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

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.