The Time of the Gentiles

Ballard Campus 8-14-11 Pastor Mark Driscoll
Tags: Prophesy, Escatology, Forknowledge, Soverinty
Luke 21:20-24
The Time of the Gentiles
How to see History - God's perspective on our existence
Forknowledge - Some have confidence and good guesses but God is the only
Prophesy - when God reveals the future
Soverinty - God orchestrating history and prophesy to demonstrate his foreknowledge
Jesus demonstates his Forknowledge for the coming 40 years after his death and resurrection and into out future
The conclusions of the three epochs of history
1 The Temple will be destroyed - Jewish practice will be ending
2 The time of the Gentiles - God doing something new
3 Jesus will return
The temple will be Destroyed
It will be surrounded and everyone should leave it
This was the connecting point between God and man, it was a great wonder of the world, the place where the whole nation found identity, the place of peace
This was the spot where generations and generations had come to worship God, all of your lineage as a Jew would tell stories about  the Temple
Then Jesus says all of this will be destroyed
You can't have love without wrath - God is fully Just, Wrathful, and Vengence
The destruction of the Temple was wrath from God because the nation rejected the Messiah and all the disciples putting 11 of the 12 to death.
This shows that Judgement will be pourred out on all those who reject Jesus and persecute his followers
During 70AD the Roman legions surrounded the city and waited to starve the city to death
Tacitus and Josephius both report that 500k to 1 million jews died in the siege of Jerusalem
+There was cannibalism and nursing mothers starved even as their children starved
A fire was accidentally set which burned some of the temple, then the order was given to totally deconstruct and tear down the entire city
The temple was torn appart stone by stone - It remains that way to this day
Judaism is over
We don't need to rely on a place to be closer to God, you can't be any closer than Jesus
+My faith is in a person not in a place
God chose to force the end of the Sacrificial System and the temple-centric religious system using the Romans to pour out his wrath
Jesus tells them to run away from the city (very counter-intuitive)
+The Jewish people stayed in the City and died
+The Chrstians lived and spread out carrying the good news with them
The Gentiles Will be Saved
Jesus says now the truth about God is going global
Gentiles are made into spiritual descendants of Abraham
Abram was a non-Jew who bleieved the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness and he responded in obedience
+His spiritual descendants are the Christians because they trust in the same God who spoke to Abraham
Ruth, Rahab all became a worshipper of God and became spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith
God's plan was always to serve and redeem all of humanity so he accepted owrshippers who were not Jewish, the plan was to tell the world about Himself using the jews
God forced the issue by scattering the Christians in all dirrections
Translations (2000+ languages) and missionaries are sent everywhere even across the street
I get to be part of a global movement led by the Holy Spirit to bring the knowledge of Jesus to everyone
The only reconciliation that is possible is when people live for the Glory of Jesus
The logical next step is to plant churches where people can be taught and loved and protected from false doctrine
+The Resurgence
+Acts 29 - 400 US churches 500 potential leaders in process
+Campus plants
+Focus is in planting churches in cities because students, tourists, business poeple pass through cities and can take the news of Jesus to the nations - strategic
History Ends Because Jesus will Return
Straighten up and raise up your heads during this time
We must live faithfully and humbly until that day comes
The dead will rise
There will be a final judgment
There will be a heaven and hell
The Kingdom of God will cover all people and will never end
We must live our lives in light of eternity
Everything hinges on whether or not we trust in Jesus
Readying for Jesus Return
1 - Do you really believe that Jesus will return? Faith is believeing that Jesus is honest
2 - Am I overly concerned with the details of Jesus' return?
+Compelling His people to hysteria over the return of Jesus
3 - If Jesus comes today, would I regret anything?
4 - If Jesus comes today, who would I regret not telling about Jesus?
5 - How can I plan for future generations while living ready for judgment day?
+this required living in tension
+movements tend to either shortsightedness or long-term planning but not planning