A Serious Look at Matt 24 & Rev 6 in Parallel: pt 1,2

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A Serious Look at Matt 24 & Rev 6 in Parallel:

[A]. IMPORTANT INTRODUCTION:

In 1Cor 15:51, “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,” Paul sets out the revelation from God of the Rapture, developed further in maybe 10 years time in 1Thess 4. He calls it here a “mystery,” which is a Greek work meaning the revelation of a new truth that has been hidden and not previously known. Up until this time, the Rapture had not been known. This was something altogether new.

Therefore, the whole concept of the Rapture was unknown to the disciples when Jesus was here with them. The only slight hint of the Rapture in anything Jesus said may have been in John 14:1-6. It is important to realize these points, because it will determine how we are to look at prophecy passages, especially Matthew 24. There is one passage I’d like you to consider. It is this one here:

Acts 1:6-7 “And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel’? He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.'”

This was on the Ascension Day, some 40 days after the Resurrection, and Jesus had been teaching them during those 40 days. Do you see where their focus was still centered? It was on the Messianic Kingdom that was the expectation of every righteous Jew. That was what was in their minds. It was that kingdom that is set out in the Old Testament by almost every prophet. It was Israel’s glorious hope.

In other words, the concept of a Rapture was as foreign to them as the durian fruit (a tropical fruit which I love and grow)! It was the expectation of those disciples on the Lord’s departure that the kingdom would be set up, but they wanted to know just when. The Rapture was an absolutely foreign concept for the disciples at that time and had not been covered by the teaching in the 40-day period.

Not only that, but consider this verse also: Acts 1:3, “To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” Do you see those words “Kingdom of God”? I have no doubt that His Kingdom (the 1,000-year reign) was included in that, and is what prompted the disciples’ question in verse 6. Jesus would also have included the gospel (of grace) in His teaching.

I hope you don’t think I have extended this out too much, but the purpose is to show beyond doubt that the Rapture was a Pauline revelation (mystery) and was not what was taught by the Lord while He was here. Therefore, the contents of Matthew 24 and 25 cannot relate to the Rapture but to the events that concern Israel. You know also that Matthew is the Gospel of the Jews/Messiah/King; whereas Mark is the Servant; Luke, the perfect Man; and John, the God Man, the Word in His divinity.

The events that relate to Israel and the kingdom are the matters covered in all the Old Testament prophets and are all included in what is called “The Day of the Lord.” The Day of the Lord covers the wrath of God poured out, the coming Gentile domination under the World Leader/Antichrist, the time of Jacob’s sorrow (Tribulation), the judgment of the Gentile nations and Babylon the great, and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom.

I can give all the Old Testament references for those. However, Jesus keeps a lot to Daniel as he is one of the key prophets as to the unfolding of events. Now, all the matters I outlined in the previous paragraph are the content of Matthew 24 and 25. Knowing that helps immensely in understanding those two chapters. For example, we can see (I hope) that the Rapture is not part of those two chapters. I think what I have already said covers that. Therefore, the crucial question asked of the Lord is partially answered. This question asked, and which formed the basis of these two chapters, was this one: Matt 24:3, “And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age’?”

To the Jewish mind, the end of the age was fundamentally interlinked with the Old Testament prophetic events concerning Israel; and this is what the Lord knew they were referring to, and answered them specifically. For several reasons already stated, the Rapture was not Jewish, and had not yet been revealed – still a “mystery” – and was foreign to the disciples listening to the Olivet discourse here. “The sign of Your coming” is specifically the coming in glory as we have in Rev 19:1-11, or what we call “The Second Coming.” Jesus directs His answer exactly to this Second Coming.

I trust that what has been said by way of introduction is enough to show that these events of Matthew 24 and 25 are not in any way speaking about the Rapture and are only connected in as far as the Rapture has to happen before the focus again returns to Israel once the Church has been removed. The Rapture is unknown in the Old Testament and rightly so, because the Church is the Bride called from a far country (type of Isaac taking his bride). The Coming is the coming in glory, the Second Advent.

Just expanding this thought on the mystery, we might look at it from another angle – Eph 3:4-6, “And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit – to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel….”

You see, Jesus did not teach the facts of the Church apart from one reference to it (Matt 16:18) or the facts of the Rapture apart from a passing suggestion in John 14:1-6. This “revealing” was left to the Apostle Paul. From memory, there are 7 mysteries in the New Testament, but only two of them are termed “great mysteries.” Here is one of those: Eph 5:32, “This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.”

What I am attempting to show is that Jesus did not teach about the Rapture or the Church, but His reference to His coming in Matthew 24 is rightly in line with the disciples’ understanding of His coming in glory as taught throughout the O.T. Therefore, when questioned about the signs of His coming and the end of the age, there can be no possible allusion to the Rapture or the Church, because neither is in view at that point in history. Those who want to include these signs from Matthew 24 in the Rapture are doing injustice to the background and interpretation of the chapter.

more @ https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/07/a-serious-look-at-matt-24-rev-6-in-parallel-part-1-of-2-ron-ferguson/

A Serious Look at Matt 24 & Rev 6 in Parallel: Part 2

https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/14/a-serious-look-at-matt-24-rev-6-in-parallel-part-2-by-ron-ferguson/