The Olivet Discourse May 11, 2016
Jesus’ Ultimate Insiders Briefing on the Future
Week 8 Page 1
As we move to looking at prophecies of the present day and the near future, it is important to review once again what prophecy is really all about
Revelation 19:10
Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (NASB95)
Prophecy is all about Jesus
Terms
Day of the Lord - The Day of the Lord will begin as a time period at the Rapture, but its major events will not begin immediately.
Walvoord, John F. (2011-09-01). Every Prophecy of the Bible: Clear Explanations for Uncertain Times (p. 474). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
Man’s Day – The Church Age, this Present Age
The Church Age is a more limited period because it begins on the Day of Pentecost with the advent and baptism of the Holy Spirit and is concluded when the church is taken out of the world before the end-time prophecies are fulfilled.
John F. Walvoord, The Prophecy Knowledge Handbook (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1990), 384.
The Day of Christ, of the Lord Jesus, or the Lord (1 Cor. 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor. 1:14; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16; 2 Thess. 2:2, margin), is that portion within the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ in which the Lord is particularly dealing with the church in heaven (e.g., judgment seat of Christ) while the judgments of the tribulation period are being poured out upon Gentiles and Jews on the earth. It also includes the glorious period of the reign of Christ upon the earth when He judges wickedness with a rod of iron (Isa. 2:2–4; Ps. 2:9; Rev. 12:5).
Clarence E. Mason Jr., “The Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” Bibliotheca Sacra 125 (1968): 357.
Philippians 1:6
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
The Day of the Lord (or Jehovah), the period which begins when Christ comes in judgment to the earth (2 Thess. 1:8–9) and reigns one thousand years with a rod of iron
The Day of God (2 Pet. 3:12) at the end of the one thousand years when the heavens and earth will be purified by fire (2 Pet. 3:7).
Clarence E. Mason Jr., “The Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” Bibliotheca Sacra 125 (1968): 354.
Some Background on the Olivet Discourse
Joel 2:1
“Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near…”
When Jesus gives His briefing, He covers the following.
The Olivet Discourse is so called due to the location where Jesus gives His ultimate briefing on future things
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This briefing shows up in three separate locations in the New Testament.
Matthew 24 & 25
Mark 13
Luke 21
…the Olivet Discourse presents the teachings of Christ covering the whole range of this vast theological discipline. While the discourse centers around Israel and its Messianic hope, nearly every area of Eschatology is at least mentioned in the course of the Lord’s answers to the questions of His disciples as given in Matthew 24:3. One can hardly name a major phase of the discipline which is not discussed here.
James F. Rand, “A Survey of the Eschatology of the Olivet Discourse,” Bibliotheca Sacra 113 (1956): 162.
How did we arrive at this point in the ministry of Jesus where He provides this briefing to the apostles?
We have to go back to the beginning
Daniel 9:24–25
Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
Daniel 7:13–14
“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”
The nation of Israel was looking for their King to come. The time was near and they knew it. They could do the math and knew the weeks of years were about up.
There were some actively looking for the Kingdom to begin.
For 400 years there had been no prophets, no word from God, yet those who were students of the word knew the time was short
Luke 1:11–17
And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
The promise of the Kingdom is about to take place.
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Luke 1:30–33
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
The King is coming
The Kingdom is about to take place
The first words from God in 400 years.\
Matthew 3:1–2
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Here are the major thoughts
The Kingdom is at hand
The King is here
His emissary is preparing the people for the Kingdom
Isaiah 40:1–5
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins.” A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Here are the major thoughts again
The Kingdom is at hand
The King is here
His emissary is preparing the people for the Kingdom
The King is personally calling His subjects to repentance
The Kingdom is at hand
To reject the King, after He had arrived was to reject the Kingdom
Abraham received it as a promise through faith
The nation had already blown it once and wound up going into Babylon
But the Kingdom had been promised and the nation needed to repent.
Isaiah 9:6–7
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
Hosea 3:4–5
For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols. Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.
The nation of Israel is, at the time that Jesus arrived, looking for their Messiah
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They know His time is at hand
They are looking for salvation from the Romans
But all of this is a promise based on the contingency of repentance
Isaiah 1:27
“Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness.”
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus entered the Temple and cleansed it
Note the terms and the scope of the actions in the first cleansing
John 2:13–16
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
He premeditatedly produced a whip, and then drove out those who had no business being in the Temple
The King was here and He was exercising His authority
Over the next year or so Jesus performed signs and wonders just as the prophets had predicted He would
Isaiah 35:4–6
Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah.
Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;
When Jesus was asked if He was the King, His response said it all.
Luke 7:20–23
When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’” At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. “Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
Jesus clearly stated He is the King and the time of the Kingdom is now at hand if the conditions are met
But, the people and their leaders did not repent, believe, receive, confess and follow
In Matthew 12, everything changed
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Matthew 12:22–45
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”