Staying Spiritually Awake | Studies with Stearman-SEPT 4 2024
This week Gary takes us through two differing ways to look at the Olivet Discourse.
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00:00Welcome to Studies with Stearman.
00:06Join us as we look deeper into the Bible.
00:10Strengthen your faith with us, even as we see the day approaching.
00:15And now, here's Gary.
00:18Studying Matthew 24.
00:19We devoted our entire period to this study last Sunday.
00:24We're going to do it again.
00:26And we may do it yet one more time.
00:28I don't know.
00:29In Matthew 24, the Olivet Discourse, I want to tell you right up front that I'm not dogmatic
00:36about the Olivet Discourse.
00:37It's an extremely difficult passage to understand.
00:42It has nuances, some of which we'll touch upon today, that are very difficult and very
00:48interesting.
00:49It deals with the big question, when?
00:53We're all asking when.
00:56In Matthew 24, after Jesus has essentially brushed off the Pharisee, he has told them,
01:05I'm going, I'm not coming back, and you won't see me again until you welcome me as Messiah.
01:12The disciples say, one more time, please, Lord, please don't give up.
01:18And he says, you see these buildings around here?
01:21They're all going to be torn down.
01:23Every single one of them, not one stone upon another.
01:27And they say to him, okay, if that's the case, then when are you going to become Messiah?
01:35And what will be the sign of your coming to end Gentile world rule?
01:40Those are the two things they ask him.
01:43When are you coming to set up your kingdom?
01:46That's question number one.
01:48Question number two, what will be the sign of your coming to end Gentile world rule?
01:55Because that's what they really wanted.
01:57From the time he first came among them until he was crucified, that whole period of time
02:03the disciples were focused on the Jewish national hope, which is that Messiah will come and
02:10set up his kingdom, and Israel will become head of the nations.
02:15Israel will become dominant over the Gentiles.
02:17That has been the hope of Israel since Abraham.
02:21Now when and what?
02:25And we've gone through his answer to them completely a number of times.
02:30Jesus answered, said to them, verse 4, Matthew 24, take heed that no man deceive you.
02:37Which is, by the way, worth looking at.
02:40That little sentence, take heed that no man deceive you.
02:44If there ever has been a passage of Scripture that has been twisted out of shape to deceive
02:50people, it's Matthew 24.
02:52Everybody wants to have his own brand on Matthew chapter 24.
02:58The postmillennialists, those people who believe, for example, that the key events of Bible
03:03prophecy were already fulfilled in the first century, and the only thing that remains is
03:08for the church to rise up and take over the world, teach that when you read prophetic
03:15events in Matthew 24, they've essentially already happened.
03:21The only thing left is for the Lord to appear in the heavens, the sign of the Lord to appear,
03:27and all the tribes of the earth realizing that he is Messiah, and then the church will
03:31rise up and become the institution that controls world affairs.
03:37That's essentially the postmillennial belief, and there are those who do not believe in
03:42any millennium at all.
03:43They go back to Augustine, they believe simply that the spirit of Jesus will rise up and
03:49dominate the world in due time, and when that happens, the kingdom will come.
03:56So a lot of people in the church have appropriated Matthew 24 unto themselves.
04:02On the other hand, beginning in the mid-19th century, a group of people rose up and began
04:09to read the Bible in a different way.
04:11They began to read that Israel was prophesied to return to the land and to become dominant.
04:19So this little wedge, if you will, was driven into the institutional church, starting in
04:25about 1840, getting very strong about 1885, stronger still around 1897-1918 with the Balfour
04:36Declaration of 1917 giving the Jews the right to return to the land.
04:41That is, the English signed off on the idea of Israel returning to the land.
04:46Dispensational premillennialism rose to its height.
04:50Earlier today we talked about a contemporary group of men who are the descendants of John
04:56Nelson Darby, C.I.
04:58Schofield, George Wykram, a number of men back in the 19th, early 20th century who rose
05:04up to announce a new method of Bible study, dispensational premillennialism.
05:09We talked about the Pre-Trib study group, and I wanted to read their doctrinal statement.
05:16The Pre-Trib Research Center is committed to the study, proclamation, teaching and defending
05:20of the pre-tribulational rapture, pre-70th week of Daniel, and related end-time prophecy.
05:27Pre-Trib Research Center wants to impact pastors and individual Christians with the central
05:31role and importance that Bible prophecy, especially the any-moment possibility of the rapture,
05:38should play in the life of the church.
05:40The Pre-Trib study group stresses three practical implications that flow from rapture teaching.
05:46Number one, godly living in an unholy age.
05:49Number two, a strong emphasis upon evangelism of the lost.
05:52And number three, a zeal for worldwide missions.
05:57At the center of the Pre-Trib study group is one idea, that you must separate Israel
06:05from the church in prophecy.
06:07There are prophecies for the church, there are prophecies for Israel, never shall the
06:13twain meet.
06:15That's their central idea.
06:18With that in mind, we have been studying Matthew 24, and we went through it last week, and
06:24I took the classical position that the Pre-Trib study group takes.
06:31That as you go through Matthew 24, Jesus says, many shall come in my name.
06:37You're going to hear about wars and rumors of wars, but the end is not yet.
06:42You're going to hear about nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines,
06:46pestilences, earthquakes all over the world.
06:49The end isn't yet.
06:52And then Jesus says, all these are the beginning of sorrows, and they shall deliver you up
06:57to be afflicted and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's
07:01sake.
07:02The principle in Matthew 24 is that the you and the ye in Matthew 24 is Israel.
07:09Jesus is talking to Israel, He's not talking to the church.
07:14That they say is the central idea in Matthew 24.
07:19You cannot deviate from that fact ever.
07:23As you go through Matthew 24, which we've done several times, Jesus talks about the
07:28delivering up the Jews for martyrdom, false prophets rising in the end times.
07:34Jesus says, he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved.
07:39This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world.
07:42And most expositors say, well, that's the 144,000 preaching the gospel during the tribulation.
07:48Jesus says in Matthew 24, 15, when you see the abomination of desolation, stand up in
07:53the holy place, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.
07:58Well, that's obviously aimed at the Jews.
08:00It's not talking to Christians.
08:02So we're just going right through this thing one step at a time.
08:07The next thing he says is in verse 21, for then shall be great tribulations such as was
08:12not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be.
08:16In the Greek it says, the tribulation, the great one.
08:19In other words, a single event.
08:22There's only one of them.
08:24It's called the tribulation, the great one.
08:26And Jesus says, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.
08:30For the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
08:34We could talk about that all day.
08:36What does that mean?
08:38That mean that the rotational period of the earth will be speeded up so that the days
08:41are no longer as long as they were?
08:44I'm just asking.
08:46Other people have asked all kinds of questions about what that days being shortened means.
08:51But still, it seems to refer to the Jews.
08:54Matthew 24, 23, if any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe
08:59it not, for there shall arise false Christs.
09:03Now as we go down through the Olivet Discourse, it's very obvious that the Jews are being
09:08spoken to.
09:10But I want to remind you that the nature of this study we're doing right now is on the
09:17period preceding the tribulation.
09:20I've spent several weeks attempting to define and refine the fact that there are a number
09:27of years prior to the tribulation that the Bible talks about.
09:31And it speaks of certain things happening in those years.
09:35So we go on down through the Olivet Discourse.
09:39Verse 27, Matthew 24, for as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto
09:43the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
09:47Classically, that's the second coming of Christ.
09:49It's not the coming of Jesus for the church.
09:52It's the second coming.
09:54And then this verse, wheresoever the carcass is, there will be eagles be gathered together
09:59reminds us of Revelation 19 when Jesus comes back with the armies of Heaven and makes hay,
10:06if you will.
10:07It kills the enemies who are raiding Israel, attempting to destroy the Jews.
10:12The Lord comes out of Heaven on a white horse and we read about a mass slaughter of the
10:18enemy, if you will.
10:19And so we think about that in Matthew 24, 28.
10:23And then it says immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, the
10:27moon shall not give her light, stars shall fall from Heaven, the powers of Heaven shall
10:31be shaken.
10:34Immediately after the tribulation, well, that's pretty obvious what that's talking about.
10:38But remember, Joel, first of the writing prophets, Joel said before the tribulation, the sun
10:46would be darkened, the moon should not give her light.
10:50So now we've got a much more complex series of events than is commonly thought.
10:56After the tribulation and before the tribulation, there's going to be disruption of geophysical
11:03events.
11:05And of course, all the way through the tribulation, there's going to be a disruption of geophysical
11:10events.
11:12Verse 30, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven, and then shall all
11:18the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
11:23Heaven with power and great glory.
11:25Obviously, the second coming of Christ.
11:28He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, they shall gather together his
11:33elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other.
11:37Post-tribulationists, that is people who believe the rapture of the church doesn't come until
11:41the end of the tribulation, point to this verse and they say, well, this is the last
11:47trump that Paul talked about.
11:50And so the church is going to go all the way through the seven years of tribulation and
11:54then be taken up, as it says right here in Matthew 24.31.
11:59Well the pre-trib study group says, no, this is not talking about the church, this is talking
12:03about Israel, because Matthew 24 is devoted to, and as we've said before, Matthew 24 is
12:09of, by, and for the Jews.
12:12And I've taught that for years, the men of the pre-trib study group have taught it for
12:16years.
12:18And I say this to preface the fact that this morning we're going to disagree with the men
12:24of the pre-trib study group to some degree, however I have to go all the way back to John
12:30Nelson Darby in 1840 through 1882 and say that John Nelson Darby would also have disagreed
12:39with the contemporaries of the pre-trib study group.
12:43Then we come to the parable of the fig tree.
12:45This is obviously directed to Israel.
12:48Now learn a parable of the fig tree, when its branches yet tender, putteth forth leaves,
12:52you know that summer is nigh.
12:55Well John F. Walvord, who was chancellor at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote a number
13:01of books on Bible prophecy, says this is a natural rather than a typical illustration
13:08of Israel.
13:09He's saying this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with prophecy.
13:14It's a funny thing to say, because it's in a very deeply prophetic passage and in a latter
13:20day context the fig tree is national Israel, so says Jeremiah.
13:25And Jeremiah says the good figs would one day be brought back to the land and planted
13:29and they would grow up and when you plant a fig you get a fig tree.
13:33So I've always thought, well this is a prophetic picture of Israel.
13:38Just to show you there's disagreement, Walvord and I think Pentecost and a lot of the Dallas
13:43Theological people said no, this is not prophecy about Israel.
13:48This is simply a natural illustration rather than a prophetic illustration.
13:54So I read this, now learn a parable of the fig tree, when its branches yet tender, putteth
13:59forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh.
14:01Summer is a key word.
14:03Summer is a time of the harvest.
14:04We saw in Micah chapter 7 there was an illustration of the harvesting of the summer fruit.
14:09Jesus says the harvest is illustrative of the end of the world, that is the end of the
14:14Gentile era.
14:15So I take it that this is a prophecy.
14:18So likewise ye, you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
14:26It what?
14:27What is this it?
14:28Well, it's kind of fascinating that in the Greek there is the masculine pronoun, he.
14:35He is near, even at the doors.
14:38I'm taking this to be an illustration of Jesus and you know what it takes me to in
14:46my mind?
14:47It takes me to the church of Laodicea, a prophecy about the lukewarm church at the end of the
14:52church age in which Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
14:58Well, here it is.
15:00When you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors.
15:05So for me, it's no big stretch to say that this is talking about Jesus on the verge of
15:11returning.
15:12Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.
15:17Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
15:22Again, this is directed to Hebrew people, to people who speak Koine Greek as well as
15:28Hebrew.
15:29And if you speak Hebrew, Jesus is talking about what in the Old Testament is called
15:35the last generation.
15:39The last generation as given in the Old Testament is a generation of the coming of the Messiah.
15:44So here we go.
15:46All of that discourse directed toward Israel, directed toward the Jews, directed toward
15:52Latter-day Prophecy.
15:54It's the answer to the disciples questions, when are you going to come back and fulfill
16:01your promises as Messiah, and what will be the events that surround your coming?
16:07In other words, when are you going to come back to defeat the Gentile world rule, and
16:12what will be the events that surround your coming?
16:16Now we go from there to the words we looked at last week.
16:20And again, we've gone through it several times before.
16:22We may go through it two or three weeks in a row before we're through.
16:26But of that day and hour knoweth no man, verse 36, not the angels of heaven, but my Father
16:30only.
16:31What day and hour?
16:32Well, there's a controversy about what day and hour is being talked about here.
16:37There's a distinct group of people who say the day and hour mentioned here is the day
16:42and hour of the second coming.
16:45There's another distinct group of people who say the day and the hour refers to the rapture
16:51of the church.
16:53So which group are you going to come down with?
16:57What are you going to believe?
16:59As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
17:04What were the days of Noah?
17:06Next sentence, for as in the days of Noah that were before the flood, this is all about
17:12Noah before the flood.
17:15I take it that that's virtually the same as saying it's about the people who live in the
17:19end times before the tribulation.
17:22And this is the period that we've been studying.
17:25There was normal living of a certain type until the day that Noah entered the ark.
17:31God sealed up the ark, as we said last week.
17:34The ark was lifted up and taken away.
17:37But there was a certain quality of life and a certain series of events that happened before
17:44the flood, which is analogous to before the tribulation.
17:48We come to this mysterious thing.
17:51The people who were around Noah were ignorant.
17:55They knew not until the flood came, took them all away.
17:58So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
18:00Two be in the field, one shall be taken, the other left.
18:04Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, the other left.
18:08Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come.
18:12But know this, the good man of the house had known what watch the thief would come.
18:17He would have watched, would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
18:20Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as you think not.
18:24The Son of Man cometh.
18:27And classic premillennial dispensationalist will say, be ye ready, for in such an hour
18:33as you think not.
18:34The Son of Man cometh to Israel, not to the church.
18:38The whole thing is written to Israel.
18:41This is the view that I presented last week.
18:43Now, just to take a few illustrations, among the well-known people who have adopted this
18:50stratagem of interpretation, J. Vernon McGee.
18:54Are you familiar with J. Vernon McGee?
18:56He comes down to Matthew 24, 40, and 41, and he says this.
19:01He says, people of Noah's day, I can't do a J. Vernon McGee impression, I wish I could,
19:05because you've just got to do J. Vernon McGee to make it sound right, you know.
19:10He says also, people of Noah's day were marrying, giving in marriage, certainly our Lord was
19:16not saying that marriage is wrong.
19:18His point is they rejected so completely God's warning through Noah that they went ahead
19:22and had their weddings, maybe even quote-unquote church weddings, right up to the day that
19:26Noah entered the ark.
19:28They lived as though God did not exist.
19:30They did not believe that He would judge them, and scorned the warning that the flood was
19:35imminent.
19:36And knew not, till the flood came, took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of
19:40Man be.
19:41And then he quotes Matthew 24, 40, and 41.
19:44Two in the field, one taken, one left.
19:46Two women grinding the mill, one taken, the other left.
19:50And then J. Vernon says, I can hear someone saying to me, well preacher, you've finally
19:54painted yourself into a corner.
19:56You said the church and the rapture are not in the Olivet discourse, but here they are.
20:02Two shall be in the field, one shall be taken, the other left.
20:05Well my friend, he still is not talking about the rapture, says J. Vernon.
20:10After all, what's our Lord talking about here?
20:13As the days of Noah were.
20:14Who was taken away in the days of Noah?
20:17They knew not, until the flood came, and took them all away.
20:21They perished in the flood.
20:22This is not referring to the rapture, when the church will be taken out of the world.
20:27Rather, this picture's the removing from the earth, by judgment, unto those who are not
20:32going to enter the millennial kingdom.
20:34So that's J. Vernon's take on things.
20:38Dwight Pentecost, who wrote the classic Things to Come, and by the way, the premillennial
20:44pre-trib dispensationalist, concerning this same passage, Dwight Pentecost says two women
20:50shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, the other left, watch therefore
20:54for you know not what hour your Lord doth come, and he says, again, this passage is
20:59that discourse in which the Lord outlines His program for Israel, who is already in
21:05the tribulation period.
21:06The one taken is taken to judgment.
21:09The one left is left for the millennial blessing.
21:12Such is not the prospect for the church.
21:15So now we have two authorities who come down on that side.
21:18Stanley Toussaint.
21:19Have you ever read Dr. Stanley Toussaint?
21:22Brilliant man of the faith, one of the leaders, along with Lewis Sperry Chaffer, who was president
21:27of Dallas Theological Seminary, in the pre-trib, premill, dispensational Bible movement.
21:34He says this, Dr. Stanley Toussaint, the Olivet Discourse, according to this study, is the
21:38Lord's response to three questions of the disciples.
21:42I mention two of those, having to do with the destruction of Jerusalem, the coming of
21:46the Lord, and the end of the age.
21:49To cut to the chase here, Dr. Toussaint says, verse 8 of the Olivet Discourse, first half
21:57of the tribulation period.
21:59Verse 14, looks back to the verses 9-13, the conditions here may be the general survey
22:05of the last half of the tribulation from verses 15-28, the coming of the Son of Man is contrasted
22:11with the Lord's coming.
22:13Verses 29-31 describe the glory of His return, as verse 27 anticipates.
22:18The application for Israel is given in Matthew 24, 32-51.
22:24The passage, as was said earlier, is Jewish and relates to a very Jewish context because
22:30of its Jewishness, neither the church nor the rapture are in view in Matthew 24.
22:38So I think now we've got some pretty good examples.
22:41Dr. John F. Walvoord, who wrote the rapture question, which is a classic book on the rapture,
22:47says this, in his discourse, Christ did not reveal a pre-tribulational rapture.
22:53And he goes into great detail to show how, just as these others have said, that it is
23:00Israel that's being referred to here, not the church.
23:04He says the context clearly argues against the rapture.
23:08In this illustration of the days of Noah, those who are taken away by the flood are
23:12the ones who are drowned, and the ones who are left are the ones who are left in safety
23:16in the ark.
23:18It would be strange to have a clear illustration like this be completely reversed in the application
23:23of verses 40 and 41.
23:26Now John Nelson Darby, going all the way back to the period in 1840-1882, and George Wygram
23:34and these men were the founder of the Plymouth Brethren and of the dispensational movement,
23:41believed that the illustration of the flood, one taken, one left, were illustrations of
23:48the rapture of the church.
23:50Darby actually believed that.
23:52And there's some evidence that, at least in his early days, C. I. Schofield believed that
23:57too.
23:58But later on, as post-millennialism reared its ugly head and people began to say, well,
24:03the rapture is not taking place until the end of the tribulation, then Lewis Sperry
24:08Chafer, the Dallas Theological Seminary, the Pre-Trib Study Group, arose to argue and say,
24:14no, no, it's a pre-tribulation rapture.
24:16And when they did, they also took the view that the Olivet Discourse does not picture
24:22the church, but rather pictures only Israel.
24:25That was their position for argument.
24:29You can see that clearly here, Dr. Walvoord says it should be obvious to the impartial
24:33reader that the post-tribulationists simply have not made a case.
24:38Post-tribulationists say Matthew 24, 31 is the rapture.
24:43He shall send his angels with the great sound of the trumpet, they shall gather his elect
24:46from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.
24:50And so this all started out, the interpretational difficulties of this passage started out with
24:56a dispute between two factions of the church, the pre-trib faction and the post-trib faction.
25:05One group said there's going to be a rapture before the tribulation.
25:09The other group said, no, there's going to be a rapture at the end of the tribulation.
25:13Now I'm going to start quoting Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, who is also a member of the
25:17Pre-Trib Study Group.
25:19And he says, the rapture of the church, Matthew 24, 36 to 42, Luke 21, 34 to 36.
25:28And he says, you people in the pre-trib group are right as far as you go, but you don't
25:35go far enough.
25:38He says, he's quoting Dr. Fruchtenbaum, and I hope this is not boring to you because I
25:42think it was very exciting.
25:44It's sort of on the cutting edge of what's happening today in Christianity.
25:48Dr. Fruchtenbaum says, within premillennial and pre-tribulational circles, the majority
25:54view today is that this passage, and he's referring to Matthew 24, 36 to 42, which we've
26:04read many times.
26:07One taken, one left.
26:09He says, in this passage, the majority view today is that it's speaking of the second
26:14coming rather than the rapture.
26:16We have just seen that because I've read several examples of well-known exponents of
26:20that view.
26:22And Dr. Fruchtenbaum says two main reasons are given.
26:25First, contextually, Jesus has been speaking about second coming.
26:29And since this passage follows that discussion, then logically it would mean he's speaking
26:33of the same thing.
26:35Second, the taking away of Matthew 24, 40 and 41 is taken to be the same as verse 39,
26:43which is taking away in judgment.
26:47Hence the taking away is in judgment at the second coming and not the blessing of the
26:55rapture.
26:56So let's review.
26:57You have here in Matthew 24, 39, the people who were contemporaries of Noah, ignorant,
27:08totally ignorant, until the flood came and took them all away, so shall the coming of
27:14the Son of Man be.
27:16Then you have two more takens, verse 40, two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken,
27:21the other left.
27:22Verse 41, two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one taken, the other left.
27:28So you have took, taken, and taken.
27:30Dr. Fruchtenbaum has a very interesting response to the interpretation of classic pre-tribulationists.
27:37He says in answer to the first point, Matthew 24, 36 begins with the word but, which is
27:46in the Greek peri-de.
27:49The peri-de construction in Greek is a contrastive introduction to a new subject, hence is often
27:57translated as but concerning.
28:01That is, but concerning as you would be talking along, you know, you're talking about, let's
28:05say you're talking about taxi cabs.
28:07I take a cab here and I take a cab there, I take a cab here and I take a cab there,
28:14but concerning transportation, I always take the bus.
28:18Now here's why I take the bus.
28:20So I've been talking about taxi cabs, I take the cab here and I take the cab here, and
28:25then I come to my new idea.
28:29But concerning my personal transportation, I always take the bus.
28:33And so the peri-de construction in Greek is a, now we're going to talk about a new
28:39subject, construction.
28:41But concerning.
28:42It's used this way in 1 Corinthians three different times, it's used this way in 1 Thessalonians
28:48twice, and then it's used several other times.
28:51Always when it's used it means now let's talk about a new subject.
28:57And Dr. Fruchtenbaum says the usage of this construction points to the construction of
29:01a new subject, so yes he has been discussing the second coming until this point.
29:06However, peri-de, but concerning, means that he is now introducing a new subject and that
29:12is the rapture.
29:14So says Dr. Fruchtenbaum.
29:16This would not be the first time the chronological sequence of the Olivet Discourse was broken
29:21to speak of an earlier event.
29:23Also happened in Luke 21, 12 in answer to the second point.
29:27Now we're going to talk about the idea of the taking away.
29:33We read about the fact that of that day and hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven,
29:43but my Father only.
29:47This is true of the rapture of the church, but it is not true of the second coming of
29:53the Lord Jesus Christ, which will someday be a dateable event.
30:00The second coming of Jesus will occur exactly seven years after the signing of the seven
30:05year covenant and three and a half years, 42 months or 1260 days after the abomination
30:11of desolation.
30:13So you cannot say of that day and hour, the second coming of Jesus knoweth no man.
30:19You can't say that because everybody alive in that day will know when the Antichrist
30:23signed the covenant and exactly 2,520 days later, Jesus comes.
30:30It's perfectly dateable.
30:33So Dr. Fruchtenbaum says this has to be referring to the rapture.
30:38Now I'm just telling you what Dr. Fruchtenbaum says.
30:42So if this is talking about the rapture, Jesus is making some points as He speaks to
30:51the disciples.
30:53First in verse 36, the question of when, that's known by one person, that's God the Father.
31:02Not known by the angels, was not known by the Son in His humanity, but only by God the
31:07Father.
31:09And if the timing of the rapture has been hidden from both angels and the humanity of
31:14Jesus, how much more so is it hidden from mankind in general?
31:18We know there is going to be a rapture and there's a great deal of argumentation about
31:22when, under what circumstances, relative to the tribulation, etc.
31:28But the only clue we have is that it's going to occur sometime before the tribulation.
31:35Might easily occur three or four years before the tribulation.
31:38And Dr. Fruchtenbaum, and I'm quoting here, says it might easily occur ten or twenty years
31:44before the tribulation.
31:47And there's much to say about that.
31:49Much much much.
31:50I wish I had about four different mouths that could speak four different things at the same
31:55time because I have four different trains of thought going up here all at once and I'm
32:00restricted to only one mouth.
32:01It's very frustrating.
32:04Because there seems to be growing evidence that in fact there is a long interval between
32:11the rapture and the commencement of the tribulation period.
32:15So that's the first point.
32:17When?
32:18Nobody knows.
32:20You can know the day of the second coming, but you cannot know the day of the rapture.
32:25Second point, there will not be any signs preceding the rapture.
32:30It's 37 through 39.
32:32As the days of Noah were, so shall also the days of the coming of the son of man be.
32:37For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving
32:41and marriage till the day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the flood came.
32:47Now you have to juggle your thinking because since we were in Sunday school, all of us
32:53have been taught that Noah and his sons built this boat out in the middle of a prairie and
32:59all the people alive in that day just laughed him to scorn.
33:03They came by and every day they're on their way to do their business, how's it going,
33:07Noah?
33:08Still building that boat?
33:11And like there's never been any rain and there's no water to float the boat and here's this
33:15stupid Noah and his sons and they are the objects of ridicule.
33:19But the Bible doesn't say that.
33:21You go back and read it yourself and you'll discover that the biblical account in Genesis
33:26indicates that what Noah did was not known in public.
33:31Nobody came by and ridiculed him.
33:34He did it apparently in isolation.
33:37And it says so right here, quoting Jesus.
33:39They knew not until the flood came.
33:43These people were in ignorance.
33:45This is analogous to the situation of the period prior to the tribulation.
33:53The majority of the world will be utterly ignorant of the fact that there is a coming
33:58rapture.
33:59It's just, you know, take six and a half billion people, what percentage of that group know
34:06that there's going to be a rapture of the church?
34:08Very small percentage.
34:10Just as it was the days of Noah.
34:13People eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage.
34:16None of these things necessarily sinful.
34:20Necessary for human survival and propagation.
34:22Of course, we know that world conditions at that time were horrific.
34:27The rapture will suddenly occur, sweeping away all believers.
34:33Verses 40 and 41, then two shall be in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left.
34:38Two women grinding at the mill, one taken, the other left.
34:43So that's the second point.
34:45The rapture will suddenly occur, sweeping away all believers, verses 40 and 41.
34:51So says Dr. Fruchtenbaum.
34:54This will not be true of the second coming.
34:58If you stop and think about the second coming, when Jesus comes, there won't be a sweeping
35:03away of anybody.
35:06There will be a period of absolute revelation and judgment, people falling on their faces
35:12and weeping and crying out for mercy.
35:16But there's nothing spoken in Revelation.
35:19Nothing spoken in any of the day of the Lord prophecies that say that at the second coming
35:23there will be some sweeping away of people.
35:27The only place we read about a sweeping away or a taking away is in narratives that do
35:34concern the rapture of the church.
35:36We've read one of them in Zephaniah chapter 2.
35:40We read another one in Micah chapter 7, woe I am as when they have harvested the summer
35:45fruit.
35:46The good man has disappeared from out of the earth.
35:49Boom, he's gone.
35:50That's not talking about the second coming.
35:53Third point, there will be a separation when it comes.
35:59Now go back to Matthew 24, 33.
36:02So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors.
36:12The intricacies of inflection in Koine Greek make it possible to translate that either
36:21as it or he.
36:25It's an it by virtue of its position within a subjunctive clause, but it's a he because
36:33it has a masculine ending.
36:35So you can say, know that he is near even at the doors, referring to Christ, or you
36:40can say, know that it is near.
36:43What's the it?
36:44Well, the it could well come after the para-da of verse 36.
36:50But concerning that day and hour, and now we're talking about the rapture.
36:56And you go back up to verse 33, and now you're looking at the it in the King James Bible
37:02referring to the rapture.
37:06It is near even at the doors.
37:08And you can see that Dr. Fruchtenbaum prefers that interpretation.
37:13Mind you now, I'm taking a chance standing up here, as they say, the pioneers get the
37:18arrows.
37:19There are certain people who would be pulling the bow right now and saying, you can't say
37:23that.
37:24You can't say that.
37:25Well, I'm just simply quoting Dr. Fruchtenbaum, whom I greatly respect.
37:30That's my excuse.
37:33But we're not through with this yet.
37:35I'm going to give you a supplication to watch.
37:39Watch.
37:40Verse 42 says,
37:47Is that watching for the second coming?
37:50No.
37:51That's watching for the rapture.
37:54The second coming, you know what hour.
37:57If you're alive during the tribulation period, and if you are a good Jew who has picked up
38:03an old New Testament in Hebrew and you're reading it, boy, you're going to know.
38:08You're going to know.
38:10And by the way, there are lots of Hebrew New Testaments around.
38:13I have one and I leave it in a prominent place.
38:15So if I'm taking the rapture and some Jewish convert comes by, they can have my Hebrew
38:20New Testament.
38:21There's a supplication to watch.
38:25In the Greek language, there are four different verbs meaning to watch.
38:31Fulaki, kustodia, agroupnia, and georgio.
38:37I like georgio.
38:39You've heard of the name Georgi in Greek?
38:42It means watchman.
38:44Georgio.
38:45Now, fulaki means to guard.
38:48The Greek word kustodia, to guard.
38:51The Greek word agroupnia means insomnia.
38:54You can't go to sleep.
38:56But the word that's used here in verse 42 is georgio.
39:03And it means to remain spiritually alert.
39:06It has a very specific meaning.
39:09Grigiorio.
39:11If I get my teeth put here in the right place, I might actually be able to pronounce that
39:16word.
39:17It means to keep spiritually awake.
39:21It's a very specific word.
39:24How do you keep spiritually awake?
39:28You can be awake and not spiritually awake.
39:31It's a very specific word.
39:33And it means to stay on the cutting edge, to be listening to what the Lord says.
39:40It's really easy to go to sleep and just content yourself that, oh, you know, when it comes,
39:46it comes.
39:47That's fine.
39:48Or you can study prophecy and stay awake.
39:52Well, we're studying prophecy.
39:54And I hope you're not bored, because I've introduced a lot of ideas.
39:58It's not boring to me, because we're trying to stay spiritually awake.
40:03We're trying to attune ourselves to the times and seasons here.
40:07There's a supplication here.
40:11Watch, therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come,
40:17but know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what
40:21time period the thief would come, he would have watched,
40:25would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
40:28What's the analogy there?
40:30What's going on here?
40:32Would not have suffered his house to...who would come and break up your house
40:36if you weren't watching?
40:38What are we talking about here in this little parable?
40:41But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what period of time
40:45the thief would come, he would have watched, would not have suffered,
40:49or would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
40:53To me the implication here is that watching is necessary
40:57if you are to remain well-guarded in a day
41:01of advancing demonic darkness.
41:05We are living in such a day today.
41:09We're living in a day in which satanic propaganda is growing exponentially.
41:13Just watch TV, watch some movies.
41:17If you're not careful, your house will be broken into.
41:21There are kids' cartoons that pretend to be nice, sweet kids'
41:25cartoons that are loaded with satanic propaganda.
41:29You have to watch, otherwise your house will be broken into.
41:33This is simply Jesus' way of saying this is what the conditions are going to be like
41:37at the end of the church age.
41:41What method would he use to come into your house?
41:45Well, right through the TV. It's a good way, right?
41:49Magazines, literature. Satan has some marvelous ways of
41:53breaking into your house. You need to be watchful, therefore.
41:57Watch. Stay spiritually awake.
42:01Gregorio, Gregoriu, you all. Stay awake.
42:05That's the fourth idea expressed by Jesus
42:09here. Throughout this discourse,
42:13the word watch means to be ready. Watching is the
42:17equivalent of readiness.
42:21Readiness is the result of salvation.
42:25We escape the tribulation through salvation,
42:29the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be out there
42:33praying with those people who need Christ.
42:37And finally, those who accept Messiah
42:41prior to the rapture of the church can be ready and can be
42:45watching. Now let's take a little
42:49trip over to Luke by way of conclusion.
42:53Read the same passage as Luke
42:57gives it. Luke 17-26.
43:01"...as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also
43:05be in the days of the Son of Man. They did
43:09eat, they drank, they married wives. They were given in marriage until the
43:13day that Noah entered the ark. The flood came and destroyed them all."
43:17This is Luke's version of the Olivet Discourse.
43:21This is before the flood, analogous to before the
43:25tribulation. Verse 28, "...likewise also
43:29as it was in the days of Lot," another person
43:33"...they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built,
43:37but..." and by the way this is before fire and
43:41brimstone fell from Heaven, analogous to the tribulation. So we're
43:45talking about the period before Lot's tribulation here.
43:49"...but on the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from Heaven
43:53and destroyed them all." And by the way, I really and truly believe in
43:57this. I don't think it's a figure of speech. I think it actually happened.
44:01Over there to this day where Sodom and Gomorrah used to be, you pick up
44:05brimstone. It's all over the place. It smells
44:09like matches. Verse 30,
44:13"...even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is
44:17revealed." That day, when the
44:21Son of Man is revealed. Hmm. Hmm, hmm, hmm. What's that talking about?
44:25Is that talking about the second coming of Christ?
44:29No, it's not. Dr. Fruchtenbaum says no, it's talking about the rapture.
44:33And that day, "...he which should be upon the housetop,
44:37and his stuff in the house, let him not come down and take it away.
44:41He that's in the field, let him likewise not return back." Remember Lot's
44:45wife? Remember what happened to her? She wanted to go back and pick up Mother's
44:49China, or whatever it was, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.
44:53Which, by the way, is perfectly feasible if you've got
44:57a pile of salt solutions falling from the heavens
45:01after an explosion, and these salt accretions build up around a
45:05body, it would pretty much turn you into a pillar of salt.
45:09And salts being what they are, that body would be preserved. Remember
45:13Lot's wife. "...whosoever shall seek to save his
45:17life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it."
45:21I tell you, in that night there'll be two men, one
45:25taking the other left. Two women shall be grinding together, one
45:29taking the other left. Two men shall be in the field, one taking the other left.
45:33And the answer said unto him, where, Lord?
45:37And he said unto them, wheresoever the body is, thither will be the
45:41eagles gathered together. And that's always used
45:45as an illustration of the tribulation.
45:49It's a figure used for the second coming. And so a lot of people looked at that and said,
45:53no, this can't be talking about the
45:57rapture of the church. This has to be talking about the second coming.
46:01Dr. Fruchtenbaum says no,
46:05no, don't think so. Luke, he says,
46:09also states there's a possibility to prevail, to escape all these
46:13things that shall come to pass. Verse 36,
46:17this is not possible if one is on the earth.
46:21If one is to escape all these things, one must be off the
46:25earth. And then he says, second point, that the believer
46:29might stand before the Son of Man in Heaven, and he says this will be the
46:33result of the rapture. We stand before the Son of
46:37Man, and by standing before Him we escape all these
46:41things, to quote Luke. Both of these things can
46:45only be accomplished by the rapture, and that is why to
46:49be saved.
46:53Rigorio, watch, that is
46:57be spiritually awake. Now we've taken
47:01quite a trip this morning. We've gone through a lot of ideas.
47:05There are a lot of brilliant men who disagree
47:09about how these passages should be interpreted.
47:13I've given you two ways to look at the Olivet Discourse
47:17represented by men whom I deeply
47:21respect. I must say that Dr. Fruchtenbaum
47:25presents an awfully convincing case about
47:29this period we're studying before the tribulation.