14) The Olivet Prophecy
Matthew 24
On the face of it the Lord’s Olivet
prophecy is in three easily separable sections: (a) concerning the destruction
of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 — this in response to the question: “When
shall these things be,” when not one stone of the temple is to be left
upon another? (b) the Last Days, the time of the Lord’s return—in
answer to the question: What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of
the world?” (c) exhortation to preparedness, and warning regarding the day
of judgement.
Such an analysis of Christ’s discourse
actually over-simplifies it. There is fair reason for believing that the A.D. 70
section of the prophecy will also find another fulfilment in the Last Days. In
other words, the brethren of the first century saw the fulfilment of the first
part of this prophecy in their day, and were able to profit from the knowledge
of it; the brethren of the twentieth century will see the entire prophecy
fulfilled from start to finish.
Even apart from the Bible evidence, which is
available, pointing to such a conclusion, this may be deemed reasonably possible
or even probable, because this is the character of such a big proportion of
Bible prophecy. The idea is familiar, to the point of obviousness, that the
prophets were inspired to utter words which mostly had some kind of fulfilment
in their own time or soon after, but which were also prophecies of the
consummation of the age. Psalms written by David about his own experiences were
also Psalms about the Messiah (Acts 2:30, 31). Isaiah based many of his
prophecies on the suffering and glory of good king Hezekiah, but these were also
prophecies of Messiah (John 12: 41). So it would be strange indeed if the
greatest prophecy of the greatest prophet of all time did not have a similar
double application.
A SECOND FULFILMENT
Here, then, are six more reasons educed from the
text itself why the first section of the Lord’s Olivet prophecy should be
re-studied with reference to the Last Days:
- “Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take
any thing out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to
take his clothes” (Matthew 24: 17, 18). In Luke 17: 31 Jesus had already
used almost identical words concerning “the days of the Son of man.”
If this fact stood by itself there might be some (though not much) justification
for the assumption that the Lord used the same language because there was the
same urgency about the occasions. Those who have really absorbed the spirit of
Bible prophecy will know how inadequate such a view is. But in any case there
are corroborative reasons.
- “For then shall be
great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this
time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew. 24: 21). Yet the Old Testament
prophets had already made the same portentous declaration over and over again
regarding the Last Days! One recalls Daniel’s “time of trouble such
as never was” (Daniel 12: 1) and the extreme emphasis of the words of
Joel: “there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after
it, even to the years of many generations” (2: 2). Either the words do not
mean what they say, or they are to be reconciled by being applied to the same
occasion.
- It is in this section of the prophecy also
that the words come: “But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall
be saved” (24: 13). There is more innate difficulty in this saying than
has generally been conceded. If “the end” is A.D. 70, was Jesus
saying: He who keeps the faith till the temple is destroyed shall be saved? Or
did he mean: He who keeps the faith to the end of his life shall be saved? But
this is a truism valid for every disciple in every age. Had Jesus said:
“He that shall endure in the time of the end (of the Mosaic dispensation),
the same shall be saved,” there would have been little difficulty. But he
did not say that. On the other hand, reference to the Last Days allows the words
to be taken literally, at their face
value.[19]
- Verse
29 begins: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days ...”
This word “immediately,” the meaning of which has been evaded by a
variety of tortuous or inaccurate devices (e.g. by suggesting that it does not
mean “immediately” but “suddenly”) requires a very close
connection between the tribulation Jesus has already foretold and the time of
his second coming.
- “Then let them which be in
Judæa flee to the mountains” (v. 16). This is the experience of Lot
over again: “Escape for thy life ... escape to the mountain, lest thou be
consumed” (Genesis 19: 17). In Luke 17: 28, 29, 32 Jesus pointed to an
emphatic parallel between the Last Days and the deliverance of Lot. So it is
hard to believe that here also in his Olivet prophecy he used similar language
without intending a similar idea.
- “And the gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the
nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24: 14). In the first
century these words had their fulfilment in the matchless work of Paul who in
humble truth was able to write about “the hope of the gospel ... which was
preached to every creature under heaven” (Colossians 1: 23). “And
then shall the end come”—about a year after Paul was beheaded, the
three and a half year’s Jewish War began in Judæa. Yet as the words
of Jesus are read and pondered, there is a finality about them that suggests a
grander fulfilment. In this twentieth century, in spite of the blameworthy
lethargy of God’s elect, the message of the imminent return of Christ goes
out from scores of radio stations. Today in a much more universal fashion than
was true in Paul’s day the gospel is being preached in all the world, even
though it be mixed with error.
MEANING FOR THE LAST DAYS
The foregoing assembly of Bible arguments will
surely predispose any earnest student of prophecy towards re-examining this part
of the Lord’s discourse with a view to learning more concerning the time
of his coming. The following are some of the details specially worthy of
re-consideration.
- Verses 9, 10 speak of persecution and bitter hatred of the
faithful. At the time of writing there is no sign of this. Would God there were,
for the Household of God needs the bracing influence of external adversity to
save it from the eroding effects of a soft materialistic civilization and to
provide it with new and better opportunities of evangelism. This could well
come.
- “And then shall many be offended ... and
many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24: 10a, 11, 12).
The words plainly mean that many will openly renounce the Faith, many others
will pervert it, but many (most) will just drift. To the modern mind these seem
to be incompatible with what has just been mentioned. Yet Jesus saw no
incompatibility.
- An “abomination of
desolation” is to stand in the holy place (v. 15). This means: an
abomination which desolates the holy city, Jerusalem. Such a conclusion is
indicated by the parallel in Luke 21: 20: “And when ye see Jerusalem
compassed with armies ...” Since Jesus adds: “whoso readeth, let him
understand,” it is a reasonable inference that the great sign of the
imminence of the Lord’s return will be the desolation of Jerusalem, lately
freed from nineteen centuries of Gentile domination. In Daniel 12 the prophecy
already quoted continues: “And from the time that ... the abomination that
maketh desolate is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety
days;” whilst in Luke 21 the prophecy already quoted continues: “and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled.” This suggests that “the times of the Gentiles”
which Jesus had in mind were not the long centuries of Gentile mastery of the
city but the “time, times and a half,” a period of literally three
and a half years when the city is laid desolate just before the coming of the
Lord.
- “And except those days should be shortened,
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall
be shortened” (Matthew 24: 22). There are several impressive examples to
be found in Scripture of a divine fore-shortening of evil days. The three
days’ pestilence in which David preferred to fall into the hand of God was
shortened, by grace, to less than a day—again, for the sake of the elect.
David prayed for the people and took the guilt upon himself (2 Samuel 24: 13,
15, 16, 17). The siege of A.D. 70 was shortened, in the mercy of God, to five
months precisely (Nebuchadnezzar’s siege lasted the whole of a terrible
year). This also was for the elect’s sake: Revelation 9: 5 and 8: 3, 4.
Similarly it may well be that the times of the Gentiles which are still future
will be shortened through the faith and prayers of the saints who discern the
pattern of God’s working and influence it by their intercession as Abraham
did in the days of Lot.
Tentative conclusions such as these may be
momentous. The possibility of such sensational developments has perhaps not been
ventilated and discussed as fully as it might be.
[19] Readers may
like to probe further and seek an answer to the question why Jesus chose to
include these words here and not in a later section of his discourse where they
seem to be so much more appropriate.
