Carey's Bible Study Notes
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destruction of jerusalem
life of christ: Matthew 24.1-42
the destruction of jerusalem and the return of christ
introduction
Unfortunately our curriculum skips over Mark 12 and Matthew 22-23. When it does so, it rips the following teaching of Jesus out of context. This has resulted in all sorts of speculation regarding the second coming of Christ. In many ways, this discourse fleshes out Jesus� symbolic destruction of the fig tree, the cleansing of the Temple, and also His rejection of the nation of Israel because she rejected Him. In this chapter Jesus is basically informing the Jewish people that because they had examined Him and rejected Him, He in turn had examined them and was going to reject them.
When you come to these 2 passages, you need to remember the way the Bible looks at prophecy. Many NT scholars claim that these passages have already been historically fulfilled. For example, they claim that Mark 13 and Matthew 24 refer only to the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The problem with this approach is that the return of Christ depicted in these chapters seems to involve more than the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. In 70 AD Jesus simply did not return the way the NT depicts His return. We are still waiting for that return. On the other hand, other NT scholars claim that both of these passages are purely futuristic. They claim that the armies of the world will once again descend upon Jerusalem to destroy her and then at that point Christ will return to save the Jews. This approach flounders on Jesus� prediction that "this generation [the one in Jesus� day] will not pass away until all these things come to pass" (Matt. 24:34). Apparently these chapters experienced some kind of fulfillment within the 30-40 years after Jesus predicted the events of these chapters.
So what approach do we take? Hopefully the one the entire Bible uses. The Bible seems to take the approach that events which occurred in the past give a preview of what is to occur in the future. For example, when God destroyed the world during the days of Noah, He gave us a preview of what is to happen at the end of history. At the end of history, God will once more judge and destroy the whole world. The only difference will be that whereas God destroyed the world with water in Noah�s day, He will destroy it with fire on the last day. Another example is that of God saving His people through Moses at the Red Sea. When Jesus walks upon the water to save His disciples, He is claiming that once more God is moving upon the surface of the waters to save His people. This time though instead of saving His people from mere mortal enemies like the Egyptians, He is saving us from sin, Satan, and death�our true enemies. We know that history repeats itself. It�s just that when God�s history repeats itself, it does so in a far more dynamic and dramatic way the second time than it did the first.
preface to the discourse (Matthew 24.1-2)
Jesus� debates with the Jewish religious leaders are over. He has exposed them for what they really are, and yet they have refused to repent and acknowledge that He is God�s Messiah and Son. All that remains is for them to murder Jesus by using the judicial system to crucify Him. As Jesus leaves the city, He laments over the fate of Jerusalem.
Once more Jesus is operating on one plane while the disciples are operating on another. While Jesus weeps over the ultimate fate of Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37-39 ), the disciples are taken with the splendid buildings which make up the Temple compound. Some of the stones measure 36 feet by 12 feet by 8 feet. Marble covers most of the structure with gold lacing it. In the morning the eastern sun would reflect off the gold, thereby blinding the person looking at the structure. It really is an impressive structure, and the disciples point out to Jesus just how impressed they really are.
Jesus though is not impressed. This Temple which was supposed to serve as the place to bring others to God and to Himself, actually is now the headquarters for His enemies who are intent on destroying Him. Beautiful externally as it was, it was very shortly about to be destroyed. In fact, the destruction will be so total that not one stone will be left sitting upon another.
Some have refused to see this prophecy fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. They claim that the Romans did leave some stones sitting upon others. In response to this, the number of stones left sitting upon each other are very few in comparison to the number they pulled down. According to historians, Titus, the Roman general who engineered the destruction of Jerusalem, had wanted to save the Temple because of its beauty; however, fire had broken out in the Temple compound, burning up the wood beams in the buildings, thereby weakening the structure. He felt there was no other option than to destroy it because it had become unsafe. Most of the stones which he left standing were not actually individual stones but the side of the mountain carved to look like stones. Neither does the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD exhaust the meaning of this prediction. The calamity of 70 AD gives a preview of a future, even more devastating calamity which will one day engulf Jerusalem.
preliminary events to the second coming (Matthew 24.3-14)
After Jesus and His disciples leave the Temple compound, they cross the Kidron Valley and ascend the Mount of Olives on their way to Bethany. At some point on the Mount of Olives, Jesus stops with His disciples to survey Jerusalem. The disciples take this occasion to question Jesus further about His comments. They ask 2 questions: (1) when these things will be and (2) what the sign of Your coming and the end of the age will be. Note that the disciples link the 2 events together, the destruction of Jerusalem and Jesus� second coming. Since Jesus neither corrects this statement nor separates the 2 events, we are probably justified in linking the 2 events.
First, Jesus describes some events which will precede His second coming. Note that He does not put a time limit on these events. Rather, He describes general events which will occur before His second coming and the destruction of Jerusalem. First, Jesus says that false Messiahs and false prophets would emerge who would try to lead the people astray. Acts 5:36-37 tells us of 2 incidents in Jesus� day in which 2 false Messiahs came promising deliverance to Israel. Second, there will be wars and rumors of wars. Third, there will be natural calamities such as earthquakes and famines due to changes in weather patterns. Fourth, God�s people themselves will suffer persecution. The results of these events will be that people will be tempted to become more lawless and that even the love of Christians will grow cold. Instead of turning to God for comfort, these people harden their hearts against God and other Christians. Jesus is warning us about these things so that just exactly these 2 things will not occur�the love of Christians will not grow cold and God�s people will not become lawless.
All these things will happen before Jesus� second coming; however, no occurrence of any of these events guarantees that Jesus is about to return. They merely claim that the earth is in the midst of birth pangs, that is, those labor pangs which promise that the labor-and-delivery room is just around the corner; however, it still is not the same as being in the labor-and-delivery room. The birth pangs mean that the labor-and-delivery room is coming; however, they are not one and the same thing.
One event which must occur before Jesus returns is the evangelism of the world. Only after the world has been evangelized will Christ return. [It is interesting that in the NT the word "world" literally means "the inhabited world" which in Jesus� day referred to the Roman empire (Luke 2:1). It is even more interesting that only after the Roman empire had been evangelized (2 Tim. 4:17) did the fall of Jerusalem take place.]
the fall of jerusalem (Matthew 24.15-22)
Jesus then gives the one event which necessarily precedes the destruction of Jerusalem and the return of Christ, the abomination of desolation which was prophesied by the prophet Daniel. Just exactly what is this abomination of desolation? It is basically the desecration of the Holy of Holies. This happened in 168 BC when the Greek monarch Antiochus Epiphanes slaughtered a pig and offered it on the Temple altar, and then sprinkled the Holy of Holies with the blood of the swine. It happened also in 67-70 AD when the Jews rebelled against the Romans. The Jewish guerrillas ran roughshod over the Temple compound leading the rabbis to predict that the end of Jerusalem was near. According to Paul, this will happen one more time when the Antichrist goes to the Temple mound and from there proclaims himself to be God (2 Thess. 2:3-4). That is the one event which will occur which will bring about the destruction of Jerusalem for one last time and also usher in the return of Christ.
Jesus tells His followers that when this occurs, they are to flee Jerusalem immediately and head for the hills where there is some safety. They are not to hesitate at all. Jesus tells His followers that if this happens when they are on the roof of their house cooling off from the hot day, they are to leap from rooftop to rooftop and flee the city. They are not to go back into their homes to get their valuables. Time is of the essence. The same with the person working in the field. When he hears of the abomination of desolation, he is not to go back to retrieve his outer protective garment; rather he is to flee to the mountains just as he is.
The event will lead to such dire consequences for God�s people that they need to pray that it not occur during winter when the rivers in Palestine are raging from the winter storms or on the Sabbath when travel would be more difficult because of Sabbath restrictions. Although the nursing mother has no control over the timing of this event, she needs to pray that she has finished nursing all her children before it occurs. This event of tribulation will be so terrible that it will be far worse than any event which precedes it or follows it. In fact, if Christ had not returned to put an end to it, then nobody would have survived it. For the sake of His people though, Christ returns to put an end to it.
the return of christ (Matthew 24.23-31)
When the abomination of desolations occurs and when this great time of tribulation befalls God�s people, many pretenders will emerge on the scene claiming to be the Messiah, the deliverer of God�s people. These pretenders may even perform spectacular feats which will convince many to follow them. Also, God�s people may receive reports that Christ has returned and has appeared first of all in the wilderness in fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3. Jesus informs us though that His return will in no wise be of a duplicitous nature. You won�t have to wonder whether the person in the wilderness or the person making these great claims for himself really is the Messiah. Jesus will come in such a way that His people will have no doubts that He is the one returning. Just like the lightning streaks from one end of the sky to the other, so will be the return of Christ. When Christ returns, He will come in such a way that you won�t have to wonder whether or not it is Christ. You�ll know it is Him. Just like a dead body cannot lie out in the wilderness without every vulture knowing it, so Christ will not return without everybody knowing it.
Christ�s return will be accompanied by events in the heavens. The sun will be darkened and the color of the moon be like blood. All of creation is going to take part in Christ�s spectacular return. When He returns all the nations of the earth will mourn Him, especially those nations which have actively persecuted the people of Christ. They will mourn because they will finally understand that now they have to deal with Christ Himself. The hour of their judgment has come. Christ will return by coming on clouds of glory. At this point and not before, at this point Christ will then have His angels gather His people from the four ends of the earth. At this point the rapture of the church occurs. (Those who claim that the rapture occurs before the tribulation must explain why Jesus puts it at the end of all these events and not before.)
be on the alert (Matthew 24.32-42; 1 Thessalonians 5.10)
At this point we come to a source of tension in the discourse. Jesus makes what seems to be 2 contradictory statements: (1) just like you know spring time is near when the fig tree blossoms, so you know that His return is near when these events occur and (2) except for the Father no one including Jesus knows the hour of these events. Most Christians instead of allowing the tension to remain opt for one or the other of the statements Jesus makes.
How to reconcile these 2 statements? By taking them at face value. When the evangelism of the world and the abomination of desolations take place, then you know that the end is near. Until these 2 events occur, no one knows when the return of Christ and the final destruction of Jerusalem will take place, even Jesus before He ascended to His Father in heaven. The clue though to the return of Christ is found in the evangelism of the world and the abomination of desolations. Once these 2 events occur, then you know that He is about to return.
Since no one knows when these 2 events will occur, people have a tendency to become lazy in their relationship with Christ. The result is that people carry on like the end will never come. Well, once more history will repeat itself. During the days of Noah no one took seriously God�s word that He was going to destroy the world. When the flood hit, all except for Noah and his family were carrying on like life would never change. They were sadly mistaken. The same will occur with the return of Christ. People will be at the movies, attending funerals and weddings, going to proms, etc. when disaster will strike. This will prove disastrous for them because their lifestyles showed that they never took seriously their relationship with Christ. They will be swept away with the destruction about to fall upon the world.
As a result of this, Christians are to be constantly prepared for Christ�s second coming. The fact that they are prepared proves that they all along were Christ�s people. The fact that many claim to be Christians and yet are not prepared demonstrates that they never were God�s people. God�s people persevere to the end. Those who fall away by the wayside were never God�s people in the first place.
How do God�s people remain awake or prepared? By the lives they live. Some people claim you should never go to a nightclub because Jesus might just return while you were there. That�s a pretty shallow application of this principle. Paul says that His people who are prepared put on daily the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation (1 Thess. 5:10). My faith shows itself by responding positively to what Christ is saying to me on a daily basis. Faith ALWAYS entails obedience. It�s not the same as obedience; however, true Christian faith always produces obedience to Christ. For this reason I need to be in God�s Word constantly so that I can hear Him and respond positively to Him. Next, the person who is prepared loves. It doesn�t matter what the circumstances in his life are, he always loves. It doesn�t mean he doesn�t discipline; it just means that he disciplines in love. Finally, the person prepared always has the hope of salvation. He is positive about the future and allows it to dictate his life right now. In other words, even if I am persecuted for the sake of Christ, I will persevere in my commitment to Christ because I know that one day Christ will return and reward me for remaining faithful and loyal to Him. (Note that Paul describes faith and love as being the breastplate of the Christian and hope of salvation as the Christian�s helmet. These are needed to protect the Christian. Circumstances are going to be so terrible for God�s people during that time that they are going to need all the protection they can get to weather the terrible storm of tribulation.)
The truth is that whereas this tribulation may be terrible, it is still nothing more than birth pangs or the pangs of labor. That means that all the pangs are producing something wonderful. Women are the best witnesses to this truth. How many women want to have more than one child? Most women. Why would they want more than one when the pain in having a child can be so great? Because of what the pain produces, a beautiful baby. That baby is worth all the pain they went through. The same applies with the second coming. Great pain may precede it; however, when it is all said and done, we are going to look back and tell Christ that the pain was worth all the troubles we experienced in this life.