Thoughts on Matthew 24

I've been looking through some of my books on the Olivet Discourse in preparation for this week's Bible stud. I'm going to teach Matthew 24 as punishment for last week, and because it seems to be a climax of sorts after the last few chapters. I spent the better part of a year studying the various prophetic texts during 05-06, but was hesitant to do a study on it but have kind of stumbled into that direction anyway. It is a passage that was important enough to be included in all three synoptic gospels. When I googled this passage I was able to find links to people using it to support their theories about Barack Obama, black helicopters, UFOs, socialism, and a super computer in Belgium that apparently can suck your brain out. In other words, things that could not have less to do with this passage. I don't know if anyone in my group is succeptible to this kind of sensationalism, but if so this might give them something to think about. Hopefully we can attach some spiritual principles to this rather than have it turn into me giving an hour-long lecture on the history of Roman involvement in 1st century Judea (but I'm prepared to do that if I have to). Here are some thoughts I've had refamiliarizing myself with this topic over the last week.





-I'll probably breifly summarize the events that immediately preceded this since a lot of people missed the last two weeks.





-I will start the actual study with 23:37, which looks like it would have been a better place for the chapter break.


-Note that "My Father's house" is now referred to as "your house". I think this sets the tone for the entire 24th chapter.





-There is a ton of language here that closely resembles the Old Testament prophets. This appears more in Matthew than in Luke. This makes sense since Matthew's Jewish audience would have been familiar with the OT, as opposed to the Gentiles Luke was writing to. This is why I'm using Matthew instead of Luke, because there is more that has to be explained.





-A lot of the passage, the spectacular stuff especially, is extremely similar to accounts of the Babylonian invasion, as well as the fall of Babylon.





-The "not one stone" prophecy is probably the most specific and easily verified prediction in the entire Bible. A lot of prophecies are not really understandable until after the fact.





-I don't think the disciples are asking about the physical second coming. They seem oblivious to a "first going" much less a second coming. I think the "coming" language is one of the bigger stumbling blocks in this passage. I may also tie in statements used in Matthew 10 and 17.





-The destruction of the temple and end of the age would not have been thought of as separate events by the disciples, in all likelyhood. I may need to get into the word aion and the word "age".





-verses 4-13 could apply to almost any period of history, hence they are always "being fulfilled".





-I'll need to point out Paul's statements as well as Luke 2:1 on the whole "entire world" (oikumene) thing.





-"the reader" will probably NOT understand the Abomination of Desolation thing. There are several theories about what this refers to, but I think the way it is stated by Luke makes it easier to understand. I have a parallel listing of the passage in all 3 gospels from one of the appendices of R.C. Sproul's book The Last Days According to Jesus that I will use in case I need to have 3 versions in front of me. Not sure if this will be necessary, but I don't know what to expect from a discussion like this.





-If I had to pick a song that this passage reminds me of, it would be "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden.




- I don't think verse 21 is literal, because from our perspective even 2/3 of the earth dying would not be worse then the flood. Similar language is used to talk about the Babylonian captivity. I'll probably also mention how Hezekiah and Josiah are both referred to as being "better than any king who came before or after". The same with 22, in regards to Babylon.



-I wonder if "vultures" or "eagles" is the better translation. Most modern ones use "vulture", I think it's cooler with "eagle" with regard to the Roman legions, but the metaphor works either way.



-The sun, moon, and stars language is something that occurs throughout the OT with regards to nations being destroyed.

-"coming on the clouds" is the same way". Easily confusing. Matthew 26:64 is a good one to use to explain the meaning

Flop

Worst. CHOW. Ever.

It was one of those nights where I felt like I was talking to an oil painting. Most of our talkative people weren't there, so I was a little worried going in that I would ask questions and then hear crickets chirping. But I thought that with 5 other people there I could at least get some conversation going. Wrong. I taught Matthew 22:1-14 (Parable of the marriage feast) then jumped to chapter 23 where I did verses 1-12, 23-28, 29-36, (Jesus pissed at the Pharisees) and then 37-39 teasing the lead-in to Chapter 24. There is some seriously harsh stuff in here which you'd think would lead to some feedback. It went like this:

Me: Anything stand out to you in this parable?
Group: .........................(lots of tired eyes looking at me)
Me: The King kills them and burns down their city, any thoughts?
Group:.........................
Me: What does the king want here?
Group: ....long pause..... "to throw a party?"
Me: Yes, thank you.
Me: 'Strain a gnat and swallow a camel', thoughts?
Group:..................
Me: 'Brood of vipers', 'whitewashed tombs', 'work anecdotes', 'your house is left to you desolate', anything out of the ordinary?

That was pretty much the evening. Kind of goes to show how you never know how something will go over. When doing Romans, I had chapters that I absolutely dreaded but which led to interesting insights. This was a case where people were either tired or didn't have anything to say about the material. Everybody says "good lesson" afterwards, but it still feels like a complete flop.
So now I'm not sure where to go with it. I was going to do Chapter 24 next, but now I'm not sure. 24 is a very interesting chapter, and I've spent a lot of time studying it and have a lot of resources on it. This one would work well with a quiet group, because it would be a lot of Greek words, and how phrases are used in the prophetic sections of the OT. I think I can teach it without it being a "here let me push a theological system on you" situation. I was originally going to skip the entire section because of the hype that surrounds that passage, but it seems like a glaring omission since the last 2 or 3 weeks have kind of led up to it. Enough rambling. Anyways, you win some you lose some.

Round 2

Okay, so I was 25-7 in my first round picks thanks to some late-night heroics from Wisconsin and Siena. I should have known better on Illinois. So here are my Round 2 picks. A little different format here than I used for Round 1.

Midwest

(1) Louisville VS (9) Siena
(12) Arizona VS (13) Cleveland State. Ignore my rule about schools with "State" in the name.
(3) Kansas VS (11) Dayton. Kansas has been known to make early exits, but I don't see it quite yet.
(2) MSU VS (10) USC. The Trojans are remembered fondly but people forget that, like Rocky, they lost their epic war.

East

(1) Pitt VS (8) Oklahoma State.
(4) Xavier VS (12) Wisconsin.
(3) Villanova VS (6) UCLA. Not really sold on the Pac 10 this round.
(2) Duke VS (7) Texas. Duke wins a close one before falling to 'Nova.

West

(1) UConn VS (9) Texas A&M.
(4) Washington VS (5) Purdue. Not sold on the Boilers either. This sets up Huskies vs. Huskies.
(3) Missouri VS (6) Marquette. Marquette very nearly made me look bad, so their uppance comes.
(2) Memphis VS (10) Maryland. Memphis was my pick to win it all last year, had they done so I could have won a McCain 08 fleece. They roll on.

South

(1) UNC VS (8) LSU. I'm picking UNC to win it all. That's what my gut tells me.
(4) Gonzaga VS (12) Western Kentucky.
(3) Syracuse VS (6) ASU. I'd like to make more interesting picks, but I'm just not feeling it for the Cindarellas
(2) Oklahoma VS (10) Michigan. I'd like to see them do it. I just don't think they've got the inside game, and Griffin was not thrown to the ground hard enough for that to be a factor. Best judo throw I've seen in a basketball game in quite some time though.

NCAA Round 1 Picks

Okay, so it's that time again this year. Last year I didn't do too bad with my brackets, I would have done better if Memphis had won the Championship game but it was still respectable. Anyways without further ado, here are my round 1 picks

Midwest Region

(1) Louisville VS (16) Doesn't Matter --------------Louisville
(8) OSU Suckeyes VS (9) Siena ----------------------Siena
(5) Utah VS (12) Arizona-------------------------------Arizona (a 12 always beats a 5 somewhere)
(4) Wake VS (13) Cleveland State--------------------Wake Forest
(6) WVU VS (11) Dayton------------------------------West Virginia (I'll wind up regretting this one)
(3) KU VS (14) NDSU-----------------------------------Gee, let me think.....Kansas
(7) Boston College VS (10) USC-----------------------BC, I'm picking a lot of East Coast teams
(2) MSU VS (15) Robert Morris-----------------------MSU always plays well in the early rounds.

East Region

(1) Pitt VS (16) E. Tenn----------------------------------Pitt
(8) Ok St. VS (9) Tenn.-----------------------------------Tennessee pulls out a close one
(5)FSU VS (12) Wisc.-------------------------------------Wisc, haven't seen either so: 12-5 rule.
(4) Xavier VS (13) Portland State------------Xavier, as a rule if you have the word "state" in your name, but not the name of a state I don't pick you.
(6) UCLA VS (11) VCU---------------------------------UCLA, don't pick teams if you have to look up their abreviations.
(3) Nova VS (14) American-----------------------------Nova beats them up inside
(7) Texas VS (10) Minnesota---------------------------Tejas
(2) Duke VS (15) Doesn't Matter U------------------Duke

West Region

(1) UConn VS (16) Chattanooga---------------------UConn, been to chat. don't care for the place.
(8) BYU VS (9) A&M------------------------------------A&M, why not?
(5) Purdue VS (12) Northern Iowa-------------------Boilermakers
(4) Washington (13) Miss State-----------------------Miss. State in a shocking upset!
(6) Marquette VS (11) Utah State---------------------Marq. I didn't know there was a Utah State.
(3) MIZZ VS (14) Cornell-------------------------------MU
(7) Cal VS (10) Md.---------------------------------------Terrapins, see what I mean about East Coast?
(2) Mumphis VS(15) Doesn't Matter-Northridge Memphis

South Region

(1) UNC VS Radford------------------------------------UNC, Radford we hardly knew ye
(8) LSU VS (9) Butler------------------------------------The Butler did it.
(5) Illinois VS (12) WKU-------------------------------Illini buck the 12-5 theory.
(4) Gonzaga VS (13) Akron---------------------------Zags over Zips
(6)ASU VS (11) Temple--------------------------------ASU, I usually wind up regretting the 11-6 games
(3) 'Cuse VS (14) SFA-----------------------------------Orange(men)
(7) Clemson VS (10) Michigan-----------------------lets see.....Michigan. (My oldest neice was accepted to Michigan this week. She will be in their Nursing Program.)
(2) Choklahoma VS (15) Morgan State------------OU, (see naming rules)

Anyways, my lesson about Matthew 21 tomorrow night will suck because I've been working on this tonight, but it was worth it.

Bible Study Ideas.

I'm leading my Wednesday night bible study group from now until Easter, and have been turned loose to basically do whaterver I want in terms of topics. (I'm not sure what they were thinking either.) I'm planning to teach on various aspects of the end of Jesus' ministry leading up to the crucifixion. I did last week's on the resurrection of Lazarus, because I was sick for several days and didn't feel like doing my normal prep-work. I also figured this particular story would be a very easy one to teach. I'm not planning to actually do the crucifixion or resurrection, but to end with the last supper. I figure all the professionals will be doing Passion related stuff during this time period and I want to be different. My tentative plan so far is as follows.

-3/11: Various Parables from Matthew 20 and Luke 14-16, picked based on what I think people will have comments about.

-3/18: More Luke parables or NCAA Basketball, whichever people are more interested in.

-3/25: Whatever I feel like doing from Sun-Wed. of Passion Week (skipping the Olivet Discourse). I may use the book of Mark for this one so I'll have done something from each Gospel.

-4/2: The Last Supper.

Finally Joined the 21st Century.

So, I have finally broken down and gotten a cell phone. I have been without one almost uninterruptedly since right before Nick got married, a little over 8 years ago. As I recall, that one was shut off because I didn't pay the bill. Anyways, now I will be able to:

-Talk loudly about personal matters while standing in line in front of you at the store
-Leave it on so it can ring loudly in church.
-Send text messages while sitting in front of you at the movie theater, ensuring that my brightly lit screen annoys you for the duration of the film. (Yeah, I got the text messaging package too.)
-Send people gross images of whatever I happen to have seen on the sidewalk.
-Leave my phone on in my locker at work so whoever is trying to take their break can listen to my loud punk rock ringtone for several minutes if anyone tries to call me.
-Crash into your car because I'm distracted by talking and don't realize everyone in front of me has stopped.

And when football season rolls around I will probably add the mobile web service so I can follow college football even when I'm working (provided they have a college football season this year, since there WAS NOT ONE last year.)
Anyways, my new number is (719) 964-3813.