October 8 Read Matthew 24-25 (Matthew 24) Some call this the little Apocalypse. (24:1-14) A few things to note – wars, earthquakes, famines and etc. will be happening all the time. I hear people say that the end must be getting close because of all that is going on in the world. It has always been going on, we just hear about it more now because of the media. Jesus also says that many will try to deceive us with teachings that are not from God. They will even masquerade as preachers. We are not to listen to them unless they stay true to God’s word. (24:15-20) There has been much speculation about what the “abomination of desolation” is. Jesus refers to Daniel about it. Some think it will be the image of the beast from Revelation. Some have thought it was the Dome of the Rock which is a pagan shrine. Others think he was not really talking about the end of times, but about the end of Jerusalem (His mention of the destruction of the Temple set off this discussion). This would mean then about 68 AD when several “Messiahs” appeared in Jerusalem at the same time and caused a revolt against the Romans which eventually ended in the leveling of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Christian community thought this and when it all started fled to Pella in modern day Jordan and thus was spared much of the suffering, fighting, and death during the war and subsequent siege of Jerusalem. If you read the Epistles, the Christians seem to think Jesus was coming back in their generation, but that obviously did not happen so this is probably still sometime in the future. (24:23-51) We have had many “Messiah’s” throughout the ages. Over 30 men claiming to be the Jewish Messiah appeared in the Holy Land in the period of 200 years around the time of Jesus. Then we have had deliverers who promised to make things good for everyone but turned out bad. Hitler was seen as a “Messiah” in Germany at first by his people. In modern days we have Reverend Moon who claimed to be the Messiah come back and I heard on the news the other day that there is a man in the US that claims to be Jesus come back. We can laugh at all these “Messiahs” and know that they are not real, because Jesus says when He really does come back it will be obvious to the whole world. Note in verse 29 the events that will precede His coming are not normal things like war and natural disasters (even if they are larger than normal) but they are cosmic events that have never happened before. In verse 36 only the father knows when He will come back and that depends on when things have finally been prepared for us. If Jesus says He didn’t know when it would happen, I end to laugh at people who say they have been able to look at the references in the Bible and figure it out. They know more than Jesus does about it! Actually it really should not matter to you when the end of the world will come. Jesus says to be ready for it all the time. We try to make our houses secure all the time don’t we? We don’t try to say “well I know a thief is going to come on Thursday at 5:00 so I will be ready then.” No! We know we can never tell so we are ready all the time and that is how we should be with Jesus. The truth is the “End of the World” will come in your life time – for you. When you die it has ended and who knows when that is? The truth is that if you are not ready now then you are in trouble and if you are it really doesn’t matter when it happens does it? (Matthew 25) As we read these following parables realize their context. They come right after Jesus saying be ready at all times for His return. Now He will be telling you what “being ready” means. (25:1-13) When the preparations were finally ready and the Father said it was ok the son would go to get his bride (usually took about a year after the betrothal). He usually tried to surprise her but since he had to get his meal together everyone knew it was about to happen in the small village and word would get to the bride’s family and friends. It would usually happen at night that the groom and his friends would go through town to get the bride and bring her to his house and the party would start. There was no formal “ceremony” on a meal together which sealed the bond between the two families. It was common for the young women of the village to gather at the bride’s house and provide lamps to help light the way back to the Groom’s house. Ten have gathered. They all have lamps and they all are burning. The Groom waits until very late and all of them go to sleep and then as he arrives all awake and trim their lamps, but the original oil has now burned out and they need to add more oil and here is the separation. Some had come planning for the long haul and some had not. (Remember what we just discussed in Chapter 24 about not knowing the time that Jesus will return and being prepared to endure to the end?) The five have to go out and try to find more oil and in the process their whole function of lighting the way back to the groom’s house has been completed without them. They arrive late and the door is closed and they are left out of the party. We had better always be ready for His coming – or our going to Him. If the groom has come earlier then all would have been alright, but he did not and they were not prepared to wait until he did come. (25:14-30) In the King James Version it talks about “talents” and this is actually an amount of weight – 75 pounds. Thus it would be 75 pounds of gold or silver. Many have taken this word though and used it was we do today to talk about the talents/abilities that people have and how they invest them. While this is not the original meaning, I think I can still be an appropriate interpretation of this parable since they also are valuable things (money, things, gifts, talents, influence, etc.) that have been entrusted to us by God. The point of this parable is how are you “investing” what you have been given in your life. Many use it for secular gain and to obtain power. Some use it to help others. Some use it to glorify God. How do you use it? But you say I don’t have much in the way of valuable things. Some of the servants had less than others but note that both you used it got the same reward even though one had less than the other. The only one who was criticized and thrown out was the one that just hide it and refused to use it. (25:31-46) In this parable of the Sheep and the Goats we note that some did certain acts and other didn’t. The ones who did them were blessed with entrance into His kingdom and the ones that didn’t do them did not get it. Thus on the surface it would seem to mean that we work our way into Heaven but the opposite is really what it says. The key verses are 37-39 and 44. The ones who did these things didn’t even know that they were doing them. They just did them out of who they were. They had Jesus in their heart and thus couldn’t help but do the things they did because He is there in their lives. The ones who didn’t do them would have done them if they knew they needed to but didn’t know. They were trying to work their way into heaven but fell short in doing it. We always fall short in doing it because there is always so much more we need to do to earn salvation than we ever can do. Pictures: 1. Lamps – through the ages – One of the way archaeologist date layers in a dig is by the lamp style they find (the other is by coins, but lamps and their pieces are far more prevalent). Here you can see how the styles of lamps changed over time. The top one would be Abraham. 2. Roman lamps at the Asmolean Museum-Oxford – As you can see they are relatively small and cannot hold much oil. They will burn at most about 3 hours before having to be refilled. The foolish virgins were ready to wait about 3 hours but no longer. 3. Ten virgins-wise – here we can see the virgins using their lamps to light the way – the reason they were invited. 4. Wedding procession through the streets – The Groom is coming to get his bride and trumpets are blowing and people are shouting. Yes is wakes up the whole village, but that is the point to let all know it is happening. Jesus will also let all of the world know when He comes for His bride (the Church). Till Tomorrow Allen
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 11:40:25 +0000
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