MATTHEW 24
The Bare Essentials

Matthew 24 is one of the most logical places to start a linear study of the end-times because it is a chronological dissertation of the endtimes straight out of the mouth of Jesus Himself. His response to the inquiries of His disciples was meant to provide a countdown of events that would lead up to His appearing and the end of the world. That was, indeed, what they were asking Him. “When shall these things be?” and “What is the sign of your coming and the sign of the end of the world?” He began by reciting a list of events such as wars and earthquakes that will reoccur with an increasing frequency before the end-times ever begin, and yet, have no value in alerting us to when the end has actually arrived. After describing a few things that would take place along the way on that long journey to the end of the world, He began to tell them about certain things that would occur right before the world, as we know it, comes to an end.

The end of the world is not the end of the earth. It will not be a global meltdown or a terrestrial implosion. It is the world system, controlled by Satan, that will be violently thrown into the Wrath of God. It is God taking back control of the earth from Satan through His Son Jesus Christ and putting those who serve Satan with deceit, anger and wickedness through a much greater torment than what they have heaped upon the righteous and innocent. However, it does not happen in an instant; it is a series of events that happen over a short multi-year timeframe.

We need to understand Matthew 24 in the order that it was written to get the full gist of what Jesus is trying to convey to us. Many who read these verses miss some of the pivotal points Jesus is making. Without properly understanding Matthew 24, we will not be able to fully comprehend the Book of Revelation or the other end-times prophecies. By the same token, a misunderstanding of Matthew 24 will cause us to misinterpret the other prophecies. If we overlook the broad view of what God is saying in Matthew 24, we end up overanalyzing every sentence and every little word to the point of confusion. It’s time to stop looking for a hidden message between every syllable and start listening to what God is saying. Even the prophecies are easy to understand when you do that.

We will begin by looking at selected verses from Matthew 24. The reason these particular verses are being pulled out is because they are like a skeleton upon which the flesh is wrapped. They give structure to the whole chapter and make it clear as to what order the different events of the end-times will occur. Most of the other verses that surround the ones below are warnings and/or encouragements for the time of the end. Jesus inserts His admonitions in various places, but they have no bearing on how things will transpire. In other words, at the same time Jesus is laying out the course of future events, He is giving us certain warnings of what we should or should not do while those events are unfolding.As far as prophecy is concerned, the verses that are not included here are just filler. They do not help us to understand the chronology of the end-times. But, because of His compassion for us, Jesus is speaking to us words that will help us be victorious in the midst of the many trials the future will bring.

If you read these verses carefully, you will never read Matthew 24 in the same way again. As you read, pay close attention to all the words that refer to relational timing such as “when,” “then” and “after.” Those words reinforce for us the fact that Jesus is speaking these things in the order in which they will occur. He is speaking rationally, intentionally and chronologically and not in some ethereal spiritualistic way that just kind of floats from one subject to another without any direction or consideration for timing. One thing Jesus does not mention in Matthew 24 is the armies of Gog that will come and be defeated by God before the rest of the end-time events begin to unfold, unless He was referring to them as a “rumor of war” in verse 6. You’ll recall that Gog fills the mountainous areas of Israel with troops in anticipation of total victory, but God intervenes with a great slaughter even before war breaks out.

Among all of the things that will happen before the end begins, the most important is that the gospel will be preached in all the world. Only after that will the end-times start in earnest as a process or series of events. The first thing that will happen after the gospel has been preached is that we will see Gog humiliated in defeat and then the Antichrist rise up to take over the defeated ten-nation alliance of Gog. A few short years after he ascends to power, the Great Tribulation will begin. In verse 29 Jesus finally gets around to answering the most important part of the disciples’ question: “What is the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?” He explains that while the Tribulation is still in full progress God will interrupt things by darkening all the lights in the sky. After the lights go dim, verse 30 says that the “sign of the Son of man”will appear in the skies. The absence of light from the heavenly bodies signifies Christ is going to appear at any moment. Jesus Himself is the sign that the very end of the world has come. He will then gather His New Testament elect into the clouds and take them away from the wrath that is about to begin. He does not describe the Wrath of God because that was not a part of the disciples’ question. He simply states that it will be exactly as in the days of Noah.Noah was lifted above the flood in the ark, and all those who were left had to go through the flood. And, so shall it be when Jesus returns. He will rescue His elect and leave the others for wrath. With that short explanation, let’s read it as it is written in God’s Word.

Matthew 24:3B 5-8, 14-15, 21, 29-31, 37, 40

3B Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?

5 For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

6 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.

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8 ALL THESE ARE THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS.

(Verse 13 is not included because it is a warning/abomination to believers and not a chronological pronouncement.)

14 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.

15 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:)

21 FOR THEN SHALL BE GREAT TRIBULATION, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

29 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:

30 AND THEN SHALL APPEAR THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN IN HEAVEN: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, AND THEY SHALL GATHER TOGETHER HIS ELECT FROM THE FOUR WINDS, from one end of heaven to the other.

37 BUT AS THE DAYS OF NOAH WERE, SO SHALL ALSO THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN BE.

40 THEN SHALL TWO BE IN THE FIELD; THE ONE SHALL BE TAKEN, AND THE OTHER LEFT.

Now that you have finished reading these verses, you may want to read them again until it becomes clear what Jesus is saying to us. He is basically giving us the schedule to doomsday. Tough times will get tougher, however, the gospel will finally be preached throughout the earth despite those tough times. The Antichrist will then appear, and the Tribulation will begin. However, the Tribulation will be cut short when Jesus comes to gather His elect, and then the Wrath of God begins. If you open your Bible and read this whole chapter again, you will see that it still says the same things. The only difference is that the full text contains many warnings to the Church, which will include many Jews during the end-times before Jesus returns. If you have believed in the past that the Rapture takes place prior to the Tribulation, Matthew 24 does not say that. The Revelation has been wrongly interpreted to accommodate that belief, and it has caused great confusion to the Church.We are going to see that it communicates something very different as we reread it in the order that it is written and accept what it has been saying all along. Some prophetic scriptures are hard to understand because of the way they were written, but we are going to see over and over again that the key to understanding Revelation and other prophecies is accepting what Jesus said in Matthew 24, which is 1) we go through the Tribulation, 2) we are raptured and 3) those who are left must face the Wrath of God.

Now, let’s start over at the beginning where the disciples question Jesus about the end-times.

Matthew 24:1-3

1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and His disciples came to Him for to shew Him the buildings of the temple.

2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

3 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?

One of the first things we want to look at is what, exactly, are the disciples asking Jesus. The second half of their question—the sign of His coming and the end of the world—shows they already accept the fact that Jesus will be returning in the future, and that His return is somehow inextricably tied to, and in fact, will bring an end to this current world system. They didn’t ask what are the signs—plural— but rather, what is “the” sign that will alert us to Your return at the end of the world? To them, His return is a sign in and of itself that it was all over. They want to know how we will be able to know when His return and the end of the world are imminent.

Their question is twofold: “When?” and “What is the sign?” Their focus is on the very end. They assume that “all these things” Jesus said will be destroyed are going to be destroyed at the end when He returns. They didn’t ask, “When will the temple be cast down” and “Oh, by the way, not to change the subject, but we also would like to know when You’ll be returning, and how will we know when the end of the world is approaching?” They considered His coming and the end of the world to be a single event that would somehow be tied into the leveling of the temple and the other buildings they could see there. The end they were questioning Him about was the last day we talked about in preparing for this study when God withdraws His grace and starts to pour vengeance on those who hate Him, and notthe events that lead up to the end. However, from verse 4 to verse 28, Jesus reveals to them all the things that will happen before that last great sign of His return and the end of the world. He didn’t want us to get discouraged over all the horrible events that would be coming to pass as though those events would somehow bring the world to an end. Some of those events become minor signs when we understand them in the context of what He is saying. It’s not until verses 29 and 30 that He discloses to us what that final one great sign will be.

Jesus begins His reply in verses 4-14.What He says in these verses can be applied in a general sense to all of church history—from the time of His earthly ministry up to the completion of time, or the “last day” when the Resurrection and Rapture occur just before the Wrath of God begins. His words can also be applied specifically to the final years of world history just prior to the time of the Antichrist and His return. However, even though the following verses speak of tragic events, they do not make up the time of Great Tribulation, Daniel’s seventieth week or Jacob’s Trouble. Jesus proclaims in verse 6 that these tragic things “must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” He doesn’t mention the Great Tribulation until verses 15-29. The last thing that must take place before we officially enter into the end times which lead into the Great Tribulation is that the gospel must be fully preached to all the world (verse 14 below). That final preaching will reach every last person who is old enough to understand it in such a way as to be convicted of sin and convinced of God’s grace and mercy. The events of Ezekiel 38 and 39, which speak of Gog of Magog coming against Israel for war, are not mentioned specifically in verses 4-14 but will take place at about the same time the gospel is being proclaimed to the final outposts and heathen nations of the earth.

Matthew 24:4-10

4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

5 For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

6 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.

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake.

10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

In Mark 13:4 the disciples’ question was recorded like this: “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?”Again, the second part of the question is seeking for a single sign, but it’s worded a bit differently. They asked for “the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled.” They were lumping the destruction of the temple to the return of Christ at the end of the world. And they were right.

In verse 6 Jesus said there would be “wars and rumours of wars, but the end is not yet.” In 70 a.d. the destruction of the temple occurred at the hands of the Roman army. A small group of people believe that all of the prophecies have already been fulfilled in the past when the Roman army destroyed the temple, but it is quite a stretch to make the Word of God confirm that to be true. You have to jump around from one verse to another and really contort things to make the Bible say that the Church was raptured in 70 a.d. It is an even greater stretch of the imagination to conclude that the world has already come to an end, and that we are living in a new and different world of a different dispensation. No historical evidence exists that there was any kind of appearing of Christ or catching away of believers in 70 a.d. On top of all of that, the western wall remains standing to this day—one stone upon another—a silent testimony to the fact that the prophecy concerning all of the buildings being cast down has not been fulfilled.

In John 11:24, Martha says she knows her dead brother will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. That is exactly where the minds of the disciples are focused—on the end-times, the Judgment, and the Resurrection. The temple has already been destroyed once, but for the rest of Matthew 24 and the rest of the end-times prophecies to be true, the temple must be rebuilt just as surely as Israel had to become a nation again. Without a new temple, the daily sacrifice cannot be resumed only to be interrupted again by the Antichrist, the Antichrist cannot seat himself in the temple professing himself to be God and the two witnesses of God in Revelation 11 cannot prophesy from it for three-and-one-half years. However, there is no indication from Scripture that the final temple will be destroyed again until such time as God creates a new heaven and new earth. There is too much going on in the temple during the end-times before and after Jesus returns for it to be destroyed at His second coming.

The Gospel of Luke reaffirms what verse 10 above tells us about many believers being betrayed by those closest to them. It also teaches us that if any of us should be delivered up for our faith, we should not put our trust in our own abilities and wisdom but in the Lord Jesus. All of the things Jesus spoke of in these verses have come to pass and will continue to come to pass with greater intensity right up to the time when we enter into the Great Tribulation. The fact of the matter is that the things which Jesus enumerates above are pre-Tribulation atrocities. They constitute tribulation in the lives of those who experience them; however, they are not the Great Tribulation. The majority of the Church seems to be in denial over the idea that God will allow His Church to go through “The Tribulation,” even though it suffers tribulation everyday all over the world.However, the Tribulation will force people to rethink their priorities, and it will open the eyes of many to their need of a savior, deliverer and provider. The Tribulation will actually be the catalyst many need to get them saved, and the Church will be right there to either assist them in their decisions or to be an example of suffering in the name of the Lord. In verse 16 below, we are told that some of us will be put to death.We are going to look closer at how probable that might be as we get further into this book.

Luke 21:14-17

14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:

15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.

17 And ye shall be hated of all men for My name's sake.

Jesus was speaking directly to His future Church when He laid out the end-times to His apostles, giving them warnings and instructions for the times to come. He was not speaking to the unsaved Jews of Israel, nor was He speaking to a bunch of left-behind Christians. He was speaking to the born-again Jews and Gentiles who would make up His Church as one body of believers. He also was speaking to all of us who call upon the name of the Lord from pure hearts when He said in essence,“Don’t let your heart become distracted, discouraged or fearful by the evil things you see taking place all around you, but keep your attentions directed towards God, His Word and His promised return. Or, at the very least, focus on your martyr’s reward.”We are told repeatedly that many true believers will be put to death. That is the message Jesus sends us repeatedly every time He speaks in the Gospels about the end-times. He never tells us that the Church is going to mysteriously disappear without ever seeing any kind of tribulations in the end-times.He is, in fact, preparing us—the one and only body of Christ—for the final chapter of this world controlled by sin, after the gospel has been fully preached and both sin and righteousness come to their fullness.

The world will be experiencing its darkest hour as the hearts of men become increasingly deluded and they take on a boldness in their sin, openly practicing those things that were once done only in secret and under the cover of darkness. At the same time, the Church will be experiencing its greatest hour as those who love God and have been taught in the fullness of His Word draw ever closer to Him through necessity because of the persecution that will come from those who hate goodness and light. The result will be a Church that is more radiant and full of good works than anything that was present in the early Church. Romans 5:20 informs us that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound, and abound it will during the end of time.

Bear in mind that those things Jesus has described so far are the things that will take place before the end-times ever begin. Those who believe God would not allow the Church to go through the final Great Tribulation have only to look around the world right now to see that His people are going through great tribulation right now— not to be confused with the Great Tribulation.We can see all around the world how calamities are coming against God’s people everyday, and how they are suffering persecution and being put to death for the things which they believe. In free and open societies the persecution can be conducted in a very “civilized” and sometimes even in a low-key manner through political actions, legal actions, stereotyping, false reporting, distorted educational systems and so on. In other parts of the world where governments are not strong enough to protect the people, Christians sometimes become a target of persecution and annihilation, albeit, they are not necessarily the only target of hateful attacks. And finally, there are those countries where Christianity is an outlaw religion, which is punishable by prison, torture or death.

Matthew 24:11

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Many false prophets have already risen in the world. Whether it is John Smith, David Koresh or the prophet Mohammed, each of these men taught things contrary to what the Bible says. Yet, at the same time, they all claimed close ties to the Bible and the God of the Bible. However, that’s nothing compared to what is going to happen after the Antichrist is revealed by his seven-year peace contract with Israel. In the coming verses we will see that false prophets and false christs proliferate after the Antichrist shows His face.

There is nothing prophetic or chronological about verse 13. It is not speaking of the “last day” of the Resurrection and Rapture. It’s not speaking of a disappearing Church either. It is simply one of the many warnings and admonitions Jesus gives while leading into the final response to the disciples’ questions. Jesus emphasizes that all who endure to the end shall be saved.We can safely assume that He is speaking of the end of all things that we must endure while in this world. Furthermore, we can logically assume that when He raptures the Church, that will bring a conclusion to the things we must endure because we will no longer be in the world after we are escorted into heaven. But, we have to remember that the Bible uses the same words to speak of different moments, events and collections of events that are all a part of the end-times. Jesus is not telling us that we must endure to the beginning of the end when the Antichrist will make his seven-year covenant of peace with Israel and then we will be gone.He is telling us that we must endure to the final end when God blows the whistle on the Antichrist and the rest of the world and declares the saints to be the victors. The end is when the final trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ are raised and the entire Church is caught up into the clouds with Jesus. The end is when God begins to punish the earth with His wrath. This is not the final judgment where all of mankind must stand before Jesus Christ to be judged for those things that we do in this body; instead, it is when God determines that all living souls have come to that place of conviction in their hearts where they have decided between serving sin or righteousness.

Not all of those who start out serving Christ will continue with Him. The love of many of the saints will grow cold as their hearts become hard, and they, along with the rest of the world, will reject the One who bought them. At the same time, many who have refused to give Jesus the time of day will finally see the unmasked difference between good and evil, and it will be evident that Almighty God and the evil one are battling it out in the earth over the souls of men. Many will give their hearts to Christ. Daniel’s seventieth week is the final call for the grace of God. In the midst of great adversity, the Jews of Israel, along with everyone else, will be cast headlong into the final valley of decision. Everyone will be forced to make a final choice that will determine their eternal destiny. God will use this time to purge His Church of those who are really wolves in sheep’s clothing which is the only way Jesus will be able to come for a Church that is truly without spot or wrinkle. This purging will be one reason why the Church will be at its finest hour, because those who hinder the flow of God’s spirit will be separated from the true believers by their own choice. Also at this time, the troubles and persecutions the Church endures will purge away sin and pride from the hearts of believers.

Matthew 24:12-13

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

The end that Christ speaks of in verse 13 is the end of the Great Tribulation when the tried and purified Church will be raptured. That will be the end of this current age of grace that began when the Word of God dwelt among us in the person of Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth, and will continue until the Church is finally removed from the earth. God has positioned His people on the earth to proclaim and live out the gospel before all mankind.He has left us to be beacons of light, even in the darkest of nights. Because of the darkness that will engulf the earth at the end of this age, the Church will be more purified and moving in more power and supernatural provision than ever before.As Jesus said in John 14:12, “The works that I do, will you do also, andmuch greater works because I go unto the Father.” Just as in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, the world will see the moving of God in such a powerful way they cannot deny it is from God. They will either have to accept it and embrace it or reject and fight against it with all their might just like when Jesus was here in person. They either accepted Him as Lord, or they rejected Him and rejoiced over His crucifixion.

Verse 14 informs us that the gospel must be preached everywhere and to everyone before the end can even begin. This is not talking about a sudden end when the Church is removed from the earth and the world is suddenly cast into the Wrath of God. That’s what verse 13 is referencing. Verse 14 is talking about the final week, or seven years, of Daniel’s seventy-week period that God has determined upon Israel to bring a completion to His work of redemption. That seven-year period begins with the identity of Antichrist being revealed as he makes a seven-year false peace accord with Israel. Verse 14 is talking about the final events of world history before God calls it quits and begins pouring out vengeance in the fullness of His anger. God uses Daniel’s final week—after the gospel has been preached to all the world, which would include Israel—to shake the Jews and many others awake. After the truth of salvation, the judgment of God and the end of time have been preached to all, the Antichrist will appear, and many will give their hearts to the Lord because of him. Incidentally, the final preaching of the gospel is in no way a sign that the end has come, because we have no way of knowing when the job of getting the gospel to all the world has been completed. Only God knows that. On the other hand, the appearing of the Antichrist with a seven year peace deal is a sign that the gospel has been fully preached.

Matthew 24:14

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.

One thing we want to notice at this point is that which is missing from Jesus’ outline of the signs of the end-times. It leaves such a gaping hole in the Scriptures that it needs to be addressed. If the Church is supposed to be raptured or simply disappear before the Tribulation, shouldn’t it be mentioned in the Scriptures as a sign? And what a sign it would be. The gospel is preached to all the world, and then millions of Christians suddenly disappear just before the Antichrist comes on the scene and causes great tribulation. After all, that is what the disciples asked Jesus for—the signs of His appearing and of the end of the world. But it’s just not there. It never has been and never will be. Jesus made no mention of His appearing before verse 15 where the Abomination of Desolation is mentioned. That empty void is like the black hole of pre-Tribulation Rapture theology. The one and only Rapture, the one where Jesus appears in the sky and gathers His elect, takes place in verses 29-31 after the Tribulation—at least that is where Jesus insists it will take place. If Jesus is articulating the signs of His return and the end of the world, why would He keep the vanishing of His Church such a big secret if that is what’s going to happen? That would indeed be one of the greatest signs of His return since it cannot be classified as a rapture or catching up of believers like the Rapture that occurs in verses 29-31.He’s never been shy about laying everything out for everyone to see, and He definitely will not be overcome by bashfulness when He appears in His glory for every eye to see when He comes for His elect. He is laying things out as they will occur, and the only thing He leaves out is the date and time because He was not privy to that information. There will be no Rapture until after the Tribulation.

Many have interpreted verse 13 to mean that if we endure to the time when the opening events of the end-times begin to unfold, we will be taken out of here before any of those events take place. These people believe that Jesus just sort of sneaks in on a top secret mission and causes His followers to fade into the spirit world, and nobody knows what has happened to them until someone stumbles upon the answer in “Gramma’s old Bible.” First of all, the gospel has just been preached to all the world; the Rapture and Wrath of God are a part of the gospel, so everyone is going to know what is taking place. Secondly, nowhere in the Bible does it say that we are going to suddenly disappear. If you are thinking “changed in the twinkling of an eye,” those words are not talking about the Rapture; they are talking about being instantly changed from mortal to immortal during the Resurrection. All of the events Jesus is enumerating here—even the Antichrist and the Tribulation—are simply world events, the final events that will take place on the earth before God begins to pour out His wrath. As such, they become signs to us that the final end is fast approaching when Jesus will appear for His elect. The Bible repeatedly tells us that we must suffer much persecution and tribulations for the Word’s sake, but that God has excused us from His wrath, which is meant only for His enemies. The Tribulation we suffer at the hands of God’s enemies is the reason for His wrath upon them.

Mark 13 is similar in some ways to verses 13 and 14 above, but it is also strikingly different. Verse 10 declares that the gospel must be published before the end will come. Verse 13 declares that we must endure to the end.And then, verse 14 immediately draws us back into the Tribulation with the words “But, when ye shall see the abomination of desolation.É”Many people want to reserve those words and warnings for the Jews or left-behind Christians; however, if we do that here we must do the same elsewhere. In John 17:20 Jesus said, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.” Do we believe on Him through the Epistles? Was He speaking only to Jews in the Gospels, or was He speaking to all future generations? When He said “I am the vine and you are the branches,” was He excluding the Church from that statement? If we are the branches we will see the Antichrist and the Tribulation.

Mark 13:13-14

13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

In Revelation 3:21 Jesus said, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Jesus did overcome, and His ultimate victory came through His death on the cross. If Jesus had to die for truth before He could gain the final victory, why is it so hard for Christians, particularly those in free societies, to believe that they perhaps may be required to lay down their own lives one day as theonly way left to them by their adversaries to reject anything other than the truth of the gospel. Christians die everyday all over the world because they refuse to deny the one who died for them. During the Tribulation, which the entire Church must go through,many will have to put their lives on the line. Satan will require it of them as he tries them to see whether they are really willing to endure to the very end—the end being that final breath they draw before passing into eternity with a crown of righteousness waiting for them, which they will wear for their faith, courage and obedience. That final breath before eternity can occur just before they die or before they are raptured.

Wherever the Rapture is mentioned in the Bible, it is described as a visible event. In Titus 2:13 the Rapture is called a “glorious appearing.” In Acts 1:9-11 Jesus was caught up before the eyes of the disciples and received into a cloud. “While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”Two angels appeared while they continued to gaze into the sky and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” The angels were speaking of the Rapture, when we will be caught up into the clouds in the very same manner as He was.When He again comes in the clouds, Revelation 1:7 proclaims, “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”Not only those who pierced Him, but “they also who pierced him.” That means that not only the saints who are awaiting His blessed and glorious appearing will see Him appear, but every human being who is guilty of the sin that necessitated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Luke 21:27-28 tells us to “Look up” for our redemption because He is “coming in the clouds.” It also makes clear that the other inhabitants of the earth will also see Him coming in the clouds. Verse 30 of Matthew 24 corroborates that fact. They will see Him coming in the clouds and mourn. Verse 31 reveals the purpose of His coming is to gather His elect. The sign of the darkening of the skies that precedes His appearing is the same sign that precedes the day of God’s wrath. Before Matthew 24 concludes, Jesus makes it clear that He is gathering His elect to save them from this day.

Think about it!

­Does Jesus provide a timeline of the future in Matthew 24?

­Are the words “when, then, after, beginning and not yet” pertinent in this chapter or should we just ignore them?

~Selah~And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Luke 8:10

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