What Did Jesus Say Would Pass Away?

from Bing Images

As Jesus concluded his prophecy about his coming and the terrible things that would lead up to that event, he called his disciples attention to the fig tree. He had cursed a fig tree on the Mount of Olives only the day before (Mark 11:12-14), and this morning as he returned to Jerusalem his disciples called Jesus’ attention to how quickly it had withered (Mark 11:20-21). Now, near the end of the day, Jesus pointed to another fig tree, saying, when its branches are tender in the spring, and its leaves begin to sprout, this is evidence for the nearness of summer (Mark 13:28). In the context of Jesus’ Olivet Prophecy his disciples were to understand the nearness of his coming from the analogy of the fig tree. When the horrifying events that Jesus had just described began to occur, they were to understand that his judgment upon Jerusalem and the Temple were about to transpire, and his coming would bring an end to the Old Covenant age (Mark 13:29; cp. Matthew 24:3; Deuteronomy 31:29; Hebrews 8:13) and establish the new and never-ending age of the Gospel (cp. Daniel 2:44).

 

Christ’s Coming Ushers in the Unending Gospel Age

from Google Images

Mark begins his description of Jesus’ coming, by saying: “But in those days after the tribulation (G2347)…” (Mark 13:24). Matthew’s account has: “Immediately after the tribulation (G2347) of those days…” (Matthew 24:29). When it comes to the Lord’s coming, many folks are willing to jump through hoops, as it were, in order to maintain an understanding they’ve always held, but is denied in the text. The word immediately, for example, loses all meaning in the hands of folks wanting to put Jesus’ coming far into the future. For them, immediately must be understood in the phrase: “one day is as a thousand years…” (cp. 2Pter 3:8),[1] which means what in the context of: “immediately after the tribulation of those days?” The very words we read must take on a different meaning entirely, if we want to support a distant coming of the Lord.

 

Beware of False Christs!

from Google Images

One of the oddest parts of the Olivet Prophecy, at least from a cursory reading, is when Jesus warned his four Apostles, who were with him on Mount Olivet, not to go after false christs (Mark 13:21-23). How could he think the Twelve would ever reject him and go after another? Nevertheless, in his second epistle Peter mentions folks, whom he refers to as scoffers. They were men not claiming to be Christ, per se, but they came in Jesus’ name (cp. Mark 13:5-6) wanting to rule over the Lord’s elect. That is, they sought to get Jesus’ followers to believe and follow them. They named Jesus as the Messiah, but they wanted the Messiah’s power and influence over the elect.

 

Unless the Lord Had Shortened the Days

from Google Images

I am involved at this time in a study of the Olivet Discourse in my current study series of the Gospel of Mark. Four of Jesus’ disciples came to him, privately, as he sat atop Mount Olives, overlooking the city of Jerusalem and its Temple. They asked him to explain some shocking statements he had made just prior to leaving the city. During Jesus’ preliminary statements leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, he told his disciples they would need to flee Judea once they saw the abomination that would bring desolation (Mark 13:14).

 

What Is the Abomination that Brings Desolation?

from Google Images

As Jesus went on in his Olivet Prophecy, he mentioned the abomination of desolation, which was also mentioned by Daniel the prophet (Mark 13:14). Some scholars don’t believe the reference to Daniel is authentic to Mark’s narrative. Nevertheless, the point is moot, because no one objects of its mention in Matthew’s account of the Olivet Prophecy (Matthew 24:15). Therefore, whether or not Mark says Jesus referred to Daniel in the Olivet Prophecy, we may assume he does, because of the mention in Matthew. The greater question, I think, is what did Jesus mean by abomination of desolation?

 

Persecution and Trouble Are Inevitable!

from Google Images

Jesus told his disciples they needed to prepare themselves for coming persecution, telling them they would be delivered to the councils and beaten in the synagogues (Mark 13:9). The councils were the local courts, called sanhedrins, and they were held in local synagogues throughout the land. A sanhedrin was composed of three or twenty-three members, populated by the Jewish leaders within each town.[1] The chief court of the Jews was THE Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, and it functioned as the Jews’ supreme court. It was made up of Sadducees, Pharisees and other Jewish leaders who were considered Jewish nobility. The court system in Jerusalem consisted of 3 twenty-three member courts,[2] and, when these three courts met together as one court, it functioned as the supreme court of the land. THE Sanhedrin was presided over by the officiating high priest, called its president or nasi (prince – see Numbers 11:16),[3] and it was this judicial body that condemned Jesus to die (Luke 22:66-71), and probably Stephen (Acts 7:1).

 

There Will Be Wars and Threats of War

from Google Images

Men will always be troubled when disaster strikes, whether the terrible event comes as war or through natural means, such as powerful storms or earthquakes etc. And, such fear and concern are understandable. How can one not be troubled over such things? Yet, when Jesus told his disciples that wars were coming and with them famines and earthquakes, he told them not to be troubled, because such things must come (Mark 13:7-8). What kind of stoic men did Jesus believe his disciples were, that they could be unmoved by such terrible events? Is this what Jesus really meant or had he something else in mind?

 

Jesus’ Warning: Beware of Deception!

from Google Images

What we call the Olivet Prophecy begins with four of Jesus’ disciples, coming to him in private to ask about his foretelling of the destruction of the Temple (Matthew 23:38; Mark 13:3). They wanted to know when such a shocking thing would occur, and in what context could he possibly come as Messiah to save the nation, if both the nation and its Temple were already destroyed? Jesus began his reply to his disciples with: “Take heed lest any man deceive you!” (Mark 13:5). Notice that he didn’t begin by saying ‘Well, first the Gospel must be spread throughout the world!’ (cp. Mark 13:10) or “Are you kidding? I haven’t a clue as to the actual day these things will occur. I just know they’re going to happen’ (cp. Mark 13:32). No! Jesus began by warning his closest disciples of the possibility of deception, not the deception of new believers as some would have us believe. Remember, Jesus was speaking with four of the Twelve, and he is warning them of possible deception, and if he warned the Twelve, his warning wasn’t a mere statement for new or weak, ignorant believers.

 

John’s First Address Against Error

from Google Images

After John’s introduction to his epistle (1John 1:1-4) and from 1John 1:5, the author of this epistle had been addressing problems that the believers had to face due to their believing the Gospel. There were pretenders and false teachers who had come into the believing community in order to gain power over believers in the name of the Jewish leadership at Jerusalem. However, in 1John 2:12-14 the author specifically addressed the whole believing community, mentioning them in contrast to those men who were troubling the local body of believers.

 

Lawlessness and the Falling Away

from Google Images

In my previous study of the context of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, I made the point that either Paul had an absurd way of explaining New Covenant doctrine, or the orthodox understanding of the Day of the Lord could not be correct. Not only is it wrong, but it represents the teaching of men in the context of Jesus argument with the Pharisees in Mark 7:9-13. The Pharisees, remember, taught their own understanding and in doing so annulled the word of God. This is what is occurring today, when folks are taught that the Day of the Lord is a time-ending, earth burning event in which human history would come to an abrupt close. Yet, the Bible never teaches anything like this.

 

First Thessalonians and Persecution

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We are studying the eschatology of Paul’s epistles to the Thessalonians believers. In chapter 4 Paul mentions the coming or return of Christ, but most Christians believe the Lord’s return is yet to occur and hasn’t happened in the 2000 years following Paul’s authoring those two epistles. Presently, we are looking at the context leading up to chapter four in First Thessalonians, and discovering that the time statements in them seem to point to 70 AD, which is when the Lord judged the Jewish nation and destroyed their Temple and Jerusalem. If all of the time statements before and following the fourth chapter of First Thessalonians, point to the coming of the Lord in the first century AD to judge Jerusalem, what would that say about the time of the Lord’s coming in chapter four of this epistle? Can anyone show just cause for removing 1Thessalonians 4 from the context of all of the preceding chapters of Paul’s first epistle? If Paul is speaking about events that had occurred and would occur in the first century AD, at what point did he begin speaking of a time in the far future, 2000 years and counting, and how would one support such a idea?

 

First Thessalonians & the Olivet Prophecy

from Google Images

Just as every letter ever written was sent to and was to be understood by a contemporary audience, so both of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians were written to **them** — to help **them** — and was for **their** understanding. That said, they are only of indirect value for us.[1] I don’t mean to imply they aren’t Scripture, and being Scripture, I don’t mean to imply they aren’t God’s word to us. However, just as Jesus’ testimony that he would be crucified and raised from the dead after three days and three nights was for that generation, and we don’t look forward for Jesus to rise **again** from the dead, so, too, the Great Tribulation, the wrath to come and the coming (parousia ) of Christ was for that generation, as well. In other words, we look backward to Jesus’ resurrection and backward to his second coming! Therefore, in order to put 1Thessalonians 4 in its proper context, we’ll first look at what Paul wrote in other parts of this epistle and also include his second epistle, so there will be no mistake in understanding the timeline of Jesus coming in 1Thessalonians 4.

 

God Speaks to Men

from Google Images

David expressed it well when he asked God in prayer: “What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you consider him?” (Psalm 144:3). He went on to say that man’s life is but a vapor, like a shadow that vanishes away (verse-4), so why should God take such a great interest in mankind? He speaks to us, demands correct behavior and punishes us, when we become too violent or when we drift too far from him. He doesn’t act this way toward other life forms. Rather, his word claims they praise him, always doing what he has intended them to do. Only mankind is in rebellion, and yet God takes an interest in us. Why?

 

Adultery and the Kings of the Earth

from Google Images

The Scriptures identify the great harlot’s judge as God, himself, saying he is strong, implying that his judgment is sure to occur (Revelation 18:8). Moreover, such a judgment – death, mourning and famine – would come in a single day! However, this shouldn’t be understood to be a literal day, as indicated in Revelation 18:10, 17, 19, where her judgment had come upon the great harlot in one hour, instead of a day. The sense seems to be that judgment would come quickly and suddenly, similar to what the Lord had claimed in his Olivet Prophecy (Matthew 24:36-42). There, Noah’s preaching ministry about the coming judgment lasted 120 years (cp. Genesis 6:3), but no physical event supported Noah’s prophecy until the day and the hour the floods finally came. On the contrary, everything appeared normal, but judgment fell immediately following Noah and his family entering the ark (Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:27).

 

These Came Out of the Great Tribulation!

Many Bible students believe the Great Tribulation is in our future, but this idea simply isn’t true. If we truly believe that only Jesus (the Lamb) was able to open the seven sealed book (Revelation 5:5-7), which God gave to him to disclose to his disciples (Revelation 1:1), then we need to simply stop prognosticating our own ideas, thinking they are true, when all we have shown ourselves to be is newspaper exegetes. Nevertheless, Jesus told his disciples in the Olivet Discourse that at least some of them would see the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15; cf. 16:27-28).