From Matthew 24:
“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives,
the disciples came unto him privately, saying…what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
They are expecting this any day now! They were showing him the buildings of the temple in anticipation of their new offices. I can imagine Peter thinking “Please not the treasury, I’m no good at math.” and another fisherman thinking “I’m functionally illiterate, please don’t make me a scribe.” John of course had grown up being highly educated with priestly his relatives and was confident of his place in the hierarchy.
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, in essence, “You determine that.“
- “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ / the Anointed Heir to the Kingdom; and shall deceive many.” Take Game of Thrones, for example. When Prince Joffrey took the throne the vast majority of people didn’t realize his father wasn’t King Robert.
- “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” George R.R. Martin nailed it in his vividly gruesome depiction of multiple claimants fighting battles on multiple fronts during a time of complete upheaval of daily life.
- “they shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you:” Ned Stark was summarily imprisoned and executed because he testified of the true king.
- “and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” The name of Stark carried by the family, household members and bannermen was hunted down to be wiped out
- “many shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” Starkly depicted in The Red Wedding.”
- “many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many”. The prime example is the Red Woman who, like Jezebel, leads a fiery inquisition in worship of the red god, R’hllor, the Lord of Light, but there are many, many others
- “iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold”. Pietr Baelish, Master of Coin and brothels, manipulated kingdom affairs (pun) through sexual depravity with perverse pleasure in the chaos, destruction, suffering and widespread death that resulted. And yes, there’s lots of nudity in GOT. Innocent of wrong is not the same thing as innocent of wrong-doing. You can best believe that plenty of women-for-hire flaunted their wares to Jesus and his disciples as he passed by and were sent by rulers to destroy his reputation. I’ll never forget the look in the eyes of a pole dancer in a strip bar I was dragged into by my own heartless husband, but his plan backfired. Instead of being drawn into licentiousness, I so pitied her bondage that I spent my life making a way out of depravity for people trapped in sin. Was Jesus with me in that bar?
- “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Keep this statement in context. It follows and contrasts with “the love of many shall wax cold.” We choose to love – join identity to – either the Christ – or his opposite. “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:32-34)
- When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place…then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be…when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors…
- But of that day and hour / the precise date – knoweth…my Father only….[for] if the goodman of the house / the god of this world had known in what watch the thief / his adversary the true Christ would come, he would…not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
- Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat / sustenance in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
- Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 26:1-2)
There’s your answer, apostles and all the rest of us. The ministry we will end up in is the ministry where we proved ourselves faithful.
Judas and Peter demonstrate the difference between “love waxing cold” like cold wax preventing adherence, and a light “enduring to the end”.
From Matthew 27:
- Judas: “when he saw that [Jesus] was condemned” – he just wanted Jesus’ megalomania cut down to ordinary human status – “brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Obviously he did not believe Jesus’ claims to be the Promised Savior from sin and death.
- Peter’s response to his own betrayal of the Christ is the opposite of Judas’ despair, and it is through his relationship with his rival John that he is restored to fellowship with the Christ.
- “Mary Magdalene…cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved…” Get it? John didn’t repudiate Peter for his betrayal, and Peter didn’t run away from the fellowship of apostles like Judas did.
- Peter and that other disciple came to the sepulchre” to face down Rome’s soldiers!
- Simon Peter, and…the sons of Zebedee / James and John and [four]other of his disciples go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee…Jesus stood on the shore… that disciple whom Jesus loved [sparking Peter’s rivalry] saith It is the Lord. Simon Peter [impetuously as usual] cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship…Jesus saith to Simon Peter, lovest thou me more than these? [More than John who you simultaneously compete with for dominance and bond with for elevated status as his closest friend, who you depend on for emotional and spiritual support?]
- “He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” Didn’t I prove it when I reversed my denial of you by risking my life to go to the tomb?
- “He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.” In essence, stop focusing your attention on status with the big shots! Focus on the needs of the little people!
- “He saith unto him again the second time, Lovest /bond with thou me? Feed my sheep”.
- “He saith unto him the third time…Feed my sheep.” The best way I know how to understand this is the prophecy by Zechariah. “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd [Jesus], and against the man that is [promising to be] my fellow / partner [applying to Peter]…smite the shepherd [Jesus], and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones / lambs. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land…two parts therein shall be cut off and die…And I will bring the third part through the fire…they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.”
- “Verily, verily, I say unto thee…when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands…and carry thee whither thou wouldest not…signifying by what death he should glorify God.” The very crucifixion he feared so greatly that he denied Christ just a few days before. “And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.” Get it? To the cross! “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following…saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him…[What did I just tell you? Forget about the big people!] what is that to thee? follow thou me.”
Fortunately for Peter – and all the rest of us – one, or even many failures – does not doom us to an eternity separated from God. God gives opportunity after opportunity to get things right with him.
And that is true not only on a personal level but on the national.
“all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6)
it is essential that we determine the significance of the phrase “come to pass,”
“Comes to pass” describes a circular wheel passing over and over again, an unending cycle until someone puts a stop to it.
God’s plans are irrevocable.
- “And God said…and it was so.” (Genesis 1)
- “my word…that goeth forth out of my mouth…shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
The covenant of dominion over the earth granted to humans requires the cooperation of human leadership and can’t be fulfilled until leadership muscles up. So opportunities to do so cycle around endlessly until someone finally steps up to the plate and hits a home run.
Modern sensibilities have difficulty understanding this because our modern lives are almost ridiculously structured by linear time separating past, present and future. The Bible, however, and all ancient societies, acknowledged the concurrent influence of history and future in cyclical time. We still cycle events like birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and holidays commemorating the past’s effect on our present, and, especially at New Year’s, determine to change our past actions, act now to shape our future.
So when Jesus called down judgment on “this generation” of rebellious rulers in his day, that was just one cycle.
And nothing changes until human leadership steps up to the challenge and joins our king as his feet stand in that day upon the mount of Olives.
Kingdom Come 