“But pray ye that your flight be not in the
winter, neither on the sabbath day:” Matthew 24:20
>Flight (#5437-phuge) derived from (#5343—pheugo)à Translated as ‘escape, flee” as in:
Matthew 3:7à Flee from wrath to come.
We saw earlier that the command to “flee to the mountains…” was a command to leave the churches and congregations during the time of Great Tribulation; but also, and above all, to find the safety of God in salvation.
Q. But why should one ‘pray’ that their flight (to God in salvation) “… be not in the winter”?
A. Winter is a time designed by God when the growing season comes to an end. The online Columbia Encylopedia says this about winter: “Growing season --period during which plant growth takes place. In temperate climates the growing season is limited by seasonal changes in temperature and is defined as the period between the last killing frost of spring and the first killing frost of autumn, at which time annual plants die and biennials and perennials cease active growth and become dormant for the cold winter months.”
Winter brings “killing frost” in which plant life cannot grow.
>God takes the picture of winter (which He created in the physical world) to portray the cessation of spiritual growth within the churches of the world. We see this picture in the book of Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 36:21-23-à “So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll:
and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the
ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the
king. Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a
fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi
had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into
the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire
that was on the hearth.”
The king sat in the winterhouse in the 9th month and stubbornly rebels against the Word of God.
Jehoiakim typifies the authorities in the churches of our day that despise God’s command to leave the churches. Jehoiakim’s destruction of the Word of God is a prime example of what is spiritually going on in churches today as the Bible’s authority is reviled and mocked.
Let’s also turn to another place in the O.T.
Amos 3:13-15-à “I
will smite the winterhouse with the summer house… and the great houses shall
have an end.”
God will smite the winterhouse. That is, the church that exists during the time of spiritual winter. The time of Great tribulation is an awful period of time. It begins with a time when no one is being saved in all the world. Certainly it would be better for you, or for anyone to experience the salvation of God before -----winter (great tribulation) comes.
Therefore pray that your flight “be not in the winter”.
>Let’s go back to Matthew 24 and read the rest of the verse:
“…, neither on the sabbath day:” Matthew
24:20b
This is literally translated as: “nor in sabbath”. The word ‘day’ is not in the original Greek.
Q. What “sabbath” is this in view? Why should we “pray” that our flight not be “in sabbath”?
A. We’ll find that it is the same answer as for “winter”. That the sabbath is a synonym for the great tribulation. We see this in the following passage:
2 Chron 36:20,21-à ”And them that had escaped from the sword
carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until
the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth
of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay
desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.”
The 70 year period when the Babylonians were destroying Judah and the Jews were carried away captive into Babylon is an historical parable that typifies Satan’s assault against the N.T. churches during the little season of God’s wrath against the congregations near the end of the world. This 70 year period is said to be a time of desolation “as long as she lay desolate…” and of ---sabbath “…she kept sabbath”.
See also, this verse:
Leviticus 26:31-35-à “And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.”
The churches throughout their existence did not keep God’s sabbath in the spiritual sense. They did not faithfully declare the gospel in such a way that all the glory went to God. They had polluted the gospel in many ways and developed doctrinal high places that added some work of man to God’s gospel of grace. During the great tribulation God will remove His gospel from the churches whereas they will no longer be commissioned by God to carry it into the world. Yet, God still has a gospel program to carry out and a great multitude of people to save. Therefore He will use His people to proclaim (outside of the churches) a much purer form of the gospel to those elect people scattered over the face of the earth. And the land will enjoy her sabbaths. God will greatly be glorified in the fact that He is declared to be the Only One who does any work in the matter of salvation.
However, if you are in a church during the time of great tribulation; then “pray….that your flight be not ….in sabbath.” Pray that your flight of salvation be not during such an awful, awful time of great tribulation. For, you may have to leave wife, mother, father, brother, sister, friend, and companions----all behind as you flee.
Going on in Matthew 24 we read:
Matthew 24:21à “For
then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the
world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
>Tribulation
is normative for the child of God.
Jesus foretold this to all of His disciples that “in the world ye shall
have tribulation” (John 16:33).
However, the Bible is clear
that there will come a time when the normative experience of tribulation for
the believers will tremendously increase.
It will become “great tribulation”.
The Greek word for “great” is megas (#3173) / or megle. Tribulation that is greater (exceedingly so)
than all previous tribulation before it.
These two words “great tribulation” are found together only 4 times in
the N.T. Here are the verses:
“And
delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the
sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his
house. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and
great affliction(#2347 same Greek word
as in Matthew 24:21’s tribulation): and our fathers found no
sustenance.” Acts 7:10,11
“And I gave her space to repent
of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed,
and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they
repent of their deeds.” Revelation 2:21,22
“After this I beheld, and, lo, a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands; ….And one of the elders answered, saying
unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9,13,14
Please notice
that a “great multitude” which no man could number, were washed and made white
in the blood of the Lamb. That is
unmistakingly the language of salvation.
Q. But where did
this great multitude come from? Were
they washed or saved out of a time of ‘tribulation’?
A. No! It doesn’t
say they came out of ‘tribulation’ and were washed in the Lamb’s blood. If it did then we would say that this great
multitude were none other but all the elect of God whose portion in this life
was the typical tribulation. But God
makes a point of having the question asked: “whence came they”?
In order to
positively declare and identify the great multitude as “they which came out of
great tribulation”. The Lord God has
reserved a vast multitude of His elect until the very end. As Samson, the end will be far greater than
the work of the previous days. God has
saved the finest of the gospel wine until men have well drunk. As Job, there will be greater blessings in
the end of days than in the beginning.
Let’s continue in
our study of Matthew 24.
Matthew 24:22-à “And except those days should be shortened,
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be
shortened.”
<Flesh> Indicates man or mankind (Jesus came in the flesh, that is,
He became man). Unless those days be shortened, no flesh will
become saved. That means that once the
great tribulation gets under way no one will become saved during the first part
of that terrible spiritual famine. This is why we read that there will be a
time of silence in heaven, see:
Revelation 8:1-à“And
when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the
space of half an hour.”
The whole period
of great tribulation is likened by God to an “hour” in Revelation 18. Therefore, silence in heaven for “about the
space of half an hour” is letting us know that God will not be saving anyone
during the first part of the great tribulation. There will be no rejoicing, no joy in heaven over sinners
becoming saved because none will become saved for that most awful of times.
Yet, God in His mercy speaks of shortening the
days. It isn’t the total length of the
great tribulation that is shortened.
No. That will continue as
predetermined by God. The churches and
congregations will experience the full term of wrath that God has meted out
towards them. But, for the true
believers within the churhces and for God’s elect’s sake out in the world. He has “shortened
the days”.
God’s plan has been to pour
out the Latter rain during the 2nd part of the great tribulation in
order that the great multitude of Revelation 7:14 may experience that salvation
that will wash them in the Lamb’s blood.
For their sake He shortened the days---by working outside of the
churches---primarily through the electronic medium of radio, and internet,
etc. The land began to enjoy its
sabbaths. And the days were
shortened.
But not in the churches. Still within the church there is no Latter
rain. There is no harvest of
fruit. The winter has set in and nothing
is growing. All is spiritually dead.
In the next verse of Matthew
24 we find something very interesting:
Matthew 24:23-à“Then
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.”
At first glance this verse
doesn’t seem to make much sense. But
once we understand what God is focusing on here we immediately realize that
this verse is dealing with those in the churches who are insisting that God is
still there. They will say that God has
not left the churches. God is still in
the churches. Alright, so you look at this
church and tell quickly see this false doctrine and that false doctrine. Until
you have to admit that it is a false gospel.
Ok, they say, but look at that church over there. Christ is in that church over there.
Well that’s how it goes. On and on.
There are some that will admit that the churches are in sad shape today,
they would even admit that they have been searching for a faithful church for
quite some time ----without finding one.
Yet, somewhere out there they insist there is a “faithful church”. That is, Christ is there.
But God says to us, “…believe it not”. What are we to make of this? Do we just reject their statements out of
hand? Actually, God is saying something
much different here, let’s go to:
1 John 4:1-à“Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because
many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
Here in 1st John
we are told to “believe not” every spirit.
God goes on to tell us what He means by that. We are to try the spirits.
To check out the teaching we are hearing. So, if men are saying “Here is Christ” (in this church) “or
there” (in that church): we are to search the Bible to see if it could be
true.
And as we do so we find that
once the great tribulation begins Christ’s Spirit departs out of the midst of
the congregations never to return. The
daily is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up. The faithful city thus becomes a harlot
because Righteousness (Christ) no longer resides within.
What a wonderful plan of
salvation God has devised. To be so
merciful at the latter end.