Matthew 24 - How Can You Ready For Jesus' Return?
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Jesus began the conversation talking about the temple in Jerusalem, which was the center of the Jewish religion, and the place where God's glory dwelt by His Spirit. Jesus informed the disciples that none of these buildings surrounding the temple would be left standing. The temple had already been decimated when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem in 586 B.C.. The temple was never rebuilt anywhere near its former glory.
But the disciples associated the coming of the Messiah with the rebuilding of temple. The Messiah would overcome their enemies, and they would enter into a new messianic age on earth. So the disciples seemed a little confused when they asked, "What will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?" Despite their misunderstanding, Jesus plainly told them about his second coming and the signs which would accompany the end of the age.
First, he said their will be many deceivers who will claim to be the Messiah. There will be wars and rumors of wars. But this was only the beginning of the end. There will also be famines and earthquakes. Jesus calls these signs "birth pains".
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
Jesus describes what will happen during the end times. The disciples will be persecuted and some even put to death. Again this would happen in their lifetime, but also it is pointing to the persecution that the believers who are alive when Jesus returns will face. Many Christians will fall away from the faith, or be deceived by false teachers. It is sad to me that these things are happening among Christians. It almost seems like Jesus is saying only a minority of them will stand firm to the end and be saved.
Another prerequesite is that the gospel will be preached to all nations. Everyone will have a chance to hear about the Good News of what Jesus did for them and have a chance to accept him as their Savior. There are still many people who have not heard the Good News yet, so that would lead one to believe that the end times may not be as close as people seem to claim.
Then he describes what we come to know as the "tribulation" in the book of Revelation. Disasters will happen at a magnitude that no one has ever seen before. Even then there will be many false prophets and false messiahs who will try to make promises they cannot keep. For the sake of the elect (those whom God has chosen) the tribulation was cut short.
And many lying prophets will arise, deceiving multitudes and leading them away from the path of truth. 12There will be such an increase of the sin of lawlessness that those whose hearts once burned with passion for God and others will grow cold. 13But hold your hope firmly to the end and you will experience life and deliverance. (TPT)
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. 29 “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
These are some of the last effects of the tribulation which precede Jesus' return. Notice all of Creation is growing for the Son of Man to return and restore all of Creation including God's children. Romans 8:22
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
This describes the Second Coming of Jesus and the rapture of Christians. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul says something similar to believers there.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
We call this the rapture. Though there are many arguments about when the rapture happens. It is clear in these two verses that the rapture will call forth all Christians, both those alive at that time, and those who have died in Christ previously. Since this happens post-tribulation in Matthew 24, some might called it "post-tribulation rapture".
32 “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. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Jesus says something curious. He says, "This generation will not pass away until all of these things have happened."
Since Jesus has not yet returned what does he mean by this? First, a generation could be indicative of all the people in this particular dispensation of salvation history. I.e. All those from Jesus' time until the end of the age. It seems impossible that it could mean Jesus' disciples, because they will all die before these things happen. It could mean that this generation (the current one he is talking to) would experience the persecution and matrydom he refers to. If it is really difficult to interpret this passage as you can see.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Jesus then addresses when this will happen. The bottom line is that in this context neither Jesus or the angels know when this will happen. This is why when people start trying to predict the exact date of Jesus' return, I get very nervous. There has many who had predicted the exact date of Jesus' return and they all have one thing in common. They were all dead wrong.
When you think of all the things Jesus lists as the signs of his coming, they have happened in every generation. Wars, famines, and earthquakes have happened throughout history since Jesus left this planet. Lawlessness has existed in many forms back then, as it does today. We like to think our generation's sin is worse any other as if 50 years ago everyone lived by Christian values. While some of the sin is more profilic and accepted by society, signs of the end of the age as Jesus has described them have existed with every generation.
At the end of the day, Jesus gives gives some simple advice on this important topic. Since you don't know when this day will be, you should be ready for Jesus to return ON ANY DAY!
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And what does it mean to be ready for Jesus to return? Again it is pretty simple. We should be doing the things Jesus called us and commanded us to do. The last words he gave his disciples are called the Great Commission. It summarized to go and make disciples of all nations. To make disciples, you have to be a disciple. You can't duplicate something from nothing.
Though people tend to get hysterical about end times stuff, I think we really only need to focus on a few things. One, Jesus could come any day. Two, the most important priority we should have in our lives is being and making disciples. Yep, it's that simple. If you are doing that you don't have to worry about when Jesus' return because you will be ready for it!
Question of the Day: Are You Ready For Jesus' Return? Today? Tomorrow?
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