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i know He is able: Prophecy Given By Our Lord Jesus Christ

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Prophecy Given By Our Lord Jesus Christ

Matthew 24:29-51
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29 “Immediately after the anguish of those days,
the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken
.[a]
30 And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.[b] 31 And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world[c]—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
32 “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation[d] will not pass from the scene until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
36 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.[e] Only the Father knows.
37 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 38 In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. 39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.
40 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
42 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43 Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. 44 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.
45 “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. 46 If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. 47 I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. 48 But what if the servant is evil and thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ 49 and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? 50 The master will return unannounced and unexpected, 51 and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes:
Matthew 24:29 See Isa 13:10; 34:4; Joel 2:10.
Matthew 24:30 See Dan 7:13.
Matthew 24:31 Greek from the four winds.
Matthew 24:34 Or this age, or this nation.
Matthew 24:36 Some manuscripts do not include or the Son himself.
New Living Translation (NLT)

Let's review and compare prophecies:
What special promise did the Saviour make concerning His second coming?
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:2,3.

What was to take place before the Lord should return?
"The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." Joel 2:31.

Upon hearing Christ say that the time would come when the temple at Jerusalem should be entirely destroyed, what did the disciples ask Him?
"And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matthew 24:3.

Did He intimate that the end was then close at hand?
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." Matthew 24:4-6.

After telling them there would be wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in many places, what did He say these would be?
"All these are the beginning of sorrows." Matthew 24:8.

To what extent is the gospel to be preached before the end?
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matthew 24:14.

After giving a general summary of matters, how did the Lord particularize the events of the future?
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)" Matthew 24:15.

How is this same thought expressed elsewhere?
"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Luke 21:20.

What did our Lord say was to follow this destruction of the city?
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Matthew 24:21.

How long was the "little horn" power to hold sway over the saints?
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Daniel 7:25.

What is the meaning of the expression, "time and times and the dividing of time?"
"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days." Revelation 12:6.
NOTE. - The period here given is again expressed in verse 14, by "time, times, and half [dividing of] a time." Twelve hundred and sixty days, then, is here meant by the expression "time, times, and half a time." But these days themselves are symbolic, and must refer to some literal period of time.

What does a symbolic day indicate?
"Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year." Ezekiel 4:3-6.
NOTE. - These symbolic days would therefore indicate an equal number of literal years. The "little horn" is revealed as the papacy which received its power to correct heretics in 538 A.D., by the confirmation of Justinian, the Roman emperor. The time to which the papal power over the saints would extend (1260 years), ended in 1798.

What did our Lord Jesus say would be done in view of the rigor of that persecution?
"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:22.

Did the Lord say He would return immediately after the tribulation ceased?
"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." Matthew 24:23,24.

What did He say would immediately follow?
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:" Matthew 24:29.

How is this expressed by Mark?
"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light," Mark 13:24.
NOTE. - That is, in the days of the papal power, but after the tribulation ceases, shall these events take place. The persecution was the strongest under the direction of the Jesuits. This order was founded by Ignatius Loyola, and established by Pope Paul, Sept. 27, 1540. It finally became so distasteful to the popes, on account of its continually growing power, that by a papal bull the order was dissolved, July 21, 1773. From this time on there is no record of any open persecution of the saints. Then, according to the last text quoted, somewhere between 1773, when the persecution ended, and 1798, the time to which the prophetic days extended, we must look for the first of these signs given by our Lord the darkening of the sun.

Was there such a phenomenon? If so, when did it occur?
On May 19,1780.
NOTES. - "The 19th day of May, 1780, was a remarkably dark day. Candles were lighted in many houses. The birds were silent, and disappeared. The fowls retired to roost. It was the general opinion that the day of judgment was at hand. The Legislature of Connecticut was in session at Hartford, but being unable to transact business, adjourned." President Dwight, in Connecticut Historical Collections.
"The greatest darkness was at least equal to what is commonly called candle-lighting in the evening. The appearance was indeed un- common, and the cause unknown." The Connecticut Journal, New Haven, May 25, 1780.
"The Dark Day, May 19, 1780, so called on account of a remark- able darkness on that day, extending over all New England. In some places, persons could not see to read common print in the open air for several hours together... The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not known." Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, in Explanatory and Pronouncing Vocabulary, art. Dark Day.
The inquiry may be raised, Why was the darkening of the sun confined to so limited a district as a portion of the Western Hemisphere, if it was to be a sign of the Lord's coming? To which we reply: God has given to the inhabitants of the Old World many signs of Christ's second coming; and why should not others be favored in this respect? Shall we criticize Him who is too wise to err? The inhabitants of the Old World can say: On our territory mighty kingdoms arose and fell, according to the sure word of prophecy. Here the pope lost his temporal power at a time marked by prophecy a sure indication of the end near; and here great nations are taking the lead in preparing for the last great battle. It is for God to distribute the signs according to His wisdom and good pleasure, and it is for us to accept them with submission and gratitude, whether we witness them ourselves, or whether others witness them and report them to us. The Jews never saw the star that led to the spot where the Saviour was born, nor did most of them witness many of the Saviour's mighty miracles. Were they therefore justified in not believing on Him?


When did the moon refuse to shine?
"The night succeeding that day (May 19, 1780) was of such pitchy darkness that in some instances horses could not be compelled to leave the stable when wanted for service." Stone's History of Beverly (Mass.).
NOTE. - The darkness of the night was as supernatural as that of the previous day, from the fact, as stated by Dr. Adams, that "the moon had fulled the day before."

When did the stars fall, as predicted in the prophecy?
November 13,1833.
NOTES. - "But the most sublime phenomenon of shooting stars of which the world has furnished any record, was witnessed throughout the United States on the morning of the 13th of November, 1833. The entire extent of this astonishing exhibition has not been precisely ascertained; but it covered no inconsiderable portion of the earth's surface... The whole heavens seemed in motion, and suggested to some the awful grandeur of the image employed in the Apocalypse, upon the opening of the sixth seal, when 'the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.' " Burritt's Geography of the Heavens, page 163, ed. 1854.
"No language, indeed, can come up to the splendor of that magnificent display; and I hesitate not to say that no one who did not witness it can form an adequate conception of its glory. It seemed as if the whole starry heavens had congregated atone point near the zenith, and were simultaneously shooting forth, with the velocity of lightning, to every part of the horizon; and yet they were not exhausted; thousands swiftly followed in the track of thousands, as if created for the occasion." Christian Advocate and Journal, Dec. 13, 1833.

When the trees put forth their leaves, what does it indicate?
"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh." Matthew 24:32.

What just as surely indicates the Lord's speedy coming?
"So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." Matthew 24:33.

How near is the Lord's coming when these signs have been fulfilled?
"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:34,35.
NOTE. - As though he said, This generation of which I speak; the one that actually sees the last sign, has seen all of them in the sense that we have seen the progress of science. We have not actually lived during its entire development, but we look back and say we have seen it. So in this case. The same original word here used and translated "this," also occurs in Luke 17:34: "I tell you in that night [the night of which I speak] there shall be two in one bed."

Can we know the day and hour of His coming?
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." Matthew 24:36.

What will be the moral condition of the world when the Lord comes?
"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:37-39.

If we have knowledge of the Lord's coming, what is our duty?
"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Matthew 24:44.

What will be the doom of those who say in their hearts that the Lord is not soon coming?
"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming. And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:48-51.
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