After writing “Living the Fulfilment of Bible’s Prophecies”, I received a private message asking about the first part of chapter 24 of the Gospel of Matthew. Questions asked: “Will there be tribulation even before the Rapture? Which are the chosen ones who will fall or because of whom the days will be shortened? Are we now waiting for the Rapture or a tribulation before the Rapture of the Church? ”
Because I consider them good and topical questions, I thought I would answer them on the blog.
In studying the prophecies, one can often see how the future events are presented to the prophet in a sequence that sometimes seems to be without a distance in time in the unfolding of events. The action moves from an early partial fulfilment of the prophecy to a late fulfilment of it, (at a distance in time), as a complete fulfilment of the prophecy. There are two stages of fulfillment, separated in time but presented as a single prophecy. This is because its main theme is found in both stages.
Also, in the prophecies are presented principles, phenomena, which are repeated in time and which can be applied to the Church, the Jews and the whole world throughout history.
Understanding the fulfilment of the prophecies is done with the utmost precision when they are fulfilled. Before that there are only opinions, theories. Some better, some less realistic.
For example, if 100 years ago there was a prophecy that people would be trapped in houses and able to walk the streets only with special approvals and that the army / police would check to it that these rules were followed. – would anyone have thought to interpret the prophecy as a pandemic coming? That a virus makes people sick and everyone will be forced to stay home? I would rather have interpreted the prophecy that a new empire will rise and conquer the world and oppress it, enslave it. That’s how I would have understood it 100 years ago. But when the pandemic came, I would have understood that in fact the prophecy of 100 years ago did not refer to a new empire that will rise, but to a virus that will oppress us.
In studying the Bible, of course, I use dictionaries, commentaries, and many translations, including original texts and other sources. I am selective based on the doctrine I have acquired over time.
With all of the above in mind, I will try to answer the questions that were asked of me regarding Matthew 24.
Christianity was born when Jesus was crucified. Then began the New Covenant in the Blood of Jesus. After He shed His blood on the cross. Until then, the laws submitted by the Jews, including Jesus, were the laws given by Moses. So Jesus and his disciples, being Jews, all kept the Old Testament, the Old Covenant. Even the baptism that John the Baptist preached and did is not the same as the baptism we do today, in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There are different baptisms. John’s baptism was made to turn the eyes of the Jewish people to God and to prepare Jesus to start His work. The baptism we do today is included in the last message, at the last meeting Jesus had with the disciples after His death, before ascending to heaven.
All of Jesus’ apostles were Jews waiting for the Messiah as King.
In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks to the disciples Jews by birth, formation, faith. They see in Him the fulfilment of what the prophets wrote in the Old Testament. They were waiting for a restoration of Israel with Him, Jesus, seated on the throne of David as King and they, the disciples, would be around Him, with authority, power.
When Jesus speaks to the disciples, He addresses them as Jews in the first place. And with that in mind it forms them to have a clear vision of their nation, Israel, but also of a world empire, one based on spiritual reasons and not on ethnic origin, Empire, not Kingdom, whose Emperor is Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Matthew 24: 1-3 (NKJV)
“Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the Temple.
And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
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? ”
Reading Matthew 24 carefully, with the details given, considering that the disciples were Jews, that they were in Jerusalem, that they had just left the Temple, the center, the heart of Israel, Jesus’ answers to their questions are about the Temple and the Jews. I repeat, at that time they did not yet have in their minds the image of the coming Empire of God, which will be the Church of Christ, made up of people of all ethnicities, not just Jews. Because, as I mentioned before, at that time the Church did not exist yet.
Jesus’ prophecy that the Temple would be destroyed and that “no stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be down” was fulfilled 37 years later, in the year 70, when the Romans conquered Jerusalem under his rule. of Titus. They set fire to the Temple and the gold on the dome dripped among the stones. To recover it, they tore down all the walls and separated the stones. Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled in detail.
The disciples asked Jesus three questions:
When what Jesus said about the Temple will happen.
Which will be the sign of His coming. That is: what a great event will precede His coming to Earth to return as King.
Which will be the sign of the end of this age. That is: what will announce the end of the age, of the waiting period, for the establishment of His Kingdom.
The second and third questions are intertwined.
The disciples, Jews, saw Jesus as the expected Messiah, who would come in glory to destroy the enemies of the Jews and rule from Jerusalem.
At that time the disciples did not know much about the Church and the Rapture.
It should also be remembered that their question did not refer to the end of the world, the end of all things, but to the end of the age, the waiting age until His establishment on the throne of David. (I’m advising you to read all the passage from your Bible)
The second and third questions are answered in chapter 24, verses 2 to 35. These verses describe the 7 years of tribulation, the period that will precede Christ’s return in glory. The first 3.5 years are described in verses 4-14. The next 3.5 years, known as the Great Tribulation and the time of Jacob’s tribulation (Jeremiah 3.7) the period described in verses 5 to 35 of chapter 24, Matthew. This will be a time of trouble like no other for the inhabitants of the Earth.
Many of the events characteristic of the first half of tribulation (the first 3.5 years) have taken place on Earth in time, in the history of mankind, but they will have a greater intensity and will all take place at the same time in these years of tribulation.
Many called themselves “christ” and turned out to be liars. In recent years there will be even more of them. For the Church? Not! The Church has already received Christ. The Church is waiting for the Rapture to be reunited with Christ “in the air.” Lying christs will be for Israel, who is waiting for Christ, the Messiah.
News of wars have been throughout history and are now. But in the 7 years of trouble they will intensify.
Earthquakes “somewhere” are still present and have been over time.
Hunger is greater now than in other times, planetary.
Not to mention diseases. So many diseases that now it seems they have never been in history.
These are all “the beginning of pain.”
I remind you that they took place throughout history, one by one. But now they are all at the same time.
All this can be found in Revelation 6, the first four seals. They are global problems and are included in the first 3.5 years of Tribulation.
One thing to keep in mind is that when Jesus tells his disciples that “false christs” are coming, he is addressing the Jews. Because the Jews have been waiting for Him and are still waiting for Christ, the Messiah as coming for the first time. They did not accept and do not accept Jesus as the Messiah.
When Jesus tells them to beware of “false prophets,” He is speaking to the Church.
Verses 9 to 14 of Matthew 24 refer to Christians: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cool. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. ”
Today there are Christians who are going through great persecution. There are countries where Christians are imprisoned, beaten and even killed because of their faith. In other countries, with established democracies in Europe, America, Canada, etc. Christians are hated, marginalized, mocked, persecuted. Not everyone resists. Political correctness greatly affects Christianity. Exposing religious beliefs on matters of holiness attracts ridicule and even job loss, the business that a Christian can have. Iniquities multiply before our eyes. And if we express our disapproval we are put on the wall. Because of this, there are preachers who preach a “genetically modified” Gospel. A gospel tolerant of all forms of sin. A Jesus who loves us all and takes us to Heaven, no matter how we live. A false gospel, false prophets.
But Jesus tells us that only those who will stand firm in their position in what they believe, in holiness, in the true, unchanged, unformed gospel, only those will be saved.
What end will come then? The end of the Jewish era of waiting for the coming of the Messiah, Christ, to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem. Because in the verses that follow Jesus addresses the Jews, not the Church. All the details in verses 15 to 35 refer to the Jews.
There will come “the abomination of desolation” placed in the Holy Place. It is connected to Jerusalem and the Temple in Jerusalem.
“Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Specify who it refers to: Judea.
“Pray that your flight will not be in the winter on a Sabbath.” On the Sabbath, Jews have restrictions on travel, in addition to restrictions on doing any gainful activity. The idea of the “Sabbath” is to rest. It is estimated that a “Sabbath road” is about 1.5-2 kilometers (1 mile). It is a very short road, considering that they are advised to flee, to hide in the mountains, which are at a distance of more than 2 km from Jerusalem.
The “elect” spoken of in verse 22 are Jews. Because the whole passage, the immediate context, refers to them.
Verse 23 speaks of the fact that the Jews can be deceived as if the Messiah, Christ, were in one place or another. Jesus clarifies to them that His return to them, as the Messiah, will be “as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west.” It will be a lightened event, seen by all. Then all the Jews scattered around the world will be gathered in Israel where the Messiah will be installed as King.
Jesus also tells them that they, the Jews, when they see all these events happening, should prepare for the Messiah to come to Jerusalem.
Jesus also says that the Jewish nation will not disappear, will not become “history.” They will exist and will be part of these events. “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (v.34) “This nation” are the Jews. They have existed and survived for 2,000 years. This “nation” booed, gassed, killed, hated by many, survived and survives, although many would like to disappear. The Jews not only survive, but for 72 years they have regained the land given to them by God. They re-established the State of Israel and, with the help of America, began the process of transferring the capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Verse 35: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
What Jesus said then, part has been fulfilled, part is being fulfilled before our eyes and part is going to happen.
I return to the questions at the beginning of this meditation.
Question: “Will there be trouble even before the Rapture?”
Answer: Yes, it will be. Or rather, it’s already here. As I said, there are 7 years of tribulation, of which the last 3 years and 6 months (3.5 years) are described as the “Great Tribulation,” that is, years of unprecedented tribulation, culminating in the return to earth of Jerusalem. of Christ, the Messiah.
The first 3.5 years are years of trouble that have been in history, but in that period will be all categories of trouble at the same time. A parallel can be drawn between the first 4 seals of Revelation 6 and these 3.5 years of tribulation. I have already written about seals on the blog.
Question: “Are we waiting for the Rapture now or a tribulation before the Rapture?”
Answer: Considering that we are already living in the 3.5 years of tribulation, before the Rapture, the first event we are waiting for is the Rapture.
If we consider that we are not in the period of the first 4 seals of which Revelation 6 speaks, then we will have to wait for them.
But I ask: The period that the whole earth feels like a great pressure, trouble, isn’t it hard and oppressive enough? And this from all points of view. I say it is. We live in a time of planetary tribulation.
Question: “Which are the chosen ones who will fall or because of which the days will be shortened?”
Answer: The Jews. I’ve already detailed this. Let us not forget that the “chosen people,” the nation chosen by God from Abraham to the end, are the Jews. We, the Church, are not “a nation.” We are not “a people.” We are “an Empire,” meaning we are from many nations on earth. An Empire. The difference between a nation and an empire is that there are several “nations” in the empire. More peoples, languages, cultures.
Israel is a nation. The church is an empire.
I don’t know if I answered everything and if I was convincing through my answers.
I encourage those who read any of my meditations on the blog to comment or ask questions. My goal is to build each other up, draw closer to God, and drive away fear and insecurity.
Let’s not forget that Jesus loves us enormously. So much so that He allowed Himself to be crucified, out of love for us, for you, and for me.
If we go through trouble, He is with us. Let’s not lose faith. Let’s look up. Our salvation is coming. And the final salvation, the Rapture of the Church, is closer to us than we can imagine.
Let’s be patient. He comes !
Come, Lord, Jesus!
May God bless us with health, inner peace and salvation.
With love,
Georgeta
Geta's Blog 
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