The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

The Lord's "Parable of the Fig Tree" has become a controversial parable; part of the controversy is because it has been viewed as a complicated allegory rather than a simple analogy.  A popular interpretation of this parable says the fig tree pictures Israel and her reinstatement as a nation in 1948 is its "budding" in the parable.  The conclusion then means the generation that saw Israel's reinstatement will see Christ's return (the Rapture)! Hear the Biblical reasons not to interpret the parable that way and find out how it should be interpreted!

Also discussed are the Lord's "Flood Admonishment" (as in the days of Noah so shall also the coming of the Son of man be), His "Thief Admonishment" (Matthew 24:43, 44), and His "Evil Servant Admonishment" (24:45-51).  These are important "warnings" that must be rightly interpreted.  Something to continually remember is the Church is not in "The Olivet Discourse".

This lesson brings us to a discussion of the most momentous event of all time: the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus in all His Divine Glory!  Did you realize prophecies regarding the Second Coming make-up 1/3rd of all prophecies of Scripture?  Do you know of the 333 prophecies regarding Christ Jesus, 109 were fulfilled at His First Coming, while 224 remain to be fulfilled at His Second Coming!  Next to the subject of faith, no other subject is mentioned more in the Bible than Christ's Return.  One more statistic: for every one time the First Coming is mention, the Second Coming is mentioned 8 times!

This lesson is about one of the 21 times the Lord predicted His Return.  In addition to predicting the blasphemous abomination of desolation (lesson 136), He gave a sign that will immediately precede His Return - a great decrease in light from the celestial luminary bodies.  At almost the same instant as that decrease in light, "the sign of the Son of man" will appear in the sky!    Find out from this study what that final sign  might be!

To this point in His Olivet Discourse, the Lord Jesus spoke about the end-times' rise of false christs, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes - all of which will begin to noticeably increase in frequency and intensity (like labor pains) during the first 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation (Daniel's final 7-year "week" - 9:24-27).  He also predicted that, during the second 3 1/2 years, there would be great persecution of Jews and Christians, the rise of many false prophets, and the proliferation of sin and total lawlessness (Matthew 24:9-12).

In Matthew 24:15, Christ gave the specific sign that would divide the two halves of the Tribulation Period.  It is the sign that should warn Jews living in Israel, as well as Tribulation saints, that massive persecution (by the Antichrist) is about to begin.

Find out about an historical "abomination of desolation" (Antiochus Epiphanes), which served as a prophetic preview of the even greater "abomination of desolation" the Antichrist will perform as he breaks his "covenant" with Israel (her covenant with death).

After giving the "labor signs" of the beginning of the Tribulation Period, the Lord proceeded to predict the second half of the Tribulation, which is called "The Great Tribulation".  It will be a time of unprecedented calamity on this earth; fortunately, it will only last 3 and one-half years.  Its culmination comes suddenly with the Lord's Return.  

In this lesson, the Lord presented 5 features that will characterize this time period.  The first 3 are negative; the last 2 are positive.  The negative characteristics are: (1) great persecution of the saints, (2) false prophets, and (3) the proliferation of sin. 

The two positive features that will take place in the final half of the Tribulation are: (4) the promise of "salvation" for the one who endures to the end (NOT in reference to spiritual, bt to physical salvation, and (5) the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom (find out why Matthew 24:14 does not mean the Gospel must be spread to the entire world before Jesus can return for His Church).   What is "the Gospel of the Kingdom" that will be "preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations" in the final years before Christ's Return?  Answer is found in this study.

The first of the four sign-events to occur in the period of the Tribulation Jesus termed, "The Beginning of sorrows" will be a worldwide deception through a proliferation of false christs (see Lesson 3 in this series).  The next three sign-events of this time frame are discussed in this lesson.  They are massive destruction by way of intensified warfare among the nations of the world, a vastly increased death toll as a result of not only the warfare, but increased famines and pestilences (diseases), and dreadful physical disturbances occurring on land and in the sky.

The four "sign-events" of "The Olivet Discourse" are described by the Apostle John in Revelation 6:1-8 as the first four seal judgments, pictured by four different colored horses with ominous riders upon them, famously referred to as "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse".  Although the Church does not look for these four frightening figures, yet it seems we can hear their thundering hoofbeats off in the distance.  Be sure you are right with the Lord TODAY!