The Olivet Discourse, Part 2: When Shall these things be?

Last Wednesday night, we began a study of the Olivet Discourse, and we stressed that the Book of Matthew is concerned with Jesus and His Kingship, and the events of Matthew Chaps. 24-25 are related to His Kingdom and not the church. We closed last week by looking at the three questions asked by the disciples of Christ.

When SHALL these things be?

When SHALL be the sign of your coming?

What SHALL be the sign of the completion of the age?

We said that shall means a determined outcome, and signs, according to Scripture, are always for the Jews, so tonight, we will discuss Christ’s answer to the first question-when shall these things be?

By the way, can I just say this? If you want the answer, ask God, and He will give you the answer. Now, it may not be the answer you want, but He will give you the answer.

1. When Shall These Things Be?

Matthew 24:1–3 “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

Here is where you have to be careful.

When Jesus said this in verse 2, it was prophecy for His disciples, but for us, it is history.

You must be able to keep the time element separated.

Jesus does not say when Jerusalem was going to be torn apart in the Gospel of Matthew, but in the Gospel Luke, He does without giving us a definitive date.

In the Bible, we treat time mysteriously. Let me show what I mean.

How many people waste time trying to predict the date of Christ’s return?

They try to predict Christ’s return based upon perceived signs or events in the world, but the timing of the return of Christ is not a mystery. God has told us when it would happen without giving us the definitive date.

Romans 11:25–26 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”

When is Jesus Christ going to return? When the last Gentile is saved that completes the body of Christ. When will that happen? I do not know, but when it does, the trumpet is going to sound, and the church is going to meet Jesus.

As for the destruction of Jerusalem, when did Jesus say it was going to happen?

Luke 19:43–44 “For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

Jesus said when you see Jerusalem surrounded by an army, it is time for not one stone being left unturned.

To what event was Jesus referring? He was referring to the Roman seige and destruction of Jerusalem led by the Roman general, Titus, in 70 AD.

I found this amusing.

When Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, people were putting all over Facebook that it was a fulfillment of Luke Chap. 21 verses 20-22. They had gotten God’s Word completely out of contest.

Let me give you a few details about the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. I will email you a link to a great video about it.

When Rome set about to defeat an enemy or to put down a rebellion, they were masters at doing so.

The first thing the Romans did to Jerusalem was lay seige to the city. They completely surrounded Jerusalem cutting supplies from getting into the city and cutting all escape routes.

The seige lasted for 4 months, from April 14 to September 8, 70 AD. A seige is always devastating as it does not take long to run out of water and food. By the end of the seige, rampant starvation had gripped the city as many resorted to cannibalism, including infant cannibalism.

Anyone who tried to escape, regardless of gender or age, was crucified.

When the Romans finally decided to breach the walls of the city, they immediately destroyed the Temple by setting it on fire in an attempt to break the Jewish will to fight. They looted the Temple stealing many valuable contents which by the way are still in the Vatican. Is that not interesting?

One of the things taken back to Rome that ultimately ended up at the Vatican was the Menorah.

As the Temple was being destroyed, the Romans literally pried apart every stone trying to find rumored treasures hidden within.

Jewish historian Josephus says that 1.5 million Jews were killed as a result of Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem. Roman historian Tacitus says the number was more like 600,000.

After sacrificing the ox, bull, and pig upon the ruins of the Temple, Titus built a temple to Jupiter on the site of the Jewish Temple, and then the Romans rebuilt the city renaming it giving it a Roman name, Aelia Capitolina.

In reality, from this point forward to this very day, Israel has been under Gentile domination. Don’t shoot me because I said that. Yes, Israel gained its independence in 1948, but does Israel have the land mass that God intended? Who controls those areas?

Do you remember back in 1st Sam. when Israel wanted to be like all the other nations and have a king? Do you know what God has used to judge Israel from that time forward? Gentile nations.

Babylon

Medio-Persia

Greece

Rome

Seljuk Turks

Great Britain

Kingdom of Antichrist

Israel made a choice thousands of years ago, and it has paid dearly and will continue paying dearly for that choice until Christ comes to set up His earthly Kingdom.

It did not have to be. A telling verse is found in Luke.

Luke 19:44 “And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

They missed out on the opportunity to accept Jesus. They missed Him while He was with them.

One more little interesting fact, and this is absolutely amazing.

When the Christians in Jerusalem saw the Romans approaching the city, they remembered what Jesus had said, and they evacuated from the city before the Roman seige. Josephus says that not one Christian died during the seige. They did not because they had remembered the Word of God. AMEN!!!!

Matt. Ch. 24 verse 2 is not prophecy for us. It was for Jesus’s disciples. It is history for us as it was fulfilled in 70 AD.

Next week, we will see Christ’s answer to this question. What shall be the sign of the completion of the age?