177 - Les Feldick Bible Study Lesson 3 - Part 1 - Book 15 - Matthew 24

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 3 * PART 1 * BOOK 15 MATTHEW 24 AND OTHER REFERENCES Turn to Matthew Chapter 23. There is no Church language in here. This is all Christ dealing under the Law, with the Jew under the Law. I like to point out that Christ constantly is making us aware that they are under the Law. There is not a word said that the Nation of Israel and the Jew don't have to keep the Law any longer. That they no longer must do Temple worship, or keep the Ten Commandments, or be separate from the Gentiles. A good example is when Jesus healed the lepers. See, it was all under Law. - at the Temple. Why didn't Peter want to go to Cornelius' house in Acts Chapter 10? It was forbidden under the Law for a Jew to go to the home of a Gentile (in this case the Holy Spirit gave permission, so that fifteen years later Peter could defend Paul in Acts Chapter 15). The Law was never taken from them. The Temple is beginning to feel the effects of it. In that atmosphere verse 37 says: Matthew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem (in reality Jesus is speaking to the Jews here), thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together , even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" A big storm came up suddenly and dad and I ran to house. As we watched out the window that one little chick got rolled over in the wind and rain and drowned. But the rest were safe under that old hen. Here again, God had sent the Son in fulfillment of all these Old Testament promises. They could have the King and the Kingdom, and Salvation, redemption, and forgiveness if they would just recognize who Jesus was and believe. That is that God in His sovereignty is in control of everything, and yet He never takes away the free will of men and nations. We call that foreknowledge. Let's look at an amazing verse in Acts 2. "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, "Him (This Jesus), being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" Now what does the determinate counsel of God mean? Now let's return to Matthew Chapter 23. Matthew 23:37,38 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Then the next verse says: "Behold, your house (the Temple) is left unto you desolate." When the Nation first started out, God would call them "My people." As Jesus is now approaching the end of His ministry, and it's obvious that Israel is not accepting Him, He refers to the Temple as "your house." For a quick reference let's look at John Chapter 2 on how Christ's attitude toward the Nation of Israel is showing their response to Him. John 2:16 Here it was still the Temple of God. In Matthew 23:38 the nation had sunk so low that He called it "your temple." Matthew 23:39 "For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say (watch the language for this is a future event), `Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.'" Jesus is speaking: Luke 21:24 Then there is coming a time when Jerusalem will be delivered from that overlordship of the Gentiles, and we are getting close tonight. Now the third one I like to refer to is in Romans Chapter 11. This is the chapter where Paul deals with Israel's future - how that one day she will be grafted in again. Romans 11:25 While God has been calling out the Gentile Body of Christ, the Church, for the past 1900 + years, Israel has been in a spiritual blindness), lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part (not forever, but a segment of time) is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." What is the fullness of the Gentiles? The Body of Christ, the Church. Let's look at Chapter 24. We covered these verses when we taught the Book of Revelation. Jesus is speaking of the future. Prophecy is always connected to the Nation of Israel, from Abraham all the way through the Old Testament, and it is telling what will happen. Here again in Chapter 24 is exactly what Jesus is going to talk about, things that will happen to the Nation of Israel at some future point. Matthew 24:1,2 "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple." When King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple he used fire, because it was built primarily of beautiful cedar wood. But the Romans, when this prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A. D., almost completely dismantled the whole thing stone by stone. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible