Thru the Bible

Steve: Welcome to Through the Bible. I'm Steve Sweitzer, your host. And as the Bible bus rolls along, our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, continues our study of Jesus' teaching from the Mount of Olives. So turn to Matthew chapter 24 at verse 14. And in a few minutes, Dr. McGee will mention his notes and outlines. Now, if you haven't already downloaded your free copy, well, you can find them in our app. You can also go online at ttb.org, or call 1-800-65-Bible, and we'll send a copy by mail.

Now, as you get settled, Greg and I have got some letters to read from people responding to God's Word, this time in the Urdu language.

Steve: So Greg, why don't you remind us what outlets are we using to get Through the Bible out to Urdu speakers?

Greg: Well, as always, Steve, we're trying to fling the seed, and so we're using a number of different distribution methods. Urdu, of course, is targeted to Pakistan and India. We have home groups in those areas. We also have a partnership with satellite TV and social media ministry called Indor International. And so we're, we're really blanketing that language-speaking area of Northern India and Pakistan.

Steve: Yeah. Now, if you're listening to this, you may be thinking, who speaks Urdu? I don't know anybody. Well, the numbers are pretty significant, bigger than I thought. 70 to 80 million people are native Urdu speakers. Now, here's the interesting thing that I didn't know until I did some research, that Hindi is understandable by all Urdu speakers. They can't necessarily read it, I'm assuming, but they can talk to each other. It's kind of like us and someone, I don't know, that speaks Creole or something.

Greg: Right, or Pigeon English or something.

Steve: Yeah, one of those things. So you take that whole number, and there's actually 800 million people that can understand Urdu.

Greg: Wow. Steve, I'm so glad I came today because I've, I've once again, I've learned.

Steve: It's just just being in your presence. I just try to bring it every day, Greg.

Greg: No, that's actually really, that's really fascinating. I did not know that. Yeah.

Greg: Well, how about this response from Sajid who tells us this: "Through your program, I began to understand the message of God's love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The teachings helped me realize my spiritual need and encouraged me to seek God sincerely in prayer. Gradually my heart changed, and I started reading the Bible regularly to grow in faith."

Steve: All right. Wow.

Greg: What an inspiration. I think if we knew his background, that would be stunning.

Steve: Yeah, yep. Here's another one. This is from Ali who just began studying with us and wrote to ask a question. So that's great. He's already interacting with the ministry.

Greg: Yes.

Steve: He says, "I studied the Gospel of Luke with you, and I want to understand more about why Jesus forgave sinners. Can you please guide me with more Bible verses?" I love that.

Greg: Well, and, and as we were just referring to, many of these people are going to be coming out of an Islamic background, some perhaps Hinduism, but very heavily Islam-focused area. And so even these short responses just tell a lot about their interest. Here's another one from Usman who said, "I watched your short Bible teaching on TikTok. It made me curious to know who Jesus really is according to the Bible."

Steve: Yeah. What an encouragement. What an open door. Again, somebody who's probably a Muslim background and they're asking these questions. I think we have time for one more. Here's Aisha, and she's curious. "I saw a short clip from the Bible Mutaliya program, which is Through the Bible in Urdu. I want to know how Jesus gives peace in difficult times. Can you explain this from the Bible?" I mean, what a softball.

Greg: Yeah, exactly.

Steve: You know? Can you please tell me about Jesus and how he reconciles sinners to himself?

Greg: Yeah, yeah, just a simple question.

Steve: Yeah.

Greg: But really powerful.

Steve: Yep. Greg, why don't you pray for us as we begin our study in Matthew 24.

Greg: Father, our hearts are just filled with joy that just giving out your word is opening so many doors in, in this part of the world. And there's so many millions that speak this language. We pray for the Urdu speakers who are tuning in, listening to Through the Bible. We pray you would work in their lives in Jesus' name. Amen.

Steve: We're off to Matthew 24 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now today, friends, as we come back to the 24th chapter of Matthew, you have your Bible, and we'll turn there at verse 14. We will put in at this place, and I hope you have our notes and outlines, and I hope you're reading along with us. We're in this Olivet Discourse that's a thrilling discourse, and the interesting thing, the church is not in it at all. He's speaking of the end of the age. What shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the age?

And now he's talking about the sign of the end of the age, and that sign is the Great Tribulation period. And you say, "How do you know it?" You wait a few minutes and we'll see our Lord will label it for us. I didn't label it. He did that. Now, will you follow along with us. Verse 14, I'm reading it now, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come."

Now, the Gospel of the Kingdom is that what John the Baptist preached, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And the Lord Jesus began his ministry with that message, and he sent his apostles out with that message. Now, he had ceased that, because now his invitation is, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll rest you." Now he's talking about, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom for many."

Now, is therefore this gospel of the kingdom which is again to be preached during the Great Tribulation period. It's not the message for today. We preach the Gospel of the Grace of God. Is this another gospel? No, my friend, it's not. Same gospel. Just the emphasis is different. We have no right to say today, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," because we don't know. We are not given dates at all.

But when the Great Tribulation period begins, these people will know they're close to the end, though they'll not know the day or the hour. They will be able to say, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And again, it'll be because the presence of the King will be there. And again today, we do not put that emphasis. But now let me answer those who say we have two or three or four or five different ways of being saved just because we believe in dispensations.

Let me put it like this. God has never had but one way of saving man. That's by the cross of Christ. Everything before he came looked to the cross of Christ. Everything since he's come looks back to the cross of Christ. How did it look forward? Well, let's go back and take Abel again. Abel brought the little lamb. Had you been there and said to Abel, "Abel, why are you bringing this little lamb? You think a little lamb will take away your sins?"

You said, "Of course not. I don't believe a little lamb can take away your sins, but I'm bringing it because of the fact that he told me to. I'm bringing it by faith." "Well, then if it won't take away your sins, why would he ask it?" He says, "This little lamb is pointing to one that's coming down yonder, the seed of the woman, the seed of my mother. And one of these days, there'll come one that will take away our sin, and I bring this little lamb by faith, recognizing I am a sinner, I need a substitute."

May I say, he's looking to the one that's coming. And John the Baptist also, not only said, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," he said, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." So that he marked him out. So that everyone that was ever saved before Christ came was saved on credit. Actually, God accepted it until Christ came, and then he took the sins of those of the past that had obeyed God and come God's way, and they were forgiven on the basis of the death of Christ.

God never saved even by law back in the Old Testament. At the heart of the Mosaic system was the sacrificial system. And every person brought a little lamb. You see, the law never saved, it was given to reveal that they were lawbreakers, that they were not obeying God, and that they did need to have a substitute, that a penalty had to be paid. And today, that's the only purpose the law serves for us. The law was given that every mouth might be stopped, the whole world become guilty before God.

My friend, you're a lawbreaker, you're a sinner, you need a savior. That's the important thing. So this gospel of the kingdom will be, he's coming soon, the thing to do is to accept him as your savior before he comes as the sovereign of this universe. And then he'll be the judge. Now he says that when this gospel of the kingdom is preached throughout the world, the end will come. Now that doesn't mean today that the end can't come until the Gospel of the Grace of God is preached while the church is here.

Of course not. I know that there are those that use that to try to promote their program to help them get the gospel out. Well, I think it's laudable to want to get the gospel out, but this is not the verse to use for that at all. You see, friends, it's important to interpret scripture in its context to find out what is being talked about here. Our Lord is answering the question, "What is the sign of the end of the age?" And now he's speaking of that.

What is the sign? Here it is, verse 15. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand." Now, what is the abomination of desolation? Well, there are two of them back in the Book of Daniel. We'll be studying that later and I'll not refer back to Daniel today. But one was Titus Epiphanes, the Syrian, who came down and destroyed Jerusalem. And he profaned the altar, boiled a sow, took the broth and poured it on all the vessels of the Temple and intruded into the holy place.

And that was called then an abomination of desolation. Now I take it that the abomination of desolation will be the image of the antichrist that John in Revelation talks about. Now, I don't know that. That's just my surmising. And I'm not looking for the abomination of desolation. In that day, that'll be the sign. That's what those that are in the world in that day will be looking for. We're not looking for the abomination of desolation.

He doesn't say to Titus, "Looking for that abomination of desolation." Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and savior. That's what we're looking for. I do not know what an abomination of desolation really is. If I met one walking down the street, I don't think I would. I know when my daughter went away to college, that was about the time this new hairdo came in. I think they called it the bouffant. Well, it was frizzy, you know, and I remember I went up to the college and drove up to the girls' dormitory, and she came right out because she was expecting us.

And I didn't know her. She had this new hairdo of the bouffant. I actually asked her if she knew where my daughter was, and she began to laugh. And I looked at that and I said to her, I said, "I've often wondered what the abomination of desolation is. Now, I think I know." Well, friends, that's the closest thing I've ever seen to it is that hairdo, but I honestly don't think that was it either. Now he says, "When you see that in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand."

Now, those that are there will understand. I don't expect to be there, so there are many details he just hasn't taken the trouble to tell me about or tell you. Now, again, another time word, "Then," verse 16. "When the abomination of desolation appears, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." I'm not expecting to flee into the mountains of Judea. I have no plans to do that at all. And I live here right next to the Sierra Madre mountains and I'm not planning to flee into them. Although I got a neighbor that says he knows of a canyon up there. He says, "If the atom bombs ever dropped in Southern California," he said, "that's where I'm going."

And he's invited me to follow him, so I'll follow him if that comes to pass, but that's not to fulfill his prophecy, hasn't anything to do with it, by the way. It has to do with people who are in Judea. He's talking to these people, my friend, not to people who live in California. "Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let them which be on the housetop not come down to take anything out of the house." I haven't been on the housetop in a couple of years. He would not catch me up there very often. May I say to you over in that land, the patio, the front porch, the back porch is all up on top.

That's the way they do it over there. I wish I had time to go into detail what we saw over there even today. Well, it's speaking to people that this will be applicable to. "Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes." That is, if he left his cloak at the end of the row early in the morning when it was cool, and he's at the other end when word comes that the abomination of desolation appeared, "Don't go back to get your cloak, just start running. And then woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days."

He has a care and concern for those in those days. There'll be a great population explosion, the beginning of the Great Tribulation period. I think this earth today is becoming actually overweighted with people. We are really being crowded in today. And that, I think, is another evidence we're approaching the end of the age, by the way. I think that's more or less of a sign to us. "Woe to them that are with child." His concern. He says there's a time not to have children.

Verse 20, "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Now this is some people who are observing the Sabbath day. That's Saturday. I go to church on Sunday because my Lord came back from the dead on that day. Now listen to him. "For then shall be great tribulation." And the translation here does not really do justice to what he really said. The article is put with the adjective and with the noun when there's an emphasis in the Greek, and the literal would be, "Then shall be the tribulation, the great one."

In other words, this is unique, nothing like it in the history of the world. Now he labels the end of the age, the Great Tribulation period. I didn't do that. He did that. Now if you want to find fault with it, then you'll have to appeal to him, not to me. I didn't think of this at all. The Great Tribulation. Then you'll see that. You're in it then. That's the end of the age. "Such as was not since the beginning of this world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

And you see that the important thing is that there's been nothing like it before, nothing like it afterward. If that's true, then believe me, they'll know it when they get there. There are actually some people today that talk about the church going through the Great Tribulation. They don't seem to realize how severe it is. And there are others that actually think we're in it today. Well, things are bad, but you couldn't say we're in the Great Tribulation today because you can match this period with many other periods in history. When the Great Tribulation gets here, it'll be nothing to match it with in the past or in the future.

"Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the age to this time, no, nor ever shall be." Now listen to him, "Except those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." We read in the Book of Revelation that during this period, at one time, a third of the population of the world is destroyed. Another occasion, a fourth of the population of the world is destroyed.

This is something that is absolutely tremendous. The Red Horse of War, the Black Horse of Famine, and then the Pale Horse of Death, you see, will ride during that period, the earth's population. That'll be decimated. There was a time when this seemed to be exaggeration, and even some good commentators made that statement. They thought it was hyperbole. Now that we know that right at this very moment that both America and Russia have enough atom bombs to destroy the population of the world. This isn't funny today.

But there is comfort here. He says, "Except those days would be shortened, no flesh would survive." He will not let mankind commit suicide. That's the reason this is a brief period. Verse 23, "Then if any man shall say unto you, 'Lo, here is Christ, or there,' believe it not." Now what's the sign of his coming? Well, don't believe it because there'll be false Christ. "For there shall arise false Christ, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders." Don't miss that.

The ability to work miracles is a pretty dangerous thing now because the next great miracle worker that comes will not be Christ, it'll be Antichrist and his false prophet, his John the Baptist, if you please, he'll have the false prophet who will be able to perform miracles. They'll show great signs and wonders. Insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Now if it was possible to deceive the elect, and who are the elect? Well, somebody says, "See, this is the church."

Well, in scripture there are two elect groups, the elect nation Israel, and the elect of the church. All right? You have to use your noodle here to determine which group it is. Who are we talking about up to this point? Israel. All right, it's the elect nation. And he's not talking about the church here. I think that that has caused more difficulty and fanaticism and wild speculation than anything else. "They shall deceive the very elect," but it's not possible to deceive the elect.

You can fool some of the people some of the time. You can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool God's children all the time. Just can't be done. I think that they'll find their way out of cults. I have before me a very wonderful letter that I've shared with you, and if I haven't, I'm going to because it's here with the chief of letters from a party who's come out of a cult, and she listened to this program for months before she came out. You can't fool God's children all the time. They'll come out of the cult eventually.

Now he says, "Behold I've told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, 'Behold, he's in the desert, go not forth. Behold, he's in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the light come out of the east, shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.'" In other words, when he comes, there'll not be any John the Baptist to announce him. When he comes, the whole world will know, and it'll be as public as lightning.

Now, those of you that live in the Midwest, you know that lightning is a public affair. When it lightens, everybody knows about it. And when you're out in one of these electrical storms, I tell you, it's a frightful thing sometimes. His coming to this earth will be just like that. Nobody'll need to announce it. They'll know he's coming when he comes to the earth to establish his kingdom. This is not the rapture, of course. Verse 28, "For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together."

And I would say that this is the most difficult verse in the entire discourse to understand. After speaking of him coming like the lightning out of heaven, in glory, then to mention this. Well, it means he's coming in judgment in the 19th of Revelation. You find out an invitation went out to the carrion of the bird family to come together for a great big banquet, and they'd eat the flesh of kings and captains and the great men of the earth. I think that that's what he's talking about here.

When he comes, he comes in judgment. And where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Then he says, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken." I think all of this will take place at his coming to the earth. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Now, what is that sign?

Now, I'll have to speculate again today. You remember back in the Old Testament that the nation Israel was given the glory, the Shekinah presence of God. No nation has ever had that. No people have ever had that. The church does not have that. There's no holy place of the church today at all. When the abomination of desolation appears in the holy place, I would not only not be able to recognize an abomination of desolation, I don't even know where the holy place is. Where is it today?

No church has a holy place. Then we have here the sign. What is that? Well, the Shekinah glory of God left the nation Israel. And when he came before, he laid aside, if you please, his glory. He didn't lay aside his deity, but he laid aside his prerogatives of deity glory. But John says, "We beheld that glory, though." There were times when it broke through, and he beheld that glory. Now when he comes the second time, I think the sign will be the Shekinah glory will appear again.

"Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." This is his coming to the earth to set up his kingdom. Now notice what he does. "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. They shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Now, the elect here's the nation Israel. The prophets in the Old Testament told about they will be brought back by miracle into that land.

Now, that's not the church. The church is caught up out of this world to meet the Lord in the air. And the angels are not even connected with it at all. That sound of a trumpet and the voice of the Archangel, it's his voice that will be like the voice of an Archangel. He'll not need anybody to help him gather the church together. He died for the church. He'll be able to bring it together. And friends, when the angels gather together, we're talking now about the nation Israel. Angels are connected with them. My, if we had time to go in even more detail than we are.

Now he mentions a parable. "Learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch is yet tender, put it forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh." And that's the nation Israel. If there's any sign today, it would be that we're beginning to see just a little bit of leaves putting out, but actually no spiritual life at all. And I'm of the opinion that what we have here is a picture of the nation Israel back in that land, not today. I don't think this is applicable to today at all. But I say if there was a sign, this of course could reasonably be it.

Now I want to look at that parable next time. We're moving slowly through here. This I consider a very important section, but we'll get up our tempo next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve: There's more of this great study in the book of Matthew ahead. Until then, if we can help you go deeper, just call 1-800-65-Bible or visit ttb.org. I'm Steve Sweitzer, and I'll be here saving a seat on the Bible bus just for you. Through the Bible is a five-year study of God's entire word, and together we discover God's purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?