“We are to know” what is going on around us. A different way to think about Eschatology. Matthew 24.

Thanks to a change in the atmosphere, I am jumping out of our study on Matthew once again.

If I did not say it before, let me say it now. I have been struggling with mild depression. Some would say it is a demonic attack, and I don't doubt it, as Satan would love to stop anyone who has a sincere heart and wants to share the Word and Love of God with others. I feel as if my primary purpose in life is to do just that: share the Word, so it does not take a genius to imagine where this attack has hit me; yep, I lost interest in doing Bible studies, but I will add that there has been a tremendous amount of family-oriented activities taking place and I frequently stop what I am doing and take care of my wife, Doctor appointments, and grandparent duties. Well, sometimes you just have to dig yourself out of the pit, and that is what I am doing now.

Is it merely a strange circumstance that Israel would be attacked in the midst of my spiritual battle on the Sabbath (October 7, 2023), filling the nation of Israel with death, confusion, and war?

I don't think so. What I do believe is that Satan, who knows his time is short, has released his demon hordes upon the earth, and we, who are followers of Jesus Christ, will experience attacks on many levels.

Oh, by the way, though I cannot legitimately claim that I am a Jew, even though I did have a Jewish grandfather who died when I was around 12, because of this, I have progressively turned my heart toward Jerusalem. This attitude makes me feel a bit aggressive when someone attacks my nation.

With our eyes on the Holy Land, we should be hearing messages from Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and 1 Thessalonians, to say the least. I know I can't get enough of intelligent messages about Eschatology – end times events.

With that said, I want to talk about the idea that “we are to know” what is going on around us.

A common verse used to berate those who are excited about the return of Jesus Christ for His bride is this.

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Matthew 24:36 NKJV

First off, there is a context to this verse, and it has everything to do with Jesus talking exclusively to a Jewish audience.

What importance does that knowledge play in such a bold and rather blatant statement by Jesus?

They were not Christians as yet, for Jesus had not gone back to the Father; therefore, Jesus would not have spoken to them about things that pertained to anyone but Jews. So, everything we see in Matthew's account was directed to Jewish ears and understanding alone.

As for understanding the idea of being the bride, many were Galileans, and Jesus first recorded “miracle” was at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Several of the newly chosen disciples were in attendance there. If anyone could understand the depth and meaning of being the bride, it would be a Galilean. If you are having trouble grasping what I mean by the depth of the Galilean wedding, it was bathed in tradition and Jewish understanding and held together by a contractual agreement, which the bride had every right to reject.

Another translation of Matthew 24:36 may give you more understanding.

“But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Matthew 24:36 AMP

The Amplified Bible added words that provide us with alternative understandings, while other [italicized] words provide “synonyms and explanations in brackets and parentheses within the text […] The strength of this version is that it acknowledges that no single English word or phrase can capture precisely the meaning of the Hebrew or Greek.” The quotation is from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplified_Bible#:~:text=is%20unique%20among%20Bible%20versions,of%20the%20Hebrew%20or%20Greek.

So, if you must be one that holds to tradition because this is the way we have always been taught, and, therefore, agree that NO ONE can know the day or the hour, then knowing that we can't know the precise timing, we may easily be able to place ourselves within the season and what we are living in is the Baseball World Series, which we, in America, just experienced.

Let's talk about this phenomenon called the World Series for a moment.

• Do we have an idea when this series of games will take place?

  Yes, it happens on a yearly basis, in September, after a prescribed number of games have been played by every team. That is not the case with Christ's return, as He is first coming to collect His bride. Evidence, in every way, shape, and form, is pointing to Jesus's soon return. We like to refer to this evidence as signs.

• Once the World Series begins, are there things that we can absolutely know about the event?

  The series will be controlled by rules.

  In baseball, three outs bring about changes in the inning and the side as the home team now gets their opportunity at bat and a chance to score.

  There will be a prescribed number of games played within the series to determine the winner. It is not mandatory, however, that the series includes the entirety of the seven games as it is a best-of-seven series, meaning that one team could win the first four games and, therefore, win the series.

  And though each game has nine innings, there can be no tie games, and some games have gone on for well over 12 hours. Typically, the games last about two hours.

  So, as in Jesus coming for His church, there are variables that affect the length of the period we are looking for and at.

The point of this was not to have a discussion of baseball, which may mean little depending on where you live and the restrictions you live under, but to make a point that we can know the timing of the rapture just as we can talk with understanding about the World Series. Since we have established that Baseball has variables, then we must surely know that the rapture or snatching away of the church is filled with variables. Consider this: the game belongs to God, and the rules, though set in scripture, are His as well.

Most translations entitle this next section of the Bible

“Signs of the End of the Age.”

This is how it played out. Having ridden the young colt into Jerusalem, the crowd welcomed Him with wild enthusiasm.

“And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"
Matthew 21:8-9 NKJV

Where do we find the Jewish context of what Matthew conveys?

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.”
Psalms 118:26 NKJV

Leviticus elaborates on the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths.

“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.”
Leviticus 23:34 JPS

And there are specific instructions associated with the Feast of Tabernacles.

“And on the first day you shall take the fruit of pleasing trees [and make booths of them], branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick (leafy) trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.”
Leviticus 23:40 AMPC+

The excited crowd anticipated the warring Messiah because all the signs pointed to Yeshua as being that Messiah.

But what did Jesus do?

“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.”
Matthew 21:12-14 KJV

This verbal onslaught went on for days.

“And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.”
Matthew 21:17 KJV

The next day, He went back to the temple.

“Now, when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching and said, "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?" But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?" And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'”
Matthew 21:23-25 NKJV

We have records that indicate that He delivered the parable of the two sons, the tenants (which was directed at the Jewish leadership); the wedding feast, and more. He cursed the fig tree because it had no fruit on it; He spoke about paying taxes to Caesar as a rebuttal against those who tried to trap Him; the Sadducees asked Him about the resurrection; and He berated the leadership over the demands that they placed on the people but would not follow themselves.

I imagine that the disciples imagined that they would be killed during this process. After two long days, they left the temple and headed to the Mount of Olives, and this was the best they could come up with.

“Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.
And Jesus said to them,
"Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
Matthew 24:1-2 NKJV

Jesus, finally seated on the Mount of Olives, begins to answer the question below.

“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us,
when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
Matthew 24:3 KJV

While the answer to the questions has great depth, Jesus's first response was this.

“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.”
Matthew 24:4 KJV

How many different ways can you be deceived?

Look up the Greek word for deceived, and you get planaō. It means don't let anyone (cause you to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue): - [don't let anyone make you] go astray, deceive, [don't allow yourself to be] seduce[d], to wander, or be [taken] out of the way.

“For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.”
Matthew 24:5 NKJV

This doesn't even make sense to me. Since I know that Jesus will first come in the clouds and gather His church, it doesn't make sense that people would try to portray themselves as the Messiah.

“My name” is the Greek word onoma; it means authority or character. The Word Study Dictionary tells us they will come using the name, title, character, reputation, or the person of Jesus.

An example can be seen in Jeremiah.

“Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own minds”
Jeremiah 14:14 NASB

Deceive? We already covered this. It is the Greek word planaō. It means don't let anyone (cause you to) be [taken] out of the way.

I can remember Jim Jones and David Koresh. The latter managed to tell these fools that he was entitled to have other men's wives. Try that line on me, and you are probably going to get hurt.

So, fools will cause you to go astray from God's truth, which is His Word, and to be taken out of the way – the way is God's way and not what Allah or some guru says. But wait, there is a context, and it is Jesus responding to their Jewish-oriented questions in a manner that they would understand.

So, even if you think you can stay committed to “the truth,” why can't we understand what Jesus or the scripture is saying?

We can, but most will choose not to perceive that the Bible is a Jewish book written to a Jewish audience that somehow applies to us now because we were adopted into the family.

So, how many questions did the disciples ask Jesus?

Their questions covered three distinct events.

• When will these things be?

  This had more to do with the destruction of the temple, which was a relatively short few years away. The immediate destruction happened in 70AD. The future sign and destruction have a specific timing once the antichrist comes into power, and that only happens after the church is removed from the earth.

• “What will be the sign of Your coming?

  The NLT translates this portion in this manner: “What sign will signal your return.” As Jews, they were NOT asking about the church, as the church did not exist yet, and to be honest, filled with Gentiles, they would not have considered those attending to be worthy of the kingdom of God.

  • The first thing to take note of, although since sin made time notable, there have been wars.

    “And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom...”
    Matthew 24:6-7a NLT

  • Secondly,

    “...There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.”
    Matthew 24:7-8b NLT

    I cannot remember a time when some third world nation wasn't suffering famine. Now it is a common conversation pertaining to hunger and our streets here in America. And earthquakes, though common, are now incessantly in excess of 6 and 7s in terms of magnitude.

  • Thirdly,

    “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.”
    Matthew 24:9 NLT

    While we were able to sit unrestrained, in many of our churches, the Spirit of the Lord – the Holy Spirit, had spoken through me, saying, the time is coming when you, too, shall experience persecution, and you will NOT be able to handle it.

    With the war in Israel and heated conversations about abortions, the hatred toward Jews and Christ-followers is growing more each day.

  • Fourth,

    “...Many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other.”
    Matthew 24:10 NLT

    I have watched this happen, and if you were paying attention, you would agree.

  • Fifth

    “Many false prophets will come and cause many people to believe things that are wrong.”
    Matthew 24:11 ERV

    Who is doing this?

    I honestly cannot imagine such a thing, but there are plenty of highly driven people, like those in the Faith movement, who are trying to act and speak in the authority of the name of Jesus. Consider that Jesus emphasized that deception would be great.

    Who was he talking to?

    Jews, and so our focus is on a Jewish impact.

    Did you know that a Rabbi was picked to be the high priest in the new Jewish temple once it gets built?

    It was reported by Israel 365 News, several years ago that his name is Rabbi Baruch Kahane. Although he did not feel it was the right time for such a declaration to be made, however, in 2022, he was front and center when a preparation to sacrifice on the temple mount was performed. When I showed this man to some friends of mine, they made comments like, he looks like a fine young man; why would you think that he might be the one to cause such a deception? That's my point; such a trusted man would cause such an uproar.

Once again, these are questions and/or statements that I have heard over the years, but this particular string of questions came under the guise of “I would like to talk about Revelation 21 and 22.

 Your questions and challenges.

I sit with several groups of men, and issues like this come up every once in a while. The problem is, attempts at answering a clear portion of the question, always seem to bring up some other train of thought, interrupting my own, and taking us down some unrelated rabbit trail. In responding like this, I can avoid those non-productive rabbit trails.

My initial response went like this. I never try to do battle without sharpening my sword. That being said, you write down your questions and such and send them to me.

This is what I received.

1. The time of the new heaven&earth when God sets up his kingdom. I always believed this was after the removal of all sinful people. but these chapters talk about being worthy and what is inside and outside the city. outside is murderers and the like.

2. "About the earth it says the valley’s will fill and the mountain brought low with no more see. In Luke the earth that was perished in the flood. A new earth grew from the destruction of the old. Why has my mind always imagined the universe being erased like a chalkboard when I read new heaven and earth. I could argue that it will be reborn after some form of purification and that in fact that sun 🌞 will be done away forever. But it’s looking like man,good and evil, remain even after the new Jerusalem."

My response to Question #1.

You are not alone in your, hopefully previous, belief. The Monday morning “Bible teacher” used to hammer this false teaching, among others, into the brains of the men that showed up. I think he is still adhering to his twisted beliefs. By this man's standard, no one but believers enter the millennial kingdom. He takes his opinion one racist step further and inappropriately excludes the Jews.

Sorry if this bursts your bubble, but as you have apparently figured out, surviving Jews and those from among nations who have endured will go into the millennial kingdom. By Jewish definition, the nations are any who are NOT Jews. Not only that, but those among the nations that have children during this time, have the freedom to NOT worship God and, therefore, within reason, act any way they chose. The huge difference between now and then, is that we, the believers, will be immortal/eternal and, therefore, cannot be harmed, but those among the nations can be. Violence will NOT be tolerated and will be suppressed faster than they can blink. There will be peace.

Isaiah 4:3 NASB “It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy--everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem”

Another strong reproach to those who choose to NOT believe.

Isaiah 10:20 NASB “Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel”

It is clear to me that the Jews will be the evangelists if you must call them something, and they, among others, will bring healing and the change that allows them entrance into the new Jerusalem, that comes through the leaves on the trees of life.

The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed, and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it, and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:24-27 NASB)

Zechariah speaks of the nations that came against Jerusalem coming to the new Jerusalem.

Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. (Zechariah 14:16 NASB)

Ask yourself, how would these, from among the nations, understand all that is to take place at the Feast of Sukkāh, or booths, as we gentiles say?

Someone would have to teach them. Who better than Jews that have knowledge of the law?

Ezekiel 44:10-11 NASB "But the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity. (11) "Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house and ministering in the house; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

So, by these passages, we know that the nations and the Jews will be there; among them or part of them will be, those who are unclean, those who practice abominations, and liars. I hesitate to include verse eight, as this could just as easily apply to the previously dead, before the millennial kingdom. But think about it, sin has no qualifiers, and, therefore, this crowd could include those described in verse eight.

Before I move on and continue this discussion about the earth being burned with fire, think for a moment with me. For a human, this fire that will purge the filth of earth should purge it from humanity as well. Since God is merciful beyond our understanding, then I can't see that happening until after the great white throne.

If you are asking, why at this point in time, just think about it; after this judgment, all sin is purged from, not just the earth, but from all creation, including the universe. Heaven and earth will be as they were meant to be; and though I cannot imagine what that will be like, it will be serenity.

The second of your questions is a puzzlement for me as well - but why?

If the earth is burned with fire during seven-years of God's wrath, then how is it possible that there would be any survivors, including the 144,000 Jewish men that we see set apart in Revelation 7:4? Note, these 144,000 cannot be harmed by the judgments of God, and that should include any burning of the earth.

Why burn everything?

Maybe because the earth is polluted. Many plastics will take 10,000 years to break down, but vaporizing those same plastics, which are everywhere, and it should not take long at all.

Obviously, getting rid of pollutants is a plus, but what about the pollution that humanity brings along with it, like toxic waste materials?

It does not seem logical to attack humanity, especially if Jesus took all sin on Himself at the cross and paid for any debts owed by us. So Purging humanity is obviously not the goal, but purging unrepentant humanity might be.

What in the Revelation gets purged by fire or burned?

One of our more prominent examples comes from Revelation 19.

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him, the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
(Revelation 19:19-20 NASB)

Who then, at this point, is thrown into the lake of fire?

Satan, the beast, and the false prophet. No one else gets thrown into the lake of fire. Again, this is NOT what many teach. Ah, but note, the rest that came to battle with Jesus were killed with the sword. An interesting, but incorrect assumption we religious people make, is that Jesus kills everyone from the nations. Once again, let me remind you that this Bible of ours is a Jewish-centric book, and so the nations, for the Jew, include the Christian community.

While it is contestants from the nations, here doing battle, does everyone come, and, therefore, get killed by Jesus?

No. The verse above tells you who gets killed in this battle with Jesus - the beast; the kings of the earth; their armies, and those assembled to make war against Jesus. Now, while mama and the children may hate Jesus, the Jews, and the people of the Book (the Bible,) they are NOT killed unless they decided to join in the fight.

So let's get back to this idea of everything on earth burning.

Maybe this is where everyone gets toasted because there is an angel in charge of fire.

Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe." (Revelation 14:18 NASB)

But what does he do?

He calls out another, who has a sickle, and that angel begins to carry out a puzzling order. The angel is told to, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe."

I would assume that we are the grapes and that we are ripe, sort of like the bride, ready for the groom. But that is not the context and in verses 19-20 we see that these crushed grapes are representative of the blood that flows through the Megiddo Valley, deep as their bridles, for 200 miles. Clearly, we are being shown the wrath of God, but He did it without fire.

So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the winepress, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. (Revelation 14:19-20 NASB)

How did we transition from fire to a sickle?

It is the angel who has power over fire that is calling forth him who has a sharp sickle, and he is the one who is gathering the clusters.

So, where does the fire come into play?

The next time we see fire is in Revelation 16, and it is scorching humanity.

The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. (Revelation 16:8 NASB)

Throughout the Bible, you see statements, such as all were there. If I used Daniel as an example of this, I would show how ALL were commanded to bow, and yet Daniel was not bowing because he was NOT there.

Merely because Revelation 16:8 tells us that it was given to scorch men, it does not mean all, because, here again, NO ONE would survive.

Does everyone that goes to the beach get severely sunburned?

If not, why not? Because many make efforts to hide from the Sun and its' effects.

Also under the bowl judgments.

The first angel pours out his bowl and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. Students of the Bible should immediately understand that this is the most logical place in the timeline of events and, therefore, the second half of the seven-years of God's wrath.

In Revelation 16:3 we see the second angel pouring out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.

The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters, and they became blood.

And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it."
(Revelation 16:5-6 NASB)

"For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets," who did this?

Well, if you know your Bible, then you also know that this is speaking of the scribes and Pharisees in Israel, and, it is also pointing at the global elite of the world.

Let's get back to the fire/scorching of humans.

Men were scorched with fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.
(Revelation 16:9 NASB)

Some people might think of scorched in terms of a sunburn. The Greek word kaumatizo translated as scorched also means to burn. If I were cooking, this piece of meat would most likely be trash at this point.

“Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.” (Isaiah 24:6 NASB)

A couple of keywords in Isaiah 24.

• “and those who live in it are held guilty.”

  Forgiven of sin, what are we being held guilty of?

  Refusal to believe and follow Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

• “Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left”

  The Hebrew word for burn is chârar, and though it means hot and scorched, it also means to be dry and angry.

Notice something from Revelation 16:9.

Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. (Revelation 16:9 NASB)

Scorched with a fierce heat, they blasphemed the name of God and did not repent. Obviously, the scorching was NOT to death for all, but it was meant to drive them to repentance.

In Isaiah forty-two the context is Israel.

So He poured out on him the heat of His anger And the fierceness of battle; And it set him aflame all around, Yet he did not recognize it; And it burned him, but he paid no attention. (Isaiah 42:25 NASB)

Have no doubts, God does bring His fire upon the unrepentant, and we saw that in the story of Lot. Elijah is another.

Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. (2 Kings 1:10 NASB)

And, God, during the beginning of the seven-years of wrath, will set His two witnesses in the streets of Jerusalem, who spew fire out their mouths, among other things.

Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. (2 Kings 1:10 NASB)

I appreciated the questions as I have been motivated to look at things like fire, as part of the end times scenario, more thoroughly, and I must say, do not see the earth awash in fire, as yet. Fire is undeniable and is primarily associated with the Lake of Fire. From a scientific point of view, if the Sun was acting up, as it appears to be, then why couldn't it supernova and destroy everything nearby; that might be where this is going, however, the final purging of pollution from the earth seems more effective between the great white throne and an eternity completely purged of sin.