Revelation Revealed

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Welcome to the deeper dive podcast brought to you

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by the OSI church of Christ.

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The deeper dive podcast is about going deeper into God's word, learning new

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insight, and taking a fresh look at the verses that impact our daily lives.

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Uh, pandemic.

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Mask mandates earthquakes, potential conflict in Russia,

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environmental disasters, inflation.

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Goodies be the in times.

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Is that what the book of revelation was prophesied about 2000 years ago.

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What is God's message through revelation.

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Today we are starting a new episode series.

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With Gordon Ferguson called revelation revealed.

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For decades, Gordon has been a sought after speaker and Bible teacher.

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He has authored and contributed to over dozens of books.

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He has served as a teacher.

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Elder and evangelists and is directed and taught at several international ministry

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training academies and has a teaching ministry website@gordonferguson.org.

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In this new series, Gordon examines, the symbols reveals the overarching themes

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and shows how the early Christians understood the book of revelation.

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Most importantly, he will help us relate to how Christians should

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respond to revelation today.

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So get your scuba gear and let's dive deep into God's word.

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Here is Gordon Ferguson.

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Hello to my friends in orange.

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Theresa now we're blessed to live among you for two years back in 2013 and 2014.

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And we came to love the area very quickly and certainly came to love the church.

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A great deal.

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We've made many friends there.

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I've made several trips back then, uh, since then, And it's certainly good

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to be able to share with you a number of lessons, the podcasts, we can call

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them on a subject that I've studied a lot, but I feel like it's one that

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is very, very relevant right now.

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Marcel asked me to speak on the subject and as we talked

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about it, we decided to call it.

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Revelation revealed.

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And that simply the title, uh, presently of a book that's gone through

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several revisions, but at any rate, it is a practical exposition that

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I wrote a number of years ago and have updated some from time to time.

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But I want to do a lot more than simply focus on the book of revelation.

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I think we need to look at a lot of other parts of the Bible using similar

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language and help give us a feel for what that kind of language involves.

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Why does God use it?

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What does he mean by it?

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Uh, we certainly right now are in a client.

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Uh, of high interest in what we often call the end times, uh, the

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end ages, the end of the world.

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What is going on right now?

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Is it near the end?

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Is Jesus coming soon, many questions come to mind, but, uh, at least the

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first two lessons in the podcast series we'll deal with the subject more broadly.

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Uh, before we get to the book of revelation.

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Now, I'm not surprised that there's a lot of interest in the topic right now,

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the more unsettled our world becomes and perhaps the more unsettled our personal

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life becomes, the more we want to know about all things having to do with the

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second coming of Christ and the end of the world, speculation about the end times.

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Certainly at an all time high, but it is nothing new.

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It's been taking place since the church was in its earliest days.

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For example, listen to what Paul wrote in second Thessalonians, two verses one.

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Quote concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and

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our being gathered to him.

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We ask you brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed

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by the teaching, allegedly from us, whether by a prophecy or by word of

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mouth or by letter asserting that the day of the Lord has already.

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End of quote.

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So there were a lot of things floating around, even in the early church about

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the second coming, uh, showing that they certainly misunderstood that first

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Corinthians 15 deals with it as well.

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When we talk about the book of rivalry, The title itself comes from

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the word apokalupsis in Greek and it simply means to reveal or to uncover.

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But the unique thing about this unusual book is that it reveals

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God's message in a different way.

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Through the use of symbols and symbolic or apocalyptic language revealing type

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language, but revealing through the use of symbols, such language is common in the.

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So the early Christians with a Jewish background, didn't find revelation to

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be such a mysterious book as we do.

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And certainly because they understood it, they were able to help their

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brothers and sisters in the church with a Gentile background.

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As the church got older, uh, we often speak of revelation being a

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mystery or mysterious and thinking we can't understand it, but the

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word mystery in the Bible from.

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Is the, uh, uh, word, uh, that actually means to make something

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clear that wasn't known before.

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It meant something that couldn't be understood with human wisdom, but it

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was something God was now making known.

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If you'd read Ephesians three.

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Where Paul uses the word mystery a number of times and explains that

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God has revealed, uh, the meaning of the gospel mystery through the

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apostles and prophets, uh, you'll gain, uh, the idea that the mystery.

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Was something that couldn't be unknown, but is now being made known

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through his apostles, some prophets.

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So Ephesians three is a great passage to study about God having

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something previously hidden that now he wanted to make perfect.

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Clear.

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And so the idea of mystery being something that we can't possibly understand

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that is not by God wrote the Bible and certainly not the new Testament,

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including the book of revelation.

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No matter how puzzled we might feel coming to revelation initially.

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And the other apocalyptic writings, God is not trying to hide the meanings from us.

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He is revealing them through the use of symbols.

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He wants us to understand this type of language, just as much as he

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wants us to understand any other type of language that conveys his

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will for our lives and his work in.

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The world and so less, uh, assume the best that God wants us to understand.

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And therefore jump into our study with confidence.

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I want to begin by talking about apocalyptic language in the old days.

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Uh, it was very commonly used, particularly in challenging times, uh,

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to people going through persecution of one sort or another, and this type of

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language appeals more to the imagination and the emotion than to the intellect.

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And so it was designed to give encouragement and hope that God would

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deal with the enemies of his people.

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Most of the apocalyptic language with which the Jews were familiar was actually

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written during the intertestamental period, which was a time of great upheaval

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and persecution of the Jews, but it was also a time of renewed Jewish nationalism.

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Beginning with the Maccabean revolt.

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And you can study that out.

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Some if you would like to, it's a very intriguing time, uh, of the Jewish history

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prior to the coming of Christ and that 400 year period between the old Testament

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ending and the new Testament beginning, uh, a few examples in the old days.

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Just to give us an idea that this was common type of language,

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uh, and Isaiah 13, he's giving a prophecy against Babylon.

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And so we find this symbolism.

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C the day of the Lord is coming accrual day with rack and fierce

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anger to make the land desolate and destroy the centers within it.

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The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light.

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The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

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Now, if you're not aware of how God is using that type of language, you could

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jump to the idea that this is the end of the world, but it is not now it's the end

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of, uh, Babylon's world in some sense, historically, but it is not the end of

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the world as we normally think of it.

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Uh, Isaiah goes on.

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And speaks against the enemies of Israel with these words in chapter

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34 and verse four, he says, all the stars in the sky will be dissolved and

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the heavens rolled up like a scroll.

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All the story host will fall like withered leaves from the vine,

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like shriveled figs from the.

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Now, when you talk about the stars in the sky being dissolved and the heavens

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rolled up like a scroll, you began to think that has to be the end of the world.

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Well, it certainly doesn't and isn't, uh, when you study as a 34

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and its context, it's just what we call this apocalyptic type symbolic.

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Language.

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And Isaiah 19 is quiet, clearly talking about Egypt, but he says,

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quote, a prophecy against Egypt.

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See the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt, the idols

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of Egypt trouble before him and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with.

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And so many times in the old Testament, you find a mention of God coming, but it

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is not a coming like the second coming of Christ, which is going to be literally

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true, but it is a coming in judgment.

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And so many times you find that now, Or that use of symbolic language

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and you certainly are going to find it in the new Testament as well.

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Daniel is a book that I find really helpful and showing us more about

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apocalyptic language because he very specifically, uh, interprets it for us.

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Much easier.

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And he gives us a several different chapters that deal with this.

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Of course, he also gives us chapters that are just straightforward,

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common use of language describing.

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Uh, Daniel and his three friends, uh, the lives, then all of the

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things that happen there, Daniel thrown into the fiery furnace.

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All of that, you find a number of things mentioned there that are just

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straightforward pros, but you also find.

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This symbolic language and he explains it very clearly, far us.

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Uh, many of us have studied Daniel two and what we call the kingdom study.

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We learn about when the kingdom are, the church was established in acts two, but

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we learn about that by going back to the book of Daniel and going through chapter

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two, it's a very interesting setting here.

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Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon.

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At the time he had this dream of a giant statue made up of different types of.

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And no one could interpret that.

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But Daniel was one of the wise men serving the king.

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He had been taken into captivity along with 10,000 others.

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And he and several of his friends had been raised up and selected

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to be wise men to serve the key.

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And so Daniel was the only one that could interpret Nebuchadnezzar's.

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And he was given that interpretation directly from God, of course.

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And he passed it on to the key.

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And so the king had dreamed about this giant statue with

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different kinds of metal making it.

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And so Daniel goes on to explain that the gold head represented Babylon.

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And then he says after that another kingdom will arise and it had a

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silver chest and arms that represented the next worldwide kingdom, which

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was the meatal Persian king.

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And then after that, historically, you're going to have the kingdom of

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Greece and that one was represented by a bronze belly and thighs.

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And we'll find more about the king of Greece, the kingdom of

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Greece a little bit later, but then he goes on to the fourth key.

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And that one was represented on the statue by legs of iron and

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feet of clay and iron mixed.

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And that represented the fourth, a tremendous kingdom of Rome.

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And he tells us during the times of that fourth key.

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There will be a rock cut out by human hands.

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It would smash and destroy the statue, the empires of men and

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other words, and become a mountain, which would fill the whole earth.

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And he makes it clear that he is talking about the kingdom of God.

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And so historically from the time of Daniel on you would naturally

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be looking for God's new kingdom.

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For this new, uh, phase of a kingdom, he had an old Testament kingdom of

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physical kingdom, but he was going to establish a spiritual kingdom, which

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would be as all ultimate kingdom.

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And that took place in acts two.

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And Jesus, of course had a phase of the kingdom going in his earthly ministry,

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but then the new covenant came in, uh, with the coming of the events of acts

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chapter two on the day of Pentecost when the church was established.

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And so all of that is in Daniel two and many of us are familiar with

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it, but the point is he takes some.

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That you'd have a hard time figuring out and interprets it for us now.

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He's not done with it.

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He goes on a little later in chapter seven and describes

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the same exact four kingdoms.

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But now he's not talking about a statue.

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He is talking about beasts are animals to, to pick the same four kingdoms.

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And that's important because we're going to find bees.

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Representing aspects of Rome in the book of revelation, which

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we'll explain when we get there.

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But at any rate in Daniel seven first, you find a lot of.

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And then a bear and then a leopard and finally just a terrifying beast

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without any animal designation.

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Uh, this beast had 10 horns, but a little horn came up among them and uprooted.

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Three of the first horns.

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And so the vision explains the horns as key, and that will be done in revelation.

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Horns will stand part Kings about, of course they will

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be dealing with the Kings.

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Revelations day, uh, Daniel is D dealing with different Kings because there

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were different kingdoms in force during that period of time and following.

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But we're talking about the same four kingdoms.

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We're talking about Babylon.

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We're talking about Beto Persia.

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We're talking about Greece and we finally are talking about Rome and.

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And Daniel seven, that really scary beast, the terrifying beast

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was, uh, the empire of Rome.

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And so what we find in Daniel seven is that the ancient of days.

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Took the throne and took over the world, showing the coming of

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God's spiritual kingdom, just as it has happened in Daniel two.

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So Daniel seven describes the same thing and different symbolic terms, but

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he interprets it for us now, Daniel.

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Covers the same ground, except he goes into different details.

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He get goes into the kingdom of Greece and more detail because it was during

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that kingdom that God's people, the Jews.

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That nation was undergoing a lot of persecution by Kings that were

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connected with the nation of Greece.

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And so in Daniel eight, it begins with a Ram having two Longhorns, one

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longer than the other, uh, meet Oprah.

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Then a goat with a prominent horn attack and destroyed the Ram.

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The Ram was Beto Persia.

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The goat was Greece at the height of Greece's power.

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In this case, the goat, uh, the prominent horn was broken off and replaced by

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four other horns out of those one.

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Uh, came, uh, another horn that persecuted the people of God in unique ways.

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And so what happened is when Alexander the great died.

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Uh, then his kingdom, the Greek empire was divided into four different parts

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and those parts were taken over and governed by four generals that who

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had, who had served under Alexander.

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The great.

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And it said out of one of those horns came.

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The persecution of God's people in some unique ways.

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And that was during that intertestamental period, but it

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played a big part in the history of that time for the Jewish nation.

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And so he goes into more detail there this time, the world empires, her name.

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Miedo Persia.

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As I said, then, uh, the goat was grease.

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The horn broken off, led to the Greek kingdom being divided among,

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uh, Alexander's four generals.

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And one of those was called here, the master of intrigue.

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And he was the one who would desecrate temple worship.

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It would be an abomination.

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It would be an abomination of desolation.

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And that terminology is used there.

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And it would be, uh, used again in the new Testament, the abomination of

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desolation, except it's talking about two different historical events, just like.

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The, uh, nation was desecrated.

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The kingdom was violated in some various severe ways, such

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as offering a pig on the altar.

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Uh, back during that intertestamental time.

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Uh, you had in the new Testament, what is called an abomination of

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desolation, but that refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple

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and Jerusalem by the nation of Rome.

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And Ady 70.

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So similar terminology.

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Similar symbolic language, but used to apply to the age of Christians being

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persecuted rather than the Jewish people being persecuted some hundreds

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of years before I will mention, since I've raised the question of Daniel,

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uh, I will mention that rather than trying to give you an exposition.

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I just wanted to use some of the symbolism from it and to show

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you that it's used that way.

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And the God here gives the interpretation of it.

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And a number of cases, I will mention a book by John Oaks, a commentary on Daniel

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that he wrote a number of years ago.

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It is still available from illumination publishers, IPS.

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Uh, John and I are very good friends.

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He asked me to write the full word for that book many years ago, which I did.

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And I was very excited when I read the book.

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John was a science teacher at the time.

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And I didn't expect quiet the knowledge, uh, that John had the in-depth

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knowledge of the book of Daniel.

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It is a very good commentary.

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It is in fact, on my shelf, it is my go-to commentary on the book of Daniel.

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And I certainly have.

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Recommended.

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But my point is that when we come to the book of revelation for the Jewish

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Christians, and of course the early church started with only Jews for a

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number of years before Cornelius and his family got converted and later

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many Gentiles, but you had that Jewish background of the early church and they

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were familiar with the old Testament.

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They were familiar with.

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Other writings that took place during the intertestamental period, which are

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not in the Bible, but they use this language, this symbolic language, uh,

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in order to give people hope and, and to tell them in so many words that the

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enemy would ultimately be destroyed and their cause would be exalted.

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And that is the overall message of apocalyptic type language among God.

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People old Testament or new now.

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What I want to do is come to apocalyptic language in the new Testament will

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not have time to quite get through this part today, but we will.

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And our next podcast cover it in more detail, but outside

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the book of revelation.

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There's not a lot of symbolic language in the new Testament

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except in one particular place.

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And that is, and the gospel accounts, you find a rather long section in

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chapter 24 of Matthew and those same.

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Symbols are used, meaning the same thing.

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It's actually parallel versions of it in both mark and Luke.

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Now I'm glad we have three accounts because we only read Matthew 24 normally,

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and you have to remember that Matthew 24 was written to mainly a Jewish background.

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Audience.

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And so he's going to very freely use this highly symbolic language would cause uh,

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people with that background understood it.

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When you get to mark, he is writing to more of a Roman audience, uh,

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and these coming from a certain vantage point to the Roman minds.

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And then you get to Luke and he's a gentle rider to start with the only

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Gentile writer in the new Testament.

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And Luke not only is a Gentile, but he is very specifically

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writing to a Gentile audience.

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And so he breaks things down in much more common language.

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Then Matthew does, and even Martin does.

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And so Matthew is very Jewish and it's apocalyptic use of language.

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Then mark is less so and less in detail also because mark is a short book.

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It was written for that Roman mindset of.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:22

And so it says immediately this and immediately that, and

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:25

immediately this, uh, many, many times and mark, because he's moving

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:30

fast, he's dealing with people.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:33

I think a lot, like we have today, people with short attention

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:36

spans when it comes to reading.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:39

And so he went rather fast through his short book.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:43

Luke has a much longer book and more in detail, but it's written with much

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:49

less of a Jewish feel and much more of a normal feel that the Gentiles would have.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:26:57

And so when we compare the three accounts in Matthew 24 and in mark

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:03

13 and Luke 21, we're going to find.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:08

Some answers, uh, to what might give us the wrong concept and Matthew 24.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:17

And so we will start though with Matthew 24, and I want to read

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:22

quite a long section from it.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:26

Now, the setting of this.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:29

Is that Jesus was in the temple area with the apostles.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:34

Uh, he noticed this widow who gave.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:39

The last two coins she had and he called attention to her and said

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:44

she has out given them all because she gave her very last bit of money.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:53

Whereas all the rich people were giving out of their riches and they

Gordon Ferguson: 00:27:57

had plenty left after they gave, and he says she has get out and given them.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:02

She made a true sacrifice in other words, uh, whereas they just gave an offering.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:10

And so let's pick up in Matthew 24, it says Jesus left the temple and was walking

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:17

away what his disciples came up to him and called his attention to its buildings.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:23

Do you see all these things?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:24

He said.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:25

Truly, I tell you not one stone here will be left on another.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:31

Every one will be thrown down.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:35

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of olives, the disciples came

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:39

to him, privately, tell us, they said, when will this happen?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:44

What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:48

The old version says the end of the world.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:52

Jesus answered.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:53

Watch out that no one deceives you for many will come in my name claiming I

Gordon Ferguson: 00:28:58

am the Messiah and will deceive many.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:01

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:04

are not alarmed, such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:11

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:15

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:18

All these are the beginning of birth bangs.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:21

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:26

will be hated by all nations because of.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:30

At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:36

And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people because

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:40

of the increase of wickedness.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:42

The love of most will grow.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:45

Cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:51

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:55

as a testimony to all nations.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:29:58

And then the end will come.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:02

Now, most of you think this is talking about the end of the world, the second

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:10

coming of Christ in the end of the week.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:14

Now let's go back to the context.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:16

Jesus has just praised this woman who gave the last of the money that she had.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:24

He was praising.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:26

And all the rich folks were there giving their money as well.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:30

And they gave much more money and actuality, although they didn't

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:35

make near the sacrifice that she did well, the disciples were a

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:40

little disturbed by the comparison.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:43

And so they showed Jesus, the buildings look at this temple, how majestic it is.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:50

Lord.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:51

You've got to realize this was built by rich people.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:55

Not poor widows.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:30:57

This was built by rich people that gave a lot of money.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:03

In other words, they were basically re uh, chastising Jesus for putting

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:09

down the rich people, because in their mind, they owed the existence

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:14

of the temple to the rich folks.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:17

Jesus said, yeah, you're impressed with all these things, but he said,

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:22

there's not going to be one stone.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:25

It's all going to be torn down.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:27

And so the things that men delight in it's going to be torn down.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:32

And so they say, well, wait a minute, when will this happen?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:36

What will be the sign of your coming?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:38

And the end of the age, ours, the king James says, I think the end of the world.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:46

Now, when you read this.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:48

Unless you've studied this type of language.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:51

And especially, unless you have studied both Mark's account and Luke's account,

Gordon Ferguson: 00:31:56

you will come to the conclusion that it is the second coming of Christ.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:03

And then when we get into some of the other symbolic language down

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:06

toward the end of the chapter, or at least further into the chapter,

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:12

uh, you will definitely think.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:15

And so let's pick up where we left off in verse 15.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:20

He says, so when you see standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:26

desolation spoken off through the prophet, then you'll let the reader understand.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:31

Then let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:35

Let no one on the house top, go down to take anything out of the house.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:39

Let no one in the field, go back to get their cloak, how dreadful it will be in

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:45

those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers, pray that your flight will not

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:50

take place in winter, our own a second.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:53

Far, there will be great distress on equal from the beginning of the world

Gordon Ferguson: 00:32:57

until now, and never to be equal again, if those days had not been cut short, no

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:03

one would survive for, uh, would survive.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:06

But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened at that time.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:11

If anyone says to you, look here the Messiah, or there he is, do not

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:16

believe it for false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:23

These a great miracles and wonders to deceive.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:28

If possible, even the elect.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:30

See, I have told you ahead of time.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:33

So, if anyone tells you there, he is out in the wilderness, but not go out

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:37

or here he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it far as lightening comes from

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:43

the east is visible even in the west.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:46

So it will be the coming of the son of man, wherever the

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:52

carcass is, the vultures will be.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:33:56

Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:00

The moon will not give its light.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:01

The stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:05

That reminds us of the, uh, phrases that we saw in AZA.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:11

Talking about the downfall of nations of that day.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:15

Then he says in verse 30 will appear the sign of the son of man and Evan.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:20

Then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the son

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:24

of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:28

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:32

his elect from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:36

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree, as soon as its twigs get

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:41

tender and its leaves come out, you know, that summer is near even.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:47

So when you see all these things, you know, that it is

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:52

near right at the door, truly.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:34:58

This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:07

Now that's pretty confusing, right?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:09

If you haven't studied it, it's pretty confusing because you

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:14

start off with Jesus or the.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:17

Asking Jesus about his coming and the end of the age.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:21

So you think that's the end of the world.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:23

And then he goes on down and talks about the gospel being preached and all of

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:27

the things that are going to take place.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:29

He talks about the abomination of desolation and goes back to

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:33

Daniel for that terminology.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:36

And then he says, don't let anyone go in to the house to collect anything.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:43

He talks about taking a flight and.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:47

That's not a plane flight, obviously, but, uh, taking flight out of

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:53

Jerusalem and he says, pray, it won't be on the winter, uh, time or in

Gordon Ferguson: 00:35:58

the winter time or on a Sabbath day.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:02

And so he talks about all of this occurring, but then he adds in the stars,

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:09

falling from the sky and the heavenly body shaken and all of that, and the

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:13

sign of the son of man and heaven.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:16

And then he uses terminology.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:18

That does sound like the end of time, but certain parts of

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:22

this can't be the end of the.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:25

I mean when Jesus comes, nobody is going to run back into the

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:28

house to grab it, grab his cloak.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:30

There's not going to be any flight, uh, out of Jerusalem.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:36

So whatever he's talking about here, he is not talking about the end of the world.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:43

As we know of it.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:45

Even the question of the apostles.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:48

Uh, what about the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:53

They didn't even think at that point that Jesus was going to die.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:36:57

When he talked about dying and being resurrected from the dead, they had not

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:01

a clue of what he was talking about.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:05

They didn't have the concept that they later would have about the second coming

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:09

of Christ and the end of the world.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:11

As we actually know, it will occur literally.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:14

Uh, they couldn't have been asking a question about that.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:17

They had very little understanding of even Jesus' death and resurrection and the idea

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:24

of, uh, taking flight out of Jerusalem.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:30

And praying it wouldn't be in the winter on a Sabbath day that couldn't

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:34

refer to the second coming of Christ.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:36

When that happens, it's done.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:39

I mean, the rest of the passage that deal with that very directly

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:42

make it clear that that is done.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:45

And so this is just symbolic language.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:47

So what is he talking about when he talks about the coming of

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:53

Christ and the end of the age?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:56

What is he talking about?

Gordon Ferguson: 00:37:59

He's talking about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in a D 70.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:05

That's what he's talking about.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:07

The entire section that we have read in spite of the questions

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:13

that we misunderstand, they were asking about simple.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:20

When is this temple going to be destroyed and one stone not left on the other.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:24

That's what Jesus just got through saying.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:26

And so all he is talking about is.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:30

The end of the Jewish age, which is marked by the destruction of Jerusalem

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:38

and the destruction of the temple.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:40

That was the final, last straw ending the old covenant, the Jewish age, but he

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:48

says in verse 30 floor for truly, I tell you, this generation will certainly not

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:55

pass away until all these things have.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:38:59

All on him.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:00

And he spoke this at about eight 30.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:04

The destruction of Jerusalem happened a generation away, 40 years away in a

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:10

D 70 at the hands of the Roman army.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:15

And in our next podcast, we will get into the other.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:21

We will get into Mark's account and then Luke's account.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:26

And we'll even add another section that covers the same exact Def,

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:31

uh, description, uh, and Luke 17.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:36

And I think it will be clear by the end of this.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:39

That we're not talking about the end of the world as we know it.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:43

And as other passages, like first Corinthians 15, describe it.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:48

Uh, we're talking about the end of the Jewish age and Jesus coming

Gordon Ferguson: 00:39:54

in judgment against Jerusalem and destroying the temple.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:01

And all of that through the hands of the Roman army.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:06

And so we will deal with this more in detail.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:09

Hopefully we have gotten your appetite whetted to deal in, uh, this, uh,

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:15

dig into this rather more deeply.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:18

Uh, I have an article on my website that I'll refer to.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:23

The deals with Matthew 24 and the parallels.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:27

But I think it's important for us to understand that even in the new

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:32

Testament, prior to revelation, we have some apocalyptic or symbolic language.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:39

And if we can get some help with that, then when we approach revelation,

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:46

it will be a lot less mysterious and we'll have some preparation.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:52

For what is to come there so less in podcast one here, and we will be

Gordon Ferguson: 00:40:58

back next week with podcast number two and deal with mark and Luke.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:41:04

And we will understand from them much better what Matthew 24 is.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:41:11

I actually say, so God bless you.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:41:14

I'll sign off.

Gordon Ferguson: 00:41:16

We'll talk more next week.

Marcel: 00:41:18

Thank you Gordon.

Marcel: 00:41:19

And thanks for listening to deeper dive by the OSI church of Christ.

Marcel: 00:41:24

To conclude our revelation revealed series.

Marcel: 00:41:26

We will have a Q and a with Gordon about the book of revelation.

Marcel: 00:41:30

If you would like to submit your question, please email

Marcel: 00:41:32

us@osichurchofchristatgmail.com or message us on social media.

Marcel: 00:41:38

If you want to get connected to us or want to donate to the program, go to

Marcel: 00:41:42

our website O C church of christ.com or through social media at the O C church.

Marcel: 00:41:49

Join us next time for our next deeper dive.