Introduction To The Olivet Discourse - Mark 13:1-4 Series

Matthew 24:3 … "Tell us," they said, "when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

The Parousia

That phrase “the end of the age” only appears one other time in the Bible. It’s later in Matthew. In fact, the very last words of Matthew—it’s how the book ends. It’s at the Great Commission, where Je-sus wraps up by saying, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Does that mean “I’ll be with you all the way up until 70 A.D.? No. He’s talking about the whole time the Great Commission is in effect. They whole time we’re carrying out the Great Commission, he’ll be with us. So the end of the age isn’t just the end of the Jewish age or the end of the Old Covenant age, but the very end, when the Great Commission will finally be done.

And what about Jesus’ coming? Does that seem strange to you that they would ask Jesus about his coming when he’s sitting right there? He had told them that he was going to die, but they didn’t get that. No matter how many times he told them, they just refused to hear it. They didn’t think he was going anywhere. So when they say “Tell us about your coming,” they don’t mean his return after death or after leaving them. They meant his coming in glory. They were talking about the day when he would finally kick off the glorious kingdom of God he was always talking about.

I said I would use the later Bible writers as my guide for how to take the statements in this ser-mon. And one of the most important words we need to do that with is this word for “coming.” That word translated “coming” is the Greek word parousia. When I typed parousia in my Word document it automatically capitalized it, because that word has come to be shorthand for the Second Coming of Christ. When theologians talk about the Parousia with a capital P, they mean the Second Coming.

Is that valid? Or are modern theologians getting carried away with a common word? Well, let’s ap-ply our system of checking to see how the NT authors used the word.

Connection with Judgment Day

70 A.D. was a day of judgement on Israel in the sense of a temporal punishment, but it wasn’t the day when believers would be evaluated by the Lord and receive their rewards. But the parousia is spo-ken of in those terms.

1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the pres-ence of our Lord Jesus at his parousia?

1 Thessalonians 3:13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father at the parousia of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his parousia.

Connection with the Resurrection/Rapture