354: Jon Perry - Exhortation: Simply Revelation

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   Hello everyone, this is Levi. Before we start the show as we normally do, I wanted to make a quick request. We’re doing great, everything is fine on our end, so don’t be scared I guess. But what about to say? But we are about to start our 8th year in October of the podcast when we’re super thankful for that.

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   We are looking to kind of expand the team. I think a few of us are interested in stepping back and doing less hosting and we’re looking for a few more people to help us listen to talks and find introductions. So if that’s something that sounds interesting to you, and I would also say most especially if you’re not from North America, as the other four of us are from the states, please let us know. e-mail us at [email protected].

3. 0:42

   Let us know if you’d be interested in doing some introductions for some episodes and kind of Co hosting. Thanks. And now we’ll get back to the show. Welcome to good Christadelphian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian. Thank you for. Joining us this week on this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed.

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   Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about. This week’s talk.

5. 1:35

   This week’s talk is an exhortation given by brother John Perry at the Portage Christadelphian Study Weekend on May 18th of this year. Don’t have a specific title for the exhortation. The overall title of his weekend was simply Revelation. John takes a look at the Olivet Prophecy and a bunch of other scriptures in this exhortation with a really hopeful message, which I really enjoyed about how that even though the, you know, the return of Jesus, the judgment or the, or the, or the Roman armies or, or any sort of judgment, as you know, as, as sometimes negative or can be viewed positively. If we are in hope, there is still time. And he repeats that kind of throughout the excitation. Just that theme of repentance, right, And a recognition that we can be, we can always still turn and return to our heavenly Father.

6. 2:33

   Really enjoy this agitation. I do think it kind of warms up. I would say definitely John is kind of he really gets gets going, I would say in the say in the middle and the second-half of the agitation. It’s it’s an interesting Bible study portion that he does at the beginning, looking at the names of the cities that Jesus visits on his final trip to Jerusalem. But then you can kind of hear him kind of reach his passion point in the middle of the talk and and throughout to the end. Very fun.

7. 3:04

   Listen. So here is Brother John Perry’s excitation always, or simply revelation. Mark 11 is the beginning of the week leading up to the crucifixion, and it begins with Jesus and the disciples approaching Jerusalem by way of places that a very distinct names. Mark 11 verse one. And when they came nigh to Jerusalem unto Beth Phage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples. Now Beth Phage means House of unripe figs, and Bethany’s name means House of figs.

8. 3:51

   And the verses that follow describe in some detail the entry of our Lord into Jerusalem on a colt, with the day ending in verse 11. Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, He went out unto Bethany, back unto the House of Figs with the 12.

9. 4:25

   You know Scripture sometimes draws our attentions to things by bookending things. And so I would put to you that this is the beginning of a bookend, that Christ at the end of this triumphal entry into a city that will be his, goes to the House of his Father, a House of prayer for all nations, and looks round about in verse 11 upon all things.

10. 4:55

    Now the other bookend to this, I think, is in verse 15. And they come to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

11. 5:25

    So what’s in the middle? What’s where is our focus drawn to? Well, we know what day one was day one here of this last week is Jesus triumphal entry day 2 on the Morrow in verse 12 when they were come from where? From the House of figs Jesus was hungry, and seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves, he came have happily he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet.

12. 6:02

    And Jesus answered and son, and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it. The fig tree in Scripture is 1 of many symbols for Israel and Judah of Judah. It is written in Jeremiah when I would gather them. There are no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree. Even the leaves are withered.

13. 6:30

    Also in Jeremiah of Israel is written. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I am sending on them sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten in Hosea, like grapes in the wilderness. I found Israel like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season.

14. 6:48

    I saw your father’s. So what’s really interesting here is we find the bookends being Jesus coming to evaluate the House of his father. He evaluates it on maybe afternoon, evening, and then comes back to the city and on his way back into the city he sees a symbol of that nation, a nation that he had just evaluated.

15. 7:08

    He sees the tree growing and looking like all was in place, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all their ordered arrangement. In a way they kept the temple and that would have seemed to be a a vibrant fig tree, but it wasn’t. When Jesus came there, He found no fruit on it. Now it says it wasn’t the season for figs. So what was Jesus doing looking for fruit on this fig tree anyway?

16. 7:30

    Well, what’s interesting about fig trees is fig trees will will produce small edible buds before the ripe fruit. Now these, you know, these are not actual figs, but they are a symbol of what is to come. And if your fig tree doesn’t have these little buds, it means that no fruit is coming in season. And so when Jesus comes to this tree and sees there’s no little buds on it, obviously nothing positive is coming from this tree.

17. 7:56

    And it’s book ended by Jesus evaluation of the temple and then his castigation of those things that were happening inside that temple. And we see this fig tree right in the middle of it. And we know what Jesus does to this fig tree. He says it’s over for you fig tree, it’s done. He curses it and that’s that.

18. 8:15

    Well, is that that? Well, we see in the next day the beginning of another bookend in verse 20. And in the morning as they pass by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remember, and said unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursed is withered away. And Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God. You know, that’s an interesting response. But knowing about the symbolism, we see what Jesus is getting at. We see Jesus is getting at, he said, look, I’ve just evaluated this temple.

19. 8:52

    I’ve found that it’s a disaster. I’ve had to clean it out. You know, I’ve cursed this fig tree. And the symbol of this cursed fig tree is that within my father’s father’s house and within the city that’s supposed to be filled with people that saw me coming as a fulfillment of the law is nothing. It’s a faithless nation.

20. 9:08

    Peter, see this fig tree? You have faith unlike those people in that city. So I want to show you where the end of this book end is. All right, This is there is one kind of large day now here. So the day ends if you turn over a few pages. It ends in the chapter we just read. It ends at the end of chapter 13. But I don’t want to focus quite yet on the very end of chapter 13.

21. 9:41

    I want you to see the end of the bookend here in 13 verse 28. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When her branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near. Now I want you to take a look at 13 verse one. And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith on him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here.

22. 10:12

    And Jesus answering said unto him, See us, thou these great buildings, there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Now we kind of see, I think one of the reasons maybe the Olivet prophecy is given here is because the disciples just may not kind of see what’s going on here. You see, you know, 2 days ago for them, Jesus evaluated all things in the temple.

23. 10:47

    A day ago for them, he cursed A fig tree and cleaned out the temple. And now the beginning of this day, they see a withered fig tree. And yet, what do they still say? They still say Jesus look at how great this temple looks. Look at how amazing it is. Look at all these buildings. Whereas Jesus has been building to the point of look, this is all going away.

24. 11:09

    And so now Jesus now says I think now is basically saying, let me now really tell you in detail what’s going to happen to this place. All right now we know that this chapter is often styled the Olivet prophecy. Why is it the style the Olivet prophecy? Well, he’s sitting on the Mount of Olives in verse 3, and as he sat set upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, 2 sets of brothers come to him. Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, tell us, when shall these things be?

25. 11:44

    And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? We know that in Matthew there’s an extra detail included. What shall be the sign of the coming and of the end of the age? And so Jesus then goes on to answer the first question, when shall these things be? The things here are there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down, which we know happened when the Romans took down stone by stone and brick by brick, you know, parts of the wall and the temple. And they brought the end of the Jewish age to a dramatic close by destroying Jerusalem and burning to the ground. Jesus addresses a lot of these specific details throughout the chapter.

26. 12:25

    Verse 7 and 8 shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Be not troubled. Verse 8, nation will rise against nation. And verse 9, take heed to yourselves, for they’re going to deliver you up to councils and in the synagogue’s you will be beaten, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. Verse 10, the gospel message has to go out into all the world to the Gentiles.

27. 12:50

    These things are going to happen. That’s what’s going to happen. That’s what’s going to happen in the events surrounding 8070. The Jewish age is coming to a close, and finally it comes to an absolute close in verses 24 and 25. But in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

28. 13:15

    So now we come to the answering of the question posed in Matthew. What will be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age? This is clear cut in verse 26. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

29. 13:46

    The day that began with the withered fig tree from the roots cursed by the Master, now comes to an end with another parable, a parable of a revitalized fig tree. Now learn a parable of the fig tree in verse 28. When her branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh. So ye see, so ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh even at the doors. Verily I say unto you that this generation shall not pass until all these things be done.

30. 14:30

    And this verse about this revitalized fig tree is sandwiched in between verses about the Kingdom age. It’s sandwiched in between verses about Christ’s second coming. We like the believers in Christ at the end of the Jewish age, we’ve been given ample time to be prepared for what is coming upon this world. Don’t turn this up. But in Luke’s account of the Olivet prophecy, those who believed in Christ would have heeded this advice. When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein. To those who believed in Christ, they left the city and were spared, and those who would fight to preserve that cursed fig tree of a city paid with their lives. If they held on to the corrupt way of doing things with the Pharisees and Sadducees had put together, their lives would end. But if they listen to Christ and left their old lives behind, they had life.

31. 15:43

    And the lesson is there for us today, isn’t it, Brother and sisters? We see the revitalized fig tree. There are people in this very room who remember when that fig tree first came to birth. Now, it’s not mentioned whether this fig tree has fruit or not, but we know that when Christ comes, he will make them bear fruit.

32. 16:10

    It’s one of my probably my favorite things about the Olivet Prophecy is that no matter how close we are to the end, no matter how close the Roman legions of 8070 are, no matter how close the King of the North is to coming down upon this this land again, no matter how close Armageddon is, there’s still time to leave the corrupt things of our lives.

33. 16:45

    There’s still time to get away from old habits. We may have returned to old ways of thinking, or maybe we have just clung far too long to things that we should have never been hanging on to all along. But it’s never too late. The lesson is not to wait until Christ returns, for we don’t know when that’s going to happen.

34. 17:05

    We don’t know when our less breath breath is. But we know that as long as there is breath in us that there is still time. There’s still time to get away from what God would bring upon this world in judgment. This brings us to Jeremiah 38. Why Jeremiah 38? Jeremiah 38 is very, very similar to what is happening in 8070. In Jeremiah 38, we find the city under siege. We find desperate conditions.

35. 18:04

    It is the end of an age. The religious leaders were corrupt. There were false prophets. The prophet who was a type of Christ, Jeremiah was persecuted and sentenced to death prior to being lifted out of a literal pit. The city would go on to endure a terrible siege where people would eat their own children, as we’re told in Lamentations, and the temple would be completely destroyed on the exact same day of the year that the Romans destroyed Herod’s temple. Yet yet all of those things being said, there was a way out. And so in Jeremiah 38, what we find at the beginning of Jeremiah 38 is Jeremiah sentenced to death, has now been lifted out of the pit.

36. 18:54

    And the very person, the very weak king that had sentenced him there now calls to Jeremiah, says Jeremiah, I need to talk to you, but I need to talk to you in secret. Look at verse 14. Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the House of the Lord. And people kind of commentators kind of suggest this is this is like the back door.

37. 19:19

    Zedekiah sang. Jeremiah, I need to talk to you in quiet, but I know I just sentenced you to death. I know that you’re here now, but I really need to hear you know what you’re going to say. He says the end of verse 14, I’m going to ask you a thing. Don’t hide anything from me.

38. 19:33

    And Jeremiah says in verse 15, Look, if I tell you the truth, you’re going to sentence me back to death. In verse 16, Zedekiah says, no, that’s not true. Zedekiah the king square secretly under Jeremiah, saying, As the Lord lives that made us this soul, I won’t put you to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. So then what does Jeremiah say?

39. 19:55

    What does he say to this evil king? He says Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, if thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s Princess. Then thy soul shall live, and the city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live and thine house. But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s Princess, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.

40. 20:28

    The message is the same. The message is the same as the Olivet prophecy. When you see, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, which it was right at this very moment when Jeremiah spoke these words, it’s not too late. It’s not too late. There is a plan. It may not be the plan you want, Zedekiah.

41. 20:45

    The plan may be you got to go to Babylon, you know, and I’ll work with you there. But there is a plan. It seems dark. It seems impossible in life to get out of certain things, but there is a plan. There is a way. What does Zedekiah say? Zedekiah says, I can’t do that. I’m going to be made fun of.

42. 21:03

    You don’t understand. I’m king and my pride is going to be heard. Zedekiah says in verse 19. Zedekiah the Sing king said of Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me. And Jeremiah goes on to say, he says, look, just do what God says, I’ll get you out of this. Now where were the people in all of this mess that believed? There’s always a remnant that believes, and we are desperately trying to be that remnant in the latter days. Where were they?

43. 21:41

    Well, we know where they were. We know where they’re Daniel was, Daniel was in Babylon. Ezekiel was in Babylon. You know, they had been there for for 20 years. God was working with them. Where do we find this in Scripture in Jeremiah 24, and what are they symbolized as? You know what they’re symbolized as because we’ve been talking about this morning. They’re symbolized by fakes in verse 5. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel. Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land.

44. 22:43

    And I will build them, and not pull them down. And I will plant them and not pluck them up. And I will give them in heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

45. 22:56

    There is a plan, it may not be the plan that makes sense to earthly minds. Those people might have thought, look, look at all these holy wonderful people that are saving the city. They’re left into Jerusalem. Those are the good people. And what Jeremiah and God is saying through Jeremiah, no, no, no, no.

46. 23:14

    My plan is to get you out of that city, out of that wicked city and work with you in another place. And God says, I’ll tell you exactly what I think about those people in that corrupt city in verse 8. And as these evil figs which cannot be eaten, they are so evil, surely thus says the Lord. So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah and his Princess, and the residue of Jerusalem that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt.

47. 23:39

    And I would deliver them to be removed in all the kingdoms of the earth, for their hurt to be a reproach and a proverb, A taunt and a curse in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, famine, pestilence among them, so that be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers. Those are the people that are, that are the bad figs. Those people are hanging on to this wicked way of practice and all the bad things that they have done in the city. And we see this time and time and time again in Bible prophecy, and this applies very much to our lives. One, it’s not too late.

48. 24:12

    It’s not too late what? No matter how bleak it looks, no matter how close the siege is, no matter how close we think Christ’s return is, it’s not too late to turn around. And two, don’t know how God works in our lives. We just can’t understand it sometimes, sometimes drawing us out of something that we think we should be hanging on to, you know, hanging out or we should be hanging on to this temple.

49. 24:41

    God, this is, this is your house. This is where we should be. God is saying no, no, no, no. I’m drawing you out of this evil situation into a land where I can work with you. And God works with us in the same way, you know, and, and sometimes for these people, God is merciful unto us. And that even when we don’t give up those things, a lot of these people drawn into captivity didn’t want to be drawn into captivity.

50. 25:11

    Yet God was merciful to them and said, I’m going to grab you anyway. I know you don’t understand what’s going on in your life right now. I know you don’t understand. And I’m drawing you into this land of idolatry to work with you. But I am, you’re the good figs. And so when it seems dark and it and it seems dim and we don’t understand what God is doing in our lives and how can God be working through this, I think I’m supposed to be over there. Well, that just may not be the case. Hopefully God is still working with us as good figs in whatever difficult situation we find ourselves in. To close, I want to end in Hebrews 13. You know some of those who have tried to put a date on the writing of Hebrews plates, its authorship somewhere between 8050 and 8065.

51. 26:21

    And if it was written as late as 8065, that puts us right on the eve of the Roman invasion beginning in 8066 and culminating in 87. Now remember, Paul is likely the author. He’s been making a case throughout the book that Christ is greater than the angels through whom the law came, greater than Moses the Lawgiver, greater than Joshua, that the law was not to be something to return to, but something that Christ had fulfilled, that the law pointed forward to him. Some of these people so desperately wanted to go back to the lives that they had left, that they have left back to the families, and now rejected them for believing in Christ. Back to the synagogue.

52. 27:11

    So what does Paul’s final argument in the book of Hebrews include? But the same message of the Olivet prophecy. Get out of that city and its corrupt ways and go where? Go to Christ. Verse 8. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today, and forever be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

53. 27:46

    We have an altar where of they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. I want to stop right there. That’s a reference to the sin offering. When the blood went into the Most Holy Place, the body went outside of the camp to be burned.

54. 28:14

    If you want to have. The law was speaking to this all along. If you want to have fellowship with the Most Holy place, with the mercy seat, you know that represents Christ. If you want to be there, then guess where you have to be? You have to be outside of the camp, because that’s where Christ died.

55. 28:34

    Verse 12 Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach. We’re not embarrassed like Zedekiah. We’re not concerned about what other people may think about these decisions, about what it might be to be like to stand alone, to be different, to leave the things we’ve been hanging on to that we that we should have left all along. To say where I was this weekend and what I was doing and the importance that holds in my life, you know, and, you know, and not, you know, for myself returning back to work and, oh, what did you do this weekend?

56. 29:19

    I was in Chicago. You know, I was just looking around the city, you know, not be that person. Bear the reproach of the master. Verse 14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

57. 29:41

    Many of the Jews who received this message wanted Jerusalem to be their continuing city. How could this beautiful temple with all its stones and all of its gold go away? They wanted to go back to their old ways of doing things to be comfortable. How could the right answer not be to go back to the temple and it’s alter itself?

58. 30:09

    But it wasn’t the right answer, was it? The right answer was that Christ suffered with outside of the camp that this city, that this city is withered fig tree, that it’s going away, that Christ has cursed it because it rejected him. Now get out of there and go relate to who Christ actually was, someone who suffered for your sins outside of this place. And you know, when we get there, when we get outside the city, there’s a sacrifice to be offered there, which we do now because it’s all we can do is be thankful for what he has done, what God has done through his Son on our behalf. It’s in verse 15.

59. 30:57

    By him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

60. 31:23

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61. 31:53

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62. 32:09

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