Matthew Ch 24 Vs 1-31 - The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age (Episode 510)

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The End Signs (Matthew 24:1-31)

 The Bible is full of prophecy, it predicts the end of the age, and tells us of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Well, if that is so wouldn’t it be helpful if it would also tell if there was a way we would know how all of that is approaching, are there signs of the end of the age. Well, it’s rather interesting that you would think that because none other than the disciples of Jesus Christ asked that very question and Jesus answered them. As a matter of fact, he took that opportunity to not only answer their question but to expand the discussion into a whole lengthy sermon on not only those event but on prophecy itself, and he did that on a place called The Mount of Olives. This is why this passage is commonly referred to as the Olivet Discourse’, and it recorded for us and Matthew chapter 24 and across into Matthew chapter 25.

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24: 1-4)

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. and then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 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. (Matthew 24: 5-14)

The Great Tribulation
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “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. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, su

Chapters

• 1:02 Welcome
• 1:22 Introduction and Reading (Matthew 24: 1-31)
• 7:39 The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age
• 37:37 Farewell

Transcript

The End Signs (Matthew 24:1-31).

 The Bible is full of prophecy, it predicts the end of the age, and tells us of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Well, if that is so wouldn’t it be helpful if it would also tell if there was a way we would know how all of that is approaching, are there signs of the end of the age. Well, it’s rather interesting that you would think that because none other than the disciples of Jesus Christ asked that very question and Jesus answered them. As a matter of fact, he took that opportunity to not only answer their question but to expand the discussion into a whole lengthy sermon on not only those event but on prophecy itself, and he did that on a place called The Mount of Olives. This is why this passage is commonly referred to as the Olivet Discourse’, and it recorded for us and Matthew chapter 24 and across into Matthew chapter 25.

Clearly this is one of the most important passages in all of the Bible on the subject of prophecy, in fact most bible commentators agree this is the most important passage in the Bible when it comes to studying the events of unfulfilled prophecy than this the “Olivet Discourse”, so in order to get a glimpse of what Jesus said the future is like and to answer the specific question what are the indications that the end of the age and the second coming of Christ is approaching I invite your attention to initially today, Matthew chapter 24.

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24: 1-2)

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age

3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumours 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.

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. 11 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 saved. 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.

The Great Tribulation

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), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 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. 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; but for the [c]elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.

26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

The Coming of the Son of Man

29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His [d]elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Let me begin by suggesting that the passage basically consists of two parts. There is a question that they ask and then there is a long answer which actually extends to the end of chapter 25 but let’s begin by looking at the first couple of verses which just give us, the question.

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

(Matthew 24: 1-2)

You may remember that at the end of chapter 23 they were in the temple complex and Jesus had just had a debate, if you will, with the Pharisees which climaxed with him actually denouncing the Pharisees and saying in essence that the temple would be destroyed as a judgement upon that generation. Ss they were leaving the disciples pointed out to him how beautiful this temple is, as a matter of fact the temple was a one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was built of white marble plated with gold and when the sun shone on it the people could scarcely look at it. The pillars surrounding the temple area were 37 ½ feet high and so thick that three men together could not put their arms around them. Some of the cut stones used to build the walls have been found, at least some of them, been found to be as much as 40 feet in length and they weigh 10 tons each. How the ancients cut those stones and put them in place still baffles people to this day. This was one humongous, magnificent structure and as they were leaving the temple the disciples pointed out to Jesus how magnificent this temple was. His response is to say to them, “Not one stone will be left upon another, they all shall not be thrown down”. Based on the structure of the temple being how I just described it, that is an absolutely amazing statement. They were probably stunned, they were shocked. What do you mean not one stone is going to be left one upon another,  how in the world is that going to happen. The truth of the matter is that did happen because just 40 years later in 70 AD a Roman general called Titus conquered Jerusalem and in the process of conquering Jerusalem the temple was set on fire in order that the gold off the stones. So, the Romans literally dismantled the temple to get the gold, and this was literally fulfilled in 70 AD. As a matter of fact, if you go to Rome till this day there is an arch of Titus that commemorates his conquering of Jerusalem in 70AD. When the disciples heard his answer they we’re shell shocked and it tells us in the next verse.

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”  (Matthew 24: 3)

They’ve left the temple area they’ve crossed the Kidron valley and sitting up on the top of the Mount of Olives and the disciples came to him privately asking him to tell them when this is going to happen an how they will know when it is happening. They just assume that if the temple was going to be destroyed then the end is coming, and if that’s going to happen it must mean that the Lord is coming back. So, they ask a series of questions. 

There are at least three issues involved in what the question they ask. Number one, what is going to become of the temple. Number two, when’s the end going to come and, Number three, what are going to be the sign of the coming of Christ at the end of the age. Those are three issues couched in form of a question, those are the three things they are asking about. Let me make one other comment about their question before we get to the answer.

I want you to look at verse 3 again because it says, when should these things be, what should be the sign of your coming at the end of the age. In English it just says coming, but as researched this passage I discovered that there are different Greek words for coming and the one used here means not just the arrival but to come with the idea that once you get there you’re in the presence of someone. In other words, it’s more the idea of visit, is about arriving somewhere with a purpose. As a matter of fact, this particular Greek word was used of the visit of a king so it's not just that he's coming it's that he's going to arrive that his presence is going to be felt and experienced. Elsewhere in the New Testament this word is translated as “advent” so this is not just any arrival, it’s the coming of the Lord and he’s here for a purpose.

That concept is going to become more and more important as we move through these two chapters over the next couple of days. So just tuck that in the back of your mind and we’re going to dig that out again later. But at this point Jesus’ response is to tell them that the Lord coming, and the temple is going to be destroyed.

The second part of the passage which goes on for the rest of this chapter is the answer(s) to their questions. We have a problem the answer that Jesus gives is extremely unusual as a matter of fact that’s the very phrase some use when they try to unravel all this, end times stuff. I remember having a discussion years ago with a very educated Pastor and he said that that’s one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament passage to interpret, outside the book of revelation, but it was uniquely challenging because at the same time it was one of the most important passages in the New Testament. With that in mind, I’m going to give you a sort of an introduction to what’s here. I’d like to begin by saying that there are three basic interpretations of what of what we read here. 

Number one is that everything here was fulfilled by what happened in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed. But there is a bit of a problem with that interpretation. Jump ahead to verse 21 and it says, “and then there will be great tribulation such as not been since the beginning of the world”. It seems to me that that little statement refutes the idea that this could all have happened in AD70, What happened then was indeed a catastrophe, there were a lot of people killed and the city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple was burned to the ground. But you couldn’t say that that it was the end of things, just read the Book of Revelation and you’ll get the answer to that. So, that in my opinion is not the entirely correct interpretation. 

The second major approach to the interpretation of this passage  is that it refers to what some call, “the inner advent”. That is covers the era from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ and then how you make all these things fit. What then happened the last 2000 years depends on who you read the passage. The problem with that interpretation is in verse 29 it says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from heaven the powers of the heaven will be shaken and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the heavens”…. and so forth. In other words what is being described here is clearly not something that stretched over hundreds and thousands of years but something that happens immediately prior to the second coming of Christ.

That brings me to the third view, and that is that this passage is describing a tribulation, just prior to the second coming of Christ. Now let me show you a couple of things in the passage that lead me to that conclusion, look at verse 8, and he says, “all these are the beginning of sorrows”. In other words, he is clearly describing a period that has a beginning and has an end, that clear enough. Then when we get down to verse 15, it says, “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet”.  You won’t be able to understand that unless you go back to Daniel and the abomination of desolation in that book. Daniel speaks of it three times, once in chapter nine, once in Chapter 11, and once in chapter 12. We know from Chapter 9 that the abomination of desolation takes place in the middle of a seven-year period of adversity. So verse 15 of Matthew chapter 24 alerts us that Jesus has been talking about a period that lasts for seven years often called “the tribulation”. The tribulation lasts seven years and verse 29 says, immediately after the tribulation the Lord’s coming back. 

To put all that together very simply the third view is that this is talking about the tribulation. That lasts for seven years just prior to the second coming of Christ. That’s my view because of what I just showed you. Having said that we have still got a bit of a problem, because all these possible interpretation in most people’s minds seems to mean they have to accept one interpretation or another. I don’t have time to go into a lot of detail but let me just say this if you understand biblical prophecy and that is mainly in the Old Testament you will know that very often a local situation is a foreshadowing of a future situation. For example, in Isaiah Chapter 7, there is no doubt a local situation concerning the birth of a baby, and yet that gets projected into the future and a virgin shall conceive and that becomes a prediction of the birth of Christ. 

It’s not unusual for a local situation to be projected and it’d be an image or an example or an illustration of something that is to come, that’s very common in biblical prophecy and I think that’s what happens here, it is called a foreshadowing, the local immediate event is a foreshadowing of what i to come. I think in a sense both are in total accord of the Olivet discourse and the destruction of Jerusalem does indeed foreshadows the tribulation. One author has said these coming events cast their shadow beforehand, yet straight ahead lies in yesterday and that’s sort of what that concept before or foreshadowing is about.

That being the case, let’s look at the answer, all I’ve said thus far is they’ve asked when Jerusalem is going to be destroyed that’s answer is what’s going to happen is going to be the sign of the end of the age. It is also going to be the sign of my coming back. But Matthew adds that’s there also going to be a great tribulation. 

For a moment,  let’s go back to verse 4, and ask what’s that tribulation going to be like and how will it start to manifest. And jesus warns not to let anybody deceive you, because many are going to come in my name saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many. In the tribulation people are going to come you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. Have you ever heard that said on the news or in the pulpit. But remember he is warning about the pre-signs of the tribulation to come. But look, he says, see that you be not troubled as all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. He then says that nation shall rise against nation, Kingdom against Kingdom, there will be famine and earthquakes in various places. Have you ever heard that on the news or from the pulpit or heard anybody preach earthquakes are a sign of the second coming.

All these are the beginning of sorrows, the Greek word translated sorrows, literally means birth pangs. I cannot identify with this I’ve never had the experience, but the first pangs aren’t as severe as the later pangs and to me suggests a growing intensity. Jesus is saying this is just the beginning of the pain there’s more to come.

Verse nine give more details of the tribulation to come. It talks about being hated by claiming the name of Jesus and people offending and  betraying one another. They’ll hate one another and how false prophets will rise up and deceive many people. But ultimately this is talking about and lawlessness and the love of God by many will grow cold. As lawlessness increases love decrease, as sin and selfishness increases, sensitivity to our fellow human beings decreases. But then in the verses that follow it tells us that he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Let me just make a side but important comment. I have heard some people talk about this verse meaning that you have got to endure to the end, or you won’t get into heaven. Have you ever had anybody say you got to endure or can’t go to heaven, wrong, dangerous, and wrong. That’s not what this verse is saying at all, first just look at the context, it’s talking about the tribulation, but listen to this the word the ending this passage is used three times and, in every case, it’s talking about the end of the tribulation. He’s not talking about the end of your life he’s talking about the end of the tribulation, so this has nothing to do with salvation and has everything to do with the tribulation. Verse 13 says, if you endure,  resist the false prophets the lawlessness, the persecution, the betrayal, then you you’re going to be saved from the judgments that are going to fall upon those who are the movers and causers of the tribulation. This has nothing to do with salvation, and has to do with enduring the tribulation and being saved from the judgment that’s coming upon the earth.

In summary, the tribulation is going to be characterized by false Christs, war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, persecution, and the worldwide preaching of the gospel still going on in the midst of it. Then in verse 15 he says that when you see “The abomination of desolation”, spoken of by Daniel, standing in the holy place.

I mentioned earlier this is spoken of in Daniel Chapter 9 and it’s clearly something that’s going to happen in the but that it is something that already happened in history  when Antiochus Epiphanies conquered Jerusalem and he put a statue of Zeus in the holy of holies. Remember what I told you about a local situation foreshadowing a future situation obviously this is another case in point the abomination of desolation in the first century is a foreshadowing of what’s going to come in the middle of the tribulation. Paul in the book of second Thessalonians says that the Antichrist is going to stand in the temple of God declaring that he is God. Daniel Chapter 9 makes clear that this abomination of desolation is in the middle of the tribulation period but please note Jesus has described this as a period of time that has a beginning and an end. Let’s see what’s going to happen in the great tribulation.

The first thing Jesus says is if you’re in Jerusalem at the time leave, leave Jerusalem he says in verse 16, let those who are in Judah flee to the mountains,  if you’re in the field don’t go back the house get your coat just get out of town and God forbid that you’re pregnant because it’s going to be hard for you to leave, and also pray it’s not the winner so that your escape is not inhibited by snow.

You’ve got to get out of town but remember he’s talking to the people who live in the middle of the tribulation. What happens from verse 15 down through verse 28 is the great tribulation, such as the world has never seen or ever going to see again. In fact, it’s going to be so bad that if God didn’t halt it nobody would survive, But he also warns if at that time somebody says to you look here is Christ, don’t be deceived. Jesus said don’t be deceived, he started the passage with a call for us to be discerning and ends by reminding us not to be deceived.

Paul also says that Second Thessalonians chapter two. Jesus says look I don’t want you to be deceived because nice talking to people are going to come along saying ,I am Christ, but desert believe it, because he says, false Christ and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible even the elect.

Don’t believe it it’s going to be obvious as the lightning that flashes from the east to the West but wherever there are carcases there are Eagles, and the Greek word translated Eagles should probably be translated as vultures meaning scavenging birds. 

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.  (Matthew 24: 29-31)

The second coming of Christ is going to be very dramatic it’s going to be very spectacular, the lights of heaven are going to fall, and we’re going to see the bright shining glory of Jesus Christ come. Everyone on the planet is going to witness this and this suggest to me that his arrival will be gradual but  relentless, he’s coming but it will takes 24 hours for him to fully arrive, during which time with the rotation of the earth everyone will be able to witness it individually. And when he gets here he’s going to gather together the elect from the four corners that have been saved during the tribulation. 

I have got much more to say which will take up after this but this part of the passage says three things are going to happen. There’s coming a tribulation, a great tribulation and then there’s the second coming of  I’m going to unpack these verses more in the next chapter, but if we glance ahead, we see a parable of the fig tree and when the branches are ready already become tender and put forth leaves. Know that summer is just around the corner. I’ll explain that in more detail tomorrow, but for right now I just want you to see that Jesus says that a restoration is coming. In telling you all about this end of time stuff remember, I know what he’s going to say in the rest of this chapter, and in the next chapter which is going to influence what I’m about to say now. 

Our knowledge of the future ought to dictate the present. We all know that we should do all things today based on how we  know the future will work out. I could preach on a whole bunch of things we ought to do today based on how we know our future will work out. For us, knowing what’s happening in the future should make us think about what changes do I need to make in the present to prepare for meeting the Lord. Cause one way or the other it's going to happen, and it is going to happen in your lifetime. What I mean by that ois, one day your life is going to end and then you will be in the presence of the Lord, or one day he will return while you are still alive, and wither way you are going to be in the presence of the Lord. You’re going to meet the Lord in the future, right, but given the fact that this is going to happen to all of us, it should make us stop and think what changes I need to make in the present, knowing what I know about the future.

Knowing the future should motivate us to make radical changes in the present, and I suggest that after reading this you do that, you sit down and say knowing what I know, what changes do I need to make to be ready for the future. Because it’s coming, and it may be here sooner than you think.