
Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 3 * PART 4 * BOOK 15
MATTHEW 24
In Revelation Chapter 12, I will show you where these Jews are going to flee when they suddenly must leave Jerusalem (as Jesus admonished them in Matthew 24). This will be the mid-point of the Tribulation, when the Anti-christ will defile the Temple, turn on the Jew, and set himself up as God. It is also at this time, Psalms Chapter 2 says the wrath and vexation of God will come down on the earth. Remember also, Satan is cast down from Heaven the last time to the earth, and he too, will pour out his wrath upon the earth because he knows he has but a short time left. This will be a double barrel attack on mankind. The wrath of God and the wrath of Satan, and all of nature will feel it. But remember the end result of all of this is to pay off the mortgage on the earth, so the curse can be lifted, and go into the millennium reign of Christ. Now let’s see where that cross-section of Jews from our last lesson will be headed when they leave Jerusalem at the mid-point. We know they will flee to the mountains (some feel it might be the ancient city of Petra. I don’t think that will be big enough, but it is a possibility). Let’s see what it says (Israel is the woman in this chapter):
Revelation 12:3,4
“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon (Satan), having seven heads and ten horns (indicating his power), and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth (this probably refers to Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, when Satan said he would be like the Most High, like God. Satan evidently took a third of the angelic host with him – the angels you find in the Book of Jude who left their first estate): and the dragon stood before the woman (Israel)which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” That’s speaking of Christ being born in Bethlehem. How was Satan ready to devour the child? By King Herod’s decree to kill all boy babies under the age of two.
Revelation 12:5,6
“And she (Israel) brought forth a man child (Christ), who was (future) to rule all nations with a rod of iron (when He returns at His Second Coming, and sets up His Kingdom): and her child (Christ) was caught up unto God (at His ascension in Acts Chapter 1), and to his throne.”
“And the woman (Israel, the cross-section remnant of Jews in Matthew 24) fled into the wilderness (an uninhabited area), where she hath a place (watch this language) prepared of God, that they (The Godhead) should feed her (the remnant) there a thousand two hundred and three score days.” That’s 3 1/2 years.
Here you have the remnant of Israel having escaped to a place prepared of God where He will protect and feed them and provide for all their needs. That’s exactly what He did for Israel for that forty years of wandering. Even their shoes didn’t wear out. And just as miraculously, as He did that under Moses, He’s going to accomplish the same thing here. He will sustain them! He will totally protect them from all the ravages that will be going on around them. That one little portion of the earth where this little remnant will be, won’t come under all the earthquakes, pestilences, wars, famines, and cataclysmic events that the rest of the earth will be under. They will be in total safety and security for those 3 1/2 years.
We are still at the mid-point here and Satan indwells the man Anti-christ. Think back a moment, when did Satan indwell Judas? It was in the upper room at the last supper, Matthew 26:25, “Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, `Master, is it I?’ He said unto him, `Thou hast said.'” That’s when Satan entered into Judas. From that moment on Judas became an instrument of Satan. As a result, Judas was able to betray Christ in the garden. But when Judas tried to resist the power of Satan and throw the silver at the feet of the priests there at the Temple, what happened? The language is kind of confusing. In one Scripture it says Judas hung himself, and in another it says that Judas fell head-long and his bowels burst forth. In reality both are correct. There are no contradictions in Scripture. When he tried to rebel against Satan, Judas’s body almost exploded with the power of Satan. As he was catapulted, Judas’ body burst asunder, and at the same time he hanged himself on a pole as the result of the catapulting. We will try to cover that before we go into the Book of Acts. So Satan is going to indwell the man Anti-christ, and from that point on everything the Anti-christ says and does will be a word and act of Satan himself.
Revelation 12:13,14
“And when the dragon (Satan) saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman (Israel) which brought forth the man child.”
“And to the woman (this remnant that is escaping as we see in Matthew 24. I think the majority of Jews that remain, according to Zechariah, will lose their lives during the Tribulation)were given two wings of a great eagle (that’s not the air force but rather it will be a supernatural walk. They will be walking, I believe at a supernatural pace. The same thing happened with the the children of Israel under Moses. Exodus 19:4, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” Remember, they walked here also, taking their flocks and herds with them. But for them to have walked that far, I feel that God had to move them along supernaturally), that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (3 1/2 years), from the face of the serpent.” Verse 15 backs up a little bit:
Revelation 12:15
“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.”
The language here is hard to understand unless you flash back to the Exodus out of Egypt. As Israel was leaving Egypt under Moses, just as soon as word got to Pharaoh that indeed these Jews were all leaving, what command did Pharaoh put out? Destroy them! So he sends his army after the children of Israel, but what happens to the Egyptian army? They are engulfed in the Red Sea. Here we have the perfect analogy of this same situation. The Anti-christ, indwelt by Satan, is also sending an army (in the language of a flood of water) after this escaping remnant in almost the same details so he sends the command to destroy this escaping remnant.
Revelation 12:16
“And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood (armed force) which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
Here God didn’t use the Red Sea, but rather the earth to help this escaping remnant. Do you see how this parallels the Book of Exodus? Not only here, but when you get into the plagues and miracles they are almost identical. Now back to the Book of Matthew. Jesus is speaking to the twelve there on the Mount of Olives, and this is prophecy. He’s telling the things that are going to happen before the age ends:
Matthew 24:27
“For the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
Here Christ uses the analogy of a storm. When we have a storm and when it has finally blown over and we see the lighting flashing in the eastern sky, do we run for cover? Why, of course not. The storm has already passed. Under normal weather patterns the weather moves from west and southwest to east and northeast. And from north and northwest to south and southeast. The climate in Israel is like ours here. Jerusalem is at the same latitude as Waco, Texas. And the temperature is almost the same. And so Jesus is using weather analogy that they all understood. That when you see lightning in the east you know the storm has already passed. What’s the storm He’s talking about? The Tribulation. It’s over.
Matthew 24:28,29
“For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” That’s the clean up after all deaths at Armageddon and all the other things that have taken place. Then verse 29:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:”
Matthew 24:30,31
“And then (there is the time word) shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see [I think the Rapture of the Church will be a silent event. We’ll be gone in an instant. There’s going to be a trumpet sound, but the world won’t hear it. But at the Second Coming, the survivors then which endured (and there won’t be all that many but there will be some), will see Him as He comes] the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Isaiah tells us a few around the earth will survive the Tribulation, so they will have to be gathered. Is there anything in here of Church language? Does it say anything about the Body of Christ? You can’t find it … Jesus didn’t know? Of course He knew! But it was kept secret from the Twelve because He is going to reveal the Body of Christ, the Church, to the Apostle Paul in just a few short years. These disciples knew nothing of the 1900 + years God would deal almost exclusively with the Gentiles. Everything Jesus said was directed to the Jews. As soon as the Tribulation has run its course, part and parcel of those final hours will be that the sun and moon are going to be affected.
Turn to Acts Chapter 2. I want you to see how Peter is in perfect accord with the Jewish program and that he doesn’t know anything else. Psalms 2 lays out the Old Testament program so beautifully. It shows the Old Testament prophecy being fulfilled with the coming of the Messiah. They crucify Him. He’s resurrected. He ascends back to glory to sit at the Father’s right hand. And then the nations would go into derisions, and then would come the wrath and vexation of God. Then would come the Kingdom. What did I leave out? This 1900 + years of the Church Age. Why did I leave it out? Because the Old Testament does. It’s not back there. Paul says in Romans 16:25, “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”
Now here Peter is in the same mode of language that is in Psalms Chapter 2 and the same language that Jesus is using. And here Peter is quoting out of the Book of Joel. Remember, these unbelieving Jews had accused these Galileans of having too much wine, because they were able to speak in all these languages.
Acts 2:15-18
“For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;” So Peter says that this is the prophecy of Joel. And here he quotes word for word from Joel. Now verses 17 and 18:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:”
These things had happened the day of Pentecost. If Peter would have known about the 1900 + years of the Church Age to come, he would have stopped right there. But Peter didn’t know, so all he can see is the Tribulation that is coming. Now read on:
Acts 2:19,20