(5) HE (CHRIST) IS NIGH, EVEN AT THE DOORS: Matthew 24:32-44
"Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is nigh; (33) even so you also, when you see all these things, know you that He is nigh, even at the doors. (34) Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. (35) Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (36) But of that day and hour knows no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. (37) And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (38) For in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, (39) and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (40) Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left; (41) two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left. (42) Watch; therefore: for you know not on what day your Lord comes. (43) But know this that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to broken through. (44) Therefore be you also ready; for in an hour that you think not the Son of man comes." This makes it clear that all Jesus had said before this applies to the destruction of Jerusalem, not to His second coming for "this generation" has long ago passed away. "All these things" are the things He has just told them, things that those Christ was speaking to would see in their life time (wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, the abomination of desolation, the great tribulation, false prophets, sun and moon darkened, Son of Man coming in the clouds, stars falling from Heaven); all these things did come on that generation; when they saw the signs coming to pass, they know that the end of the temple and Israel was at hand. Although we are to watch and always be ready, we are not given any signs as they were that we can see and know that His coming is soon, not even that it will be in our lifetime, or in the next thousand or ten thousand years. Commentaries on verses 35-44 are divided on whether this is speaking of the coming of Christ in judgment on Israel or His second coming. It seems unlikely to me that He would have changed from speaking of judgment on Israel in verse 34, then His second coming in verse 35, and back to judgment on Israel in verse 40 with nothing to show He changed. He was speaking to His disciples at this time (Matthew 24:1), and telling them they were to watch for the signs He gave them of His coming in judgment on Israel. We are given no signs to watch for, but we are always to be ready for His second coming.
"All these things" are the things He told them to watch for before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. D., not at the second coming of Jesus. Luke says, "But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption draws nigh" (Luke 21:38). This redemption draws nigh to those of that generation. It was a redemption from the persecution of the Jews. "This generation shall not pass away, till all things be accomplished" Luke 21:32. Not the redemption of the U. S. from Russia, or any other redemption today.
1. They shall lay hands on you (those Christ was speaking to),
2. And shall persecute you,
3. Delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons" Luke 21:12.
Matthew 24:34-36 is a key to understanding all that came to pass before it, all that has been said up to this point must come to pass before "this generation" would pass away. Not at the second coming of Jesus at the end of the world. A generation is about 40 years. It is the same "generation" spoken of in Matthew 23:36. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). Is “heaven and earth” literal or figuratively? He had assured them that the end of Jerusalem was coming, now He assured them that His word would come to pass, that heaven and earth would pass away, but not His word; the end of Jerusalem was sure. He seams to be speaking of the end of the Jewish heaven and earth, the end of their nation, not the end of the world; Heaven itself will never past away; to make this be a literal passing away of “Heaven and earth” would make Heaven itself come to an end. Israel’s sun, moon, and stars would be darkened, the holy city and temple alone with the priesthood would all be gone, which would make keeping the Law and worship according to the Law both impossible, their heaven and earth did pass away, but Heaven will never pass away. "But of that day and hour, here, is translated season by many eminent critics, and is used in this sense by both sacred and profane authors. As the day was not known, in which Jerusalem should be invested by the Romans, therefore our Lord advised his disciples to pray that it might not be on a Sabbath; and as the season was not known, therefore they were to pray that it might not be in the winter; Matthew 24:20." Adam Clarke, Commentary on Matthew 25:36. At the time Christ was speaking in Matthew 24 the disciples did not understand that Christ was to die and be resurrected, they thought He would be a king of Israel on the throne of David, and that His kingdom would be on this earth; they would not have been able to understand this if it were about His second coming. Just as Noah warned them of the flood to come, Israel was warned of the destruction to come, but most did not believe, “And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they know not unto the flood came, and took them away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left; two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. Watch therefore: for you know not on what day your Lord comes” (Matthew 24:37-44). All that did not watch and flee when the sign was given was destroyed just as those who did not enter into the Ark. At the second coming of Christ no one will be left in the field, all the dead will be resurrected, and all the living will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
“That day and hour knows no one…but the father only” (Matthew 24:38). At that times the Father in Heaven, who knows all things, would have known both the time of the coming of Christ in judgment on Jerusalem. “Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-7). He was “made a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7).
The Christians did not know the season when the end would come, but was told to pray that it be not in the winter season, nor did they know the day, but were told to pray that it not be on a Sabbath Day. "But watch you at every season, making supplication, that you may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:36; Matthew 24:42-44; Mark 13:35-37). The Christians did watch and did escape all these things, all the things He has just warned them about what was coming to Israel; but no one will escape the judgment to come. Just as Noah warned of the destruction of the world, but did not give the exact time, and all went on with their lives and did not pay attention to the warning, the warning of Christ were not heeded by the Jews, and the end came when they were not looking for it. As in the flood only the evil was destroyed and the righteous saved, the unbelieving Jews were destroyed, and the believers were saved; "two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left." The righteous would be left.
Josephys the Jewish first century historian, recorded concerning the year 70, "Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend, nor give credit to the signs that were so evident and did so plainly foretell their future desolation; but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see, or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them."
John Lightfoot (1859): "This generation shall not pass. Hence, it appears plain enough that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last judgment but, as we said, of the destruction of Jerusalem." A Commentary of The New Testament, Volume 2, page 320.
John Wesley (1754): "This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done–The expression implies that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was; for the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after."
Matthew Henery: "As to these things, the wars, seductions, and persecutions, here foretold, and especially of the ruin of the Jewish nation; 'This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled (Mt 24:34); there are those now alive that shall see Jerusalem destroyed, and the Jewish church brought to an end." One Volume Commentary on the Whole Bible.
James D. Bales: "And the destruction of the whole Jewish economy was the fulfillment of the rest of it (Joel's prophecy of the last days Acts 2:16-21). If there was one thing the Jew felt sure of it was that Jerusalem was the favored city of God, and that its future supremacy among the nations was as certain to come as the sunrise. Its sacrifices would always be acceptable offered on the altars by the sons of Levi. Now we see the national life of Israel forever ended; the temple forever closed; the sacrifices become useless; the priesthood forgotten; and Israel no more to God than any other nation...If you could think of a pious Jew having gone to sleep three years before Christ was crucified and then wakened in a few years after the destruction of Jerusalem, what an utter bewilderment he would have! All that he supposed to be permanent was gone, and in place of it a company of men preaching God's love to all men, worshiping in all places, and claiming earthly dominion in none. He would well say this in indeed what Joel said to us" The Hub Of The Bible Or Acts Two Analyzed, page 70, 1960.
(6) ISRAEL THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT
Matthew 24:45-51
"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? (46) Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. (47) Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he has. (48) But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord terries; (49) and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; (50) the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expects not, and in an hour when he knows not, (51) and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Like all parables, all that are in them are not to be taken literally. They teach a lesson which is the main point of the parable. The point of this one is that Israel had been unfaithful and a judgment was coming.
(7) UNPROFITABLE SERVANT– OUTER DARKNESS
Matthew 25:30; 8:12; 22:13
It was the "unprofitable servant" and "sons of the kingdom" that were cast into outer darkness, not the ones who never believed, not the lost for they were never in the kingdom. The Jews who rejected Christ were cast out of the light, no longer to be God's chosen people, into the darkness of the world without the light of God's revelation. Christ said many (the Gentiles) shall "came from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." This says nothing about there being outer darkness in Hell. Fire and darkness do not go together. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Luke 13:33-34). Their house without God in it is darkness. God and His light are now in the Church.
(8) THE WRATH IS COME UPON THEM TO THE UTTERMOST
"And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25). "For you also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16). This was written about A. D. 53, just a few years before the destruction of the nation of Israel in A. D. 70.
(9) MORE TOLERABLE
Christ spoke of the Day of Judgment for lands or cities. More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for the cities that did not receive those He sent out (Matthew 10:14-15, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:10-12). More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum (Matthew 11:21-24, Luke 10:10-12). When are cities and nations judged? When is their day of judgment to be? "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades" (Matthew 11:23). It was a great city, but it would go down to hades-the grave. Today, there are only a few ruins of Capernaum. They went from greatness (exalted to heaven) to non-existence (hades-the grave). Individuals, not nations, or cities will be judged at the judgment at the second coming of Christ. Matthew 24 is of the judgment of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:36-38). All these cities have had a day of judgment, and were brought down to the grave. The day of judgment for them is past. The destruction of Sodom was quick and soon over. The destruction of Jerusalem, which saw and rejected Christ was long and drawn out with much more suffering; therefore, much less tolerable. The Day of Judgment for a city or a nation is the time when God will cause it to be destroyed. The Old Testament is full of God's judgment of cities and nations. The destruction of the cities that rejected Christ and his apostles were worse (Matthew 24:21) than the destruction of those in the Old Testament. “These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, ‘Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand...and as you enter the house, give it your greeting. And if the house is worthy, let your greeting of peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your greeting of peace return to you. And whoever does not receive you, not heed your word, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment, than for that city. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves. But, beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the courts, and scourge you in their synagogues; and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But, when they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. And brother will deliver up brother to death, and father his child; and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in this city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you shall not finish going through the cites of Israel, until the Son of Man comes’” (Matthew 10:5-23). He did come in a judgment on these cities and though all were destroyed, the destruction of Old Testament cities was much less terrible than was the destruction of Israel and her cities. Christ coming in judgment on a city or nation in the Old Testament or the New Testament is not the second coming of Christ when the saved will put on immortality.
(10) DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM Luke 23:27-31
When Jesus was being led to be crucified "there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of whom men who bewailed and lamented him. But, Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never give suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us; and the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" Even at the time of His death the sufferings, the great tribulation that were coming to Israel was on His mind. See Hosea 19:7-8 where they cry to the mountains to cover them in the destruction of Samaria, which is an Old Testament expression of wanting to escape destruction.
(11) "YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE"
Matthew 23:38; Luke 13:35
God left the temple. "And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom" (Matthew 27:51). As it is sometimes said today when an entertainer has finished, "God has left the building." After they put to death their saver, God gives them forty years to repent, but the book of Acts is a history of the "generation of vipers" persecuting and putting to death those who God sent to save them. They brought upon themselves retribution of such severity that it was as if they had killed all the prophets God had sent to turn Israel from their sin (Matthew 23:34-35).
SUMMARY:
THE A. D. 70 DOCTRINES
The A. D. 70 doctrine is that all the passages that speak of the second coming were fulfilled in A. D. 70, also called Preterit Eschatology, Realized Eschatology, Fulfilled Eschatology, Covenant Eschatology.
Four points that must be proven for the A. D. 70 doctrines to be true
(1) That the Law and the Jewish age did not end unto 40 years after the death of Christ; that the Old Covenant and the New Covenant over lapped for 40 years.
(2) That all that died before A. D 70 was resurrected from the dead in A. D. 70.
(3) That the resurrection is passed, and all the saved go to Heaven at the moment of death.
(4) That there will be no Judgment Day for the lost after the judgment they say took place in A. D. 70.
Was A. D. 70 the second and final coming of Christ? Or is the second coming of Christ and the judgment of all yet to come?
1. According to Realized Eschatology the second coming of Christ was an invisible coming in A. D. 70, and He will not come again. There will be no resurrection and Judgment Day to come for all at the coming of Christ.
2. According to Realized Eschatology the resurrection was when all the Old Testament saints were resurrected in A. D. 70. The "Judgment Day" was when the Jewish age ended in A. D. 70.
3. According to Realized Eschatology after A. D. 70 all that dies in Christ go to their eternal reward at the moment of death.
4. According to Realized Eschatology the Great Commission given in Matthew 28:18-19 has been completely fulfilled therefore, it is not for us today.
5. According to Realized Eschatology the old heavens and earth have passed away, and the new heavens and earth are now here.
6. According to Realized Eschatology all the New Testament was written before A. D. 70, and there is no revelation about anything that will happen after A. D. 70; therefore, there is no revelation about when or even if the earth will ever end. They must deny the vast amount of evident that much of the New Testament (including Peter's letters and Revelation) was written after A. D. 70 for if just one book was written after that date the Preterit Eschatology could not be true. Early writers, Eusebius, Irenaeus, Clement, Origin, and others say Revelation was written in the reign of Domitian, which was years after A. D 70.
7. According to Realized Eschatology the Great Tribulation and Armageddon are both past.
8. According to Realized Eschatology death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire in A. D. 70.
9. According to Realized Eschatology Satan has been put in the lake of fire. Max King, "The Spirit of Prophecy," page 356, 1971.
o Their teaching is that in A. D. 70 Jesus moved all the righteous dead to Heaven, and cast the Devil and his angels, and the wicked dead into the Lake of Fire. If Satin were cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death, where does evil and temptations come from today?
10. According to Realized Eschatology all prophecy, including all of the Book of Revelation has been fulfilled.
11. According to Realized Eschatology all New Testament writer believed that the coming of Christ was to be in their lifetime.
What the early non-inspired writers said about “the last days” and the second coming of Christ a few years after A. D. 70; from Florida College Annual Lectures, Almon L. Williams, 1986, page 217.
There was revelation given in the Old Testament on the establishment of the kingdom (Micah 4:1), and the resurrection of Christ was given in types and shadows as Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14), but few if any understood, and the doctrine of the resurrection, life, and immortality, which Christ taught, were new. The words, resurrection, immortal, and immortality are not in the Old Testament in the King James Version or the American Standard Version. The resurrection was new to the heathen world, which believed in an immortal soul that had no need for a resurrection. The first coming of Christ, His suffering and rejection, His death and resurrection were told about in the Old Testament; but there is noting about His second coming in it; the second coming of Christ, the resurrection, the judgment of all at His second coming and the promise of life after death in Heaven was new to the New Testament. A part of the heathen world believed in some kind of a hazy, intangible, undesirable existence somewhere; but the idea of living again is not a heathen idea. Of all the religions, Christianity alone has a day coming in which all the dead will be resurrected from the dead.
The New Testament clearly teaches that the second coming, the resurrection of all, and the judgment of all have not came. All the lost will awake from the dead. and the saved will awake to eternal life at the same time. It will be a resurrection of the dead, not as realized eschatology teaches, death is only a change from one kind of life to another kind of life, which would not be a resurrection, and it would make a resurrection impossible.
“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14:10).
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).
“He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:26-28).
“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27).
“But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the DAY OF JUDGMENT and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7).
John 5:28-29: "For an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." All, both the good and the evil will be resurrected from the