Isn’t Matthew 24 “Coming Alive” with what is happening in the Middle East Right Now? – Greg Albrecht
PTM is receiving questions about the significance of Matthew 24 and the news that we read and hear about virtually every day from the Middle East. Many mention what is called the Olivet Prophecy in Matthew 24 as a proof that we are really living in the “end times.” Here’s a brief summary of Matthew 24:
When we read the Bible we read it over the shoulder of its initial readers and listeners. We can only understand it fully if we understand its original meaning/message. Matthew 24 is a response by Jesus to his disciples when they were all touring the temple in Jerusalem and they, the disciples, were enamored and impressed with its splendor and beauty (Matthew 24:1). Jesus took the opportunity to prepare the disciples for some of what they would experience and endure in the upcoming decades, after his crucifixion.
Some believe (notably what are called “end times” preachers and teachers who use a methodology called dispensationalism to interpret all biblical passage they deem to be “prophetic” – that is, predictions of future events) that Matthew 24 is a literal road map of “end time” events. Other Christians tend to believe that most of the events spoken of and predicted by Jesus in this chapter were fulfilled in AD 70, when the Roman armies so destroyed Jerusalem that, as Jesus said, speaking of the temple in Jerusalem, “not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” That happened in AD 70. Jesus said, in a key verse in Matthew 24, summarizing the specific events he predicted, speaking directly to his disciples, “Truly l tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened” (Matthew 24:34).
He spoke these words to his disciples during his 3 ½ year earthly ministry – probably toward the end of that period of time. Most scholars place this time as 27-30 AD. So let’s presume he said this in 29-30 AD. How long is a generation? Most historians say 20-20 years – some go so far as to say perhaps 40. The disciples were grown men, probably about 30 years of age. That was their generation – when would it pass? 20-30-maybe even 40 years later. When was the temple destroyed? 70 AD. How old would the disciples have been? 50, 60 or 70. Most of the disciples would not have naturally passed.
So it seems an unbiblical over-reach for prophecy teachers to say that Matthew 24 would not be fulfilled until the 20th century (it was not of course) or sometime “early in the 21st.” It has already been fulfilled literally – that does not mean, of course, that some parts of this prophecy would be events that would take place again, somewhat like a mirror, for that’s what history tells us. Humans don’t learn the lessons of history and tend to repeat them.
Back to the original meaning of this chapter. Jesus was preparing his disciples for all the experiences they would see and endure in the near future – in “that generation” if you will. What was going to happen? What did happen? When the Jewish religious authorities realized that the gospel of Jesus Christ did not endorse or support or require the old covenant law, the law of Moses, they would crucify Jesus and declare “war” on the Jewish Christians who lived in a majority Jewish culture, like Judea and Jerusalem. When the Roman authorities recognized that the early Christ followers worshiped a higher authority than the emperor of Rome they too would declare “war” on the early Christians, Jewish or gentile.
The gospel of Jesus Christ was going to bring Christ followers into conflict with both the religious authorities of Judaism and the civil authorities of Rome. They would be caught in a crossfire of hatred, persecution and would be on the run for their lives in many cases. That happened. Historical fact. Will such things happen again? Probably. Has it happened since that time, already? Yes, many times.
Of course, (and I say “of course” because most Christians agree with me, although a few do not) Jesus has not yet returned, bodily, for his Second Coming. Any events that might seem to speak of a Second Coming of Jesus in Matthew 24 were obviously (I say “obviously” though it isn’t that obvious to everyone) not fulfilled in 70 AD. But it is just as obvious to me (and again, not nearly as obvious to millions of people who believe Matthew 24 is yet to be fulfilled, in our day, at this time, in these “end times”) that most of what Jesus predicated in Matthew 24 was fulfilled in 70 AD. Similar “fulfillments” in terms of the persecution of Christ followers have happened many times from the first century until now.
Here is a link to one of our online resources titled “Flaws and Fallacies of Plugging Headlines Into the Bible” providing more background into dispensationalism, the methodology that many evangelicals use to determine we are living, right now, in the end times. This interpretative method leads them – most preachers who are on television and radio for that matter – to say that what is happening now, in the Middle East, may bring about the soon coming Second Coming. Perhaps it will, perhaps it won’t. No one knows for sure what time, or “day” the Lord will return, as Jesus said in Matthew 24:36, 42, 44 and in the next chapter, Matthew 25:13. We do know that the first fulfillment of most of the predictions in Matthew 24 happened in or slightly before 70 AD and that they were given to the disciples to prepare them for turbulent and difficult times. That’s when Matthew 24 “came alive,”
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