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 - April 19, 2023
Are you end-times focused?
Are you end-time focused? 1st Peter 1:13 says “Gird up your mind and be sober and rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Are you focused on the coming of Christ? Answer that question you've answered, “Why am I where I am?” Do you live day by day in what Paul calls in Titus, “the blessed hope glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13? I wake up every morning saying, “Let it be today. Even so come Lord Jesus.” You know, that's the last prayer that's written in the Bible (Revelation 22:20). And you know what? I have a hunch Jesus is not going to come back until the majority and His bride is praying that He will come. You know why His bride is not praying that He'll come? Because we still want to buy that new car and we still want to get this. You're not going to have to worry about that because all of that stuff is about to go by the wayside. We're about to see hard times like this country has never seen. You know what? It'll be good for us. Why would God let us happen to us? Because He loves us. Because He wants a pure bride for His son. And He wants a bride that would be focused on eternity.
