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

My Reply 

As we try to come to a conclusion about the interpretation of this difficult passage, two things should be kept in mind. First, Jesus’ purpose in uttering these words is not to give an exact date for his return (see Mk.13: 32), but rather to indicate the certainty of his return. This point is underscored in the next verse, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31).

 Second, it seems arbitrary and unwarranted to impose any kind of limitation on the words “before all these things take place”—

since such a limitation really makes Jesus say, “before some of these things take place.” 

Though it is true that the discourse recorded in Mark 13 took its occasion from a prediction of the destruction of the temple (Mk.13:2), the discourse itself includes the prediction of such happenings as wars and rumors of wars (Mk.13:7), earthquakes and famines (Mk.13:8), the preaching of the gospel to all nations (Mk.13:10), persecution for the gospel’s sake (Mk.13:12-13), tribulation “such as has not been from the beginning … and never will be” (Mk.13:19), portents in the heavens (Mk.13:24), and the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds with great power and glory (Mk.13:26). 

When later in the discourse (Mk.13:30) Jesus says, “This generation will not pass away before all these things take place,” 

any understanding of these words which excludes some of the items just mentioned seems forced.

  Hence I conclude that by “all these things” Jesus means all the eschatological events he has just enumerated, including his return upon the clouds of heaven. His point is that all these events are certain to come to pass—though heaven and earth will pass away, these words shall infallibly be fulfilled. Anthony A. Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 116.

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end-συντέλεια is not yet. Matthew 24:6. (note συντέλεια-the last part of a process, close, conclusion, esp. of the last things, the final act in the cosmic drama)

And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end-τέλος will come. Matthew 24:14 (note τέλος-a point of time marking completion of a duration, completion, close, end.)  (William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 974,998)

But history is full of such troubled periods; the disciples must not get things out of perspective, or be panicked into imagining that “the end” is imminent. It is not spelled out here what that “end” (telos) is, [pace Davies & Allison, 3.340, who assert with no supporting evidence that “’The end’ means ‘the end of the age’ (Matt.24:3),” even though the Greek word used in Matt.24:3 is not the same as here] but the same term will occur in Mat.24:14, where it leads into a description of the coming siege of Jerusalem. It seems probable therefore that the word has the same reference here, and that Mat.24:14 is a deliberate pick-up from this pronouncement: “it is not yet the end … but then the end will come.”

 The question which Jesus is here answering was about when the temple would be destroyed, and that is the “end” most naturally understood here.

 [Note that the word used is τέλος, not συντέλεια which in Matt.24:3b denotes the “end” of the age.] It is coming soon, and Mat.24:34 will spell out how soon, but that does not mean that it is imminent as soon as war is on the horizon.

R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 903.

Thus in terms of Jesus’ apocalyptic interpretation of his death as the Son of Man (Matt. 24; Mark 13), ‘could there be a greater act of sacrilege than the destruction of God’s Son in such a horrendous way?’ What greater abomination could there be than for God’s plan to include the people of promise (the ‘treasured possession’) banding together with the pagans to execute as a mere ‘insurrectionist’ (Acts 4:25–28) the one to whom the royal covenant belongs?

 What greater tribulation (Matt. 24:29) could there be for the chosen ‘beloved Son’ than to ‘drink the cup’ of God’s wrath (Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42)? What deeper mystery could there be in the will of the Father than that the Messiah of God, empowered by his Spirit (cf. Heb. 9:14), should utter such a cry of desolation (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34)? 

 All this takes place while the sun is darkened, the moon sheds no light and the earth shakes (Matt. 27:45, 51; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44) and ‘the Lamb of God’ (John 1:29) endures his last Passover.  In the Olivet discourse Jesus foreshadows the mystery of God’s will, the Father’s heavenly will for the Messiah’s death, in the only mode appropriate for circumstances that should otherwise obliterate the promises that Jesus seeks to fulfil. For surely at Golgotha, the disciples of Jesus must have been compelled to ask, ‘How could this be God’s heavenly will for the earth?’ (Luke 24:21). 

David A. Höhne, The Last Things, ed. Gerald Bray, Contours of Christian Theology (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2019), 170–171. also cf. Where is this 'coming' he promised?