Before we begin our study I would just like to familiarize some of
you with the Bible text that I will be using it is the King James text with the
Strong's Concordance number added to each word. A copy of the Strong's
Concordance and some of the study material that I will be using can be
downloaded free to your computer from http://www.e-sword.net/.
You will be truly blessed by this Bible Program, it does not take up allot of
hard drive space so don't make that a worry, and now on to our studies.
I want all to
know who read or Join this Blog that I cannot express the gratitude I have in
my heart that first of all you would take the time out to investigate the Bible
and take a closer look to what it is that God has left for his Children
to do in his Kingdom for the ages to come. I'm going to ask that you pray for
me as I will for you that the will of God and the manifestation of his presence
become more and more of a reality and that the presence of our Lord and Savior
Jesus the Christ become the driving force in all that we both do and speak in
our lives. The importance of studying the Bible cannot be stressed enough for
years we have sat in the pew's allowing certain Doctrines to go unchecked or
have given our Amen to that which was not of the word of God all for the lack
of study. Now! is the time to Awaken from our
slumber Saints and receive that which God our Lord and Savior and the Holy
Spirit have prepared since the foundation of the world Matthew 25:34,
the Kingdom of God is amongst us should we not conduct ourselves as such that
is becoming to God?
In 2Tim 2:15Paul gives
instruction to Timothy, a young man who was very dear to Paul and a young
Minister in the Gospel, Paul instructs Timothy to "study the word of God a
workman who need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth." Some
may ask how this is relevant because Paul is addressing a Minister, well we are
all called to Minister the word of God, each and every one of us when we
receive Christ in our lives have this unction deep within ourselves to
Ministry. The only problem is that the Universal Church of Christ has made
Ministry a club for the so to speak elite.
Well after a closer look
we will find that this was not the purpose of true fellowship, the purpose of
fellowship in the 1st century Church was to come together to edify one another.
The edification we will find out was to do just what Paul is instructing
Timothy to do "study" so that when we Minister within and without the
synagogue of Christ that we would deliver a word that is in context to the
situation and not take the word of God out of context, much of which is
happening today in the Universal Church of Christ. Saints you have the power
and authority to make a change in the Church you are to be the Judges of this world 1Corinthians 6:3,
it is OUR DESTINY but it
all begins with study, not a one year Bible reading plan but study, hence the
purpose of this Blog.
There
are two rules of study that I would like to go over with you before we
start our closer look into Matthew
24 the first one is the rule of properly
using exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis
is allowing the text to speak for itself and requires the student to study
the text laying aside all preconceived notions or ideals and often means laying
aside those things you have been taught and have accepted as doctrine, for some
since our youthful days, I cannot stress the importance of this method of study
if you allow the text to speak to you and stop trying to interpret the text you
will be amazed at what the word of God is revealing to his Saints! Eisegesis
is just the opposite of exegesis and you can tell when you are allowing
this to be your method of study because you will notice that you are placing
things within the context of the text which are not there. Most of what is
being taught as Doctrine in the Universal Church is guilty of this type of
study which after a closer look you
will be able to discern more proficiently.
The second rule of study that I would like you to become familiar with is audience
relevancy, almost all Christians are guilty of this, as you will notice
after you begin to allow the Word of God to speak for itself, as a student you
will notice that you are trying to make the Word speak to you and your
generation of readers. You can avoid the mistake of wrongly making the word
relevant to you by allowing yourself to notice the personal pronouns used
throughout the Bible the Greek language is very audience specific as you will
learn with further study.
As stated earlier Matthew
24 is a text rich with allot of very important information that our Lord
and Savior Jesus the Christ had to say concerning his second coming. After a closer
look you will be able to discern that all of the New Testament without a
doubt addresses and readdresses the same issue the second coming of Christ
(Parousia in the Greek) below is a definition of the word Parousia
according to The Strong Concordance. The Strong Concordance is not the only one
used in the world of the Theologians, but it has been found to be one of the
most reliable and most referred to by Theologians and Lay Persons alike.
G3952παρουσία parousía; gen. parousías,
fem. noun from parōìn (part. of páreimi [G3918], to be
present) present, presence, a being present, a coming to a place.
The first thing I would like you to become familiar about is this
word Parousia is that as you can notice in the definition the word means to be
present (presence) a being present or coming to a place, it does not mean
coming as we have been taught but it means presence which is a
significant difference. We will take a closer look at the first time we
encounter this word coming introduced in Matthew
24 but please keep this in mind as we begin the study of the Parousia of Christ it is critical to
our understanding the nature of Christ's Parousia(presence).
Mat
24:1
AndG2532 JesusG2424 went
out, G1831 and departedG4198fromG575
theG3588 temple: G2411 andG2532hisG846 disciplesG3101 cameG4334 to him for to shewG1925 himG846
theG3588 buildingsG3619of theG3588 temple.G2411
NOTE: here we have in the first verse Christ coming
out of the Temple this is very important to the context of the conversation
that follow's and we have to keep this in mind as we take a closer look at Matthew 24. And his Disciples come out to show Christ the building
of the Temple, note that this same event is relayed to us in Luke 21 and Mark 13 and they add that the Disciples were clamoring about the
beauty of the Temple. There is also something of the utmost importance
concerning the TEMPLE it was the
very center of our Jewish Brothers lives, the Shekinah Glory that filled the
Temple was a sign that God was dwelling amongst his People. What is overlooked
by most Christians is that the temple was a type and shadow of Christ Hebrews
10:1 much can be said and should be learned concerning the Temple and its
cultic practices and how all of the rituals and its very existence pointed to
Christ. Please keep this in mind as you
study all of the New Testament and especially the area of the Parousia of
Christ it is of the utmost importance. One day God willing I will explain in
detail the Type and Shadow of the Temple.
Mat
24:2 AndG1161 JesusG2424
saidG2036unto them,
G846 see G991 ye notG3756allG3956
these things? G5023 verilyG281I sayG3004
unto you,G5213 There shall
notG3364be leftG863 hereG5602 one stone upon
another,G3037 G1909 G3037 thatG3739 shall notG3364
be thrown down.G2647
Note: 1. here in Matthew
24:2 that it is recorded that Christ then says unto them (his disciples)
here is the first time that we run into the rule of audience relevancy in Matthew 24 which was discussed earlier, it is
very important to note who Christ is addressing, he is speaking to his
Disciples and addressing their remarks concerning the Temple that was destroyed
in A.D. 70 this date is very critical to our understanding of the Parousia of
Christ please mark it down it is a date that is as important if I dareadvent of our Lord and Savior and also note what Christ says “there
shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down”
Christ is giving a prophetic utterance that the Temple then standing as he
spoke would be destroyed in the future. We
must realize that all of the New Testament is written prior to the destruction
of the Temple in 70 A.D. the only letter that is in much debate is Revelation’s
some Theologians give an early date and some a post A.D. 70 date this is an
area that we will study, and I will attempt to show you that both from external
evidence and internal evidence that Revelations is written prior to A.D. 70
much more on this later.
2. Also note that
throughout all of Matthew 24 the audience does not change, Christ is
not addressing the Church throughout all eternity.
3. And again Christ addressing the Apostles
says verily which is the Greek word G281 amen transliterated from
the Hebrew word H583 amen but take special notice of the definition whenever
we see the word verily it means that what is about to be said is firm,
steady, trustworthy, in other words in laymen's term it means that all of what
Christ is getting ready to be communicated to them will be fulfilled without a
doubt and draws the audience in which spoken to, to pay special attention towards
the words about to be spoken.
Mat 24:3 AndG1161 as heG846
satG2521 uponG1909 theG3588mountG3735
of Olives, G1636 theG3588disciplesG3101
cameG4334 unto himG846privately, G2596 G2398
saying,G3004 TellG2036us,G2254whenG4219
shall these thingsG5023be?G2071 andG2532
whatG5101 shall be theG3588 signG4592
of thyG4674 coming,G3952andG2532
of theG3588 endG4930of theG3588
world?G165
Note here in Matthew 24:3 we have the crux of the whole of what the Universal Church of Christ and all who believe in
the future Parousia of Christ has held on to for Centuries
relies on the misinterpretation of what is relayed to us from Matthew from this
point on until the end of this conversation. But let us first note that there
is a threefold question posed by the Disciples 1. When shall these things be (the destruction of the Temple?)
2. What shall be
a sign of Christ Coming?
3. And the time of
the end of the world. This question in
itself has held the Universal Church Captive for years by the interpretation of
the word world in English we think of the entire Globe but if we do a word
study we will discover that in the Greek language there are two words for the
word world; Aion GK 165 meaning age
and Kosmos GK 2889 meaning orderly
arrangement by implication the globe as we understand it. We can find a perfect example of the use of
this word in Hebrews 9:26 and the use of the two words in its proper
context. As I have stated earlier we
would only discover these definitions by studying, and once you do a word
search for these two words Aion and Kosmos you will find that scriptures that
we have been taught in the Congregations of Christ take on a totally different meaning
and concept when we use the right definitions of the word. I challenge you and God Commands that we
study his word, Saints take a Closer
look and you will be freed from some of the chain binding Doctrines being
taught today in the Universal Church of Christ, have you ever heard “The Truth
Shall Set You Free? So in a nutshell
what we have the Apostles asking in their third enquiry is what will be the “end
of the age” not the end of the World, this destroys this passage being used to
support all futurists Doctrines of the end of the World. Our Jewish Brothers only knew of two ages the
Mosaic age and the Age of Messiah.
.
I am going to
stop here and continue a closer look at Matthew in the next post please Join
tell friends to Join in to this exciting study please keep me in your prayers
as I will you. Study the material that
we have gone over so far and please be like a Berean and at least investigate
to see if what I am trying to communicate to you is true, be
Blessed.
For questions or comments please email 2tim21528@optonline.net
For questions or comments please email 2tim21528@optonline.net
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