Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event end of the age. This is found in Matthew 24.
And we're going to read the whole chapter, beginning in verse one.
It's also found in Mark 13, 1:37 and Luke 21:5,38. Follow along with us in Matthew chapter 24 as we read.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Now, as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciple came to show him the temple buildings. And he said to them, do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ. And they will lead many astray.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place. But the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death. And you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. So then the end will come.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in the house. And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
And alas for women who are pregnant. And for those who are nourishing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath, for then there will be great tribulation. Such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now. No, and will never be.
And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the Sake of the elect. Those days will be cut short.
Then, if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray if possible. Even the elect.
See, I have told you beforehand. So if they say to you, look, he is in the wilderness, do not go out. If they say, look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then will appear in heaven, the sign of the Son of Man.
And then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from. From the four winds, from one end of the heaven to the other. From the fig tree, learn its lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also when you see these things, you know that he is near at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
For as in those days before the flood, they are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken, one left. Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on one day your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at the hour you do not expect.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his Master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eat and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in the place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Now, we just read a full chapter.
It is a very important chapter in the Bible, and we don't have time in this podcast to get into all the details. So this is where you and as the listener can take time and pray and read the Bible and dig into these sections a little bit at a time and find out what they mean. But we're going to look at a general overview. So this whole section starts with Jesus making a statement to the disciples. There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. So he's looking at the temple. They're seeing the temple. The Mount of Olives is right there. And Jesus is telling them, this temple is going to be destroyed.
So then the disciples come to Jesus and say, hey, when is the temple going to be destroyed?
And when is going to be the sign of your coming?
Talk to me about that.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: So for the disciples, as good Jews, very proud of their spiritual heritage, the temple, one of the miracles of antiquity, would stand until the end of the age.
So they could not differentiate between the destruction of the temple and the end of the age.
And this is why they asked two questions, because for them it was just one. But Jesus Christ answered each question separately.
There will be a time when the temple will be destroyed and you have to flee. You have to get ready for that.
But there is the second layer in Jesus answer would be the end of the age or the end of the world as we know it today. And we have to be ready for that.
Some of the answers, I mean, part of those two answers may overlap, but Jesus Christ clearly answered two separate questions.
[00:09:39] Speaker A: And I think the very first section where he talks about the false Christs is very important because. And this ties into what we're doing here.
We're wanting people to get into the Bible to read it themselves, to understand it themselves, because it's true. Just as in Jesus time, there were many people saying they were the Messiah, now there Are many people saying they're the Christ? Or they might not say they're the Christ. They might stand up and say, this is what Christ says and God wants you to do this. And they're speaking as if they have the authority of God, but they're not speaking to what God is wanting us to do. And so this is where it's important for us to be students of the Bible. I mean, Jesus even says this when he's talking about the signs. He says, those of you who study Daniel, no one understands. So he wants us to study. And this is why we did a series one year on Daniel and the prophecies that we should be studying these things we should know, we should understand, because we should expect false Christs and false prophets.
And so the message that you hear from Gabriel and I, we hope that you're checking at home that you're studying your Bible. You're not taking out words as this is what God says. You're looking for yourself. That is what needs to happen for everyone.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: And we are just sharing some hints or suggestions once in a while. And one of them that is very important is you'll hear this chapter being preached from pulpits or some public events or Bible workshops. And sometimes the speakers read too much into this passage.
Jesus is making a list of signs, but he is very careful to add, for instance, verse 6. After false Christs, you'll hear worse and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet verse 7. A nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. Famines, earthquakes, all these are but the beginning of the birth pains, and also the tribulation, the persecution.
And Jesus Christ said that those days of persecution will be cut short.
But the actual sign of the end, it's in verse 4:10.
When this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all nations, then the end will come.
And I like to connect this verse with our previous episode, the last public message of Jesus Christ, the last invitation.
There will be a last invitation before the second coming of Christ, and that is the gospel, and that is the reason we are doing this podcast. The gospel should be clear, should be understood well, and we should be faithful in participating in being part of the preaching of the gospel, because it's the sign of the end.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: And the gospel is not complicated. I think that's something listeners need to understand. The gospel is very simple. What has happened over 2000 years, theologians have studied, and, you know, to get a doctorate, you're supposed to come up with a new insight. And so people dig in and tear apart and make complicated what is simple.
And then pastors go to seminaries and listen to all the complicated jargon. And then they have to make that simple for everyone. Take it and make it plain.
So the Gospel is plain. It's something that a child should be able to understand. Pick up the Bible and read.
And this is so important. This is as Gabriel said, this is why we're doing this, so you can have a presentation of the Gospel and you're driven to the Bible to study it yourself, to have that relationship and to experience the joys not just of eternal life, but the joys of the kingdom of heaven that we get now. The joys of the peace that passes all understanding, the joy just in life that.
Yeah. That God brings. And so when we study this, we look forward to that day when Jesus will come. Yes, wars are breaking out everywhere. There's famines, there's pestilence.
As we're recording this, we have hurricane season going on. And it seems like it never ends.
But there will come a day very soon where Jesus is going to come again.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: And the good news is that those who are faithful in getting ready for that time, they will be taken.
And they will be taken to be with Jesus because he promised. I go to my Father to prepare a place for you and I'll come back to take you with me. And this is the good news, that he will come back to take us with him. So we'd spend the eternity with him.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Let us pray. Father God, when Jesus comes back in the clouds, we want to go to heaven and spend eternity with you.
We want to be there on that day.
And I thank you that salvation is a free gift.
Oh Father, I pray that we will be serious, that we won't take the words we hear from others, but we will open the Bible and read it each and every day, that we will hear the words from you, that we will pray before we come to the Scriptures and ask for the guidance of your Holy Spirit. And Father, I pray that we can be citizens of the kingdom of heaven today and we can have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and we can bless those around us. So go with us now in Jesus name, Amen.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Amen.
