance
• 32:13
  at, and I want to spend the most time on the 5th sign which
• 32:16
  speaks of the abomination of desolation.
• 32:19
  So let's read this together. Beginning, we read verse one to
• 32:22
  verse 4. Let's read verse five and verse
• 32:23
  six. Here's your first sign that
• 32:25
  Jesus gives leading up to his return.
• 32:28
  And Jesus began to say to them, see that no one leads you
• 32:31
  astray. Many will come in my name saying
• 32:34
  I am he and they will lead many astray #1 The first sign that
• 32:40
  Jesus gives about the last days will be sweeping deception.
• 32:44
  Sweeping deception. That's the first thing I think
• 32:46
  that is remarkable, that before he gets to natural disasters and
• 32:50
  persecution and problems in the home, he speaks about liars.
• 32:55
  He speaks about narratives and views and even people that will
• 33:00
  deceive many. And there will be some, and
• 33:04
  there have been some in history and and times to come who will
• 33:07
  be as audacious and as convincing enough to say that
• 33:10
  they are a Saviour or the Saviour.
• 33:13
  Cults have come in and out. Some cults are still standing
• 33:17
  today. But Jesus in teaching this also
• 33:20
  wants us to know that the amount of wolves that will arise will
• 33:24
  increase as we race towards the end.
• 33:27
  Where do we get that idea? Well, he speaks about false
• 33:29
  teachers. He speaks about false prophets
• 33:32
  and messiahs here. But it's not the only place
• 33:34
  where he mentions it. As he goes on and
• 33:36
  chronologically explains the other events that will follow,
• 33:39
  he revisits false teachers and false prophets and false
• 33:43
  messiahs again, Scroll down to verse 21.
• 33:51
  Then if anyone says to you look here is the Christ or look there
• 33:55
  he is. Do not believe it for false
• 33:58
  Christ's and false prophets will arise and perform signs and
• 34:02
  wonders to lead astray even if possible.
• 34:04
  They elect but be on guard. I've told you all things
• 34:08
  beforehand. So he introduces with false
• 34:10
  prophets, right? Then he speaks about other
• 34:12
  things and then he revisits how false prophets and messiahs will
• 34:16
  come even as you're inching towards Christ crashing through
• 34:21
  the skies. And what I find amazing is when
• 34:24
  he mentions it in the first time, he says they will say I am
• 34:29
  he. But then when he speaks about
• 34:31
  them again, he doesn't just say they will say he says they're
• 34:33
  going to do what are they going to do?
• 34:37
  False signs, they're going to perform signs and wonders.
• 34:43
  So as we move forward, we're going to see people doing
• 34:46
  incredible things, not just saying strange things, but doing
• 34:49
  things that's going to try to confirm their message to an
• 34:52
  undiscerning people who are swayed and given over two
• 34:56
  manifestations. Jesus here wants to warn us
• 35:00
  about sweeping deception. That's not the only sign.
• 35:05
  Let's read 7:00 and 8:00, and when you hear of wars and rumors
• 35:10
  of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place.
• 35:14
  But the end is not yet, for nation will rise against nation
• 35:20
  and Kingdom against Kingdom. There will be earthquakes in
• 35:22
  various places. There will be famines.
• 35:26
  These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
• 35:30
  First sign, sweeping deception. Second sign, alarming
• 35:34
  devastation, alarming devastation.
• 35:38
  And he speaks intentionally about these natural disasters
• 35:42
  and these wars, nations and kingdoms coming against one
• 35:48
  another with a specific imagery connected to it.
• 35:52
  Notice the last thing in verse eight is, but these are the
• 35:55
  beginning of birth pains. So you know this.
• 36:01
  I'm sure that birth pains arrive in a woman's pregnancy.
• 36:06
  Do they arrive in the beginning of a woman's pregnancy?
• 36:10
  No, they arrived near when the baby is ready to be born.
• 36:15
  So Jesus being very specific here and to use the imagery of
• 36:18
  birth pains also denotes that with those contractions, as you
• 36:22
  get closer to the birth of that baby, there is an increase of
• 36:25
  frequency and there is an increase in the power and the
• 36:29
  ferocity of it. So we have to also understand
• 36:32
  that that Jesus has in mind that these things, though they've
• 36:36
  always been there throughout human history, when it comes to
• 36:39
  that last chapter of human history, these things are only
• 36:42
  going to accumulate and they're going to intensify and they're
• 36:45
  going to be overwhelming. But notice also but that he says
• 36:50
  that these are the beginning of the birth pains, right?
• 36:55
  So he wants them not to be alarmed at the same time.
• 36:59
  And you have a lot of people who are alarmed with every news
• 37:02
  headline, every news headline of a war, every news headline with
• 37:08
  an earthquake and a new YouTube video comes up.
• 37:11
  And so we have to be responsible with how we interpret world
• 37:14
  events. We have to be very responsible.
• 37:16
  We have to be careful. We have to be discerning.
• 37:20
  Jesus here highlights that when these things happen, they are
• 37:24
  the beginning. And I love how when Jesus uses
• 37:27
  his imagery of birth pains, it is validated by the testimony of
• 37:30
  the Book of Revelation. So yeah, we've seen earthquakes.
• 37:32
  And you can even make the case that in this century we've seen
• 37:36
  more earthquakes than ever. We've seen more wars, We have
• 37:38
  World War One, we've seen World War Two, right in the past
• 37:41
  century. But look at Revelation.
• 37:44
  I want to just give you an example how it will only get
• 37:47
  worse. Revelation is given to us as a
• 37:49
  chronology. And notice this earthquake among
• 37:52
  other disasters. But hear this in Revelation 16,
• 37:55
  verse 18, and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals
• 38:07
  of Thunder, and a great earthquake, such as there had
• 38:10
  never been since man was on the earth, so great was that
• 38:15
  earthquake. The great city was split into
• 38:18
  three parts, and the cities of the nations fell.
• 38:20
  And God remembered Babylon the Great, to make her drain the cup
• 38:23
  of the wine of the fury of his wrath, And every island fled
• 38:27
  away, and no mountains were to be found.
• 38:31
  That confirms Jesus projection of the trajectory of these
• 38:36
  natural disasters. Revelation speaks about not just
• 38:39
  the last things, the last time of the last things we're talking
• 38:42
  about right when we come up to Christ's return, the tribulation
• 38:46
  period and the great tribulation period.
• 38:48
  And doesn't that testimony affirm what Jesus said about
• 38:50
  birth pains? That as you get closer they're
• 38:53
  only going to get more intense, including this earthquake.
• 38:55
  The world has never seen an earthquake like this.
• 38:59
  So alarming devastation is the second sign.
• 39:02
  But let's come to verse 9 and 10 of Mark 13.
• 39:07
  But be on your guard, verse 9. For they will deliver you over
• 39:10
  to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you
• 39:14
  will stand before governors and kings for my sake to bear
• 39:18
  witness before them. And the gospel must first be
• 39:22
  proclaimed to all nations. The first sign is sweeping
• 39:29
  deception. The second sign is devastation,
• 39:32
  alarming devastation. The third sign is worldwide
• 39:36
  evangelization. Worldwide evangelization.
• 39:40
  That is the third sign that Jesus gives us concerning what
• 39:43
  will proceed before his triumphant return.
• 39:45
  And what I love about this is Jesus also anticipates that his
• 39:51
  people are going to stand before Gentiles.
• 39:54
  How do we know that? Because he says you will stand
• 39:56
  before governors and kings for my sake.
• 40:02
  And not just that, I mean, if you didn't get it there, you get
• 40:04
  into verse 10. The gospel must be first
• 40:05
  proclaimed to all nations, to all nations.
• 40:09
  Pause here and and note this, that with all these disasters,
• 40:13
  you have this hope, this ray of hope tucked in the middle.
• 40:17
  No matter what's coming to this world, the gospel is going to
• 40:19
  prevail. The gospel is going to prevail.
• 40:22
  It's going to reach the peoples. It's going to reach the nations
• 40:26
  regardless of the natural obstacles or the human
• 40:29
  obstacles. God here promises that the
• 40:31
  gospel will go forth and the gates of hell will not be able
• 40:35
  to prevail. And I think this is encouraging
• 40:38
  because it speaks also in the midst of this catastrophe and
• 40:41
  calamity and destruction, that God's heart is still to save and
• 40:48
  to win people into his Kingdom. And so really this mention is
• 40:53
  God mentioning and extending his grace even in the final moments
• 40:58
  of human history. And so great is that extension
• 41:01
  of grace and mercy. I'm persuaded that one of the
• 41:04
  ways in which verse 10 the gospel must first be proclaimed
• 41:08
  to all nation is fulfilled is in a supernatural manner that most
• 41:10
  people don't consider the gospel will go to all the nations,
• 41:16
  every tribe, every tongue. How is that going to happen?
• 41:19
  Yes, through the church. The main vehicle is the church
• 41:22
  has been the church will be the church and even the Saints
• 41:24
  during the tribulation period. But I believe God, in great
• 41:29
  longing and yearning, will do something with and through the
• 41:34
  efforts of His people even during that time to make this a
• 41:37
  reality. Can I show you where?
• 41:39
  Go to Revelation 14 and look at verse 6.
• 41:55
  John says. Then I saw another Angel flying
• 41:57
  directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to
• 42:02
  those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and
• 42:07
  language and people. So as things are wrapping up,
• 42:11
  you know what the Lord's going to do?
• 42:13
  He's going to allow a heavenly creature to proclaim the eternal
• 42:18
  gospel. John is so specific.
• 42:20
  He wants to let us know it's the same gospel.
• 42:23
  It's the same gospel that you and I believed on, the same
• 42:25
  gospel that the prophets predicted and prophesied about.
• 42:27
  And it will be the same gospel that will save at the end of the
• 42:30
  age. And I just believe that this is
• 42:34
  again, God's heart throbbing for even sinners at this time to be
• 42:38
  saved where he dispatches an Angel to broadcast the gospel in
• 42:42
  a supernatural man. You're saying, well, that's
• 42:44
  that's very supernatural. Read Revelation.
• 42:46
  It's all supernatural. It's all supernatural.
• 42:50
  And again, this is, I would say, one of the final invitations
• 42:53
  that God gives to the whole world before they enter into an
• 42:57
  eternal hell. Here's an Angel to broadcast to
• 43:02
  the nations. This is the gospel that you can
• 43:04
  receive. This is the only gospel you can
• 43:06
  receive to be saved for the new heaven and the new earth.
• 43:09
  Come worldwide evangelization, the 4th sign, verse 11 and Mark
• 43:16
  13. And when they bring you to trial
• 43:22
  and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are
• 43:26
  to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, For it
• 43:30
  is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
• 43:33
  And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the Father,
• 43:37
  his child, and children will rise against parents and have
• 43:40
  them put to death. And you will be hated by all for
• 43:44
  My name's sake. But the one who endures to the
• 43:47
  end will be saved. The 4th sign is intense
• 43:51
  persecution. Intense persecution.
• 43:57
  He says you'll be hated by all. When he means all, he means all.
• 44:03
  So there's going to be a shift as we approach the return of
• 44:05
  Christ, of those who will turn against those who bear his name.
• 44:11
  The name of Jesus Christ is my namesake, and that that's a
• 44:15
  given. The church has always known
• 44:17
  persecution since the deception, and it's only going to get more
• 44:20
  intense again as the King comes. But what I love here again is
• 44:24
  another message of hope. He says here that you will stand
• 44:28
  before and you will be given over to, but don't even, don't
• 44:32
  even be worried about what you're going to say in defense
• 44:34
  of your innocence, in defense of your belief.
• 44:36
  He says, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit, but
• 44:40
  the Holy Spirit. This is Jesus saying this, by
• 44:42
  the way, you know what Jesus is promising you and I that it is
• 44:48
  possible for the Holy Spirit to speak through you.
• 44:54
  That makes some people nervous. No, we have the Bible, and if
• 44:58
  the Holy Spirit will speak for anybody, that would mean that
• 45:00
  we're including into Scripture and we're adding to Scripture.
• 45:03
  No, that's not what Jesus is saying.
• 45:05
  Is that what Jesus is saying? No, He's saying that the Holy
• 45:09
  Spirit will come to your aid and he will so enable you.
• 45:13
  He will so equip you. He will so embolden you that it
• 45:17
  won't even be you speaking, it'll be him speaking through
• 45:21
  you. Isn't that an incredible
• 45:22
  insight? OK, we're talking about end
• 45:25
  times here. Can we just let's come here for
• 45:27
  a second. I know this is speaking about a
• 45:29
  particular time and I know that this is speaking about a
• 45:31
  particular circumstance where you have to stand and speak on
• 45:35
  behalf of the gospel and defending the gospel and the
• 45:37
  hope that you have. But do you ask the Lord to speak
• 45:41
  through you? Do you ask Him to so overtake
• 45:45
  you in an influence you and move you where what comes out of you
• 45:48
  would be the Holy Spirit as you're about to confront
• 45:51
  somebody, as you're about to preach that message, as you're
• 45:54
  about to meet with an unbeliever, He is.
• 45:57
  There He is. He is ready to help us.
• 46:00
  Holy Spirit is ready to help us. Intense persecution.
• 46:07
  Here's the 5th sign and the one that we're going to land on
• 46:10
  before we close. First one was what?
• 46:13
  Sweeping deception. Second one, alarming
• 46:16
  devastation. The third one, worldwide
• 46:18
  evangelization. The 4th 1, intense persecution.
• 46:22
  The fifth one, temple desolation.
• 46:28
  Let's read these 6 verses together before we unpack it.
• 46:31
  Verse 14. But when you see the abomination
• 46:34
  of Desolation standing where he ought not to be, let the reader
• 46:38
  understand. Then let those who are in Judea
• 46:40
  flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the
• 46:43
  housetop not go down nor enter his house to take anything out,
• 46:48
  and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his
• 46:51
  cloak. And alas, for women who are
• 46:53
  pregnant, for those who are nursing infants in those days,
• 46:56
  pray that it may not happen in winter.
• 46:58
  For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been
• 47:02
  from the beginning of the creation that God created until
• 47:04
  now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut
• 47:07
  short the days, no human would being would be saved.
• 47:10
  But for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the
• 47:12
  days. And then if anyone says to you,
• 47:14
  look here is the Christ or look there he is.
• 47:16
  Do not believe it. For false Christs and false
• 47:18
  prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray
• 47:22
  if possible to elect, but be on guard.
• 47:24
  I have told you all things beforehand.
• 47:28
  Out of everything the Lord mentioned, everything that we
• 47:32
  just covered, you can say are pretty expected in general.
• 47:36
  And they've characterized the activity in the world from the
• 47:39
  beginning, wars and persecution and natural disasters.
• 47:44
  But this is the most detailed sign that Jesus gives.
• 47:47
  This is where he wants us to park.
• 47:48
  This is where he he really wants us to see as being the most
• 47:52
  prominent and significant sign of them all.
• 47:56
  He speaks about something known as the abomination of
• 47:58
  desolation. And some again, going back to
• 48:02
  that view, the opposing view to the futurist view that we would
• 48:06
  hold to is that this right here perfectly describes what
• 48:11
  happened in 70 AD that it's, it's done.
• 48:15
  This is exactly what Jesus was alluding to back in verse two
• 48:19
  when he said that these great buildings are they're not going
• 48:21
  to be left. These stones will not be upon
• 48:24
  one another. Is this something that was
• 48:27
  fulfilled in the 1st century? I would say that what happened
• 48:32
  in 70 AD prefigures and previews.
• 48:36
  Yes, Jesus predicted it. He said in a verse to this, this
• 48:39
  building is coming down. But what happened then is a
• 48:42
  foreshadowing of a greater desolation to a future temple.
• 48:49
  And I'm going to give you 2 main reasons to why I hold to that
• 48:51
  view. The first one is because Jesus
• 48:56
  says the abomination of desolation.
• 48:58
  What's an abomination? Abomination is an object or
• 49:02
  practice that is associated with flagrant wickedness or gross
• 49:08
  idolatry. Biblically speaking, it's used
• 49:11
  to describe a belief or an act or a practice that is repulsive,
• 49:17
  that is defiling in the sight of God and those who sees as He
• 49:20
  sees. And So what the Lord is saying
• 49:23
  here is that there's going to come this abomination that will
• 49:27
  cause desolation, and it will happen in a place standing where
• 49:32
  He ought not to be. Now it's Matthew's version that
• 49:35
  gives us greater insight that helps us narrow what this
• 49:38
  abomination of desolation is. So look at Matthew 24 and verse
• 49:42
  15. He says in Matthew 24, verse 15.
• 49:53
  So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the
• 49:58
  prophet Daniel, that's big spoken of by the prophet Daniel
• 50:04
  standing. Here's another big one in the
• 50:06
  holy place. That language is familiar to the
• 50:12
  Jewish audience. It should be for the students of
• 50:14
  the Bible. The holy place speaks of the
• 50:16
  temple, the designated place of worship for the people of Israel
• 50:21
  and for any Gentile who would want to be included in that
• 50:24
  covenant. But notice here that Jesus
• 50:28
  limits our understanding of the abomination of desolation.
• 50:32
  You can define terms, but he limits the application of it to
• 50:35
  what Daniel said. Here's another exciting thought.
• 50:39
  You know the book of Daniel. Jesus believed Daniel wrote it.
• 50:44
  I just think that's awesome. You have a lot of people who
• 50:47
  think they're smarter than than Jesus and say there's no way
• 50:50
  Daniel could have written those things.
• 50:51
  That was a far later author because the accuracy of his
• 50:55
  prophecy had to have been from somebody who had already
• 50:58
  experienced history. No, Jesus said Daniel wrote it.
• 51:03
  Daniel mentions this thing called the Abomination of
• 51:08
  Desolation three times in his book.
• 51:09
  I'm going to name you the references.
• 51:12
  You can look at it later, but I'm going to read them to you as
• 51:14
  well in Daniel 927. That's the first time Daniel
• 51:18
  mentions this abomination of desolation, Daniel 927.
• 51:23
  The next one is Daniel 11, 31 and the last mention of the
• 51:29
  abomination of Desolation is Daniel chapter 12, verse 11.
• 51:34
  You don't have to turn there, but what I'm asking you to do in
• 51:37
  this final stretch of our time together is listen to the
• 51:41
  descriptions of every reference to the abomination of
• 51:43
  desolation. Daniel's mention of this
• 51:47
  abomination. Desolation deserves its own
• 51:48
  sermon, but for the sake of our time, I just want to at least
• 51:53
  give you enough clarity to understand what Jesus is
• 51:54
  Speaking of here. So listen, are you guys with me?
• 52:00
  Good. You're doing great.
• 52:03
  Daniel 927 Listen carefully now, students of the Word.
• 52:08
  And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,
• 52:12
  and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice
• 52:16
  and offering. And on the wing of abominations
• 52:19
  shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end
• 52:23
  is poured out on the desolator. So let's let's pick this apart.
• 52:27
  Here we have somebody who's evidently a he and he's going to
• 52:31
  make a strong covenant for this time period called a week.
• 52:34
  It's not really a seven day week.
• 52:35
  Another time. All we need to know is that
• 52:38
  there's somebody he's going to make this covenant and at some
• 52:42
  point he's going to put an end to the offering.
• 52:46
  The offering. What offering?
• 52:48
  Not the offering that we did here.
• 52:50
  The temple offerings, the sacrifices, the rituals in the
• 52:53
  temple, this person, he's going to put an end to that
• 52:56
  forcefully. And not only is he going to put
• 52:58
  an end to it, he's going to make desolate that very same place
• 53:03
  with some kind of abomination. Is that consistent with the
• 53:07
  other references of Daniel? Yes.
• 53:09
  Listen to Daniel 1131. Forces from him shall appear and
• 53:14
  profane the temple and fortress and shall take away the regular
• 53:19
  burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that
• 53:23
  makes desolate same thing. And again, when you read the
• 53:27
  surrounding context, you have this very powerful political
• 53:30
  figure who's going to invade the temple.
• 53:33
  He's going to desecrate it. He's going to put an end to the
• 53:37
  Jewish worship and not just put in, He's going to replace it
• 53:40
  with this abomination that will cause desolation.
• 53:46
  Daniel 1131. But here's Daniel 1211, and from
• 53:52
  the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the
• 53:58
  abomination that makes desolate is set up, there will be 1290
• 54:04
  days. Again, the same consistency
• 54:06
  here. You have a very powerful figure,
• 54:09
  political figure. He's going to invade Jerusalem,
• 54:11
  he's going to desecrate the temple.
• 54:13
  He's going to stop the worship of sacrifices and rituals and
• 54:16
  ceremonies, and he's going to set up this thing called the
• 54:18
  abomination of desolation based on that that kind of data.
• 54:24
  You can make these observations as we just did.
• 54:28
  And here's the thing. There are many who try to say
• 54:32
  that the description of this has been fulfilled.
• 54:36
  So there's a time period in the intertestamental period where
• 54:40
  the temple was desecrated. And I don't want to throw that
• 54:42
  in there to to just overwhelm anybody.
• 54:45
  And then there's 70 AD, another time where the temple was
• 54:48
  destroyed. And they try to fit Daniel's
• 54:50
  prophecies with some of the things that took place on that
• 54:53
  day to say it was desecrated and some would say it was destroyed.
• 54:55
  So that's desecrated. But it's not until you read what
• 55:00
  the Apostle Paul says that you get the most clarity about what
• 55:06
  Jesus said would happen. So Jesus says when you see the
• 55:11
  abomination of desecrate, desecration happened,
• 55:13
  desolation, according to what the prophet Daniel said, he had
• 55:17
  something very specific in mind of what that would look like.
• 55:19
  And Paul by the Spirit gives us it.
• 55:23
  Where is it? Second Thessalonians, chapter 2.
• 55:26
  Go there with me, please. I know it's a lot of scripture
• 55:29
  today. It's good for you and me.
• 55:36
  And the reason why I'm doing this too is because I want the
• 55:39
  Bible to speak for itself. And again, I want you to see,
• 55:42
  wow, Daniel connects to Matthew, Matthew connects to 2nd
• 55:45
  Thessalonians and Revelation. It's just, it's glorious.
• 55:48
  It's really glorious. OK, Second Thessalonians,
• 55:53
  chapter 2, we're almost done here.
• 55:59
  Chapter 2, verse one now concerning the coming of our
• 56:05
  Lord Jesus Christ. Pause.
• 56:07
  Is that what we've been studying?
• 56:09
  Have we been studying about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?
• 56:11
  Yes, and are being gathered together to him.
• 56:17
  Pause. Didn't didn't Jesus allude to
• 56:21
  coming back and gathering his elect?
• 56:25
  Yes, yes. OK, so far Paul is in line with
• 56:28
  what Jesus is saying. Brothers, verse two, do not be
• 56:32
  quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by spirit or
• 56:36
  spoken word or letters seem to be from us to the effect that
• 56:40
  the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any
• 56:45
  way. Pause.
• 56:49
  Remember how Jesus warned about deception and deceivers.
• 56:54
  Do you know what one of the deceptions might be?
• 56:57
  What people will say about Jesus and his coming that was
• 57:01
  happening in the early church. I know that we can all be
• 57:06
  friends and brothers and sisters if we hold opposing views, but
• 57:10
  it's still an important truth to get right.
• 57:12
  There are serious implications with how we believe this.
• 57:16
  He says let no one deceive you in any way, for that time will
• 57:19
  not come unless the rebellion comes first.
• 57:23
  And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of
• 57:28
  destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every
• 57:33
  so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his
• 57:37
  seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
• 57:47
  When you see the abomination of desolation, come run for the
• 57:51
  hills, run for the hills, that that event, that sign is going
• 57:57
  to precede my return and my gathering of the elect.
• 58:01
  Now Paul comes here and he says now concerning the return of
• 58:05
  Christ and the gathering, us being caught up together with
• 58:09
  him, he goes, why are you guys? Why are you guys shaken?
• 58:13
  Do you not realize that before that happens, the man of
• 58:16
  lawlessness must be revealed, and not only must he be
• 58:20
  revealed, but he will desecrate. He will come into the temple of
• 58:24
  God. And here's the abomination of
• 58:26
  desolation. Declare that he is God.
• 58:31
  Is that? Is that an abomination?
• 58:33
  If it's the definition of abomination, he will make
• 58:37
  himself the object of man's worship, and he will defy God by
• 58:45
  entering into the place that is known as a temple to stand and
• 58:51
  to make such a declaration. That's interesting because when
• 58:55
  you go back to Mark 13, the ESV version would agree with what
• 59:02
  Paul is saying. Let me read to you again Mark
• 59:04
  1314. But when you see the abomination
• 59:07
  of desolation standing where he ought not to be, where he ought
• 59:14
  not to be, other transitions would say it.
• 59:19
  But I believe the ESV Council translators saw that the he
• 59:25
  there works grammatically with the idea of standing and it's
• 59:29
  just an interesting insight where he ought not to be.
• 59:34
  So here's the thing. You can also make the case
• 59:36
  still, I guess, for people to say no, no, no, no, no, that did
• 59:40
  happen at 70 AD. So and so went in and he did
• 59:44
  that and he shouldn't have entered in when and looked
• 59:46
  around. And, and this is already, even
• 59:49
  if you take what Paul says, it already happened.
• 59:51
  We're not looking for somebody else.
• 59:52
  We're not looking for a man of lawlessness to come to arrive to
• 59:55
  the temple in Jerusalem and to say that he is God.
• 59:59
  That's already taken place in the 1st century or even
• 1:00:02
  centuries before. We're not looking for that.
• 1:00:05
  And they try to fit the description of this man of
• 1:00:08
  lawlessness who is really the Antichrist into these moulds.
• 1:00:11
  And here's the thing. All you have to do is keep
• 1:00:14
  reading in Second Thessalonians. To eliminate any possibility
• 1:00:18
  that what Paul is speaking about here already happened, or this
• 1:00:22
  man already had arrived in history, let me prove it to you.
• 1:00:25
  Look at verse eight. You're still in 2nd
• 1:00:26
  Thessalonians 2. Look at verse 8.
• 1:00:30
  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus
• 1:00:35
  will kill with the breath of His mouth and bring to nothing by
• 1:00:40
  the appearance of His coming. It can't be somebody from the
• 1:00:45
  past because we're told that Jesus himself is going to
• 1:00:48
  destroy him. Even if you don't consider that,
• 1:00:52
  look at the description of the man in verse 9.
• 1:00:54
  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with
• 1:00:58
  all power and false signs and wonders.
• 1:01:01
  Anybody fulfill that in history, whether a Greek emperor or Roman
• 1:01:06
  general, anybody did false signs and wonders and deceive the
• 1:01:09
  masses. It doesn't work.
• 1:01:11
  It doesn't make sense. The only thing that doesn't make
• 1:01:14
  sense is that we are anticipating somebody.
• 1:01:16
  There is one to come. Verse 10.
• 1:01:21
  And with all wicked deception for those who are perishing
• 1:01:23
  because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved, I'm still
• 1:01:26
  not convinced I can hear it. I can hear it.
• 1:01:31
  I'm still not convinced that what you're saying about the
• 1:01:33
  abomination of desolation is to happen in a day to come.
• 1:01:37
  I'm convinced that it already happened.
• 1:01:40
  We look back to it. We realized Jesus fulfilled a
• 1:01:42
  prophecy and now we're just waiting for his return.
• 1:01:45
  However, that looks OK. If you think that it is in the
• 1:01:53
  past, though, Paul gives a different profile of what that
• 1:01:55
  abomination of desolation looks like.
• 1:01:58
  Do you realize what this abomination of desolation will
• 1:02:01
  set into motion? And you have to ask yourself
• 1:02:04
  again, was that fulfilled in the past?
• 1:02:06
  So Jesus speaks about the abomination of desolation and
• 1:02:10
  notice what will follow that. I'm going to read this to you
• 1:02:13
  and then we're done in Matthew 24 verse 21.
• 1:02:18
  For then after the abomination of desolation, for then there
• 1:02:22
  will be great tribulation. What kind of tribulation such as
• 1:02:27
  has not been from the beginning of the world until now?
• 1:02:30
  No and never will be. Did that happen in 70 AD?
• 1:02:38
  Did the destruction of the temple set into motion a great
• 1:02:41
  tribulation like the world has not seen?
• 1:02:43
  No, hasn't. But it will.
• 1:02:48
  It will, and it fits perfectly with the script of the Book of
• 1:02:52
  Revelation, where you have a man in Revelation 13 who will be a
• 1:02:56
  powerful figure, who will bring the world to its knees, Who Will
• 1:02:59
  Win the devotion of most, the allegiance of many.
• 1:03:02
  And he will demand worship. He will demand worship and later
• 1:03:05
  he will be killed when the Lord Jesus does return.
• 1:03:08
  Isn't it more simple than people have made it out to be?
• 1:03:10
  I think it is. I think it's clear.
• 1:03:13
  I think it's straightforward. And I think it just takes a
• 1:03:15
  little bit of effort to put these pieces together to
• 1:03:17
  understand the the glories of Jesus and his teachings for us,
• 1:03:21
  even with something as complex and as intimidating as the end
• 1:03:23
  of the age. But there is no temple.
• 1:03:27
  So yeah, I know there is no temple.
• 1:03:31
  There wasn't a nation of Israel too, for a very long time.
• 1:03:36
  So if we want to say things are being fulfilled in history, why
• 1:03:39
  won't we acknowledge Israel as being significant to Bible
• 1:03:43
  prophecy? The people overdo it.
• 1:03:47
  A lot of people overdo it. But is it not important?
• 1:03:51
  No, that's also dangerous. That's also dangerous.
• 1:03:56
  And So what are we to do? Well, one realize that the Bible
• 1:04:00
  knows what it's talking about. Realize that Jesus is coming
• 1:04:07
  back and we're called to stay awake.
• 1:04:10
  We're called to be on alert. We're called to be careful.
• 1:04:12
  We're called to not believe anything and everything we hear,
• 1:04:16
  including things about his second coming.
• 1:04:21
  And we are encouraged to realize that he will be victorious.
• 1:04:28
  Everything will be made new and there is a new world to come
• 1:04:31
  where He'll be king forever. And that's what we're going to
• 1:04:34
  do now, right? We're going to eat and drink and
• 1:04:37
  remember what He has done for us and what will come when He comes
• 1:04:40
  back for us. Let's pray.
• 1:04:54
  Lord, we do thank you from the bottom of our hearts that You've
• 1:04:57
  given us the patience and the grace to receive all that you
• 1:05:00
  have to say. And Lord, now as we eat and
• 1:05:03
  drink, remembering not just what you have done in the past on the
• 1:05:05
  cross, but how this points to a future time where you will eat
• 1:05:09
  and drink with us again, May our hearts be prepared to fellowship
• 1:05:12
  with you at this table. May you cleanses of all
• 1:05:15
  unrighteousness, anything that would not align with the oneness
• 1:05:19
  of this bread and the high calling that this blood calls us
• 1:05:24
  to as a holy people. We bless you Lord, thank you
• 1:05:28
  that you've told us of what's to come.
• 1:05:30
  Thank you that the future is determined.
• 1:05:31
  Thank you that we are victorious because we are in you.
• 1:05:34
  And Lord, we want to rejoice and glorify you together now as a
• 1:05:37
  family. In Jesus name we pray.
• 1:05:39
  Amen. Amen.