Are the Events Described in Matthew 24 Dealing With AD 70 or Christ’s Coming Personal Return?

The focus here will be on the specific events spoken of in Matthew chapter 24 which have much controversy surrounding them in terms of whether they are dealing with judgment on Jerusalem in AD 70 or the personal return of Christ at the end of this age.

Matthew 24:1-3: “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

The disciples seemed to understand the second coming of Christ as marking the end of the world (that is, the end of the age- “aion” in the Greek). They also seemed to believe that would also be the time when the Temple was to be destroyed. We know now that the Temple was destroyed in AD 70- yet Christ did not return in person to rule and reign over the earth at that point. There is a lot of debate over whether the things said in this chapter apply to AD 70 or to the personal return of Christ. The fact that these events are distinguished, yet Jesus answered the question without distinctly explaining which things apply to which event, make it clear that there are great parallels between the two events. It is common sense that we ought to generally note the parallels between the two events yet distinguish the things which obviously apply to one event but not the other. Any doubt about that should be dissolved based upon the additional details about this discourse provided in the Gospel of Luke’s account thereof.

Matthew 24:15: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)”

We can know by the following verses that this is speaking directly of what would happen when Jerusalem was invaded by the Romans and eventually destroyed (though not ruling out some general parallel at the very end of time (which seems reasonable to cross-reference with 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and Revelation chapters 11 to 13). Any desecration of that which is appointed by God as holy can be the abomination of desolation in principle. There was such a desecration between the time the Book of Daniel was written and the time of the Gospel accounts. The Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes put an idol in the holy place of the Temple in the 2nd century BC.

In the context of the then coming destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the Roman Army surrounding Jerusalem could be the abomination of desolation. The Romans eventually did enter the Temple and destroy it. This was God’s judgment upon the Jewish people for their rejection of their Messiah and their sins which led to that (and His wrath has not turned away from them). The heathen ways of the Jews made a blatant defilement of the Temple by the blatantly heathen a very fitting judgment. The same is so with the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians several centuries beforehand (see especially Ezekiel chapters 8 and 9 along these lines).

Matthew 24:16-20: “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 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. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:”

There was a mysterious withdrawal of the Romans from Jerusalem after they initially compassed it during the AD 60s. This gave the Christians who heeded these words a chance to comply with this warning. This is why the Jerusalem Christians were spared from destruction after the Romans returned, sieged the city for good, and eventually destroyed it. The Romans also killed or enslaved Jerusalem’s remaining inhabitants after much starvation, disease, and infighting among them had already caused untold misery in the city and had caused many to die already (records of these things exist through the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus).

The disciples of Jesus were commanded to pray here that the flight which they would inevitably need to make out of Jerusalem would not be in the winter or on the Sabbath day. In the winter, the cold would obviously make things much harder than they already were. If the flight were on the Sabbath Day, they would then be risking arrest by the Jewish authorities for violating the Sabbath. When understood in its context, these verses are by no means saying that Christians should be keeping the Sabbath now like some claim that they teach.

Matthew 24:21-22: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

“Shortened” here could also have been translated as abridged. To abridge is to make a brief or modified version of something. That does not need to be a shortening at the very end. It could come through making things briefer or modified at any point. This is consistent with the Roman withdrawal after they initially compassed Jerusalem which allowed the Christians to escape.

Matthew 24:23-25: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.”

There were especially many false Messiahs among the Jews in the first and second centuries, and there have been false Messiahs throughout history. Contrary to what many teach, it is possible to deceive the very elect.

Matthew 24:26-28: “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”

Jesus will return again in person to condemn His enemies and deliver His faithful people. He will not have a “secret coming” before that point. He will not be walking around on the earth in disguise. He did give a foretaste of His return when He judged Jerusalem in AD 70- yet AD 70 was not His second coming (many Scriptures including Acts 1:9-11 and Hebrews 10:12-13 prove this). This principle that Jesus will not return secretly also is evidence against the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine- a doctrine which will even be destroyed directly in the following verses.

Matthew 24:29-31: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

There will be no trumpet after the last trumpet. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 makes it clear that the faithful will be delivered at the last trumpet. This demolishes the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine. We are now dealing with the very end of the age. This goes back to how we should generally note the parallels between the events of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and the second coming of Christ while using common sense to distinguish the things which obviously apply to one event but not the other.

There are parallel accounts of this same interaction, the discourse on the Mount of Olives, which are recorded in Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21. The account of this discourse in Luke chapter 21 makes the transition between the events of the AD 70 judgment and the second coming of Christ a lot more apparent and evident. The following verses from Luke are how we can be sure that it is appropriate to apply some events in Matthew chapter 24 to AD 70, some to the second coming of Christ at the end of the age, and some things in a way to both.

Luke 21:20-28: “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh (near). Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (my note- and these times have not ended- God’s worship ceased to be centered at Jerusalem in AD 70 and it has not yet returned to be centered there- it is rather in whatever Christian churches scattered throughout the world which He counts faithful- and now as Jesus continues He transitions from AD 70 to the very end of the age). And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh (near).”

Matthew 24:32-35: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh (near): So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

The word generation here is ”genea” in the Greek text. “Genea” can mean “age.” There is no good reason not to relate this back to the question which began this discourse in verse 3 of Matthew 24 which relates to the end of the age. The following verse from Revelation describes and pinpoints the moment will mark the change of the ages for mankind. That moment did not happen in Jerusalem in AD 70- though a preview of it did through the severe judgment on the Jewish nation which affirmed Jesus’ supreme authority and caused untold suffering for His enemies which had the initial and optimal opportunity to welcome and find refuge in His saving reign.

Revelation 11:15: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”