The Gospel of Matthew Study Help (Matthew 24:15-31)

Jesus’ Private ministry

Questions on this study

1. When was the temple destroyed and by whom?
2. What caused every brick of the temple to be cast down as Jesus predicted?
3. How many Old Testament prophecies foretold the coming of Messiah and who fulfilled the most of them?
4. When was Israel recognized as an autonomous nation?
5. What event in recent history marked the beginning of the signs relative to the end of the age?
6. What was the time period relative to the signs Jesus gave concerning the second coming?
7. What is meant by the imminent return of Christ?
8. Why will the church not see the signs of the second coming?
9. What is the abomination of desolation at the midterm of the Tribulation?
10. What is the mission of the church as we wait for the second coming?
11. What is the list of signs of the second coming?

Introduction

Today we continue our study of Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse. The passage we have come to today is indeed challenging and informative. Before we get into it, let’s review what has brought us to this place in Scripture.

At this point, the disciples had asked Jesus several questions, and He had already answered three of them and added some information they did not ask Him. First, the disciples asked Jesus to explain three things beginning with His prediction of the temple’s destruction in Jerusalem. Jesus said that one day in the future the temple would be completely destroyed with every brick cast down. His prediction came true in AD 70 when Titus, the Roman general, and his army descended on Jerusalem, destroying both Jerusalem and the temple even fulfilling the very details of Jesus’ prophecy that every brick would be cast down. The Roman army wasn’t supposed to destroy the temple, but greed for the precious metals that overlay the temple’s interior caused them to cast down every brick to recover it.

           Fulfilled prophecy is evidence of the inspiration of Scripture. There are 300 prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the arrival of Jesus the Messiah to earth. Every one of those has been fulfilled. Some may say that Jesus and his disciples were the ones who made sure they were fulfilled. Wrong, it was the enemies of Jesus that fulfilled most of them.

There are three times as many prophecies concerning the second coming of Jesus. Some have already taken place; a significant one was the beginning of the regathering of Israel. Israel was recognized as an autonomous nation in 1948, after over 2,000 years of being subjugated to other nations. This fulfilled prophecy was necessary for other prophecies to be fulfilled.

Second, they asked what signs announced the drawing near of the end of the age. Jesus said there would be many earthquakes, famines, plagues, and world wars. We have seen those signs beginning to take place, Starting with World War One in 1914, which means the end of the age could at this time be near at hand.

Third, they asked Jesus what would be the signs announcing His coming to set up His world kingdom on earth. Jesus’s response to this question was the longest, and we only covered the first part in the previous study. In verses 9-14, Jesus listed signs that will take place before His second coming with His kingdom: the false prophet sign, lawlessness, love growing cold, etc.

The apostasy of the church that we studied in the previous lesson was a falling away from the truth of God. That does not mean they are necessarily lost though some were never saved at the beginning. The apostasy at that time will be a sudden event, the one Paul mentioned in 2 Thessalonian 2:1-3. Presently there is a falling away that is gradual. For example, in 1937, 73% of Americans claimed membership in some church; by the 1980s, that had shrunk to 70%. By 2000 there were 65% affiliated with the church. In 2010 it had decreased to 59%, and by 2020 there was only 47% claiming membership in any church. 

Nevertheless, these signs that Jesus gave are primarily unique to the tribulation period, the final week of Daniels’ 70 weeks, a week of years. After these seven years, according to Daniel, Jesus will come with His kingdom. Only those living at that time will see these signs. Remember, there are no signs that need to be fulfilled before the church’s rapture, which is imminent and could happen at any moment. 

However, there are indications that it may be near, which we have talked about already, that is those signs that announce the coming end of the age and the church’s rapture. So, everyone will witness the movements toward the end of the age, but the signs of Jesus’ second coming are reserved for those of Tribulation to see. We who are the body of Christ, the church, will not see the signs of Jesus’ second coming because we will already be with Him somewhere prepared for us to wait out the seven years of Tribulation on earth. The church and the resurrected Old Testament saints will be with Jesus at His second coming.

Now we move ahead as we look at the rest of the signs of Jesus’ return, which become increasingly intense toward the end of the Tribulation:

Matthew 24:15-26, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. 23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before. 26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.”

In the above passage, Jesus has turned His attention to answering the second question, the fourth to be addressed, which were out of order for whence they were asked by the disciples. This question concerned the signs of Jesus’ second coming with His kingdom and are connected with the end of the tribulation period. The subject begins with verse 15, the sign of the abomination of desolation given by Daniel the prophet. This event takes place in the mid-term of the Tribulation at the end of the first three and half years at which time the temple is desecrated and defiled.

Daniel’s description is found in Daniel 9:27, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

The book of Daniel is where we learn about the abomination of desolation. Through knowledge of Scripture, we become more obedient to our Lord and His causes. Those who want to be obedient to the word of God must learn the word. The Bible’s command: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” Timothy 2:15. 

 We live in a darkened world, and it is only through the study of Scripture that we find hope and comfort as we focus on the glory to come in the future at the second coming of Christ. Through a knowledge of the Bible, we grow in strength to stand in the day of difficulties as they increase in intensity and to be prepared to carry out the will of God as Jesus told us to do in the great commission given to the church just before He ascended into heaven after the resurrection: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen,” Matthew 28:19-20.

           Our mission as believers is to warn a sinful, hopeless world by sharing the gospel of salvation with them and teaching them the things Jesus taught when He was on earth. That is our first priority in life, but sadly for many Christians, it is not even among their priorities.

There are blessings in store for those who read and study the word of God. For example, we read in  Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”  God will also bless those who teach or share the word of God to others, and more significantly, the good news of Jesus’ second coming. 

Let’s continue as we learn of the rest of Jesus’ fourth answer to the second question on the signs of His Second Coming: 

Matthew 24:29-31, “Immediately after the Tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

We have learned so for the later signs Jesus gave His disciples applying to the seven-year tribulation period. The first signs Jesus gave were for the first half of the Tribulation, lawlessness, and the love of many growing cold and during the midpoint of the Tribulation, the abomination and desolation of the temple, which occur along with the judgments of God. After these signs, Jesus begins to give signs that will come in the last three and a half years of the Tribulation leading up to His second coming. The signs increase in intensity; verse 29 says that even the sun will stop shining, the moon will be darkened, and the stars will vanish from sight.

According to the Bible, in those days, people will live in caves and dins to try to escape the great Tribulation that has come upon the earth. All the conveniences the world now takes for granted will have failed. The electrical grid and infrastructure that supports life on earth will be disrupted, and humanity will live in darkness without all the conveniences once enjoyed.

Out of this intense darkness, Jesus will appear with His church and the Old Testament saints in the brightness of the noonday sun, which is the final sign of the return of Christ. There will be mixed emotions at that time: Israel and the redeemed will be rejoicing while the “tribes of the earth,” the unsaved, will mourn because of the coming judgment.

Finally, in verse 31, we read, “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” All the elect and the redeemed across the world that has come to Christ during the Tribulation shall be gathered by the angels and brought to Jerusalem; this will also be the final phase of the regathering of Israel that commenced in 1948; this is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy found in Isaiah 27:12-13: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. 13And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”

           At a particular time at the end, a great trumpet shall blow, the regathering of Israel is completed, and all Israel are in the land to worship God together at the holy mount, Mount Zion. The time of great threshing is the tribulation period is over when God has judging the world.

           Therefore, the list of signs of the second coming is as follows: The beginning of the Tribulation will be the overwhelming sign of the impending return of Jesus; there will be the persecution of believers, lawlessness, false prophets, a fading of love, worldwide preaching of the gospel, desecration of the temple a the middle of the Tribulation leading to intensity of Judgement during the final three and a half years of the Tribulation; believers will flee to the mountains to save their lives. After all this, a bright light will shine in a darkened world, and Jesus will return to earth. Jesus’ second coming will be the most significant event in all history. The world we know today, living in denial of God, will be awakened to the Judgement, mourning their impending fate.

           Today the invitation is going out to all who want to be part of the glory of the second coming of Jesus and His kingdom on earth. If you are among those lost, I urge you to come to Jesus today while there is still time. If you continue to reject Him, you will one day stand face to face before Him in Judgement. The final act will be the casting of all those who reject Christ into the pit of fire where there is no escape for all eternity. I urge you who have not joined the rest of us by placing your faith in Jesus to do so now. For a step-by-step guide, CLICK HERE.