And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
See that you are not troubled;
for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet.
...
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world
as a witness to all the nations,
and then the end will come.
(Matthew 24:6,14 NKJV)
Is it "the end of the world"?
Here is a verse from the King James Version of the Bible:
The enemy that sowed them is the devil;
the harvest is the end of the world;
and the reapers are the angels.
(Matthew 13:39 KJV)
However, the King James Version translators were influenced by the Latin, and at the time the words of Jesus were translated into Latin, that language did not have a word for what was in the Greek, so the Latin translations used a word that means something like "secular world."
The New King James Version and many other newer versions have corrected this to read:
The enemy who sowed them is the devil,
the harvest is the end of the age,
and the reapers are the angels.
(Matthew 13:39 NKJV)
Well, what does that mean? What will "end" at the end of the age?
Our clue is in the very next verse of Matthew 24:
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
(Matthew 24:15)
Daniel speaks of "abomination" and "desolation" in three places, chapters 9, 11 and 12. Now I think the book of Daniel is perhaps the most complex book in the entire Bible, and I don't claim to understand more than a tiny fraction of it. So I only want to bring a hint from a section of chapter 9, were I find the word "end." Verses 24-27 is very packed with layers of meaning, ending in verse 27 where he has the words "abomination ... is poured out on the desolate", and just before that in verse 24 we find the words, "... to make an end of sins, ..."
Now again, I am not claiming I know how all that fits together, or when it applies in Daniel's prophecy, but only that "end of sins" fits with "the end of the age" which Paul calls "this present evil age" in Galatians 1:4:
who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
So this fits together perfectly, He "gave Himself" about 2000 years ago, and at the end of this evil age, that will be the end of sins.
Okay, so when is that? What will trigger the end?
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world
as a witness to all the nations,
and then the end will come.
(Matthew 24:14 NKJV)
So you may think that, well we have sent missionaries all over the world preaching the gospel... when will it be enough?
While certainly there are still tiny tribes hidden deeply in the jungles or on some tiny islands, or blocks in the largest cities of the world where people have never heard a word about Jesus or the Bible, I think it may be safe to say that the gospel has been preached in all the nations.
Thank You Lord that you didn't say "to every person", or even "to every city," because that would literally be impossible! But "to all the nations," ... I think that may already be done, right?
And by the way, those nations that are "closed" to allowing the gospel to be preached--are closed because the gospel was preached already in those nations and they rejected it! Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 25:
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
(Matthew 25:32)
You know the term "shepherd". How about "goatherd"?
I just now asked my phone using AI. Here's my question and AI's answer:
My awkward question:
In farming culture we have the idea of sheep following their shepherd and we have something else related to goats what would that be?
Answer:
In farming culture, a goatherd cannot lead goats like a shepherd leads sheep. Because goats are naturally stubborn, independent, and like to forage their own paths, a goatherd must follow behind them, coaxing and guiding them from the rear.
That made me laugh, I couldn't have said it better!
So is this the end of the age... or are we missing something?
About thirty years ago, I remember there was a period of about six months where over and over I felt like the Holy Spirit was getting my attention. I would be listening to a radio preacher, or a TV program, or a church sermon, and each time, the speaker would quote a Bible verse that I was quite familiar with. I might hear something like this:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter heaven.
But I knew the verse as:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 19:23)
Or maybe the preacher would say:
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.”
And again I knew the verse actually said:
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
(Matthew 19:24 and Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25)
For this one, non of the three gospel accounts even has the word "heaven" at all!
I began realizing that the word "kingdom" was dropped and the word "heaven" was everywhere. Over the years now, I have heard hundreds of people say "heaven" when the book says "kingdom".
The "gospel of the kingdom" has been replaced with "a gospel" of "going to heaven ... (after you die)".
So let's look at this verse in Matthew 24 again:
And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in all the world
as a witness to all the nations,
and then the end will come.
(Matthew 24:14)
The whole planet has been pickled with "a gospel" of "going to heaven".
That "gospel", in its simplest form is "believe in Jesus, and you will go to heaven."
There are two problems here. I will address the second problem now, and the first problem in a bit.
The problem is this little English word "of" in the phrase "kingdom of heaven."
Here I must refer to a bit of grammar. There is in Greek grammar a thing called "the genitive case". "Genitive" comes primarily from the idea of "to Generate"; it has to do with the "source" of something. Think of "Genesis" as the book telling us about the "source" of all creation. "God created"--God is the source, He generated (created) "heaven and earth."
So in "kingdom of heaven", in Greek, the word "heaven" is in the "genitive case." That means heaven is the source of the "kingdom." The kingdom comes from heaven. It has nothing to do with "going to" heaven.
Now you can understand why Jesus taught His disciples (and us) to pray like this:
"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
That second problem was a little word, the word "of" should be "from" because "heaven" is the source of the kingdom.
The first problem is also a little word; the word "in". In Greek we have a word that means "in". That word in Greek sounds like "en", nearly the same as our English word "in". But that is not the Greek word used in these verses. The Greek word in verses like "believe in Jesus" sounds more like our English word "ice" (as in frozen water), but the spelling would be "eis" using English letters. This Greek word "eis" means "into". So a more correct translation is "believe into Jesus", and "believe into Christ." This is true in virtually every verse in the New Testament.
This may sound strange to our ear, but that is exactly what is meant. There are places where "believing in" something would make sense. For example you may "believe in" Einstein's "Theory of Relativity". I do, mostly. I heard some teaching and some good clear explanation of this theory, and it made sense to me, so I believe in it.
There are many people all over the world who, when they heard the Gospel, they believe it. They believe that it is true! And that is good, and valid, and important. -- But that is not what the Greek is actually saying or meaning!
It is not about believing some true facts. It is much more than that!
If you were with a friend in the front yard of a house in first century Greece, and you said "Let's go in the house", I think he would look at you funny and say, "are you a foreigner? Don't you mean 'Let's go into the house'?"
Greek is a very precise language, while English is very sloppy!
So, What's the difference?
The preposition "in" describes a state, or a position. You can be "in" the front yard, or you can be "in" the house. But "into" is a movement, a changing from one place into another place. "Into" involves an action. In our case it involves the action of moving from being "outside of Christ" to being "in Christ." That is what water baptism symbolizes, it is having your old life buried with Jesus in His death on the cross, and coming up out of the water, we are raised with Him into New Life with Him in His resurrection!
It isn't that the act of baptism "saves you", per se. Baptism is the visible public declaration that this change has really happened inside you; you have moved from being outside of Christ to now being in Christ! That is salvation!
Believing into Christ needs even more explanation. When you hear the gospel, the real full gospel, and you believe into Jesus, you become part of His body, the Body of Christ. Paul speaks extensively about this reality, the body:
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
(Ephesians 4:4)
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
(Romans 12:4-5)
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
(Colossians 3:15)
In these verses, the word "member" in Greek is a word that means a "body part", like an arm, a foot, and eye or an elbow. Today when you write your name on a piece of paper agreeing to become a "member" of a "church", that is a fiction! Today people talk about "their church" as the "local body", there is no such thing in the Bible. The Bible says there is only ONE BODY on planet earth. And it is God who places the members in the body as it pleases Him:
But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
(1 Corinthians 12:18)
When you believe into Him, He places you into His Body where He wants you!
But if we only "believe in Jesus" as doctrines to "believe in", then we do our own thing, and join some "local church" we like. And Satan is happy too, as long as the Bride does not make herself ready.
6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
(Revelation 19:6-8)
Here in Revelation we have a sequence of events unfolding in the prophetic vision John is seeing. We have loud noise (thunderings), rejoicing (Alleluia!), a marriage, a wife who has made herself ready, and a fine linen wedding dress.
So we, like the disciples may be asking "when shall these things be" (Matthew 24:3)
I also have been pondering these questions in more detail very recently. In particular, for example, it is obvious that the marriage cannot happen until the bride has made herself ready. That should be obvious! But how is she ever going to do that? When it says "His wife has made herself ready", that certainly doesn't mean that she did it all by herself. She does it by the Holy Spirit working in her, with her total cooperation!
Did you catch that--Her TOTAL cooperation. That starts by doing EXACTLY what we are told to do in the New Testament.
Traditions? You may think "Why are you bringing up traditions? Traditions are the problem. Jesus warned us not to follow the traditions."
Well, yes Jesus did warn us not to follow the traditions of the elders or the traditions of men, etc. But there are three places in the New Testament where traditions are positive, traditions we should follow! All three are in Paul's letters. I have arranged them in Chronological order; Paul wrote his letters to the Thessalonians before Corinthians:
2 Thessalonians 2:15
Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
2 Thessalonians 3:6
But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.
1 Corinthians 11:2
Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you.
Notice the third one, written to the Corinthian church, ya know that really bad, messed up church in Corinth?
Wait... What??? "Now I praise you"??
Read that again!
The only place in the entire Bible where anyone was praised for "keeping the traditions just as I delivered them to you."
Now, in light of that, read 1 Corinthians 14:26-33 again. This is the only place in the New Testament where we have a description of what a meeting was actually like. And although Paul was making some detailed correction, in the basic structure of the meeting, they were doing it right, and Paul praised them for that.
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
...
@@@
To be continued hopefully very soon! ...
@@@
@@@
There is so much more to say!
@@@
Notes to be covered:
gospel of Kingdom vs. "salvation"
- seek first the kingdom - all added unto you
As lightning east to west - Radio and Internet at light speed
I feel alone, But God has "reserved 7000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal."
Bride ready?
Return all the way back to the first temple made of "living stones."
Haggai ... how do you see it now?
- the glory of the later temple will be greater than the former.
* Come Lord Jesus --> "parousia" means "presence"
- (not a visible "coming", there is another word for that, to be seen with physical eyes)
- "come" as used in many places in scripture, like the enemy army for example.
- He comes to His estate - the true church, totally scattered
- will gather "as a hen, her chicks under her wings."
I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. (Joel)
In Heb. 10:25, "upon-assembling" (in Greek)
- (On the box it says "Some assembly required" for a model airplane kit
-- does not mean put all the pieces in the box for an hour once a week
--> GLUE required!!! then it's permanent.)
Only 3 places where "Traditions" are good!
Acts: house to house, could be "every house" from the Greek
1 Cor 14 "Each one has..." from Holy Spirit
I could write a separate article for each one of these, and I already have for some of them!