THE OLIVET DISCOURSE - A SERIOUS LOOK AT MATTHEW 24 AND REVELATION 6 IN PARALLEL – PART 2
If you did not read PART 1 of this study, it is important that you do so. It explains what this whole subject is about. The very briefest comment – There is no Rapture teaching in Matthew 24 and 25, and I know so many bible writers and speakers say so, but it does not hold up to analysis. The disciples asked for signs of the Lord’s Coming and the end of the age (as Jews knew it) and all that was in their minds was the Second Coming of Messiah as all the Jews knew. The Rapture was not revealed until later when Paul declared it “a mystery” to the Corinthians.
Last time we showed that the Rapture could not be part of Matthew 24. We then began the signs that link Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 and did the first sign. It was the coming of the Antichrist on a white horse who takes control over the whole world. Now we continue with the rest of the signs -
SIGN NUMBER 2:-
Jesus continued with the second part of the revelation - {{Matthew 24 v 6 - 7 “And you will be hearing of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end, for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,”}} The peace that seems to herald the coming of this false Christ, Antichrist, will not last and there will be an outbreak of strife. Because of this trouble, some may think the end is right at hand (the coming of the Messiah to Israel) but Jesus lets them know that this is not the end and more must happen.
The parallel of course is the breaking of the second seal of Rev 6:- {{Revelation 6 v 3 - 4 “And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come,” and another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.” This will be a terrible time with all trust gone and the shedding of blood rampant (red horse), but we now live in a violent world and it is simply the institutes of law and order that hold a measure of peace in check, but even those are failing under riots, ethnic violence and rebellion. When restraints are gone (with the removal of the Holy Spirit) there will be great violence unleashed. Of course, the removal of the Church will take the restraining factor away (the Holy Spirit) and war and violence will naturally show what is in the heart of man.
As I deliver this, the world sits on the brink of war with the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and China trying to destabilise the world especially Asia. These two evil leaderships are creating chaos in the world and some think a world war will happen. None of us can know the future, but I am of the opinion that we will not see any world conflict. I don’t think we will see any widespread war, BUT the scene is being set, AND the nations are armed to the teeth all of them ready. Once the Rapture happens, then the red horse is not far away. The stage is set! The Rapture is just so close!
SIGN NUMBER 3:-
Jesus next introduces famines - {{Matthew 24 v 7 “and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.”}} I guess this could be the flow on from warfare as we have seen this frequently in the African nations where civil war has caused the population to die through starvation. Cambodia went through that too and now the war in the Ukraine is going that way. There will be famines and starvation. The breaking of the third seal of Revelation 6 corresponds with this:- {{Revelation 6 v 5 - 6 “And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come,” and I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard as it were a voice in the centre of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”}}
Black means death (and apparently the colour of death through starvation) and this horse proceeding from heaven shows that death will be upon the earth through hunger, famine and starvation. One quart of wheat will cost a day’s wage (one denarius). Now we should note here that everything so far, of the things that are happening, have come from the hand of man. God’s direct intervention has not yet happened, but will do so near the time of the 6 th seal. This is still in the section called “the beginning of sorrows.” When God’s wrath is really revealed (especially in the trumpet and bowl judgments) then that time will be many, many times worse. I would challenge all the amillennialists and those who say that all this has been fulfilled in the Roman times (preterists) to explain each of these seals, and show to me that they have happened the way the Word says they are to happen. They have not, and that gives the lie to amillennialism and preterism.
We have earthquakes all the time, but in the Tribulation, they will be earthquakes of note. They will be severe. They are part of the third seal to be broken.
SIGN NUMBER 4:-
So far Jesus has mentioned some terrible situations, namely war, famine, death, earthquakes. These have taken their toll and will continue. The fourth seal of Revelation is the magnification of the situation that is existing, gathering up the plagues and multiplying them, and these same things are mentioned - war (sword); famine/starvation; and pests and wild animals. The colour “ashen” is pale and sickly looking. Some translations identify the colour as green. What a terrible multiplication this will be for one quarter of the earth’s population will perish (or part of that within one quarter of the earth). Even the animals will turn violently feral and attack humans through lack of food. One-quarter of the world’s population killed is astounding but it is through the hand of man, not from God at this stage.
{{Revelation 6:7-8 “And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come,” and I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him, and authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”}}
One can’t help notice the word “pestilence”. The corona virus is the greatest pestilence to hit the earth since the Spanish flu (if you want to count that as a pestilence). God is allowing us right here and now to have just a small glimpse of what will be so tragic in the Tribulation. Incidentally, Australia has the largest fruit bat in the world, the flying fox, and there are millions upon millions of them that come out around sunset and plague fruit farms and defecate on everything, and it takes the paint off surfaces. These bats carry 2 or 3 deadly viruses but they are fully protected through the actions of green environmentalists convincing governments. It is a catastrophe waiting to happen. It seems the world is preparing itself for the Tribulation.
SIGN NUMBER 5:-
Jesus explains, that all which has happened so far, is but the beginning of the birth pains - how terrible must be the judgments that follow! {{Matthew 24 v 8 “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”}} He has concentrated on the worldwide results and has done so generally. Revelation has supported Matthew 24. Now the whole emphasis changes and Jesus hones in on His own saints (the Jewish saints of the Tribulation) - and though He speaks to His disciples with the generic “you” it is the Tribulation saints who are being addressed, for none of this happened in the disciples’ time. Jesus continues with this discourse:-
{{Matthew 24 v 9-12 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many, and because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”}}
We see in that passage above that it will be a very hard time for the saints. These are the Jewish believers He refers to as later verses of Matthew 24 show. The saints will be suffering under great persecution, hated by ALL nations with many killed. It will be a time of fear and betrayal and apostasy and misleading, for ones will arise to teach full error, embracing satanism; lawlessness will prevail and people’s love (I think it means the saints here) will grow cold, probably because the way is too hard under such adverse circumstances. There will be many defections. That is what Jesus is teaching.
There are several aspects in those verses 9 - 12 which I would take to challenge those who say this has already happened (such as ALL nations; great apostasy; rise of multiple false prophets; increased lawlessness) but no time here to do that. Now we again have the parallel in the next seal broken and this is it:-
{{Revelation 6:9-11 “And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.”}
That is a MOST interesting passage and a total challenge to those who would want to place it in the Church age before the Rapture! The picture here is of the Tribulation saints who had been killed as according to the Matthew 24: 9 - 12 verses. John was permitted to see them with the opening of the 5 th seal. These faithful saints died because they would not compromise their testimony of faithfulness; worship the beast or receive his mark. In heaven, under the altar, they cry for vengeance.
However we have to consider VERSE 10 most carefully. The saints here are calling out for vengeance! Is that the teaching we are given for the Church age? Certainly not, for we are told to do the following:-
{{Matthew 5 v 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”}}
{{Romans 12 v 14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not.”}}
In Revelation 6 verse 10 there is no blessing; no forgiveness; no praying for their souls. Instead there is the call for vengeance upon their enemies. You people who try to tell me that this is the Church in view, explain, please! This is NOT the Church, nor the Church age, and these are not Church saints.
What would you expect the Lord to do with an avenging prayer like this? Reprimand them? Tell them to love their enemies? No. They are given white robes and asked to wait until the full number of martyrs is complete. The Lord knows their prayers are correct. What a revelation this is! This passage is assuredly fixed in the days of vengeance of the Great God, and their prayer for an avenging hand is a correct prayer for the age they are in, which of course is the Tribulation Judgment. It would be totally inappropriate for the Church age.
SIGN NUMBER 6:-
The purpose of the 6 th seal is to stamp the signature of God on the whole period. What has happened on the earth so far, could be excused by the sceptics arguments, BUT NOW WE SEE THE DIRECT INTERVENTION OF GOD in the affairs of men and what a dread it gives. What torment men of the age will have. They will know once and for all that the great day of His wrath has come and no one can stand.
{{Revelation 6:12-17 “I looked when He broke the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. (and all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places.) The kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”}}
Matthew 24 no longer traces a chronology of events that parallels the rest of Revelation, but keeps its focus on the Tribulation saints, and then on the coming of the Lord in Glory {{(Matthew 24 v 27) For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.”}} This coming is dealt with in some detail and it matches the Revelation 19 passage. Part of Matthew 24 can also be matched with Revelation such as Matthew 24 v 14 and Revelation chapter 7.
The disciples had asked about the signs of His coming and Matthew 24 gives those (v 29 - 31). These are the signs exactly for His coming – the Second Coming:- {{Matt 24 v 29-31 “but immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”}}
These are the obvious signs of His coming that the Tribulation saints will recognise at the time. The “elect” are the Jewish Tribulation saints. The signs have nothing to do with the Rapture, and those who say Israel is now the Church are dishonouring God who has set out all the future restoration of Israel. In fact I go as far as to say that it is following the devil’s line to do that, because Satan has always sought the destruction of God’s chosen earthly people. Shame on those who fall in line with this vile teaching.
[Well this was a detailed session and we need a break. We end PART 2. The next Part will end this study. PART 3 will follow.]
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
