received into Heaven to remain until the restitution of all things spoken of by the prophets. This
is not a Gentile church enlarged to encompass the earth; but the mighty restoration of the
Davidic order and the everlasting reestablishment of the chosen nation in their own land, in full
Kingdom blessing, all of which GOD hath sworn with an oath to perform.
This final appeal, like those which preceded it, was made with the same repentance in view:
"Repent, that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord."
The answer of the nation to this appeal was the imprisonment of the messengers and the placing
of the official ban upon their message.
As the evidence of rejection began to appear, according to Matthew, JESUS began to speak of
His decease, of the hitherto unannounced mystery age, and that to be followed by His return to
the earth as King in world-transforming scenes of judgment and the final establishment of the
kingdom in the earth. Yet it must be remembered that only Israel is addressed and in this Gospel
nations are seen only as related to her. Thus this Gospel is presented true to the exact scope of
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Preceding the "Olivet discourse" of Mat_24:4-25:46 a picture is given of the love of
CHRIST for His nation and Jerusalem, the city of the great King. "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! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 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"
(Mat_23:37-39).
He would oft have gathered them (as He will yet do according to Mat_24:31); but they
would not. Their house is left unto them desolate; but not forever. "Ye shall not see me
henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
The "Olivet discourse," it should be noted, was the Lord's reply to three questions asked of Him
by His disciples:
First, "When shall these things be?" referring to His preceding prophecy as to the leveling of
the stones of the temple to the ground. This first question is not answered in Matthew's account,
but is found in Luk_21:20-24.
"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation
thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which
are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days, for there shall
be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of
the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
This catastrophe, we are told, occurred in the year 70 A. D.
The second question: "What shall be the sign of Thy coming?" and the third: "and of the end
of the age?" are answered in .Matthew's account beginning with 24:4.
In opening this discourse CHRIST first describes the character of the whole age leading up to
His return in power and great glory (4:31).
The emphasis here is wholly on its end-time and its character, according to the request of His
disciples. He, however, forecasts the whole time from the hour He was speaking through to the
end. He divides this time into two periods. The first of these, extending over nearly the whole
period, or up to the last seven years, is characterized by war, famine, pestilence and earthquake
which are doubtless to become increasingly violent as the time of the end draws near.
He distinctly states that these age-long characteristics are common to the whole age, rather than
constituting the end, or a sign of the end.
The passage is as follows:
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of
wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to
pass, but the end is not yet" (lit. "but not yet is the end," or "this is not the end"). For nation
shall rise against nation, and Kingdom against Kingdom: and there shall be famines, and
pestilence, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows"
(Mat_24:4-8).
This prophecy of the character of the age has been proven by nearly two thousand years of
history. It is now seen to be as accurate a description of the age as a present-day historian,
looking back over the centuries, could write. In spite of the dreams of peace for the "great
enlightened twentieth century," so fresh in our minds, it stands without a parallel, even in its
fifteenth year, as the superlative in all that the Lord Himself assigned as characterizing features
of this age.
These positive predictions, among many others, which find no possible Biblical interpretation
against them, fell from the lips of the Son of GOD and have been verified by the terrible facts of
history up to the present hour; yet men dream of peace by man-made treaties and agreements as
though our GOD had never spoken, or centuries of human greed and cruelty had not been
experienced.
War plainly belongs to the Kingdom of Satan. It will cease for a thousand years while he is in the
pit; but it will be instantly revived with all its horrors as soon as he is loosed a little season
(Rev_20:1-9). JESUS said to Pilate: "My Kingdom is not of this world (world system): if
my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight" (Joh_18:36). War results
from the fallen nature or man, and is under the power of Satan, and will be until that mighty
being is chained and put in the pit and the world-transforming Kingdom of Messiah is set up in
the earth. "Unto the end wars and desolations are determined" (Dan_9:26).
The war, famine, pestilence and earthquake features, which characterize this entire age, were
spoken of by CHRIST as "the beginning of sorrows," or more literally, the beginning of birth
pains (24:8). This evidently anticipates a time of sorrow, or of birth. He then proceeds to
describe this coming period as the "great tribulation," which, as has been seen, is no other than
the long predicted "time of Jacob's trouble," the time for the consummation of the "mystery of
iniquity" and the final judgments on the whole Gentile world, to be terminated, as set forth in all
other passages on the subject, by the resistless power and glory of the coming King.
The description of this sorrow, or tribulation time, begins with the ninth verse. The time word
"then," with which this verse opens, serves to shift the scenes from what has characterized the
age to those conditions which will "then" prevail:
"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" (24:9).
This was distinctly addressed to Jews; for they alone could be "hated of all nations." It is the
"time of Jacob's trouble" and they are the "elect" mentioned throughout the passage. He then
said: "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the
same shall be saved" (24:10-13).
This is not a condition of final salvation and or grace: it was addressed to a nation who were to
experience great tribulation, and forms a promise that will be most precious to those to whom it
shall apply. So, also, the verse that follows is often confused with the present Gospel of grace:
"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" (24:14).
A call to national repentance and the final announcement of the kingdom must yet again be taken
up, as it will be by "an hundred and forty and four thousand" sealed ones, and by the two
witnesses, before the King returns (Rev_7:4-11:19). There is no such geographical demand
on the preaching of grace in this age: on the contrary, the preaching here referred to cannot begin
until the preaching of grace has accomplished its end in the calling out of His Bride, which event
and people are not at all in view in this great discourse.
His Bride will have been taken to Himself (before verse 9), for she is to be kept from the hour of
trial that shall come on all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev_3:10).
There will doubtless be great numbers saved during the tribulation (Rev_7:12-17). They
will not, however, have part in the special blessings of the Bride; for when she shall have entered
in, the door will be shut.
JESUS then anticipates the "Man of Sin" standing in the "holy place" as foreseen by Daniel and
later more fully described by Paul (2Th_2:1-9), and John (Rev_13:3-10).
This is followed by special warnings which are very similar to those given to the same nation
with regard to the destruction of Jerusalem which took place in 70 A. D. The conditions of siege
and the tribulation will be so similar that the warnings are almost identical; but it does not follow
that they anticipate the same event. One is but a foreshadow of the other.
The passage reads thus:
"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:) then let them which
be in Judea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to
take anything out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his
clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: for then shall
be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor
ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved,
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you,
Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false
prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto
you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chamber; believe it
not. 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. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles
be gathered together. 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: 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 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" (24:15-31).
In this passage it is important to note that the coming of CHRIST in power and great glory is the
termination of the tribulation and time of Israel's regathering, as has been predicted by the
prophets from Moses to CHRIST. The same order obtains in all similar passages (see Act_15:13-18; 2Th_2:1-10; so of the prophets and the Revelation).
Israel, as a nation, not one generation, is to be divinely preserved until all be fulfilled: "verily I
say unto you, This generation (genea, race, or stock, Israel) shall not pass, till all these things
be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (24:34,
35).
The returning CHRIST will find it on the earth as it was in the days of Noah (38), when some
shall be taken away in judgment and some left for Kingdom blessing. This is the opposite of the
calling away of the Bride, then some are taken for blessing and some are left in judgments and
sorrow.
The return of CHRIST is then presented as a testing of all profession under the parable of the ten
virgins, and the test of all service under the parable of the talents. So, also, "when the Son of
man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the
throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them
one from another as a shepherd divineth his sheep from the goats" (25:31).
This is in no way comparable with the Great White Throne judgment of Rev_20:11-15.
That is at the end of a thousand years of Kingdom blessing: this is before. All is different in time,
place and subjects, as well as conditions. This judgment is of nations at the end of the time of
Jacob's trouble, and concerns their treatment of "my brethren" according to the flesh. The issue
is to those on His right hand: "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world."
~ end of chapter 12 ~
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