Recently I felt impressed from the Lord to look into Matthew chapter 24 and what is described as “The Great Tribulation.”
I am not going to go through every verse, but just some key verses to help us understand what Jesus was talking about, and when He said that these things would take place. This article will be a little long, but it is necessary for the explanation of this chapter.
Matthew 24:1-2: Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
The temple that Jesus was prophesying about, that would be destroyed in verse two, was located in Jerusalem.
Matthew 24:3: Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
The disciples ask three important questions.
- When will these things be? They are asking WHEN WILL the TEMPLE be destroyed?
- What will be the sign of your coming (in judgment)?
- When will be the end of the age (NOT THE WORLD)?
In order to understand these questions, we need to back up a little in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 21:33-46 & 22:1-7, Jesus speaks of imminent destruction for Israel and the judgement by the King (God the Father), because of their wickedness of the refusal of His Son (Jesus).
Let me highlight a couple of verses in Matthew 21.
Matthew 21:40-43 & 45: 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” 41 They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.
45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.
We can see by these verses that Jesus was referring to the nation of Israel, because verse forty five states that the “leaders” of the Mosaic/Levitical system knew that Jesus was speaking this parable against them. Let me add that in verse forty three Jesus states that the kingdom would be taken away from that nation (Israel) and given to a nation that is worthy of bearing the true fruit of the Kingdom of Christ. Which nation is that? It is none other than Christ’s Holy nation the Body of Christ (those that are in covenant with Jesus).
Look at 1 Peter 2:4-10: 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “behold, I lay in Zion
a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,”8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Peter reiterates what Jesus said in Matthew 21 that Israel has rejected the Chief Cornerstone (Jesus) and there is now a NEW nation that has been given the Kingdom.
In Matthew 23, Jesus spends time rebuking the religious leaders of Israel and at the end of the chapter He speaks judgement against them once again. This helps us to understand WHY the disciples posed the questions….
What will be the sign of your coming? In other words, when will we see the judgement against the “system” that has denied you as the Christ? Remember, it wasn’t judgment against the people, but the system of rejection or substitution.
When will be the end of the age? This is not the end of the world as some translations have indicated, but it is the end of the age or time period of the Mosaic/ Levitical system.
Now that we understand why the disciples asked those specific questions, let’s go back to Matthew 24 and unfold some more points. After the disciples ask their three questions in verse three, Jesus begins to explain how they will know when these things will take place. I will point out that the very first thing that Jesus tells them is to be careful that they are NOT deceived by the false signs.
Jesus begins to describe some events that will happen and in verse fourteen tells them that the gospel will be preached (the fulfillment of their commission) to the world (their area of influence), then the end (of the system) will take place.
Verse 15 is a key verse for us to understand the timeline of Jesus’ prophecy.
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand)
Jesus is referencing Daniel 9:27, and Matthew is stating that whoever reads Daniel’s 70 week prophecy (Daniel 9:23-27) needs to understand who it is talking about and when the prophecy is to take place. Also, look at Daniel 11:31, “And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.”
This article is not for the explanation of Daniel 9, but the point of my use of Matthew 24:15 is to show that Jesus was telling His disciples that THEY WILL SEE the abomination of desolation taking place, and it hinges on the destruction of the temple. Therefore, it is NOT a future prophecy for us.
I want to add a few verses that will help us to understand that in the Old Testament, there were many prophecies about the Christ.
Luke 24:27: and beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Luke 24:44-45: 44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
In Matthew 24:21, Jesus makes an amazing statement…
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Notice what Jesus says about the “great tribulation.” He states that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been such a tribulation, and (here is the key point) NOR WILL THERE EVER BE ONE!! Jesus destroys the belief of some future tribulation to come.
I want to touch on a couple of more verses. Remember, I am clarifying the time period of the “great tribulation”, not explaining Matthew 24 verse by verse.
Matthew 24:29: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
We must understand that Jesus is using “prophetic/figurative” judgment language, just like Isaiah did when speaking about the destruction of Babylon.
Isaiah 13:10: For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
If we understand this language, then we will understand that Jesus was making this statement against Israel (the temple & its system), because He said “immediately after the tribulation of THOSE DAYS!!”
Jesus continues in the next few verses with the same “prophetic/figurative” language. You can look at Daniel 7:13, 2 Samuel 22:10-12, Psalm 97:2, & Isaiah 19:1 for examples of the same language.
Jesus was not separating the questions that were asked by the disciples into different time periods, but all into one time period that revolved around the major question of the destruction of the temple.
In Matthew 24:34, Jesus sets in stone the time period in which ALL of the things which He just spoke to them WILL take place.
Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.
Jesus said that the generation (some people in that generation) will not die UNTIL ALL of the things that I just explained to you takes place.
It is not a coincidence that Matthew (chapter 1) is the one that tells of the genealogy of Jesus and how many generations there were in certain time periods.
Matthew 1:17: So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.
These three groupings are all considered fourteen generations. When looking at the average generation for each group, we find that the generation length differs. Some confuse life spans with generations. The average generation is the average age of parents at the time of birth of their children. When life span increases, so does the average length of generations.
To show the extent of how life span varied over time, the average life span of the pre-Flood patriarchs was 912 years. The average lifespan from Shem to Peleg (contemporary of the Tower of Babel) diminished to 484 years, and from Peleg to Abraham, it diminished to 195 years. The average generation from Abraham to David was approximately 64 years, while the average generation for the other two groups was 38-40 years.
Let me focus on the last part of Matthew 1:17. The captivity of Babylon ended in 538 BC, and the Bible doesn’t give the date of Christ’s birth, but we know that it was before the death of King Herod. Many believe that Herod died around 3 BC. For the sake of argument and a ton of research that I don’t feel is necessary to add to this article, let’s just say that Christ was born in 5 BC. Matthew 1:17 tells us that from Babylon (538 BC) to Christ’s birth (5 BC) is 14 generations. Simple math tells us that 538-5 = 533 & 533/14= 38.07-40 years for an average generation in Christ’s time table of Matthew 24:34. The reason for the two year difference is because Herod had all male children killed that were two years and younger, so we are not certain of the year of Jesus’ birth.
Jesus began His ministry at about 30 years old (Luke 3:23). This would place the beginning of His ministry around 28-30 AD. We do not know what year it was when Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple, but we know that His ministry lasted 3.5 years, and the prophecy was before His death. With that in mind, the temple that Jesus said would be destroyed in Jerusalem happened in 70 AD.
Our only first-hand account of the Roman assault on the Temple comes from the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. Josephus was a former leader of the Jewish Revolt who had surrendered to the Romans and had won favor from Vespasian. In gratitude, Josephus took on Vespasian’s family name – Flavius – as his own. We join his account as the Romans fight their way into the inner sanctum of the Temple:
The Jerusalem War:
“…the rebels shortly after attacked the Romans again, and a clash followed between the guards of the sanctuary and the troops who were putting out the fire inside the inner court; the latter routed the Jews and followed in hot pursuit right up to the Temple itself. Then one of the soldiers, without awaiting any orders and with no dread of so momentous a deed, but urged on by some supernatural force, snatched a blazing piece of wood and, climbing on another soldier’s back, hurled the flaming brand through a low golden window that gave access, on the north side, to the rooms that surrounded the sanctuary.As the flames shot up, the Jews let out a shout of dismay that matched the tragedy; they flocked to the rescue, with no thought of sparing their lives or husbanding their strength; for the sacred structure that they had constantly guarded with such devotion was vanishing before their very eyes.”
In conclusion, we now can understand that the “Great Tribulation” took place in the generation that Jesus said that it would. It is not in the distant future that many have taught for years.
