What is the standing of Israel in God's eyes right now?
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In Matthew 24 Jesus is answering three different but related questions
Matthew 24:1 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. 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?
There are three questions here. Matthew puts all three in this chapter because clearly they are related, however, anyone trying to read this chapter should determine which part is about when the temple will be destroyed, which part is a sign of the Lord's second coming and which part is referring to the end of the world.
It is a very poor scholarship to assume all three questions are the same thing. The Bible does not waste words. However, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the destruction of the temple is very significant event related to the other two questions.
4 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.
There are two ways to understand the first seal that is opened in Revelation. One is that it is the gospel going forth, the other is that it is "another gospel, which is not another, but a perversion of the true gospel" going forth. You cannot have a counterfeit gospel without a true gospel. No one would be fooled by a counterfeit dollar bill if there were no such thing as a real dollar bill. I believe this verse combined with many other verses in the New Testament prove that both the gospel and the counterfeit gospel went forth from the time of Jesus' ascension when He sent out the disciples as His witnesses.
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.
This is the red horse. The relationship is quite obvious, war in the heavens will be seen played out as war on earth. Once the gospel and counterfeit go out we have war in heaven.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Famines and pestilences refere to the third and fourth horses of the apocalypse. They all get released one after another. The gospel includes feeding people with the word of God and healing people of various ills caused by sin.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Sorrows help people to receive the gospel. It helps people to be humbled and realize they need Jesus Christ as savior.
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.
This refers to the fifth seal when we see the martyrs under the altar killed for their testimony.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
This refers to the sixth seal which is the rapture. There will be many people who will realize they were deceived by OSAS or some other bogus teaching and they will be offended. At this time you will have the mark of the beast and many will betray one another, hating them and turning them in to have their heads chopped off.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
This is described in Revelation as the false prophet.
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.
This is obviously referring to the Jews who get rescued at the very end of the tribulation when the mount of Olives is split open.
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 the only gospel with this wording for this verse. In Mark it says the gospel will be published in all the nations and in Luke Jesus sends them out to preach into all the earth but there is no word that this will be accomplished. We have three different groups, Luke refers to those in the pre tribulation rapture, at that time the gospel will not have been published in all the nations much less preached. Mark refers to the tribulation saints. After the rapture where babies and infants disappear all over the earth it will be very easy to publish the gospel in every nation, even those where it is illegal today. However, by the time Israel is rescued it will have been preached in all nations as everyone choosing to be beheaded rather than get the mark will be making a public testimony of the gospel.
It is ridiculous to say that "this gospel of the kingdom was preached in all the world" prior to AD 70. What AD 70 did was disperse the Jews to all the nations. In Israel we have Jews who have come from over 100 nations, they speak more languages in tiny little Israel than all the languages spoken in the UN.
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:
Uh oh, this is telling us when these things shall be. You can easily assume that this is referring to AD 70 as Titus clearly did stand in the Holy Place and he clear was a desolater who made desolate. But this did not happen after the gospel had been preached in all the nations it happened before. The church age has two bookends, the destruction of the temple in AD 70 starts the age and the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel concludes it.
That causes a whole new problem because standard doctrine is that the church age began on Pentecost and the destruction of the temple was about 40 years later, perhaps to the day. (Pentecost is the 8th of Av, the temple was destroyed the 9th of Av). So how do you reconcile these two? When Jesus was crucified you could condemn 15 or 20 powerful Jews who condemned Him to death, bribed Judas, and payed the crowd to ask for Barabbas instead of Jesus. But it isn't fair to condemn the entire nation who had little or nothing to do with that choice. They were given 40 years to either receive the gospel or get judged with the rest of Israel. This is like a meeting that starts at 7:00 am, but they give 5 minutes grace to those who are late until 7:05. These forty years were a grace period for Jews to receive or reject the gospel.
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:
This clearly refers to AD 70 as a preview of what is going to happen, but it is easy to prove He is not talking about AD 70, He is talking about the end of the age.
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.
The book of Revelation makes this very clear. AD 70 is not what this is referring to. As bad as that was it wasn't this great tribulation that Jesus is referring to here.
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.
Once again, show me where those days were "shortened" at AD 70. They weren't. This is talking about the end of the age. Show me where we came close to "no flesh being saved" in AD 70, we didn't. AD 70 is a preview, it isn't the main course. It is a warning.
Matthew 24:1 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. 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?
There are three questions here. Matthew puts all three in this chapter because clearly they are related, however, anyone trying to read this chapter should determine which part is about when the temple will be destroyed, which part is a sign of the Lord's second coming and which part is referring to the end of the world.
It is a very poor scholarship to assume all three questions are the same thing. The Bible does not waste words. However, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the destruction of the temple is very significant event related to the other two questions.
4 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.
There are two ways to understand the first seal that is opened in Revelation. One is that it is the gospel going forth, the other is that it is "another gospel, which is not another, but a perversion of the true gospel" going forth. You cannot have a counterfeit gospel without a true gospel. No one would be fooled by a counterfeit dollar bill if there were no such thing as a real dollar bill. I believe this verse combined with many other verses in the New Testament prove that both the gospel and the counterfeit gospel went forth from the time of Jesus' ascension when He sent out the disciples as His witnesses.
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.
This is the red horse. The relationship is quite obvious, war in the heavens will be seen played out as war on earth. Once the gospel and counterfeit go out we have war in heaven.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Famines and pestilences refere to the third and fourth horses of the apocalypse. They all get released one after another. The gospel includes feeding people with the word of God and healing people of various ills caused by sin.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Sorrows help people to receive the gospel. It helps people to be humbled and realize they need Jesus Christ as savior.
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.
This refers to the fifth seal when we see the martyrs under the altar killed for their testimony.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
This refers to the sixth seal which is the rapture. There will be many people who will realize they were deceived by OSAS or some other bogus teaching and they will be offended. At this time you will have the mark of the beast and many will betray one another, hating them and turning them in to have their heads chopped off.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
This is described in Revelation as the false prophet.
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.
This is obviously referring to the Jews who get rescued at the very end of the tribulation when the mount of Olives is split open.
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 the only gospel with this wording for this verse. In Mark it says the gospel will be published in all the nations and in Luke Jesus sends them out to preach into all the earth but there is no word that this will be accomplished. We have three different groups, Luke refers to those in the pre tribulation rapture, at that time the gospel will not have been published in all the nations much less preached. Mark refers to the tribulation saints. After the rapture where babies and infants disappear all over the earth it will be very easy to publish the gospel in every nation, even those where it is illegal today. However, by the time Israel is rescued it will have been preached in all nations as everyone choosing to be beheaded rather than get the mark will be making a public testimony of the gospel.
It is ridiculous to say that "this gospel of the kingdom was preached in all the world" prior to AD 70. What AD 70 did was disperse the Jews to all the nations. In Israel we have Jews who have come from over 100 nations, they speak more languages in tiny little Israel than all the languages spoken in the UN.
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:
Uh oh, this is telling us when these things shall be. You can easily assume that this is referring to AD 70 as Titus clearly did stand in the Holy Place and he clear was a desolater who made desolate. But this did not happen after the gospel had been preached in all the nations it happened before. The church age has two bookends, the destruction of the temple in AD 70 starts the age and the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel concludes it.
That causes a whole new problem because standard doctrine is that the church age began on Pentecost and the destruction of the temple was about 40 years later, perhaps to the day. (Pentecost is the 8th of Av, the temple was destroyed the 9th of Av). So how do you reconcile these two? When Jesus was crucified you could condemn 15 or 20 powerful Jews who condemned Him to death, bribed Judas, and payed the crowd to ask for Barabbas instead of Jesus. But it isn't fair to condemn the entire nation who had little or nothing to do with that choice. They were given 40 years to either receive the gospel or get judged with the rest of Israel. This is like a meeting that starts at 7:00 am, but they give 5 minutes grace to those who are late until 7:05. These forty years were a grace period for Jews to receive or reject the gospel.
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:
This clearly refers to AD 70 as a preview of what is going to happen, but it is easy to prove He is not talking about AD 70, He is talking about the end of the age.
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.
The book of Revelation makes this very clear. AD 70 is not what this is referring to. As bad as that was it wasn't this great tribulation that Jesus is referring to here.
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.
Once again, show me where those days were "shortened" at AD 70. They weren't. This is talking about the end of the age. Show me where we came close to "no flesh being saved" in AD 70, we didn't. AD 70 is a preview, it isn't the main course. It is a warning.
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.
These false Christ's, false messiahs, false anointed ones, false prophets, they are talking about the coming of the Son of man. It is difficult to impossible to think this was much of a problem during the apostolic age. Someone tried that on the Thessalonians and Paul set them straight. Peter sets you straight about this in his epistles. John in the book of Revelation goes into great detail about all of this as well as about the spirit of Antichrist. So we saw enough to know it had started during the Apostolic age, but not on the scale the Lord is talking about.
This sign that the Lord's coming is as the lightning coming out of the East and shining unto the West could not have been fulfilled until after the first Gulf War. That was when CNN gave us a live broadcast as the bombs fell in Iraq, it was beamed to the US via satellite and fiber optic cable, at the speed of light. That was the first time in history that lightning shined out of the East even unto the West.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
The first Gulf war gathered all the nations airforces, like eagles, against Saddam Hussein, the carcase in the desert. All these airforces were led by "the great eagle" the USA. This is a very big sign which Jesus refers to two thousand years earlier. This was August 2, 1990, 33 years ago.
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:
That was 33 years ago. We know the powers of heaven are being shaken because we can see the powers on earth being shaken. But notice Jesus never used this word "immediately after" prior to this. AD 70 was only 40 years after His crucifixion. You can tell a lot by what the Lord doesn't say. The rapture takes place at the same time the "stars fall from heaven", that is how Revelation 12 describes the man child being caught up and the fallen angels being cast down. Prior to this we have had many amazing signs in the heavens that too many people have not been paying attention to but which have been thoroughly discussed on youtube videos.
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.
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.
This is obviously a reference to the rapture. He already referenced this when He discussed the opening of the seven seals, but now He has gone over it in greater detail because He is telling us the signs of His coming.
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:
A parable is a metaphor. You place one thing next to another. He is putting the start of the age alongside the end of the age. He was crucified when He was 33, 40 years later we have 70AD and the destruction of the temple. That would still be his "generation" as people born when He was born would be 73 and a generation is 70-80 years. So then you can compare His life and His ministry to the fig tree sprouting, growing, and bearing fruit. But you can also compare it to the last generation because we know the gospel must be preached to the whole earth before the end will come and they didn't even get scattered until 70 AD. Therefore we can compare Jesus being born with Israel being born. We can compare the generation that rejected Jesus with the generation at the end of the age.
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Only those in the gospel of Luke saw these things from the very beginning. Mark's gospel begins with the ministry of John the Baptist. Matthews gospel records the things prior to Jesus ministry the same way someone studying the genealogy of someone would related certain key events. Still the big thing that all three gospels got was the ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
We already know that all these things will not be fulfilled for many, many years after 70 AD based on what Jesus has said. You can't force many of those verses to fit with 70 AD. (Did nation rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom during those 40 years? Were there famines and plagues? Did we come close to all flesh on earth perishing? Was the gospel preached in all the earth? Did God shorten those days? Did events get transmitted around the globe at the speed of light?). However, the rejection of Jesus is still the same. That is a stunning prophecy, who could imagine after 2,000 years the Jews feel just as strongly today about rejecting Jesus as they did 2,000 years ago!
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
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.
These false Christ's, false messiahs, false anointed ones, false prophets, they are talking about the coming of the Son of man. It is difficult to impossible to think this was much of a problem during the apostolic age. Someone tried that on the Thessalonians and Paul set them straight. Peter sets you straight about this in his epistles. John in the book of Revelation goes into great detail about all of this as well as about the spirit of Antichrist. So we saw enough to know it had started during the Apostolic age, but not on the scale the Lord is talking about.
This sign that the Lord's coming is as the lightning coming out of the East and shining unto the West could not have been fulfilled until after the first Gulf War. That was when CNN gave us a live broadcast as the bombs fell in Iraq, it was beamed to the US via satellite and fiber optic cable, at the speed of light. That was the first time in history that lightning shined out of the East even unto the West.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
The first Gulf war gathered all the nations airforces, like eagles, against Saddam Hussein, the carcase in the desert. All these airforces were led by "the great eagle" the USA. This is a very big sign which Jesus refers to two thousand years earlier. This was August 2, 1990, 33 years ago.
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:
That was 33 years ago. We know the powers of heaven are being shaken because we can see the powers on earth being shaken. But notice Jesus never used this word "immediately after" prior to this. AD 70 was only 40 years after His crucifixion. You can tell a lot by what the Lord doesn't say. The rapture takes place at the same time the "stars fall from heaven", that is how Revelation 12 describes the man child being caught up and the fallen angels being cast down. Prior to this we have had many amazing signs in the heavens that too many people have not been paying attention to but which have been thoroughly discussed on youtube videos.
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.
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.
This is obviously a reference to the rapture. He already referenced this when He discussed the opening of the seven seals, but now He has gone over it in greater detail because He is telling us the signs of His coming.
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:
A parable is a metaphor. You place one thing next to another. He is putting the start of the age alongside the end of the age. He was crucified when He was 33, 40 years later we have 70AD and the destruction of the temple. That would still be his "generation" as people born when He was born would be 73 and a generation is 70-80 years. So then you can compare His life and His ministry to the fig tree sprouting, growing, and bearing fruit. But you can also compare it to the last generation because we know the gospel must be preached to the whole earth before the end will come and they didn't even get scattered until 70 AD. Therefore we can compare Jesus being born with Israel being born. We can compare the generation that rejected Jesus with the generation at the end of the age.
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Only those in the gospel of Luke saw these things from the very beginning. Mark's gospel begins with the ministry of John the Baptist. Matthews gospel records the things prior to Jesus ministry the same way someone studying the genealogy of someone would related certain key events. Still the big thing that all three gospels got was the ministry of John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
We already know that all these things will not be fulfilled for many, many years after 70 AD based on what Jesus has said. You can't force many of those verses to fit with 70 AD. (Did nation rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom during those 40 years? Were there famines and plagues? Did we come close to all flesh on earth perishing? Was the gospel preached in all the earth? Did God shorten those days? Did events get transmitted around the globe at the speed of light?). However, the rejection of Jesus is still the same. That is a stunning prophecy, who could imagine after 2,000 years the Jews feel just as strongly today about rejecting Jesus as they did 2,000 years ago!
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
