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Matthew 24:35  | 1749 24:17 v  1Sa  9:25; Mt 10:27; Lk 12:3; Ac 10:9 24:19 w  Lk  23:29 24:21 x  Da  12:1; Joel 2:2 24:22 y   ver  24, ​31 z 24:23  Lk 17:23; 21:8 24:24 a  2Th  2:9-11; Rev 13:13 24:27 b  Lk  17:24 c  Mt  8:20 24:28 d  Lk  17:37 24:29 e  Isa  13:10; 34:4; Eze 32:7; Joel 2:10, ​31; Zep 1:15; Rev 6:12, ​13; 8:12 24:30 f  Da  7:13; Rev 1:7 24:31 g  Mt  13:41 h  Isa 27:13; Zec 9:14; 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16; Rev 8:2; 10:7; 11:15 24:33 i  Jas  5:9 24:34 j  Mt  16:28; 23:36 24:35 k  Mt  5:18 are in Ju­dea flee to the moun­tains. 17 Let no one on the house­top  v go down to take any­thing out of the ­house. 18 Let no one in the f ­ ield go back to get t ­ heir ­cloak. 19 How dread­ful it will be in ­those days for preg­nant women and nurs­ing moth­ers!  w 20 Pray that your ­flight will not take p ­ lace in win­ter or on the Sab­bath. 21 For then t ­ here will be g ­ reat dis­tress, un­equaled from the be­gin­ning of the ­world un­til now — ​and never to be ­equaled ­again.  x 22 “If t ­ hose days had not been cut ­short, no one ­would sur­vive, but for the sake of the elect  y ­those days will be short­ened. 23 At that time if any­one says to you, ‘Look, here is the Mes­siah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not be­lieve it.  z 24  For ­false mes­si­ahs and ­false proph­ets will ap­pear and per­form ­great ­signs and won­ders  a to de­ceive, if pos­si­ble, even the ­elect. 25 See, I have told you ­ahead of ­time. 26 “So if any­one t ­ ells you, ‘There he is, out in the wil­der­ness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the in­ner ­rooms,’ do not be­lieve it. 27 For as light­ning  b that ­comes from the east is vis­i b ­ le even in the west, so will be the com­ing of the Son of Man.  c 28 Wher­ever ­there is a car­cass, ­there the vul­tures will ­gather.  d 29  “Im­me­di­ately af­ter the dis­tress of ­those ­days “ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’  a   e 30 “Then will ap­pear the sign of the Son of Man in heav­en. And then all the peo­ples of the ­earth  b will ­mourn when they see the Son of Man com­ing on the ­clouds of heaven,  f with power and ­great glory.  c 31 And he will send his an­gels  g with a loud trum­pet call,  h and they will gather his ­elect from the four ­winds, from one end of the heav­ens to the ­other. 32 “Now ­learn this les­son from the fig tree: As soon as its t ­ wigs get ten­der and its l ­ eaves come out, you know that sum­mer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all t ­ hese ­things, you know that it  d is near, r ­ ight at the door.  i 34 Truly I tell you, this gen­er­a­tion will cer­tainly not pass away un­til all ­these ­things have hap­pened.  j 35 Heaven and ­earth will pass away, but my ­words will never pass ­away.  k a  29 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4    b  30 Or the tribes of the land    c  30 See Daniel 7:13-14.    d  33 Or he    24:17 housetop. Roofs were flat so that indi- viduals could work, socialize, and even sleep there. 24:19  pregnant women and nursing moth- ers. They would find it much harder to travel rapidly. 24:20 in winter. Dirt roads would be muddied by rains and harder to traverse. on the Sab- bath. There would be travel restrictions. 24:21 great distress. Most think ­Jesus is fore- shadowing the “great distress” (or “tribula- tion”) that will surround his second coming, not talking just of the events of AD 70. But to say that at the end of the age, just before God redeems his creation fully, such misery is never to be equaled again seems so obvious as to be almost pointless. But if ­Jesus has in mind an event in the “middle” of human his- tory, then the statement makes good sense. The suffering and eventual extinction of the Jews in Jerusalem and the total destruction of the city are well-known. Alternately, the verse is idiomatic for great destruction (cf. Ezek 5:9) or it means that if allowed to con- tinue, such distress would destroy everyone. 24:22 those days. Refers to the time of un- equaled distress just described. no one would survive. Apparently refers to physical life. the elect. Means ­Jesus’ followers. 24:24 false messiahs and false prophets. Re- peats the warnings of vv. 4 – 5,11. if possible. Suggests th at the deception perpetrated by these individuals is so severe that, were it possible “to deceive” Christ’s true followers, even they would be led into apostasy. 24:26 – 28  The reason not to believe claims that the Messiah has reappeared in one par- ticular place, outdoors or indoors, is that “the coming of the Son of man” (v. 27) will be as universally, publicly, and instantaneously dis- closed as “lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west” (v. 27). Verse 28 is unusually difficult to decipher but appears to be a metaphor about the inevitability of two events following one another. An animal or human “carcass” left in the wild will invari- ably become carrion for birds of prey. Perhaps Jesus’ point is that so too his return will put an end to all this unparalleled wickedness and deception. However, “vultures” (v. 28) could also be “eagles,” a symbol for the Ro- man Empire. So maybe ­Jesus is recapitulating the inevitability of the destruction of Jerusa- lem by Rome (as in v. 15; see note there). 24:29 – 51  These verses describe the return of Christ. “Immediately” in v. 29 could mean that “the distress of those days” (v. 29) surrounding the destruction of the temple in some sense continues all the way until ­Jesus’ second com- ing (cf. 2 Tim 3:12). Or perhaps the “abomina- tion that causes desolation” (v. 15) will be reenacted on a more awful scale just before Christ’s return (cf. Rev 7:14 on those in the last days who will “come out of the great tribu- lation”). Either way, ­Jesus now moves ahead to the events surrounding his return in glory. These are signs of the end (vv. 29 – 35), but the day and hour remain unknown (vv. 36 – 51). 24:29 This is apocalyptic language taken from texts like Isa 13:10; 34:4. The point is probably not that there are literal cosmic upheavals as depicted or that the universe comes to an end instantly. Rather, the significance of what is about to happen is so great that life as it has been previously experienced cannot continue. A new age is dawning. 24:30 sign. This is the only place where ­Jesus refers to the “sign” the disciples requested in v. 3, and he does not tell them what it is. What- ever it is — perhaps a “banner” or “standard” (see Isa 11:12; 18:3; 49:22; Jer 4:21; 51:27) — it is part and parcel of Christ’s coming so that it is not something that can enable believers to predict in advance when the second com- ing will occur. the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. Partially recalls Dan 7:13 – 14, in which a privileged human is ushered into the very presence of God to be given univer- sal authority over the kingdoms of the earth. Here, though, the clouds usher Christ from heaven to earth. It is not clear if “the peoples of the earth will mourn” in repentance or in grief because it is now too late to repent. 24:31 angels . . . will gather. Christ’s followers will be gathered together from wherever they reside on earth for protection and reward. 24:32 – 33 The Parable of the Fig Tree. The bud- ding “fig tree” (v. 32) was a crucial barometer for the coming of summer in ancient Israel. Likewise, all of the events ­Jesus has sketched in this sermon will enable his disciples to know that his return and the fullness of God’s kingdom that it brings are getting close. 24:34 all these things. Must refer to the same events as “all these things” in v. 33, which occur before the second coming. So ­Jesus cannot be predicting his return within “this generation,” i.e., the lifetime of his followers. Instead, he must be promising that all of the preliminary events, including the destruction of Jerusalem — which must take place before he can return — will take place within about a 40-year period of time. From AD 70 on, the church has consistently believed that Christ could return in its day. The events that still remain to be fulfilled can unfold so quickly that believers must be prepared for the end in every generation. 24:35 ­Jesus’ “words,” especially on the top- ics of this sermon, are more permanent and