Untitled Sermon (7)

I believe it would be wrong to read this and interpret it as though Jesus intended it to be a prophecy for every generation, in every location, in the same way that these 12 were to understand it as they stood before Him.

Couple reasons why we can say this quite confidently.

1. We are not only called to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Isreal.

That’s the context. He’s speaking to THEM.

2. v23 speaks of the coming of the Son of man, but is that to be understood as the future and final return of Christ? Many scholars believe, (and I agree) that this must be referring to the coming of the Son of man in judgement upon Jerusalem in Ad70. Jesus gives a bit of a time clue when he says to them, “you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

We know that the gospel has been proclaimed to all the towns of Israel by now, but very likely it was not the case yet before 70ad.

I say this because there is a very strong tendency to claim certain texts of the Bible as though they are written to us directly, when they were not. Remember what the Bible is. It’s a collection of writings…some history, some prophesy, some poetry, some letters and biographical eye-witness accounts - all of which are inspired by God and profitable for teaching, rebuke and reproof, but they all have an original intent and meaning that we should desire to know.

We should ask the Lord in our reading and interpreting, what do I need to learn and apply? How is this helping me to grow in Christ? Is it a message to all Christians or people at all times? Are there timeless principles to learn? Is the original meaning local and limited in its scope of application.

And we learn to be better Bible interpreters and readers by simply understanding the genre that the text fits into, and then keeping it in context.

The Gospel writers wrote down the life and teachings of Jesus according to or from eye-witness accounts. Some of what is recorded local and limited, and some is for all time and all Christians. How can we know the difference? We ask…did the Apostles go on to teach it to the Church as imperative?

Jesus in Matthew 29 says TO THE APOSTLES - “Go, and make disciples of all nations.” And we know this is for all generations of Christians because those men took what Jesus said, taught it to the church, and lived it. By Acts chapter 2 we have Peter saying “Repent and be baptized, ever one of you for the forgiveness of sins.” Paul is traveling across Asia minor planting churches, and letters are being written to those churches to remind them of the gospel and compel them to persevere and preach.