Matthew 24:4-28 The Great Tribulation Pt. 2

Intro

Matthew 24 is a difficult and highly debated passage.

Many people read it and see the end of the world and all the signs that lead up to the end of the world.

But what does Matthew 24 say?

Any time we come to the Bible, especially a difficult part of the Bible, we need to start with context.

Context

In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounced seven woes, seven curses on the Scribes and the Pharisees for rejecting Christ and all of God’s prophets.

And because of that, Jesus said See, your house, your Temple, is left to you desolate (Mt. 24:38). Abandoned. Dead. Under judgment.

And then Jesus left the Temple. And as he was leaving all of His disciples were pointing out all the glorious buildings of the Temple saying, “Jesus, Do you not see it? How can you say that this Temple is going to be left desolate. Are you blind? Just look at it.”

You have to remember the Temple was the center of the world for the Jew.

It was where God’s people and all the nations could come and worship God and have their sins forgiven.

Without the Temple what would the Kingdom of God even look like? They couldn’t imagine it because they couldn’t see that the true Temple the true place we worship God and have our sins forgiven isn’t some building.

Its Jesus Christ.

So Jesus said You see all these, do you not? Truly I say to you there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down (Mt. 24:2).

Oh, you mean this Temple? The one I’ve already cleaned twice? The one being trampled down and perverted by people who murdered God’s prophets, and are about to murder me, the eternal Son of God.

This temple is dead. Its unclean. And I’m going to tear it down brick by brick until there’s nothing left. Not one stone on another.

And that’s what Matthew 24 is all about.

The Great Tribulation, the Abomination of Desolation, all the signs and the coming of the Son of Man all have to do with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple at the hands of the Romans under the providence of Christ in AD 70 at the end of what we call the Jewish Wars.

Jesus said your house is left to you desolate. Not one stone here will be left on another. And all of Matthew 24 is answering the disciples question Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? (Mt. 24:3).

Usually when people read Matthew 24 they think its all future. But verse 34 is the key.

Jesus said Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

Either Jesus was right or He was a false prophet.

Now I know that’s a big claim. Some of you are looking ahead and thinking how in the world can some of the things in Matthew 24 be talking about AD 70.

The gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Mt. 24:14).

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Mt. 24:29).

All this looks like the end of the world. How can this passage just be talking about the destruction of Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago.

That’s my job to show you. And to that we are going to remember the two most important rules for interpreting the Bible.

Interpretation

London Baptist Confession Chapter 1 Paragraph 9:

The infallible rule for interpreting Scripture is the Scripture itself. Therefore, when there is a question about the true and full meaning of any part of Scripture (and each passage has only one meaning, not many), it must be understood in light of other passages that speak more clearly.

Two rules:

Rule number 1: Scripture interprets Scripture.

Rule number 2: We interpret less clear passage in light of more clear passages.

When we come to difficult passages of the Bible, our job is to let the Bible speak for itself.

That’s the goal.

And we are going to use those two rules over and over again as we study Matthew 24.

And by doing so, my hope is to help you understand Scripture better, but most importantly to see the message God has for us today from Matthew 24:4-28.

Because ultimately this passage is not about signs and it wasn’t given to us so we could argue over end times theology.

What God wants us to see from this passage is that:

When the World falls apart, God calls Christians to persevere against all tribulation and keep preaching the gospel.

So let’s dig into Matthew 24 with what Jesus calls the beginning of the birth pains of the Great Tribulation. And let’s let Scripture interpret Scripture to see that all the signs Jesus mentions were fulfilled in the first century and led up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD

Birth Pains

Matthew 24:4-8 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”

]Jesus says these are not signs of the end, but they are the beginning of the birth pains, a technical term in Jewish literature for the sufferings that would give birth to the Messianic age.

So these “birth pains” are the the beginning signs of the end. Meaning the end of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Old Covenant age.

Like Hebrews says Hebrews 8:13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Right from the beginning, Jesus’ concern is that His disciples would persevere. See that no one leads you astray. Don’t be shaken. Endure to the end.

False Christs

And the first of the birth pains giving birth to the light of the New Covenant, gospel age undiminished by the shadows of the Old Covenant Temple system would be false Christs leading many astray.

Now from the Bible and from history, we know this in fact happened.

You have to remember the Jewish hope for the Messiah. They were expecting a Messiah to come in, raise up an army, kick out the Romans and restore Israel to glory once again.

Not only that, but the Jews knew their Scriptures. And Daniel 2 said that the Messiah would come in the days of these kings. In the days of the Roman Empire.

So what this meant is that anyone could stand up and say, I’m the Messiah. I’m here to save us from the Romans and they might build up a following.

Even in Acts 5, by the days of the early church, we know this had already happened.

After they arrested the Apostles for preaching Christ, one of the Pharisees stood up and said Acts 5:34-37 Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody [presumably Christ since that’s why the apostles are there], and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

And 1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour [Last hour of what? I would say the last hour Old Covenant age], and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

John says theres antichrists everywhere. Many have come.

And history itself even confirms this. Josephus, and you’ll want to remember him.

He was a Jewish historian from the first century and an eyewitness to the Jewish Wars and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and he said that from 53-60 AD during the reign of Governor Felix who you’ll remember from the book of Acts that “the country was full of robbers, magicians, false prophets, false Messiahs, and impostors, who deluded the people with promises of great events.”

Sproul, R. C.. The Last Days according to Jesus (p. 35). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Wars

Then Jesus says there will be wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom (Mt. 24:6).

This is a popular one today isn’t it? We hear of wars and everybody thinks this is the end!

But have you ever asked yourself why would this be a sign of the end if this is always happening?

There are always wars and rumors of wars. How would you know whether any one was part of the birth pains Jesus was talking about?

Pax Romana

Tiberius quote miinute 30 of gore pt 1

2800

Abomination of Desolation

5600

Conclusion

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading