I was reading Matthew 24 and for some reason alarm bells went off inside my head. I closely examined all the gospel accounts of 'the last days' and compared various scriptures from Daniel. This is what I found. This post is open to critisicm and I look forward to your comments.
At Matthew 24:3 it says the following: (NWT)
"While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: "tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things."
The New American Standard Bible renders the transalation as follows..
"And as He was sitting 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?"
Notice in the American translation, the word 'Coming' is used as opposed to 'presence' in the NWT.
To get a clear perspective about what it was the disciples were really asking, one must read the verses prior to Matthew 24.
Matthew 23:37-39
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to
her, - how often I wanted to gather your children togther, the way a hen gathers
her chicks together under her wings! But you people did not want it. Look! Your
house is abandoned to you. For I say to you, You will by no means see me from
henceforth until you say, 'Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah's name!"
This account here tells us that Jesus felt sad about what would happen to Jerusalem because of their rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. There house was indeed abandoned to them. But what would happen?
Take a look at Matthew 24:1-2
"Departing now, Jesus was on his way from the temple, but his disciples approached
him to show him the buildings of the temple. In response he said to them: "Do YOU
not behold all these things? Truly I say to YOU, By no means will a stone be left
here upon a stone and not be thrown down."
When JW's explain the 'last days' they rarely, if ever mention verses 1 and 2 of Matthew 24.
But it is necessary to consider them if we really want to know what it was Jesus' disciples were asking.
Let's take another look....
"Departing now, Jesus was on his way from the temple, but his disciples approached
him to show him the buildings of the temple. In response he said to them: "Do YOU
not behold all these things? Truly I say to YOU, By no means will a stone be left
here upon a stone and not be thrown down. While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives,
the disciples approached him privately, saying: "tell us, when will these things be, and what
will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things." - Matthew 24:1-3
The disciples asked Jesus three questions after Jesus explained what would happen to Jersualem.
1)When will these things be?
2)What will be the sign of your presence?
3)What will be the sign of the conclusion of the system of things?
Question 1-When will these things be?
Jesus had already just told them what would happen to Jerusalem after the disiples were amazed over the temple buildings and the size of the stones used:
"In response he said to them: "Do YOU not behold all these things? Truly I
say to YOU, By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not
be thrown down." - Matthew 24:2
Question 2-What will be the sign of your presence?
This has always been a hard question. Is it 'coming' or 'presence' ? And does Jesus' presence begin in 1914, or does this passage of scripture refer to what will happen to Jerusalem instead?
Take note of the following scriptures:
Matthew 4:14
"And in answer Jesus said to them: "Look out that nobody misleads YOU; for many
will come on the basis of my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead
many. You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not
terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will
be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.
*** just as a side note, the American Bible renders verse 7 as this way...
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various
places there will be famines and earthquakes."
before I continue, the American translation says that there would be earthquakes and famines in various places, not 'one place after another' as the NWT says. The NWT gives the impression of a chain recation, where one earthquake immediately begins after the previous one.
anyway, I digress, Matthew 8:14 continues...
"All these things are a beginning of the pangs of distress. Then people will
deliver you up to tribulation and will kill YOU and will be objects of hatred
by all the nations on account of my name. Then, also, many will be stumbled and
will betray one another and will hate one another. And many false prophets will
arrise and mislead many; and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love
of the greater number will cool off. But he that has endured to the end is the
one that will be saved. And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached in
all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations and then the end will
come."
At this years district convention, the Drama is all about how Peter and John and the apostles were persecuted by the Sanhedrin for preaching about the name of Jesus. Stephen was also stoned to death.
Matthew 8:13 could realistically only apply to the time period after Jesus died in 33 AD, not in the 21st century. Really, ask yourselves, how often do we see Christians persecuted for Jesus' sake being killed and delivered up to kings?
verse 14 which we all know very well says the following...
"And this good news of the Kingdom will be preached to all the inhabited earth
for a witness to all the nations and then the end will come."
The 'end' of what though? The world system of things or the Jewish system of things?
Consider what the Insight on the Scriptures book (vol 1) says on pg 987 concerning the preaching work that Jesus told his disciples to do...
"He also told them that their preaching would reach to "the most distant part
of the earth." For about three and a half years afterward the holy spirit
led the disicples to confine their preaching to Jews and Samaritans. Then Peter
was sent by God to bring the good news to the household of the army officer
Cornelius. From that time on, the good news was declared to the greatest possible
extent over the widest area."
Consider also the scripture at Colossians 1:23
"provided of course, that YOU continue in the faith, established on the
foundation and steadfast and not being shifted away from the hope of that
good news which YOU heard, and which was preached in all creation that is
under heaven. Of this good news, I Paul became a minister.
was the good news preached in all the inhabited earth? It appears so. So, back to the question, what was the sign of Jesus' presence? The signs were all the things mentioned at Matthew 24:4-14
Question 3 - When/What would be the sign of the conclusion of the system of things?
Again, another angle on this. What was the conclusion of the system of things? We know that the 'conclusion of the system of things' was the end of the Jewish system of things. Whether it has a modern day parallel fulfillment remains to be seen, we can only wait.
consider the warning Jesus gave his disciples and the digusting thing standing in a holy
place. Both sets of scriptures will be placed side by side to give easier reference.
Matthew 24:15-22 Daniel 9:26-27
"Therefore when you catch sight of the "And after the sixty-two weeks
disgusting thing that causes desolation Messiah will be cut off, with
, as spoken of thorugh Daniel the nothing for himself.
prophet, standing in a holy place, (let And the city and the holy place
the reader use discernment,) then let the people of a leader that is
those in Judea begin fleeing to the coming will bring to their ruin.
mountains. Let the man on the housetop And the end of it will be by the
not come down to take the goods out of flood. And until [the] end there
his house; and let the man in the field will be war; what is decided upon
not return to pick up his outer garment. is desolations.
Woe to the pregnant women and to those And he must keep the covenant in
suckling a baby in those days! Keep force for the many for one week
praying that your flight may not occur ; and at the half of the week he
in winter tim, nor, on the Sabbath day; will cause sacrifice and gift
for then there will be a great offering to cease. "And upon the
tribulation such as has not occured since wing of disgusting things there
the worlds beginning until now, nor will will be one causing desolation
occur again. In short, unless those days ; and until an extermination, the
were cut short, no flesh would be saved; very thing decided upon will go
but on account of the chosen ones those pouring out also upon the one
days will be cut short." lying desolate.
Was there a great tribulation? The Roman armies came in 70 AD and destroyed Jersualem. Over 1,000,000 people died. Reports were told of mothers eating their babies, a big famine and the whole city was set on fire. In 73 AD, the last Jewish outpost at Masada was also destroyed.
Another warning regarding Jerusalem's destruction can be found at Luke 21:20,21
"Furthermore, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, know that
the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing
to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those
in the country places not enter into her."
We often recall using 2nd Timothy 3:1-5 when talking to people about the 'last days'. Yet when did Paul actually write that letter to Timothy?
Paul wrote that letter in 65AD. It could be said that the five year interval between 65 AD and 70 AD could constitute the last days of the Jewish system of things.
to summarize
The disciples wanted to know when the Jewish systems of things would be destroyed, what would be the sign Jesus would give to indicate this was so and what would replace the Jewish system of things.