Let the Reader Understand
Matthew 24:14-20
Harry Stoliker
June 20, 2010 EBC
Let the Reader Understand
Let's go directly to work on the Olivet Discourse, right where we
left off last time. There is a phrase in this chapter that has been
like a sliver in my finger, like a pebble in my shoe,
like a bee in my bonnet, like speck in my eye and like
a thorn in my flesh! What phrase is that? Look in Matthew 24:15
"So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel,
standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)." It's that last
little phrase: "Let the reader understand." It refers clearly to
grasping what Daniel was saying in Dan. 9. What a challenge
that is! God is saying to us that we "ought" to be able to understand
Daniel 9, which contains one of the most debated and variously interpreted
prophecies in the entire OT! So, we need to do our best to interpret
how Daniel relates to Mt. 24.
We left of last week at V.14. We finished last week by being challenged
to keep our love for God hot and vibrant as our generation gets
more and more wicked. This cancer of wickedness has the
effect of cooling off our love and trust for God and we have need
of persevering unto the end in maintaining our first love for our
Savior.
V.14 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as
a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." The first thing
that this verse does for us is to give us great hope in the power
of the Gospel and the promise of Christ to build His Church among
the nations! It envisions a "worldwide proclamation" of the truth
and "worldwide evangelism". Remember its context: the
massive increase of wickedness in the world. There will be a great influx
of Gentiles from the nations into the Kingdom of God "in the teeth"
of this increase of wickedness. The gospel will not be extinguished
by the devil and his hosts! Rev. 5:9 will be accomplished!
There has been no major change in the context of Jesus answer from
when it began in V.4. He has been describing conditions in
the time between His death and 70 A.D. that he calls "the beginning
of the birth pains" in V.8. So, it seems correct to say that
Jesus is talking about the spread of the Gospel that in fact took place in NT
times. The "end" that is being referred to is end of the
Temple and the Jewish era – all prior to the parousia. Did the gospel
go out into all the nations during that time? The phrase "in the whole
world" in V.14 means the "inhabited world",
which at the time meant primarily the area surrounding the Mediterranean
and the lesser known areas to the east (France). "More narrowly it
was sometimes used for the area covered by the Roman Empire." Luke
2:1 "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world
should be registered." Also in Acts 11:28 "And one of them named Agabus
stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the
world (this took place in the days of Claudius)." Also in Acts 19:27
"There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the
temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself,
who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will
be robbed of her divine majesty." So, we can't just jump to a quick conclusion
that the phrase "the whole world" means New Zealand to Anchorage
as we know it today! The point was that the gospel would go far outside Judea
and Judaism, into all the various ethnic people groups.
Col. 1:6 is another: "All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit
and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and
understood God's grace in all its truth." The apostle Paul talked like he
believed the whole world had been evangelized in Romans 16:25-26
"Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching
of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret
for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has
been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God,
to bring about the obedience of faith." This was his view in
the mid-fifties of the first century.
This certainly isn't meant to put a damper on world evangelism and
missions today, but it needs to be seen in the context
it was written; it was one of the things that would happen prior to
70 A.D. Jesus was cluing his disciples in on the precursors or conditions
that would signal the answer to their main question of when the
stones of the temple would be destroyed. This gospel expansion
had to happen before the Temple came down in 70 A.D.
V.15 "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination
that causes desolation,'spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand…"
First notice the connecting word "So" – which tells us that we have transitioned
from the birth pains to the event of the birth itself.
Here is the phrase that sent me back to the book of Daniel feeling
as though I'd missed something that I need to understand in order
to better grasp Mt. 24! "Let the reader understand!" Turn to Daniel
9.
The Book of Daniel was written in the 6th century B.C.
while the people of Judah were in the Babylonian captivity.
The invasion too place in three stages starting somewhere around 605 B.C. They had
gone into captivity as punishment for their sin of breaking covenant with God. The
second half of the book (chaps. 7-12) contain apocalyptic visions
of the end times. These visions were designed to reassure the exiles
that in spite of their present persecutions and sufferings under the
Babylonians, God was and is still in control of all nations and will
ultimately be victorious in delivering them. The LORD was aware
of their trials and would bring their punishment to a
conclusion on His own timetable. The final victory belonged
to the Ancient of Days and His representative, the Son of Man
(Ch.7). Jesus is the Son of Man, the Messiah of God
who ushers in the invincible Kingdom of God and makes complete atonement
for the people of God in order that they may enter His glorious, eternal
Kingdom.
What did Daniel discover? Daniel made an exciting discovery
when he was reading Jeremiah one day! Look at Dan. 9:1-2. He found out that
the Babylonian captivity was going to last only 70 years!
(Jer. 25:11). The desolation of Jerusalem that took place in
586 B.C. would come to an end in 515 B.C. – the date when Zerubbabel
completed the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Israel had sinned
against God and God kicked them out of the Promised Land in the Old
Covenant. Now they find out that they are going back!
How did Daniel respond? With one of the most glorious prayers
in the entire Bible! (The most glorious being Jn. 17!~) 9:3-19! He begins
"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting,
and in sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
"O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who
love him and obey his commands, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have
been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.
6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your
name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land."
If you want a great blessing this afternoon, read all of Daniel's
prayer in chapter 9! This is how to humble yourself before
God and plead with Him for mercy and restoration, all for the glory
of His Name.
Was Daniel's prayer heard? Yes! He was heard as soon as the first
word came out of his mouth! Look at V.23 "As soon as you began to
pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed."
What was Daniel given? V.22 "Daniel, I have come now to give
you insight and understanding." Insight and understanding into what
or about what? Daniel was focused on the restoration
of the Jews from their punishment in Babylon. He confessed his own sins
and the sins of the people. He said that the LORD had not hesitated
to bring disaster upon them because they disobeyed – See V.14.
He was asking that God would restore Jerusalem from the desolation
that came upon it and do it for the sake of His Glorious Name – see
V.17.
In answer to Daniel's prayer, God gave him a prophecy that begins
in V.24 that has become famous. The 70 "weeks" of Daniel
have been central in the study of eschatology. These 70 weeks refer
to years – 490 years (70 X's 7). Let's read Daniel 9:24
"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the
transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place."
Daniel had been praying about the end of the punishment
on the people of God for their transgressions. In this prophecy God
speaks on a much grander scale! God says to Daniel: "You have discovered
in Jeremiah where I promised to make the Babylonian captivity only last 70 years.
But now, I will tell you about when I plan to put
an end to sin (an end to the relentless cycle of sin of OC Israel) and
provide an atonement for the iniquity of my people. I have a plan
to bring in everlasting righteousness and make my people into a
holy nation. I will bring an eternal sacrifice into the
Most Holy Place of Heaven itself (Heb. 9:11-13). This could
also be translated "to anoint the Most Holy One."
V.25 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore
and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, (or an anointed one) the ruler,
comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt
with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble." So, from the end of the
Babylonian Exile to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and
all the way to the coming of Jesus, the Anointed one, there were
69 of the 70 weeks (483 years). We know Jesus is the focus of this prophecy
because of what God said he was going to do in V.24: "put an end to
sin" – "atone for wickedness" – "bring in everlasting righteousness" – "seal up
vision and prophecy" – "anoint the Most Holy Place." Only Christ can and did
do these things.
V. 26 "And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed (or the Anointed
One) one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince
who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall
come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed."
Jesus was crucified, "cut off from the land of the living"
(Isa. 53:8). This is the language of execution. He had nothing,
he was stripped of even his clothes, which the guards divided into
4 shares and then they gambled for the seamless, woven,
one piece tunic, fulfilling of Ps. 22:18.
Then Daniel was told that again Jerusalem would be destroyed and
the temple along with it, this time by the Romans – the people
of the prince (the emperor of Rome) would do it in Jesus' day.
Where does this "abomination that causes desolation" come in? The
context of this entire prophecy to Daniel finds its
focal points around the events of Jesus Christ and His crucifixion.
It would then be unnatural to insert a huge gap of many centuries
between the 69weeks and what seems to take place in the 70th week. The
abomination that causes desolation is powerfully clarified
for us by the gospel of Luke 21:20 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded
by armies, then know that its desolation has come near." Luke
is saying that the abomination is the Roman army that is surrounding
Jerusalem and which soon destroyed the Temple. They marched into it
with their military standard – called the "aguila",
a golden eagle on a pole that inspired awe, courage in battle
and near worship. They took their standards with them as they destroyed
the Temple. To have those symbols of Roman idolatry in God's temple was an abomination.
Notice that the immediate context of Luke's next verse:
"Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside
the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it"
– fits exactly the context of Mt. 24:16 "then let those who are in
Judea flee to the mountains." So, Luke is telling us that the "abomination
that causes desolation" was in fact the Roman Army
that surrounded Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 70 A.D.
Mt. 24 16-20 clearly speaks to the believers in the first century
when these events were taking place. Don't go back into Jerusalem
when you see the Roman army begin their siege of the city. Flee
to the mountains. Don't go into your house to get your best suit of
clothes. It is going to be dreadfully hard for pregnant women who
have to run from the Romans. Pray that it doesn't take place in winter
because you won't have time to get your heavy winter coats, or on the Sabbath
because no one else will help you in any way get out of the city.
The context of these verses is indisputably 1st
century at 70 A.D.
What is the application to our hearts this morning? Last week I said
that our eschatology has to create fire in our hearts for loving
God and others. If it doesn't, it's bad eschatology. This week
I want to say that the centerpiece of our eschatology has to be the Cross of Jesus
Christ. The effective work of the Cross of Jesus Christ
is what God was excited about when He gave Daniel the vision of
the 70 Weeks! Do you want to hear how God got excited
about eschatology? Daniel 9:24 "Seventy weeks are decreed about your people
and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone
for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet,
and to anoint a most holy place."
Is the Cross the centerpiece of your life? Is the Cross as exciting
to you as it is to God? That means, do you find your
eternal righteousness, your eternal rest, peace, joy, sufficiency and glory
in the Cross of Christ?
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My Richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride
See from His head His hands His feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown
Oh the wonderful cross (2x) Oh the wonderful cross (2x)
Bids me come and die and find All who gather here by grace
that I may truly live draw near and bless your name