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Matthew 24:1-14 NIV
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.
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Everyone wants to know the future because it allows them to make choices in work, investments, and marriage that align with their desires. For patients undergoing treatment, they especially want to know the outcome and when they will recover. Cancer patients, in particular, have an even greater longing to know their future. This desire to foresee the future has given a boost to the fortune-telling industry.
The rebellion of the Israelites led to this chosen people being repeatedly invaded, oppressed, humiliated, destroyed, and taken into captivity by foreign nations. The entire history of the Israelites is a record of their tragic consequences. However, through the prophecies of the prophets, God continually gave them hope, promising that a Messiah would come to redeem them. When that time comes, He would destroy all enemies and re-establish the kingdom of David. The history of the Israelites is like the history of a gravely ill person awaiting redemption, which is why they so eagerly awaited the coming of the Messiah.
When the disciples believed that the only begotten Son of the Father was the promised Messiah and then heard Him say that the religious leaders and the temple would be destroyed, they asked, "When will these things happen?" (Matthew 24:3). They were eager for these events to occur soon. They desperately wanted to know when they would be freed from the control of evil powers. Unfortunately, their focus remained on the visible kingdom. They forgot that the only begotten Son of the Father had repeatedly and earnestly declared that He must die. They couldn’t reconcile the Messiah’s death with His role as their Redeemer.
Jesus knew that if they didn’t have the right kind of hope, they would easily fall into traps, deceived by false prophets, false teachers, and false predictions. The only begotten Son of the Father wanted people to remember that the kingdom He was establishing was not part of this world’s political system. Everything in this world will eventually pass away. He will reign as King, and from an eternal perspective, He already is reigning (Hebrews 1:3). In this period of waiting, there will be many deceivers who come in the name of the only begotten Son of the Father (Matthew 24:4-5). They won’t appear as "devils"; instead, they will come in ways that are pleasing and deceiving to people.
So before Jesus left this world, the only begotten Son of the Father earnestly reminded the disciples to be cautious and discerning. They didn’t need to focus on which year, month, or time the only begotten Son of the Father would return, but rather be always prepared to welcome Him (Matthew 25:1-13). In this media-saturated age, it is becoming harder to discern and stay alert. It’s easy for the media to steal our time from listening to the Father’s Word, meditating on it, and studying it.
Have we realized that we’ve unknowingly fallen into a trap? Are we equipping ourselves to stand against deceivers? Is our hope set on what we can see, or is it on what is eternal? (Romans 8:24-25, 1 Corinthians 15:19).
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