The Prophecy on the Mount

From the Mount of Olives, two great mes­sages were proclaimed by the Great Teacher —the sermon on the mount and the prophecy on the mount. For those who are looking and longing for the coming of Jesus, the words of Matthew 24 and 25 are a combina­tion of timetable and guidebook. Knowing the time, we earnestly prepare. "Jesus is coming" is the theme of sermon and song for those who are making ready to meet their Lord and Saviour.

Ofttimes chapter and verse divisions in the Bible are unfortunate, for they tend to sepa­rate, in our thought, messages which should be viewed as a united whole. Matthew 24 and 25 belong together. Moreover, the understand­ing of structural peculiarities in various Bible passages adds beauty to the thought and com­prehension to the message. For example, there is the number seven which is so frequently found in the Bible, not only in describing churches, seals, trumpets, etc., but even in the construction of various passages of the Bible. Matthew 24-25 is an example of such a con­struction.

There are seven divisions to the discourse—each section complete in itself, and expressing and emphasizing a special thought; and all seven sections unite to complete one great essential message. Moulton's Modern Reader's Bible makes these divisions plain, and even the Authorized Version has the paragraph markings for the various sections.

Sometimes people are perplexed to find the events connected with the second coming of Christ and those connected with the destruc­tion of Jerusalem apparently grouped together without distinction. For example, Matthew 24:14 pictures the proclamation of the gospel to all the world just before the coming of Jesus, and verse 15 goes back to the destruction of Jerusalem. Apparently there is inconsist­ency in this sequence of verses. The fact is, verse 14 completes section I of the discourse, and verse 15 begins section 2.

Section 1 (Matt. 24:1-14) begins with the days of the apostles, makes the sweep of the centuries, through wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, to the prevailing iniquity of the last days, and finally to the world-wide procla­mation of the gospel.

Section 2 (Verses 15-28) begins with the destruction of Jerusalem, describes the days of darkness in the great tribulation, carries us for­ward to the very last days, when false christs and false prophets are so many, and then de­scribes the lightninglike glory of the coming of Christ. Each section of Christ's great prophecy presents a special phase of the pro­phetic message.

Section 3 (verses 29-35) begins with the year 1798, "immediately after the tribulation of those days," and pictures the signs in the heavens and the certainty of the last genera­tion.

Section 4 (verses 36-41) describes the iniquity of the last days, comparing it to the days of Noah.

Work

The message of Section 5 (Matt. 24:42- 25 :13) is "Watch." Notice that the first verse of this section, "Watch therefore ..." and the last verse, "Watch therefore .. . ," are almost identical. Watching unto prayer is not all that is required of the faithful. There must be earnest service.

This is the message of Section 6 (Matt. 25:14-30, which deals with the talents and the necessity of their rightful use. Sections 4, 5, and 6, it seems to me, commence with the year 1844, as they apply definitely to the last gen­eration.

Section 7 (verses 31-46) completes the prophetic message with the rewards and pun­ishments to be meted out at the second coming of Christ. The accompanying diagram will be helpful in the presentation of this subject, and can easily be placed on a blackboard or on a large chart.