Now as He sat 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?”
—MATTHEW 24:3
The twelve disciples are now getting the picture—Jesus is going to be killed, just as He said. There would be no glorious kingdom in their lifetime where they would rule from twelve thrones. The Temple would be destroyed, and the nation of Israel scattered.
So what was to come?
The disciples asked three questions to clarify the future of Israel and the Jewish people:
1. “Tell us, when will these things be?”
2. “What will be the sign of Your coming?”
3. “[What are the signs] of the end of the age?”
The “end of the age” is the second coming of Christ—not the rapture of the church. Many are now asking what signs must be fulfilled before the church can be raptured from the earth. The answer is zero! The Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ is imminent; it could happen before you finish reading this page.
The theological opinions about Matthew 24 are as numerous as the stars in the sky. I am presenting Matthew 24 from the position of a premillennialist, which means I believe Jesus Christ will come for His church in an event called the Rapture before the seven years of the Great Tribulation, led by the Antichrist.
Following the Great Tribulation will be the second coming of Christ according to Revelation 19:11–16. Christ will return to this earth followed by the armies that are in heaven. He will destroy the enemies of Israel that have come against them in the Battle of Armageddon. He will return to the Mount of Olives, then cross the Kidron Valley and enter the Eastern Gate of the city of Jerusalem, where He will set up His eternal kingdom on the Temple Mount, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.
Jesus was giving the Spine of Prophecy primarily to the Jewish people. I am presenting Matthew 24:1–14 as general signs of His return; remember, this is a Jewish rabbi speaking to twelve Jewish disciples about the future of the Jewish people. Matthew 24:15 and the verses following record specific signs of His second coming.
Jesus looked into the bewildered faces of His disciples and warned them that in the immediate future an invading army would surround and destroy the sacred city of Jerusalem.
So when you see standing in the holy place “the abomination that causes desolation,” spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
(MATTHEW 24:15–16 NIV)
The disciples thought on the words of the prophet Daniel who prophesied about Jerusalem’s coming desolation (9:27). He also foretold of Jerusalem’s attack by four world empires: the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks under Alexander the Great and, lastly, the Romans (Daniel 2:31–45).
I can only imagine what this horrific news meant to the disciples. These men were looking at a thriving city where the Temple was the focal point of their society. How could this beautiful city be destroyed?
However unbelievable; Jerusalem’s destruction came to pass.
Josephus was a priest, a soldier, and a historical scholar who was born in Jerusalem in 37 CE, a few years after the time of Jesus and during the time of the Roman occupation of the Jewish homeland. Josephus, a witness to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, chronicled the events of the war.
In his writings Josephus recorded horrific scenes such as mothers eating their infant children who had died of starvation. The list below notes some of the entries made in Josephus’ account of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem from March through September AD 70:
• After the Roman siege began, Jewish citizens sold their possessions for gold and then swallowed the gold coins to hide them as they escaped the Romans. The rumor spread that all deserters were filled with gold. Arabs and Syrians cut open all who escaped the city. “In one night no less than two thousand were ripped up.”
• The Romans captured escapees from the city, as many as 500 a day. Prisoners were tortured, crucified, and killed to intimidate the populace. Titus is quoted as saying, “So great was their number, that space could not be found for the crosses nor crosses for the bodies.”
• Titus blockaded the city to prevent food supplies from entering. With all hope of escape cut off, the famine within the city intensified. Burials were neglected and the bodies piled up.
• Prisoner Mannaeus ben Lazarus was assigned by the Romans to watch a city gate. He counted 115,880 bodies carried through the gate during the siege. Reports from within the city gave the total dead among the lower classes at 600,000.
• The victims of famine were dying in countless numbers. Starving men like mad dogs staggered from house to house searching for food. Shoe leather and grass was gnawed on.
• Josephus provided an eyewitness account of the destruction, the fire, and the noise. “You would indeed have thought that the Temple-hill was boiling over from its base, being everywhere one mass of flame, yet the stream of blood was more copious than the flames.” He observed that this was on the very day and month that the First Temple had been burnt by the Babylonians; it was the 9th of Av.
• Romans carried standards (symbols of their gods) into the Temple and made sacrifices unto them.
• The Romans commanded the whole city, planted standards on the walls, and looted the city. All Jerusalem was in flames.
• Titus ordered the whole city and Temple to be razed to the ground, leaving only the tallest towers and a small portion of the wall on the west.
This horror was prophesied by Jesus as He carried His cross through the streets of Jerusalem and saw the Jewish mothers weeping over His crucifixion.
Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, “Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!”
(LUKE 23:28–29)
Jesus saw the future! He saw the Roman legions surrounding Jerusalem to destroy the Holy City and the Temple. He saw the unspeakable horror and mind-bending tragedy inflicted by General Titus and the Roman Tenth Legion in AD 70.
When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, the first part of the Olivet Discourse was fulfilled.
Jerusalem is not like any other city on earth; the world revolves around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the city of God! “The LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place” (Psalm 132:13).
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth
Is Mount Zion . . .
The city of our God:
God will establish it forever.
(PSALM 48:1–2, 8)
Jerusalem is where Abraham placed Isaac on an altar to sacrifice him, proving Abraham’s love and loyalty to God Almighty. Centuries later on this same mountain, Jesus Christ was bound to the cross by the will of God His Father, and He sacrificed His life for our redemption. This was the absolute fulfillment of Abraham’s words—“Jehovah Jireh”—meaning “The LORD will provide” (Genesis 22:12–14).
Jerusalem is where Jeremiah and Isaiah penned the principles of righteousness, which became the moral and spiritual foundations of Western civilization.
Jerusalem was conquered by King David three thousand years ago as he and his mighty men of valor drove out the occultic Jebusites. Jerusalem is once again the eternal and undivided capital of the nation of Israel, and may it ever be.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget its skill!
If I do not remember you,
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.
(PSALM 137:5–6)
In these versse, David is attempting to describe his complete devotion to the City of God. David was willing to sacrifice his life as a psalmist if he forgot to praise his beloved city, for at that point, life for him would have no meaning.
Jerusalem was the city where Jesus was circumcised in the Temple on the eighth day and where He celebrated His bar mitzvah on His thirteenth birthday. It is where He celebrated His last Passover with the Twelve in the upper room, and where He was betrayed by Judas.
Jerusalem was the city where He was arrested, tried, and convicted as the result of a Roman conspiracy between the Pharisees and the High Priest.
Jerusalem was where He was beaten with thirty-nine stripes and was crowned with thorns while Roman spittle dripped off His holy face onto the purple robe of mockery placed upon His blood-soaked back.
Just outside the walls of Jerusalem was where Jesus Christ was crucified with thieves for our redemption. Jerusalem was where Jesus died for our sins.
Jerusalem was where He rose from a borrowed grave and became the firstfruits of the resurrection. Because He lives we shall also live. Hallelujah!
As we will see in the coming chapters, Jerusalem will be attacked by the Antichrist (Zechariah 14:1–2). But this time the Lion of the tribe of Judah will triumph over all of Jerusalem’s enemies.
Most importantly, Jerusalem is the city where Jesus will return. He will rule from Jerusalem. When Messiah, the Son of David, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Lamb of God, sits on His holy throne, the nations of the world, including you and I, will go to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16–18).
The moon will be dismayed,
the sun ashamed;
for the LORD Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders—with great glory.
(ISAIAH 24:23 NIV)
Jerusalem will remain the center of the universe for the future of the world!