Please read yesterday’s blog and part 1 if you haven’t. As a reminder we are speaking on the first part of Matthew and Jesus talking to the disciples.
Matthew 24:3-8 – 3 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?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
We begin today with the third horse in Revelation 6 and how it is a horse of famine.
Revelation 6:5-6 – 5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
The last part of those verses makes point that many will have to work all day just to feed the family, but the ritzy part of life such signified by oil and wine will still be very important to others even though there is famine in much of the world.
Verse 7 in Matthew 24 speaks of this famine. Verse 7 also speaks of earthquakes. That takes us to Ravelation 6:12.
Revelation 6:12- 12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
Sounds like this earthquake is so powerful it is accompanied by some volcanic activity that we know today are pretty linked together concerning the plates that shift under the earth.
Matthew 24:3-8 and Revelation Chapter 6 share a lot of common ground. Where is the church in all of this? I believe they are gone already in the rapture. Jesus states in Matthew 24 a few things that make it clear he is talking to the Jews.
Matthew 24:15 – 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—
The abomination of desolation is the antichrist going into the temple to exalt himself in the holy of holies as God. This is completely a Jewish thing as the temple is the Holy place. Right now the holy of holies is the Holy Spirit dwelling in believers. We are the temple of God. That’s why it is important that we act like it.
Matthew 24:16 – 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
This is an actual place referring to the Jews and how they need to act.
Matthew 24:20- 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath also is very Jewish. So Jesus is talking to the Jewish people in these verses of Matthew 24.
Many of the birth pains are in place and slowly happening, but those are future posts. Pray for the brothers and sisters in Japan we have in Christ and that others come to know the Lord.