In Matthew 23 Jesus had been teaching in the temple. In fact, He had just spoken His last words in the temple. He would never return there after His final warning (the “7 woes”) to the religious leaders of Israel, who would be instrumental in crucifying Him.
It was Tuesday, a
few days before Jesus was to offer Himself as the ultimate Passover lamb. At the closing of that chapter Jesus says in 23:38, “See your house (i.e. your dynasty and your temple) is left to you
desolate“.
And now we read these opening words of Matthew 24: “Jesus left the temple and was walking away…” (24:1) and as He was doing so, the disciples drew His attention to
the magnificent temple building. In
response He repeated what He had said in 23:38: “Truly I say to you,
there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (24:2).
When Jesus walked out of the temple on that
day, the glory of God in Christ, had literally departed from it. There is a remarkable and similar description
of the glory of the Lord departing from the temple under Ezekiel’s ministry. “The glory of the LORD went up from within
the city and stopped above the mountain east of it“(Ezek.
11:23). That mountain, east of the temple, was the Mount of
Olives, where Jesus now sat. Utterly remarkable and not coincidental at all!
That desolation began to manifest, three days
after He had said this, and after Jesus had died on the cross. Here was the first
visible sign of the abandonment of that temple. The great curtain, separating
the holy of holies from the rest of the temple was torn apart. By Christ’s ultimate sacrifice
God showed that the old temple order, focussed on animal sacrifices and the
work of the priests was done. The true High priest had come. He was both, the
offeror and the offering. The temple had
become spiritually obsolete through the cross.
At that time a million Jews were killed. Never again has there been a temple built since then. All that Jerusalem has left of the temple is what is now called the “Wailing wall”. God really did make an end of this rebellious city.
God had spoken many times to Jerusalem through
His servants the prophets, calling the Jews to abandon their false
worship. In Isaiah 65:2,3
God had spoken through His servant
Isaiah, “All day long I have held out my
hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own
imaginations— a people who continually
provoke me to my very face…”. The last words
in 23:37, before Jesus left the temple testify to this fact, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent
to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”
So, when Jesus pronounces the destruction of
the temple and of Jerusalem, He is not having a temper tantrum. He is the
Saviour, whose long suffering patience with
Jerusalem has now come to an end, and it
would be a terrible end for the temple
and Jerusalem in AD 70. But remember that
this judgement in AD 70 is only a signpost of the far greater end to which Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount of Olives points in Chapter 25:31-46, where Jesus speaks of that final Judgement, when God will make that great distinction
among mankind, and when He will destroy all His enemies in the eternal fire[1]
.
JESUS
ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
V. 3 Having left the temple, we now find Jesus we now find Jesus sitting on the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives would have provided a spectacular view over the Kidron valley towards Jerusalem and the temple. The words of Jesus are still ringing in the disciples ears. In the distance they see the magnificent temple with its magnificent columns and terraced courts. It is hard for them to accept that all this earthly glory is going to perish! But, remember, the real glory of the temple had already departed! Please note however that, whilst Jesus had left the temple, He did not leave His disciples, nor His people! His disciples were going to become the seed of the church.
And now they are asking Him these 2 questions:
(i) When
will these things be?
(ii) What
will be the sign of your coming and the
end of the ages?
Jesus reply in 24: 4-13
(i) Jesus does not answer the question of ‘when’ directly. He will give them an answer only in v.36, after He has laid the crucial foundations for His teaching on the end times, and even then He does not give them a direct answer to their question. He will tell them in 24:36-51 that it is not for them to know the time or hour of His return. We will cover that ground more thoroughly when we get there.
In the meantime we can say this: Live in the constant expectation of His sudden appearing. The parables that follow in Matthew 25 will all illustrate that His return will be sudden and unannounced. Therefore, in the light of such facts the question we should be asking is this, “How can I remain faithful?“ The answer is, “Keep looking to Jesus. Expect Him to come soon”. Do you see the wisdom in this? No one would be helped by knowing the exact time of His return. If the Lord Jesus had said, “I will be back in 2500 years”, the disciples and those that followed (and we) might become discouraged, slack and careless.
(ii) He answers the second question (what will be the sign?) in 24:4-35. Again, He does not give a direct answer. He starts with a warning to watch out against deceit.
There are
four aspects to this question. Today we will only be able to deal with the first aspect:
a. The beginning of birth pains 4:
1-13
b. The gospel preached to all nations 4:14
c. The great tribulation 4:15-28
d. The second coming 4: 29-35
A. The beginning of birth pains
Key phrases:
“See that no one leads you astray” - “do
not be alarmed.”
Jesus gives a whole range
of ‘signs’, but His main concern in v.4
is that we must avoid being deceived
into thinking that the
appearance of new Christs or new Messiahs would be THE SIGN of His coming. He also warned His disciples that rumours of wars, famines and
earthquakes, persecutions,
apostasy from the faith, the presence of many false prophets would not be THE definitive signs of His coming. Jesus warned them explicitly. He says, “do not be alarmed”,when these things
happen (v.6). He says that all these
things are only the beginning of birth- pains. These mark the beginning
of the end times, and not the end
itself.
Why must we take careful note of this? Because many people are tempted to be more preoccupied with the signs, than about the life of faith which they are called to live NOW. People hang with admiration on the lips of the preacher who speaks authoritatively about the signs of the times, showing his audience that this terrible battle or that missile falling on Jewish soil, or that earthquake, or this famine, or the relentless persecution of Christians is the infallible sign of Christ’s imminent return. Jesus says, “That is a wrong focus. Don’t be deceived ! Don’t be alarmed.”
All this does not mean that these events mentioned here in vv. 4-12
have no significance. They do!
But they are not THE sign. They are only signposts along the way. We must not
overreact. These are only the beginning of birth pains. The baby is on its way, but it is not yet
born. A
pregnancy is a signpost. The birth is THE sign. When I travel and see a
sign post saying, “1 kilometre to rest stop”, this means that the reality lies 1 kilometer ahead. In the same way these signposts are an indication that the world is heading towards an end, but they are not THE
sign. Don’t get lost in the sign posts.
Focus on living godly lives whilst waiting for His unexpected coming.
As you pursue Jesus’ teaching you will note that there are greater signposts yet to follow, such as the great tribulation of vv. 15-28. Of this great tribulation which precedes the coming of Christ, AD 70 was another signpost. The church since AD 70 has experienced many great tribulations.
But there is more to follow. After that (following Christ’s teaching here) there is the sign of the skies
(v. 29) when “the sun will be darkened and the moon will
not give its light ; when the stars will
fall from heaven and the powers of the
heavens will be shaken.“
Following that there will be THE SIGN: “At that time “the SIGN” of the
Son of man will appear in the sky.
Jesus is THE SIGN ! v.30
John, in the Revelation says concerning that day, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.“ (Revelation 1:7).The second coming is a visible SIGN when Christ shall be seen by all - even those who have died. It will be a momentous event!
But remember
(and we shall see this later when we get to v.36) that His appearing will be sudden. If this is so, we must ask, "how then shall
we live in the light of this knowledge?"
1. We must take note of the signposts but we must not be unduly alarmed by the signposts. An unnecessary pre-occupation with end time speculation easily leads
to a coldness in our love for
Christ Himself.
2. Our duty is to endure or persevere. Therefore He advises us … “ the one who endures to the end will be saved.” What is it that you need to do now? You need perseverance! Perseverance in what? Perseverance in godliness in this life, while you live NOW. A reading of 2 Peter 1: 3-15 provides us with essential focus on living now. You will do well to read this portion of Scripture now.
3. Give up on end time speculation. Focus on your
life in Christ now. Have your lamps filled with oil and your
wicks trimmed now (cf. 25:1-13). Don’t think that you are spiritual when you read all the
latest books on prophecy while your
life remains a sinful mess. Your duty is to look to Christ and persevere in His strength NOW.
Stay faithful to Jesus NOW.
That is why v. 13 is important : “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
