Women's Bible Study - October 23rd, 2024 - Living Ready for Christ's Return (Matthew 24)
October 23, 2024 · Deborah
Scripture referenced 20 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Matthew 23 Jesus gives seven woe statements to the Pharisees before turning to address Jerusalem
1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,
2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat.
3 All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.
4 For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.
5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments,
6 and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,
7 the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by men.
8 But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.
9 Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.
10 Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.
11 But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.
12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
14 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
16 “Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’
17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
18 ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?’
19 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20 He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.
21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who has been living in it.
22 He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.
26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,
30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
31 Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.
32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
34 Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.
36 Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!
38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
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Keep this verse
Matthew 24
Jesus teaches signs of the end times and the coming of the Son of Man
1 Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.
2 But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.
8 But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
9 Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.
10 Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.
11 Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray.
12 Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.
13 But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved.
14 This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15 “When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house.
18 Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.
19 But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!
20 Pray that your flight will not be in the winter, nor on a Sabbath,
21 for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.
22 Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
23 “Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘There,’ don’t believe it.
24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
25 “Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26 If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.
27 For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.
29 But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
30 and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
31 He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
32 “Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.
33 Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished.
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36 But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 “As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,
39 and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left.
42 Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44 Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.
47 Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.
48 But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’
49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
50 the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
51 and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.
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1 Thessalonians 4
Paul tells the church to be informed and not ignorant about the end times
1 Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more.
2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,
4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,
5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God;
6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.
8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
10 for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more;
11 and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you;
12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
13 But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,
17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
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Matthew 25
Three parables Jesus tells the church about being ready for his return
1 “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10 While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
11 Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’
12 But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
14 “For it is like a man, going into another country, who called his own servants, and entrusted his goods to them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.
16 Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.
17 In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two.
18 But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19 “Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reconciled accounts with them.
20 He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents besides them.’
21 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
22 “He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents besides them.’
23 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
24 “He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter.
25 I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’
26 “But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter.
27 You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.
28 Take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents.
29 For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away.
30 Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
35 for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.
36 I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink?
38 When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’
40 “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’
45 “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’
46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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Ezekiel 36-38
Prophecy of a great war coming upon Israel involving named nations
36:1 You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear Yahweh’s word.
36:2 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!”’
36:3 therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;”
36:4 therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;
36:5 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.”’
36:6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.”
36:7 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I have sworn, ‘Surely the nations that are around you will bear their shame.’
36:8 “‘“But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come.
36:9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown.
36:10 I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be built.
36:11 I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.
36:12 Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will never again bereave them of their children.”
36:13 “‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;’
36:14 therefore you shall devour men no more, and not bereave your nation any more,” says the Lord Yahweh.
36:15 “I won’t let you hear the shame of the nations any more. You won’t bear the reproach of the peoples any more, and you won’t cause your nation to stumble any more,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”
36:16 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
36:17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
36:18 Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols.
36:19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds.
36:20 When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, ‘These are Yahweh’s people, and have left his land.’
36:21 But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
36:22 “Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
36:23 I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.
36:24 “‘“For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols.
36:26 I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
36:27 I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.
36:28 You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
36:29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.
36:30 I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field, that you may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations.
36:31 “‘“Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
36:32 I don’t do this for your sake,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Let it be known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel.”
36:33 “‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited and the waste places will be built.
36:34 The land that was desolate will be tilled instead of being a desolation in the sight of all who passed by.
36:35 They will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. The waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’
36:36 Then the nations that are left around you will know that I, Yahweh, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate. I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and I will do it.”
36:37 “‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for…
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Daniel 9:27
Gives the specific seven-year length of the tribulation period
27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”
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Daniel 12:11
Tells of the idol being set up in the middle of the tribulation period
11 “From the time that the continual burnt offering is taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there will be one thousand two hundred ninety days.
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Daniel 12
Gives a specific timeline of days so the day of second coming can be calculated
1 “At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there will be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. At that time your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.
2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 Those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the expanse. Those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever.
4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many will run back and forth, and knowledge will be increased.”
5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on the river bank on this side, and the other on the river bank on that side.
6 One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be to the end of these wonders?”
7 I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it will be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have finished breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things will be finished.
8 I heard, but I didn’t understand. Then I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?”
9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.
10 Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand; but those who are wise will understand.
11 “From the time that the continual burnt offering is taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there will be one thousand two hundred ninety days.
12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred thirty-five days.
13 “But go you your way until the end; for you will rest, and will stand in your inheritance at the end of the days.”
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Numbers 19
Red heifers must be sacrificed to purify the ground for the temple to be rebuilt
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2 “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded. Tell the children of Israel to bring you a red heifer without spot, in which is no defect, and which was never yoked.
3 You shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her outside of the camp, and one shall kill her before his face.
4 Eleazar the priest shall take some of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the Tent of Meeting seven times.
5 One shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her meat, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn.
6 The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the middle of the burning of the heifer.
7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening.
8 He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening.
9 “A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for use in water for cleansing impurity. It is a sin offering.
10 He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. It shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.
11 “He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with water on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but if he doesn’t purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn’t purify himself, defiles Yahweh’s tabernacle; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is yet on him.
14 “This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
15 Every open vessel, which has no covering bound on it, is unclean.
16 “Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 “For the unclean, they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be poured into a vessel.
18 A clean person shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, and on him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave.
19 The clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, he shall purify him. He shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening.
20 But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahweh. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him. He is unclean.
21 It shall be a perpetual statute to them. He who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening.
22 “Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the soul that touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
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1 Thessalonians 4
Describes the rapture: the Lord descending, the dead in Christ rising, believers caught up in the clouds
1 Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more.
2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,
4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,
5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God;
6 that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification.
8 Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
10 for indeed you do it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, that you abound more and more;
11 and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you;
12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
13 But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,
17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
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1 Corinthians 15:52
Paul says the rapture will happen in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
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Revelation 3:10
God promises to keep his followers from the hour of trial coming upon the whole world
10 Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
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1 Thessalonians 1:10
Believers wait with confidence for Jesus to personally rescue them from the coming wrath
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
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Revelation 19:14
At the second coming Jesus comes down to earth rather than meeting believers in the air
14 The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen.
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Zechariah 14:4
His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives at the second coming
4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
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Revelation 1:7
All peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man appear
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.
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1 Corinthians 13
The Lord defines what love is, including that it is kind and not easily offended
1 If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,
5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
10 but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
13 But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
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Matthew 19:29
Whatever believers do to advance the kingdom they will receive a hundred times that amount in eternity
29 Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life.
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Proverbs 21:13
Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered
13 Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.
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2 Timothy 3
Paul tells Timothy that in the last days people will consider nothing sacred and times will be difficult
1 But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come.
2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God;
5 holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.
6 For some of these are people who creep into houses, and take captive gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
7 always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8 Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so do these also oppose the truth; men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected.
9 But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.
10 But you did follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, steadfastness,
11 persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of them all.
12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.
15 From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
16 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Deborah walked First B Jackson's women's Bible study through Matthew 24 and the surrounding scriptures, tracing what Jesus told His disciples to watch for before His return. Her aim was not to set dates but to show that the signs are real, the season may be closer than we think, and the church is called to be ready.
What was said
Jesus set up Matthew 24 at the end of Matthew 23, when He looked at Jerusalem and told the disciples that the magnificent temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, would be torn down stone by stone. Within forty years that happened, under the Roman emperor Titus, and Jesus was using that coming devastation as a picture of a greater shaking still ahead for the whole world. The disciples pressed Him for signs, and Deborah walked through His answer in order.
The signs Jesus listed, false messiahs, wars, famines, earthquakes, and growing persecution of believers, are not meant to terrify. Deborah pointed out that Jesus called them birth pains, and birth pains have two qualities: they increase in intensity and in frequency, and they are purposeful. They produce new life. The pain on earth is real, but Jesus was giving the disciples a word of hope, not dread.
From there Deborah moved into what she described as the tribulation section of the chapter, where Jesus references Daniel and "the abomination that causes desolation" standing in the holy place. She explained that the tribulation begins not with the rapture but when Israel signs a peace treaty with the Antichrist, a charismatic leader who promises peace and allows temple worship to resume. At the three and a half year mark that treaty breaks, the idol is set up, and Jesus says the distress that follows will be unlike anything the world has ever seen. Woven into this section was a detailed look at current preparations for a rebuilt temple: the Temple Institute's forty years of reconstructing sacred vessels and priestly garments, the identification of men with Levitical DNA, a trained choir, and the recent arrival in Israel of five red heifers from Texas, the last thing needed according to Numbers 19 to purify the ground for rebuilding.
Deborah then turned to the rapture, which she placed as the next event on the prophetic timeline, one that requires no further sign before it occurs. Drawing on 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15, she described it as happening in the twinkling of an eye, scientifically one third of a second, so there is no slow ascent to fear. The Latin word behind "rapture" is rapio, which she said carries the sense of being carried off with extreme happiness, because at that moment believers will come face to face with the One who is love itself.
She drew a clear line between the rapture and the second coming, noting that at the rapture believers meet the Lord in the air, while at the second coming His feet stand on the Mount of Olives and every eye sees Him. The church appears in Revelation chapters one through three but is absent from chapters four through eighteen, reappearing only when Christ returns at the end of the tribulation. This, she said, is why the two events should not be collapsed into one.
Deborah closed with the three parables Jesus tells in Matthew 25 to the disciples after the Mount of Olives teaching. In all three, the people who were ready shared the same three things: an awareness that this short life genuinely matters and that what we do in it counts for eternity, faithfulness that God can actually depend on, and perseverance that does not quit when the waiting is long. The five bridesmaids who were not ready all had lamps and all looked the same on the outside, but they lacked oil. Jesus's final word in the passage is not a threat but a question the whole teaching leaves hanging in the room: does He know you?
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Deborah said Jesus described the coming troubles as birth pains, and called that a word of hope because labor pains lead to new life. How does that image change the way you think about hard things happening in the world right now?
- Deborah pointed to the parable of the ten bridesmaids and said some of them looked the same on the outside but were not ready on the inside. What do you think it actually looks like, day to day, to have oil in your lamp?
and 3 more questions in the guide
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