Seeds for 01/16/2024 - Matthew 24:1-14
Scripture: Jesus left the temple and was walking away when His disciples came up to Him to call His attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” He asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Observation: If the “seven woes” of Matthew 23 where challenging to read well, they were but a warm-up for the discussion of “the end of the age” in Matthew 24, to use the disciples’ wording from verse 3.
One thing that is challenging about reading this text well, and other texts following it this week, is that Jesus describes the sort of events that, to paraphrase He Himself, we seem always to have with us. When has it not been true that there are wars and rumors of wars, nations and kingdoms rising up against others, famines and earthquakes in various places? The reference to false messiahs was true in Jesus’ own day. As N.T. Wright has pointed out, there were many would-be messiahs in the first century, but Jesus’ bodily resurrection proved He was the true Messiah.
Not only this, but the disciples “will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and… will be hated because of me.” Again, this is what Christian tradition holds up as the fate of most of the apostles, not to mention other Christian martyrs over the centuries.
What stands out to me within this text is a personal assurance and a missional promise.
First, the personal assurance: “the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” The terrible things that can happen throughout life test our faith. They assault our belief system and our trust in God at times. Likewise, whatever the “end of the age” looks like in particular, Jesus gives an assurance that contains an implicit exhortation: “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” In other words, when the world goes sideways, stay anchored in Christ. Stay faithful to Him. Don’t give up hope. He will overcome, so persevere in His promise. Our calling is to grow our faith at all times so that we can maintain our faithfulness in trying times.
Second, the missional promise: “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Jesus’ core proclamation was that the kingdom of God had come in Him, which called for repentance and belief. He will give the Great Commission, charging the disciples to do just this. Here, He delivers a powerful promise—that no nation will be left without a witness having delivered the good news. Lord, make it so!
Application:
What helps you stay anchored in the Lord during particularly trying times?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, grow my faithfulness during any future circumstances by increasing my faith and devotion today. Amen.
Bible Nerd Aside on dating the composition of the Gospels
Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple in verses 1-2 (likewise in Mark and Luke). This is the sort of historical reference that comes into play when dating the Gospels. Generally accepted dates for the Gospels by most orthodox Christian scholars have Mark written around AD 63-65, with Matthew and Luke composed in the 70s or maybe 80s. The temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. Because most scholars posit Matthew and Luke having used Mark as among the source material for their works, this dating system assumes that Jesus’ prediction is authentic. The prediction shows up in Mark prior to the historical event, then Matthew and Luke carry it over into their Gospels as well.
Ordinary believers wouldn’t think much of taking Jesus’ prediction at face value, but it’s helpful to note that people with non-supernatural assumptions generally hold that Mark could not have been written before AD 70 because that historical fact would not have been known yet and they do not assume that Jesus can predict the future. Believing that Jesus can make this prediction doesn’t mean that we must assume an earlier date for Mark’s writing, of course. But it does mean that we’ve got no reason to rule out that Mark was written prior to the temple’s destruction if that’s where the evidence otherwise points.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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