It seems to be a characteristic of the human condition that people are more interested in knowing the future than knowing the past. People might line up at a carnival in front of a fortune teller’s tent, but not many would line up for a show about ancient history. Yet there is an old adage which should be very familiar to all of us; “those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Actually, I learned while researching that quote that the original statement was made by a philosopher named George Santayana, and it goes like this: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I didn’t remember that, but I think the sentiment is the same. Those that don’t learn from the past, or can’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

Today we are looking at a passage of scripture which we call predictive prophecy which has two parts to it, a part that is past, that is, it’s been fulfilled, and that which is yet future. We should be able to learn from past prophecies that have been fulfilled. Predictive prophecy though means that means something that is predicted to happen in the future. Not all prophecy is predictive. Not all prophets tell the future, or prophesy about future events. Being a prophet of God means first of all that one speaks forth the truth of God. In that sense I might be considered a prophet, or to have the gift of prophecy or engage in the act of prophecy. But predictive prophecy is another facet of prophecy that isn’t necessarily given to all prophets. I don’t have the gift of predictive prophecy, and I don’t think it is a gift that is given today. I believe it was given to Christ and to His apostles as sign gifts.

By the way, there is an interesting injunction given in the Bible in regards to those that prophesy in a predictive manner. There is no room given for error. If one errs in their predictive prophecy, if the event that they speak of does not come to pass, the Bible says that such a one is not actually a prophet of God at all, and should be stoned to death. Now that is an OT injunction, and unfortunately in those cases we are no longer under the law. I think it would clear the air significantly if we were able to practice stoning false prophets according to that standard today. Because there are a great deal of false prophets masquerading in the church, pretending to be able to tell future events, and they are offering a false doctrine that leads people astray. And yet their prophecies are consistently wrong, and naive people continue to follow them.

In this passage we are looking at today, known as the Olivet Discourse, Jesus is speaking predictive prophecy. And as such, it is one of the most amazing prophesies that has ever been recorded. Because we have the great advantage today of seeing a large portion of this prophecy as having been fulfilled. That fulfillment should serve to bolster our faith. And it should also serve as a warning to those that are unwilling to learn from the past, that they are doomed to repeat it. Because I believe that there are two major parts to this prophecy, one that has been fulfilled, and one part that is yet to come. And if we don’t learn from the one which has past, then we are going to be condemned to repeat a similar judgment when the one comes in the future.

Now I will say at the outset that I go into this passage with some hesitancy. To use another famous quote, “fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” I don’t want to make foolish assumptions in exegeting this prophecy. Jesus said that angels long to look into the things which are to come, but of the day and hour only God knows. Paul referred to the end time as a mystery. Jesus said in Acts 1:7 “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power.” So I don’t want to presume to know too much. Many, many men a whole lot smarter than I am have spent years studying these texts in search of the correct interpretation of this passage. And yet there is still a great debate in theological circles regarding how to correctly interpret this prophecy.

My view, and I think a number of conservative theologian’s view, is that it is a two part prophecy as I indicated. One part has been fulfilled, and yet perhaps has overtones for events still to come. And one part is unfulfilled, and is still in the future. Unfortunately, even though many theologians may agree with that statement, that doesn’t solve every problem. There is still plenty of room for disagreement even within those parameters.

So I tread lightly in eschatological debates, and I tend to focus on what is clearly presented rather than focus on those things which are purposefully presented as vague or indeterminate. I believe that if God wanted us to know everything that was going to happen in sequential order then He would have easily done so. One thing I have learned from a verse by verse preaching of Matthew and Luke for over 5 years combined is that Jesus Himself was deliberately vague on many occasions. And Scripture, especially predictive prophecy, is often deliberately vague. It’s often written in allegorical, figurative language. I don’t know why. God has His reasons. So I will focus on what I can be clearly understood and trust Him with what I cannot understand.

Now all of this Discourse stems from the questions asked by the disciples after Jesus announced that the temple would one day be destroyed and not one stone left upon another. They asked in vs. 7, “Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”

Now to help understand this passage, you need to look also at the parallel accounts found in Matthew and Mark’s gospels. Each of them includes or leaves out certain details of Jesus’ message that others include as they present their portraits of Christ. So to get the complete picture, you need to look at all three. Matthew adds an important element to their initial question in Matthew 24. He adds, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

That phrase “end of the age” is important. Unfortunately the KJV uses the phrase, “end of the world.” But the Greek word for world is cosmos, and the word for age or epoch is ion. So the correct translation is not world, but the end of the age. And that distinction helps us to get a better handle on how to understand what Jesus was talking about.

The key though comes in considering the context which prompted their question. What prompted their question was Jesus statement in vs. 6 that the temple would be destroyed. Their question follows that statement by saying, “when therefore will these things be? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place? That’s the context for Jesus’ answer. So it’s a mistake to start interpreting these comments according to some eschatological format without keeping in mind the question that Jesus is responding to. He is responding what sign will be given when the temple is going to be destroyed. And then in addition, He will respond to the other question tacked on to that in Matthew’s version which is “and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” So there are two questions, and so Jesus gives two answers.

The first answer to the question regarding the destruction of the temple is found in verses 8-24. The answer to the second question regarding His coming and the end of the age is found in verses 25 -36. Now another key to help us understand this is found in vs. 24 which says concerning the Jews, “and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

So because of time constraints this morning I am going to give you the Cliff notes version of interpretation, which is that there are 3 ages presented in the Bible. There was the ancient age, the time before Noah up until the flood. That lasted approximately 2000 years. Then there was the age of the Jews starting with Abraham up to the time of Christ. That was approximately another 2000 years. And then as indicated in vs. 24, there is the age of the Gentiles, which has lasted about another 2000 years. I happen to believe that the end of the age of the Gentiles is very soon. Perhaps in our lifetime. Six thousand years have past, and three ages have been instituted and are now drawing to a close. And I believe the coming seventh millennium symbolizes the time when Christ will come back and rule the world, as a new heaven and new earth, for eternity. It is the eternal rest that was promised by the symbol of the Sabbath, the seventh day.

So the ancient age ended with destruction of all human flesh. It ended with the flood. Then after that God instituted a second age; the age of the Jews which started with a promise to a Abraham that he would have a son, and that from his seed would come a nation, and from that seed would come one from whom the whole world would be blessed. That second age, the age of the Jews would also come to an end, just as the first did. The ancient age was evil, they rejected God, they co-married with demons, they were exceedingly wicked, and so God brought judgment upon the whole earth save 8 persons.

And the second age of the Jews was evil as well. So Jesus predicts the judgment upon the age of the Jews. He prefaces it by saying that the temple, which was the center of Judaism, the center of Israel in the capital city of Israel, Jerusalem would be destroyed. And so up through vs. 24 Jesus is describing the judgment upon the temple, Jerusalem, and the Jews because they rejected the manifestation of the Son of God and put Him to death. History tells us that this judgment happened just as Jesus predicted just about 38 years after His death, in 70AD.

Then in vs. 25 through 36, Jesus predicts the future judgment upon the world, all the nations, which is categorized as the end of the age of the Gentiles. In this last judgment, Peter says that the world at that time will be judged by fire. 2Pet. 3:3-13 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’ For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

Now that’s the overview. Let’s look then at some of the details of the judgment of each of the last two ages. As Jesus begins in vs. 8, He is addressing particularly the 12 disciples who are with Him on the Mount of Olives a couple of nights before His crucifixion. He primarily wants to prepare them for what is going to happen after He is crucified. And so He begins by saying, “Don’t be misled. Don’t be fooled by people running around claiming that I have returned. Or that the end of the world is at hand. Beware of false teachers who will come after My death and try to mislead you.”

And Jesus is rightly concerned because He knows that it is going to be a long time before He returns in power. He knows a lot of things are going to happen which are going to rock the faith of the church. He says in vs. 9 that there are going to be a lot of wars and disturbances, but not to be terrified by that, because the end does not follow immediately. It’s going to be a long time. Rome would go through tremendous political upheaval in the next 35 years or so. Emperors would be assassinated one after another sometimes within the space of just three months.

But remember, though this might sound like He is talking about events today, He is actually addressing their question regarding the destruction of the temple. He goes on to say that nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes and plages and famines and terrors and great signs from heaven. Again, that sounds like something out of Revelation that we would ascribe to modern day events. But vs. 12 makes it clear that He is still speaking to the disciples in regards to the destruction of the temple and the end of the Jewish age.

And historians tell us that many of those things did happen prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. For instance, there were comets that were seen in the sky such as Haley’s comet during the reign of Nero that caused great concern among the people of that day. There were famines. There were earthquakes and there were many uprisings and wars.

However, if you flip back over to Matthew’s version and look at vs. 8 you will see that Jesus adds, “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” There is still a ways to go before the end of the Jewish age.

But in vs. 12 once again Jesus turns His attention back to His disciples. He wants to prepare them for what they are going to suffer for His name. You can almost put parenthesis around vs. 12 through 19. This is His message of assurance to His disciples in particular. It is not a blanket statement for all Christians. It is spoken specifically and was specifically fulfilled with the apostles and His immediate disciples. Vs.12 “But before all these things, (before the destruction of the temple) they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Now a reading of the book of Acts will show you that the disciples did in fact suffer those things. We know that all of the apostles lost their lives as a martyr except for John. Many other disciples were executed as well, such as Stephen and James. But we need to understand that Jesus is using an expression that not a hair of their head will perish as a metaphor which is underscored by the next line, which is by your endurance you will gain or save your souls. In other words, though they may lose their life here on earth, they will never die, but they will be saved, secured in the presence of God. In a sense, they will not lose even a hair of their head, even though some would have their head cut off, because their soul was preserved complete through Christ. But you can put a parenthesis around all of that because He clarifies it in vs. 12 by saying that “before all these things”, these things being the destruction of the temple, you will be arrested and persecuted and some of you killed.

Now back to Jesus description of the judgment of Jerusalem. He says in vs.20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

What is really interesting in this prophecy is that Jesus warns His followers not to do what was the normal thing to do when a foreign army comes upon a city. They lived in or around walled cities which served as fortifications in times of war. The people that lived in the open or on the outskirts of town would flee to the city and they would close the gates against the invaders. And so the attacking army would besiege the town, many times for months until the town ran out of food and surrendered or overrun. The Romans developed a lot of specialized equipment for this type of warfare such as battering rams and catapults that would hurl huge boulders into the walls to try to break down the walls or gates. But Jesus warns His disciples to not seek shelter in the city. He warns them that when the city is about to be surrounded by armies, flee instead to the mountains and get out of the city, because the vengeance of God is coming upon Jerusalem. All God’s prophecies of judgment against rebellious Israel will be coming down on them. And so Jesus warns His people to flee the city.

History records that this is exactly what happened. But though a few Christian Jews escaped Jerusalem, most of the other Jews acted as was their custom. They ran to Jerusalem. And when the Romans under General Titus in 70AD finally broke through the walls and overran the city as Jesus had prophesied, 1.1 million Jews were massacred. Those that survived were scattered across the Middle East. They were taken captive. They were hunted from one nation to another. They lost their homeland. They lost their temple.

Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrote in detail concerning the siege of Jerusalem. He wrote of the hardships of the long siege and the famine within the city that led to cannibalism among some of it’s inhabitants. And he wrote of how the marauding Roman soldiers set fire to the temple, and the gold plates that covered the outer walls melted and the gold ran down into the crevices between the stones. So the soldiers pried the stones apart in order to get at the gold. As Jesus had prophesied, not one stone was left upon another. The Jewish temple was destroyed. The sacrifices ceased. The priesthood dissolved as the Israelites suffered for 2000 years in the dispersion. And as of 70 AD, the city of Jerusalem was trampled underfoot by the Gentiles for almost 2000 years.

The most amazing thing concerning this prophecy is that in our lifetime we have seen the Jews return to the land of Israel in 1948. Then after the 6 day war in 1967, the Jews retook half of the city of Jerusalem. Jesus said that the time of the Gentiles would begin with the trampling underfoot of Jerusalem. So it would stand to reason that the end of the age of the Gentiles comes with the Jews coming back into the city of Jerusalem. We could argue that the Jews do not have complete control of it yet, but the fact that they are there after being scattered around the world for 2000 years is a fulfillment of prophecy that is simply astonishing. I believe it indicates that the age of the Gentiles is about to come to a close.

And in that regard, let’s look quickly at the end of the age of the Gentiles. I believe that starts being described for us in vs. 25. But once again, we are well served by Matthew’s version which helps us to see that there is a transition in the prophecy. Jesus is giving us a telescopic view which goes from the end of the age of the Jews to the end of the age of the Gentiles, or nations. We see the mountain ranges of the prophecy, but it’s not clear due to the telescopic nature of the prophecy the intervening time between the events. Matt. 24:21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

Now here we see similar language as that which Jesus warned would be happening at the end of the age of the Jews. False prophets misleading people would arise. It happened after Jesus was crucified during the time of the apostles. And 2000 years later it will be characteristic of the end of the age of the Gentiles. You definitely get the sense that this time there is an escalation of what happened earlier. That is why I said we must learn from the past in order to keep from making the same mistakes in the future. Because now Jesus says the deception is going to be so complete that if possible even the very elect would be deceived by their signs and wonders.

By the way, there is a fast growing church denomination in the Charismatic movement today that has heralded the fact that they will be known by their signs and wonders. They use that exact language. It’s called the Vineyard and they are really growing on the west coast. I wonder if they have considered what Jesus said here concerning those that mislead by performing signs and wonders as being a characteristic of false prophets. I hope none of you will be misled by such things.

So back in our text in Luke Jesus says this coming judgment at the end of the age of the Gentiles will not only be characterized by false doctrines and deception, but in vs. 25, “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory.” Matthew adds to that in Matt. 24:29-31 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”

So the end of the age of the Gentiles will also be the end of the ages. A great tribulation will precede Jesus coming back suddenly in the clouds, with a loud trumpet. And the dead in Christ will be resurrected first from the grave and we that are alive will then be caught up to be with the Lord. We are living in the last days. Jesus is coming back soon. Every eye will see Him, and those that rejected Him will mourn.

But there are some here that I’m sure are thinking that it’s been 2000 years since Jesus lived, and things continue just as they always have. They see the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem and it doesn’t faze them. They see the miracle of the Jews go back into Israel after 2000 years and it doesn’t faze them. They see the rise of false doctrines and the escalation of wickedness on the earth and it doesn’t faze them. They continue on with their lives eating and drinking and living like they want, just as the people did during the age of Noah, in the days before the flood. For those of you that think that way I will remind you of Peter’s words, written 2000 years ago in 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

Jesus said back in our text in Luke, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Folks, the end of the ages is at hand. The gospel of Christ has been preached to all the nations. God has been more than patient, not wanting any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Today is the acceptable day of salvation. Christ is coming back. He is coming with judgment upon the wicked, upon the rebellious, upon the unbelievers. Those that have rejected His rule over their lives He will cast into outer darkness into the Lake of Fire. This earth and all it’s works will be destroyed by fire. But those that have suffered here, waiting in faith for the Lord’s return will be saved. They will be preserved forever. Not a hair of their head will be harmed as God will preserve their soul. So when you look around you Christian, and you are hated by everyone because of His name, and you are persecuted, and you are bent over under the burden of tribulations, listen to these words! Straighten up! Lift up your heads! Because your redemption is drawing near! Jesus is right at the door. He is coming soon.   Amen.