Discourse On The Mount

Terry Siverd
05/02/21 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: Discourse On The Mount - T Siverd

DISCOURSE ON THE MOUNT

Sermon By Terry Siverd / May 02, 2021 / Cortland  Church of Christ

  The New Testament is comprised of four gospel accounts, the book of Acts and 22 epistles or letters.  Last week we called attention to an undeniable thread that is woven throughout the NT epistles.   Whether one reads from Peter & Paul or James, John & Jude or Hebrews, there is a common emphasis.  These inspired documents are written with an air of expectancy; an expectation of nearness; a sense of imminency.  The language of the New Testament pulsates with an eager anticipation of the fulfillment of things eschatological.

Peter warns (1Pet.4:7) - - The end of all things is at hand...  His statement is so bold and declarative that one might be inclined to things he's gone off the reservation.  Yet when we read beyond Peter's writings, we encounter other NT writers making similar statements.

John states, not once but twice it is the last hour (1Jn.2:18-19).  In Rev.1:1 & 3 we read of things which must shortly take place ... for the time is at hand.

James tells his readers that the coming of the Lord is at hand … and the judge is standing right at the door (Js.5:8-9).

Paul pens this admonition in Rom.13:11-12 - -  The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand...  In 1Cor.7:29-31, he elaborates saying:  the time has been shortened ...and the form of this world is passing away.

From an Anonymous NT author (Heb.10:36-37) we read this exhortation:  in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.' 

Here's the problem in case you haven't yet seen it.  Many Bible students (most, in fact) argue that eschatology concerns things yet to come - - events yet future to us.  But when we read the NT epistles, we read numerous exhortations derived from most of the NT epistles that seem to underscore an air of expectancy - - i.e., that they were anticipating some big eschatological happenings in their lifetime.  We are driven to ask, Where did the NT writers get these words?  Were their words simply a reiteration of what Jesus had taught them or did they deviate from what He taught?

Before Jesus was crucified He gave to His apostles what has come to be called the Olivet Discourse.  The Olivet discourse is Jesus' primary teaching about what was to happen in Israel's last days.  (cf. Mt.24; Mk.13 & Lk.17 & 21).  In reading the Olivet discourse we quickly discover that the New Testament writers teach precisely what Jesus taught.  This is exactly what Jesus alluded to in Jn.14:26 / The Holy Spirit...will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.  When James & John and Peter & Paul wrote to first-century disciples who were living in the days just prior to Jerusalem's fall in AD 70) they simply told them what Jesus had taught them.  Their words were but ECHOES OF JESUS.  

Thus we come to the Olivet Discourse.

Mt.21:1f records what is called “the triumphal entry”.  i.e., Jesus' final pre-crucifixion visit to Jerusalem.  As a harbinger of things to come, Jesus cleanses the temple (Mt.21:12f) and curses the barren fig tree (Mt.21:18f).  In Mt.23:1ff, Jesus publicly exposes and excoriates the Jewish leaders (the scribes and Pharisees).  He pronounces seven woes upon them (Mt.23:13-35) and laments over Jerusalem's soon-coming fate (Mt.23:37-39) - - Behold, your house is being left to you desolate.  When His disciples pointed out the temple compound with all of its magnificent buildings, Jesus prophesied (Mt.24:2), Not one stone here shall be left upon another another, which will not be torn down.  Jesus' prophecy provoked a question posed to Jesus while He sat on the mount of Olives overlooking the city (Mt.24:3),  When will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?  Or as stated succinctly in Mk.13:4 - - When will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?

Before we highlight Jesus' detailed answer, we need to peak ahead and circle Mt.24:34, which states:  Truly I say to you, THIS GENERATION will not pass away until all these things take place.

WHAT was going to happen?

Vss. 5-12 / false christs … wars & rumors of wars … famines & earthquakes … birth pangs & tribulation … many will fall away and deliver up one another and hate one another … false prophets will arise … lawlessness will increase … most people's love will grow cold ...

Vs.14 / this gospel shall be preached to all the world for a witness to the nations

Vs.15 / the abomination of desolation

Vs.21 / a great tribulation

Vs.24 / false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders to mislead

Vss.29f / the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the powers of the heavens will be shaken … The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.  And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

WHEN were these things going to happen?

Vs.33 / when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.  Vs.34 / Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.  One commentator frankly acknowledges, “This is a TROUBLESOME verse” (The New Jerome Commentary, pg.667).  It is indeed troublesome precisely because he believes that “the greatest event, the coming of the Son of Man with His kingdom, is still to come.”  As John Bray has observed (Matthew 24 Fulfilled, pg.198) - - Rather than simply acknowledging, as Christ said, that “ALL” those things would be fulfilled in that generation, he wants to tear part of the prophecy out and make it fit into a future scheme of things.

When we read this generation is does not refer to our current generation, but rather to that first-century generation.  How do we know this?  Read Mt.23:36 / all these things shall come upon this generation Read Mt.16:27-28 (NIV) - - For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels; and will then reward each person according to what his had done.  I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.