What's Next? From Jerusalem - Part A

What God does. Throughout the Scriptures as he stacks the odds against him. So he makes hundreds of detailed predictions so that when they come to pass. People will look at the fulfillment and look back at the great God placed their faith, trust the most exciting thing about what snacks the most exciting thing about the future is the fact that Jesus Christ is coming and the Bible says he's coming back to this city when he makes his second coming to the earth. God has proven time and time again that he keeps his promise. All you have to do is study the Bible to see his impressive track today on connect with Skip Heitzig Scriptures and encouraging message on why you can trust that God is in control of future at the end of the program Skip and his wife Linda give you some more insight into God's plan for your future in a Jesus that don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth Laffer yourselves treasures in heaven for you to spend forever in heaven. Let's be laying up treasures must be investing there. And so it motivates us that it also settles we have peace that you skip.

Be sure to stay with us after today's message during the full discussion right now you want to tell you about a great resource that will give you more understanding about end times events would you like to predict the future hundred years ago Amanda John Watkins cure this facility and try predicted by the day, exterminating cockroaches, mosquitoes, and we no longer use the C, Q, or acts so that the Xerox is a truth beyond our ability to predict what sake I got in his word tells us everything we need to know about what's ahead. Known as the times we want to help you understand with the future holds Skip Heitzig six books you can understand the book of Revelation to include help illustrations distantly. Resources argued, thanks for your donation today of $35 or more to help keep these Bible-based teachings on the visit. connectwithskip.com/offer to get today to get your copy if you can understand the book of Revelation or call 800-922-1888, 892 1880 now Matthew chapter 24 we get into the message with Skip Heitzig with a special message coming to you from the city of Jerusalem, and we been on a tour here with our group we been through the country and our here in the city of Jerusalem.

The Bible says in Psalm 48 great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in the mountain of his holiness, beautiful in elevation. The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. And here in the shop that you say right now is that city of the great King you're looking at the Temple Mount. The Kidron Valley below me the Hennepin Valley off to one side is the Mount of olives off to the other side. Beside the Temple Mount is Mount Zion so it's a spectacular but rainy day here in the city of Jerusalem, but gentle rain is always seen as a blessing God said the land that are bringing you into in Deuteronomy 11 is land that drinks in rain from the heavens and one of the sign of God's blessing is that rain would come on the land, especially this time of the year during the mode of course, the latter rain that that brings a beautiful verdant texture to the land.

So once again grading from the city of Jerusalem we been doing a series called what's next were always looking to find out what the future is going to hold and you know if we can get a newspaper that was called USA tomorrow instead of USA Today. Everybody would wanted everybody would buy it because we want to know what's going to happen tomorrow. I distinctly remember when my son Nate and his wife Jenae were having their first child, our grandson, Seth. We went into the doctor to find out what the gender was we're hoping they say was a boy or girl and I member the doctor so well. It's too early to tell what the gender is about. I will tell you this that are distinctly remember somebody coming and we did three ultrasounds over a period of time and all the ultrasound revealed it was a girl and he said I was happy to deliver a very healthy baby boy. So sometimes it ultrasounds in making the predictions aren't always accurate when it comes to knowing what's next what our future holds. We need more than medical ultrasound or a meteorologist telling us what the weather is like. I heard about couple driving through Texas and there was a piece of wood with the rope dangling from it in the sign said weather forecaster and so the customer asked the owner how can you tell the leather by a rope dangling from a piece of what he said in his Texas drawl. Well it's easy when that rope is swinging back and forth. You know it's windy.

He said when that when that the rope is soaking wet that's rain and when it's frozen stiff. You know you got snow and he said when that rope is gone. That's a tornado but you know we need something more accurate than somebody just guessing at what the weather is going to be one of the great attributes of God is that he knows the end from the beginning he has omniscience and he can tell what's going to happen before it even happens to one of his calling cards in the prophet Isaiah chapter 46 the Lord said, do not forget the things that I have done throughout history, for I am God. I alone I am God and there is no one else like me only one can tell you what is going to happen.

Even before it happens.

Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. So one of the hallmarks of God is that he does know what's next and he predicts it throughout the Scriptures you know if I had 10 pennies in my pocket and I numbered them one through 10 and I made a prediction that I'm in to reach my hand in my pocket and pick out penny marked number one I would have the one in 10 chance that I could pick out that Penny, but if I made the prediction that said I'm gonna reach in and pick out penny marked number two.

Now I have exponentially decreased my dogs. I would have one in 100 chance of pulling out penny marked number two and if I made a prediction that I could pick out sequentially all of the pennies marked one through 10.

The odds that I could do that would be one in 10 billion. Now I say that because what God does. Throughout the Scriptures as he stacks the odds against himself. He makes hundreds of detailed predictions so that when they come to pass.

People will look at the fulfillment and look back at the great God who made them and placed their faith and trust in him. The most exciting thing about what snacks the most exciting thing about the future is the fact that Jesus Christ is coming and the Bible says he's coming back to this city when he makes his second coming to the earth is coming back to the Mount of olives and his football touchdown on the Mount of olives, but the second coming of Jesus Christ is the culmination of all Christian hope throughout all of the centuries, our Lord taught us to pray by kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and part of that hope is what we touched on a few weeks ago and we talked about the rapture, touch a little bit on that today as well.

As the second coming of the Bible says will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. In fact, you might say when that happens were all going to get an extreme makeover. I mean wall going to be completely change the Bible says transformed I heard about two converts from the jungles of the South Pacific who went to a missions conference in the United States had never been to the United States. It never been out of the country. They had never seen a large city, so they were placed in this environment that was foreign to them in the looks and they saw these tall buildings in all these fabulous lights and and they walked into their hotel room or into their hotel lobby and they saw these two doors open and they went sideways and in step two large older women and the door shut behind them and there was movement above those doors going back and forth with many lights flashing and then soon the doors opened once again and two beautiful young ladies walked out of that little box that they were looking at and they did know what an elevator was they couldn't describe it. They decide doors open and close and two ladies walking into beautiful ladies walked out of one turn to the other and said hello man we got to bring our lives here to ride in that machine and the truth is I've been looking in the mirror lately and I need to ride in.machine. The Bible predicts that we will be transformed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and that's part of it. That transformation Jesus in Matthew 24 gives an outline of what we've been looking at in the book of Revelation we read just a few verses this is Matthew 24, beginning in verse one then Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, do not see all these things assuredly, I say to you, not one stone will be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 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 in at the end of the age.

And Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

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.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All of these are the beginning of sorrows. Now, in those words that Jesus gave to his disciples.

There are three things I want you to make note of forcible the place Jesus was in Jerusalem in this city that you see behind me. He was on the Mount of olives, he was dealing with Jewish things and a Jewish future.

You know the city of Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible 821 times. It is the most frequently talked about city in the Scriptures, and this section of Matthew 24 is called the Olivet discourse simply because Jesus was on the Mount of olives, which you can see in the scene behind me to your right. He was on the Mount of olives and the disciples came to him and they asked him what is going to happen in the future. What is next. And so Jesus predicts the future. The future of the Jews.

The future of Jerusalem. The future of the world and his future coming. All of these are talked about in this.

Matthew 24. All of the discourse, so the place and the place says that are mentioned are very very important that Jesus and his disciples were in the very place that is at the center of conflict today. I was with Benjamin Netanyahu just nine months ago and he said the whole reason for this conflict, the root of this conflict is they just don't want Israel to exist at all. You know, Israel is the very center of God's plan for the future and that's why it's the center of Satan's spiritual attack. There is a great old quote in the mid-rash. Some of the commentaries about the Torah. The Old Testament law and it says the land of Israel is at the center of the world and Jerusalem is at the center of the land of Israel and the temple is at the center of Jerusalem. All of that to say that the temple and the Temple Mount is at the very epicenter of God's plan for the future. I want you to think of it this way and in sort of four tiered four sections.

Jerusalem is the geographic center of the earth, biblically on earth you know that or not but I grew up in American schools were United States was always at the center of the map. We grew up thinking where the center of the world, but not from God's perspective in Ezekiel chapter 5 verse five God said, I have sent Jerusalem in the midst or in the middle of the nations and the countries all around her. Any student has to just simply look at a map and see that Jerusalem is on a land bridge that connects Asia, Africa, in Europe and when you read the Bible north in the Bible is always north of Jerusalem South is always south of Jerusalem West and East are always taking their reference point from the city of Jerusalem. So Jerusalem is the geographic center of the earth, biblically second Jerusalem is the salvation center of the earth, spiritually. You may remember that our Lord Jesus said to the Samaritan woman who was disputing about which temple in Samaria or Jerusalem is the proper temple. Jesus said we the Jews. We know what we worship or salvation is of the Jews. And there's only one place that our Lord ever paid for the sins of the world and that was outside this city. The city of Jerusalem at a place called Golgotha. So Jerusalem is the geographic center of the earth, biblically it is the salvation center of the earth, spiritually. Third, it's the storm center of the earth prophetically. If you go to Jerusalem. There's up a feeling of tension that is in the air and people learn to live with it and manage it and cope with it, but it's still here nonetheless are just that, political, and spiritual tension leaders around the world are always aware that Jerusalem is a potential tinderbox are not Asia not Europe, but always Israel and there's a reason for that. God set in the prophecies of Zechariah in the Old Testament. I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all the peoples around the Jewish Talmud had a saying, the sages said 10 measures of beauty were given to the world. Jerusalem took nine of them.

One was dispersed throughout the rest of the world, but then it also said 10 measures of suffering were given to the world. Jerusalem took nine of them in one was distributed to the rest of the world.

Something to remember back to the movie fiddler on the roof went heavier, the patriarch of the family looks up to heaven as if praying to God and he said I know were the chosen people, but could you choose someone else.

Every now and then sometimes there's that feeling that I know are at the center of God's plan, but it's very difficult to be there so it's the storm center of the earth prophetically.

But then, finally, it's the glory center of the earth ultimately you see the prophet Isaiah said that all the nations of the world will flow into Jerusalem and there's coming a time when the law will go forth from Zion, Zion is right behind me in this setting that you were seeing.

The law will go forth and all peoples will flow into the city look at it this way in Jerusalem there is a king less prone is the throne of David, has been occupied in over 2500 years in heaven there is a throne, less pain, and when the king was thrown in the throne. Lets Cain come together that will be the time of fullness that the Bible speaks about God's calling is irreversible. The place Jerusalem that is always been God's place, God center will be God's place in God center in the future in the tribulation. God will seal hundred and 44,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jewish people, kill, protect them during the tribulation. After that will be a thousand year reign of Christ on the earth.

The millennial kingdom. He will rule and reign from Mount Zion, the city of Jerusalem, then there will be the eternal state. There will be the new Jerusalem that comes out of heaven toward the earth, and that new Jerusalem has 12 tribes that are on inscribed on the 12 gates around the city. So it's very Jewish centric in God's plan. In the past and the future. I remember hearing this little saying by a guy named Norman you were this what he said. How odd of God to choose the Jew but not so odd as those who choose the Jewish God and not the Jew see God is always established a covenant with the Jewish people and the land that is the land of Israel. He is given in covenant to them.

So that's the first thing on which you notice about Matthew 24 is it's very Jerusalem Jewish Israel centered. The place is important. Second, the prediction Jesus makes a prediction in verse two something that stunned the disciples.

Jesus said to them, do you not see all of these things they were showing him the beautiful stones of the Temple and the temple complex and the colonnaded porch of Solomon's porch and he said you not see all of these things assuredly, I say to you, not one stone will be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down. I'm convinced though I can't prove it that the disciples dropped their jaws at that moment when Jesus made that prediction that this incredible building the temple mount the temple complex, which is and was enormous was one day going down and the reason that they would be shocked is because the presence of the temple was in the Jewish mind. A sign of God's favor to the nation as long as it stood, it was a proof that God was favorable toward him. By the way, when Jesus made that prediction.

The temple was still under construction. It took 18,000 workers a total of 80 years to complete. In fact, some say, when the temple was destroyed. It wasn't even completely finished yet. It sat on and you can see the outline of a 36 acre platform that Herod the great Delta retaining wall around to flatten the area out to 36 acres to take all of the buildings that would be on that enormous foundation and the building itself was enormous on the pinnacle of the temple which is the southeast corner sits 158 feet above its base and then beyond the Temple Mount itself stood at one time attempted building that was 90 feet high white marble with a golden cornice that Josephus said was visible for up to 30 miles away just in incredible building so incredible that the Babylonian Talmud said he that is never seen the temple of Herod has never seen a beautiful building. So it was magnificent. And yet Jesus makes the prediction that these stones are going to be tumbling down the will be unraveled when we take a little tour of the sites and we see the retaining wall that Herod the great built for this somebody stones are enormous. They found stone, some that are 15 feet high 15 feet deep by 40 feet long. That way upwards of 400 tons and one wonders how on earth were those things able to be moved, but then this prediction that these stones are coming down is amazing and it's it's a prediction that was fulfilled.

70 A.D. the Roman armies circumvented the city and mounted an attack against that city.

Originally the generals of the order was to keep intact the temple, but because of a fire that broke out as this history tells us, and the gold was melting in between the cracks of the stones, the Brady soldiers converged on the temple and pushed the stones down to get to the wealth that was between those cracks so that the prophecy made by Jesus was literally fulfilled and you can see the remains of some of those predictions, even on a tour today. Josephus, that Jewish historian that we make reference to so often even set a person visiting here after the destruction of Jerusalem would never believe that anyone ever inhabited that place or where the temple stood that's interesting because there is still dispute as to where the original temple stood upon the temple mount that is here in our background. But the Scripture predicts that the nations will rise against Jerusalem and the world will come against Israel. Zechariah chapter 12 the prophet says all of the nations will send their armies to besiege Jerusalem message from the series. What's now here Skip to give you some more insight on the reality of today.

We were reminded that God knows the and beginning and his word tells us exactly what are five that combination of things will be a new heaven and a new earth you.

How is it the reality at that future draw us closer to well first of all to get us really excited you minimize your surfer because there is no see that's true that's a whole and can align honey, what did you bring that I'm sorry that you should be very excited. I am really excited and we live. Everybody says come on man, get real. This is the real world, but you and I have a friend that talks about the really real world and the really real world is the spiritual world, the unseen world. Yes is the real world. But there's another world. The really real world. And Peter said, seeing that all these things in the real world are going to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be so that's a good question and I in the very least it to motivate us differently in a Jesus said don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth to live for yourselves treasures in heaven for you to spend forever in heaven.

Let's be laying up treasures.

Thus be investing there. And so it motivates us then it also settles us. We have peace we we have peace not because destruction is coming tribulation is coming judgment is coming, but after that there's been a be a real world of peace and tranquility for thousand years on this earth and the eternal state. After that, so should motivate us.

It should settle us, and it should stabilize us and keeps us from slipping. It gives us firm footing that these promises are things you can really live your life on. Thank you, Skip and Linea. Many people don't want to think about death for the believer. Death isn't the end through the cross, Jesus made a way for you to spend eternity with him and we want to share that kidneys people all over the world to hear Keith today will help keep the physical teachings on the air, so more people like you can hear the life-changing message of the castle. Please come now to get hundred 98 death 819 to 1888 for if they think connect with.com/donate.connect with.com/donate. Thank you. Come back tomorrow. Skip hi thinking, which included two Lutheran high set in the hope of Christ's return and castle may Skip presentation of connection communications to God's unchanging truth