MATTHEW 24 MISUNDERSTOOD

This chapter is probably one of the most misunderstood and abused chapter in the whole Bible. Some of the main skewings, whether deliberately or unknowingly, arise from not taking into account the following factors:

Jesus in this passage is responding to two (or possibly three) different questions asked by his disciples, not just one.

Verses 1-3 make this fact abundantly clear. Now some interpreters might point out that the disciples may have associated all the events they mention as taking place immediately one after the other. Even if that were so, that would certainly not have been enough cause for Jesus to buy into their mistaken ideas. And if it were true, isn't it more likely that they would have phrased their queries in a little more understandable way, saying something like, “When will this be (i.e. destruction of the temple) as a sign of your coming and the ushering in of the new age?

Another tack is taken by the full preterists who do not believe in a future coming of Christ. They lump all of the questions together as one in order to explain that the Second Coming actually happened when the Romans destroyed the temple in AD 70, and that event brought the old era of the law to an end.

Paradoxically, many premillennial dispensationalist also treat the questions and response in Matthew 24 as dealing with but a single event. But to do this, they need to somehow get around the hard fact that the temple was destroyed back in AD 70. The obvious way out is to treat that event the way they also interpret most of the Old Testament prophecies of the future. In other words, they ignore the more immediate fulfillment of earlier prophecies of events such as the Exile and Return or the first coming of Christ in favor of a fulfillment yet to happen in the future. If someone points out the close correspondence between a given pronouncement by a prophet and one of these earlier events, they then invoke (a) the principle of multiple fulfillments and/or (b) point out that a certain prophecy was not actually literally fulfilled, and therefore it must have been referring to a yet future event. To do the latter, however, they have to ignore, among other things, the fact that almost all OT prophecy was written in poetry, not prose.

That still leaves the dispensationalists the problem of an absent temple, but that is no difficulty at all for them since their theology requires a rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple in the future so that animal sacrifices can be resumed during the Millennial Reign of Christ on earth for 1,000 years. This alone is a concept which many other Christians regard as utter nonsense and almost heretical. But in addition to the possible theological it raises, those who take this approach have to totally ignore the fact that Jesus says in verse 2 that the temple they were viewing at that time is the one that will be destroyed, not some hypothetical future temple to be built on the same site.

So is there any evidence in Jesus' response to their questions in the rest of the chapter to actually support my contention that more than one event is being talked about? There is actually quite a bit of evidence supporting that thesis. The more elaborate proof requires a detailed analysis of the literary structure of Chapter 4. My own treatment is almost exactly the same as that of the noted New Testament scholar F.F. Bruce, although I arrived at my conclusions independently. For those who are interested, see my post entitled “Matthew 24: One or Two Questions?”

But at this time, I will content myself with a few simple observations indicating that Jesus switches back and forth in Matthew 24 between discussing events in the near future associated with the Roman destruction in AD 70 and more future eschatological happenings.

In verses 15-20, Jesus gives practical advice to his followers in Judea (v. 16) on specific indications that a certain future event will take place and leaves them with specific measures they can take to avoid the catastrophe in their own lives if they act promptly. It also contains the hope that it will not take place during the winter, when conditions will be unfavorable for escape. Of course, when it is winter in one part of the globe, it will be summer in another. All of this indicates a localized event from which it is possible for the believers to escape if they heed the warning signs and get out of town. And the historical record indicates that some Christians did indeed manage to escape Jerusalem before the Romans surrounded the city.

The timing of the above event is narrowed down in v. 34 to an event taking place before all of Jesus' audience has died off, a perfect fit for AD 70.

In stark contrast, vv. 29-31 talk about what will happen when the sign in heaven appears, all the tribes of the earth mourn, and Christ appears with a trumpet blast to gather his elect to him. And all of this will occur at a time when no one expects it (vv. 42-44). This last statement is especially enlightening in light of all the “certain prophecies” made by modern interpreters of this chapter who at try to at least narrow the date down to a few years, but still deny that they are date-setting. The more people, of course, who buy into their specific prognostications, the less likely it will occur within that time frame, according to Jesus. And this appears to be an inescapable fate for all, one way or another, not one that can be avoided by keeping awake to the signs and taking certain practical measures ahead of time.

Matthew 24 provides a number of non-signs of the future events happening so that his followers do not get too excited when they occur.

This is a point that is totally ignored by those who are intent in reading signs of the future in every daily event that takes place. Just a passing knowledge of history will show how religious fanatics over the centuries have inflamed the populace into believing that the end was upon them. But for those who have no absolutely no appreciation or understanding of any history prior to their own lifetime, every “important” thing that they observe tends to be blown up out of proportion to the point where they “know” that Christ must be coming in the next year at the latest. An interesting exercise sometime for those who think that this is the worst of all times ever is to read the history book entitled A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman about the situation in Europe in the 14^th century.

I am old enough to have witnessed what happened in Christian circles when The Late Great Planet Earth came out and that was all they could talk about. One woman in our Sunday school explained that she used to worry about her children getting a proper Christian education, but now she realized that Christ was coming again before they would reach the age of accountability. And my wife ran into another believer who said that she had maxed out all of her credit cards buying many of the luxuries she had always been wanting and stated, “The great thing is that Christ is coming before I will have to make any payments on them.”

To counter this sort of nonsensical thinking, Jesus warns his followers of a number of signs they may encounter in the future which are in reality non-signs. These include false messiahs and prophets (vv. 5, 11, 23-26), but “see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet” (v. 6) and “do not believe it” (vv. 23, 26) because when Christ comes it will be obvious to all (vv. 26-30). In addition, v. 7 states that there will be wars between nations, famines, and earthquakes in various places, but all this is but the beginning.” (v. 8) It is only by purposely ignoring the underlined words above and the caveats to which they refer that one can construe these events as sure signs of the imminent events of the last days.

It is not possible for us to manipulate the timing of the Christ's Coming by our actions, at least not in any measurable way.

As one example of what I am talking about here I will first cite the attempt by independent oil companies to raise money from Christians for oil drilling in Israel. The “altruistic” motive given by these companies is that when oil is found, that will make the Arab countries so jealous that they will attack Jerusalem, triggering the Battle of Armaggedon and accompanying eschatological events. Or one could point to the equally harebrained scheme to find Noah's Ark and measure its dimensions in order to determine the true length of a cubit since that is necessary to know in order to rebuild the Jerusalem temple.

But v. 14 has been used by much more responsible Christian groups such as Campus Crusade (now CRU) and some Bible translators as one of the proof texts for the utter necessity of evangelizing every people group on earth since only then “the end will come.” The problem with this well-meaning and noble goal only comes if and when these groups (a) begin to use this as the prime motive for their efforts rather than love for the world or (b) when they feel they can chart their progress mathematically to determine when their job is complete. Several attempts to do the latter have been tried. But these groups soon found that even reaching all the nations did not mean reaching every language group within these nations. And if that goal is ever accomplished and the end still fails to materialize, then they will probably have to regroup and set ever more stringent goals in which each dialect or tribe within each language group is reached, etc.

Increased violence and wickedness of earth is not the sign being talked about in vv. 36-42.

I have seen in print a completely warped interpretation of Jesus' words: “For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark.”

This reading goes as follows: If you turn to Genesis 6:5 for what conditions were like right before the flood, you will see that there was wickedness everywhere. And that is exactly what is happening at this very minute. Therefore Christ is coming very soon. And in addition, in the description given by Jesus of those times, you will see that additional indications are given of what we should look for since in Noah's day the people were obese from over-eating and becoming alcoholics. But the worst thing was that they sanctioned same-sex marriages. These behaviors are all around us as signs that the end is near.

It is hard to know where to begin in poking holes in all this “logic.” But the main points to keep in mind are that it (a) brings in Genesis 6 to explain what Jesus was talking about rather than listen to His own explanation, (b) misinterprets the descriptions of normal human activities in vv. 37-38 as if perversions of those activities were being talked about, and (c) completely ignores those verses which explain that the whole point of Jesus' analogy is to demonstrate that the eschatological events will come with absolutely no warning (see vv. 36, 39-44).

We are not encouraged to spend our time trying to figure out God's time-table for the future.

I realize that this statement flies in the face of teachings found in much of the Christian world as well as among the cults. The reasons that sincere believers often buy into this idea and end up ignoring much more important things while they puzzle over the eschatological details are many. Some do it because it helps them escape their present responsibilities; others do in out of a desire to be the one “in the know” who can instruct the unenlightened; and others honestly feel that Christ taught that it was our duty to be on the constant lookout for the latest signs. And part of this belief comes from a misunderstanding of the teachings in Matthew 24.

For one thing, by not understanding that those of Jesus' teachings which do give actual signs to look for (e.g., vv. 15, 32-34) are those very verses referring to events in AD 70 which some of his immediate audience would actually experience, not signs of the end times. There is also a clear warning against being so presumptuous as to feel that we today can know the times better than the angels or Jesus himself (vv. 36, 44). But those who fancy themselves prophecy experts get around that one by pointing out that Jesus only said that we could not know the day or hour, not the week, month or year. This literalistic understanding falls flat on its face, however, when one considers the parallel teaching by Jesus to the apostles found in Acts 1:7 – “It is not for you to know the times or seasons.” That pronouncement alone should be enough to discourage anyone who feels that it is vitally important that we keep track of the signs so that we will be prepared for the future.

The last point above brings up another passage in Matthew 24 that we haven't yet mentioned: verses 42-51 which tell us, along with some of Jesus' other parables, that we are to keep awake and watchful at all times. They especially point to v. 43 which states that if the householder had known when a thief was going to break in, then he could have been prepared. But this ignores the fact that it is impossible to know when that will happen, therefore he (and we) must be prepared always for that eventuality (v. 44). The question to ask then is: What does Jesus mean when he warns us to be prepared, awake and watchful?

The answer is found in the parable itself in vv. 45-51. We are to be found at work for the Lord at all times (v. 46), not just right before we realize he will be returning. And that activity includes continuing to exhibit the mind of Christ always in all that we do (vv. 48-49) and not count on straightening up our act at the last minute.