A Study of New Testament Eschatology

What is happening in the narrative of Matthew 23?

Do we not see Jesus Christ pronouncing the knell of doom on the apostate Jewish ‘Church?’ Time after time, in this passage, our Lord pronounces woe upon the Scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel in that day. In them the whole development of the Jewish apostasy reaches its culmination [verses.Matthew 23: 34,35]. Jesus also made it clear that this doom that he was threatening would not be long in coming. “I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation” [Matthew 23:36]. 

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem” cried our heart—broken Savior “how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate” [Matthew 23:37,38]. Up to this time the Temple in Jerusalem was still acknowledged to be the house of God. That is why our Lord cleansed the Temple. But he had also denounced the fact that they had made his father’s house a den of merchandise. Now he speaks of a day rapidly approaching—a day that was to arrive within that generation [Matthew 23:36]—when it would no longer be God’s house. No, it would be “their house,” and it would be left unto them desolate! 

We can well imagine the shock—waves that this caused, as it reverberated through the tradition—bound thinking of the disciples. ‘What, this house left desolate—this great Temple of God in Jerusalem? Surely not this!’ So, as they left the Temple that day “his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings” [Mt. 24:1]. ‘Look, Lord’ they were saying—in effect—as they pointed to these great buildings: ‘surely you can’t mean that these are going to come to desolation!’ To them this was simply unthinkable. But that is indeed what Jesus meant. We know this because he at once answered them saying “I tell you the truth: not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” [24:2]. They were utterly astounded.
 

This shattered all the fixed ideas in their minds. It turned their whole idea of the future upside down. You see, they too were expecting that when the Messiah came he would restore the Kingdom to Israel—making the ‘good old days’ live again, as it were. (We know this because the disciples still tended to think this way even after Christ’s death and resurrection [Acts 1:6]). Yet here is the Messiah himself saying the destruction of the Temple is near. No wonder they began to ‘jump to conclusions.’ Isn’t that what we all tend to do, especially when it comes to predictions of the future? 

So the disciples asked Jesus a question which—by its very structure—shows the conclusion to which they had ‘jumped.’ “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming [Greek: ‘parousia’] and the end of the age?” Now it is clear—is it not?—that they had simply assumed these things would happen together. If Jesus was right, and this house was going to be left unto them desolate, and if this was going to happen in that generation, then surely it had to mean Christ’s coming in glory and the end of the age. 

But it was right there—in that giant assumption—that they made their big mistake. And the amazing thing is that so many Christian people keep right on making the same mistake today. No, they do not make it in quite the same way. But what is the common interpretation of Matthew 24? Is it not that Christ was really talking about two entirely different things as if they were one? Yes, this is the common interpretation. Many say that Jesus—from this point on—as he answers his disciples—is not only talking about [1] the coming destruction of Jerusalem (which took place in 70 A.D.); but also [2] the second coming of Christ and the end of the age (which is still future). 

They say that he was giving us signs of both of these events together. So the false Christs, and false prophets, and the wars, earthquakes, famines, etc., were not only intended as signs for that generation—to warn them of the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple—but also intended as signs to people destined to live many centuries later warning them of the nearness of Christ’s second coming. 

With this interpretation we cannot agree. We do not think it is true that our Lord uses one set of words to predict two entirely different events. No, in answering the disciples—as we will seek to demonstrate—the Lord clearly divides the disciples question and carefully discriminates between the two things they were confusing. In the first section of Matthew 24 (vv. 4-35) our Lord deals with the things about which he warned the Scribes and Pharisees [Mt. 23:36]. In warning of these things he was not talking about his second coming and the end of history. 

This is quite clear from chapter 24, verse 34, where he says again (as in 23:36) “this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened.” After making this crystal clear our Lord goes on (in Mt. 24:36-51, and in chapter 25) to deal with the other subject—namely, his second coming and the end this age. We could sum it up this way: our Lord takes pains to carefully distinguish between those two things that the disciples wrongly confused. They assumed that these two things—the destruction of Jerusalem and the ‘parousia’ and the end of this age—would come at the same time. Our Lord is careful to show them that it will be otherwise, as we will see in the next part of our study.

A Study of New Testament Eschatology