Read Matthew 24:1–44
Questions from the Scripture text: Where did Jesus go (Matthew 24:1)? Who came to Him? To show Him what? What is the point of Jesus’s question in Matthew 24:2? What does He tell them will happen? Where is He in Matthew 24:3? Who come to Him? In what circumstance? What two things do they ask? With what command does Jesus initially answer (Matthew 24:4)? What does He say that many will do (Matthew 24:5)? Of what will they hear (Matthew 24:6)? What does He tell them not to do? What else will happen (Matthew 24:7)? Taken altogether, what are these things (Matthew 24:8)? What will be done to them (Matthew 24:9)? What will happen to many in the church (Matthew 24:10)? What else will happen in the church (Matthew 24:11)? And what else (Matthew 24:12)? What must they do, unto what result (Matthew 24:13)? For what is the coming of the end waiting (Matthew 24:14)? But what event will they see (Matthew 24:15), and how should they respond (Matthew 24:16)? How urgently (Matthew 24:17-18)? Under what distress (Matthew 24:19)? For what are they to pray (Matthew 24:20)? How dreadful will the destruction of the temple be (Matthew 24:21)? What is the only reason that it would not be worse (Matthew 24:22)? Even after the destruction of the temple, by what must they not be deceived (Matthew 24:23)? Who will arise, doing what (Matthew 24:24)? What does He command them to consider in Matthew 24:25? What application does He make of the doctrine in Matthew 24:23-25 (Matthew 24:26)? Why won’t they need anyone to announce that Christ has come (Matthew 24:27-28)? What (Who!) will be the sign that the Son of Man has come (Matthew 24:29-30)? What will this day be like for the nations (Matthew 24:30)? What will this day be like for the elect (Matthew 24:31)? What are they to do with the predictability of the destruction of the temple (Matthew 24:32-33)? When will that happen (Matthew 24:34)? How sure is Christ’s Word (Matthew 24:35)? How does His return compare (Matthew 24:36)? How surprising will it be to the world (Matthew 24:37-39)? How subtle will the difference be between the elect and the condemned (Matthew 24:40-41)? What are they to do (Matthew 24:42)? Why (Matthew 24:42-43)? What does “watching” mean doing (Matthew 24:44)?
What is the sign of Christ’s coming? Matthew 24:1–44 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these forty-four verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that Christ’s coming is the sign of Christ’s coming.
Impressed with the wrong thing. At some distance from the temple, its buildings were still impressive to the disciples, who thought Jesus would be impressed too (Matthew 24:1). But Jesus’s response in Matthew 24:2 reminds them that He has been emphasizing His own kingdom, over-against what was superficially impressive. They were impressed with big stones, but they should have been impressed with Him Who is the Chief Cornerstone. Jesus informs them that those big stones will soon be toppled.
Confusing two events. The disciples receive Jesus’s reminder well, but incorrectly conclude that the destruction of the temple will occur at the same time as Jesus’s coming into His kingdom and ushering in a new age (Matthew 24:3). So, Jesus’s first answer to them is a command not to let anyone deceive them. He proceeds to give them extended instruction that differentiates between the destruction of the temple (which is predictable and escapable) from His return at the end of the age (which is unpredictable and inescapable).
“Signs” that predict neither event. Jesus tells them that many will claim to be the Christ (Matthew 24:5), and that there will be many events that seem so significant that they could be signs (Matthew 24:6-7), but that are just the chief sorrows of a fallen world (Matthew 24:8; “beginning” can also mean “principal” or “chief”). Then, there is the persecution that will happen to them (Matthew 24:9), and spiritual failures in the church (Matthew 24:10-12) that will seem like they could be signs. But, they are events to distinguish the elect, who will endure even through them (Matthew 24:13). What the end is waiting on is the preaching of the gospel to all the nations from which he Lord is saving people (Matthew 24:14, cf. Romans 8:22–23, Revelation 6:10–11).
The sign that predicts the destruction of the temple. Just as had happened once before, when Antiochus Epiphanes had erected a pagan altar in the temple, fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel (cf. Daniel 11:31, Daniel 12:11), a pagan conqueror would come and desecrate it again. When the Roman general, Titus, entered the temple in a.d. 70, Jews rushed into the temple, but Christians immediately fled. This was because Jesus had not only given them a very specific sign (Matthew 24:15), but also pressed the urgency of fleeing immediately (Matthew 24:17-18) from the terribly woeful (Matthew 24:19) tribulation that will come (Matthew 24:21).
Jesus commands prayer, in advance of the temple’s destruction (Matthew 24:20). This is amazingly instructive for the doctrines of prayer and of the Sabbath. On the doctrine of prayer, the Lord has decreed the timing of the temple’s destruction, but He has also decreed that, in response to His people’s praying, it would not occur in winter or on the Sabbath. On the doctrine of the Sabbath, Jesus clearly teaches here that consecration of the day continues under the New Covenant. Referring to 70 a.d., the consecration of the Sabbath is still so important that their praying with respect to the destruction of the temple would focus on safeguarding their consecration of the day. This necessitates that the moral quality of Sabbath-keeping continues with the Lord’s Day.
The sign of Jesus’s coming. After the destruction of the temple, there will still be false prophets who claim to have secret knowledge of Christ’s location and return (Matthew 24:23-24). But we know that the Lord sometimes permits the signs of false prophets to come true, as a way of testing our commitment to His Word above all (cf. Deuteronomy 13:1–4). Jesus gives us a great reason never to listen to someone who claims secret knowledge of His return (Matthew 24:26): His return won’t be a secret (Matthew 24:27-28)! When someone does make such a claim, Jesus sets His own Word (Matthew 24:25) against that of the false prophet. The sign of the coming of the Son of Man will be… the Son of Man Himself in the sky (Matthew 24:28-30)!
Be ready for the destruction of the temple. Matthew 24:32-33 refer to a predictable event. They are speaking, again, of the destruction of the temple—something that will happen before the current generation has passed away (Matthew 24:34). We cannot apply this teaching by fleeing Jerusalem. But we can, indeed, apply it by rejecting false signs, and affirming the perfect reliability of the words of Jesus (Matthew 24:35).
Be ready for the coming of Christ. As Jesus changes the subject back to His coming (Matthew 24:37), He clearly indicates that it is as unpredictable as the temple’s destruction is predictable (Matthew 24:36). If they cannot know what time it will happen, then they must be ready for it at all times. Just as the world was not ready for the flood (Matthew 24:37-39), many will not be ready for Jesus’s return.
Jesus’s return will be a day either of great horror (Matthew 24:30) or great joy (Matthew 24:31), depending upon whether you are of the nations (Matthew 24:30) or of His elect (Matthew 24:31). And we must not presume that we are elect just because we are in their company. Matthew 24:40-41 describe the scene at the angels’ gathering of the elect, and among people in identical circumstances, one will be elect while the other isn’t.
We must always be ready for Jesus’s coming (Matthew 24:42-44). This means to close with Christ immediately: to believe in Him for salvation from sin and to be made right with God. And it means to be living always in the manner in which we would like to be found when Christ returns. Whatever you are doing, dear Christian, may I pass the question: “Would I wish to be found doing this, when Christ comes?”
How have you resisted attempts to predict Christ’s return? How are you valuing His Word over signs? How are you living, in the way that you would wish to be found, when Christ returns?
Sample prayer: Lord, thank You for caring that we would not be deceived. Grant us the ministry of Your Spirit, that we may hold to Your perfectly reliable Word and not be taken in by false prophets. Give us faith in Christ, and conform us to Him, that we may be ready for His coming, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP96B “Ascribe unto the Lord” or TPH389 “Great God, What Do I See and Hear”
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