JESUS TEACHES ON THE END OF THE WORLD AND HIS SECOND COMING – Part 2

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3)

 

Introduction: A summary of part 1

 

In part 1, my teaching dwelt on the subject of Jesus prophecy of the Fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. I interpreted Mark 13: 1- 37 and Luke 21:1-38 in the light of the prophecy as a historical fulfilment in A.D. 70, when General Titus destroyed both the temple and the city of Jerusalem. The reason behind is that the question raised by the disciples in the gospels of Mark and Luke centered around the temple on when and how it will be destroyed not on the end and the second coming. Though the end and Jesus coming was alluded to by Christ in the later verses, the question does not include the coming of the son of Man therefore obviously it was not the focus. But in the gospel of Matthew the question now includes the subject of the end of the world or the Age, and the signs of the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:3) The inclusion of this subject by Matthew’s Gospel therefore implies that there is a close relationship of the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 to the end of the age or world and the second coming of Christ still future in fulfillment from the time of Christ’s salvation work in a.d.30 -32.  What is the relationship then? The relationship is that the events before and during the end of the world or Age took place already in A.D. 70. But will happen again future, now this time, including the second coming of Christ. When? We don’t know. Jesus did not reveal it.  It is still way future but when it finally comes to the judgment of God is greater in degree of devastation and scope of covering on the earth’s landscape but very rewarding, better and more glorious for us who pins our faith and hope in the Visible coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! Surely on that day we all will sing the song ‘Where oh where is your sting O death’? Where o where is your poison, sin and decay?  Forever gone says incorruption! For Corruption has been eaten by incorruption and mortality has been strangled by Immortality’!

 

Understanding JESUS WORDS in His teaching on the end and second coming.

 

To interpret correctly the teaching of Jesus on the end of the world or age and His second coming we need to define the word end, world, and the phrase coming of the son of man.

 

1. The meaning of the word END. In the Greek this word is “Telos” which is translated in young’s concordance as end. In the light of how I perceive the meaning based on the context of chapter 24 of Matthew, it means to stop or cease from existing or functioning according to its’ purpose of creation. It also means termination or cut-off. Another is to finalize and cease from continuing. It also means finished project. Here are some illustrative examples of the meaning of the word end.

An employee was laid off from his employment in a company therefore that ended his job for he was terminated in his employment by the boss. Another is the dog stopped barking

as he was found dead in the kitchen. Another is the movie reached the end so it was finished.

 

1. The meaning of the word World or Age.

The bible translators have only two translation of the Greek word AION that they translated as WORLD OR AGE. Among the thirty -three bible translations I checked 14 translated AION as WORLD and 19 as AGE. Thus, 42% of the 33 bible translations uses the English word WORLD while 58% uses AGE to translate the Greek word AION.

 

The definition of AION translated as world or age.

Eon is defined as a major division of geological time, subdivided into eras. It is very difficult to measure for it means a very long period of time. Another word synonymous to it is dispensation.

 

With this word study in view, I believe Age is the best translation as it is nearest to the exact meaning based on context for it highlights the culture in time of people groups more than just the geographical or physical landscape of earth. Another reason why I chose Age and not world is the easy acceptance of earth to mean partially or fully the physicality of its nature implying the end means a breaking a part of the cylindrical earth sphere like an egg cracking and scattering of its parts when you throw a raw egg on the ground. I strongly believe the earth will not break into pieces and be destroyed completely by man-made nuclear weapons or asteroids hitting earth until it is pulverized because Jesus will come back to not only save His people but to prevent His enemies to destroy the earth totally! He is going to renew, change and mix heaven and earth into a totally new creation of heaven and earth!

 

What is the meaning of the end of the age?

 

THE END OF THE AGE SIMPLY MEANS – The end of temple worship and the beginning of a new age of worship through the One God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ (John 14:6) (Deuteronomy 6:1-5)

 From a physical building centered religion to having a personal relationship centered religion to the One God Almighty revealed through Jesus Christ. 

 

 THE END OF TEMPLE WORSHIP.

 

The Israelites of old since the time of Moses to King David and Solomon’s, till the era of the Prophets to John the Baptist and Jesus Christ about a span of 1,500 years had been worshipping God through the tabernacle of Moses then later changed into the temple of Solomon using the mediatorship of the Aaronic priestly system. But when Jesus came here on earth, He initiated a new way of worship! It is so radical that the old temple way has to end, obliterated, totally removed and destroyed! The new temple has come! Jesus said.  “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19 NIV) Jesus referred to His body as the new temple! Now through His sinless, broken  body, His shed blood on calvary and His resurrection from the dead the sins of everyone of all generations past and future from His time to now and henceforth can be forgiven of sins and have access to come straight to the Most Holy Presence of God in the heavens where we can receive God’s mercy to help us to whoever believes in Him as the Messiah, God-Man! (Hebrews 10:19-20)

 

God Destroyed the Temple for it has become an Idol!

 

Jesus gave the Jewish people of His time a period of about 40 years from the time He died, rose again from the dead and went home to be with the Father in heaven so as to believe in Him as the new and living way to worship God and not the old temple and Aaronic priestly way. He used His apostles as His messengers but after that graced time God the Father destroyed their temple for it has become an idolatrous object of religion by the Jews! God has no choice but to punish them for their rejection of Christ and their blindness in obeying traditions or commandments of men more than the commandment of God. (Mark 7:7-9)

 

God Destroyed the Temple because God was not Living on it!

 

The temple was just made of wood, stone and metals, it was empty of God’s presence! The Ark of the covenant was not there!  The Cloud and the Pillar of fire that descends on the ark which represents the presence of God was not visible or present in the Holy of Holies. Where was the ark? It was lost during the Babylonian Siege on Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in B.C. 597 B.C. and never was recovered. But in the fulness of time the Ark walked among men. The real Ark was Jesus the son of God who became the Son of Man. The ark was made of Acacia wood that represents the humanity of Christ. The old testament ark was just a shadow and a type of the real permanent and eternal ark who is none other than Jesus! So, the Ark was outside of the temple walking with the Cloud and Pillar of Fire that anointed Him! The cloud and Pillar of fire is the Holy Spirit that Jesus had. Thus, with that in His possession, many miracle sign and wonders followed Him wherever He went! When Jesus died the curtains of the temple were rent into two because of an earthquake. What do you find inside the Most Holy Place? There was no Ark!

No Cloud or Pillar of Fire representing God’s presence! Where was the Ark? Where was the Cloud and Pillar of Fire? He was hung on a Tree giving His life as a sacrifice for the eternal salvation of the world! Hallelujah!

 

God destroyed the temple for God to close the role of the Aaronic Priesthood!

 

The role of the Aaronic Priesthood in the old covenant is to be a temporal mediatorial way to bridge God and Man. It was really just a shadow and type of the real and eternal High Priesthood of Christ. Where He is the eternal and Permanent Mediator between God and Men in the order of Melchizedek! Because He rose from the dead and now standing beside God the Father, He lives forever to make Intercessions for us. He stands for us now bringing to the Father in His throne of mercy and grace our confessions of sin, faith, offerings, prayers, intercessions and supplications! Now all accepted because of our identity with Him!

Since the Aaronic Priesthood is temporary until Christ comes it therefore has to be terminated so that only the High Priestly ministry of Christ is revealed, known, and functions forever. Also, the regular priesthood is now given to all believers in Jesus Christ who has become part of His body, the faithful church and communion of the saints! As Peter said in his epistle. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) So now all believers are priests of God! 

 

THE END OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES

 

Animal sacrifices from the time of Adam’s fall to Abel, Noah to Abraham then David till the times of the major and minor prophets till before Jesus time God required His chosen people to atone for their sins through the offering of animal sacrifices.  

 When the book of the law in Moses time was given, it has become

a requirement every year during the feasts of Passover and the feast of atonement that an animal sacrifice be offered for different reasons. Namely, for atonement or covering, forgiveness of sin, Protection, thanksgiving and remembrance of God’s covenant promises of blessings. But they were imperfect and only a type, shadow and a prophetic symbolic ritual of the sinless, body and blood of the Jesus Christ the Messiah that is the real sacrifice for sin! Therefore, all this animal sacrifices are only temporarily done every year until He comes to be the sacrifice for sin. So, when He came all animal sacrifices were done away with! We don’t need it anymore! Jesus sinless, bruised, broken and resurrected body is sufficient and perfect before God the Father! Here is what Hebrews 10:1-4, 8-10 says:

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the actual form of those realities, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. ² Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, once purified, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³ But in the sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

 After He says above, You did not want or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ He then says, See, I have come to do Your will.^[b] He takes away the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.

JESUS ENDS ANIMAL SACRIFICES FOR ITS PURPOSE IS DONE. HIS BODY NOW BECOMES THE ONLY PERFECT AND ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE DONE ONCE AND NEVER TO BE REPEATED EVER AGAIN! 

 

THE END OF JEWISH RELIGIOUS PRIDE

 

The Jews since the ancient days believed that they are God’s chosen covenant people through their patriarch Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is their heritage

 For in ancient past from Abraham to Moses to the judges, kings and prophets God has chosen them to be the Priests of God before a polytheistic, and heathen nations where they are to reveal the true God to them so that the heathen nations may revere the Creator One God and serve Him too…Many were faithful in this call but there came a point in the prophet’s Jeremiah’s time that their profession of faith does not match their actions in behavior and conduct, living a life of lie and hypocrisy!

They turned away from the God of their ancestors and worshipped false gods, demons and themselves. Thus, God rejected them and kicked them out of their promised land! God scattered them to different nations like Babylon and Assyria as a punishment for their abandonment of their covenant with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Here is what Deuteronomy 28: 15-68 says:

¹⁵ “But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you:

 “….Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ You will find no peace among those nations, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot. “

 

They will incur the curses described in 45 verses of Deuteronomy and one of them is the scattering into the different nations!

 

The northern tribes of Israel 10 of them due to their apostasy or backsliding from the God of their father Abraham Isaac and Jacob was punished by God. Therefore, taken as captives by the Assyrian Kingdom in 720 B.C. after about 210 yrs. Of independence from Judah’s monarchs. But they were punished first and scattered earlier than their brethren from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin. They had a pitiful state of having 20 kings where none was righteous since they started their rebellion against King Rehoboam the son of Solomon of the tribe of Judah in 931b.c. The saddest story of the northern kingdom was from that time on they were defined as the Lost Tribe of Israel for the only tribes that returned from captivity in Babylon to the Land of Israel was the tribe of Judah, Benjamin and the half tribe of Manasseh in 539 B.C.

 

When the Jews returned from Babylon, they rebuild their wall and temple after 600 years once again God judged them so that in 70 A.D. the Roman army came and destroyed their city and temple!

 

Their sin was the rejection of their Messiah Jesus Christ led by the religious-political corrupt and murderous Pharisees and Sadducees! Jesus said. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Look, your house is left to you desolate. (Matthew 23:37-38)

 

God decided to cut the exclusivity of the Jewish as God’s chosen people as a witness to Him before the gentile world when Jesus died on the cross and now has chosen both remnant Jews and Gentile believers whom Christ calls His church, Beulah in Hebrew, bride, wife, elect, wild olive branch grafted in the vine, sheep, wheat, good fish and saints as His chosen ones to spread the gospel throughout the world from that time until now! The physical Jews do not anymore have the exclusive rights as vessels of god’s honor! Only they who believe in Jesus as the Messiah!

 

¹¹ I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. ¹² Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their ^[f]fulfillment be…

 

For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the ^[h]rich root of the olive tree, (Romans 11:15-24)

What is St. Paul explaining in these verses? He is saying that the sin of the nation of the Jews brought salvation to the gentiles. The rejection of the Jewish nation brought acceptance to the gentiles. The Cutting Off of the natural branch brought the grafting in of the wild branch. God by His wisdom and sovereign Power turned to good the evil of the Jewish nation by bring in His kingdom gentile believers. However, we ought to understand in God’s dealing with his own people His severity in dealing with and punishing sin! Thus, gentile believers cannot boast of our being chosen for it is only by the graciousness of God that we have seen the light of salvation. Also, we need to fear God for whether we are natural or wild olive branch we can still suffer the punishment of God if we choose to reject and disobey him!

It is also prophesied by St. Paul that one day the Jewish Israelite nation shall believe Him as Messiah when the city of Jerusalem shall declare “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”(Matthew 23:39)

THE END OF TIME

What is time?

It is the measurement of events and seasons moving in an unhindered progression till an end or moves continually till infinity.

It is an arrangement of movement of people and events measured in terms of number sequence in a progressive manner where it has a start and an ending or can go on indefinitely or into infinity.

God created time to rule over the earth and heaven so that it continuous regardless of whatever happens in heaven and earth whether good or evil. He initiated it when He began creation. That was the time He marked time by giving it a beginning and giving it an ending. He revealed this truth by giving us His name. THE ALPHA AND OMEGA; THE BEGINNING AND END; THE FIRST AND THE LAST. (Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 22:13)

TEMPLE WORSHIP:

 

1. THE TERMINATION OR END THAT JESUS PREDICTED WAS THE DISPENSATION OF THE TEMPLE WORSHIP THAT LASTED FROM SOLOMON (950 B.C.) TO THE HERODIAN DYNASTY (A.D.70) WHERE JEWISH LIFE AND WORSHIP REVOLVED AROUND.

 

1. b) THE TERMINATION OF THE JEWISH NATION IN PALESTINE WHICH WAS REVIVED IN EZRA’S AND NEHEMIAH’S DAYS. Ezra arrived in 458 and Nehemiah in 445 BC. REBUILT THE TEMPLE AND BUILD THE WALLS THEN ABOUT 600 PLUS YEARS LATER DESTROYED BY ROME IN A.D. 70

 

WHEN WILL THE FINAL END OF THE AGE OR DISPENSATION OF GRACE BE?

WHEN JESUS COMES BACK THE SECOND TIME!

MARANATHA!