THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION INITIATES THE GREAT TRIBULATION MATTHEW 24:15-28… #3

03-28-21 This message may be viewed live streaming video at youtube.com and tabernacleofmoses.org today Sunday at 11:00 am, and repeated 24/7 thereafter. The video, audio, and study notes are archived.

 

TRIBULATION

Commentary: Within the previously examined verses of Matt 24:1-14, Jesus identifies (cause) and describes (effect) the three major cause-effect sequential componets of the biblical “tribulation” period that symbolically parallels the first three seals of Rev 6:1-6 which are opened by Jesus Christ (John 1:14), the Lamb of God (“come and see”) for all people who care to look and consider. These three seals, are rendered, as are all the six seals contained in Rev 6, in a logical cause-effect sequence as (1) strong delusion, (2) war, (3) famine and pestilence, each seal being a component of the whole tribulation concept, and each seal birthing, accelerating, and intensifying the next component; the descriptions of the first three seals altogether concluding with the summation verse of Matt 24:14 [1]. Notably, may we mention that all people have been experiencing biblical “tribulation” (described in the first three seals) since the time of the first advent of Jesus Christ as evidenced by the statement of His companion and beloved Gospel writer John two thousand years ago [2].  

1.    (Matt 24:14) And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached [via computers, et.al.] in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

2.    (Rev 1:9) I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation [a], and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in [confinement (banished to)] the isle that is called Patmos, for [because of preaching] the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

a.     tribulation = Gk: pressure: affliction, anguish, burdened, persecution, trouble /// to crowd: afflict, narrow, throng, suffer tribulation, trouble. [i.e., (horizontal) peer group pressure and/or (vertical) governmental pressure]

 

THEN GREAT TRIBULATION

(Matt 24:15) [THE CAUSE] When ye therefore shall see [Gk: perceive, understand] [identify] the abomination [1] of desolation [2], spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand [rather than kneel, i.e., a person (ruler, leader) of great pride] in the holy place [in the place of our “High Priest… Jesus Christ” (Heb 3:1), i.e., the most powerful, dominating authority in the world], (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [3]

1.    abomination = Gk: detestation, (specif. idolatry) /// (to stink); be disgusting, detestable: abhorrent.

a.     Commentary: “specif. idolatry” = to place oneself first before God, before godliness, i.e., manifest pride, e.g., Lucifer’s declaration that “I will be like the most High” Isa 14:14.

2.    desolation = Gk: laid waste: (bring to, make) desolate (-ion), come to nought.

a.     desolation = Dict: 1. a making desolate; laying waste. 2. a desolate condition; ruin, waste. 3. lonely grief; misery. 4. loneliness. 5. a desolate place.

b.    desolate = Dict: 1. to make desolate; rid of inhabitants. 2. to make unihabitable; lay waste; devastate. 3. to forsake; abandon. 4. to make forlon, wretched, etc.

3.    Commentary: the presence of the abomination of desolation not only indicates the Great Tribulation (Great Pride) but also initiates the Great Tribulation.

 

(Matt 24:16-20) [THE WARNING] 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 [a proof phrase that Christians are still here] that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

 

 

 

 

THE FOURTH SEAL IS THE GREAT TRIBULATION

(Matt 24:21-24) [THE EFFECT] For then shall be great tribulation [1,2], 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 [another proof phrase that Christians are still here] 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. [3]

1.    Commentary: In Rev 2:20-23, “that woman Jezebel” is associated with “great tribulation” and “death.” She shall be cast “into great tribulation… And I will kill her children with death.”

2.    (Rev 6:7,8) And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale [Gk: greenish] horse [the color and power of gangrene]: and his name that sat on him was Death [strong delusion] [a], and Hell followed with him [b]. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword [war], and with hunger [famine and pestilence], and with death [strong delusion, i.e., to lie is to die], and with the beasts [Gk: a dangerous animal: (venomous, wild) beast] of the earth [“men… that they might see that they themselves are beasts” Eccl 3:18].

a.     (2 Thes 2:10-12) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth [i.e., they lied], that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion [more, much more than what they have sent us, eye for eye, tooth for tooth], that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

b.    Commentary: May we note that believing Christians will not ever be subected to Hell, Jesus Christ having already paid (suffered) that penalty for us on our behalf. Therefore, the narrative that “Hell followed with him [i.e., with Death]” is no longer applicable to forgiven Christians, but clearly indicates that believing Christians will have been “rapturedprior to the conclusion of the terrible dreadful end-time events of the Great Tribulation.

3.    Commentary: but this deception is not possible because “ye are the temple of the living God” 2 Cor 6:16, and we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Jesus said “the kingdom of God is within [Gk: inside] you.” Luke 17:21. Therefore the latter verses are purposed to expose the vast evil enormity of the emphatically Great Tribulation as the inconceivable weight of escalating pressure crushing down upon the grapes from all quarters.

 

(Matt 24:25-28) Behold, I have told you before [that this will happen]. Wherefore if they [your peer groups] shall say unto you [through their fake news media propaganda machines, STRONG DELUSION], 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 [suddenly, instantaneously, and completely]; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase [Gk: lifeless body: corpse] is, there will the eagles be gathered together [Gk: assembled] [above, i.e., raptured].

1.    (Exo 19:4) Ye have seen what I [God] did unto the [unsaved] Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings [i.e., the opened Bible, OT and NT flying with the wind (Holy Spirit)], and brought [Heb: carried] you unto myself.

2.    (Isa 40:31) But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength [Heb: vigor, force, fig. capacity: power]; they shall mount up [Heb: ascend] with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint [ref. Joel 2:1-11].

3.    (1 Thes 4:17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [Gk: seized, plucked, taken (by force)] [i.e., raptured] together with them [with the dead in Christ] in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

a.     rapture = Dict: 1. the state of being carried away with joy, love, etc.; ecstacy. 2. an expression of great joy, pleasure, etc. 3. a carrying away or being carried away in body or spirit. [Exo 19:4 alludes to a type of the “the rapture”]

Amen