Are These The Last Days - RC Sproul
Are These The Last Days - RC Sproul
Are These The Last Days - RC Sproul
Who Is Jesus?
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How Should I Live in This World?
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?
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Are These the Last Days?
© 2014 by R.C. Sproul
Printed in China
RR Donnelley
0001018
First edition, fourth printing
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About the Author
The Destruction of the Temple
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a serious potato famine struck the
nation of Ireland. Facing starvation, multitudes of people fled to other
countries to seek sustenance. Some boarded ships and sailed for the New
World, with many finally landing in New York City. Among those
immigrants was my great-grandfather, who came to the United States from
Donegal in the northern province of Ulster. Since he wanted his children
and grandchildren to remember their heritage, he told tales of former days
in Ireland and encouraged all of the family to learn the songs of the Irish
people. My mother sang Irish lullabies to us and permitted my sister and me
to stay home from school each year on Saint Patrick’s Day, when the
Pittsburgh radio stations played Irish songs all day.
However, to this day, I think of myself more as an American than an
Irishman. Although I’ve been to Europe many times, I’ve yet to go back to
Ireland. On the other hand, my son has been more zealous about our
ancestry, making sure that all eight of his children have Irish names. And as
a tribute to his ancestry, he wore a kilt to his ordination service.
At my house, we left many of the markers of our ethnic identity behind,
but for a Jew in antiquity, this would certainly not have been the case. The
Jews are one of the most remarkable groups of people who have ever
populated the face of the earth. In the first century AD alone, their nation
was conquered, their temple destroyed, and their capital, Jerusalem, was
burned to the ground, killing an estimated 1.1 million Jews. After this, most
Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the world. They went to what are
the modern-day nations of Russia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, and Holland,
and to many other places. Even though Jews have been without a homeland
for most of the past two millennia, they have never lost their ethnic and
national identity.
This remarkable phenomenon is predicted in detail in the Olivet
Discourse.
One of the most important and controversial chapters in all of the New
Testament, the discourse, which is found in Matthew 24, is one of the most
dramatic prophecies given by our Lord.
Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came
to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered
them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will
not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown
down.”
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?”. . .
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes
tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So
also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the
very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.” (Matt. 24:1–3, 32–35)
Before we consider this text, I’d like you to consider a “what if”
scenario. Suppose I were to claim that last night I received a special
revelation from God. I declare that I now have the gift of prophecy and will
give you a prediction of things that are to come to pass. I predict that
sometime within the next twelve months, the United States will fall, the
Capitol building in Washington will be destroyed, the White House will be
demolished, the fifty states of the union will be dissolved, and the United
States as an independent nation will cease to exist. Finally, I don’t know the
exact timing, but only that it will happen sometime within the next twelve
months.
Without question, within the next twelve months, you would know for
certain whether my claim was true or false. If it didn’t come to pass, you
would be justified in labeling me a false prophet, unworthy of your
attention.
I give this illustration to demonstrate what is at stake in the text. In all
of the Bible, I cannot think of any prophecy more astonishing than the
prophecy that our Lord Jesus gave on the Mount of Olives concerning the
temple and Jerusalem. In Luke’s account, He told the disciples that not one
stone of the Herodian temple would be left on top of one another and that
the city of Jerusalem itself would be destroyed (Luke 21:6, 24). This was a
truly shocking claim. Herod’s temple was magnificent, to say the least. The
temple’s stones were as large as sixteen feet long and eight feet high. In the
first century, if there was any building that seemed impregnable, it was the
temple in Jerusalem. When Jesus made this prediction, the Jewish people
would have considered Him either a lunatic or a prophet endowed with
supernatural knowledge.
Of course, we know that Jesus had supreme authority to make these
claims, and history has vindicated Him. These things came to pass in
perfect detail; as foretold by Jesus, the temple was destroyed in AD 70 and
the Jews were dispersed throughout the world. This prophecy about the
destruction of Jerusalem and the temple provides firm proof of the identity
of Jesus and the inspiration of Scripture by the Holy Spirit, and it should
close the mouth of even the most hardened skeptic.
After Jesus made this astonishing prediction, the disciples immediately
came to Him and wanted to know the exact timing of His predictions. Jesus
then engaged in a long discussion of the signs of the times, and gave a
description of the great tribulation and of His return.
In recent days, these topics have seen increased interest. Books such as
Hal Lindsey’s The Late, Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind series have
been wildly popular. Everyone is interested in the timing and exact details
of Jesus’ return. However, Jesus’ answer to the question of timing creates
some challenges for us. He says in verse 34, “Truly, I say to you, this
generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
Do you see the problem? To the Jews, the term generation referred to a
time frame of roughly forty years. So, Jesus seemed to be saying that the
destruction of temple, the destruction of Jerusalem, and His appearance at
the end of the age were all going to take place within forty years. Many
critics thus reject Jesus because they believe He was saying that His return,
the end of the world, and the consummation of His kingdom would all take
place within four decades.
How do we deal with this? The critics deal with it very simply. They
say Jesus was partially right in His predictions and partially wrong.
Therefore, He was a false prophet. Others say He was completely right in
His prediction and that every New Testament prophecy (i.e., His return, the
future resurrection, the rapture of the saints, etc.) was fulfilled in the first
century, leaving nothing for future fulfillment. I don’t agree with either of
these positions.
I am convinced that what Jesus is talking about in this passage had
special reference to a judgment of Christ coming on the Jewish nation, thus
ending the age of the Jews. This Jewish age ended with the destruction of
Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews, which triggered the beginning of
the New Testament time period, which is later called “the age of the
Gentiles.” This is where we still find ourselves today.
In the next few chapters, I’m going to interpret the Olivet Discourse in a
manner that I believe is consistent with the way that it would have been
understood by the disciples at that time. When Jesus is asked when these
things will happen, He says, “I can’t tell you the day and the hour, but I can
tell you with absolute certainty that this generation will not pass away until
all of these things take place.” I believe our Lord was speaking the
unvarnished truth.
Chapter Two
The Signs of the Times
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that
its desolation has come near. 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, for these are days of
vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are
pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For
there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this
people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive
among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20–
24)
For many will come in my name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and they
will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of
wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the
end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in
various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
(Matt. 24:5–8)
The Great Tribulation
In the year 168 BC, the pagan ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes had the
audacity to build a pagan altar in the Jewish temple. Instead of sacrificing
bulls, goats, or lambs, he desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig. This
was the height of blasphemy, because the Jews viewed pigs as unclean. This
foul desecration provoked one of the most important Jewish revolutions
against foreign invaders.
We have to understand how important the holiness of God was and is
for the Jewish people. The Jews believed that the temple was sacred and
holy because the Holy One of Israel made His dwelling there. To them, this
was the most sacred place in the world. To defile it with pagan sacrifices
was the greatest insult that you could inflict upon Israel.
Faithful Jews saw in this atrocity the fulfillment of a prophecy found in
the book of Daniel that refers to the “abomination of desolation” or the
“abomination that makes desolate” (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). Jesus seizes
upon this term as He continues in His Olivet Discourse:
The Coming of the Son of Man
It’s been said that the whole history of philosophy is nothing more than a
footnote to the theories of Plato and Aristotle. When Plato established his
academy in the outskirts of Athens, he was driven by a single passion in his
quest for truth. According to Plato, that passion was to “save the
phenomena.” What did he mean by that? He was looking for the objective
truth that makes the study of science possible. We can only understand
observable data (or phenomena) if we have a sure foundation to stand upon.
Plato was looking for an ultimate theory that would give clarity to all the
mysteries and puzzles of this world. He wanted to discover the ideas that
would explain the data that come to us through our five senses.
The renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has announced
that we don’t need God to explain the creation. His way of saving the
phenomena is to affirm what he calls “spontaneous generation.” For him,
this means that the universe created itself. But it is sheer nonsense to assert
that something can create itself or can come into being by its own power.
What does all this have to do with the Olivet Discourse? Quite simply,
in regard to the Olivet Discourse, I have been trying to save the phenomena.
I am trying to construct a framework that will allow us to make sense of
Jesus’ words.
To that end, let’s consider what Jesus says after explaining the signs that
would come just before the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple
—“immediately after the tribulation of those days” (v. 29). Our section for
this chapter could be most difficult section of the Olivet Discourse. Jesus
says:
Imagine being with Jesus right after hearing all that He said. It seems
obvious that you’d want to ask, “When will these things take place?” He
makes it clear that these things won’t happen until other specific events take
place. He then uses the word “immediately” to recount what will happen
next. Not two thousand years later, but immediately.
Our interpretive task becomes even more difficult in the following
verses. We know from the facts of history that all the things that Jesus
predicted about the destruction of Jerusalem came to pass. But what about
verse 29, which says, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not
give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven”? You can imagine how the
skeptics of the Bible would love to use this text. They could easily say, “O
yes! The temple is gone. Jerusalem was destroyed. The Jews were dispersed
throughout the world. But the sun is still shining, and the moon is still there
at night, and this calamitous portrait of all of these astronomical
perturbations that were going to accompany the coming of the Son of Man
did not take place. Therefore, Christ’s prediction failed to come to pass.” It
gets worse as we read what Jesus says in verses 33 and 34: “So also, when
you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I
say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take
place.”
There are many scholars for whom I have the utmost respect who come
to very strange conclusions when dealing with this text. They try every way
imaginable to remove this portion of Jesus’ prediction from the context in
which we find it. But it seems clear that Jesus meant to discuss these things
all as one unit. So, how should we understand this text?
There are various options. One is to invoke the principle of primary and
secondary fulfillments of prophecy. When prophecies are made, they can
have an initial fulfillment within a time frame of one generation and then
have an ultimate fulfillment many years later. This is a true possibility. But
even if that’s the case, we’re still left with the problem of explaining the
description of the sun being blotted out and all the rest of these
astronomical perturbations. There is no record of these things taking place.
Another approach is to consider the time frame. Phrases such as “this
generation will not pass away” or words like “immediately” may be taken
not literally, but figuratively. Many commentators prefer this approach.
They believe the reference to “this generation” is a figurative reference to a
certain type of person. It doesn’t actually refer to a rough time frame of
forty years. In addition, many would understand Jesus’ references to His
return to be figurative as well.
It seems that a key question that should be asked is, How are time frame
references usually described in the Bible? Are they usually described
figuratively or literally? More practical still for this discussion, how are
predictions of God’s cosmic judgment usually described? Literally or
figuratively?
There is a helpful pattern in Old Testament prophecy demonstrated in
chapters 13 and 34 of Isaiah. There, we read vivid descriptions of divine
judgment upon Babylon and Eden that actually came to pass in history.
When the prophets described God’s judgment, they said things like, “For
the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the
sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light” (Isa.
13:10) and “All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like
a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves
falling from the fig tree” (Isa. 34:4). Sounds very much like the language of
Jesus, doesn’t it?
The language of divine judgment is frequently communicated by way of
metaphor and figures. Amos 5:20 reads, “Is not the day of the LORD
darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?”
Throughout the Old Testament, there are various prophetic warnings to
Israel concerning God’s judgment. The book of Ezekiel stands out as a
primary example. Ezekiel contains some of the most bizarre portions of
Scripture, such as the description in chapter 1 of the whirling merkabah, the
wheel within the wheel. Many believe that this is a reference to the chariot
throne of God that carries Him to various portions of the world to bring
judgment. This kind of language was used between Elijah and Elisha in 2
Kings 2:12: “And Elisha saw it and he cried, ‘My father, my father! The
chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ And he saw him no more.” When God
removed His glory from Jerusalem in Ezekiel 10, the shekinah cloud was
accompanied by the chariot of God’s judgment. In Matthew 24, the same
kind of language is used by Jesus as He warns His people of what is to
come.
Jesus says in verse 30, “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son
of Man.” I don’t know of any commentator on the gospel of Matthew who
speaks with dogmatic certainty about the true nature of this sign. But there
are some strange observations in the writings of the Jewish historian,
Josephus, regarding certain signs that were observed between AD 60 and
70, one of which was a blazing comet that crossed the sky. Consider one
extraordinary passage from his writings. It seems so strange that Josephus
gives the impression that he was reluctant to record this event.
Besides these [signs in the heavens], a few days after the feast, on
the one and twentieth day of the month, a certain prodigious and
incredible phenomenon occurred or appeared: I suppose the account
of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw
it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a
nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots
and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among
the clouds, and surrounding of cities.
Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests
were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their
custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, the priest said
that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise,
and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying,
“Let us remove hence.”
So, the priests and multitudes of other people testified to the same
chariots that surrounded the city also appearing in the clouds with
multitudes of heavenly soldiers. We’d probably be justified in calling them
angels. Then an audible voice was heard from heaven saying, “Let us
remove hence.” It’s almost exactly the same phenomenon that took place
when God left Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s time (Ezek. 10).
It seems to me that the most natural reading of Matthew 24:29–35
would be that everything Jesus said would happen has already taken place
in history. He was not referring to a yet-future fulfillment from our
standpoint. He was referring to a judgment upon the nation of Israel that
took place in AD 70.
Chapter Five
The Day and the Hour
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels
of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of
Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days
before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were
unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be
the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field;
one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the
mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you
do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that
if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the
thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have
let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for
the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matt.
24:36–44)
Imagine that you went out to dinner and ordered your meal, and the server
said to you, “That’s a fine selection. Unfortunately, we are running a little
bit behind in the kitchen right now, but if you’ll be patient, we’ll have your
dinner prepared to your liking sometime within the next three hours.” I
don’t think you would be too happy with that. No one likes to wait forever
for their food when they go out to eat. We are accustomed to waiting ten to
twenty minutes for a meal, but if our wait time approaches an hour or so,
even at a nice restaurant, we might ask the manager if there is a problem. If
we are left waiting for our food any longer than that, we’d know for certain
that something was wrong. Someone is not doing his job.
The concept of doing one’s duty is an important theme as we continue
to examine the Olivet Discourse. As He concludes the discourse, Jesus
speaks of the faithful servant, who executes his duties well and in a timely
fashion, and the wicked servant, who does not. Jesus has been warning His
disciples to diligently to watch for His return. Let’s consider the rest of the
chapter.
Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set
over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he
comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
But if that wicked servant says to himself, “My master is delayed,”
and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with
drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he
does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut
him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 24:45–51)
When I was in seminary, one of the professors was Dr. Markus Barth,
son of the famous Swiss theologian Karl Barth. I remember being
astonished when Markus Barth produced a two-hundred-page academic
paper on the first few words of Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Paul, a slave of
Jesus Christ.” Many weighty tomes have been written about the words
Jesus Christ, but what amazed me was that the whole focus of Barth’s
manuscript was on the single word slave.
The word that Jesus uses that is translated as “servant” is sometimes
translated as “slave.” People have a negative reaction to that word, but the
great irony of the New Testament teaching is that no one ever becomes truly
free until they become a slave of Jesus Christ. All of us are slaves of one
sort or another. We’re either slaves of Christ or slaves of sin. There’s no
other option for humanity.
One of Paul’s favorite metaphors for the Christian’s status in Christ is,
“You are not your own” (1 Cor. 6:19). What does he mean by that? Paul’s
point is that Christians can never consider themselves autonomous. He goes
on to explain that we are not our own because we’ve been bought with a
price (v. 20). Jesus paid the asking price of our salvation. Paul’s metaphor is
vital to the Christian life.
Jesus asks, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant?” This is a
question of fidelity. Who is a faithful servant? It’s a strange term to use
regarding a servant who is under the complete ownership of another. But
the simplest meaning of a faithful servant is one who is full of faith, who
can be trusted, and who is consistent in allegiance to his owner.
Jesus goes on to say in verse 45, “Who then is the faithful and wise
servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their
food at the proper time?” The master went on a journey and called one of
his servants to be the steward of the house while he is away. This master put
his servant in charge of all of the affairs of the house. We notice that Jesus
emphasizes that timeliness is important. Jesus spoke of the faithful servant
who was responsible not only to provide the food, but also to provide it on
time. He said that this servant would be blessed if the master found him
doing his job when he returned. The good servant, the faithful and wise
servant, is the one who does what his master calls him to do. Jesus says in
verse 47, “Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.” The
master will give the servant even more responsibility and esteem because he
has been faithful in the things given to him. This echoes Jesus’ words in
Luke 16:10 that he who wants to be given more responsibility in the
kingdom must first be faithful in little things.
Jesus then describes the wicked servant in verses 48–51: “But if that
wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat
his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that
servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he
does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Here the wicked
servant is having an internal dialogue. He thinks, “My master’s gone. Who
knows when he’s coming back? Who knows if he’s ever coming back? It’s
time to party! My master is delayed and I can do what I want.”
You may not relate to the wicked servant entirely, but most of us have
jobs and employers. How do you work when no one is looking? Are you on
task? Are you committed to the responsibility that has been given to you?
Or, when there is no supervisor to watch you, do you take advantage of the
gap in oversight and do whatever you want?
Why is it that our behavior changes when no one is watching? Why do
businesses have clocks where workers have to punch in every day? Why
can’t we just expect people to come to work and leave when they’re
supposed to? It’s because of sin. It’s because we have a tendency to behave
in one way when we are being watched and act differently when we’re free
of supervision. Consider the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11–32.
Isn’t it interesting that the son took his father’s inheritance to a far-off
country to squander it? He did this because nobody knew him in the foreign
land. Nobody was watching. He could be free from all restraint.
The wicked servant is neither faithful nor wise. He is like the fool in
Psalm 53:1 who says in his heart, “There is no God.” The most serious and
fatal self-delusion of the wicked is their belief that God will not judge them.
The Bible tells us that God is long-suffering and patient. The reason for this
kindness and mercy is to give us time to repent and turn to Christ. But we
should never assume that God’s gracious patience means that He won’t call
us to account. Many are tempted to think this way. In this passage, Jesus is
addressing those who assume that the Master will never return. They think
this gives them license to do whatever they want. No supervision. No
faithfulness. No trust. No wisdom.
The master of the servant will come on a day when the servant isn’t
looking for him, and at an hour of which he is unaware. And the master will
say to the faithful servant, “I left you with responsibility. I blessed you. I
gave you an elevated status in my kingdom and increased responsibility.”
But to the wicked slave there will be nothing but judgment and separation
from the house of the master. The response of the wicked slave will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Have you ever seen a person weep and gnash their teeth? I once knew a
man who was caught in a very serious sin. He began to cry, wail, and sob.
Nothing could comfort him. As his weeping was drawing to an end he said,
“How could I have done this? Why did I do this?” This is going to be the
scene of those who have ignored their master.
So the obvious question is, What will you be doing when He comes?
Will He find you faithful? Not casually or occasionally, but all the time?
Christ has bought us for Himself, and He has given us a task to perform
whether we can physically see Him or not. May He find us faithful when
He comes.
About the Author
Does prayer really change things? Can I be sure I’m saved? Dr. R.C. Sproul
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