Rightly Dividing Matthew 24-25,

What I think, why I think so, then application to us

Mt 24:1-4 edited from KJV and Young's Literal Translation

And Jesus went out and departed from the Temple and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the Temple and Jesus said unto them, Do you see these things? Amen 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 is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered...(The original Bible had no punctuation, so I tend to edit some punctuation out.)

THESIS: what I think

In the "Olivet Discourse" of Matthew 24-25, Matthew

24:1-25:30 deals with 1st century events (the Roman destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, and Nero's persecution of the Church), and Matthew 25:31-46 with the Second Coming. (The division is neither at 24:35, nor complicated; nor is the whole Discourse about the 1st century nor about the 2nd coming.)

ARGUMENT: why I think so

(1) The Discourse does deal with 1st century events;

Matthew 24:1-3 explicitly says so. Whether it does or does not also deal with the 2nd coming is a different question. (Yes it does.)

(2) One mark of Jesus in this Discourse telling his

original disciples about 1st century events is his frequent use of "you:" "Take heed that no one may lead you astray ... They shall deliver you up to tribulation .." pray ye that your flight may not be in winter, nor on a Sabbath ... if any one may say to you, Lo, here is the Christ! or here! you may not believe ... I did tell you beforehand" (24:4, 3, 20, 23 ? 25) and so on. , and

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This essay offers small corrections to the late great David Chilton, whose book PARADISE RESTORED began to teach me eschatology, and to Kenneth Gentry, whose book THE BEAST OF REVELATION proved in a scholarly way that Chilton was basically right.

My Associated Content article POSTMILLENIALISM HELPS PRAYER includes an appendix listing a few good eschatology books.

Matthew 24-25's longer version of the "Olivet Discourse" includes the 2^nd coming; Mk 13 and Luke 21 don't. I suspect Matthew wrote for Jews who were more theologically sophisticated; Mk wrote for lower-class Gentile and Luke for upper-class Gentiles. Both did, of course, put into their Gospels things Matthew did not put into his. John wrote Revelation and put things other than the Olivet Discourse into his Gospel.

(3) Another mark of 1st century content in the Discourse

is Jesus' promise "this generation may not pass away till all

these may come to pass" (24:34, from Young's Literal

Translation.) Some modern disciples divide the Discourse here: 1st century events 24:4-35, the 2nd coming 24:26-25:46. One reason I think the division later is that Jesus uses "you" (you original disciples) in 24:42, 44. and 47 and in 25:13. 24:44 emphasizes you: "ye, become ye ready"--Greek: HUMEIS ginesthe etoimoi. ("Generation"? Mt 1:17 "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations..."--obviously the people alive at one time, not, the nation.)

(4) Jesus's use of "you" in 24:42-47 and 25:13 applies

the parables of the alert-or-presumptuous steward (24:45-51)

and of the 10 virgins (25:1-13)--parables whose emphasis on

readiness reminds me of the readiness to flee in haste and of

prayer against winter or Sabbath flight in 24:15-21--to the

original disciples. Sabbath mattered much more to 1^st-century Jews than to most of us. (Maybe we should care more? But back to Matthew 24-25.)

(5) 24:21 mentions "great tribulation" featuring (24:23)

fa1se Christs. "And immediately after the tribu1ation of those days the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from the heaven and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven ... " (24:29-30).

"The stars shall fall from heaven"--where shall they fall to? Stars are too big and too far away to fall to earth, or to "fall" to any particular place, so this cannot mean literal "stars." Genesis 1 says the lights in heaven are for "signs," and Gen 15:5, 22:17, 26:4, and especially 37:9 connect stars with the children of Abraham: in Joseph's dream, 37:9, the sun and moon and 11 stars bowed down to him, the 11 stars obviously being his brothers. So heavenly bodies of Mt 24 are 1^st-century Jewish leaders.

"Immediately after" closely links the time of the darkening sky with the time of the great tribulation. If the great tribulation was a 1st century event, so was the dark sky. I suggest that the great tribulation was the Neronian persecution of the Church, and we may well suppose that when the 1^st-century Jews, the source of most though not all New Testament persecution of Christians, heard that Caesar had at last turned violently against the Christians, they eagerly joined in persecuting the saints.

Thus Nero's death ended the great tribulation, and "immediately after"wards--two years later, not two thousand--"the Jews deluged the smoking ruins of their temple with the carnage of the remnant of their host" (de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol 1 p 85 or so IF my memory serves me correctly; versions and editions will vary.) God put out their lights. The dark sky was the fall of Jerusalem; but Christians, not the 1^st-century Jewish rebels against Rome, suffered "the great tribu1ation."

Some say Nero's persecution didn't amount to much, but it was the first Roman persecution that came from Caesar; even if later persecutions were more severe in some parts of the Roman Empire, the first, following a period when Romans tended to tolerate Christians--Pilate had to be pressured into crucifying Jesus, and Paul appealed from Jerusalem to Rome--may well have been the greatest shock; after that, Roman persecution was always a possibility.

(6) One argument used to split the Discourse at 24:35 is

Jesus' use of "that day" in 24:36: that remote day, not this

1st--century day. But he used the same term (ekeinon/ekeinas)

in 24:29 to refer to the 1^st--century "tribu1ation of those

days."

(7) Another link between 24:1-35 and 24:36ff. is the

coming of the Son of Man both in 24:30, before "this

generation" passes away, and in 24:37, 39, 42 ("Watch ye

therefore?" - ye original disciples - "because ye have not

known in what hour your Lord doth come"), and in 24:44, all after 24:35. (I discuss 25:31's coming later,)

(8) The parables of the steward who had better do his job

(24;45-51), the ten virgins (25:1-13), and the servants given

talents (25:14-30) resemble each other in that each features a particular group called to account. The accounting in 25:31-46--which seems to be a description, not a parable - is explicitly said to cover "all the nations" (25:32), not just a few servants or virgins.

(9) Also, "Then" (tote) in 25:1 links the virgins to the

steward, and "For" (gar) in 25:14 links the servants to the

virgins. "But whenever" (hotan de; Young has "And whenever")

in 25:31 is a looser connection, if any. I concluded the break between 1^st century and 2^nd coming was here by reading through Mt 24-25 looking for a chronological break, and 25:31 was the place where I found it.

(10) Only at 25:31, with its break in chronology, is a

coming of the Son detailed: "And whenever the Son of Man may

come in his glory, and all the holy messengers with him, then

shall he sit upon a throne of his glory: and gathered together before him shall be all the nations ... " It's hard for me to doubt that 25:31-46 describes the 2nd coming, (Who doubts? Those who deny a 2^nd coming in our future.)

The comings of chapter 24, and of 25:6 and 19, could all refer to our Lord's judgment on Jerusalem; the steward of 24:45-51, the virgins of 25:1-13, and the servants of 25:14-30 each represent old Israel--a particular group with special responsibilities--better than they represent all

nations at the Last Day.

Judgment in these stories resembles the Last Judgment; indeed it was natural, and perhaps required by 24:3, for Jesus to follow 24:4-25:30 on what the original disciples could expect to see with 25:31-46 on his return. But one need not read the glory, throne, and gathering of all nations in 25:31-32 back into the previous comings.

SUMMARY

Matthew 25:31-46's universality, glory, "you"lessness,

historicity (not a parab1e), and indefinite chrono1ogy

distinguish it from 24:4-25:30 and apply it to the 2nd coming

of Christ as a natura1 conc1usion to/extension of a Discourse

on the termination of the o1d covenant.

SOME APPLICATIONS

(1) The literary unity of the whole Discourse should

encourage those of us who have great confidence in the final

redactors, viz., in Matthew and the Holy Ghost, and rebuke

those who vainly dream of editors, editions, traditions

generations in the composition of Matthew.

(2) The Judgment on Jerusalem should warn us to beware

of lesser judgments during history, and by prefiguration warn

us of the Last Judgment; and should encourage us to hope in

the Lord who cares for his peop1e during all judgments. We must indeed be ready for the 2^nd coming, but 50 generations of Christians have died without seeing it. Let us be ready to die, which may hit any of us anytime--"one shall be taken."

(3) The fall of the old covenant was important to Jesus

and his original disciples. We had better let the Bible teach

us this importance, and not deny it because it was 2000 years ago or because it upsets our theo1ogica1 applecarts. Of course it has little if any importance independent of the work of Christ, but it has more importance as part of that work--as His vindication against those who rejected him--than most modern evangelicals give it. (A few may give it too much on its own.)

(4) Because we've forgotten how important the fall of the

Temple and City was, we fall prey to eschatological speculation and vain excitements, trying to put a 21^st-century foot into Bible prophecy's 1^st-century shoe. Remember and re1ax. No, be vigilant to be holy, zealous to do good works (Titus 2:14), but cut the speculation and get busy.

(5) Whenever in history our days may befall, do our works

manifest our readiness for Jesus to come and evaluate us? Faith without works is dead.