Matthew 24:1-14

Matthew 24:1-14

Jesus having repudiated the religious leadership leaves the temple. Within the week the sacrificial system of the temple would be superfluous. The temple and Jerusalem itself are marked for destruction which is a doom of all those who reject Christ. At the time there was an end times belief among the Jews that the temple was indestructible. Perhaps that was the genesis of the disciples’ comments in verse 1. Jesus’s comment in verse 2 would have been contrary to everything held dear to the Jewish people. In contrast to believing in an indestructible eternal temple Jesus says that it is unnecessary and doomed. For the disciples such a thought must have meant the end of the world. We need to learn that our preconceptions can sometimes mislead us. Disciples are convinced that the temple’s destruction, Jesus’s coming and the end of the world are all going to be simultaneous. Often before we can learn we must begin by unlearning!

There are important principles about Jesus’s end time teaching that are true of all Biblical eschatology. First, avoid the danger of deception. Closely related is that the “when” or chronological matters are utterly unknown. The last principle is to remain faithful and to endure. These are related and often sequential. Under the teaching of misguided, or worse deceitful, teachers we tend to look for special knowledge concerning “the end”. The Result? Dates are set, predictions are made and when the dates come and go the student becomes susceptible to a faltering faith. In fact, events that Jesus said are NOT signs of the end are often used as harbingers of His return.

A misunderstanding about end times can ruin our faith and witness. In verse 12, Jesus talks about love growing cold. The world has never been a loving place. This passage most likely refers to the disciples that their love for the many, the lost, grows cold. Often the person most useless for making disciples is obsessed with questions about the end times.

"Lord, give me the hope of Your return and the endurance of faith that will last till that great day. AMEN"