Matthew 24:15–35
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
Section Overview
Proper interpretation of Matthew 24:15–35 depends on discerning the framework for chapters 24–25, which we presented in the overview of 24:1–14. To restate the essentials, in chapter 24 Jesus sometimes prophesies events that must happen within “this generation,” before AD 70 (v. 34). Many of Jesus’ prophecies have a double fulfillment, applying both to the generation of the apostles and to the era before Christ’s return. Further, the passage has principles that apply in every age. There will always be false prophets, false christs, and wars. Believers should always avoid deception, fear, and inconstancy. Verses 15–20 especially tell the generation of AD 30–70 to be prepared to flee when the “abomination of desolation” approaches Jerusalem. But every generation must prepare to endure tribulation and have a healthy skepticism for rumors of Christ’s secret return. When he comes with his angels in glory and power, all will know.
The prophecies of Daniel 7–12 provide essential concepts for Matthew 24: the Son of Man coming on the clouds (Dan. 7:13), the abomination of desolation (Dan. 8:13; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11), the destruction of the temple (Dan. 9:26), and an unparalleled tribulation (Dan. 12:1). Jesus reshapes these concepts for his own purposes.
Section Outline
VII. The Fifth Discourse: Trouble, Perseverance, and the Eschaton (24:1–25:46) . . .
C. The Fall of Jerusalem (24:15–22)
D. False Christs (24:23–28)
E. The Coming of the Son of Man (24:29–31)
F. Learning from the Fig Tree (24:32–35)
The structure of Matthew 24:15–35 is not necessarily linear, as themes of deception, tribulation, false prophets, and false christs arise, disappear, and return. One reason for this may be Matthew’s tendency to move freely from the coming tribulation in Jerusalem to tribulations in the gospel age to the final tribulation. Nonetheless, the first segment, in verses 15–20, clearly addresses tribulations before AD 70 and tells the church how to behave in that hour. Jesus says the Lord will shorten an almost unbearable tribulation for the sake of the elect (vv. 21–22). Jesus then urges disciples not to trust anyone who claims to be the Christ and to know his location, for when he returns, it will be evident to all (vv. 23–28). Next, Jesus describes the coming of the Son of Man, attended by his angels to gather his elect (vv. 29–31). Finally, he promises the disciples that what he foretells will come to pass within “this generation” (vv. 32–35).
Response
Jesus’ teaching about the future has two time frames, the immediate future and the great future. As a result, our response has long and short time frames. In the long term, the passage informs every person on earth that Jesus, King and Judge, will return to gather his elect and summon the tribes of the earth, who will mourn if they stand before him faithless and guilty (24:30–31). So the passage leads to the next paragraph, the exhortation to prepare for the coming of the Son of Man, by following him (vv. 42–44). Everyone will answer to Jesus.
The long time frame presents the most important application, but the shorter time frame offers practical lessons. First, disciples should give thanks for the specific instructions for the day the Roman armies arrive. “Flee” is practical counsel that preserves life (v. 16). When Jesus forbids detours to get possessions, he states the oft-neglected principle that people have more value than any object (vv. 17–18). The point seems obvious, but how many people have died for property, including land, over the ages?
Further, by warning the fledgling church, Jesus acts as its Shepherd and Protector. He preserves it so that it can spread worldwide.
Verse 13 declares, “the one who endures to the end will be saved,” and verses 15–35 contain resources to facilitate that. Jesus warns readers to expect trouble. He declares, long before contemporary doomsayers, that there is enough evil in mankind to destroy all life (v. 22). He instructs believers to expect and distrust deceivers, whose teaching contradicts his own (vv. 23–27). In all this, the goal of God’s people is to stay faithful and so be prepared to stand before Christ joyfully when he returns. This is both an individual and a corporate responsibility. Every person must answer for himself or herself, but faithfulness is communal too. Believers watch, correct, protect, and encourage one another.
24:15–20 Verses 4–14 prepare disciples to endure to the end through a blend of teachings that apply to every era, but in verses 15–20 Jesus focuses on the Roman siege that immediately precedes the fall of Jerusalem. Jesus tells believers living in Jerusalem exactly what to do when Roman armies besiege Jerusalem, before they smash and sack the city. Roman soldiers tended to kill large numbers when quashing rebellions, without careful investigation into guilt and innocence. In urgent language, Jesus tells his disciples that when the Romans come, they must “flee to the mountains” (v. 16). They must run, without even pausing to get a cloak in winter (vv. 18, 20).
Matthew and Luke seem to differ substantially as the section opens:
- Matthew 24:15–16: “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place . . . , then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
- Luke 21:20–21: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
As different as the language seems, the sense is the same. Matthew, writing for Jewish readers (cf. Introduction), probably quotes Jesus’ very words, whereas Luke paraphrases for his Gentile audience. That is, the “abomination of desolation” of Matthew is the Roman army of Luke. The army is an “abomination” because it carries images essential to emperor worship. It causes desolation because, with idols in their baggage, it besieges Jerusalem, starves the people, torches the city, razes the temple, and slaughters innocent residents and combatants alike. The Roman destruction of the temple, unlike the destruction of a local church building, would be a national humiliation, like the one Israel suffered two centuries earlier at the hand of Antiochus Epiphanes (cf. 1 Maccabees 1).
All this Jesus foretells so that the church might know how to survive the cataclysm. When the armies approach, “let the reader understand,” they must immediately “flee to the mountains” (Matt. 24:15–16). Always fond of graphic images, Jesus imagines a man standing on his roof and seeing the Romans. He should get off his roof and go at once, without even stepping inside his door to retrieve a treasured possession, for human life is more valuable than any possession. Next, Jesus imagines the man in the field, working some distance from the outer cloak he has shed as he toils. This man must flee at once, without taking any steps to collect his cloak (vv. 17–18). And “woe” or “alas” to the pregnant woman and nursing mother that day, since they cannot move as fast—war increases infant mortality (v. 19). Winters in Israel are relatively mild, but they are stormy, so travel by land or sea is harder. On the Sabbath, locked city gates and travel restrictions would make flight harder. So believers should pray against these impediments (v. 20).
Jesus’ counsel is most wise. People typically fled to cities during war, but this time Jerusalem was especially dangerous. After the siege in AD 68 had continued for a while, it became almost impossible to leave the city.
This prophecy and counsel strictly addresses believers living near Jerusalem before its destruction. Its prime commands do not and cannot apply to Jesus’ return. When he comes, there will be no opportunity to flee to the mountains or to do anything else. Unbelievers will wish to hide but find it impossible (Rev. 6:16), and believers will want to come to Jesus, not flee from him. Pregnancy, motherhood, and weather will be inconsequential on the last day. But in AD 70 it was very important for Christians to flee the wrath of Rome’s armies, and pregnancy, cold weather, and children would magnify the problems of refugees.
The aside “let the reader understand” (Matt. 24:15) means that Matthew’s first readers must stand by, ready to fly whenever the Romans arrive. Eusebius, the early church historian, says the Christians of Jerusalem did flee, preserving many lives. When the Romans came, “the church at Jerusalem . . . left the city, and moved to a town called Pella.” Pella is in the foothills, rather than the mountains. This is the sort of detail that gives the account the ring of truth. The Christians obeyed, but imperfectly.
24:21–22 These verses seem to apply both to AD 70 and to the church throughout the ages. Jesus refers to how God chose to cut short a “great tribulation” for the sake of “the elect,” that is, all of God’s people. If God had not acted, “no human being [lit., “no flesh”] would be saved.” As we saw at verses 5 and 11, the problem of false prophets and false christs (vv. 23–27) persists through the gospel age. The term “great tribulation” can describe the intense trials in the fall of Jerusalem and may represent the final outburst of evil in the days before Jesus returns. Alternatively, it could describe the gospel age as a whole, which is marked by fiery tribulation (John 16:33; 1 Pet. 4:12). In that case, the tribulation is “great” due to its length and many tragedies. When Revelation 7:14 reuses the phrase “great tribulation,” a vast multitude is dressed in white. It praises God before his throne and receives comfort there. There is no time marker in that passage, which suggests that, like other passages in Revelation, it describes the gospel age.
The phrase “great tribulation” (Matt. 24:21) seems to describe an unparalleled trauma. On the other hand, we know Jesus loves hyperbole (5:29–30; 11:11). Further, as dreadful as the fall of Jerusalem was, it is (tragically) easy to name similar ordeals, including the brutal suppression of the Bar Kokhba rebellion in Israel just sixty years later. Far more people died in the Holocaust or in the regimes of Stalin and Mao than died in Israel at Rome’s hand. If, by contrast, the criterion is the proportion of deaths, we note that almost 90 percent of all Christians from Africa and Asia were eradicated in the Middle Ages, primarily the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, through a combination of steady oppression and horrific bloodbaths. So both linguistic and historical evidence indicates that 24:21–28, like verses 4–14, describes the church’s trials as a whole. To that point, verse 22 speaks of humanity as a whole and verse 24 speaks of “the elect” globally. If this is correct, then Jesus says that “those days”—the days of the gospel age—are so traumatic that if God had not shortened, them “no human . . . would be saved” (v. 22). Here “saved” means “preserved from death,” not “given eternal life.” Long before contemporary doomsayers, Jesus saw that humanity had the capacity to exterminate itself. Next, Jesus describes his care for the redeemed: “for the sake of the elect” the tribulation is shortened.
In verses 4–28 as a whole, verse 22 appears to be a summary statement. To paraphrase, Jesus says, “You live in an age of trial and affliction, marked by war, famine, persecution, and hatred. From beginning to end, false prophets and false christs will also try to mislead the faithful. I gave special instructions for the crisis caused by the Roman armies, but in every age, disciples must be prepared to endure trials and to resist deceivers. There is enough evil in the world to destroy the church and all humanity, but for the sake of my chosen ones, I will cut it short.”
24:23–28 In verse 23, Jesus turns, for the third time, to the problem of deceivers. “False christs” claim to be deliverers but are not. “False prophets” claim to speak for God but do not. Before AD 70 Judea saw dozens of false prophets and men who promised deliverance from Rome, possibly at their hand. Certain false christs and false prophets will have the power to perform “signs and wonders” that could even (hypothetically) lead astray the elect, if God permitted (v. 24). Scripture clearly teaches that evil powers can perform wonders. Moses taught how Israel must execute “a prophet” who “gives you a sign or a wonder” and says “Let us go after other gods” (Deut. 13:1–6). And Revelation 12:17–13:18 sees the dragon (Satan; Rev. 12:9) raising up a beast from the earth that “performs great signs” and inspires false worship (Rev. 13:13–15; cf. also Matt. 12:22–25). The warning of 24:24 seems to indicate that false prophets will operate until Jesus returns.
To summarize verses 23–31: some will say, “Christ has secretly returned. He is over here, in the wilderness. No, he is over there, in an inner room” (vv. 23, 26). Such reports are absurd, so, “do not believe it” (v. 23). Just as it is impossible to miss a lightning storm that spans the sky from east to west, so it will be impossible to miss Jesus’ return (v. 27). He will arrive with angels and trumpets, with power and glory, riding the clouds, all while God dissolves and reconstitutes the universe (vv. 29–31).
Interpreters struggle to understand the statement “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” (v. 28). In the simplest explanation, it restates verse 27. Just as no one misses the sight of lightning and no vulture misses the sight of carrion, so no one will miss the return of Christ.
24:29–31 When verse 29 speaks of the sun going dark and the stars falling, it seems to leave the fall of Jerusalem and the troubles of this age and turn exclusively to Jesus’ return, but a caveat is necessary. The prophets also speak of a darkened sun and falling stars to describe a variety of cataclysmic events. Isaiah uses that imagery to foretell the fall of Babylon (Isa. 13:1–20, esp. 13:9–10) and Idumea (Isa. 34:5–11). Ezekiel uses the same images of sun, moon, and stars going dark to describe God’s judgment on Pharaoh and Egypt (Ezek. 32:7–8). Joel and Acts use the same language for the eucatastrophe when God pours his Spirit onto all people (Joel 2:30–31; Acts 2:19–20). The prophets use language that best fits the end of the world because the calamities that befell Babylon, Egypt, and the rest marked the collapse of their world order. Their judgments foreshadowed the final judgment. For that reason, “end of the world” language could also apply to the fall of Jerusalem.
Still, Matthew 24:29–31 addresses the coming of Jesus, the Son of Man, and says that it will be no secret affair. Cosmic changes will accompany his return. It will be manifest to all, since every source of light—sun, moon, and stars—will fail. “The powers” that are shaken (v. 29) could be the same sun and stars, or all of the invisible forces at work in the universe. This is sensible since the NT occasionally speaks of unseen spiritual powers at work in the world (Rom. 8:38; Eph. 6:12; 1 Pet. 3:22).
The clause “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:30) probably means one of two things. First, the sign of the Son of Man could be the Son of Man himself, using what is known in Greek grammar as an epexegetical genitive. This view has its strengths. Twice, Jewish leaders (wickedly) ask Jesus to perform a “sign” or a “sign from heaven” for them, allegedly seeking proofs that might lead them to believe (12:38; 16:1). Jesus refuses both times, and both times using an epexegetical genitive, offering nothing but the “sign of Jonah” (12:39; 16:4). Jonah gave no signs; he was the sign. His presence was the sign the Ninevites saw. In the same way, on this view, Jesus himself is and will be the sign that he is the Son of Man.
The second view argues based on the fact that “sign” (Gk. sēmeion) often means ensign, standard, or banner in secular Greek literature and in the LXX. A banner in the OT, together with a trumpet, is a “signal for the gathering of God’s people” in Isaiah 11:12; 49:22 and Jeremiah 4:21; 6:1; 51:27. This fits Jesus’ statement that he “will gather his elect” (Matt. 24:31). But both views fit the next clause: “then all the tribes of the earth will mourn.” They will mourn because they will soon stand guilty before an omniscient, omnipotent judge.
Verses 30–31 announce essential features of the parousia. First, Jesus’ return will be visible and audible to all, as he comes on the clouds, in glory, attended by trumpets and angels. Second, his coming will be universal, as he sends angels to gather his elect from every part of the earth. Third, Christ will hold everyone accountable for every word and every deed (cf. 12:37; 16:27). This is his prerogative, for he is God. And it is just, for he judges men as a man.
24:32–35 These verses again force interpreters to ask whether Jesus has the fall of Jerusalem or his own return in mind—or both. Jesus offers a word picture or parable (“lesson” in v. 32 translates parabolē). Just as shoots and leaves foretell the imminent arrival of summer, so the sight of “all these things” means Jesus is “near, at the very gates” (vv. 32–33).
It is tempting to read this as a promise that certain signs will indicate that Christ will come in the next few years. But this is doubtful for several reasons. Above all, Jesus says that no one knows the hour (v. 36). Further, the NT says the end is already near in the first century. Around AD 50, James said that “the Judge is standing at the door” (James 5:7–9), and Hebrews 10:25 says “the Day” is near. Revelation opens and closes by saying “the time is near” (Rev. 1:3; 22:10). Similarly, the NT says Christians live in “the last days,” but its usage shows that the last days began with the coming of Jesus. Hebrews 1:1–2 says, “Long ago, . . . God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (cf. also Acts 2:17; 2 Tim. 3:1; James 5:3; 2 Pet. 3:3). The explanation is threefold. First, the Lord does not reckon time as men do. For him, a thousand years is like a day (2 Pet. 3:8–10). Second, Jesus’ return is near in the sense that it is the next event in redemptive history. Third, it is near in the sense that he could return at any time. These statements are all true, but none starts a countdown to the end of time.
Matthew 24:34 says “these things” will happen before “this generation” passes away. In Matthew and the rest of the NT, a “generation” means people living at a given time (11:16; 12:39–42; 23:36), so “this generation” means people alive as Jesus speaks. Here the interpreter has two choices. Either Jesus is wrong about the time of his return, or he declares that the tribulations described in 24:4–28 will happen within a generation. Prophecy always seems to have potential for a second fulfillment, and that certainly seems apt here. Nonetheless, Jesus says that the events of verses 4–33 must have at least a partial fulfillment for the people standing before him. It would be easier for the universe to dissolve than for this word of his to fail (v. 35).