Matthew 24: The Parousia

Matthew 24:1-2: Sets the stage for Jesus’ prophecy of end time events. The prophecy in Matthew 24 has a short term and long term fulfillment. If Jesus can rightly predict precise events still decades ahead of time, he validates his position to speak about events even further out.

I. Signs of the end of the age:

1. (v.4-5)

2. (v.6)

3. (v.7)

4. (v.9)

“200,000,000 Christians in at least 60 countries are denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith.” –Voice of the martyrs

“If current trends continue, estimate that by 2025 an average of 210k Christians will be martyred annually.” — International Bulletin of Missionary Research report.

5. (v.10-12)

Notice “Many.” (10: Fall away) (11: False prophets) (v.12: love many grow cold)

6. (v.13-4) (Compare to Rev. 13:10, Rev. 14:12)

7. (24:15-

• Jesus is referencing Daniel 9:27.
• Daniel’s prophecy was first fulfilled by Antiochus the fourth who slaughtered a pig on the altar and set up an idol in the temple.
• The prophecy will repeat itself in a larger fashion in days to come after Jesus’ ascension. In March A.D. 70 the Jews rebelled against Rome. 70,000 Romans soldiers surrounded the city lead by their general (and later Emperor) Titus. The Christians escaped the city because they had been warned by Jesus. When Titus finally entered the city, he killed everyone, burned the temple and destroyed the city.
• When the temple burned, the gold in the temple melted and the soldiers dug up the stones to get the gold, fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy that not one stone would be left on another.
• Jewish Historian Josephus: “Men and women, old and young, insurgents and priests, those who fought and those who entreated mercy, were hewn down in indiscriminate carnage. The number of the slain exceeded that of the slayers. The legionaries had to clamber over heaps of dead to carry on the work of extermination.”
• It’s an “abomination” because it is the destruction of the House of God by gentile troops.
• It is “desolation” because it not only destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, but caused the land to become desolate. It drove the Jews from the land and scattered them into the nations.

Matthew 24:15-27, instructions to the Church:

• Jesus weeps for those who will be harmed by the wicked.
• He instructs his followers not to get caught up in Israel’s judgment. They are to escape when they see it “coming.” That is, when Rome approaches Jerusalem, he tells them to escape into the mountains.
• What would happen is judgment on the house of Israel for the rejection of her Messiah. Favor was shown in 1948 when the house of Israel was restored to the land. The Jews are the only people group to be displaced from their land and scattered in many directions, yet maintain their cultural, religious and national distinctions.
• V.22, no human would be saved. Could mean that without the restraining power of God, wars would eventually consume mankind. Or, it could mean that spiritually, if those days were allowed to continue the church would eventually be destroyed and the light of the world (the people of God) would die and the messengers of salvation removed from the earth with no one to preach the Gospel.
• V.27-28, Jesus warns the church that his coming with be visible and obvious, they do not need to look for him in hidden places. This is important because in his first coming he hid himself. It will be like “lightning” which you can’t miss. Or, the same way vultures can’t miss a dead corpse.

II. The Order of Events:

I’m not drawing a timeline or a map here. Just a short sequence of major events as outline by Jesus:

• Destruction of Jerusalem, Israel as a nation and the disbursement of the Jews into the earth. (The Abomination that causes desolation)
• Birth pains describes the normal way of life during the years until the final coming.
• Persecution of the church. The church preaches the Gospel until the end. (Matt. 24:14)
• Tribulation on the world for its persecution of the church. (The world causes the people of God “tribulation. In judgment, God brings tribulation on the world)
• 2 Peter 3:10: 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.)

Jesus is citing about 5 Scriptures.

• “The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.” Isa. 13:10
• ”All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.” Isa. 34:4
• “When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.” Ez. 32:7
• “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” Joel. 2:31

In Revelation the signs are horsemen: Revelation 6: (4 horseman of ACYP)

• 13:5 False Prophets = White Horse. (Anti-Christ).
• 13:7 Wars, governments overturned = Red Horse. (War)
• 13:8 Earthquake, Plagues, Famines = Pale Horse. (Famine)
• 13:24 Stars fall, moon stop light = Ashen Horse. (Death)

Matthew 24:30: The sign of the son of man is Jesus himself.

Matthew 24:30: Coming in “glory” explains why the world goes dark. Like the stage is darkened before the spotlight comes on.

The Gathering of God’s people: (Matthew 24:31)

For 19 centuries the church did not separate the rapture from the final coming. They have always been seen as one event.

Where do we get the doctrine of a rapture? In the 19^th century (so 1,900 years after Jesus ascension) John Nelson Darby appears to have solely invented the doctrine and popularized it. He is known as the father of “Dispensationalism.” Darby taught that the church would be caught up in a rapture before the tribulation. The “Great Tribulation” Darby argued would be the seven year period of Daniels final week (of 70 weeks.)

It is strange to have a course of 70 weeks leading to something, only to stop on 69 and then wait for thousands of years to start counting again. In such a case, a prophetic clock is pointless. If the clock must stop, then it is not precise. If the weeks of Daniel

Darby convinced C.I. Scofield (and many American evangelist) that this rapture was a Biblical teaching. Scofield popularized it in his study bible, the Scofield. Study Bible.

TIME Magazine: (The End, How We Got It) “J.N. Darby’s most striking innovation was the timing of a concept called the Rapture, drawn from the Apostle Paul’s prediction that believers would fly up to meet Christ in Heaven. Most theologians understood it as part of the Resurrection at time’s very end, Darby repositioned it at the Apocalypse’s very beginning, a small shift with large implications.”

Paul used the Olivet Discourse:

Look at 1 Thess 4:15 that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord (Parousia / Same Event), will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. –It’s not a secret. Lourd. Trumpet. Shout. Archange / Not invisible.

• Paul is quoting the Olivet discourse.
• This is the same event Jesus talked about in Matthew 24: The Second Coming!
• Called Parousia, Matthew 24:27, 1 Thess. 4:14.
• Jesus appears in heaven, Matthew 24:30, 1 Thess. 4:16
• Jesus comes on clouds, Matthew 24:30, 1 Thess. 4:17
• Angels are present, Matthew 24:31, 1 Thess. 4:16
• Trumpet blasted, Matthew 24:31, 1 Thess. 4:16
• Gathering of the elect, Matthew 24:31, 1 Thess. 4:16

Jesus and Paul were discussing the same event, not two separate events.

Jesus asked that we not be taken out of the world. “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” John 17:15

III. Observations: What does he mean:

1. This generation not pass away. (24:34) If he said this in A.D. 30, a Biblical generation would be 40 years, putting the events at A.D.70.

2. The son doesn’t know the hour. (24:36) That is because the son limited his knowledge when he became incarnate. But he took back full knowledge when he ascended.

V. Encouragements:

1. Christ walks with us through trials.

2. Time is moving toward a final event. (This is not all there is)

3. We can expect to see Jesus come again. (Not just spectators. Participate)

4. Jesus’ prophecies are authenticated by history.

QUESTIONS:

For Discussion:

1. Do you think about the Second Coming? What are some things you look forward to concerning the end time events?

2. Have you ever suffered, been ridiculed or mistreated because of your faith? What parts of the world now are Christians suffering?

3. What are some ways Christ Second coming will be different than his first coming?

4. God used Rome to accomplish his purposes. What are some ways God is using the nations now to move the Gospel forward?

5. Read Matthew 24:37-41. What are some ways that the last days will be like the days of Noah?

6. Read Matthew 24:43-44. How is Jesus’ coming like a “thief”?

7. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.

What are some illustrations Paul uses to describe the coming of Jesus?

8. Read 2 Peter 3:10. How does Peter’s description of the end compare with Jesus’?

9. How has the American church done in preparing Christians to take their stand against evil in the last days?

10. Jesus commanded them to “pray” they not have to escape in winter. Do you think they did? What are some unusual things Jesus commanded us to pray for?