In this chapter, Jesus is
speaking to Israel and it is sometimes called “The Second Sermon on the Mount”
or “The Olivet Discourse.” This prophecy is very important and is not only
found here in Matthew 24-25 but is also found in Mark 13 and Luke 21. The
disciples also ask Jesus three questions. Remember now that Jesus had just
finished rebuking the religious leaders.
Matthew 24:1-2 We find Jesus
speaking to the disciples and what He is saying is very important. After
leaving the temple to go up to the Mount of Olives Jesus looks down upon the
buildings. The temple was a magnificent sight to see and from the Mount of
Olives, one could look upon its magnificence. Jesus tells the disciples the
temple will be destroyed. This probably amazed the disciples since the temple
was such a beautiful structure and so well built.
Matthew 24:3 As
Jesus prophecies his disciples ask questions of Him. They want to know exactly
when it will happen and what type of sign will show them His second coming and
end of the age. The first question is about the destruction of the temple,
Matthew does not give a very explicit answer to this question but Luke 21 goes a
bit further in answering. We know though from history that the temple was
destroyed. In 70 AD Roman armies came into the city of Jerusalem and many took
refuge in the temple because it was the strongest building in the city. The
temple caught fire and the roof made of gold melted. The Roman leaders ordered
the temple be taken down so they could get the gold. So, stone by stone the
temple was taken down literally destroyed as Jesus said it would be. Not one
stone was left upon another. Remember Jesus had just told them in chapter
23:38-39 that their house was left desolate and they would not see Him again
until the prophecies were fulfilled. The next question is answered in the
remaining verses of chapter 24. Jesus gives descriptions of things to come and
things that will take place.
Matthew 24:4-8 Jesus tells them there will
be false messiahs, wars, hunger, diseases, earthquakes, and nations will fight
against nations. Jesus wants to make sure they stay focused and trusting in the
Word letting no one deceive them saying they are the messiah. He goes on to tell
them that many will come claiming to be the messiah and many will follow them
only to be deceived. There will be wars and rumors of wars, nation against
nation, kingdom against kingdom, famine and earthquakes but this is only the
beginning. Jesus is telling them even worse things will happen to signal the
end of the age. And this is just the beginning of the great sorrows, birth
pains, because far greater things are yet to come.
Matthew 24:9-14 This
passage of Scripture is one of the harder passages for today's Christians to get
a handle on. In today's society, political correctness is first, which of
course puts most of Scripture in the wrong. No matter what anyone else says or
tries to say Scripture comes from God and does not change with the changing of
times. Verse nine says many of us that believe will be persecuted and even put
to death and all nations will begin to hate us because of Christ. And verse ten
goes on to say exactly what is happening today, many will turn away from their
faith in God and betray and hate each other. There will be false prophets
standing in the pulpits giving a watered down version of what the people want to
hear not what the Word says. And these false prophets and there will be many of
them will deceive many people - believers and non-believers alike. The passage
goes on to explain the things to come that have been witnessed over the years
and that we are witnessing in such a horrific manner today. Increased
wickedness, cold callous hearts are seen today more than ever in brother to
brother, sister to sister, mother to father, children to parents, parents to
children, spouse to spouse. But the passage gives hope also in saying that “he
who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will
come.” We the church need to take this passage of Scripture, and all Scripture,
seriously. It is our duty to stand firm and preach this Gospel to all the
nations. These things are signs of Christ's reassurance that He is coming again
to gather up the children of God. And these verses relate three specific things
that have happened and will happen: 1) Peter, James, Paul, and John were
delivered up to be afflicted and were hated and killed. Many today are being
delivered up to be afflicted, hated, and killed. 2) You and I as followers of
Christ, the church, are being especially delivered up to be afflicted and
imprisoned or killed. Hate crime laws are being put in place across the nations
to stop preachers and teachers from using Scripture to preach against sin! 3)
Israel will fulfill her mandate! Israel was called by God in the Old Testament
to be a witness of Him to the world. In Revelation 7 and 14, we read that the
day will come when Israel will be a witness. Today things are happening in
Israel. Things are happening with the Sanhedrin. The Scriptures are
happening.
Matthew 24:15-21 The abomination of desolation is a Hebrew
expression meaning hateful destroyer or an abominable destroyer. The Gentiles
were all considered an abomination by the Jews and the abomination of desolation
refers to the Roman army. All that are in Judea at this time should flee to the
mountains and places of safety so as to not be destroyed by the Roman army.
Daniel 9:26, 27, 11:31, and 12:11 gives prophecy of things to come some 500
years before it happens. The Scripture says when you see the abomination meaning
the Roman army standing in a place it should not be standing it is time to run
and take refuge in a safe place. All of Jerusalem was considered holy so any
one reading what the disciples would write down and what Daniel had already
written would have understanding it was time to flee for the Roman army was
there to destroy. It goes on to say that they should not even go down into the
house to get anything if they are on the rooftop run from there. The roof of
many homes were made flat and used for walking on and sleeping on. And if the
desolation happened while they were in the field working they should not take
the time to gather up their garments. Many because of the heat of the day would
take some of the garments off while working. For those that are pregnant and
having very small babies they would not be able to flee as easily as the others
and would be caught in the peril of the destruction. If the siege happened
during the winter it would be hard to escape because the rivers would be almost
impassable because of the high waters and it would be very cold. If the
desolation happens on the Sabbath the gates of the city would be closed and no
one would be able to leave. So they were to pray it neither happened in the
winter or on the Sabbath. The Jewish historian, Josephus, gives account of the
war he witnessed and his words ring similar to the words of Christ. Women ate
their own children from starvation; the Jews within the city fought each other
as well as the Roman army; on August 10, A.D. 70, the city was stormed and there
was a universal massacre; 1,100,000 or more perished, and thousands of survivors
were sold into slavery. Jesus calls this time the most awful time ever and says
that it will never again be equaled. When God pours out His wrath on this world
that has rejected Him over and over again it will be unequaled from every event
occurring from the beginning of time up until this event. Of all the disasters
that have occurred throughout time none of them will come close to the
devastation that will come with God's wrath poured out on a sinful world.
Matthew 24:23-28 Jesus also says that this time of wrath will be short
or no one would be able to survive. God though will take into account the
elect, which means chosen. Those chosen by God, us Believers that have taken
Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior are the elect. Jesus goes on to tell them
that there will come a time when people will claim to be the messiah and others
will spread the news that the messiah has come or He is here or there but they
are not to believe this because when the Son of man comes again it will be as
visible as the lightning that lights up the sky from east to west. Jesus says
that many of these claiming to be the messiah will even do signs and wonders and
great crowds will follow after them but Jesus says wherever there is death the
vultures will gather. In other words these claiming to be the messiah are only
bringing death and deceit so we need to beware and be honed to the Word of God!
When the Christ returns it will not be in secret everyone will know that He has
returned.
Matthew 24:29-31 Immediately following this great event comes
the return of Jesus. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light,
and the stars will fall from the sky while the heavenly bodies are shaken.
Jesus is the light, and when the Jesus is darkened in the world the light will
be dimmed. We can look at this symbolically to perhaps mean that just as the
moon gets her light from the sun, the church gets her light from Christ and as
the Bible, the things of God are taken from the people the light is taken away
causing darkness. We can say the stars represent the teachers, apostles,
preachers, and leaders and as the light is taken from the people many will fall
away into darkness. This will be a desolate time of great horror, apostasy,
darkened by all things evil but then with a witness that the whole world shall
see the light breaks through and Christ returns with a great host of angels
sounding forth with trumpets and they shall gather the elect of God from every
corner of the earth from one end of heaven to the other.
Matthew 24:32-35
Now Jesus says to learn a lesson from a fig tree. Jesus says that as the tree
begins to produce life in its branches and the twigs get tender and leaves come
out you know that summer is near. A fig tree does the same always, the branches
get tender, the leaves come forth and summer soon follows. Jesus is assuring
the people that when these signs He has mentioned appear the end will come. You
can also say this rings familiar with Daniel 12. No matter how you try to
interpret it though the one thing that cannot be denied is that Jesus says it
will happen and it will happen and what Jesus wants to reassure the people is
that even though there will be great desolation lasting for a time it will come
to an end and victory will belong to the redeemed of the Lord.
Matthew
24:36 Jesus says that the day and hour of His return is not known by anyone
other than the Father. He says that not even He will know when the time is to
be nor will the angels.
Matthew 24:37-39 Jesus goes on to say that it
will be as it was in the days of Noah. We know from Scripture that in the days
of Noah life was going on as usual. It might have been an evil, idolatrous form
of life but it was going on as usual. People were partying, drinking, eating,
getting married and just having a good time right up until the day Noah and his
family entered the ark. The days of Noah were not all peaches and cream though,
there was also demonic violent things happening. There was a great oppression
in the land. The people were given ample warning of the impending judgment to
come also and only a handful (Noah and his family) heeded this warning and so it
will be when the end time comes with the return of Jesus. It will be sudden and
unexpected. Jesus is not trying to say that we should not carry on with life as
usual but that we need to be watchful of the times and take heed of the warnings
given so we are not caught unexpectedly. Remember Noah did not just start out
one day to build an ark and a couple weeks later it was built and off to sea
they went. This ark took over 120 years to build! So for 120 years the people
of Noah's day knew something was going to happen. They had a warning of 120
years and only Noah and his family took heed of the warning. No one took notice
of the signs and that is the way it will be at the second coming of Christ only
a handful will take heed of the warnings. The days of Noah also saw wickedness
in great amounts and today we are seeing more and more wickedness and
abomination of morality. We are seeing a rise in the occult and all things evil
as day by day God's Word is being taken away from us. Jesus is giving a warning
to be ready for an unexpected coming!
Matthew 24:40-44 Jesus goes on to
say that two will be in the field and one will be taken and the other left. Two
will be grinding meal and one will be taken and one left so therefore we are to
keep watch always because we will not know when the time will be and it will
just happen. Jesus says if the owner of a house that was robbed knew it was
going to be robbed and when it would be robbed he would never have lost anything
because he would have been ready for the thief! In this same manner we should
be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when least expected. It
will be liken unto a thief in the night. Many puzzle over this passage along
with 1st Thessalonians 4 and Zechariah 14 as to how is He
coming will it be in the air and we rise to meet Him or will He come with the
saints? The importance of this Scripture and the other two I referenced is not
so much on the manner but on the fact that HE is coming back and although the
signs of the times will have warned us something is happening; His coming for us
is still without warning at all!
Matthew 24:45-47 Now, Jesus stresses
the importance of this message even more so with the parable of the faithful and
wise servant. Jesus says it is very important to be doing exactly what you have
been told to do when the Master returns. God has put us in charge of some
things, some of us might have more things on our plate then others but all of us
have been charged with the Gospel of Christ and to be working to spread the
Gospel till His return. Jesus tells us that just as an earthly master will
reward his servants for their dedication and servitude to him so also will the
Lord reward us for our dedication to Him.
Matthew 24:48-51 Jesus goes on
to describe something that has been witnessed over the years from before His day
till now! The evil servant is one who proclaims to be for God and oppresses,
confuses, and leads astray the people. Many become lax in their servitude
towards the Lord because satan comes to them telling then not to worry there is
no hurry, sin a little, enjoy life, you have a long time before Christ returns.
Satan comes to those in high religious places and persuades them to use the post
of shepherd, teacher, etc., to lure, tempt, and deceive the innocent. These
wicked servants will also receive their rewards both here on earth with their
momentary pleasures and then eternally in Hell where the scene is totally beyond
description.
Father, let me to never become lax in my servitude to You.
Help me to always be watching and waiting, ready for Your return no matter when
it may be and not to be caught up in word battles over when, how, where, during
or after certain events but to simply realize that what You said will come to
pass and the glory is in the reality that YOU will return for God's children,
the elect, the chosen ones in Jesus name amen.
