Chapter BY Chapter

Matthew 24:29-51 – Be Ready For The End Times

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This passage is as follows:

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“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

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“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

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“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.  Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

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“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.  Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.  But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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(End of passage)

 

In the first half of this chapter, Jesus said that the temple will be destroyed without one stone remaining on another.  The disciples asked him when this will be and what are the signs of his coming.  Jesus told them that many will come claiming to be the Christ or claiming to be Jesus.  So they should be careful that no one leads them astray.  This is interesting because nobody claimed to be Jesus for centuries.  It is as if Jesus was speaking to us by speaking to his disciples.  His coming will be like lightning and everyone will know it is him that has returned.  Jesus describes the times when Judea will be made desolate, which has already happened.  Then he warns again about false prophets and false Christs.  The gospel will be preached throughout the whole world, and then the end will come.  There will be a great tribulation.  Now Jesus gives us more details about the great tribulation.

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Verses 29-31,

 

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

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The Greek word for tribulation is “thlipsin,” which is also translated “trouble,” “affliction,” “persecution,” or “distress.”  Jesus says that immediately after the tribulation “of those days” that several things will happen.  The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Scientifically, there are 2 ways this could happen.  One way is that everything is pulling apart from the force of the vacuum of space.  Another way is if a large asteroid hits the earth in the ocean.  This is similar to what the book of Revelation describes will happen at the end of the tribulation.  The book of revelation adds a great earthquake and 100 pound hailstones.  If a large asteroid hit the earth in the ocean, you would get a large worldwide earthquake.  Water and molten rock would hurl up into outer space.  Remember that Jesus is going to describe things as earth-centric, that is as people on earth would visualize it.  The water would form into large hailstones.  The molten magma would fall to earth appearing as stars falling to earth.  In Jesus’ time, people considered any light bearing object in the sky as a star.  The debris would block the light of the moon and the sun.  Also, keep in mind that people at that time considered anything in the sky as part of heaven.  It will seem as though the powers of heaven were shaken.

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What will happen next?

 

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man.

 

Then what?

 

Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn.

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Why do you think that everyone will mourn at that time?

 

Clue: In the book of Revelation, Jesus is clothed with what?

 

A robe splattered in blood.

 

Where does this blood come from?

 

He hasn’t slain anyone yet.

 

All I can think of is that it is his blood because he is wearing his burial shroud.

 

So why will the people mourn?

 

Because they will realize who he is and what he did for them.  They will be sorrowful because they didn’t believe in him sooner.

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So, they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

 

What is the glory of the Messiah?

 

The glory of the Messiah is his payment for the sins of the world.

 

What is his power?

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His power is the word of his mouth.

 

What do we know about the power of Jesus’ word so far in the gospel of Matthew?

 

That he healed people by just commanding it or saying, “Let it be so.”

 

What does Jesus do by the word of his mouth in the book of Revelation?

 

He slays his enemies.

 

And what will Jesus do for believers at that time?

 

Gather them whether they are in heaven or on earth.

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Next Jesus Gives us a lesson.

 

Verses 32-35,

 

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

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What did Jesus mean by “this generation?”

 

Generation is from the Greek word, “genea.”  It could mean birth, children, race, or a period of time like an “age.”  So it is very hard to use this to predict anything about the return of Jesus.  I remember that in the 1970’s some people predicted that Jesus would return in 1988.  They were saying this because the nation of Israel was re-established in 1948, and they thought that by generation here that Jesus meant an average lifespan.  There was also going to be a planetary alignment that year when all the planets lined up perpendicular to the sun.  So, it was thought this would cause a giant earthquake on earth.  But there was no big earthquake, and Jesus did not return that year. 

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Why does Jesus give the analogy of a fig tree?

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To let us know that we will see some of these things come true, and will be comforted that he is coming soon.

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Jesus says, “So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.”

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What does he mean by “All these things?”

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Does he mean everything from the destruction of the temple to the great tribulation?

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Does he mean just when we see the things of the great tribulation?

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We know that Jesus wants us to always be ready for him.  Perhaps he said it this way so that we would not know when he was going to arrive, and always be expecting him as though it was just around the corner.  Jesus just finished talking about the great tribulation.  So according to the immediate context, Jesus is not talking about the generation of his disciples, nor is he talking about the generation of you and me right now.  He is talking about the great tribulation generation.  In revelation, we learned that Jesus not only said he will come soon, but he will come quickly.  The great tribulation will happen fast, and then Christ will come.  That is what he is saying here.

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What does Jesus mean by, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away?”

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What depends on his words?

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1. The healings.

2. The creation of the world.

3. The future destruction of his enemies.

4. The future creation of a new heavens and earth.

5. Everything.

 

So, can we make any predictions about the return of Jesus, as to when it will be?  Let’s see what the next paragraph says.

 

Verses 36-44,

 

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.  Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

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So, if Jesus said, “that day and hour no one knows,” does that mean we can predict the year or maybe even the month?

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There is a list of predictions when Jesus would return on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_and_claims_for_the_Second_Coming_of_Christ), but no one has been right so far.  Here is an example.  Ronald Weinland predicted Jesus would return on September 29, 2011.  When his prediction failed to come true, he moved the date of Jesus' return to May 27, 2012.  When that prediction failed, he then moved the date to May 18, 2013, claiming that "a day with God is as a year," giving himself another year for his prophecy to take place.  Weinland was convicted of tax evasion in 2012 and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison.  After he was released from prison, Weinland predicted that Jesus Christ would return on Pentecost in 2019.  That would have been on June 9, 2019.  So if you keep predicting it, perhaps someday, you will get it right.  Make sure you predict wide swaths of years like “in the next century or two.”  Then you will be right… maybe… if you live long enough.

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How many people have seen signs like these: