And Jesus said unto them, “See ye not all these things? Verily I say
unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that
shall not be thrown down.” 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?" (Vs. 2-3)
At this time Jesus Christ began to expound to them things to come
to pass in the future. My understanding of this prophecy is that the
same words/events our Lord was discussing are in two parts. There
would be a fulfilling of the words in the life of the Apostles and early
church of that generation as well as future fulfilling of the prophecy.
Those words came about, indeed, in the lives of those listeners, but
there is a future fulfilling not yet experienced in full. There can be
no doubt in the mind of one who is a sincere believer in the efficacy
of Scripture; These same prophecies are indeed coming to pass in
the life of the Church, even the whole world, today. Do we need to
look further than things that occur around us every day to realize
the truth of this prophecy?
Vs. 4-5 “Take heed that no man deceive you.” Just as the Hebrews
(Jews) of Jesus’ day were deceived because of their refusal to accept
the Messiah in their day, those who fail to receive Him of this genera-
tion, during their lifetimes on the earth are also deceived and will not
participate in the resurrection from the dead to eternal life.They will,
as did the Jews of Christ’s day, run quickly to believe false messiahs
and accept doctrines that tickle their ears rather than express faith in
the one true Messiah and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are predis-
posed to do this for their own reasons or reasons undisclosed to them-
selves or to us. We could, at this point digress into Election or Predes-
tination as part of the discussion. Since we are unable to explain it,
we will discuss that doctrine in another setting, as my understanding
of this widely held doctrine increases..
Vs. 6-7 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be
not troubled: for all these things must come to past, but the end is not
yet.”
There have always been conflicts as nations rise against nations.
Although those incidents seem to increase and are a reminder of the
imminent return of our Lord to claim His church, we are unwise to
set dates or suggest the Lord will come for His followers by a certain
date. Evangelical believers are looking for the soon return of the Lord
to this earth to claim His Bride, the Church. We believe he will come
our lifetime. This does not mean we are absolutely sure He will catch
His church away during your lifetime or mine, but certainly tells us to
be looking for this event as imminent. This gives our lives an air of
much needed expectancy not present among those among us who say
He is delaying His coming and forgotten about us. They were predic-
ted in the New Testament in Matthew 24: 4-6, as the Lord warned
about false messiahs in vs. 32-51 in the parable of the fig tree, and
Luke 12: 42-48, as Christ related a story of servants taking advan-
tage, in their master's absence, to abuse his fellow servants. There is
also a statement in Luke 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end come." The very next verse, (15) states, "When ye
therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him under-
stand:) (The space between vs. 15 and 16 might be a good place to
look for our Lord's return) (16) Then let them which be in Judea flee
into the mountains:...
The Olivet Discourse is in approximately eight parts in Scripture.
The above relates to the first three parts. Next comes the remarks
about the Great Tribulation spoken of here and in Daniel 9:27, 11:31
and 12:11 as well as in the Revelation 3:10, 7: 9-14.
We must take care to refrain from commenting on Scripture in a
manner that is beyond our understanding. Being convinced that the
Word is understood on differing levels, according to ones knowledge
and Spiritual maturity. The commentary here has been kept simple
and direct in line with my limited knowledge and understanding of
this fascinating and timely subject.
donporter 8.9.13 edited 4.02.12
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