The Fall of Old Jerusalem: A Prophecy Fulfilled Text: Matthew 24:15-28
Introduction: Reading the Signs of the Times
We live in an age that is utterly fascinated with the end of the world. Newspaper headlines and blockbuster movies are filled with apocalyptic scenarios. And in the church, a great deal of ink has been spilled and hot air expended trying to map out the final days, usually by treating the Bible like a collection of inscrutable prophecies that can only be decoded by matching them with current events. This has led to a great deal of sensationalism, date-setting, and ultimately, embarrassment when the predictions inevitably fail.
The root of this confusion is a fundamental misreading of passages like the one before us today. The disciples came to Jesus with a compound question. They had pointed out the magnificent temple stones, and Jesus had told them that not one stone would be left upon another. Stunned, they asked Him, "When will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" They had conflated three things: the destruction of the temple, the coming of Christ, and the end of the world. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus patiently disentangles these questions.
What we have in our text is not a prophecy about a future Antichrist in a rebuilt temple in the 21st century. It is a specific, detailed, and urgent warning to first-century Christians about the impending destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred in A.D. 70. Jesus is not giving them a crystal ball to gaze into the distant future; He is giving them an evacuation plan. He is telling His people how to escape the most horrific local judgment in the history of the world. This was the end, not of the space-time continuum, but of the old covenant age, the Judaic aeon. It was the final, climactic divorce between the old covenant bride who had become a harlot and the God she had rejected.
If we fail to see this, we not only miss the meaning of the text, but we also rob Christ of His glory as a true prophet. The standard for a prophet in Deuteronomy is 100% accuracy. Jesus gave a detailed prediction, and it came to pass in astonishing detail within one generation, just as He said it would. This passage authenticates His divine authority. Let us therefore read it not as a puzzle for our future, but as a history lesson of His faithfulness and a warning about the nature of divine judgment.
The Text
"Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. And whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his garment. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. Therefore, if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."
(Matthew 24:15-28 LSB)
The Signal to Flee (vv. 15-20)
Jesus begins with the central, unmistakable sign that would trigger the evacuation.
"Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains." (Matthew 24:15-16)
Jesus points His disciples back to the prophet Daniel. This "abomination of desolation" had a historical precedent in the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the temple in the second century B.C. But Jesus says it will happen again. Luke's gospel gives us the interpretive key: "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near" (Luke 21:20). The abomination that causes desolation was the arrival of the pagan Roman armies, with their idolatrous standards, surrounding the holy city.
However, some have pointed out that if the sign was the city already being surrounded, it would be too late to flee. A closer look at history reveals another layer. The Jewish historian Josephus records that during the siege, the zealots who had taken over Jerusalem committed horrific atrocities within the temple compound itself. They murdered their rivals, installed a clown of a high priest, and thoroughly polluted the holy place with their own wickedness long before the Romans breached the final walls. This internal corruption was the true abomination, the final act of apostasy that guaranteed the city's destruction. When the Christians saw this utter moral collapse and the approach of the Roman legions under Cestius Gallus in A.D. 66, who then inexplicably withdrew, they understood it as the sign. The early church historian Eusebius tells us that the Christians in Jerusalem took this opportunity and fled to the city of Pella across the Jordan. They obeyed the warning.
The urgency is underscored by the following commands. Don't go back in the house for your stuff. Don't go back from the field for your coat. This is a life-or-death flight. The woes for pregnant women and nursing mothers highlight the extreme difficulty of this escape. The prayer that it not be in winter or on a Sabbath is a prayer for mercy in the midst of judgment. Winter would make the journey treacherous, and a Sabbath flight would have invited persecution from the Jews who still controlled the city gates and were zealous for the law.
The Great Tribulation (vv. 21-22)
Jesus then describes the nature of the judgment that would fall upon those who remained in the city.
"For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short." (Matthew 24:21-22)
Now, our futurist friends want to take this language and apply it to a global, end-of-the-world cataclysm. But we must read the Bible as the Bible reads the Bible. This kind of hyperbolic language, "such as has not occurred," is common prophetic speech for a localized, yet uniquely terrible, judgment. For example, the prophet Ezekiel says of a past judgment on Jerusalem, "I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again" (Ezekiel 5:9). The language describes the intensity and severity of the event from the perspective of those experiencing it.
And the historical accounts of the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Josephus are beyond horrific. He describes a city wracked by famine so severe that mothers ate their own children. The streets were filled with corpses. The infighting between Jewish factions was as deadly as the Roman assault. Over a million Jews were killed, and tens of thousands were sold into slavery. In terms of sheer concentrated horror and divine wrath poured out on a covenant-breaking people, it was unparalleled. It was the great tribulation for the nation of Israel.
The promise that the days would be "cut short" for the sake of the elect is a promise of mercy. The "elect" here are not just the Christians who had already fled, but also the Jewish remnant that God would preserve through the chaos to be saved later. God, in His sovereignty, would not allow the destruction to be so total that His future purposes for His people would be thwarted.
Deceptions and the True Coming (vv. 23-28)
In the midst of such chaos, people would be desperate for a savior, creating a fertile ground for deception.
"Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect." (Matthew 24:23-24)
Josephus records that numerous messianic pretenders and charlatans arose during the siege, promising miraculous deliverance to the people, leading many to their deaths. Jesus warns His disciples not to be taken in by these localized, "secret" appearances. Don't go out to the wilderness. Don't look in the inner rooms. Why? Because the true "coming" of the Son of Man in judgment would be nothing like that.
He then gives two images to describe the nature of this "coming."
"For just as the lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." (Matthew 24:27-28)
The "coming of the Son of Man" is a phrase that modern evangelicals almost automatically equate with the Second Coming at the end of history. But the phrase simply means a visitation, often in judgment or blessing. Here, it refers to Christ's coming in judgment against Jerusalem. This coming would not be a secret, localized event. It would be as public and undeniable as a flash of lightning that illuminates the entire sky. The Roman armies were Christ's instrument of judgment, and their arrival and devastating work were visible for all to see. No one had to wonder if it was happening.
The second image is even more stark. "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather." The nation of Israel, having rejected her Messiah, had become a spiritual corpse. She was spiritually dead, rotting from the inside out. The Roman armies, symbolized by the eagle on their standards, were the vultures sent by God to consume the carcass. It was a graphic, visceral image of final, irreversible judgment. The gathering of the vultures was not a secret; it was the obvious consequence of death. In the same way, the destruction of Jerusalem was the obvious, public, and necessary judgment upon a dead and apostate nation.
Conclusion: Judgment Then and Now
So what is the takeaway for us, living nearly two millennia after these events? First, we must have our eschatology straight. This passage is primarily about a past event, the judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This was the coming of the Son of Man to close the old covenant age and to vindicate His saints who had been martyred by that corrupt system. This historical fulfillment grounds our faith in the reliability of Christ's word. He said it would happen, and it happened.
Second, this event serves as a permanent, historical type of all divine judgment. God is not mocked. What a man sows, he will also reap. And what a nation sows, it will also reap. Israel had been given every privilege, every warning, and every opportunity. They had the law, the prophets, and finally, the very Son of God in their midst. And they rejected Him. The judgment that fell was therefore correspondingly severe.
Let the nations of the West, which have been so richly blessed by the light of the gospel, take heed. As we progressively reject our Christian foundations, as we call good evil and evil good, as we murder our unborn and celebrate perversion, we are creating a spiritual corpse. And where the corpse is, the vultures will inevitably gather. The principle remains. Judgment begins at the house of God, and it began with Jerusalem. But it does not end there. The lightning flash of God's wrath against covenantal unfaithfulness is a warning that illuminates the sky for all generations.
Our only hope, then and now, is not in our own righteousness, but in the Christ who bore the ultimate judgment for us on the cross. By fleeing to Him in faith, we escape the great tribulation that our sins deserve. We are transferred from the city of destruction into the kingdom of God's beloved Son, a kingdom that cannot be shaken.