Last year I thought about looking at Matthew 24-25 during Advent. I decided to do Christ in Daniel instead, but Matthew has been on my mind all year. After a recent discussion with a friend about Matthew 24 I decided to go ahead with this. This is often called The Olivet Discourse because Jesus spoke this while sitting on the mount of Olives. In this discourse Jesus talked about the end times and his coming again in power and glory.
Jesus was actually answering some questions the disciples asked him. This is Tuesday in the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry. After teaching in the temple in the preceding chapters, chapter 24 begins, And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
This seems to have shocked the disciples: And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? This teaching is Jesus answering these three questions.
But first let us consider the outline. Now, Jesus did not have notes before him, so he did not have an outline, this is merely mapping the flow of his thoughts. I mean, he didn’t just throw out random thoughts, there is a progression. This is my map:
24:4-14 The End
24:15-28 Great Tribulation
24:29-31 The Second Coming
24:32-35 Parable Of The Fig Tree
24:36-25:13 Watch And Be Ready
25:31-46 The Son Of Man Comes In His Glory
Second, There are two surprising things Jesus stressed in this teaching. It would do us well to keep these in mind. We are prone to concentrate on the details of the last days, focusing on events and timing etc. While Jesus does give us events and details, he emphasizes:
(1) Take heed that no man deceive you
(2) Watch and be ready
24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Jesus uttered a shocking prophecy, “This beautiful temple shall be utterly destroyed.” The disciples reacted with three questions:
1) When shall these things be?
2) What shall be the sign of thy coming?
3) (What shall be the sign) of the end of the world?
Wow! The first question seems to be sensible, but then they jump to “the end of the world” or the consummation of the age! Why would they link the destruction of the temple with the end of the world? Perhaps they had Zechariah 14:1-5 in mind:
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
In fact, Zechariah 14 continues on to describe the kingdom of God upon the earth, And the LORD shall be king over all the earth.
“Did they think that they were all to take place simultaneously? There is no way to answer. At any rate Jesus treats all three in this great eschatological discourse.” (A.T. Robertson+)
This immediately raises the question of how to interpret or understand these chapters. While it was all future for them then, the question is, Is it all still future for us? or, Was it all fulfilled in AD 70?
“It is sufficient for our purpose to think of Jesus as using the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem which did happen in that generation in A.D. 70, as also a symbol of his own second coming and of the end of the world or consummation of the age. Certainly in this discourse Jesus blends in apocalyptic language the background of his death on the cross, the coming destruction of Jerusalem, his own second coming and the end of the world. He now touches one, now the other. It is not easy for us to separate clearly the various items. It is enough if we get the picture as a whole as it is here drawn with its lessons of warning to be ready for his coming and the end. The destruction of Jerusalem came as he foretold.” (A.T. Robertson)
This is how I understand this discourse. He is answering the question of the destruction of the temple and of the end of the world. Part of his answer refer to one, parts of it the other. As I go through these two chapters, I trust I will be able to make clear which is which.
Next: 24:4-14 The End
+ Archibald Thomas Robertson (1863 – 1934) was a Southern Baptist preacher and biblical scholar whose work focused on the New Testament and Koine Greek.
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