A Try For Your Soul

The Great Ones by Joe La Bianca Jesus told the hard-hearted disciples that He was going to die a terrible death for them. Right after this James and John asked Jesus to do for them whatever they wanted. Then they asked to sit at the right hand and the left hand of Jesus in glory. Do you believe them?? What utter gall and insensitivity, not to mention bad timing. So James and John hear that Jesus will die, totally ignore it, and then ask for the highest position in Heaven!! Jesus told them that they were ignorant for asking this. They could not go through what Jesus went through, bearing the sins of the world on His Person. This is why Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God. James and John would never be able to be baptized with the baptism of Jesus. But they would go through many trials because they were believers. This kind of baptism is for all of us. We suffer from the oppressors of the gospel and this is our cross. Jesus did not have the right to give out seats at the throne. In fact, He had to earn the right to sit at God’s right hand by accomplishing the salvation of mankind. Jesus, in His office as Savior, laid aside His own rights for the rights of others. One day things will go back to the way they were before sin entered the world. God will be all and in all at that time. But until Jesus restores everything in the universe, He remains active in subduing the fall, with its subsequent curse of death. Thank God that our spirits are saved and the work of their redemption was totally finished at the cross. One day Jesus will also heal the physical universe too. What a Savior we have! The other ten disciples heard what James and John had asked and they got mad at them. They realized that James and John wanted to be superior to them and they didn’t like it one bit. This hierarchy that James and John tried to start was already causing dissention among the believers. Jesus stops all this at the very beginning. Jesus stopped the hierarchical system. There are no graded ranks in the church!!! Church leaders are not supposed to be categorized!! We do not brand that person a this and this person a that!! No one is superior. We as the body of Christ are all gifted in different ways, but we are not to be lords over each other. Jesus said that the rest of the world has those who are considered leaders, and they exercise lordship over people. Jesus called them great ones who exercise authority over others. Then Jesus said, “It shall not be among you.” Is it this way among you? Do you have religious rulers? Please realize that Jesus is your authority and that no man can be. In fact, the greatest is the servant of all. Is some godly figure putting himself or herself below you? That’s your leader. That’s the way it should be among you. The highest minister on earth is the greatest servant. We are all equal in God’s eyes, so if there is someone trying to usurp religious authority over you, remember what Jesus said in Mark chapter ten. Jesus Himself did not come to be waited on. Instead He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Are you one of the many? Do you know who your Lord is? Is it some man, or is it God? Follow what Jesus said and do not seek the highest place in the church. Seek the lowest. Then you shall be a great one!

                Salt by Joe La Bianca

                We can be filled with salt or we can be empty shakers. The little ones who believe in Jesus are the salt of the earth. God loves when people are nice to His little ones who believe in Jesus. He will reward the person who merely gives a cup of cold water to those who belong to Christ. But if someone tries to stop a person from believing in Jesus, it would be better for that someone to be drowned in the sea.

                There are many who try to stop folks from trusting in the cross. When someone says that you do not really need Jesus, they are trying to put impediments in the way, and if you listen to them you will trip before you reach faith in Christ. If a pastor says that Jesus is not enough, that you also need good works to be saved, they are enticing you to fall away. God will judge these deceivers most severely.

                Jesus said that if our very own right hands or right eyes attempt to stop us from believing, if even they would keep us from faith in Him, we are to cut them off or pluck them out. We become our own worst enemy when we put up roadblocks to faith. Jesus was exaggerating to make a point. His point was to never fall away from simple faith in the cross, even if the most important thing in your life causes you to stumble.

                Of course, our right hands do not cause us to sin, our hearts do. Jesus will cure our hearts if we just believe in Him, that He is our Savior, and that He became our sin on the cross. Faith in Jesus, which is only simple trust for Him, is the one thing needful. If we just trust that we are forgiven because of Jesus, we will go into life; we will pass from death to life. If we do not trust that we are sinners and that Jesus received our punishment, we shall go to where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Take those words of Christ any way you want. But no matter how you take them, it’s not good!

                Then Jesus said that everyone will be salted with fire and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. Fire can only sprinkle us, for Jesus will never let us be overburden with offences. The temptation to turn away from the grace of the cross is likened to fire-salt. Fire-salt is not good, but we all must go through it. Fire-salt tries to scorch our faith away. The constant barrage of the burning darts of the enemy is quickly quenched by our shield of faith. So just believe in Jesus to put out the fire.

                Salt is good. God fills us with a kind of salt. It does three things. It disinfects our hearts. It preserves the peace around us when we sprinkle some on others. And it makes the world a better place through the sapidity of grace.

                So endure the attacks on our faith in Jesus. Cut off dear things if you must. Then take God’s salt to purify sacrifices. We cannot sacrifice to God, for we are impure. God does not desire our sacrifices. But grace will purify our offerings. Let faith in the cross which gives free grace become salt in your lives. Let it stop the infection of sin. Let it flavor your life with grace. And let faith-salt preserve you and those around you till the end.

                We are all salt shakers. When we believe in Jesus, God fills us with His salt. Have salt in yourselves, for it is good. But salt can lose its taste if we listen to the offenders. Don’t listen. Keep your flavor; keep your life in Christ by faith. We can have peace with God and with one another. Stop offending people away from Jesus. Stop letting yourself be offended. Instead be a salt shaker that seasons the world around you, by faith in Jesus and by simple trust in His gospel. The gospel is simply this: Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead. By faith in this you are saved and you stay saved. Will you hear this? Will you have salt in yourselves? Salt is good, but if it loses its savor, how shall it be made salty again?

70 AD

                                                A Commentary on Matthew Twenty-four by Joe La Bianca

                This is a commentary on Matthew 24. People think this chapter teaches the end of the world, but it does not. It teaches the end of a world, the world of Israel in the first century. So grab your bible, read the verses, and then read my comments below.

                V.1 Jesus went out and departed from the temple. God was departing from the temple too. The disciples called attention to God’s former house. Maybe they wanted Jesus to stay. After all, they stayed after Pentecost and did not go in to the world. That’s why God chose Paul. The disciples showed Jesus the greatness of the buildings of the Temple. But Jesus wasn’t impressed with the physical.

                 V.2 Jesus said that the Temple would be thrown down, that not one stone of all the buildings of the temple would be left on another. The new temple is made up of living stones, not the dead stones of Judaism and the physical temple. This must have seemed unbelievable to the disciples because the temple was the center of Jewish worship. The temple was where God dwelt. How could this be? But God went out of the Holy of Holies when Jesus died! God was no longer in the temple after the cross. Today, many do not consider the seriousness of the destruction of Jerusalem, being so far removed. So they attribute most of Matthew 24 to the future. But Matthew 24 took place 2000 years ago, and I will prove it!  

                V.3 After they were in private, the disciples asked Jesus when this destruction would happen. The statement of the destruction of the temple really bothered the disciples. They knew that the destruction of the temple meant the end of Judaism. The answer of Jesus is in direct response to this question. The disciples asked when this would happen. Jesus answered. The temple was destroyed 2000 years ago. This is one proof that Matthew 24 is in the past. The sign of the coming of Jesus was the destruction of Jerusalem. Remember that Jesus said in Matthew 22 that the king would send his armies and kill those murderers and burn there city. Jesus was talking about the Romans as His armies! Jesus also referred to the inhabitants of Jerusalem who killed the prophets and the Son as murderers. So the Romans were the sign of His coming, for they were His armies, and the end of the world simply means the end of the age, or the Jewish system which was Judaism. The entire society of Israel was a shadow of Jesus Christ. It was a prophecy of the One who would come. Once Jesus had come, the shadow was dispelled by the Light. Israel and its Judaism ended on the cross. Now spiritual Israel is here, consisting of both Jew and Gentile. The coming of the Son of Man was the establishment of Christianity in the world. Matthew 24 has to do with the end of the old covenant in the world’s eyes, and the setting up of the new covenant!

                V.4 In this verse Jesus was warning the disciples not to be deceived. Jesus was warning them! So these next words have to do with things that could have deceived those particular people who were living in the first century. Militant false messiahs came in the first century. Many people ran after them in an attempt to overthrow Rome. The Jews were a big problem all over the world for Rome back then. The ancient Jews behaved like the present day militant Muslims, employing terrorist acts because of a false belief that God wanted them to rule the world. This is a historical fact.

 V.5 This verse already happened. There was a messianic expectation in the first century because of the prophecy in Daniel chapter nine. But because the Jews misunderstood the nature of Jesus as Savior of the world and not the restorer of Israel to national preeminence, they rejected Jesus and ran after many false christs who promised freedom from Rome. This all happen in the first century and any student of history would know this. But today we have lots of amateurs in pulpits who totally misinterpret the bible. The blind lead the blind and everyone falls. Did you know that others claimed to be the Christ and one even claimed to be the son of God in Israel during the first century? Tell me, of all these people, who has clearly demonstrated the world-wide effect and the multi-national fame of the Son of God? Who is the Savior? Simon Magus? The Egyptian? Dositheus, the Samaritan? Theudas? Or Jesus Christ? Who do the Gentiles trust in today, as per the prophecies? Who is known the world over as the Christ? I need not hear your answer, for the Answer is already known!

                V.6 In first-century Israel, there were many rumors of war with Rome. This went on for almost that entire generation, until the end came in 70 AD.  There were residual battles for the next few decades but Rome truly ended Judaism in 70 AD. That’s when Rome said enough was enough. The only solution for this religiously zealous people was the obliteration of their center of worship and homeland. Israel had completed their divine contract when Christ was born. Three is truly the number of completion in the bible. The genealogy of Jesus Christ was divided in to three parts. Each part had fourteen generations. From Abraham to Jesus was the conclusion of the purpose of Israel concerning Christ. Now the Son of Man would be established in the whole Earth. This was a true coming of the Lord. Today all nations are blessed and every family on earth has a Christian in it. Jesus will come again to be King, not of one nation, but of every nation, for we will all spiritually celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This Feast was to remember God’s care for those Jews wandering in the wilderness and their coming in to the land of Canaan. While they were in the wilderness, their clothes did not wear out. This was a type and fore-shadowing of when, at the end, the curse would be lifted and we would all be under Christ as King of the world. Zion will be the highest hill. But just like Daniel’s mountain that filled the whole earth is a beautiful analogy, so is Zechariah’s feast, for how could the whole world go to Jerusalem to set up tents? People who make the bible purely literal are stuck with simplistic interpretations and never see God’s real thoughts. Just like the Sabbath is spiritual for the believer, for we have entered the rest of God by faith in Jesus apart from works; and just like the Passover has become non-literal, for Christ who literally died is our Passover and we escape judgment by faith in Him; so the feast of Tabernacles is spiritual, for one day the thorns will fall off the roses, the lion will lie with the lamb, and the literal earth will be brought back to the freedom of the children of God through Jesus Christ.

                V.7 When it all went down for the Jews, it was on a global scale. Not only in Israel, but all over the world the Jews rebelled and were slammed down. The Roman army which was comprised of many nations utterly wiped out the land of Israel. Jews in other nations also fought in those nations and many were killed. But still the prophecy teachers who do not know history apply all these words of Jesus to future events. The earthquakes were both literal and figurative. They were both. The Jewish turmoil of the first century was confusion and disorder felt around the world. And there were recorded earthquakes all over the nations too. God surely sent omens of the terrible things that were to come upon Israel.

                V. 8 Every Jew felt the sorrow of rejecting Jesus for years leading up to the end of their polity. The writing was on the wall. The beginning of sorrows terminated with the eagles gathered around the carcass in 70 AD. Both Jews and the Jewish Christians suffered in that time. Jesus told the believers to go and preach to the world, but so many of them just stayed in Israel and would not talk to Gentiles. Most, if not all, did escape before Rome came. This was because of the warnings of Jesus in Matthew 24. They knew what Jesus meant, unlike so many today. But the Jewish believers were falsely blamed for lots of things back then, and they were persecuted for it.

                 V.9 Jesus was talking to the disciples and telling what would happen to them. All these things happened already in the first century to these people. Just read Acts and look at history. Wouldn’t Peter have loved it if these words were not for him, as those false prophecy teachers say.  But they were for him and Paul and the others of that first generation of the church and that last generation of Judaism.

                V. 10 Many turn their fellows in. The rulers would arrest some, get them to tell on the others, and then arrest many more, just as Jesus said. Every word of Christ came true in the first Christian generation. Jesus was speaking of the end of Israel in Matthew 24, not the end of the world.

                V.11 The first century had a plethora of false messiahs and prophets. There was a messianic expectation back then because of Daniel’s seventy sevens. Too bad Israel didn’t see that Messiah would be cut off but not for Himself. The Israelites in the time of Jesus would not even consider that their messiah could be cut off. They thought that Israel was the most important thing, not the salvation of the world. They wanted to be on top and because of this erroneous desire they failed to recognize the true Messiah, Jesus. They failed to discern victory in apparent defeat. They failed to understand that though the heel of the promised Seed would be bruised, it would be by the bruising itself that Christ would crush the Devil’s head.

                V. 12 Sin always causes love to grow cold. The big sin of that time was the denial of the real Christ. When Jesus is rejected, then hatred thrives. We see this today. We are seemingly entering the great falling away. Jesus will return one day, but not like so many teachers say. The cut and dried events of the last days are not so cut and dried. But one thing is for sure. The Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a shout and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we which do remain will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. But how it will play out on earth is not so clear. Our job is to believe in Jesus. This will draw people to Christ because we tell of the cross. We lift up the Son of Man by telling of the cross.

                V.13 This verse means that those who are still believing on Jesus in 70 AD, when the Romans come, will take His warnings seriously and shall get out of the city before the destruction. Any history student can tell you that this is exactly what happened. No Christians were caught in Jerusalem in 70 AD. They all got out in time. They endured to the end of Judaism and were saved from the judgment of God upon Israel.

                V.14 When everyone in Israel got a chance to believe in Jesus, the end came. The children who died in the turmoil went to Heaven, like all children do. The word for world also means land and could be applied to Israel alone.  But if you do not like this, Paul said that the gospel was preached to every creature under heaven in the first century. So either way this verse was already fulfilled.

                V.15 Daniel was a major prophet, even though the bible scholars place him in the minor prophets because of the length of his book. Daniel foretold of all these events. The Romans were considered to be an abomination by the Jews. Jesus was speaking from the perspective of the Jews here. The Romans were also said to be God’s army by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. He said this several times. But as far as the Jews were concerned, the Romans were a hated people. The Romans came to Jerusalem and ended Judaism. They had earlier built the fortress of Antonia next to the temple. They did this to look down upon the Jews from four towers that were twice as high as the temple walls. But Jesus said that they would one day go in to the temple, set up their idols and sacrifice to their gods. This is precisely what happened in the first century AD. People who claim that this is not yet fulfilled rob Jesus of all His wonderfully accurate prophecies.

                V.16 Jesus was talking about Judaea. It was a local event!! This is exactly what happened. The believers in Jesus and His warnings saw the Romans enter the temple and left for the mountains. This happened already. It is a part of history. No believers died from this event. It is very beneficial to believe in Jesus. He saves us.

                V.17 This verse restricts Matthew 24 to the first century. They used to have homes with flat roofs where the people could go to feel the cool breezes of the day and see the stars at night. There were ancient terraces on most all the housetops. It is no longer like this today, so these words of Christ strongly point us to the distant past.  They had no televisions or computers so they were free to experience the wonders of God’s nature without such modern day distractions. They no longer live like this today.  Jesus told those who would listen to Him to forget about their earthly goods in that time of tragedy. They would be plundered anyway. When the Romans entered the temple, that would be the sign to get out. The Christians listened and were saved. Those many Jews who rejected Jesus were caught up in the havoc. Their ruin was their own fault. They could have believed in the words of Jesus but they didn’t.

                V. 18 There is no turning back to Judaism. It is gone forever. God made it possible to only believe in the fulfillment of the law, Jesus Christ, and not the law itself. You cannot follow the law without a Theocracy. Since God departed from the temple and then allowed the temple to be destroyed, it is impossible to follow the Law of Moses. God has made it clear that Jesus is the Christ, for right after Jesus died and was raised again, all the practices of Judaism stopped. This is no coincidence.

                V.19 The woe goes to the mother, not the baby. The mother saw the horror. The adult was old enough to be punished. The baby didn’t know what happened. The baby did not castoff Jesus. The baby went to God and is yet speaking today.

                V. 20 The first century Jews were still under the Law of Moses. That’s why Jesus said to pray that it wasn’t on the Sabbath.  Jesus knew of the in-between time, the period when the believing Jews were still following the law. There was the old covenant, the grace period for the believing Jews and then the abolishment of the law on earth and the new covenant. From 33 AD to 70 AD was the in-between time when the old was on its way out and the new was coming in for those Jews. This special grace period was only for the Jews who believed in Jesus before 70 AD. After 70 AD the slate was wiped clean and all were expected to join the new way.  God knew it would be too hard for those so steep in Judaism before God removed it.  After all, the entire society of Israel revolved around the law. God had to take it all away so all could come to grace. Today there is no more law or in-between time. The old has faded away never to return. Jesus chose Paul to bring the gospel to the world because God knew that the first century believers who were Jewish would not be willing to give up their religion. This also proves that the things Jesus spoke of in this chapter were about the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish society. Today only a very few follow the Sabbath rules in Israel, for it is a secular nation. This verse makes no sense when applied to our time.  But it makes perfect sense when applied to the first century.

                V.21 This will be the worst time for the Jews in all their history. No time will be more calamitous. This is because the first century Jews had the kingdom ripped out of their hands. This is the last time they would have the kingdom ripped out of their hands, so this is why this is the worst time for them. Israel will never have the kingdom again, despite what those false brothers say, who steal glory from Jesus and give it to a nation. Jesus has the kingdom. It is His kingdom, and if anyone wants to be part of it, they must say, “Blessed is He who came in the name of the Lord.” The Theocracy is over for Israel, and one day the Theocracy will continue for the world. The Romans burned Israel’s temple, for God had left that place. Did you know that the Romans burned the temple on the same day that the Babylonians burned the first temple hundreds of years earlier? This proves that God was behind it all.

                V.22 God caused the battle against Israel to stop before it affected Christians. The Romans would have just kept on slaughtering until all were dead. But those who fled to Pella and the mountain were safe. The days of this calamity were shortened. They stopped after Jerusalem was destroyed and did not continue to the surrounding areas were the Christians who are the elect fled to.

                V.23 There were false christs in the first century. Jesus said to not run after them. The listeners should have known that Jesus would not be coming back in their lifetime, but they didn’t. Jesus told them to not get all excited when they hear that Christ has come either here or there.  The disciples should have known that Jesus was not going to save Israel from the Romans. If they thought that God would not allow Israel to be destroyed, they would have been more prone to think that Jesus would return in the last hour to save them. This would have caused the believers to stay in Israel, thinking that Israel was the safest place. “How could God allow Israel to be destroyed”, they would ask?  But Jesus did not return for Israel. The Son of Man came with power in His gospel and set up His church.

                V.24 They shall show strange things to deceive people. There were many Jews into magic back then. Also, there were false saviors who pretended to part waters and spit fire. The simple minded people would be easy prey for all the pretenders. But these were fake signs meant to mislead. These were not the kinds of signs which Jesus, the true Messiah performed, such as rising people from the dead and healing all manner of sickness. These false signs were things like calling down fire on the Romans, the signs Jesus rebuked the disciple for.

                V.25 Jesus said that He told them beforehand. He was talking directly to His disciples, not through the disciples to you. He warned them!  Jesus would never pretend to speak with someone. Jesus would not unduly scare His followers by making them think something would happen when it wouldn’t. Matthew 24 occurred in the first century.

                V.26 Jesus named the places where these false, militant messiahs would draw people. They would go into the deserts because they could gather and plan away from the Romans. They would go into secret temple rooms for the same reasons. Before the fall of Jerusalem, the Romans honored the Jews request that no Gentile was allowed in the temple. The Jews used this advantage for a time to gather followers and plot against Rome. Today no one goes out into the desert to get followers for war, for satellites would detect them. They also do not go into the inner rooms of the temple, for there is no temple.  This shows that Jesus was referring to the past, when they did such things.

                V.27 & 28 These verses go together. The direction of the lightening and the speed thereof perfectly foretold the speed and direction of the Roman army as it entered Jerusalem. I say these verses go together because Jesus speaks of the eagles gathered around the dead carcass. The symbol for Rome was the eagle and the carcass was Israel. It’s funny but some people object to me giving the lightening reference a symbolic meaning. They say it is literal. Then they proceed to give the eagle reference a symbolic meaning. I just reversed it. I gave the lightening the figuration and the eagle the literal. The Romans did have the eagle as their pennant and they did enter Jerusalem from the east very rapidly, so who has more historic evidence here? I do! In fact, it’s impossible to have historic evidence from future events. So those who put Matthew 24 in the future admit they have no evidence.              

                V. 29 This verse has caused many to misinterpret this chapter. It gave me a pause too, until I took a walk and prayed. God then showed me what this cataclysmic verse really means. First of all we see the words, “immediately after the tribulation of those days”. So this event must take place right after the destruction of Jerusalem. Secondly, the bible often tells of the destruction of empires and countries in astronomical terms. Ever hear the phrase, of astronomical proportions? It is not literal, but figurative. It conveys the idea of a great happening. The Jews always employed such language when speaking of earth shaking events. Lastly, here is what I feel the Lord told me on that walk I mentioned. I was praying about this verse, to understand it, and then out of the blue, it hit me. Do you remember Joseph’s dream? What did he call Jacob, Rachel and the twelve sons? Yes, that’s right. He called them the sun, moon and stars. Israel was recognized as the sun, moon and stars. It is a fact! The Jews were likened to the sun, moon and stars in that they were chosen to bring the Messiah into the world. They were the lofty ones, the ones the rest of the world looked up to, to find their way. Now that they had rejected the Christ, who is Jesus, they were to fall from their high position. Their nation would be wiped off the face of the earth, with no semblance of its former greatness. The stars cannot really fall to earth, so no one takes this verse literally anyway. Even the most staunchly fundamentalist person does not literally think the stars can fall to earth. If this verse is not a figure of speech, then the bible is absurdly wrong about astronomy. Add to this the fact that Jesus said that this heavenly turmoil would happen right after Jerusalem gets leveled and we see that the Lord told me the correct thing on my walk. It all fits in with what I am saying about this chapter.

                V.30 Jesus appeared in the Romans for Jesus said that He would send His armies (the Romans) and burn their city (Israel). Jesus said this of Israel because they did not come to the wedding feast; they killed God’s messengers and lastly God’s Son. Just read Matthew 22 and see for yourself. The tribes of the land will mourn. The tribes of Israel in the land of Judaea will mourn, said Christ. And they did mourn. It occurred in the past. Remember that this caused tears to flow from the eyes of Jesus. Anyone who is glad about this is not thinking right. It is sad whenever anyone rejects Jesus as Savior.

                V.31 The angels were the preachers of the gospel. Angel just means messenger. The gathering of the elect from the four winds is the calling of the church. Believers from every part of the world have listened to the earnest sound of the trumpet and have accepted Jesus and the story of our Savior.  Christians are God’s elect. Never forget that. Never downplay the importance of what has happened in the world. Salvation has gone to the utter most parts, from one end of heaven to the other.

                V. 32 & 33 The fig tree stands for Israel. Any bible student knows this. I wonder why the “prophecy teachers” ignore this fact. The sign of the fig tree was not the sign of the second coming of Jesus. That’s later, much later. The sign was that when all these predictions of Christ started happening the destruction of Israel would soon take place.  Jesus was warning them that it was near when all these things started to happen. The words of Jesus are as reliable as the seasons of earth. But some who claim to know the bible apply Matthew 24 to the future and thoroughly rob Jesus of all His wonderful prophecies.

                V. 34 This verse is proof positive that the events in Matthew 24 are over and done with. This verse limits these occurrences to two thousand years ago. You can also tell that this is so from the ridiculous interpretations that the “prophecy teachers” force on this verse. Let’s look at this. Jesus clearly said that that generation who saw the signs of the fig tree would not pass away till all those things be fulfilled. Could Jesus have been clearer? The word for generation is the same word found in the genealogy in Matthew 1:17.  It meant a space of 40 years, or so. Jesus did not mean the race of the Jews, as the false teachers desperately grasp for, for Jesus was clearly indication time, not nationality here. Jesus was speaking of events and the timing of when these things would occur. To apply this verse to a race is a pitiful attempt at justifying wrong beliefs and it goes against the obvious context. Any open minded person who is not indoctrinated can see this. Jesus is pointing to the timing of these events. There is another verse that goes right along with this one. It cements the fact that Jesus was talking of things that already happened.  Mat 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. “ Matthew 16:28 “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”  Jesus will reward each person for what they have done. This is both a positive and a negative statement. If Israel or anyone will believe in Jesus, they will receive the inheritance as the reward. But if they refuse Christ Jesus, they will lose their country.  If a person refused to believe in Him in the first century, then the Father would reward that person with the judgment of the loss of their entire society, not to mention their soul. Jesus was coming to earth through His Spirit and through His children. Israel was ending soon, and the church was taking over. The only reward God gives that is good is the reward of Heaven for the believer. Faith gets us the reward of eternal life. But in this verse, the reward is predominately negative. Jesus will come again and reward us for believing in His gospel of the cross. So on one hand, the believer gets rewarded because he will go on with God in the spreading of grace on earth. On the other hand, the rejection of Jesus by Israel will cause them to receive the reward of judgment when 70 AD comes. The second coming of Jesus will be glorious. But Jesus coming in His kingdom is different from His second coming physically to earth. Jesus coming in His kingdom is the church believing on Him throughout the world. Jesus said that those that were standing with Him, some of them, would not die before they saw the kingdom of Jesus coming and establishing itself on earth in replacement of old Judaism. The whole world of the Jews rejected Jesus for Judaism, so Jesus was making it clear that His kingdom of faith in the world would win over the rejecters of Christ. The false teachers try so hard to reconcile this verse with their eschatology, but they cannot. There is only one true and easily understandable interpretation to this verse. In 70 AD, right about 38 years after Jesus said these words, there were still some still alive to see it all change. The purpose of Jesus in the world will be made clear to some standing there. The purpose of Jesus is to save the world and be believed upon by all nations and families of the earth. The purpose of Jesus is not to save one nation who has rejected Him and all Gentiles.  The Pharisees were in power when Jesus said these words. No one thought that Israel would be wiped off the face of the earth. In this statement of Christ, He was telling them that very soon, before everyone who was then listening to Him died, Israel would be gone and Jesus would win as His gospel continued.

                V. 35 This prophecy of Jesus about the destruction of Jerusalem was so sure that the whole cosmos would pass away before His words would fail. And sure enough, all that Jesus foretold came to pass.

                V. 36 No one on earth knew when the Romans were coming. The signs would be warning enough to the wise, but if the warnings of Christ went unheeded, the foolish would be caught up in the horror. Jesus warned His disciples but the Jews who refused to believe in Him were now the focus of these words. See the very next words of Christ.

                V. 37-39 Back in the time of the world-wide flood there was a period of warning and then a suddenness when it finally happened. This suddenness of destruction also applies to 70 AD.  Even though there were many warnings given by Jesus, those who ignored His warnings were surprised.  By the way, Jesus believed in the flood. And there is major geologic and hydrologic evidence for a global flood. Every scientist worth their ocean salt believes that the world was devastated by a flood. Some, however, shy away from the global size of it. They split up the catastrophe in to many floods, but the point is that there is so much evidence for a great catastrophe that they feel the need to make some kind of explanation to address the wealth of evidence. There are dinosaur graveyards with all their bones twisted and broken. There are dolphin fossils in the middle of the USA. There are tropical plants buried in the arctic. The Grand Canyon was carved out by water very rapidly as proven by Mount Saint Helens. Now, one does not have to understand all this to be saved. You need only trust your Savior. So if this is hard for you, just leave it alone.  But they did studies and the ark was the perfect shape for a floating barge large enough to house all the species. Now let’s address the morality of God and the flood. First, some claim that God was immoral for killing a world, but it was because of the immorality and murderous spirit of the world that God removed them. Did you ever consider that the world was so violent that it would have killed itself anyway? It said in Genesis that the end of all flesh had come before the Lord. It was the end no matter what. Either the world would do it in a more horribly painful way, or the Lord would in a very fast and relatively painless way. The world was so violent that it was just a matter of time before it killed itself. Another point I’d like to make is this. God had to start all over again if Jesus would ever be born. The world became so bad that the godly or chosen genealogy of Seth would have died out after Noah, so it would have been impossible for Jesus to come. Jesus was saving the world with the flood, not destroying it. He was saving our everlasting spirits. He was saving those who would believe in the Christ to come and those who would believe in the Christ who had come. He was even saving some people in the very flood itself. He was not saving their bodies but their spirits. If God did not start all over again, this would have stopped God from giving us the Savior. So God started it again with righteous Noah. Noah was righteous in that he was a part of the Seth line, the line of Christ. That line was down to one person at the time of the flood, so God started the entire world again with only Noah and his family. Now the godly line would be safe and would continue on till Christ was born. Christ was the last of that godly line, but He was nevertheless unconnected to it.  Jesus is called the last Adam. Jesus was an Adam. There were two Adams, the first man and the last man from Heaven. Jesus was genetically unconnected to Joseph and the virgin too. The thing inside Mary was entirely of the Holy Spirit. Jesus started the human race again, never sinned like the first Adam, and then ended this new human race on the cross. Jesus is a race unto Himself. That’s why it’s so bad to say Jesus had a secret family with children. Satan will do anything, say anything to discredit Jesus. Jesus has spiritual children who are fit for Heaven by faith. Lastly I’d like to say that not everyone who perished in the flood went to Hell. All children went to Heaven. God also had mercy on the idol worshipper s too, according to the book of Acts. God knows how to mete out judgment. Leave it to Him. But do not reject God if you lack all the information that will help you come to the right conclusions.  So God removed the world in a quicker, cleaner way. The world back then would have killed itself in a slower, harder way. Those God chose for Heaven suffered fast then went to a glorious eternity. Go ask a baby who died in the flood if they would rather have never existed. Go tell them to give up eternal life for the chance to be nothing. They would choose life.

                v.40 & 41 This calamity will be so wide spread that everyone will be affected. They would have a one in two chance to escape. It will come near even those who escape. This is the flesh that will be saved. The one who is left is the Christian. He is left to take part in the kingdom of God on earth. He is left to spread the gospel. Notice that the millstone was still in use. What do people who believe this to be a future event have to say about this? Women do not grind at a millstone anymore, do they? These people who say they believe the bible literally do not. When they come across verses like this, even they make them figurative. Jesus restricts His words to ancient times in this very verse. Never forget that! When the rapture does happen, no one will be using a millstone!!

                V. 42 The ones who watch are not taken. The Lord will come as a thief in the night one day too, but not for us. We are not in darkness that that day should overtake us. Too many Christians misapply too many scriptures. The thief in the night is only for the sleepers.

                V. 43 If Israel was the good man of the house they would never have been plundered. But Israel was the bad man of God’s house and they let their house be broken in to. Jesus said of Israel, “Behold, your house is left to you desolate.”  They were not watching. They were asleep to the real Christ and awake to the false ones.

                V.44 This world has a habit of numbing us to the next. This is what happened to ancient Israel. They got so accustomed to their earthly position they forgot their heavenly Savior and were destroyed. The Lord came in judgment at an hour they knew not. Do not let this happen to you. Always believe in Jesus as your Savior and you will always be ready.

                V.45 The church is now over God’s house. We are the ones who must give them meat at the right time, for Israel did not feed the world. They only fed themselves. We must feed the world the gospel, or the Lord will come down in judgment on us.  I am afraid that the church has become as legalistic and as exclusive as ancient Israel. The outward church has forgotten the gospel. But the inward, invisible church shall never forget their only Savior. Take the meat of righteousness by faith and leave the milk of the first doctrinal things.

                V. 46 & 47 The Son of Man came in the church in the first century. The church was made ruler over all God’s house on earth. It gloriously spread to the entire world and touched every nation and family of the earth. We have the history of Rome, the Jews and the Bible to confirm all of the predictions of Jesus. We have the history of the invisible church having a world-wide effect for Christ. But the surface preachers of today, who seek to gain financially from the ignorance of their listeners have nullified all this for their own profit. These are the ones who fell asleep and let the thief break in. They shall suffer the ancient penalty of being cut asunder!

                V. 48-51  First-century Israel  did not receive Jesus, so instead they received judgment. Will you let this happen to you? Receive Jesus today by simply trusting that He died for your sins and rose from the dead. This is how to receive Him.  The Lord came when the last generation of Israel did not expect Him. They were not waiting because they were waiting for other christs who would conquer Rome for them. Jesus did not come to conquer Rome for Israel. He came to conquer sin for the world. The first century Jews suffered the ancient punishment of being cut in pieces. This is another fact that shows that Matthew 24 occurred in the distant past, for they no longer use this cruel punishment of cutting to pieces any more. The unbelieving Jews were assigned a place with the wicked where they wept and grinded their teeth.  So, Jesus departed from the temple to be crucified for the world. Those of that time who did not believe in Him lost everything. Those of today who do not trust the Savior will receive a like fate. So I tell you to walk out of the temple and leave the old covenant. No longer listen to those people who think they speak for God while denying everything that Jesus said. Be a new covenant believer who gives out the meat of grace at the proper time. Matthew 24 has happened already. Now we occupy until He comes. For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven. When He does come, be awake by simple faith. Blessed be that person, whom the Lord when He comes will find so doing.