Learning Jesus | Week 31
Learning Jesus Week 31
Israel’s Return<> Messiah’s Return
Key Word – repentance >> Central Passage – See Reflection Questions.
This week starts the eighth division of the life of Christ, which opens with what is called the Olivet Discourse and ends with the Garden of Gethsemane. With this division Jesus will complete His work as prophet. In this role He has proclaimed God’s will for this generation, shared direct revelation from God and predicted both near and far futures. Given that Israel has resoundingly rejected Jesus as their Messiah, the question Jesus answers in the Olivet Discourse is this: What will be the circumstances that lead to Israel’s repentance and call for the return of Her King? So we will be studying eschatology, the doctrines of God’s final plan, over these next few weeks.
Day 1 – disciples’ three questions about the future
Read Matthew 24:1-3.
Background Information – Jesus is leaving the Temple for the last time. The disciples are ignorant of this, yet providentially at this juncture they praise Herod’s Temple. Mark records them saying, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stone and what wonderful buildings!” Herod began restoring and enlarging the Temple in 20 B.C., but the outer courts and structures were still in progress in A.D. 30, and they would not be complete until A.D. 64. The stones were on average ten to twelve feet long and weighed eight to ten tons, but some weighed up to four hundred tons.
When Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down,” He is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem of A.D. 70. Remember that Jesus’ “Truly” means “Amen,” as in “This the will of God.” Therefore, the disciples ask Jesus three questions that can be translated like this: 1. When will the Temple be destroyed? 2. What will be the sign that your coming is about to happen? 3. What will be the sign that the world is ending and the Messianic Kingdom will be established?
1. Throughout His ministry, Jesus often taught in synagogues and again and again at the Temple. Even at age twelve Jesus was about His Father’s business teaching in His Father’s House (Luke 2:49). Here Jesus leaves the Temple for the last time because the Father’s business is for Jesus to build a superior Temple to this man-made temple. Meditate on that in light of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
2. Of the Temple Jewish rabbis said: “He who has not seen the Temple of Herod has never seen a beautiful building.” What do you imagine the disciples were thinking when they heard Jesus’ prophecy about the total annihilation of THE building in Jerusalem? Consider this saying about the temple but also verse 3.
3. Why does Jesus speak so bluntly to His disciples about the Temple’s coming destruction at this crucial juncture in His instruction to them?
Day 2 – church age signs that the end is near and Messianic Kingdom will begin
Background Information – Yesterday we listed three questions the disciples posed to Jesus regarding both near and far futures. In today’s text, Jesus answers the third question first: What will be the sign that the world is ending and the Messianic Kingdom will be established?
Read Matthew 24:4-6.
Background Information – Jesus was the first to claim to be the Messiah, but following Jesus, Simon Bar Cochba then claimed to be the messiah, and he led a second revolt against Rome in A.D. 132 to 135. Following him, other false messiahs have led many astray over the past two thousand years. The second general characteristic of the Church Age are local wars. His wording of “wars and rumors of wars” is a phrasing His listeners would have understood as meaning local wars, not world wars.
1. How is the Church to respond to false messiahs and wars and rumors of wars? Why?
With prophecy, it often difficult to discern when the speaker is shifting. So get ready. Jesus is shifting from saying what the last days are NOT. It is not false messiahs and local wars.
Read Matthew 24:7-8 for what Jesus says does characterize the last days.
Background Information – Dr. Fruchtenbaum, a Messianic Jew who specializes in teaching the gospels through the context of first century Judaism, points out that here Jesus uses the rabbinic idiom “nation against nation” and “kingdom against kingdom.” This idiom is referring not to local wars but to world war or worldwide conflict. Fruchtenbaum sees this prophecy fulfilled in World War I and World War II, which historians view as one long war. He points out that we should consider how this one long world war affected the Jews in order to understand its last days ramifications.
One result of World War I is that many Jews joined the Zionist movement. Zionists sought to establish the state of Israel so that Jews scattered to every corner of the world after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 could come home. The Holocaust is tied to World War II and this systematic, state-sponsored persecution resulting in the mass murder of six million Jews solidified the commitment to establish the state of Israel in 1948.
Regarding famines, 19 million people starved to death in India in 1900, and major famines occurred in Russia, Ukraine, and China between the world wars. A quick search on the internet affirms that also since 1900, earthquakes have drastically increased in frequency and magnitude.
2. Reflect on how Jesus refers to world war, famines, and earthquakes as but the beginning of the birth pains of the last days.
o Contrast the beginning of birth pains to full on labor. Ask a mom if you need some help with this one.
o Why does Jesus compare this time period to birth pains?
o What does that imply will follow?
3. World wars, famines, and earthquakes are like the signs of birth pangs. These events indicate we are at end of the church age. How does knowing this help you process the realities of our world now?
Day 3 – disciples’ persecution following Jesus’ death
Background Information – Jesus again shifts the time sequence in today’s text, and it is easier to follow the shift because He opens with “But before all this....” So BEFORE the false messiahs arise, before world wars, before an increase in famines and earthquakes, the events in this text will occur. Since they occur BEFORE, these events will take place in the apostles’ lifetime.
1. Between both Mark and Luke’s accounts, Jesus includes nine specific experiences the apostles will live as they establish the Church. Divide the experiences into positive and negative in the t-chart below the texts. Mark has one experience (13:10), & Luke has one experience (21:19) the other does not have.
Mark 13:9-10 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Luke 21:12-19 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name's sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish.19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
- Opposition & Persecution + Results & Promises ____________________________
2. Imagine this t-chart as a balancing scale. What weighty eternal relationship outcomes should motivate the apostles to persevere despite the weight of the costs?
3. Reflect on the opposition and persecution you have experienced as a Christ follower. What were the positive results of your experiences?
Day 4 – destruction of Jerusalem A.D. 70
Background Information – In today’s text, Jesus answers the apostles’ first question (See Day 1 to review all three questions asked). Their first question again was this: When will the Temple be destroyed?
Read Luke 21:20-24.
Background Information – Jesus’ first words “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know its desolation is near.” These words indicate that once again Jesus has shifted the time sequence. He is referring to the Temple’s desolation as near.” In A.D. 66 Jerusalem was indeed surrounded by armies. General Cestius Gallus brought legions from Caesarea to surround the city, but due to a mistake in judgment, Gallus was forced to lift the siege and return to Caesarea. Believing Messianic Jews, however, heeded Jesus’ warning here and fled Jerusalem once Gallus returned to Caesarea. Believers from Judea, Galilee, and the Golan Heights joined them in Pella where they waited out the war. The Romans indeed returned to destroy Jerusalem, and in A.D. 70 the Temple was left desolate. Of the unbelieving Jews who did not flee to Pella, 1,100,000 were killed in the first Jewish revolt, and 97,000 were taken into slavery.
1. What details does Jesus include that help you to imagine this event?
2. What would characterize those who flee to the mountains in Pella? What is their reward?
3. How would Satan consider the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of believing Jews a victory for himself? The Deep Think below might be helpful to read.
Deep Think (Totally Optional)
We still live in the age of the Gentiles. Daniel refers to this age as the time from the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C. until the Messiah’s second coming. So the times of the Gentiles will end only after the Tribulation when Jesus returns. Daniel predicts the rise and fall of four Gentile empires during this time, with the last being the empire of the Antichrist who is defeated by Jesus.
It is true that the Jews have regained some control of Jerusalem at various times since Daniel’s prediction, but these victories only gave them either temporary or partial control. After the Holocaust during World War II, Israel was recognized as a nation, and many immigrant Jews moved to Israel. In 1967 the Jews took over Jerusalem, but Israel does not have complete sovereignty over this city and more Gentiles than Jews live in Jerusalem today.
Day 5 – disciples’ persecution during the first 3.5 years of Tribulation
Read Matthew 24:9-14.
Background Information – In today’s text Jesus shifts from the destruction of the Temple in the near future to the first half of the Tribulation, which is in the far future.
He opens with “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” Note Jesus shifts the time frame again, simply stating “Then.” He uses “you,” but the people of this “you” have not proven to be of the same generation of Jews who fled to Pella to escape the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. So this is the generation of Jews who will become believers in Jesus the Messiah during the Tribulation.
1. What five specific experiences will believing Jews experience during the first half of the Tribulation? Divide the experiences into positive and negative in the T-Chart below the texts.
- Opposition & Persecution + Results & Promises ____________________________
Background Information – There are two misinterpretations of this text: 1) The word “saved” can refer to physical salvation or spiritual salvation. When Jesus says, “the one who endures to the end,” He means those who are still physically alive when He returns. He is NOT teaching the loss of spiritual salvation as some teach, for this would contradict Scripture that clearly teaches the security of a believer’s salvation. 2) Jesus prophesies that the “gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” This is not a prophecy for the Church. Again, the “you” are the Jews of the Tribulation; these Messianic Jews will witness to the nations of the world (Revelation 7:1-8). Jesus is NOT saying, “Church, until you witness to every tribe and nation, I am not going to return” as some teach.
2. How do you imagine Jesus’ teaching here will encourage the Jews and Gentiles who become believers during the Tribulation?
3. How does it encourage you?
Optional Memory Verses – And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14
REFLECTION Questions
1. Our opening text box sets up why Jesus is preaching about the end times: Given that Israel has resoundingly rejected Jesus as their Messiah, the question Jesus answers in the Olivet Discourse is this: What will be the circumstances that lead to Israel’s repentance and call for the return of Her King? We are going to answer that question as a group. To do that we are going to read all 24 verses covered in this lesson, but only answer these questions:
Day 1 -- Q3 Day 2 -- Q2 Day 3 -- Q1 & 2 Day 4 -- Q1 & 2 Day 5 -- Q1
2. List the events in the order they occurred or will occur (#1, #2, etc.)
_____ tribulation
_____ world wars & earthquakes & famines
_____ Jerusalem destroyed A.D. 70.
_____ apostles persecuted
_____ local wars & false messiahs
3. Trial & Tribulation Impact
o In the correct order of events, discuss how God will use each to accomplish His will for unbelievers and believers. Keep praising our God while having these discussions!
o Now discuss this question: What will be the circumstances that lead to Israel’s repentance and call for the return of Her King? Consider the totality of these events’ impact on Israel.
o How will you apply Jesus’ teaching on the end times?
COMMUNITY GROUP TIME
• Start Group Time with Reflection Questions. These direct you to specific questions for each day’s reading.
• Is anyone able to recite all or part of Matthew 24:14?
• Close in prayer.
God’s joy and strength to you,