The Predictions of the King- the Sign of the End of Age and Christ's coming (Matthew 24:1- 31)
By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce Christian Arts Ministries
The destruction of the Temple 24:1-2,
“Jesus left the temple and was walking away
when `His disciples came up to him to call his attention to its
buildings. Do you see all these things? He asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone
will be thrown down.”
The disciples’ questions,
As 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?” (v.3).
The Mount of Olives, just E. of Jerusalem
across the Kidron Valley. In this discourse Jesus answered two of the three
questions the disciples asked. He does not answer “when will this happen?” He
answers” what will be the sign of your coming?” in vv.29-31, and He speaks of
the signs of the end of the age in vv.4-28. Verses 4-14 list characteristics of
the first half of the Tribulation period, while vv.15-28 deal with the second
half.
Verse 1-3 the Lord came out from the temple,
indicating that He had left the temple. This was to fulfill His word in 23:38,
concerning His leaving the temple to the rejecting Jews as their house of
desolation. This was equivalent to God’s glory leaving the temple in the
ancient time (Ezek.10:18). Verse 2 this was fulfilled in A.D. 70 when Titus and
the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem. Verse 3 the disciples’ question concerned
three matters: 1) the time when “these things” would take place, including not
only the destruction of the temple (v.2) but also the things mentioned in
23:32-39; 2) the sign of Christ’s coming; and 3) the sign of the consummation
of the age. The Lord’s word from 24:4-25:46 answered the disciples’ question
concerning these three matters.
In Greek, parousia which means presence. Christ’s coming will be His presence with His people. This presence (parousia) will begin with the rapture of the man-child (Rev.12:5) and the rapture of the firstfruits (Rev.14:1-4) and will end with His appearing on the earth with the saints. During the period of His parousia there will be the great tribulation (v.21); Rev.9:1-21;11-14;16:1-21), which will begin with supernatural calamities(Rev.6:12-17;8:7-12); Christ’s descending to the air (Rev.14:14); the rapture of the majority of the believers to the air (1Thes.4:15-17); the judgment seat of Christ (2Cor.3:10); and the marriage of the Lamb (Rev.19:7-9).
The signs of the End of the Age (Matthew 24:4-28)
Concerning Israel; a) from
Christ’s ascension to the consummation of the Age
Jesus
answered:
“Watch out that no one
deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Christ” and will deceive many. You 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. Nation will rise against nation
and kingdom against Kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various
places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over
to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because
of me. At the time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate
each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the
love of most will grow cold, but 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. (Matt.24:4-14)
Verse 4 the Lord’s answer has three sections:
the first section(vv.4-31) concerns the Jews, who are the chosen’ the second
(v.32-25:30) concerns the church; and the third (25:31-46) concerns the
Ge3ntitles (the nations). The first
section, concerning the Jews, should be interpreted literally, whereas the second section, concerning the
church; should be interpreted spiritually, because it is spoken in parables for
the reason given in 13:11-13. For instance, the winter in v.20 is the actual
winter, but the summer in v.32 is a symbol signifying the time of restoration. The third section, concerning the Gentiles,
also should interpreted literally.
Some aspects of the prophecy in vv.4-14 have
been fulfilled, and some are in the process of being fulfilled. At the time of
the great tribulation, which will be the consummation, the end, of this age,
the prophecy will be fully fulfilled.
Verse 6 wars here denote all the wars from
the first century to the present. They are signified by the read house of the
send seal in Rev.6:3-4). The End denotes the consummation of this age (v.3
Dan.12:4,9,6-7), which will be the three and a half years of the great
tribulation. Although vv.6-9 and 14 are in the section concerning Israel, the
tribulations and the preaching of the gospel mentioned in these verses take
place generally, in the whole would, from the time of Christ’s ascension to the
end of this age. Verse 15, immediately following v.14, speaks concerning the
beginning of the great tribulation (v.21), which is the time when Antichrist
will set up his image in the temple of God, which image will thereby become the
abomination of desolation.
Verse 7 nation denotes the people, the
Gentiles, kingdom denotes an empire. Famines issue mainly from war. According
to history, war has often brought famine, signified by the black horse of the
third seal in Rev.6:5-6. Since Christ’s ascension, earthquakes have been
occurring throughout all the centuries and will be intensified at the end of
this age (Rev.6:12;8:5;11:13,19;16:18)
Verse 8 Birth pangs are for the bringing
forth of a child. In His New Testament economy, God’s desire and purpose are
to bring forth many sons (Gal.3:26; Heb.2:10) as His expression. Hence, birth
pangs here refer to all the tribulations in the New Testament age, including
wars, famines, earthquakes, afflictions, and persecutions, as mentioned in
vv.6-9 and 21. The birth pangs here are suffered only by the New Testament
believers for the Lord’s sake, whereas the travailing in birth in Rev.12:2
refers to all the travailing suffered throughout the generations by God’s
people in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Thee tribulations,
along with the preaching of the gospel (v.14), are used by God to produce His
many sons so that He can constitute the Church in this age, accomplish the
kingdom in the coming age and produce the New Jerusalem in eternity as the
ultimate consummation of the church and the kingdom that He may have an eternal
expression in eternity future. Galatians 4:19 and Rev.12:2 and 5 confirm this
viewpoint.
Verse 14 the gospel of the kingdom, which
includes the gospel of grace (Acts20:24), brings people not only into God’s
salvation but also into the kingdom of the heaven (Rev.1:9) The gospel of grace emphasizes
forgiveness of sin, God’s redemption and eternal life, whereas the gospel of
the kingdom emphasizes the heavenly ruling of God and the authority of the Lord.
This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole earth for a testimony
to all the nations before the end of this age. Hence, that preaching signified
by the white horse of the first seal in Rev. 6:1-2, will be a sign of the
consummation of this age.
The gospel of the kingdom is a testimony to
all the nations (Gentiles). This testimony must spread to the whole earth before
the end of this age, the time of the great tribulation.
At the consummation of the Age (Matthew 24:15-31)
1) The
transpiring of the great tribulation
So when you see standing in the holy place the
abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel- let
the reader understand –then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ….(vv.15-16)
At that time if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the
Christ!” or “there he is!” do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great
signs and miracles to deceive even the elect –if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. So if
anyone tell you, “there He is, out in the desert,” do not go out or, “Here He
is, in the inner room” do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west,
so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there
the vultures will gather.(vv.23-28)
Immediately
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.” 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. And 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. (vv.29-31)
Verse 15 No one knows the length of time spanning the events mentioned in vv.4-14. But the prophecy in vv.15-31, concerning the remnant of the Jews, definitely will be fulfilled in the last three and a half years of this age, the time of the great tribulation, the second half of the last week prophesied in Dan.9:27, which will begin with the setting up of Antichrist’s image (the idol) in the temple (v.15) and will end with Christ’s open coming (v.30). Abomination denotes an idol (Deut. 29:17). Here it refers to Antichrist’s image, which will be set up as an idol in the temple of God (Rev.13:14-15;2 Thes.2:4) at the beginning of the great tribulation (v.21). Hence, this idol will be another sign of the consummation of this age. Lit, causing desolation, desolating. The abomination, the image of Antichrist, will cause desolation. Antichrist is called “the destroyer” (Apollyon Rev.9:11); he will do much destroying (Den.8:13,23-25;9:27) Holy place here refers to the sanctuaries in God’s temple (Psa.68:35; Ezek.7:24;21:2)
Verse 19 for those who are pregnant or
are nursing babies, it will be difficult to escape. Winter is a time when
escape is difficult.
Verse
20 on the Sabbath one was allowed to walk only a short distance (Acts 1;12), A
distance not adequate for escaping. The mentioning of the Sabbath here
indicates that the Sabbath here indicates that the Jews would still keep the
Sabbath after the restoration of the nation of Israel. The disciples, the
audience for the Lord’s word here, had a twofold status, one as representatives
of the remnant of the Jews and the other as the New Testament believers, who
constitute the church. In the section of the Lord’s word that concerns the Jews
(vv.4-31), the disciples represent the remnant of the Jews, whereas in the
section that concerns the church (24:32-25:30), they represent the New
Testament believers. In the four Gospels, in matters regarding outward
circumstances, the Lord treated His disciples as Jews, but in matters
concerning spirit and life, He considered them New Testament believers.
Verse
21 The great tribulation will occur in the last three and a half years of this
age. (Rev.11). The great tribulation spoken of here will have Jerusalem as its center and Judea as Jerusalem as its center and Judea as its circumference,
whereas the trial mentioned in Rev.3:10 will have Rome as its center and the
whole inhabited earth as its circumference.
The great tribulation will last only
three and a half years. The chosen here refers to the Jews, God’s chosen people
(Rom.11:28) So in the succeeding verses.
Verse
23 The Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and are expecting a Messiah who is
yet to come. They need to be warned that Messiah, the Christ, will not arise
here or there on earth but will descend from heaven on the cloud.
Verse
24 Antichrist will be the last of the false Christs and will work signs and
lying wonders with the power of Satan in order to deceive the perishing
(2Thes.2:3, 9-10)
Another beast in Rev.13:11 denotes the
last of the false prophets (Rev.19:20), who will do great signs to deceive
those who dwell on earth (Rev.13:13-14).
Verse
26 The wilderness is where a person might go in order to separate himself from
the world. His doing this might easily cause people to wonder whether he is the
Messiah, as happened in the case of John the Baptist. (3:1; John 1:19-20).
Private rooms: a place where a person can make himself appear mystical so as to
charm people.
Verse
27 The second coming of Christ has two aspects: one is the secret aspect,
related to His watchful believers; the other is the open aspect related to the unbelieving
Jews and Gentiles. The lightning here signifies the open aspect, which will
take place after the great tribulation (vv.29-30) whereas the thief’s coming in
v.43 signifies the secret aspect, which will occur before the great
tribulation. Lightning may be considered as being concealed in a cloud, waiting
for an opportunity to flash forth. In a similar way, Christ will be clothed
with a cloud (rev.10:1) in the air for a time and then will suddenly appear,
like a flash of lightning striking the earth. Hence, the Lord’s coming like a
flash of lightning will be a sign of the end of the Lord’s parousia. This
implies also that the Lord is like electricity.
Verse
28 taken in context vv.15 and 21 imply that at the end of this age Antichrist
will be the cause of the great tribulation. It is he who will need to be judged
and destroyed. All people in Adam are dead (1 Cor.15:22); thus, the evil
Antichrist, who with his evil armies will war against the Lord at Armageddon
(Rev.19:17-21), is in the eyes of the Lord a stinking corpse, good for the
vultures’ appetite. Furthermore, in the Scriptures both the Lord and those who
trust in Him are likened to an eagle (Exo.19:4; Deut. 32:11; Isa.40:31), and
the swift, destroying armies are likened to flying eagles (Deut. 28:49;
Hosea8:1). Hence, the vultures here, being predatory birds of the eagle kind,
refer undoubtedly to Christ and His overcomers, who will come as a swift,
flying army to war against Antichrist and his armies and destroy them at
Armageddon, thus executing God's judgment upon them. This indicates not only
that at His appearing, Christ with His overcoming saints will appear in the
place where Antichrist is with his armies, but also that Christ with His
overcomers will appear swiftly from the air like vultures. This corresponds
with the flash of lightning in the foregoing verse.
Verse 29 this is strong proof that the
open coming of Christ will take place after the great tribulation (v.21). This
supernatural calamity will occur in heaven after the great tribulation, at the
close of the end of this age (Rev.6) This differs from the calamities of the
sixth seal and the fourth trumpet (Rev.6:12-13;8:12), which will occur at the
beginning of the great tribulation.
Verse 30 we have no way of knowing what
this sign is. However, it must be supernatural and clearly visible (perhaps
like the lightning in v.27), appearing in heaven. The tribes here are the
tribes of the nation of Israel, and the land is the Holy Land. At the Lord’s
appearing all the tribes of Israel will repent and mourn (Zech.12:10-14;
Rev.1:7). By
this time the Lord will no longer be in the cloud but on the cloud, appearing
to the people on earth. This is the open
aspect of His second coming (Rev.10, 14). In Christ’s first coming He manifested His authority in acts such as His casting out of demons and His
healing of diseases (Mark6:7); Matt8:8-9), to vindicate Himself as the heavenly
King, whereas in His second coming He will
exercise His power to execute God’s judgment, to destroy Antichrist and his
armies, and to bind Satan, for the establishing of His kingdom on earth.
Verse 31 After the great tribulation,
at His coming back to earth, the Lord will gather together to the Holy Land the
scattered Jews from all parts of the earth. This will be the fulfillment not
only of the Lord’s word in 23:37 but also of God’s promise in the Old
Testament.
