Christ's Olivet Discourse, as presented in Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21, is examined to distinguish between the destruction of Jerusalem and the signs of Christ's second coming. The sermon clarifies that while both events involve distress and upheaval, they are distinct, with the destruction of Jerusalem being a historical event and the second coming being a future culmination. Key passages are analyzed to differentiate the signs, such as the "abomination of desolation" preceding the Great Tribulation, from the cosmic disturbances that will herald Christ's return. The sermon emphasizes that understanding these prophecies is not for curiosity but for practical application: to be ready for Christ's imminent return by being born again and living a committed life.
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We are dealing with the passages that present Christ's prophecy or his sermon, if you please, on the end time, the signs of his coming. Four of the disciples asked that question. And we saw in our introduction on Sunday evening how Christ introduces this subject, how he gives general signs, and then he gives a specific sign, the great tribulation that will begin with the desecration of the Jewish temple. and go on for three and a half years and culminate in the second coming of Christ. That, of course, is a dynamic and a dramatic view of the world as it's going to end. Now, prophecy was not written for our curiosity or for our discussion particularly.
It was written to warn us concerning future events. And what this passage does, it reminds us once again that Jesus Christ is coming again. He came once. And he died on the cross for our sins and rose again. And our eternal destiny depends on whether we put our trust in him as our personal Savior. But now we have also the second coming of Christ. And in one way or another, at one judgment or another, everybody is going to have to give an answer to Jesus Christ for his faith or lack of it, as the case might be. And certainly this passage before us is a reminder of it. Now, I pointed out on Sunday evening that There is some confusion as to what this passage means, because people come to it with preconceived ideas, and they try to read into it what will support their particular view, which might be different than the view of others.
And that, unfortunately, is also true of the Olivet Discourse that Christ is presenting here in Matthew, chapter four and twenty-five, also in Mark and Luke. Now, the problem is this. The disciples asked three questions. First of all, they wanted to know when will this happen. He predicted the destruction of the temple, which, of course, was going to take place in AD seventy. And then our first question was, oh, when will this happen? And the second and third question have to do with the signs of his coming the end of the age. Of course, it's the same question because the signs of his coming and the end of the age converge on the same point. The second coming of Christ. What are the signs of that? Now, it should be obvious at the beginning that these are two very distinct events.
and we can expect them to have two very distinct series of prophecies that lead up to it. But that's where the problem comes in, because some try to put it all together, and in fact their point of view is that they want to try to prove that the events of the Great Tribulation have already taken place in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem. Now this illustrates another problem in prophecy. I mentioned how we have to study the context, and this illustrates how important it is to read a passage and be careful to note exactly what it says and exactly what it doesn't say. And that would eliminate all kinds of wrong doctrines that are sometimes being promoted today.
Now let us turn to Luke chapter twenty one because Matthew's gospel doesn't give us the signs for the destruction of Jerusalem. Luke's gospel does. And it begins in verse twenty of Luke chapter twenty one. And here's Christ's description of what's going to be the sign of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation or its destruction is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.
For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days, for there will be a great distress in the land and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Now, all of this concerns the destruction of Jerusalem. What are the signs? It's going to be surrounded by armies, it's going to be conquered, and many of those in the city are going to be killed, and they're exhorted, of course, to flee if they can and get away.
Now, that's quite similar to what's going to happen in connection with the Great Tribulation, where Christ told his disciples in Matthew twenty-four, fifteen that when the abomination of desolation takes place and the Jewish temple is desecrated, that then they should flee to the mountains without even turning back and hesitating to try to get away because the world ruler at that time is going to try to kill every Jew and every Christian, every one that will not worship him is God, and two out of three of the Jews in the land will perish. Now those are the similarities, both the dissimilarities. Well, in the destruction of Jerusalem, what happened? Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed, and the children of Israel were carried captive and scattered all over the world.
Now that was at the destruction of Jerusalem. Now at the second coming of Christ, it's a different situation. Again, there are armies. In fact, Zechariah fourteen tells us there will be house to house fighting in Jerusalem on the very day of the second coming. But this time the outcome is different because Christ is coming back with all the armies of heaven. And the armies that are opposing God in Israel there will all be put to death according to the book of Revelation. and Christ will set up his righteous kingdom. Israel will not be carried away captive and not will be destroyed at the second coming of Christ. And so the two events are different. Now you'll notice in verse twenty-five and following in Luke he answers the second question about the coming of the Lord at the second coming.
And notice how these signs are different. Verse twenty-five and following. There will be signs in the sun in the moon and in the stars and on earth, the stress of nations and perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's heart failing them for fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws not. You see, The ultimate end at the second coming is the second coming of Christ, in contrast to the destruction of Jerusalem where they're led away captive.
Now, why do they want to put these two together? Well, they want to get rid of the great tribulation. You see, those that are, we call them post-tribulationists, that believe the church has to go through the tribulation have a problem, because First Thessalonians five, nine teaches that we are not appointed to wrath. And the Great Tribulation is specifically called a time of wrath. And the Book of Revelation will be getting into that in the morning hours. And it's an awful period of trouble. And so the way they want to get around that is to put it behind us and say that somehow it was fulfilled at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Of course, it wasn't. Christ didn't come at that time. There weren't disturbances in the heavens.
The temple wasn't desecrated. And other things that are totally different between the... destruction of Jerusalem and the time of the second coming of Christ. And so when you read these things carefully, they work out as two separate events. And even the post-tribulationists and those who try to get rid of the tribulations now have come around rather reluctantly to the idea that after all there is a time of trouble ahead and that we have to go through that period in order to come to the time of the second coming. They still want to carry the church through this awful period. If I want to do anything, I want in the morning series as well as at night to demonstrate that that's not the case. The rapture of the church is before the tribulation, not at the end of it, and it's totally contrary to what the Bible teaches about the rapture and also the tribulation of the church.
We'll have to go through it. So Luke's Gospel describes these two comings, but you notice they are different. Now let us turn back once more to Matthew chapter twenty-four. Now, Sunday night we saw how Christ gave them general signs, Matthew twenty-four, one to fourteen, things that are going to happen in the two thousand years since Christ was on earth. Then in verse fifteen, he gives them a very specific sign, a sign of the desecration of the temple. And this is carried out, of course, also in the book of Daniel, where it tells us the sacrifice will cease. What actually happens is this. A world dictator emerges. He finally, in the last seven years before the second coming, enters into the covenant that is described for us in Daniel nine twenty seven, a covenant supposedly of peace.
He observes it for three and a half years, and at the end of three and a half years, his power is so great that he proclaims a dictator all over the world, and the world accepts it without a fight. Apparently, they say they can't fight him either through satanic deceit or because of the circumstances of the time. But he takes over, at the same time, he claims to be God as well as universal ruler, demands that everybody worship him or be put to death. And apparently thousands of people will be killed that refuse to worship him. And he also lies himself with Satan. So when you worship him, you also worship Satan. Much as when we do and we worship Christ, we worship God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. It all is a package that we get together. And so they worship Satan and worship this main ruler.
And for three and a half years, there's terrible chaos in the world. And we're going to be studying that in the morning hours as we go through the book of Revelation. Now here in Matthew, after describing the prophecies that he finally, in verse thirty-one, culminate with the gathering of the people to enter the millennial kingdom, from verse thirty-two and following, He gives us a series of parables, explanations, illustrations that describe the situation and apply it to our lives. Now, one of the things that we must constantly remember in the Bible is that when we have truth, there should be application.
Truth is not an end in itself. When God tells us something, it always has a practical implication, such as its second coming, the practical implication is to get ready before it happens. Now, in verse thirty-two, of Matthew twenty four we have a statement that even the best of Bible teachers differ on so if you have a different view bear with me and hopefully I'll persuade you it says here now learn this parable from the fig tree when its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves you know that summer is near now the question is this a typical illustration Or is this a natural illustration?
Now, the typical illustration goes along the line that people point out that the fig tree is a type of Israel. And that at the end time, one of the signs of the times will be the emergence of Israel in their return to the land. Now, they're right on that. But the question is, does this passage teach it? You see, it tells us here that when you see these things, Verse thirty-three. So also when you see all these things, know that if, that is the second coming, is near, that there are what things have they been seeing? Well, Matthew twenty-four doesn't talk about the restoration of Israel.
It's talking about the great tribulation. That's the sign. And I take it that what it's talking about here is that the fig tree is an illustration that when they see the great tribulation, they'll also be seeing the second coming, because the great tribulation is only three and a half years long. Now, this carries out the unusual characteristics of a fig tree. The fig tree shoots out its leaves late in the spring. So if you see a fig tree with leaves, you know that summer is near. It's a natural illustration. Now, he uses that to illustrate the times of the end time. And he says, when you see these things, that is, when you see the Great Tribulation, then you'll also see the second coming of Christ, because it's going to occur within three and a half years of the beginning of that period.
So I take it the natural illustration is better than the typical, because I'm not sure that in the passage, all passages in the Bible, the fig tree typifies Israel. For instance, in Matthew twenty-one, you remember how Christ went out one morning, he was hungry, and he went to a fig tree to get some figs to eat, and he found the fig tree, but all it had was leaves. And he pronounced a curse on that big tree, and he told it will never bear fruit again. And in short time it withered and faded away. Now, God is not saying that Israel is going to fade away and never be heard from again. Israel has a glorious future. That big tree in Matthew twenty one is not a type of Israel at all, truly a natural illustration and a demonstration of the power of God.
And Christ himself makes that application. When they marvel at the fig tree being cursed and dying, he said, if you had faith, you could say to this mountain, move and it would move. He said, the problem is you don't trust the Lord and don't realize His mighty power. So I take it this is a natural illustration in verse thirty-two and thirty-three. Now in verse thirty-four we have another verse that's been controversial. Assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. This generation, what does that mean? Well, a generation is a time between the time a person is born and the time he comes a father or mother.
That's a generation. It could be twenty years, thirty years, fifty years, depending on the case and circumstance. So it's a generation. Well, now the generation that is living on the day of Christ didn't see the Great Tribulation. Nineteen hundred years have passed. And so those that feel that this generation refers to the generation that is on earth when Christ was here simply haven't had fulfillment. There's something wrong. Now they go to great lengths to get around this. They try to redefine the word generation to be race, you know. And they say that Israel will not pass away until this has all come about. But Israel never passes away. So that's a wrong illustration again. I take it their mistake is this.
And again, it goes back to the principles of interpretation. You have to interpret a passage in its context. And the context when it's referring to this generation, it's referring to the generation he was describing, namely the Great Tribulation. Now that generation, because it's only three and a half years long, is not going to pass away, it's still going to be here on the earth when the Second Coming of Christ occurs. And so the generation he's talking about isn't the generation on earth when Christ was here, but the generation that will be on earth when the Great Tribulation takes place. And I feel that's a far superior interpretation. And he also, we've had some bad doctrine on this.
You know, one prophecy teacher said the Great Tribulation is seven years, and he figured out that one generation for Israel was forty years. And that Israel went back to the land in nineteen forty-eight, so that would be nineteen eighty-eight. And then he figured that the end time seven years had to be in nineteen eighty-one. Well, it didn't happen. First of all, you can't prove that Israel's generation is forty years, and the second is a wrong application of a wrong interpretation. So you can't get very far that way. But he says here, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. The heavens are pretty permanent so far, but there's a day coming, we believe at the end of the millennial kingdom, when God is going to dismiss our whole material world back to nothing from which it came in the first place.
It's an amazing thing when you realize how immense our world is. They keep finding new stars, new dynasties, huge stars, some of them so big that if they're hollow, our solar system could rattle around on the inside. It's just mind-boggling how the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his hand to work. He's an omnipotent God, an all-intelligent God, a creator. But it's all going to go back to nothing from which it came in the first place. And heaven and earth is going to pass away. But he says, My words are not going to pass away. This Bible is going to last forever. It's truth. It's going to be illustrated throughout all eternity future. And that's why when we come to promises in the Bible, we can trust them.
When we come to prophecies, we can believe them. You see, God does not lie. He does not deceive. He does not state something wrong. When he pronounces something's going to happen. It's going to happen. And that's the way the Bible is written. Now in verse thirty-eight, however, verse thirty-six, he points out how he don't know the day or the hour. That's true for the rapture. It's also true for the second coming. The Bible doesn't date these events. Almost every year someone comes up with the idea that he can figure out when the rapture is going to occur. They had this fellow back in nineteen eighty-eight who gave eighty-eight reasons why the Lord was coming in eighty-eight, you know.
And he sold two million copies of his book and a lot of good Bible teachers got tricked into it thinking this is it. They were wrong. The Bible doesn't give us the information necessary to establish a date for the rapture or for the Second Coming. But there is something here because the Second Coming is going to occur about three and a half years after the tribulation starts. And while it may be not possible to determine the day or the hour, If a person is in a Christian in that period and trying to escape from persecution and trying to escape from being killed by the world ruler, he will have the confidence at the end of three and a half years that Christ will come. And while it's impossible to put your finger on the day of the hour, it is possible at that time to establish the general time of the Lord's return.
But he goes on in verse thirty-six to say, But of that day and hour no one knows not even the angel of heaven, but my Father only. What does that say? That only the Father knows. Didn't Christ know? Well, this is one of the illustrations that we wrestle with in the case of the person of Christ, because Christ was both God and man. And sometimes when he talked out of his divine nature, he said, for instance, John three, that he knew everything. But then in other cases, in his human nature, he learned. The Bible says he learned through suffering.
God doesn't learn, but in his human nature, Christ learned suffering, and through that, he learned hope. And it also says in Luke that as he grew up, he increased in wisdom and stature. Now that's referring to the human nature of Christ. It couldn't refer to the divine nature. So while he says only the Father knows, Christ and his humanity did not know. And we don't understand how he could keep the two separate, but he did. He didn't know in his human nature when his time would come. But he says it's like the days of Noah. Here's an illustration from the Bible. As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
For as in the days before the flood, they're eating and drinking, marrying and giving and marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken the other left, two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord would come. Now remember the circumstances about Noah. He was told to build a huge ship on dry land. And God told him to do it, and he was obedient.
It took him over a hundred years to build that ark. And there was no danger of the flood occurring until the ark was finished. But then finally, the ark was finished. Now, a totally different situation. And then as the people watched, they saw a very strange sight. They saw the animals marching into the ark in military pairs. Animals don't behave that way, but here they were walking in the ark like a military procession. And then they saw Noah's three sons and their wives enter the ark. And then they saw Noah and his wife enter the ark.
And then the door was, what? Shut. Now we have a different situation. What happened? It began to rain. Now I said it's going to be like that at the second coming. There's all kinds of signs and things that have to happen before the second coming can occur. These are described. We'll be studying them in the book of Revelation. But the day is going to come when everything that's predicted has taken place. Now you and I are going to be in heaven, so we won't have to be waiting expectantly for this. And we're going to come back with Christ in his second coming, but suddenly...
When the time comes, the heavens are going to break forth with the glory of God, and Christ and the millions of angels and saints are going to descend from heaven to the earth to share in Christ's thousand-year kingdom on earth, his thousand years described in both the Old and New Testament as Christ reigns over the earth, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and also as the King of David over Israel. Now he tells us that the second coming is going to be like the time of Noah. So far, so good. But what about this expression in verse forty in following where it says, Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken the other left, who will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken the other left?
That sounds like the rapture, doesn't it? Well, I thought the rapture occurred earlier and didn't occur at the second coming. Here it seems to teach that the rapture is going to be at the second coming. Of course, that's exactly what the post-tribulationists do, and they all come to this passage to try to prove it. Because the context here is obviously the second coming, and here there appears to be what is called a rapture. But there's a flaw in this ointment here. What's wrong with it? What happened in the ark? Who is taken away? The person is taken away, we're put to death. The persons that are not taken away... were safe and secure in the ark and didn't even get wet.
You see, that's the difference. Now, the one taken away here, the rapture is just the opposite. At the rapture, the one that's taken is a saved one. And the one that's left is the unsaved one. You see? In other words, you have to completely reverse the illustration in order to make it fit the rapture. Now, as a matter of fact, this isn't any rapture at all. I don't believe there'll be a rapture at the second coming. In fact, there's no resurrection either. There's a resurrection a few days later. But those who are in the flesh, Jews and Gentiles who are saved and who survive the awful tribulation, are going to go into the millennial kingdom in their natural bodies.
They're going to bear children, they're going to live, they're going to die, they're going to plant crops, build houses, do all the things that people normally do in a normal life. And they're not going to be raptured. You see, They're still in their natural bodies. There's no rapture at the second coming. Now, nevertheless, they all land on this verse and try to prove it from that. But if you just look through the scriptures, you often can find some help elsewhere. And in Luke chapter seventeen, we have a parallel passage here that helps us. It says in verse thirty-four of Luke seventeen, I tell you in that night, There will be two men in one bed, one will be taken in the other left.
Two women will be grinding together, and one will be taken in the other left. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken in the other left. Sounds just like the rapture, doesn't it? But now here's the difference. The disciples answered and said to him, Where, Lord? In other words, those that are taken, where are they taken? You know what his answer is? Wherever the body is, there the eagles or the vultures will be gathered together. You see, at the second coming of Christ, the one who's taken is put to death. And this is further illustrated, of course, in Matthew chapter twenty-five, in the sheep and the goats, where the goats are cast in everlasting fire.
They're put to death, you see, because they aren't ready, they aren't saved, and they're not eligible to enter into Christ's millennial kingdom. So this passage is not teaching a rapture It's teaching a divine judgment upon those that aren't ready for the second coming. May I remind you that's the point of both the rapture and the second coming. The time to get ready is before it happens. Are you ready if the rapture occurred tonight? I believe that according to all the things that I know, that the rapture is imminent. It could happen any time. And when it happens, Only those who are born again, who have received new life in Christ, and are baptized into the Spirit, into the body of Christ, are going to be raptured.
Everybody else can be left behind. Now, you know, I get invited to evangelical churches where the gospel has been preached. I somehow don't get in some of these other churches. I'll let you figure out why, but I don't. But I do get into churches where there's been faithful preaching of the gospel. But I find in every audience of any size, there's almost always one or more or two or three that are going through the motions. They may be members of the church. They may be good people. They may be morally upright. Maybe everybody thinks they are Christian. They may think they are Christian themselves. But they're not born again. And we have, of course, the passage in John three where Nicodemus came to Christ and said, He illustrates this problem of religion versus salvation.
And Nicodemus was a good Jew. I'm sure he tithed. He never missed the synagogue meeting. I'm sure he brought his offerings. He tried to keep the law the best he could. But he had a problem. He saw Christ performing many miracles. His peers said that Christ was doing this in the power of Satan. This didn't make sense to Nicodemus. How could a man do these wonderful things in the power of Satan? So he came to Christ by night. He was afraid to come by day, apparently, and asked him about it. You know, Christ cut him right down. He said, Nicodemus, you must be born again, or you cannot see or enter the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said, how can that be? You only can be born once. Christ said, you have to be born again. And that's hard for people to understand, but... We believe that Nicodemus came through and his faith in Christ was born again. He was one of the people who helped bury the body of Christ when Christ died. Back a few years ago, we had quite a flurry, I think it was during President Carter's time, about being born again because he claimed to be born again, and probably he was. I have no judgment of the matter, but probably was. And they tried to figure out what it was. And Newsweek sent a reporter out to me. And he took Jarlene and me out to a fancy dinner at night. And then he went to our house.
We stayed up till midnight. He kept asking us, what is it to be born again? He took down an hour and a half of interviews. What I tried to explain to him was born again. I couldn't get through to him. But it was he wasn't born again. And he couldn't understand it. And he went on and told me, he said, well, I'm reporting all this to my superior editor. I don't know what happens. You know what happened? I got half a sentence in the original article. They said that Moody and Dallas were fundamental institutions. Well, I got my, I'm glad he didn't say the other because it would have been wrong, but at least I got my word in there. No, they just don't understand it.
You must be born again. Are you? Now, I believe a person can be born again and know it. Do you know you're alive? Well, it doesn't take too much effort to figure out if you're alive. When I was studying in philosophy, I studied the philosopher human. He was a skeptic. He wasn't sure he was alive. He thought maybe he was being deceived that he was alive. He's got skepticism to the ultimate when you can't believe you're living. But I think you can know that you're born again. There's a witness within. In my own case, when I accepted Christ as Savior, I knew something had happened. There is a testimony within. The Holy Spirit can tell us, you are a child of God.
If there's any question in your mind about it, don't, don't go on without getting it settled. Seek out someone who can help you. I believe we can know that we're born again and be ready for the Lord when He comes. And so this passage is dealing with this. And while it's talking about the second coming here and not the rapture, the challenge is the same for those living at the time of the second coming. To be born again, to be ready for Christ when He comes, and to trust in Him before... He appears before it's too late to accept Him as Savior. And so He tells us, Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
Now, I believe that there are some very interesting things going on in the world today, all of which point in the direction that Christ is coming. We could preach a sermon on it. You see, the rapture of the church particularly... is an event that has no preceding signs. In contrast to the Second Coming, there's a lot of signs. The Second Coming of Christ to the earth couldn't happen. Now it's going to be at least more than seven years away at the very outset. But the rapture, every passage on the rapture pictures that a summit could happen any day. That's the way it is taught the Thessalonians. They believe that. And when some of their loved ones died, they immediately wondered whether they'd have to wait to see their loved ones.
If Christ came for those that are living. If Christ had to explain that to him in I Thessalonians four. No, they believed that Christ could come any time. But there's a difference between believing he could come and the fact that he would come soon. After all, nineteen hundred years have passed. How do we know another nineteen hundred years won't pass before he comes? You see, that's the issue. The issue is this. That while there are no signs for the rapture, the Bible doesn't give us any The Bible does describe in great detail what's going to happen after the rapture. That's what we're going to be studying in the book of Revelation, particularly. Great events that are going to take place. Now, the amazing thing is that in the last fifty years, the whole world's stage has been rearranged so that precisely those things could happen very quickly.
You take the revival of the Roman Empire, which is always approximately the same time as the rapture. For the first time, Europe's at peace. And it's ripe for our United States of Europe to be formed, which should be a fulfillment, I believe, of the Old Testament prophecy that the Roman Empire is going to be revived in the form of ten nations. And then, of course, Israel's back in the land for the first time since Seventy-A-D. Now, they're an unbelief, but they had to come back to the land in order to be there to qualify as recipients of the Peace Treaty of Daniel describes the last seven years preceding the second coming. So the fact they're there is another indication that the world stage is being set.
And then, of course, we have world government as a part of the end time. Do you realize that there hasn't been a world government possible until our twentieth century? So in order to have a world government, you have to have rapid communication, rapid transportation, and other things. For instance, we have Missile warfare, a world ruler, can dominate the world because he controls the missiles. And we also have giant computers that can keep track of the financial side so that no one can buy or sell without his permission. You see, we didn't have these things fifty years ago. They're all there now. And I think there's some great significance in the fact that in the United Nations was born. It's not, to put the Bible predicts, but it's preparing the world for a world ruler, because that's what it's all about.
Then in nineteen forty-eight the World Council of Churches, the apostate church that I believe is described for the first half of that last seven years in Revelation seventeen. That's there already, something new. It wasn't here before the twentieth century, now it's there. And then of course we have world government as I mentioned and we've had Israel back in the land. These three things, the church, the nations and Israel. The United Nations in nineteen forty-six. World Church in nineteen forty eight Israel back in the land in nineteen forty eight I think God's trying to tell us something now I can't set dates and a days with the Lord is a thousand years I know that but as it was the time of Noah there was the waiting period but eventually the day came and when it comes God knows when it is the rapture is going to take place And so while we're not talking about the rapture in Matthew, I believe, though some try to put it there, I believe we should recognize that the conditions are much the same, waiting for the rapture, waiting for the second coming, in both cases.
The challenge is to be ready, are you? And the readiness consists of more than just being saved, I believe. It consists also in our commitment to Christ, our living for Him, are maximizing our present opportunities for what we're ever doing for God, whether it's in stewardship or witness or whatever, service for God, because one of these days, our earthly pilgrimage is going to suddenly end. There's going to be a call from the blue. Before we know what's happened, we're going to be on our way to meet the Lord and to be forever in His gracious presence. You know, the world has absolutely nothing to offer.
It even compares to the joy and expectation that a Christian has who understands God's wonderful promises to those that have put their trust in Jesus and have become the objects of his marvelous grace. So if you can, continue reading in Matthew chapter four. We'll study it again tomorrow night and in the morning hours the book of Revelation. Shall we pray? Our fathers speak to our hearts and we want to understand the truth. We want most of all to apply it. not to simply tuck it away in the notebook, our memories, but to live as those who know the liberating truth of the Word of God. And so help us as we study these things together, to be stimulated, to be revived, and to be encouraged, to be informed, to be challenged, and help us, Lord, that in all these things we may honor you, honor your word, and show our love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.