by Ptr. Art Calaguas<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shalom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us pause to review what we have studied so far. In the Olivet Discourse, we saw the verses that the Lord Jesus taught his disciples about the schedule of future events and period of the end times prior to his return. In Matthew 24:3 he was responding to their 2 related questions: when these things will be; and what is the sign of his coming (i.e., the consummation of the age). We saw how the order of the parallel verses in the Synoptics resonated with the sequence of verses in Revelation 6, the breaking open of the seals of the Scroll of God\u2019s Judgment. We can better visualize these \u201cbeginning of birth pains\u201d parallels in the following tables:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 1st thing (or sign) mentioned in the sequence is about false Christs (and false prophets):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew Mark Luke Revelation Zechariah<\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:4-5, 13:5-6, 21:8 6:1-2 (Seal #1) 6:1-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:23-24 13:21-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2nd in the sequence is about wars and rumors of wars:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew Mark Luke Revelation Zechariah<\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:6-7 13:7-8 21:9-10 6:3-4 (Seal#2) 6:2<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 3rd in the sequence is about earthquakes, famines (and plagues):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew Mark Luke Revelation Zechariah<\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:7-8 13:8 21:11 6:5-8 (Seals#3 & 4) 6:3<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 4th in the sequence is about tribulation of believers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew Mark Luke Revelation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:9-14 13:9-13 21:12-19 6:9-11 (Seal#5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had studied in greater detail Matthew 24:15 (\u201cAbomination of Desolation\u201d); Matthew 24:21 (\u201cGreat Tribulation\u201d); and Matthew 24:22 (\u201cCut Short Tribulation\u201d) and its supporting verses. We also saw how these verses resonated with its parallel verses in the Gospels of Mark and Luke and its roots in the Old Testament (OT) prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel. Again, we can better visualize these items in tabular format:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 5th in the sequence is about the \u201cAbomination of Desolation\u201d with the destruction of the Temple (and Jerusalem itself):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew Mark Luke Daniel 1 Maccabees <\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:15-20 13:14-18 21:20-23 9:27, 11:31, 12:11 1:54<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 6th in the sequence is about a \u201cGreat Tribulation\u201d that is cut short:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matthew Mark Luke Jeremiah Isaiah Daniel Romans <\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:21-22, 13:19-20 21:23-24 30:5-7 10:21-23 12:1 9:27-28<\/p>\n\n\n\n
24:23-28 13:21-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The OT passage in Daniel that was mentioned last week needs to be given some more attention. The Septuagint (LXX) of Daniel 12:1 is given below followed by my formal translation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u1ff7 \u1f10\u03ba\u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u1ff3 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u039c\u03b9\u03c7\u03b1\u03b7\u03bb \u1f41 \u1f04\u03c1\u03c7\u03c9\u03bd \u1f41 \u03bc\u03ad\u03b3\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f41 \u1f11\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03ba\u1f7c\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03c5\u1f31\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03bb\u03b1\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\u00b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f14\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b8\u03bb\u03af\u03c8\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2<\/mark>, \u03b8\u03bb\u1fd6\u03c8\u03b9\u03c2<\/mark> \u03bf\u1f35\u03b1 \u03bf\u1f57 \u03b3\u03ad\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03b5\u03bd \u1f00\u03c6’ \u03bf\u1f50 \u03b3\u03b5\u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f14\u03b8\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f15\u03c9\u03c2 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f10\u03ba\u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u00b7 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u1ff7 \u1f10\u03ba\u03b5\u03af\u03bd\u1ff3 \u03c3\u03c9\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9<\/mark> \u1f41 \u03bb\u03b1\u03cc\u03c2, \u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\u00b7 \u03c0\u1fb6\u03c2 \u1f41 \u03b5\u1f51\u03c1\u03b5\u03b8\u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 \u03b3\u03b5\u03b3\u03c1\u03b1\u03bc\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc7 \u03b2\u03af\u03b2\u03bb\u1ff3.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And in that time will arise Michael your great prince who stands for the sons of your people; and it will be a time of tribulation<\/mark>, such tribulation<\/mark> has not happened, not from the existence of a nation over the earth until that time; and in that time your people will be saved<\/mark>; everyone who is found written in the scroll.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel 12:1 supports the remnant theology discussed last week regarding the Jewish people being saved in the time of tribulation. But only those \u201cfound written in the scroll\/book\u201d will be saved during that time of distress, a remnant. Moreover, the unprecedented nature of the tribulation (\u03b8\u03bb<\/em>\u1fd6<\/em>\u03c8\u03b9\u03c2<\/em>) spoken of parallels Matthew 24:21 (and Mark 13:19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we continue, it must also be pointed out that in the NT, it seems that all the Synoptics make it clear that when persecution comes, and it will; it is God who will give the Lord\u2019s disciples the words they need to say as a testimony for their defense. We certainly saw this in Mark 13:11 and in Luke 21:15. While it appears that this is not found in the Olivet Discourse version of Matthew, it is actually found in another part of his gospel; in chapter 10, which is the 2nd<\/sup> Great Discourse in the Gospel of Matthew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew 10:16-20 is part of the Lord\u2019s sending out of his 12 disciples for their ministry training which includes preparing them for persecution. In Matthew 10:20 the Lord says it is \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f51\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78 \u03bb\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd \u1f10\u03bd \u1f51\u03bc\u1fd6\u03bd<\/mark><\/em> (\u201cthe Spirit of your[pl] Father speaking in you[pl]<\/em>\u201d). But in Mark 13:11 the Lord says it is \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u1f78 \u1f05\u03b3\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd<\/mark><\/em> (\u201cthe Holy Spirit<\/em>\u201d) who is speaking. Then in Luke 21:15, the Lord Jesus says that \u1f10\u03b3\u1f7c \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03b4\u03ce\u03c3\u03c9 \u1f51\u03bc\u1fd6\u03bd \u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03bc\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03af\u03b1\u03bd<\/mark><\/em> (\u201cFor I will give you[pl] utterance and wisdom<\/em>\u201d). The clear meaning is that the Lord Jesus himself will equip his disciples for their testimony and irresistible and irrefutable defense at that time. I did not expect to find this embedded Trinitarian expression quite simply and yet so beautifully revealed in these 3 different Synoptic verses. Praise the Lord!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can now proceed with the remaining details and the Lord\u2019s specific teaching regarding his actual return. The Lord first reiterates in Matthew 24:23-28 his warnings given earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Matthew 24:23-26, the Lord emphasizes to his disciples not to believe anyone who would claim that the Messiah is here or there. He warns them in advance that false Christs (\u03c8\u03b5\u03c5\u03b4\u03cc\u03c7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9<\/em>, \u201cpseudochristoi\u201d) and false prophets (\u03c8\u03b5\u03c5\u03b4\u03bf\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6<\/em>\u1fc6<\/em>\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9<\/em>, \u201cpseudoprophetai\u201d) would arise showing great signs and wonders so as to mislead even the believing elect. Parallel verses are found in Mark 13:21-23. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then in Matthew 24:27-28, the Lord now gives a hint regarding the sign of \u1f21 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c5\u1f31\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5<\/mark><\/em> (\u201cthe coming of the Son of Man\u201d). [\u201cSon of Man\u201d is the favorite title (which comes from Daniel 7:13) our Lord uses for himself in the Gospels. The context of Daniel 7:13 informs us that this title points to the divinity of the Messiah and the eschatological figure our Lord identifies with.] The Lord says his (2nd<\/sup>) coming will be obvious to all as he likens it to lightning that is visible across the sky as well as carcass attracting a gathering of scavenging vultures. No one will miss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will continue next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God bless us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Ptr. Art Calaguas Shalom. Let us pause to review what we have studied so far. In the Olivet Discourse, we saw the verses that the Lord Jesus taught his disciples about the schedule of future events and period of the end times prior to his return. In Matthew 24:3 he was responding to their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6,7,9,8,5],"class_list":["post-302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ptr-art-calaguas","tag-church-of-the-risen-lord","tag-crl","tag-spiritual-refreshment-of-the-day","tag-upcemi","tag-upcrl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}