Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: You know, some of the most powerful words Jesus ever spoke weren’t about the past but the future. Welcome to Thru the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, your host, and I’m glad that you’re here with us as we open God’s Word together.

In this study, Dr. J. Vernon McGee brings us to what’s often called the third major discourse in the book of Matthew. Now, discourse may sound a little bit formal. Don't worry, it simply means sermon or teaching. This one, known as the Olivet Discourse, is Jesus’ message from the Mount of Olives about the end times.

As we mentioned last time, this chapter really lays the groundwork for understanding important books like Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation—places that we’ll visit together if you stay with us on the Bible Bus for the whole journey.

Now, in just a few minutes, Dr. McGee’s going to mention his notes and outlines, and you can get your free copy in our app or over at ttb.org by downloading our digital book, *Briefing the Bible*. Or, if you prefer, you can call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE, and we’ll send you an abbreviated copy by mail.

Before we begin, let’s hear from Norman, a fellow passenger on the Bible Bus with us. "I have just completed my sixth trip through the Bible." Wow, Norman, congratulations! If I do my math right, that’s 30 years.

He continues, "I’m amazed that I am still learning something new every day. When I first started listening, it was on an FM station in Cedarville, Ohio. After several years, I started listening on your website. After I retired in 2020, I started listening to your app. Each morning, I go for my half-hour walk and listen.

What amazes me most is that when I first started listening, the primary method of transmission was terrestrial radio, and the languages available were relatively few. I have seen it grow to where the number of languages is staggering, and the methods of transmitting them are hard to imagine. I’m so thankful that TTB is able to continue, and I look forward to the next five years of learning even more of God's Word."

Well, Norman, I agree with you. It really is amazing how faithful God has been. No one could have imagined how wide and how deep this ministry would go. God certainly is faithful to His Word, isn’t He?

Now, here’s a quick note. This is from Isaac: "I’m a college student and was raised in a Christian home. If I’m honest, I’ve always been afraid of Revelation. It seemed dark and eerie, but as I studied with McGee, I found it’s about hope. Thanks for the instruction. My trust in the Lord continues to grow with each book. I’m now with you for the entire trip."

Well, it’s great to hear from you, Isaac. I’ll be sure to save you a seat. Now, from the parables to His words about what’s ahead, Jesus is teaching us how to live with eternity in view. How’s He speaking to you as we study Matthew together?

You can drop us a note in the app. You can even hit the speak button and just talk it into there, and it’ll transcribe it if you’ve got an iPhone or an Android device—which we’ve all got one of those, don’t we? You can also email us at biblebus@ttb.org or you can write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. Canadian listeners, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1 is your address. Or just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE and leave a message anytime.

Let’s pray together as we open God’s Word. Lord, would You open our hearts as we listen and then help us to understand the truth of Your Word and the truth of who You are? We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, friends, we turn in our study today to the 24th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. This is the third and the last major discourse in the Gospel of Matthew. We’ve had the Sermon on the Mount; we’ve also had the mystery parable discourse in Matthew 13; and now, in Matthew 24 and 25, we have the Olivet Discourse, so called because that’s where it was given.

If you have a friend, you ought to call them now and ask them to listen in because all three of these major discourses are misunderstood, and it has given such a wrong conception of what Christianity is, what the Bible is all about, and what God intends to do.

Now, we want to urge you to write in and ask for our notes and outlines if you do not have them. So as we begin today, let me just briefly recapitulate some of the things we said last time. Our Lord has now denounced the religious rulers and He’s turned His back on Jerusalem and says their house, the temple, is left desolate, and they’ll not see Him until they say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."

Apparently, there is a postponed kingdom therefore. There are so many that object to that. Well, may I say that you’re certainly going to have to object to the language of the Lord here. He says it’s postponed, doesn’t He? He says that He’ll not establish it at this time but that He’s coming again to establish it.

Now, the apostles were a little surprised at that, too. They didn’t like the idea of a postponed kingdom. So they come to Him, and they say, "Look around at these buildings. You say this house is left desolate?" And the temple then was made up of many buildings. It was still in process of building, however, at this time. It was a very beautiful thing, a very large thing. It was the temple of Herod—white marble, very beautiful.

And now it’s to be left desolate. And He says to them, "Do you really see this? You don’t see it like it’s going to be because there’ll not one stone be left upon another; all of it’s to be thrown down." Now, I was there at the Wailing Wall several years ago, and the tour director wanted to call attention to the way that the stone was worn away there where, over the years, they had wept at the Wailing Wall.

Well, that’s there, and that’s worth noting. But frankly, that’s not what impressed me. The thing that impressed me was the fact that they are not all just one kind of stones; they’re all kinds of stones. And we’re told that the Wailing Wall, which was built after this, was made up of the stones taken from different buildings of different periods.

And you go to the pinnacle of the temple, which evidently is that corner of the temple area, you’ll find there, since they’ve excavated recently, and I know when I was there, I noticed again the different kinds of stones that come from the different periods. What does that mean? That means not one stone was left on another. They had to go pick them up from different places. Titus really destroyed that city.

Now, they come to Him with three questions, the apostles. They are so much in shock. In fact, they’ve had a trauma going up the Mount of Olives, and they’ve had a huddle. They’ve talked this over. They come with three questions, and He’s going to answer them. "Tell us, when shall these things be?" That means, when will one stone not be left upon another?

Now, Matthew does not have that part of the discourse at all. You’ll find that over in the Gospel of Luke, and you’ll find segments of it in Mark. But actually, Luke carries that section. Why? Because Matthew is the gospel of the kingdom. The King is presented here, and that present destruction has something to do with this age in which we live but has nothing to do with way off down yonder in the future when the King is coming.

So Matthew doesn’t carry that part. Now, Luke says, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, you’ll know that this time has come for when one stone will not be left upon another." And many of those that heard Him there that day were present in 70 AD when Titus surrounded the city, laid siege to it, and cut it off from the rest of the world. And when he finally breached the wall and got in, it was terrible what he did. And he destroyed that city. He demolished it as it had never been before, and you must recall that it had been destroyed several times before, especially by Nebuchadnezzar.

And now it is destroyed, and that part has been fulfilled. In other words, one-third of the Olivet Discourse has been fulfilled. Now, the next two questions: "What shall be the sign of Thy coming?" and "What is the sign of the end of the world?" or the end of the age. The world never comes to an end. There’s going to be a new earth brought on the scene. This one will make way for a new one.

But it’s just like you trade in your old car for a new car. You’re not without a car. You can’t say it’s the end of the car age for me; I don't have a car anymore. Well, you do; you traded the old one in, got a new one. And we’re going to trade the old world in—at least the Lord is—for a new one, and the world never comes to an end. It’s the end of the age, and that’s the way they’re asking it, by the way.

And He’s going to answer it now in a chronological and logical order which is: the last question He’ll answer first. What is the sign of the end of the age? And what is the sign of His coming? Now, this has to do with His coming to the earth to establish His kingdom, and the church is not in the picture here at all. The church actually is gone by the time you get to the end of the age here. It’s the last days of the nation Israel.

Now, we believe that He’s talking about the Great Tribulation period. Somebody says, "Can you know that?" Well, sure we know that because He labels it the Great Tribulation period right in this discourse. I imagine that some folks thought that some fundamental preacher thought of that term, "the Great Tribulation." Our Lord’s the one who thought of it. He’s the one that gave it its name, and we’ll be coming to that next time when we see the Great Tribulation period—that is, if we don’t get to it today and we’re not moving too fast through here because this is a very important section, by the way.

Now, you’ll notice here, "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you," verse four. Now, that word, "take heed and let no man deceive you," is, I think, to characterize the entire age—and we’re in the front end of it, of course. But it’s a word of caution that’s given and will be especially true in the Great Tribulation period because that’s when the Antichrist is to appear.

But we are told today elsewhere to beware of false teachers, not false prophets. Anybody starts prophesying today, you can pooh-pooh them right out of the scene as far as a Christian is concerned because prophets are not for this period. But we are to beware of false teachers, and there are a great many of those around. We must test it by Scripture.

I read a letter—maybe some of you will recall it—from a lady that was in a cult and how the Lord delivered her out of that cult. Fact of the matter is, I have another letter here before me and it just came in, and I’d like to share it with you because of the fact that it illustrates what I’m talking about. This comes from a woman who apparently has a very important position in an insurance company in downtown Los Angeles.

Now, she says here—I’m reading now—"About 20 years ago, a well-meaning friend introduced me to"—and I can’t mention it; it’s a cult, and you mention it, you get in trouble on the radio, so I don't mention it; I don’t want to get in trouble. A friend introduced her to this cult. "After going to her church for one year as her recruit, I switched on the radio during lunch. You were giving your noon Bible study. I listened and learned." And then she tells about her entire family then went to a good church in the area in which she lived.

Friends, may I say to you that you need to beware today of false teaching. There’s a lot of it around—not only in Southern California, but all over this land today. And He says, "Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." Now, there are to be false Christs. We’ve had them. There are a few around today, not as many right now as there were a few years ago.

We had a couple here in Southern California. One had a holy city up here in Northern California, but whether it’s Northern or Southern California, you don’t have any holy cities—not in this state or any other state, for that matter. But this man was a man that he expected any minute to be called to Washington to solve the problems of the world. Well, you don’t send to the holy city in California to get the solution to the problems of the world. One’s coming from the Holy of Holies in heaven someday, and He’ll solve the problems.

Now, in the end time, there is to be a false Christ. Now, I believe that our Lord there upon the Mount of Olives looked down to the end of the age, to this Great Tribulation period, and here at the beginning, He’s bridging the gap. Now, I recognize that there are many good teachers today, much better than I am, that take the position that immediately He moves to the end of the age. Well, I think you find the fulfillment of it—the entire spectrum of the Scriptures fulfilled—at the end. But I do think He’s bridging the gap. Now, if you disagree with that, you’ll be in mighty good company, I know. But, of course, if you want to be right, I’m sure you’ll want to go along with me right here.

Now, will you notice this? He says, "Many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." That’s the rider on the white horse at the end of the age when Antichrist comes. "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." Wars and rumors of wars are not signs that we’re at the end of the age, by any means.

And I think He’s bridging now the gap. It’s so easy to think a major war is indicative that we’re at the end of the age. Actually, it’s not. There have been, I forget how many wars—200 and some odd major wars—in the past five or six thousand years. And I think we’ve had maybe 200 years of peace in that time. But wars and rumors of wars are not the sign.

I remember when I was a boy—and I was just a little boy at the end of World War I—and I remember hearing my dad and others talking about the books that were coming out then saying that this was the end of the world, as they put it in those days, because we had just had a World War I. Well, after that, we had a worldwide depression and a World War II and the atom bomb.

And during World War II, remembering what had happened in World War I, I said to my congregation when I was pastor out here in Pasadena, I said to them after World War II, "You wait and see, there’ll be a wheelbarrow load of books saying that we’re at the end of the world, as they’ll put it, because we’ve had World War II." But you know, I was wrong. There wasn’t a wheelbarrow load of books; there were two wheelbarrow loads of books that came out at that time, and they all were very sensational. Well, we’ve come a long ways since World War II, and so it might be well just to listen to the Lord again and quit listening to these false teachers.

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." And, friends, man will never solve the problem of war. He thinks he’s going to. The League of Nations was to do that, and then the United Nations, and I don't know what will be coming up in the future, but they’ll have something because nothing will work until the Prince of Peace comes. Can’t have peace without Him.

Now, will you notice He says in verse seven, "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." Now, this characterizes the whole age, and we’ve had all of these. Right now, the population explosion has the world frightened, and rightly so, my beloved. They’re starving to death by the thousands and millions, and that’s going to increase. It has to increase.

But the old black horse of famine hasn’t ridden yet. He’s going to ride one of these days, and it’ll be at the end of the age that he’ll really come forth. These are just the beginning of sorrows that we see today. I think we’ve come now to our first time-word. I think now that we’re entering the Great Tribulation period, and I believe that this is the thing that characterizes it.

Now, let me very briefly mention to you what I have on my chart that might be helpful. You and I are living in the age of the church or the age of the Holy Spirit, as some like to speak of it. And in the world today, the Bible divides mankind into three groups. Paul says, "Give none offense, neither to the Jew, nor the Gentile, nor the church of God." Those are the three groups in the world.

Now, He’s calling out a people to His name out of both Israel and the Gentiles, and one of these days, that group will be taken out of the world. Then the Great Tribulation begins, and I think this is what you have here now in verse nine: the beginning actually of the Great Tribulation period. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake."

Now, who’s He talking about? The church? No. He’s talking about the nation Israel. This is antisemitism on a worldwide scale. And I’d like to inject this at this point because it’s important, and I trust it might be important for Christians today. My friend, as long as the church—the true church—is in the world, you could never have worldwide antisemitism because the church will resist that. No real believer in the Lord Jesus could hate the Jew. That’s an impossibility. Now, I think liberalism has given a false front to these people and, in the final analysis, would finally turn against them. But as long as the church is in the world, the true church, why there’ll not be worldwide antisemitism. But when the true church is removed, I think it’ll break out worldwide.

Verse 10: "And then shall many be offended, shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise and deceive many." Now, we are not to pay attention to false prophets. Peter says as there were false prophets among the people—that is Israel—there’ll be false teachers among you. We’re to beware of false teachers, and here’s a warning again against false prophets, which the nation Israel was to beware of.

"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Now, that’s a principle, of course, that you could apply that too today, as there are many principles here. A great many people today because of the way the world is going—I met a preacher I’d been in school with him, and he had joined everything, he’d become a liberal. He drinks his cocktails, smokes his cigarettes, and he lives just like the world. And he told me, "No use fighting it." He said, "McGee, you don’t fight City Hall, you join it." Well, I fight City Hall in that sense, by the way. I’m not about to join it.

You see, because of the iniquity that’s around him, he was telling me about in his church, how much of this had gotten in his church. He’s not going to fight it. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. It’ll be more true in that day, of course. Now, verse 13 is supposed to be a startling verse: "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Now, he that shall endure unto the end.

Well, now somebody says, "You see, you got to endure." Yeah, but who endures? Well, when I read the book of Revelation, I find out that He stopped the whole forces of nature and of evil and even of good, and He said we’re going to seal so many. Who is it that’s going to endure to the end? Those that He sealed at the beginning, of course. And He says, "My sheep," regardless of the period or regardless of the sheep, they’re going to make it through to the end. He said that when He starts out with the 100 sheep, He always comes through.

Now, who is it that endures to the end? Those that are His will be recognized because they’ll endure to the end. I think again we got a great principle there. When somebody says to me today, "I knew so and so, he was very active in the church, he was a deacon in the church, and now he’s gone into sin. Is he a child of God?" I can’t answer it. I don’t know what to say because I don’t know. Really, I don’t know. We just have to wait.

I tell them that the pigs will eventually get to the pigpen, and the prodigal sons will all get back to the Father’s house eventually. It is confusing to find a son in the pigpen, and sometimes you find a little pig up in the Father’s house. Then Peter says, "The sow that was washed has returned to a wallow again." The pig did get up there. One of the little pigs went up with the prodigal son, got a nice little pink ribbon around his neck, and he had his teeth washed with Pepsodent, and I want to tell you, he looked very much like a real believer, but he wasn’t, you see. He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. You just have to wait. Sometimes a sheep gets in the mud; sometimes a son gets into the pigpen. But he’s going to get out, friends. Why? Because he has a wonderful Shepherd. A sheep is safe because we got a wonderful Shepherd, friends, and that’s what He’s saying here: the same shall be saved.

Now, we come to another strong statement. I’m going to save it till next time to go into detail: "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, some that do not agree with the premillennial interpretation—we have a lot of amillennialists running around today, and amillennialist is—well, that’s it, "Ah," that’s what you think of when you hear that. They believe that some of us believe there are two or three gospels—that there’s a gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the grace of God—and that God has several methods of saving people.

I’m going to talk about that next time when we talk about this gospel of the kingdom, of whether God has several methods or whether really He has only one method. And actually, these today that are trying to say that there’re several gospels actually don't they really believe that there’re at least two ways of being saved? And, friends, God has never had but one way to save sinners, and that’s through the death of Christ on the cross, and we can show that next time. We’re going to begin right there. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: If you’re finding that Jesus’ teaching in Matthew is speaking to you, you know we’d love to help you keep going. Explore free resources at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can point you to something just right for where you are. And as the story continues to unfold, hop aboard next time and travel with us through the Bible.

Today's study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Thru the Bible, and it’s made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible Bus all around the world.