THE KING REVEALS THE FUTURE - PART 1 (Matthew 24)

THE KING REVEALS THE FUTURE - PART 1 (Matthew 24)

H. A. IRONSIDE

MATTHEW, CHAPTERS 24 and 25 are very closely linked together. They give us what Sir Robert Anderson has called, “The second Sermon on the Mount.” “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and the end of the world (or age)?” In chapter 24 He shows the conditions that will prevail in the world during the time of His rejection and, more particularly, in what the prophet Daniel calls “the time of the end,” the great tribulation immediately preceding our Lord’s return as Son of Man, to set up the Kingdom of Heaven on this earth in power and glory. In the three parables of chapter 25 we have, first, in that of the virgins, the responsibilities resting upon His people during His absence and the importance of being ready to greet Him when He returns. In that of the talents we are reminded of the account which every servant will have to give in that day for whatever ability has been entrusted to him; and in the last we have the judgment of the living nations when the Son of Man comes in the clouds of heaven, with His holy angels, and sits upon the throne of His glory. 

 Note the questions in order:

1. “When shall these things be?” That is, when shall Jerusalem be destroyed? The answer to this is given more fully in Luke’s report of His discourse (Luke 21:20–24).

2. “What shall be the sign of Thy coming?” Both Matthew here and Mark in his thirteenth chapter give the answer to this.

3. “What shall be the sign of … the end (consummation, or full end) of the age?” It is not the world as such but the age, of which they spoke. This is answered here and also in the corresponding passage in the Gospel according to Mark. Each Evangelist wrote as guided by the Holy Spirit. In verses 4 to 8 Matthew deals particularly with the characteristics of the entire present age until Christ returns. Then in verses 9 to 14 he emphasizes the signs of the last days. Verse 15 brings in the beginning of the great tribulation, as predicted also in Daniel 12:11. Verses 16 to 28 give details of that time of trouble. Verses 29 to 31 bring us to the end of the age and the coming of the Son of Man. The rest of the chapter gives illustrations and admonitions, all based on what has gone before.

MATTHEW 24:4-5 - “Many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ.” The number of impostors or Antichrists have been legion. Often such men, and occasionally women, have given every evidence of paranoia; but many have been willful deceivers. No one would ever have been led astray by such pretenders to Messiahship if they had remembered that Christ is not coming again to earth as He came before, through the gate of birth. He will come as the Lord from heaven accompanied by the whole celestial train. 

  Verse seven depicts a series of great wars in which many nations and kingdoms will be engaged. Such conflicts have been frequent during the past nineteen hundred years and have increased in intensity and frightfulness during the last century; so that the World Wars of 1914–18 and 1939–45 have been the worst mankind has ever known. As the aftermath of widespread warfare there invariably succeed famines and pestilences. To these plagues are added here earthquakes in many places, which would seem to imply a great increase in natural convulsions as the end draws nigh. 

The secret of the rapture of the Church, prior to the end-time is not introduced here in this great prophetic discourse. That was still a hidden mystery when Jesus spoke these words. There is no time set for it, nor are there any signs indicated. The signs here all have to do with His revelation from heaven as the King who is to return to take His great power and reign. The coming of the Son of Man refers always to this event, never to the Rapture.

“Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake.” The martyrdom of the saints, first under pagan rule, then under Papal Rome, and later under various other evil systems, is not to be ignored when considering this prophecy. Martyrdom will not cease when the Church of God is caught away. Then the Lord will call out a new testimony when He takes Israel up once more; and many of His witnesses, in those dark days, will be called upon to lay down their lives during the reign of the Imperial atheistic Beast-power of the last days and his satellite, the personal Antichrist. So that these predictions will have a double fulfillment—during the present age of grace, and in the coming period of judgment. 

The abomination of desolation of old (Daniel 11:31) was an image set up by Antiochus Epiphanes, King of Syria, in the temple at Jerusalem, after he had defiled the sanctuary by offering a sow upon the altar and sprinkling its blood in the holy places. The abomination of desolation in the future will evidently be some outward recognition of the apostate power and the Antichrist. Forewarned by this prophecy saints in those days will recognize this, and it will be to them the signal to flee from Jerusalem and from Palestine to “the wilderness of the people” (Ezekiel 20:35), where they will be hidden from the wrath of the Beast and his followers, “until the indignation be overpast” (Isaiah 26:20). These will be “the brethren” of the Lord of whom He speaks in the next chapter, when He pictures the judgment of the nations which will be living on the earth when the Son of Man shall come in His glory.

  “Then shall be great tribulation:”—Such distress as had not been known from the world’s beginning unto that time. So terrible will be the conditions that unless God in mercy shortens the days there should no flesh be saved. But for the sake of the elect—not the elect of the Church but of Israel—He will shorten the days. They are numbered as actually 1260 days in the Book of the Revelation. This would be three-and-one-half years, made up of thirty-day months, and so considerably shorter than the full time if the years were counted as of 365 days each. 

As the great tribulation moves on to its culmination apostate Judaism, centering in Jerusalem, will be as a putrid carcass against which the eagles (or vultures) will be gathered together. This is a vivid picture of the gathering of the armies of “all nations against Jerusalem to battle,” as foretold in Zechariah 14 and other scriptures.

  MATTHEW 24:31 - Then the great trumpet shall be blown (Isaiah 27:13), and the angels will gather together the elect from all quarters of the earth, those who in that time of testing will have received the kingdom message and so be prepared to welcome the King at His return. This is not at all the same event as the rapture of 1 Thessalonians 4. There the saints living and dead will be changed and raised from the grave, and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. But when the Son of Man descends to the earth His elect will be gathered from the four winds to greet Him as their King and Deliverer. Thus at long last shall the throne of David be set up again in Jerusalem, and the law shall go forth from Mount Zion, where Christ Himself shall reign in righteousness for a thousand glorious years, as we learn in Revelation 20. 

  MATTHEW 24:32-35 - The pre-eminent sign that the time for the appearing of the Son of Man has drawn near is that of the budding fig-tree. The fig-tree is the well-known symbol of Israel nationally. For many centuries the scattered Israelites, once owned by God as His own covenant people, have had no national existence. But today they are returning to Palestine in large numbers and once more indulging in the sense of again being a distinct nation. Thus the fig-tree is putting forth its green leaves, and thereby proclaiming the near return of Him who is yet to be acknowledged as their Messiah and King. At present they are going back in unbelief, as the Scriptures indicate they would, for it is after many have returned to the land that the nation will be regenerated. If the new life manifested in the fig-tree heralds the approach of the day of Israel’s blessing how near must be the hour of the rapture! 

  As it was in the days of Noah so will the coming of the Son of Man be. In the days preceding the flood men lived carelessly and self-indulgently. Corruption and violence filled the earth. God’s message given through Noah was spurned as an idle tale. While insensible to their danger the flood came and destroyed them all. So will it be at the Lord’s coming.

Then two will be working in the field, one a believer and the other an unbeliever. The latter will be taken away by judgment; the other will be left to enter the kingdom and enjoy its blessings. Likewise shall it be with two women grinding corn for the morning meal.