HomeARC ML 1504
MATTHEW 24!--Part 1! Signs of His Coming!--Verses 1-28 DO 1504 12/3/81
1. THE DISCIPLES WERE BRAGGING TO JESUS ABOUT THE TEMPLE, what a beautiful building it was. He must have almost chuckled or even laughed! "He said unto them, See ye not all these things?"--This beautiful gorgeous mountain of snowy buildings that Herod built for the Jews to please them--that Herod the Arab had built for the Jews, imagine that, to keep them happy! He said, "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." Can you find it in your Bibles in the 2nd verse of the 24th Chapter? Now the 3rd verse:
2. "AND AS HE SAT UPON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES"--that's a little hill just outside the walls of Jerusalem--"the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming, & of the end of the World?" They thought, "My goodness, when the Temple is destroyed, that must be when You're coming back & that's when the World must be going to be destroyed!" They didn't realise that the Temple was going to be destroyed only 40 years later by the Romans, & it would still be another couple of thousands of years before the end of the World!
3. SO "JESUS ANSWERED," 4TH VERSE, "AND SAID UNTO THEM, TAKE HEED THAT NO MAN DECEIVE YOU." And that's something you folks really need to be sure to understand, for there are a lot of preachers & Bible teachers who give all kinds of funny stories & explanations & interpretations of these things. You'd better stick to the Bible! Stick to what Jesus says right here. I've told our camera man, I said, if there's any preference, stick to the text, stick to the Bible! Not my face.
4. YOU CAN'T READ IT ON MY FACE! You might remember my face, but that's not going to do you much good. It's better for you to remember the Scripture! Jesus is speaking, is that important?--What He has to say? They want to know when's going to be the end of the World. OK, here you are, here's His answer:
5. "MANY SHALL COME IN MY NAME SAYING, I AM CHRIST; AND SHALL DECEIVE MANY. And ye shall hear of wars & rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom, & there shall be famines, & pestilences, & earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." We've had these things ever since Jesus was here, haven't we, for the last 2000 years. He said they're only the beginning. It's only the beginning, folks, just the beginning!
6. "THEN SHALL THEY DELIVER YOU UP TO BE AFFLICTED, & SHALL KILL YOU: & ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, & shall betray one another, & shall hate one another. Many false prophets shall rise, & shall deceive many." We've been through all this ourselves, haven't we? "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." We've gone through that too, haven't we?--A lot of backsliders from the Family. Thank God so many of our backsliders that had gone back to the system are coming home again now! They've gotten sick of the vomit & the swine pit, & they are returning to the home of the Father.
7. 11TH VERSE, HE SAYS, "MANY FALSE PROPHETS SHALL RISE, & SHALL DECEIVE MANY."--We've even had false prophets of our own that arose & tried to divide & deceive & lead off people, such as Joel & others. Where are they today? What are they doing today? I don't know, maybe they've got a little handful somewhere still burying their nose in the Bible & trying to figure out every little jot, tittle & whatnot. So we've been through all that, we've gone through it all. "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." That's the 12th verse.
8. "BUT HE THAT SHALL ENDURE UNTIL THE END, THE SAME SHALL BE SAVED." That's a sign of your salvation if you endure until the end. It doesn't mean that if you make it to the end, then you're going to be saved--you're already saved! It means that if you are saved, you'll stick it out, you'll stick with us to the end! You're not going to go back on Jesus. You're not going to go back on the Family. You're not going to go back on the Truth, the Word of God. But now He's going to give a very important prediction! They wanted to know, "When's the End of the World going to be?" So He says here in this 14th verse:
9. "AND THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD FOR A WITNESS UNTO ALL NATIONS, & THEN SHALL THE END COME." That is the first sign that Jesus Himself gave that we are nearing the End! And that is one of the signs of the End which has already occurred! The Gospel has already been preached in all nations all over the World! If not directly by missionaries, certainly by radio & television & literature or their travellers & visitors & so on. Every nation on the face of the Earth has today heard the Gospel! Perhaps not every tribe & tongue & dialect & little tiny group, but every single nation on the face of the Earth has now heard the Gospel. And Jesus said, "That this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a witness unto all nations, then shall the End come!" Now He's going to be even more specific about the exact end of things:
10. "WHEN YE THEREFORE SHALL SEE THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, SPOKEN OF BY DANIEL THE PROPHET, STAND IN THE HOLY PLACE". Now we've learned from Daniel & we have learned from Revelation & many other places in the Bible, that the Abomination of Desolation is going to be an Image, an idol of the Antichrist, this Devil-man, which he tries to force the World to worship, to worship him. And Jesus says here that "when ye see", when you see this idol, this Image standing in the holy place--the holiest place on Earth to the World's three greatest religions, Christianity, Judaism & Islam, Mount Moriah, Jerusalem--when you see the Antichrist Image raised up & standing there, then what's going to happen? Well, let's read it & see what He says. "Whoso readeth, let him understand", you'd better understand.
11. "THEN LET THEM WHICH BE IN JUDAEA FLEE INTO THE MOUNTAINS." If you happen to be in Israel then, you'd better beat it! Dear Begin wants to be in Judaea & Samaria all the time, well, when that happens he's going to want to be out in the mountains! "Let him which is on the housetop not even come down to take anything out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes." He says, "Take off, head for the hills, beat it!--Don't stop for anything!"
12. "AND WOE UNTO THEM THAT ARE WITH CHILD, & TO THEM THAT GIVE SUCK IN THOSE DAYS!" It's going to be hard to carry the baby, it's hard to run while you're carrying a baby. "But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day."--Hope & pray it doesn't happen in cold weather & you have to take off without your clothes, even your flee bag & with nothing, maybe have to even leave your car & trailer behind, who knows? Especially, He says, the people in Judaea, because that's where the worst will begin, right at the headquarters of the Antichrist!
13. 21ST VERSE: "FOR THEN SHALL BE" WHAT? Why does He say, "Look out, woe unto you"? "When ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place," 21st verse, "for then shall be great tribulation"--the Great Tribulation, in fact--"such as was not since the beginning of the World to this time, no, nor ever shall be." That is the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
14. WHEN EXACTLY DOES THAT GREAT TRIBULATION BEGIN? When exactly can you know exactly when the first three-&-a-half years of the Antichrist reign is finished & the last three-&-a-half years of his reign begins & the Great Tribulation begins? Can you know? Will you know? Of course you'll know! You'll probably be watching the erection of that Image on television & hearing the Antichrist's proclamation--given by the False Prophet, his propaganda chief--for everybody to fall down & worship him & receive his Mark in their hand or forehead or be killed!
15. JESUS HIMSELF SAID THEN BEGINS THE GREAT TRIBULATION! Right then, in the middle of the seven years of the Antichrist's reign, at the beginning of the last three-&-a-half years of his reign, the Great Tribulation. Not all seven years is Tribulation, the first half is going to be pretty good, restoration of peace & the economy etc. & a Worldwide government at last. No more wars. Well, not until the trouble begins again in the Tribulation, then he has a lot of rebellions & wars, as you can read in Daniel.
16. BUT HE SAYS WHEN THAT STARTS, YOU'D BETTER HEAD FOR THE HILLS, YOU'D BETTER HAVE YOUR REFUGE READY! You'd better have your survival equipment out there already stashed away somewhere in a safe place, because you're not even going to have time to go back into the house & get your clothes, or to go back in from the field to get your things, you're going to have to just take off & run as fast as you can go!
17. BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE SO DANGEROUS FOR YOU FROM THEN ON, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD & who witness for Him & will refuse to accept the Mark of the Beast, & will refuse to kneel down & worship him, & which will be ordered to be killed. You had better be out where they can't find you. You'd better be out where they can't catch you & out where you can have something to eat without buying or selling & without the Mark of the Beast when that day comes. Amen? PTL!
18. "AND EXCEPT THOSE DAYS SHOULD BE SHORTENED"--22ND VERSE--"THERE SHOULD NO FLESH BE SAVED: BUT FOR THE ELECT'S SAKE THOSE DAYS SHALL BE SHORTENED." Who are the elect? Here's a word which is again used, "for the elect's sake", He says, "those days shall be shortened". Now there's a great controversy over who these elect are. Well, Paul makes it very plain, he says in a lot of places who the elect are--you & me! The Christians, the Saved, the Children of God! And the word used here for the elect is the same word from the identical root that is used in "ecclesia", "the elect", the chosen or separated, the elect or "eclectos", the elect, even from which our own English word comes, think of that, the elect! The Eclectos or the Ecclesia of God. And what does that mean? That means the Elect or the Church of God, all saved Christians.
19. SO WILL THE CHURCH STILL BE HERE DURING THE TRIBULATION? IT CERTAINLY WILL!--Contrary to what many Bible prophecy teachers & false prophets & false Bible teachers have taught, and contrary to their soothsayings & their peace-prophesyings, the Church is still going to be here! They're going to have to go through it. Daniel says so, Jesus said so here, John says so in the Book of Revelation: the Church, the Christians, the people of God are certainly going to be here during the Tribulation! Here it's as plain as day throughout the book of Daniel, & here in Jesus' Own Words, & finally in Revelation. "But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." Why? Because we're going to be here, of course, so it won't be too hard on you & me. Otherwise, everybody would have died.
20. BUT HE SAYS WATCH OUT FOR THAT PERIOD! Now He's talking about the Tribulation period, especially. "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there"--why? Why would people start looking for Christ then? They're going to start looking for Jesus because they know that He's coming soon! Especially when the Church suddenly wakes up & realises that this is the Tribulation & this is the Antichrist & they're in the last three-&-a-half years, when they thought Jesus was going to take them out of it before that!
21. THESE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET A BIG SURPRISE! They're going to be so confused they're going to wonder, "Well, Jesus was supposed to come! W-W-W-Where is He? W-W-W-Why didn't He come & take us? W-W-W-When is He coming? He surely must be coming soon, because here's the Tribulation, here's the Antichrist & we were supposed to be gone before this!"--So the Pre-Trib Rapturists say, misled by the dear Scofield Bible & his ilk! These people try to get out of things by just saying they don't exist, kind of like the Christian Scientists. Well, Jesus says when they say I'm here, "Jesus has come here, or He's over there," don't believe it! You know why? You're going to know it when Jesus comes! You're going to know it!
22. "FOR," HE SAYS, "THERE SHALL ARISE FALSE CHRISTS & FALSE PROPHETS, & SHALL SHOW GREAT SIGNS & WONDERS, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect!" Even the Antichrist is going to do great signs & wonders, so that his followers will believe a lie & be damned. "Behold, I have told you before! Wherefore if they shall say unto you, behold, He is in the desert; go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the East, & shineth even unto the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be!" How are you going to know when Jesus comes?--He's going to come like lightning, shining even from the East unto the West!
23. AND ANOTHER SIGN: "FOR WHERESOEVER THE CARCASE IS, THERE WILL THE EAGLES BE GATHERED TOGETHER." Now, that's a strange thing, & a lot of people don't even understand what He's talking about! What does this mean about a carcase & eagles--vultures? He's saying it in cryptic, very puzzling language. He's saying, "Wherever the Body is, there are those going to be that feed on Christ! And that's the best way you're going to know when Jesus comes, because you're going to be there! You're going to rise to meet Him in the air, & so shall we ever be with the Lord! (1Th.4:17.)
24. YOU'LL KNOW WHEN HE COMES BECAUSE HE'LL SHINE LIKE LIGHTNING AROUND THE WORLD & you'll rise to meet Him in the air! You're not going to have to worry about whether you're going to be here, there or somewhere else, you're going to be drawn like a magnet, like the eagles to the carcase, like us little vultures to the Body, who have to eat & feed upon Christ to live spiritually! Wherever the Carcase is, the Body of Christ, there will all of us eagles be gathered together! That's how you'll know when Jesus comes, you'll be there!
25. SEE YOU THERE! HALLELUJAH! TYJ! PTL! WHEN JESUS COMES! In Jesus' name, bless & keep them till that day, Lord, & make them faithful witnesses until You come, in Jesus' name. Amen. PTL! TYJ! Amen! PTL!--Are you ready?
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
