Matthew Chapter 24 Part 1
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Matthew Chapter 24 Part 1 (The Sorrows of the Time)
Matthew Chapter 24 Part 1 (The Sorrows of the Time)
Intro:
We left off chapter 23 with Jesus leaving the temple after confronting the Pharisees as hypocrites, again, that meaning they were stage actors, portraying themselves as something they are not, They looked good on the outside, but inside they were full of wickedness,
In Matthew 21:18-22 we saw Jesus cursing the fig tree because it was full of leaves and looked thriving, but bared no fruit, just like the Pharisees,
So for this first section we see,
The Temple Destruction Foretold Matthew 24:1-4 (Mark 13:1-9, Luke 21:5-9)
I know James covered this at the end of chapter 23, but keep in your mind that what Jesus is teaching isn’t just about this time, but also a reflection of the end times as well.
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
I just want to point out that from Matthew chapter 21 to now has all been taking place in the temple, and remember, this temple was an absolutely beautiful building,
King Herod the great who was king of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus’s birth had spent a lot of investment into this temple, and at the end of this verse it says
“his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple”
In other words, they are wanting to show Jesus how astonishing and beautiful this temple is,
But remember what James covered in his second lesson in chapter 23?
No matter how beautiful, or how much investment is put into a building, only one thing makes it sacred and Holy, and that is if it is used for the truth and dedicated to God,
Or in better words, God’s presence is there,
When God left the temple, it was nothing more than a building at that point,
Something I want to hit on with this that we try to cover as much as possible,
A church isn’t a building, but where we gather together in the name of the Lord,
The reason we have respect toward a church “building” is because we consecrate it to God, We use this as our gathering place to study The word,
The only way for a building to be “holy” or sacred, is for God’s presence to be there, nothing can be holy without God’s presence,
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
The Holy Spirit is there when 2 or more are gathered in Christ’s name, that doesn’t have to be some temple or giant steeped building, that can be in someones basement where they are studying or praying,
I just wanted us to refresh on that from chapter 23,
But back in chapter 24
And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
The disciples are sort of “marveling” over the beauty of the temple and what does Jesus say,
“there will be nothing left standing”
and this is a foreshadow or prophecy from Christ of the destruction of the temple roughly 40 years after Jesus’s ministry,
I believe James covered some of this last chapter,
it was destroyed after the Jewish-Roman war in 70 AD
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
We saw a few chapter ago the Mount of Olives, and it is in Bethpage, and it sort of overlooks Jerusalem, just to give that visual of this verse,
The disciples are understanding that these signs are a parallel to the end times as well,
“His return” being Christ, will signal the end times.
I wanna ask, is anyone familiar with ESCHATOLOGY?
ESCHATOLOGY is the study of the end times. The word means “the study of last things” in Greek,
We’ve had un-labeled ESCHATOLOGY classes here in Wednesday nights, does anyone remember what chapters we’ve studied that cover the end times?
The book of Daniel, and
The Revelation, written by John
Were gonna be cross referencing some with these books to show the parallel
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
The first step before even looking for signs of the end times is DO NOT be deceived by man and mans doctrine,
James covered back in the first lesson of chapter 23, the rabbis and Pharisees were like showman, actors, and how we should not to be deceived by mans doctrine, but stick with the truth of the word of God,
But why is this the first instruction before we see signs of the end times?
If your taking notes right that question down, or keep it in the back of your mind,
False Christs Matthew 24:5-8
We’ve went over before that Christ is a title meaning what.” Messiah” or anointed one, the one who will fulfill what we need,
So take a look at verse 5,
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
So many will come in the name of our Savior and will deceive many,
I’m going to say this again, Christ means “the anointed one” the Messiah”, “the one who will fulfill our needs”
There are many religions that have “their” messiah and looking at other religions many of their “spin offs” haven’t came yet, so they think
Pay very close attention, because it is easy to point out other religions and their “anointed” ones,
But remember, the Messiah is the one who will fulfill what we need, and this gets into a very sensitive subject because I believe that this is where one of the four hidden dynasties is spoken about by Christ,
Does anyone want to take a guess at which one of the 4 hidden dynasties?
Politics,
Politics have become such a “reliant” force all around the world, to the point that our politicians have become looked at as “the ones who will fulfill our needs”
and that is a VERY VERY dangerous territory or mindset, we’ve done studies over idolatry and deception before, and it is very easy in my opinion to be deceived into putting your faith in man rather than God,
I want us to take a look at something and before I show this slide, No I am not calling any politician the antichrist,
The only reason I'm bringing this up is to show you how easily we can be deceived without even realizing it,
So if you didn’t know about it, this image here was AI generated and Donald Trump uploaded it to social media,
He later deleted the image after receiving negative feedback from it,
Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this image?
He is portraying himself as the savior of the people,
I’ve heard comments in person, from people that I quote “I don’t know how people claim to be a Christian and are democrats”
Political parties aren’t what bring salvation and peace,
And I'm not here defending EITHER political party, I’m going over all of this, because this is what Jesus is teaching on here, again what has been will be, many come and portray themselves in the name of Christ to “save this country and the people” when there is only one savior, and that is Jesus Christ,
I know many people personally who worship these political leaders like idols and have know clue their doing so,
and to be completely transparent, I was once in the same exact spot, it took biblical discernment for God to open my eyes to the mindset I had at the time,
Now I’m not saying God can’t use politicians because He does every day,
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
The powers to be are allowed by God,
, but MANY will come to “fulfill the needs of the people”
But as Christians we need to be focused on biblical aspects not so much political aspects.
Politics are very important,
I know because I work for local government,
But you have to always have discernment and keep your guard up around politics because it is very easy for corruption,
and the lesson here Christ is teaching is
Don’t let yourself be deceived by man, keep your focus on the word of God,
and you will see in these next few verses of Jesus’s teaching how closely it pertains to political forces,
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Pay close attention to that last statement, “for all these things MUST come to pass, but the end is not yet”
It is important to know what is going on in the world, but I personally don’t watch the news, and the reason is for this verse right here, “see that ye be not troubled” I’ve tried watching every news channel out there from as far right to as far left as you could get, and the reason I don’t watch it is because it gives me bad anxiety,
The majority of news now just keep up with chaos and destruction of the world, and Jesus himself clearly teaches that THIS MUST come to pass,
But the end is not yet,
and I've seen it first hand and I was falling into the trap of being engulfed by news channels,
and were going to touch on this a little more in just a second,
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Based off of the history of wars we have now, one of the most common results of war in an area are what?
Famine, think about during war times what happens? inflation due to war rations and so on,
think about pestilences, contamination and diseases, which also can contribute to famine
we see great example of that with Chernobyl, Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
and Jesus even furthers saying Earthquakes, meaning natural disasters, tsunamis, hurricanes, and we’ve all experienced first hand how much of an impact natural disasters can cause even in a small town like we live in,
And notice how these are listed,
Subjectively they increase in intensity, hunger, to deadly diseases, to natural disasters
and remember, Jesus speaks on multiple levels, this is not only Him speaking to the disciples on the destruction of the temple, but also reflecting the end times and leading up to His return.
this next verse ties all of these together.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Pretty straight forward, but there is something in this verse that I want us to break down,
The word sorrows pertains to childbirth, throe or travail. Take a look at the Greek here,
G5604 - sorrows (o-deen’) = (akin to G3601-grief) a pang or throe, especially of childbirth:— pain, sorrow, travail.
Let’s read that verse in translation,
“all these things are the beginning of “birth-pains”
Why is the word that is used to describe the leading up to the end times related to childbirth?
I want us to take a look at Romans here, specifically Romans chapter 8 starting at verse 19,
What is taking place here is Paul speaking to the Christians in Rome which were made up at this time of Jews and Gentiles.
For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
First of all, what is Paul speaking of when he says “the creature waiteth”? What is the creature?
That word creature is G2937 “ktisis” meaning creation, or created
James actually touched on this in chapter 23 in the first section saying “the Creator is always greater than the creation”
What this verse is saying here is ALL creation looks for the appearance and coming of the sons of God,
and “sons of God”, sons meaning the kinship of God, in other words His thumbprint
So ALL of creation looks for the kinship of God, the Supreme Divine God, the word “thehos” in the Greek
For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
ALL creation is subject to sin NOT willingly, but by reason...
What does that mean, “by reason”? lets keep reading.
Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
There we see that spiritual lineage being spoken of again through adoption, “delivered from bondage into the children of God”
We all should know how creation is delivered from bondage which is sin into the freedom of God as His children,
How is that? (ask someone)
Jesus Christ
And remember, Paul is speaking to both Jews and Gentiles here,
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
This is the point I wanted to get to here for Matthew,
All creation suffers in pain together until when?
The day of the Lord, Christ’s 2nd coming and we are transformed as the children of God,
Both Jew and Gentile, being adopted into that spiritual lineage,
look at what word Paul uses for suffering? “travaileth”
the same description of the word “sorrows” in Matthew 24:8 which through translation means what? the painful process of Labor and childbirth.
Matthew is documenting Jesus saying that all these sorrows of wars, pestilances, famines, nations rising against nations
has to take place but not to worry because the end is not yet, and again they intensify in order,
but why is this described as labor pains, even in Romans, Paul documents ALL creation goes through labor or childbirth pains together until the day of the Lord?
Men can’t have birth pains?
Everyone turn with me back to Genesis chapter 3, starting at verse 16,
Remember God’s plan ties together perfectly, all creation looks toward His thumbprint, there is a reason Jesus uses the word for sorrow meaning “labor or childbirth”
Genesis 3:16 this is after the sin was committed in the garden,
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
That word “sorrow” here is H6093 in the Strongs,
H6093 - sorrow (‘itsisabown) = worrisomeness, that is, labor or pain
The byproduct of sin here wasn’t just as the physical pain of childbirth but also to GREATLY multiply in worrisome through conception AND raising them,
and take a look at Adam,
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
The same sorrow that we see in the previous verse here, that result from sin in the beginning of this world age,
We are born into this sorrow that has been since the beginning which was a result of the sin in the garden, that is why through translation, these sorrows all tie together on multiple levels,
and what Jesus is telling them in Matthew and what is a direct reflection in Romans, is that Yes we are born into sin and corruption in this world age, but FEAR NOT because the end is yet to come, there is nothing new under the sun, we have been living with these same worrisome troubles and corruption since the fall in the garden,
James went over this in one of his early lessons in Genesis,
Words mean something right?
Stop referring to the 3rd world age or the kingdom of Heaven as the “afterlife”
It isn’t “after” life it is ETERNAL life, without that sorrow of worrisome through labor
What we are living now is the first chapter, like the “preliminary”
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
This is divine prophecy written by John which directly describes what Christ is speaking of here in Matthew 24,
The end is yet to come while we are still living in these sorrows,
the end is when God wipes all these sorrows away, and makes ALL THINGS new,
But again, what does birth pains have to do with all of this,
I wanna speak to the mothers for just a second,
and No I've never went through pregnancy and labor, but I’ve witnessed it firsthand with my wife,
Carrying and growing a child inside you is pretty uncomfortable right?
the further along you get the more uncomfortable it becomes?
and then what happens towards the end of your pregnancy?
you start contracting, that pain starts intensifying, and then your contractions start getting more frequent and longer, and more painful, your going into labor, that “sorrow” intensifies, the pain becomes almost unbearable,
and then, you hear that babies first breath,
and again, I've never delivered a baby, but the majority of mothers say what?
Does anyone want to speak on it?
The majority of mothers say “it was ALL worth it”
Holding that life that God has trusted you with WELL surpasses the pain and sorrow you had to go through to reach that point,
And that is why that word “sorrows” pertains to childbirth,
These things MUST come to pass but the end is not yet, and the outcome at the end WELL surpasses the suffering it took to get there,
and just like it is written in revelations, in the end, God wipes away the tears and ALL is made new.
God’s thumbprint for this life in the flesh is written in women's pregnancy, being born of water
The wars, rumors of wars, pestilences, natural disasters, all intensifies to the tribulation period, just like pregnancy and contractions until delivery,
and when we are born again all that pain, and suffering will be done away with, tears will be wiped away, and ALL will be new,
and going back to Matthew 24,
This is what Jesus is teaching the disciples about what to look for in the end times,
Conclusion,
I’ve heard this my entire life, and my grandfather has heard it his entire life, every time something bad happens in the world everyone always says
“We’re getting close” the end is coming we aren't far,
Matthew 24:6 Jesus clearly states that these things MUST come to pass, but the end is not yet so don’t trouble yourself,
and I'm speaking with me included here,
We get so focused on the end times in this flesh life, that we forget the importance of the matter,
strive everyday to live the way Jesus teaches us to live and doing it all for the glory of God,
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
As Christians and being adopted into the children of God, we have to stop focusing on all the negativity around us, and focus on living for God,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
James covered that verse last chapter, and I think it perfectly pertains to this as well,
“Stop focusing so much on the little things that we forget about the bigger picture,”
Life with God in the kingdom of heaven has no comparison to the little troubles we face here on Earth, these troubles MUST come to pass and no man can fulfill the needs of the people other than God himself,
Beware of the false prophets, that's in Matthew chapter 7
There will be many who come in the name of the Messiah and will deceive many, that is Matthew 24:5
2nd Corinthians Paul warns us about false apostles and deceitful workers who disguise themselves as followers of Christ,
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Satan himself and all of his workers in the end times will portray himself as Christ, BEWARE
but look at verse 15,
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
No matter how Satan and the principalities of darkness try and portray themselves in this flesh age, I quote, “it is no great thing”
Why is it no great thing?
because like it says at the very end of this verse, their end WILL be according to their works.
All of the evil in this world will be less than a footnote of what God has in store for His children.
The “rebirth” at the end of this world age is based on what? our works and our faith,
Focusing on God throughout this life is how we are adopted into the kingdom of Heaven,
Putting faith in mankind and mans world to fulfill our needs is Idolatry, which leads to adoption as well, it leads to a spiritual lineage of wickedness.
And following politics to the point it leads to Idolatry is a VERY easy road to go down,
So again, don’t get caught up on the wickedness around us in this world age, put your faith and trust in God’s hands not man’s, and keep your focus on living the way Jesus instructs us to live because the transformation into our eternal bodies will greatly out weigh the sorrows of this world, the same way that children, greater out way the suffering of childbirth in the flesh.
Matthew Chapter 24 Part 1 (The Sorrows of the Time)
Matthew Chapter 24 Part 1 (The Sorrows of the Time)
