- By Rhodes Davis Context The context of Matthew 24 includes the latter part of Matthew 23. Jesus condemned the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites for they sought to please men instead of pleasing God. They loved the praise of men as holy men though they were insincere. They were deceitful and self-serving but appeared righteous. Jesus knew their hearts and compared them to whitewashed tombs; beautiful on the outside but corrupt within. Beginning in verse 29 Jesus warned that their hypocrisy would lead to their destruction. The Pharisees would decorate the tombs of the prophets and the righteous and say, ” If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” However, their statement was self-condemning for they would soon kill Jesus and many who proclaimed the gospel. They would commit their father’s sins by murdering the righteous. They would suffer for their wickedness and that of their fathers. These things would come upon this generation. Immediately after this pronouncement, Jesus mourns for Jerusalem. ” How often Iwould have gathered you under My wings…but you would not! See! Your house is left to you desolate.” It was not desolate yet but Jesus knew the destruction would come. As Jesus and the apostles left the temple, Jesus told them that not one stone of the temple would be left upon another. This statement disturbed the disciples for to hear of the destruction of the temple surely meant the end of the world. They believed the Messiah would establish an earthly kingdom. If the temple of the capital city was destroyed, it would surely would mean the end of the world. Although their questions probably focused on the destruction of the temple, there are two separate issues that Jesus addresses in Matthew 24: (1) The destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and (2) the destruction of the world. Jesus symbolized the destruction of Jerusalem with a fig tree; one can see the signs and determine the time of destruction. He symbolized the destruction of the world with a thief coming in the night without warning. The division between these two subjects is Matthew 24:35. The signs in the first half (wars, famines, earthquakes…) are common in every generation. This makes it easy for those who say that these signs represent our time to support their theories. However, the same could be said one hundred, five hundred, and even one thousand years ago! Remember these would be signs that the generation to whom Jesus is speaking would see (Matthew 23:36; 24:33. Note all of the uses of ” you” and ” your” in the passage). He is not talking about events two thousand plus years down the road but events they would witness. He does use ” your” in Matthew 24:42 in talking about the end of the world but in the context of always being ready for Jesus’ return. Even Jesus did not know the time of His second coming, it could be in their lifetime (Mark 13:32). Parallel Accounts: Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-8. Commentary4 And Jesus answered and said to them: ” Take heed that no one deceives you.” Jesus first exhorted them to be vigilant. Turbulent times were coming and only Jesus could help them see through the deception. Truth is the greatest weapon against deception. Do not take what any man says, including me, but study it yourself to discern truth and error, Acts 17:11. Know the truth and you will not be deceived.
I. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ” I am the Christ,” and will deceive many. During this time, many would claim to be the Messiah. As the Jews looked for a physical kingdom and a warlike Messiah to deliver them from the Romans, evil men would arise to fulfill their expectations. Josephus, the historian, in his book, The Wars of the Jews (hereafter Wars), wrote of rebels who had followings preceding the destruction of Jerusalem (Wars 2:3:5; and 20:5:1). Paul, in Acts 21:37-38, was confused with one who raised an insurrection and led many assassins into the wilderness. Christians must only follow the true Christ and leave these false Messiahs to go to their destruction. See also verses 23-27.6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. National struggles and rumors of war would precede Jerusalem’s destruction. Every generation witnesses great struggles between nations. The prediction here is not a general warning of war, but of conflict close to, and including, Judah.. Tacitus, the Roman historian, wrote, ” The history on which I am entering is that of a period rich in disasters, terrible withbattles, torn by civil struggles, horrible even in peace. Four emperors fell by the sword; there were three civil wars, more foreign wars, and often both at the same time.” (The Histories 1:2) Wars, previously mentioned, records the wars, actual and rumored, that preceded the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. Earthquakes would also precede the destruction. Earthquakes occur every day all over the world. J. Marcellus Kik, in An Eschatology Of Victory noted ” And as to earthquakes, many are mentioned by writers during a period just previous to 70 A.D. There were earthquakes in Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colosse, Campania, Rome, and Judea. It is interesting to note that the city of Pompeii was much damaged by an earthquake occurring on February 5, 63 A.D.” There was an earthquake in Jerusalem at the death of Jesus (Matthew 27:51-54) and at His resurrection (Matthew 28:2). There was also an earthquake in Philippi (Acts 16:26). It seemed that the earth feared the destruction coming upon the Jews; their destruction was a shadow of the destruction that the earth itself will suffer in the end. Famines and pestilences in various places would also portend Jerusalem’s destruction. According to David Padfield, pestilence usually attended famine. In any generation, one can find famine and pestilence somewhere in the world. Before the destruction of Jerusalem, a great famine affected Judea. In Acts 11:27, Agabus foretold the great famine during the reign of Claudius Caesar. Paul urged the Christians in Asia to provide relief to fellow saints suffering in Judea. Josephus, in The Antiquities Of The Jews 20:2:5, wrote of the great famine that afflicted Jerusalem. Tacitus, in The Annals 12:43, wrote of repeated shocks of an earthquake and the shortage of corn that many considered a supernatural warning. These would not be the actual tools of destruction but would warn of greater destruction to come. Jesus compared the signs to labor pains preceding the birth of a child. When the contractions come, one knows the birth is near.9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Many historians, including Luke in the book of Acts, record the persecution and suffering of the Christians under persecution. The parallel account in Mark 13:9 adds that they will stand before rulers and kings. The book of Acts recorded the persecution of Peter, John, Stephen, James, and Paul who all appeared before rulers for their testimony of the gospel. The great persecution under
II. the Jews and the Roman Empire made the Christians outlaws who scattered everywhere preaching the gospel (Acts 8:1)” Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be save. There are many New Testament warnings about false prophets (2 Timothy 3:13-14; 2 Peter 2:13; 1 John 4:1-3). Many would leave the truth because of the prevalence of the false teaching and the power of ungodliness. Yet, as always, a remnant of individuals would remain faithful to God. Luke 21:19 encourages them to patiently preserve their souls.14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Curiously, many use this verse to prove that the events predicted in Matthew 24 have not taken place and does not apply to the destruction of Jerusalem. Yet one hasto go no further than the New Testament to see the fulfillment of this sign. In Colossians 1:5-6, 23, Paul wrote that the gospel went ” into the whole world” and was ” preached to every creature under heaven.” Either Paul, who was selected by Jesus and inspired by the Holy Spirit, was misinformed by the Spirit or this is the most solid evidence we have of the spread of the gospel to ” all” the world. Some question the accuracy of Paul’s statement, however, I will listen to the inspired apostle before I will ever give heed to uninspired men who question him. The book of Acts only focuses on a few of the apostles. All of the apostles had the commission to take the gospel to the world. We do not have the records of the others but tradition tells of their work in various far regions. With the apostles, the scattered believers (Acts 8:1), and evangelists such as Philip (Acts 8) it is easy to see how this could be fulfilled. 15” Therefore when you see the’abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand)” The warning to ” run for the
- hills” was the ” abomination of desolation” mentioned by Daniel in Daniel 9. There is much speculation about the ” abomination” but let the Bible interpret. In the parallel account, Luke 21:20, Jesus told them to flee to the mountains when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies. Therefore, the ” abomination of desolation” is the sight of the armies surrounding Jerusalem like eagles around a carcass. In addition, Josephus noted that abominable men frequently gathered in the temple before the Romans destroyed it. He recorded the weeping of a man named Agnus who praised God that he would not live to see the sacred places ” trodden upon at random, filled with the feet of these blood-shedding villains” (Wars 4:3:10).16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ” Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. When the Christians saw the armies approaching Jerusalem, they were to flee with such haste that if they were on top of the house they were to make their way to the wall and escape. If they were out in the field, they should run to the mountains for there would not be time to get their belongings. History records that when the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem they mysteriously drew back for a time. Some of the Jews interpreted this as Gods care for them but those who knew the words of Jesus fled from the city to Pella, a city north of Jerusalem in the mountains. Soon the armies returned to besiege Jerusalem and eventually destroyed it.21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved;