Dallas Burdette: March 7, 1998

Thrust Statement: The end of the age of apostate Jerusalem is near.

Scripture Reading: Matthew 24:1—25:13

Matthew 24 is on the lips of every Christian as he or she contemplates the "last days." For many Christians, the phrase last days is interpreted as the end of the world. It is not uncommon for Christians to cite Jesus’ comments about "wars and rumors of wars" to suggest that the modern events of "wars and rumors of wars" signal the end of the Christian age. On the one hand, there are many believers who interpret Matthew 24:1-35 as describing the destruction of Jerusalem and verses 36-51 as picturing the end of the world. But, on the other hand, there are those who interpret the whole of Matthew 24:1-51 as depicting the end of the Jewish age as culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem, not the final return of our Lord Jesus.

There are few elements in the Bible that present more problems for Christians than the eschatological passages in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the book of Revelation. The graphic language employed by Jesus is frequently applied literally by many interpreters, and, as a result of wooden literalness, many wild and bizarre interpretations are concocted to uphold the so-called "rapture" interpretation and the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, and the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth. One objective in this sermon is to help each of us not to strain and stretch the text beyond the original intent of the author. We become disloyal interpreters whenever we depart from the original and natural meaning of the text. Every interpreter, as much as possible, must be conscious of his perception and not allow his expectations to guide the questions that he asks. This is more easily said than done!

Before we embark upon an analysis of Matthew 24, I would like to call attention to the fact that God is in control, not man. Jesus, in this Olivet Discourse, asserts that God controls the direction of history. He called His disciples to be patient and to proclaim His good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus (Matthew 24:14). As one reflects upon the nearing end of apostate Jerusalem, one cannot help but reflect upon the righteousness of God in his determination to bring about the punishment of those who rejected Jesus as God’s anointed One. It is in this vein that Paul reflects upon Matthew 24 when he writes to the Thessalonians.

Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you (1 Thessalonians 1:4-10).

Since the Jewish nation, as a whole, rejected the "righteousness of God" made available through Jesus (Romans 10:1-4), then, God determined to obliterate the Jewish nation with its temple and bring in a "new heaven and new earth" (Revelation 21:1). This nation fought against Christ and His messengers (This rejection of His messengers is what the Parable of the Sheep and Goats [Matthew 25:31-46] is all about.). This display of the righteousness of God in Matthew 24 is the same righteous judgment that Paul also develops in his Roman letter (see chapters 1 and 2) concerning God’s righteous indignation against man’s sinful behavior.

Out of this eschatological message of Jesus, one comes away with an awareness that ethical behavior is "part and parcel" of the message of the gospel. For one not to "obey the gospel" is to neglect the ethical behavior in his or her Christian walk. It is this concept that Paul also develops in Romans 6:17-18: "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." It appears, so it seems to me, that the "form of teaching" and obedience to the gospel both entail ethical standards of behavior for the people of God. This kind of behavior is something that the religious leaders did not possess and, as a result, did not know God.

As one reads Matthew 24, one quickly discovers that Israel paved the way for her own destruction in Jerusalem in AD 70. She had relentlessly persecuted God’s messengers and His people as a whole, especially His messengers. The book of Acts is an account of the persecutions that Jesus warned His disciples about before it happened (Matthew 10:17-26). In Jesus renunciation of the religious hypocrites for their persecution of His prophets and wise men and teachers, He captures their utter destruction with the following words: "And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation" (23:35-36). Jesus says that these events will all come upon "this generation." Then, Jesus, once more, begins to elaborate in more detail what he had just said:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’" (23:37-39).

God is going to judge the unrighteous. Jesus sets forth this same principle of judgment in His Sermon on the Mount (5:1—7:29). Following His departure from the temple, His disciples call attention to the magnificence of the temple and its buildings (24:1). He then proceeds to point out that "not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down" (24:2). Luke also records Jesus’ prediction of the desolation of Jerusalem (Luke 21). But in the Gospel of Luke, this desolation of Jerusalem is the third time that Jesus makes reference to this utter devastation of Jerusalem and its temple (13:31-35; 19:41-44). In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, one discovers that God breaks once more into the history of Israel. This breaking in of God into history is set forth in apocalyptic language.

The disciples immediately wanted to know when these things would occur: "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3). As to when all this would occur, Jesus says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (24:36). But He did forewarn them of signs that would precede the end of the Jewish age (the old heaven and earth). Some of these signs included many coming in His name and claiming "I am the Christ," "wars and rumors of wars," "famines and earthquakes," persecution of His disciples, and the love of many growing cold (24:4-13).

In spite of all these signs, nevertheless, the end is not yet. Before the end of the age, "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached," says Jesus, "in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (24:14). As the end of the age, not the end of the world, draws near, Jesus sets forth another piece of the puzzle to help them discern the signs of the time:

"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. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened (24:15-22).

Both Matthew and Mark (13:14-20) speak of "the abomination that causes desolation." But Luke rephrases the events that would follow the natural catastrophes and other signs:

When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21:20-24).

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus forewarned His disciples about the impending destruction on Jerusalem—"When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near." He told them to flee whenever they saw the approaching armies of Rome. They were not even to take the time to go back into their houses to get their belongings (Matthew 24:17). Get out immediately, said Jesus. This was a time of punishment for their rejection of Jesus and His messengers. Apostate Jerusalem had to be taken out of the way to make way for the "new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1), that is to say, the church, which our Lord purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). Paul, in his Galatian letter, speaks of "the Jerusalem that is above" as being our mother (Galatians 4:26). With the final overthrow of apostate Jerusalem, John says,

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:1-4).

All of these events transpired in the fulfillment of Scripture. Unfaithfulness is something that God does not tolerate. Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount, after rebuking the religious leaders, says that it is "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). Jerusalem will become a trampled city.

Jesus, following the foretelling of the total destruction of Jerusalem, describes the transpiring events in apocalyptic language, which is often associated with the final return of Christ. But this forbidding rhetoric is descriptive of the national desolation of the city turned harlot, not the end of the world; it is also expressive of the coming judgment of Christ upon those who refused Him as the anointed One of God. Listen to the poetic language of Jesus as He describes this out and out wreckage of this sinful and wicked nation:

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 (Matthew 24:29-32).

At first glance, this apocalyptic language appears to describe the final coming (sometimes referred to as the Second Coming of Christ) in judgment upon the wicked in general. But a close reading of the Matthean text with the Lukan narrative reveals another story. Luke gives additional comments that Matthew does not record. For instance, "They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 24:25). One should reflect on "trampled on by the Gentiles" before reading the apocalyptic language that follows. There is a great deal of similarity between Matthew and Luke, but still, Luke gives a slight change in reading that sheds additional light on this difficult pericope (section).

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near (Luke 21:25-28).

"The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" refers to His coming in judgment on Jerusalem, not the final coming. In essence, this "coming" is the Second Coming of Christ in judgment upon spiritual Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus had previously warned and told His disciples about this specific coming in His kingdom:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom (Matthew 16:24-28).

Jesus refers to this trampling of Jerusalem by the Gentiles as the Son of Man coming "in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done" (16:27). In Matthew 24, which describes the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus once more depicts this overthrow of this wicked nation as the Son of Man coming in His glory: "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 sign of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory" (24:30). Jesus even concludes His judgment on the religious leaders with this reference to His coming: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats" (25:31-32). This appears, so it seems to me, to be the warning of Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians:

All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).

The language that Paul employs appears to be a reminiscence of the words spoken by our Lord Jesus. The poetic language that Jesus uses is similar to the poetic language that Isaiah uses to prophesy against Babylon:

See, the day of the LORD is coming
—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
and destroy the sinners within it.
¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations
will not show their light.
he rising sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the LORD Almighty,
in the day of his burning anger (Isaiah 13:9-13).

After speaking of the "rising sun" being darkened, Isaiah says that the "moon will not give its light" and that "the heavens tremble and the earth will shake from its place." Then, following this invigorating language, he cries out once more about what all this means: "Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah" (13:19). This overthrow of Babylon is described as "the day of the Lord" (13:9). Peter, in his description of the downfall of Jerusalem, also describes this punishment as a "day of the Lord."

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:10-13).

With the complete destruction of apostate Jerusalem, John describes the following scene:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true" (Revelation 21:1-5).

When would all these events transpire in Jesus’ eschatological discourse? Listen to Jesus: "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35-36). Jesus had previously said to his disciples, as cited above, that: "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom" (16:28). Jesus warned them of the impending judgment: "How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again" (24:19-21). This is "the day of the Lord" that the author of Hebrews encouraged the Christians to continuously encourage each other not to despair: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).

The three parables that follow the Olivet Discourse are a blanket condemnation of the religious leaders for their rejection of Jesus and His messengers. The three parables are: (1) The Parable of the Ten Virgins [Matthew 25:1-13]; (2) The Parable of the Talents [25:14-30]; The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats [25:31-46]. All three of these parables should be read within the context of this eschatological discourse.

CONCLUSION

God is still in control. He was in control then and He is in control now. He has been guiding the history of man since its inception in the Creation. We are now members of "a new heaven and a new earth." Since we have been reconciled to God through Jesus our Lord, we are now "a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are now a part of the redeemed. And because of this blessing, Paul reminds the Corinthians: "As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation" (6:1-2).

Just as the first Christians did not know when the "day of the Lord" would occur in the destruction of Jerusalem, neither do we know "the day of the Lord" in His final coming. May none of us have "a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first" (Hebrews 3:12-14). Do you want to escape the wrath of God? Do you want to escape the dominion of sin? Do you want to escape the curse of law? Do you want to escape judgment? If so, this can only occur "in and through Jesus" (See Romans, chapters 5-8).

I encourage you to not reject God’s Son as the religious leaders did and bring about condemnation. Don’t cast-off God’s grace; Jesus is the only way of salvation. Peter says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). In conclusion, the words of the Master ring out loud and clear: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24).