Father, we bless your name and we thank you and praise you for this day and thank you for our lives and we thank you for the gospel of your free grace. Thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ and everything that he endured and all that he suffered. His perfect righteousness, his obedience, his terrible death on the cross that bore the curse of our sin, our disobedience fully to take that away to give us full forgiveness and to justify us before you. Those who repent and have faith in him alone. And so we bless you for Saving our souls and loving us that much that you would not leave us in our sins, but that you would Come into this world and save us well, we want to pray for Virginia Tech where Charlie Kirk was supposed to be speaking this evening at 630 and just we pray for the governor of Virginia he's gonna be standing in for him and just pray for safety at that place and I'm just continuing to pray for revival and pray for your Holy Spirit to convict people of sin, to show them their great need, to be reconciled to you, to be part of a local church where the word is taught and preached and read, where the Lord's Supper and baptism are administered according to your appointments, and where church discipline is practiced. Lord, what a privilege it is to be part of your church, to have Bibles in front of us, to understand the gospel, and we do pray that you would help us to shine as lights in this world, To do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but to consider others to be better than ourselves. And to do all things without complaining, without grumbling, that we might be blameless children of God that shine as lights in this wicked and perverse generation that we live in. So help us understand what we're gonna read this evening from the inspired word and help us to understand it and grow from it and to be more like Christ because of it. We pray in his name, amen. All right, we are on Mark chapter eight, verse 28. Is that all right? Okay, all right. So we'll have that right at the very end. So Mark chapter 12, and we're gonna pick up in verse 28 here. And actually, just by way of review, let's back up to verse 18. I just want you to see this block of text here. Have you ever noticed Jesus interacted a lot more with the Pharisees than he ever did with the Sadducees? Does anyone know why that is? Because what? Yeah, the Sadducees were basically the liberals of the day. They didn't believe in an afterlife. They didn't believe in, they only believed in the first five books of the Bible. They didn't believe in the prophets and the Psalms. The Pharisees were at least conservative. They did believe that one day a Messiah was going to come. They tried to take what Scripture said seriously. You know, all of the Old Testament. So Jesus interacted a lot more with them than he did with the Sadducees. When he does interact with the Sadducees, look at verse 18, let's review this little block of text here. Some Sadducees who say that there is no resurrection, see the liberalism there, just unbelief, came to Jesus and began questioning him, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. There were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died, leaving no children. The second one married her and died, leaving behind no children. And the third likewise. And so all seven left no children. Last of all, the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had married her. Jesus said to them, Is this not the reason you are mistaken that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." Now, notice he doesn't say they are angels in heaven, right? But they're like angels in heaven. They're not married any longer. Verse 26. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses in the passage about the burning bush? What book of the Old Testament is that in? Exodus. So this would have been one of the books that the Sadducees did think was inspired. How God spoke to him saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Okay, now, when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, how long had Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob been dead? A long time, hundreds of years, right? And so, how does God speak about them here? What does he say? What tense does he use? Yeah, I, not, I was the God of Abraham. I was the God of Isaac. I was, he says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, meaning what? After they died, what happened to their souls and where are they now? They're with the Lord and they're present, they're conscious. There is an afterlife, okay, before the resurrection. So he says, I am the God of Abraham. He quotes the books of the Bible that they themselves believed in, the Pentateuch, Exodus. And then he says in verse 27, he is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly mistaken. Okay, pointing out there is conscious existence after we die. When our souls leave our bodies, that is not the end of our existence. Okay, which the Sadducees thought that it was, because they didn't believe in the resurrection, they didn't believe in angels, they didn't believe in the afterlife. As one person kind of jokingly said, they're so sad, you see. I don't want to be a Sadducee, because they're so sad, you see, right? Okay, verse 28. One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him, what commandment is the foremost of all? Verse 29, Jesus answered, the foremost is hero as Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him, right teacher, you have truly stated that he is one and there is no one else besides him and to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. And why was that remarkable that a scribe would say something like that? Because what were they all about? Getting all the details, all the sacrifices, and all the little things in the law, right? But they tended to neglect the bigger things, didn't they? But this one's recognizing, no, no, no. To love God and to love your neighbor, that's worth more than all the sacrifices of the Old Testament and all that stuff. And that covers all Ten Commandments, right? That's right. That's right. In fact, our shorter catechism, to love God and love our neighbor is the sum of the whole law. What is the sum of the moral law? And then it's expanded into the 10 commandments. But to love God, in a sense, is the first four commandments. To love neighbor is the last six commandments. So then, verse 34, when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. After that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions. Why do you think people stopped asking him questions? He was very uncomfortable. Yeah. He was pretty good at making people look pretty foolish, okay? People would try to trap him. They would try to trick him. They would try to see if they can get him to say something that would get him in trouble, and he would tie them up in knots. Okay, verse 35. And Jesus began to say, as he taught in the temple, how is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? Okay, now hang on a second. Doesn't the Old Testament say that the Messiah will be the son of David? Doesn't it say that? Where does it say that? In the Psalms? Where else? God promised David, one of your descendants, is gonna sit on a throne that's gonna last for eternity in 2 Samuel chapter seven. That's the Davidic covenant. And how is that fulfilled? How is that promise fulfilled? in Christ, who is our what? Prophet, priest, then? King. Remember what the angel told the Virgin Mary? And he will give him the throne of his father David. Okay, so the scribes were right to say the Messiah will be the son of David. But look at the Psalm he quotes here in verse 36, Jesus saying here, David himself said in the Holy Spirit, Yahweh, the Lord, said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. David himself calls him Lord, so in what sense is he his son? And the large crowd enjoyed listening to him. Now, I have sons, and I would never refer to any of them as my Lord, okay? And yet, why does David refer to him that way? Because what else is this person? He's also what? God. So Jesus is trying to get them to think, yes, that's true, he is gonna be the son of David, but David calls him my Lord. And so there's significance to that. He's trying to point out he's much more than merely a physical descendant of David. Remember the opening verses of the book of Romans, the gospel of God concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, but was also declared to be the son of God. with power by the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Okay, so you see that all the way through scripture, the Old Testament, New Testament, he is the son of David, but he's also the son of God, he's the Lord, he's the divine one, okay? Like even, remember the prophecies we looked at from the Old Testament, the prophet Micah said that the Messiah was gonna be born in Bethlehem, but his goings forth would be from of old, from everlasting. So he's also gonna be God. The prophecy is about John the Baptist, a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord, God, Yahweh is coming because that's who Jesus is. Remember the prophecy in Isaiah chapter nine, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and he shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God. Okay, so it says a child is going to be born, but he's also going to be God. So he's not merely David's physical descendant. David refers to him as my Lord. So he's much more than just that. Okay, so that's the one that you see it. It veiled somewhat in the Old Testament. It's much clearer in the New Testament, but Jesus is pointing out to them, well, how can he merely be David's son if David calls him my Lord? Because no father at this time would have called one of their sons my Lord. That's just not gonna happen. So he was constantly trying to get them to think. Think about what the Old Testament really is saying here. Okay, verse 38. In his teaching, he was saying, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes And like respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearance sake offer long prayers, these will receive greater condemnation. So are there levels of condemnation here in scripture? Degrees of punishment? Mm-hmm. I used to think, I used to always say, no, no, all sin is exactly the same. It's exactly equal in the eyes of God. That's not true. Some sin is a lot more serious than God's. What are some circumstances that make sin more serious for someone? Okay. The actual killing of a human being. Okay. Now to hate someone in your heart unjustly technically is the same as murder in the eyes of God. That is a sin, but actually doing it is more heinous. Okay, what else, what else would make sin more serious for someone? Leading another one astray, you might as well have a rope around your neck and be cast into the sea. Very good, good quotation of scripture there. If you lead someone else astray, by your example, what did Jesus say? You'd be better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the ocean. Okay, it's very serious. What are some other things? Being a teacher. What is that? Being a teacher. Being a teacher, that's right. My judgment is going to be stricter, because there's a transfer of credibility. It's like, well, I'm edumacated, so I know everything, right? But yeah, that's one thing that is kind of frightening. At times, people are just like, well, whatever you say is what I'm going to do. And I'm like, wow. If I can demonstrate to you something from scripture, yes, believe it, follow it. You're obligated to do that. But don't just believe something just because I say it or one of your favorite teachers says it. So if you're a teacher, the judgment's a bit stricter. What else makes sin more heinous? Okay. Yeah, that's right. Killing someone or sinning against someone whose rank is higher or someone who's more important or something like that, sure. It does. Yep. What are the aggravations that make some sins more heinous than others? Look up that question in the Catechism and look at all the proof texts and look at all the things they say that can make sin more heinous. Yes, sir. Yes, and that's the one here. If you've been given tons of light from God, like lots of good teaching and lots of good scripture intake, and you still refuse to bow the knee to the Lord, you're standing against even more light, the condemnation is greater for that. So, okay, yes. Blasphemy in the Holy Spirit, David? Yeah, yeah, blasphemy in the Holy Spirit, we would look at that as just a hard-hearted, final rejection of God. I think it's kind of rare, but I think people can get to that point. where they've sinned the sin unto death. They have rejected God so consistently and so radically. They've fully, thoroughly understood it and still reject it, yeah. So, yes? We joke about there being a hot place in hell for somebody or whatever. Is there, teaching in the Bible, of there being hotter places in hell for some than others? Yeah. And sin being more heinous, does that mean there's worse punishment in hell? Yes, there is. Right. Well Jesus specifically said that some will be beaten with few stripes and some with many Based on that very thing and I remember RC sprawl remember thinking about is that really there are degrees of glory and heavenly glory for rewards Based on your good works. You're not saved or justified by them But yeah, God remembers the the sacrifices and the works that we do. There's some kind of a mysterious reward It's not salvation. Okay, if he's If you've listened to me for years and you think that, you're out of your mind, okay? But it's not salvation, but there are degrees of rewards, but there are degrees of punishment too. I remember R.C. Sproul going over that, that passage where Jesus says that some will be beaten with many stripes and some with few. And he made the statement, and I really had to chew on this, because I think he is right. He said, the sinner in hell would give anything to have committed one less sin before he got there. Because what happens in hell is justice. It is pure justice for all your sins. And they would give anything to have not committed as many. So often people say, well, I've already done this. I might as well do that. No, you probably shouldn't. No, definitely shouldn't. OK? But that just misrepresented God. You know, God is like this, or God is not like this, when you know better. Yeah. Well, sure, yeah. I mean, false teaching? God's most savage rebukes in the prophets is against priests and teachers that led people astray and taught them things that were not true about him. Remember Job's, what were Job's friends' names? Bildad, Zophar, Eliphaz. Remember at the end of Job, when God comes out of the whirlwind, and God talks to one of them, one of those three friends. Remember what he says in Job 42? He actually talks to one of them, to Eliphaz, and he says, my wrath is aroused against you, Eliphaz the Temanite, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. But he's gonna pray for you so that, I think something like, so that I'm not gonna kill you. In fact, let's look at that real quick. Look at Job 42, look at Job 42. I've been actually reading, working through Job in my own Bible reading. And it's astounding, some of the things, how me and some of Job's friends are to him. But look at Job 42. Wow, let's start at verse one. Job's confession here at the end. After he's pounded with all those questions, remember he asks all those questions, God asks all those questions about Job. Or about, explain this to me, explain that to me. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Remember, that's what God said to him. When Job said, I want an audience with God. I want to know why this is happening. And God's first question is, who is this who hides counsel by words without knowledge? Therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear now and I will speak. I will ask you and you instruct me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I retract and I repent in dust and ashes. Now look at verse seven. It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, yeah, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, my wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Okay, so what Julia was just saying, if I say things about God that are false, God gets very upset about that, very angry about that. If I preach or teach things about his character or about who he is or his works or what he does that are wrong, His wrath is aroused. Now look at verse eight. Now therefore take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves and my servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly because you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has. So yeah. I've always taken that to mean he probably was gonna kill him. But Job's make this offering and I won't do to you as I was thinking about doing. Okay, so yeah, speaking about God falsely. And remember, who in Jesus' day spoke about God falsely all the time? The Pharisees, the scribes, the lawyers. I mean, they spoke things that were false about God all the time. And so his wrath was aroused against them, for sure. So yes, he did not, so back up to Mark now, look at Mark 12, 38. And in his teaching, he was saying, beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like respectful greetings in the marketplaces. Do you ever get the impression Jesus really does not like religious hypocrisy? He really, really did not like people pretending to know him when they really didn't, pretending to be on God's side when they were really, I mean, Jesus told him straight up, you guys aren't of your father, God, you're of your father, the devil, and his will you want to do. He told him straight up. Look at verse 39, and the chief seats In the synagogues and places of honor at banquets who devour widows' houses and for appearances' sake offer long prayers, these will receive greater condemnation." Because they had all that light, they had all that revelation given to them, and they still were hard-hearted against God. They seemed to care more about the opinion of the people around them to be impressed with them. Yeah. And even, think about the ways that the Pharisees conspired to try to kill Jesus. They said, If he keeps going on like this, if he keeps doing all these miracles, everyone's going to believe in him and then we're going to lose our authority. We're going to lose our place in our nation. Okay. Notice they never tried to say, well, he's not really doing miracles. It's just phony or fake or anything. They saw it and still were hard hearted. Okay. And what does that show you? Apart from God changing a person's heart, we would, we'd all be the same, wouldn't we? It wouldn't be any better. I wouldn't have done any better if I was in that position. And notice verse 40 says that they devour widows' houses. Okay, meaning they were ruthless. They would take stuff away from people. The Pharisees were drunk on money and wealth and things like that. So right after they talk about, he talks about devouring widows' houses, then you get what? This is the last little block of text here. The story of the widow's mite. Go to verse 41. And he sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury And many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amounted to a cent. Calling his disciples to him, he said to them, truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury. For they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on. Okay, just pointing out, it's the measure of sacrifice, it's not really the amount. It's the measure of sacrifice that God sees. Now, why did she give, if we all give away everything we've got to live on, then how do we sustain ourselves? Was she perhaps manipulated by, if you give enough, you'll be healed, or more money will come your way? I mean, like the televangelists. Yeah, maybe Kenneth Copeland told her to send in a love offering. Giving all you have. One thing, if you're on your deathbed, you give it all away because you're not going to need it because your household is taken care of. But if that means no meal, then you're going to have to either sit in the streets and starve or somebody else is to support you. Yeah, I think it's a wrong application to say, you must give away everything you own every time an offering plate comes in front of you. I think the point is, the way that God looks at how much we give is how much of a sacrifice it really is to us. So, yes, sir? One way to interpret it, which may not be right either, but one way could be that she was living day to day, and she had something like two pence a day. It was kind of like fasting. I gave it all to the Lord that day. It's possible. That's all she had that day. That's all she had forever. Right. And that wasn't absolutely everything she owned, yeah. And along those lines, obviously, she had some stuff in her cupboards or whatever, if you really want to think about it. But I think she also trusted what the faithful churches be giving to the widows anyway, what they were being taught. She knew God would provide. Yes. Yeah, certainly. I think the point is the measure of sacrifice. wrong application reasonably. She had stuff in her cupboards, but she knew tomorrow someone would provide. God always did. Yep. She was trusting God's provision and gave sacrificially. That's the main thing, is she gave sacrificially. And in the eyes of God, I mean, it's significant that Jesus said, in God's eyes, she gave more than them, because it was harder for her to give that little bit. And they just gave what they, you know, still left them very wealthy to give. Okay, you ready to look at Mark's Olivet Discourse now? So remember, one thing that's really important about Matthew, Mark, and Luke is as you get nearer and nearer to the last week of Jesus' life, he starts telling more parables and starts talking more about God's judgment on Israel, about God's judgment against that nation and against its religious leaders. because they had not only persecuted him and rejected him, what else have they done throughout their history? Exploited people, hurt people. What did they do with all the other prophets that God sent them? Yeah, pretty much killed all of them. Okay, now the Pharisees were, they were conservatives, but they really had, I mean, as I understand the history of the Pharisees, the stuff I've read about them, they actually started out, it was actually not that bad of a thing. They were really trying to take the law seriously. Let's try to walk in the light of the law. Many of them believed in the coming of the Messiah one day. But that had become completely corrupt. And they had this marketplace that's set up in the temple precincts. Remember, what does Jesus do when he gets to the temple in the last week of his life? I mean, he tore the place apart and threw everybody out. And then he spent the last week of his life in there healing people and teaching and doing all that. But everything is building to this climactic ultimate judgment that God's gonna bring against Israel. And historically, when does that happen? 80-70 with the Jewish war, okay? So it's important that you see, Mark has an account of what's gonna happen in Mark 13, Matthew 24 is the other one, and Luke 21 is Luke's Olivet Discourse. So you have the Olivet Discourse is Jesus standing on the Mount of Olives. Now, I've talked to people who've actually been to the Mount of Olives. Have you guys been to the, you've actually been there? Do they I've been told they actually have a picture of what the skyline would have looked like when Jesus was there with the temple Yeah, the temple would have dominated the whole landscape so the disciples are standing there with Jesus and they're looking over at Jerusalem like look at the Look at our awesome city and look at the beautiful buildings. And what does Jesus tell them? Yeah Time is coming that the whole place is gonna be destroyed and not a single stone is gonna be left upon another Does anyone know how that was fulfilled historically? Because it actually literally was. Every single stone in that building was. That's right. Did you all hear that? When they set the building on fire, It melted the gold and the rafters and it trickled down and it was between all the stones. So when the fire died out, the Romans went in there and had to get every stone to peel all the gold off. So literally not a single stone was left upon another stone in the temple because of that. So it's pretty, pretty incredible. All right, so let's look at this. Look at Mark 13. As he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, teacher, behold, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings. And Jesus said to him, do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. Wasn't he such a downer? It's like we're trying to have a sentimental moment. Here's the city of David. He's like, yeah, the whole place is gonna be completely flattened. Okay, look at verse three. As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, James and John and Andrew were questioning him privately tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign? When all these things are going to be fulfilled Okay, so quick quick question because the interpretation I'm gonna give you is not the dominant It was the dominant one in church history, but it's not the dominant one in America today What do you think they're asking him? Well not no he just told him every single stone is gonna be torn down what do they want to know Yeah, when's that gonna happen? I mean they're asking you what what did every single stone not whole complex is gonna be torn down and When when is that gonna happen? That's what they're asking him. And you know what? I think he does He tells him When it's gonna happen and he tells him a whole bunch of things to look for and look at verse 30 real quick You see verse 30 Truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. So, I have a question. What do you think he means by this generation? The people he's talking to right there. Okay? Not a generation that would be born 2,000 years later. He's talking about this generation. He actually uses that phrase, that exact Greek phrase, hutos genea, this generation, is used 15 times in the Gospels. And every time it's used, it's referring to this generation that was presently living. It's the near demonstrative pronoun, right? Hutos. And Julia, a kenos is that, right? A hutos is this. So if he wanted to say that, he would have said a kenos genea, right? I still remember. So I have to ask the resident Greek scholar. Check my Greek, but it's the near demonstrative. We have the same equivalent in English, right? If I wanted to say something near, I would say this phone, this phone. If it was a phone over there, that phone. This generation means the generation living right now. If you wanted to say that generation, he would have used a different pronoun to speak of it. Okay, so let's look at verse four. Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled? Verse five, and Jesus began to say to them, See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and will mislead many. Now, one thing we know from the historical record at this time, between the crucifixion of Jesus and AD 70, there were many, many, many, many, many false messiahs that came along. Many people came and claimed to be Jesus, or claimed to be a messiah figure, and all of them were, you know, died and were scattered to the wind. Verse seven. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened. Those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. Another thing, the historical sources at this time, there were wars, there were many, many, many wars, disturbances all around the Roman Empire. They heard about them all over the place. Wars and conflicts were going on. That's right, the Pax Romana. Yeah, it was unusual that there would suddenly be so many uprisings and problems and wars going on during that 40 year period there. Verse eight, for nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. there will be earthquakes in various places. I remember reading, I think it might be in Josephus, it's in one of the church history books I have. There was an earthquake that took place in the year 51 AD that Josephus or somebody said it was so bad that he says, it shook the constitution of the whole universe. And you also see in the Book of Acts, there are several earthquakes recorded in Acts, too, in the Book of Acts. Earthquakes that happened. Famines that happened. There's a famine in the Book of Acts that's spoken of, even. Okay? There will be famines. See the next thing? There will be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. but be on your guard, for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them. Doesn't that describe exactly what happens in the book of Acts? I mean, Paul stood in front of Felix, Agrippa, Festus. How many times were they flogged? Remember Peter and John were flogged by the Sanhedrin. Acts 5 and then the member they went out leaping for joy. They've been counted worthy to suffer So you see these things take place between the resurrection of Christ and the judgment in 80 70 K verse 10 the gospel must first be preached to all the nations What's that talking about? The Roman Empire Okay, which by the time 80 70 came along the gospel had gone all the way around the Roman Empire It had been preached everywhere Okay, verse 11 When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. Does that kind of remind you a little bit of what he said in John 15 we looked at last Sunday night? You know, if the world hates you, remember hated me first, okay? Okay, in verse 14, but when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea, those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Okay, the abomination of desolation is related to something that the armies of Rome we're going to eventually do there in the temple precincts. Luke 21, and it's all about discourse, he specifically says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee to the mountains. To that city of Pella, yeah. Historically, I did not actually know that until recently, but they did that. The Christian people were ready to leave, because they knew when we see the armies of Rome come in here, we need to leave town, because everybody here is gonna get killed. Okay, so that's a very important historical thing that they were prepared for. How many of you have ever heard this? In the book of Acts, the early Christians were communists because they sold everything they had and they all put it together and let the apostles centrally control it. Ever heard that? I heard that when I was in college and I was like, what? Why were they selling everything including their land? They knew they had to be ready to leave quickly. That's why they were doing that. Cause Jesus warned them. Why did Jesus tell his disciples? When you guys see all this stuff, you need to leave. Why did he tell them that? Cause he didn't want them to get killed. And they told the Christian people that, by the way, guys, you don't want to live anywhere near here because this generation is not going to pass away. This is going to happen before all of us are gone. So y'all need to be ready to get out of here. And that's why they were doing that. That's why they were selling their stuff. And like, we need to be ready to leave town as soon as we can. Okay, so that's why they were doing that, they weren't communists, okay? There was a break in the siege too, where they could leave the city during the siege of Jerusalem. Yeah, there's a lot more details like that, but yeah, this general warning here, this is something those early Christians, they were all well aware of this, they knew that this was coming, because Jesus taught his disciples, the disciples would have told this to people, you guys need to be ready to leave town very quickly if you live anywhere near Jerusalem. And normally what happened when they invaded from the north, they killed and burned and pillaged all the way south. So that would have made people flee to the walled cities. And normally you would stay there, but Jesus is telling them something that's contrary to the common way that they would react. So once they were around, once the armies were around Jerusalem, then they knew there was a break in the siege, and they fled at that point. Because once you're already surrounded, you can't flee. Has anyone here ever studied the Jewish war with Rome? Or read anything about it? Does anyone here have Philip Schaff's eight-volume history of the Christian Church? You have it electronically? There's a little section in there where he gives a whole bunch of quotations from Josephus and other historians. That is one of the most horrifying things I've ever read in my entire life. The Jewish fighters in that city, the Roman soldiers were actually told not to burn the city. They were told there's so many artifacts in there. We wanna bring it all back. We don't wanna destroy the city. The Roman soldiers were so angry with how ferocious those Jewish fighters were during that three year long siege. When they finally broke through, the Roman soldiers were, we're killing everything that breathes in here. And they set everything on fire. And apparently inside the temple, and as you get to the Holy of Holies and get closer, there were stacks and piles of bodies everywhere in there. Jewish fighters fighting to the last person to try to protect that. And of course, this was God's judgment on Israel because they crucified Jesus and they rejected the Messiah. Remember when Pilate brought Jesus out after he'd been scourged, behold the man, what did they all say? Crucify him, crucify him. And he's like, do you really want his blood on your hands? And what did the Jewish people there say? Let his blood be on us and our children. And it was. When God brought judgment, I mean, it was ferocious. You should read about the Jewish war in Schaff's history of the church. It's terrifying. There were so many slaves, so many slaves captured after that war, Jewish slaves, that the price of slaves dropped. Really, really, yeah. More than a third. There's a famous painting of it where you see people being taken away into slavery, yeah, of all of that. Yes, ma'am? What exactly is the abomination of desolation standing for at all times? Look, the only thing I think we can say for sure, look at Luke 21. Look at Luke 21's exact same parallel passage, and Luke 21 explains it a little bit fuller, as I'm recalling. Luke 21, yeah, look at verse 20. Yeah, obviously that's not the case It is Yeah, there's a really good book, and I've recommended it to some of you before. It's called The Day and the Hour by Francis Gumerlach. And what he does is he surveys all 20 centuries of church history and shows you all of the antichrist candidates, all the false prophet candidates, all the abomination candidates. And Gumerlach just asks a simple question. What do all of these have in common? They're wrong. All of them are wrong. I mean, people were saying in the 1930s that Hitler is the false prophet and Benito Mussolini is the beast. Now, what was it? No. All this stuff was fulfilled when this generation was still alive. So look at verse 20 of Luke 21. When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. So Amanda has something to do. People have said it might have been when when the Roman armies broke through and actually made it all the way into the Holy of Holies and put their eagle standard in the very center of the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant had once been and where the glory of God was, that that's the abomination of desolation. But the fact that Luke's account of it here uses the word desolation there, I think that's probably talking about the same thing. When you see the abomination of desolation, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that her desolation is near. So that's about as good of an explanation as I can give you. But yeah. And that's what Daniel saw. Yeah, the abomination of desolation, yes. Yeah, because you see what the next verse says, verse 21 of Luke 20? Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Now look back at Mark 13 again, verse 14. But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be, let the reader understand, then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. So something about the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem and something that they did is the abomination of desolation. And when that happens, then everyone's supposed to leave and flee to the mountains, so. But as I recall from studying over there, there's a few different ideas that people had about what exactly the abomination of desolation was about. I'm certain, based on comparing these passages, it's related to something that the Roman armies did once they got in there. And it's not coming in the future. It's not future. I will tell you this. When I was in seminary, when I was in seminary, the interpretation that I was given of Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse, I remember getting done with that class, and I told my seminary buddies, I am never preaching on this passage, because I don't understand it. Like, the way that it was taught, it's like, well, this phrase is about something that's gonna happen in 2,000 years, and this is obviously, you know, the fleet of the mountains thing, that's about AD 70, and that's about the Jewish war. But this verse is then about 2,000 years later. And I'm sitting here going, where, how are you jumping back and forth between 2,000 years from now and then coming back to 80, 70 and going over here and going over there? I don't see it. But yes, sir. What was that? Yes. You know, I actually never have read Hal Lindsey. That's right. And he may stick a few verses that pertain only to the Messiah in the psalm that pertains to what was going on right then, but he doesn't. Yeah, and I can sincerely when I got that that kind of odd interpretation I remember thinking is that really a good answer to the disciples question? If Jesus is actually talking about something that's not gonna happen for tooth at least 2,000 years from now Is he really answering their question? I mean he just I mean it's just a cop think about the conversation Jesus look at those cool buildings every single one was gonna be destroyed When's that gonna happen? I think he told him Here's when it's gonna happen. And this generation's not gonna pass away until it happens. Why would you suddenly start thinking, well, this verse is 2,000 years later, and this one's that time period. This one's 2,000 years later. That's where I was just left, my head was spinning. I said, I'm never preaching on all that discourse, I'm not preaching on eschatology, and I'm never touching the book of Revelation. And I remember right before I got here, I saw the very last thing Larry Ball did before I got here was he finished Revelation. I'm like, great, I never have to preach on it. Because that was the last thing he did before I got here. Yes, sir. Do you really want me to read it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Folks, think about this, though. The lake, great planet Earth, the whole dispensational scheme. Israel becomes a nation again, three years after World War II. So 1948, the Jewish people, the horrifying horrors of the Holocaust, they're being made known around the world. 1945 was the end of World War II. 1948, whatever's left of the poor Jewish people, they go and settle in Israel again. So Bible prophecy, people start saying, okay, that means that the stopwatch has now started. This generation will not pass away until everything in the Olivet Discourse takes place. So then it was like, okay, how long is a generation? It's getting really long now, yeah. I mean, 77 years have come and gone now. Because people, what was that? People have accused me of being anti-semitic because I have said that That secular, pro-abortion, pro-gay, atheistic state called Israel over there, I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but it has nothing to do with Bible prophecy. It has nothing to do with it. They need the gospel, just like every Gentile in the world needs the gospel. They're being Christians. That's what's pressuring us. American Christians don't understand that they're funding the murder of their brothers and sisters in Christ, who some of them happened to be Palestinian, some of them were Jews, and some of them were whatever else. I preached a sermon on the history and theology of dispensationalism on a Sunday night That's gotten a lot of traffic and I've gotten some emails from it. I would encourage you to go listen to it where do these strange ideas come from because the thing is they're not the weird ideas about Israel and dispensationalism and the rapture and you know, all this weird eschatological stuff, is kind of unique to America. It doesn't exist in other parts of the world. We've exported it to some other places, but our views on eschatology are seen by the rest of Christianity in the world as pretty weird. They look at us like, what is this now? You think there's gonna be a rapture? So the church is pulled off the earth. There's seven years of hell on earth, and then Jesus comes back again, And then you have the resurrection of the dead, a thousand year millennial kingdom. Then he comes back a third time. And during that thousand years, you have resurrected glorified Christians cohabitating the earth with mortals that are still getting married and having children and things like that. But then you have the end of it at the end of everything. And that to me, that's the biggest problem with all forms of premillennialism. And I've asked ministers who are premillennial, where in scripture does it talk about Resurrected glorified Christians cohabitating the earth with mortals. Because that system demands that you believe that. And I say there's no, that's just no part of divine revelation. Yeah, it's just not. The thing is, what the Christian church historically has looked forward to is not the rapture. What have we always looked forward to? The second coming of Christ. And at the second coming of Christ, that's the end. Everything's over. Now I do think, biblically, that there is gonna be a huge influx of Jewish converts to the church. I think Romans 11 teaches that. I think there's prophecies in the Old Testament to that effect. I think it's very clear in Romans 11, 15 and following, that the fullness of the Jewish people are gonna be saved, and then the fullness of the Gentiles will be brought in, and then Jesus will come back. Yes. Yeah. I want to share a story with you. My parents were kind of into all that pro-Israel, Zionist kind of stuff. And my dad told me they were going to go listen to a Zionist lecturer. And so I said, Dad, would you do me a favor and just ask one question for me to him? And I wrote it down. I sent him an email. I said, I want you to read this question. If they take Q&A, I want you to ask this question. The question was, do the Jewish people have any promises or any hope outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ? So my dad stood up and asked that question. And this guy starts talking about, well, for the Jews, there's a post-mortem opportunity to hear the gospel before you're sent to hell. And my dad said the elders of the church were like, What did you just say? And they had to get up there and shut the whole thing down. I'm like, Dad, I didn't mean to ruin your party. But I said, Dad, do you see the danger in this, in thinking that the Jewish people have some kind of special plan outside of coming to know Christ? That's dangerous to think things like that. They need the Gospel. That's why, wasn't it moving to see Jim Thornton standing there in the middle of Jerusalem preaching to people with their yarmulkes on and preaching Christ to them? That's what they need. They need the Gospel, just like everyone else does. There's a small group of Jews in Israel that believe in the Greater Israel Project, which means Nile to the Euphrates in Iraq, not the Book of Egypt. to the Euphrates in the north. Really? Wow. The land promise that God made to Israel was fulfilled under Solomon. It went all the way up to the Euphrates, up there, of course, modern Syria, and all the way down to the brook or river of Egypt, which is not the Nile. OK. It's a wadi. A wadi, a smaller river. If you just do a search on the web, you'll find it. OK. A Bible dictionary will tell you, too, that it's not the Nile. OK. Interesting. Okay, so let's see if we can get through verse 23 and then we'll knock off here. Look at verse 15. The one who is on the housetop must not go down or go in to get anything out of his house. And the one who is in the field must not turn back to get his coat, but woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days. But pray that it may not happen in the winter, for those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now and never will. Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect whom he chose, he shortened the days. And then if anyone says to you, behold, here is the Christ, or behold, he is there, do not believe him, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed, behold, I told you everything in advance. And we'll go ahead and read the next few verses. But in those days, after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven. What's that talking about? It's actually a phrase that's used quite frequently in the Old Testament. The collapse of a country, of a nation, okay? It's not meaning literally the stars are going to fall and hit the earth or anything like that. How do nations tend to represent themselves on their flags? How many of those do we have on our flag? 50? What's the Japanese flag? The sun. What's the Brazilian flag? Some planet, isn't it like Saturn? Yeah, those constellations. The grandest objects in all of creation. Countries tend to represent themselves that way. When Joseph has his dreams, what are his mother and father and brothers? The sun, the moon, and the stars. And they all come and bow down to him. The destruction of the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will be falling from heaven. That's talking about meaning Israel's gonna be destroyed. That's what that's saying, okay? Okay, look at verse 26. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and great glory. You know what that's a reference to? That's the ascension of Christ. Okay, that's not him coming down to earth, that's him going back to heaven. Okay, verse 27. And then he will send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from the four winds. What's that a reference to? Who are the angels? The messengers, it's the apostles, it's the evangelists, the guys that went out and preached the gospel everywhere. From the farthest end of heaven to the farthest end of earth, of earth to the farthest end of heaven. Now learn the parable from the fig tree, when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. Okay, now that's the verse that dispensationalists have used for years and years and years to say, when the fig tree buds again, that's Israel becoming a nation. Is that what that's referring to? No. Israel is always represented by an olive tree. Did y'all hear that? No. Israel is always represented by an olive tree. Scripture what this is saying is look I gave you a bunch of signs here. I gave you a bunch of things to look for it's just like knowing that Learn from the parable of the fig tree when its branches already become tender and puts forth its leaves You know that summer is near and then he says in verse 29 even so you too when you see these things happening Recognize that he is near right at the door I interpretation there, 24 to 27. I mean, are there other passages in Scripture that tell you this? Yeah. Yes. Turn to Isaiah 13. Turn to Isaiah 13. Now, you have a heading there at the beginning of Isaiah 13 and the opening verse. What is this a prophecy against? Isaiah 13. against Babylon. Look at verse 1. The oracle concerning Babylon, which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. Lift up a standard on the bare hill. Raise your voice to them. Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles. I have commanded my consecrated ones. I have called my mighty warriors, my proudly exulting ones, to execute my anger. And he goes on from there. Look down at verse Verse 8 not 9 and following continuing the prophecy about the destruction of the nation of Babylon see verse 9 Behold the day of the Lord is coming Cruel with fury and burning anger to make the land of desolation and he will exterminate its sinners from it for the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light see that The Sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light." Meaning what? I'm going to destroy the nation of Babylon. And historically, that did happen already. Okay? And there's other places where you see the Lord coming, the Lord coming on the clouds against Egypt, against Babylon, against other nations. Yes, that's how God describes the way he destroys nations. See, one of the reasons I had such a hard time understanding all of that discourse is I didn't know the Old Testament very well. I hadn't read the book of Amos very many times. I hadn't read Isaiah very many times. I remember going through some good stuff on this and looking. The kinds of phrases that Jesus is using here have been used many times. He uses it in Ezekiel too. I can't remember the exact reference there, but I actually have all this in documents, if you'd like to see them, to show he's just describing the destruction of a country here is really all he's doing. Yes, ma'am? When we studied Revelation last year at BSF, the one thing that my sources I was studying kept reminding, and I was reminding my fellow classmates, was remember who they're talking to. John is speaking to real people, and they understood everything he said. There's a reason they understood everything he said. It's already been said before, using the same language that's been used before. And so as Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or whoever, they think about who they're talking to. Exactly right and he keeps using the pronouns when you see this when you see this You know this because and he's talking to them. He's not talking to people that we're gonna be born 2,000 years later He's talking to them. Yes, sir I Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. Remember, my kids were taking piano lessons, and I was sitting there listening to something on headphones. I was listening to Greg Bonson lecture on the book of Revelation. And I was about to jump up and start yelling, because I was finally understanding it. And he's like, look, just follow the timing indicators. What do the first three verses of the book say? The time is near. Things which must shortly take place. He's like, he's describing something that they were about to see. And I was just sitting there, you know, my kids were doing piano lessons, and I'm like, I'm like, can she hear me grunting and stuff like that? I'm like, everything in me is just wanting to scream, like, this is actually not that hard if you just follow the text. It's supposed to be a revelation, so you understand it. Blessed is he who reads. Yes, you know something is a second coming passage if it's accompanied by the resurrection of the dead, new heavens and new earth. And these shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. But the righteous shall go to eternal life. That coming of the Son of Man, that's the second coming. Yeah, there's fewer in the New Testament about the second coming than there are about the judgment coming of Christ. And the passage you just said where the first few words of Revelation, this is soon to happen or whatever, a friend of mine said, well, a thousand days are like a day and a day is like a thousand days. And so Ken Gentry says, of what, is it Peter that said that? Peter is referring to an attribute or characteristic of God. John is actually speaking in his present moment to real people. So this helps to have people help you read the Bible. Let's not take a verse way over here and go, oh, and misconstrue the two different functions of those. And Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. It was 3,000 years he was in there, right? So, yes. looking at the book of Nahum, because it'll do the same thing. The particular thing being talked about is judgment coming upon Nineveh. There'll be very, very universal, worldwide language used. And then it narrows into Nineveh, and then it expands back out. So we have particular judgments come upon Babylon, upon Nineveh, upon Egypt. which is probably the most significant, but there's also a coming judgment there. And so your patent, is it wrong to see when they use language that sounds pretty universal, one of the things that should come into my mind is, here's a particular example of something that's going to come in full I would be curious, like, what specifically in the Olivet Discourse sounds more universal. I tend not to think that as much with the Olivet Discourse because it's so much related to that conversation they just had, where they're looking at the buildings, you know, look at all these buildings. Well, truly, I say to you, every single stone's gonna be thrown down. Well, when's that gonna happen? And he says, because of that verse, that controlling verse, Matthew 24, 34, and then verse 30 here, truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. So I tend to think everything there really does have a local immediate fulfillment. Certainly anything judgment related, you could say all the judgments of God historically do have a broader fulfillment at some point in the future. But here I tend to think, because he specifically says, everything I just told you, everything I just said will be fulfilled before this generation is gone. The reason why I'm thinking that is a lot of the passages and so forth, stars are in passages that deal with particular places. This is going to be the judgment upon Babylon. And yet, you have language that makes it seem a whole lot broader. That's the thing. Like the sun, moon, and stars, those actual references themselves? The sun, the moon, the stars? The whole land is going to be judged. The earth when he does that, the sounds Yeah. Now, yeah. I'm going to face, it's not wrong, I'm glad that's in the past, but something, and I'm not suggesting that, I'm not suggesting a dispensational reading, but I'm suggesting that I look at this and think, Jerusalem is judged, and there is a coming. And I have to live my life in the light of that. You know, one thing, the one passage where it says all the tribes of the earth, that actual, that term is the word geis, which all the tribes of the land, which probably is a reference to the tribes of Israel, not every tribe on the entire planet when Jesus came in judgment against Jerusalem. So even that translation of that word geis as earth instead of land is itself an interpretation. So I think that's in Matthew. Matthew says that all the tribes of the earth will mourn. I used to look at that and go, how could every single tribe on the entire planet mourn if this is just a localized judgment? Well, the term just means land. It also can mean earth. But I think it's probably, based on everything before, probably better to translate it, all the tribes of the land will mourn. It can mean more than a handful of dirt. And there's a comparable word in Hebrew. Eretz, I think. It means everything from a handful of dirt to land to the planet. So you really have to pay attention to context. when he's telling him, you know, you're gonna be drug up before the synagogues, and, you know, the gospel must be first reclaimed to all nations. You said that just was meaning the world at that point. But, I mean, I've always taken some personal application from, like, the whole thing about not worrying about what you would say. I mean, obviously, are we still allowed to do that? I mean, you know, like, if I worry about persecution that may be coming, you know, in the future for us, because it is here, I would tend to think he's just talking to his apostles and disciples there. We should probably prepare and think about what would we say if someone said this or that. Their endowment and the way they argued and everything was supernaturally from on high kind of thing. The passage I was thinking of there, Neal, is Matthew 24, 30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky then all the tribes of the earth will mourn it probably should be all the tribes of the land will mourn and They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory But So it's really yes, but good good discussion. This is good So do you feel like you feel like you understand all about discourse a little better? I've preached on this before and talked about it a lot over the years. Because, like I said, when I got out of seminary, I just used to pray, Lord, let me die before I actually have to try to figure this out. But then I got a hold of some good books, and they really challenged me to look at the Old Testament parallels and then take what it's saying seriously about the timing and things like that. And it finally all made sense. Like, yeah, you're supposed to understand. It was the influence of the dispensational stuff that was making it so confusing. The church-Israel distinction you mean? Okay, yeah, yeah Yeah Yeah, we a lot of it has application a lot of what he said to them But like a lot of what he said about, you know, go and raise the dead and heal the sick and I mean that that's obviously not not us Ourselves, but it was for them. No, there are some people who say no that is about us But yeah, clearly it's not there But excellent, good discussion, good questions. You guys have any other questions I can try to answer? Just one other comment. It is really helpful for us. We can all agree on this. We need to be reading our Old Testament prophecies. Yes. Familiarity with them greatly aid us in not being taken in. Oh, yes. A lot of schemes that essentially play on us not knowing that stuff. Because the language, the book of Revelation means like just this phrase is from this prophet. There is so much going on that if you haven't read those, it's gonna be very easy to get a very wrong reading. Yeah, well said. And I'll tell you, lately, my own daily Bible reading, I've not been real programmatic about it. It's been more so, what in my mind can I not outline, like what parts of the Bible are kind of a black hole to me? And it's Habakkuk and Zephaniah, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, like a lot of that I don't know as well. But like Neil said, the more you know the Old Testament, the New Testament really makes a lot more sense if you have that background. So. about Jesus, who is God, but you see more about God's sovereignty, his power, and those things in the Old Testament. For me, I felt like I could learn a lot about that. My Old Testament professors used to say, there's a reason that two-thirds of the Bible is the Old Testament, because you need to read it. So anyway, all right, let's go ahead and close at 7.45. Father, thank you for this time to be together. Thank you for the helpful discussion. Thank you for the clarity of your revelation and scripture. Help us to always be diligent Bible readers and students so that we think rightly about you, so that we live rightly in the light of your presence. And we thank you again for the finished work of Christ and for everything he did and all that he means to us, that he died for our sins, that he was buried and rose again for our justification. Help us to live a life of gratitude and thanksgiving to him always, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.