In Matthew 24:1-2, Jesus decisively leaves the temple, symbolizing God’s abandonment of Israel to certain future destruction. When the disciples pointed out to Jesus the marvelous beauty and structure of the temple complex, He prophesied that it would be demolished.
At the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked Jesus when the temple would be destroyed, what the sign of His coming would be, and what would signify the end of the present age. In Jesus’ response, He first declared to the disciples to watch out for false prophets using the name of Christ, leading many astray. This present age would be thoroughly characterized by religious deception, political turmoil, and tremendous natural disasters; but none of those things are signs of the end: these are merely the beginning of birth pains.
We then paused to examine Revelation 20:1-10, first observing the binding of Satan, then the heavenly view of martyred saints’ souls in heaven with Christ, and finally the loosing of Satan after an age of 1,000 years, representative of a fixed period of time (the New Covenant age). The divine binding/restraint of Satan prevents him from having dominance over mankind as he is no longer able to deceive the nations; but Satan will be loosed at the end, uniting the nations in hatred against Christ’s church, persecuting believers to the ends of the earth: unmitigated tribulation for the church. We restated that Satan was bound by Jesus Himself through the inauguration of His kingdom and through Jesus’ mastery over the demonic realm, as Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 12.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, we observed that the following things will signal the end of the end of the 1,000 years: intense activity by a now loosed Satan, the appearance of the powerful Antichrist, overwhelming apostasy by many professing Christians, worldwide persecution of believers, the salvation of the elect through Christ’s 2nd coming, and the eternal destruction of Satan, the Antichrist, and all who followed after them.
It is then in those last days that the people of God will undergo horrific tribulation, many being put to death. They will be hated by the entire world for identifying with Jesus. Many professing Christians will be led astray by strong delusion, and those who apostatize will betray true believers, demonstrating their hatred towards them.
But those who endure and stay faithful to Christ will be saved by God. God’s gospel will go forth throughout the entire world, and when these things described in 24:9-14 have taken place, then the end will certainly come, and Christ will return.
Listen to last week’s teaching on Matthew 24:1-14 below.
https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/harvestfellowship/sermons/3162314286099/
