The Book of Matthew

[Allyn]

THE BOOK OF MATTHEW


In Matthew's gospel, besides the Olivet Discourse, there are several passages that speak about the imminence of the coming kingdom, the pending tribulation and destruction of Jerusalem, the second coming, judgment, and resurrection. Verses that are of interest that I will not be addressing here are Matthew 3:2, 10:15, 12:32, 13:37-51, 22:6 (speaks specifically of the destruction of Jerusalem), and 26:63-64. Lets look at some key verses in the book of Matthew that help establish a first century fulfillment of the Olivet Discourse, and validate the truthfulness of Christ regarding when he said he would come.



(Matthew 3:7) 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?



The word "come" in this verse is the Greek word "mello", which means "about to be". By using the Greek word "mello" John is pointing to a wrath that was chronologically prophesied as near to the Jews, not a wrath that was 2000+ years away and meant for the entire planet. It could be read "who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come".



(Matthew 10:23) "But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.



This is a very clear time reference regarding the second coming of Christ. First, who is the relevant audience? The disciples. What does He tell them? He tells them that they will not finish evangelizing all of Israel before he comes again. If we compare the statements, "you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes" with "This generation will not pass away until all these things be fulfilled" we have two time limiting and compatible scriptures supporting one another as to the brevity of time before his second coming.



(Matthew 16:27-28) "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."



Who are the "you" in this verse? The disciples. How much clearer could Christ be when establishing the time He was going to return? He has already limited the time of His coming by saying these same men won't finish going through Israel evangelizing, and now He says He is clearly coming back in the lifetime of at least some of his disciples. Both of those line up perfectly with "this generation." Time after time Jesus has given us specific and emphatic time limiting statements. When you read this particular scripture you have only two choices(1) He either came back in the lifetime of some of his disciples, which would also qualify for "this generation", or (2) There are some disciples still alive today because He told them that He would return with glory and angels to establish His kingdom and give rewards before all of them had died.



(Matthew 23:34-38) 34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!



Here again we see the use of "this generation" (verse 36). It is the same generation as "this generation" in the Olivet Discourse. It is Christ's contemporaries. When you read this passage you can see why it was this generation that was so guilty and so worthy of the great tribulation that God poured out on it in judgment in 66-70AD. They were the generation that was not only going to be guilty for all the righteous bloodshed from Abel to that present time, but they were also the generation that was responsible for the bloodshed of the most righteous ever ­ Jesus Christ. Is this not the generation that most deserved all the horrific events described in the Olivet Discourse? This was the culminating apostate generation that would see the full and final wrath of God in judgment upon them as described in the pages of scripture. Christ Himself told the religious leaders of that day that they were "filling up the measure of their father's guilt" for killing the prophets (Matthew 23:32). They had been a covenant breaking people for centuries, and now, having killed the Messiah, this was the last generation of physical Israel before God kept His promise to wipe them out forever. They even called this wrath down upon themselves in the following verse


(Matthew 27:25) 25 and all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"


They asked that his blood be upon them and their children, and it was done just as they asked. They, their children, their temple, their city and their culture were completely destroyed in 70AD.

[Paidion]

Matthew 24:27 For as the lighting comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man.

When the lighting of the sun starts in the east in the morning and shines in the west in the evening, everyone is aware of it! So will it be with the coming of Christ. When He comes, everyone will be aware of it!

This is in the context of the immediately preceding verse:

Matthew 24:26 So, if they say to you, ‘Lo, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; if they say, ‘Lo, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

Don't believe it when the Seventh Day Adventists say He came in 1844, but that it was an invisible coming when He "cleansed the heavenly sanctuary".

Don't believe it when Jehovah's Witnesses say He came in 1914, but that it was an invisible coming in spirit, not in body. Only JWs are aware of it.

Don't believe it when full preterists say He came in 70. Nobody had any awareness of such a coming.

No, it won't be a secret coming of which only the special in-crowd is aware. Rather:

Revelation 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

Yes, all will be as aware of His coming as they are of the sun which shines from east to west. Every eye shall see him.

I believe you, Lord! I won't believe in any of the secret comings!

[Allyn]

It amazes me how offensive to some the truth can be.

[Paidion]

What truth?

[Theophilus]

Matt 23:39 "...For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Did Jerusalem repent by 70AD? Could there be an analogy here with Jonah and Nineveh?

Jonah 3:4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God.
...
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Jerusalem was given 40 years to repent and believe in Christ, similar to the 40 days given to Nineveh to repent. Maybe because Jerusalem did not repent, they received judgment instead of the Kingdom (parousia). Had the unbelieving Jews repented, maybe the LORD would have had compassion on them (conditional prophecy) and Jesus would have returned in 70AD.

[psychohmike]

Jerusalem was given 40 years to repent and believe in Christ, similar to the 40 days given to Nineveh to repent. Maybe because Jerusalem did not repent, they received judgment instead of the Kingdom (parousia). Had the unbelieving Jews repented, maybe the LORD would have had compassion on them (conditional prophecy) and Jesus would have returned in 70AD.

Or maybe some of them did repent...Oh yes...Acts 2 & 3. You see Theo...Some did repent and some didn't. Some received the promises of the covenant and some received the curses of the covenant. Jesus came in both power and glory. He judged some and rewarded others.

He did it while at least "some" of His disciples were still living(Matt. 16:28) and before they would have gone through all the cities of Israel(Matt. 10:23).

So who knows...Maybe it was both.

Fact of the matter is as a futurist one must deny the validity of at least one of these passages. Matthew 10:23 & 16:28. And make a very strange claim.

IF YOU ARE A FUTURIST...YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT THERE IS STILL ONE OF JESUS 12 THAT ARE STILL ALIVE TODAY!!!

PERIOD!!!

Am I wrong???

[mikew]

Jerusalem didn't widely repent. Jesus said they wouldn't. That's why the Bible says:

Mat 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

So Jesus showed that there would be a contrast between Ninevah and Jerusalem rather than a similarity. Again in Rom 11 Paul showed that the promise to Israel was being fulfilled through the remnant or election Rom 11:7. The remnant, as fulfillment, was also shown in Rom 9:27

Rom 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

The coming of Jesus was the judgment of Jerusalem for not repenting. The kingdom of God came in accord with that judgment as a separate activity of God, though by God's focus on Israel and Jerusalem, the Jews expected to be central to that kingdom (so this is one reason why it could be said that the kingdom was taken from them and given to another nation).

[Paidion]

IF YOU ARE A FUTURIST...YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT THERE IS STILL ONE OF JESUS 12 THAT ARE STILL ALIVE TODAY!!!

PERIOD!!!

Am I wrong???psychohmike

Yep.

[Mellontes]

Jerusalem was given 40 years to repent and believe in Christ, similar to the 40 days given to Nineveh to repent. Maybe because Jerusalem did not repent, they received judgment instead of the Kingdom (parousia). Had the unbelieving Jews repented, maybe the LORD would have had compassion on them (conditional prophecy) and Jesus would have returned in 70AD.

Or maybe some of them did repent...Oh yes...Acts 2 & 3. You see Theo...Some did repent and some didn't. Some received the promises of the covenant and some received the curses of the covenant. Jesus came in both power and glory. He judged some and rewarded others.

He did it while at least "some" of His disciples were still living(Matt. 16:28) and before they would have gone through all the cities of Israel(Matt. 10:23).

So who knows...Maybe it was both.

Fact of the matter is as a futurist one must deny the validity of at least one of these passages. Matthew 10:23 & 16:28. And make a very strange claim.

IF YOU ARE A FUTURIST...YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT THERE IS STILL ONE OF JESUS 12 THAT ARE STILL ALIVE TODAY!!!

PERIOD!!!

Am I wrong???

Mike, in all fairness, a futurist does not have to believe that there is one of Jesus' twelve apostles still alive - at least not if you maintain the context of Matthew 16:27-28. In the parallel passage of Mark 8:38 - 9:1 we notice that Christ's discourse begins in Mark 8:34 AFTER "he had called the people unto him with his disciples also." So it does not necessarily mean that any of the twelve has to be alive at Christ's coming.

However, having said that, it still stands to reason and Scriptural authority that some of the people THERE would still be alive at His coming - at least for those who believe in the authority of Scripture. Many try to get around this by saying the fulfillment of Mt 16:27-28 occured at the transfiguration only about a week later. There are three problems with this view:

1) I should like to know of the plague, or the famine, or earthquake, or natural cause that caused the majority to die in about a week.
2) Rewards are not mentioned at the transfiguration.
30 Angels were not present at the transfiguration

And to this I would like to commend the Mormons. Yes, you heard right. At least the Mormons try to uphold the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures when they state that the "beloved disciple" is still alive from John 21:

John 21:22 - Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

Therefore, futurists must come to grips with the same thing. There are three possible choices:
1) The "beloved disciple" is still alive and is paying a fortune for birthday candles and L'oreal make up products
2) Jesus lied to Peter
3) The "beloved disciple" was alive at His coming

Isn't it beautiful to note the harmony in which all the Scriptures come together at the destruction of Jerusalem. It's hard for me to believe that the Hebrew Christians could have been thinking Christ's coming wouldn't be for at least 50 more generations when the following words entered their hears:

"For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Hebrews 10:37). Was this not "the day approaching" in Hebrews 10:25? And if not, what was the day approaching? And all occurring within the generation that Christ prophesied of in Matthew 24:34 and Matthew 23:36! Simply wonderful. Praise God!

Blessings, Mellontes

[psychohmike]

Amen to that. And it amazes me more and more every day how people can convince themselves that these passages don't mean what they say. Other verses may not be so cut and dry, but Matthew 10:23 & 16:27-28 really are the fatal blow to futurism. I've really only seen futurists respond to these two verses with fingers in ear while singing, "lah...lah...lah...lah!!!"

Pmike