Good morning,
This week we will study Matthew 24:1-35, the Olivet Discourse, the Great Tribulation, the Son of Man to Return in Glory, and From the Tribulation to the Millennial Reign.
Matthew 24:1-35
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (35)
Olivet Discourse (1-14)
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
24:3 The answers to the three questions asked by the disciples are as follows: (1) The Temple was destroyed by Titus at the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. (2) The “sign” or wonder to occur at Christ’s coming is answered in v. 30; that is, His coming will be visible, literal, seen by all tribes of the earth with mourning. The disciples were not asking for signs or evidences when the end of the age approaches before His return, but the marvel, the manifestations, the wondrous appearance of His final coming as King. Neither this Olivet discourse, nor any other Scripture, mentions any marks or signs before His coming for His saints in the rapture. (3) “The end of the world” or of the age will come immediately after the “tribulation of those days”.(v. 29)(The Rice Reference Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1981, pgs. 1041-1042)
24:6 Wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are evidences of the approaching end. No, “the end is not yet.” These troubles and disasters are the marks of the whole age, not of the end of it. Jesus said plainly that no one could know the time of His return. Verses 36, 42, 44, and Mark 13:24-37 are so explicit that it is folly to ignore them. The apostles were to watch expectantly for Christ’s possible coming in their lifetimes. The Apostle Paul hoped to be among the living changed in a moment at the rapture (cf. 1 Cor.15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 4:14-16). N.T. Christians were taught to look for Christ’s return without any sign possible in their lifetimes (1 Thess. 1:9-10; Phil. 3:20). Jesus said plainly “it is not for you to know” the time of His coming (Acts 1:6-7). The simple truth is Christ’s second coming could have happened any time after Pentecost. It still impends without preceding signs, and may occur at any moment. We are to watch for his coming as a “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). (The Rice Reference Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1981, pgs. 1041-1042)
24:8 The course of the whole age is pictured up to this point. There will come a time in Daniel’s seventieth week of years, when sorrows will be multiplied and when “he,” the man of sin, the “prince that shall come” (Dan. 9:26) will make a covenant with Israel for one week. The ancient sacrifices and the priesthood will be restored; but with worldwide power, this “son of perdition” will, “in the midst of the week,” commit the abomination of desolation” (Dan. 9:27). He is the one “who opposeth and and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:4). Verse 15 marks that “abomination of desolation. There must yet be the three and one-half years of ”great tribulation” of vv. 21 and 29, before God’s visible return with saints and angels, mentioned in vv. 30 and 31.
According to Second Thessalonians 2:3, before Christ can return to earth to destroy the rule of the Antichrist and the earthly kingdom, other things must happen: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” (The Rice Reference Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1981, pgs. 1041-1042)
24:13 Those who endure to the end of the Great Tribulation will be saved alive, rescued from the persecution of the Antichrist. This is not a promise of soul-salvation by good works or faithful living. So terrible are to be those bloody persecutions, that if the time were longer, none of God’s people would be left alive.(The Rice Reference Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1981, pgs. 1041-1042)
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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