Introduction & background
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"Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, but at night he went and stayed on the Mount of Olives." (Luke 21:37).
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Chapter divisions in the Bible were only added in 1227 AD, and verse divisions in the mid 16th century. This fact becomes important when reading passages such as Matthew Chapter 24, because of the location Jesus was at when He said certain things.
For example, this is what Matthew 23:37 - Matthew 24:2 looks like in the original text, without the chapter and verse divisions:
Location: On the Temple Mount:
In the temple:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
Just outside the temple:
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, "See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Matthew 23:37 - Matthew 24:2).
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After making that announcement, Jesus would have turned His back on that temple in order to make His way down the Temple Mount, across the Kidron Valley, and up the Mount of Olives.
The Old Covenant was very soon to be abolished in Jesus' flesh (Ephesians 2:15). The veil in the temple that represented the Old Covenant system would be torn in two the moment Jesus died (Matthew 27:50-51).
Just a few hours later at the last Passover meal He shared with His disciples, Jesus would say to them:
"For this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28).
In the temple, to the Jews who asked Him, "What sign show you unto us, seeing that you do these things?", Jesus had just said:
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
Then said the Jews, "Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?"
But Jesus spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. (John 2:18-22).
Everything Jesus said and did in the temple that day is recorded from Matthew 21:12 to Matthew 23:39, and the Passover was approaching.
Therefore although John's gospel does not say which one of the annual Passover festivals (John 2:13) Jesus was attending when He made the above statement, John 2:14-17 compared with Matthew 21:12-13 makes it clear that it was the same day Jesus made the announcement regarding the coming destruction of the temple of stone (it was the same day Jesus had made a scourge of small cords and driven all the sheep and oxen out of the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers and poured out their money).
It was less than 72 hours before the betrayal of Jesus and His arrest, trial, and crucifixion. In order to bring in the New Covenant and the new things that lay ahead, Jesus was soon to sweat blood pleading with His Father that if at all possible, to let that cup pass from Him.
So as He was making His way to the Mount of Olives from the Temple Mount that day, Jesus would have been very, very aware of the tribulation that lay ahead - first for Himself, and then (following His ascension to heaven), for His apostles and disciples - those who were to become the "living stones" (living humans) of the New Testament Temple - especially during the first century (eleven of the apostles were brutally murdered), and during the last century before His return, and every century in-between.
So compared to what would have been on Jesus' mind at that point in time, what would haven been on the minds of the apostles who asked Him the questions they asked once Jesus had sat down on the Mount of Olives?
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Location: On the Mount of Olives:
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3)
Mark's record tells us who those disciples were:
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?" (Mark 13:3-4).
If we want to know what "all these things" were that the apostles were referring to, we need to go back to everything that Jesus said in the Temple that day: Jesus had spoken about:
- The Kingdom of God being taken from the scribes, Pharisees and Priests of the Jews, and placed in the hands of others (Matthew 21:33-45; Luke 20:9-18; Mark 12:1-12).
- The resurrection of the dead (Matthew 22:23-32; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38).
- The coming destruction of the temple (Matthew 23:38-Matthew 24:2; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6).
* The first happened circa 30 AD, at the time of Jesus' death and resurrection.
* The second has not yet come, Christ having become the first-fruits of the resurrection through His own resurrection in circa 30 AD.
* The third happened in 70 AD.
"Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3)
According to traditional dates of the deaths of the apostles, by AD 70 (when armies gathered around Jerusalem), Peter, James and Andrew were not alive anymore. So they did not see the events Jesus had told them about in Luke 21:20-24.
It's very important to understand that at the time the apostles asked Jesus the questions they asked (on the Mount of Olives), the Old Covenant temple of stones was still very important TO THEM, because they:
- still did not know about Jesus' words which He was still to utter at the last supper about His blood and the new covenant,
- nor about what was to transpire immediately after the last supper,
- nor about the veil of the temple between the holy of holies and the holy place being torn in two when Jesus died,
- nor about Jesus' resurrection from the dead,
- nor about His ascension into heaven,
- nor about the Holy Spirit coming down and filling the church on the day of Pentecost.
- They did not know about the New Testament Temple when they asked the question.
Traditionally, Christian commentary on this passage has concentrated on what was on the apostles' minds and on the apostles' questions and on the temple of stone, instead of on what Jesus said in His reply.
WHAT DID JESUS TALK ABOUT IN HIS REPLY?
Depending on how carefully people read, and depending on whether or not they expect the answers to comply with a particular doctrine, people are going to come up with different answers to the above question as it relates to each part of what Jesus said that day:
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THE THREE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS
OF JESUS' WORDS IN HIS REPLY
Location: On the Mount of Olives.
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