Series - The Road to the Resurrection - Message 8 - A Lesson from Our Lord in End Time Events - Part 2

Bobby Lee Hale

The Road to the Resurrection • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Matthew 24

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Introduction

Good morning Church. I want to thank each and every person for joining us today…those here in person and those who may be joining us online.

Today, we are going to be continuing on in our study of the Book of Matthew and Lord willing, today we will be finishing out Chapter 24.

Now, if you will remember from last week, we learned that Chapter 24 and 25 go hand in hand. And we talked about how we were going to break chapter 24 down into 4 different sections...

The Inquiry into End-Time Events — (Vs. 1-3)

End-Time Events concerning the Gentile Nations — (Vs. 4-14)

End-Time Events concerning the Jewish Nation — (Vs. 15-31)

End-Time Events concerning the Church — (Vs. 32-51)

Now, we got through the first two sections last week and this week the plan is to finish the last two sections here by looking at Verses 15-51.

So, since we’ve got quite a bit to look at this morning, if you have your Bible’s turned to Matthew 24 Verse 15 would you say, amen?

End-Time Events concerning the Jewish Nation — (Vs. 15-31)

The first thing Jesus speaks of here is the “abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

And Jesus says here, “he that readeth, let him understand.”

Now, we don’t have time this morning to get into all the details of what Jesus is speaking of here because believe me it is very much in depth and can take a very long time to follow.

But basically, this event will be what kicks off the final 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation period.

I do however want to give you just a glimpse into what Jesus is speaking of here though because if you can get this part, you can see the sovereignty of God over all things and I believe it will be a blessing to you as we work our way through the rest of the message.

If you have your Bible’s I want you to hold your place this morning and turn with me really quickly to the Book of Daniel and we’re going to be looking in Chapter 9 starting around Verse 24.

Daniel 9:24–27 KJV 1900

24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Now, this is where it gets really interesting and once you get it, it gets really good!

When the Bible says here “70 weeks” the word for weeks is literally the number 7.

So what we’re actually looking at here is seventy sevens and 70 x 7=490 right?

Now, don’t miss one very important detail here…he tells Daniel…seventy weeks are determined upon “thy” people and upon the holy city.

You need to know this morning, this prophecy was for the Jews.

Not the Gentiles.

The Tribulation period that Jesus is talking about right here in Matthew 24 is a time of “Jacob’s trouble”.

Jeremiah 30:6–7 KJV 1900

6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, And all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; But he shall be saved out of it.

The Church, those who are born again, will be caught up or raptured out of the earth and this rapture will be what kick starts the tribulation period.

Now, don’t let me lose you here.

Daniel 9:25 KJV 1900

25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

The command it’s speaking of here is the command from Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in Chapter 2 of the Book of Nehemiah.

I just love this stuff! In order to get all of this you have to be a lover of history but man when you begin to see the bigger picture of God’s plan and how it all fits together so beautifully, it’s just amazing!

Now, hold you place right here in Daniel and in Matthew 24 but flip back with me to Nehemiah Chapter 2 for just a second.

I want you to see this command spoken of here in Daniel.

Now, the other thing you need to know is that this command came almost a whole century after Daniel seen the prophecy.

Nehemiah 2:1–8 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. 2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, 3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? 4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. 6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. 7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; 8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

So, this is the command that Daniel was speaking of here in Verse 25.

Now, let’s go back to Daniel 9:25.

Daniel 9:25 KJV 1900

7 weeks (period of 7 years) is 7 x 7=49, right?

Then, Gabriel says, “and threescore and two weeks.”

So, that’s 62 weeks, right?

Well, 62 x 7 = 434 + 49 = 483

So, notice what we’re saying here…from the time of the commandment comes down to restore and build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be 483 years.

Now, here’s where it gets really, really good!!!

A man by the name of Sir Robert Anderson put the edict for the rebuilding of the city as the first of Nisan, 445 B.C. From that date to Messiah the Prince was to be 69 × 7 of years = 483 years.

The Hebrews used a 360-day calendar, so 483 years × 360 days = 173,880 days.

Sir Robert’s calculations show that from the first of Nisan, 445 B.C., to the end of the 173,880 days brings us to the tenth of Nisan in the eighteenth year of Tiberius, the day when the Lord made His public Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and presented Himself to the nation as “Messiah the Prince.” — John Phillips

Do you see the sovereignty of God in this?

Down to the most minute of details, God has this entire thing planned out and if you can’t see that this morning friend then you need to get in your Bible’s and get to reading!

Our entire existence was planned out before the foundation of time and we are spiraling headlong into eternity and dear friend if the rest of this Book we call a Bible has been spot on, we can only conclude that the prophecies to come will be also and if that be the case, which I whole heartedly believe it is, then that means that when this whole thing is wrapped up, there’s going to be one of two places we are going to spend eternity and that is either heaven or hell.

And dear friend, you have a choice to make this morning as to where you’re going to spend it!

Now, we’ve still got a problem we haven’t accounted for here.

Look back at Daniel 9 with me.

Daniel 9:26–27 KJV 1900

26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

So, basically after the second period there of the 62 weeks, the Messiah is gonna be cut off which He was.

After 69 weeks or 483 years the Messiah showed up and made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and within one literal week He was cut off by His own people and crucified as the most vile criminal to have ever walked the streets of Jerusalem.

Now, here’s the problem…go back to Verse 24.

Daniel 9:24 KJV 1900

Gabriel said, “seventy weeks” are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city but we’ve only made it to 69, right?

Where is that other week?

That my friend is the 7 year tribulation period that Christ is speaking of here in Matthew 24.

You see, from the 69th week when Jesus came unto His own and they received Him not, we have been on sort a pause in the timeline of Daniel’s prophecy.

Daniel couldn’t see the period we are in right now which is referred to as the Church age.

If you look back you will see this…Daniel went straight from the 69th week to the 70th week but there was no pause in between.

Daniel 9:26–27 KJV 1900

Now, yes the Messiah was cut off but the second half of that verse has not come to fruition yet.

Yes, Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70 but there has been no flood of the magnitude it’s speaking of here but in the end, the very end, there will be!

It will be a flood of blood the Bible says up to the horses bridal!

And then notice, Gabriel says, this prince, this antichrist, will confirm a covenant with the Jews for one week or seven years but in the midst of the week, he will cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease and will make it desolate.

This is where it ties back into Matthew.

Matthew 24:15 KJV 1900

15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

When the Church is raptured out, the best I can understand from my studying, Jerusalem and the Jews will once again be persecuted.

And in the midst of that persecution there will arise a league of 10 European nations, most believe it will resemble the fallen Roman Empire and there will be one leader who stands above the rest and will eventually take over the entire empire and this man will be the antichrist.

This antichrist will join forces with Jerusalem and promise them protection from their enemies and he will do many signs and wonders and many will believe that he indeed is the Messiah they have been waiting on for so long.

But, in the midst of that 7 year covenant, his true colors will begin to show. His power and might will get the best of him and he will desecrate the temple the Jews have rebuilt by setting up either an image of himself or some false god and require the people to worship it or else.

Paul eluded to this in...

2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 KJV 1900

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

When this happens, this is what Jesus is speaking of here in Verse 15.

This will be the Great Tribulation period. The last 3 1/2 years where anyone who believes upon God will be persecuted, many to the point of death.

Matthew 24:21–22 KJV 1900

21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Jesus says, as bad as things may have seemed for the Jews in the past, this time period, these final 3 1/2 years will be like none before!

So bad even that if it weren’t for God’s predetermined ending, not a single soul would remain alive!

Listen friend, if you are sitting here and lost this morning, you stand the chance of living during this time period.

At any time, God could call His people out of this place, and when that happens, only those who have trusted in Jesus will be leaving.

Everyone else will be stuck here during this tribulation period to face that wrath that God has in store and I can assure you on the authority of the Word of God that you don’t want to be here during that time period.

The wars and famines and pestilences and earthquakes we read about last week are only the beginning of sorrows!

Things will only progressively get worse and worse and it will get so bad the Bible says in the Book of Revelation that people will cry out for mountains to fall upon them to kill them so they can find rest from the evils of this world but they will not be able to die!

Listen this morning friend, I assure you that you don’t want to be here when all of this takes place!

But the only way to ensure you’re not here is to trust in Jesus before that time comes.

If you are here and lost this morning, don’t chance it.

Will there be people saved during the tribulation period?

Absolutely!

So many so that they will be without number but I can assure you if you that if they had the choice to go back and be saved before that great and terrible day every single person would jump at the opportunity!

Don’t make that same mistake.

If you are here and lost this morning and you feel something tugging at your heart strings telling you that you need to be saved, then make that move right now, don’t even wait until the end of the service, come now to this altar and get things right with God!

I promise you that you won’t interrupt or bother me! I will ask one of these men to come and pray with you and I will just keep on preaching!

There’s going to be a time unlike never before! Evil will prevail because He that will let will let and great tribulation will fall upon all who remain in this place!

And then Jesus transitions over to the final point of Chapter 24 here…End-Time Events concerning the Church.

End-Time Events concerning the Church — (Vs. 32-51)

The fig tree here is obviously representative of the Nation of Israel and Jesus says, “when it’s branches bud and it’s leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is nigh.”

John Phillips — The fig tree (the nation of Israel) that died under its Creator’s curse will come back to life. The tree will again have an abundance of leaves—not fruit, but leaves.

In other words, the nation of Israel, which began to disintegrate in A.D. 70 and was finally evicted from the promised land in A.D. 135 at the time of the Bar Kokhba rebellion, is to come back to life as a nation just prior to the consummation of end-time events.

The reconstitution of the nation will be in unbelief; Israel will still be rejecting Christ. Accordingly the Lord did not indicate that the fig tree would bring forth fruit when it came back to life. That is exactly what has happened.

The rebirth of the state of Israel in our lifetime is an extraordinary miracle; it is the sign that the church age has about run its course, that the rapture is imminent, and that God is about to begin His end-time dealing with the Jewish people. He will pick up where He left off when the church-age parenthesis was inserted into His dealings with mankind.

May 14th, 1948. That was the day that Israel was reinstituted as a nation.

That one detail, as minute as it may seem, is probably the biggest detail to blip on the radar screen of history since Christ rose from the grave.

Why?

Because it tells us that the end is nigh, even at the door!

Just as the fig tree tells us when summer is near, this reinstitution tells us that these very end-time events we are reading about today are closer than they’ve ever been and at any moment we could be called out of this place!

The question you need to be asking is not when is this going to happen but am I ready for it when it does happen?

If the answer to that is no, then friend you need to be doing some business with with God today!

And this sense of urgency and awareness of where we are and what’s coming is exactly what Jesus goes into here next.