MORE OF MATTHEW 24

Related Articles

FULFILLMENT OF A PROMISE, THEN CONFLICT

April 6, 2023

THE CONCEPT OF ORIGINAL SIN AND THE RESPONSE OF GUILT AND BLAME

April 6, 2023

SYLLABUS for the book of GENESIS

April 5, 2023

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

Matthew 24:3

Matthew 24:32-51
Lesson #60
MORE OF MATTHEW 24

• Memory verse: Mat 24:32
• Question 3 continued. What shall be the sign of the end of the age?
• Read Mat 24:32-51 (Luk 21:29-34)
  • Jesus gives four examples to demonstrate a warning of the signs of the end of the age.
    • =1= Blossoming of the fig tree (Mat 24:32-35)
    • =2= Days of Noah — speaks of a time of judgment
    • =3= The watchful householder — a warning of watchfulness
    • =4= Parable of the faithful steward — a warning of a time of judgment to come.
  • Things that need to come to pass by example:
    • =1= Blossoming of the fig tree (Mat 24:32-35)
      • The fig tree is a symbol of Israel (Mat 21:19-20 Hos 9:10)

The Development of Modern Israel

• • • • Prophecies concerning the Jews’ return to the land: (Isa 11:11,12 Amo 9:14-15 Eze 36:17-24 Eze 37:1-14)
        • The Jews have been scattered and without a homeland from 70 AD until the year 1948.
        • God will return them gradually to the land (bone by bone in Eze 37) until all Jews are living in the land in the millennium.

Historic Return of the Jews:

Population Statistics in Israel:

1882-1904 25,000 Eastern European Jews 1904-1914 40,000 Russian Jews 1919-1923 35,000 from Russia,Poland, Romania 1924-1932 88,450 mostly from Poland 1933-1939 215,000 mostly from Poland and Germany 1939-1945 62,531 from Nazi Europe 1946-1948 57,456 European Holocaust survivors 1948-1951 684,000 mostly Holocaust survivors 1955-1957 161,000 1961-1964 220,000 1991 14,000 from Ethiopia 1991-1995 600,000 from Soviet Union

1922 84,000 Jews 590,000 Arabs 1931 174,000 Jews 760,000 Arabs 1939 450,000 Jews 900,000 Arabs 1948 600,000 Jews

The History of the Development of Israel:

• • The idea of a Jewish nation began with the publication of a book called “The Jewish State” by Theodor Herzl in 1896.
  • The Balfour Declaration:
    • In 1917 a Jewish scientist/statesman living in Britain named Chaim Weizmann discovered a new process for producing 2 components used in making high explosives. He offered the process to Britain in exchange for help to bring about the establishment of a Jewish homeland. It was called the Balfour Declaration. Britain used the scientific process to help win World War I.
    • The British reasons for approving the declaration:
      • To maintain open channel through the Middle East to its holdings in India and E. Africa.
      • To encourage Russia and America to join the war against Germany and Turkey. Turkey held the territory of Israel for 400 years.
    • To obtain the high explosive chemical process.
      • There was a majority of Bible believing cabinet members in Britain.
      • After World War I the League of Nations approved the Balfour Declaration.
    • The British Mandate:
      • In 1922 the League of Nations appointed Britain to govern the mandated territory.
      • Jewish immigration expanded causing problems and reprisals from Arab neighbors.
      • In 1939 pressure from the Arabs caused Britain to halt Jewish immigration into the mandated territory of Israel. This resulted in illegal immigration and a worsening relationship between Britain and the Jews.
      • In 1947 Britain requested the United Nations’ help in solving the problems in Israel.
    • The United Nations Partition
      • In 1947 the United Nations plan was to divide the land between the Arabs and the Jews and to make Jerusalem an international city controlled by the United Nations.
      • The jews accepted the plan, but the Arab Muslims rejected the plan and seized Jerusalem.
      • In May 1948 the British mandate came to an end and land was given to the Jews to form the nation of Israel.
    • The 1948 war
      • As Britain was leaving the new nation of Israel, Arabs attacked.
      • God intervened, and the Jews won the war gaining more territory than was initially given them by the United Nations.
    • The 1967 Six Day War
      • Egypt and other Arab nations attacked Israel. God intervened. Egypt was miraculously defeated in six days.
      • The results of the six day war:
        • The Jews gained much of Egyptian territory in that war. However, they returned all but the Gaza strip after the war.
        • The Jews gained control of the West Bank territory including Jerusalem by defeating Jordan in the six day war.
        • The Jews gained control of the Golan Heights from Syria in the six day war.
  • Which generation will not pass until these things will happen?
    • It is the generation that sees the blossoming of Israel in the land.
      • How long is a generation?
        • Either 35 years (Job 42:16)
        • or 40 years (Num 32:13 Psa 95:10),
        • or 70 years (Isa 23:15).
      • We cannot know for sure.
    • A fig tree has two crops that indicate there is a double fulfillment to this prophecy.
      • When is the blossoming of the fig tree?
      • 1948 or 1967?
  • The days of Noah/Lot — a time of judgment (Mat 24:36-39 Luk 17:28-29)
    • What were the conditions of Noah’s and Lot’s time that parallel our days?
    • Materialism, immorality, permissivism, skepticism, hedonism, humanism, homosexuality, worldly wisdom.
      • “giving in marriage” = wife swapping, same sex marriage. A supernatural sexual union between evil angels and human beings such as in Gen 6:1-4.
      • A close proximity passing of the planet Mars that may have occurred at the flood.
        • Ancient cultures feared and worshiped the red planet because periodically it passes close enough to the earth so as to be more visible to the naked eye (a near pass-by occurs every 54 or 108 years.
        • At these times it appears 50 times larger than the size of the moon. Another occurred on July 4, 1997. The planet mars is the god, Baal, of the Old Testament (2Kin 23:5).
  • The watchful householder
    • Read Mat 24:40-44
    • This passage does not refer to the rapture as some theologians teach. Why not?
      • The context has to do with the days of Noah when judgment came upon the earth.
        • Some were taken away into judgment and some were preserved in the ark.
        • Noah knew exactly the day the rain would start. It was 7 days after he was shut in the ark (Gen 7:7).
        • We know exactly the day Jesus’ second coming will occur: 7 years after the tribulation period begins. However, we do not know what day the rapture will occur.
        • Noah was not taken out of the flood only preserved through it.
        • Abraham knew exactly when judgment would come upon Sodom.
      • The context does not mention the dead in Christ that are an important part of the rapture as are mentioned in 1The 4:15-18.
  • Parable of the faithful steward — a warning of a time of judgment to come.
  • Read Mat 24:45-51 and (Luk 21:35-36)
  • Mat 24:36 says no man knows the hour or the day.
    • What we can and cannot know: (1The 5:1-2 Act 1:6-7)
      • We can know God’s general timetable of the second coming.
      • We can know the signs that tell us it is close. (Mat 24)
      • We can know the seasons, though the disciples could not know them (Act 1:6-7)
    • The disciples would not live long enough to see the trends of the end time signs.
  • Perhaps we can know the month and calendar date based on the Levitical feasts, but we cannot know the exact hour or year.
    • It is not the same hour everywhere on the earth at one moment of time, nor is it the same day everywhere.
    • It is the unbelievers that do not know the signs or the times so that Christ comes upon them as a thief in the night. Christ does not come upon believers as a thief in the night. (1The 5:1-2)
• Application:
  • What is the Christian’s response to these signs?
    • No fear
    • Be involved
    • Be informed
    • Live righteously as an example
  • Stay close to the Lord so as not to be deceived

Homework

Matthew 25:1-13

• Application of Mat 24
  • Consider your life. Are you ready for the second coming of Christ?
  • What changes can you make in your life to become ready?
  • Which ones will you work on this week?
  • Does the thought of the second coming of Christ make you afraid? Sometimes people are afraid to meet the Lord because of unresolved sin in their life. If that is your situation, repent of the sin and ask God to forgive you.
  • Read 1John 1:9.
• Preparation for Mat 25:1-13 Parable of the ten virgins
  • Read Mat 25:1-13
    • Keep in mind, the context of Mat 24 regarding the second coming of the Lord.
    • Who are the ten virgins?
    • Who are the five wise ones?
    • Who are the five foolish ones?
    • What do the lamps represent?
    • Who is the bridegroom?
    • Who does the oil represent?
    • What are the vessels in verse 4?
    • What is the central truth of the parable?
• Memory verse: Rom 12:1,2