Matthew 24
NOT for the Church
Matthew 24 has nothing to do with the Gentiles or the body of Christ (the Church) It is for Israel. It is a warning to all the Jews living in the last days.
Who is Jesus talking to in Matthew 24....
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him...2 And Jesus said unto them.
Here we see that He is talking to His disciples. What did they want to know?
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, 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?
These disciples had NO knowledge of the the Church or the Bride of Christ. Because of this simple fact, we know that they were not asking about the Rapture, they were asking about the Jewish Second coming of the Messiah. They were not asking about Jesus coming for His church.
"...what shall be the sign of thy coming?"
The disciples want to know about the Second Coming.
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.
This is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel of the coming Jewish Kingdom on earth and the coming of Messiah.
Is this Kingdom gospel going to be preached to the Jews by Gentiles? No it is not. The Church at this point has been Raptured and is long gone. There is no indication that the Gentiles will preach the coming Kingdom to Israel. Born again believers are LONG GONE. So who does the preaching?
Revelation 7:2-4 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Some manipulators of God's Word would say that this also applies to the the Gentiles because we are all spiritual Jews. Well if you read on further in the chapter, you will see a list of the "physical" (not spiritual) tribes that they will come from. Now back to Matthew.
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
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Clearly this is a warning to Jewish Israel. It is not a warning to the Gentile Nations. It is not a warning to New York, California or such. It is a warning to the Jewish people in Israel.
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:
We as the Church certainly do not observe the Jewish Sabbath!
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.
This is known as a time of Jacob's (Israel) trouble.
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.
Who are the elect?
Isaiah 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Back to Matthew.
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.
Here we see that there will be many false Messiahs coming to fool Israel and to lure her away from the real Messiah.
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. Notice here the term Son of Man is used. This is a term that Jesus uses speaking to the Israel. For us Jesus is the Son of God. Why is because we know that He is God in the flesh.
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: 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.
Again we see the Jewish term Son of Man used.
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.
The term used here is the sound of a trumpet meaning that there is nothing special about this trumpet. There is no indication at all that this is THE (singular) trumpet of God as seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Matthew,
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.
This is still referring to Israel and not the Church.
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. 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.
This again is about Israel. They will sign a treaty of peace with the antichrist, and for the first 3 1/2 year there will be peace in the land of Israel. But then the antichrist will break his covenant with Israel and then begin to destroy all the Jews and all new believers in Christ.
Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God...8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:That they all might be ****ed who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
The delusion mentioned here is that all the unsaved will believe that antichrist is the Second Coming of Messiah, and that he is God come in the flesh to Sheppard Israel.
Zechariah 11:16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not care for those who are cut off, neither nor seek the young , nor heal that that is broken, nor feed those that that stand still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their hooves in pieces.
Matthew
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.
There appears to be a great separation that takes place here. Is it the Rapture of the Church? No. This is the time of judgment not salvation. Those who are deemed worthy will enter into the Jewish Kingdom.
Matthew 25:31-35,
"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 divideth his sheep from the goats:And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world...Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels...And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
These nations are judged for how they treated Israel. This is a judgment of works and has nothing to do with Salvation through grace. This indicates strongly that these people are not the Church.
Zechariah 14:16 says: "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles."
The Church is not under the law. We have been set free of the law in our belief in Jesus Christ our Saviour. These nations that enter into the Jewish Kingdom are NOT the Church. Luke 21:36 says:
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Again we see judgement and salvation based on works. It is very clear here that this is in fact not the Church. We have been set free of the works of the law.
Today the Israel awaits the return of their Messiah. They do not in any way accept Jesus as their Messiah. They are also ignorant of the fact that Jesus is Jehovah God in the flesh. Only when Messiah comes will they see for the first time that their Saviour God is Jesus the one they rejected. Only when they receive the Holy Spirit will they see the truth.
Zechariah 12:9 "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem..."
We the Church are not waiting for the return of the Messiah to set up His Jewish Kingdom on earth. We are waiting for the return of Jesus Christ. We will enter into Him and not enter into the Jewish Kingdom. The coming kingdom is not our salvation.
Our salvation is in Jesus Christ alone. We enter into Him through grace. We will not enter into the Jewish Kingdom by works. Why is because we the Church will go to be with the Lord before the tribulation of wrath begins. Our hop is not in a Jewish Kingdom. Our hope is in Jesus Christ our Saviour who will soon Rapture us to Himself. Some wait for the Kingdom to come. I wait for the King Himself to come.
Yes come quickly Lord Jesus!
