The Second Coming of Christ, Part Two

In this passage Jesus answered two questions posed to him by his disciples. Previously, Jesus had surprised his disciples by telling them that Herod’s temple, a most magnificent, beautiful, seemingly-permanent building, would be thoroughly and utterly destroyed. And so the first question the disciples asked was, “When will this happen?” Second, they asked Jesus, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” So this passage deals with one proximate question and one remote question; that is, one question dealing with the impending destruction of the temple, which Christ prophesied, and one with the sign of his coming and the end of the age.

Now, the second coming of Christ is a very important issue. There is a popular view of eschatology taught today that gives great consolation to people who are antipathetic to suffering. One popular idea is that Jesus Christ will come and take you out of this world in this secret way and keep you in heaven for seven years, so you don’t have to worry about any suffering or problems. Because of this doctrine, many people do not regard Matthew 24 as being relevant in any way for the church.

But in this chapter where Jesus Christ gives a revelation about his second coming, you do not find anything secret. The only revelation we find in Matthew 24 is the public, glorious, powerful, personal, visible, and cataclysmic second coming of Jesus Christ. Having said that, I agree with Dr. John Murray that it is not easy to interpret the prophetic discourses in the Bible. He says, “Delineation of the eschatological drama is not always continuously progressive: it is often recapitulatory. But recapitulation is not repetition.” (Collected Writings of John Murray: Volume Two, Select Lectures in Systematic Theology, [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977], p. 388). Nevertheless, this exposition by Jesus is not just something of theoretical significance. We need to learn what Christ is saying that we can remain steady in a very hostile world.

I was listening to a popular religious leader. He is a very gifted man, and I think he knows more Bible than a lot of Christians. It’s amazing to hear him quote scripture after scripture, and see how thousands of people are fascinated by his religious discourse. This man would say that Jesus is a nice man and a prophet, but he unequivocally and without apology declares to thousands that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah. As we read in Matthew 24, he is an example of a person, like others throughout the world, who is leading people astray from Jesus Christ, the only Messiah. So we must not think that Matthew 24 is irrelevant. It is very relevant to us today. We must pay close attention to this chapter, because therein Jesus Christ discloses what is going to happen, and what is happening right now.

The Abomination that Causes Desolation

We want to examine a number of verses in this passage. First, I want to look at a phrase that appears here–“the abomination that causes desolation.” (Matt. 24:15) Now, that is a difficult phrase which is also found several times in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel.

Matthew 24:15 says, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel–let the reader understand–then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Now, we don’t know whether the clause “let the reader understand” was spoken by Jesus Christ or by the writer of this gospel. But what does it mean? It means we need to exercise our minds, because here Jesus is saying something very important, something vital to our lives. It is a warning to cause us to pay attention, that we might truly understand what Jesus is saying.

Now I have said that there are two issues–one proximate and one remote–that Jesus is addressing in this chapter, and the proximate issue has to do with the destruction of the physical temple. Now when you read Mark 13, you find it is essentially the same Matthew 24. However, if you read Luke’s account in Luke 21, you notice Luke does not make reference to this abomination of desolation. Instead, he writes something that must give us some understanding as to what the abomination of desolation might mean.

In his Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979) Norval Geldenhuys postulated that the reason Luke did not use that phrase is because Luke is writing particularly to Gentile believers who would not be familiar with Old Testament prophecies, and especially this phrase, “abomination of desolation.” So in Luke 21:20 we read, “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.” A number of scholars identify the abomination of desolation mentioned in Matthew and Mark as pointing to the Gentile armies surrounding the holy city. Another meaning of that phrase is based on certain accounts by Josephus. In 66-67 A.D., Zealots came into the temple and allowed murderers to go into the Holy of Holies and desecrate it under the oversight of a high priest, Phanni. So there are two ideas for the abomination of desolation–the surrounding of the city by Gentile armies or the desecration of the Holy of Holies by the Zealots.

So Jesus is answering the first question as to the timing of the destruction of the temple. He is telling his disciples that when they see or hear of the abomination that desolates spoken of by Daniel they should flee to the mountains. Perhaps Jesus was referring back to Genesis 19, where Lot fled Sodom and Gomorrah. He was encouraging his disciples to flee to safety. Why? Luke 21:20 says, “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know its desolation is near.” You see, Jerusalem was considered to be a place of safety. The temple was there, and people usually fled to Jerusalem for safety. But because of the people’s sin, including the greatest sin of rejecting the Messiah, Jerusalem was now going to be destroyed by divine judgment through the Roman army. So Jesus said, when you see the army surrounding the city, you flee. We must thereby conclude that Luke is translating the phrase, abomination of desolation, for his Gentile audience as he identifies it with the Roman armies surrounding the city.

Jesus spoke about this destruction earlier in Luke 19:43-44. In view of the city’s rejection of him, he said, “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” God, in Jesus Christ, had come to them in mercy, compassion and salvation, but they rejected him. This is divine judgment.

The Future Fulfillment

Now this idea of an abomination that causes desolation had occurred earlier in Jewish history. In 168 B.C. a Seleucid king named Antiochus Epiphanes came to Jerusalem. He built an altar to Zeus over the altar of burnt offering and offered swine upon it as a sacrifice of sacrilege. He also made the practice of Judaism a capital offense. These events of 168 B. C. are, therefore, viewed as the abomination that desolates, as is the destruction of the temple and the city in 70 A.D.

But the Bible also says that there is going to be a future fulfillment of this idea. In 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Paul writes concerning the second coming of Christ, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come [the second coming] until the rebellion [apostasy] occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.” Oh, we were told in Matthew 24 about false messiahs, and here is the man of lawlessness, the antichrist, who is in existence now but will be revealed in the future. “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” That speaks of a future fulfillment of the phrase “abomination of desolation.”

I do not know how this is going to be fulfilled. It may be that the temple will be rebuilt, or it may be fulfilled in the church. But what we know is that there will be a situation in the future in which the antichrist will demand our worship. This is the abomination that desecrates and wastes, and you read about it again in Revelation 13.

The Christians Flee

According to church history, around A. D. 66 or 67, as the Christians in Jerusalem saw what was happening, they studied Jesus’ words and decided to leave the city. They realized there was no hope for the city, and that it was doomed to destruction. What were they basing their decision on? They remembered the oracle of Jesus Christ.

Eusebius, a fourth-century historian, tells us, “But before the war the people of the Church of Jerusalem were bidden in an oracle”–that is, Matthew 24–“given by revelation to men worthy of it to depart from the city and to dwell in a city of Perea called Pella. To it those who believed in Christ migrated from Jerusalem. Once the holy men had completely left the Jews and all Judea, the justice of God at last overtook them, since they had committed such transgressions against Christ and his apostles. Divine justice completely blotted out that impious generation from among men.” (Ecclesiastical History II.v.3, quoted in The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Mark , William L. Lane, [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,] 1974, p. 468).

So we read in Matthew 24:15-16, “Let the reader understand–then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” as Lot fled with his family to safety. That is exactly what happened in A.D. 66 and 67.

Deceivers Will Arise

What else did Jesus say? In Matthew 24:23-25 we read, “At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect, if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.”

This scripture is a warning to us. Jesus was warning that when troubles are all about us, people will rise up to manipulate and deceive people, saying, “Forget about this scripture. It is just a dead book. Trust us. We have living oracles. We are in communion with Christ! He is there in the wilderness. You have to just trust us.” What do cults say? “Trust us! Do you have trouble? Do you have pain in your body? Did you have a recent death in your family? Are you going through a divorce situation? Are you being laid off from work? Trust us! Don’t worry about the Scripture. We have this real Christ, and we are communicating with him every day in the inner room. He is not open to you, but he is open to us.” These are deceivers.

We are told that as they are energized by Satan, these deceivers are able to perform miracles. Oh, isn’t that what we want? We are a people who want excitement. This sitting and studying the Bible, looking at the Greek and Latin words, and the grammar, is so monotonous and boring. Are there exciting things happening in your meetings? In our meetings we just sing and praise God, give money, pray, listen to the Word of God and go home. Oh, if only we could go to a meeting where we could see things happen!

There are such meetings, and throughout the world people by the thousands are being misled by frauds. We hear of meetings in which people see Jesus, and their arthritis goes away. Oh, there is exciting worship–people are laughing, getting “drunk,” and jumping up and down. Churches by the thousands are going into this type of thing. Why is this happening? We like these things! We like excitement. We don’t like to think. We are a people who refuse to read, study, understand and be steadied by the word of Jesus Christ. Forget about the Bible! What do these people say? Trust me! I saw him; he is in an inner room. He is out in the wilderness. Trust me!

I counsel you, know the Scripture. The Scripture will anchor you, guide you, and keep you from being deceived. Especially as the day of our redemption draws nigh, may we get back into the Holy Scripture to study and understand it. Let the reader understand, Matthew says, so he can lift his head in the midst of all the charlatans and false messiahs and false prophets who are roaming throughout the earth to devour whosoever they will, and to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But praise God, it is going to be absolutely impossible to do so. Our Savior and Lord will keep us from being deceived.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

So Jerusalem and the beautiful temple complex was destroyed in A.D. 70, as Christ prophesied. But look at verse 32-35: “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

What is Jesus teaching now? First, when we read about the fig tree, we must realize that it is not talking about the Jewish people. Many people interpret it that way, but that is not what Jesus is saying. He is simply teaching a lesson using the fig tree as an example. In fact, in Luke 21:29, he says “the fig tree and all the trees.”

Then what is the idea? “As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.” If you go to Israel in the early spring, you will see almonds already blossoming. However, figs do not put forth leaves until much later in spring. So Jesus’ idea is that when you see trees becoming tender and putting forth leaves, as an intelligent person you will draw this conclusion: winter is over and summer is coming.

Jesus is making an analogy which has nothing to do with Israel. “Even so,” he said, “when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.” Now when you study the Bible, you notice certain things: “all” does not mean all. “All these things” here should be understood in a restricted manner. It does not refer to preaching of the gospel to all the world, and many other things that Jesus spoke about earlier in the chapter. He is speaking specifically about things related to the proximate issue of the destruction of the temple. So “all things” doesn’t mean all things in this context. It must be understood restrictively. He is saying that when his people see, especially, the abomination that desolates–the army surrounding the city–and the things relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, they will know the destruction is near, right at the door, and they should get out.

Josephus tells us that the Christians left Jerusalem. However, the Jewish people didn’t leave, and, in fact, many more came into the city before it was destroyed. Now Josephus can exaggerate, but according to him one million Jewish people were destroyed–fathers, mothers, and little children–as Jesus said would happen, and about 90,000 or more were taken captive to Rome.

Look at verse 34: “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Now we can speak about this generation in terms of the Jewish people, or people who are living in the time of fulfillment of this prophecy. But the most clear meaning of that term, especially as used in the book of Mark, is that it refers to the generation contemporaneous with the disciples. And so he says this: “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened, ” and again, notice, “all these things” is understood restrictively, especially in reference to the destruction of the temple.

The construction on the temple was finished in 63 A.D. and in 66-67 A.D. the army came. During the initial occupation people could come and go freely, but later on, the rules were tightened and people could not get out of Jerusalem. The Christians who had studied the Bible were able to get out in time and be safe. So Jesus is revealing the time of the destruction of the temple–this generation–and within forty years it happened.

“My Words Will Never Pass Away”

The word of God alone is sure, abiding and eternal. We need to tremble before the word of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away,” and that is going to happen. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. The elements shall melt with fervent heat, and there is going to be a regeneration of the whole cosmos. But God’s word will never pass away, meaning it will be fulfilled. And in this case of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, it was also fulfilled.

This was not the first time the temple was destroyed. It happened in 586 B.C., and we have a book written by Jeremiah called Lamentations, which describes the streets of Jerusalem filled with dead bodies. I have great comfort knowing God’s word will never pass away because it means his promises will be fulfilled, as well as his judgment.

What does this mean for us? It means we cannot play fast and loose with the gospel. It means we cannot play games with God. We need to believe the word of Christ and tremble before it. We need to obey the word of Christ and receive great consolation from it. If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is against us, who can be for us? God is gracious, loving and compassionate, interested in our welfare and our salvation. That is why we are saved. Everyone who goes to hell does so because of his or her own rebellion and stubbornness. Salvation is always by grace and judgment is always on the basis of human works.

God is gracious. “God so loved the world that he gave up his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Look unto him, call upon the name of the Lord and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that you may be saved. Amen.