Weekly Sermons
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- Series: Luke Teaching
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- Scripture: Luke 21:20-38
THE Stone will come to stay! Luke 21:20-38
The Prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New Testament had LOTS to say about end times events affecting Israel and the world.
Reading the Old Testament, you would not discern more than a sketch of the chronology of End Times events. But the Book of Revelation, the last book of BOTH the New Testament AND the entire Bible, CLEARLY lays events out:
Revelation describes the present church age (Chapters 1-3) with a promise of the Rapture before the Tribulation (3:10); Then a look into Heaven (Chapters 4-5); Then the activity of the Antichrist and Jewish witnesses during the Tribulation (Chapters 6-19); Then the Return of Christ and the Battle of Armageddon (Chapter 19); Then the 1,000 reign of Christ (Chapter 20); Then the Great White Throne Judgment (Chapter 20); Then the New Earth and the Lake of Fire (Chapters 21-22). Many other sub-events fit somewhere in that chronology.
Outline of the Olivet Discourse:
The first half of the Tribulation (Mt 24:4-14; Mk 13:5-13; Lk 21:8-19)
The middle of the Tribulation (Mt 24:15-28; Mk 13:14-18; Lk 21:20-24)
The last half of the Tribulation (Mt 24:29-31; Mk 13:19-27; Lk 21:25-27)
Closing Admonitions (Mt 24:32-25:51; Mk 13:28-37; Lk 21:28-36)
Jesus’ references to Himself as the Son of Man help us understand the now and not yet of His Kingdom. He reigns spiritually NOW in those who turn to Him; He will reign physically on earth after His second coming!
Luke 19:10; Luke 9:55; Luke 5:24; Luke 9:22; Luke 22:68; Luke 12:8-9; Luke 9:26; Luke 18:8; Luke 12:40; Luke 17:29-30
As the End Times approach, believers should:
Deal with SIN in their lives! V. 34
Watch, Pray and WORK! V. 36
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. -I Corinthians 15:58
Daniel 9:24-27
Seventy weeks (Literally, 70 sevens) are determined for your people (Jews) and your city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity (Christ’s atoning death for sinners as Isaiah 53 describes), to bring in everlasting righteousness (Christ’s coming reign from Jerusalem as Zechariah 14 describes), to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy (glory of the Lord back in the Temple as Ezekiel 44 describes).
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem (Artaxerxes, 445 BC), until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks (literally 7 sevens, 49 years), and sixty-two weeks (literally 62 sevens, 434 years); The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times (the book of Nehemiah describes the rebuilding of Jerusalem amidst opposition within those first 7 sevens of 49 years).
And after the sixty-two weeks (which is after the seven “weeks” so 7 + 62 = 69 “weeks.” 69 seven of years is 483 years. So 483 LUNAR years after the decree of 445 BC) Messiah will be cut off, but not for Himself (Jesus’ death was in 30 AD, 483 LUNAR years after Artaxerxes decree. The rejection of the Messiah by Israel caused God’s stopwatch to stop after the 483 years before the last 7 years begin, creating a parenthesis in time we call the church age).
And the people (Roman Empire) of the prince who is to come (the End Times Antichrist) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined (In AD 70 the city and Temple were destroyed by the Romans, which Jesus predicts in Luke 21:20-24).
Then he (the End Times Antichrist) shall confirm a covenant with many for one week (referred to by scholars as the 70th “week” of Daniel, the coming 7 year tribulation period described in Revelation 6-19. The implementation of this peace deal will re-start God’s prophetic stopwatch).
But in the middle of the week (3.5 years into the Tribulation), he (the End Times Antichrist) shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate (Jesus calls this the Abomination of Desolation).
Even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate (The coming of Jesus as the Son of Man and His defeat of Antichrist, described in Daniel 7, Zechariah 14, Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, and Revelation 19).