We’ll be picking up around verse 14 uh and quickly moving forward into some of the latter
comments uh in the chapter, but we’ll do that after we open with a word of prayer.
Our gracious Father in heaven, giver of all good and perfect gifts, Father of lights, Lord
we bow before you grateful for your Son who came and died on the cross for our sins, for
the salvation that is offered through His blood, through the purchased redemption of the
body of Christ the Church.
We pray that as we strive diligently to seek first your kingdom,
that we might always walk in the light as you are in the light.
Lord, we pray that as we face this trials and the tribulations, the struggles, the
difficulties that this life and this world throws at us, that we might always be attentive
to your word, to the wisdom placed within it, that we might know both how to live and how
you would have us to live.
Lord, we pray that you will forgive us when we sin and fall short of your glory.
We pray that we will grow in wisdom and knowledge and understanding.
We pray for boldness that we might speak the truth and to stand firmly for the truth and
to reach lost souls with your gospel.
And Lord, we pray for the work here in Collierville that it might continue and grow and
flourish, that you might receive all the glory and all the praise.
All these things we ask and pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Jesus says to his disciples, so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, let the reader understand.
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
First thing that we need to understand, if we are going to interpret this text, is that we
must interpret it
in its context and we must allow the context to dictate the extent of the situation.
So Jesus is going to talk about a number of things occurring.
He’s going to talk about the stars of heaven falling.
He’s going to talk about the sun turning to darkness and the moon
giving up its light.
He’s going to talk about all of these things and people will come to the passage of the
verse and see, it’s the second coming.
It’s the end of the world.
Question.
If it’s the end of the world, what good does fleeing to the mountains do?
If it’s the end of the world, then why the instruction that those who are on the housetop
not go down?
Isn’t the world going to end whether you’re in the house or on top of the house?
Isn’t it going to end no matter whether someone’s nursing or pregnant?
And if you’re nursing or pregnant, what does it matter if the world’s coming to an end and
Jesus is returning and we’re going to ascend into the clouds?
It doesn’t.
So long before you get to the highly figurative language of the stars of heaven and the
moon turning to darkness and the sun being blotted out, long before you ever get there,
Jesus says, this is not the end of the world.
He says, pray that your flight may not be in winter.
Question.
If you’re fleeing and it’s in winter and you’re pregnant or nursing,
Why would that matter?
It makes the fleeing harder, doesn’t it?
It makes it slower.
It endangers you because you can’t flee as quickly.
And the point that Jesus is making is when they observe the signs, they know that a
localized event is occurring, because that’s the only kind you can flee from.
When the rains started, after Noah had built the ark and God had shut the door,
how far could people flee to escape the judgment of God?
To the top of the tallest mountain and eventually the waters did what?
Exceed to the top of the tallest mountain by 15 cubits.
Point, nowhere to flee.
No possibility of fleeing.
No success in fleeing.
The only salvation was to have not fled, but rather have entered the boat.
When Jesus returns and Jesus appears and the world is burned up and every element of it is
burned up, where can you go to flee that event?
Nowhere,
but if you’re a Christian and you’re faithful, are you seeking to flee or are you
welcoming the event?
The Christians wouldn’t be fleeing if it was Christ returning.
They’d be rejoicing!
This is not the second coming of Christ.
This is not a global event.
This is the fall of a nation, which is always a localized event.
Now, some nations are bigger and some nations are smaller.
Some nations fall and it’s more localized and some nations fall and it’s much more global.
but it’s still a local event.
Phil.
chapter 21, when you see the army surrounding the city, the isolation is near.
That’s correct.
so it’s important as we go through a text, if you go, wait a minute, what does the text
demand by way of its plain spoken clear language?
Because that puts a barrier
around all the figurative language you find, all the prophetic language you find, because
the context determines the interpretation of prophetic language.
So when the sky’s falling and the sun’s being blotted out and the moon is turning to
blood, but Isaiah in that context is only prophesying about Edom.
then the prophetic language is couched within a context of Edom.
not of the entire planet, but Edom.
Same thing true of Jerusalem, same thing true of Babylon, all of this is completely normal
in prophetic language and in prophecy.
But he says, verse 19, for in those days there will be tribulation, such as not been seen
since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time nor
ever shall be.
Some will say, Aaron, can’t agree with you, this has got to be global event.
Matter of fact, it’s so global, it is so impactful that the world has never seen an event
like it.
The tribulation is the entire planet going to war.
Every major power at war and the centerpiece of the war is happening right there in the
Valley of Megiddo.
You gotta throw some revelation into the discussion here.
Question.
Wasn’t this a globally impactful one time in all world history event?
Think about it this way.
Go back all the way through all of world history.
And what one nation did God ever say of all the nations on the planet, you will be mine?
Israel.
That was a one time in all human history event.
of what nation did God say from your seed, Abraham, I will make many nations, but from
your seed singular, I will bring forth one who is my ruler.
Of how many nations was that ever said?
One, of one family was that ever said.
Of all the nations that had ever existed on the planet, how many of them brought forth the
Messiah, the Son of God from their lineage?
One.
Of all the nations on the planet that had ever existed and will ever exist, how many of
them were given a law exclusive to their nation in a covenant relationship with God unlike
everyone else on the entire planet?
same nation.
of all of the nations on all of the planet that God ever judged and brought to judgment
and destruction as a result of their rejection of Him and rebellion against Him, which one
was the single most significant in all human history?
Israel.
Not because of how great Israel was.
Not because of how large Israel was.
Not because Israel was the dominating world power.
Not because Israel had its tentacles and its reach of power and authority across the
entire planet.
But because it was the only nation with which God had ever said, I will be your God and
you will be my people.
And yet when this event occurs…
unlike any other moment in all human history.
God will end His covenant relationship with that nation.
Remember what Jesus said already in the same context though recorded in Matthew.
Turn to Matthew 23.
Matthew 23 verse 31, Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of
those who murdered the prophets.
Fill up then the measure of your father’s guilt.
Serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell?
Therefore indeed I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, some of them you will kill
and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city
to city,
but that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of
righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barakiah whom you murdered between the
temple and the altar.
Assuredly I say to you all these things will come upon this generation.
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.
Notice the phrase, see your house is left to you desolate.
And by the way, that is followed by a blessing.
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.” That statement, by the way, is also not about the Second Coming.
That is about the one that God says is His servant bringing about His judgment on their
wickedness.
The Christians are going to go rise up and say, finally, God’s provided someone to end
this nation and its persecution of us.
The Christians are going to look at the destruction by the Romans, and they’re going to
say, it’s about time!
that God brought judgment of this wicked nation.
You see, when Jesus says, back in Mark chapter 13,
that the events are going to occur and that from those days there will be tribulation such
as had not been since the beginning of creation which God created until this time nor ever
shall be.
He means it.
It’s not hyperbole.
There will never be and had never been another time where God took the nation that He
brought up out of nothing.
where God took the nation that He said, you’ll be my child and I’ll be your father?
That God took the nation that He said, I am going to put you in this place and I am going
to cause you to prosper?
And I will be your God and you will be my people?
There is never another time in all history where God said, and now I will bring you to
complete and utter destruction.
because with wicked hands they had betrayed and murdered the very Son of God.
and then they went after God’s people.
never had been another event like it never will be for there will never be another nation
that God says you will be my people but then consider also he says and unless the Lord had
shortened those days no flesh would be saved but for the elect’s sake whom he chose he
shortened the days
The point that God’s making is an Old Testament one from the prophecies of Isaiah, where
Isaiah says, Isaiah chapter 1, very beginning of Isaiah, if God ever came at Israel and
gave it what it deserved, it’d be like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Unless God stayed His own hand in judging Israel, there would not be one person left.
from this nation.
And again, by the way, you’re seeing God saying, I’m going to judge you.
I’m going to topple your nation.
I’m going to end your authority.
I’m going to end your power.
I’m going to end your religion.
I’m going to end everything that made Israel Israel.
but I’m not going to entirely cut you off from the earth.
and he’s not going to because of the Christians that are among the nation.
In the same way in the days of Isaiah, in the days of Daniel, in the days of Ezekiel, in
the days of Nebuchadnezzar, God says there’s going to be a remnant.
So in Jesus’ day there’s going to be a remnant, but there’s no longer going to be a
covenant relationship with the nation.
There’s no longer going to be an Old Testament law.
There’s no longer going to be a temple or sacrifices or anything that made up their
relationship to God anymore.
there will be people left.
And that’ll be it.
So then notice he says, verse 21, then if anyone says to you, look, here’s the Christ, or
look, he is there, do not believe it.
For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if
possible, even the elect.
But take heed, see, I have told you all things beforehand.
Oh, I tell you what, here’s what you’re supposed to do.
Listen to me, not them.
Now that’s generally good advice for everything in regards to scripture.
Listen to God, not somebody who tells you that what God said isn’t true.
Listen to God and do what He says and ignore everybody else!
Sadly, there are too many today, some even within the body of Christ, that no longer
believe to be the case.
They think, no, you don’t really have to listen to God.
You could just do what you want to do.
Verse 24, but in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, the moon
will not give its light, the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will
be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and
then He will send His angels and gather together His elect from the four winds from the
farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven.
And so he says, all right, well, this is the part where we switched and we’re talking
about second coming.
No.
This is God, and this is Christ, saying when you see the coming happen, when you see the
judgment happen, I still know where every single one of my people are.
They’re still under my protection.
I’ve not neglected them.
I’ve not forgotten them.
I know where every single one of them is.
If they’re dead, I know where they are.
If they’re alive, I know where they are.
If they’re already in eternity, I know where they are.
It’s very much like this statement.
Turn to Habakkuk chapter 2.
get there in a minute and get my pages to cooperate.
in the back of chapter two.
we find in verse 2, then the Lord answered me and said, write the vision and make it plain
on tablets that he may run who reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not
lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him.
but the just shall live by faith.
Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, now he’s going to move into the discussion of
going, I’m going to judge the one by whom I’m going to judge Israel.
And there is a temptation in looking at the judgment on Jerusalem to see God judging His
people and then realize that God’s judging His people by Rome, which is a nation far more
wicked than God’s own people.
If you think the Epstein files have a bunch of horrendous things in them, go read about
Rome!
Better yet, don’t.
God is going to judge His people and He is going to describe their very presence in His
own city, in the Holy City, in the City of God, the city where God put His name, as the
abomination of desolation.
And yet his point to his people is, this isn’t because I’ve lost control.
and that my judgment is going to continue to those with whom I judge my people.
because I know who are my people and I will provide for them even after Jerusalem’s gone
and even in the midst of judging Rome.
He says.
Now learn the parable from the tree.
when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is
near.” Now, you remember there was a fig tree in an event not too many chapters ago,
right?
What was significant about the fig tree that Jesus and the disciples encountered during
these events?
All right?
Came up to it, it was flowering, it gave all the indications when you arrived at it that
it should have had fruit on it, but it didn’t have any fruit.
And here he says, here’s what you know from agriculture.
Here’s what you know from living in the land where we live.
That when you see the fig tree or the branch has already become tender and it puts out its
leaves, you know the summer’s near.
You don’t have to be inspired by God to look at the fig tree and know what time of the
year it is.
And notice what he says, so you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is
near at the doors.
Because I just gave you a list of things, a list of events.
You go look at the list.
When you see the list,
One after another, like dominoes fall, you go, I know what’s about to happen.
and I know it’s near.” Okay, he goes on to say, “‘Surely I say to you, this generation
will by no means pass away till all these things take place.'” That’s how I know verses 24
through 27 are not talking about the Second Coming.
Now, in Matthew…
There are three questions.
What are the signs of your coming?
What are the signs of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple?
And in Matthew, there is a separation because he’s going to give the signs concerning the
fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, and he’s going to say, there’s a sign
for this, there’s a sign for this, there’s a sign for this, there’s a sign for this,
you’re supposed to know when this happens, you’re supposed to know when this happens.
And then he gets to a point in the text that he says, and of the day and that hour,
there’s no signs.
Go back to Mark chapter 13 verse 1.
Sorry, verse 4.
As the apostles come to Jesus after he observes that not one stone will be left upon
another, notice Mark’s text.
Mark records, now as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James,
John, and Andrew asked him privately, tell us when will these things be and what will be
the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?
How many questions are there in Mark’s text?
Two.
Which one’s missing?
and the sign of your coming.
There’s a reason why you have to be careful with the little sub headers that men inserted
into the text.
Mine here reads right before verse 24, the coming of the Son of Man.
which is an accurate description except what do most people think when they read that?
we’re talking about the second coming of Christ, we’re talking about His return, we’re
talking about the end of time.
And that’s not the coming we’re talking about.
the entire context in Mark.
deals with the fall of Jerusalem.
and the destruction brought upon the Jewish nation and their judgment by God.
and Mark tells you that’s all he’s going to discuss because those are only two questions
he includes.
Now notice this.
He says, So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near at the
doors.
Surely I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take
place.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.
Someone says, wait a minute, there’s the second coming, there’s where it is, no!
That is an analogy.
Jesus’ point is you might see the world crumble around you, you might see the end of the
world come because there is coming a day where it will, but here’s one thing you can be
assured of as my people.
I’m gonna keep my word.
Now.
Verse 32, he goes, but of that day and hour, no one knows.
Not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.
There’s the only reference.
to the second coming.
It’s when he explains the analogy.
Heaven and earth might pass away, but my words won’t.
You can take this judgment and this prophecy to the bank.
And the only thing I can tell you about the other event is you won’t know what is coming.
But this one has to come first.
You can’t have that event before this one happens.
Jesus is encouraging them in the entire text to watch for the signs.
And telling them actively to not spend so much time focusing on the final day that they
ignore the signs of this day
because they need to be ready for it.
They need to be ready to flee.
They need to be ready to leave.
They need to know that it’s coming.
They need to be aware of it and watching for it.
He says, take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is.
It is like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his
servants and to each his work and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.
Watch therefore.
For you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening, at midnight, at
the crowning of the rooster, or in the morning, lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
And what I say to you I say to all.” Watch.
as Jesus draws their attention to the discussion that was the discussion at hand.
His focus wasn’t on the second coming.
His focus wasn’t on the return or the end of the world and when it would happen.
His focus was far more immediate.
for a group of disciples who were going to lose their home, their family, their nation,
their history, their genealogy, their lineage, and everything that made them a Jew or an
Israelite.
But long before they lost that, they were going to lose all of those things in the form of
persecution and rejection by their own people.
see long before AD 70.
the church and the Jews in it, we’re going to fight one battle after another, after
another, after another, inside the church and outside the church with Israel.
because those who rejected Christ were going to persecute them and imprison them and put
them to death and throw them out of the synagogue and reject them and remove their
inheritance and take everything that they had away physically in this life and drive them
out of their own nation.
And then there were going to be those from among the sect of the Pharisees who are then
going to come into the church and claim to be Christians who are going to do so to spy out
their liberty, Paul says, so that they can use their own teachings and their own history
and the Mosaic law as a chokehold to rip them back into Israel.
and then to hang that weight that Israel could never bear in the form of the law which
condemned them and did not give a solution for their sin and hang that around the neck of
the Gentile Christians too.
all while promoting themselves and not Christ.
Jesus is not focused on the Second Coming.
He is focused on a far more traumatic experience that every Jewish Christian was going to
go through.
those in Jerusalem and those outside.
at the hand of the Jews.
that would be one more final bow on the top of God’s judgment of Israel.
and Jesus was clear, this generation’s not going to die before it’s done.
Now chapter 14, since we got through all of that cherry mess.
We’re still in the midst of the last week of Jesus’ life.
Chapter 14, verse 1, after two days it was the Passover and the feast of the unleavened
bread.
And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might take him by trickery and put him
to death.
But they said, not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people.
What were the ordinances for anyone who touched a dead body in regards to a feast day?
Couldn’t participate.
So they’re saying, all right, we gotta get this done.
We can’t do it during the feast.
Too many legal hiccups.
Too much possibility of causing an uproar, both from a legal perspective and because Jesus
is loved by the people.
Jesus is just rode in on a donkey with a whole crowd laying their coats down, laying palm
leaves down, and crying, Hosanna to the highest!
and they’ve just sent person after person after person trying to trip Jesus up and
question him and every single time they end up with in their face.
will actually be ill.
goes to show the hypocrisy of what they really cared about and didn’t care about.
Okay, so as Eddie’s pointing out, as you look at this the hypocrisy is seen in that
they’re concerned about the uproar of the people, but they’re going to do everything
they’re going to do to Jesus they’re going to do illegally.
But they are going to do it in the middle of the night.
They are going to make sure he’s tried before daybreak.
They are going to make sure that they can get the majority of their work done and the
majority of the things done under dark of night so that people don’t know what’s going on.
That’s the first thing in the morning.
Where are they headed?
To go see the governor.
because as far as they’re concerned, he’s already appointed to death.
We just gotta get Roman permission to do it.
Notice he says, verse 3, or he writes, and being in Bethany at the house of Simon the
leper, as he sat at the table a woman having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of
spikenard, then she broke the flask and poured it on his head, Jesus’ head, but there were
some who were indignant among themselves and said, why was this fragrant oil wasted?
For it might have been sold for more than 300 denarii and given to the poor, and they
criticized her sharply.
But Jesus said, let her alone.
Why do you trouble her?
She has done a good work for me.
For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish, you may do good to them, or
may do them good.
But me, you do not have always.
She has done what she could.
She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial.
Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this
woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Now, in this record, you don’t have all of the parties identified like you do in some of
the other accounts.
But in this record, Jesus makes the point of the action that the woman is going to do that
this is going to be recorded, remembered, and retold.
Now.
There’s a lesson here for us.
And one of the lessons that we find in the text is that it is actually okay to do
something special, to do something even expensive or extravagant for a good reason.
that we are not to live our lives entirely focused on, well, every penny I make better be
used to help the less fortunate in the world.
So I can’t possibly use the two pennies that I’ve got to help my kids go to college or to
graduate or to hold a celebration at their wedding.
Where are we first introduced to Jesus and His miracles in the book of John
at wedding feast.
And you know, while we have some elaborate weddings…
We don’t have weddings the way that the Israelites did
and Jesus is at the wedding.
And if you were to imagine the cost of the wedding, you might be able to imagine the cost
of the wedding just by the volume of the drinking liquid that Jesus supplied to the
wedding after it had already run out
and they were well into the wedding feast by that point.
Jesus is making the point that yes, this woman has done something extravagant.
She has done something far beyond what was normal.
And yet, what she did was commendable.
What she did was not only commendable, it was going to be recognized and retold and
remembered forever
because of the honor that she gave to Christ.
and something else as we close.
is that this is one of the few people who actually understood what was coming.
Apostle sitting there at the meal.
They didn’t understand what was coming.
Simon sitting at the meal, he didn’t understand what was coming.
The others who were present, they didn’t understand what was coming.
Here is this woman.
For sake of emphasis among the Israelite nation, a woman!
And she knew what was coming.
She knew where Jesus was headed.
and she knew why.
and she couldn’t do anything to stop.
but she could honor Him while He was still there.
So Jesus commends her.
And Jesus says that everywhere the gospel is preached in the whole world.
What this woman has done will also be told.
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, when he went to the chief priests to betray him to
them, and when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money, so he sought
how he might conveniently betray him.
I think it’s significant.
You’ve got to put all the accounts together of this meal, of who Simon was, of his
relationship to Judas, of who the woman was, of the surrounding events and the rebuke of
Simon.
But Mark tells you that out of this meal,
Simon, or sorry, Judas, goes to find the chief priests to give them Christ.
The beginning of the plot happens after this meal.
And that’s significant when you go look at the rest of the accounts and you start to
realize why this meal.
But we’re out of time, so we’ll have to talk about that later.
