What Did Christ Say About It?, Part 3
Following verse 14, Jesus switches gears a bit, moving from events that effect the entire world to events effecting His people, Israel. He speaks specifically regarding them in verses 15 through 20:
15: When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16: Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19: And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20: But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Here Christ completes the picture, giving an overview of the time of troubles faced by His church, and a regional picture of the terror His chosen people will face at the same time. The abomination of desolation spoken in verse 15 refers to the prophet Daniel’s vision in his writings, chapter 11, verse 31, and chapter 12, verse 11. This is actually a multiple occurrence of an abomination taking place in the holy place of the Temple. The first case occurred in 168 BC by Antiochus Epiphanies, which led to the rebellion by Mattathias and Judas Maccabees.
At the time when Jews in Jerusalem see an occurrence mirroring the one committed by Antiochus Epiphanies, Jesus tells them to immediately run for safety. Regardless of the time, season, day of the week, and even if it is on the most holy day, they are to drop whatever they are doing, and run for their lives, because they are in mortal danger! As with the universal attempt to wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth, there will be a universal pogrom to destroy, once and for all, God’s chosen people, the Jews.
Then, beginning with verse 21, Jesus ties everything together with the following statement:
21: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Here it is stated as plain as day what this time will is. Believers in Jesus Christ, as well as God’s chosen people, the Jews–the race which God blessed, from which arose the Hope of all mankind–will be made to come together in the face of this great period of tribulation. So great a time of peril it will be, that it will be like no other time before it.
Christ further describes the terrible seriousness of this time in verse 22:
22: And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Here, the meaning is that the time of this period of extreme tribulation will not be so prolonged, so that Satan will be able to succeed in destroying God’s "elect." God’s mercy will provide a way for His servants to continue His work on earth, even during this terrible period of pain and death.
Following this, Christ reiterates what he spoke of earlier in verse 5, when he said that "many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Verses 23 through 28 state:
23: Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24: For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25: Behold, I have told you before.
26: Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27: For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28: For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
This portion prepares the disciples and us, the readers of Matthew’s account for what the true appearing of Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews and Savior of all who will receive Him will be like. We are to reject any and all notions that Christ is here among us, or that he is in a specified place where we may see him. Anyone claiming that Christ is here or there is an apostate, because as verse 27 says, "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
His coming is not going to be something that is secret and/or silent. His coming will be seen by everyone. It will be bright and thunderous. I imagine it to be as though a 10,000 megaton nuclear device explodes in earth’s atmosphere, something that will be so bright and so loud that no one will be able to miss it.
Here is what Christ says regarding His coming:
29: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
There is nothing secretive or "wimpy" about Christ’s return to earth. Nobody will be able to miss it. If someone can’t see it, they’ll hear it. If they can’t see or hear it, they’ll feel it in the shaking of the earth and atmosphere around them: "and then shall all the tribes of the earth (as opposed to "the elect") mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." And then, verse 31 tells of what will occur next–the same sounding of the trumpet spoken of by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52, where the elect shall be gathered by His Angels, "from the four winds" (the elect on earth), and "from one end of heaven to the other (the elect who have already joined Him from times past).
Compare Matthew 24: 31 with 1 Corinthians 15:52:
52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
It is obvious that these two events are identical. "The dead" who are raised are those who the angels will gather "from one end of heaven to the other," "and we (who are still alive, who) shall be changed" are those who the angels will gather from the four winds. Christ tells his disciples, and us that we will experience this "great tribulation" He speaks of, and only after this will we be raptured. He does not mince words or gives inference that he is only speaking of Israel and the Jews only, as I have read from some heretical commentaries. We WILL face this "great tribulation," so we will need to have the resolve to "endure" this time until the very end. (Matthew 24:13)
However, we are also called to serve Christ always, just as the apostles served Him, even to the end of their own lives. There will be much work to do, and few hands to do it. We must continue to proclaim Christ to the fallen and to reap the harvest (John 4:35), until Christ comes and we are called home.
15: When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16: Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19: And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20: But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Here Christ completes the picture, giving an overview of the time of troubles faced by His church, and a regional picture of the terror His chosen people will face at the same time. The abomination of desolation spoken in verse 15 refers to the prophet Daniel’s vision in his writings, chapter 11, verse 31, and chapter 12, verse 11. This is actually a multiple occurrence of an abomination taking place in the holy place of the Temple. The first case occurred in 168 BC by Antiochus Epiphanies, which led to the rebellion by Mattathias and Judas Maccabees.
At the time when Jews in Jerusalem see an occurrence mirroring the one committed by Antiochus Epiphanies, Jesus tells them to immediately run for safety. Regardless of the time, season, day of the week, and even if it is on the most holy day, they are to drop whatever they are doing, and run for their lives, because they are in mortal danger! As with the universal attempt to wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth, there will be a universal pogrom to destroy, once and for all, God’s chosen people, the Jews.
Then, beginning with verse 21, Jesus ties everything together with the following statement:
21: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Here it is stated as plain as day what this time will is. Believers in Jesus Christ, as well as God’s chosen people, the Jews–the race which God blessed, from which arose the Hope of all mankind–will be made to come together in the face of this great period of tribulation. So great a time of peril it will be, that it will be like no other time before it.
Christ further describes the terrible seriousness of this time in verse 22:
22: And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Here, the meaning is that the time of this period of extreme tribulation will not be so prolonged, so that Satan will be able to succeed in destroying God’s "elect." God’s mercy will provide a way for His servants to continue His work on earth, even during this terrible period of pain and death.
Following this, Christ reiterates what he spoke of earlier in verse 5, when he said that "many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." Verses 23 through 28 state:
23: Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24: For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25: Behold, I have told you before.
26: Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27: For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28: For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
This portion prepares the disciples and us, the readers of Matthew’s account for what the true appearing of Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews and Savior of all who will receive Him will be like. We are to reject any and all notions that Christ is here among us, or that he is in a specified place where we may see him. Anyone claiming that Christ is here or there is an apostate, because as verse 27 says, "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
His coming is not going to be something that is secret and/or silent. His coming will be seen by everyone. It will be bright and thunderous. I imagine it to be as though a 10,000 megaton nuclear device explodes in earth’s atmosphere, something that will be so bright and so loud that no one will be able to miss it.
Here is what Christ says regarding His coming:
29: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
There is nothing secretive or "wimpy" about Christ’s return to earth. Nobody will be able to miss it. If someone can’t see it, they’ll hear it. If they can’t see or hear it, they’ll feel it in the shaking of the earth and atmosphere around them: "and then shall all the tribes of the earth (as opposed to "the elect") mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." And then, verse 31 tells of what will occur next–the same sounding of the trumpet spoken of by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52, where the elect shall be gathered by His Angels, "from the four winds" (the elect on earth), and "from one end of heaven to the other (the elect who have already joined Him from times past).
Compare Matthew 24: 31 with 1 Corinthians 15:52:
52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
It is obvious that these two events are identical. "The dead" who are raised are those who the angels will gather "from one end of heaven to the other," "and we (who are still alive, who) shall be changed" are those who the angels will gather from the four winds. Christ tells his disciples, and us that we will experience this "great tribulation" He speaks of, and only after this will we be raptured. He does not mince words or gives inference that he is only speaking of Israel and the Jews only, as I have read from some heretical commentaries. We WILL face this "great tribulation," so we will need to have the resolve to "endure" this time until the very end. (Matthew 24:13)
However, we are also called to serve Christ always, just as the apostles served Him, even to the end of their own lives. There will be much work to do, and few hands to do it. We must continue to proclaim Christ to the fallen and to reap the harvest (John 4:35), until Christ comes and we are called home.
posted by yohannbiimu at 9:10 PM
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