Commentary - Matthew 24:1-14

Bird's-eye view

The Olivet Discourse is one of the most crucial and contested passages in the New Testament. Jesus, having just pronounced the covenant lawsuit and sentence upon the apostate leadership in Jerusalem (Matthew 23), now retires with His disciples to the Mount of Olives, overlooking the very temple He has condemned. The disciples, still impressed by the architectural glory of the place, prompt Jesus to prophesy its utter destruction. This leads to their urgent, three-part question about the timing of this destruction, the sign of His coming, and the end of the age. Jesus' answer, which constitutes this chapter, is a detailed prophecy concerning the tumultuous events that would precede the catastrophic end of the Old Covenant world, which culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. He provides them with a series of signs, not so they can create complex charts, but so they will not be deceived and will know how to conduct themselves with faithful endurance as the world they knew was violently torn apart.

The central interpretive key to this passage is recognizing that the disciples, and Jesus in His answer, are primarily concerned with the judgment that was to fall upon "that generation." The "coming" of the Son of Man is His coming in judgment against unfaithful Israel, and the "end of the age" is the end of the Mosaic age, which was centered on the temple and its sacrifices. The signs He gives, false Christs, wars, famines, earthquakes, and intense persecution, are described as the "birth pains" of the New Covenant age. The old world had to die for the new one to be fully established. The discourse climaxes with the promise that the gospel would first be preached to the whole Roman world as a testimony, and only then would the end of that age arrive.

Outline

Context In Matthew

Matthew 24 cannot be understood apart from Matthew 23. In chapter 23, Jesus, as the great Prophet and King, pronounces a series of covenantal woes upon the scribes and Pharisees, the corrupt leadership of Israel. He concludes by declaring that the guilt for all the righteous blood shed from Abel to Zechariah would come upon "this generation" (Matt 23:36) and that their "house" would be left to them desolate (Matt 23:38). The Olivet Discourse in chapter 24 is the detailed explanation of how and when that sentence would be carried out. It is the final great sermon of Jesus recorded in Matthew before the Passion narrative begins. Having systematically demonstrated His authority and pronounced judgment on the old system, He now prepares His disciples for the transition period between His resurrection and the final destruction of the temple, the central icon of that old system.

Key Issues

The End of the World as They Knew It

When modern Christians read about the "end of the age," their minds almost invariably jump to the end of the planet, the final judgment at the close of human history. But we must discipline ourselves to read the text through the eyes of the first-century disciples who asked the question. Their entire world, their religious, cultural, and national identity, revolved around the temple in Jerusalem and the Mosaic covenant. When Jesus predicted the utter demolition of that temple, it was, for them, the end of the world. The end of their aiōn, their age.

They asked a compound question, assuming three things were a package deal: the temple's destruction, Jesus' coming (parousia), and the end of the age. In His answer, Jesus affirms their assumption that these things were indeed linked. There was a coming of the Son of Man in judgment in A.D. 70 that brought the Mosaic age to a crashing halt. The mistake is to read our modern conception of "the second coming" back into every use of the word parousia. The Old Testament is filled with examples of God "coming" in judgment against nations within history (e.g., Isaiah 19:1). Jesus is speaking in that same prophetic tradition. He is describing the end of the Old Covenant world, which was necessary for the full flowering of the New Covenant kingdom throughout the earth.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1-2 And coming out from the temple, Jesus was going along, and His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. And He answered and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

The scene is heavy with significance. Jesus is leaving the temple for the last time. His public ministry to the nation of Israel is over. The disciples, like proud tourists, want Him to admire the architectural splendor of Herod's temple, a massive and glorious complex. They are looking at the stones. Jesus is looking at the spiritual reality. He sees not a house of God, but a "den of robbers" (Matt 21:13) that He has just declared "desolate" (Matt 23:38). His response is shocking and absolute. He predicts a destruction so complete that not one stone would be left standing on another. This was not hyperbole. The Roman general Titus, in A.D. 70, ordered the complete leveling of the temple, and soldiers, seeking the melted gold that had run between the stones, pried them apart one by one. The prophecy was fulfilled with terrifying literalness.

3 Now as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”

This question is the engine that drives the entire discourse. We must break it down carefully. They ask three things: 1. When will "these things" (the temple destruction) happen? 2. What is the sign of Your "coming" (parousia)? 3. What is the sign of the "end of the age" (sunteleias tou aiōnos)? In their minds, these three were all part of the same cataclysmic event. They rightly understood that the destruction of the temple would be a divine judgment, a "coming" of the Messiah in power, and that it would mark the end of the age they were living in. Jesus' answer will address their question about their time, their generation.

4-5 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

Jesus' very first response is a warning against deception. The time between His ascension and the destruction of Jerusalem would be a time of great theological and political confusion. He warns that many would come "in His name," not necessarily claiming to be Jesus of Nazareth, but claiming His office, the office of Messiah. The historian Josephus records numerous messianic pretenders who arose during this period, leading rebellions and promising deliverance from Rome, deceiving many and leading them to their deaths.

6-8 And you are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

Next, He gives them a set of general, background signs. These are the kinds of things that cause people in every generation to think the end of the world is upon them. But Jesus' instruction is the opposite: "See that you are not alarmed." These things are par for the course in a fallen world. They are not the specific sign that the end of Jerusalem is imminent. He calls them the "beginning of birth pains." This is a crucial metaphor. The pain is real and intense, but it is productive. It signals that something new is being born. The death of the Old Covenant world was the birth of the New Covenant kingdom in its fullness.

9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

After the general signs, Jesus turns to the specific experiences of the disciples themselves. He is speaking directly to them: "they will deliver you." The book of Acts is the historical record of this prophecy's fulfillment. The apostles were arrested, flogged, imprisoned, and martyred. The hatred was not localized; it was from "all nations," meaning it would be a feature of their mission throughout the Roman empire. This persecution was a sign that the conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of men was fully engaged.

10-12 And at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will deceive many. And because lawlessness is multiplied, most people’s love will grow cold.

The external pressure of persecution would create internal crisis within the church. The tribulation would be a great sifting. Many who had made a profession of faith would "fall away," or be scandalized. Under threat of death, people would turn on each other. Alongside this moral collapse, there would be doctrinal collapse, with false prophets arising to lead people astray. The result of this rampant sin and betrayal is that the love of "the many" will grow cold. The corporate life of the church would be under severe strain. It is a grim picture of a church under siege from without and within.

13 But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

In the midst of this chaos, the promise is given. It is not a promise of escape from tribulation, but of salvation through it. The one who remains faithful, who endures through this entire period of testing "to the end", that is, to the end of that period of judgment, culminating in A.D. 70, will be saved. This salvation is certainly spiritual and eternal, but in context, it also carried the meaning of being preserved through the historical judgment that was falling on Judea. Christian tradition tells us that the believers in Jerusalem, heeding these warnings, fled the city before its destruction and were spared.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

This is the final and great sign that must precede the end. Before the judgment falls on Jerusalem, the gospel must first go out. The "whole world" here is the Greek oikoumenē, which refers to the inhabited world, specifically the Roman Empire. The gospel must be preached as a "witness" to all the nations, or Gentiles (ethnesin). This is the formal, legal testimony of the kingdom being served on the whole world. Once that witness has been delivered, "then the end will come", the end of the temple, the end of the sacrificial system, the end of the Mosaic age. The Apostle Paul, writing some years before A.D. 70, could say that the gospel "has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven" (Colossians 1:23). The condition was met. The testimony was given. The end of that age was at hand.

Application

The first and most important application of the Olivet Discourse is that we must learn to read our Bibles carefully. For centuries, the church has been plagued by frantic and misguided attempts to map these verses onto contemporary events, reading newspaper headlines into the prophecies. Jesus gave these signs to His first-century disciples to prepare them for the forty-year period they were about to live through. The prophecy was fulfilled, just as He said it would be.

This does not mean the passage has nothing to say to us. The principles are perennial. The world is still a place of wars and famines. The church is still, and always will be until the final victory, a place of persecution and tribulation. There will always be a temptation for believers to fall away, for love to grow cold, and for false prophets to arise. Our calling is the same as that of the first disciples: to endure. We are to remain faithful in the face of pressure, holding fast to the truth.

And most importantly, we are to be about the main business. The sign that precedes the end is the preaching of the gospel. While the end of the Mosaic age has come, the end of history has not. The Great Commission is still in effect. Our task is not to be huddled in a corner, scanning the skies and trying to guess the date of Christ's final return. Our task is to be building His kingdom, discipling the nations, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom to the whole world. The old world of the temple is gone. Christ is risen and enthroned, and His kingdom is advancing with unstoppable force. We should be filled with a rugged, long-term optimism, laboring faithfully until He brings all things to their final consummation.