CRITICAL NOTES
Matthew 24:1. To show Him the buildings of the temple.—Was that glorious house indeed to be left “desolate”? Would not the sight of its glories lead Him to recall those words of evil omen?
Matthew 24:2. See ye not all these things?—The expression, “all these things,” does not refer definitely to the buildings of the temple. It refers to these buildings only in so far as they were contingently connected with a more generic class of things, the things of dread significance to which our Saviour had been referring in some of His concluding remarks within the courts of the Gentiles. See Matthew 23:36, where the same expression occurs. It is as if He had said, “Are ye yet in the dark? Do ye not yet understand that Judaism is doomed, as a thing thoroughly effete and incurably corrupt?” etc. (Morison). There shall not be left here one stone upon another.—The remains which recent explorations have disinterred belong, all of them, to the substructures of the temple—its drains, foundations, underground passages, and the like (Plumptre).
Matthew 24:3. End of the world.—Consummation of the age (R.V. margin). When the “end of the world” is spoken of in the New Testament, the term αἰών, the present dispensation or order of things, is used, and not κόσμος, the planetary system, the created universe (Schaff). It is evident that the coming of Christ and the end of the world were closely connected in the disciples’ minds with the judgment that was about to come upon the temple and the chosen people—a connection which was right in point of fact, though wrong in point of time (Gibson). The near as well as the distant event is viewed as the coming of the Son of man.
Matthew 24:5. Deceive many.—Lead many astray (R.V.). No direct fulfilments of this prediction are recorded, either in the New Testament, or by Josephus or other historians. In the excited fanaticism of the time, however, it was likely enough that such pretenders should arise and disappear, after each had lived out his little day, and fill no place in history (Plumptre). See 1 John 2:18.
Matthew 24:6. Wars and rumours.—The forty years that intervened before the destruction of Jerusalem were full of these in all directions; but we may probably think of the words as referring specially to wars, actual or threatened, that affected the Jews—such, e.g., as those of which we read under Caligula, Claudius, and Nero (ibid.).
Matthew 24:7. Nation shall rise against nation, etc.—“Pestilences” omitted in R.V. Perhaps originally inserted in the margin, by some harmonist, from Luke 21:11. Occurrences of the character here indicated are recorded by contemporary historians. But “the passage combines in one view the whole of the various social, physical, and climatic crises of development in the whole New Testament dispensation” (Lange).
Matthew 24:11. False prophets.—At the siege of Jerusalem “false prophets suborned by the Zealots kept the people in a state of feverish excitement, as though the appointed Deliverer would still appear” (Milman). See also Acts 20:29; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Matthew 24:1-14
Until the end.—When the Lord Jesus and His disciples come away from the temple (Matthew 24:1), that conspicuous building is much in their thoughts, but in different ways. They are thinking of its beauty and grandeur. He is thinking, and tells them so, of its approaching destruction (Matthew 24:2). That leads them to think and inquire in turn about other things in the future (see Matthew 24:3). To these questions the Saviour replies by a word of warning, in the first place; a word of explanation, in the second place; a word of hope, in the end.
I. A word of warning.—The subject they ask about is not by any means an easy one. It is one, on the contrary, in regard to which they will do specially well to “take heed.” That is His first word on the point (Matthew 24:4). “Take heed that no man lead you astray” on this subject. Take heed of this, because there will always be a number of false guides in existence. Take heed of this, because such misleading teachers will usually be of very plausible bearing and look. Take heed of this, because they will succeed often in persuading men to believe them (Matthew 24:5). Such, in brief, will be the character of the days preceding the end! Such the state of things on earth until the “coming” or “appearing” of Christ. “Deceivers,” and “being deceived.” Many teaching what is erroneous. Many accepting it as correct. Those, therefore, who are in the midst of such will do well indeed to “take heed.”
II. A word of explanation.—Why is it that there will always be these many mistakes on this matter? Partly, of course, because of the usual folly and presumption of men. These will account, in most subjects, for almost any amount of both gullibility and conceit. It is never quite wise, therefore, in any subject, to accept all that one hears; or to take for granted that all things will always turn out eventually as they appear to be at the first. But still more, of course, will things tend to be thus in regard to that very novel and all but unexampled phenomenon here described as “the end.” That very title implies that it will be something such as never happened before. And that very fact, therefore, implies further that there will be unusual difficulty in discriminating (in connection with it) between the false and the real. Hence, therefore, what our Lord says here, first, in regard to the world. At one time the world will be full of cries of alarm; a general break-up will appear imminent; the “end” will seem close. Instead of which these signs will be signs only that the world is on the way to the “end” (Matthew 24:6). At another time there will be more than alarm—there will be actual conflict and strife, families of men against other families, and nature, apparently, against all. This is surely the very eve of the end (Matthew 24:7). Not at all; it is only a beginning, a first battle out of very many, the suffering which marks the first stage in development, and which is to be followed, naturally, by still more (Matthew 24:8). So, also, of what the Saviour appears to say, next, of the church. Many outward assailants, much bitter persecution—no friendliness to it anywhere—will sometimes mark its surroundings (Matthew 24:9). Also, much inward treachery—false teachers and disciples in abundance, evil-doing abounding, good-doing discouraged—will mark, at the same time, its condition (Matthew 24:11-12). Altogether, in short, things will look as though they could no longer be “endured”; and even faith itself will be inclined to say of them that they can no longer go on. Not so, however, even then must true faith conclude. These things are but reasons for further patience; not for giving all up. More still has to be “endured”—perhaps a good deal more—before the final closing of all. Happy he who knows this, and is, so, able to “wait” (Matthew 24:13; see also Revelation 6:10-11; Revelation 13:10; Revelation 14:12).
III. A word of hope.—Is there, then, no reliable way of ascertaining the approach of the “end”? There is; but it is to be sought by faith in quite another direction. Such hope is to be sought for, in the first place, in the continuance of the Word. Whatever may be the opposition to it on the part of the world, whatever the disloyalty to it on the part of organisations and “churches,” the preaching of the “gospel” (Matthew 24:14) shall never wholly cease in this “age.” Always there shall be some to know it—and some to teach it—in truth. Hope is to be sought for, in the next place, in the spread of the Word. The “whole world” is ultimately to be penetrated thereby. “All the nations” are to hear in turn of the message of the “kingdom.” And the more there is seen of this, therefore, the more evidence there will be, as well of the certainty as of the near approach, of the “end.” And especially will this be felt, therefore, when we consider, finally, what is said here about the purpose of thus spreading the Word. It is in order that the sound of its message may come as a “testimony” to all (Matthew 24:14). Every separate land is to hear those tidings which were meant for all from the first. No nation is to be left without this “witness” of the love and mercy of God; no nation to be without its opportunity of hearing of salvation through Christ. The inference seems irresistible. When the last nation has had its opportunity, the day of opportunity will be over. When the day of grace has been thus extended to all, it will not be far from its close. This, we say, is the natural inference. The Saviour Himself also here solemnly tells us the same. “Then shall the end come!” “Then shall the end have come.” So it might be translated.
This view of the “age” sets before us:—
1. The sad depravity of mankind.—What a succession of pictures—of apparent disappointments—is here! What opposition and rebellion on the one side! Centuries of appeal, centuries of contempt, on the part of the world. What weakness and unwisdom on the other! Centuries of trust, centuries of coming short of it, to say nothing more, on the part of the church! The very “salt of the earth” continually tending to corruption and death!
2. The wonderful patience of God.—Bearing with all this so as to call forth (as we have seen from the descriptions given and the passages quoted) the continual astonishment of the church. Rarely, indeed, would even the people of God have been as God Himself in this matter.
3. The absolute certainty of the end.—This miracle of forbearance, in the nature of things, cannot always go on. The longer it endures, on the contrary, the surer, evidently, its close. How can God allow His own designs always to be thwarted? Or His own people always to be oppressed? Or His own Son always to be disappointed, waiting for His crown? Such never-ending delay, in a word, would differ little from falseness itself. A thing, here, not to be thought of (Titus 1:2).
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Matthew 24:2. The destruction of Jerusalem.—It was not merely the destruction of a city, but the close of a dispensation—the end of that great ago which began with the call of Abraham to come out from Ur of the Chaldees, and be the father of a people chosen of the Lord. It was “the end of the world” (cf. R.V., Matthew 24:3, margin) to the Jews, the end of the world which then was, the passing away of the old to give place to the new. It was the event which bore the same relation to the Jews as the Flood did to the antediluvians, which was emphatically the end of the world to them. If we bear this in mind, it will enable us to appreciate the tremendous importance assigned to this event wherever it is referred to in the sacred Scriptures, and especially in this momentous chapter.—J. M. Gibson, D.D.
Matthew 24:6. Consolation during pestilence.—“See that ye be not troubled,” for:—
I. National calamities work out God’s purposes.
II. Ye are in God’s hands.—“It is appointed unto men once to die.” “All the day’s of my appointed time,” etc. “Every man is immortal until his work is done.” Not fatalism but Providence is the doctrine of the New Testament.
III. Trouble does no good, but much harm (Psalms 91:6).
IV. God gives you the means of safety.—T. R. Stevenson.
Matthew 24:11. False teachers.—
1. Christians may be tempted to defection by their own teachers, who, ere people be aware, may make defection themselves, and then fall to seduce the people. “Many false prophets shall arise.”
2. This sort of temptation is ready to prevail with people, and to draw such away whom open persecution could not drive from the truth; for, it is said, “They shall deceive many,” because disputation and opposition against the truth (for which we are called to suffer), by our own teachers, when they begin to swerve from the truth, is a harder onset against a man’s faith than when fire and sword are threatened, in the case of a cause clear and not questioned by our teachers.—David Dickson.
Matthew 24:12. The weakening of love.—
1. Honest men do suffer much in their estimation, when the hypocrisy of hypocrites is discovered; for iniquity abounding breedeth mutual suspicion of one another’s sincerity, a man not knowing whom to trust, when by outbreaking of much iniquity he findeth many to be false.
2. When abounding iniquity breedeth much jealousy, as mutual esteem and confidence are weakened, so is mutual love diminished.
3. This is a sore trial when, beside the common adversary, the godly do grow suspicious one of another, and dare not trust one another, and so do grow cold in their love to one another.—Ibid.
Matthew 24:13. Final perseverance not inevitable.—When our Lord says that none can pluck from the Father’s hand those who are His, He does not say that they who are His may not themselves break or fall away from Him. The grace of God does not make our final perseverance inevitable. It makes it possible, probable, morally certain if you will, but morally and not mechanically certain. God who has made us free respects the freedom which He has given us. He does not crush it even by His own merciful gifts; and grace no more absolutely assures heaven than does natural will or the force of habit conquer the road to it. What are the causes which make endurance to the end difficult in so very many Christian lives?
I. “The persecution that ariseth because of the Word.”—Persecution is in any case friction; and friction, if only it be continued long enough, brings movement to a standstill, until there be a new supply of the impelling force.
II. The false Christs and the false prophets.—Our faith is undermined by people who talk and write in the very best English, and who have so much about them that is winning and agreeable that we cannot believe what is really going on. We cannot go on breathing a bad air, and be as we were when we lived high up on the mountain, unless we take very great precautions.
III. Then there is the weariness which steals over thought and heart with the lapse of time.—Human faculties, after all, are finite. They spend themselves and they fall back into lassitude and exhaustion. After great experiences, there is—I do not say a relapse, but a condition of less keenness of insight, less tension of will, less warmth of affection, less conscious effort of intelligence and of sanctified passion; and lookers-on say that the excitement has passed, and that commonsense has resumed its sway, and the soul, too, knows that something has passed from it—inevitably, no doubt, from the nature of the case. And with this knowledge there comes depression; and this depression is in its way a trial, permitted, as we may believe, in order to make our service of God more unselfish than it would be if it were sustained throughout life by an uninterrupted sense of ecstasy. But it is a trial under which some men have failed. And then it may be the case that all is lost, and that perseverance is forfeited.
IV. And once more there is the trifling with conscience, not necessarily in great matters, but in a number of little matters—omission of morning and evening prayers, or their curtailment; neglect of a regular review of conscience; carelessness as to the objects upon which money is spent, and as to the proportion in which it is given to works of religion and mercy; recklessness in intercourse with others, especially if they are younger or less well informed. These and like matters help forward and dull the inoperative condition of conscience, which is in itself preparatory to a great failure. Perseverance is likely to be secured by three things especially:
(1) by a sense of constant dependence on God;
(2) by prayer for perseverance;
(3) by keeping the mind fixed as much as possible on the end of life and on that which follows it.—Canon Liddon.
Matthew 24:14. The preaching of the gospel.—I. It is called the “gospel of the kingdom,” because it reveals the kingdom of grace, which leads to the kingdom of glory; sets up Christ’s kingdom in this world, and secures ours in the other world.
II. This gospel, sooner or later, is to be preached in all the world, to every creature, and all nations discipled by it; for in it Christ is to be salvation to the ends of the earth; for this end the gift of tongues was the first-fruits of the Spirit.
III. The gospel is preached “for a witness unto all nations”; that is, a faithful declaration of the mind and will of God concerning the duty which God requires from man, and the recompense which man may expect from God. It is a record (1 John 5:11); it is a witness for those who believe, that they shall be saved; and against those who persist in unbelief, that they shall be damned.—M. Henry.
The end.—“Then shall the end come.”
I. When?—
1. When the gospel has been preached to all the world.
(1) As a witness unto it.
(2) As a witness against it: a savour of life or death.
2. When the fulness of the Gentiles is come in.
II. Why?—
1. God’s faithfulness demands it, in aid of His church, endangered by worldliness (Matthew 24:12).
2. Iniquity demands it.—“Lawlessness” shall abound. “Where the carcase is,” etc.
III. How?—
1. Suddenly, as a thief in the night.
2. By cosmic irregularities; powers of nature shaken.—Proctor’s “Gems of Thought.”