Warnings
Matthew 24:42-44 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
It is my experience that the nature of the warnings Jesus gave are usually glossed over as I read them. Sometimes, it seems as though the parables Jesus used were just a little abstract...Here, he is talking about returning, and all of the sudden He is using the example of a robber breaking into a house...and something about not allowing the house to be broken into...and then He says "be ready"...i have wondered more than once "why did you pick THAT analogy, Jesus!!??"
It wasn't until I learned the specific details of Jesus' plan to return that this analogy actually became plain and simple. Jesus was privately warning His disciples how to prepare for what would eventually come GLOBALLY. All of Matthew 24 is a private warning to followers of Jesus...if you aren't familiar with the passage it is tempting to think that the warnings in Matthew 24 are for unbelievers...they aren't...they are for believers. The Bible makes a point of saying this:
Matthew 24:3 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?”
These are the first two warnings:
1st - there will be a great increase in political tension at the same time natural disasters obviously increase. Those natural disasters will particularly revolve around earthquakes, pestilence (disease), and famine (Mat 24:7-8). Jesus said these are just the birth pains...just the beginning.
2nd warning - AFTER these birth pains become visible and obvious (I would say right now these are obvious and plain to see) that Christians...believers...would be delivered up for tribulation. This will be global. No country will escape a hatred for Christians:
Matthew 24:9-13 “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 cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
The Tribulation (the last 7 years) and the Great Tribulation (the second half of the last 7 years) are two distinct events, according to Jesus and Daniel. The tribulation is the beginning of persecution for Christians globally. Right now tribulation has already started in the 10/40 window. We can daily find reports of escalating persecution of Christians. This has been happening for a few years. Martyrdom is actually at an all time high in the middle east especially, and, according to Matthew 24, this will be global..i believe quite soon. There is a very specific reason for the escalation in persecution globally. It is the peace treaty that is soon coming to an Israel near you:
Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”
The "week" here is what Bible scholars call the "70th week of Daniel." This is the final 7 years (aka, the Tribulation) before Jesus comes back and makes Jerusalem a "praise in the nations," ends the indignation of the Jewish people and begins literally remaking the earth back to what God called "very good" in Genesis 1:31. What marks the beginning of the week is a peace treaty between Israel and her neighbors. The antichrist, a foreign world leader of the last Superpower before Jesus returns, brokers peace in Israel by "confirming" her peace agreement with her hostile neighbors. He does this by promising to protect her like she was his own land. The result is a two-state solution with gentiles (non-Jewish people) sharing the temple mount with Israel. When this happens, the whole world will celebrate the brilliance and politicial accumen of the antichrist.
The antichrist doesn't look angry or crazy...He will literally be the single most popular individual globally. He will be a nobel peace prize guy for sure, because he will be the one to finally get nations to begin to reconcile. He will do this with human strength and political "intrigue," but to the world, he will be "the man." This will all start with him being the guy to solve the Israel/palestine problem. This will result in global persecution of Christians...know why??
Because when He strikes this deal, it will have an obvious 7-year time frame associated with the covenant. When Christians hear this news, they will have a VERY hard job to do: they will have to start telling people this is a peace treaty with death...that Israel has just made the treaty the Bible talks about in Daniel, and that the man...the most popular guy in the world...is actually the antichrist!! Ugh! This will be really unpopular to say. It will result in a global turning against Christians who take the Bible literally...Bible believing Christians will be considered "enemies of the state" globally. This is years, not decades, away...the world will be so desperate for peace and some "good news" ...naysaying...truth saying...Christians will be seen as the only ones ruining the first shreds of good news, and there will be laws to allow telling on them and having them arrested...just like Nazi Germany, Stalinistic Russia, Mao's China....these were all hints at what the Bible promised globally at the time of the tribulation. You know who was killed in all these regimes? Jews and Christians.
So back to Jesus' strange house breaking-in warning. We all live in geographic locations...houses...God takes the response of a geographic location seriously. He always protects people who come into agreement with Him. Right now, in advance of the soon approaching intensity, God is establishing cities of safety from the armies that will soon be searching out Christians...for real. Globally, God is raising up cities where His people are praying night and day. This will create a literal spiritual force-field around those cities that say yes to His plan. But to say yes to the plan, you need to know the plan!
God's plan is clearly laid out in the Bible. I call it the Amos 9/Joel 2/ Acts 2/Leviticus 26/ Revelation 6 and 7/ Matthew 24/Luke 18 Harvest Plan...just kidding...I don't really call it that, but it is in all those places and a bunch more...you get my point, right? This is everywhere in the Bible. God is raising up night and day prayer as His primary plan for the Bride...His partner...to establish places where the Holy Spirit will be so active that those searching out Christians to persecute will be intimidated to not enter those cities. This all revolves around the unity of the Bride and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in response to a night and day cry out for it.
This is what happened in Acts 2. The disciples gathered in the upper room, cried out night and day, and the Holy Spirit came in response to their unity...then, people started getting saved in big numbers, and those who opposed the early Christians were scared of them because of the power obviously on them:
Acts 5:11-14 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
This happened right after the government made the name of Jesus illegal (Acts 4:17). Unity of the Church increased the power on the Church, and resulted in a great fear of the Lord being released within and outside of the Church...this allowed the disciples to gather in the harvest even though the name of Jesus was illegal. This happened locally in Israel at the time of Acts 2, but it is going global at the time of the 70th week of Daniel!
So here is the warning: many won't know the plan and will do nothing to prepare...to "be ready." They will think Revelation is too divisive, or mostly symbolic, or that Christians won't be here for all the trouble...or they won't be willing to break out of the American dullness brought on by self-focused living...they will actually leave their home unguarded, and the thief...satan, will break in and plunder the house. He intends to get as many Christians as possible to quit. This was Jesus' warning...times will get so intense so rapidly that many believers will be offended, they will begin hating EACH OTHER, and quit. False teachers will then rise up to take advantage of the situation...it will require endurance and responding to Jesus' warning in advance. This is what Amos said: everything is being shaken, true lovers of Jesus will not be shaken, and God is going to raise up David's Tabernacle...night and day prayer...to build an ark, that God's people would possess the land!
Amos 9:9-12 “For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing.
It is my experience that the nature of the warnings Jesus gave are usually glossed over as I read them. Sometimes, it seems as though the parables Jesus used were just a little abstract...Here, he is talking about returning, and all of the sudden He is using the example of a robber breaking into a house...and something about not allowing the house to be broken into...and then He says "be ready"...i have wondered more than once "why did you pick THAT analogy, Jesus!!??"
It wasn't until I learned the specific details of Jesus' plan to return that this analogy actually became plain and simple. Jesus was privately warning His disciples how to prepare for what would eventually come GLOBALLY. All of Matthew 24 is a private warning to followers of Jesus...if you aren't familiar with the passage it is tempting to think that the warnings in Matthew 24 are for unbelievers...they aren't...they are for believers. The Bible makes a point of saying this:
Matthew 24:3 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?”
These are the first two warnings:
1st - there will be a great increase in political tension at the same time natural disasters obviously increase. Those natural disasters will particularly revolve around earthquakes, pestilence (disease), and famine (Mat 24:7-8). Jesus said these are just the birth pains...just the beginning.
2nd warning - AFTER these birth pains become visible and obvious (I would say right now these are obvious and plain to see) that Christians...believers...would be delivered up for tribulation. This will be global. No country will escape a hatred for Christians:
Matthew 24:9-13 “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 cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
The Tribulation (the last 7 years) and the Great Tribulation (the second half of the last 7 years) are two distinct events, according to Jesus and Daniel. The tribulation is the beginning of persecution for Christians globally. Right now tribulation has already started in the 10/40 window. We can daily find reports of escalating persecution of Christians. This has been happening for a few years. Martyrdom is actually at an all time high in the middle east especially, and, according to Matthew 24, this will be global..i believe quite soon. There is a very specific reason for the escalation in persecution globally. It is the peace treaty that is soon coming to an Israel near you:
Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”
The "week" here is what Bible scholars call the "70th week of Daniel." This is the final 7 years (aka, the Tribulation) before Jesus comes back and makes Jerusalem a "praise in the nations," ends the indignation of the Jewish people and begins literally remaking the earth back to what God called "very good" in Genesis 1:31. What marks the beginning of the week is a peace treaty between Israel and her neighbors. The antichrist, a foreign world leader of the last Superpower before Jesus returns, brokers peace in Israel by "confirming" her peace agreement with her hostile neighbors. He does this by promising to protect her like she was his own land. The result is a two-state solution with gentiles (non-Jewish people) sharing the temple mount with Israel. When this happens, the whole world will celebrate the brilliance and politicial accumen of the antichrist.
The antichrist doesn't look angry or crazy...He will literally be the single most popular individual globally. He will be a nobel peace prize guy for sure, because he will be the one to finally get nations to begin to reconcile. He will do this with human strength and political "intrigue," but to the world, he will be "the man." This will all start with him being the guy to solve the Israel/palestine problem. This will result in global persecution of Christians...know why??
Because when He strikes this deal, it will have an obvious 7-year time frame associated with the covenant. When Christians hear this news, they will have a VERY hard job to do: they will have to start telling people this is a peace treaty with death...that Israel has just made the treaty the Bible talks about in Daniel, and that the man...the most popular guy in the world...is actually the antichrist!! Ugh! This will be really unpopular to say. It will result in a global turning against Christians who take the Bible literally...Bible believing Christians will be considered "enemies of the state" globally. This is years, not decades, away...the world will be so desperate for peace and some "good news" ...naysaying...truth saying...Christians will be seen as the only ones ruining the first shreds of good news, and there will be laws to allow telling on them and having them arrested...just like Nazi Germany, Stalinistic Russia, Mao's China....these were all hints at what the Bible promised globally at the time of the tribulation. You know who was killed in all these regimes? Jews and Christians.
So back to Jesus' strange house breaking-in warning. We all live in geographic locations...houses...God takes the response of a geographic location seriously. He always protects people who come into agreement with Him. Right now, in advance of the soon approaching intensity, God is establishing cities of safety from the armies that will soon be searching out Christians...for real. Globally, God is raising up cities where His people are praying night and day. This will create a literal spiritual force-field around those cities that say yes to His plan. But to say yes to the plan, you need to know the plan!
God's plan is clearly laid out in the Bible. I call it the Amos 9/Joel 2/ Acts 2/Leviticus 26/ Revelation 6 and 7/ Matthew 24/Luke 18 Harvest Plan...just kidding...I don't really call it that, but it is in all those places and a bunch more...you get my point, right? This is everywhere in the Bible. God is raising up night and day prayer as His primary plan for the Bride...His partner...to establish places where the Holy Spirit will be so active that those searching out Christians to persecute will be intimidated to not enter those cities. This all revolves around the unity of the Bride and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in response to a night and day cry out for it.
This is what happened in Acts 2. The disciples gathered in the upper room, cried out night and day, and the Holy Spirit came in response to their unity...then, people started getting saved in big numbers, and those who opposed the early Christians were scared of them because of the power obviously on them:
Acts 5:11-14 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
This happened right after the government made the name of Jesus illegal (Acts 4:17). Unity of the Church increased the power on the Church, and resulted in a great fear of the Lord being released within and outside of the Church...this allowed the disciples to gather in the harvest even though the name of Jesus was illegal. This happened locally in Israel at the time of Acts 2, but it is going global at the time of the 70th week of Daniel!
So here is the warning: many won't know the plan and will do nothing to prepare...to "be ready." They will think Revelation is too divisive, or mostly symbolic, or that Christians won't be here for all the trouble...or they won't be willing to break out of the American dullness brought on by self-focused living...they will actually leave their home unguarded, and the thief...satan, will break in and plunder the house. He intends to get as many Christians as possible to quit. This was Jesus' warning...times will get so intense so rapidly that many believers will be offended, they will begin hating EACH OTHER, and quit. False teachers will then rise up to take advantage of the situation...it will require endurance and responding to Jesus' warning in advance. This is what Amos said: everything is being shaken, true lovers of Jesus will not be shaken, and God is going to raise up David's Tabernacle...night and day prayer...to build an ark, that God's people would possess the land!
Amos 9:9-12 “For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’ “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old; That they may possess the remnant of Edom, And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,” Says the Lord who does this thing.
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