Matthew 24:18-51

We’re going to read from the King James version because it refers more directly to the term,

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (remember, this is one week of years, 7 years) : and in the midst of the week (three and a half year in) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (oblation is sacrificial offering), and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. 

 

So, we have this man, Antichrist making a covenant with Israel and in the middle of that seven years he’ll cause the Jewish sacrifices and sacrificial offering to cease. These offerings can only be made at the Temple, so the temple will exist then.

And for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it (the Temple) desolate. What is this “overspreading of abominations?

 

The last time this happened it was by Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria, who captured Jerusalem in 167 BC and desecrated the Temple by offering the sacrifice of a pig on the altar to Zeus the sky and weather god. This was the Abomination of Desolation.

This Syrian dictator was a type or a shadow of antichrist.

Daniel goes on to say, “even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” The consummation is the final completion or what will be utterly consumed and the thing that God has determined will be poured out upon the desolate, or more accurately the desolator, the man Antichrist.

 

So, this is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 24:15, that the man Antichrist will come into the Temple and defile it and in verses 16 and 17 Jesus is speaking of the urgency that’ll be required at that point to flee to mountains.

 

There’ll most likely be a period of time from when the Antichrist is revealed to the world after the Body of Christ has been snatched away in the rapture until that seven-year covenant is made. During that time the jews will embrace this Antichrist as the Messiah. They rejected the real Messiah when He came the first time but now a great many of them will believe this is the true Messiah. The fact that this deceiver’s able to do something that no politician or government has been able to do since 1948 when the State of Israel was established, that is bring peace between Israel and its neighbours, will help support this belief.

However, three and a half from when this covenant is instituted, this Antichrist sets himself in the temple and demands to be worshiped as God.

Revelation 13:8 states that “all who dwell on the earth will worship him”, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 describes how he’ll set himself up as God in the temple, demanding worship.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

 

When this occurs the nation of Israel will realise that they’ve been deceived. What a horrific time that’ll be for those that fell for the deception.

 

We continue on in Matthew 24:18-20,

And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 

But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 

And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

You see Israel is back into sabbath keeping at this time. The law and the covenants are now Israel’s standards and the standards of the world.

Again, these are people who are observing the Sabbath day, which is Saturday. This is another proof that Jesus is speaking directly to the Jewish people.

The Body of Christ today does not keep the Sabath!

Again, we emphasise the fact that our Lord is speaking to the folk in Palestine, not to you and me. This warning is not applicable to us.

 

Now to verse 21,

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

 

This tribulation is unique; there’s been nothing like it in the history of the world, and there’ll never again be anything like it. Jesus labels this end of the age as the Great Tribulation.

“Such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

People will certainly know it when it gets here!

Has what is happening in this world today ever happened before in history?

If it has, it’s not the Tribulation. Most people have no idea how severe it’ll be.

This period will be unmatched by any other period in the past or in the future.

Matthew 24:22,

And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. 

We read in the Book of Revelation that during the Tribulation on one occasion one third of the population of the earth will be destroyed and on another occasion one–fourth of the remaining population will be destroyed.

It’s absolutely unique. What’ll happen is portrayed in John’s vision in Revelation 6. The red horse of war, the black horse of famine, and then the pale horse of death are pictures of what will happen during that period, and the population of the earth will be decimated.

There was a time when this seemed to be an exaggeration. However, now with the commonness of nuclear weapons which could destroy the population of the world, it no longer appears to be exaggerated.

However, there is comfort in this verse— “but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” God will not let mankind commit suicide. That is the reason this’ll be such a brief period.

Now we come to the signs.

 

Matthew 24:23-25,

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 

See, I have told you beforehand. 

 

Let’s not miss what Jesus is saying here.

The ability to work miracles in our day should be looked upon with suspicion because the next great miracle worker will not be Christ; he’ll be Antichrist with his false prophets.

“If it were possible they shall deceive the very elect.”

Who are the elect? The elect are the nation Israel.

The Lord been talking about Israel, those who are believers and are still surviving.

 

To verses 26 and 27,

“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 

 

When He comes, there’ll not be any John the Baptist to announce Him. When He comes, the whole world will know, and it’ll be as public as lightning. Everyone’ll see it.

When our Lord comes the second time to establish His Kingdom on earth, everyone will know He’s coming.

He won’t be coming from these areas this verse talks of. He’ll be coming from Heaven at the end of the Tribulation in power and glory. And He’ll destroy all the nations that have been gathered there around Jerusalem under the power of the Antichrist, and Christ will stand on the Mount of Olives from where He left some 2000 years ago.

Remember that His second coming to earth does not refer to the Rapture. He doesn’t come to earth in the rapture, we who are alive in Christ along with all those that have died in Christ will be caught up with Him in the air.

 

Verse 28,

For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

This is perhaps the most difficult verse to understand in the entire Olivet Discourse. After speaking of His coming in glory like lightning out of heaven, then to speak of carrion–eating birds seems strange indeed.

It seems to refer to Christ’s coming in judgment. Revelation 19 verses 17 to 19 speak about an invitation that went out to the birds to come together for a great banquet, and that they would eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

The birds that feed on carrion seem to be agents of divine judgment and when the Lord comes again, He will come in judgment.

This verse appears to speak of the clean up after all the deaths at Armageddon and all the other things that have taken place.

 

Then verse 29:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 

Notice that this is to be “Immediately after the tribulation of those days.” This indicates that all these things will take place at Christ’s second coming to the earth.

 

Isaiah tells us that a few people around the earth will survive the Tribulation, and they’ll be gathered.

Notice there’s no Church language here whatsoever? Nothing about the Body of Christ at all!

Did Jesus not know of His Body, the Body of Christ and how that would come together in the near future? Of course He knew!

But, it was kept secret from the Twelve because He’s going to reveal the Body of Christ, the Church, to the Apostle Paul in just a few short years. These disciples knew nothing of the 2000 some years that God would deal almost exclusively with the Gentiles.

Everything Jesus said here was directed to the Jews. As soon as the Tribulation has run its course, part and parcel of those final hours will be that the sun and moon are going to be affected.

You really want signs of Jesus’s second coming? Here they are and they’re not lunar or solar eclipses. The skies have been graced by thousands of these captivating cosmic events with about 2385 of them occurring between the years 1000 and 2000 alone.

 

Let’s go for a moment to Acts Chapter 2 and see how Peter is in perfect accord with this Jewish program and that he doesn’t know anything else.

Psalms 2 lays out the Old Testament program beautifully. It shows the Old Testament prophecy being fulfilled with the coming of the Messiah. They crucify Him. He’s resurrected. He ascends back to glory to sit at the Father’s right hand. And then the nations would go into derisions or delusions, and then the wrath and vexation of God would come on the God rejecting world.

Then the Kingdom would come. What’s missing here? Well, the 2000 years of the Church Age of course.

It’s not there. Paul says in Romans 16:25,

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began,”

 

But here in Acts chapter 2, Peter’s using the language of Psalms Chapter 2, the same language that Jesus is using. And here Peter’s quoting out of the Book of Joel. Remember, these unbelieving Jews had accused these Galileans of having too much wine, because they were able to speak in all these languages.

 

Acts 2:15-18,

For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 

‘AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS. 

AND ON MY MENSERVANTS AND ON MY MAIDSERVANTS I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT IN THOSE DAYS; AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY. 

I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN HEAVEN ABOVE AND SIGNS IN THE EARTH BENEATH: BLOOD AND FIRE AND VAPOR OF SMOKE. 

THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE COMING OF THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE LORD. 

AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.’ 

 

So, Peter says that this is the prophecy of Joel. And here he quotes word for word from Joel. The prophet Joel is prophesying of the last days.

 

These things had happened the day of Pentecost.

If Peter had known about the 2000 years of the Church Age, the Dispensation of Grace to come, he would have stopped right there. But Peter didn’t know, so all he can see is the Tribulation that’s coming.

To Matthew 24:30,

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

 

“Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.” What is that sign? All we can do is speculate because we’re not told.

In the Old Testament, the nation Israel was given the glory, the Shekinah presence of God.

No other nation or people has ever had that, nor does the church, the Body of Christ today have it.

The Shekinah glory rested over the tabernacle and later the temple at Jerusalem, but because of Israel’s sin, comes, and that’ll be the “sign of the Son of man in heaven.”?

“They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

This is His return to earth to set up His kingdom.

 

Verse 31,

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

 

The elect spoken of in this verse is still the nation Israel.

The Old Testament prophets repeatedly foretold of a miracle that would bring the Jews back into their land. This is not the church which is going to be caught up out of this world to meet the Lord in the air. Angels are not connected with the Rapture. The Lord will come in person to receive the church with the sound of a trumpet, and His voice will be like that of an archangel. Not an angel a voice like an archangel.

He’ll not need any help to gather His church together. He died for the church, and He’ll bring it together. When He says that the “angels … shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other,” we can be sure that He’s talking about the nation Israel. Ministering angels have always been connected with Israel.

 

Matthew 24:32-34 and Jesus is talking,

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So, you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!

Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 

 

This is a prophetic picture.

So, you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near. What’s near? The second coming of Christ is near, even at the doors.

Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.  Jesus is not talking about a generation in time like 40 or 50 years. The Greek word here is `genea’ which means the race, the breed of the Nation of Israel. The nation of Israel will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

Now that’s a promise from the Creator Himself, and if it weren’t for that we’d have good reason to think that, yes, the Nation of Israel will disappear.

Remember the whole world’s against them, and they’re intermarrying at an alarming rate.

How long would it take for them to lose their identity if they keep on intermarrying at the current rate of over 52%? Not long. But in spite of everything that’s going against this little Nation of Israel, we know they’ll not disappear until everything is fulfilled.

Verse 35,

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. 

He says, “You can underscore what I’ve said, because heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not.” There will be a new heaven and a new earth we’re told in Revelation 21 verse 1, but He will not change His Word; it will stand throughout the eternal ages.

To Matthew 24:36,

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. 

 

Although they’ll know that this period is drawing near, they’ll not know the day nor the hour. There’re so many people today who try to pinpoint the time of Christ’s return, and this verse suggests that in that future day there’ll be people who’ll even try to figure it down to the very hour. But no one will know either the day or the hour.

And He’ll use the illustration of Noah in verse 37,

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 

Christ will come in a day which’ll be like the days of Noah.

Now Matthew 24:38-39,

For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 

 

Now, the days of Noah were characterised by gross immorality. Every thought and imagination of man’s heart was only evil continually as we see Genesis 6 verse 5.

But our Lord says that His coming will be in days like the days of Noah, and He mentions only that they were eating and drinking.

Is there anything wrong with eating and drinking? No! But we’re told this in 1 Corinthians 1:31,

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

The people in Noah’s day weren’t eating and drinking to the glory of God that’s for sure. In fact, they were living as though God didn’t exist at all.

 

Today, multitudes of people receive a meal that comes from the hand of God three times a day while millions of people are starving, and they wouldn’t think of thanking God. So, it’ll be in that future day, they’ll be right on the verge of the coming of Christ, and they’ll be living as though it’ll never take place.

Also, the people of Noah’s day were “marrying and giving in marriage.”

Certainly, The Lord’s not saying that marriage is wrong. His point is that they’ve so completely rejected God’s warning through Noah that they went and had their weddings right up to the day that Noah entered into the ark. They lived as though God didn’t exist. They didn’t believe that He’d judge them, and they scorned the warning that a flood was imminent. “and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

 

Now to Matthew 24:40-1,

Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 

Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 

Many people have this verse as talking of the rapture. Not so! The context of what Jesus is talking about here hasn’t suddenly changed! He’s still talking about, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Who was taken away in the days of Noah? “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

They perished in the Flood. This is not referring to the Rapture when the church will be taken out of the world.

This verse pictures the judgment, the removing from the earth of those who are not going to enter the millennial Kingdom.

 

Matthew 24 verse 42,

Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.

Watch is the important word here, and it’s not about watching and waiting for the Rapture.

Today we have a hope. In that future day it will be watching with fear and anxiety.

In the night they’ll say, “If only it was morning,” and in the morning they will say, “If only it was night.” Today we’re to wait for His coming. In that future day they’ll watch with anxiety for His return.

You may think that’s splitting hairs, but It’s not. The Greek word for watch has about eight different meanings. Although in English we’ve got only the one word, it has several different meanings, also.

There’re different types of watching. This is watching with anxiety.

 

Now to verses 43 to 45,

But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 

Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 

What our Lord is doing here and in the remainder of the Olivet Discourse is giving parables to illustrate the attitude of people to His coming and what’ll happen when He does come.

 

Now we go to the last few verses of Matthew 24:46-51 and it’s a continuation of the same parable,

Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 

Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 

But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

This’ll be the attitude of some, perhaps even the majority, of people in that future day.

They’ll say, “Well, the Lord delays His coming, so I’ll just go on living however I please.”

When Christ does return, He’ll judge that man.

This is a picture of the Jewish nation at that time and there’s no “Body of Christ” language here at all. However, we can use the principal Jesus is teaching here to live our lives in the light of and with the realisation of the magnitude of the free grace God’s given to us.

This parable does have an application to us, although it’s specifically given to the people living at the time of Christ’s return as King.

 

Jesus’ ministry in Matthew, Mark Luke and John was to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” as we saw in Matthew 15-24 in His conversation with the woman from Canaan and we read,

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

His ministry was to the circumcision. The circumcision is the covenant people, the insiders, the Jews. The circumcision was a symbol of their special relationship with God. It marked them as God’s chosen people, His treasured nation.

Jesus came to confirm God’s covenant promises to the nation Israel, and we see that in Romans 15 verse 8 which we’ll read,

Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers,

 

Nowhere in these four books do we find the mystery information later revealed by the Lord Jesus to Paul. This includes Matthew 24 where Jesus tells his disciples about the “sign of his coming”.

We know from the context that Jesus is speaking to his covenant people according to prophecy. None of the events in Matthew 24 are written for our participation in the Body of Christ today, however, we must never forget 2 Timothy 3:16-17,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Matthew 24 is vital for our doctrine, instruction, reproof and correction. Reproof means that by which a thing is proved or tested.

 

Here’re a few clues as to why we don’t fit in this audience.

 

Salvation by Enduring

 

In Matthew 24 salvation is received through endurance as we saw in Matthew 24:13. Yet, salvation today in the dispensation of God’s grace does not depend on our endurance through tribulation. It rests solely upon the finished work of Christ and provides salvation now.

Romans 5:11,

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have NOW received the reconciliation (or the atonement). 

 

Gospel of the Kingdom

 

God’s message to covenant Israel in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John was that the long-prophesied Messiah had arrived and the promised kingdom was coming.

We see that in Mark 1:14-15,

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.

This is different from God’s message of grace concerning the free justification and reconciliation that He provides by the blood of Christ.

In Matthew 24:14 they’re preaching the prophetic gospel of the kingdom,

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

 

This would not be the mystery that Christ revealed to Paul after Israel’s rejection of the Messiah and that which Paul preaches. The twelve apostles to the 12 tribes didn’t know this mystery gospel which hadn’t been revealed to the world as yet.

 

Holy Place Activities

 

Matthew 24:15 speaks of prophesied events about the Jewish temple and their holy place,

“Therefore when you see the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 

There is no “holy place”, temple, or chosen nation today in this dispensation we’re living in. There’s neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ as Colossians verse 11 says,

…where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

And in 1 Corinthians 3:16,

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  

We, you and I, are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

Trouble in Judaea

Jesus tells those in Judaea to flee to the mountains because of the tribulation in Matthew 24 verse 16. Yet, most of the church today doesn’t live in Judaea. We simply wouldn’t fit in this context.

And, what would they be fleeing from? The context talks about trouble and wrath coming to that place in Matthew 24:21,

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

 

Matthew 24 is about the Lord fulfilling his prophecy purpose on the earth. When he returns in Matthew 24:30 it’ll be in judgment to establish his earthly kingdom in Judea as Revelation 19:11 tells us,

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 

None of these things can happen while God’s offering free salvation, by His grace, to the whole world in this dispensation, and offering on terms of peace.

 

If we’re looking for the signs of God’s judgment then we should be telling people to flee and fear as the Lord does in Matthew 24.

Instead, God’s given us a new message. We’re God’s ambassadors offering grace, peace, and reconciliation to the world through Calvary’s cross.

That finishes Matthew 24.

Next time we’ll open at Matthew chapter 26 and the Olivet Discourse continues.

This chapter expands on the answer Jesus gave to the question of, “what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Jesus will use parable or word pictures to further answer that question.