The Olivet Discourse

It is possible that the Matthew 24:4-28 passage constitutes a description of the entire period between Christ’s first and second coming, when certain phenomena in the natural realm and in the spiritual realm take place.

In the midst of this period called “the birth pains of the Messiah,” there is one particularly sharp pain that some scholars believe is described in verses 15 to 21. It is the period of the destruction of Jerusalem and the abomination that causes desolation and prompts those who take Jesus’ warning to flee the city. This view sees this one particularly sharp pain as having already taken place in the terrible destruction and catastrophe of the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

The Sharp Birth Pain

Matthew 24:15 When you therefore shall see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoso reads this, let him understand)…

The “abomination that causes desolation” is an expression used four times in the book of Daniel. The holy place normally refers to the temple, but could be a more generic expression. There is general agreement that it refers to some sort of pagan desecration of the temple. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, the greatest desecration of the temple of God took place under the Roman general Titus, who later became emperor, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem A.D. 70.

Josephus’ account is based on firsthand knowledge. The Jews refused to surrender and, in time, Josephus’ worst fears were realized. He believed that Titus’ conquest and destruction of the temple and the city in AD 70 fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy, the destruction of Jerusalem.

Get Out While You Can

Matthew 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Verse 17 is a historically-specific Passage: When you hear the armies are approaching, do not even bother going down; just jump from roof to roof. Keep on going over the wall and get out. It’s simply a way of speaking urgently. Many of the houses were flat, so you’d go up there in the cool of the day in order to catch the evening breezes. There will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now, never to be equaled again.

Verse 21is a difficult passage under any interpretation. This is because if you understand this to be the great tribulation at the end of the age—regardless of the details of your eschatology, there will not be such a great distress again.

In that sense, this reference to “unequaled from the beginning—and never to be repeated again” becomes more justification for the view that it’s referring to AD 70.

Maybe we finite humans have confused the great tribulation with the end of the age, when there are two great tribulations. There is the great tribulation, which, for its density and concentration, is now, behind us; that is what happened in A.D. 70. Then there is a final outbreak of evil before the Lord returns at the end.

The literal interpretation also has some justification because of certain unusual reports around the time of the fall of Jerusalem, recorded by Josephus. In AD 70, there were reports of astronomical perturbations, including a comet that streamed across the sky, which the people of the time regarded as a sign of coming judgment.

Scripture presupposes that something is still to come and that is not a reference solely to the historical fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 or something similar. If it is, then you still must come to grips with a passage like I John 2:18. It was certainly written after the fall of the temple in AD 70 where the apostle insists, “Just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so also there now are many antichrists.”

There is an inaugurated eschatology of doom, of antichrist, as there is an inaugurated eschatology of Christ and His kingdom.

In other words, the presence of those who oppose Messiah during this period of Messiah’s reign is taken by the apostle to be a sign that we are in the last days. But those last days in fact, climax in the final outbreak of this antichrist who is still to come. There seem then to be promises in the Scripture that guarantee Christ could not come before the fall of the temple, and there seem also to be other promises in Scripture that suggest He could not
return until the Antichrist manifests himself.

Many devoted biblical scholars would say: He is coming back soon, and it could be in our lifetime. Also, they do not see anything of the events prescribed in Scripture that could not take place within our lifetime, nor do they see any of these events so narrowly focused that, if they start to unpack, that they could then name a date when Jesus would return.

Watching the Signs While We Wait

Everyone Will See His Coming

Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

The most important aspect of all of this is not how much we do or don’t understand. It is that we make sure, without any doubt, that we have committed our lives to Him, and therefore, we can trust Him.

He will take care of us, regardless.