“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.

I cannot remember how we got to this point, but something got said about hell.

I know many who believe God has already thrown people into hell, but that has NOT happened yet, and, in general,  it will NOT happen until the great throne event at the end of the thousand-year reign of Christ. 

Why do I have the right to say that?

Well, there are passages like this:

“Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other just as God in Messiah also forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 TLV)

“And you—being dead in the trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh—He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all the trespasses,”
(Colossians 2:13 LSV)

“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven through His name.” (1 John 2:12 BSB)

Do I realize that this forgiveness was established by Jesus' actions on the cross?

Yes, I do, but this forgiveness, in a sense, is just hanging out in there in space until you choose to accept that forgiveness and the Father's love through the death and resurrection of the Son.

So, at least for now, I can exclude Judas, who hung himself from hell.

(At the end of the seven years of wrath, the beast and the false prophet, along with Satan, will be thrown into the lake of fire. The only one that gets out of that lake is Satan at the end of the thousand years so that he can deceive the nations. Having done that, he is tossed, along with those he deceived, back into the lake of fire.)

So a common problem I see is that some of us believe we have been appointed judges and have the right to send people to hell. The fact that all sin was forgiven on the cross should shut many mouths or at least change their condemning hearts. But, unfortunately, I merely stated what far too many of us are willing to do, especially when this job of judging is for Jesus alone. 

Wow, is that in the Bible?

“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever He wants. The Father does not judge anyone, but has handed over all judgment to the Son.”
(John 5:21-22 TLV)

There are two outstanding aspects of these passages.

• First, here is one you may have yet to notice.  So, not only does the Son do all the judging, but He gives life “to whomever He wants,” and He is NOT asking your permission to whom He can give life.

• Secondly, there are NO limitations on whom the Son can give this life to. 

So, I said, Jesus took the keys to hell by going there Himself and set the captives free.

This was met with what seemed like an angry response, and it went like this.

Jesus did NOT go into hell! After a few seconds of glaring, the person added it was the place of the dead.

A few seconds later, I pulled out my cell phone and found this.

"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Revelation 1:18 KJV)

I am not a big fan of the King James version, but most who spent a lot of time in a church would admit that the KJV was not only a standard but the primary version most would buy. However, that began to change, and we saw the Amplified, the NIV, and the NASB enter the mix.

It sounds like our King and savior got the keys to both places. As attendees at church, we, for the most part, were content to let the pastor do all the studying, as we assumed he would never lead us astray.

With a conversation like that, don't you think the average answer would be Jesus took the keys to hell? But, when the standard Bible translation tells us that He did, there is a propensity to believe He did. And, there is no reason to think that someone did this and then slipped Him the keys so He could look good. No, Jesus did all that.

So hell is actually the Greek word hadēs and means the abode of departed spirits.

Since the KJV was the new standard, then hell would have been the common assertion and expected answer. Because we, as the church in general, DO NOT READ our Bibles, then we would never know the origins of the word hell, which we just discussed to be hades, the place of the dead.

I think we believe that the lake of fire is hell, but we do not allow for an abode of departed spirits. A common picture comes from Revelation 19:20.

“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”
(Revelation 19:20 KJV)

The final scene is found in Revelation 20.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
(Revelation 20:13-15 KJV)

Something notable in Revelation 20:13-15, death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. Once again, we are constrained to use the word hell, which is Greek the word hades, the place of the dead. Is it any wonder that we call this place of the dead hell?

In “The Chosen,” there is a discussion between Jesus and Matthew about the substance of “the sermon on the mount.” Matthew humorously elaborates on this portion by adding you would have a city full of people with only one eye.

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5:27-29 KJV)

The point here is not the eye but things that we cannot validate from scripture. In this case, the conversation leaned toward potentially being sent to hell over poor decisions. Hell, in this case, is NOT hades but an allusion to Gehenna, the place of perpetual burning or the lake of fire.

A piece of information to help confuse you is the narrative about the beggar Lazarus (a person that the audience of that day may have been well aware of) and the rich Jew.

“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;   (23)  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeing Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”
(Luke 16:22-23 KJV)

Hell, as used here, is hades, the place of the dead. To the Jews, the idea that a rich man would go to hell is unacceptable; now, the beggar, maybe. But they also had the understanding that heaven initiated with Abraham's bosom.

Now, what am I to make of a statement that tells me that the dead lie in a condition of inactivity after what Jesus told us about Lazarus and the rich man?

A piece of substantiating evidence comes from King David. I am using the Amplified, in this case, as it typically has other defining terms or words.

- “Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, or disappointed, for I am calling upon You; let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol (the place of the dead).”
(Psalms 31:17 AMP)

First, an awareness that this was written in Hebrew, which used Sheol instead of Hades, which means the same thing, to define where David wishes these people would go.

The writer of Ecclesiastes 9:5 gives us a clue.

- “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing;..” (CJB)

To know is to have comprehension, care, or recognition. But the Hebrew word m^e'ûmâh, meaning nothing, puts the entire thought into the negative and implies that they do not know a speck of anything.

Another passage that affirms the prophetic qualities of Ecclesiastes comes from Job.

• Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.” (Job 30:23 BSB)

The general idea, it would seem, is that this is the earth as we return to dust; and yet, Job refers to them as living.

• He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
  (Luke 20:38 BSB)

At least, we can agree that there is an appointed collection place for the dead, and, since we should understand that the spirit or soul never dies, then even in hades, Sheol, or hell, depending on your preferred language and Bible translation, your soul lives on forever. Now, if you are a part of the body of Christ, then it's an entirely different matter, as, upon your graduation from this earth, you are in the presence of Jesus.

"having courage, then, at all times, and knowing that being at home in the body, we are away from home from the LORD— for we walk through faith, not through sight— we have courage, and are well pleased, rather, to be away from the home of the body, and to be at home with the LORD."
(2 Corinthians 5:6-8 LSV)