Matthew 24
v.3
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?”
Two distinct questions are asked by the disciples. While Mark focuses Jesus’ eschatological discourse on the fall of the temple (cf. Mark 13:4), Matthew ties the second question of Jesus’ parousia (his “coming”) with the “end of the age” by using “the sign” (singular) to unite the two parts of this second question. Additionally, Matthew is the only one of the four Gospel writers to use parousia (24:3, 27, 37, 39), which when applied to Jesus is a technical term in the New Testament for Jesus’ return (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 2:19; James 5:7-8; 1 John 2:28). If 24:3 sets out the scheme for chapter 24, then it seems that Jesus answers the disciples’ first question about the fall of the temple in 24:4-35 and their second about his parousia at the end of the age in 24:36-44.
v.6
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.
A theme running across 24:4-35 is the warning to not mistake the precursor signs of Jerusalem’s siege and the temple’s destruction with the event itself. Jesus mentions numerous signs that will precede the actual event of destruction and likens them to the start of labor. The precursor signs, what R.T. France refers to as “false alarms,” include messianic claims by others (24:5), wars and and rumors of wars (24:6), persecution of Jesus’ followers (24:9), many turning away (24:10, 12), and the presence of false prophets (24:11; cf. 7:15).
This reference to “the end” could suggest that the discussion here is about “the end of the age” and Jesus’ return. But Matthew is careful to use two different terms for “end” that highlight two different terminus points in the chapter. Here and at 24:13-14 telos is used to described the end which these precursor signs point, the temple’s destruction (24:15-16). When Jesus refers to the end of the age, Matthew uses the term syntelia exclusively (13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20). “The question which Jesus is here answering was about when the temple would be destroyed, and that is the ‘end’ most naturally understood here.”
v.7-8
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famine and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.
v.10
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
v.12-13
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Set your face as flint. It is the one who stands firm who will persevere. Not the one who stands tall with their shoulders back in every season. The one who stands firm. It’s must easier to stand firmly when your foundation itself doesn’t shake when everything else does. Be a doer of the word with and without an increase of wickedness.
v.14
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.
The gospel is testimony to all nations. It proclaims the universal sinfulness of mankind and claims to have the answer to the most dire need of the human soul. It is for everyone.
This precursor sign should also be connected to the (impending) destruction of the temple, given the immediate context of 24:15-16, which clearly refers to the temple. In other New Testament texts the same phrase, “the whole world” (with oikumenē), is used to specify the known, inhabited world (e.g., Acts 11:28; 17:6; 24:5 [see BDAG 699]). And as texts such as Romans 10:16-18 (cf. Col. 1:6) indicate, Paul considered the gospel to have reached the “whole world” by the time he writes his later letters.
v.15-16
“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
The allusion here is to Daniel’s vision of the temple being desecrated by a foreign power (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). Daniel 11:31 reads, “His armed forces will desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. They they will set up the abomination that causes desolation [LXX: bdelygma erēmōsēos].” According to the author of 1 Maccabees, this desecration occurred in 168 BC, when Antiochus IV desecrated the altar in the temple by constructing an altar of Zeus on it (1 Macc. 1:54 [using bdelygma erēmōsēos]; cf. 2 Macc. 8:17) By alluding to this text, Matthew sets Jesus’ predictions of the fall of Jerusalem and the temple in the context of the current ruling power, Rome, which will be the instrument of the temple’s desecration and Jerusalem’s destruction in AD 70.
v.26-27
“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
According to R.T. France, this verse functions as a brief aside to clarify a key difference between the temple’s destruction and Jesus’ return (parousia is used here). While Jesus has warned his followers not to confuse precursor signs with the arrival of the temple’s destruction (e.g., 24:26), he clarifies that there will be no such problem of confusion with the Son of Man’s return. It will be as clear as lightning in the sky.
v.29
“Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
This verse alludes to two texts in Isaiah (13:10; 34:4) and is used to give a climactic pronouncement on the destruction of the temple. The introduction to the quotation, “Immediately after the distress of those days,” indicates that the “distressing” precursor signs mentioned in 24:4–25 are now issuing in the event itself, the temple’s destruction. In Isaiah’s context this cosmic language predicts the fall of Babylon and other enemy nations. The use of cosmic language for significant historical events is common in Jewish prophetic material (e.g., Ezek. 32:7–8; Amos 8:9–12). As N.T. Wright indicates, “There is abundant evidence that [first-century] Jews, like Jeremiah and others before them, knew a good metaphor when they saw one, and used cosmic imagery to bring out the full theological significance of cataclysmic socio-political events.” By taking over Isaiah’s cosmic language pointed at the downfall of Israel’s enemies and applying it to Israel’s own fortunes, Matthew emphasizes the ironic turn of events leading to the temple’s destruction.
v.35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
God’s promises are inherently more trustworthy than earthly promises - simply because the earth is temporary but God isn’t.
v.42-43
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
v.44
So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.