Gospel of Matthew Chapter 24 Part 1 -- John Karmelich

1. Chapter 23 was a warning for the non-believer. Chapter 24 is for the believer.

a) Chapter 23 was a warning to those who refuse to believe in Jesus.

b) Chapter 24 is a set of promises and predictions for the believer.

c) Chapter 24 focuses on the events of Jesus second coming.

i) This is a future event that has not happened yet, but is promised in the bible.

2. The next two chapters deal with the issue of bible prophecy.

a) In this context prophecy simply means predictions about the future.

b) About the a third of the entire bible is predictions.

c) Prophecy mainly to validate the bible, and the bible writers as God-inspired.

3. The Gospel of Matthew is all about explaining how Jesus is the Promised Messiah.

a) The Messiah, which means, “king”, is not only a promised king to Israel, he is the “high priest” who intercedes between man and God (Hebrews 3:1); he is also a prophet.

b) In Chapter 24, Jesus made predictions that literally came true.

c) It is also full of other predictions that will, I believe literally come true as it is written.

4. Let’s start Chapter 24 by giving what I believe are the 2 most important lessons in this chapter:

a) The first is: “Nobody but God-the Father knows the day nor the hour of Jesus return”.

i) This is a paraphrase of Verse 36.

ii) Jesus may now know that day and hour, but when not when he stated it.

iii) The main point is we don’t know, nor can we calculate that day or hour.

iv) Don’t let any “nut-case” tell you he or she can predict when it is going to happen.

b) The second is “watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”

i) This is a command by Jesus given in Verse 42.

ii) We are to watch for his return.

c) So if we don’t know the “day nor hour”, why are to we to watch for his return?

i) Let me answer that with an illustration: Suppose you work in a large office building in your own little cubicle. At any time, the boss is going to come by and give you a large bonus. The amount of the bonus, if any, is determined by how you are working at the moment the boss comes by. How is that for a financial incentive to be working hard all the time?

ii) That is the attitude Jesus wants for us as Christians.

iii) “Watching” for Jesus’ second coming does not mean to stand around, stare at the sky all day and look for his return.

iv) It means to stay busy doing the things God called us to do. That includes the fundamentals of praying, studying God’s Word and spending time with other Christians. It further means that God has given us individual talents and passions to do things “for God’s glory”. That is how we “keep busy” until God comes.

d) The whole concept of “we don’t know when Jesus’ comes back” and “watch for his return” is to keep doing what God calls us to do.

i) Let’s face it. We don’t know when we are going to die.

ii) Our life on earth is going to end either when we die or when Jesus comes back for his church. Those are the only two options for everybody in the world.

iii) Since we don’t know “the day nor hour” of our death or Jesus’ return, Jesus command for us is to “watch” for his return.

iv) This is mainly to keep busy doing the things God wants us to do.

v) With that said, unfortunately, it is not that simple. J

vi) Jesus goes on to talk about specific “signs” to look for prior to his return.

a) That is what the bulk of Chapter 24 is all about.

b) Jesus wants us to keep an eye out for these specific signs.

5. Chapter 24 is commonly called “The Olivet Discourse”.

a) It is a fancy name given to this two-chapter speech by Jesus over Chapters 24-25.

b) It is called “The Olivet Discourse” because Jesus gives it from the Mount of Olives.

c) Remember that Jesus is days away from the crucifixion.

d) There is no more public debates, nor public speeches.

e) Jesus is going away, and the followers of Jesus, including you and I need to know when is the general time of Jesus return (not the “day or hour”).

6. It is important to understand that parts of Chapter 24 are vague and full of controversies.

a) Many good take-your-bible-literally scholars debate over the meaning of certain passages.

b) I’m going to try to give alternative views, but know I have my own views on these topics.

c) I’ll give you some of the different views, and try to explain why the predictions are vague.

i) One view is that Jesus is describing all the events that happened around the time of the crucifixion and soon after. This view (called the “preterist” view) is that Jesus is only talking about the events that happened soon-after this speech.

ii) Another view is that this is only talking about the “end time events”.

a) The bible teaches there will be a 7-year end time period that is worse than any other period in human history. This is what most of Revelation is all about. This is the time of an Antichrist who will be a world leader.

b) This view is that all (or most) of these events only happen around this literal seven-year period.

iii) A third view is that there is no literal 7-year period. This view, called the “amillennial” view is popular in the Roman Catholic Church. They believe the events of Revelation are “symbolic” and cover the entire church history.

d) I believe the predictions given by Jesus are vague for a number of reasons:

i) First of all, when I say “vague”, I mean that it speaks in generalities that can be interpreted a number of different ways. That is why there is a debate over this.

ii) Remember that we are discussing future events. When bible predictions do come true, it is usually in a very literal way. Jesus may be describing events future-to-us and therefore it seems “fuzzy” to describe in 1^st Century terminology.

iii) Most importantly, I believe these predictions are designed on purpose to “keep us on our toes”. Every generation of Christians wants Jesus to return. Therefore, we look at Jesus predictions about the end times and think, “Well, Jesus could be talking about this or that current event in history. Maybe what Jesus says in this passage ties in to what is happening right now in the world”.

a) I believe the passages are designed to be that way on purpose. For example, there is a passage about wars between “kingdoms”. Many thought Jesus was going to come back right after W.W. I. or W.W. II. The point is, he didn’t. People can take any time in human history and tie that to “Maybe this is it, these are the signs of Jesus’ return.”

b) Again, it is purposely keep vague to keep us on our toes for Jesus’ return.

iv) My personal view is the details are vague so Satan himself does not know the day nor hour. The bible clearly teaches that at the end of the 7-year period Satan is “bound for a 1,000 years” (Revelation 20) and soon afterwards he is cast into hell.

a) Therefore, Satan wants to delay as long as possible Jesus' return.

b) If the details of Jesus return were clearer, Satan could work to delay or prevent that function.

c) In the same way, the predictions of the Messiah suffering for your sins, dying for your sins and rising again are vague in the Old Testament. I believe a reason it is vague was to prevent Satan from preventing that plan.

7. With that said, I’m going to do Chapter 24 over two lessons.

a) I noticed that all my favorite commentators have at least two lessons on this chapter or have written thicker volumes of work on this chapter. They are indirectly warning me it is too much to cover in a single lesson and I’m taking their advice accordingly. J

8. Chapter 24 has 51 verses describing future predictions.

a) With each verse or set of verses, I want to describe how these predictions could fit into the past times (when Jesus gave it), the present time (today) and the future.

b) Since Jesus teaches us to watch for his coming, I think it is important to teach how the verses could apply to current historical events.

i) If I’m wrong, and Jesus second coming doesn’t happen for a long time, I can take comfort in the fact that that I’m “doing what I’m suppose to do” by watching for his second coming and analyzing the “signs” of his coming.

ii) The most unique thing about our time, as opposed to the last 2,000 years is that Israel is a nation again. For centuries, bible scholars have debated over whether or not the Jewish people need to be “back in the land” again for Jesus second coming.

iii) You have to remember that Israel was destroyed as a country in 70AD and was not a country again until 1948. The City of Jerusalem was not part of modern Israel until it was captured and conquered in 1967.

c) With that extra long introduction, J let’s go to Verse 1:

9. Chapter 24, Verse 1: Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.

a) Let’s start with the first phrase “Jesus left the temple and was walking away”.

i) This ties to the last chapter of the “Question and Answer” section with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Jesus silenced his critics.

b) The next phrase is the disciples showing him the different parts of the temple.

i) This temple was destroyed in 70 AD.

ii) This temple was originally built hundreds of years earlier when the Jews returned from being in captivity to Babylon.

iii) Prior to the time of Jesus’ birth, King Herod, in order to make the Jews happy, started a great remodeling job and add-on job to the temple.

iv) It was lined with gold. Historians wrote that it was blinding in the sunlight. The top was so pure-white people thought it had snow on top. The stones were fit so tight together that no mortar was needed. (Source: Josephus)

c) It is funny to think about giving Jesus, who created all things, a guided tour of the temple.

d) One has to wonder the motivations of the disciples for giving this tour:

i) Maybe they were hoping Jesus was going to overthrow Rome now and wanted to “show him” the details of temple where Jesus “could set up shop”.

ii) In the last chapter, Jesus just put down the two main religious sects of that time. Maybe the disciples wanted to “say something nice” about Judaism by this tour.

10. Verse 2: "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

a) Well, so much for the guided tour. J

b) Jesus is saying this temple, with all of its beauty, will be completely destroyed.

c) This literally came true in 70AD. About 40 years after this event.

d) The Romans were tired of the Jews rebelling against Rome. They sent a large army to destroy Israel. Millions were killed. The Romans set the temple on fire. In order to preserve the gold, they literally took it apart brick-by-brick.

e) The Romans destroyed it so well we are not sure to this day the exact spot of the temple.

f) Today, Jews visit the “wailing wall”. This is a foundational support wall, and is not part of the walls of the original temple.

g) The point to notice about Jesus’ prediction is how literally true it came.

i) Because this prediction came literally true, I take the view that the rest of the predictions in this chapter will also literally come true.

ii) It also helps to support the fact that Matthew was written prior to 70AD. I’m sure if it was written after that date, Matthew would have commented on that fact.

h) When you study bible prophecy, it often has short-term and long-term fulfillment.

i) The short-term fulfillment helps to validate the writer as speaking from God.

ii) The long-term fulfillment is often the more important issue or doctrine.

i) Let’s get back to the disciples guided tour of Verse 1:

i) They were probably bragging about all the architectural details.

ii) They were hoping Jesus would rule as king from this temple.

iii) Jesus destroys their hopes by saying in effect, “This thing will be a goner in your lifetime”.

iv) Remember as Christians, we can’t take credit for anything. God gets all the glory.

a) This even includes the temple itself. God can’t look at our temple and say, “Hey, pretty good, I’ll think I’ll move into that one”. J

b) Grant it, Jesus had acknowledged this temple as “His Father’s house” when he overturned the tables of the moneychangers.

c) My point is that you can’t build a house for God and say, “OK, God, here’s your new home, lets get this show on the road and start your second coming.” God works on his timing, not ours.

11. Verse 3: As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

a) As I stated in the introduction, we now have a 2-chapter speech called the “Olivet discourse” as it takes place on the Mount of Olives.

b) To a religious Jew of that day, the destruction of the temple meant the end of civilization.

i) When Jesus just told them the temple would be destroyed, in their minds that meant, “that is it, a wrap up of civilization as we know it.”

c) Therefore, they asked Jesus a 3-part question:

i) “When will this happen?”

ii) “What will be the sign of your coming?”

iii) And finally, “(When) is the end of this age?”

iv) To the disciples, all three were one in the same event.

d) The rest of the chapter is Jesus answering these questions.

i) The debate now begins over which verses are past, present and future to us.

ii) There is a phrase in Verse 15 that says, “let the reader understand”.

a) Either Matthew added that phrase or Jesus said it himself.

b) The point is that this text is not only for the disciples themselves but also for all who read the Gospel of Matthew with the intent of following Jesus.

iii) We are going to get into the classical debate of, “Does this refer to the 2,000 year-and-still-counting era of Christian history or just the 7-year end-time tribulation?”

12. Verse 4: Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many.

a) Before we analyze Verse 4, let us look at Verse 8.

i) It says, “All these are the beginning of birth pains”.

ii) Everything from Verse 4 to Verse 8 is the “early contractions” of labor pains.

iii) When we read the events of Verse 4-8, we can’t read them and say, “This is it, Jesus is coming back.” These events are the beginning of the “birth pains”.

iv) The first word of Verse 9 is “then”. Verse 9 begins the next phase.

b) Here are some comments on the “historical view” of Verses 4-5.

i) Throughout history, there have been many people claiming to be “The Christ”.

ii) There are historical records of Jews (post-Jesus) who claimed they were the Messiah and lead an uprising against Rome, only to be killed.

iii) Even in our modern times, part of the “New Age” movement teaches, “to release the Christ that is within you”. They teach how we are all “gods” and we can be like Jesus and release his power within us. Like all false teachings, there are some grain-of truths in there, but the rest is non-biblical and pure nonsense.

c) Here is some comments on the “future view” of these verses:

i) During the “great tribulation” many people will embrace the Antichrist as a great world leader. My personal view is that this guy lets the Jews rebuild their temple and they accept him as their promised Messiah.

ii) Many scholars read this verse and think that the “false-Christs” refers to those who come in the last 7-year period claiming to be the Messiah.

a) We will discuss this further later in this lesson.

d) If a cultist comes knocking on your door and they say, “We believe in Jesus”, I like to respond with, “Really, you believe in Jesus? Which one? Which one do you believe in?

i) My point is that Jesus said there would be many false-Christ’s coming in his name.

ii) When you study for example, what the Mormons believe about Jesus or what the Jehovah Witnesses believe about Jesus, you learn that their view of Jesus is different from those of devout conservative Catholics, Protestant and Orthodox churches. All 3 of those groups agree on the fundamentals of who is Jesus.

iii) When talking with a cult member, it is best to keep your focus upon Jesus and spending time in God’s word defining just who is and who is not Jesus.

iv) This is a part of what Jesus said in Verse 5: “Many will come in my name”.

13. Verse 6: You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.

a) Notice the last phrase of Verse 6: The end is still to come.

b) When a big-national trauma comes like a world war or an earthquake or a famine, people think, “This Is It. This is the end of the world. It is so bad, that it has to end now. Jesus must be coming back soon.”

i) Jesus point is, “No it isn’t the end of the world when these things happened.”

c) All through the last 2,000 years, we have been through wars, “world-wide” wars, major earthquakes, major famines and some think, “This is it, the “beginning of birth pains””.

i) The Jehovah Witnesses are famous for making the prediction during W.W. I that “this has to be it” because they saw World War I as “kingdom against kingdom”. They were right in that the original Greek of that term implies a group of nations attacking another group”. They were wrong in that this was the sign of Jesus immediate coming soon after. They even predicted the exact year in some of their writings of that time.

d) Now that we have been through two world wars, is that the “beginning of birth pains?”

i) The correct answer is “could be”.

ii) Remember that Jesus described all of these events as the beginning of labor pains. Maybe they will get progressively more common in the future.

e) In summary, when you hear news reports about wars, or earthquakes and somebody writes a book saying “Look at the statistics, Jesus has to come back next week based on all of this”. Remember God works on His timing and not ours. Nobody knows the day nor the hour, especially those who are writing those books!

f) Let’s get back to the view that that all of this prophecy are end-time events.

i) This view is that the “wars and rumors of wars” is speaking of specific wars that happen during the 7-year tribulation period.

ii) This last 7-year tribulation again is described in detail through most of Revelation.

iii) If you want to get technical, the first 3½ years is fairly peaceful and the last 3½ years is full of wars. This may be the “wars” as described in this verse.

iv) If the “7-year tribulation” is new to you, I encourage you pick up a good study on Daniel and/or Revelation to learn more about this.

a) We’ll also talk about it a little more later in this lesson.

14. Verse 9: "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.

a) To me, the key word of Verse 9 is “then”. It implies that after the earthquakes, wars, etc. “then” Christians will be persecuted and put to death.

b) The problem is the word “you”. Jesus says “you” will be persecuted, etc.”

i) Jesus was speaking to the disciples. This is why many bible scholars take the view that Jesus is talking about the immediate times and not the end times.

ii) The next 200-300 years saw 10 Roman Empires put death sentences on Christians.

iii) The Christian church was never united until the Roman Empire Constantine (306 - 337 A.D) became a Christian himself and declared Christianity the official religion of the empire. Prior to that, it was an illegal religion.

c) Throughout Christian history persecution was common.

i) Millions of Christians died under the Roman Empire.

ii) Through the middle ages, anybody who wanted to worship Jesus outside of the authority of the Catholic popes were killed. Some historians believe more Christians were killed by the Roman Catholic Church than the Roman Empire.

iii) It is estimated that more Christians were killed in the 20^th century than any previous century due to persecutions, especially in Communist countries.

iv) Christians through the centuries have read these verses about Christian persecution and said, “This verse is about our present time”. They thought that this is the “beginning of birth pains” as Jesus was writing about their persecution.

d) This leads back to my introduction about how this speech has its vagueness on purpose.

i) I believe Jesus intentionally designed these predictions so that every generation would read them and think, “This is got to be talking about me”.

ii) The whole idea was for us to “watch” for Jesus second coming and these signs would happen prior to his second coming. The vagueness keeps us “on our toes”.

e) Now lets look at the “this is all end-times” view of this section:

i) You get the impression when you study the events of the end times that Christians and religious Jews will be the scapegoats for the wars going on.

ii) That would make sense from a satanic point of view. Once that 7-year period starts, Satan knows he has a limited time. The only thing Satan could do to prevent his own destruction is to prevent believers of that era not pray for Jesus return. How does he do that? He kills them!

iii) That is why Revelation is full of comments about martyrs during that period.

a) In a matter of verses we are going to get into the “rapture” debate. This is a classical Christian debate over whether or not the church is around during this period. Those of us who do believe the rapture takes place prior to this seven year period also believe many get saved during this