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Tribulation Past to Tribulation Future
In the Olivet Discourse Jesus is answering the 3 part question asked by four of His disciples: “When will these things happen, and what will be the 'sign' of your coming … and of the end of the age?”
So far Jesus has said,
Deceivers are coming .. don't be taken in. They will come in the form of false Christs and false prophets.
You will hear of wars … world wars, but this is not the end yet.
There will be famines, earthquakes and pestilences that will reach epidemic proportions … This is not the end, but it is the beginning of 'birth pains' that will increase as the end draws closer.
There will be signs in the sky … fearful signs … at that point the end will be very near.
So let's lay out some more of the scripture of what is called the 'The Olivet Discourse'.
Mark 13:8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 "But be on your guard ...
Luke 21:12 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.
Mark 13:10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
But before all this (that is, before the birthpains) they will lay their hands on you ...
Before the tribulation of the last days, and even before the beginning of birth pains which signal the nearness of the last days, says Luke, they would lays hands on the early church disciples.
Luke has included the words of Jesus which told the disciples of a persecution that would happen in their lifetimes. And it is implied that this persecution would go on for some time, into what is referred to as 'The Dark Ages'. To us, this is tribulation past.
I want to highlight a key point that is underlying this earlier tribulation. Perhaps we can learn something from it.
It is (or- it was to be) a time of evangelism. (verses 13 - 15)
In previous chapters we have already touched on this persecution of the past. Notice that persecution came first from the leaders of synagogues. Next is mentioned prisons, kings and governors.
God's part in this was to 'put words in their mouths'. Jesus mentions the extent of the sufferings that would take place, but He also mentions the effect of their words. Those to whom they would be offering their defense would not be able to contradict them. Their words would be powerful. But we know a bit about human nature. Even though you may have an indisputable defense … those in power will either believe you and become converted … or they will grow intensely angry and use their power against you.
That is what the early church experienced for many years.
Look at Jesus' words of encouragement:
18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
Some of them would be tortured, some put to death … but not a hair of their head perishes. Not from God's perspective at least. And you know what? … it is only His perspective that counts here.
We may need to work on that. Eternal life with God is everything. This life and all that we have … is temporary at best. And, other than the rapture, dying is the only way out of this life and into the next. We need to get used to that.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28
So that is 'tribulation past'. But I could also say, there is a 'tribulation present'. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing persecution every day. Many are in prison, many have died.
Jesus goes on,
Matt 24:10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
14 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.
The words of Jesus in Matthew 24:10 may have started in the past, but they are going on now and are increasing dramatically. He says that many will turn from the faith. Notice the word 'church' is not actually mentioned .. but that is what is meant here. The word church literally is translated as 'called out assembly'.
The church is a group of many people who are called out of the world and asked to assemble together for strength and spiritual growth and to reach out those who are lost and bring them to Christ for salvation.
But what does Jesus say about the 'many'? They will turn away from the faith … when the going gets rough.
How could they do this!? Where is their faith, their foundation? Jesus gives us this clue … there will be an increase of wickedness in the world. The world will come into the church. The true love of 'most' of the people grows cold.
And yet the 'gospel of the kingdom', one way or another, will continue to be preached by the minority whose love has not grown cold. And they will do this in the midst of being betrayed by many of their church friends.
The 'END' that the disciples wondered about, says Jesus, will come only after the gospel has gone as far as it can, into all the world.
But what about 'tribulation future'?
What Jesus has just said deals with the beginning of the seven year tribulation period. We are to understand from Matthew 24:10-14, this sequence:
Because of deceivers in the church, many will 'fall away' from truth.
This will cause division in the churches and those who have turned away from the truth will betray those who are still holding to truth. The word 'betray' indicates, betray to the authorities. In other words, at that point the freedoms of true believers will have been severely limited. Very likely group meetings will have been prohibited, much like now.
And Jesus said, the love of 'the many', the church, would grow cold. And then He cites the reason:
Because 'lawlessness will be increased'. The NIV uses the word wickedness. The ESV uses the word 'lawlessness'. Which is more correct? The original word in the Greek is ἀνομία (anomia, an-om-ee’-ah) Do you see the letter 'a' at the beginning of the Greek word? This turns the word into an 'opposite'. Nomia means law, 'A' nomia, means without law. In scripture very often the law refers to scripture, God's law. I believe that Jesus is telling us that God's word is being pushed out of lives. It is being pushed out everything around us. It has been pushed out of schools, court-rooms, media etc. and etc. But the saddest thing of all is that the love within churches grows cold. This can only mean one thing … the Law, God's word, is being watered down, replaced and ignored in churches. The result? True love between believers, which can only come from a love of God and His word … decreases seriously.
The increase in 'lawlessness' is totally embodied in the coming of the 'lawless one' who Paul mentions in 2 Thessalonians 2.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
This person, also known as the Antichrist, will have plenty of laws. But he will be totally opposed to the law of God, the word of God and opposed to God, Himself.
We are seeing lawlessness in many parts of the world. And it comes in two forms. One, it shows up as anti-christian and anti-Jewish sentiment and two, it is manifesting itself in the looting and rioting that is presently in the news. It seems so ridiculous that people are shouting about dismantling all police authority and starting over.
God said, through the apostle Paul,
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Romans 13:1
Today, much of our society is saying, 'Let's start over. Defund the law enforcement system'.
Our present legal systems came out of the basic 10 commandments. I am sure that Satan and his army have fumed about this for thousands of years. The public that is now pushing to 'start over' is a public that has become increasingly less familiar with the ten commandments. Satan is using them to push his agenda.
What Jesus says next, marks the mid-point of the tribulation period.
"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. (Luke 21:20), "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Matthew 24: 15,16)
Clearly 'the abomination of desolation' standing in the holy place marks the mid-point of the seven year tribulation period. So this means that the rise of lawlessness includes the first half of the tribulation period.
Lawlessness is one of the 'signs' of the last days. We talked about this in the second chapter where Paul says to Timothy, Know this, that in the last days, terrible times will come. Men will be … etc.
We are in those times. They have begun. We are approaching the 'count-down' to the end.
Our message to our church and all believers during this covid thing has been 'fear not'. God has not given us the spirit of fear.
We need to consider this whole experience as a training for believers. In all of this we need to learn how to rest on God. We are getting through this. God is getting us ready for what comes next.
Lawlessness is reaching epic proportions … trust God and do not fear what man can do to us.
Jesus has given us a clear point of reference when He says these two things:
when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
and
when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
Notice the pronoun, You. When YOU see. Obviously Jesus is not talking about the 12 disciples. They will have been living in heaven for a long time by this point.
So, who is the YOU? The answer is BELIEVERS.
I don't know about you, but right here is where I want to read a verse that says, “But don't worry … I am taking you out of there … and then the lawless one will take over.”
I also want to point out right here, there is another pro-noun.
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
What is the significance or 'you' and 'those'? As Jesus talks with the disciples, he calls them 'you', even though they themselves won't be there … they will be in heaven. He is talking about a 'you' that will actually be there at the future time. He is talking about believers … He talking to His church.
But when He refers to 'those', He is talking about Israel, the Jews. There is much more I could say about that, but for now I need to address something else. Jesus has differentiated between believers and Jews. The believers that He is talking to, constitute His church.
There is faulty teaching that has circulated for years, teaching that there was no church in existence until the day of Pentecost. The teaching includes phrases like “the church was 'born' on Pentecost”. I have heard some of these well-meaning teachers say that the church existed in 'embryo form' prior to Pentecost.
Why? Why are they, in some cases, so adamant that there was no church prior to Pentecost?
For a good reason. They want ALL of the Olivet discourse to apply to someone else other than the church. The ONLY way that they can teach that the church is GONE at this point, is to say that Jesus is not talking to the church … because it had not been born yet, they say.
It is a good reason, actually. I would LIKE to believe that the church will be absent during the tribulation.
But we absolutely must be true to scripture. Did the church exist before Pentecost … and is Jesus talking to the church in the Olivet Discourse?
What does scripture teach about this?
Here it is:
The following passage teaches a 'dispensational' divide:
"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, … Lu 16:16
Notice, there is no mention of the gospel age starting with Pentecost. It starts with John the Baptist. Why John?
What was John's main function? Hopefully you are familiar with these scriptures, but in case you have forgotten them, let's take a close look.
Here is Luke's first mention of John the Baptist.
Lu 1:17 and he (John) will go before him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."
… and the second mention of John the Baptist:
Lu 3:2-4 ... the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Hundreds of people came out to hear John preach. Hundreds came, confessing their sin, believing John's message that Christ, the Lamb of God was coming, hundreds were baptized and told to wait for Jesus.
Jesus arrived. He came to John and requested to be baptized. After His baptism He fasted for forty days in the wilderness and then was tested and tempted by Satan himself. Immediately after these days in the wilderness, Jesus goes back to where John is baptizing, and begins calling people who had repented of their sin, who had been baptized by John … who believed Jesus was the Christ, … he called them to follow Him.
As time went by, people began to talk. They came to John and informed him the Jesus was now baptizing as well. They wondered if that should concern John in any way. But John answered, “He must increase and I must decrease”.
Meanwhile Jesus was preaching”
John 3:36 The man who believes in the Son has eternal life. The man who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; he lives under the anger of God."
What a clear gospel message! Believe in Jesus and have eternal life!
And people were accepting the message. They were becoming believers. And what did Jesus do for these people after they believed?
Let's read on,
4:1 ¶ NOW, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptising more disciples than John
2 although, in fact, it was not Jesus who did the baptising but his disciples--
3 he left Judaea and went off again to Galilee,
So this says that Jesus, (by means of the hands of his disciples) baptized the believers.
So what does this add up to?
Jesus has preached the gospel message.
Has baptized the believers
Has called them to follow Him.
So far Jesus has not mentioned the word 'church'. But, is this group of followers a church? The word that we translate as 'church' from the Greek original language, is ecclasia. Here is the greek spelling: ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) (ek-klay-see’-ah) The word ekklesia is a compound (two part) word. Here are the parts and definitions
ἐκ Out and καλέω kaleo (kal-eh’-o) 'To call'
The literal definition is 'a called out assembly', or an assembly called out for a specific purpose.
Jesus is calling out people. They are becoming His 'assembly'. And He has a special purpose for the assembly. The assembly is comprised of people who have repented of their sin, believed in Jesus, were baptized in water, and are now followers of Jesus. Sounds pretty much like a church, right?
But did Jesus ever use the term, 'church'? You guessed it, the correct answer is, yes. Follow with me as I read from Matthew 16.
Mt 16:13 ¶ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
Simon Peter has just made a wonderful statement that, Jesus says, came straight from God.
And then Jesus says something unique.
“Blessed are you Simon, son of Jona.” Why did he call him that? Well that was his name after all.
But Jesus had given Simon a new name.
Mr 3:16 And Simon he surnamed Peter; The word peter means 'stone'.
But Jesus uses his normal name instead. He is saying in modern language, Good for you Simon Barjona, … You know, I have called you 'Rock'. … but on THIS mountain rock, I will build my church.
Petros (or 'rock'), is called a 'root' word in Greek. It is not a form of some other word.
Petra – massive mountainous rock – is also a root word.
Picture Jesus speaking and even moving His arms a bit while He spoke. He likely pointed at Peter as He reminded him that he was 'rock'. But then he moves his hand and points at His own chest and says, On this massive rock (I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God) I will build my church.
“My church … and I give to YOU the keys of the kingdom.”
He may have pointed at Peter when He said this, or may have moved His arm in a sweeping motion, signifying that He is giving to His little church the keys to the kingdom.
And He actually said this to the disciples, His church, just two chapters later.
Mt 18:18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Those are the same words He used earlier. In other words, He used the same words on two different occasions. If He had only said these words once, it might be easy to understand that Jesus was giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter, but because He stated it a second time, and this time clearly to His disciples … we understand that the keys to the kingdom belong to the church.
So is Jesus giving the Olivet discourse about the second coming to the church or to some other group?
Let's go on. Paul said this: And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.1Co 12:28
Notice … first a church must exist before anyone can be added to it.
Into an existing church, God placed Apostles … first.
When? Here is the exact time ….
And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Luke 6:13
Jesus had amassed a fair sized group of disciples at this point. He had asked them to remain at the foot of the mountain where they were standing, while He ascended the mountain alone, spent the entire night in prayer, and coming down in the morning, chose the 12 and named them Apostles.
Jesus is God. He 'set in the church, first Apostles …'
So, Yes, the church was formed by Jesus Himself (a few years BEFORE the Day of Pentecost), and the first office in the church was that of Apostle.
Is that enough to show that the Olivet discourse is talking to the church?
Here is a bit more. Search the entire Bible, you will find absolutely no reference to the church being born, founded, instituted, started, planted or any other word you want to give it, on the Day of Pentecost.
You will find that the church was 'empowered, equipped, gifted and indwelt' on the Day of Pentecost … but the church did not begin there.
Getting back to the Olivet Discourse … Jesus now says,
when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
and
when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
Jesus has just said, when you, the church, see the abomination of desolation, then ….
In the next chapter we will take a closer look at just what this abomination of desolation is.
So far Jesus has said,
Deceivers are coming .. don't be taken in. They will come in the form of false Christs and false prophets.
You will hear of wars … world wars, but this is not the end yet.
There will be famines, earthquakes and pestilences that will reach epidemic proportions … This is not the end, but it is the beginning of 'birth pains' that will increase as the end draws closer.
There will be signs in the sky … fearful signs … at that point the end will be very near.
So let's lay out some more of the scripture of what is called the 'The Olivet Discourse'.
Mark 13:8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
9 "But be on your guard ...
Luke 21:12 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.
Mark 13:10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
But before all this (that is, before the birthpains) they will lay their hands on you ...
Before the tribulation of the last days, and even before the beginning of birth pains which signal the nearness of the last days, says Luke, they would lays hands on the early church disciples.
Luke has included the words of Jesus which told the disciples of a persecution that would happen in their lifetimes. And it is implied that this persecution would go on for some time, into what is referred to as 'The Dark Ages'. To us, this is tribulation past.
I want to highlight a key point that is underlying this earlier tribulation. Perhaps we can learn something from it.
It is (or- it was to be) a time of evangelism. (verses 13 - 15)
In previous chapters we have already touched on this persecution of the past. Notice that persecution came first from the leaders of synagogues. Next is mentioned prisons, kings and governors.
God's part in this was to 'put words in their mouths'. Jesus mentions the extent of the sufferings that would take place, but He also mentions the effect of their words. Those to whom they would be offering their defense would not be able to contradict them. Their words would be powerful. But we know a bit about human nature. Even though you may have an indisputable defense … those in power will either believe you and become converted … or they will grow intensely angry and use their power against you.
That is what the early church experienced for many years.
Look at Jesus' words of encouragement:
18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
Some of them would be tortured, some put to death … but not a hair of their head perishes. Not from God's perspective at least. And you know what? … it is only His perspective that counts here.
We may need to work on that. Eternal life with God is everything. This life and all that we have … is temporary at best. And, other than the rapture, dying is the only way out of this life and into the next. We need to get used to that.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28
So that is 'tribulation past'. But I could also say, there is a 'tribulation present'. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing persecution every day. Many are in prison, many have died.
Jesus goes on,
Matt 24:10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
14 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.
The words of Jesus in Matthew 24:10 may have started in the past, but they are going on now and are increasing dramatically. He says that many will turn from the faith. Notice the word 'church' is not actually mentioned .. but that is what is meant here. The word church literally is translated as 'called out assembly'.
The church is a group of many people who are called out of the world and asked to assemble together for strength and spiritual growth and to reach out those who are lost and bring them to Christ for salvation.
But what does Jesus say about the 'many'? They will turn away from the faith … when the going gets rough.
How could they do this!? Where is their faith, their foundation? Jesus gives us this clue … there will be an increase of wickedness in the world. The world will come into the church. The true love of 'most' of the people grows cold.
And yet the 'gospel of the kingdom', one way or another, will continue to be preached by the minority whose love has not grown cold. And they will do this in the midst of being betrayed by many of their church friends.
The 'END' that the disciples wondered about, says Jesus, will come only after the gospel has gone as far as it can, into all the world.
But what about 'tribulation future'?
What Jesus has just said deals with the beginning of the seven year tribulation period. We are to understand from Matthew 24:10-14, this sequence:
Because of deceivers in the church, many will 'fall away' from truth.
This will cause division in the churches and those who have turned away from the truth will betray those who are still holding to truth. The word 'betray' indicates, betray to the authorities. In other words, at that point the freedoms of true believers will have been severely limited. Very likely group meetings will have been prohibited, much like now.
And Jesus said, the love of 'the many', the church, would grow cold. And then He cites the reason:
Because 'lawlessness will be increased'. The NIV uses the word wickedness. The ESV uses the word 'lawlessness'. Which is more correct? The original word in the Greek is ἀνομία (anomia, an-om-ee’-ah) Do you see the letter 'a' at the beginning of the Greek word? This turns the word into an 'opposite'. Nomia means law, 'A' nomia, means without law. In scripture very often the law refers to scripture, God's law. I believe that Jesus is telling us that God's word is being pushed out of lives. It is being pushed out everything around us. It has been pushed out of schools, court-rooms, media etc. and etc. But the saddest thing of all is that the love within churches grows cold. This can only mean one thing … the Law, God's word, is being watered down, replaced and ignored in churches. The result? True love between believers, which can only come from a love of God and His word … decreases seriously.
The increase in 'lawlessness' is totally embodied in the coming of the 'lawless one' who Paul mentions in 2 Thessalonians 2.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
This person, also known as the Antichrist, will have plenty of laws. But he will be totally opposed to the law of God, the word of God and opposed to God, Himself.
We are seeing lawlessness in many parts of the world. And it comes in two forms. One, it shows up as anti-christian and anti-Jewish sentiment and two, it is manifesting itself in the looting and rioting that is presently in the news. It seems so ridiculous that people are shouting about dismantling all police authority and starting over.
God said, through the apostle Paul,
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Romans 13:1
Today, much of our society is saying, 'Let's start over. Defund the law enforcement system'.
Our present legal systems came out of the basic 10 commandments. I am sure that Satan and his army have fumed about this for thousands of years. The public that is now pushing to 'start over' is a public that has become increasingly less familiar with the ten commandments. Satan is using them to push his agenda.
What Jesus says next, marks the mid-point of the tribulation period.
"But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. (Luke 21:20), "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Matthew 24: 15,16)
Clearly 'the abomination of desolation' standing in the holy place marks the mid-point of the seven year tribulation period. So this means that the rise of lawlessness includes the first half of the tribulation period.
Lawlessness is one of the 'signs' of the last days. We talked about this in the second chapter where Paul says to Timothy, Know this, that in the last days, terrible times will come. Men will be … etc.
We are in those times. They have begun. We are approaching the 'count-down' to the end.
Our message to our church and all believers during this covid thing has been 'fear not'. God has not given us the spirit of fear.
We need to consider this whole experience as a training for believers. In all of this we need to learn how to rest on God. We are getting through this. God is getting us ready for what comes next.
Lawlessness is reaching epic proportions … trust God and do not fear what man can do to us.
Jesus has given us a clear point of reference when He says these two things:
when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
and
when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
Notice the pronoun, You. When YOU see. Obviously Jesus is not talking about the 12 disciples. They will have been living in heaven for a long time by this point.
So, who is the YOU? The answer is BELIEVERS.
I don't know about you, but right here is where I want to read a verse that says, “But don't worry … I am taking you out of there … and then the lawless one will take over.”
I also want to point out right here, there is another pro-noun.
then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
What is the significance or 'you' and 'those'? As Jesus talks with the disciples, he calls them 'you', even though they themselves won't be there … they will be in heaven. He is talking about a 'you' that will actually be there at the future time. He is talking about believers … He talking to His church.
But when He refers to 'those', He is talking about Israel, the Jews. There is much more I could say about that, but for now I need to address something else. Jesus has differentiated between believers and Jews. The believers that He is talking to, constitute His church.
There is faulty teaching that has circulated for years, teaching that there was no church in existence until the day of Pentecost. The teaching includes phrases like “the church was 'born' on Pentecost”. I have heard some of these well-meaning teachers say that the church existed in 'embryo form' prior to Pentecost.
Why? Why are they, in some cases, so adamant that there was no church prior to Pentecost?
For a good reason. They want ALL of the Olivet discourse to apply to someone else other than the church. The ONLY way that they can teach that the church is GONE at this point, is to say that Jesus is not talking to the church … because it had not been born yet, they say.
It is a good reason, actually. I would LIKE to believe that the church will be absent during the tribulation.
But we absolutely must be true to scripture. Did the church exist before Pentecost … and is Jesus talking to the church in the Olivet Discourse?
What does scripture teach about this?
Here it is:
The following passage teaches a 'dispensational' divide:
"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, … Lu 16:16
Notice, there is no mention of the gospel age starting with Pentecost. It starts with John the Baptist. Why John?
What was John's main function? Hopefully you are familiar with these scriptures, but in case you have forgotten them, let's take a close look.
Here is Luke's first mention of John the Baptist.
Lu 1:17 and he (John) will go before him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."
… and the second mention of John the Baptist:
Lu 3:2-4 ... the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Hundreds of people came out to hear John preach. Hundreds came, confessing their sin, believing John's message that Christ, the Lamb of God was coming, hundreds were baptized and told to wait for Jesus.
Jesus arrived. He came to John and requested to be baptized. After His baptism He fasted for forty days in the wilderness and then was tested and tempted by Satan himself. Immediately after these days in the wilderness, Jesus goes back to where John is baptizing, and begins calling people who had repented of their sin, who had been baptized by John … who believed Jesus was the Christ, … he called them to follow Him.
As time went by, people began to talk. They came to John and informed him the Jesus was now baptizing as well. They wondered if that should concern John in any way. But John answered, “He must increase and I must decrease”.
Meanwhile Jesus was preaching”
John 3:36 The man who believes in the Son has eternal life. The man who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; he lives under the anger of God."
What a clear gospel message! Believe in Jesus and have eternal life!
And people were accepting the message. They were becoming believers. And what did Jesus do for these people after they believed?
Let's read on,
4:1 ¶ NOW, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptising more disciples than John
2 although, in fact, it was not Jesus who did the baptising but his disciples--
3 he left Judaea and went off again to Galilee,
So this says that Jesus, (by means of the hands of his disciples) baptized the believers.
So what does this add up to?
Jesus has preached the gospel message.
Has baptized the believers
Has called them to follow Him.
So far Jesus has not mentioned the word 'church'. But, is this group of followers a church? The word that we translate as 'church' from the Greek original language, is ecclasia. Here is the greek spelling: ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) (ek-klay-see’-ah) The word ekklesia is a compound (two part) word. Here are the parts and definitions
ἐκ Out and καλέω kaleo (kal-eh’-o) 'To call'
The literal definition is 'a called out assembly', or an assembly called out for a specific purpose.
Jesus is calling out people. They are becoming His 'assembly'. And He has a special purpose for the assembly. The assembly is comprised of people who have repented of their sin, believed in Jesus, were baptized in water, and are now followers of Jesus. Sounds pretty much like a church, right?
But did Jesus ever use the term, 'church'? You guessed it, the correct answer is, yes. Follow with me as I read from Matthew 16.
Mt 16:13 ¶ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
Simon Peter has just made a wonderful statement that, Jesus says, came straight from God.
And then Jesus says something unique.
“Blessed are you Simon, son of Jona.” Why did he call him that? Well that was his name after all.
But Jesus had given Simon a new name.
Mr 3:16 And Simon he surnamed Peter; The word peter means 'stone'.
But Jesus uses his normal name instead. He is saying in modern language, Good for you Simon Barjona, … You know, I have called you 'Rock'. … but on THIS mountain rock, I will build my church.
Petros (or 'rock'), is called a 'root' word in Greek. It is not a form of some other word.
Petra – massive mountainous rock – is also a root word.
Picture Jesus speaking and even moving His arms a bit while He spoke. He likely pointed at Peter as He reminded him that he was 'rock'. But then he moves his hand and points at His own chest and says, On this massive rock (I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God) I will build my church.
“My church … and I give to YOU the keys of the kingdom.”
He may have pointed at Peter when He said this, or may have moved His arm in a sweeping motion, signifying that He is giving to His little church the keys to the kingdom.
And He actually said this to the disciples, His church, just two chapters later.
Mt 18:18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Those are the same words He used earlier. In other words, He used the same words on two different occasions. If He had only said these words once, it might be easy to understand that Jesus was giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter, but because He stated it a second time, and this time clearly to His disciples … we understand that the keys to the kingdom belong to the church.
So is Jesus giving the Olivet discourse about the second coming to the church or to some other group?
Let's go on. Paul said this: And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.1Co 12:28
Notice … first a church must exist before anyone can be added to it.
Into an existing church, God placed Apostles … first.
When? Here is the exact time ….
And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Luke 6:13
Jesus had amassed a fair sized group of disciples at this point. He had asked them to remain at the foot of the mountain where they were standing, while He ascended the mountain alone, spent the entire night in prayer, and coming down in the morning, chose the 12 and named them Apostles.
Jesus is God. He 'set in the church, first Apostles …'
So, Yes, the church was formed by Jesus Himself (a few years BEFORE the Day of Pentecost), and the first office in the church was that of Apostle.
Is that enough to show that the Olivet discourse is talking to the church?
Here is a bit more. Search the entire Bible, you will find absolutely no reference to the church being born, founded, instituted, started, planted or any other word you want to give it, on the Day of Pentecost.
You will find that the church was 'empowered, equipped, gifted and indwelt' on the Day of Pentecost … but the church did not begin there.
Getting back to the Olivet Discourse … Jesus now says,
when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
and
when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
Jesus has just said, when you, the church, see the abomination of desolation, then ….
In the next chapter we will take a closer look at just what this abomination of desolation is.