@civic @Jim @FreeInChrist @DavidTree
Let us test this first point with the word of God. I tagged a few folks into this discussion.........
the more the better. It has been said:
"If you repeat an untruth enough times, many will begin to believe it simply by process of indoctrination, and will look upon it as established truth."-WiseManSay
This definitely has happened to the Great tribulation spoken of first by Daniel, then Christ, followed by Paul and John, in that order.
I have written on the Olivet Discourse many times over the years, and no man can prove that the context in this discourse is Jewish, and a matter of fact it is very clear that it is not Jewish not even close.
1) Let every serious student of the scriptures understand the Olivet Discourse takes
up two chapters, not one, Matthew 24
, and 25, is
ONE discourse given by the Lord Jesus Christ and
must be interpreted as such, so all of the context of these two chapters must be consider as
ONE discourse on "one" important subject, the end of the world and events leading up to that day, per Matthew 25:31-43.
2) The “abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel”~
for now, I will say this, the abomination of desolation is that which is an abomination
to God, not to the Jews, and it is what
God shall make desolate in His time! The abomination of desolation is the same as the antichrist, the man of sin, that shall arise in the churches of the saints in the last days of the little season of Revelation 20, etc. The man of sin is just as the phrase said:
man of sin...man
of sin ~any and all men (A man of sin, like a man of war, is one proficient and forward in sin and sinning.
Collective nouns are single in number, but include all of their species See
Ist Tim 2:11; 2nd
Tim 3:17;
Ps 10:18;
37:7;
Heb 9:7... Pre-mill want a future single man, but the scriptures are clear, they will be many, more on this later) who fill the churches in the latter days of the last day just before the coming of the Son of God, who stand in the temple of God (churches of the saints) and declaring that he is God, by omitting certain truths and preaching against them and adding certain lies in order to accommodate the millions of false professor that shall fill the churches of the last days.
3) The writer said:
Matthew 24:16 references those who flee from Judea during the tribulation. Where is Judea? Would you say this is Jewish in context?
Judea in the OT was where the temple was and where folks
went to worship, so we understand by the overall content of the context and many other scriptures quoted below) that the Lord was referring to the churches in the latter day where Christ was profess to be worshipped. Sound bites are not the means of interpreting the scriptures, scriptures must be compare with scriptures (like Daniel 7-12; 2nd Thess. 2; 1st John 2;18; and Revelation of Jesus Christ before we know we have the truth on the particular subject under consideration~both chapter of Matthew 24,25 all points to the end of the world and all of teh world, not to a very small area about the size of Delaware if even that.
4) The writer said: "In verse 20 of that chapter there is concern about having to flee on the Sabbath. Would you say that is Jewish in context?" absolutely not. Let's look at this verse:
Matthew 24:20
“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:”
If what the premill say that Christ was warning Jewish people that they should be praying that when they see their city compassed about then pray that your need to flee, it was not in the winter time, or on the Sabbath day. Question, who cares if it is winter, or the Sabbath day if one's life is in danger, they would flee regardless!
But we are to seek the spiritual meaning of what Christ meant for
US to heed since the warning of the word of God arf eofr God's people who beleive in him, not for any one else.
The true meaning of these verses for US to heed is this: What do we think of concerning winter time? It is the
time of barren, lifeless season. So, we must be careful when we see these things coming to pass, we must make sure our own life is not like the winter time...fruitless and barren! When we think of the Sabbath day we think of rest, from our labors~so, when we see these days being fulfilled before our own eyes, we must
not take a rest period, and begin to slumber and sleep, but we
MUST labor to make sure our own life is a life that when Christ returns we
will find us laboring, watching, and doing the will of God expecting our Lord's return at any time, we must not take time off, and live as though we have much time to prepare our selves for our Lord's return.
Matthew 25 will support this interpretation !
Later tomorrow..
