Matthew 24

Matthew 24:1-51

AND REPLIES Matthew 24:1 to Matthew 25:13THAT a new tone has come into Christ’s teaching is increasingly evident. It is the tone of judgment, consequent upon bitter experience. In concluding our last chapter, we called attention to the severity of His invectives; in this chapter, the same state of mind continues. In the former, He was denouncing by frightfully descriptive terms, Sadducees, Scribes, and Pharisees; in this, He is declaring the judgment to come. His bitter experience in dealing with men had resulted in the destruction of hope concerning their reform even, and still more, concerning the likelihood of their regeneration.The speech of a man is often the echo of soul-experience. So perfectly does the verbal expression represent the soul’s experience, that the former commonly measures the latter.As the head of several movements that require large amounts of money for their maintenance and advancement, I have learned that a man who has just sustained heavy financial losses is never a fit counsellor concerning advance movements, and that the discouraged man should be eliminated altogether from counselling boards—such harmony is there between inner-experience and outward expression.

In a measure, Christ also was tempted at this point like as we are. When He saw that men would not be saved, did not desire redemption, He felt that judgment was a sheer necessity, and His speech took on a condemnatory tone.His declaration of judgment for the buildings of the Temple excitedTHREE “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 bet and what shall be the sign of Thy Coming, and of the end of the world” (Matthew 24:1-3). We ask you to note that there are three questions, the first relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, the second relating to the sign of His Coming, and the third to the end of the age. If these questions are constantly kept in mind, it will make the answer the more intelligent.The questions were incited by His threatening words. His disciples were troubled at the thought of the Temple torn to pieces. The Temple had not only been to them the center of all spiritual interest, but the very place of God’s manifested presence. To say that it would go, was one with saying that God would go; and when God is gone, whence the light, for He is the Light of the world? When God is gone, whence wisdom, for all wisdom is with Him?

When God is gone, whence life, for life is from Him alone? Their alarm was justified.They pled for personal and special information. “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy Coming, and of the end of the world”? (Matthew 24:3).

The pronoun “us” is significant here. They realized that the “secrets of the Lord are with them that fear Him”. They believed that Christ would give them information not intended for the world. They knew that these particular things, the destruction of Jerusalem, the sign of His Coming, and the end of the age, were among the secrets which, by sacred Scriptures, God purposed to reserve unto Himself; and yet they hoped and believed, and with some occasion, that He would tell them what the world need not and could not know. Their expectation was almost justified. The true disciple of the Lord is sure to have the mind of the Lord, and to share in most of the Lord’s secrets.Prayer intelligently indulged in is not always an appeal for some new or additional gift.

Solomon, when the infinite riches of a plethoric world were proffered him, in answer to whatsoever he should ask, made appeal for no material thing, but begged for wisdom instead, bringing down not only an abundant blessing upon himself, but the Divine approval upon the intelligence of his choice. What prayer is possible to any desire equalling this— “Tell me!

Teach me! Impart to me additional truth! Lead me into larger light! Make known to me more of Thy plans and purposes that I may fit my life, my conduct, my character into the same!” That is the truest prayer. God has a few secrets that He will not divulge even to His own, but few they are indeed. These disciples proved at once their intelligence and affection and conscious personal relation, when to Christ they said, “Tell us”!Their request related to three separate items of interest. They were “the destruction of Jerusalem”, “the Coming of Christ”, and “the end of the age”.There was a time when the words of this chapter seemed to us a jumble. We could make little out of them.

At one point they seem to be talking of the destruction of Jerusalem; in the next sentence of the Coming of Christ; and almost immediately, of the end of the age; and we asked, “Which is here referred to, and why this jumble?” But at last we saw that as the three questions were united in a single sentence, so the three answers were to be traced in the Saviour’s reply, some of what He said referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, some of it to the sign of His Second Coming, and some to the end of the age. There is no clear line of demarcation in these replies. It is practically impossible to say that one sentence refers to the first, another to the second, and still another to the third. The simple fact is that these events have a connection that make the answers applicable to each of them. “Many shall come in My Name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:5). That has been true, and will remain true to the end of the age.“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” (Matthew 24:6). That also is true throughout the entire period. “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matthew 24:7).

They shook Jerusalem and finally compassed its downfall. They will also characterize the great war that is coming, and have to do with the closing of the age itself.

The truth is that one of these events, the destruction of Jerusalem, is in many respects a type or symbol of the closing of the age. The answer to their first question, then, should be an adumbration of the answer to the last. In order to retain His secret concerning His Second Coming, Christ must of necessity refuse to His disciples those plain lines of demarcation sought that curiosity might be satisfied. But He does indulge inP REPLIES He declares that false christs will characterize the Church period. It will be noted that that prophecy both opens and closes His answers,“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:11). “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” (Matthew 24:24). Historically, that prophecy has been illustrated hundreds of times. In the sixty years of the writer’s life, there has not been a single decade but knew its pretended Christ, and it is doubtful if any century since this word was uttered has ended without knowing that spurious claim.There is at this very moment a widespread movement that makes that pretence the more engaging. “The elect” have not been deceived by false teachers. People who have had an actual experience of regenerating grace seldom or never take to the claims of modernism. They are so at variance with the Book that the Christ-born distinguish the difference and reject “the new gospel”, so-called, which they know to be “no gospel”. But Satan is now making a flank movement “to deceive, if possible, the very elect”. He is combining true teaching with false practices, as illustrated in the Pentecostal and kindred movements.The great fundamentals of the Christian faith are being preached by men and women alike, whose pretences of “tongues” and of “healings” will not bear the light of day.

This is not because the doctrine of Divine healing is unbiblical, for that doctrine is plainly taught in God’s Word. This is not because “the speaking of tongues” might not be an expression of the Spirit.

It was once! It may be again! But this is because the claim of “healing” has been made the medium of personal and selfish advertising; has been converted into financial gains of great measure; has taken on the form of a new Simony—a sort of sale of the Holy Spirit’s power. Beyond all question, this procedure has in more than one instance deceived the very elect.Dr. John Alexander Dowie began marvelously as a preacher of the long neglected doctrine of Divine healing, and by close observation upon his early days at the World’s Fair, I was fully convinced that he was doing the work of God. But, alas, for the temptation to traffic in holy things.

History records for him a rather ignominious end. The Tongues’ Movement under Baxter and Edward Irving proved, in the end, to be rather a blight than a blessing to the churches that accepted it, and even these leaders came to doubt both the genuineness and advantage of what they themselves had professed and practiced.

It is a sad commentary on the Church of God that it doubts God’s promises of healing, and that it has so uniformly turned to the questionable practices of the world. But, there is even a sadder commentary upon those members of that same church who get no thrill out of the uniform, persistent preaching of the great fundamentals of the Christian faith, but who will travel any distance to see the semblance of “the great signs and wonders” prophesied in the twenty-fourth verse of this chapter, and, though they be children of God, become deceived by the same.Again, Christ prophesied troubles and snares for the entire Church period. There are preachers who preach what they call an optimistic gospel; who paint with ready words the wonderful progress of our times, the marvellous growth in morals, the sure tendency to international adjustments and world peace, the increasing amenities that make for humanity and mark an ever-ascending civilization. But Christ did not belong with them. He spoke instead of “false Christs” rising to “deceive”—of “wars”, “rumours of wars”, “nation rising against nation”, “kingdom against kingdom”, “famines”, “pestilences”, “earthquakes”, and then said, “These are the beginnings of sorrows”, a clear indication that woes would increase through the whole Church period. He promised the faithful “deliverance to affliction,” “death”, “hatred”, “offences”, “betrayals”, “false teachers”.

He described the “lawlessness” that would abound, the “love of many waxing cold”, the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place, the “great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to that time, no, nor ever should be”. He insisted that “except those days of tribulation be shortened, no flesh would be saved”.

He spoke of a “darkened sun”, “an extinguished moon”, “falling stars”, “shaking heavens”.His ministry was not accepted twenty centuries ago. It would be far less acceptable if preached to the present age. Men are not keen to know the truth, but are anxious to have comfortable sermons. Women close their eyes against offences and try to imagine they have not seen what is full before them. But let it be remembered that the ostrich who is hotly pursued, and whose life is sought, does not escape danger when he runs his head in the sand. In fact, he invites it, and will all the more shortly feel the deadly dart of his pursuer.

Far better to face facts with which you necessarily have to do than to vainly seek to forget them. Far better to watch against deception than to fall under the power of the same.

Far better to flee into the mountains than to abide in Jerusalem through the day of its judgment. Far better to watch for the Coming of the King than to be confused and shamed by His sudden appearance.Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. Follow not every prophet, but test the prophets at the point of both precept and practice, for strangely enough, false prophets always secure large and enthusiastic hearing. Bend not the knee before every christ who comes in his own name, but watch for the appearance of Him who, “as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west”, shall also come—the very Son of Man, the Saviour of the Church.He plainly affirms that the great tribulation will close this age.“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 (Israel) 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” (Matthew 24:29-31). There are people who seek to discredit us by calling us “literalists”. What else can we be? If God is not to keep the letter of His Word, what is God to keep? Concerning the first coming of Christ, He said, “He shall be born of a virgin”. It was even so! Concerning His first appearance, He said, “His birth shall be in Bethlehem of Judea”.

It so took place. Concerning the attempt on the life of that Babe, driving His parents into Egypt, it was prophesied, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son”. God brought the Babe back. In other words, God never disregarded one single word involved in the promises of His first appearance. Who can doubt that God will keep His every word concerning the promises of the second appearance? I look to see the sun darkened, the moon fail, the stars perish from sight.

I look to see the Son Himself “descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God”, “for He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet”. I look to see the “dead in Christ arise”. These things will characterize and close the age.Now attend, while Christ presentsTHREE in prophetic presentation of that time: the parable of the fig tree, the parable of the midnight thief, and the parable of the ten virgins.The parable of the fig tree—a prophecy of that time. This is recorded in Matthew 24:32-41.“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, (the pronoun is emphatic), 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” (Matthew 24:32-41). It is uniformly agreed by good Bible students that the fig tree is the type of Israel. She has long been passing through her winter, the time of the Gentiles. But summer will come and the tender leaves will appear upon the long barren and fruitless branches; and, at the sight of the first of them “Ye know that the summer is nigh”.Are those leaves putting forth now? There are many who so believe. The great Zionist movement, into which Jews have already put their millions, and by which they are being returned to the land of promise by the tens of thousands (33,000 of them having gone back in the year 1925) is accepted by many as the sure proof that summer is nigh. Many have stumbled over the phrase, “This generation shall not pass until all these things have been fulfilled”.

Even professed Bible scholars have charged Christ with mistake here; but when one remembers that “this generation” is the generation of the Jew, he knows that God has literally fulfilled His Word and kept that generation or people intact till now, and will till then. In other words, “heaven and earth may pass, but His words will not”, and while no man knows of that day or hour, nor even the angels, yet, “as in the days of Noe, so shall the Coming of the Son of Man be”, and certainly the time in which we live is akin to that which preceded the flood—eating, drinking, marrying, merry-making—such characterized the antediluvians, and such characterize the antemillenians. But our Master added another parable!The parable of the thief is a warning about watchfulness.“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” (Matthew 24:48-51). Like most of Christ’s parables, this is of easy comprehension. Every country and people of every age have had their thieves—men who deliberately wait till all are fast asleep and then sneak in and snatch away a coveted treasure. They come always, as all absent masters return, when unexpected, for “If the goodman of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up”. If the servant had but known just when the master would return and if you knew at what hour Christ would come, you would make ready against the hour. The very fact that you do not know, that you cannot know, that you should not know, is a reason for preparation for an appearance that is certain and the time of which is hidden. “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing”, and accursed is he who“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” (Matthew 24:48-51). Now don’t start back and say “cut asunder”; that is a frightful word for Christ to employ. Judgment is always a frightful thing, but not so frightful as the injustice of the servant who smites his fellows without occasion; nor even so frightful as the slothfulness of him who eats and drinks unto drunkenness and despises both himself and his lord.Our final parable is one with which all students of the Book are well familiar: the parable of the wise and foolish virgins—a plea for preparation. Mark the progress Christ has made in these three parables. The first was a prophecy of time; the second was a warning about watchfulness, and the third a plea for preparation. “A wedding”! That is a favorite figure with Christ. Virgins—ten of them, invited—expectant—anxious! Five wise, that took forethought and filled their lamps with oil; five foolish, that thought of participation in the festive occasion only, but made no provision against the darkness. “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept”. Sleep is quite all right for the Christian who has made his peace with God and who is prepared to meet His Son.

Watchfulness against the day of His Coming does not mean that one must keep his physical eyes forever open, and live on the quivive until nervous prostration has disabled him and set him aside. Such would be an absurd interpretation. But it does mean that he shall have the oil of grace in his heart—the light of life kindled from above, for only such shall see Him and share that festal hour with Him, and enter His “house of the heavens not made with hands”, and spend with Him a joyous eternity, celebrating the consummation of Divine love in the completion of the Church of God.