“Now as
He sat 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?” Matthew
24:3 NKJV
If
you are familiar with this passage from the Olivet Discourse and have read it
before, or even if you are reading it for the first time, I wonder if you have
ever thought that we today, as the body of Christ, are not much different than
the disciples were for the simple reason that we too are looking for signs of
Jesus’ return. The desire to know when
our deliverance from this world will occur, the time when Jesus Christ will
once again make His presence known, is a completely normal response to the promises
we have received from Him. Yet because
that event is so dearly anticipated, Jesus responds to the disciple’s
questions, and our own, with a warning.
“And
Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.” Matthew 24:4
NKJV
I
personally find it ironic, then, that Jesus’ answers to their questions in the
Olivet Discourse have proven over time to be one of the most divisive and
confusing passages for those who study eschatology are challenged to
understand. Obviously, Jesus foresaw
the debates that would result from attempts to decipher exactly what He was
saying to the disciples in response to their question of what to watch for, and
the future of the nation of Israel. Yet
I can’t help but wonder if over time we have overly complicated what Jesus
meant to be a rather simple answer to their questions?
“Seventy
weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the
transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To
bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to
anoint the Most Holy.” Daniel 9:25 NKJV
You
may wish to debate whether or not the disciples were aware of this prophecy
from Daniel 9, but it is my opinion that they were, especially as we can see
that Jesus referred to it as part of His answer to their questions.
“Therefore
when you see the ‘abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who
are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Matthew
24:15-16 NKJV
So
in context, with the knowledge that Israel’s destiny was limited to a period of
seventy weeks (of years, each week being seven years long), the disciples were
told by Jesus exactly what to look for in order to recognize when the last week
was imminent and what to expect would occur during those seven years before the
end of the age when He would return. With
that in mind, we come to what some consider the “great debate”. Namely, if Jesus is talking about the seven
year tribulation period the nation of Israel must endure, why would He speak
the following words?
“But of
that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father
only. “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
the ark, “and did not know until the flood came and took them all
away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Then two men will be
in the field: one will be taken and the other left. “Two women will be
grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. “Watch therefore, for
you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. “But know this, that
if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would
have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. “Therefore you also
be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:36-44 NKJV
For
as long as I have studied this passage over many, many years, the debate has
always been, do these words refer to the rapture of the Church or not? On the one hand, why would Jesus refer to the
rapture of a Church that had yet to be formed and that the disciples were
completely unaware of? On the other
hand, if this refers to Jesus second coming, how could Israel not know the day of
His return when they are told the tribulation period is exactly seven years
totaling 2520 days on the Jewish 360 day calendar? I rather doubt that my answer will settle a
debate which has lasted as long as this one, but for what it is worth, I
decided to let an English philosopher help me out.
You
may not recognize the name William of Ockham, but it’s entirely possible you
have heard the phrase “Occam’s razor”.
It describes a principle stated by this philosopher that is applied to
problem solving and is often called a law of economy or parsimony. This principle can be best explained as this;
“the simplest answer is most often the
correct one”. My personal experience over many years is that this principle
is extremely valuable in solving just about any problem we can encounter either
practically or philosophically. So how
have I applied it to this particular question?
Simply
this; the apostles asked a question and Jesus gave an answer. The question was; how will we know when the
end of the age is near? Jesus’ answer
was; when the Church disappears in the rapture.
Now of course, Jesus shared many signs that would also occur but in
answer to the question “why mention the rapture” I would argue that it is the
greatest sign of all. How could Israel
and the world explain away or ignore the disappearance of millions of people in
an instant? What follows is an excerpt
from a teaching on the Olivet discourse by Chuck Missler of khouse.org.
The direct clue to the real issue is
the immediately following verse:
But of that day and hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. -Matthew
24:36
That would seem to have in view the
Harpazo, or "rapture" of the church, (3) which is the principal event
that is distinctively without precedent prerequisite events. It appears to be
the trigger to the entire scenario. The removal of the church is also the event
which removes the present blindness of Israel: (4)
For I would not, brethren,
that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in. -Romans 11:25
Notice
the phrase he uses; “It appears to be the
trigger to the entire scenario.” I
couldn’t agree more. The simple answer
as to why Jesus mentions the rapture when answering the disciples questions
concerning what to watch for is simply that it is the sign which reveals to
Israel and the world that the end is about to begin. There will always be those who argue that
earthquakes, famine, plagues, and wars have been a part of history since the
beginning of time, yet the one thing that has never happened and the one sign that
no one could possibly ignore is the mass disappearance of so many in the blink
of an eye. It is, and will be, the
greatest sign of all. The question for
all today, though, is are you ready?
If
you are unsure about your answer to that question, I urge you to make the
decision to accept the free gift of salvation offered by the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ for your sin and accept it today by telling Him you believe He died for
your sins, and asking Him to come into your life.
“For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
NKJV
Keep
watching.
