 Matthew 24:1-51 CHAPTER 24:1-51 TEXT: And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 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:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For 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. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore 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. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 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: And 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. 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. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 3 ... Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? Jewish literature is replete with examples of what will proceed the coming of the Messiah. These events are known as the "Footsteps of Messiah."
4 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many It is important to place this verse (as with all the "New Testament") back into its Hebrew context. Yeshua is saying that many will come in His name. The final "anti-Messiah" will not come in opposition to Yeshua, but will be a counterfeit who will deceive almost everyone (i.e., verse 24 below). A legitimate question to ask here is; How will this person be able to pull this off? After all, aren't there countless books, movies and web sites available today warning people about him (calling him the "Antichrist"), and describing everything that is going to happen in the last days? In fact, a Christian book on the end-times/Antichrist, "The Mark," by Tim Laheye, was the number one book on the New York Time bestseller list in the month of December 2000. This was not a religious book list. It was the secular hardcover list -- so it would seem more than just Christians who are buying this. As people everywhere are seemingly becoming "well aware" about what is coming, then one must ask; Where is the deception forecast by Yeshua? Also, where is the "lack of faith" to be found throughout the world, as prophesied by Him? (Luke 18:8) After all, doesn't over one-third of the planet declare themselves to be His followers? Some people explain this problem by forecasting a great "rapture" of Christians and those "left behind" will believe some far-fetched reason responsible for this (i.e., UFOs), or have their memories "erased" somehow. This would then explain the great "lack of faith," prophecied. The problem with these end-time scenarios is that they all come from a Torah-less base. By "Torah-less," we mean a faith that is not in continuation with that which God established prior to Yeshua's arrival (as He did not do away with this faith, i.e., Matthew 5:17-21, Romans 3:31). This includes any "faith" that may even include certain elements of Torah (as any counterfeit faith will). A more difficult question to ponder is this; Are all the supposed "disciples of the Messiah" in the world today following the Torah-preaching Yeshua of the Hebrew Scriptures? Or is their view of the Messiah one that tells them that "they are not under the law (Torah)?" This subject will be discussed in detail in our Revelation study over the spring and summer of 2001. See also Not Subject to the Law of God? in the YashaNet library. 6-8 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. See comments on "Footsteps of the Messiah," to verse 3 above. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. The Messiah cannot be separated from the Torah (see notes to chapters 5-7), nor from His Name. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. When people come to a faith in Yeshua, based in Torah, some of their worst enemies may be their friends and family -- including those who think that they are the ones with the "truth" and that the Torah-observant person is even doing Satan's will (by supposedly bringing them into the "bondage of law"). For more information on how this is actually becoming a reality, see our commentary, Signs of the Times - Growing Christian anti-Torah Hostility, in the Opinions Section of YashaNet. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Iniquity may be considered the same as sin, which is defined according to one standard -- God's Torah:
Torah is what we are to use as our criteria to know if we are following God:
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Yeshua places a stipulation, that we are to endure. The idea of some "guaranteed salvation" based on simply "what you believe" is foreign to the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul did not even make such a claim for himself:
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Yeshua makes it clear that the gospel message does not reach the ends of the earth until the very last days before He returns. This is the Torah-based Gospel that He and the original community of believers preached. The false Messiah, being a man of "lawlessness" (2 Thessalonians 2:3), and his followers, will preach a Torah-less "gospel" in the name of "God." 15 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:) There was a previous fulfillment to this verse about two centuries before Yeshua spoke these words. Antiochus IV Epiphanies became king of the Syrian-Greeks who ruled over Israel. He commanded the Jews to do away with Torah and accept the Greek culture and religion. He bore down ruthlessly on his Jewish subjects and defiled the temple, placing a Hellenistic priest in charge and sacrificing pigs on the altar. This led to a successful revolt under Judah Macabee, the rededication of the Temple and the Feast of Chanukah, which we seeYeshua Himself celebrating in John 10:22. For more information on these events, read our article on Chanukah, or turn to the Apocryphal book of Macabbes. Yeshua's words forecast yet another one that will come in opposition to Torah. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. God has promised to reunite all of Israel -- the "lost tribes" of the northern Kingdom under Ephraim with the southern Kingdom under Judah. These are the elect along with those gentiles who join them. 24 For 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. Those whose faith is grounded in Torah will be less likely to be deceived as Torah is God's truth. Any concept of "faith" independent of God's Torah is a lie. God will allow those rejecting this truth to be deceived:
"Unrighteousness" is defined solely by God's Torah. 29 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: How can a star fall from heaven? As this is not possible, it gives us a clue that this verse might contain a deeper meaning. (Also, if the sun was darkened, all life would cease to exist, and this does not happen at this time either.) Although there may be some literal physical fulfillment of these things, Yeshua is very much speaking in metaphorical terms. These hidden aspects of the last days will be addressed in our Revelation study. 30 And 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. The term "tribes of the earth," is an incorrect translation. Yeshua is speaking of a fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy. The correct translation is tribes of "the land," (of Israel):
31 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. The "gathering of the elect" is a fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy (above). God will regather all of Israel to their Messiah and to the land of Israel. The "trumpet" is representative of the Shofar, which is found throughout Hebrew literature that is concerned wih Messiah and the "end times." This trumpet blast could very well be the "last trump" prophecied by Paul in two of his letters:
A common Jewish belief was that all people would die before God instituted His Kingdom and the World to Come (Olam Haba). Paul states that this is not the case, that some would enter the Kingdom of God without dying first. The reference to His gathering His elect, "from one end of heaven to the other," in verse 31, is likely a reference to the dead raised incorruptable (in 1 Corinthians 15:52) and the dead in Messiah (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Our Revelation study will explore all of these themes in greater detail. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. This study will not enter the long time debate over what Yeshua meant by "generation." Suffice it to say, He is speaking of a chain of events (the "footsteps of Messiah), that once they begin, will not stop until He comes. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Why doesn't Yeshua know the day? A hidden message here is that the day is not truly "fixed," in that the actions of His followers, here on earth, can either hasten its arrival. Hebraic teachings say that if the people act righteously, they will merit Messiah's arrival. An example of this is found in Midrash Rabbah, which says that although there is a "determined date," for Messiah's arrival, there also remains the possibility that His coming could be advanced:
Another example of this can be seen in Acts chapter 3, where Peter tells His Jewish brethren, that if they turned in faith to the Messiah (who was just killed and resurrected), that Yeshua would immediately return and usher in the Kingdom. Interestingly, if the people become completely unrighteous (see verse 37 below), this will also bring on His arrival, albeit in not such a pleasant fashion. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. We know that evil permeated the earth to such a degree in Noah's time, that God intervened by killing all but a handful of people. Again, at the end of days, there will be widespread destruction. Beyond this however, Noah's time was also one of great demonic activity, as cited in the book of Jude:
This "days of Noah" will be dealt with in detail in our Revelation study. (Revelation shows a great deal of demonic activity in the last days.) We will investigate a resource with much information on this subject, the book of Enoch -- which was held in high esteem at the time of Yeshua, and is quoted by Jude:
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken ... The terminology here (one shall be taken), is the same used for Jewish nuptial language in John 14:1-3. Contrary to some popular modern theologies, the "marriage in heaven" between Messiah and His people comes after the time of Tribulation on earth, and makes up the first seven years of the Millennial Sabbath:
This marriage involves more than the Lord and His righteous ones, as Scripture tells us that New Jerusalem, which is "our Mother" (Galatians 4:26) is the bride (Revelation 21:2). Our Revelation study covers these mystical aspects in great detail. MAIN MATTHEW INDEX | STUDIES INDEX PAGE | YASHANET HOME PAGE
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