Understanding Matthew 24: Unveiling Jesus' Prophecies

This post is based on the transcript of my YouTube video.
I want to thank Michaele Hamilton for proofreading and editing it.

You can access the PDF of our study guide here.

Welcome to our second episode of our Prophecies of Hope series.

In case you're just joining us, there was a previous video. This is video number 2. It stands just fine on its own, but in case you're wondering what video 1 was about, you can go back and look through that on our playlist. It was on Daniel chapter 2.

For this video, we are focusing on Matthew chapter 24. 

Matthew chapter 24 has been referred to as an apocalyptic portion of the gospel. This is Jesus speaking, but it sounds a lot like the apocalypse or the Book of Revelation that comes much later in the Bible. But, they read this portion of the gospel and it sounds like Revelation, so they call it apocalyptic writing.  It has become its own genre and is often related to the end of the world. 

Apocalypse is a Greek word that means revelation, and the book is really about the revelation of Jesus Christ.  It is interesting that people are terrified of the apocalypse of Revelation or the end of the world when I don't think it is meant to be understood in that way. The Book of Revelation begins with the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things that must shortly take place.  He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John.

That is the beginning of the Book of Revelation. That's why it's called Apocalypse or Revelation. If you speak other languages, like in Portuguese and Spanish, they actually use the Greek word. This is actually a part of the gospel. Matthew 24, Jesus is speaking and it sounds a lot like Revelation apocalyptic writing in the heart of the gospel.

We'll jump into that in a bit, but first, I want to welcome you to this series. My name is Marlon Seifert.  As a reminder, the Bible will be our main source of information as we go through this series. This is our source of information that we trust. We will pray God will guide us as we study and then get our information right from the Bible.  I hope you have your Bible and can follow along. 

We will focus on Matthew 24 and read through it just like we did with Daniel chapter 2. I will give you some references as we go along to some other parts of the Bible, but we will not be turning to them at this time.  I really want to focus just on Matthew 24.  Should you have any questions, leave them in the comments below and maybe we'll do a future video answering and tackling some of those questions. 

Thank you for joining me once again. Let's pray and jump into the text. 

Father in heaven, we understand that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Father, we want to understand Jesus' words regarding the future. So please give us wisdom, give us understanding. You promise, Lord, that if we ask for the Holy Spirit, if we ask for wisdom, You will give it to us. So Father, we ask, give us the Holy Spirit. Fill us with wisdom. Help us to not only understand but also know how to apply the things that You want to teach us from these words. I pray that You would be with us in this study, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 24. I am reading from the New King James version. If you have a different version, there might be some slight differences in translation, but I think overall it is the same message and will be just fine.

Starting with Matthew 24, verse 1. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. So they go up on the hill, they look back and there's this beautiful, massive buildings of the temple, and they're so proud of it, and they're showing it off to Jesus.

Verse 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.”  

Now, this is really scary. This is surprising to the disciples. Why is Jesus saying this? What could possibly happen that would cause this beautiful, magnificent temple to be destroyed?  Especially since this is their pride. They feel like God loves the temple as much as they do, if not more. God would surely protect His temple. These things couldn't happen, could they? Jesus's words really shocks the disciples. 

In verse 3, we get to an important question. 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?”  

Now, I hope you pay attention to this question because the rest of Matthew 24 and Matthew 25, Jesus is going to spend answering these questions. Everything else that we're going to read is an answer to these questions the disciples asked Jesus.

What was the question once again? They said, tell us when will these things be? When Jesus said that the temple would be destroyed, they also said, and when and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? This is interesting because Jesus hasn't left, but they're asking the sign of Your coming and the end of the age.  This is what we refer to as the second coming of Jesus, the end of the world. This is the apocalypse scenario. Oh no, the end!

So two questions. When will these things be? When will the temple be destroyed, just like Jesus said it would, and what will be the sign of Your second coming?

Here's part of the trick with interpreting and reading what comes after this. Jesus is answering two questions and there's mistakes that we make when interpreting. There are two ditches that we can fall into. One is to say, everything that Jesus says has to do only with the physical destruction of the temple, which took place in 70 AD by the Romans.  The second one is to say, everything that Jesus is going to say only applies to the end of the age, the second coming and the end of the world. So, which is it? 

We will dive into it, but as we read through Matthew 24, we want to keep in mind the questions that Jesus is answering and remember there are two questions built in there. Some things Jesus is going to say, applies to both. Some things that Jesus is going to say applies to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and some applies to the second coming and the end of the world. But which is which? Well, hopefully we can get some clarity as we go together.

I will be clear with you whenever I am not sure and there are parts in here that I'm not sure. Maybe as we go through this we will gain some understanding and by the end of this video, we'll both understand this text a little bit better. 

So let's jump into it. Verse 4. And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.

The question was, tell us when will these things be? What will be the signs of your coming and the end of the age? The first thing that Jesus says is not about setting dates. It is not answering when or the signs. Jesus' main concern is the way He begins His answer.

Keep this in mind. This is the context for everything else we're going to read. Everything else will make more sense when we understand Jesus' intention. In verse 4, Jesus is very clear. Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no one deceives you. Jesus' main concern regarding the signs of His coming, regarding the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem, regarding future things, is be careful that no one deceives you.

Be careful not to fall for any deceptions. This is the main reason we study prophecy. This is why we will take the time during this video to jump into this text and understand it is to avoid deception. Keep this in mind. People want to read this verse and set dates and do all kinds of crazy things. But Jesus’ main point here is for us not to be deceived. 

I think this is great and very important because we are in danger of being deceived, especially as we approach the last days. I hope that this series will help you not be deceived as we dive into Jesus' words. 

Verse 5.  Jesus says, “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.  Look, people will come in the name of Jesus and they'll say, I am the Christ and will deceive many. People will come in the name of Jesus claiming to be Jesus. A lot of people who are looking for Jesus will see someone claiming to be Jesus and say, I guess that's Jesus, and they will follow him, but we won't.  How come we won't? Because we know. How do we know? Because we read the text. 

You see the benefits of reading and studying. Now when somebody shows up claiming to be Jesus, you're like, wait a minute. Ah, I was warned about you. You are not the Messiah. So we can avoid the deception because we're heeding, we're understanding, we're studying the words of Jesus.

We will come back to this repeatedly as we go through this text because Jesus makes this point repeatedly. Hopefully it will become clear to you and to me, what the main point Jesus wants to get across with His words. 

First thing He says, be careful that no one deceives you.  He says, many will come in my name, claiming to be the Christ and will deceive many. And then verse 6 says, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

I want you to remember this because many people will point to the wars and the rumors of wars and say, head for the hills.  Jesus is coming! Time to panic! No. Jesus says, yes, you will hear of wars, you will hear of rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So why mention these things? 

I have a personal theory.  Let me know if it makes sense to you.  Leave me a comment in the video with your thoughts on this. This is the way that I interpret it.  Here are my thoughts. When we hear wars and rumors of wars; oh no, what's going on? What's happening in the world? Oh, wait. Jesus said that this would happen. It reminds me of the words of Jesus. It reminds me that Jesus is coming again.  It reminds me that these things are supposed to happen, which means, the timeline is progressing. History is progressing in the way that Jesus said it would. Jesus is onto something. He knew that these things would happen. Then it increases my faith in Jesus and my trust in Him. It reminds me that He is coming again but it's not a cause for panic.

Keep this in mind. These are reminders that Jesus is coming. These are reminders that Jesus told us these things would happen. These are things that we hear; wars and rumors of wars. And by the way, there seem to be more and more.  As I'm recording this, the current US president has been involved in talking about different wars and different world leaders. People have all kinds of opinions, but there are wars happening.  Jesus said this would happen. I trust in Jesus. 

Let's see what else He said is going to happen. 

Verse 7 says, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” Now this is interesting because this was written so long ago.  2000 years-ish ago, Jesus was saying that there would be famines, pestilence and earthquakes in various places. 

Now with all the advances that we have in technology, especially if you look back at the industrial revolution and the scientific revolution, suddenly people are curing diseases and they're understanding nature so much better.  Science is advancing and so is technology. People really have hope. If you go back and read through old journal or newspaper articles, people are so optimistic about their future.  There will be no more hunger. There will be no more disease. We are going to save ourselves and the future will be a utopia. People won't know what to do without the free time they will have.  They will live to be very, very old. 

And, yes, in many ways we are living in the best of times compared to Earth's history.  We're living longer, we have technology, we have access to information. But let me ask you, do you really feel like the quality of life is better now than it was for your grandparents or your great grandparents? And as hard as life was for them, it seems like we just traded for different kinds of struggles that we have nowadays.

I think of all the things that we have going on, even with all of our technology, there is still famine, there is still pestilence (diseases of different kinds), there are still earthquakes in various places.  We think the common cold would have been cured by now.  But it's tricky.  The virus changes and then we had COVID Then they say something similar might come again, or, oh, Jesus said these things are going to happen. If we had indeed cured most diseases or all diseases, if there were no more feminine or pestilence, because technically we could, right?  With the technology that we have, there should be a lot less suffering.  Except for the greed of humanity, we don't share as much as we should. That is a sermon for another day. But all these things that Jesus said, even though at one point in history it did seem like it would stop and not come true, still happening. There's still pestilence, there's still earthquakes, there's still feminist. Despite all our advances, Jesus' words hold true.

As I see these things happening around me, I don't panic. I remember Jesus said these things would happen. What else did Jesus say? It brings me back to His word.  It reminds me that Jesus talked about the future and it is accurate. 

Verse eight, it says, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”   

Now there are different translations for this. I looked up a few of them for Matthew 24, verse 8. If you go to a website such as www.biblehub.com, and type in Matthew 24:8, you can see all the different translations. The NIV says these are the beginnings of birth pains. I like that one personally. There is evidence in the text, this is an intended meaning. When Jesus says the beginning of sorrows, the word is used also with reference to birth pains.  Some Bible translations have that, or the beginning of travail in the American Standard version. Some others have similar words.

Why do I like the beginning of birth pains? Because, I'm a father of two. I watched my wife go into labor and I know what it's like. I don't know personally, I witnessed. I saw her struggling with contractions. What does that mean? It starts kind of soft and it gets stronger and closer together.  I remember, we had just gotten smartphones as our kids were about to be born and there was an app to keep track of the contractions and how far apart they were and when to go to the hospital. 

With that in mind, I would interpret this to mean as these wars and rumors of wars and pestilence and famines and earthquakes in various places, as these things begin to happen to a stronger degree and closer and closer together, it is a sign that the coming of Jesus is closer.  It gives us a sense of urgency, not of panic, not of despair.  But it reminds us, Jesus said these things would happen. 

It seems like they're happening more and more often. It seems like they're happening to larger degrees. And it reminds us to, what else did Jesus say?  Let me get back into the word of God. 

I think this is the benefit of being familiar with prophecy. One, you avoid deception. Two, as you see these things happening, you should deepen and strengthen your faith, bring you back to the word of God. 

Verse 9 says, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”   We can stop there and say, well, yes. After Jesus died and rose again, early Christianity was persecuted in this way and this happened. Before and after the destruction of Jerusalem. This is something that applies back then. Now, let me ask you this. Have you heard about Christians being persecuted?

It's happening. It's happening in many parts of the world.   Not here where I live right now in the US but I have family that fled to Brazil from different countries in Europe because they were being persecuted for their beliefs, because they were Protestants, because they believed differently than the church of the state or the main religion.  They went to South America to have freedom to worship. 

This has happened. Christians have persecuted Christians, and non-Christians have persecuted Christians. The Romans persecuted Christians and Christians are persecuted in many countries in the world today. We may not be experiencing this in America right now, although some could argue there is a level of persecution that has taken place even here in the United States against Christians or Christian values or biblical values. Jesus said these things are going to happen. I believe this applied to the audience back then and it applies to us today.  I believe as we get closer to the second coming of Jesus, it will get worse. The Book of Revelation as well as other places in the Bible have a lot more to say on that, but let's keep going. 

It says that they will deliver you up to tribulation and to kill you.  You will be hated by all nations.  For My name's sake. Which is different than being hated because you did something terrible. This will be because of the name of Jesus. 

Verse 10, “and then many will be offended” Yep. Definitely feels like that's happening, and “will betray one another and will hate one another.” This is terrible. Jesus said these things are going to happen. People will betray one another, hate one another. 

Verse 11, pay attention. “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” Once again, the focus, to avoid deception, there will be false prophets. Now I want to highlight this because there is no such thing as a fake $25 bill. That is a random thing to say?  Why would I say that?  There's no fake 20. If I give you a $25 bill, you don't even have to check against the light to see if it's real. You know it's fake. Why do you know it's fake? Because there are no $25 bills. Jesus says there will be false prophets that will rise up. 

If there were not true prophets, then He doesn't have to warn us about false prophets.  He could just say, there are no more prophets after this. But he says, beware of false prophets, which indicates that there will be true prophets in the last days. I'm not saying I know who the true prophets are. I'm saying we have to be careful with false prophets but don't discount anybody that claims to have the gift of prophecy.

Be careful with this one. If there will be false prophets, then there will also be true prophets. And the reason why I say this is because if there would be none, then Jesus would've just said, don't listen to any prophets from this point forward. Those are my thoughts on verse 11.

But we are to be careful with false prophets. Just because somebody says the Lord has revealed to me, or I saw God in a vision, doesn't mean it's really from God. Doesn't mean you can trust him, doesn't mean it's true. Jesus says, be careful. And you can look at their fruit and there's lots of other Bible verses that can help you decipher and tell a true prophet from a false prophet.  The thing is, it could be a true prophet, but don't necessarily believe everybody that claims to be a prophet. 

Verse 12, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”  There is evidence of that in the world and it seems to be getting worse. But that could be just my personal perspective and maybe I just watch the news too much.  I spend too much time on the internet and it sure feels like the love of many is growing cold. 

Verse 13, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” But he or she, right? The person who endures to the end shall be saved. Jesus is saying all these things and it's not for you to panic and head for the hills. And what do I do? Simple, not easy, but simple.  

But he or she, the person who endures to the end, shall be saved, remain, abide. Don't quit. Don't give up. Don't walk away. He who remains to the end will be saved. Stay with Jesus. You are saved. You had the assurance of salvation in Jesus. You gave your life to him. You were born again. Christian. Just remain.

That's it. Don't quit. Your salvation is guaranteed in Jesus. All you have to do is remain. Now, He says things will get hard. You will get persecuted because of your love. For me, Jesus is saying things will become more difficult.  But hang in there and salvation is yours. So good news. What do I do in the midst of all this craziness?

Remain faithful to God. Don't deny Him, don't walk away from Him. Expect things to get more challenging BUT expect God to show up and to save and to deliver. 

Now, verse 14. I really like verse 14. Then we will pause and look at some other verses as well. It says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. “ 

Up until now, Jesus says there will be wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes, famines, all of these things. And He says, but the end is not yet, but the end is not yet. You'll be persecuted and betrayed and the love of many will grow cold. But the end is not yet.

The end is not yet. But there's one thing. He says this is going to happen and then the end will come. And what is this thing? 

It's the preaching of the gospel to the whole world. This is exciting because this is something that you and I can engage in. We can participate. We can be a part of hastening the second coming of Jesus.  Because if the gospel has to be preached to the whole world, well, we can help with that.

Jesus himself says in Luke 19:40, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”  I believe this. If we really refuse to do it, God will find a way. Whether he'll send angels, children, the rocks, something will happen. But I hope it doesn't come to that. I hope we are willing to share.

It's part of the reason we are doing this series on Bible prophecy as a part of preaching this gospel to the whole world as a witness to all nations. And then the end will come. By the way, if you don't feel comfortable sharing completely, let's say you're not comfortable right now, try sharing this video as a way of doing that. Share it with somebody you think would benefit from the study that we're doing. Or just take some notes and take somebody else through Matthew 24 verse by verse like we're doing here in this video. You can do that!  This is what we should be doing.

This is what needs to happen. Before the end comes, this gospel of the kingdom being preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations. And then the end will come. If you would like to read more about this, I would read Matthew 28:19-20. That's the great commission. Look at Acts 1:8, the gospel being preached.  Revelation 10:11 and 14:6. Now there is more to this, but those will help you go a little bit deeper and explore this further.

But this is one of the emphases of Jesus' message. First, don't be deceived. Second, what should we be doing? Sharing the gospel with everybody in the whole world. That has to happen before Jesus comes again. 

Verse 15, continuing. “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand)”

Now, this is one of those tricky parts. This seems to be, at least from my perspective, a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem that took place in AD 70. Rome came to attack. The Jews, if I remember correctly, were rebelling and causing trouble. The Romans were not supposed to destroy the temple, but the people would flee into the temple. 

If you ever played as a child, this is base. You can't get me. I'm at base. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. And somebody threw a torch in there and it caught on fire. The temple just burst into flames. Everything was destroyed. There was so much gold in the temple. Things made out of gold, decorated with gold, overlaid with gold.  The gold melted and fell between the rocks.

People came by after the fire and realized there is gold here. They moved the rocks so that there was no rocks left on top of one another, just like Jesus says, the temple was completely destroyed. You can say, but Marlon, wait a minute. What about the Wailing Wall? Yes. The Wailing Wall was one of the outer walls far away on the outskirts of the temple.  The temple itself is completely gone. Those are the rocks from another wall out of the way. Yes, those did survive. Everything else was destroyed. The passage in Daniel this seems to be referencing, Jesus says the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place.  This seems to be a reference to Daniel 9:26-27 and Daniel 11:31. There's still some debate over details and other things, but it seems to me it's clear that this was a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem when the temple physically existed at that time.

This would've been a warning for people to flee before Jerusalem was besieged for a long time. There is history about this. You can look up and read up on the destruction of Jerusalem. There's a book called The Great Controversy.  It talks about that in quite a bit of detail, but there's other resources too.  Leave me a message and I can tell you more if you would like to learn more about the destruction of Jerusalem as a historical event. It's not in the Bible, but there seems to be a clear reference that when the Jews that believed in Jesus saw these signs, they fled Jerusalem and avoided the famine. They avoided the fighting and all the death and other things that happened when Jerusalem was besieged and ultimately the temple was destroyed. 

These next parts seem to be a reference to the physical destruction of Jerusalem, of the temple specifically, that happened in the year AD 70. Jesus says, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who's in the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house and let him who's in the field not go back to get his clothes, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

This is interesting.  Jesus making a reference to the Sabbath. He knew that this would happen way in the future, but it was still a concern for his followers. He's saying, Hey, pray that this doesn't happen on the Sabbath or in the winter. 

And now starting with verse 21 comes a portion that I have asked about. I continue to study this and I'm not sure if from verse 21 and on, this is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem or to the end times and the second coming of Jesus.

Follow along with me. Verse 21 says, “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. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”  I think the consensus is, this is talking about the time of the end.  Things will get so bad, God will cut those days short for our sake as we live through that. 

I have something to say to those who think that the elect will not have to go through the tribulation. Jesus is saying that for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened. He also says, and unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. We would kill ourselves if Jesus didn't step in. So something to think about. It definitely sounds to me, as I read through this text, that the church, those who love Jesus, those who are faithful, he refers to here as the elect, will be present during this tribulation.  We are the reason why those days will be shortened. Something to think about. 

Verse 23. “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Jesus says, if it was possible, even the elect would be deceived.

Well then why aren't the elect deceived? Well, the next verse tells us. Jesus says, “See, I have told you beforehand.” This is that thing that keeps repeating that I mentioned. Jesus keeps saying, be careful that no one deceives you. There will be false christs. There will be false prophets. Be careful that nobody deceives you.

I'm telling you ahead of time. The only reason we are not deceived is because we heed. We understand. We have studied Jesus's words. If Jesus had not warned us, if He had not told us beforehand, as it says in verse 25, we would fall for it. 

Imagine somebody shows up. Some really amazing public speaker, very charismatic, and he's healing people.  The, the blind they're seeing and the lame are walking. You're like, wow, this person sounds like Jesus and he says, I am Jesus. By the way. I changed my mind. I'm not going to come in the clouds with great glory and power. Actually, we're starting a revolution in my name. Let's unite under me and overthrow the government.

Some people would totally fall for it.  Down with the government, let's follow Jesus into war. Jesus is warning us. It's not Him. Somebody shows up. It doesn't matter. The great signs and wonders.  They can be working miracles. Jesus says, it's not me. We will read more. He's going to describe His second coming.

Anybody who shows up and claims to be Jesus is not Jesus. Keep this in mind. We have to know this. Otherwise, we will fall for it. There are so many people that I see looking for a church instead of looking at the Bible and what it teaches and finding a church that is in line with biblical teachings.  They're looking for signs and wonders. They're looking for the church that will make them rich. They're looking for the church that will heal them of all their diseases. They're looking for the church that will offer them miracles and an easy life when Jesus does not promise that anywhere. 

He promises to be with us to never leave us, to never forsake us.  He promises that if we endure to the end, we will be saved. He promises that He will cut those days of tribulation short because otherwise nobody would survive. So for the sake of the elect, He will do that. But He never promises an easy life. Keep that in mind. 

Early Christians went through tribulations.  Christianity throughout history have gone through troubles. You look at the children of Israel, they went through troubles. God's people have never had an easy life. God's people have always had the strength of God with them. God has brought them through, delivered, provided in miraculous ways, but by no means could their lives be described as an easy life.

Jesus warned us ahead of time. This is why we don't fall for these tricks. Verse 26 says, “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”  

It will not be secret.  It will be visible, as visible as lightning. The cool thing with lightning, you can close your eyes and you still know that lightning has struck. It's that bright. It's the brightest thing at the time. So Jesus references that like a flesh of lightning, that will be what the sign of the coming of the Son of Man will be. 

Verse 28,“For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” So you see the vultures, you see the birds of prey circling. It's a carcass. It's death. It's not Jesus. It's not what God has promised. It's not the second coming. It's death. Don't go to it. This is the warning that Jesus is giving here.

Let's continue. Verse 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.”  

Here's an interesting point. There is quite a bit of debate over this. There are a few times that this has happened in European history where there is this reference of the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light. The stars falling from heaven and the powers of heaven being shaken. The Lisbon earthquake, 1780, the sun there was a dark sun and a red moon. 1833, there was a falling of stars. And, and why do I mention these dates?

These were events that were so big that there were newspaper articles about it. People were talking about the end of the world. Some of these events in history sparked a revival amongst Christians. I mentioned these, not that they are unique from other falling of the stars or earthquakes or things.  Whenever something like this happens, whether there's a major falling, a star, meteor, shower, or a dark sun or a red moon, people tend to think about the end of the world. It brings them back to prophecy. What did Jesus say about these things? 

These signs are not setting dates.  These signs are reminding us, Jesus said He's coming again. What's my walk with Jesus like, what's my spiritual life like? I forgot. That's right. Jesus is coming. What is life really all about? Is it about the physical things that I accumulate?  Is it about the way that I serve others?  What's the most important thing in life?

As these signs happen in the heavens, as we behold them, we're reminded of Jesus's words, it should draw us closer to God. It should cause us to be more interested or interested once again in the study of the word of God. These signs, the wars and rumors of wars, pestilence, the love of many growing cold and all of these different things.  I think these are reminders that bring us back to the word of God. Not things that are setting dates. 

Oh, but those things happen. And Jesus never came. Well, He didn't say He would come when these things happen. He said, when these things happen, remember I am coming. So here, verse 30, for the first time in all of this, these things that Jesus has been saying, he talks about a sign, the only time he mentions a sign.

So listen to this. Verse 30. “Then the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven”. Okay, the sun is dark and the moon is bloodshot. The stars are falling, but that's not yet the sign. Keep in mind. But after this, there will be a sign. “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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.”

How can I know for sure that someone claiming to be Jesus and maybe raising someone from the dead. Clearly, this has to be God. How do I know that's a false christ? If a prophet shows up and says, by the way, Jesus changed His mind.  He is not coming back.  It will be something different.  How do I know that's a false prophet?  Part of the way you can tell a false prophet is if the prophecy contradicts previous prophecy that's in the Bible.  All the prophecies in the Bible always matches with itself.  It doesn't contradict other parts of the Bible. 

We did mention there are some prophecies that are conditional, that depend on our reaction, our behavior. We mentioned Jonah when he went to Ninevah and they repented and then God didn't destroy them. We talked about Sodom and Gomorrah how if God had found 10 righteous people, he wouldn't have destroyed it.  But since he didn't, then he destroyed it. 

There are conditional prophecies, but the second coming of Jesus is not a conditional prophecy. It's going to happen. And anybody that's saying otherwise, is a false prophet or a false christ. How do I know the real Christ will come in the clouds of heaven?  This is the sign.  The sign of the Son of Man will appear in Heaven and all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. Not a baby born in a stable the second time. He is going to come with power and great glory.

This is how you know that it's Jesus coming. If it's somebody walking on earth, obviously it's not Jesus. It's important to know this because Jesus says there will be false Christ and false prophets. There's already been several. We don't see them too much here in the US but in other parts of the world.  You can Google it.  People claiming to be Jesus. There's lots of them. And how do we know they're not? Maybe it is. Well, unless they're coming with the angels in the clouds with power and great glory, it's not Jesus. How do you know for sure? Because Jesus told us. And this is the only way that we avoid deception.

Our senses can be misled, we can be confused. We can be tricked if we trust in our senses. But if we trust in prophecy, in the word of God, then we will not be deceived. Well, how do you know? Because Jesus said it. He says, this is why I'm telling you all of this so that you won't be deceived. Otherwise you would be deceived.

So this is why it's important to study this. It's not to set a date, it's to avoid deception. It's to be reminded that Jesus is coming soon and then allow that information, that knowledge, that understanding to change and shape the way that we live our lives. 

Verse 31, it says, “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

The four winds is north, south, east, west, right? The earth is round. It's a ball. There are not four corners or four winds.  But the directions, the whole world, the whole heavens. This is the end. The angels will come and gather the elect. 

You could call this a rapture.  You could. They will be raptured, brought up.  But there's nothing secret about this power and great glory. The sound of the trumpet. And then the angels come and gather God's people. Is there a rapture? Yes. Is it secret? No. At least not based on this text. 

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree:” Verse 32, “When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.” I live in Idaho and spring is near. You can tell from the tips of the branches on the trees there are bare, they begin to turn red.  I lived in Massachusetts for a while. Same thing. You can tell that spring is coming. Jesus says, you can look at nature and tell when something's about to happen. 

Verse 33. “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!” Jesus is saying, it's near when you see these signs.  I'm coming soon. Be reminded of that. 

We're about to get into a verse here that's really tricky. I would like to set this up properly. Jesus says, look at the signs. See the wars, the rumors of wars, the pestilence, all of these things. Let these signs remind you, oh yeah, Jesus said these things would happen.

He's coming soon. And you can say, yeah, but these things have been happening forever. There's been wars and rumors of wars and pestilence and earthquakes ever since the time of Jesus. There have been meteor showers and the dark sun. With the eclipse and red moons, blood moons.

These things happen and Jesus hasn't come yet. What do you mean he's coming soon? Throughout the Bible, the date for the coming of Jesus is soon. It's always soon. Some people get frustrated. I've been waiting for so long, I've been waiting for a lifetime, and Jesus hasn't come yet. What do you mean?

He's coming soon? He is. Now, think about this. If Jesus comes in my lifetime. Or if it takes a thousand years to come, which I don't think He will, but let's say He does. How long do I wait? The longest I can wait is one lifetime. How long is one lifetime? It depends. Depends on my choices. Depends on my environment.  It depends on choices of people around me. I don't know how long I will live. I don't know if I'll make it to the end of today, but in my mind, if somebody asks me, when is Jesus coming? The answer is always soon.  Which means, today I am ready. If He came tomorrow, I want to be ready. If He comes the other day and the other day. But why? Because the longest I can wait is one lifetime. The date doesn't matter that much. If I die tomorrow, it doesn't matter if He comes next week.  My opportunity to make choices and make decisions, it's only while I'm alive. 

Something to keep in mind, it's always soon.  All these signs remind us, Jesus is coming. Let me adjust my life accordingly.  Am I living accordingly?  What are my values? How am I spending my time? Think about these things, reflect on these things and avoid deception. This is the purpose of not setting dates. 

Now, here is a challenge. Verse 34. “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”

Is Jesus a false prophet? Maybe He got the date wrong?  Maybe He thought He was going to come real soon, and then He didn't? Or, another way of interpreting this is Matthew 24:21 “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.”  You can compare that with 1 Thessalonians 5:3, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 2 Peter 3:3-4, and Daniel 7:21-26. All these verses seem to reference that time of tribulation at the end, whether it was destruction of Jerusalem or at the end of times, or both, which is also a possibility.

Now this reference to this generation. This generation is a negative verdict by Jesus on those who are rejecting Him. You can see this by looking at Matthew 11:16, Matthew 12:41-42 and 45 and Matthew 23:36. Every time Jesus makes a reference to this generation, it's a negative verdict. It's people who are rejecting Him. When Jesus said “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”  I think that this is a reference that Jesus is making to the destruction of Jerusalem.  People who were rejecting Jesus were going to witness the destruction of Jerusalem and know that He spoke truth and that these things indeed came to happen. That's one way of interpreting this text and maybe it's not good enough for you. It's good enough for me. I don't know of a better way of interpreting this.

I don't think Jesus was mistaken. I think this is one of those things where we're reading through and you think; Is this the destruction of Jerusalem? Is it the end of time? There's a lot that applies to both. I believe that this is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. I'd love to know your thoughts on this.

In verse 35, He says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Jesus' words are true. They will not change. I believe in what He's saying and I believe that His reference to this generation is to those who were rejecting Him. And it's a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem that did happen within the lifetime of His listeners.

Verse 36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” Now, please, please, please, if you have your Bibles with you, mark this, highlight this, circle it. Put stars next to it. The reason why I say this?  Because I have had people in my churches where I am the pastor or the spiritual leader, I've had people trying to make the claim that they figured out the date.

As a denomination, we do not believe that as a Bible believing Christian. I don't believe that. And if anybody claims to have figured it out, they are not speaking truth.  Maybe they think they have, they are deceived. They have managed to deceive themselves. Nobody knows. 

Jesus is not telling us so that we can figure out the dates, because as I said before, the date doesn't really matter. What matters is how you live your life. The longest you can wait is a lifetime. Otherwise, we would want to wait all the way to the last minute and then repent just before Jesus comes back. 

I remember a pastor I was talking to shared a story.  They had a teacher in middle school and she was the most demanding teacher that he ever had, even compared to graduate school.  When she would leave the classroom, they would goof and play around and be loud, but she always wore heels and they could hear her coming down the hallway.  They hear her footsteps, so they get back into their seats and sit upright and behave nice so when she comes in, everybody's just looking nice, right? 

The idea is, when we get closer to Jesus coming, then I'll get my act together.  Then I'll give my heart to Jesus. I just want to try sin a little bit more right now. That is not the point. Jesus is coming soon. How soon? When is the date He's coming? Soon. Even at the door. You should be ready today. That's the best advice for everyone. Be ready today. 

There's more information on this. But the main thing I want you to know in all of this, Jesus is saying, setting the date is not the point. It's for you to avoid deception. It's for you to know that the gospel has to be preached in the whole world. It's for you to know how he will come back so you don't fall for a false prophet or a false Christ.

If you're studying prophecy to set dates, you're missing the point. You're missing what Jesus actually wants to tell you because you're looking for information that He's not trying to give.  The way that I interpret it, it’s to remind us of the importance of seeking God. Gor us to strengthen our relationship with Him.  To remind us that He is coming again, but not to set a date.

Verse 37, listen to this. “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Let's pause there. As in the days of Noah, right? Nobody knows the day or the hour. I've seen preachers talk about the days of Noah and they'll talk about how people were wicked and just completely bad and bad all the time, consistently. The preachers will go off into that and say, oh, the days are just like the days of Noah.  People are bad. 

I don't disagree with that. I'm not saying they're wrong, but when I read the text and I see what Jesus highlighted about the days of Noah, He does not mention how wicked the people were. Maybe He doesn't need to because we know the story. Or maybe what Jesus is highlighting by His words.  

He says in the days of Noah, before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark. They're not doing bad things. They're going through life as usual. What I understand this to mean, life will be going on as usual.  People will be getting married and eating and drinking and partying and living life and then the end comes.  It's going to catch people by surprise. 

Noah was listening to God, no one knew what was going on. Nobody else did. They were oblivious to it. They didn't know it was going to happen, even though Noah tried to warn them.

I think that this is the main point. It's not going to be obvious that Jesus is coming again to those who have not studied prophecy, to those who are not paying attention to the signs, to those who don't have a relationship with Jesus. It's going to happen and catch them by surprise. 

You can say, but Marlon, you just said that we're not setting dates, that these signs are just to bring us closer to Jesus. How can you say we won’t be caught by surprise if we don't know the date or the hour? I'll ask you this. How do you prepare for a pop quiz? I had a teacher in high school who loved pop quizzes. He was a math teacher, and I'm not great at math. I struggled. Math humbled me. I got decent grades, but it was through a lot of hard work.  It did not come easily to me, and I hated the pop quizzes. So what does that mean? I had to always be studying. I had to make sure I was doing my homework, make sure I was asking questions. If I didn't understand something, I had to make sure I was learning the material because at any moment he could say, put your books away, pop quiz time.

How do you prepare for something when you don't know what's going to happen? You just stay prepared all the time. How do you prepare for the second coming of Jesus? Just turn to Jesus. Invite Him into your heart. Accept Him as Lord and Savior and then just walk with Him. Just abide with Him. Just stay, remain faithful.

That's it. The date doesn't matter. If He came today, I'm good with that. If He came next week, I'm okay with that. If He came a hundred years from now, that's fine too. I'll die before then and that's okay. The point is not setting a date.  The point is being ready. The people at the time of Noah, even though Noah was preaching, even though there was this big boat, they're like, ah, it will never happen.

People will be just like that when Jesus comes again. It will not be super obvious to everyone. Most people will not be paying attention. They will not notice the signs. They have not read the scriptures and they will miss it. And this is why Jesus calls on us to share the gospel with them. I believe the gospel includes prophecy because this is how we avoid deception.

Let's keep going here. We stopped on verse 40 but to review, verse 39 says, “and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Verse 40 “Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”

Some people will take these verses and talk about a secret rapture. See, two people will be there, one will be taken and the other won't. True. The text does say this. It doesn't say anywhere that it's a secret. We just saw earlier that it will be with the angels and great glory and the trumpet sound.  The angels will gather the people. I could be with someone plowing in the field. Then, there is Jesus coming. Angels, glory, sound. The angels take me and leave my friend. It doesn't have to be secret for me to be taken and my friend left. It doesn't say it's silent anywhere. 

People think I would just disappear.  Oh, maybe. But the second coming will be loud and visible. It's not going to be a secret. It's just saying what it's saying. One person will be taken, the other will be left. What does this mean? Being really good friends or coworkers or married to someone who has a really strong, healthy relationship with Jesus, who has received salvation as a free gift, does not mean that you have salvation just because you work with them, just because you're friends with them, just because you live in the same house, just because you share a bed.  Just because you're related by blood to someone who is saved does not save you. I believe this is the point that Jesus is making. It's not enough to be really close to someone that's saved. You need to have that salvation for yourself because they will be taken and you will be left.

Not that they're taken secretly, it's just that salvation is individual thing. I believe people will be saved in all kinds of different churches and religions and different beliefs. They will be saved by grace through faith because of the sacrifice of Jesus. It is not enough for you to be close to someone who's saved.  You need to have that experience with Jesus for yourself. You need to make that decision to accept Him as Lord and Savior to be born again as a follower of Jesus. Otherwise, one person will be taken, the other one will be left. 

“Watch therefore” verse 42, “for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.”

We will not know the date. So how do we prepare? Be prepared. Verse 43. “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. “

People say, see secret rapture, like a thief. It doesn't mean that the thief is quiet. We are watching too many heist movies. A lot of times a thief will come in, smash a window, be noisy.  They come when you're not home. It's very rare for a thief to come in when you're asleep, this quiet thing. It doesn't say that it's going to be quiet, but it does say like a thief. A thief wants to come when you're not ready, when you're not expecting, when you left the back door unlocked.

I'm a Brazilian and grew up in Brazil. I lock everything all the time. My wife's the kind of person that wakes up in the middle of the night, did you set the alarm? Did you lock all the doors? Did you lock all the windows?  Yes honey, yes. It doesn't mean that there's a thief coming to the area.

Where I live now in Idaho, things seem to be really nice. I'm not concerned. But that part of me from growing up in Brazil, let's just make sure. Just in case. This is how you prepare. You always lock everything. That way, it doesn't matter if the thief comes or what time the thief comes, or how quiet or how loud the thief is. The doors are locked, the alarm is set.  We're safe. 

I keep repeating this. It's not about the date, it's about being ready. As I see the signs of wars and the rumors of wars and persecutions and all these things, oh, Jesus is coming soon. What's my spiritual journey like?

Let's keep going.  Verse 44, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” As much as you look at the signs and know He's coming soon, it will still surprise you and that's okay. It's okay because you're ready for it. This is the main idea. You will not know the time. You will still be surprised, it's coming at an hour you do not expect 

Verse 45, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” God has blessed a good and faithful servant. God has made him or her master and ruler over this household to give food in due season. We are made responsible. God holds us responsible for making food available to others. You can make this spiritual food, caring for others, sharing the gospel, being a decent human being, and not taking advantage of those that you have control over. If you are a made ruler, master boss, you own your own business.  You have people working under you, you're a parent, you have children, people under your influence. God expects you to care for them in due season. Pay them what they're worth. Make sure they're not going through unnecessary hardship, that you're there to support those around you. We are called to do this as believers in God.

Verse 46, it says “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.” So doing. What does that mean? Be a decent Christian, follow the will of God until He comes. You're doing what you're supposed to do and it's all great. There is no problem. There are no issues. You are doing what you're supposed to do.

Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.” There's a reward now, verse 48. “But if that evil servant says in his heart,“ now listen to this, the evil servant, listen to what he says in his heart, “my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The problem is not that the master didn't announce his coming. The problem is that the servant thought, the master is taking forever, let me take advantage of those that I have power over. Let me beat them. Let me cause them to suffer. Let me party and drink and do all of these different things. The master isn't coming.

That's the danger.  The danger is saying, ah, Jesus isn't coming. I'm just going to live my life. Take advantage of people. Climb the ladder, step on everybody else on the way. This is what life is all about. And then Jesus comes and they're like, oh, my bad. But if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, the good and faithful servant giving food in due season, it doesn't matter.

When the master comes, I want the master to come, right? I love the master. I can't wait for the master to come. It doesn't matter. I don't have anything to hide. This is the key. I believe in Jesus's words. He is coming. The signs are all around us. Don't try to set a date, just be ready and please don't fall for the false Christ and the false prophets.

I hope you found this helpful. This is our study of Matthew 24. If you want some homework to do on your own, read through Matthew 25. Matthew 25 gives you more parables. And I think this helps clarify how do I live my life in anticipation of the coming master of the second coming of Jesus? Is it a life of panic or fear? Do I head for the hills? Do I go off to live by myself? I don't think so. Matthew 24 and 25 give us some practical applications, practical tips. Jesus tells some parables that will guide you in how you should live your life. 

So let me know if you have any questions or comments on that. Thank you so much for joining us for study number 2 of our series, Prophecies of Hope.

I hope you will join us for our next study. The next one will be How Evil Entered Our World. I. This is important. It has some prophecy in it. It has some things that are not prophecy, but I think it helps us understand what's happening overall.

Join us for our next episode. How Evil Entered the World. Why is there so much suffering?

Let’s close with prayer.  Father in heaven. Thank you for the words that Jesus left us reminding us that He's coming again.  That He's coming soon, giving us information so that we are not deceived. And Lord, may we be motivated to share the good news with others. We don't have to be afraid of the second coming. We just have to be ready and we can receive salvation as a gift. Thank You for that. Bless us and keep us safe. Until next time, I pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

May God bless you.