Chapter 24
Jesus tells the disciples that someday the temple will be destroyed – “not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” The disciples ask what the signs of the end of the world will be. Jesus warns them that many liars claiming to be him will appear. There will be “wars and rumors of wars”, but Jesus says not to be alarmed because such things always happen and don’t signify the end of the world. He says that there will be famines, earthquakes, and countries fighting each other, and that indicates the beginning of “birth pains”, i.e. suffering that will precede the coming of the Messiah at the end of the world.
Jesus warns them that his followers will be persecuted, killed, and hated by every nation because of their belief in him. As a result, many will turn away from Jesus. Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” The gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the whole world before the end comes.
“So,” Jesus continues, “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.” Jesus tells them that when that time comes, they’ll have to leave in a hurry – leave right away and don’t go back for anything. It will be a time of great distress. There will also be many false prophets claiming to be Jesus, but don’t believe them, even if they perform miracles and such. The coming of the true Son of Man will be as obvious as lightning.
Then, the ancient prophecy about the sun being darkened and stars falling will be fulfilled. The sign of the Messiah will appear in the sky, and he will send his angels to gather the “elect”. Just like tender twigs and leaves on a fig tree indicate the approach of summer, there will also be signs that indicate the approach of the end of the world. “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”
Jesus tells them that no one knows the hour when heaven and earth will pass away. Even the angels and the Son don’t know, only the Father knows. In Noah’s era, people were eating and drinking and marrying right up until the day the flood came and they all died. It’ll be the same at the end of the world. “Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.”
Jesus warns them to keep watch for his return. If the owner of a house knew what time a thief was going to break in, he’d keep watch and thwart the burglar. The Messiah returning at the end of the world will also come in like a thief in the night. If the master comes home at an unexpected hour and finds his servants doing what they’re supposed to, they will be rewarded. But if the master comes home and finds that in his absence the servants have been getting drunk and beating each other up, they will be punished.
Commentary
Totally didn’t know that Matthew kind of had a mini-Revelations end-of-the-world thing right in the middle of his book. And I’m reading it on New Year’s Eve on 2012! Dun dun dunnnnnnn.
Matthew places a lot of emphasis on foretelling the destruction of the temple, which makes sense given his Jewish audience. According to the Bible notes, the temple was destroyed in 70AD. Also according to the notes, the book of Matthew was written sometime between 50 and 70AD. It says the ones who argue for the earlier 50AD date do so based on its Jewish focus, since the church was almost completely Jewish at first, and most of its preaching was aimed at fellow Jews just like the book of Matthew is. The ones who argue for a later date do so based on the similarities between the writings of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. If Mark or Luke wrote their books first, and Matthew copied, then that would place Matthew’s writing at a later date. However, there’s no way to tell if Matthew was written later and copied off the others, or if his was written first and the others copied off him.
If Matthew wrote before 70AD, then he correctly predicted the temple’s destruction. If Matthew was written after 70AD, then it was probably not very long afterwards. (Possibly, he could have written most of it prior to 70AD, and then after the temple was destroyed gone back and added the foreshadowy bits.) His age is also a factor; if he’s about the same age as Jesus, and the average lifespan was 40 or 50, then he would have been quite old even at the 50AD date. By 70AD, he would probably have been dead.
Re: the “abomination that causes desolation”. According to the notes, this is a quote from the book of Daniel in the OT, and refers to an incident in 168BC when the pagan conqueror king Antiochus Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire erected an altar to Zeus on the sacred altar in the temple in Jerusalem. What Jesus means here is that prior to the end of the world, the “holy place” will be desecrated again, and everyone in Judea should flee. If the “holy place” means the temple, then presumably it will have to be rebuilt again first. Or, the “holy place” could mean Jerusalem in general, or churches or synagogues in general, or the center of christianity (the Vatican maybe?), or something else. It’s very vague. It’s also unclear if the desecration is supposed to be a literal pagan altar, like the first time, or if that too is metaphorical and this refers to some sort of symbolic desecration instead. It’s also possible that it’s already happened; if I recall correctly, the Dome of the Rock mosque is built on top of the foundations of the Jewish temple, which I daresay would qualify as a pagan altar being put on it.
“Let the reader understand” – at first I thought Matthew simply let his editorial hand slip a little, and wrote an entreaty to “readers” when of course if Jesus had actually said it during his speech he would have had listeners, not readers. However, the notes say that this statement is actually addressed to readers of the prophecy of Daniel, not the readers of Matthew.
Re: “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Um, that generation has passed away. The notes say that “generation” could also be translated as “race”, but I couldn’t find any other bibles that translated it that way. (Full disclosure: I looked up the KJV, Amplified Bible, and The Message translations on biblegateway before I got bored.) The Amplified Bible translates it as “this generation (the whole multitude of people living at the same time, in a definite, given period) will not pass away”, so the NIV’s footnote about “generation” actually meaning “race” seems like just a face-saving maneuver since the prophecy is clearly not true.
What does “elect” mean? In chapter 22, the people who got to go to, and stay in, heaven were determined by their behavior or actions. It appears to still be the same here, but it’s hard to tell. The whole end-of-the-world prophecy thing is super vague and could mean almost anything.
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