Just before this chapter, we have the account of the Lord weeping over Jerusalem.
The Jews House (no longer My Father's House) is left unto them desolate (without
the presence of God). And the Jews are never to see Him again till they repent.
The chapter begins with the prophecy of the destruction of the city by Titus.
He does not say when. Paul says that it might have been avoided (
Romans 10: 9,10). But Israel would not confess Jesus as their Messiah
or believe that God raised Him from the dead. So their calamity befell them.
The disciples have 3 questions to ask;
1. When shall these things happen?
2. What will be the sign of the coming?
3. What the sign of the ending of the age?
These questions are answered in reverse order. Rumors of wars, wars, and
even false Christs will not mark the end of the age. But there will be upheavals
in nature and a great tribulation before the end of the age. The days will
be shortened.
The sign of His coming is not seen till after the tribulation. This precludes
any thought of a pre-tribulation coming as many teach. The coming will not
be in secret, but as plain as the lightning when it flashes across the heavens.
It is plainly stated that if anyone says that He has come (1843, 1844, 1914
or any other date) that person is a liar and not to believe it.
And He finally says that it might be that this particular generation might
not pass away, till these things were fulfilled. It was entirely possible
if Israel would only repent. And the prophecy in
Daniel 9 tells us that the Lord was to come in 85 A.D. to set up His
kingdom. But Israe1 did not repent, so the Lord did not come, and has not
come yet.
But they are to watch the prophetic events, even as they watch the fig tree,
to tell the season.
He also tells them that things will be going on as usual on the earth when
He comes. He will not be expected any more than the flood was expected in
the days of Noah. It was business as usual.
Those in the ark were preserved through the flood, but the others were taken
away by the flood. And so in that day the tares will be taken away first,
and then the harvest. So the tares will be taken from the midst as two grinding
at the mill and one taken or two in the field and one taken. The other is
left for it is the wheat and will be part of the harvest. But the tares are
to be burned.
It is also made plain in that chapter that when the Lord does come, there
will be a judgment of the servants who think He is going to delay His coming.
The next chapter tells how the nations that remain (no resurrection mentioned
here) will be judged and which will remain and which will not remain to go
on into the great millennial kingdom.
The reader may wish to compare the events in
Matt 24 with the opening of the
sea1s in Revelation 6. Also
there is more information in Daniel 12.
Note the trump that is sounded which marks the end of the great
tribulation and the coming of the King. See
1 Cor 15:52; 1 Thes 4:16;
and Rev 11:15-19.
