I finished a series of posts about the Parable of the Tares which is the first end times teaching given by the Lord. Up to this point in the gospels, there have only been allusions to judgement in several teachings such as the sermon on the mount and the Lord’s discussion with Nicodemus.

The main teaching up to this point in the gospels has been the coming Kingdom of God, so it makes sense that the Lord would tell us what we should look for leading up to the establishment of His Kingdom on the earth. The expectation of the Jews for Messiah at the time was that He would deliver Israel from Roman rule and they would once again be unified as a nation as God had promised through the prophets. Even the disciples apparently had this mindset. Clearly, there was a lot of misunderstanding about the Kingdom of God at that time, just as many in the church (and Israel) misunderstand the Kingdom of God today.

What is the Kingdom of God? Is it here already? Is the church the Kingdom? Is it the job of the church to “build the Kingdom of God”? I have heard this so many times from pastors. Is the church supposed to take over the world so that Jesus can come back to a Kingdom the church established on Earth? Is the 1000 year reign of Christ on Earth a metaphor or just a spiritual thing or is it real? Is that happening already through the church? Many confusions and distortions about what is actually a very well defined doctrine in the scriptures.

End time prophecy in the bible has to do with one overarching objective: the establishment of the Kingdom of God. We tend to focus on the end times, meaning the end of things, when in fact it is also a new beginning, a new reality coming very soon. Jesus refers to it as the New heavens and the New Earth, completely remade as God intended and inhabited by the saints of God – those who placed their complete trust in Jesus Christ. What’s the path ahead towards that reality?

Jesus introduces new information about the Kingdom of God in the Parable of the Tares. Nothing like this is found in the prophets or elsewhere in the Old Testament that I know of (someone please correct me if I’m wrong). As I indicated in my posts about the Parable of the Tares, Jesus defines the term “end of the age” very specifically as the final disposition of evil which includes the gathering of all causes of sin and all lawbreakers by His angels, final judgement, and casting of all these things and even Satan into the Lake of Fire.

There is a direct connection of the Parable of the Tares with part of the Olivet Discourse and also with Revelation chapter 20, which I will explain in this series of posts regarding the specific prophecies Jesus gives to His disciples.

The Olivet Discourse

At this point, I am going to jump ahead to the Olivet Discourse, a lengthy series of prophecies given by Jesus Christ about what is going to happen in a brief period of time that will end human history and culture as we know it. As I have said before, I am a futurist in my understanding of biblical prophecy which means I believe end times prophecies are coming into fulfillment soon. The futurist viewpoint will frame my commentary on these passages.

I wanted to go ahead and cover the Olivet Discourse now for two reasons: 1) the Parable of the Tares opens the topic with Jesus defining the “end of the age”, so it seems logical to go ahead and dive into end times prophecies now, and 2) given all that is happening in the world today, there is in my opinion, a strengthening alignment between world events around us and the initial prophecies in the Olivet Discourse.

I think people, particularly Christians, need to know what’s happening in the world today and how these things fit with biblical prophecy – and they fit like a glove. Jesus said we should understand the signs of the times and gives us instruction about how to respond. So I shall try to do that in light of the Word of God.

Three Questions From the Disciples

Wouldn’t it be awesome to have been one of the disciples – unfettered access to Messiah to ask him anything they wanted. The Olivet Discourse is a very detailed teaching from the Lord Jesus in response to three specific questions asked by four of the disciples (Peter, James, John, and Andrew) who came to Him privately.  Its significant that John was one of them. Much later near the end of John’s life, the Lord would give His Revelation in much more detail in the Book of Revelation.

The Lord never hesitated to provide specific answers to disciples who came to Him privately for more information.  This goes back to what Jesus said early in His ministry that His disciples would receive the revelation of the Kingdom whereas others would not.  What distinguishes those who receive the revelations about the kingdom from those who don’t? Come to Him privately as his disciple and ask.  This is the hallmark of a disciple that is still true today. Are you a seeker of the Kingdom and His righteousness as your first priority? Do you come prayerfully to Jesus through His Word? Are you ready to receive with and honest and good heart? If so, then expect an increased biblical understanding of the Kingdom of God from the Holy Spirit.

The disciples must have been pondering what Jesus had just said earlier in Jerusalem about the destruction of the Temple. If the assumption is that the Messiah was to throw off the Roman rule and establish a kingdom in Israel once again, then the destruction of the Temple must have left them with a lot of questions and confusion about when the Kingdom would come and what it would look like. A Temple in ruins as Jesus had prophesied just didn’t fit their understanding of the Messiah or the Kingdom.

It should be noted that the earlier prophecies about the destruction of the Temple are not part of the Olivet discourse (mainly because Jesus and His disciples were not yet at the Mount of Olives, but still in Jerusalem admiring the Temple).  The prophecy about the destruction of the Temple was a different prophecy about a different event that would occur at a different time in history. That said, Jesus’ prophecy about the razing of the Temple must have triggered the questions that led to the Olivet Discourse.

As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Matthew 24:3

Basically, three questions can be consolidated by looking across the synoptic gospels:

1. When will [all] these things happen
2. What will be the sign of Your coming,
3. [What will be the sign] of the end of the age

Jesus provides answers for these questions in the Gospel of Matthew, with parallel passages in the gospels of Mark and Luke:

• Mat 24:3 – 25:36
• Mark 13:3-37
• Luke 21:7-36

Matthew is the go-to for answers the disciples seek since it is the most detailed and complete version of the Olivet discourse. The gospels of Mark and Luke supplement the main passage in Matthew.

When Will These Things Happen?

The answer to the first question is the shortest and most direct so I’ll jump straight to what Messiah says:

But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Matthew 24:36

We cannot know the specific day and hour and most people avoid any attempt at any kind of date setting, which is appropriate. Some have ignored this statement assuming they have figured it out just to find that they were presumptuous in thinking they knew something the Lord Jesus Himself did not know. So no date setting.

But should we understand that the time is coming soon based on the signs that the Lord does provide in this lengthy passage of scripture? Yes. Is it wrong to speculate about timeframes? I don’t think so. I think the Lord expects us to maintain watch and use our best scripture informed judgement to help us establish possible timeframes.

Let me give an example: I was recently at my parents house in Kentucky planning to stay until Thursday. Since its winter, I keep close watch on the weather to ensure we are not driving into inclement weather. Last thing I want is to end up trapped on some remote stretch of I-70 in the middle of a blizzard. I look for watches and warnings put out by the National Weather Service which gives me timeframes and locations for weather events. The NWS can’t know exactly when or where a snow squall will hit but they do know its coming and it will happen. So as a traveler, I closely monitor the signs, watches, and warnings to ensure I travel the safest routes and the safest timeframes. There were all kinds of warnings for the western half of the country for Wednesday, so we departed Tuesday and pushed all the way home to Colorado. When I woke up the next morning, there was freezing rain coming down. I heeded the warnings given and made the trip safely. If I was unaware of the developing storm in the west then how would I safely arrive at my destination? Ignore weather signs to your own peril. Ignore prophetic signs to your own spiritual peril.

The purpose of Olivet Discourse is similar: what are the conditions we can expect that will indicate the Kingdom and the return of the Lord is near, what are the warnings, and what should be our response?

Note the signs and warnings given in the bible and make sure you plan accordingly. The storm is coming! Be ready!