MATTHEW 24

INTRODUCTION:

This chapter falls after the events recorded in Matt. 23.
One should also read Mark 13 and Luke 21
Verse 1 tells us Jesus leaves the temple and verse 3 informs us the discourse took place on the Mount of Olives from which one can view Jerusalem.
A great deal of Debate over how many questions were asked by the deciples.

I believe the desciples thought the end of Jerusalem was the end of the world and possibly related that to their view of Christ’s coming.

Premilliasm teaches this chapter deals entirly with Christ’s coming back to earth to judge the world.
The first part of this chapter refers to the destruction of Jerusalem for which Jesus gave signs that they might flee before the destruction. But the second part of this chapter deals with Christ’s second coming for which there are no signs.

a. (Mat 24:34 KJV) "Verily I say unto you, This generation[1] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

God fortold this in the Old Testament:

1. In Deut 28: God tells Israel if they will not keep his commands:

(Deu 28:63-64 KJV) "And it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. {64} And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone."

2. (Jer 31:31-32 KJV) "Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: {32} Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:"

Matt. 21:33-45 Parable of the wicked Husbandmen

(Mat 21:46 KJV) "But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet."

JESUS FORTELLS THE TEMPLES DESTRUCTION (1-3)

"Not one stone upon another"

Refers to the stones of the Temple.

Jesus had said in the previous chapter (Mat 23:34-38 KJV) "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: {35} That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. {36} Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. {37} O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! {38} Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."

Josephus wrote in Book 7 "Wars of the Jews" - "And now the Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down, and entirely demolished its walls."

FALSE PROPHETS (4-5)

The New Testament provides examples of Such:

(2 Cor 11:12-15 KJV) "But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. {13} For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. {14} And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. {15} Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

They were in the Jerusalem congregation
(Gal 2:4 KJV) "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:"
Paul Faught the False prophets of Judiasm
Paul in Colossians and John in 1 John battles gnostosm.
Simon in Sameria (Acts 8:9-11 KJV) "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: {10} To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. {11} And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries."
He warns the disciples not to let the false teachers deceive them (Matt. 24:4). This proves one can be deceived. Doctrine does matter.

Note Hymenous & Alexander

WARS & SORROWS (6-13)

Wars and Rumors of wars.
Famines
(Acts 11:27-29 KJV) "And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. {28} And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. {29} Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:"

"if so much as the shadow of any kind of food did any where appear, a war was

commenced presently, and the dearest friends fell a fighting one with

another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports of

life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food, but

the robbers would search them when they were expiring, lest any one for

should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying; nay,

these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stumbling and staggering along

like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the houses like drunken

men; they would also, in the great distress they were in, rush into the very

same houses two or three times in one and the same day. Moreover, their

hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew every thing, while

they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would not touch, and

endured to eat them; nor did they at length abstain from girdles and shoes;

and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and

gnawed: the very wisps of old hay became food to some; and some

gathered up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic

[drachmae]." _Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, Chapter 6, p. 1746
Earthquakes
Christians delivered up, killed, hated of all nations (vs 9)

During Saul’s persecution

Stephen (Acts 7:58-60)
Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1-4)
Christians beyond Jerusalem
(Acts 9:1-2 KJV) "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, {2} And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem."
Peter warns Christinans in his epistle

(1 Pet 4:12-13 KJV) "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: {13} But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."

Because of the abounding iniquity the love of many shall wax cold.

(Gal 6:12 KJV) "As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ."

PRECEEDING THE END (14-15)

The Gospel shall be preached in all the world
(Col 1:23 KJV) "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;"

(Rom 10:18 KJV) "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."

1. The end spoken of in verse 14 does not refer to the end of the world but the end of the temple, Jerusalem, and the Jewish state.
The abomination of desolation

Foretold by Daniel

(Dan 9:25-27 KJV) "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. {26} And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. {27} And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

2. Luke’s devine commentary on this passage

(Luke 21:20 KJV) "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."

3. Josephus a Jewish historian who witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem wrote: "In the very same manner Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made desolate by them." -- THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS - Josephus P. 678

4. ". AND now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and

upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round

about it, brought their ensigns to the temple 24 and set them over against

its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, " -THE WARS OF THE JEWS –Josephus p. 1746

FLIGHT (16-22)

A. Eusebius wrote:

"But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a

revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the

city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella." - Eusebius – Book III, chapter 5, p. 236

If this was the end of the world there would be no safty in the mountains, It would make no difference whether one is on the rooftop or went into the house, whether it was winter or summer

(2 Pet 3:10-12 KJV) "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. {11} Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, {12} Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?"

Great Tribulation

Josephus

FALSE CHRISTS (23-26)

This was a problem in the first century as it is now (David Koresh)
Notice the fact that the false prophets will say "Christ is here or there" The millenialist look for him here upon the earth.

THE END (27-34)

Verse 27 is not speaking of Christ coming for his saints at the end of time but coming in Judgment upon Jerusalem.

1. Concerning Egypt Isaiah used the same kind of picture - (Isa 19:1 KJV) "The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it."

Verse 29 "sun be darkened and moon shall not her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken:"

Concerning Babylons fall - .
(Isa 13:1 KJV) "The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see." (Isa 13:10-11 KJV) "For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. {11} And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."
Concerning Egypt –

(Ezek 32:1-2 KJV) "And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, {2} Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers."

(Ezek 32:7-8 KJV) "And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. {8} All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD."

vs 30 Indicates the morning that will take place by Jews thoroughout the world when they hear of the destruction of Jerusalem.

Their seeing the coming of the son of man refers to the fact they see this in the destruction of Jerusalem as Christ had foretold.

The angels gathering the elect "from the four winds"

Some believe this refers to the gathering of the Roman armies
Others that this refers to preachers preaching the word of God and being souls from all the world to Jesus and his church.

CHRIST’S SECOND COMING IS WITHOUT WARNING (35-44)

As a Thief in the Night
(1 Th 5:2 KJV) "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night."

(2 Pet 3:10 KJV) "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
No secret coming
(Rev 1:5-8 KJV) "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, {6} And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. {7} Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. {8} I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
A time of seperation (Does not mean rapture)

(Mat 24:40-44 KJV) "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. {41} Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. {42} Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. {43} But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. {44} Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

1. Simply that when the judgment comes one will be taken to heaven and the other left for hell.

WATCH AND BE READY (45-51)

I do not hesitate to exhort you to be ready for the coming of the lord.

Be right with God
Be right with others.
Be working for the Master.

---------------------