The Great Tribulation (part 3)

Let's look at our study tonight and as we continue to look at the Olivet Discourse 24. We're working our way at a snail's pace, which you're not really all that surprised about, but working our way through chapter 24. And the section of the Olivet Discourse that we're looking at now, though this subject is not exclusive to just this portion of the Discourse, it is very much focused on it, and that is what we call the Great Tribulation.

And Jesus called it that, by the way. And so I guess we're in good company if we call it that. And so that's what we've been looking at. Jesus said in Matthew 24, verse 21, there will be great tribulations such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, nor, no, nor ever shall be. So this is something quite unique, something quite different. And we've been looking at four of, we've already looked at four of the five things that Jesus says about this, we could call it future apocalypse, and it certainly is that in every sense of the word. We looked at four of the five things, we'll look at the fifth thing tonight. But to remind you of the four that we've looked at, there is the trigger for this time period, which, by the way, again, as I have said, really encompasses the last three and a half years of the seven-year tribulation, the Great Tribulation. So there's the trigger for it, which is what? The Antichrist sitting on the, in the throne place? Right. Which is called the abomination that causes desolation. And so that's the trigger for this time period. And then the timing really just boils down to this. Jesus said, when you see it, that's the timing.

When you see it, here it is. All right, we, you know, I'm sure, you know, always we want a little more information than that, but that's the timing. Of course, there's more to it than just that phrase, but we've already studied that, so I'm not going to go back over that. And then third, the terror, the terror that will accompany it. And Jesus said, let those who are in Judea flee. Let them flee and don't stop to get your clothes, get your possessions. Don't, don't stop to get anything.

Get out of town, get out of there and get to the mountains. So the terror that will be associated with this time that will come. And then kind of in a more of a more broad sense, the tribulation, the tribulation that will accompany it. And again, Jesus said, for them, there will be great tribulation. And then one more. And what I'm going to call the temptation. I think I said last week, if you wrote it down, the tempter, but it's the temptation, the temptation, because there'll be a number of people involved in, in this attempt to tempt. That's kind of sounds almost redundant. Attempt to tempt God's people here at the close of the great tribulation. And so I would even call it the final temptation. The final temptation for God's true people, at least those who are living at the time of the second coming of Christ. But the amazing thing really is this, when this begins to happen, this final thing, when this begins to happen, God's people will know then that Christ's return has come. That's the encouraging thing about it, as we shall see.

That is, what I'm saying is Satan's final temptation for God's people to follow false Christs, it won't work. It won't work. It won't work. It will not, it won't avail. Rather, it will actually serve as a confirmation that, number one, God's word is true. What God said would happen, that what he said is true. It's a confirmation of that, but also a confirmation concerning the return of Christ. All right, so we want to see this from the passage, and there are two things.

There's a condition to be warned about, and a confirmation to be watching for. And so, as you see in your notes, the first thing, or letter A, capital A, a condition to be warned about. There's a condition to be warned about. Jesus says, and I'll just go ahead and read, and I think I inserted verses 23 to 26 in your notes. Let me just read it. Then, if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore, if you say, if they say to you, look, he is in the desert or wilderness, do not go out. Or, look, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it. All right?

So, this is a condition that's coming, a condition that will take place, that they are to be warned about. All right, so here again, Jesus refers to false Christs and false prophets. They will be inspired by the Antichrist in league with him, in a sense, directly or indirectly, a little of both.

So, they will be inspired by the Antichrist and empowered at the same time by Satan, empowered by Satan. And so, Jesus identifies at least three things, I think, about their satanic work.

Number one, they will use deception. That's nothing new, is it? They've been doing that all along, haven't they? They will use deception. Verse 23 says, look, here is the Christ, or there is the Christ. In verse 24, Jesus says that these false Christs and false prophets will rise to deceive.

To deceive, if possible, even the elect. And we'll talk about that here in a little bit. If possible, even the elect. So, they will use deception. And listen, they will use deception.

On the one hand, they will present some false Christ among them who is believable. I mean, he's right here. He's right here with us. They'll present him. And there'll be something about him. And we learn a little bit later what that is. But there will be, he will be believable.

And so, they'll say, look, here is the Christ. Here he is. He's right here with us. On the other hand, they will point to some false Christ who is also believable. And so, there he is. All right, there he is.

Right there. He's over there. Here's the Christ. All right, so, here he is, right with us. Or, there he is over there. And it's all a deception. It's all a deception. As I will point out a little bit more here in just a moment. But this is going to take place during the time of great strife for these people.

Time of major upheaval in their lives. I mean, the lives of God's people will have been absolutely turned upside down because of Antichrist. They will have fled then for their very lives. We talked about this last week. Leaving everything behind. Everything. I mean, the security of their homes, their personal possessions. I mean, even the very clothes, extra clothes. I'm sure they'll have hopefully clothes on when all this happens. They'll leave all that behind. They leave friends behind because not all of their friends will heed the warning. Not all will flee. Not all will be true believers. And they'll be leaving behind even some family. I'm sure. So, you're talking about a major upheaval in their lives. And they will have fled to the safety of the mountains, just like

Jesus instructed them to. The mountains near Jerusalem in the area of Judea, perhaps living in caves or wherever. But they have fled and they're hiding out and fleeing to the mountains for safety. And then later, after they have fled to the mountains and have found safety. So, as they're fleeing and after they get there and they find safety, the whole time Antichrist has seated his emissaries among them.

Traveling with them. Hiding out with them. Those who claim to be one of them. Those who appear also to be fleeing. But they are wolves in sheep's clothing. And they will attempt to deceive God's people even at that point. In fact, it will be a very intense time of temptation and deception. And how will they do it? Well, they'll take advantage of their greatest hope.

These false prophets and false Christs, they will take advantage of God's people, take advantage of their greatest hope. And their greatest desire. And the one thing they're thinking about, the one thing that their minds are completely saturated with, their thinking and all that, and what would that be? The coming of Christ. His coming. They'll take advantage of that.

And they'll pray on that, you know. And so, as God's people are fleeing, these false prophets perhaps will say, stop here, stop a minute. There's no reason to flee to the mountains.

No reason. Because the Christ, Christ has come. He has come. And here he is. Or, a little later than after God's people actually have fled to the mountains, the false prophets will then say, listen everybody, let's just go back to Jerusalem because Jesus Christ is there. He's there. So, we need to go back there.

Alright? This is the deception. They'll use deception. And then to give credibility to their deception, then number two, they will use divination.

Certain divine powers are what appear to be divine. Verse 24, For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great scenes.

Did you see that in your notes there? It's supposed to be signs, not scenes, okay? You know, God's Word is inerrant, but those of us who copy it down are not inerrant.

They'll show great signs and wonders to deceive. Wonders, signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, it says even the elect, which I have, I believe, refers to the redeemed of God.

And so they will be empowered by Satan to perform works that appear to be divine. That appear to be from God.

Appear to confirm the truth of their message. Same, say, Satanic, the same satanic empowerment that's given to the Antichrist, because we've already read that he will have these kinds of powers, but that same power given to him will also be given to some of these false Christs and false prophets and so forth.

And for what purpose? To deceive God's people into thinking that their message is actually from God himself. And that God is confirming the authenticity of their, what they're saying, their message, and confirming, more importantly, confirming the authenticity of the Christs that they are presenting.

that they are promoting. And what will these signs and wonders look like? It doesn't explain it here, but these signs and wonders, I think, will look just like the things Jesus did when he was walking this earth.

Jesus performed many signs and wonders, didn't he? Miracles. Not to wow people, of course, but he did so, and that's why semeion in the Greek translates sign, that's why that's the best translation, sign, rather than miracle, because the word miracle has for us a little different connotation usually.

But sign, that's something that really is very clear. These are signs. So Jesus performed miracles or signs and wonders to do what?

To confirm the truth of his message and, more importantly, the truth of his identity as the Messiah. Matthew 11, verses 2 through 6, you remember John the Baptist, he's in prison, and he sent two of his disciples to Jesus and said to him, Are you the coming one or do we look for another?

And Jesus answered and said to them, Go and tell John the things which you hear and see, the blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who is not offended because of me.

So, what is he saying? He's saying, I have, all these signs and these wonders, they point to the fact that I am the one. I am the one you've been looking for, the coming one, you don't need to look for another.

And so, Satan then will attempt to counterfeit all of that, right? What Jesus did, Satan, not originally anything he's ever done and he's a counterfeiter and so he will attempt to counterfeit these things that Jesus did when he was on this earth and to do so through his representatives during the tribulation, the antichrist for one and then these false Christs and prophets.

And I think they will be very convincing. They will lead many astray, deceive many, even what we might call marginal Christians, which, by the way, are not Christians at all.

There's no such thing as a marginal Christian, true believers, marginal believers. So, but he will not, he will fail to deceive God's true people.

And that's what Jesus said here. He's going to have power to deceive, if possible, even God's elect and the implication is it's not going to be possible for him to deceive God's true people.

And there's one other element of their strategy. Number three, they will use diversion. Diversion. Now, verse 26, therefore, if they say to you, look, he is in the desert, literally the wilderness.

In fact, some translations, more modern translations, use the word wilderness. Which, what's wilderness? Well, it can be a desert, but it is a term that really describes, you know, remote, uninhabited places.

It could be a forest, it could be a desert, it could be anything like that. So, so he says, therefore, if they say to you, look, he's in the desert, in the wilderness.

And, and then they say, or look, he is in the inner rooms, the inner rooms. And Jesus says, do not believe it. Do not believe it.

So, there are two places mentioned there, aren't there? And it's kind of interesting, the wilderness in the inner rooms. Remote places, you know, out in the country or wherever. And inside, inner rooms.

It's interesting that according to the historian Josephus, we learn, actually, a lot from Josephus of New Testament times, especially.

But according to Josephus, he said that false messiahs, historically, false messiahs seemed always to appear coming out of the wilderness.

Did I put that in your notes? Okay. By the way, I split my infinitive in the notes. Okay, so I've corrected that in my, so you might want to correct that. It's not to always appear.

That's a split infinitive. Right? We don't, we don't, we don't allow split infinitives. Except the most famous one, which is from Star Trek, to boldly go.

Where, no. But proper grammar would be to go boldly. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah, forget all that.

Anyway, Josephus said, this is what, this is historically, this is what they would do. I mean, many times, these false messiahs would just come out of nowhere. They'd come out of the wilderness, come out of the desert places, or someplace like that.

That's why many were wondering if John the Baptist was the messiah. You know, because of how he appeared, you know, out of the wilderness area, and the way he was dressed, and probably the way he smelled.

I don't know. So, you know, maybe that is connected here. So, it's kind of a a tradition or a common thing historically.

And so, Jesus says, therefore, if they say, there he is in the wilderness, then don't go out there to it. It's not true. And also, a common Jewish tradition was that the messiah would hide himself.

Hide himself in some secret place. In a room, perhaps. until, yeah, it was time to reveal himself.

And so, these kind of traditions and common practices kind of relate to what Jesus is saying here. And so, in keeping with these common beliefs, the false prophets will try and divert attention away from what God has already said in his word about the coming of Christ, to divert them away from that, and also to divert them away from God's command to flee to the mountains, to divert them away from that, and into, convert them into the hands of Antichrist.

And this is the ploy. This is the whole idea. All right, so a condition to be warned about. And then lastly, in this passage, a confirmation to watch for.

A confirmation to watch for. And so, you know, these Antichrists and, or these false Christs and false prophets and, you know, their, their, you know, temptations, their intensifying, their deceptions, and even, even, deceptions that are done with super, seemingly supernatural powers.

So, how, how then are God's people to be able to filter all that out and, and not be fooled by it? How are they to know when it is the right Christ, the true Christ?

Well, there's the confirmation. And, I think this highlights the Lord's dual purpose in this revelation. It's a dual purpose.

And that is, the very things Jesus warns them, these, his people to, to watch, to, to, to warns them about this condition that is going to come are also the very things that he wants them to watch for.

He's warning them and says, watch for it because these things will bring them confirmation. Confirmation that his word is true and that, uh, uh, his coming, Christ's coming is sure.

And so he gives his people a threefold confirmation concerning the timing of his return. Number one, the prophetic word about his return.

The prophetic word about his return. Jesus said in verse 25, see, I've told you beforehand. I've, I've told you beforehand. This is a prophetic word. Jesus is giving to his immediate disciples so that it can be written down so that some thousands of years later, and it's already been over 2,000 years, but some thousands of years later, uh, uh, God's people will be able to read what Jesus has said.

His prophetic word. See, I've told you these things are going to happen. I've told you beforehand. Uh, now, to whom is he speaking? Uh, I've made this point a couple of times, but I want us to continue to, uh, understand this.

When Jesus addresses his audience with the pronoun you, you, to whom is he referring? Uh, his immediate disciples?

No. Because they're not going to see any of these things. Well, then perhaps maybe Christians down through the ages of the church, the millennia of the church. No.

Uh, many Christians have come and gone and have not seen these things. Who then is he addressing? Well, he's addressing Christians. He, that, that is followers of Christ, believers in Christ, true born again believers, both Jews, made up of both Jews and Gentiles, but I think primarily because of the geography, uh, where all of this is going to take place, I think primarily we're talking about Jews here.

But Jews who have believed, saved during the tribulation period, who have survived to make it to the end of it, to survive, to be alive at the end of it, and who are living in and around Jerusalem and, uh, the region of Judea, uh, and, uh, uh, living at the time when Antichrist declares himself to be God.

And, uh, uh, you know, literally all hell breaks loose. Okay. About the only time you could say that and not be a little coarse in your language because literally all hell will break loose during this time.

And so, what had he told them beforehand? What had he told them? Well, in the immediate context, uh, he had told them beforehand his prophetic word concerning the false Christ and the false prophets who will come just before the end, just before, uh, Jesus returns.

And, uh, you remember that this was one of the, uh, birth pangs Jesus mentioned earlier in this chapter in verse four, uh, where he said, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and will deceive many.

But we're talking here, uh, uh, in an immediate sense, we're talking about, uh, a time, time, well, well, let me go on with my outline.

When will this take place? When will this take place? When will these false Christ and false prophets attempt to deceive God's people? When will that happen?

Well, generally speaking, generally speaking, they will be at work throughout the seven-year tribulation period. Uh, they will have been, but also they will have been at work and working since the birth of the church.

They've been false Christs who have come all along the history of the church. Uh, in fact, there were false Christs appearing on the scene even before Jesus appeared because the Jews were looking for the Messiah.

So there were false Christ, false Messiahs aplenty down through their history through the Old Testament especially as the time drew near for Jesus to come.

There was intensification of appearances of false Messiahs. And, uh, and there were some even during the life of Jesus and during the early days of the New Testament.

And, uh, and so they, you know, these, these people have been working since the birth of the church. They, they, uh, uh, will be at work even after the rapture of the church as the seven-year tribulation begins.

They, and their work will intensify during the last half of the tribulation. That's what Jesus is talking about in, in, uh, chapter, uh, in verse four. And it will reach a fevered pitch just before, uh, Christ returns.

So generally speaking, I mean, we've, they've always been around. Uh, but according to the passage here, chronologically speaking, Jesus identified the timing of this in verse 23 with the word then.

That gives us, uh, uh, uh, a timing for it, at least chronologically in relation to other things that are going to take place. Then, Jesus said in verse 23, then, of course, follows, verse 23 follows, uh, his instructions in the preceding verses.

Remember? Meaning that this work of the false Christ, false prophets, uh, that, uh, he refers to in verses 23 and 26, this passage we're looking at, that's going to take place as God's people are fleeing to the mountains as instructed, as God commanded them.

And so here, here's the point, the false Christs and the false prophets who will come at the end, they will themselves be the, a confirmation, uh, of the, uh, return of Christ.

That is, return is very near. And so Jesus is saying, I think, essentially look for this. And when you see it, when you see this happening, in the first place, don't, first place, don't be fooled by it.

And in the second place, it will be a confirmation of my coming, that my coming is very close, very close. Second, the second confirmation Jesus gives in this revelation, number two, the profound way of his return.

The profound way of his return. And this is extremely important. Verse 27, for as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

That is, there will be no mistaking it. No mistaking it. So the way in which Jesus makes his return will be profound and unmistakable.

He will not be here or there. He will not be verified by the signs and wonders, supernatural signs and wonders performed by mere men.

He will not be in the desert. comfort. He will not be in some inner room. He will not be in any of those places.

You will not have to be led to him. You will not have to go out and find him. That's the point here. No one alive on this planet will miss seeing his coming.

I don't know how he's going to accomplish that. We don't have to know how. We just know that he will. No one's going to miss seeing his coming. You see, contrary to what the Jehovah's Witnesses have been teaching over the years, they've set dates for the second coming.

I think the first one was 1914. He didn't show up, so they have changed their theology a little bit. I think they said, he did come, but he came secretly.

No one saw it. Well, that's ridiculous. What is Jesus say very clearly? Jesus' return to this earth will be visible to every living creature on the planet.

Not eventually, when he finally gets around everybody, but universally and instantaneously he will be visible. Some other New Testament writers speak about this.

Acts chapter 1, verses 9 through 11. Now, when he had spoken these things, while they watched, that's Jesus speaking, you know where this is, it's Jesus' ascension, there at the beginning of Acts.

And so while they spoke these things, while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, those would be obviously angels, who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand there with your mouths open?

That's not what it says. Stand gazing up into heaven, this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner, in the same way he's going to come.

He'll come secretly and come out of the desert somewhere. He went up into the clouds, he's going to come back the same way.

And Revelation 1-7, behold, he is coming with clouds and how many eyes? Every eye will see him. Every eye will see him, even they who pierced him and all the tribes of earth, of the earth, will mourn because of him, even so, amen.

Revelation 6-15, the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

So this is a significant confirmation for them to be watching for. a confirmation. It's one that cannot be counterfeited by the beast, the antichrist.

He can't manufacture this. And these false prophets are going to be tempting God's people and trying to deceive them and draw them away.

They won't be able to duplicate this. Satan himself is not going to be able to duplicate this. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ will be sudden, not gradual, like lightning flashing in the sky.

It will be public, not private. it will be visible, not invisible, visible to all, not invisible. It will be universal, not regional.

He says lightning flash from the east to the west. The idea is encompassing the entire planet. One theologian put it in these terms, he said his actual return will be unmistakable in its nature.

universal in its visibility, and cosmic in its scope and effect. Now notice Jesus' return, he likens it to lightning flashing from the east to the west, and that fits a pattern in the Bible.

For example, references to his first coming. Luke chapter 1 verse 78, this is John the Baptist's father, prophesying, Zacharias prophesying concerning Jesus.

What does he say? He says, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the day spring from on high, day spring literally means sunrise, and where does the sun rise?

in the east, in the east. And he has visited us to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Matthew 2, 1 to 2, this is a reference to the star, whatever the star was. We get a lot of debate about that. Whatever it was, it was supernatural, okay?

But behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.

So there's kind of a pattern here about this east, and we know that Jesus will come from the east.

In reference to Christ's second coming, Malachi chapter 4, verses 1 through 2, what I meant to say is going to come through the eastern gate of Jerusalem. Malachi 4, 1 to 2, the final chapter of the Old Testament, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubbled.

And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear, my name, the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings.

And that's not a typo, it's S-U-N, not S-O-N, and the sun rises in the east. And so it kind of fits a pattern there. But his coming will be visible all around the planet, like lightning from the east that flashes all the way to the west.

By the way, if you go eastward, you never stop going eastward. Go east toward the west, you continue on.

East and west never meet. So the idea is the entire population of the earth will see him like lightning flashing. It will be sudden and it will be very visible.

All right, so a confirmation to watch for, prophetic word about his return. He says, see, I've told you beforehand. The profound way of his return as lightning comes.

And then one more confirmation, what I would call the profuse wickedness before his return. Jesus says some strange words here, verse 28, likely some scholars say this may have been a Jewish proverb.

But in verse 28 he says, for wherever the carcass or corpse is, they're the eagles. Some translations use vultures will be gathered together.

It's kind of an axiom, a proverb. Now, King James, New King James are the two versions that use the word eagles.

They translate eagles. And most of the modern translations, in fact, I think all of them that I know about and have looked at translated vultures, vultures.

But the word, the Greek word really is eagles primarily, though it can refer to vultures, but very rarely. And the reason why it's translated vultures is because of the context.

Because some have said, well, eagles don't typically eat carrion, dead animals. Kind of strange, the other night I was watching, what's this, the nature show program on TV, it's really very good, I think.

Until they start talking about the planet being billions of years old, and I just roll my eyes about that. But the photography, the cinematography, and it's just wonderful.

And they were doing a piece on eagles up in the high, I think the Himalayas, I think is where these eagles were. And they're flying around looking for food, they can't find any, and one of them swoops down and finds a dead animal on the ground.

And the narrator said that eagles, when they're hungry and they can't find any food, they'll eat carrion, they'll eat dead animals. So anyway, not that important, because the significance of what Jesus says here has less to do with what kind of birds they are, and more to do with what they are doing, what they are doing, and why they are doing it.

I think that's the point of this here. It's not what kind of birds, whether they're eagles, vultures, whatever. It's the activity, what they're doing, what you can see them doing, and why they are doing it.

That's the important part of it here. And so what are they doing, and why are they doing it? Well, Jesus wants, I think, wants us to visualize, and it could be vultures, or eagles, bird doesn't matter, but visualize them circling in the air.

Perhaps you've seen this before, probably all of us have at some point. You know, vultures, or whatever birds they are, circling in the air, and you know what they're doing, don't you?

You know what's going on there. Because they're up circling in the air above some dying animal. Maybe it's not quite dead yet, and they won't swoop down until it's either dead or so beyond any hope, any helping of itself, that they get bold and go down and eat that dead or dying animal.

And that's what they're waiting for. They're flying out. Now when you see them, you don't see the animal, do you? You just see the bird. All right? But you can guess what is down below somewhere.

So it's a sign of something. And so I think here's the idea. This is a reference to the return of Christ, I believe, with his church. Kind of as it were swooping down like vultures upon a dead world.

not swooping down to eat him. Okay? You can't take the figurative speech here and apply every part of it.

Some try to do that. But kind of swooping down on a dead world that is by this time completely rotten with evil.

And that's what this world will be like. As well as really a world that will be literally covered littered with dead bodies. Rotting corpses as a result of God's catastrophic judgments in the last half of the tribulation.

You know, but I think the idea is a world that is now absolutely ripe with sin and wickedness. It's the final thing.

Jesus comes. And you and I probably think that our world is as rotten as it could ever get with sin. I don't know that we really think that, but perhaps we might find ourselves thinking that, but it's not even close.

Not even close. As bad as it is. The sinfulness of our world today, bad as it is, could barely, I think, barely compare to what it will be like at the very end.

At the very end of the age, the end of the tribulation. Church has been gone for over seven years. We're now seven years. The beast and the antichrist, the antichrist, the beast, sits on the throne of this world.

His wickedness and evilness. Satan pulling out all the stops to destroy all that is of God and the unbelieving world will be caught up in all of that.

And it will be then ripe for judgment. And when the true believers living at the end of the tribulation, when they see these things, it's a confirmation of God's word and a confirmation of Christ's return.

And when he returns, that's it. It's all over for this for the unbelieving world. And for Satan too, by the way.

Thank you.