Jesus had foretold His disciples that they would be delivered up to the courts and synagogues. He also told them that they shouldn’t concern themselves with planning a defense, because the Holy Spirit would give them words that none of their opponents could refute (Matt. 10:17-20). Today we read one fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. Notice that just prior to Peter’s defense before the Sanhedrin, he was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (4:8). His hearers marveled because an “uneducated and untrained” man spoke with such power and confidence. It was God speaking through Peter, and they didn’t even realize it.

Even more amazing is the fact that every member of the Sanhedrin was convinced that a forty-year-old man who had been crippled since birth had been healed (4:16), and yet not one of them came to believe in Jesus as a result. Rather, they tried to silence the apostles. Their hearts were so hard.

Although they were released, Peter and John knew that greater persecution was looming. Trouble has a way of motivating us to pray, and so they went to their companions and had a prayer meeting.

Like so many good prayers, much of what they said served to encourage themselves. They started by reminding God that He had “made the heaven and the earth and sea” (4:24), something He probably hadn’t forgotten! It reminded the disciples, however, that they were talking to the One who had unlimited power.

They also quoted to the Lord Psalm 2:1-2, a few more verses He probably hadn’t forgotten. Yet those verses surely comforted them.

Then they recounted the persecution Jesus had suffered in Jerusalem, something else God had not forgotten! It reminded them that what they were facing was under God’s control.

Finally, after reminding themselves of these things, they were able to make their requests confidently. They didn’t ask God to stop the persecution, but that He would grant them opportunities to speak boldly (just as Peter had done before the Sanhedrin), and that He would continue to confirm their message with signs and wonders. (Notice, incidentally, that one person didn’t lead them in prayer while the rest were quiet. They all prayed together at the same time.)

The Lord answered their prayers, as we read, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness” (4:31). From this we can learn two things. First, we can experience additional fillings of the Spirit, and second, the Holy Spirit can make us bold to speak God’s Word. If you are timid about that, now you know what to pray!

For a second time in Acts we read about the disciples’ sharing of material things. They did not practice communism, where there is no private ownership. Rather, we read, “they held everything they owned in common” (4:32). Everyone shared what they owned. And those who had much sacrificed to supply the essential needs of others, so there was not one needy person among them (4:34). This was nothing more than simple obedience to what Jesus told all His followers to do: “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys” (Luke 12:33). Their love for one another identified them as being true disciples of Christ (John 13:35). Where are the disciples today?

Luke wrote that all who owned houses or lands were selling them in order to meet the needs of the poor among them (4:34). As we continue to read the book of Acts, it will become clear that the early Christians lived in houses, and so it seems that it was those who owned more than one house, or lands that they didn’t need, who sold them to relieve the poor. If farmers sold all their land, they would soon need someone to feed them. If people sold their only home, they would have to move into someone else’s home. Thus it is safe to conclude that all the early disciples did not sell their promary homes.

He asked for alms, but got legs! This healing of the crippled man at the Beautiful Gate didn’t occur because of Peter’s faith. That is, Peter didn’t see the crippled man and say to himself, “I’m going to have faith for that man to be healed, and so I’ll lift him up and tell him to walk!” If that had been the case, Peter would have healed many others besides this one man. Rather, the crippled man was healed because Peter was suddenly anointed by the Holy Spirit with a special gift of faith (3:16) and a gift of healing (see 1 Cor. 12:1-11). It takes more than ordinary faith to seize a crippled person by the arm, lift him up, and expect him to stand and walk. If you don’t believe me, try it sometime and see what happens!

The miracle occurred not only for the crippled man’s sake, but also for the benefit of everyone who would be attracted to hear Peter preach the gospel. Those who are called as apostles and evangelists today should expect that God will miraculously use them in order to attract listeners to hear the gospel. As a result of one miracle and one sermon, 5,000 men came to believe in Jesus, not counting the women and children (Acts 4:4). At this point in the church’s history, the Jerusalem church had at least 8,120 members, and it was only a few days old. And it was all due to the demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power. As I’ve previously said, if we removed the miracles and their effects from the book of Acts, there would be no book of Acts. Oh how we need the Holy Spirit’s power!

Peter’s sermon is a good example of how the gospel should always be proclaimed. He spoke of his audience’s guilt before God (3:13-15, 19, 26) and of God’s wrath (3:23). He told them about Christ’s crucifixion, sufferings and resurrection (3:15, 18, 26). Also notice that Peter invited no one to “accept Christ” or “invite Jesus into their hearts,” but rather told his listeners to repent because God wanted them to turn from their “wicked ways” (3:19, 26). If they would, they would be blessed, according to Peter. The chief benefit of believing in Jesus was not gaining better self-esteem or more material possessions, but receiving forgiveness of sins (3:19). How the gospel has been altered today!

Peter concluded with a quotation from Genesis in which God told Abraham that in his seed all the families (tribes or culture groups) of the earth would be blessed. We know, of course, that the seed was Jesus (see Gal. 3:16). God desires to bless every tongue, tribe and people group in the world through His Son. In Revelation 5:9 we read of a future scene in heaven where the Lord will be worshipped with a new song: “Worthy art Thou…for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Thus we see that God’s plan from the time of Abraham was to purchase people from every people group on the earth, and according to Revelation 5:9, God’s plan will succeed.

Some ethnologists estimate that, although there are about 200 nations in the world today, there are about 16,000 different culture groups. As of this writing (late 2008), there are at least 6,000 people groups who have no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize them, and those people groups make up 40% of the world’s population. For example, there is not a single known Christian among the 55 million Yadava people in India. They are an unreached people group.

Imagine living in a place where most of the people have never heard anything about Jesus, where it is next to impossible to find a Bible, where no Christians live. Jesus wants us to make disciples of all the nations, or literally, among every people group in the world. The task is still before us! For more information about the world’s unreached people groups, visit JoshuaProject.net.

God baptized the disciples in the Holy Spirit to empower them to take the gospel to all the nations, or more specifically, to all peoples, tribes and tongues. As those 120 disciples spoke supernaturally in languages they had never learned, it was a sign to them of the purpose of their Spirit baptism. They knew they were speaking in languages of people somewhere in the world whom God wanted to reach. Those who speak in other tongues today must be careful not to place so much emphasis on the supernatural sign that they forget that the sign is designed to point them to a world dying without Christ.

Speaking in tongues has become, unfortunately, a divisive issue. Some believe that speaking in other tongues can be experienced by every believer. Others believe it is only for some. Still others believe it was only for the first-century Christians.

I happen to be in the first category, but I do not think that those who speak in other tongues are superior to those who do not speak in other tongues. In fact, I sometimes think the opposite! As Paul later wrote, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1). Love is much more important than speaking in other tongues. It is, in fact, the first fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5:22).

Notice that at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, all the believers who were present spoke in other tongues. God did not differentiate between them. Notice also that Peter told the astonished observers, “Repent…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise [the promise he had just quoted—‘I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind’] is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (2:38-39).

Peter believed that God wanted to pour His Spirit upon everyone who would repent. Did Peter believe that those in his audience, unlike the 120 in the upper room, would receive the Spirit without any supernatural evidence? No, he believed that the Spirit’s outpouring would result in gifts of prophecy and visions and dreams (2:17-18). Certainly everyone’s speaking in tongues fell under the category of prophecy, as each believer was heard “speaking of the mighty deeds of God” (2:11) in known languages. Peter believed Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled before them.

Some claim that God gave the disciples the ability to speak in foreign languages so they could preach the gospel to foreign people in their native tongues. They argue that the modern tongue-talkers do not proclaim the gospel to foreign people with their unintelligible languages. The fact is, however, that nothing is said anywhere in the book of Acts about speaking in tongues being used to proclaim the gospel. No one heard the gospel on the day of Pentecost until Peter started preaching.

Notice that during his Pentecost sermon Peter never asked anyone to “invite Jesus into his heart” or “accept Jesus as her personal Savior.” His formula for receiving salvation was simple: repent and be baptized. There is no salvation without repentance. When you repent, you turn from your sin and start following Jesus, your new Lord. Your first act of faith is to be baptized in obedience to His command, as were the 3,000 new believers of which we read today (2:41).

One of the characteristics of the early Christians is that they “had all things in common,” and were “selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need” (2:44-45). This was nothing more than simple obedience to what Christ told all His followers to do (see Luke 12:33). It stands in stark contrast to what is being pandered today by prosperity preachers, who tell already-rich people to gather more, while the Lord Jesus told relatively poor people to liquidate what they already had accumulated. Someday we must all give an account.

The book of Acts was authored by Luke, the physician, who accurately recorded the first 30 or so years of the early church’s history, particularly highlighting the ministries of Peter and Paul. God’s purpose for preserving the historical account of the early church is so that each generation of Christians will not deviate from the pattern revealed there. It is still God’s intention that the same methods be followed to make disciples of all nations. As we read through this amazing book, I encourage you to compare your Christian experience with that of the first believers.

Foremost, the church of the book of Acts is one that took orders from the church’s Head (1:2). I cringe when I hear preachers talk about what Jesus “is asking us to do.” Perhaps American Jesus asks His followers to do some things, but Bible Jesus doesn’t ask anyone to do anything. Bible Jesus commands people. He is Lord, and His true followers obey Him.

Second, the book of Acts shows us that the church of Jesus Christ is one that is focused on expanding God’s kingdom around the world. Inward-focused social clubs that meet for an hour each week in a special building do not resemble the church Jesus started. The New Testament believers were intent on obeying the Lord and fulfilling His commission to make disciples of all nations. Any church that is not vitally involved in the Great Commission is falling short of God’s will. The book of Acts is a missionary story.

Third, it is apparent that the early church was supernaturally empowered to fulfill the Great Commission. We read of miracles in almost every chapter. According to Acts 1:1, Luke’s Gospel was a record of “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” The book of Acts is simply the continuation of Jesus’ supernatural ministry through the church, His body according to the New Testament epistles. Jesus lives in all of us who are born again, and we should be wholly dependent on Him to work through us to build His kingdom. Apart from Him we can do nothing (see John 15:5). We certainly have a whole lot of “nothing” happening in many modern churches. As two Christians from China said after a tour of American churches, “It is amazing how much they can do without the Holy Spirit!”

Jesus considered the help of the Holy Spirit to be so essential that He commanded His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit (1:4-5). Similarly, Jesus did not begin His ministry until He was baptized in the Holy Spirit (see Matt. 3:16). Certainly we also need to be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). If we removed the miracles and their effects from the book of Acts, there would be no book of Acts.

What is “a Sabbath day’s journey” (1:12)? It’s about two-thirds of a mile, the maximum Jews were permitted to travel on the Sabbath according to their tradition.

Today is the only time in the New Testament that you’ll read of anyone determining God’s will by drawing lots. Although it may have worked for the apostles on that occasion (and who can say with certainty that it actually did?), I would not recommend trying to determine God’s will in that manner or any similar manner. You might get fleeced when you “put out a fleece,” a phrase that is often borrowed from the story of Gideon as he sought assurance about God’s direction (see Judg. 6:36-40)!

God has not promised to guide us by fleeces or by drawing straws. Most mature Christians have discovered that God leads them by less spectacular means, what is often referred to as “the inward witness.” It takes practice to discern that inward witness, and it is particularly difficult to discern when you are not wholly submitted to the Lord. How many of us have thought that God was leading us and later discovered that we were actually following our own desires? That is a common error that seems to be part of the universal learning process as we grow in Christ. When it happens, we should just admit it and keep trying!

I’m afraid this part of Jesus’ story has become so familiar to us that it loses its impact when we read it. But try to imagine the surprise and joy of the women who visited His grave that Sunday morning. Imagine, for example, going to the gravesite of one of your departed loved ones and seeing that person sitting on his tombstone, alive and well! That would be a real shocker!

We have to appreciate the fact that Jesus first appeared to women rather than men after His resurrection. It is troubling to Christianity’s “men-only club” that those women were commissioned by an angel to teach men something they didn’t know. And to add insult to injury, Jesus Himself entrusted those women with instructions for some men to go to Galilee (28:7, 10)! Perhaps we should keep these incidents in mind when we come to the New Testament verses that are so often used to keep women “in their places” in the church!

The story that the Roman soldiers spread about Jesus resurrection would have raised more questions than it answered in the minds of thinking people. First, why were they sleeping when Roman law demanded the execution of soldiers caught sleeping while on guard duty? If they were sleeping when Jesus’ body was stolen, why weren’t they executed? How is it that they were not awakened when the disciples supposedly moved the heavy grave stone? If they were sleeping (eyes closed and unconscious), how did they know it was the disciples who stole Jesus’ body?

Jesus declared that He had been given “all authority in heaven and on earth” (28:18). If Jesus has it all, that means the devil doesn’t have any. This destroys the modern theory that Satan has the authority that God once gave to Adam, and because of that, God can’t stop Satan from doing what he wants. Tragically, that nonsensical theory is a foundation within several streams of the modern church. And when the foundation is faulty, everything built upon it is unsound.

Note that very important word—therefore—found within the Great Commission. It tells us that what is about to be said is based on what was just said. It is because Jesus has all authority that He can command His disciples to go and make disciples, and it is because Jesus has all authority that every disciple should obey all of His commandments. Clearly, what Jesus wants is a people who obey Him. That should be our goal—to obey Him and to lead others into an obedient relationship with Him. The value of everything that is done under the banner of Christendom should be judged by this criterion.

That being so, we quickly see that the very gospel that is so often proclaimed falls short. If we only call people to “accept Jesus as Savior,” if we tell them that salvation is by a grace that makes works of no effect, then we’re not making disciples. Tragically, it is commonly believed within many evangelical circles that one can be a believer in Christ without being a disciple of Christ.

The truth is, however, that the call to salvation is a call to discipleship. If you study the book of Acts, it becomes clear that the word disciple does not describe a Christian who has a higher level of commitment than the ordinary Christian. No, the word disciple is synonymous with the word Christian. If you aren’t a disciple, you aren’t a Christian. If you aren’t a disciple of Christ, you aren’t truly born again.

Finally, notice that Jesus wants disciples to be made of all nations. The word translated nations is the Greek word ethne. From it we derive our modern word ethnic. Ethne does not refer to geo-political nations, but rather to ethnic groups that are distinguished from each other by language, culture, geography and so on. It has been estimated that there are as many as 16,000 ethne in the world today, of which at least 6,000 have no witnessing church within their culture to reach them. Making disciples within every ethnic group in the world is something in which we should all be involved.

According to Mark, the value of the perfume which that particular woman poured over Jesus’ head was equivalent to about 300 days’ wages for a common laborer (see Mark 14:3-4). To bring it into some perspective, imagine a perfume worth fourteen months of your labor, working five days a week for fifty weeks each year. It was “very costly” (26:7) indeed.

Had she poured her perfume upon anyone other than Jesus, the disciples would have had a valid complaint. But she realized, as they should have, that Jesus, being God, was of greater importance and value than all the people of the world combined. If Jesus wasn’t God, His rebuke of His disciples and His praise for the woman would expose Him as being an egomaniac of the highest degree. God, however, can’t be guilty of pride, as it is impossible for Him to think more highly of Himself than He should.

Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during a Passover meal in a home, and it seems obvious that the Lord’s Supper was eaten as part of a full meal in the homes of Christians in the early church (see 1 Cor. 11:20-34). The ritualistic snack consumed in most modern Protestant churches is a tradition inherited from Roman Catholicism. How wonderful it is, however, to practice the Lord’s Supper as part of a meal with true brothers and sisters in Christ! That is true Communion!

At the close of a Jewish Passover meal, the head of the household would take a thin, unleavened loaf of bread and divide it among all at the table. After that, he drank from what was called “the cup of thanksgiving” and then passed it to all the guests. It was apparently that bread and cup which Jesus consecrated to be a continual memorial of His sacrificial death. He, the “Lamb of God,” was about to fulfill what every other Passover lamb, for hundreds of years, had only symbolized.

There is no need to speculate about Judas’ reason for betraying Jesus. He had no higher motive than the love of money (26:15). Amazingly, Judas had heard Jesus’ warnings about the lure of wealth, but perhaps he was tired of a life of self-denial. Mammon, the god who competes for the hearts of people more than any other false god, enticed and deceived him. What a sobering warning to us of the powerful seduction of riches! Even one who literally lives with Jesus is not beyond its temptation.

When Jesus prayed that if it were possible, to let “this cup pass from Me,” it reminds us of Jeremiah 25:15: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand.” Jesus suffered more than the pain of crucifixion; He suffered God’s wrath. On the cross, God treated Him as if He were the vilest of sinners, as He had taken upon Himself all the sins and guilt of the world. It’s no wonder Jesus recoiled from the thought. But thankfully He also prayed: “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” There was no other way to procure salvation for sinners. An innocent man had to die, and only Jesus was qualified. It was not the nails that held Him to the cross, but His great love.

Christ’s confession before Caiaphas, “You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven,” was a quote from Daniel 7:13, recognized by all present as a messianic prophecy. Tragically, they found the Son of God guilty of blasphemy. It is painful to read how they abused Him then. Yet it is very possible that some of the very men who so cruelly beat Him and spat in His face eventually repented and were born again, as we read in Acts 6:7, “And the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” How great is God’s mercy! And even the bruises Jesus received at their hands worked towards our redemption, as He was “bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Amazing grace!

Although Judas was remorseful for betraying Jesus, he wasn’t repentant. Had he repented, he would not have hung himself. Rather, he would have used the remainder of his life to bear fruit for the glory of God. Keep in mind that it really wasn’t Judas alone who was responsible for Jesus’ death; it was you and me also. Our sins killed Him. But unlike Judas, we repented and now live for God.

The chief priests and elders wouldn’t place Judas’ returned money in the Temple treasury because it was unlawful to accept donations that were gained by doing what they had just paid Judas to do! What hypocrisy! More amazingly, after they’d condemned an innocent man—God in the flesh—they wanted to do the right thing before God with the returned betrayal money! So they purchased a potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. In doing so, they unwittingly helped prove that Jesus was indeed the Messiah by fulfilling Jeremiah’s prophecy that the 30 pieces of silver used to betray the Messiah would be used to purchase a potter’s field!

Cowardly Pilate thought he could extricate himself from having to condemn Jesus by offering the Jews a choice of whom he would release—Jesus or a known murderer and insurrectionist named Barabbas. Surely the people, when offered such a choice, would vote for the release of Jesus. To Pilate’s horror, however, they shouted for Barabbas’ release. I wonder how Barabbas felt as he walked free that day? What a picture of the purpose of Christ’s coming in this one incident: Innocent Jesus was condemned, and because of it the guilty one was pardoned. Barabbas represents you and me.

According to John’s Gospel, Pilate had Jesus whipped 39 times in hopes of saving Him from crucifixion. Surely after seeing him scourged the Jews would say He had suffered enough. A Roman scourging was sometimes enough to kill its victim, as sharp bone fragments were attached to the ends of the whip’s lashes so that the scourging ripped the flesh from its victim. Even after seeing Jesus’ lacerated back, however, the mob still demanded his crucifixion.

Had Jesus accepted the wine mingled with gall offered to Him on Golgotha, it would have relieved the pain of the nails ripping through His flesh considerably. He was willing, however, to suffer to the full extent, and He didn’t want His senses to be dulled as He endured God’s wrath. Amazing love! And how little did His mockers, who shouted, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself” (27:42), realize the accuracy of their words. If Jesus was going to save others, He couldn’t save Himself.

Matthew’s targeted Jewish readership would have recognized five direct Old Testament references in today’s reading, four from Psalm 22 and one from Psalm 69. It had been prophesied that Jesus would be offered wine mixed with gall, that lots would be cast for His clothing, and that He would be mocked by the spectators. Jesus Himself directed the onlookers to His prophetic connection to Psalm 22 when He quoted its first verse: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

Immediately after Jesus died, the curtain in the temple that separated the holy place from the holy of holies was ripped in half from top to bottom. The significance is obvious. Jesus paved the way for every person to have access to God. Incidentally, the tearing of the temple curtain also proves that Jesus did not continue suffering in hell after His death in order to pay for our redemption there (as some teach). Our sins were paid for in full on the cross. Jesus cried out with His final breath, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), a phrase that can also be translated, “It has been paid in full!” Paul wrote, “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death” (Col. 1:22).

I’m glad the chief priests and Pharisees decided to make Jesus’ grave as secure as possible, because that makes Jesus’ resurrection even more believable. The resurrection of Jesus is a well-attested historical fact, and anyone who examines the evidence will have to conclude that Jesus is indeed alive.

The two parables found in the second half of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse underscore the primary and repeated theme found in the first half. Obviously, Jesus wanted His disciples to be ready at His coming. If there were no possibility of them not being ready—if they were “unconditionally eternally secure” as so many today think they are—there would have been no reason to warn them of the consequences of being unready. The heightened deception during the final days warrants His almost redundant admonitions in this regard.

There are, actually, three parables contained in the Olivet Discourse that generally all emphasize the need to be prepared for what lies ahead. The first, that of the unfaithful servant, we read yesterday. Remember that the unfaithful slave, who believed that his master would not return for a long time, found himself unprepared, and he was cast into hell (24:51). That parable, like the other two, was not spoken to the unregenerate multitudes in order to motivate them to repent and be saved. Rather, it was directed to the already saved (see Mark 13:3) in order to motivate them to remain faithful.

The parable of the ten virgins teaches essentially the same truth. The five foolish virgins do not represent non-believers. Notice that they were waiting for the bridegroom, just like the other five. Initially, they were ready, but they became unready and were thus excluded from the wedding feast. More specifically, they were not prepared if the bridegroom, who clearly represents Christ, was delayed. Had he come earlier, they would have been ready.

How applicable this is to many modern professing Christians. They are not prepared to wait for Christ during tribulation and persecution, expecting to be raptured long before. I wonder how many will fall away during dire circumstances?

The parable of the talents is also a story about believers. Keep in mind once again that Jesus spoke this parable to Peter, Andrew, James and John. The slave who was given one talent was just as much a slave of the master as were the slaves who were given two and five talents. He was entrusted with something that belonged to his master, and he was required to give an account when his master returned, just like the others. Yet, because of his unfaithfulness, he was cast into hell. He was unprepared, having no return to show on his master’s investment.

Again, how applicable this is to many modern professing Christians who have all been entrusted with time and treasure by God, but who give their time only for a weekly church service, and who only contribute their treasure to what benefits themselves. But you won’t find giving towards church buildings and sanctuary carpeting in Jesus’ list of sacrifices that separate the sheep from the goats. Rather, true sheep meet the pressing needs of the most disadvantaged among Jesus’ family, providing food, water, clothing, shelter, comfort and compassion. Every good work Jesus mentioned requires time or money. Those who have not invested their time and treasure in such good works are goats, and they will be exposed as goats and cast into hell when Jesus returns. Thus Jesus’ foretelling of the judgment of the sheep and the goats is His ultimate lesson, and a very specific lesson, on being ready for His return.

Finally, notice that the goats were quite surprised at their judgment. Their questioning Jesus implied that they would surely have come to His assistance had they seen Him suffering. But those who love Bible Jesus love His suffering brothers and sisters. American Jesus has no such expectations of His followers—who will certainly be among those future goats.

A final thought: In the parable of the talents, the master agreed with the one-talent slave that he was “a hard man, reaping where [he] did not sow and gathering where [he] scattered no seed” (25:24, 26), a tacit admission of being a bandit of sorts. Thus, as in most parables, here is a detail with no spiritual counterpart, as God does not expect a return where He does not invest. The parable of the talents makes that ever so clear.

Although the idea of Jesus returning to rapture God’s children to heaven prior to worldwide tribulation is popular among many modern professing Christians, there isn’t a hint of that in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, half of which we read today. Quite the opposite, in fact. Jesus foretold His disciples that they would be persecuted and hated “by all nations,” and that many would be killed during a tribulation that would precede His return. When they witnessed the “abomination of desolation” spoken of by the prophet Daniel—when the antichrist enters into the Jerusalem temple (see 2 Thes. 2:3-4)—they should flee to uninhabited places, as that event would mark the beginning of the worst tribulation of human history.

Jesus spoke of these things so that His disciples would not be deceived but prepared during a time when false prophets and false messiahs will abound. Sadly, many modern professing Christians aren’t the least bit prepared, convinced that they will be raptured in advance of the perilous times Jesus foretold. If, however, you had asked any of the disciples who were present during Jesus’ Olivet Discourse if they had such a hope, how would they have responded?

Popular preachers also attempt to pin a pre-tribulational rapture on the apostle Paul. But he concurred 100% with Jesus:

Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him….Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God (2 Thes. 1-4, emphasis added).

There is going to be a generation of Christians who will be alive when everything we read today occurs. You could be among them, so it is wise to be prepared. The antichrist will be extremely popular among the world’s masses. He will perform signs and wonders (2 Thes. 2:9). Surely most true Christians will have him pegged long before he enters the Jerusalem temple and declares himself to be God, what will doubtlessly be broadcast worldwide. If you haven’t already fled to the wilderness by then, don’t wait another minute!

And as you hide in the wilderness, don’t be deceived by radio reports that Christ has returned to a certain location. His return will be unmistakable, preceded by the sun and moon going dark and stars falling, culminating with His own lightning-like appearance in the sky, an event which will be witnessed worldwide. A great trumpet will sound, and then the saints alive on earth will be raptured (24:31), just as Paul also wrote (see 1 Thes. 4:16).

Although Jesus’ disciples will not know the day or the hour (24:36), He wants them to know when “He is near, right at the door”(24:33), which is why He told them exactly what would precede His return. As He stated so clearly, He will not return until many fall away (24:10), what Paul referred to as “the apostasy;” nor will He return until the antichrist is revealed. This scuttles the modern myth that Jesus could come at any time.

Jesus clearly spoke of a post-tribulation rapture in today’s reading, giving several examples of people being side-by-side when He returns, with one being taken and one being left behind (24:40-41). This also indicates that not every believer will be killed during the time of great tribulation.

One other modern theological myth is exposed by what we read today. Since Jesus warned His closest disciples (see Mark 13:3) of the danger of being deceived, falling away, and not being ready for His return, that is a clear indication that such a possibility existed. Jesus’ disciples were certainly saved by this point in His ministry, but notice that He warned them that hell would be the fate of those who were not ready at His return. It was possible they could forfeit their salvation. Thus the doctrine of “once-saved-always-saved” is revealed for what it is, as a very false security, a man-made doctrine. People believe it only because they want to believe it.

The scribes and Pharisees were Israel’s spiritual leaders, having “seated themselves in the chair of Moses,” a special seat in each synagogue from which the Old Testament scrolls were read. That is why Jesus told His audience to do all that the scribes and Pharisees told them to do. He was speaking only of those times when the scribes or Pharisees were publicly reading from the Law and Prophets.

It is good for all of us, but especially leaders, to examine ourselves in the light of Jesus’ denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees. Are we like them in any way? If so, we need to repent, because Jesus thrice affirmed in this chapter that unrepentant scribes and Pharisees go to hell (23:13, 15, 33).

What were some of the characteristics of the scribes and Pharisees?

Foremost, they were motivated by a desire for the praise of people. So they made themselves appear very religious in public by broadening their phylacteries, small leather boxes containing scripture texts worn on the forehead and left arm. It would be akin to our carrying a big Bible to church just to make people think we are really studious in Scripture. The Pharisees also lengthened the tassels on their garments for the sake of appearance. God had commanded the people of Israel to make tassels on the corners of their garments as reminders of His commandments (see Num. 15:38-40). So the Pharisees sent a subtle message with their longer tassels: “I’m really serious about keeping God’s commandments.” The trouble was, they were only serious about appearing to be serious about keeping God’s commandments.

The scribes and Pharisees also loved the public respect they received, and their common titles of Teacher, Father, and Leader were the proof. Jesus told His disciples not to call anyone but God their Father, and He also forbade the titles of Teacher or Leader. In that regard, many modern ministers follow the letter of the law, yet require those underneath them always to address them as Pastor, Reverend, Doctor, Bishop, or even Apostle. How is that any different from what the Pharisees did? And those letters that you often see behind their names are just like tail feathers on a peacock. Get ready, title-loving ministers, to ultimately be humbled to the same degree that you’ve exalted yourself, because Jesus promised it. The highest title in God’s kingdom is servant. There is no pyramid. We’re all brothers.

I must mention that modern ministers who proclaim a false grace gospel “shut off the kingdom of heaven from men” just as did the scribes and Pharisees.

The Pharisees were lovers of money (see Luke 16:14), thus they used their “ministries” to gain all they could, to the point of praying long prayers for gullible widows in order to dislodge some coins from some widows’ purses. Modern Pharisees teach their followers “prosperity principles” to the benefit of their own bank accounts.

The Pharisees were zealous missionaries because they wanted to be known as such. But their disciples became “twice the sons of hell” as they were.

The Pharisees were professional scripture-twisters, and they focused, for their own advantage, on what was of lesser importance in Scripture. Topics such as tithing (23:23), which resulted in more money in their pockets, were more frequently the focus of their sermons than were the “weightier provisions of the law” such as “justice and mercy and faithfulness.” (When was the last time one of those was a sermon topic at your church?)

Bible Jesus is not afraid to denounce false spiritual leaders publicly, even calling them derogatory names, while American Jesus “walks in love,” keeping quiet, not wanting to offend anyone.

Bible Jesus was not a Calvinist by the way, because He wanted to “gather Jerusalem’s children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (23:37). But why didn’t He? Was it because the Father had not predestined salvation for those chicks whom the Son wanted to gather (setting Jesus against His Father, incidentally)? No, it was because those chicks were “unwilling.” Consequently, the wrath of Bible Jesus would fall upon Jerusalem some forty years later in the form of a Roman army.