As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3)

One of the mistakes we make in reading the Bible is caused by our tendency to look at everything through “Church colored glasses.”  By that I mean we read it as if everything applies directly to us without regard for the context or historical background.  I know Paul said everything that was written in the past was written to teach us (Romans 15:4) but that doesn’t mean it was all written to us. It means we’re supposed to learn from the experiences of those who came before us.  A prime example of this kind of mistake can be found in our interpretation of the Olivet Discourse.  I’ll show you what I mean.

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matt. 24:1-2)

These two verses set the tone for the entire discussion, yet in our rush to get to the meat of the passage they are often ignored.  From Mark’s account we know that after Jesus said this, four of the disciples came to Him for clarification. They were Peter, James, John and Andrew (Mark 13:3), and they asked Him 3 questions.  When will this happen? (When will these buildings be torn down? ) What will be the sign of your coming? What will be the sign of the End of the Age? Let’s  look at them individually to gain more of the background that prompted these questions.

When Will This Happen?
The view of Jerusalem at sunset from the Mount of Olives is breathtaking, even today.  In the Lord’s time it was even more so because the Temple was still standing. To them it was the most beautiful building imaginable.  The Hebrew Talmud says, “One who has not seen the Temple from the time of Herod has never seen a magnificent building.” It had been 46 years in the construction and was still not finished.  At sunset its white limestone exterior took on a bright golden hue, as if it was made of pure gold.  Repeating His Palm Sunday prophecy (Luke 19:41-44) Jesus said it would be so completely  destroyed that not one stone would be left standing on another.  Luke’s version of the Olivet Discourse is the only one that gives a detailed answer to this question. (Luke 21:12-24.)

What Will Be The Sign Of Your Coming?
Obviously they meant His 2nd Coming and He actually gave them 2 clear signs. After describing several things that would not be specific signs, but merely “birth pangs”, He gave them the first one in Matt. 24:15.  It’s the Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy Place and it will mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:21).  The second sign is only described as the Sign of the Son of Man.  It will signal the Great Tribulation’s end (Matt. 24:29). After that the Lord will return on the clouds with power and great glory.

What Will Be The Sign Of The End Of The Age?
This question is more complex than they ever imagined when they asked it, even though the answer is simple.  Ultimately, the sign of the End of the Age will be the Lord’s return.  This question is the one where so many believers are way off the mark. It’s those “church colored glasses” I mentioned.  But when you understand the disciples’ perspective you’ll see that it was not possible for them to be thinking of the Church Age when they used the phrase “end of the age” like so many Christians assume.  Here’s why.

Over 500 years previously the Angel Gabriel had told Daniel how and when the end of the age would come.  He said that from the time they received permission to restore and rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity there would be 70 periods of 7 years each (often called weeks because the Hebrew word Gabriel used means “a week of years”) for a total of 490 years (70 weeks).

When the disciples asked their questions, 483 years (69 weeks)  had passed and there were only 7 years (1 week) left. You can imagine their astonishment when He told them that having come so close, just when the end was in sight it would all be destroyed.  How could this be?  Anointing the Most Holy referred to the Temple, under construction for 46 years and still not finished.  How could it be torn down and rebuilt in just 7 years?

It was this astonishment that led to their questions. They didn’t know anything about a Church Age that would cause a 2000 year pause in Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy.  Most of us today don’t understand that the Church Age didn’t end the Age of Law, it has just interrupted it.  How could they have understood it?  (The fact that the Age of Law hasn’t ended explains why there will be a Temple erected in Israel soon.  Israel needs one to complete the final 7 years.)

40 days after the Resurrection, even after receiving the Holy Spirit (John 20:22) they were still thinking that the End of the Age was at hand. When Jesus led them up to the Mount of Olives where He would soon ascend to the Father, they asked Him, “Lord are you at this time going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?”Once again He didn’t explain anything about the future, but said, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7-8)

I’ve Got A Secret
James revealed the answer to the Apostles for the first time 20 years after the cross.

The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up: “Brothers, listen to me. Simon (Peter) has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself.  The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

“ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things that have been known for ages.’ “  (Acts 15:12-17)

Israel was being set aside while the Lord built the Church for Himself.  After He had taken us He would turn His attention once again to Israel.  If the Lord had taught them these things, James would not have had to explain it. It wasn’t that they had heard this and forgotten it.  It was that the Lord had never told them.

And Paul claimed he was revealing an age old secret when he told the Church in Ephesus that through the Gospel gentiles were being made heirs together with Israel. (Ephes. 3:4-6)

Seen from this perspective it’s clear that the Olivet Discourse is not about the Church.  It’s the account of the Jewish Messiah speaking on the Mt. Of Olives to His Jewish followers about the future of Israel.  To underscore the point, in Matt. 24:15 He made reference to a Jewish Temple and in Matt. 24:16 He spoke of Old Covenant followers in Judea, the Biblical name for Israel, at the End of the Age.  Only  observant Jews would be unable to flee on a Sabbath. These are the only specific references to a people group in the entire passage. They both point to Israel and they’re both written in the 2nd person (v. 15, when you see … v.20, pray that your flight … ), indicating that the Lord considered the disciples to be representative of Israel.  To place the Church in the Olivet Discourse is to make a fundamental error in interpretation.  (Only the pre-Trib Rapture position avoids this error.)

What’s That There For?
So why is the Olivet Discourse even in the New Testament if it’s not for the Church? There are several good reasons.  First it gives the Church some early warning signals we can use to know how close we’re getting to our departure. The birth pangs serve as “nearness indicators” in that the more frequently they occur the closer we are. Also, through out the entire Church Age the signs the Lord gave to Israel have not been in evidence, primarily because until 1948 there was no Israel.  This is what makes the re-birth of the nation the pre-imminent sign that the End Times are upon us.

Second, the absence of any reference to the Church shows us that we won’t be here during the time He was talking about.

And third it shows Tribulation believers both inside and outside of Israel what to look for to help maintain their faith that He’s coming to end their ordeal.

Neither the Angel Gabriel nor the Lord misled Israel by not mentioning this indeterminate pause between the 69th and 70th weeks of Daniel’s prophecy.  At least up to the cross and maybe all the way to the Ascension the Lord’s offer of a Kingdom to Israel was on the table. The 40 days the Lord spent in Israel between the resurrection and the Ascension could well have been Israel’s time of testing (40 is the number of testing), their last chance to accept the Kingdom. This could also explain why the Gospel received limited exposure  among the Gentiles during and immediately after the Lord’s ministry and why it was 20 years after the cross before the doctrine of the Rapture was introduced.

Clearly the Olivet Discourse was given primarily to Israel and doesn’t mention the Church.  No matter what view you hold of the sequence of End Times events, if you’ve based it on an assumption that the disciples represent the Church in the Olivet Discourse, it’s time to re-think your assumption.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1Cor. 2:9)

In the time just before the Babylonian captivity, the people of Judah were certain that God would not permit the Babylonians to conquer them.  “After all,” they said, “we’re God’s people.  His Temple is in our midst.  Surely He will spare us.”  Their leaders encouraged them to think this way and false prophets assured them that everything would soon be normal again.  Even when the Babylonian armies were at the very gates of Jerusalem they were expecting God to miraculously deliver them.

In fact, God had actually told them that if they turned back to Him, he would spare them.

If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.  But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.(Jere. 7:5-8)

But they took no notice of how their behavior had offended Him, thinking only that because they claimed to be His people He would save them.  Their leaders had told them that God would spare them and because that’s what they wanted to hear, that’s what they believed.

Finally, on three separate occasions God told Jeremiah to stop praying for them because He wasn’t going to listen any more.  (Jere. 7:16, 11:14, 14:11) They had gone too far. Only a few years after a national revival they had quickly slid back into their idolatry and for God it was the last straw.

God’s third discussion with Jeremiah on this matter is worth reviewing.

Then the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

But I said, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, the prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ”

Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries  (worthless divinations) and the delusions of their own minds. (Jere. 14:11-14)

It was too late.  They had missed their last chance. Even if the people did agree to mend their ways and come back to Him now,  He knew their hearts had not changed.  They would just be doing whatever they could to avoid the judgment. His decision had been made.

God is merciful but He is also just.  He can’t go on overlooking sin forever. There comes a time when He has to act, even though He would rather not. It brings Him no joy, and He’s always looking for a way out that won’t compromise His values.

For example, while He was on the way to judge Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham engaged Him on this very point.  “Will you spare the cities if there are 50 righteous people there,” Abraham asked.  “Yes,” God replied, “For 50 I will spare the cities.” Then Abraham progressively worked the number down until they finally agreed that even if only 10  righteous people were found there God would spare everyone. (Genesis 18:22-33)  Well, there weren’t 10 righteous people there so the judgment was confirmed.  But there was one and even though He wasn’t bound to, God insisted that the one righteous person had to be removed from the time and place of the judgment before it could begin.  The one was Lot. (Genesis 19:21-22)

Whether in Sodom or in Jerusalem, no one knew in advance that God was about to run out of patience because He doesn’t want people to obey His rules just out of fear.  He wants them to obey because it’s the right thing to do.  With Him the motive has to be right in order to make the action right.

Israel had been God’s kingdom on Earth for over 600 years.  They were so well established they didn’t think it mattered what they did.  As long as they called themselves God’s people and went through the motions of worshiping Him they thought they were safe.  And after all their Scriptures said that Israel was a Kingdom established by God, who intends for it to exist forever on Earth.  Even so, when God’s righteousness demanded judgment, nothing could prevent it.

We need to remember that the Church is not like Israel.  First, The Church is not a national kingdom with a homeland and geographical borders.  Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  (Phil 3:20) He’s not coming here to be with us where we are.  He’s coming to take us to His Father’s house to be with Him where He is. (John 14:1-3)  So when He does it won’t matter whether we’re from the United States, the United Kingdom or the United Arab Emirates because the Church is everywhere.  God has only established one eternal nation on Earth and that’s Israel. The Church’s eternal home is in Heaven where an inheritance from God Himself awaits us. (Gal. 4:4-7)

Second, the Church never needs to fear a judgment such as the ones I described above.  The Lord Jesus agreed to be judged in place of the Church in order to present us to Himself without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  (Ephes 5:27)

The Religious Right and other well intended American Christians frequently send out enails urging everyone to pray for America.   But where in the Bible did God to say to pray for any place on Earth other than Jerusalem? God’s will would be much better served if the Church would pray for itself, that it would finally adopt the Biblical world view it was intended to have, and become what it was intended to be, the body of Christ.  It’s an indication of what a secular world view the American Church has when more of us are praying that God will restore the good old days in our country than are praying for the Lord’s speedy return to take us away from here.

Prayers for America are fine as far as they go, but they’re motivated more by a love for what our country has been than by a desire to see God’s will done on Earth.  And when you get right down to it, praying that God will restore America could be seen as an admission that we’re really not ready to see God’s will done on Earth yet.

Many of us grew up in America believing that God is on our side.  But when I began studying the Bible  I realized that God doesn’t take sides, He is a side. Whatever blessing we’ve enjoyed as a nation has come during times when we’ve been on His side, not because He’s on ours. As far as God is concerned, America is one of the nations destined to be completely destroyed during the Great Tribulation (Jere. 30:11). In His mind, the only nation on Earth that matters always has been and always will be Israel.

Even so, there came a day when God told Jeremiah to stop praying for Israel because it was to late to change His mind.  Even a revival wouldn’t have helped them.  If it’s not already here, that day will soon come for America and whatever favor our nation might have enjoyed with God will be gone for good.

It’s time for American Christians to realize that America is just a place where we’re temporarily living.  And while we mourn the fact that America seems to be turning its back on Israel, we shouldn’t lose sight of  the fact that America is also turning its back on the Church.

According to no less an authority than our President (and he’s right) America is not a Christian nation.  The only connection between God and America today is that a bunch of us who believe in Him happen to live here.  Americans don’t live by God’s laws, we don’t teach our children about Him in our schools, we don’t offer public prayers in His name, and the holy days we observe are no longer tributes to Him. We don’t thank Him for the blessings we receive and we don’t turn to Him when we’re in need.

America is a secular gentile nation that will soon be no more comfortable a home for the Church than pre-war Germany was for the Jews.  It’s high time we excised our patriotism from our religion. Think of it as a reverse separation of Church and State.  Americans don’t want the Church’s values guiding  the nation’s direction, and neither should Christians want America’s values guiding the Church.  We should be so passionately yearning to leave here that our feet barely touch the ground when we walk.

One day the Lord was asking some men to follow Him.  The first one said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” (By that he meant, “Let me wait till my father dies.”) And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him,  “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-60)

His position here is consistent with His warning against accumulating treasure on Earth.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matt. 6:24)  In the original language the word translated money also includes possessions. If you’re up to your elbows in nice things, you’re naturally going to want to spend your time with them instead of preparing to move to your new home.

He also had this to say about the seed sown among thorns.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. (Matt. 13:22)

These verses all speak against becoming so immersed in the ways of the world that we lose sight of where our real home is.  In each case the one who falls into this trap becomes unfruitful.  That means we ignore Kingdom opportunities here and forfeit Kingdom rewards there.

Why do so many in the American Church cling to America when America has made it clear it wants nothing to do with the Church?  It’s because it’s our nature to always place a higher value on what we know than on what we don’t know. We know how good our life here has been, but most of us don’t know the first thing about how life in our eternal home will be.  A surprising number believe we’ll be sitting on clouds all day playing harps.  Others think of Heaven as an endless worship service, and compare it to their Sunday morning experiences. It’s no wonder they’d rather stay here.

It would be easy to blame organized religion for not teaching us the truth about this.  But that would be a cop-out.  After all organized religion itself is an earth centered institution.  The real problem is that it takes a lot of faith to choose the unknown over the known. And just like most American Christians don’t have the faith to live their beliefs, choosing to live secular lives instead, most of us don’t have the faith to believe God’s promises for eternity, so we focus on the here and now.

The solution to all this is deceptively simple.  Paul wrote that faith comes through hearing the Word of the Lord (Rom. 10:17). By reading what the Bible says about what’s in store for us we can be made new in the attitude of our minds (Ephes. 4:23).  We can be transformed, no longer conforming to the pattern of this world. (Romans 12:3).  We can understand what it means to be in the world but not of it. We can discover that the greatest adventure ever designed for mankind lies right around the corner, and since we’ve accepted the Lord’s death as payment in full for our sins it’s all for us.  And finally, we’ll understand that while America’s successes have been without parallel, in all the Age of Man the biggest winner by far is the Church.