Bible Study series: Matthew 24:1-35. This coming is not his glorious Second Coming, which has not happened yet. No. This coming took place when he said it would: his generation. Rome destroyed the city and its temple in A.D. 70. It would have been strange if he had not predicted such a monumental and shattering event in the religion of Moses.

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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!

Matthew 24

In this post, links are provided for further study.

Let’s begin.

Scripture: Matthew 24:1-35

¹ And Jesus, leaving the temple, was departing, and his disciples came up to him, to point out to him the buildings of the temple. ² But in reply, he said to them, “You see all these things, don’t you? I tell you the truth: a stone will in no way be left here on another stone which shall not be thrown down!”

³ As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came up to him privately, saying, “Tell us. When will these things be? And what will be the sign of your visitation [parousia] and the close [synteleia] of the age?”

⁴ And in reply, Jesus said to them, “See to it that no one leads you astray. ⁵ For many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ!’ and will lead many astray. ⁶ You will hear of wars and reports of wars. Watch that you do not be alarmed, for this must happen. However, this is not yet the end. ⁷ For nations will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ But all these things are the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. ¹⁰ Then many will be caused to stumble and betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and deceive many. ¹² Because lawlessness is multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end—this one will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole world as a witness to every nation, and then the end will come.

¹⁵ Then, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place”—let the reader understand!— ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, ¹⁷ and let the one on the roof not go down and take things from his house, ¹⁸ and let the one in the field not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ Woe to those who are pregnant and are nursing in those days! ²⁰ Pray that your flight might not happen in the winter or on the Sabbath. ²¹ For at that time there will be great tribulation which has never happened from the beginning of the world until now, and nor will surely ever happen again. ²² And unless those days were shortened, nobody would be saved. But because of the elect, those days will be shortened.

²³ At that time if someone says to you, ‘Look!’ Here is the Christ!’ or ‘Here he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and produce great signs and wonders in order to deceive many, and if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See! I have told you in advance.

²⁶ If therefore they tell you, ‘Look, he is in the desert!’ do not go out. ‘Look! He is in the storeroom!’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For just as the lightning comes out from the east and shines to the west, in this way will the visitation [parousia] of the Son of Man be. ²⁸ For where the carcass is, the vultures also gather.

²⁹ But immediately after the tribulation of those days,

The sun shall darken
And the moon shall not give off its light [Is. 13:10; Ezek. 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15]
And the stars shall fall from the heaven,
And the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. [Is. 34:4; Haggai 2:6; 21]

³⁰ And at that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will mourn and ‘see the Son of Man coming on clouds of heaven’ [Is. 19:1-4] ³¹ And he will send out his angels with a great trumpet and gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

³² From the fig tree, learn the parable: when its branch becomes already tender and produces leaves, you recognize that summer is near. ³³ In this way, you also, when you see all these things, recognize that it is near, at the doors. ³⁴ I tell you the truth: this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away.” (Matt. 24:1-35)

Comments:

1-2:

Using two verbs, Matthew really emphasizes Jesus leaving and departing from the temple. He is making a break from it, for he is about to predict its destruction (vv. 4-35). Then he will talk about his Second Coming (24:36-25:46). Jesus is actually following his denunciation discourse from 23:1 to right now. The disciples are not taking Jesus on a guided tour, for they had seen the temple before.

Their real question seems to be: Why would you condemn such a religious structure like this when it embodies in a glorious way everything Moses could only dream of in his temple laws in Exodus and Leviticus? However, his answer is firm. The Old Regime its religious center—the temple—has to be toppled and make room for a new one: the Messiah’s kingship and the global church. Jewish Christians in Matthew’s community have to join it and leave behind the old system.

“I tell you the truth”: The authoritative formula emphasizes pronouncements which are noteworthy and will be surprising or uncomfortable to the listener.

Word Study: Truth

The clause may serve as the first part of an inclusio or the first bookend to the other time it is found all the way in 34, when Jesus says that this generation shall not pass away until all these things take place, between v. 2 and v. 35, all of which are about the destruction of the temple.

“shall in no way be left”: it is a double negative in Greek, so it is emphatic. It could be translated as “shall certainly not be left” “shall not—not!—be left.”

3-35:

For my exegesis of this passage, please go to this post:

Matthew 24:4-35 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple

For a fuller picture of the Olivet Discourse and the parallel passages and an explanation as to why vv. 26-28 is a temporary interlude about the Second Coming, which will be much greater in scope, than the coming-in-judgment on the temple, see this post:

Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 and 17 in Parallel Columns Are Finally Clear

And scroll down to Unit 12.

It may be difficult to believe because of the dominance of dispensationalism for the past 100-150 years, but the signs in vv. 4-35 are not for us. They were about Jesus’ coming or ascension to the Father and then the coming-in-judgment over the temple. The disciples of Jesus’s generation could see and experience them and did. In contrast, what is the sign of the Second Coming (parousia)? There is none—unless it is the spiritual and moral climate of our times, just as it was before the flood in the time of Noah (see the next major section). But let’s not see a “climate” as an observable and experienced sign in the same way as the ones predicted in vv. 4-35. No one can flee a moral decline, but the disciples could flee the coming Roman army.

However, I would like to point out that the micro-judgment on the temple in his coming-in-judgment on it (24:4-35) prefigures the macro-judgment on the world at the closing synteleia (close) (25:31-46). The first and smaller judgment is a paradigm or pattern of the second and global one. But the two are not identical. The micro-judgment happened two thousand years ago; the truly global one has not yet happened for the past two thousand years (and counting).

“coming on clouds”: refers to God’s judgment in Isaiah 19:1-4, which is about Assyria conquering Egypt. As God used Assyria to conquer Egypt, God is about to use the Roman army to conquer Jerusalem and destroy its temple.

A prophecy against Egypt:

Now Jesus returns invisibly to Jerusalem and the Father vindicates his Son. The temple will be destroyed.

And no, v. 30 does not refer to the grand and glorious Second Coming when the whole earth will be overtaken by his glorious appearing.

Once again, see this post for many passages about cosmic disasters and judgment on a city or empire:

Cosmic Disasters = Apocalyptic Imagery for Judgment and Major Change

For my exegesis of this passage, please go to this post:

Matthew 24:4-35 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple

For a fuller picture of the Olivet Discourse and the parallel passages and an explanation as to why vv. 27-29 is a temporary interlude about the Second Coming, which will be much greater in scope, than the coming-in-judgment on the temple, see this post:

Matt 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 and 17 in Parallel Columns Are Finally Clear

And scroll down to Unit 12.

Let’s summarize:

Jesus is continuing his discourse begun in 24:1-3. The disciples asked two questions in 24:3.

(1). “When will these things be?”

The context indicates that this question pertains to the destruction of the temple, which they had just admired. But he predicts its destruction. He answered the first question in 24:4-35 and concludes by saying this (Jesus’s) generation will not pass away until all those things happen (24:34).

(2). “And what will be the sign of your visitation [parousia] and the close [synteleia] of the age?”

Jesus restates the word parousia (pronounced pah-roo-SEE-ah or pah-ROO-see-ah)or Second Coming in 24:37 and 39. His answer to this second question has gone from 24:36 all the way to 25:46, when the age will be closed out or wrapped up.

Here are the relevant verses from Matt. 24:36-39, so you can see the noun parousia:

³⁶ But concerning that Day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, except the Father alone. ³⁷ For just as the days of Noah were, in this way the visitation [parousia] of the Son of Man will be. ³⁸ For as just as they were in the days before the flood, munching and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, ³⁹ they also did not know until the flood came and took everyone away, and in this way shall the visitation [parousia] of the Son of Man be. (Matt. 24:36-39, emphasis added).

I could have just as easily translated the Greek noun parousia as “Second Coming.” Jesus is in the process of saying there is no sign of the Second Coming; instead, it will happen on a day or hour that no one knows. So be prepared!

Please see this post for a fuller look at Matthew 25:

Matthew 24:36 to 25:46–From Second Coming to New Messianic Age

So what is the parousia? It means, basically, “to be there” or “to arrive.” The best imagery of it says that an emperor arrives in a capital or province and the dignitaries go out to meet him and escort him back into their city. They don’t board his ship and sail away for three and a half or seven years. Instead, he has arrived. He is present with them and reached his goal—their capital city.

What Does ‘Parousia’ Mean?

However, the word appears in v. 4 and v. 27. So the section from v. 27 to v. 29 may be an interruption to the coming-in-judgment on Jerusalem and the temple and describes the Second Coming. Or the parousia in that verse can be translated as a “visitation” of the risen Lord as he judges the the city and its temple.

Coming in clouds:

These verses refer to God’s judgment in Isaiah 19:1-4, which is about Assyria conquering Egypt. As God used Assyria to conquer Egypt, God is about to use the Roman army to conquer Jerusalem and destroy its temple.

A prophecy against Egypt:

Now Jesus returns invisibly to Jerusalem and the Father vindicates his Son. The temple will be destroyed.

And no, vv. 29-30 do not refer to the grand and glorious Second Coming when the whole earth will be overtaken by his glorious appearing.

Once again, see this post for many passages about cosmic disasters and judgment on a city or empire:

Cosmic Disasters = Apocalyptic Imagery for Judgment and Major Change

GrowApp for Matt. 24:1-35

1. To be a a good and effective disciple, you do not have to figure out the details of eschatology (study of the end times). Instead, just have to be ready for tough times. How do you toughen up for trials and hardships, as we see in Nigeria, China, or Iran?

2. Jesus ends this part of his discourse with the reliability of his words. How have you depended on his word for salvation in your life?

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9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel

1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel

2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels

14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels

1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series

SOURCES AND MORE

To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.

Matthew 24