24:1–14 Chapter 24 opens with Jesus leaving the temple precincts, where a series of verbal contests with Jewish leaders had led to a long denunciation of scribes and Pharisees (22:15–23:37). As he leaves for the Mount of Olives (24:3) his disciples approach and point to the temple buildings (24:1). Mark explicitly states what Matthew implies: the city of Jerusalem and the magnificent temple buildings dazzle them. “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” the disciples cry (Mark 13:1). Jesus replies emphatically, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Matt. 24:2). The temple buildings were magnificent indeed, one of the great projects of Herod the Great, a renowned builder. Massive stones weighing thousands of tons created the wall around the city, and gold leaf decorated the polished marble walls of the temple itself.

Jesus knows both the beauty and the doom of the temple. “Not . . . one stone upon another” signals complete destruction (v. 2). As they reach their destination, the Mount of Olives, the disciples ask Jesus to explain himself: “When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end [or “close”] of the age?” The English translation could be read as two or three questions. The disciples possibly think they have asked one, since they likely expect the fall of the temple, the end of the age, and the coming of Christ to happen together. But the Greek sentence is governed by two interrogatives: “When [pote] will these things be, and what [ti] will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Jesus answers the disciples in two phases, with a clear break at verses 34–36. Verse 34 reads, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” When “generation” refers to time, as it usually does, it implies a time period up to forty years. Most historians place the death of Jesus near AD 30, and Vespasian razed Jerusalem and its temple, following a Jewish revolt, in AD 70. So the temple fell forty years—one generation—after the prophecy, within the lifetime of at least some of the apostles.

After solemnly announcing the power of his word (v. 35), Jesus moves to the second question, about the time of his coming and the end of the age, in verse 36: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows.” In Scripture, “that day” can be a technical term, meaning the last day, the end of ordinary human history.393 It definitely means the last day, judgment day, in Matthew 7:22; 26:29; Mark 13:32; 14:25; Luke 10:12; 21:34; John 14:20; 16:23; Romans 2:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; and 2 Timothy 1:12, 18; 4:8.

If this assessment of (1) the disciples’ questions and (2) the way Jesus answers them is correct, then Matthew 24:3–35 was fulfilled, at least partially, within a generation after Jesus’ death. Even if his prophecies have a second fulfillment in the future, they also describe the generation from Jesus’ death to the Roman War. Verses 3–35 foretell the events of AD 30–70 to help disciples “[endure] to the end” and so to “be saved” (v. 13). In 24:36–25:46, Jesus insists that no one knows the time of his return. Therefore, disciples must always watch, must always be ready for his return (24:42–44; 25:10, 13).

If this explanation is accurate, then the predictions of false christs, false prophets, war, famine, earthquake, and the worldwide proclamation of the gospel refer first to the period before the fall of Jerusalem (24:4–14). Matthew 24:36–25:13 continually stresses that Jesus will return unexpectedly, with no sequence of events foreshadowing the day. But the six uses of “then” in 24:9–23, crucially so at verse 16, do indicate an interest in timing. This makes sense, since Jesus is describing a perilous era for the fledgling church (cf. vv. 9, 10, 14, 16, 21, 23).

Jesus continually exhorts disciples to stay faithful, come what may, throughout chapters 24–25, but his strategies differ. In the second segment, he tells the church to be ready at all times, not looking for signs. In the first segment, he does tell readers to look for signs, so that they will be ready to flee for their lives when the abomination of desolation—the Roman armies (cf. comment on 24:15–20)—enters the temple (24:15–21).

With the framework set, point-by-point comment can begin. Jesus begins, “See that no one leads you astray” (v. 4). This warning is essential, since false christs and false prophets will arise and perform “signs and wonders” that will lead many astray (vv. 11, 24). Disciples must attend to the right events. False christs (v. 5) and false prophets (v. 11) claim to speak for God or to be the deliverer. In fact, false prophets and pseudodeliverers did arise and delude many from AD 30 to 70, as the works of Josephus show.394

One gathered an armed multitude at Mount Gerizim; Pilate killed him and other leaders.395 A certain Theudas, who called himself a prophet and promised to divide the Jordan River like Elijah, attracted numerous adherents until Fadus, procurator of Judea, beheaded him.396 An unnamed Egyptian (presumably of Jewish descent) arrived outside of Jerusalem with a substantial body of insurrectionists, promising that the walls of Jerusalem would fall at his command so that his army could enter the city.397 Josephus also reports that while Claudius and Nero reigned and Fadus, Felix, and Festus were Rome’s procurators, Judea swarmed with advocates of rebellion against Rome, often claiming divine inspiration and power.398 Even during the Roman siege of Jerusalem a “prophet” promised imminent deliverance while calling out woe.399

The same sections of Josephus’s works report that Israel’s prophets and charismatic leaders often threatened violence and always suffered violent reprisals. In the same years, wars and rumors of wars sprouted throughout the empire (v. 6). Yet war is no sign of the end, because kingdoms battle kingdoms and wars simmer, burn, and explode in every age (v. 7). The same holds for famines and earthquakes. Scientists estimate that there are twenty major quakes (7.0 or higher on the Richter scale) and perhaps twenty thousand minor quakes (4.0 or higher), every year. Tacitus, a Roman historian (AD 56–120), documented major quakes in Antioch, Phrygia, and Laodicea before AD 70.400 A famine also struck toward the end of Claudius’s reign, around AD 50.401 But none of these troubles signify that the end is at hand; they are the “beginning of the birth pains” (v. 8).

Beyond physical disasters the apostles and disciples will also face tribulation, hatred, and death, for Jesus’ sake (v. 9; cf. 5:10–12; 10:16–39; 16:24). Acts records that Stephen and James, brother of John, were slain due to their witness (Acts 7:54–60; 12:1–5), Paul was often in prison, sometimes anticipating execution, and Nero murdered many Christians after the fire of Rome in AD 68. All of this hostility, Jesus continues, will lead many to “fall away” from the faith and the community (Matt. 24:10). Hebrews 6:4–6 and 1 John 2:18–24 say the same thing.

The last three points—the rise of lawlessness, the loss of love, and the proclamation of the gospel throughout the whole world—seem more difficult to trace to the time before AD 70. The last of the three is instructive, for it certainly seems that the gospel was not “proclaimed throughout the whole world” (Matt. 24:14) before Jerusalem fell. Yet even this had a partial fulfillment by AD 70. First, the term for “world” (Gk. oikoumenē) often means the civilized world, not every place known to ancient travelers. Second, Jesus merely says the gospel will be proclaimed (kēryssō), not that it will set deep roots through discipleship. Third, Scripture reports how the gospel was proclaimed, at least in one sense, throughout the empire in a few decades. Men from every nation heard Peter’s sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:5). Paul writes that the faith of the Romans was reported all over the world (Rom. 1:8). In Colossians he notes how the gospel is bearing fruit “in the whole world” (Col. 1:6, 23). Finally, Philip evangelizes the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26–40), and Homer and Herodotus called Ethiopia “the end of the earth.”402

At this point, the reader may suspect that this exposition proves too much. Was all of Matthew 24:5–14 fulfilled within forty years? Surely, for example, the bulk of the world did not hear the gospel by AD 70. Agreed. But prophecies often have a double fulfillment. The Immanuel prophecy of Isaiah 7 was fulfilled both in Isaiah’s day and in Jesus’ birth. The same holds for the prophecy of David’s heir in 2 Samuel 7. Solomon fulfilled it and Jesus fulfilled it again, more fully. We could walk through the prophecies of Matthew 24 and show that most, if not all, have a second fulfillment. For example, Paul’s epistles, 1 John, and Revelation all prophesy that false teachers, prophets, and deliverers will arise and deceive many, culminating in a final deceiver (2 Thess. 2:1–12; 1 John 2:18; 4:1–6; Rev. 13:11–18). Certainly, the task of discipling the nations was not perfectly fulfilled by AD 70. The problems of lawlessness, lack of love, and apostasy also remain and, premillennialists and most amillennialists agree, will intensify before the parousia. Above all, every generation needs to remember that the “one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:13). This commentary affirms that God preserves his flock (John 10:28–29), finishes his work in his people (Phil. 1:6), and protects them until God’s salvation is fully revealed (1 Pet. 1:3–5). Yet Matthew 24:13 also affirms that it is the believer’s obligation to persevere in the faith.