Pastor Jeff Durbin teaches on the Great Tribulation and the Olivet Discourse. What does it mean when Jesus says Israel will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven? What was Jesus quoting from when He referred to this? When did the Lord Jesus say this would occur? (Hint: “this generation“)
Note: Even though Pastor Durbin hails from the postmillennial perspective, AMILLENNIAL.org finds his teaching on “coming on the clouds” completely accurate. Though largely in sync with one another, the amillennial and postmillennial perspectives’ greatest difference remains amillennial’s more pessimistic view of the end times versus postmillennial’s assertion Christianity will expand as a physical presence to cover the globe (which actually seems very premillennial, when you say it like that.)
Once again John Alley brings a message about “end times”, beginning with an examination of the meaning of the “coming” of Christ and then giving an overview of the book of Revelation. Revelation, John explains, is the most Jewish of all the books of the New Testament, drawing greatly on Jewish symbols, history, concepts and nuances of language. The book was written to the seven churches of Asia, at a time when there was a larger percentage of Jewish Christians in the Asian region, and there was a huge emphasis on Emperor worship. John examines events from history which all point to the book of Revelation being written in about 64 or 65 AD. With this understanding, then, it is very easy to see that most of the prophecy of the book of Revelation has been fulfilled in the great tribulation and suffering inflicted on the Church by the Emperor Nero. Therefore, the Beast referred to in the book would seem to most likely have been Nero himself. John explains many fascinating facts including the source of the number 666 and then goes on to say that as for the future, we have hope, a great calling, a great many promises and a Messiah King ruling in Heaven. We should be encouraged, says John, that although difficult times will come for some people, the Gospel triumphs over them all and we need to pour ourselves out in service to God for the furtherance of the Kingdom.
In any modern Bible study on the last days, a common practice for understanding the dark, end-times enemy known as the Antichrist is to mix together Paul’s man of lawlessness, John’s antichrists (plural), and John’s beast of Revelation 13, while sprinkling in a dash of Daniel’s 70th week for flavor. The result? A tyrannical dictator the likes this world has never seen. But is this apocalyptic amalgamation biblical?
Imagine being visited by an angel and receiving a promise foretelling a future king who would liberate your people and usher in an entirely new kingdom—a new way of life—free from the crushing burden of sin, shame and guilt. Amazing! But then this promise turns dark, tainted by war, desolation and the end of all you’ve ever known.
Oh, and did I mention this prophecy is wrapped in an exact timeframe so your people can know when all this is going to go down?
Welcome to Daniel’s 70-Week Prophecy.
TAKE-AWAYS FROM THIS LESSON
This prophecy gives a precise timeline
Announces the arrival of Israel’s Messiah
Predicts the Messiah’s death
Predicts the destruction of temple and Jerusalem by an army
Jesus reminds His first-century followers of this prophecy to warn them of the impending 70 AD judgment (Matthew 24:15)
John Alley’s message begins with an overview of Daniel Chapter 9:24-27, before focusing on verse 24 in particular. John observes that many people, preoccupied with their own view of end times, have unfortunately imported difficulty into these verses that was not intended by the Lord when speaking with the prophet Daniel. It was given to Daniel, the angel said, so that he would “understand.”
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
John points out several items of great interest, including the amazing prophecies regarding Cyrus recorded centuries before he came to power as the world ruler and issued the decree to rebuild Jerusalem–which decree was the starting point for the 70 heptads (70 “sevens”), a period of 490 years. At the end of 69 heptads, the Messiah was to appear to Israel, and in the middle of the 70th week, he will be “cut off.” These events were fulfilled exactly–in the precise timeframe foretold–including the six things prophesied in verse 24 of Daniel 9. John presents both New and Old Testament Scripture to demonstrate all of these things have complete Gospel fulfilment.
John points out the judgements in the prophecy that were to come, and did come, upon Israel, who rejected and put to death their Messiah. One of these was the sealing up of vision and prophecy (as foretold by other prophets as well) so that from that time, no one in Judaism had any further access to seeing or hearing (for only in Christ is the veil taken away), but at the same time the Body of Christ became the newly anointed Most Holy Place (the temple of God), the anointing of which took place at Pentecost–again, precisely in the middle of the 70th heptad. John concludes with this devotional application: We believers in our Lord Jesus cannot take God, nor the grace we have, for granted. We must be humble before God, so that we will not by default suffer the same judgement as in this passage, but rather by the grace of God have ears that hear and eyes that see. This message is filled with Scriptural and historical truths and will bring light to the passage discussed.
Gary DeMar
A discussion of Bible prophecy with an emphasis on Daniel’s 70 weeks of years.
What is the New Heaven and the New Earth? Will heaven and earth pass away? NT Wright is one of the world’s most renowned Bible scholars, and he joins us in this episode to talk about the renewal of all things. Learn in this episode why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the linchpin for God’s new creation, which is continuing to unravel through the Spirit-empowered ministry of God’s people, until the day Jesus returns to redeem the entire cosmos—in what Scripture calls, “the New Heavens and New Earth.” Come away from this episode with clarified misconceptions about the afterlife, and with a more profound appreciation for the grand scheme of God’s redemptive plan, from Genesis to Revelation.
(Update 1/26/2023: The YouTube videos this page once highlighted have been set to private by the owner. Those videos were simply these audio recordings set to still title slides.)
Voddie Baucham teaches on Revelation 7:1-8, explaining the prophetic idea of the 144,000. This sermon was preached at Grace Family Baptist Church. This was part of an expository series on Revelation.
Did Jesus get his return wrong in Matthew 10:23? How should we understand Jesus’ meaning? What does “the coming of the Son of Man” mean? Here, Matthew 10:23, Daniel 7 and Matthew 28 are explained.
In Matthew’s Gospel in chapter 10, Jesus tells his disciples that they will not finish going throughout the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Now, some people look at that and say this is clearly an evidence of where Jesus was wrong. He has not come back yet and the gospel has been preached throughout much of the whole world. But that reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the context of this passage. In order to understand what Jesus means, you have to understand what’s going on both in the Gospel of Matthew and also where the term, “the Son of Man” comes from.
First, what’s going on in the Gospel of Matthew? Well, Jesus tells His disciples to go out into the towns of Israel and to proclaim the coming of the kingdom, to proclaim what Christ is doing. But He tells them to not go to the Samaritans and to not go to the Gentiles. That’s very important to remember as we try to figure out why He tells them that. Still, what does it mean, this term “the Son of Man”?
Well, the term, “the Son of Man” comes from Daniel 7. There the prophet Daniel gives this vision of these four great beasts who rise up. These four great beasts represent different kingdoms of men that God eventually smites down and brings to nothing. Then there’s this vision of God sitting upon His throne in all His glory and one “like a son of man” comes to God the Father, and He has given all authority over the nations. So the “coming of the Son of Man” is not Him coming back to the earth, but it’s Him coming to the Father and being anointed with glory and honor and power and authority over the nations.
It’s the same thing that’s going on then in Matthew with that “Son of Man” term. Jesus says, “The Son of Man will not come until,” or “He will come before the gospel has gone out to all the nations” meaning all the towns of Israel. So what does that mean? Well, it means that the Son of Man is going to come to the Father and receive authority over the nations (per Daniel 7) before the gospel has been preached in all the towns of Israel.
And that’s exactly what happens in the Gospel of Matthew.
In Matthew 28, after the resurrection, Jesus tells His disciples that this prophecy has been fulfilled because He has been given all authority in Heaven and Earth. He tells His disciples not to just preach to the towns of Israel, but to go into preach to all nations. So the prophecy of the coming of the Son of Man in Matthew 10 is fulfilled in Matthew 28 as Jesus–through His death and resurrection–is given all authority in Heaven and Earth and He has commissioned His church to go out now and to preach–not just to the Jews–but to every nation.
