The Olivet Discourse
(Matt., chapters 24-25, Mark 13:1-37, Luke 21:5-36)
NOTE: This is a handout included in the bulletin
Some people love to study end-time events and all the big words that accompany it, such as "eschatology," which is "the study of last things." Other Christians have sour attitudes. Perhaps the best approach is to study it because it is a significant part of God’s Word but not to get hung up there.
The lesson that Jesus gave while teaching from the Mount of Olives should be called "The End-Times Lecture." Instead, it has come to be called by the flowery title of "The Olivet Discourse." These portions of Scripture can be very confusing, even frustrating. Issues become clearer, however, when we realize (1) Christ was asked four questions, and (2) if we have an outline. The four questions Jesus answered were:
(1) When shall the Temple be destroyed? (Matt. 24:2-3)
(2) What will the sign be for its destruction? (Luke 21:7)
(3) What shall be the sign for your coming? (Matt. 24:3)
(4) What shall be the sign of the end of the age? (Matt. 24:3)
LUKE provides the answers to the first two questions concerning the Temple. The Romans would destroy the Temple in 70 A.D. MATTHEW provides the answers to the last two questions, which address end time events and the return of Christ. Here is the outline of Matthew 24-25:
I. 24:4-8 — The First half of the Tribulation period
II. 24:9-25 — The Second half of the Tribulation period
III. 24:26-30 — The Second Coming of Christ
IV. 24:31 — The Gathering of Israel
V. 24:32-25:30 — A Preaching Break (parenthetical and out of sequence)
VI. 25:31-46 — Judgment of the Gentiles
Whether the parenthetical section (Matt. 24:32-51) deals with the Second Coming to Earth or the Rapture is hotly debated. I personally believe this refers to the rapture, which I understand to occur before the Tribulation, when everything is normal. Our church is tolerant of a variety of positions about this matter, and every position has its arguments. I agree with the suggestion offered by Robert Schoenle:
"The people on the day He is to be revealed to His Church will be eating and drinking and getting married, then divorcing and remarrying, just as the people of Noah’s and Lot’s day had been (Lk 17:30). They would also by buying and planting and building (Lk 17:27-29). In other words…life will be going on as usual…..We are now going to compare this description of the activities on earth at this coming of Christ with what the Book of Revelation tells us will have taken place on the earth by the time Christ returns physically….Then we will ask if it is possible for anyone….to be unconcerned with other than the usual doings of life, as we have known them…." (Warnings from Jesus, p. 37).
Schoenle’s argument is formidable. Jesus seems to go out of His way, becoming almost tedious, to point out this return (the rapture?) occurs during a period of normalcy, while His return to reign occurs during a time of great upheaval.
SERMON NOTES: THIS IS A LONG SERMON, possibly going 45 to 50 minutes….I had to cut it down and ended up leaving off the "Open Theism" rabbit trail….Ed
The Olivet Discourse
(Matt., chapters 24-25, Mark 13:1-37, Luke 21:5-36)
1. After an evening out, some parents returned home to their children, whom they had left with the baby sitter. They were pleasantly surprised to find the kids fast asleep. When the sitter had been paid—just as she was walking out the door—she communicated this detail: "Oops—almost forgot to tell you. I promised Sammy that if he would stay in bed, you would get him a pony in the morning."
2. Some people make promises they have no intention of keeping—or they make promises on behalf of others.
3. Jesus made a promise that He would return, and we believe He will keep that promise.
4. This leads us to the subject of “End Time Bible Prophecy.”
5. In our studies of the Life Of Christ, we now find ourselves staring at Matt. 24 & 25, and often Matt. 24 and 25 stare back at us.
6. If you are confused about Bible prophecy, you are not alone: complicated, intricate, confusing.
7. If this were surgery, we could compare it to operating on the spinal chord.
8. Yet the subject is understandable if we can keep the big picture in mind….and the terminology
9. Sequence: Rapture, Tribulation, Judgment, Millennium, Eternal State
10. But prophecy is given not only to confuse us or humble us, but to motivate us, inspire hope within us, and to provide daily applications for our lives.
11. I had a choice when coming to this text: either present it in survey fashion and hit highlights, or slow down and take a few months analyzing, proving, and debating. I chose the survey method.
MAIN IDEA: God’s plan for the End Times follows the pattern for His plan for our lives.
We intend to survey Jesus’ teaching about the end times and then look at the super-fantastic principles behind these events and how we see them play out in our lives.
I. An Overview of Endtime Events (Matt. 24-25)
1. Please put out your Jesus handout from the bulletin
2. If you have never been exposed to a study of end time events, this can be overwhelming; how to learn
(1) repetition
(2) picture a chart in your mind---learn the big things first…
3. Overhead: Church Age, Tribulation, Millennium….start here….everyone can understand this, right?
4. Then add the Rapture…
5. The 4 questions Jesus answered were:
(4) When shall the Temple be destroyed? (Matt. 24:2-3)
(5) What will the sign be for its destruction? (Luke 21:7)
(6) What shall be the sign for your coming? (Matt. 24:3)
(7) What shall be the sign of the end of the age? (Matt. 24:3)
LUKE provides the answers to the first two questions concerning the Temple. The Temple would be destroyed by the Romans in 70A.D..
MATTHEW provides the answers to the last two questions which address end time events and the return of Christ. Here is the outline of Matt. 24-25:
I. 24:4-8—The First half of the Tribulation period
READ all
II. 24:9-25—The Second half of the Tribulation period
READ 15-16, 21
III. 24:26-30—The Second Coming of Christ
READ vs. 30
IV. 24:32—The Gathering of Israel
READ
V. 24:32-25:30—A Preaching Break (paranthetical & out of sequence)
I believe this deals with the Rapture (see my notes)
PARABLE of the 10 Virgins
PARABLE of the Talents
VI. 25:31-46—Judgment of the Gentiles
READ 31-33
After this, the Millennial Kingdom begins…
MAIN IDEA: God’s plan for the End Times follows the pattern for His plan for our lives.
II. End Time Events Teach Us About God’s Dealings with Mankind and Offer Applications for Our Daily Lives
1. God loves to surprise us and keep us on our toes…
We can’t quit or stop growing….
---we never know what God is going to do next….
---but God wants us to live on our toes, trying to discern God’s will as a HABIT, praying about everything….
2. A loving, all powerful God permits Tribulation…ONE OF THE MOST RELEVANT QUESTIONS IS SUGGESTED BY THE TRIBULATION…WHAT KIND OF GOD DO WE HAVE?
(1) we need to struggle with this before tough times come…
(2) We are not the first to ask the question, “If God is good & powerful, why do children die, earthquakes take lives…”
(3) A good Christian dad with two young boys was recently taken in a car accident….that could happen to any of us, we are not exempt….
(4) It is in the plan of God to allow a 7 year period of Tribulation unequalled…
SO WHAT KIND OF A GOD DO WE HAVE? One we do not fully understand, beyond our human ability…good, powerful, all-knowing, works all things together for good in ways we cannot understand…
3. During the Tribulation, most people will worship the anti-christ---PEOPLE WHO DO NOT FILL THE SPIRITUAL VOID WITHIN THEM WITH THE TRUE GOD WILL FILL IT WITH FALSE GODS OR DISTRACTIONS…
----lost people are looking for Christians who believe something and care
---9 out of 10 unchurched people would love it if a friend invited them to church., some research suggest..
----people are hungry…neat things happening w/teens…church of 14 elderly…
----some people get offended when we share Christ…but growing numbers want to hear, as long as not crammed down throat…
4. God is a Sovereign God with A PLAN…reveals it in great detail
---note Jesus words in 24:25
---I believe in a Sovereign God…do you?
----Some Christians are dumbing God down
--Open Theism
The definition of openism. Openism is the doctrine that says that God’s highest goal in creating us is to enter into a loving relationship with us. Furthermore, openists believe that true love implies ‘risk’. What does this mean? Quite simply this. Suppose you fall in love with someone and you approach the person to begin dating. At that moment when you try to initiate a love relationship, you are taking a big risk. There is the risk of being rejected by the person you love. Maybe he or she will not date you—or worse, maybe he or she will but will break up with you later. Openists say that if you knew the future so well that you were certain whether or not someone would say ‘yes’ to your invitation, then it is not true love anymore. They believe that true love needs risk in order for it to be real. It’s not hard to see where they go with this line of reasoning as soon as they apply it to God:
(i) God loves humanity and tries to initiate a love-relationship with all human beings;
(ii) Since God has genuine love, God must be taking a big risk in trying to win our affections;
(iii) Risk implies that God does not know if we will accept his offer or reject him;
(iv) Therefore, God does not know if we will choose to love him or not (and he doesn’t know a whole lot of other decisions we will make, either).
This probably strikes you as absurd. How can someone claim to believe in the Bible and yet not believe that God knows the future? It did in fact strike me as absurd when I first learned about openism. But make no mistake about it: openists are not idiots. In fact, judging from the books written by openists, they are for the most part very intelligent scholars.
Lest you think this teaching will never affect you, think again. The biggest InterVarsity conference in the nation—Urbana 2000—invited a speaker to teach a lecture and he defended openism. At least one IV Student Leadership magazine I read seemed to overtly plug openism. And one of the biggest Christian magazines in the world—Christianity Today—writes articles on openism and presents it as a tolerable doctrine of God.
From: http://www.christian-truth.org/foreknowledge/intro.html
5. God is taking history somewhere
---Eastern thought –circular
---Po Mo/Modernism (meaningless)
---Israeli/Palestinian Conflict---lost people or uninformed Christians cannot begin to understand….they do not see a Sovereign God taking history somewhere…
6. If we are faithful, we are prepared….
----Whatever happens, whether we live until Jesus returns or not, FAITHFULNESS is always in style….
----Some people say, "Pastor Ed, what if you are wrong about a pre-trib rapture?’ Doesn’t matter—be faithful….
---Insert in bulletin Re: China…some have tribulation now…be faithful
CONCLUSION
1. MAIN IDEA: God’s plan for the End Times follows the pattern for His plan for our lives.
2. Faithfulness means readiness; no matter what happens in our lives or the end times, being faithful is always being prepared.
