TEXT [Commentary]

2. The desecration of the Holy Place: the Temple destroyed (24:15-28; cf. Mark 13:14-23; Luke 21:20-24)

15 “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration[*] standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!) 16 “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. 17 A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. 18 A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. 19 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. 20 And pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again. 22 In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.

23 “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. 25 See, I have warned you about this ahead of time.

26 “So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it! 27 For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man[*] comes. 28 Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.[*]”

NOTES

24:15 The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about. This is the closest Jesus comes to answering the disciples’ question about the Temple (24:3; cf. Mark 13:14-23; Luke 21:20-24).

the sacrilegious object that causes desecration. This is an allusion to Dan 8:13; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11 (cf. Testament of Levi 15:1; Apocalypse of Elijah 2:41; 4:21). Perhaps 23:38 also hints at this. Daniel’s prophecy of the desecration of the Temple is often tied to the pagan altar set up in the holy place by the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 167 BC (1 Macc 1:54, 59; 6:7; 2 Macc 6:1-5), but a desecration of the Temple had occurred long before Antiochus IV when in 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquered the city, destroyed the first Temple, and carried off its treasures (Dan 1:1-2; 5:2-4, 22-23; cf. 2 Kgs 24:10-15). Jesus envisioned a future desecration here (cf. 2 Thess 2:4).

Reader, pay attention. This may be Jesus encouraging his hearers to read Daniel, or it could be Matthew’s editorial words to his own readers. In either view, these words underline the gravity of the desecration of the holy place as a signal of the horrible events described in the following verses.

24:16-18 those in Judea must flee to the hills. When the Temple is desecrated, the only course of action for Jesus’ disciples is flight to the Judean hill country (24:16, 20). Evidently the situation envisioned is the siege of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-24; cf. Deut 28:53-57). Verse 16 is a general command, and the specific commands of 24:17-18 enforce its urgency (cf. Luke 17:31). The urgency of the hour would preclude packing or even getting a coat. Whether one is on a flat clay rooftop (Josh 2:6; 1 Sam 9:25; 2 Sam 11:2; Mark 2:4; Acts 10:9, 20) or in a field, there is no time to return to one’s house for supplies (cf. 1 Macc 2:28).

24:19-20 pregnant women and for nursing mothers . . . on the Sabbath. Fleeing would be especially difficult for women with young or unborn children and for everyone if it occured on the Sabbath. The rigors of the time will be even more horrible for pregnant women and nursing mothers (cf. Luke 23:28-31; 1 Cor 7:26; 2 Baruch 10:13-14). With winter came colder weather and the rainy season, and muddy roads would mean slower, more laborious travel. It is uncertain why flight on the Sabbath is especially difficult; most likely, Matthew’s Christian Jewish community would have scruples against breaking the traditional Sabbath travel restrictions (cf. Exod 16:29; Acts 1:12; m. Eruvin). Or perhaps it would be difficult to get out of walled cities or to obtain supplies on the Sabbath. In any event, movement on the Sabbath would be more noticeable than on other days. According to Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History (3.5.3), the Christians in Jerusalem fled to Pella, just east of the Jordan River about 65 miles northeast of Jerusalem, prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

24:21-22 there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. Here it is made clear that the unparalleled severity of these times is the reason for the urgent warnings of the previous verses. Unlike the generic troubles mentioned previously, which do not augur the end (24:9), such anguish (lit. “great tribulation”) has never been seen before and will never be seen again (cf. 24:29; Dan 12:1; Joel 2:2; Rev 7:14; 16:18; 1QM 1:9-14; 1 Macc 9:27; Testament of Moses 8:1; Josephus War 1.12). But God’s care for his chosen ones (22:14; 24:24, 31; cf. 13:38) will result in the shortening of this most horrible of times so that they might be saved (Dan 12:1; 4Q385 3 i 1-7; Barnabas 4:3; cf. 2 Baruch 20:1-2; 54:1; 83:1). It is difficult to accept the preterist view that this language was totally fulfilled by the events of AD 70. Hagner (1995:702-703) is probably correct in viewing the language as a hyperbolic reference to the catastrophe of AD 70 that will be literally true of the eschatological horrors.

24:23-25 false messiahs and false prophets will rise up. The topic of false messiahs and false prophets has been mentioned previously (24:4-5, 11), and it is developed at length in 24:23-28.

so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. Their miraculous signs and wonders would deceive God’s chosen ones if that were possible (cf. Exod 7:11; Deut 13:1-5; 2 Thess 2:9; 2 Pet 2:1; 1 John 2:18, 4:1; Rev 13:3; 19:20; Didache 16:4). Jesus had been reticent to perform and publicize miracles merely to gain a following (4:1-11; 12:15-21, 39; 16:1-4; 27:40), but the false messiahs will not be. Jesus’ warning the disciples about this danger ahead of time is evidently one of the means God uses to preserve his chosen ones.

24:26-27 don’t believe it! The general warning mentioned in 24:25 is spelled out in detail here. The disciples are not to believe claims that the Messiah is in some obscure place, like the desert or a hidden chamber in a building (cf. Luke 17:23-24). Messianic pretenders frequently hid out in the desert, away from the threat of Roman soldiers (Acts 21:38; Josephus War 2.258-263; Antiquities 20.97-99, 167-172, 188).

as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. In contrast to false claims, the genuine coming of Jesus (cf. 1 Cor 15:23; 1 Thess 2:19; 3:13; 4:15-17; Jas 5:7; 2 Pet 3:4; 1 John 2:28) will be unmistakably clear, like lightning which flashes across the sky from east to west (cf. Zech 9:14). There will be no doubt as to the identity of the Messiah when this happens.

24:28 as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near. The meaning of the proverb about the vultures and the carcass in 24:28 is difficult (cf. Luke 17:37). The NLT spells out the most common interpretation with its rendering “so these signs indicate that the end is near” (France 1985:343), but this comparative clause is not in the Gr. text. It is doubtful that this is intended as a picture of moral corruption (Hendriksen 1973:861; Walvoord 1974:190), or the consumption of lifeless Israel by false prophets (Lenski 1961:946; Toussaint 1980:276). Perhaps Jesus simply intended his hearers to envision the grisly picture of vultures hovering over the bodies of those who rebel against God in the final eschatological battle (Rev 19:17-18).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Matthew 24:15-29 is a warning of intense, unparalleled persecution and false prophecy that will arise in connection with the desecration of the Jerusalem Temple (24:15). This warning involves instructions for flight (24:16-20), a promise that God will shorten those days for the sake of his elect (24:21-22), and a renewed warning against false messiahs and false prophets (24:23-28). In the view taken here, this warning primarily relates to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, but there is good reason (esp. 24:21-22) to see it as ultimately intended for God’s people in the end times who will face the ultimate Antichrist. Certainly, the disciples of Jesus throughout history have realized the constant relevance of his warning against false prophets and false messiahs. The suffering which confronts disciples inevitably causes them to long for the Messiah’s appearance, but they must not allow that longing to lead them to be deceived by messianic pretenders.

Despite the space often given to discussing it, the most profound question in this section is not the chronological referents of the prophecy according to the various preterist and futurist views. The real question here is an existential one, and it concerns the need for wisdom in grasping the providence of God. Somehow, one must reconcile God’s permitting his elect to suffer with his concern that their suffering not result in their spiritual ruin. Suffering is a way of life for Jesus’ disciples throughout this age (5:10; 10:16ff; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim 3:12), and it will intensify as that age comes to an end. But God, for the sake of his elect, will somehow wisely permit that suffering to accomplish his own goals, rather than those of the persecutors (Acts 4:27-28; Rom 8:28-39). Although the disciples of Jesus may never fully grasp why their suffering is necessary, they may be assured from the example of Jesus himself that God will enable them to endure it and that in the end they will reign victoriously with Jesus (4:1-11; 10:24-33; 1 Cor 10:13; 2 Pet 2:9; Rev 2:26-28; 3:21-22; 17:17).

The Sacrilegious Desecration. Jesus’ reference to the sacrilegious desecration of the Temple in 24:15 calls up a complex typology of prophecy and fulfillment, stretching all the way from Nebuchadnezzar to the ultimate eschatological antichrist. Several historical events comprise a sort of continuum of fulfillment, including (1) Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest in 605 BC (Dan 1:1-2; 5:1-4, 22-23), (2) Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ outrageous sacrilege which led to the Hasmonean revolt (167 BC), (3) the Roman conquest of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 63 BC, (4) the planned but unaccomplished setting up of a bust of Caligula in the Temple (AD 40–41), (5) the zealots’ misuse of the Temple precincts in the days preceding the Roman destruction of AD 70, (6) the Roman destruction of AD 70 itself, (7) the further desolation of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 135 due to the Bar Kochba revolt (Dio Cassius 69.12.1-2), and (8) the ultimate sacrilege of the Antichrist (Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:3-4; Rev 13:8; Didache 16).

In light of these things, there is no warrant for supposing that the desecration of 24:15, echoing Daniel, is a narrow prediction that is fulfilled solely by either the past AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem or by the future antichrist. Rather, there is good reason to believe that the various historical desolations of Jerusalem and the Temple all provide anticipatory fulfillments which lead up to the ultimate desolation in the end times. If it be objected that this scenario involves an implausible future rebuilding of the Temple, such a rebuilding was envisioned in ancient sources, both Jewish (m. Pesahim 10:6; b. Sukkah 41a; b. Shabbat 12b) and Christian (Barnabas 16:3-4; Irenaeus Against Heresies 5.30.4; Apocalypse of Elijah 4:1-6). Second Thessalonians 2:4 and Revelation 11 also imply that the Temple will be rebuilt.