Matthew 24
Jesus leaves the temple, and His disciples come to point out its buildings - the vast, gleaming stones of the most magnificent structure they knew. His reply lands like a thunderclap: There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down (v. 2). Later, sitting on the Mount of Olives with the temple in full view across the valley, they come to Him privately and ask the question that shapes everything after it: Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (v. 3). It is really two questions braided into one - about the temple that would fall, and about the consummation of all things - and the discourse that follows holds them together rather than prying them apart.3
The answer is unlike any other teaching in the Gospel. Jesus speaks of deceivers who come in His name, of wars and rumours of wars that are not yet the end, of famines and earthquakes that are only the beginning of sorrows (v. 8). He warns of betrayal and hatred and a love that grows cold, and presses the promise: he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (v. 13). He foretells the abomination of desolation and a flight so urgent there is no time to turn back, and great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world (v. 21). And he tells His followers not to chase after every rumored sighting of the Messiah, for His coming will be no secret in the desert but a thing as plain as lightning across the sky.2
Then the discourse lifts toward its center. They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (v. 30), and He will gather his elect from the four winds (v. 31). From there Jesus turns the whole weight of the teaching onto a single posture. He sets His word above the cosmos itself - Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (v. 35) - and then closes off all date-setting at a stroke: of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only (v. 36). What remains is a charge, repeated until it cannot be missed: Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come (v. 42). The chapter ends with two servants - one found faithfully at work, one who said in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming - and leaves the reader to decide which he will be.
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Matthew 24:1-14Not One Stone Upon Another · The Beginning of Sorrows
1And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2And 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. 3And 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? 4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
The chapter opens with a contrast the disciples could feel under their feet. They have just walked out of the temple, and they pause to point out its buildings - the towering, polished stones of what was, by every account, one of the wonders of the ancient world. Jesus does not share their admiration. 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 (v. 2). It is a staggering thing to say of the holy place at the heart of the nation's life and worship. The most permanent, most sacred structure they knew would come down to the foundations. The saying does two things at once. It tells the disciples plainly that the temple before them is not the lasting thing they assume it to be - and it sets the whole discourse in motion, because their question in verse 3 is provoked by exactly this. What kind of catastrophe could topple this? And what would it have to do with the end of all things? Jesus has just declared that even the holiest stone is not beyond falling; only one thing in the chapter will be named unshakable, and it is not made of stone.3
The disciples ask a double question, and it is worth hearing both halves: when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (v. 3). In their minds the temple's fall and the end of the age likely stood close together - surely such a thing could only mean the end. Jesus' answer holds the two together without ever flattening them into a single dated event, and that restraint is itself instructive. The very first word of His reply is not a sign but a warning: Take heed that no man deceive you (v. 4). Before He says anything about wars or tribulation, He guards His followers against the danger that will attend all of it - deception. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many (v. 5). The chief peril of the last days, by Jesus' own ordering, is not suffering but being led astray. He returns to this again and again. The reader who comes to this chapter hungry mainly for a timetable has, in a sense, already missed its opening note: the first thing Jesus wants is not that we calculate, but that we not be fooled.
Jesus now lists the things that will mark the age, and then carefully tells His followers what they do not mean. Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet (v. 6). Nation shall rise against nation… and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places (v. 7). These are real and grievous - but Jesus' word about them is steadying, not alarming: be not troubled… the end is not yet. Then comes the image that interprets the whole list: All these are the beginning of sorrows (v. 8). The word rendered sorrows is the word for birth pangs - the labor pains that come upon a woman before a child is born. The picture is exact and full of meaning. Birth pangs are painful, they come in waves, and they are not themselves the end - they are the sign that something new is being born. So the convulsions of history are not random spasms of a dying world; they are labor. They tell the watchful not to panic at every crisis as though it were the final hour, and not to grow numb either, but to recognize that the long travail of the age is moving toward a birth.
The cost falls on Jesus' own people. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake (v. 9). The hatred is specifically for my name's sake - the suffering of those who belong to Him is bound up with belonging to Him. And the pressure works inward as well as outward: then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another (v. 10), and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (v. 12). This last line is one of the saddest in the chapter. It is not that love is openly attacked but that it cools - quietly, by degrees, as wrongdoing multiplies and hearts grow weary and hard. Against all of this Jesus sets one steadying promise: he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (v. 13). The emphasis is not on a dramatic burst of zeal but on endurance - the grace to keep holding on when betrayal and hatred and a chilling world are all pulling the other way. The faith that is saved is the faith that lasts. Endurance here is not earning; it is the mark of a love that, against the cold, refuses to go out.
Matthew 24:15-28The Abomination of Desolation · Believe It Not
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before. 26Wherefore 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. 27For 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. 28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Now the discourse turns to a specific and dreadful sign: 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:) (v. 15). Jesus reaches back into the book of Daniel, where the phrase names a defiling thing set up in God's sanctuary - a desecration so severe it leaves the holy place desolate. The aside whoso readeth, let him understand is a flag in the text itself: this is a saying meant to be pondered with care, not skimmed. Jesus does not spell out every detail of when and how, and the chapter does not invite us to nail it down with false confidence. What He makes unmistakable is the response it demands. The moment this sign appears, the time for deliberation is over - what follows is a series of urgent commands to flee. Christians through the centuries have read the interplay of the temple's desolation and the final coming in more than one way, and the chapter itself joins these horizons rather than separating them. The wise course is to let the warning stand as Jesus gave it - grave, real, and calling for readiness - without forcing it into a scheme he did not supply.2
The commands that follow are breathless with urgency: 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 (vv. 16-18). There is no time to pack, no time even to step back inside for a cloak. Jesus feels the human weight of it: woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! (v. 19) - flight is hardest on the most vulnerable. He even tells them to pray about the timing, that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day (v. 20), when travel would be cruelest or most constrained. And He names what is coming: then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be (v. 21). It is language of unmatched distress. Yet even here mercy is woven in: except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened (v. 22). The suffering is severe but not limitless - God Himself sets a boundary on it, and He sets it for the elect's sake. Even in the worst of days, the chapter insists, His people are not forgotten; the days are measured by mercy.
Jesus now circles back to the warning he began with - deception - and sharpens it to a fine point. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not (v. 23). The pressure of those days will breed false messiahs, and they will be persuasive: there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (v. 24). This is sobering. The counterfeits will not be crude; they will come with signs and wonders impressive enough that, were it possible, even the chosen would be fooled. Miracles alone, Jesus warns, are no proof of truth - the question is always whether they point to the real Christ or away from Him. Then He adds the line that ought to settle His followers: Behold, I have told you before (v. 25). They are not left to be ambushed; He has forewarned them. 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 (v. 26). The true Christ is not found by chasing tips about a hidden Messiah in some remote place or inner room. Anyone who claims to have located Him in secret is, by that very claim, exposed as false.
Matthew 24:29-31The Sign of the Son of Man
29Immediately 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: 30And 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. 31And 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.
After the tribulation, the discourse rises to its summit, and the language turns cosmic: 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 (v. 29). This is the ancient prophetic vocabulary of the Day of the LORD - the sky itself going dark, the great lights failing, the heavens shaken - the imagery the prophets used when God Himself draws near in judgment and rescue. Against that darkened sky a single thing appears: then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven (v. 30). The response of the world is grief: then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And then the angels are sent: 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 (v. 31). The trumpet is the summons; the gathering reaches to every corner. Notice how the same event lands two ways. To the tribes of the earth it brings mourning; to his elect it brings ingathering - the scattered people of God collected from the ends of the earth and brought home. The day that closes one story opens another. The lights of the old order fail, but it is so that the true Light may appear.
Matthew 24:32-51Watch Therefore · Heaven and Earth Shall Pass Away
32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. 45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 47Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. 48But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; 50The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus draws a homely lesson from the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors (vv. 32-33). The point is simple and observational. A countryman does not need a calendar to know summer is coming; the softening branch and the new leaves tell him. In the same way, the things Jesus has described are meant to be read as signs of nearness - at the doors - by those with eyes to see. Then comes one of the most discussed verses in the Gospels: Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled (v. 34). Faithful readers have understood this generation and the scope of all these things in more than one way - tied closely to the events surrounding the temple, or reaching to the final coming, or holding both together as the chapter itself does. The wise course is the one the chapter models throughout: receive the verse as Jesus gave it, in the company of verse 35 and verse 36, without forcing a resolution He did not provide. Whatever its precise reach, the saying underscores certainty - all these things will surely be fulfilled, on the authority of His verily I say unto you.
Having said that the day is near, Jesus immediately insists that its exact hour is hidden - and the two truths are meant to be held together. As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be (v. 37). What marked Noah's generation was not unusual wickedness in this telling but ordinary obliviousness: they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away (vv. 38-39). The danger Jesus names here is not catastrophe but not knowing - carrying on with the routines of life, entirely unprepared, until it is too late. He sharpens it with two images of sudden division: two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left… two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left (vv. 40-41). Side by side, doing the same work, and yet parted in an instant. The point is the unexpectedness, not a hidden formula - the coming finds people in the middle of an ordinary day. Which is exactly why the next word is not calculate but watch.
The chapter ends with two servants and the question that divides them. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? (v. 45). The faithful servant is simply found at his work: Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing (v. 46) - and to him is given even greater trust, ruler over all his goods (v. 47). Then the dark counterpart: if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken (vv. 48-49). Notice precisely where the evil begins - not in an outward act but in his heart, in a single corrosive thought: My lord delayeth his coming. That assumption of delay is the root of the whole ruin. Once a servant decides the master is far off and slow to return, he mistreats those under his care and gives himself to indulgence. And the master comes in a day when he looketh not for him (v. 50). The two servants are not divided by knowledge of the schedule - neither one knows the hour. They are divided by what they did with the time: one kept faith, the other presumed on delay. That, finally, is what the chapter has been driving at.
Further study
- The Greek text of Matthew 24 set word by word beneath the English - useful for the recurring noun parousia (vv. 3, 27, 37, 39, the “coming” or arrival of the Son of man), for the verb gregoreo (vv. 42-43, “watch”), and for eklektos (vv. 22, 24, 31, the “elect” whom the Lord gathers).
- Matthew 24 ↔ Daniel 7 & 9 · Isaiah 13 · Joel 2Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying the Olivet Discourse to the Old Testament prophets - the Son of man… coming in the clouds (v. 30) drawn from Daniel 7:13-14, the abomination of desolation (v. 15) from Daniel, and the darkened sun and falling stars (v. 29) from the prophets' language of the Day of the LORD.
- Matthew 24 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Matthew 24 - the double question of verse 3, the much-discussed phrase this generation in verse 34, the sense of parousia as a royal arrival, and the way the discourse joins the temple's fall to the coming of the Son of man.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Not One Stone Upon Another · The Beginning of Sorrows
- Matthew 28:19-20Go ye therefore, and teach all nations... and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.The gospel preached to all nations (v. 14) becomes the closing charge of the Gospel - the work of the age until the end.
- Daniel 7:13-14one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven... that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him.The kingdom whose gospel is preached to all nations (v. 14) - the dominion given to the Son of man.
- Luke 21:5-9as for these things which ye behold, the days will come... there shall not be left one stone upon another.Luke’s account of the same scene - the temple’s fall foretold (v. 2) and the same charge not to be terrified.
- John 16:33In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.The steadying word behind verses 6 and 13 - trouble is certain, yet His people are not to be troubled.
- Revelation 2:10be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.The promise of verse 13 echoed - the saved are those who endure to the end.
The Abomination of Desolation · Believe It Not
- Daniel 9:27for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation.The prophecy Jesus names in verse 15 - the abomination that brings desolation to the holy place.
- Daniel 12:1there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.The unmatched distress of verse 21 - tribulation such as the world has never seen, set beside Daniel’s vision.
- Matthew 26:64Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.The open, visible coming of verse 27 - the Son of man seen by all, not hidden in the desert.
- Revelation 1:7Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.The lightning-clear arrival of verse 27 - a coming the whole earth witnesses at once.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.The deceiving signs and wonders of verse 24 - counterfeit power that draws people away from the truth.
The Sign of the Son of Man
- Daniel 7:13-14one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven... his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.The vision Jesus claims in verse 30 - the Son of man given everlasting dominion, coming with the clouds.
- Revelation 1:7Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail.The coming and the mourning of verse 30 - every eye seeing Him, all the tribes lamenting.
- Isaiah 13:10the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened.The darkened sun and failing stars of verse 29 - the prophets’ language of the Day of the LORD.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout... with the trump of God... and so shall we ever be with the Lord.The trumpet and the gathering of verse 31 - the elect collected to be with the Lord.
- Matthew 13:30gather ye together first the tares... but gather the wheat into my barn.The angelic ingathering of verse 31 - the harvest of the elect at the end of the age.
Watch Therefore · Heaven and Earth Shall Pass Away
- Isaiah 40:8The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.The permanence of verse 35 - the created order fades, but the word of God abides unshaken.
- Matthew 25:13Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.The unknown hour and the call to watch (vv. 36, 42) repeated in the very next chapter.
- Matthew 26:40-41What, could ye not watch with me one hour?... Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.The command of verse 42 (gregoreo) tested in Gethsemane - the very failure this chapter warns against.
- Genesis 7:23every living substance was destroyed... and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.The days of Noe of verses 37-39 - a generation caught unprepared by a coming it did not expect.
- Luke 12:42-46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.The faithful and evil servants of verses 45-51 - the same parable of readiness and presumed delay.