Weekly Message : The Signs of Lord’s Coming
By
Rev. Katherine Liu Bruce 4/2/2025
Ø Matthew 24:3-15 reading
The disciples came to Him privately, asking, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming and of the Consummation of the age? “
Jesus answered and said
to them, see that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name, saying, I
am the Christ, and they will lead many astray. (vv.4-5) And you will be hearing
of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for it
must happen; but the end is not yet. (v.6). For nation will rise up against nation and
kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines and earthquakes
in various places.(v.7) All
these things are the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you up to
tribulation and will
kill you, and you will be hated by
all the nations because of My name. (v.8-9) And at that time many will be stumbled and will deliver up
one another and
will hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray.
And because lawlessness
will be multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold. (vv.10-12)
But he who has endured to the end, this one
shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited
earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come (vv.13-14). Therefore, when you see the
abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place (let him who reads understand) (v.15)
Ø Scripture's
interpretation and insights
The
disciples’ question concerned three matters,
1) The time when these things would take place,
including not only the destruction of the temple. But also the things mentioned
in 23:32-39.
2) The sign of Christ’s coming and
3) The sign of the consummation of the age.
The Lord’s word from 24:4--25:46 answered the disciples question concerning
these three matters.
The Lord’s coming Greek parousia means
presence. Christ’s coming will be His presence with His people.
This presence will begin with the rapture of the man-child
(Rev.12:5) and the rapture of the first fruits (Rev.14:1-4) and will end with His appearing
on the earth with the saints. During the period of His parousia there will be the great tribulation (
v.21; Rev.9:1-21;11:14;16:1-21), which will begin with supernatural calamities
(Rev.6:12-17;8:7-12); Christ’s descending to the air (Rev.14:14); the rapture
of the majority of the believers to the air (1Thes.4:15-17); the judgment seat
of Christ (2Cor.5:10); and the marriage of the Lamb (rev.19:7-9).
The Lord’s answer has three sections: the
first section (vv.4-13) concerns the Jews, who are the chosen; the second
(v.32-25:30) concerns the church; and the third (25:31-46) concerns the
Gentiles (the nations). The first section, concerning the Jews should be
interpreted literally, whereas the second section, concerning the
church, should be interpreted spiritually, because it is spoken in parables for the
reason given in 13:11-13. For instance, the winter in v.20 is the actual
winter, but the summer in v.32 is a symbol signifying the time of restoration.
The third section, concerning the gentiles, also should be interpreted literally.
Wars, here
denotes all the wars from the first century to the present. They are signified
by the red horse of the second seal in Rev.6:3-4. The end denotes the consummation of this age (v.3; Dan.12:4, 9, 6-7), which will be the three and a
half years of the great tribulation. Although vv.6-9 and 14 are in the section
concerning Israel, the tribulations and the preaching of the gospel mentioned
in these verses take place generally, in the whole world, from the time of
Christ’s ascension to the end of this age. Verse 15, immediately following
v.14, speaks concerning the beginning of the great tribulation (v.21), which is
the time when Antichrist will set up his image in the temple of God, which
image will thereby become the abomination of desolation.
Nation denotes the people, the Gentiles; kingdom denotes
an empire.
Famines issue mainly from war. According to history, war has often brought
famine, signified by the black horse of the third seal in Rev.6:5-6.
Since Christ’s ascension, earthquakes have been occurring throughout all the
centuries and will be intensified at the end of this age (Rev.6:12;8:5;11:13,19;16:18). Birth pangs
here refers to all the tribulations in the New Testament age, including wars, famines,
earthquakes, afflictions, and persecutions, as mentioned in vv.6-9 and 21. The birth
pangs, here are suffered only by the New Testament believers for the Lord’s
sake, whereas the travailing in birth in Rev.12:2 refers to
all the travailing suffered throughout the generations by God’s people in both
the old testament and the New Testament. These tribulations, along with the
preaching of the gospel (v.`14), are used by God to produce His many sons so
that He can constitute the church in this age, accomplish the kingdom in the
coming age, and produce the New Jerusalem in eternity as the ultimate
consummation of the church and the kingdom that He may have an eternal
expression in eternity future. Galatians 4:19 and Rev.12:2 and 5 confirm this
viewpoint.
The gospel of the
kingdom, which includes the gospel of grace (Acts20:24),
brings people not only into God’s salvation but also into the kingdom of the heavens (Rev.1:9).
The gospel of grace emphasizes forgiveness of sin, God’s redemption, and eternal life,
whereas the gospel of the kingdom emphasizes the heavenly ruling of God
and the
authority of the Lord. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached
in the whole earth for a testimony to all the nations before the end of this age.
Therefore, that preaching signified by the white horse of the first seal in
Rev.6:1-2, will be a sign of the consummation of this age. The
gospel of the kingdom is a testimony to all the nations (Gentiles). This
testimony must spread to the whole earth before the end of this age, the time
of the great tribulation.
Bibliography,
King James, The Holy Bible, Cleveland, OH: The world publishing
company
Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim,
CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.
Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago,
IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.
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