Matthew 24:36-51

Matthew 24:36-51

Jesus has been separating and answering two questions that the disciples thought were one question. The destruction of the Temple and the coming of the end of time were not coinciding events. Jesus separates them by contrasting them. The destruction of the Temple was preceded by signs or warnings and was predictable. In contrast the coming of the Christ at the end of the age is unpredictable and there will be no signs in the sense of prior warning. Without the context of verses 1-3 this chapter is often misconstrued.

In view of verse 36 our understanding of eschatology needs to find its shape. Even the Son didn’t know “when” (and by the way neither do the would-be, “End Time”, for profit prophets). Here is the mark of a Biblically sound eschatology; it is always ethical in nature, not chronological. The more we can remove “when” from our meditations and replace it with “how to live and behave” the better off we are. The “days of Noah” have been interpreted, generally, 180 degrees wrong. That was an age of great evil, but this passage is talking about daily life and routines. In that day people were planning short-term “eating and drinking” and long-term, “marrying and given in marriage”. We look at our days and imagine that the immorality is worse than ever before and that these days are or are like the days of Noah and this is a sign that means Jesus is about to come back. That completely misses the point Jesus is making. The point of the “days of Noah” and the subsequent parable is the un-predictableness of the coming and the priority of vigilant righteousness.

People at their work, the thief, and the sudden return of the household master all point to the unexpected and un-predictable nature of someone’s return. There is NO sign given that the return is about to occur. The correct response to the unpredictability of the coming of the Lord is daily, faithful service and ethical living. Not trying to figure out “when” it will happen. We ought to note that the warning of verses 48-51 is not directed to the world, but for Christians who have lost their ethical way.

“Lord, protect me from a fascination of what cannot be known and let me focus on You and Your will, which I can know. AMEN"

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"

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"