Introduction
This is the word of the Lord,
Matthew 24:15-28, 36-41
Matthew 24:15–28 ESV
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,
18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
Matthew 24:36–41 ESV
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
38 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,
39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.
Let us pray.
The complexities of a subject like Eschatology deserve a thorough and complex treatment, which the Sunday morning pulpit can hardly serve.
Therefore, what you are treated to here is a summarisation, a doxology of faith and worship.
This is the sense in which preaching is different from teaching.
Let me use this illustration to show you my point. After the Exodus covers for us the detailed events of God’s powerful redemption of the Isrealites from Egyptian captivity, from the other side of the Red Sea, we read this.
Exodus 14:30–15:18 ESV
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.”
Do you see how this song captures the essence of what happened but there are plenty of details that matter which the song is not meant to exhaustively capture? In much the same way, if teaching is intended to cover the entire historical narrative of a battle, then preaching is like the songs that are written about the battle.
The details beyond the details of these sermons are a matter of study and discussion that I pray that you as a congregation will pursue with one another in your fellowship and Bible studies.
And that means that these sermons are eschatological songs that capture the essence of the subject, although not exhaustively. These are my postmillennial songs to you.
They are songs, doxology and worship because what you have here in these passages are the great and glorious revelations of God’s sovereignty.
The Glory of God
I fear for all of you. I fear that you might learn a lot and miss the whole point of this study – and that is that God is Glorious and Worthy to be praised.
Because there is nothing that frightens me more in these sermons than the thought that such preaching on the subject of Eschatology would fill your minds with matters of times and patterns, of history and politics, instead of the great and magnificent wonder of God’s glorious purposes.
You see, God is glorious whether the Eschatological reality is premillennial, amillennial or postmillennial.
And as a postmillennial, when I interpret these passages, my desire is less that you embrace postmillennialism and more that you embrace the glory of God in the postmillennial perspective.
Remember that if a song is the culmination of worship in praising, of lyrical exultation, then preaching is the culmination of worship in teaching, of exegetical exultation.
Therefore, it is a tragic loss, if in this debate we argue about the timing of Christ’s coming and forsake the glory of his coming, of his millennial rule and forsake the glory of his kingdom and of heaven and final judgment.
The Glory of God’s Vengeance
The word vengeance denotes rightful judgment, one that is proportionate to the crimes of the wicked.
Romans 9:21–23 ESV
21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
Deuteronomy 32:35–36 ESV
35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’
36 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.
Psalm 94:1–3 ESV
1 O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!
2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!
3 O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?
Isaiah 35:4 ESV
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”
Nahum 1:2–3 ESV
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
He is the ultimate avenger.
Luke 4:16–21 ESV
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Isaiah 61:1–2 ESV
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
Exegesis – The Days of Vengeance
What Matthew 24 reveals are these days of vengeance. The Jews have rejected and killed the prophets sent to them. And now the Son of God had come and they would do the same to him.
• The destruction of the temple is the centrepiece of this discourse and the most significant symbol of the days of God’s vengeance.
Matthew 24:15–18 ESV
15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house,
18 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
• The sight of the abomination of desolation is the latter sign, on that is so close to the great tribulation, that the one on the housetop has no time to go down and take his things, and the one in the field to turn back to take his cloak.
• Desolation by the Jews
• Desolation by the Romans (sympathy of Titus)
Matthew 24:19 ESV
19 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
• As prophesied earlier in verse 7, the Jewish-Roman war at that time was met with severe famines. Jerusalem suffered much.
“The famine, during the progress of the siege, had increased to such a frightful extent that mothers snatched the food from their infants, and even devoured their own children.”
“In the midst of this universal distress, a woman, illustrious for her family and fortune, after having been plundered by the soldiers of all her possessions, and driven by the intolerable cravings of hunger, slew her infant son, roasted, and devoured him.”
“Mothers, too, when their infants were perishing for want of food, and piteously crying for sustenance, instead of that relief which the breast once afforded, could only present them with their own flesh, to be devoured!”
Matthew 24:20 ESV
20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
• Both winter and Sabbath would make the Jews hesitate to flee both by circumstance and law. The preservation of their lives would require the break of the Sabbath and according to Jesus, the former is to be preferred.
Matthew 24:21 ESV
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
• Now this has been a verse often used to push back against the postmillennial view since they point out so many tribulations down throughout history that were worse.
I have two problems with this kind of argumentation.
a. The dismissal of clear hyperbole
Joel 2:2 ESV
2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
Exodus 10:14 ESV
14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again.
Daniel 12:1 ESV
1 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.
These verses use hyperbolic language to emphasize the extraordinary nature of the events they describe. They serve to underline the significance and severity of divine judgments and interventions in human history, often calling people to repentance or highlighting the urgency of the message.
b. How does one compare the worst of tribulations?
Matthew 24:22 ESV
22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
Matthew 24:23–26 ESV
23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.
24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
Theudas:
Background: Theudas is mentioned as a false messiah who led a revolt, claiming to be a prophet.
Fate: The revolt was suppressed by Roman authorities, and Theudas himself was killed. His followers were dispersed or killed as well.
Simon Bar Giora:
Background: Simon Bar Giora was a prominent leader during the Jewish revolt against Rome.
Fate: Bar Giora initially gained significant influence but was eventually captured by the Romans during the siege of Jerusalem. He was publicly executed, and many of his followers suffered a similar fate or were taken into captivity.
John of Gischala (John of Giscala):
Background: John of Gischala was another leader who emerged during the Jewish revolt.
Fate: He was involved in various conflicts and power struggles within Jerusalem. Eventually, he and his supporters were overwhelmed by the Roman forces during the siege. John of Gischala was captured and taken prisoner by the Romans.
Menahem:
Background: Menahem was a leader of a Jewish faction who briefly held power in Jerusalem during the revolt.
Fate: He too was eventually captured by the Romans. According to historical accounts, Menahem was tortured and executed, and his followers suffered similar fates or were enslaved.
Matthew 24:27–28 ESV
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
• The phrase, ‘the coming of the Son of Man’ is here described in this discourse as desolation and judgment. I do not believe it is a reference to a physical appearance of Christ, but of the Spirit of his judgment in the desolation of the Jews.
Isaiah 19:1 ESV
1 An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
Joel 2:1–2 ESV
1 Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,
2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
Zephaniah 1:14–16 ESV
14 The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.
15 A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
• The lightning denotes the swiftness and far reaching implications of the distress.
• The coming of the son of Man will spread eagles upon the carcasses.
Origen – “And the legions, encircling the city, enclosed it as with eagles’ wings, on which also the ensigns were borne, bearing the sign of the cross, and the name of their commander Titus.”
Eusebius – “The Jews after their crime of the cross against our Saviour and Lord, and after the entire guilt of his most precious blood, were visited by avenging wrath through the destruction wrought by their own hands upon that distinguished city, their country and temple, while a famine and that worst of all famine, which consumed the people, prevailed in Jerusalem. But the Romans, seeing that a rebellion was necessary for taking the city and temple, came with eagles and an army, and encamped before Jerusalem, and began to besiege it.”
Jerome – ”What does ‘where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together’ mean, except that the destruction of the city and the coming of the Roman army will take place wherever there are the Jewish people and Christ himself hanging upon the cross, like a carcass divided into two portions, the one of which is more robust and the other less so, that is, the believers and the unbelievers, and where the words of the gospel are preached.”
Matthew 24:36–41 ESV
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
38 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,
39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.
• This coming was to be unexpected.
Conclusion – The Rise and Triumph of Christendom
Isaiah 61:5–11 ESV
5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the Lord; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.
8 For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.
The great tribulation on Jerusalem – The great tribulation on the Cross
