“The Ministry of the Twelve Apostles” - Fighting for Real Estate: Part #11
By Richard Allen – December 9, 2024
It’s been several months since the last blog in this series: “Fighting for Real Estate” – Part 10. Since I have been working my way through several passages of Scripture – including “The Olivet Discourse” in Luke Chapter 21, let me remind us all what we’ve learned. We have seen several Spiritual Principles from a New Covenant perspective that are not compatible with the current “pop-theology.” First, we’ve learned that the physical land of Palestine which Israel fought and longed for, is Not the Final Destination for Redeemed Jewish or Gentile Believers. Hebrews 11:16 makes clear that God has “prepared a city for the faithful, a heavenly city, whose builder and maker is God.” Second, we learned from Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan Woman at the Well in John Chapter 4, that “the time had already been inaugurated when true worshipers wouldn’t worship in Jerusalem, Mount Gerizim or any other earthly mountain.” No, real worshipers would worship in “Spirit and In Truth” (John 4:24).
The first thing I should point out is that the phrase: “The Day of the Lord” is used approximately 31 times in Scripture in one form or another. As Mitch Bedzyk states in an excellent online article entitled: “AD 70 As a Sign of The End:”
“The phrase “the Day of the Lord” is used throughout the Bible to refer both to instances of divine judgment in history on various nations (e.g., Babylon [Isaiah 13:6-9]; Egypt [Jeremiah 46:10]; Edom [Obadiah 15]; Israel / Judah [Amos 5:18-20]), and also to the final judgment at the end of time.”
Most Bible teachers would agree with the above statement. The real question arises as to what and when that “Day of The Lord” happens in the future. Many commentators, especially those wedded to the Dispensational System of interpretation, are convinced that Israel’s “divine judgment” will only happen in a future judgment – which Jesus predicted in the Olivet Discourse that we are studying. Let me offer a more “historic interpretation,” one that has been present throughout the age of the Church. This interpretation says that God, like the quote above states, “has visited judgment upon Israel and other nations in the past.” They have experienced their own “Day of the Lord.” These judgments by God have all been a “penultimate,” that is, “next to the last of some thing or a type of the ultimate thing to come,” prefiguring the “Final Day of the Lord.” Then God will bring to an end all wickedness and rebellion, judging all mankind for sin. This concept can be easily confirmed from a brief overview of both the Old and New Testaments.
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction ” (Malachi 4:1-6).
The passage above from Malachi 4:1-6 may also be alluding to God’s Final Judgment Day. Here Malachi confirms that the Day of Judgment was inaugurated at the first coming of Jesus Christ – referring to “sending Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of the Lord!” As we saw from a previous Blog in Matthew Chapter 17, God sent John the Baptist, fulfilling His promise to send Elijah first. And while John did turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers in Repentance, there did not appear to be an “immediate Judgment Day of the Lord” – even after Herod beheaded John (Mark 6:16). This should teach us an important principle of interpretation: “God’s timing is not according to our timing!” Malachi prophesied both the “great and awesome Day of the Lord,” and judgment for “arrogant evildoers,” but he also foretold that “the sun of righteousness would rise on the righteous” who would “tread down the wicked like ashes under their feet.” I believe that the “great and awesome Day of the Lord” of which Malachi prophesied was God’s “penultimate judgment” on Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by Titus, the Roman General. But Malachi’s prophecy is also true of the entire Christian era – with both Jew and Gentile members of the Church – that is, “those who fear God’s name” being saved from wrath, while godless unbelievers are readied for judgment.
In an earlier Chapter, Malachi Chapter 3, the prophet makes clear that the Messenger of the Covenant – the Lord whom they sought, would suddenly come to His temple! This was no doubt fulfilled when Jesus Himself went into the outer court of the temple, turning over the tables of money changers. Jesus was the “Messenger of the New Covenant,” bringing in a new Law, not one written on “tables of stone,” but “writing His law on our hearts” by the new birth.
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap” (Malachi 3:1-2).
For those who grasp the significance of the New Covenant, there is no doubt that Jesus’ coming drastically altered God’s relationship with His people – forever! And there is no going back! God’s Faithful Servant, Moses, was the Messenger of the Old Covenant, but Jesus, the Son (Hebrews 3:5-6), is the Lord of all. He was the Messenger of a New and Better Covenant (Hebrews 8:6). “The Law came by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). As we continue to learn from the Olivet Discourse, it’s important to understand that it was written to the Apostles of our Lord. They had a specific job to do: “To witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, the Messenger of the New Covenant” – proclaiming this Gospel before Israel and Gentile Kings. So, when Jesus sent out the Twelve Apostles, He gave them authority to “bind and loose,” that is, to “bind or “loose men in or from their sins” (John 20:22).
As Jesus commissioned and sent out the Twelve Apostles, He gave them clear direction on proclaiming the gospel:
“These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town’ ” (Matthew 10:5-15).
This passage in Matthew Chapter 10 shows that the response to their preaching had far-reaching consequences for the towns or villages who didn’t “receive the twelve or listen to their words.” Christ Himself makes it clear that it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than that town. While the Apostles’ initial sending was not for the Gentiles – but rather, for the lost sheep among the “house of Israel” – later verses in Matthew 10 make it clear that their ministry would have a much farther reach than to Israel alone. In Matthew 10:18, Jesus states that His Apostles “will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.” And the intense persecution that He refers to, obviously was not during Jesus’ earthly ministry in Palestine, but rather much later as the Apostles preached to the rest of the Greco-Roman world. They would be “hated by all for the sake of Jesus’ name” (Matthew 10:22). In fact, the Apostles are still proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus to a dying world. Any time the Gospel message is shared, we are sharing the Apostles’ words and witness to Jesus’ Resurrection!
Then Holy Scripture gives us a confirmation that Jesus’ commission to the Twelve Apostles was pointing toward the ultimate “Day of the Lord,” where Matthew 10:23 states:
“When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 10:23).
As many have pointed out, Jesus uses the Greek word: “Parousia” (pronounced ‘pair-oo-sia’). This is the very word used for “Jesus’ Second Coming” in all of the rest of the New Testament. And what really makes this passage special is: Just like Luke Chapter 17:20-37, portions of Matthew 10 are quoted in the Olivet Discourse. This should teach us: Some of what Jesus taught the Apostles on The Mount Of Olives was prophetic teaching that Jesus had taught on other occasions during His ministry. We should note that each time He referenced Olivet-like instructions or prophecy – He was speaking directly to the Twelve! They had a specific ministry to fulfill: A specific role that would play out during the prophetic ministry of the Apostles’ office during the “first century A.D.” Remember, the Olivet Discourse had two themes running through it: 1.) The Localized Destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans, and 2.) Jesus Second Coming (Parousia) at the end of the World! I’m hoping that these concepts should begin to make sense to us all.
We will cover more of Luke 17 and some other passages where Jesus uses similar prophetic language in our next Blog.
Soli Deo Gloria!