We're beginning to look at the Olivet Discourse, which is actually chapters 24 and 25, and you'll be glad to know we won't do this in one sermon. But it makes sense to go back and get the last of chapter 23, which is important as we lead into chapter 24. So we'll start in chapter 23 of Matthew, verse 36, and we'll go until chapter 24, verse 14. So please hear the Word of God as we read from the Gospel of Matthew. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See, your house is left to you, desolate, For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." And then chapter 24 begins with this, Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down." Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations. And then the end will come. This is the Word of God, and may God, by His Spirit, teach us and convict us according to His will. You may be seated. As we said last week when we looked at Matthew 23, which was the fifth discourse out of six, Matthew 24 and 25 represents the sixth discourse and the final discourse of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel. And if you want to remember these six discourses, you had Matthew 5-7, which was the Sermon on the Mount, and that was kingdom living, the righteous life of the members of Christ's kingdom in this world, in this age. Then with Matthew 10, we had the second discourse, and you might call that kingdom mission, where Jesus equipped and sent out workers into the harvest, preparing them for the persecution that would come, and it was a picture to us as well. Then in Matthew 13, the third discourse would have been the kingdom parables. The parables of the soils, the wheat and tares, the mustard seed, the leaven, the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price, and the dragnet. Then in Matthew 18, I'd like to call that the life in the kingdom, whereas the Sermon on the Mount was kingdom living. This is life in the kingdom. It's the relational life of the members of Christ's kingdom within the church. And then last week we looked at Matthew 23. The fifth discourse, which was maybe you could call it kingdom rejection, maybe even kingdom judgment. It was where Jesus pronounced judgment upon the leaders and Israel herself for their cumulative disobedience and rejection of God and His prophets, and soon the prophet, rejecting His grace and mercy and their insistent impenitence. And Jesus is pronouncing judgment, but he's also prophetically pronouncing judgment. And he even ends, as we read at the end of chapter 23, he ends this seven woes that he gave with a lamentation. And he ends with prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in that last section that we read even this morning. And that brings us to Matthew 24 and 25, which is often called the Olivet Discourse. It's Jesus speaking to the disciples privately on the Mount of Olives. And so maybe you could call this Kingdom Future. Kingdom Future, because he's speaking of things that are going to occur. Some things that he sets a timeline on, it's going to occur in 40 years. Other things that he says it's going to come in a time that you will not know, you cannot expect. And so we're dealing with eschatology. We're dealing with future things. And so there's no outline in your bulletin, but the outline would be very simple. This is an introduction to the Mount of Olives discourse. So the first two points will be, eschatology is important, and eschatology is simple. Eschatology is important. Why even study this? but eschatology is simple. And maybe you could put a question mark on the end of that, eschatology is simple? At least it's simpler than it's made out to be. That's the first two points. We want to get an overview of some simple things of eschatology, the study of the end times of the things to come. But then the next two points are similar. It would be the Olivet Discourse is important, and the Olivet Discourse is simple. You see the pattern. There's important and there's simple. Important and there's simple. And maybe if I had a friend, he would be important and I would be simple. But the Olivet Discourse is important, means it's something we need to study. There's something very important about this passage. But then the Olivet Discourse is simple. Again, it's something there's lots of debate about and arguing about. And yeah, there's some difficulties in it. But I think just like eschatology, there's some simplicity to it that makes it not so scary. So that's our four points that we'll look at. So we're gonna go from the broad view to the more specific view, and then next time we come back to 24 and 25 and Matthew, we'll start walking through it. There won't be a lot of walking through the passage today. So first of all, eschatology is important. Eschatology is important. The question probably needs to be asked, what is eschatology? And it's not Sunday school, so I can't expect you to answer. What is eschatology? Well, it's the study of the end things, or the last things. The study of the end times, or the study of the last things. And then maybe the next question would be, why does eschatology scare people, or even make them angry when they talk about it? Ever notice that? Well, part of it is that there's so many views, aren't there? And how can you know who's right if there's so many views? And when someone really studies it, or maybe they have their favorite teacher that they adore, then they really invest some time into a certain view. And if you say something that maybe is contrary to what they would think, then they might get a little bit heated about it because this is important to them. But often, if we're honest, we really believe what we believe about eschatology because of who we hang with, who we listen to, maybe the church we're in, or the tradition we come from, And then we have things like a pre-trib rapture, a post-trib rapture, there's even a mid-trib rapture view, and then there's even the thought there is no rapture. Pre-millennial? Are you post-millennial? Are you all-millennial? And so then people come up with things like, I'm a pan-trib, or a pan-millennial. And it kind of makes me groan, because it really sounds like my brain hurts from thinking about this and arguing, and it feels like I've had a pan hit me upside the head, and therefore I'm not going to talk about it anymore. But we must think about it. It's important stuff. And so when we're thinking about the importance of eschatology, first of all, what are the things that we must agree upon? There are some things that if you want to be a Christian, you must agree on some things. And simply put, you must agree that Christ is coming again, physically. This is important, unless you want to be in heresy. Christ is coming again physically, and when He comes, there's going to be a physical resurrection of all. Both the sinners and the saints. And for those who have repented and believe, those who are resurrected, they'll be given glorified bodies to be like that of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They'll be made like Him. They'll see Him as He is. This is a glorious time for the Christian. But it also means there's judgment. There's final judgment. This has to be believed. because the Bible is clear about it. And it's all part of the Gospel. There's final judgment. There's going to be sheep and goats even at the end of the Olivet Discourse. That's what Jesus speaks of. There's going to be sheep and goats. And the sheep will be ushered into the eternal state of heaven. And the wedding feast of the Lamb, the goats with their resurrected bodies joined to their souls will be cast into the outer darkness of hell forever. Those are issues, those are perhaps five things, the return of Christ, the physical resurrection of all Christians being given glorified bodies, a judgment, and then the eternal state of heaven and hell. Those are things that you must agree with, else you're in heresy. You're denying what the scripture teaches and what Christ taught and what the gospel says. So those are things you must agree with, but why is the rest of it important? Well, eschatology is important because it sets forth what the Gospel promises. Eschatology is important because it teaches of the completion of the Gospel. Eschatology is important because it has to do with God's chief purpose in bringing the Gospel to us and providing the Gospel to us. Christ came to destroy the work of the devil, which was begun in the Garden of Eden in the very beginning, And He came then to destroy the work of the devil and to redeem for Himself His people from all the effects that were introduced in the garden at that time. And to redeem creation from its bondage of sin as well. And the result then of this Gospel of Christ is a perfected church with a perfected relationship with their God and a perfected creation as well. That's why eschatology is important because it talks about these things. It's the whole goal and end of the Gospel itself. A pastor by the name of Max Dohner said this, Eschatology is about the defeat of Satan's destructive purposes and the victory of God's redemptive purposes. Eschatology is about the final triumph of the cross over sin and Satan and their utter defeat through the saving work of Christ. In short, eschatology is simply the conclusion and outcome of the gospel and its final vindication and triumph. Therefore, it's very important, and we should study it and embrace it and have all of the warnings and the readiness and the joys that can flow from that. Now, if we had time, and we don't, we could look at several passages of Scripture that actually put these things together. But I'll just give you one. If you look at Acts 3, starting in verse 18, this is the second preaching of the Gospel after Christ's ascension. You have the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost. And in chapter 3, you have it again. So it's kind of important. It's in the very beginning. In Acts 3, verse 18, Peter's preaching. He says in verse 18 of Acts 3, But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled." He's saying prophecy has been fulfilled in Christ. The Messiah has come. He's lived and died. He's suffered. But he continues, "...repent therefore and be converted." And I would repeat the same thing as Peter 2,000 years ago. "...repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." That's good stuff. so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." And you think, well, what is that? We're now looking ahead to the end, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. The Gospel is culminated in Christ's return in a time of refreshing and restoration where all things are made right. And until we get to that point, we're not done. And we're not happy completely. We could be happy along the way, but we're not as happy as we're going to be. So that's just one example. You think of 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection chapter, right? But what does it start off with? description of the gospel and the whole rest of the chapter speaks about the end where there's resurrection and judgment. Think of Romans chapter 8. The culmination of the preaching and the teaching of the Gospel itself in Romans 1-7 is then culminated in Romans 8, and you have a presentation of eschatology. When the sons of God are redeemed fully in soul and body, and so is the creation, and creation groans waiting for that time when Christ returns and all things are made right. And you can even say, as you go later maybe in Romans 9-11, you have more eschatology being said there on top of all of this with the Gospel. So my point is that eschatology is important. Can we at least agree with that? And we need to study eschatology. And we should want to study eschatology. And so when we look at the Mount of Olives discourse, we will have to look at these things, and it should be a joy to do so. My second point is, eschatology is simple. And maybe you say, simple? Really? Did he just say eschatology is simple? Well, the point is, it's simpler than it is made out to be. Which makes sense. Over 2,000 years, there's a lot of baggage that kind of that piles up on these sorts of teachings. Because we can't help but look at the Scripture and the teaching of the end times at the same time without looking at the newspaper. Things are happening in our neighborhood and see what is going on. It must be this. This must be something. And so we have things we build on. But it's simpler than it's made out to be. And at least there are some simple foundational truths that if you understand, the rest of it is a lot easier. So there's two things that I want to explain. And they're simple. There are simple things that I think make the understanding of the Olivet Discourse, but eschatology in general, a whole lot simpler. There's two things. The two things are this. One, there are two ages. Two. Not seven dispensations, but there's two ages. And secondly, we are now living in the last days. So it helps to understand the two ages, and it helps to understand what are the last days. With the two ages, the Bible consistently teaches of two distinct ages. And we see this throughout the Scripture. There's this present age, and then the age to come. Write that down. This present age, and the age to come. That's it. There's the world now, and what? The world to come. And with that understanding, you don't have to worry so much about different dispensations or different groups of people being secluded at different times and doing different things. You don't have to be worried so much about millennial kingdoms, even tribulations and those sorts of things. There's two ages. If there's two ages, that means whatever the millennial kingdom is, whatever the millennium is in Revelation chapter 20, it fits in one age or the other. And so there's this age, and the age to come." This might be redundant, but I think when you hear it, it makes you think, oh yeah, I knew that, but I hadn't really thought about that. If you look at Matthew 12, I'll give you some examples of this quickly. But in Matthew 12, verses 31 and 32. Matthew 12, verses 31 and 32. This is the context of the scribes and Pharisees are saying, well, he casts out demons by Beelzebub. And that's not something that's good to say about Christ, that he's doing things by the power of Satan. So, in response, we're talking about the unpardonable sin, which, specifically speaking, is attributing the works of Christ to the works of Satan. It could also be the idea that, at some point, your heart is so closed that there's nothing else to do for you. But that's the context, so in Matthew 12, verse 31, Jesus says, therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. And in verse 32, anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. There you have it, either in this age or the age to come. You can look at Mark 10, verses 29 and 30. Mark 10, verses 29 and 30. And what you have in Mark 10, starting verse 29, you have results after the incident with the rich young ruler who comes forward and he thinks, well, what can I do to be saved? I've kept all the commandments. And Jesus says, well, no, you haven't. Give up everything and follow me. He doesn't want to do that because he hasn't kept all the commandments. He's still in his sin. And he doesn't want to give up anything to follow Christ. But then remember the disciples are saying, well, how can anybody be saved if rich people have a hard time getting saved? This guy can't be saved. So that's the context. And so Jesus is saying, for those who do give up all and follow Me, their words are great in this life, but they're even greater in the next. So in Mark 10, verse 29 and following, He says, Assuredly, I say to you, Jesus does, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My sake in the Gospels. Jesus says, if you want to follow Me, you have to be willing to leave everything else, and even hate your mother and father, and your own family. V. 30, "...who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time..." In other words, you'll receive much blessing even so, even greater blessings, "...in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children, lands with persecutions..." You get a whole new family in this life that's even greater. "...and in the age to come, eternal life." So he says, when you're giving up for me in this life, it's in this time you will have blessings, but then in the age to come you have eternal life and you have even greater blessings. And so you have this time and the time to come, or this age and the age to come. Look at Luke chapter 20. And you can look at verse 34, and this actually is a parallel passage to what we looked at when Jesus had the three questions. And one of the questions was by the Sadducees. This is in Luke chapter 20, we're gonna look at verse 34. But in Matthew, we saw a few weeks ago, and the Sadducees said, well, you know, get this case where there's a woman, and she's actually married seven times, so in heaven, who's she married to? After the resurrection, because they didn't believe in the resurrection. So it's the same thing, but here's Luke's account of that, in Luke chapter 20, starting in verse 34, and he's saying the same things, that there's no marriage in heaven, because what, it's a different age than this age, and so in verse 34, in Luke chapter 20, the sons of this age, this current time, marry and are given in marriage, and it's a good thing, but those who are counted worthy to attain that age, in other words, those who are worthy to attain the resurrection, have eternal life, that age versus this age, and the resurrection from the dead, he's clarifying what that age means, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. So you see in this passage you have sons of this age and you have sons of the resurrection. You have those who are of this age and those who are of that age to come. It's the same thing. We could go on and on, but I can see by the looks on your faces we've had enough. But if you just let me read some things really quickly, because I think the repetition starts putting thoughts... I knew that, I've heard that, but I hadn't thought about that before. In Romans 8, verses 16-18, you have another passage like that. Romans 8, verses 16-18. But in verse 18 it says, Paul says, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So you have the present time versus the glory to come. That age. In Ephesians 1, at the end of Ephesians 1, glorious passage speaking of Christ who is raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places. In Ephesians 1.21, Paul continues with this, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come." So Christ reigns supreme in this age. In that age it is to come. Titus 2, verses 11-13. Titus 2, verses 11-13. Here Paul says, "...for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in..." the present age, and oftentimes the present age is the evil present age, or this present evil age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. We have this present age, but we're looking forward to that age, where the glory and hope is revealed and known in the age to come. And finally, this is the last one, you can have a sigh of relief, in 1 Timothy 6, verses 17-19, In 1 Timothy 6, verses 17-19, Paul is concluding his letter to Timothy. He says, not to be haughty. We have a tendency to really hang on to our stuff in this present age, and one of the keys of this eschatology that teaches us not to grasp onto the things of this present age so much, because it really doesn't matter. We can actually grasp onto the things of this coming age, even in this age. That's even far better. But he says, command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let these rich people do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come." For the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. So, we're rich in this present age. Handle it well as you're looking forward to the treasures in heaven in the time to come. So, You get the picture. There's this age and the next age, the present age and the age to come, this time and the time to come. That's a simplicity of the scripture that I think is important for eschatology. And again, it means that any thought of a millennial time has to fit in one age or the other. And again, it keeps us from needlessly dividing up into peoples and time periods throughout history to try to find some other kind of a strange thing. So there's two ages, and then quickly there's the last days. The two things of simplicity in eschatology is there's two ages, but then there's the last days. And the other simple thing is, in this age, we are currently in the last days. And we have been for 2,000 years. When the Bible speaks of the last days, it means from the time from Jesus' first advent to his second advent. It's the final part of this age. In fact, they call this the inter-adventual era, which is kind of hard to say, and even to spell a little bit funny. But this age that we're in can be seen as a progression of covenants. If you meld it down to its bare minimum, we have the Old Covenant, which then gives way to the New Covenant, and there's no more covenants to come. We're in the Last Covenant, which is the last days. It's the New Covenant that was established by the blood of Christ. And He's coming again when He comes again in judgment. at the resurrection, we're done. The last days are over. We're ushered from this age to the next age. You could be even more complex. There's the Adamic, the Noahic, the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, the Davidic covenants as you're going through the Old Covenant. But then when Christ comes, He establishes the New Covenant in His blood, which we're in if you're a Christian. And all that remains in these last days is we're waiting for Christ to come again. And we eagerly are ready and waiting according to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 24 and 25 for His return. And then the last days will be complete and this present evil age will be over. And then the resurrection and judgment occurs and we cross from this age to the final age of glory. So, eschatology is important. It's the culmination of the Gospel. Eschatology is simple in the sense that there actually are some simple foundational things that make it make more sense. Two ages in the last days. Are we good? Now we can start looking at the Olivet Discourse. And the Olivet Discourse is important, and it also has a simplicity to it that we will see today, as we look at least at an outline of it. When we think about the Olivet Discourse being important, why do you think the Olivet Discourse is important? Well, I think there's three things. The first thing is that outside of the book of Revelation, I think it's the longest section of eschatology. In the New Testament, there's nothing like it, where Jesus Himself is explaining the things to come. And next to the Sermon on the Mount, it's the longest discourse of Christ in Matthew, and perhaps even in the Gospels. And if you look at the parallel passages of Luke 21 and Mark 13, it's a marvelous section of Scripture. It's marvelous for two things. It's marvelous in its stunning prophecy of A.D. 70, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which I think Jesus perfectly predicts will happen in 40 years. A generation is 40 years. And He's saying this in A.D. 30, and in A.D. 70, judgment comes on Jerusalem. That's a hidden, stunning prophecy that we don't make much of. Secondly, it's marvelous in its teaching and its prophecy of the second coming and the judgment of Christ. And it helps us to understand it, and it helps us to know what our response should be now as we look forward to it. So there's two things. It's the A.D. 70 judgment, but then there's the second judgment. The A.D. 70 judgment that comes at a time we do know. The specific second coming judgment, we don't know when it's coming. But we're to be ready. And so it's important because of the prophecy of AD 70 and the second coming and judgment. So at this point, I want you to remember the context of how we got here. We started in chapter 23, but you remember what we looked at in chapters 21 and 22? Chapters 21 and 22, you had the three symbolic actions of Christ, the three parables of the kingdom, and then the three questions that he answers. Three symbolic actions. He entered into Jerusalem as Messiah. There's the cleansing of the temple. Then there's the cursing of the fig tree. And we said the culmination of that is, it's symbolic of the judgment against the leaders of Israel and Israel herself for their fruitlessness and their disobedience. Then you have the three parables of the kingdom. The two sons. Remember the first son said, yeah, I'll go work, but he doesn't. The second son says, I don't want to. No, but he does anyway. And that led into the parable of the wicked vinedressers that were leased the vineyard, but they killed the owner's servants and his own son, and then judgment was going to come upon them. And then the third parable of the wedding feast with the king's son getting married. And within that, the judgment was spoken of this way, that the king sent his army and he burned their city. And this is looking again towards the judgment on the leaders of Israel, and Israel herself, for their impenitence and their rejection of the prophets, and even Jesus himself, that the city was going to be burnt. Speaking of AD 70. So Jesus is setting us up for this. And then we had the three questions to Jesus, where they're trying to trap him with trick questions, but he rebukes and corrects their view of the Messiah, the law, the resurrection, the kingdoms. And so from that point then, the leaders left Jesus alone and He was there speaking to the crowds and His disciples still in the temple area. And that led us to Matthew 23, which was last week. The seven woes where He pronounced prophetic judgment against the leaders in Israel. Judgment and cumulative wrath of God was going to be meted out on this generation, which means in 40 years, in AD 70, And we read that at the beginning of the sermon. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon you in this generation. And he says, see, your house is left to you desolate. Your house, your city, your temple is going to be destroyed because of the cumulative effects of the blood of the prophets on your hands. And soon the blood of the prophet would be on their hands. And so Matthew chapter 21 through 23 sets the context of a general final judgment to come at an unknown time, but then a specific local judgment to come in this current generation, which was the destruction of Jerusalem. The other important thing about this Olivet Discourse, I want to wait to the close. The other important thing about this Olivet Discourse is that there are important warnings to sinners. and exhortation and encouragement to the saints. We'll come back and we'll close with that. It seems like a good way to close. So the two important things especially are that there's the prophecy of A.D. 70 and the second coming of judgment, but then there's the warning to those who refuse Christ and the exhortation and encouragement to those who know Him. So now we're to the last point. The Olivet Discourse is simple. The Olivet Discourse is simple? Well, again, just like with eschatology, it's simpler than it's made out to be. If you understand the idea of there being two ages, this age and the age to come, that's it. If you understand the idea of the last days, that we are in the last days between the first advent and the second advent. If you understand that what's coming is then to be teaching of a local judgment on Israel, and then the final unknown judgment, we're not knowing when that's going to come. then yes, it's reasonably simple to understand the basics of the Olivet Discourse. And then to apply them, which is kind of an important thing too. There's still some difficulties and some parts we can argue about, but generally it doesn't have to be so hard to read through Matthew 24 and Matthew 25. And so there's two key things, then, to understanding the Olivet Discourse. Two key things. I know you're all excited now. You actually want to look at the Scripture in Matthew chapter 24. But there's two key things. And the two key things are, first of all, the disciples' question and Jesus' answer in the first three verses. That sets the stage for the whole discourse. The disciples question and Jesus answers. But the second key thing is the idea of a cyclical recapitulation of information in prophecy. Sometimes it's called prophetic foreshortening as well. We'll talk about that. But what you have in the Mount of Olives discourse is similar to the book of Revelation where it's not just a linear connecting of dots from one to the other. The book of Revelation is best understood as seven cycles A description of what's going to happen, but every time there's a new cycle, more information is given, and then by the time you're done, you get the whole picture. I think the Olivet Discourse is best understood as three cycles. He's saying the same things in general three times, with more information every time. So the first key, the disciples' question and Jesus' answer. Please look at Matthew 24, verse 1. Let's read verses 1 through 3, because this is the key. What's the setting for the whole rest of His discourse? In Matthew 24, verse 1, Remember, temple doesn't mean they're actually sitting in the temple, but it's the temple area. So, Jesus went out, Matthew 23 was His last presentation to the public. Now, He's going to speak privately to His disciples. And then after this is over, there's going to be the arrest, and we know the rest of the story. So Jesus went out and departed from the temple. And His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. Now you can understand what it is. When Herod rebuilt and added more to the temple, it was a magnificent structure. And can you imagine the disciples saying, look at that! This is amazing! Look at that! Jesus, look at this temple and the buildings. This is great! Look at how big it is, and how shiny it is. So Jesus uses that in verse 2, and he says, Do you not see all these things? Yeah, I see. Do you see all that too? Look at it. You look at all this. Assuredly I say to you, which means, listen up, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. The temple was the idol of the Jews. This is where God's presence is. This is the center of everything. For this temple to be destroyed would be the end of the world to the Jewish nation, literally. This is what they would think. And the destruction of Jerusalem was awful, if you read about it, what occurred to the Jewish people and what happened to the city and the temple. But Jesus said, do you not see all these things? I say to you, not one stone will be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. That would be shocking to the disciples. And now He sat on the Mount of Olives. Now they're actually outside the city. They're on the Mount of Olives. And the disciples came to Him privately. I'm sure they're thinking, what did He just say? We've got to talk to Him about this. So privately they say, well, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Now the question, is this one question? Is this two questions? Is this three questions? They say, when will these things be? He just said this temple is being destroyed. And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Remember, we just talked about one age and the next age. There's this age and there's the next age. They're speaking about that themselves. I think a key to the Olivet Discourse is this. The disciples' question wrongly assumes that the destruction of the temple is the same thing as the final judgment, which makes sense if you're Jewish. If the temple is being destroyed, this must be the end. This must be the same time as when Christ returns and the end is here. They have it tangled together that this destruction and all these stones being torn down is going to be the end of the age when Christ returns and there's final judgment. Something that horrific had to be associated with the final judgment and the second coming in their mind. But they were wrong. It was not the same thing. And so one of Jesus' main purposes of the Olivet Discourse was to show them that they were wrong. No, it's not the same thing. And so he's contrasting and clarifying the differences between the judgment and A.D. 70 that they will know is coming, he said, in this generation, and then the final judgment, which he says it will come at a time you don't know. And so I think that's a key thing. When he says this generation, that indicates he's now talking about A.D. 70's judgment. When he speaks about an unknown hour, he's speaking mostly about the final judgment then. And even if you look at, say, verses 34 and 36, to give an example of that, If you look at verses 34 and 36, in Matthew 24, Jesus says, assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. He's talking about the judgment on Jerusalem. The generation and generation is generally 40 years. The generation we have today will not pass away until the judgment on Jerusalem occurs. But as the days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. But then now look at verse 36. But here is a contrast to what he just said in verse 34. But of that day and hour no one knows. Now he's speaking about the final judgment. Not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as those days of Noah were, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. So that's an example of how we're contrasting the judgment of Jerusalem versus the coming judgment that will come in an unknown time. I think that's a key thing. And even in the first cycle, if you will, at one point in verse 6 he says, but the end is not yet. He's saying, this isn't the end yet, but then at the end of this first cycle in verse 14 he says, then the end will come. Now that we've talked about AD 70, now there will be an end that comes after that. So I think that's an important thing. The key, number one, is that the disciples question and Jesus' answer tells us He's talking about clarifying A.D. 70 versus the final judgment. The second key, which then gives us an outline to the passage, is that Jesus uses cycles or recapitulation. It means you're saying something, but every time you say the same thing, you're adding more to it. So at the end, you've got a bigger picture. And again, I think that's how the book of Revelation is best understood. But it also uses the idea of prophetic foreshortening. Has anybody ever heard of prophetic foreshortening? Prophetic foreshortening is the idea of having two mountains. You have two mountains and you're looking straight on them and they look like they're right close to each other. And they look like the tops line up. But if you could go along the side, they're actually way apart. It's just that when you're lined up in front of them, it looks like they're the same thing. You got that? So that's the idea of prophetic foreshortening, and maybe an example of that is Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7. A child is born and a son is given. So we're talking about the birth of Christ, but then it says, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and the throne of David. Now we're talking about something more, and so in Isaiah 9, you have both the first advent and the second advent in the same breath. And so you can't necessarily blame the Old Testament readers of not catching all of that. But we can understand that now. So it's a prophetic foreshortening that both of these things are seen at the same time, but they're not. I think you have other examples of that as well. Acts chapter 2 is the day of Pentecost. It's the fulfillment of Joel, but it's only partially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. It's fully fulfilled in the final judgment. So I think you have a combination of cycles. And you have this prophetic foreshortening where you have things being said about the same time, but they're actually two different things. And that's what makes this hard in the Olivet Discourse is trying to separate the two out. But I think they can be done. I think the best way to do that is to look at the Olivet Discourse as three cycles. The first cycle would be Matthew 24, verses 4-14. And we read that this morning. And what you have in Matthew 24, verses 4-14 Especially through verse 13, it describes, yes, the time between what He is saying and when Israel is judged in A.D. 70, but it's also describing the whole inter-adventual period. From Jesus' time at the first advent to when He comes again. And so when we're reading about wars and rumors of wars and famines and pestilences, we're in that now. This is not something to be looking forward to. Okay, now Jesus is coming because this event happened. What Jesus is describing is the rest of this age until He returns, we're going to have that. And you see part of that being in verse 6. He says, but the end is not yet. He's saying, I'm describing things, but that's not going to be the end. There's going to be more. It extends until I come again. And then in verse 14 he says, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. So that verses 4-14 of cycle 1, we're talking about the inter-adventual period. We're emphasizing what's going to happen between AD 30 and AD 70, but then when it says the end will come now, we're actually nibbling at this actual second coming, which is the second event that we don't know when that's coming. That's cycle number one. Now cycle number two would be verses 15 through 31. And with cycle number two, verses 15 through 31, the bulk of that is speaking about what's going to be happening between now and AD 70, actually focusing on AD 70. Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet, and it's interesting if we had time, we'll do this later, but if you look at Luke chapter 20, 21, I'm sorry, verses 20 through 24, there's a parallel passage in Luke chapter 21, verses 20 to 24. And he clarifies things that even Matthew doesn't say about the same passage, saying at that time, the armies will be surrounding Jerusalem and Jerusalem will be sacked. And it's describing A.D. 70. And so what we have is from v. 15-28, it's specifically looking at A.D. 70. And in verse 27, you have a hint then of turning to the end, the very end, where it says, And so will be the coming of the Son of Man for whoever the carcass is, and there the eagles will be gathered together. And in verse 29 then, now we move into the final judgment, immediately after the tribulation of those days. Now maybe that's troublesome to you. It shouldn't be. That's eschatology language. The next event then is the second coming of Christ, even if it's going to be 2,000 years. But it's also, immediately after the tribulation of those days, it means those days, like we just said, from Christ's first advent to His second advent. The sun will be dark and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven. The powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. This is obviously verses 30 and 31 speaking about the coming of Christ in glory. That's cycle 2. And then cycle 3. begins in verse 32. We read part of that, the first part speaking of this generation. And in verse 36 we start talking about the day and hour that nobody knows of when Christ returns. What's interesting with the rest of this third cycle, The ending of chapter 24, it says it's like in the days of Noah. Watch therefore, because you don't know when He's coming, be ready. Be the faithful and wise servant, not the wicked servant who's not ready for his Master to return. Then chapter 24 speaks about the wicked servant who's not ready when Christ returns. It says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then in chapter 25, we have basically three parables, or at least two parables in the story. We have the wise and the foolish virgins. Remember, five had enough oil and they had their wicks ready. And so when the bridegroom came, they were able to go in and the door was shut. But the other other five said, well, please help us. We weren't ready. And the door is shut. And he says, I never knew you. Depart. Then you have the parable of the talents. The one who was given five, the one who was given two, the one who was given one. And the one who had five and two, they took the talents, the stewardship of what God gave them, and they had the sword and the trowel. But they had the trowel, they were actually working in the kingdom. And it brought fruit. When the Master comes back, He says, Thy good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. But the one who had one talent, and he didn't, he just hit it. He said, well, I knew you were a hard master, so I just hit here. Here, I'll give it back to you. He says, you wicked and lazy servant. He's cast into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then the very end of chapter 25 then is Jesus is the great and good and chief shepherd, and He has all of people gathered, and the goats on the left and the sheep on the right. And the sheep are commended He said, when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was sick, you helped me. And they said, well, when did that happen? Well, every time you did this to your brethren, you did it to me. And so those who are actually then active and even caring for their brethren as they're serving Christ in this world, there's evidence of their salvation. And they're told, come you blessed and inherit the kingdom that was given to you before the foundation of the world. But for those who didn't attend to the brethren, those who are outside the kingdom, he says, depart from me, you cursed, and enter into the everlasting fire. That's the end of the whole Olivet Discourse. So I think that's the best way we can outline this passage. I think it's good to see all of this first, so if we walk through it, you see a roadmap. And if you don't agree, that's fine, you can talk to me. But I think this is the best way to understand what we're going to look at. And it's a rich passage that's incredibly helpful for both the saint and the sinner. I would like to close then with the warnings to sinners and the exhortations to the saints that come from this passage, chapter 24 and 25. If you're outside of Christ, and you've had the Gospel preached to you time and time and time and time again, you have no excuse. Jesus' words, take heed and not be deceived, is important for you. It also means don't be destroyed in the judgment to come, for you will be. The joys of this age are what you're really looking for, but they're mirages for you. They don't satisfy you now, and it will end in judgment. The tribulations of this age are a picnic for you compared to what's to come. and the eternal judgment to come. The destruction of Jerusalem is a warning for you, it was awful. But what occurs to those who are outside of Christ when he returns is indescribably worse than what happened in reality on the judgment of Jerusalem. And Jesus says that the second coming will be like those in the days of Noah, who are eating and drinking, and Noah was building an ark, he was all being made fun of, and then the rains came, and it was over. Christ is coming in an hour you don't expect. He could come before I finish this morning. There's nothing left. And if you don't repent and believe, Jesus says, just like last Sunday, He's very plain, Jesus says, If you don't repent and believe, you'll be cast into outer darkness where there's an eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth. The door will be shut and it will not be open again. And he'll say, depart from me and do the everlasting punishment that your sin deserves. And so the only charge really is come to the Savior now before he comes at this unknown hour. for the saints, not because you're better, but because you're saved by Christ and set apart those who are saints, who have repented and believed. Take heed to what we're going to be studying in this Olivet Discourse, and do not be deceived or discouraged. There will be false prophets. There will be tribulation. There will be difficulties. There will be sorrows in this age. But our Lord is indeed returning on the clouds of heaven in power and glory with angels and with a trumpet And the elect will be gathered by our chief and great and good shepherd in vindication and victory and eternal bliss. And He'll be coming in an hour that we will not expect. So we're to be ready. We're to be watching with a sword in one hand to deal with the dealings of this world, and a trowel in the other hand to be working for the kingdom. Nehemiah 4. Come Wednesday night to hear more about swords and trowels. We'll be facing difficulties of this present evil age while we're working to build up treasure for Christ in the age to come. We're called to be like the virgins who are eagerly ready and prepared for their bridegroom to come. We're to be like the wise steward of the Lord's talents to hear, then well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. We're to be part of the sheep who are gathered to the right, who cared for their brethren, who will hear, come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray this would whet our appetite for the simplicity, but the importance of eschatology in general, but in the teaching of Jesus in his Olivet Discourse in specific. And there's really nothing else to add except for those who are outside of Christ. May this be the day of salvation for them. May they see the truth of God's Word. They've heard it. It may not be said like Jesus said in Matthew 23. You are not willing, and so judgment comes. Change their hearts, Lord, that they'd see their sin and see the beauty of Christ that He has taken the condemnation for the sinner who repents and believes. And He gives them new life and a new and wonderful eternity with Him. For we are in Christ, we pray, Lord, that we would love Him all the more. We would desire and be encouraged all the more to deal with the difficulties of this age as we long for the age to come, rejoicing in the work we have now and longing for the greater joy that we will have when He comes on that glorious day. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.