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?” Matthew 24:3
The
chapter, commonly called the Olivet Discourse since Jesus taught it after leaving
the temple and walking up the Mount of Olives, has caused much controversy over
the years. Much of it has to do with whether Jesus is talking about a literal
return, a figurative return and whether that return happened already or his is
foretelling a future return.
Jesus
just left the temple after smacking the Pharisees upside the head with a bunch
of “Woe is you” statements.
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to
him to call his attention to its buildings. “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.” Matthew 24:1-2
He just
told them the temple would be destroyed. So verse 3 follows that line of
thought with, “So in light of that information Jesus, when is that going to
happen? What sign will signify your coming and the end of the age?”
Jesus
prophesied about a coming judgment that would occur right there in Jerusalem
that happened in 70 A.D. when Roman forces, led by the General Titus, pillaged
Jerusalem, killed hundreds of thousands of Jews (Josephus says over a million).
The temple and the city’s walls were leveled. It was Hiroshima, Jerusalem
style.
That
officially ended an era of the Jewish faith. With no temple, there was no place
to do sacrifices. Over the last 2,000 years since then, the temple has never
been the same. Rulership of Jerusalem switched hand, but never did the temple
rebuild. Today a Muslim mosque sits on the site with no apparent plans to move
away.
The “end
of the age” means the “end of the Jewish temple age.”
But it’s
not a bad thing. There is no more need for temple sacrifices to cleanse of our
sins. Jesus does that for us.
As for
his return, Jesus told the listeners to read the signs.
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come
in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 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. Nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various
places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. “Then you will be handed
over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations
because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray
and hate each other, and 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. And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the
end will come. Matthew 24:4-14
Here are
the signs:
·
False prophets
·
Wars and rumors of war/nation rising against nation
·
Famines
·
Earthquakes
·
Persecution
·
Carelessness of faith
·
The gospel going to the whole world
Are these future events? Every
one of them already occurred.
·
False prophets are told about in Acts (Judas of Galilee, Simon the
Sorcerer). The historian Josephus told of a false prophet, a magician named
Theudas. Paul tells of Hymenaeus and Philetus in 1 Timothy 2.
·
The Roman historian Tacitus (56-117 AD) told of conflicts and uprisings
in German, Africa, Thrace, Gaul, amongst Parthians, Britain, Armenia.
·
In Acts 11, the book tells of a famine that was so great, the church of
Corinth helped with relief efforts.
·
Tacitus tells of repeated earthquakes in 51 AD
·
The book of Acts tells of the persecution of Stephen (stoned), Paul
(whipped with rods, jail) and Peter (jail).
·
The New Testament letters address the lawlessness of the church. Paul
addressed a number of heresies in all his letters.
·
The Gospel did go to the whole world, the whole known world—from Asia to
Europe to Africa. That was the Roman world.
So if
Jesus told of the destruction of the temple and the signs were fulfilled,
where’s Jesus? Has he returned? Many recent false prophets theorize that Jesus
has come secretly and he’s here. . .hiding or something. The sign of his coming
was the sign of his judgment. The temple, the priests and the Jewish faith were
judged and found deficient. So Jesus executed his judgment on the temple, just
as God did before with Jerusalem using the Babylonians. Now Jesus commanded the
Romans.
So the
“age” ended. Jesus did “come” in judgment.