Matthew 24:15-35

Matthew 24:15-35

Our American obsession with entertainment and our near obsession with insider knowledge about things apocalyptic mingled with our desire to set dates for the second coming have, in many cases, filled our minds with preconceptions about Jesus’ return. So much so, that we have begun to misinterpret Scripture to fit our expectations. The end of the Temple both as a place of sacred purpose and as a physical building would have been most important to the disciples who were still expecting a political Messiah. Jesus’ recurring theme of not being misled is emphasized again.

The chapter, specifically this part of the chapter, is so steeped in Old Testament apocalyptic language as to be uninterpretable without the Old Testament. The destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. was an occasion in which, in desperation, people-even the elect-might be led astray. Events that are cataclysmic to us or to the culture we are a part of, are not the same as a cosmic indication of the end of time. For example, while 9-11 was important to Americans and Muslims it was unknown to tribal people of in the Amazon or New Guinea. We must disengage our cultural and personal egos from apocalyptic language. The coming of Christ will be like lightening, it will be unexpected and unmistakable. Verses 29-31 are a collection of O.T. passages that are highly symbolic. The stars falling to Earth must reflect something rather than be an event. Rather than a description of an event that was two millennia away this is a symbolic description of the end of the Temple and the beginning of the Gospel age. All of which would happen in that generation.

To this point the Lord has addressed only one part of the disciples’ two-part question. Their assumption that the destruction of the Temple would be the end of the world means that they began from the wrong fundamental assumptions. This indicates that they had to unlearn some things and they faced a much steeper learning curve. We must hold our preconceptions, expectations and even the things we learned in our childhood up to the Scriptures to learn what is correct and avoid being misguided.

"Lord, help me to submit my conceptions and preconceptions to the light of Your word.  AMEN"