THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Matthew: Jesus As Israel's Messiah And His Kingdom

Q. Christ As Israel's Messiah Seen In His Words Of God's Work With Israel To The Kingdom, Matthew 24-25

2. Christ As Israel's Messiah Seen In His Prediction Of His Second Coming

(Matthew 24:29-41)

I. Introduction

A. Much misinterpretation and confusion has surrounded the handling of Jesus' prophecies in Matthew 24-25.

B. We view the second part of that prophecy based upon the foundation established for understanding the first part, noting how Christ is seen as Israel's Messiah in predicting His Second Coming in Matthew 24:29-41:

II. Christ As Israel's Messiah Seen In His Prediction Of His Second Coming, Matthew 24:29-41.

A. As we established in our study of Matthew 24:1-28, the entire Matthew 24-25 "Olivet Discourse" has nothing to do with Church History that was still then unrevealed to the disciples (cf. Ephesians 3:1-6); rather, that discourse has to do with God's working with Israel in her future; Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 75.

B. Since we learned in our previous lesson in this series that Matthew 24:4-28 is Jesus' prediction of the Great Tribulation Period, the seven-year long, seventieth prophetic week of years in Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 24:29-41 is Christ's prediction of His Second Coming to the earth, and we view that prophecy for insight as follows:

1. Jesus predicted that immediately after the Great Tribulation that climaxes in the Battle of Armageddon (Matt. 24:28 with Rev. 19:21), great, unsettling changes would occur in the stellar bodies over the earth, Matt. 24:29 with Isaiah 13:9-10 and Joel 2:31; 3:15; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Matt. 24:29.

2. Then, the sign of the Son of man would appear in the heavens, Christ [possibly with the Old Testament Shekinah glory of God] returning to the earth gradually enough over a period of time so that the whole world will see it and react to it by mourning, knowing its judgment for its sin is imminent, Matthew 24:30.

3. When Christ arrives, He will send His angels with a sound of a trumpet to collect his elect from the ends of the earth where they have been scattered by persecution, Matt. 24:31; Ibid., Bib. Know. Com., N. T., p. 78.

4. In line with these events, Jesus gave a parable for believers who survive the Great Tribulation to apply in reference to His Second Coming that he just predicted, the parable of the fig tree, Matthew 24:32-35:

a. Jesus said that when a fig tree's branch gets tender and it sprouts leaves, we know summer is near, v. 32.

b. Similarly, when believers in the Great Tribulation see all these things He has mentioned in Matthew 24:4-31 start to occur, they should know His Second Coming is near, even at the doors, Matthew 24:33.

c. Indeed, Jesus said that "this generation" would not pass till all these things be fulfilled, Matthew 24:34. Some try to teach that this prediction meant that the generation that begins to see wars, famines, plagues, earthquakes, etc. occur as predicted in Matthew 24:7 and applied to the CHURCH era, that that generation in the CHURCH will not pass till all is fulfilled, a prediction that CAN NOT be fulfilled as such events have occurred over numerous generations in Church History. However, the CONTEXT reveals that the generation in ISRAEL that starts to see the 7-year Great Tribulation and events of Christ's return -- that THAT generation would not pass till all is fulfilled! (Ibid.)

d. Jesus added that heaven and earth would pass away, but His Word would not do so (Matt. 24:35), and that claim can be true ONLY if Matthew 24-25 relates of God's working with ISRAEL in HER future!

5. Jesus then warned that no one before these events occur would know when Christ comes. As it was in the days of Noah when men lived their usual lives right up to the moment that the Flood began to destroy them all, so it will be in Christ's return: the lost world will be utterly unprepared for it, Matthew 24:36, 37-39.

6. Hence, two will be in the field, and one will be taken and the other left; two will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left, Matt. 24:40-41. Some say these verses speak of the rapture of the Church, but that forces the rapture to be POST-tribulational, after the Great Tribulation due to Matthew 24:4-31, NOT PRE-tribulational as 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 holds. No, the ones LEFT are BELIEVERS and the ones TAKEN are UNBELIEVERS who are taken in JUDGMENT, Ibid., p. 79.

Lesson: In Matthew 24:29-41, Jesus ACCURATELY predicted His Second Coming to the earth in glory and in judgment on an unbelieving world and His deliverance for believers who survive the Great Tribulation era.

Application: (1) May we trust in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God to be saved, John 20:31. (2) May we rightly handle passages like Matthew 24:34 and 24:40-41 in light of the context (3) to be correct and settled about the accuracy of Jesus' predictions of the future, and thus (4) of His truthfulness and hence (5) of the Christian faith.