Hebrews 6.3 I
December 21st 2013
Welcome welcome.
If you haven’t been here before please know we record all our gatherings and place them on the internet for you and those who do not have the physical ability to be with us.
Additionally we sing (or attempt to sing) the Word of God set to music.
We do this because it is the word of God that washes away the constructs of Man – so the more of it we have “in us,” the sooner we will experience a renewing of the fallen mind.”
Finally, after we fumble through a few passages, we’ll sit for a few minutes in silent pray and reflection and when we come back we will get into the Word – today we enter into John 6.
There has been some questions about our having a special Christmas service today being that the holiday is this Wednesday.
The answer is . . . no. If you are looking for such an approach please find another church – this time of year can be big business of them and I’m sure they would love your attendance.
Here’s the gig and I’ll be quick.
Under the law God commanded all sorts of holy days and rituals for the Children of Israel to evince and memorialize their relationship with Him.
But in the end, these things served to take their heart further from Him than to draw them closer. At the end of the day God wound up telling them that He had a real distain for their religious holy days and observances but longed for their “constant hearts.”
Jesus sacrifice made it so God could and would integrate with us – where God would dwell in us – and as a result every day is a Sabbath day, every day is a holy day, every day is a holiday for the true believer to honor Him and love each other.
And that is how we teach it – and live it – here.
Alright, let’s pray.
Music
Reflection
Okay, I am going to see if we can wrap up what Jesus Himself said about His second coming in the Gospel accounts so we can get into examples from the rest of the Bible.
We have to recall that the disciples have come to Him with three questions. I would suggest that Matthew 24 is His answer to these three questions, which were:
“Tell us, when shall these things be?” (which things Jesus had been describing to the Jewish leaders in the temple and also His prophecy of things to happen to the temple itself),
and “what shall be the sign of thy coming,”
“and of the end of the age?”
Let’s pick up Jesus continued description of the signs of “when these things should be?” at verse 28, where He adds from last weeks discussion:
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
It is here, at this point (verse 30) that I believe Jesus begins to answer their second question, which was
“And what is the sign of thy coming” by saying (at verse 30):
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Alright, let’s jump back to verse 28 of Matthew 24, where Jesus, answering their question, “When shall these things be? says
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Okay, Jesus had just described that “AS lightening comes from the east and shines in the west, so would His coming be,” which we might say would be quick, bright, and evidenced in signs in the sky, not his literal presence on the ground.
And then He slips into using some real Hebrew proverbial language, saying:
28 “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”
Vultures and eagles easily ascertain where dead bodies are, and come to devour them. So with the Roman army. Jerusalem is like a dead and putrid corpse. Its life is gone, and it is ready to be devoured.
Jesus is saying that the Roman armies will find it out (as an eagle would with a dead carcass) and will come around it, to devour it.
When it come to how God has always worked on fallen men and nations all that Jesus says rings true – where wickedness abounds God uses instrument of chastisement to fall upon them – in this case, the Romans.
I personally find it interesting that Jesus does not use the term vulture to describe the invading Roman armies but truly the Greek describes eagles.
To me, this speaks of a superior “hawkish” army of power coming in and overwhelming prey while it’s still living and not just a crusty old buzzard picking on the bones of something already dead.
Some food for thought. In any case
The “for” in this statement connects us to the preceding verse implying that this is a reason for what He said there, “that the Son of man would certainly come to destroy the city, and that he would come suddenly.”
The meaning is, he would come by means of the Roman armies, as certainly, as suddenly, and as unexpectedly, as whole flocks of eagles, though unseen before, who suddenly discover their prey and then fall in upon it.
Jesus adds a line that has long been used to say He has not returned (YET) because these things did not occur at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD:
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Before explaining this, I want to read a passage for you – and for you to ask yourselves, “What are these words describing?” Ready?
“For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.”
(Answer: The destruction of Babylon by Isaiah in Isaiah 13)
How about another?
“Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.”
(Answer: The destruction of Tyre as described by Isaiah in Isaiah 24:23).
Or check this one out:
“And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.”
(Answer: The slaughter in Bozrah and Idumea as described in Isaiah 34:4)
What events are these passages speaking of? Certainly the end of the world, right? Wrong.
(GO BACK AND REVEAL THE CONTEXT)
Listen, the Hebrew writers were renown for describing God’s visiting hand of judgment upon them in these descriptive terms. Following suit (since He authored the words Isaiah used to describe these Old Testament judgments) Jesus speaks in a way and language that those to whom He was sent (the House of Israel) would understand.
The imagery Jesus used to answer His disciples questions should not be taken any more literally than we would take Isaiah 34:4!
Just as the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars would be an inexpressible calamity so will be the overturning of Jerusalem.
Luke’s account of Jesus words here adds:
That there would be a
“distress of nations (with nations being ethnos again,which could mean peoples of varied ethnicities) with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts falling them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth.”
Again, all figures of speech describing a great and terrible calamity.
Lines like the roaring of the waves of the sea denotes great tumult and affliction among the people, “perplexity” means doubt, “anxiety,” not knowing what to do to escape. Etc, etc.
For thousands of years futurists have taken these very descriptive, Hebraic literary tools used for centuries to describe actual events that have all ready occurred and gotten us to believe they are still in our future.
Then Jesus says, in response to the apostles question:
“and what shall be the sign of thy coming?”
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Where Jesus says:
“All the tribes of the earth mourn,”the world used for “earth” (Ghay) can also be used for country.
For instance in Matthew 2:6, in describing Bethlehem, we read:
“And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,”
The Greek word for earth is used where the English reads “land.” So the futurists read insist on reading this passage to mean “that until all the entire earth is mourning,” Jesus, in context of all the rest of the verses that discuss His coming certainly meant,
And all the peoples of this country will mourn at the great calamities coming upon them.
Now, could He have meant both – His judgment upon Jerusalem AND the end of the world as the futurists describe it?
Listen really closely – this is NOT the question we are seeking to ask here.
What we are seeking to discover is “when does the Bible say Jesus should return” OR “does the Bible indicate when Jesus second coming would be?”
Now, verse 30, in some ways because it have been so strongly taught to us as describing the end of the world, appears to really be describing some literal things that we have been waiting to observe with our own eyes.
I mean every futurist – pre-trib, post-trib, salt lake trib – on the earth seems to read these things as descriptions not only of what we will see, but of things nobody has yet seen.
Let me read it to you again.
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then (at the sign of the Son of Man in heaven) shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
In context with EVERYTHING else we have read (and WILL read) I would suggest that they would understand Jesus as saying:
“All of these things evince “the Lord Jesus coming with power and glory to exercise judgment upon Jerusalem.”
Because this verse is explained by the Apostles in their writings I am going to defer explaining them here.
For example, Peter speaks of the material world “being consumed” at his coming, John and Paul speak of Him “raising the dead,” “changing them who are alive at the time,” and other things that would occur by “His power” and “with glory.”
So hang tight on the explanation of verse 30. If I attempt it here it will force me to dive way to deep into the rest of the apostles writings . . . and we’ll be here for a year.
But for verse 31, which says
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Now, while this verse sounds even more futuristic that verse 30, it is far easier to understand than 30 right off the bat.
We know from previous studies that the word anggelous in the Greek simply means messenger – of ANY kind.
Scripture even refers to disease and plagues as angels – ANYTHING God employs to rescue his people from danger.
Of course biblically speaking it most commonly refers to the race of heavenly beings more exalted than man who are often employed in God’s work among men.
In either of these senses, this verse might refer to angelic deliverance granted to his believers amidst the calamities of Jerusalem.
I say this, in part, because of the mention of the trump sounding .
To a Jew a trump sounding was a familiar thing as their assemblies were often initialed in this manner (Leviticus 25:9; Numbers 10:2; Judges 3:27)
For Jesus to say to these men here that angels are coming with the sound of a trump we have a picture of a gathering of the chosen.
Or, the elect.
The “chosen of God” is the best definition.
I interpret Jesus words to mean that when He comes, angels will arrive and gather the elect (or the Christians) and help escort them to safety (in this case it was Pella).
But the last two lines make my interpretation difficult for people to believe, as Jesus says:
“and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
It’s understandable to view these scriptures as futuristic – and they may very well have application there.
But it is a mistake to think they do NOT have application to the context of what Jesus is saying here about the destruction of Jerusalem and His second coming.
In this sense, God gathered together His elect by sending forth his “messengers”
(which could have been other spirit led men and women or heavenly messengers) so they would not be destroyed along with the rest of Jerusalem.
And where Jesus says the four winds the Jews described the globe as being quartered – east, west, north, and south –
and expressed those quarters by the winds blowing from them.
We could take this literally or as representing the north south east and west of that area where all believers had been scattered.
Contextually, this makes the better sense.
And then we have yet another line that is easy to apply only to a futuristic sense, where Jesus says:
“from one end of heaven to the other.”
Really, this is just another way of saying, from the four corners of the land.
Listen to the passage again and hear the words the Lord chooses. Try and hear them relative to Jesus describing the destruction of Jerusalem and how the Christian believers would be saved from its ravages; see if you can apply his literary license to what would actually happen there in 70 AD. Ready:
“and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
If we want to apply this to the work God has been doing since He returned in 70 AD I think it could have application. But the primary sense and purpose of Jesus saying the word in the first place was to answer the disciples three questions and they have their first application to the 70AD destruction.
Suddenly Jesus launches into a short parable now.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
In the parable or illustration, Jesus says LEARN the Parable of the Fig Tree.
He tells them –sitting there with Him – learn to apply this parable to all I have said. And he goes on and says:
“Just as when they could look at a fig tree and its leaves they could know that summer is near, “likewise” He tells them,
When they begin to see these signs come to pass they would KNOW (listen) that
“it is near, even at the doors.”
What would be “at the doors?” What would be near happening? EVERYTHING the apostles had asked Him about!
The judgment upon Judah would be near.
The desolation of Judah would be near.
The destruction of the grand and glorious temple was near.
The end of the Covenant age was near.
And the return of Jesus, His second coming was near.
And this brings us to the verse of which there is NO getting around – Matthew 24:34
34 Verily I say unto you (Peter, James, John, and Andrew), This generation shall not pass, till all . . . these things . . . be fulfilled!
And resorting to more figurative language the Lord delivers yet another line that is frequently used to justify all sorts of things, but in context, the line relates to the validity of all Jesus has said here to these seeking men.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
(beat)
Nevertheless, because these words have not been painfully examined (in context of each other and in context of the rest of the word and what it has to say about end-times) many, many, many believers have either believed Jesus did not mean what He said here, that we have not properly understood what He said here, and even that His words failed!
Again, relative to Jesus saying in verse 34:
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all . . . these things . . . be fulfilled!
Again, even C.S. Lewis, a man esteemed as a great Christian intellectual and knowing that Jesus was speaking of His day and time and that specific generation, believed Jesus had misspoken and said:
“Say what you like, the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proven false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one you will find embarrassing. Their master had told them so. He (meaning Jesus) shared, and indeed created their delusion. He said in so many words, “this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.” And He was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.”
In 1993 at the Covenant Eschatology Symposium in Mt. Dora Florida, another Christian scholar “R.C. Sproul” (who is still alive and over Ligonier ministries) said this about the “this generation” passage spoken by Jesus and the Churches interpretation of it:
“Maybe some church fathers made a mistake. Maybe our favorite theologians have made mistakes. I can abide with that. I can’t abide with Jesus being a false prophet, because if I am to understand that Jesus is a false prophet, my faith is in vain.”
Listen, just speaking of Jesus response to His apostles, we are left with only three real choices:
He was speaking to them AND He was speaking to what would exist again for us at another time.
He was speaking to them and He was right.
He was speaking to them and He was wrong.
I do not believe any believer has the right to twist His words and their meaning and say they did NOT apply to them in that day but only apply to us.
This would make Jesus wrong. In other words, IF His words were NOT fulfilled completely within that generation CS Lewis was right – and God was wrong – along with all of His chosen apostles.
This is an impossibility and its time for pastors and churches to step up to the plate, admit that the descriptions of Jesus second coming were correct, and put the mistakes of man behind us.
Now, when we started this study Mark asked a question – it was a good one – He asked at the end of our first discussion on this topic:
I thought Jesus nor the angels in heaven didn’t know the day of His return – but only the Father.
The rest of chapter 24 supports this position. So far, Jesus has described what the apostles are to look for and observe in their attempts to discern the signs.
Vs. 16 “Then . . . let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains . . .”
Vs 21 “For then shall be great tribulation”
Vs 22-23 “Then . . . they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds . . .
The signs were given, described, laid out.
But now at verse 36 Jesus affirms that “He cannot detail for them the day nor the hour.”
Let’s read:
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But . . . know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Obviously from these words we can see that the Lord has been describing to them the signs of His coming (for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come), but not detailing for them the hour nor the day – that was not known.
In my opinion, the Lord would have been highly misleading, and frankly incorrect, if He has spent all of this time talking with four (of His twelve), describing all of this stuff, personalizing it to them (ye, ye, you, then) only to have been describing an event that did not happen.
We will see, as we continue to explore what the apostles and writer of Hebrews says relative to the Question of “When should Jesus come again,” that there was an urgency for the believers of their day to be ready.
We will see them warning, and forecasting, and we will observe passages in a new light which all appear to be reminding believers of that age to remain alert.
In the remainder of this chapter, Matthew 24, Jesus does the same thing, saying:
43 “But . . . know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
So that is Matthew 24, which also represented the teachings of Jesus to the apostles on the Mount of Olives located in Mark 13 and Luke 21-24.
There are a few more Gospel references that we will cover next week.
They include:
Matthew 16:27-28
John 21:21-23
Matthew 26:64
Matthew 10:23
After those we will take a look at the applicable passages on Revelation before doing a general study of
The Last Days
The End of the World
And the Judgment . . .
In light of this biblical view.
Questions/Answers
Prayer
Music
No Bible gatherings of any kind this week.
