Turn with me this morning to
Matthew 24. Matthew 24, even though we will
be skipping ahead quite a bit, Our study in Daniel and our study
in Matthew meet together today. We're gonna look at both of them.
And you're gonna see why here in just a minute. Matthew 24
is a very intriguing chapter. I would venture to say that everybody
is interested in Matthew 24. I would honestly venture to say
everybody is interested in Matthew 24. And it's because the disciples
asked the Lord two questions in verse three. As he sat upon
the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying,
tell us when shall these things be? The things that he said would
happen in the first two verses. Verse two, really. But they said, when shall these
things be? And what shall be the sign of
thy coming and of the end of the world? The heading at the
top of my page for Matthew 24 says great calamities preceding
Christ's second coming. which at that point would be
the end of the world. The moment he returns, it's the
end of this world. Now, it was a little bit difficult
to know how to divide this. You know, we go through this
and as you read it and study it, you're trying to figure out
where do we stop? You know, what are we gonna look
at? It was difficult. And the reason is because there
is so much in here. There is so much in here, and
I know that we all want to hear it, and we all want to know about
it, and I don't want to just rush through it. But, and here's
the reason why it was difficult, I feel that the best way to understand
this is to see the big picture of it. That's what helped me.
In order for me to really get my mind around what our Lord
says right here, I had to read the whole chapter. and see the
big picture of what he was saying. So for this Bible study, I want
to give you the big picture. And I think about, you know,
as I do this, I think about what's the proper way to do this. We're
going to study the Bible. And my prayer is in 30 minutes,
we have an understanding of what the Lord is saying here. I want to show you this full
answer, and then we're going to come back as many times as
necessary and look at these fine details that our Lord gave because
there are just so many of them here. So look with me at verse
one. It says, and Jesus went out and
departed from the temple, the temple that he preached to the
multitudes in each day leading up to his crucifixion. He preached
his last message to the world in chapter 23. We looked at it
last week. It was a message of woe because
of idolatry and unbelief, false religion. And again, as I was
studying this, I could envision somebody asking me, when are
you going to get off of this woe of false religion? My answer
would be the moment the Lord does, the moment the Lord gets
off of it, we'll get off of it. But, uh, After he finished that
message, he left the temple, this man-made temple, which interestingly
enough, Solomon built the temple and it was destroyed. And they were all carried to
Babylon and we're looking at that in Daniel. And our Lord is about
to tell them they left and rebuilt it and it's going to be destroyed
again. But he left this man-made temple
never to return to it again. After he preached that last message,
he never returned to it again. And at that moment, the glory
departed from that place. Verse 1, Jesus went out and departed
from the temple and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the
buildings of the temple. As they were leaving, His disciples
wanted to give Him a little tour of the walls and the courtyards. of this temple. And the reason
is because it's reported that the walls were made out of solid
green and white marble blocks, huge blocks of marble. Some of the different sizes were
reported to be one, one dimension of block was 67 and a half feet
long by seven and a half feet high by nine feet deep, nine
feet thick. Another dimension was 37 and
a half feet long, 12 feet high. That is 11 feet to that peak
right there. So 12 feet high, 37 and a half
long, 12 high, 18 feet deep, 18 feet thick. These were some
big blocks of solid marble. It was something truly awe-inspiring
by man's standards. It's reported that one column
on the front porch took three grown men hand to hand to get
around that column. And there were 162 columns on
the front porch. That tells you how big this place
was. It was a great work of man. A
great sight to see, something to look to and something to be
proud of, verse two. 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. He said, every bit of this is
going to be crushed to a pile of rubble. He was not impressed. And God is not impressed with
any of man's works. God is not impressed with any
of man's works. They are all going to come to
nothing. I thought about the fact that
he could have told them, you want to see some rocks? Let me take
you through some solar systems that I made. You want to see
rocks? You impressed with rocks? I'll
take you through a few galaxies that I made with my own hands.
But verse two, 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. 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? When shall this
temple be destroyed? That's the first question. And
what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the world? That's the second question. Now,
some of these verses, it seems that he could be speaking of
either event. Some of these verses, he is clearly
speaking of one or the other. But we need to realize as we
read down through this that he is speaking to them about two
separate events. All right. Realize that. That
will help us to understand this. And we're going to see that he
goes back and forth in answering. answering them. So verse three,
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 that coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. For
many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive
many. And that could be said about
these times right now. But that also happened before
the destruction of this temple in Jerusalem. We're not going
to turn over there, but in Acts chapter 5, it tells us of two
men who fit that description. And they gained a following,
but they said it came to nothing. So it happened then, just like
it happens now. Verse 6. And you shall hear of wars and
rumors of wars. See that you be not troubled
for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Jerusalem was destroyed and that
temple was destroyed in 70 AD. And I don't really want this
to turn into a college lecture, but I think it's really interesting
to know some of this. Jerusalem and this temple and this event,
this took place in, we're in 2023, 2023. This happened in
70, 70 AD. And it happened by way of a war. Rome invaded Jerusalem. It was an awful destruction. It was an absolutely awful destruction. It was a leveling of much of
the city of Jerusalem to the point that it's reported Rome
was so mad, so angry, they literally dug up the foundations of this
temple. They knocked it down. I don't
know how. But they did. They knocked it
down and literally dug up the foundations and plowed the place
where it was so that it was known no more. There was literally
actually not one stone left standing on another. Not even one on top
of the foundation. It was gone. It was a terrible
day of destruction. But that was not the day of the
end. Verse 6. You shall hear of wars
and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled, for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation
shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and
there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All these are the beginning of
sorrows." You're going to see true sorrow take place. Then they shall deliver you up
to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake. He is speaking to his apostles
and disciples here. And that's exactly what happened
to them at that time. Just listen to this right here.
This is a report of how the apostles died. Matthew suffered martyrdom. martyred
him by being slain with a sword at a distant city of Ethiopia.
He was killed by sword. Mark expired. He died at Alexandria
after having been cruelly dragged through the streets of that city.
They tied him to a horse or a chariot or something and literally went
through the streets until he died, just drug him around the
city. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in the classic land of Greece. John, the Apostle John, he was
left on the Isle of Patmos and he died at an old age, I think
98 or something like that, 100. But he was put in a cauldron
of boiling oil. But he escaped death in a miraculous
manner and was afterwards abandoned at Patmos. Obviously, the Lord
spared him to write the book of the Revelation. But he was
dropped in boiling oil. Heter was crucified at Rome with
his head downward. He was crucified upside down.
James the Less, there were two Jameses, James and John, that's
James the Greater, and the brother of, you know, the brother of
our Lord was called James the Less. James the Greater was killed
by Herod when he killed John the Baptist. He killed James
too. So James the Less was thrown from a lofty pinnacle of the
temple, around 90 or 100 feet high, and he lived, so he was
then beaten to death with a fuller's club. Bartholomew was flayed
alive. Andrew was bound to a cross whence
he preached to his prosecutors until he died. They said that
he lived about two days and he preached the whole time he was
hanging there. Thomas was run through the body with a lance
at Coromandel in East Indies. Jude was shot to death with arrows. Matthias was first stoned and
then beheaded. Barnabas of the Gentiles was
stoned to death by the Jews at Salonica. Paul, after various
tortures and persecutions, was at length beheaded at Rome by
the emperor Nero. That happened to them at that
time exactly as our Lord said it would. Verse 10. And then
shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall
hate one another and many false prophets shall rise and shall
deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations, and then shall the end come." Does that sound familiar right now? Then shall the end come, verse
15, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso
readeth, let him understand. We're gonna look at that in our
message in just a minute. See what that means. Verse 15, when you therefore
shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, stand in the holy place. Whoso read it, let him
understand. Then let them which be in Judea
flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop
not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let
him which is in the field return back to take his clothes and
woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in
those days. But pray ye that your flight
be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then
shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except
those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved,
but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." He
said that great terror and destruction and slaughter that is going to
come to Jerusalem. He said, I will cut it short
and I will spare some so that all of Jerusalem won't be wiped
out. And he said, I'll do that for
my elect sake. God has an elect people. Thank God. Christ came to save God's elect
people and he did it. Thank God. From this, we see that our Lord
does not always save his people from the judgment and wrath of
man. He doesn't always save his people
from the judgment and wrath of man. But by the sacrifice of
himself, Christ saved his people from the judgment and wrath of
God. He did save His people from the judgment and wrath of God.
He may not always remove other men's sins against us, but by
the shedding of His own blood, He removed our own sin against
us. That's the good news. If He made eternal peace, this
temporary war, this world is so full of war, it's irrelevant. If He made eternal peace, It's
irrelevant. Thank God. He has an elect people
and he is going to save every single one of them. He's going
to save the saved. He's going to. Verse 22 says,
and except those days should be shortened. There should no
flesh be saved, but for the elect sake, those days shall be shortened. Our Lord has promised to keep
his people through the trials and the tribulations of this
life. And he's promised to keep his people in the life to come,
this world and in the world to come. Our Lord told the disciples,
he said, this is when and how the temple is going to be destroyed.
I answer your question. This is how it's going to happen.
This is what you're going to see. And then he said, this will
be the sign of my second coming in the end of this world. Verse
23, then, concerning the time and the events
of his return. Verse 23, then if any man shall
say unto you, lo, here is Christ or there, believe it not. For
there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall
show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before,
Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the
desert, go not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chambers,
believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out
of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass
is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened
and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall
from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken."
2 Thessalonians 1, 1 Peter 3, they talk about the heavens being
dissolved and it raining fire and brimstone on this world,
burning it up. Verse 29, immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, the moon
shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven,
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and there shall appear
the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. I just love the thought of this.
I get excited about his return. And I love thinking, I know that
eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard. We cannot understand or
enter into this. But I'm telling you, we have
no idea what it means that he is coming back in power and great
glory. We all envision him coming back. But what we can't get a hold
of is we're gonna know power and great glory. We're gonna
see something. that no man's ever seen before.
Power and great glory. Verse 31, and he shall send his
angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven
to the other. God has an elect people who he
has redeemed and he is going to save them in the end by gathering
them to himself. And He's going to gather them
from one end of the earth to the other. He's going to do that. But this says He's going to gather
them from one end of heaven to the other. He's going to gather those that
are already there with those that are not there yet. All of them are going to be gathered
together in Christ. Verse 32 says, All right? Concerning the destruction
of the temple. Going back to the destruction
of the temple. In this abomination of desolation, verse 32, now
learn the parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet
tender and put it forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh.
So likewise ye, when you shall see all these things, know that
it is near. even at the doors. Verily I say
unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things
be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away. He said, you are going to see
this destruction of Jerusalem and the temple with your own
eyes. This generation, it's going to
happen. My word's not going to fail.
You're going to see that. Verse 36 says, but of that day
and hour of his return in the end of this world, but of that
day and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my father only. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the son of man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them
all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall
two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other
left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be
taken, and the other left, God truly does have an elect people.
That's who Christ died for, that's who Christ is coming back for.
Verse 42, watch therefore. For you know not what hour your
Lord doth come, but know this, that if the good man of the house
had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched
and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore
be ye also ready, for in such an hour as you think not, the
Son of Man cometh. Remember that. I used to hear
that old story told of the, you know, in England or something like
that, long time ago, two men leaving their house for work
at the same time. And one of them said, my good man, do you
think the Lord will be returning today? And he said, good day,
brother. I think not. And that's what
it's going to be. We're going to wake up and go
about our day, and we're going to think it's a regular day with
many more days to come. That's exciting. It's fearful. But we need to realize that.
We need to realize that. We don't need to get caught in
the rut of Blinded life, you know, just
wool over our eyes. We need to watch, we need to
be ready in an hour that we think not the Son of Man is coming.
Verse 45, who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord
hath made ruler over his household to give them meat in due season.
Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall
find so doing, watching, waiting, looking. Verily I say unto you
that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if
that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his
coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat
and drink with the drunken, The Lord of that servant shall come
in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that
he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him
his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth." When the Lord comes back, it is going to be indescribable
glory for God's people. for God's people, but it is going
to be indescribable vengeance and woe from Jesus Christ. From Jesus Christ, it is going
to be indescribable vengeance and woe for all who are outside
of Him, all who have no need of Him. I pray that God will
create in us a desire for Christ, a desire for Christ, a desire
to watch for him and wait for him and long for him. May the
Lord through this word right here, teach us what it is to
be vigilant and sober. Let's be vigilant and sober. When he's talking about all this
drunkenness, he's not talking about alcohol. He's talking about
being drunken with the world and the false religion of this
world. We need to be vigilant and sober concerning Him, His
truth, His return. In just a moment here, we're
gonna look at what our Lord said in verse four. He said, take
heed that no man deceive you. Take heed that no man deceive
you. The consequences are just too
great. It's just too great. Lord, give us a knowledge and
a heart for Christ.