seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Matthew 24:1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 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?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 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. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 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.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “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.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 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.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes:
- Matthew 24:15 Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11
- Matthew 24:29 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4
- Matthew 24:30 Or the tribes of the land
- Matthew 24:30 See Daniel 7:13-14.
- Matthew 24:33 Or he
- Matthew 24:36 Some manuscripts do not have nor the Son.
This section forms Jesus’ last major discourse and His most prophetic and apocalyptic message of the coming of the end of the world (or the present age). While the message includes a prediction of the imminent fall of Jerusalem, it also goes far beyond to point us to the distant future during which the “times of the Gentiles” will continue until the end of the Great Tribulation.
Jesus then left the city, crossed the Kidron Valley, and went east of Jerusalem to the “mount of Olives” from which He could look down on the temple courtyard. Here His disciples asked Him three questions:
1. “When shall these things be?” the destruction of the temple;
2. “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” Greek parousia, technical term for the coming of the King;
3. “And of the end of the world?” Greek aion, “the age”.
Therefore the entire discourse must be looked upon as answering all three of these questions.
“Many shall come” refers to the parade of false messiahs who have now spanned the centuries of church history and have led many astray into false religious cults. “Wars and rumors of wars” refers to peace being taken from the earth and the constant wars that have continually marked the “age of the Gentiles.”
This is from the easy English site.
His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple: After the destruction of Solomon’s temple, this temple was originally built by Zerubbabel and Ezra (Ezra 6:15). Herod the Great (who ruled when Jesus was born) greatly expanded and improved it. This temple was the center of Jewish life for almost a thousand years – so much so, that it was customary to swear by the temple (Matthew 23:16), and speaking against the temple could be considered blasphemy (Acts 6:13).
Not one stone shall be left here upon another: Some 40 years after Jesus said this, there was a widespread Jewish revolution against the Romans in Palestine, and they enjoyed many early successes. But ultimately Roman soldiers crushed the rebels. In AD 70 Jerusalem was leveled, including the temple – just as Jesus said would happen.
See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet: The kind of things Jesus mentions in this section are not the things that mark specific signs of the end. Things like false messiahs, wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes have certainly marked man’s history since the time of Jesus’ Ascension – but were not specific signs of the end. In effect Jesus said, “Catastrophes will happen, but these will not signal the end.”
They will deliver you to tribulation and kill you: In the period after Jesus ascends to heaven and before He comes again, His disciples should expect to be persecuted. This may make His followers believe the end is near, but this also is not the specific sign of His return.
False prophets will arise and deceive many: In the period after Jesus ascends to heaven and before He comes again, the disciples of Jesus will see many false prophets, and their success. But these also are not the specific signs of His return.
Lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold: In the period after Jesus ascends to heaven and before He comes again, His disciples should expect to see society become worse and worse. But this also is not the specific sign of His return.
his gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come: Jesus also promised that before the end, the gospel would go out to the whole world. The persecution, false prophets, and general downgrade of society would not prevent the spread of the gospel.
When you see the “abomination of desolation”: Essentially, the abomination of desolation speaks of the ultimate desecration of a Jewish temple, the establishment of an idolatrous image in the holy place itself, which will inevitably result in the judgment of God. It is the abomination that brings desolation.
As spoken of by Daniel the prophet: The mention of the abomination of desolation is taken from the book of Daniel. They shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation (Daniel 11:31). This describes a complete desecration of the temple, prefigured by Antiochus Epiphanies in the period between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Whoever reads, let him understand: Here Jesus (assuming that He said these words, and that they were not added by Matthew) directed us again to the central place of understanding, the abomination of desolation. It was almost as if Jesus said, “Don’t miss this. If you don’t understand this, you won’t understand many other things.” And this is exactly the error of many who, with good intentions, misunderstand the plain meaning of the abomination of desolation. Let him understand!
Great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time: Jesus said that this will be the most awful time in all history. When we think of the terrible wars, plagues, famines, and genocide history has seen, this is a sobering statement. When God pours out His wrath on a God rejecting world, it will be truly great tribulation.
Look, here is the Christ: No one should be deceived about the nature of Jesus’ coming. It will not be secret or private, but as plain as lightning that flashes across the sky. But in the midst of such tribulation, there will be a temptation to look for false messiahs (false christs and false prophets will rise).
They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory: This is the fulfillment of the end, indicated by the sign of the abomination of desolation. Since this has not happened yet, neither has the abomination of desolation.
Learn this parable from the fig tree: The fig tree has a regular pattern. The leaves appear, and then summer follows. When you see the leaves, you know summer is near.
Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place: This statement of Jesus is one of the central reasons many have looked for all or most of the events of this chapter to be fulfilled in A.D. 70, approximately 40 years after Jesus spoke these words. Yet as previously argued, to assert this is to greatly stretch the most natural interpretation of the abomination of desolation, of the severity of the great tribulation, of the cosmic signs, and of the coming of the Son of Man. It is better to let those passages have their most natural meaning and to fit this promise into that framework.
There are all kinds of commentaries on these verses. Based on the fact Jesus has warned us that fakes are going to come along.... it's hard to clearly understand based on the words of a human. I don't think we're supposed to be down in the weeds looking at this chapter. Sure... the Temple was destroyed back in 70 A.D. But I also read that before the end comes.... there will be a peace agreement in Israel.... and there will be an earthquake that will make the rocks scream.... mountains will form [volcanos] and other mountains will disappear. None of that has happened yet.Back in Matthew 1:17 it says "Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah." Now check out Matthew 24:34 which says "Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."
I've been thinking about this "generation" thing. When we think of generations.... we link them to time or events. Like I'm part of the baby boomer generation.... while my daughter is from generation X and my granddaughter is from the next one. There is a lot of news about the people who survived World War I and World War II passing away now. There was a guy on the news just yesterday who had survived Pearl Harbor.... and the people in the neighborhood were doing one of those new "birthday drive by" while he and his wife [yep the original] watched. So how many generations has that man lived to see?
Let me reiterate.... I do not believe Jesus was an ordinary human. I believe Jesus was there when the human body was first designed and formed. I believe the time in the desert was a test drive so to speak. I believe Jesus knew the human body intricately..... unlike an ordinary human. I believe when God was designing the trees, He was thinking of the Temple and "talking it out" with His Son. The grain of the wood was designed for optimal strength because one day this type of tree would be harvested for the Temple David and Solomon are going to work on..... and I think that discussion happened way beck in Genesis when God was forming the earth and everything on it and in it.
Jesus and His disciples were looking out over the city.... on the hilltop... the Temple must have caught the light and shone brightly grabbing their attention. I imagine the disciples said "Isn't that beautiful" and Jesus responded saying "yep but it won't always be that way". Jesus knew the day would come when that Temple would be destroyed. Jesus knew the future.... He just didn't have the calendar.
Yesterday a Rabbi was laid to rest in NYC. The procession that followed the casket drew large numbers of Jewish mourners. There were lots of masks in the crowd.... but the police were called.... because the crowd was not following social distancing. The governor of the state..... declared people would be arrested..... mourners. Has our peace been taken?
This is from gotquestions.org.
The Bible uses the term generation in some different ways. Normally, the word generation refers to all the people living at the same time—i.e., the word in the Bible has the same definition that we are used to in modern usage when we speak of Generation X or the Millennial Generation. Normally, a generation is about thirty years; one generation raises the next. However, in some biblical contexts, a “generation” can refer to a longer age or a group of people spanning a longer period of time.
In the New Testament, the Greek genea is the source of generation. It is similar to both Hebrew words. Literally, it means “fathered, birthed, nativity,” referring to a genetic line. But it can be used as both the time frame characterized by a specific cultural attitude and the people in that culture. In Matthew 1:17, the generations are marked off by significant events and people—Abraham, David, Babylonian captivity—like the Hebrew toledot. But when Jesus calls the Pharisees and scribes a “wicked and perverse generation,” He is referring to the culture that they lived in and encouraged (Matthew 12:39; see also Matthew 17:17 and Acts 2:40).
So, when we read “generation” in the Bible, we have to consider the context. Usually, a generation in the Bible is roughly thirty years long or the people living during that time, the same as what we understand a generation to be in everyday talk. But there are times when generation is used poetically to refer to a class of people demarked by something other than age.
I think the generation that won't pass before Jesus returns..... they are the people who put their faith in Jesus the Messiah. I believe I am among the generations that will not perish. Jesus said He was bringing eternal life.... and if He is bringing eternal life [which I believe He is] then this generation will not die.
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Awesome comments. I thank you every day for your Bible study.