After Jesus declared woes on the religious leaders, and cried out because of the lost sheep of Jerusalem, He left the temple grounds, not to return until it was too late for repentance. Matthew 24 includes another lengthy monologue, known as the Olivet Discourse, where Jesus details what will happen at the end of the age.
1) V1-14 – 1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to its buildings. 2“Do you see all these things?” He asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3As 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?” 4Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ [Messiah],’ and will deceive many. 6You 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. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me. 10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
The disciples marveled at the grandeur of Herod’s temple as they walked away, and since the topic of destruction and judgment was already on Jesus’ mind from the conclusion of the prior monologue, Jesus elaborated for His followers on that harsh reality. He says, “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” (v2). No doubt the disciples pondered the comment as they made their way from the temple grounds to the Mount of Olives, and that’s when they just had to ask, “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” These questions are assumed to have the same answer: First, when will the temple be destroyed? And second, what will be the sign of Jesus’ coming in judgment, which will presumably coincide with the end of the age?
Jesus begins His Olivet Discourse in v4, continuing through the end of the next chapter (Matthew 25:46), as a challenging answer to the disciples’ query. His answer begins with a warning, “Watch out that no one deceives you” (v4). There will be a lot of confusion. There will be many people coming and claiming to be the Christ; there will be significant deception. Most of us twenty-first century American Christians are sheltered from false Messiahs, but they are around. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Moonies, followers of the late “Reverend” Sun Myung Moon, who claimed to be the Messiah. This cult, known as the Unification Church, was founded in 1954 and claimed 7 million members across 180 countries, and it’s still around, led by Moon’s son, despite the founder’s death in September 2012. There will be “wars and rumors of wars… famines and earthquakes in various places,” but Jesus says not to be alarmed. These signs are like “the beginning of birth pains” (v8).
So stuff will happen all around you, and it won’t be good, Jesus says. But that’s not all. It gets more personal. Jesus says, “You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me” (v9). It gets worse: “Many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other” (v10). More false prophets show up to deceive, and as wickedness increases, love will grow cold (v12). That’s the bad news, but Jesus says, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved” (v13). Once the gospel is “preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (v14), the end will come.
So we can hear these words and understand. But is it literal? Figurative? Somehow both? The world was far different when these words were spoken and recorded, compared with today. How do I, as a twenty-first century American Christian, fit in here? What am I to make of these words? Stand firm in the faith!
2) V15-28 – 15“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ [Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11], spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. 19How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again. 22If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – if that were possible. 25See, I have told you ahead of time. 26So if anyone tells you, ‘There He is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here He is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”
As I stand firm in the faith, Jesus continues speaking, and it gets more challenging for me to understand. Perhaps His original audience would have better grasped the meaning of Jesus’ words, especially since they were Jews, many of whom would live to see the destruction of Jerusalem and be able to attribute some of these words to events in their lifetimes. But here I am 2000 years later, seeking the specifics, looking for the individual trees, when maybe I should step back and see the forest. I’m not sure.
Jesus says to His disciples, “When you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that cause desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel – let the reader understand – then let those who are in Judea flee… (v15-16). I can read the referenced passages in Daniel and learn from experts about Antiochus IV, who desecrated the Jewish temple during the time of the Maccabean revolt (175-164 BC). I can consider a double fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy as the future Roman Emperor Titus destroyed the temple in 70 AD when he conquered Jerusalem to expunge civil uprisings. But what has this to do with the end of the age? It wasn’t the end of the world, or the day of final judgment, or the return of Christ. So is it merely the end of the Jewish sacrificial age? The end of the glory of Jerusalem? That might make sense looking back, but that’s not likely what Jesus’ audience understood Him to mean.
Jesus talks to His disciples about how dreadful it will be pregnant and nursing mothers, fleeing in great urgency, and He advises praying that it doesn’t happen in winter or on the Sabbath (v17-20). He says the distress will be unparalleled, not worth comparing to anything before or after (v21). Should the implication that there is an “after” tell us something about the events Jesus is foretelling? He says the days would be unbearable if they weren’t shortened for the sake of the elect (v22). Is this a literal shortening, as in less than a 24-hour day? Or is Jesus talking broadly about the amount of time this whole ordeal will encompass, like 3 months instead of 3 years, for example? Again Jesus talks about false Messiahs showing up on the scene, and He says not to believe them. And it seems difficult not to believe them, because there will be great signs and wonders, but Jesus says they won’t be able to deceive the elect; it’s impossible, because the elect belong to God, and no one can snatch them from the hands of Jesus (John 10:28). Jesus says we will know when He comes, just as we know that lightning strikes (v25-27). It won’t be speculation, and there won’t be questioning. Jesus’ return will be unmistakable, as the presence of a group of vultures means a carcass (v28).
All of this is challenging for me. But Jesus isn’t done yet. He has more to say about His return.
3) V29-35 – 29Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken’ [Isaiah 13:10; 34:4]. 30At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. 32Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.”
So all of the distress of the labor pains bring the return of Christ. Jesus quotes Isaiah saying that the heavenly lights will go out and/or be shaken (v29). He says, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” (v30). It is sad to me that “all the nations of the earth will mourn” at the return of Jesus. It seems to indicate that the world will not be a very Christianized place, and even that the people of the earth will know that the end is coming upon them. I picture an asteroid heading toward earth, and the scientists have no way to stop it – as in the version of the movie Armageddon but without the good ending, at least from the pagan’s perspective. Regardless, there will be a clear display of power and glory from the Lord in that moment, and the trumpet will sound drawing the elect to the side of Jesus. The apostle Paul elaborates on this teaching in his epistles (especially to the Thessalonians), and it’s worth further study, but for now, Jesus says that we can learn the lesson He’s teaching by looking at the fig tree (and all the trees, as Luke’s account adds). We can know spring is in the air and summer approaches by seeing the leaves; in the same way, as the signs Jesus describes in this passage are all the more evident, so we can discern that the second coming and the end of the age are increasingly near, “right at the door” (v33), Jesus says.
V34-35 receive lots of attention and lead to differences of opinions among the experts, usually based on their eschatological position coming into their reading of the text. The question is this: Who is “this generation”? Is Jesus referring to His audience as “this generation?” If so, when He adds that they “will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened,” we must conclude that Jesus was speaking solely of the fall of Jerusalem and the Jewish sacrificial system (post-millennial). If Jesus is referring to the generation that sees the leaves on the tree, so to speak, then He’s talking about a pretty quick end to the age, once the signs hit in full bloom (v22). And that generation, says one expert (David Reagan, Lamb and Lion), could be those who witnessed the return of Israel to the map of the world in 1948. And that would allow some 40 minimum to 120 years maximum from that date, if Reagan is correct (pre-millennial). And if “this generation” refers more broadly to all those who experience the signs Jesus mentions, in varying degrees, then of course, we include all those who live between the first and second comings of Christ (amillennial). And Jesus’ conclusion is that His words will never pass away (v35). Write it down; it’s done.
I think I get the point; the end of the age will come after the gospel is preached to all nations and people groups. Jesus will return – in an unmistakable manner – amidst difficult times in this world. The church will be persecuted; false teachings will abound. Nations will be threatened while threatening. Jerusalem – and Judaism as they knew it back then – would not last. But still Jesus is not done; He adds a little more detail.
4) V36-51 – 36“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him. 45Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
So if we weren’t sure what Jesus meant by “this generation” in v34, it’s okay, because in v36, He clarifies, saying, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” It’s comforting on the one hand, that we don’t have to try to get it figured out to the day or hour, but it’s discomforting on the other hand, because Jesus doesn’t know something! How can it be that Jesus, who has received all authority from the Father, doesn’t know when He’s coming back? Should that concern us? One of God’s character traits, or attributes, is longsuffering. “He is patient,” we read in 2 Peter 3:9, “not waiting anyone (of His elect) to perish but all (of His elect) to come to repentance.” I think there’s a “last one in” that the Father is waiting on, and He alone reserves the right to declare when that has happened. In the meantime, Jesus stands ready to return, and the angels, who are waiting to fetch the elect at the sound of the trumpet, long to investigate how all this works as well.
Jesus says in v37 that He will return to a world that is much like it was in the days of Noah. Pagans were the majority, while God’s people were few; pagans carried on with worldly pursuits, while believers were doing the work of God; pagans knew nothing about what was coming, while God’s people knew it and warned others only to be mocked and ridiculed. Then the flood took them all away – all but 8 believers. Jesus will return to a similar environment that the flood first came upon. Jesus illustrates the swiftness of the rapture in v40-41, saying to keep watch in v42, because we don’t know the day our Lord will come. But then Jesus clarifies a little further, saying that if the master of a house knows a thief is coming at such-and-such time, he will be ready with lookouts to prevent any stealing. Jesus says we’ve been told that He is coming, so we are to be ready. Again, the Apostle Paul echoes this concept with a repeated call to wake up, to be alert and sober, guarding against the temptation of the nighttime to sleep. Jesus tells the disciples that He will come at an hour they do not expect (v44). So that begs the question, “If we are to constantly expect Him, how then will He come?” I think the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We might want to keep watch; we may strive to stay awake, like the disciples did in the Garden (which they will soon do in our study of Matthew), but sadly we will not; sadly, we will all fall away to some degree. But that’s why we do not rely on our own obedience and good works. We need a Savior, who has come and conquered and will come again soon!
Jesus explains that the one who continues in the work he has been given by the master is the faithful and wise servant, and it will be good for him to be working for the master when the master returns (v45-46). It’s an encouragement from Jesus to press on in the work God has given us, and the reward is more responsibility in the role of steward to God the King. “But,” Jesus warns, “suppose that servant is wicked and” rejects and neglects the work of God to live selfishly. That servant will not only be surprised to see the master return when he doesn’t expect him, but also end up cut up into pieces and assigned a place in hell with the hypocrites, “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v51). The encouragements and warnings are real. We must persevere in faith, standing firm in the midst of difficulty and turmoil; the reward is great, and the penalty for failure to do so is far greater than we can bear. But thankfully, God will preserve us in faith if we belong to Christ, and we can rest in His perfect obedience on our behalf and repent thanks to God’s kindness when we fail to stand firm.
Bible text from
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International Bible Society.