MTBOTBOOO20A
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Welcome to the Books of
the Books series here on 3ABN.
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This series in particular is
exploring the Gospel of Matthew.
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It's such a joy to have repeated
programs; opportunities to go
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a little bit further, a
little deeper in God's Word.
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I know that I'm enjoying this
time with Dr. Ranko Stefanovic.
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It's really a pleasure.
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I mean what a wonderful
idea; to have a whole series
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of programs on a
book of the Bible.
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Ranko you teach New
Testament at Andrews University
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Theological Seminary.
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You're finding this study
of scripture is invigorating,
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isn't it?
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Oh yes, there is nothing
that can bring life to the soul
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as reading the Bible.
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And Glenn, you teach at Andrews
University in the Department
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of Religion, and I know
your passion for preaching
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of the gospel.
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It's just a joy to
get into God's Word.
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Let's let Him lead us.
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We're going to be discussing
one of the most important
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topics today regarding the
Second Coming and our readiness
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and preparation.
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These next two programs;
don't miss them because they're
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fascinating insights.
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Before we go to that, let's make
sure we go to God in prayer.
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Let's pray together.
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Dear Father in Heaven, we
ask that You'll guide in our
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thinking, and our understanding,
and our receptiveness.
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We want to be doers of
Your Word not just hearers.
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We want to be those who will
live Your Word and follow You.
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And so, Dear Savior, through
the power of Your Holy Spirit,
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may we be taught by You.
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In Jesus' name, Amen.
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Now last time we were in
the Mount of Olives discourse
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of Jesus; Matthew chapter 24.
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It's the last public
statements that He's making
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to His disciples.
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They've come to Him.
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He's finished in the temple.
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He's left and they are shocked,
and they are greatly concerned.
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If their temple ends...
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The end of the world.
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...that must be it.
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...there could be nothing worse.
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The question the
disciples asked Jesus was when.
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But when we read the
Gospel of Matthew chapter 24,
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Jesus constantly reminds
His disciples about the hour,
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about the time; nobody knows.
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When we read chapter 24,
then we move to chapter 25,
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it's constantly watch out
because you don't know the time.
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And we have to say,
Glenn, here a few words.
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For decades, for more
than a century, even today,
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there are many Christians
that are trying to use some
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statements of the New
Testament, some sayings of Jesus
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to establish the date of
the Second Coming of Christ.
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They are taking some
vague statements and texts from
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the Bible and dealing with that.
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Actually Jesus makes very clear
it's never been His intention
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to tell us about the
precise date of His coming.
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I just want to tell
something to the viewers.
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If it was the intention of Jesus
to tell us, to specify the date
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of His coming, we would not have
any need to go and to find those
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vague texts, and
understand in this or that way.
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Jesus would make very clear to
us; He would give us that date,
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like what happened before
in old biblical prophecies.
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People did not have any
need to wonder around in order
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to understand the truth.
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You see, the purpose of
these signs that Jesus mentioned
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to His disciples, as we saw
last time, was to remind every
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generation of Christians
that Jesus was coming soon.
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You see, Jesus is
always coming soon,
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but can never tell us when.
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Can you imagine, Glenn, if Jesus
told his disciples at the very
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beginning, you know, before
I come there will be centuries
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of the medieval period, then
centuries after that will pass,
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then I'll come.
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Would they be able to
understand something like that?
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You don't have to ask me that
question twice because I notice
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as a teacher; we procrastinate.
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We put off till the last minute.
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We would wait as
long as we could.
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It is never God's
will to tell us about that.
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But this is out of curiosity,
if you like to learn about that.
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I remember when my son, who is
today an adult, one day when he
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was a little boy about, I
think, 6 to 7 years of age,
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I decided to visit my
in-laws and my own parents.
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My wife said to me, Why
don't you take our son with you?
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Oh boy!
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I had to drive
for about seven hours.
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And to have a boy 6-7
years of age, to put him there
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in the rear seat; boy
I was really concerned.
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But that's okay.
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I wanted to have my son with me.
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I put him there in the
car and I started driving.
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Can you imagine; after
10-15 minutes my son said, Dad!
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I said, What, Vladimir?
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What was the question?
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Are we there yet?
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Are we there?
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What was my answer?
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You know son, we have to
drive for about seven hours.
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We will make some stops
there, some stops there,
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some stops there, etc.
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He wouldn't be
able to understand it.
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It would not be able
to settle in his mind.
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My answer was, Yes son,
just be patient a little while
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and we will be there.
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Then after fifteen minutes,
Dad, how much more time?
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I said, Just be patient.
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We are almost there.
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Actually, this was the
conversation that I had with
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my son during those seven hours.
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And so many times I
think about our God.
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If God would tell us exactly
everything that the future will
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bring, and what will happen
in the future, how much we
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have to wait.
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If Jesus tried to
use that divine language
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and foreknowledge to explain
to the disciples about those
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long ages to pass between
that time and the Second Coming
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of Christ they would
not be able to understand.
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God deals with us in accordance
with the ability that we are
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able to understand.
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This is the purpose of
these signs; to remind every
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generation of Christians
that Jesus is coming very soon.
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But then Jesus goes to the
specific and we read the plan
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one more time.
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Can you read verse 15?
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You read it last time.
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So when you see the desolating
sacrilege, the abomination
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spoken of by the prophet Daniel
standing in the Holy Place,
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let the reader understand,
then let those who are in Judea
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flee to the mountains, let him
who is on the housetop not go
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down to take what is in
his house, and so forth.
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And then it says, pray to God
that your flight from Jerusalem
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does not take place in the
winter, or on the Sabbath, etc.
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Who is Jesus talking here about?
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This is not the time of the
great tribulation that will take
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place prior to the
Second Coming of Christ.
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Jesus is here talking about
the destruction of Jerusalem,
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and answering the
questions of the disciples,
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When will these
things take place?
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The answer is when you see the
Roman army surrounding Jerusalem
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then you know it's time for
the destruction of the temple.
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How do you know that?
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Are we reading correctly
or as many million Christians
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they believe that
this is not the case.
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By the way, if you go to
the gospel of Luke, chapter 21,
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Luke has the same sayings
of Jesus to his disciples,
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but he adds some
significant elements to tell us,
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and we can get
much deeper inside.
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It's actually
chapter 21 verse 20,
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Listen; a little bit different.
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Glenn, can I read it?
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Jesus said, But when you see
Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
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then recognize that
her desolation is near.
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What was Jesus
talking here about?
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About the
destruction of Jerusalem.
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It is very clear of the text.
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And He had to
answer that question.
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That was the burning
question of the disciples.
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And then He told
them, Pray to God.
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Pray to God that you don't
flee during the Sabbath day.
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We know why; because of
the sanctity of the Sabbath.
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Or during the winter
time because it's very hard.
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Jesus said it would be very
bad for women who were pregnant
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to flee from Jerusalem.
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So this is all in the context
of the destruction of Jerusalem.
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But then Jesus goes on.
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Glenn, can you
read verses 21 and 22?
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Then let those who are in
Judea flee to the mountains.
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Let those who are
inside the city depart.
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And let not those who are
out in the country enter it.
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For those days...
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No, no, no, I'm referring
to the Gospel of Matthew.
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You're back to Matthew?
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Sorry, sorry, sorry!
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Matthew 24:21?
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21 and 22.
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Alright.
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For then there will be a great
tribulation, such as has not
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been from the beginning
of the world until now.
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No, and never will be.
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And if those days had not been
shortened, no human being would
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be saved.
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But for the sake of the elect,
those days will be shortened.
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There are many Christians that
think Jesus is here referring
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to the time of
the great tribulation.
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The same one mentioned
in the book of Revelation
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about the time of the
great tribulation prior to the
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Second Coming of Christ.
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Unfortunately, that's not
the case when we read the text.
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This great tribulation
has to follow the destruction
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of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 when
Jerusalem was destroyed by the
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Roman army.
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Evidentially Jesus here is
referring to the long period
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of centuries; centuries long
period known as the middle ages
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when about 50 million faithful
followers of Jesus Christ
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were killed during this period.
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Everything that Jesus
stated here actually refers
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to that period.
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So let's go one more time.
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Jesus now answers the questions
of his disciples telling them
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after those general
signs that He explained.
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First there would be the
destruction of Jerusalem.
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The sign will be when the
Roman army surrounds the city.
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Then destruction will come.
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Then that event will follow
by the centuries long period
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of the middle ages.
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Okay, a terrible tribulation,
persecution that will happen.
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And that is the third
part in Jesus' speech.
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Glenn I would ask you if
you would read verses 29 to 31.
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Immediately after the
tribulation of those days
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the sun will be darkened and the
moon will not give its light.
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The stars will fall from
heaven and the powers of heaven
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will be shaken.
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Then will appear the sign
of the Son of Man in heaven,
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and then all the tribes
of the earth will mourn,
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and they will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of heaven
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with power and great glory.
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And he will send out his
angels with a loud trumpet call
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and they will gather his
elect from the four winds;
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from one end of the
heavens to the other.
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So now what do we
have here in this text?
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That Jesus said that this
time of the great tribulation
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of the medieval period
that actually concluded with the
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18th century when the
events of the French Revolution;
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the oppressive power of
forcing religion on people
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finally,
actually came to the end.
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Jesus said that about the
time of the conclusion of the
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tribulation
something will happen.
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And what is that?
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There's some phenomenal
events here; the sun being
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darkened, the moon not giving
its light, the stars falling
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from heaven.
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Actually, Christians who
lived in the 18th century,
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they saw in some of
those super natural phenomena,
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like the great earthquake,
Lisbon Earthquake, in 1755.
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Then the Dark Day in 1780,
and the darkening of the moon
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the same night.
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Also the events of the French
Revolution that took place.
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And finally, in 1833
the falling of the meteors
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in the Atlantic Ocean.
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They actually saw the
fulfillment of these indications
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that Jesus provided here; these
events that would take place
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and happen in the world,
especially in the western world,
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following the time of
the great tribulation.
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I know that sometimes Christians
today, they try to doubt
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about these signs.
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Were they really something
that Jesus pointed to, etc.?
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I want to say
something to the viewers.
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We can talk about that.
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We can say yes or no.
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But it's important that
the Christians of that period
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recognize in these events
the fulfillment of those signs
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that Jesus mentioned that would
usher the history of this world
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into the final stage of
history leading to the time
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of the Second Coming of Christ.
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We know that actually this
event created such a climate
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of revival and reformation in
the United States, known as the
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second great awakening.
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The great revival, the great
movement of the Holy Spirit.
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Movements!
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We have the establishment
of Bible societies,
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feminist movement, missionary
societies, reform movement in
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education, in
health, in everything.
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Really that was
something significant.
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We can now doubt, we can talk,
yes or no, but the fact is that
00:14:11.10\00:14:15.34
these events made an impact,
and Christians, more than ever
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before in history,
started looking forward to the
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Second Coming of Christ.
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Well, Ranko, we're going to
take a break here and come back
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to those three questions
the disciples asked Jesus,
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and a little bit more
about Matthew chapter 24.
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Right after our
break we'll be right back.
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