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Jesus-End Time Prophecies and What We Must Do
June 20, 2020

As Jesus was preparing to leave the temple with His disciples he noticed people donating to the temple with many of the wealthy donating large sums. He also noticed a widow who was only able to give a very small amount. While it is not recorded in the Bible, those who donated much were probably given a great deal of attention compared to this widow who could barely afford to donate. Even though the amount donated was significantly less, Jesus took note of her donation and the sacrifice she made to give any money. As they were leaving the temple Jesus told His disciples that the temple buildings would one day not stand, and today this is a prophecy of Jesus that is easily verified.

Jesus’ statement about the Temple prompted His disciples to ask about the destruction of the temple, the sign of His coming, and the end of the world. Jesus first warned His disciples about deception, telling them to let no man deceive them. If it were possible for the disciples to be deceived, it is possible for us to be deceived, and we must always be spiritually on guard and this comes through diligent study of the Bible and through prayer. Jesus then mentioned civil and societal unrest including wars and rumors of wars , natural disasters, famines, and pandemics. Jesus mentioned these are just the beginning of sorrows. Jesus told His disciples that His believers at this end time would be severely persecuted and because sin would abound, the love of many will grow cold. Sin takes away love. Jesus shared that the gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached into all the world before He would return. He warned of the abomination of desolation, and by reading the parallel account in Luke, the abomination of desolation could be war. He mentioned that at this future time in Jerusalem when the abomination of desolation is seen in the holy place, that people in Jerusalem need to immediately flee to the mountains without regard for any physical possessions, and that this would be a time of great tribulation, a time worse than any other time known to man at any time in all of man’s history. Jesus added that for the sake of the elect, those called by God the Father, this time of trouble would be cut short. He also warned His followers not to believe false reports of His coming. He showed when He returns, it will be easy to see as the sunrise. His return will not be hidden from mankind.

Matthew 24:1-28
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Too many people focus on the prophecies of Matthew chapter twenty-four and other prophecies in the Bible while disregarding other important passages from the Bible. Some people focus so much on these prophecies they overlook what must be done to be in the Kingdom of God and one of these passages is found in Matthew chapter twenty-five. For today’s study we are going to focus on a passage that is sometimes glanced over because there may be an assumption this won’t be a problem for us.

Jesus explained that when He returns, he will separate people as a shepherd might separate sheep from goats, and in this separation, we want to be among the sheep. Qualities that Jesus identified as making a person a sheep is the willingness to feed the hungry and give water to the thirsty, welcoming strangers and visitors, helping clothe people lacking clothes, visiting people sick or in prison, because when we are willing to help people in need, it is like we are willing to help Jesus. The goats divided on the left would have been only willing to help Jesus in this time. If we want to be counted as the righteous, if we want to be counted among the sheep and go into everlasting life, we must be willing to help other people. If we are unwilling to help others, Jesus shares we will not have eternal life.

Matthew 25:31-46
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The take-away for us is simple. Having tremendous knowledge of prophecy with inaction in matters that are important to Jesus may give us an undesirable result in our spiritual salvation. In addition to understanding prophecies today, we need to be fulfilling what Jesus talked about in these verses.

With these final thoughts in place, it was time to prepare for the Passover, the final Passover that Jesus would humanly spend with His disciples. By this time, Jesus very well knew He would soon die. The scribes and Pharisees had been trying for months to find a reason to legally have Jesus put to death. Jesus was attracting many followers beyond the twelve disciples and was proving to be a threat to the religious establishment. Knowing that the Passover was near and the desire to kill Jesus remained, Caiaphas the High Priest, along with the chief priests, elders and scribes met at the home of Caiaphas to determine how and when they might take Jesus. They knew they could not take Him on a feast day because it would be problematic for the people, especially those who followed Jesus. The last thing the religious elite wanted was a revolt by the people, because a revolt would be seen by the Romans as a weakness and that would undermine their authority with the Romans.

While this debate was occurring on how and when to take the life of Jesus, Jesus was with His disciples at the house of Simon the leper. Back when Jesus was alive, virtually all people would avoid a leper. Up until recent history there were even leprosy colonies to isolate people with the disease. Today, we know leprosy is caused by bacteria and is easily cured with the World Health Organization providing tens of millions of free doses to help control the disease. When Jesus was saying to visit the sick, He wasn’t just talking about giving chicken soup to somebody with a common cold, but to not shun people because of their afflictions. It was in this setting at the house of Simon that a woman came to Jesus with an alabaster box of very expensive ointment and she began to apply the ointment to Jesus. This caused indignation with the disciples who thought this ointment should be given to the poor. They were probably recalling how Jesus described how people will be divided as sheep and goats, how the sheep cared for the less fortunate, and how His followers must be willing to do the same. Having extra money to do this makes it easier. When Jesus understood the disciples were indignant, He explained to them that this woman was preparing Jesus for burial. He shared that though His time with them was quickly going away, the poor they would always have with them. Jesus wanted the actions of this woman to be recorded as a memorial by all who preach the gospel.

Understanding that Jesus thought His time was drawing to a close and not having an expensive ointment to sell, Judas Iscariot decided to go to the chief priests to see how much he could get by selling Jesus to them. After bargaining back and forth, they agreed on thirty pieces of silver, a sum of money, but not a considerable sum of money. It was from that time on that Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.

Matthew 26:1-16
And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people. Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her. Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

As we continue the study into the life of Jesus next week, we will see the final Passover Jesus spent with His disciples, and the New Testament symbols He implemented. We will also see that even though Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit and had access to God the Father, even to Jesus the thought of His impending death was emotionally challenging .

All verses are from the King James Version.
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