THE SECOND COMING.
Matthew 24.
I have been looking anew into Matthew 24, trying to view the passage without the prejudices of popular opinion. It has been quite a humbling exercise.
There are aspects of every reasonable point of view about the second coming of Jesus which do bear scrutiny. But there is also much taught on this subject, even by otherwise sound teachers, that is nothing other than the doctrines and teaching of men.
It is with some trepidation that I hope to share my latest thoughts on this challenging passage. I have not got the final answers. I doubt whether anyone really has. When Jesus returns, many of our pet theories will be proved mistaken. The same thing, remember, happened at His first coming.
1. THE QUESTION
The disciples enthusiastically pointed out the wonderful buildings that made up the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was less excited: "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" (Matthew 24:2).
Afterwards, in their rest place upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked their two- or three-pronged question: "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). It is well to bear in mind that upon this question hinges the whole interpretation of Jesus' teaching in this chapter.
2. THE QUESTION UNPACKED
For the Lord's perplexed disciples, the destruction of the Temple could represent nothing less than the end of the world. In a way they were right: the things they knew would never be the same, and one day they would themselves be accused of "turning the world upside down."
Yet they knew better than to imagine the end of the world outside of the context of the establishment of Christ's kingdom. No doubt they still envisaged their Lord establishing His Messiah-ship imminently, and in the manner that the excited crowds had anticipated when they welcomed Him into Jerusalem with their loud "Hosannas" (Matthew 21:8-9).
Surely now the outsiders would be driven out of Israel, and the nation would again possess her historic God-given borders in peace, free from molestation? It is a hope that lives on, both amongst the Jews, and throughout the Christian world.
3. TAKE HEED THAT NO MAN DECEIVE YOU
The first thing that Jesus said in answer to the disciples' question was: "Take heed that no man deceive you" (Matthew 24:4).
A more timely caution I cannot imagine. False sects and false Messiahs have abounded from that day to this. There is also much taught in the churches and outside them which give an un-Biblical spin on Jesus' teaching in this chapter. It was established Judaism which found it hardest to accept that Messiah was come, but first to die on our behalf; and it is established Christianity today which casts much doubt and confusion on the doctrine of the second coming of Christ.
There are some who question the literalness of Jesus' physical return to this earth. Others dress the Biblical facts in so many popular man-made doctrines that the reality is cast into disrepute. Some even have the audacity to imagine that they can tell us the answer as to "when shall these things be?" This question was clearly answered by Jesus in Matthew 24:36: "of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."
4. THE INCENTIVE TO PREACH
There is much about the fulfilment of Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of the Temple that prefigures the state of things as they shall be at His return. False Christs; wars and rumours of wars; famine, pestilence, and earthquakes; persecution, and betrayal - all shall abound. There shall be a general indifference to the truth; "just as in the days of Noah" (Matthew 24:37).
This is hardly a picture of universal peace upon earth prior to His coming, as I had once imagined. Indeed, the incentive to preach the gospel to all nations is not found in the hope of a worldwide revival, but rather in the simple fact that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14).
When shall the end come? The end shall come when the gospel has been preached to all nations. Well, the gospel has been preached, and is being preached, and will be preached - whether men will accept it or not. In the mean time it is for us to persevere, for "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Matthew 24:13).
5. THE FALL OF JERUSALEM
Forty years after Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24, Jerusalem was sacked, and her people scattered to the nations. Not for the first time, the "abomination of desolation" was seen in the Temple (Matthew 24:15). In the days of the Maccabees, Antiochus Epiphanes, the successor to part of the Empire of Alexander the Great, had set up an image of himself in that holy place. Now again the "holy place" would be desecrated in the presence of the Roman Eagle.
Yet I cannot help feeling that these two historic events do not exhaust Daniel's prophecy here quoted by Jesus. We need to keep an open mind on the subject. One thing is sure: the Jews are back in their land, which is a miracle of Providence in itself. They have possession of Jerusalem. The potential for a further siege of Jerusalem, which would only be relieved by the personal appearance of Jesus at His second coming, is at the very least a possibility. Wars and rumours of wars, as we well know, abound in the region.
6. THE TRIBULATION AND THE COMING
The fall of Jerusalem in 73 A.D., we have seen, prefigures the tribulation of the last days. The trauma and drama of that earlier cataclysm are echoed in the unfolding of the events leading up to the return of Jesus.
Jesus here counsels flight into the mountains, envisages the continuance of the Sabbath, and warns us again of the danger of false Christs and false prophets. Even the very elect of God might be deceived, He says, "if it were possible" (Matthew 24:24).
Well, how shall the second coming of Christ be known? Will it be with stealth and with secrecy? No, but it will be very suddenly, and very openly: "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the coming of the son of man be" (Matthew 24:27).
7. THE SECOND ADVENT
The Second Advent will be as dramatic as it is sudden. The forces of nature will be shaken, and there shall be signs and wonders in the sky. After all, this is the day for which the whole of creation groans and travails together until now!
When He comes, it will be with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet. It will be "on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30). It will not be a secret.
The tribes of the earth may well mourn at His presence, but He will send His angels to gather together His own elect people from the four corners of the earth. Take courage, dear Christian!
All this will come to pass before "this generation" has passed away. Well, it was but forty years from this prediction to the fall of Jerusalem under the Romans: but the second coming did not happen then. The word "generation" rather refers to the perpetuity of the race of the Jews: a fact that has so enraged the enemy of souls that their total annihilation has been attempted more than once! It is to Jerusalem, Israel, that Jesus shall return.
In case we doubt the literal fulfilment of this prophecy, we are reminded that "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
8. EXHORTATION TO WATCHFULNESS
The world goes on in wilful ignorance of the doom which awaits those who are unprepared for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It shall be just like “in the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37-39). Eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage may well be legitimate pursuits, but the reference to Noah should alert us to the nature of what is going on. There may be all kinds of excesses in eating and drinking, and the marrying and giving in marriage in the days of Noah was just the very kind of mismatching which brought the wrath of God upon the earth at the time of the Flood.
When Jesus comes, suddenly and unexpectedly but amidst all the noise of the angel's shout and the trumpet blast, people will be going about their business as usual. For some it will be daytime, and of two just one will be taken. For others it will be night-time, and of two just one will be taken. This is the gathering together of God's elect from the four corners of the world. It is an awful, and final, separation.
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (Matthew 24:42). He comes like a thief in the night - not secretly like a thief, but "in such an hour as ye think not" (Matthew 24:44).
Some imagine, like the servant in the parable at the end of this chapter, that the delay in Christ's coming gives them the right to abuse His people, and to eat and to drink with the wicked. Such, Jesus solemnly warns, will indeed receive their portion "with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:51).
So be watchful, dear Christian. Expect His coming, and be faithful in all that you do.
