Matthew 24:1-31

After Jesus made His pronouncement on the temple, Jesus left it. His disciples came to Him pointing out the temple, perhaps simply admiring the beauty of it or possibly wondering why Jesus would say it would be left desolate. Jesus told them that the temple would be torn down to the point that there would not be one stone left on top of another. The disciples had given a little too much importance to the temple building. The church is not a building - it is the people who worship God. The place where we worship is not as important as how we worship.


The disciples asked about the destruction of the temple, Jesus' return, and the end times. He warns them first to not be deceived by people who claim to be the Christ. There are those that for whatever reason would pretend to be Christ. The disciples knew the real deal and were to be on the lookout for any fakes. There would be wars, famine, and earthquakes, but that was just the beginning. The disciples were going to be hated, persecuted and even killed because they proclaimed the name of Jesus. People would turn against one another, false prophets would begin leading people astray, but the disciples were not to lose their faith during all of this. They were to continue preaching the gospel to all the nations. After all of this happened, then the destruction of the temple would take place.

We often want to know the particulars of a situation. We want to know when something will happen and how it will happen. Here, Jesus gave general instructions about what the disciples should be doing and looking for. If He gave them a specific date, would they have kept doing what they were called to do or just sit around and wait? We need to be ready at any time for God's will to be worked out so that we will constantly be ready.

In the days when all this was to take place, Jesus said that people should escape to the mountains, not turning back for any personal belongings. Many lives would be lost, but for the sake of saving believers, God would not allow events to progress to the point that everyone would be killed. Again, He warns not to be deceived by rumors of the Messiah being here or there, because no one can predict where He will return.

Jesus finished off with the signs of His coming at the end times, using Old Testament prophecies about the sun and moon being darkened and the stars falling from the sky. He also spoke of coming on a cloud and gathering together the elect.


Much of what Jesus said in these verses can be interpreted to apply to the destruction of the Temple or the His second coming at the end times. It is most likely that both events are described here. God often repeats the same theme again and again in different generations. There are lessons to be learned from those who have gone before us and the Bible has many examples of what God wants us to do and what happens when we don't.