Get out your Bible and let's go! Nothing I will put down here is original Reggie Kelly, Tom Quinlan, Travis Bennett and a whole host of others have made me love this chapter.
VS. 1 Location is always super important if the Bible mentions it, dig deeper, find out why they are telling you where they are. The temple, God's house, location, the temple mount in Jerusalem, the dome of the rock is there or very near there at this time. Satan desires that hill more than any other hill in the world and at some point, the followers of Muhammad, long after he died, put the dome of the Rock there, EVEN THOUGH, Muhammad was never, ever, ever in Jerusalem. Satan worked his way around that by having Muhammad go there in a dream/vision, and so Satan got to put a lie on top of the truth, that is what he always does. It is kind of super funny that the disciples are pointing out God's house to God.
VS. 2 Yeshua foretells the total destruction of the temple building. (the stones that the Jews are placing paper between are from the temple complex, not the temple building itself... that is unless you want to call Yeshua a false prophet, which I do not recommend you do)
VS. 3 Location again, the disciples are walking behind Yeshua from the temple to the Mount of Olives, talking amongst themselves and trying to frame a good question, because as I try to remind my teen class, "good questions bring good answers." They had heard Him say, basically I am going to be killed in a few days, so they were asking about His return, His resurrection and ascending the throne to rule over the world and defeat all of Israel's enemies.
VS. 4 Deception is the thing Yeshua warns about more than anything else in this chapter.
VS 5 Many imposters, beware.
VS 6 Wars are NOT a sign of the end times. The false gods in charge of the other nations during this evil age will always be at war and never do enough to help their veterans. (I am looking at you USA! 22 veterans commit suicide every day and you allocate pennies to veteran mental health. Judgment Day is not going to be pretty.)
VS 7 Nations do dumb things because they are led by false gods. Famines and earthquakes are increasing but they are not the definitive sign of the end.
VS 8 Birth pains, I've never had them, but here is what I know there is false labor where your wife calls you and says, I am going into labor and ,oh, I just had a birth pain. You don't need to hurry home it is false labor, then there is the phone call, where she completely stops talking and breathes very heavily and groans and then says, I am having birth pains, at that point hurry home, you are going to be a father soon.
Vs 9 True followers of the Messiah of Israel will be defending the chosen people with their words and that will get you into a lot of trouble as the close of this evil age gets nearer and nearer. Jews will be being killed and hated at an astronomically higher rate than they are now.
Vs 10 Many will fall away...but what about "once saved always saved"? You tell me? Read the verse, read what it says and you tell me! I think it is as plain as the nose on your face.
Vs 11 Look around, health, wealth, prosperity in this evil age, nope sorry, if you preach it you are a false prophet. Israel the land and the people do not matter - you are a false prophet/teacher.
VS 12 Scariest verse in this section, people will have no care for the Torah, they will break every law of God and force others to do it or be harassed, abused, imprisoned, or killed and when this is happening, the love, the AGAPE, the Greek word for the strongest most God-like kind of love, that kind of love will grow cold!!!! If you believe in a pre-trib rapture or God forbid teach the pre-trib rapture and you are caught up in the agony of the tribulation - I am pretty sure your love would grow cold, period.
VS 13 We must be prepared to let the Life of God in us give us the grace to do what Yeshua did, endure to the end. That is the bottom line, and that one word "end" proves the post-trib rapture and ends all arguments unless you are blinded to the truth.
VS 14 The true gospel which includes the Day of the Lord and the return of Yeshua to earth with blood, fire and smoke, killing HIS enemies and bringing a close to this evil age, that gospel is proclaimed everywhere, so no one can look at God and honestly say, "I didn't know."
VS 15 I ONLY WISH THIS VERSE WERE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS FOR HERE WE HAVE THE SIGN, THE ULTIMATE SIGN, THAT THE TRIBULATION IS STARTING, AND FOR 3 AND 1/2 YEARS IT WILL BE HELL ON EARTH, BECAUSE SATAN WILL BE ON THE EARTH, MANIFESTING THROUGH THE ANTI-CHRIST AND ALL HIS DEMONIC HOST WILL BE STEALING, KILLING AND DESTROYING LIKE MAD MEN BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEIR TIME IS SHORT. The abomination of desolation is mentioned three times in Daniel and here you have Yeshua or Matthew telling you go back to Daniel and read about it. Paul mentions it once in 2nd Thessalonians, look it up.
VS 16 9 out of 10 people who stay in Judea during this 3 1/2 year period will be killed, so Yeshua warns flee, get out. Some groups did this during the Roman crushing of Jerusalem and were spared, but this warning is actually for the final end times.
VS 17 Get out!
VS 18 Get out!
VS 19 It is hard for pregnant women and nursing mothers to move fast, but move as fast as you can, get out!
VS 20 Winter is harder to travel, but get out anyway. There are some bans on traveling on the Sabbath, get out anyway.
VS 21 The tribulation will be worse than anything (including the holocaust).
VS 22 God always keeps a remnant alive, (the eagles is how He refers to them, keep that in mind).
VS 23 False Messiah's will be drawing people to come and see them, Yeshua is not coming back in secret to anyone or for anyone.
VS 24 False signs and wonders will be being performed, how are you going to know who is true and who isn't? How will you not be deceived? Pray, stay humble, don't seek for signs, signs come to confirm the message being spoken and the Message has to be "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand" nothing more nothing less.
VS 25 Pay attention I am trying to warn you.
VS 26 Don't go anywhere to see the "messiah", when He returns everyone will see HIM!
VS 27 see previous verse
VS 28 ASV version "Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." King James version "For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." NIV (which Leonard Ravenhill called the Not Inspired Version) "Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather." Well, whoopsie daisy, Houston we have a problem, Vultures and Eagles are very different birds. Most translators faced with the appearance of a "carcass" in this verse opt for the "vulture", but some translations go with Eagle despite the fact that Eagles don't feed on dead thiings, vultures do. What is going on here??? Context is key, what is the context?
"This is how it will be when the Son of Man comes." is the previous verse so the context is the great and terrible day of the Lord, when Yeshua the Messiah of Israel touches down on the Mount of Olives and, this evil age comes to an end. There will be many saints, holy ones, who have given their lives here at the end of the tribulation, but God Most High always, preserves a remnant, the elect are made survive to the very end of the tribulation by the sovereign power of God Most High. These are the Eagles, so named because even though they are surrounded by the martyrs who gave their lives for Yeshua during the darkest time man has ever known, they are alive, because and only because, God always preserves a remnant and somehow, whether it was through the protection of the two witnesses or whatever the Eagles are still alive in the midst of many dead bodies. Agree/Disagree, I could be wrong, it is rare, especially about this chapter, but I could be wrong.
VS 29 Many quotes from the Hebrew prophets about the Day of the Lord.
VS 30 All will see HIM and this evil age the age of Mercy is over, it is time for the perfect Justice of God to fall on the "earth-dwellers" those who do not want or seek or care about the Kingdom of God.
VS 31 The angels gather the saints. AFTER the tribulation. (the pre-trib rapture is a lie)
VS 32 The people and the land of Israel are frequently "the fig tree" so the re-birth of Israel is very important and not a sign that should be ignored.
VS 33 Israel and the Jewish people are in the news a lot for a country smaller than New Jersey, probably coincidence!!
VS 34 The generation that sees the abomination of desolation will not pass away before the 3 and 1/2 year period is brought to a close.
VS 35 God's word is true.
VS 36 Day and Time, that is because the last feast on the Jewish calendar is an 8 day feast, so the day of the Lord could start anywhere in those days. This verse does not say we will not know the season, or the year or the general time, just the specific day and time.
VS 37 and 38 and 39 Grateful to Michael Heiser for this, in the days before Noah, the people were giving their daughters to demons hoping to gain offspring who would have eternal life, (marrying and giving in marriage.)
VS 40 and 41 "taken" is not a good thing, they are taken to "death" not to life. The one who is left is here to greet the returning Messiah, the one who is taken is an enemy of God going to his or her death.
VS 42 and 43 and 44 Be watchful, be prepared, well if you "can't know when it will be" how can you be watchful and be prepared. So YES you can know the general time and see the timing of most events based on when the abomination of desolation occurs. VS 44 NO ONE could have predicted it would take this long, the God of Mercy is being incredibly merciful to Gentiles and keeping the Jewish people "partially blind" for this long. AMAZING
VS 45-51 Be faithful there is going to be a long delay, but be faithful, live faithful.
VS 45
