“Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? [Jerusalem and the temple] Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’”(1-2) Likewise, Gabriel had come to Daniel and revealed: “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." (26b) "Most of the church fathers and the older orthodox interpreters find prophesied here the appearance of Christ in the flesh, His Death, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70." (Keil) "'The end of it shall be with a flood,' namely, of war (Ps 90:5, 'Thou carriest them away as with a flood;' Isaiah 8:7-8, 'Behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria;' Isaiah 28:18). Implying the completeness of, the catastrophe, 'not one stone left on another' (Luke 19:44)… "and till the end of the war desolations'- against the once holy people of God and once holy place — 'are determined.' by God's decree (Isa. 10:23; 28:22)." (Jamieson, Faucett, Brown) “…Jesus’ leaving the temple symbolizes the end of its relevance in the purpose of God. The fact that He goes from there to the Mount of Olives (v. 3) may be a further echo of Ezekiel 11:23, where ‘the glory of the LORD’, on leaving the temple, stops at the same point.... But Jesus in response goes beyond the repudiation of the temple to foretell its total destruction. Micah (3:12) and Jeremiah (7:12–14; cf. 26:1–19) had dared to make a similar prediction about Solomon’s temple, and it had been fulfilled in 587 BC, but Jewish apocalyptic belief in Jesus’ time was that the temple was indestructible. Jesus’ prediction became known and was quoted in a garbled form at his trial (26:61) and at His execution (27:40). It was the starkest expression of his rejection of Jewish nationalism and of those leaders whose power was focused on the temple and its rituals.” (Tyndale NT Commentary by R. T. France)
Click link to the next study in my sequential chapter study through the Gospel of Matthew. https://www.mymorningmanna.com/post/matthew-25
“Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ It is confusing as to whether the answer pertained to the day of our visitation or the end of time. “Practically all of the difficulties in understanding this astounding chapter will disappear when it is remembered that in a single prophecy Christ foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and the final judgment and destruction of the whole world, making the first a type of the latter, and choosing a number of details that apply to both. Just as the rainbow is not one bow but actually two, a primary and a secondary, so many of the prophecies of the word of God have a primary and a secondary fulfillment. ‘Rachel weeping for her children’ (Jeremiah 31:15) and ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son’ (Hosea 11:1) are two examples (see on Matthew 2:13,18). Dummelow stated that ‘Our Lord referred in it not to one event but to two, and the first was typical of the second."[J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 702.]
H. Leo Boles also noted such a characteristic of divine prophecy, saying: ‘Often prophetic language has a double significance. Jehovah told Adam that he would die in the day that he ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:17); yet Adam lived 930 years. There was a primary fulfillment of this when Adam was separated from the garden of Eden, and a secondary fulfillment of it in his death (Romans 5:12). Isaiah foretold the birth of a son by a virgin, yet added a prophecy which confined it to his own generation (Isaiah 7:14-17). The prophet combined type and anti-type in the same words.’ [H. Leo Boles, Commentary on Matthew , p. 472.]” (Coffman Commentary)
“And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’ (4-8) “The ‘signs’ that Jesus mentioned in these verses are essentially ordinary; and thus it may be inferred that the usual run of human conflicts and misfortunes, as well as the claims of false teachers, are not the things which shall reveal the nearness of events prophesied. Historians have pointed out that all of the phenomena above did occur in profusion before the destruction of Jerusalem. Grotius was quoted by Macknight concerning earthquakes in at least eight parts of the Mediterranean world... Such things as famines, wars, and earthquakes seem to have been multiplied during that period, but hardly any period of world history failed to exhibit the same things. Thus it may be concluded that Jesus' lesson here is that all such basic phenomena may be ignored except as characteristics of human wretchedness and misfortune upon which the more imposing signs were not signs of the end. Note the repeated warning, ‘but the end is not yet’! Such catastrophes were to be viewed only as the ‘beginning of travail,’ and the true signs of the events foretold were to be sought, not in them, but rather in what happened to the disciples.” (Coffman Commentary)
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.’ (9-12) These conditions "were fulfilled before the destruction of Jerusalem; and, without doubt, the same conditions will prevail before the Second Coming. The rising persecution and hatred from without and the deteriorating conditions within the body of His disciples were to mark the onset of both events. That called for a strong and special admonition from the Lord for His true disciples to remain faithful no matter what happened.” (Coffman Commentary) —“‘But he who endures to the end shall be saved.’ But those who would finally be saved must persevere. Endurance is required of His followers.... ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.’ (14) We should note here how important the proclamation of the Gospel to the whole world is seen to be. While wars and natural disasters will go on and on, and Jerusalem may be destroyed, it is not those events, but the final successful proclamation of the Gospel that will affect the time of His coming. (Cp. 2 Peter 3:9). That is the final aim…” (Peter Pett)
"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place— Mark says, ‘standing where it ought not,’ meaning the same thing. All Jerusalem was esteemed ‘holy,’ Matthew 4:5. The meaning of this is, when you see the Roman armies standing in the holy city or encamped around the temple, or the Roman ensigns or standards in the temple. Josephus relates that when the city was taken, the Romans brought their idols into the temple, and placed them over the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there, “Jewish Wars,” b. 6 chapter 6, section 1.— whoever reads, let him understand.’ (15) This seems to be a remark made by the evangelist to direct the attention of the reader particularly to the meaning of the prophecy by Daniel.” (Albert Barnes) “Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.' Then Christians may know that the end is come and should seek a place of safety. Destruction would not only visit the ‘city,’ but would extend to the surrounding part of Judea.” (Albert Barnes) Locality will be moot in the aschalogical scheme of things. Symbolically, we must get up to the mountains.
“Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.” It would not be safe.“‘But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!’ (19) Better, alas for them, or woe for them. The tone is that of pity rather than denunciation. The hardships of a hurried flight would press most heavily on those who were encumbered with infant children or were expecting childbirth. The same tenderness of sympathy shows itself in the words spoken to the daughters of Jerusalem in Luke 23:28-29.” (C. J. Ellicott) “‘And pray,’ — Christ saith not, ‘Fight ye,’. To fight it boots not; for God hath resolved the land’s ruin.” (John Trapp)— “’that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.’ (20) The winter would naturally retard their motion, through the cold and moisture of it. The sabbath would be a moral hinderance, in regard of the… opinion they had of the sabbath, that they might not upon that day defend themselves, nor flee from their enemies beyond the length of a sabbath day’s journey, which was but two miles: our Saviour hints to them that their flight must be farther….” (Matthew Poole) Not as Lot's wife, but as Lot- we must leave our affections behind for a new day when worship would be in spirit and truth.
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (21) The words come from Daniel 12:1 —“At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book.” Michael the archangel, as has already been observed, was ever reputed the guardian of the Jewish people." (Adam Clarke) Michael means "who is as God," and indeed Jesus is "one with God in the church. His title, as prince and potentate, is expressive of His sovereignty. He comes and stands up for the [spiritual] Israel of God." (Joseph Sutcliffe)
"One who reads the narrative of Josephus will hardly hesitate to adopt his language, ‘that all miseries that had been known from the beginning of the world fell short’ of those of the siege of the Holy City (Wars, v. 13, §§ 4, 5). Other sieges may have witnessed, before and since, scenes of physical wretchedness equally appalling, but nothing that history records offers anything parallel to the alternations of fanatic hope and frenzied despair that attended the breaking up of the faith and polity of Israel." (C. J., Ellicott) "And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book..." of life, wherein is recorded the names of the faithful.
“And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.” “The words are of course limited by the context to the scene of the events to which the prophecy refers. The warfare with foes outside the city, and the faction-fights and massacres within, would have caused an utter depopulation of the whole country.— But for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.’ (22) Those who, as believers in Jesus, were the ‘remnant’ of the visible Israel, and therefore the true Israel of God. It was for the sake of the Christians of Judæa, not for that of the rebellious Jews, that the war was not protracted, and that Titus, under the outward influences of Josephus and Bernice, tempered his conquests with compassion (Ant. xii. 3, § 2; Wars, vi. 9, § 2). The new prominence which the idea of an election gains in our Lord’s later teaching is every way remarkable. (comp. Matthew 18:7; Mathew 20:6). The ‘call’ had been wide; in those who received and obeyed it He taught men to recognise the ‘elect’ whom God had chosen.” (C. J. Ellicott) This time of trouble can encompass all subsequent ages. The prophet "speaks of the times of the last wars of antichrist against the true church, when Gog and all his multitude shall perish in the war of the Lamb. Ezekiel 39. But in those days the saints who have the mark or the name of God on their foreheads, which is the same as having them written in the book of life, shall survive the final days of visitation on the last and worst enemies of the church." (Joseph Sutcliffe)
“Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it.” (23-26) There is no doubt but that our Saviour here hath a special respect to those persons who, about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, taking advantage of the Jewish expectation of the Messiah as a secular prince, who should restore them to liberty, (an opinion which, as we have often heard, had infected the generality of the Jews, and not a little even the disciples of Christ), made themselves heads of parties, and pretended that they were the Messiah, the Christ, thereby to encourage people to follow them, and to stand up for their liberty; of which kind there were several mentioned both in the history of Josephus, and in the Roman history, respecting those times. Our Lord… taketh them off their expectation of any such secular kingdom...” (Poole) “Take heed that no man deceive you.’
“This was the first caution; and the grand point was to hold fast the faith amid the vicissitudes of life, and the revolutions of nations; for the church shall outlive all the storms and tempests, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In these words St. Paul cautioned the churches against being spoiled through gentile philosophy. Colossians 2:8.” (Joseph Sutcliffe) “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” It will be swift and known. “‘For wherever the carcass is, ‘— Compare Daniel 12:2— “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” The reference to that Assyrian slaughter is still more evident in the Hebrew. ‘They shall go forth and look upon theםירִגָמְּ , pegarim—carcasses (the same word translated in the history of the Assyrians in 1 Kings 19:20 ‘they were all dead corpses’)—of the men that have transgressed against me—for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall beןוֹארָדֵּ , deraon—an abhorring to all flesh’—the word translated contempt in Daniel 12:2 (‘to shame and everlasting contempt’), describing the horror excited by the spectacle of the bodies of those who die under the stroke of God. The use of the term pegarim, therefore, to describe the condition of these victims of the worm and the fire decides that the worm does not symbolize conscience, but absolute death. There will appear on the earth, at the beginning, and at the end, of the kingdom of Christ, two fearful scenes of execution of God’s enemies,—who will be slain by Jehovah; the first scene being the destruction of His assembled foes, of the armies of the kings of the earth, around Jerusalem; the second scene, still more awful, being the more gradual destruction of all the wicked dead, raised for judgment, at the end of Christ’s reign on earth: when a fearful monument of the effect of sin will be established on this globe (perhaps in that same region), in that “perpetual fire” into which all shall be cast, “whose names are not written in the book of life.” (Future Punishment: As Expressed In The New Testament by Edward White)— ‘there the eagles (scavenger birds) will be gathered together.’” (27-28) John also saw an angel standing in the sun and cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” (Rev. 19:17-18) And this ministering spirit makes known "the certain destruction of the enemies, before the battle be fought. This is "the great slaughter which Christ will make in this great Armageddon battle amongst His enemies." (Hanserd Knolly) "This cry to the vultures and scavenger birds is a vivid way of describing... its universal application.” (PeterPett)
"The imagery is taken from Ezekiel 39:17-20, where God invites all the feathered fowl and wild beasts to come to the table which he has provided for them." (Justin Edwards)— “And as for you, son of man, thus says Yahweh God, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: 'Assemble yourselves and come; gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, that may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs, of goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. You shall eat fat till you are full, and drink blood till you are drunk, at My sacrificial meal which I am sacrificing for you. You shall be filled at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all the men of war,' says Yahweh God. And I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them." (Ezekiel 39:17-20) Rams, lambs, goats, and bulls make me think of symbols of the different nations in the book of Daniel which were to control God's people from the time of the release Babylonian until Jesus. “They that would not come to the supper of the Lamb shall be made a supper to the fowls of heaven.” (John Trapp) “The adversaries of the righteous King have a name to live, but the eagles and vultures are gathered together as though the carcase had already fallen." (C. J. Ellicott)
“And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.” (Rev. 19:19-21)They gather, but: “No mention is made of a battle... for there is no battle... They (the beast and the false prophet) are simply taken and can offer no resistance..." (Pett Pett) And they are cast "alive" into the lake of fire. (20b). Their fate is contrasted with that of the human agents. These were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword preceded out of His mouth, that is, the Word of God or the command of Christ. It is death by fire. “There shall be a universal destruction; the kings, generals, captains, and all their host, shall be slain." (Adam Clarke) “And all the fowls were filled with their flesh."
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, 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 His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (29-31) “The sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah describes the awful scenes of Christ’s advent, of which the New Testament version is in Matthew 24:29. ‘For behold the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by sword will the LORD plead with all flesh, and the slain of the LORD shall be many’ (verses 15-16).” (Edward White) ”We have the same elements here as we did in 1 Thessalonians 4 (the trumpet sound, Messiah coming in the clouds, gathering His people to Him), but Yeshua makes it very clear that these things will happen ‘immediately after the tribulation’.” (Immortal: The Truth About Heaven, Hell, and the Resurrection by Lex Meyer) We are "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:13) "When people imply that the hope of believers is going to heaven when they die, they are exchanging the biblical hope for something else. Some have been so conditioned to believe that the goal of believers is to go to heaven that they never see the contradiction when they look at biblical texts. What are you waiting for? Are you waiting to die so that you can see Jesus in heaven, or are you waiting for the appearing of Christ on earth?” (An Advent Christian Systematic Theology by Jefferson Vann)
"Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near- at the doors! Just as the first leaves on a fig tree indicate that summer is coming, so when the disciples see the false messiahs, the persecution and the approach of the Roman armies, they will know that the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation is upon them. People of Jesus' day would see the fulfilment of these things in their own lifetime (Matthew 24:32-35;).” (Bridgeway Bible Commentary)
“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away(by fire at the Second Coming), but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (32-39)
“The story of the Flood is so important within the larger narrative that it becomes a standard model for later crises and judgments throughout the Bible. Other writers point to the Flood’s unexpectedness (Matt 24:38–39; Luke 17:26–27), its victims (2 Pet 2:5), those it saved from the world’s wickedness (1 Pet 3:20; 2 Pet 2:9), Noah’s faith (Ezek 14:14, 20; Heb 11:7), as well as God’s patience preceding the judgment (1 Pet 3:20; 2 Pet 3:4–6) and the certainty of his covenant that followed it (Isa 54:9). Jesus (Matt 24:38–39; Luke 17:26–27) and Peter (2 Pet 2:5, 9; 3:3–7) both use it to illustrate elements of their teaching about last things. Because both Jesus and Peter point to the Flood’s watery destruction of the wicked to help explain the final destruction of evildoers by fire, we need to consider carefully what Scripture actually says. The authors of Scripture could have written hundreds of pages of philosophical discussion about the exact meaning of ‘destroy’ and ‘perish.’ Instead, they point us back to what God did once before, and they warn us that it exemplifies what the wicked may expect again.” (The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge)
“Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.” This is the first death of the wicked of that generation. “At first glace it seems to really fit the rapture theory. In fact, this is where the ‘Left Behind’ book series got its name. However, we must look at the context of these verses to find out when this event takes place, and who is being taken and who is being ‘left behind’.
Yeshua said that His return will be like the days of Noah, and just as the flood took away everyone outside of the boat, so also will there be people who are taken away when Messiah returns. He is saying that the wicked will be removed from the earth once again, just as was done in the days of Noah.
This is the opposite of the ‘Left Behind’ series which portrays the godly as the ones being taken away. Also, notice that He said He would return ‘Immediately after the tribulation’, and people will be taken away at ‘the coming of the Son of Man’. Therefore, this snatching away of the wicked people from the earth will take place after the tribulation, and the godly people will remain on earth with Yeshua as part of His kingdom. Therefore, we do not want to be the one who is taken away, ‘as the days of Noah were’.
So, where did the rapture doctrine come from, and why has it become so popular today? The earliest record of anyone proposing a rapture theory was in 1590, by a Catholic Jesuit named Francisco Ribera, but there is no documented evidence of anyone teaching the rapture prior to the late 18th century. The first known mention was in an essay published in 1788 by Morgan Edwards,[dxlviii] and the next was by a Jesuit priest named Manuel Lacunza in 1811 who wrote ‘La venida del Mesías en gloria y majestad’ (The Coming of the Messiah in Glory and Majesty) under the false-name Juan Josafat Ben Ezra, which was translated into English by Edward Irving in 1827.
Also in 1827, John Nelson Darby put forth the most noteworthy works regarding the rapture, which caused the theory to circulate among the masses. As a result, Darby is believed by many to be the one who introduced the rapture concept, since there were no major Christian teachings about it prior to him. However, according to Dr. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Darby’s works on the rapture can actually be traced back to Edward Irving[dxlix], who received his information from the Jesuit priest, Manuel Lacunza. Even though he was not the first to mention it, Darby was definitely the one who made it popular.
Darby is also called the ‘father of dispensationalism’, because he was so instrumental in spreading the dispensationalist mindset. Dispensationalism is the belief that God deals differently with the Church than He did with the Israelites.
Darby taught that the prophetic timetable had been paused at the founding of the church and that the unfulfilled Biblical prophecies will not take place until after the Rapture of the church. He also taught that the Rapture would be a ‘secret’ catching away that could happen at any moment without any signs or warnings.
By the late 1800’s, preachers such as C. I. Scofield began teaching the Rapture theory along with dispensationalism, and increasing its popularity among protestant churches worldwide. Scofield also published his own translation of the Bible called the ‘Scofield Reference Bible’, which he used to teach the Rapture theory in his footnotes. With over three million copies printed in the first fifty years, this popular Bible was widely distributed in both the United States and England. Many of the preachers who read this Bible accepted its footnotes as authoritative, and began teaching the Rapture theory in their own churches. This is when the rapture really became a common belief among protestants.
The Rapture became even more popular in the 1970s when Hal Lindsey wrote ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’, and in the 1990s with the ‘Left Behind’ series by Jim Jenkins and Tim LaHaye…. Obviously, the rapture theory has become very popular among Christians, but popularity is not what determines sound doctrine. Our doctrine must from the Word of God alone, and not the imaginations of men.”
(Immortal: The Truth About Heaven, Hell, and the Resurrection by Lex Meyer)
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. (future rewards). But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two(giving him his due- the second death) and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (40-51)- regret and anger at this administration of justice.
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