1748 | Matthew 23:37
37 “ Jerusalem , Jerusalem , you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you , f how of ten I have longed to gather your chil dren to gether , as a hen gath ers her chicks un der her wings , and you were not will ing . 38 Look , your house is left to you des o late . g 39 For I tell you , you will not see me again un til you say , ‘ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord .’ a
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The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24:1-51pp — Mk 13:1-37 ; Lk 21:5-36
Jesus left the tem ple and was walk ing away when his dis ci ples came up to him to
24 call his at ten tion to its build ings . 2 “ Do you see all these things ?” he asked . “ Truly I tell you , not one stone here will be left on an other ; i ev ery one will be thrown down .”
3 As Jesus was sit ting on the Mount of Ol ives , j the dis ci ples came to him pri vately . “ Tell us ,” they said , “ when will this hap pen , and what will be the sign of your com ing and of the end of the age ?”
4 Jesus an swered : “ Watch out that no one de ceives you . 5 For many will come in my name , claim ing , ‘ I am the Mes siah ,’ and will de ceive many . k 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars , but see to it that you are not alarmed . Such things must hap pen , but the end is still to come . 7 Na tion will rise against na tion , and king dom against king dom . l There will be famines m and earth quakes in var i ous places . 8 All these are the be gin ning of birth pains .
9 “ Then you will be handed over to be per se cuted n and put to death , o and you will be hated by all na tions be cause of me . 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will be tray and hate each other , 11 and many false proph ets p will ap pear and de ceive many people . 12 Be cause of the in crease of wick ed ness , the love of most will grow cold , 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved . q 14 And this gos pel of the king dom r will be preached in the whole world s as a tes ti mony to all na tions , and then the end will come .
15 “ So when you see stand ing in the holy place t ‘ the abomination that causes desolation ,’ b u spo ken of through the prophet Dan iel — let the reader un der stand — 16 then let those who
a 39 Psalm 118:26 b 15 Daniel 9:27 ; 11:31 ; 12:11
23:37 f 2Ch 24:21 ; Mt 5:12
23:38 g 1Ki 9:7 , 8 ; Jer 22:5
23:39 h Ps 118:26 ; Mt 21:9
24:2 i Lk 19:44 24:3 j Mt 21:1
24:5 k ver 11 , 23 , 24 ; 1Jn 2:18
24:7 l Isa 19:2 m Ac 11:28
24:9 n Mt 10:17 o Jn 16:2
24:11 p Mt 7:15 24:13 q Mt 10:22
24:14 r Mt 4:23 s Lk 2:1 ; 4:5 ;
Ac 11:28 ; 17:6 ; Ro 10:18 ; Col 1:6 , 23 ; Rev 3:10 ; 16:14
24:15 t Ac 6:13 u Da 9:27 ; 11:31 ; 12:11
Jesus ( probably in AD 30 , though possibly 33 ), the Romans destroyed the temple and much of Jerusalem . See also v . 38 . During this time all these various kinds of deaths likewise occurred at the hands of key Jewish leaders . 23:37 – 39 Despite the harshness of the rest of his address , Jesus ends with a lament for Jerusalem , which expresses a note of sorrow more than anger . 23:37 how often . Only John ’ s Gospel describes the many times Jesus had previously been in Jerusalem , perhaps explaining “ how often .” hen . . . chicks . Jesus wishes he could have spiritually protected and nurtured the people of Jerusalem , like a mother “ hen [ with ] her chicks ,” but they “ were not willing ” to let him . 23:38 house . The temple . desolate . Bereft of spiritual truth with Jesus ’ departure in 24:1 and razed by the Romans a generation later ( see note on v . 36 ). The holy city of Israel will , however , see Jesus again when he returns in glory ( 24:29 – 31 ). 23:39 Blessed is he who comes . At Jesus ’ return Jerusalem ’ s inhabitants will acclaim him with the words of Ps 118:26 . Whether this acclamation will reflect genuine repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Messiah or the mournful , grudging acknowledgment of his true identity just before they go away into perdition is more difficult to determine .
24:1 — 25:46 This passage is called the Olivet discourse . Jesus addresses his followers on the Mount of Olives immediately after he leaves the temple for the last time . He predicts its imminent destruction ( 24:1 – 28 ) and his “ coming on the clouds of heaven ” ( 24:30 ) at some unspecified point after that ( 24:29 – 51 ). The upshot for his followers is that they must live obedient , faithful lives at all times because they cannot know when the end will come . But when it does arrive , everyone will be judged according to their works ( 25:1 – 46 ). 24:1 – 28 Jesus depicts what must happen in the generation in which he and his followers are living ( v . 34 ). Numerous ominous events will occur , followed finally by the complete razing of the temple in AD 70 . 24:2 – 3 Because Jesus predicts the complete destruction of the temple , the disciples likely assume it must bring about “ the end of the age ” ( v . 3 ) as they know it . Jesus ’ reply separates the two events that the disciples have linked . 24:2 not one stone . . . will be left on another ; every one will be thrown down . Fulfilled literally in AD 70 , when the Romans under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple buildings . Stones were even pried apart to collect the gold leaf that melted from the roof when the temple was set on fire . Excavations in 1968 uncovered large numbers of these stones , toppled from the walls by the invaders . The Western Wall in Jerusalem , still standing today , was part of a retaining wall around the temple precincts , not part of the temple itself . 24:4 – 8 False messiahs , wars , famines , and earthquakes all occurred in the 40 years between Christ ’ s crucifixion ( probably AD 30 , though possibly 33 ) and the destruction of the temple in AD 70 . Josephus , the first-century Jewish historian , mentions all of them . The NT itself refers to both a famine ( Acts 11:27 – 28 ) and an earthquake ( Acts 16:26 ). These are not the signs the disciples asked about , however , for “ the end is still to come ” ( v . 6 ). They are merely “ the beginning of birth pains ” ( v . 8 ). These events are like a pregnant woman ’ s labor pains : they demonstrate there is a baby that the body wants to deliver , but they prove singularly unhelpful in predicting the precise moment of birth .
24:9 – 13 Persecution , martyrdom , apostasy , false prophets and their deception , an overall increase of wickedness , and a diminution of love will also characterize the years ahead . The NT letters most likely written between 30 and 70 reflect all of these : Hebrews and 1 Peter are written when persecution against Christians is increasing ; Hebrews warns against the dire consequences of apostasy ; 2 Peter and Jude combat false prophets ; and almost all of Paul ’ s letters emphasize promoting love and avoiding evil . True believers , however , will stand firm to the end and be spiritually saved ( v . 13 ). 24:14 Most think this foreshadows the Great Commission of 28:19 – 20 , in which case Jesus now looks well beyond the first generation of his followers . But it is possible to see this prophecy too fulfilled by AD 70 : The “ whole world ” was viewed by many as roughly contiguous with the Roman Empire ( cf . Col 1:23 ). Paul essentially claims to have completed initial evangelism of the eastern half of the empire ( Rom 15:19 ) as he plants churches in all representative regions to carry on his work by about 57 . His subsequent desire to go to Rome and then as far as Spain can be seen as aiming to do the same thing in the western half ( Rom 15:28 ), and he may well have accomplished it before his martyrdom between 64 and 67 if various early Christian traditions are accurate . 24:15 the abomination that causes desolation . Predicted in Dan 9:27 ; 11:31 ; 12:11 , and some Jews believe that Antiochus IV ’ s desecration of the temple (“ the holy place ”) in 167 BC fulfills it . Jesus obviously sees another fulfillment yet to come as he looks ahead at least to when Rome will destroy the temple of his day in AD 70 . Some envision a still future fulfillment in conjunction with Christ ’ s return . 24:16 – 20 When this time comes , God ’ s people must flee Jerusalem quickly .