This series of short lessons attempts to detail Jesus’ Roadmap for the Future. It starts with the last lessons Jesus gave the disciples on the Mount of Olives, and ends with teachings from the Apostle Paul about the Rapture.
As an introduction, the Olivet Discourse was aimed at the consequences of Israel’s rejection of Jesus as Messiah, and anticipated the destruction of the nation (70 A.D.) and the final Tribulation period. Remember that the Church Age is an intercalation—meaning an insertion, like a parenthesis, into the Age of Israel. This means that with the Rapture of the Church, the Tribulation picks up where 70 A.D. leaves off. This is why the Church Age is called a “mystery” (Rom. 11:25; 16:25; Eph. 3:1–13; Col. 1:26–27), which is a graduate course to “the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (Eph. 3:10).
The Olivet Discourse reveals the consequences of Israel’s rejection of her Messiah (compare Matt. 23:37–39 and Rom. 9:1–5; 10:1–4; 11:25). These consequences are defined by Paul as “wrath … to the uttermost” (1 Thess. 2:15–16).
The outline is actually given by Jesus Himself, by using certain key words as markers of the divisions. Perhaps the most obvious of these words is “Then,” a time-word indicating a sequence of events. We find this in Matt. 24:1, 9, 11, 16, 21, 23, 29, 40; 25:1, 7, 16, 24, 34, 37, 41, 44, 45. With the exception of its use in Matt. 24:1, where it connects Jesus’ departure from the Temple with the following discourse, in all the subsequent times, it is used specifically to refer to the Tribulation period followed by His Second Coming. It is worth quoting Mark, here, for the statement he includes:
“For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.” Mark 13:19
In Matthew 24, Jesus gives us an outline, speaking of “tribulation” (Matt. 24:9), followed by “the abomination of desolation” (Matt. 24:15, see Dan. 11:31; 12:11), which is then followed by “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21) and, finally, “after the tribulation of those days” (Matt. 24:29) by the return of Christ to Earth (Matt. 24:30–31). Although both Mark 13 and Luke 21 include portions of this message, only Matthew gives us such a clear picture of the chain of events.
Gene Cunningham - July 2, 2022
3:16
You know, for me it was I had a deep, deep conviction of being a sinner. I grew up in a Methodist church. We went to church every Sunday. I had all the pins, you know, for going a year without missing a Sunday. And I came away with only one understanding, but it was a good one because it was part of the building blocks that led me to faith, and that was "sinners go to hell." Of course, I thought good people go to heaven. Sinners go to hell. And I knew which I was. There was no question in my mind. The part I was wrong about was there aren't any good people who go to heaven. But still, that deep conviction lasted with me from the age of five to the age of fifteen. I was terrified of death. Whenever I heard of a person dying or a funeral, I was terrified because I knew one day I'm going to die. To give you an idea, I remember at the age of seven we went camping and my dad had built a bonfire and I stood looking at the bonfire at the sticks that were burning. And the thought that went through my mind was, I wish that I could have just been made a stick instead of a human because that stick is going to burn up, and it'll be over. But I'm going to burn forever in hell. I had very strong conviction of that. Well, that worked on me for ten years. In those ten years I just proved it more and more every year. No hope for me. I know where I'm going. And then finally a guy came to me and we met and shared with me John 3:16. And to be honest, I didn't understand it at all. But he said, "Memorize this verse." And I did. And I met up with him two or three weeks later and he said, "Did you memorize verse?" I said, "Yeah, I could quote it. John. John 3:16 "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." I went through it didn't mean anything to me. Well, he thought I had become a believer. I didn't understand what the verse meant.
