Matt.
21:1-16
When
Jesus comes to the Jerusalem, at the beginning of his last week of
ministry before he is exalted on the cross, he takes the message that
he has been preaching throughout the land of Israel, and in certain
gentile cites as well, and makes a prophetic public declaration about
the temple system.
Jesus,
rides from the mount of olives to the temple on a donkey, fulfilling
a prophecy of Zechariah.
Zech.
9:9-10
"Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold,
your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly
and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. (10) I
will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem;
The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations;
His dominion shall be 'from sea to sea, And from the River to the
ends of the earth.'
God
intends to speak peace to the nations, and bring the blessing of his
dominion to the world. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey in
order to send a symbolic prophetic message that it was time for the
fulfillment of that prophecy to begin. The Jews in Jerusalem
understood what he was doing (Mat 21:11 So the multitudes said,
"This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.")
The
purpose for which God set aside Israel as a priestly nation
was so that they would go to the gentiles and bring them all to God.
Matt.
5:13-17
13 Ye
are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but
to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye
are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be
hid. 15 Neither do men light a
candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it
giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 17 Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfil.
Isaiah
56:3-8
3 Neither
let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD,
speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people:
neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. 4 For
thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and
choose the things that please me, and take hold of my
covenant; 5 Even unto them will I
give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than
of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that
shall not be cut off. 6 Also the
sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him,
and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that
keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my
covenant; 7 Even them will I bring
to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer:
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon
mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of
prayer for all people. 8 The
Lord GOD, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith,
yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto
him.
The
nation of Israel was intended to be a stand in, doing what Jesus
would come and finish. They were set aside so that they would
begin to bring the world to God the Father and then Jesus would come
and finish
the
job. But when Jesus came, they were refusing to go to the nations and
turning all of the light that was supposed to be for the world in on
themselves. They refused to pass the torch to Jesus and, with the
help of the Romans, they killed him instead. They did not want
to give up their place as God’s special people, even though that
was the plan from the beginning. Abraham was set aside in order
to bless all the families of the earth (Gen. 12:3;18:18; 28:14) and
all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 22:18; 26:4). The
Jews were called to continue fulfilling the call of Abraham. But
instead they had filled the house of prayer for for all of the
nations with thievery to the point that there was no room
for gentiles.
Jesus
was anointed as a priest after the order of Melchizedek at his
baptism. One of the first things that he did when he began his
ministry was go to the temple and run all of the money changers out
of the court of the gentiles.
John
2:13-17
13 And
the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up
to Jerusalem. 14 And found in
the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers
of money sitting: 15 And when he
had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the
temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers'
money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And
said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my
Father's house an house of merchandise. 17 And
his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house
hath eaten me up.
This
is Jesus first visit to the leprous temple. He cleansed
it, throwing out the thieving money changers. The people
of God were always the temple. When Jesus threw the
money-changers out of the temple, he was cleansing the temple of the
unclean stones.
Jesus
makes this explicit when he returns at the end of his ministry.
Matt.
21:12-14
12 And
Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold
and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the
moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And
said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of
prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 14 And
the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
Mark
adds that Jesus would not let anyone carry anything through the
temple (Mark 11) and Luke adds the detail that this cleansing is a
sign of the coming destruction of the city (Luke 19)
Now
in Matthew, the story of the fig tree never producing fruit again is
Jesus prophesying that the temple would be removed, (see
below). We learn from the Gospel of Mark that Matthew put two
events together for the sake of telling the story,
which happened before and after the cleansing of the
temple (Mark 11). Now Jesus goes into the temple
for the second time and finds the same leprosy that was in the temple
three years earlier spreading again. He finds the court of the
gentiles filled with thieves with no room for the God-fearing
gentiles to come and worship God. So he begins to overturn the
tables of the money changers, and we are told specifically that he
turned over the seat of the men selling doves, which is what the
temple would have needed to atone for the fretting leprosy if it
would have been cleansed the first time, and then Jesus would not let
anyone take anything through the temple, because the temple had
become unclean.
Now,
at this point it seems likely that Jesus had these house leprosy laws
in mind, but we can be absolutely sure he did if we look up the two
verses that he compares. My house shall be called of
all nations the house of prayer is a quote from Isaiah
56:7 for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for
all people. But Jesus goes on to say that the Israelites
have turned the temple into a den of thieves. Two background
verses for this are Jeremiah 7-9, where God is telling the Israelites
why he is about to lay Jerusalem waste, and the first thing that they
are told to do is shave off all of their hair, which is what a person
with leprosy was supposed to do if they were healed and the last
thing in the prophecy is God going to turn Jerusalem into a heap of
ruins and Judah into a desolate place.
And
Zechariah 5:3-4
3Then
said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of
the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on
this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut
off as on that side according to it. 4I
will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into
the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth
falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house,
and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
Jeremiah
alludes to a den of thieves being like leprosy, unclean, But
Zechariah says it explicitly. A house full of thieves has
leprosy and the leprosy will consume the timber and the stones of
that house, and Jesus says that the temple is that kind of house, a
leprous house and since this is the second time that the priest has
come to inspect the house, so now we know what Jesus is going to do,
he is going to tear down the temple and cast it into an unclean
place. One Chapter later Jesus as he sat upon the Mount of
Olives over against the temple points at the Temple and
said, “Seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Mark
13:2).
Jesus
came to the temple and it was filled to the brim with leprosy, so he
cleansed it, and when he returned, the leprosy was back, so he tore
down the temple in 70AD.
The
passage in Jeremiah is clear that the temple is coming down. It is
clear that one of the reasons that it is going to be coming down is
that the people that act this way are people that have begun to trust
in the temple.
Jer.
7:3-4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend
your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this
place. (4) Do not trust in these lying words, saying,
'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the
LORD are these.'
But
when we turn anything into an idol, we end up destroying it.
Jeremiah's prophecy connects this and the next story of the cursing
of the fig tree and provides a background and meaning to Jesus'
actions.
Jer.
8:11-13 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My
people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.
(12) Were they ashamed when they had committed
abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how
to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time
of their punishment They shall be cast down," says the LORD.
(13) "I will surely consume them," says the
LORD. "No grapes shall be on the vine, Nor figs on the fig tree,
And the leaf shall fade; And the things I have given them shall pass
away from them."
When
you see these things together, then know that the things that God has
given to the nation of Israel are going to be taken and given to
another. (Which is exactly where Jesus is going next in Matt.
23:23-32).
But
it is not just that the temple is going to be destroyed. Jesus is
clear that it is, but he is radically restructuring everything that
the temple symbolized around himself. He is claiming that his own
ministry is superseding and replacing the temple. He stops
the temple and claims himself as the replacement.
The
temple was the central symbol of Judaism. It was the location where
Israel did most of the rituals that made Israel, as well as the place
where Israel would point to answer many of her most important
questions.
The
temple was the joy of Israel, and as such was intended to be the joy
of the whole earth (ps. 48:2). The temple was the center of Israel
because God's presence was there. From his throne in the heaven of
heavens, above the firmament and the seven wandering stars,
God came to dwell on the earth in the presence of his people. He
moved into the tabernacle and then the temple so that he could live
with his people.
He
gave them the sacrifices so that they could be near to him. He gave
them the sacrifices so that they could be in fellowship with him. The
presence of God in the temple was the point. they were near to their
God, and through the sacramental actions of the sacrifices they could
commune with their God. God's presence had always been the point (Ex.
33:12-17). God's presence is what sets Israel apart, and the temple
with it's sacrifices is the central symbol of that presence. For
Jesus to stop the sacrifices of the temple (Matt. 21:12) and to sit
in the temple, so that the blind and lame could come to him so that
he could heal them, is the equvalent of saying, 'if you want God's
presence, then turn away from this temple and turn to me.' Jesus is
the tabernacle now. That means that the prophecies about the
destruction of the temple (Lev. 26; 1 Kings 9:1-9) are not going to
be ultimate. Instead the tearing down of the temple will lead to a
rebuilding of the temple.
This
is, in fact, precisely what Jesus had said when he had cleansed the
temple three years earlier.
Joh
2:18-22 So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign
do You show to us, since You do these things?" (19) Jesus
answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up." (20) Then the Jews said,
"It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You
raise it up in three days?" (21) But He was speaking
of the temple of His body. (22) Therefore, when He had
risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this
to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had
said.
He
was the new temple. And the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt.
This is fulfilled in the resurrection and in the building of the
church out of Jew and Gentile together throughout history.
Eph
2:10-22 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in
them. (11) Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in
the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the
Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- (12) that at that
time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of
Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope
and without God in the world. (13) But now in Christ
Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood
of Christ. (14) For He Himself is our peace, who has made
both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, (15)
having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of
commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one
new man from the two, thus making peace, (16) and that He
might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross,
thereby putting to death the enmity. (17) And He came and
preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
(18) For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to
the Father. (19) Now, therefore, you are no longer
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, (20) having been built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone, (21) in whom the whole
building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord, (22) in whom you also are being built together for
a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
1
Pet. 2:4-10
Coming
to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by
God and precious, (5) you also, as living stones, are
being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (6)
Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "BEHOLD,
I LAY IN ZION A CHIEF CORNERSTONE, ELECT, PRECIOUS, AND HE WHO
BELIEVES ON HIM WILL BY NO MEANS BE PUT TO SHAME." (7)
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who
are disobedient, "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS
BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE," (8) and "A STONE
OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE." They stumble, being
disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. (9)
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of
Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (10)
who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who
had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Matt.
12:17-22
And
he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he
lodged there. 18 Now in the
morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19 And
when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing
thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee
henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered
away. 20 And when the disciples
saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered
away!
The
language of Prophecy (which works like a political cartoon) was
developed by the Holy Spirit in his guiding of History. It is a
series of symbols and metaphors that are designed to “fill to the
full” the language of a prophet. So Jesus’ use of a tree,
and his use in particular of a fig tree, for this prophetic action is
loaded and overflowing with meaning. He is pulling together
Jeremiah's prophecy and applying it typologically to his own day and
his own ministry. As William Hendriksen wrote, “In cursing the fig
tree and cleansing the temple Jesus performed two symbolic
and prophetic acts, with one meaning” (Hendriksen,
William Commentary on Matthew). Concerning figs, there was only
one tree (besides the sacramental trees, the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil and the tree of life) that was singled out in the
garden of Eden; the fig tree. Adam and Eve sewed together fig
leaves.(Gen 3:7) The Ten Spies Brought grapes, pomegranates and
figs out of the land(Num. 13:23), Moses Describes the Promised land
as a land of milk honey and figs (Duet. 8:8), there is the cryptic
parable of the trees in Judges (ch 9) Isaiah says that a nation
destroyed by God is a Fig tree with no fruit (Is. 34:1-14).
God compares Israel to a fig tree (Jer. 8:13) Nahum compares Israel
to a fig tree (Nah. 3:12), Joel says that Jerusalem is like a fig
tree whose bark was stripped (Joel 1:7) but then prophesies that
after Pentecost, Jerusalem will have enough figs for all the wild
beasts (Joel 2:22) and Hosea writes that When God came to Israel in
the wilderness that she was like a newly budding fig tree, but she
turned into a whore (Hos. 9:10).
Jesus
puts together the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the fig
tree as a prophetic act to show that Israel's time is done and that
the kingdom is going to the gentiles, with himself as the new temple
and his disciples as the new Israel. The Chief Priests and the Elders
understand his claim. Seeing that he had popular support, they try
and trap him, and ask where his authority comes from.
Matt.
21:23-32
Now
when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the
people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, "By what
authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this
authority?" (24) But Jesus answered and said to
them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I
likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: (25)
The baptism of John--where was it from? From heaven or from
men?" And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we
say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe
him?' (26) But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the
multitude, for all count John as a prophet." (27) So
they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know." And He said
to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these
things. (28) "But what do you think? A man had two
sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my
vineyard.' (29) He answered and said, 'I will not,' but
afterward he regretted it and went. (30) Then he came to
the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,'
but he did not go. (31) Which of the two did the will of
his father?" They said to Him, "The first." Jesus said
to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and
harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. (32) For
John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe
him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw
it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.
His
answer is to tell them a riddle that reveals that their true
motivation is not faith, but fear of the people. He then tells a
story that reveals their faithlessness.
Matt.
21:33-46
A
parable is a subversively told story meant to redefine and redirect
history. Jesus tells parables to explain the world he is
interacting with, to explain his own ministry, and to recreate the
world around Him. God created the heavens and the earth by
speaking Jesus, God, recreated the world by a speaking Jesus.
When Jesus came, he came speaking the message of the kingdom of God,
and he spoke the message in parables. By doing so he is being
decidedly Jewish, not because no one else ever spoke in parables, but
because the content of His parables was almost exclusively taken from
the Old Testament. A parable works like a political cartoon. It
takes well known symbols and images and then reorders them into
something that you don’t expect in order to make a point.
This is what Jesus is doing. He is taking the familiar symbols
of the Hebrew Bible and reordering them, flipping them on their head
in order to call Israel to renewed commitment to God and
away from their current commitment to the Devil. This would
instruct the righteous and confuse the wicked (Matt.13:10-17).
We will look at the parable of the wicked tenants to get a feel for
how this works.
This
parable was told in this context: triumphal entry, cleansing of the
temple, cursing of the fig tree, Pharisees question Jesus’
Authority but Jesus answers with questions about John, Parable of the
wicked tenants. The main symbols of this parable are:
vineyard/fruit [Is. 5:1-7;
Deut. 7:7-11, 32:32; Ps. 80:8-11; Gen.
49:11-12, 22; Jer. 2:21; Hos.
10:11; Ezek. 17:5-6; Is. 16:8; Jer. 5:10, 17, 6:9, 12:10; Hos. 2:12;
Amos 4:10, Jn. 15:5,
rejected stone (ps. 118:22-23 Is. 8:14-15; 28:14-18, Acts 4:11 Dan
2:34-35).
So
God is the owner of the vineyard, the vineyard is Israel, with
the servants being the prophets, the wicked tenants being the
Pharisees and scribes and Jesus being the Son. So Jesus’
point is that the current authority structure of Israel is
not producing fruit so they are going to be destroyed and Israel is
going to be handed over to the gentiles and then Israel will
be rebuilt upon Christ.
Ch. 22
1-14
15-22
23-33
33-46
Ch. 23
In
Matt. 23 Jesus curses the theological and religious rulers
of Israel and goes on to describe what will happen to that
generation because their sin had reached its fullness in Jesus’
day and Jesus uses the particular commandments that he laid
forth in the beatitudes as the offenses for which Jerusalem was
going to be destroyed.
Matt.
5:1-18
|
Matt.
23:1-24:35
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1 And seeing
the multitudes, he went up into a
mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto
him: 2 And he
opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Jesus
takes Moses seat.
|
1-10 Then
spake Jesus to the multitude,
and to his disciples, 2 Saying
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses'
seat: Moses seat is filled with Egyptian
Masters.
|
3 Blessed
are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
|
V.
11-13 for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against
men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that
are entering to go in.
|
4 Blessed
are they that mourn: for they shall be
comforted.
|
V.
14 for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence
make long prayer: (Rather than comfort them) therefore ye shall
receive the greater damnation.
|
5 Blessed
are the meek: for they shall inherit the
earth.
|
V.
15 for ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte Their attempts at inheriting the earth are creating sons
of hell like themselves
|
6 Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they
shall be filled
|
V.
16-22 You hunger after Bureaucratic hoops rather then the true
root of righteousness.
|
Blessed
are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
|
V.
23-24 you tithe fervently so that you can forget the weightier
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.
|
8 Blessed
are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
|
V.
25-26 you clean the outside of the cup rather than worry about
being pure in heart.
|
9 Blessed
are the peacemakers: for they shall be called
the children of God.
|
V.
27-28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within
you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness (which is the opposite
of peace)
|
10 Blessed
are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed
are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my
sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for
great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you.
|
V.
29-36 you persecuted and killed God’s prophets.
|
13 Ye
are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of
men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A
city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither
do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in
the house. 16 Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 17 Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil.
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36 Verily
I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this
generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
. . . Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate. 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall
not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. . . 24:33
- So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know
that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily
I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all
these things be fulfilled.
(23:36-24:34) Jerusalem and Israel has
refused to obey, so it is going to be destroyed. They have
tried to put new wine in an old wine skin and it is going to
burst.
|
18 For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled.
|
35 Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
|
Jesus’
proclamation of the judgment coming was for having disregarded the
New Moses when the new law was established. The Sermon on the
mount was binding on the Israelites at it’s declaration (which
happened multiple times; see the Gospel of Luke’s sermon on the
plain- [Luke 6:20ff]). It was God establishing a New Covenant
with a new law and when the Pharisees and the Sadducees disobeyed the
Gospel of the new covenant, then Jesus declared the first act of
judgment that he would perform on the world. He was going to
cast down Jerusalem (with the temple in particular in mind) so that
it would be trodden on by men because that was all that salt without
savor was good for.
34-39
35 That
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from
the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of
Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily
I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this
generation. This is a clear time marker as to when Jesus
believed that all of this would happen. So that we wouldn’t
miss it (since none of the 1st century hearers would
have missed it) he says it again later in the passage (24:34)
37 O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not! (Deut. 32:10-11)
38 Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate. From this point on,
there is no turning back. The house is left desolate. The
sacrifices will lose their effectuality, the temple will become a
center for anti-Christian worship (rev. 18:1).
39 For
I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say,
Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
All
the bloodguilt of all the righteous has been building in the earth
and all of it is going to come upon Israel in Jesus’
generation. In fact, Jesus is going to take the guilt for all
those that flee under his wings, but the judgment of the whole world
is coming on Jesus’ generation and as Jesus has made clear
throughout the book of Matthew, all of that Judgment is falling on
those in Jerusalem and in particular, the temple (2:1-3; 3:5-10; 3:12
(comp. ); 5:13-14; 5:29-30; 6:14-15; 7:1-6; 7:13-19; 7:21-27 (house
language would evoke the temple); 8:11-12; 9:16-17; 10:14-16;
10:34-36; 11:22-24; 12:28-34; 12:33-42; 12:43-45; 13:24-30; 13:36-43;
13:47-50; 15:1-6; 15:12-14; 16:1-4; 16:14 (all prophets of judgment
who were considered to be traitor because they prophesied against
Israel); 17:20; 18:23-35; 19:28; 21:12-13 (comp. Jer 7:11-15);
21:18-22; 21:33-46; 22:1-14). Jesus is the true prophet to the
Jews, the true Priest of the Jews and the true King of the Jews, He
is the true covenantal head of Israel, the new Adam, the new
Moses, And the new David. He has come and offered to stand
between His generation of Israel and the wrath that will
burn up the old heavens and the old earth and sacrifice himself like
a mother hen in a fire who gathers her chicks under her wings and
dies, but her chicks live. That generation, (representing the
whole world) rejected Christ, so when the wrath came, they bore it
themselves.
As
Jesus said on the way to His crucifixion, “Daughters of Jerusalem,
weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your
children. 29 For, behold, the days are coming,
in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs
that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 30 Then
shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the
hills, Cover us. 31 For if they do these things
in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” (Luke 23:28-31)
Ch. 24
Matthew
24 is probably one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible.
To understand it, we must try and take the chapter in the most
natural way possible, that would make the most sense to the original
hearers.
24:1-31 And
Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came
to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 And
Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto
you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall
not be thrown down.
Jesus
and his disciples leave the temple complex and the disciples start
pointing at all of the buildings, do you see all of these buildings,
they are going to get trampled and not one of them will still be
standing within one generation. The stones of this building are
going to be scattered like salt that is only good for being trodden
under foot. And in fact not one stone was left upon another
because the Romans melted the gold off of each brick one at a time,
spreading the bricks out as they went.
24:3a
3 And
as he sat upon the mount of Olives
Zechariah
14:1-9
1 Behold,
the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the
midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all
nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken,
and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city
shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall
not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the
LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in
the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand
in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on
the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof
toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great
valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and
half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall
flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains
shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from
before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and
the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 6 And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear,
nor dark: 7 But it shall be one day which shall
be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass,
that at evening time it shall be light. 8 And it
shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem;
half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the
hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. 9 And
the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be
one LORD, and his name one.
Zechariah
Prophesies that when The Lord stands on the mount of olives that two
things shall happen, Jerusalem will be destroyed
and Jerusalem will be established. Jerusalem will
be destroyed by a great battle with Gentiles and the city will be
taken; and Jerusalem will become the center of
the Kingdom of God over all the earth, with the
blessings flowing to the whole earth.
the
disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these
things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end
of the world? 4
The
Disciples want to know when and how will they know that he has come
to usher in the new age (the word translated world means age).
This is not three questions, or even two questions, but one single
question.
24:3b-14
And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive
you. 5 For many shall come in my
name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And
ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not
troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet. 7 For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be
famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All
these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then
shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye
shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And
then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall
hate one another. 11 And many
false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And
because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold. 13 But he that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Don’t
be deceived and don’t lose heart. There is a rough time ahead
involving death, destruction, war, apostasy, attempted revolution,
and liars. But hold out because the good news about Jesus’
kingdom is going to spread through the whole world (see Acts 17:6,
24:5, Rom. 1:8).
24:15-22
15 When
ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand:)
Sometime
between 64AD and 70AD there will be a repeat of the abomination of
desolation, (which Daniel Prophesied about and which came to pass
when the High Priest Antiochus Epiphanies In 167 B.C. a Greek
ruler erected an altar to Zeus in place of the altar of burnt
offerings in the temple and then sacrificed a pig on the altar to
Zeus effectively halting true worship).
24:16-22
16 Then
let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let
him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of
his house: 18 Neither let him
which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in
those days! 20 But pray ye that
your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And
except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be
saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
When
you see it, run into the mountains, don’t gather your stuff, just
run. Woe unto you with nursing children (which is probably why
the early church favored virginity, because they were going to have
to hide in the mountains). Pray that it is not in winter (because it
will be hard to travel) and that it is not on the Sabbath (because
the gates would be locked) because the tribulation will be
great. This is also probably why the early Christians were
selling their property. Their property values were going to plumet
24:23-28
23 Then
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe
it not. 24 For there shall arise
false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the
very elect. 25 Behold, I have told
you before. 26 Wherefore if they
shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth:
behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27 For
as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the
west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28 For
wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered
together.
The
coming of the Son of Man will be obvious because the carcasses will
pile up. The “coming” is a coming in
judgment to establish the Kingdom of Heaven (Jesus’
reign of earth from Heaven). So if anyone claims that the
kingdom is gathering steam in the wilderness, or if anyone is
planning on bringing in the kingdom in some secret revolutionary
meetings (which was very common in the 1st century)
then ignore them, Because the coming of the kingdom will be obvious
because the eagles/vultures will be circling. (This is perhaps
a reference to the eagle on the shields of the Roman army).
24:29-31
29 Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and
the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
The
collapsing universe motif is symbolic prophetic language used to
describe the downfall of a nation. Jesus is describing the
destruction of Israel, and all that goes with it, (including the
way in which the gentile nations were ruled by angels) as God
dismantling creation. He is going to destroy the old world
order (cf. Isa. 13:10, 14:12-15,34:4, Ezek. 32:1-10, Joel
2:28-32, 3:14-16, Heb. 1:7-12, 2 Pet. 3:9-13, Rev. 6:13-14).
30 And
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then
shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son
of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And
He is going to replace it with a New World Order with Jesus as the
ruler of heaven and earth. The coming on the clouds is a coming to
heaven to receive all authority, which means that those that killed
him will see him coming on the clouds in judgment. (cf. Psalm
97:2-3, Ps. 104:3, Isaiah 19:1; Dan. 7:13,14, Matt. 16:27,28; Jn.
5:27).
31 And
he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.
And
as a result of Jesus new authority and His use of it to destroy the
Old World Order, God will send messengers to the ends of the earth to
gather his elect. (cf. Deut. 30:4, Amos 9:14,15; Jer. 23:5-8;
32:37-40; Ezek. 37:21-28; Zech. 12:11-14, Is. 27:13)
“The
gathering of Christ's elect from the four winds is the true
fulfillment of numerous prophecies which promise the chosen people
that they shall be gathered out of all lands and established forever
in the mountain of God” (This is a quote from
someone but I am not sure who, but isn’t it nice and concise.)
24:32-35
32 Now
learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and
putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So
likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is
near, even at the doors.
34 Verily
I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things
be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew’s
use of ‘this generation’ always refers to the first century.
Cf. 11:16; 12:41,42,45; 23:36, 24:34)
“This
Generation” gives us a definite time frame for when all of these
things are going to take place. If this is about 28-33 AD by
our reckoning of the calendar, then that gives us to about 68-73 AD
when heaven and earth will pass away. (See Installment 3 of our
ongoing series) So the temple system and Israel’s privileged
place in the world just about finished.
24:36-42
36 But
of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. 37 But as the
days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be. 38 For as in the days that
were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the
ark, 39 And knew not until the
flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be. 40 Then shall two
be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two
women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the
other left. 42 Watch therefore:
for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
This
verse is not talking about the rapture!!! It is talking about the
destruction of the old heavens and the old earth (Just like in Noah’s
day). People will continue to remain blind to the coming
destruction (Even some professing Christians, which is why Hebrews
was written) and will refuse to enter the Ark so when the
destruction comes upon them swiftly. While two are working in the
fields, one is taken by an invading army (See Luke 17:34-37) to
the pile of rotting corpses, they will be surprised. So watch
because you do not know what hour The Lord is coming in judgment by
means of the Roman army.
24:43-51
43 But
know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch
the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have
suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore
be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man
cometh. 45 Who then is a faithful
and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household,
to give them meat in due season? 46 Blessed
is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so
doing. 47 Verily I say unto you,
That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But
and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his
coming; 49 And shall begin to
smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the
drunken; 50 The lord of that
servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an
hour that he is not aware of, 51 And
shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
