Explore the teachings that pivot on Christ’s promised return, interweaving the economic practices of early Christians with contemporary theological understandings. Investigate the reasons behind Israel’s failing to receive the kingdom as foretold, and understand how God’s promises can be viewed through a lens of potential change. This episode presents a dialogue on how believers today can perceive prophecies differently, reflecting on historical changes and their implications for Christian faith today.
Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Bob and your live today. We are getting into a sermon, which my father gave at Denver Bible church titled the timing of the second coming has changed part two yesterday. We played part one. And so now we get into part two. Let’s jump right into it last week.
SPEAKER 01 :
we looked at the question of the timing of Christ’s return, the second coming, because of everything happening in the news, how intense the persecution of churches has been. A lot of Christians are thinking about the end times and what are the signs? When will Christ’s return be? And so we went through, this is part two, Lord willing, we’ll conclude the message today we looked at many verses showing that the timing of Christ’s return has changed. There were so many verses, we’ll see them again today, but you can find them all online at kgov.com slash n times. So you don’t have to write as fast as you could possibly write. This is such an important topic, and many Christians don’t believe this, that the timing has changed, but it’s really good for them to know why. Why is it that millions of Christians do believe that the timing of the Lord’s second coming has changed? Why do Christians believe that? So we will see that today. But first, recall the fulfilling of Israel’s feast. We did this to begin the series two weeks ago. The Bible’s feast being fulfilled, remember the Feast of Tabernacles was filled in the incarnation when Christ tabernacled among us. And the Passover was fulfilled by the crucifixion, the Lamb slain, Jesus, the Lamb of God. Unleavened bread was fulfilled when Jesus, the bread from heaven, his body was laid in the tomb, but he did not decompose. because there was no sin in him, and sin, a little leaven, leavens the whole lump, and that’s why bread rises, because the leaven, yeast, it decomposes, produces gas, and so your bread rises. So the Bible uses the leaven as a symbol for sin. A little sin leavens the whole lump. If a church allows sin openly, then don’t be surprised when family after family is destroyed by that sin. So that’s Feast of Unleavened Bread. These are each being fulfilled on the very calendar day when Israel is celebrating the feast. That’s when they’re being fulfilled. The Feast of First Fruits is that Sunday after the Sabbath, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they celebrate the Feast of First Fruits, and that is Christ’s resurrection. That was fulfilled when Christ, our first fruits, was the first to rise from the dead, never to die again. And then the Feast of Weeks, 50 days later, seven sevens, Seven weeks plus one day is Israel’s feast, and that’s the very feast that was fulfilled on the very calendar day when God poured out the Holy Spirit on all believers on Pentecost. Pente 50, that was the fulfillment of the feast of weeks. The next two are, as of yet, not fulfilled. The feast of trumpets, that is the second coming, and the atonement, that is the consummation of all things, And so we’re up to the second coming, and as God was fulfilling these feasts, one after another, one after another, in relatively short order, on the very calendar days when the book of Leviticus says this is when the feast is, what happened? Why wasn’t… the Feast of Trumpets fulfilled way back in the time of the apostles. Why did the fulfillment of the seven feasts, why did it suddenly stop? And it’s been postponed now until, what, 2,000 years later or more. So the timing of Christ’s return has changed. Jesus said he would return very, very soon. He said, and the apostles expected him to come back within just a few years, and I’d like to indicate from the Bible we could know it was within seven years. But he did not come back quickly as they expected that he would. Why didn’t he? First, we will see that the date was not set in stone. God views the end times calendar as changeable. In Isaiah chapter 60, the whole chapter is about the end times. I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time. You get that? If we’re talking about something that’s 10 days from now, it’s gonna happen in 10 days from now, could you hasten that? If somebody gets a 30-year jail sentence, could you hasten it? Well, you could say, okay, he’s not going to do 30 years, but you can’t speed up the time. But God says, I will hasten it in its time. So there’s a time frame for when the second coming would be, but God’s going to speed it up. Believers can change the time of Christ’s return. As Peter wrote in the New Testament, that believers too should set about, quote, hastening the coming of the day of God. Is it possible for believers to hasten the coming of Christ? According to Peter, it is. And he was the chief of the 12 apostles, the inner circle, Peter, James, and John. If you’re watching The Chosen, how fabulous that is. Peter wrote in the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit, we can hasten the coming of the day of God. Even the Lord said that the length of the tribulation will change. Jesus said that those days will be shortened. Wow. Is there any evidence in the Old Testament other than Isaiah 60 that God will take a prophesied judgment and shorten it? Is there any evidence like that? Well, God shortened his punishment of Israel, and we find this in 2 Samuel 24. The Old Testament precedents for God shortening the coming tribulation include when God said to King David, okay, choose the judgment for your nation either seven years or three months or three days when I, the Lord, will send a plague. Choose which of those three. And David said, God’s mercies are great. And so he chose the three days of God’s judgment, because if it was judgment brought by their enemies, they’re not merciful. But God is merciful. And even if he said three days, still God is more merciful than that. So David prayed, and we read, So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. It didn’t last three days. It was shortened because God is alive. God is a person. God is free. Is he not free? And God promised that if I say I’m going to judge you and you repent, I will not give the judgment that I said I was going to give. God’s promised mercy regardless of prophecy. Here’s a second example. From Jeremiah 18, the potter in the clay chapter. So God promises mercy regardless of the prophecy. Even if he prophesied judgment, he may give mercy instead. Is that bad news or is that good news? It’s the news of the entire scriptures. So the potter in the clay chapter, God says, the instant I speak concerning a nation to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will repent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. Imagine that. God thought he would destroy the nation. He said he would destroy it, but they repented. So he said, I’m going to repent. You repent, I’ll repent. I will not bring the destruction I said. I won’t bring the destruction I thought to bring upon it. For God’s promised mercy, regardless of prophecy, here’s another example. Again, you will find this familiar, right? Forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed. depending on your translation, shall be overthrown. Forty days, and Nineveh will be destroyed. We all know that passage. Then they turned from their evil way, the people of Nineveh. And God repented from the disaster that he said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. So over and over and over in the Bible, we see God saying, giving a prophecy of judgment. He predicts, I’m going to destroy you, and he hopes that he doesn’t have to. That’s the purpose of his prophecy of judgment, is that it would not have to be fulfilled. Over and over, he hopes, when he says, I’m going to destroy you, he hopes that he doesn’t have to. And Jonah was like a theologian. He was angry that the prophecy didn’t come to pass. Remember that? And God said, we quoted it from the Italian version last week, God said, what’s the matter for you? Jonah, don’t you care that the people of Nineveh repented? I want to have mercy on them. I don’t want to destroy them. Yes, I said I was going to destroy them, and I thought I was going to destroy them, but they repented, so I repented, and… I will not bring upon them that which I said I would bring upon them, and God did not do it. Many theologians, they reject this. They say, well, I can’t mean that. Even though we find this in the Bible over and over and over and over, and you can find those verses, if you go to our kgov.com slash end times, you’ll find a link to all the places where God did exactly this, exactly this. So back to the Lord in the Gospels in Matthew 10. Before you get through Israel’s villages, Jesus said so many things he said that he would come back soon. He would return soon in their lifetimes. So Israel’s a little place. It’s not like Russia. It’s more like New Jersey. It’s a little place with a limited number of villages. And Jesus said to his disciples, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. So when Jesus commanded them to go throughout Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, I want you to start sharing the gospel, but you know what? You’re not even gonna get done with Israel before I return.” Yet that didn’t happen, did it? Because as warned, God changed His plan for Israel. We read it in Jeremiah 18, we read it in Romans chapter 11. God says, I have a plan for Israel, but because they hate the king, I can’t give them the kingdom. So temporarily I’m going to cut them off, postpone their program. I’m going to graft in the Gentiles of the body of Christ, Jew and Gentile together. Albert Sharon, our dad, stepdad, he’s a Jewish believer. He’s with the Lord now. Today it doesn’t matter Jew or Gentile. We’re all one in Christ. That’s what God says in the Bible, that he has a plan for Israel, but if they don’t obey him, he will verge off of that plan and he’s going to do something different. A lot of Christians think God just made idle threats. Oh, he said all that, but he didn’t mean it. So Jesus says in Matthew 16, some of you won’t die. There are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. That’s pretty clear, no? Now, many theologians who don’t realize that the timing of Christ’s return has changed, they say, well, that referred to the transfiguration. But the transfiguration, when you read through the text, you see Mark and Luke, Matthew 16, you realize that happened like the next day. It happened about a day later. So it can’t be that Jesus was referring to being on the Mount of Transfiguration. It can’t be that, because that was just one day later, and most of them are not going to die in one day, in 24 hours. In John 21, the Lord had said that John might not die before he returned. Remember he said to John, this is your mother, and to Mary, this is your son. He was giving John the responsibility of taking care of Mary until he returned. But as we’ll see, Jesus decided not to come back quickly. He postponed it, now it’s for 2,000 years. And because of that, he didn’t mean that John would live for 2,000 years. And so, yes, John would die, although he was the last one to die very late in his life in the 90s in the first century. But John clarified, and he said, then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but if I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You get that? Jesus said, said, before you go through the villages of Israel, I’m going to come back in my kingdom. In fact, he says, I’m going to come back in glory in my kingdom. And he says, some of you won’t even die before I return. And John, he might live until I get back. Matthew 24, this generation will not pass until… Jesus said, assuredly, I say to you, who’s he speaking to? His audience. He’s speaking to the Jews who are following him, and he’s telling them about the Great Tribulation. And he says, this generation will not pass until all these things take place. Now, normally, if the president said, I have this plan to redo our infrastructure, this generation will not pass until all our roads and bridges are rebuilt. Would anyone not understand that? Everyone would understand it. But because the timing of the second coming changed, and so many Christians refuse to believe that because they have preconceived notion, so it’s very hard for them to accept what the Lord said about his timing, his return. They want to make generation mean something that deals with our day. So when Jesus said, this generation will not pass until, they said, well, that means in our day. But the people listening to him, they wouldn’t have thought it meant in our day. They would have thought it meant their generation. So back in the 70s, when I became a Christian, started to read Hal Lindsey and so many great end times preachers, late great planet Earth. They said a generation is 40 years. And they said that’s from when Israel becomes a nation. Well, that was convenient. So 1981 be the rapture, 1988 the second coming, only it didn’t happen. So then it turned out a generation was not 40 years, it was 50. Then it was 60. Now it’s 70. Right? Pretty soon it’ll be 80 and 90, and if the Lord tarries it’ll be 100. It’ll be 300 years. Because the understanding of what the Lord meant is wrong when you constantly have to change what you think it meant. But Jesus was speaking to that generation, you will not die until all these things take place. So what happened before Paul? Believers sold their homes. Remember that? All who were possessors, this is in the book of Acts, all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles’ feet and they distributed to each as anyone had need. So they were living like communists. It was communal living, but communal living isn’t sustainable. So why did God have these early believers live in that way? And isn’t it true that they went broke? And did God change that arrangement where his believers would all sell their homes and their lands? Yeah, we find out God changed it. When he changed the timing of the second coming, he changed how his believers should deal with their economics. Jesus soon returned. It permeated his teachings. What he taught for three years was based on him returning soon. He said, sell what you have and give to the poor. Now, is that a good idea for today? Sell your home, but I have kids. Just trust, just trust. Sell your home, give all the money to the church. How’s that one? That’s a con artist would teach that. Yeah, but didn’t Jesus teach that? Yeah, he taught them, not us. Because that was a short-term plan because his return was soon. But then he postponed his return so those who did sell their homes and their lands went into poverty. Jesus said, everyone who’s left houses or lands for my name’s sake, right? That was the mindset. What they did in the book of Acts is what he taught them to do. Luke 12, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, nor about the body, what you will put on. Christians who love the Lord so much and they think, I’m gonna live like they lived in the book of Acts. And it almost always, it’s a total catastrophe. Not because they don’t have faith, But they’re misunderstanding. God told that to them, not to us. So there is no promise that if you don’t care about paying your rent or buying food, that God will take care of your wife and kids. There’s no such promise. In fact, the opposite. If you don’t take care of your family, you’re worse than an infidel, the Bible says. Jesus, in the short-term perspective, because he would return soon, said, the birds, the ravens, neither sow nor reap, yet God feeds them. And he commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff. No bag. Don’t even take a carry-on. Forget about money. Don’t take money. Just go. You see, when you’re entering into the tribulation where many of you would be killed… and Christ is going to return soon with the kingdom and establish the kingdom, you don’t have to worry about long-term economics. That’s no longer a concern. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor and come follow me. Yet Jesus did not return soon as he had warned that he may change his mind. That’s what he warned. Christ’s soon return permeated his teaching. He went about all Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom. That is, the kingdom of heaven is near, so repent because I’m going to bring the kingdom. So get ready. Sell everything you have. And repent for it’s very soon now. Jesus said, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel. That is the gospel of the kingdom. That’s the message John the Baptist preached. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. With their homes sold, they became poor. Remember that all who were possessors, all, not a few, all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and they distributed to each, Acts chapter 4 and 5. And when we go on to read later in Acts and then in the epistles, in chapter after chapter, we find out that the believers in Jerusalem, the Jews who trusted in Christ, they went into dire poverty. so it was paul and his converts who did not sell their homes they didn’t sell their land because this was a long-term plan they raised money for the saints in jerusalem who were destitute does that make sense that’s where the support came from for the jews in jerusalem from paul’s converts and so in all in paul’s epistles he’s saying okay In Jerusalem, they’re desperate, so let’s raise money and let’s take care of them. And by the way, all these verse references, one there is a chapter and a half, a full chapter and a half in 2 Corinthians. All chapter 8, half of chapter 9, all about the saints in poverty in Jerusalem and how Paul wants to support them. Communism quickly fails. This was to be a short-term tactic to survive the tribulation and enter the kingdom. Many Christians think God wants us today to live like communists. They’re leftist, progressive Christians who are social justice warriors. They look at Acts and they say, see, God wants all of us to live like Bernie Sanders teaches we should live. Take from people who have money and give it to people who don’t. but they are wrenching the scriptures out of context because that was not a long-term economic plan. That was very short-term until Christ returned. So Paul’s converts kept their homes and provided relief to the saints who were in Jerusalem. He was the apostle to the Gentiles, so he was able to raise funds from his converts. And this money supported the believers in Judea who fell into poverty. They didn’t immediately fall into poverty, not in the first week or month or year. They hadn’t immediately become poor after they sold their property. They became poor after the delay in Christ’s previously expected return. God warned that he may not give Israel their kingdom. as prophesied. Remember this, potter in the clay chapter? One of the like 10 most famous chapters of the Bible when you study theology is the potter in the clay. Yet it’s almost totally ignored. And the instant I speak, God is saying, the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom. This verse is one of the most ignored verses in the entire Bible. And it comes right from God’s heart. And there are thousands of theologians who hate this verse. They hate it. God says, the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it. When Jesus was saying, I’m going to give you the kingdom, right? The kingdom of heaven is at hand. In the book of Acts, the Messiah is raised and God’s going to give us the kingdom. So when Jesus comes to Israel, and he’s crucified and raised from the dead and he tells his followers, now go preach the resurrection. Tell them their Messiah has been raised from the dead. What did the nation do? They tried to kill his followers and they hated the king. So how could God give the kingdom to a nation that hates the king? How does that work? You can’t do that. And that’s why God warned, if I say I’m going to give Israel, and in Jeremiah 18, he’s talking about Israel. And he says, this is Israel. If God says I’m going to give Israel a kingdom and they hate me, then I will not give them the kingdom that I said I would give them. This is all solid biblical teaching from the Lord. God doesn’t make empty threats. Jesus told Israel their kingdom was near, but they hated the king, so he withheld the kingdom that he had promised. That is why he didn’t return soon as he said he would. That is why. So there was a year’s probation, and it followed the three-year earthly ministry. Jesus said, the fig tree in the Bible 20 times over is Israel. Jesus said, look, for three years I’ve come seeking fruit on this fig tree. That is seeking faith in Israel. I find none. I mean, generally speaking, the whole nation hates God. So I find no faith. Cut it down. Cut off Israel. Cut it down. But the keeper of the field answered and said, Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after that, you can cut it down. So Jesus came for three years to Israel. He said, I was only sent.
SPEAKER 02 :
Stop the tape, stop the tape. Hey, we are out of time. If you want the rest of today’s broadcast, head to kgov.com. That’s K-G-O-V.com, kgov.com.
Explore the teachings that pivot on Christ’s promised return, interweaving the economic practices of early Christians with contemporary theological understandings. Investigate the reasons behind Israel’s failing to receive the kingdom as foretold, and understand how God’s promises can be viewed through a lens of potential change. This episode presents a dialogue on how believers today can perceive prophecies differently, reflecting on historical changes and their implications for Christian faith today.
