Matthew 24: Read the Room

Introduction

Chapter 24 takes place immediately after the Lord declares his woes against the religious leaders. He already prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed, but now he’s going to give a lengthy sermon that discusses this in more detail.

Today’s chapter contains both Prophecy and Apocalyptic Language. When reading prophetic language it is important to note that there is likely a “first fulfilment” and an “ultimate fulfilment”. When reading apocalyptic language, the meaning must be relevant to the immediate audience and also universal to the community in any age.

There will be overlap in both of these types of language today, and line between what it means for the original audience, and what it means for future generations (including us) can get blurry.

24:1-2: Look at all those buildings

The chapter starts with Jesus leaving the temple for the last time. Nobody, not even the disciples, knew just how monumental that was. God had left the building.

As they were leaving, the disciples seemed to become enamored with the Temple. It was beautiful. But Jesus wasn’t impressed. Like their peers, they cared more about the beauty of the temple than recognizing the God who had just left it.

I’m all for beautiful churches. In fact I wish we had more of them. But we can’t fall in love with a building and overlook the God it was built for.

The Lord tosses cold water on their enthusiasm: the great and mighty temple will come crashing down. Using prophetic hyperbole he says, “there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down”.

Given how the rest of this sermon is going to play out, one could wonder if the “stones” could also symbolize the people. By the time Rome finished razing Jerusalem to the ground in 70 AD, Jews were no longer allowed in the city. In other words there wasn’t one stone that “was not thrown down”.

24:3-14: Here is your sign

The gang retreated to the Mount of Olives where they have spent the night for most of the week. The disciples obviously knew what Jesus meant about the temple being destroyed. So their natural question was: when?

This is a natural human inclination. We want to know when major events will happen. For the Jews, the destruction of the temple basically was the end of the world.

They asked a similar question in Acts 1:6 “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?””

Anytime you find yourself asking, “When is the end of the world going to happen??” take a cue from Jesus’ respons in Acts 1:7 “He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

Someone once said, “We talk about the second coming, when most of the world hasn’t even heard of the first.” Don’t get distracted by useless talk of “when”. Focus on the mission at hand.

Even so, Jesus doesn’t totally leave their curiosity (and ours) hanging. But, using typical apocalyptic language, he keeps the language vague. Trying to tie any of these “signs” to any particular event is dubious. Still, they do tell us something.

First, the Lord warns us to be wary of false Messiahs. Even in the Lord’s own day, there were many who claimed to be the Messiah. None of them were. After his ascension, more would come.

This applied to the original listeners. But it’s also a timeless truth for every generation of Christians. Over the last 2,000 years countless false prophets and Messiahs have arisen. Many have successfully led many astray.

We need to be wary of these types of people. They seem to spawn during times of crisis. Paul tells the Thessalonians that it will be obvious when Jesus returns.

John echoes this warning in his first letter 1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.”

Second, Jesus says that “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars”. People love to cling to that, but overlook his very next words, “See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

For the immediate hearers, the next 40 years (leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem) was going to be filled with increasing levels of violence and threats of war - and war would eventually break out between the Jews and Romans.

Remember, the destruction of the Temple was basically synonymous with the end of the world for those people. But Jesus makes it clear “the end is not yet.”

And for us today? If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, “The end must be near, look at how many wars are breaking out!” I’d have a lot of dollars!

Every generation has “heard of wars and rumors of wars”. In fact, I bet there hasn’t been more than a 50 year period in the last 2,000 years where there hasn’t been wars somewhere.

The presence of wars is merely confirmation that we are living in the end times, and have been living in them since the resurrection!

Remember, the emphasis shouldn’t be on the wars, it should be on not being alarmed! Jesus is enthroned and in control. Consider Psalm 2:1–4 “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”

Following up on the war comment, he says that nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Famines and earthquakes were seen as signs of judgement in the ancient world (they probably should still be, honestly!)

Even today we make jokes about “the big one” hitting California.

But again, these ‘signs’ are actually quite common. Even Jesus notes that they will happen in “various places”.

So what do they mean? Well he says that they are “but the beginning of birth pains”. In other words they are symptoms of an ending age, but we shouldn’t tie too much significance to any one event.

When we see and hear about those things, we should not be alarmed, but rather let them remind us that it is all quite normal as Jesus said.

The next set of signs become much more personal. He turns his attention to the rise of persecution that will take place.

Even though Jesus is speaking to his immediate disciples, his words apply to all Christians. The early church was especially familiar with persecution for their faith. The present church (outside of America) is also very familiar with persecution.

It’s no surprise that endurance through persecution and suffering is heavily talked about in the NT: 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 3, 2 Peter 3:3, 1 John 2, Revelation 13

Jesus is honest with them, and us: be a Christian will ultimately cause you to run up against the world. They may tolerate us for a while, but in the end they always hate us.

Again, the emphasis isn’t really, “You should be scared.” it’s more so, “I know it’s going to happen, I’m telling you it will happen, and it’s going to be okay.” Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus gives them similar words, Matthew 10:22 “and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” He will emphasize that last point again, too.

It shouldn’t be overlooked that no persecution Christians face is disconnected from the suffering of Christ. It’s for this very reason we should take joy in those sufferings!

Some outcomes to be expected from persecution:

Many will fall away or stumble. This is apostasy. Unfortunately not everyone can take the heat, so they walk away and deny Jesus.

Others will betray one another - this echoes his previous statements that families would turn on each other because of Jesus.

And finally, they will hate one another. To avoid death and suffering, Christians are often the first ones thrown under the bus.

Again, just as there will be false and anti-Christs, there will also be false prophets who will lead people astray. This has been an ongoing thing. We can all probably name a cult or two started by one of these false prophets.

The final result of persecution will be lawlessness, and because of that “the love of many will grow cold”. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the chaos of the world and to let our hearts become indifferent. Love for Jesus and love for others starts to fade if we aren’t careful.

This is a warning Jesus gives to one of the churches in Revelation 2:4 “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”

Even when things get difficult, don’t let your love grow cold!

The final sign of “the end” will be the Gospel being proclaimed to all the world. He says “as a testimony to the nations”. The world for nations can be translated as “gentiles”. The Jews had a major case of ethnocentrism, so the idea that the Gentiles were involved in anything at all was scandalous. For Jesus to say that the end would only come once all the Gentiles have heard would have been quite eyebrow raising.

For all of our obsessions with the end of the world, the reality is Jesus isn’t coming back until everyone has heard about him. 2,000 years later, that still hasn’t happened yet.

If we really want to hasten the day, we better to get to evangelizing!

Conclusion

The two key phrases from today’s passage are “See that you are not alarmed” and “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” These various “signs” of the end occur to every generation of Christian. None of them should surprise us, nor should they overwhelm us. We just have to keep our chins up, trust in Jesus, and “consider it pure joy when we encounter trials of every kind.”

So next time you see one of those books or TV programs trying to scare you about “the end is near”. Just walk away. Don’t let those false prophets lead you astray!