Matthew 24 is a well-known and much-debated part of the New Testament. On Sunday, I suggested that we should take verse 34 very straightforwardly: “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34). The events of Matthew 24:4-34 were fulfilled within the lifetime of Jesus’ audience.
This runs in the opposite direction of how many Christians understand Matthew 24, a chapter that appears to address the end of the age. On a closer reading, though, we might be surprised.
The Two Questions
Matthew 24 begins with Jesus’ disciples talking to him about the temple, and Jesus telling them that the temple, despite it’s magnificence, is slated for demolition. “But he answered them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Matt 24:2).
Not long after, his disciples come to him and ask him two questions. “As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?'”(Matt 24:3).
Note the two questions: First, when will the temple be destroyed, and second, what will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?
The word that the disciples use for “coming” is really important. It’s the word παρουσία (parousia), which speaks of an arrival or a visit, even especially a royal visit. When is the temple going to be destroyed, and what will be the sign of your arrival and of the end of the age?
The First Question
Jesus begins by answering the first question, giving them a series of signs to help them recognize the time of the temple’s destruction (vv. 4-12). Readers of Matthew will recognize that a lot of what Jesus says here echoes His instructions in Matthew 10:16-23. further establishing that the events of Matthew 24:4-12 will happen within the disciple’s lifetimes.
What about verse 14? “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt 24:14). I think the best way to approach this verse is to understand that Jesus is speaking generally, in the same way that Paul did in Romans 1:8 (“your faith is proclaimed in all the world”) or Colossians 1:6 (“…as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing.”) Jesus isn’t referring to every last people group here—he’s speaking generally about the spread of the gospel to the known world, which did happen within the apostles’ lifetimes.
Then, in verse 15, He talks about the “abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel.” This is a callback to the Seleucid general Antiochus’ defilement of the Holy of Holies in 167 B.C. Something similar would happen again when the Roman general Titus barged into the rebuilt Most Holy Place in 70 A.D.
Jesus then goes on to describe the Romans’ destruction of Jerusalem and related savageries on the Jewish people. Josephus’ The Jewish War describes the events of this time from a first-hand perspective and helps us recognize just how accurate Jesus’ description is.
It is striking that, beginning in verse 23, Jesus specifically says that these events are not to be associated with His coming. “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it… So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it” (Matt 24:23, 26). Jesus’ disciples are to soundly reject even the possibility that Jesus is going to return during this period of tribulation; they aren’t even supposed to investigate whether any claims could be true. “For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming (parousia) of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:27).
Jesus’ return to earth, his parousia, is not to be associated with the events surrounding the destruction of the temple; it will be an entirely different kind of event.
What About the Signs in the Heavens?
We seem to run into trouble with our line of interpretation in verse 29, which says that “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Surely here we’ve found a description of the end of the age, right?
Perhaps the end of an age, but we can’t miss how Jesus is using well-established prophetic language here.1In fact, the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament formats verse 29 as a quotation, indicating the editors’ opinion that Jesus is directly quoting from the prophets. (The NIV, NLT, and NASB also format parts of this verse as a quotation.) And the prophets use this language, not for the end of the world, but for the destruction of a city or empire.
Consider how Babylon’s destruction is described by Isaiah: “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. ‘For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light” (Isa 13:9–10).
Or Egypt’s fall by Ezekiel: “When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. ‘All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and put darkness on your land, declares the Lord God” (Eze 32:7–8). (Other examples include Joel 2:10, 31 & Zephaniah 1:15. See also Peter’s use of this prophetic imagery in Acts 2:19-20.)
I wouldn’t describe this end-of-the-world language as purely poetic hyperbole; there is probably a sense in which the destruction of Babylon and Egypt does foreshadow the de-creating judgement God will bring upon the earth at the end of the age (see Isaiah 34-35 and 2 Peter 3:7-12). Nevertheless, it is beyond dispute that the language of cosmic upheaval used by Jesus comes from the prophets, who spoke not mainly about the actual end of the world, but of the localized destruction of a city or empire. Jesus uses this language to foretell the destruction of Jerusalem.2There’s a lot more here: Jesus is also making a striking point by his use of this language, a point drawn out by Richard France: “… the use of this prophetic imagery enables the reader to understand that what is to be destroyed is not just a magnificent building, but a center of power comparable to ancient Babylon. And when such a power structure collapses, another is needed to take its place: this will be supplied in vv. 30–31 with its vision of the enthronement of the Son of Man and the gathering of his chosen people from all over the world.” [R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 923.]
That leads us into verse 30, which again might appear to refer to the end-of-the-age return of Christ: “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man…” (Matt 24:30). A key to understanding this verse involves how the ESV (and other English translations) have rendered the order of these words. In the original language, the words are found in this order:
καὶ τότε φανήσεται τὸ σημεῖον τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν οὐρανῷ (Matt 24:30a, THGNT)
And then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven
What appears? The sign of the Son of Man in heaven. It’s true that the ESV’s translation is possible: the Greek text could be taken to mean that the sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven. But it’s also possible that “heaven” refers not to the location of the sign, but to the location of the Son of Man. It is the sign of the-Son-of-Man-in-heaven.3This straightforward translation is preserved by the NIV and KJV.
In this reading, the destruction of the temple itself is the sign that the Son of Man is in heaven. The old order has ended; the destruction of the temple is the climactic sign that Jesus has been enthroned and vindicated over those who had Him killed.
Repentance, Enthronement, and the Great Commission
Next, verse 30 reads, “then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn.” These words echo Zechariah 12, which describes the repentant mourning experienced by the people of Israel as God extends grace to them. Except, just like in Revelation 1:7, it’s no longer just the tribes of Israel, but now “all of the the tribes of all the earth” (cf. Gen 12:3) mourning in repentance as they turn to Jesus. The centurion who killed Jesus s certainly an early example of this, as he came to recognize that the one he had pierced surely was the Son of God (Matt 27:54). Similarly, consider the day of Pentecost, when Jesus’ enthronement was proclaimed (Acts 2:36), and the crowd who crucified Jesus was “cut to the heart” with saving repentance (Acts 2:37).
“All the tribes of the earth mourning” is thus not the wailing of those about to be judged at Jesus’ return, but the mourning of repentance experienced by people around the whole world as they turn to Jesus. This happens as they “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” The word for “coming” used in this verse is not parousia (as in v. 3), but erchomai (ἔρχομαι), the same word used in the Greek translation of Daniel 7:13 to speak of the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, not to earth, but to the Ancient of Days where He receives a kingdom that will never pass away. In other words, these words do not speak of Jesus’ return to earth but enthronement in heaven.
In the destruction of the temple and the spread of the gospel around the world, the people of Jesus’ generation would see evidence of His heavenly enthronement. This is why we’re not surprised to hear what He says next: “And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt 24:31).
Rather than describing the rapture, these words speak of the gathering in of God’s people from all over the world as the gospel is preached to them. We know this because the language of gathering in his chosen ones has, once again, a strong Old Testament background, going back to Deuteronomy 30:4. The Greek translation of Zechariah 2:6 is particularly important here, as it states “I will gather you from the four winds of heaven.” The “great trumpet blast” is also a prophetic metaphor connected to the gathering of God’s people in Isaiah 27:13.
Matthew frequently connects the promised return from exile with the mission of Jesus, as Jews and Gentiles are gathered into the kingdom of the Messiah, and here we see that this great work continues after His death and resurrection. The “angels” who gather in His chosen ones could be human messengers, like evangelists, apostles, and missionaries; that’s how the word “angel” is translated in Matthew 11:10. But supernatural beings also fits—just note how often angels show up in the book of Acts in connection with the church’s mission (Acts 5:19; 8:26; 10:3-7; 12:7, 23-24; 27:23; c.f. Gal 1:8, Heb 13:2).
Notice also how verses 30-31 connect the enthronement of Jesus with his universal mission to gather all peoples to himself. This is not the last time we’ll hear such a connection from the mouth of Jesus (Matt 28:18-20).
The Second Question and the Second Coming
It’s especially important to note what Jesus says next: his disciples will know when these things are about to happen (Matt 24:32-33). The signs will be as obvious as a leafy tree in late spring. And then comes verse 34: “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matt 24:34). Jesus is specifically answering His disciples’ question from verse 3 about the destruction of the temple.
- Q: When would this take place?
- A: Within their lifetime.
Verse 34 is not hard to understand if verses 3-31 refer to the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.
This also helps us make sense of the shift in verse 36: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matt 24:36). Wait, what? I thought He just told us we could know with a fair amount of precision when these things would take place.
Some have suggested that in verse 36, Jesus is simply saying that while we might know the general timeline, we can’t know the specific day or hour. That makes less and less sense the more attention we pay to the material that follows. Having just given the disciples a set of very specific signs that will help them know when “these things” are about to take place, Jesus now says, in a variety of ways, that “that day or hour” will come when nobody expects it. It will be like the flood (24:37-41). It will be like a master showing up with no warning (24:42-51). It will be like ten virgins who were totally caught off guard by the one for whom they waited (25:1-12).
It seems reasonably clear that the “day or hour” spoken of in verse 36 must be different from “these things” in verse 33. Again, just notice: with “these things,” the disciples know they’re going to happen within their lifetime, and they’ll be given lots of signs with plenty of warning to be ready. In other words, they’ll know when to expect them. With “that day or hour,” there will be no warning and no signs; all they know is that it will happen when they do not expect it (v. 44). Amazingly, Jesus Himself doesn’t even know when it will be, so all He can tell them is to remain in a state of alertness.
This all falls into place when we understand that, in verse 36, Jesus has transitioned from answering His disciples’ first question (“when will these things be?”) and has begun to answer their second question (“what will be the sign of your coming [parousia] and of the end of the age?” [Matt 24:3]). The language continues to bear this out: verse 37 says “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming (parousia) of the Son of Man… so will be the coming (parousia) of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:37, 39).
He is no longer speaking of his Daniel 7:13 coming (erchomai) to His father to receive a kingdom, of which there will be many signs. He is speaking of His coming (parousia) back to earth at the end of the age, of which there will be no signs—until it happens. So we must be always ready.
Why Does This Matter?
All of this matters because, as we saw on Sunday, it helps us understand the significance of Jesus’ ascension, enthronement, and present ministry. Jesus’ disciples were’t necessarily asking about any of this. They wanted to know when the temple would be destroyed; Jesus told them not only when, but what it all actually meant. As we read His words, they give us greater appreciation for the present work of Jesus as He reigns over the world and gathers His chosen ones to Himself.
It also means that, in regard to Jesus’ return to Earth (His parousia), attempts to “watch the signs” are misguided. If we get excited about the Second Coming when war flares up in the Middle East, and then drift back into complacency as the news cycle smooths out, then we’ve totally missed the point of Jesus’ words: “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt 24:44). The only thing we know about Jesus’ return (from a Matthew 24 perspective) is that we’ll have no warning, so let’s live like it could happen today.
Because, as far as we know, it could.
