Before I begin, let me state that I once believed – as many do – that all of Matthew 24 was somehow way off in our future and yet to be fulfilled. It wasn’t until I started doing some research of my own, that I became more and more convinced that we have been misled: that Matthew 24 has been taken out of context and misquoted by Pastors and so-called Bible teachers for so long, it has become a “strong delusion.”
When Morpheus presented Neo with the red and blue pills, he was offering him the choice between staying asleep in the Matrix or waking up in the real world. It was a choice between living a lie in bondage or living the truth in freedom.
While this information won’t change anyone’s status in the Kingdom of God (you’re not going to be saved or condemned for knowing or believing this), knowing it will awaken you to the deeper truths of God’s Word and – hopefully – give you the tools to “rightly divide the word of truth.”
First, understand that the chapter and verse conventions used in the Bible are simply reference tools. They are not the way the gospels – or any other book of the Bible for that matter – were written.
Second, the first four books of the New Testament are collectively called “The Gospels.” Of these four, the first three are called the “Synoptic Gospels.”
The Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes the exact same wording. This degree of parallelism in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence structures can only be accounted for by literary interdependence. Scholars believe that these gospels share the same point of view and are clearly linked.[1] The term synoptic comes from the Greek syn, meaning “together”, and optic, meaning “seen”. [2]
While the synoptic gospels are similar, each of the four gospels is written to present Christ and His claims from a different perspective and, in the case of Luke, to a different audience.
The Gospel of Mark is believed to be the earliest of the gospels and presents Christ as the “suffering servant”:
Mark portrays Jesus as the “suffering servant” that acts as a model for the disciples to follow. We are told he came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10: 45). Each time the disciples exalt themselves and misunderstand the mission of Christ’s death and resurrection, Jesus tells them a parable or explains what the cost of discipleship means.
The Gospel of Matthew, written around 60 AD, presents Christ as heir to David’s throne through Joseph’s lineage and thus as Israel’s King and Messiah. Matthew was written primarily to Jews to convince them of Christ’s royal pedigree and why they should accept Him as their King and Messiah. This is important to understand about Matthew, especially when we start looking at chapter 24.
Luke was a Gentile and fellow traveler with the Apostle Paul. Luke also wrote Acts. Luke’s gospel presents Christ as the “Son of Man”, focusing on Christ’s humanity:
The Gospel of Luke is universal in its appeal, and directed especially to Gentiles and Greeks in particular. Matthew, on the other hand, wrote primarily for the Jews, and Mark for the Romans.
Finally, The Gospel of John presents Christ as both God incarnate and the “Son of God.” While Luke focused on Christ’s humanity, John focused on Christ’s deity.
It’s important to keep this brief background in mind when studying any of the gospels as it helps us understand both the writer’s intent and choice of words in presenting the stories as they did.
With that in mind, let’s look at Matthew’s account of the Olivet Discourse and break it down verse by verse.
Recall that chapters and verses weren’t written into the gospels but were added later as an aid to reference . The Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24 – so-called because Christ spoke these words to the disciples on the Mount of Olives – is actually prompted by events preceding chapter 24. These preliminary events all appear in Matthew, Mark and Luke, though they are described differently.
Jesus had just come into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He enters the city on a colt, as prophesied, and is greeted by the throngs of people shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” Matthew 21:9 (NKJV)
Jesus then enters the Temple and drives out the money-changers. He began teaching the crowds in the Temple, healing the sick, and was confronted by the Scribes and Pharisees over various points of the Law.
The Temple becomes the nexus of Christ’s remaining ministry during Holy Week.
During one of these discussions with the Scribes and Pharisees, Christ “goes off” on them.
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
Matthew 23:29-36 (NKJV)
Christ assails them for their hypocrisies and the murders of the prophets God sent to their fathers, holding them and the people of their generation accountable for all the innocent blood shed from Abel to Zechariah. He’s telling them here that their generation is going to be judged and how that judgment will come against them.
Christ then raises a lament over Jerusalem.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
Matthew 23:37-39 (NKJV)
This story of Christ’s lament also appears in Luke:
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city (Jerusalem) and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, 44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:41-43 (NKJV)
Remember, Matthew’s audience is primarily Jews, so he’s writing to people who understand the Old Testament prophecies. He’s writing to people who understand what Jerusalem being “desolate” means, because the Jews had seen (through their history and prophets) Jerusalem desolated – laid completely waste – once before by the Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar, in 587 B.C.
Luke, on the other hand, is writing to Greeks and Gentiles: people who would not necessarily know Jewish history and certainly not the Jewish prophets. Therefore – and this is critically important – Luke actually interprets Matthew for us! When Matthew writes to Jews:
“See! Your house is left to you desolate.”
Luke explains EXACTLY what that means to Greeks:
“…your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another…”
Just as the Babylonians had completely “desolated” or leveled Jerusalem and its Temple to the ground and carried the Jews off into captivity, Luke is telling his Greek readers what lies ahead for Jerusalem!
Matthew, in turn, is telling the Scribes and Pharisees that this will happen to their generation!
“Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.”
Again, Matthew assumes his readers know of that which he writes, but Luke assumes his readers know nothing and thus explains what these things mean. It’s the reason why The Gospel of Luke is the longest book in the New Testament! (Matthew has more chapters, but Luke has more words! He EXPLAINS everything he writes in much greater detail!)
After Christ’s confrontations in the Temple, first with the money-changers then with the Scribes and Pharisees, He and the disciples begin to leave the Temple grounds, prompting the following exchange, presented in parallel from all three synoptic gospels:
| Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matthew 24:1-2 (NKJV) | Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Mark 13:1-2 (NKJV) | Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, “These things which you see–the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.” Luke 21:5-6 (NKJV) |
Upon hearing this, His disciples ask:
| “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3 (NKJV) | Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?” Mark 13:3-4 (NKJV) | So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?” Luke 21:7 (NKJV) |
Thus begins the Olivet Discourse. The first question His disciples ask is “when will the Temple be destroyed?” They then ask, “what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?” More in my next installment.
Rightly dividing the Word: Matthew 24 