When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation, which is spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in [what is a] holy place, (he that reads let him understand,)
The disciples asked for a sign, and the Lord gave them one they could not miss: something detestable standing where God should be honoured. Everything turns on what that object is, where it stands, and whether Rome fulfilled it in AD 70 or it still waits ahead.
The word "abomination" is not vague. The Old Testament gives it one fixed use, and that use settles what the sign must be.
What is meant by "the abomination of desolation"? "Abomination" is the Scripture title for an idol. So we read of "Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites," and "Chemosh the abomination of Moab" (1 Kings 11:5-7). It is, therefore, an idol set up in the holy place at Jerusalem. This has never happened in the past. True, Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the temple (Dan. 11:31), but this was long before the Lord's prophecy. The only event of note involving the temple since the Lord Jesus spoke was its destruction by the Roman armies under Titus in A.D. 70. So the Lord's prediction has yet to be fulfilled.
"The holy place" is a location, and the Lord had already sentenced that location to rubble. Putting the two statements side by side forces a conclusion about the future.
Of all wrongdoings, idolatry is the one God detests most. It is the open, formal denial of His Godhead. It puts the creature in the place of Himself, the Creator… The "holy place," of course, means the temple. The Lord had announced about the temple then standing, "There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down" (v. 2). So it follows that in the meantime the temple will have been rebuilt.
Daniel mentions this abomination more than once, so which passage did the Lord point to?
The parenthesis warns that the prediction might be misunderstood — at any rate, it demanded attention. Two passages of the prophecy (Dan. 11:31 and Dan. 12:11) speak of this abomination. I have no hesitation in saying that the first was a foreshadowing of what Antiochus Epiphanes did centuries before Christ. The second is the one meant here, and it is still unfulfilled… "And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand." In this we have another link with our Lord's words — "let the reader understand."
The sign is not an accident of war. Someone puts it there on purpose, and God answers it.
The abomination that results in desolation is idolatry. The antichrist brings it into the holy place, the temple in Jerusalem. This will happen at the middle of Daniel's seventieth week, and it will lead at once to the three and a half years of "great tribulation." This image to the beast (the head of the revived Roman empire) will be a direct challenge to God, for it gives Rome God's place of Protector of Israel. God will therefore send "a desolator," the king of the north, to sweep over the land of Israel with a sudden thrust like a whirlwind (Dan. 11:40).
Many have read the verse as a description of AD 70. William Kelly answers from Luke's parallel account and from the history of that siege.
The proper prophecy of the past destruction of Jerusalem is a part of Luke 21, not Matthew 24. There our Lord speaks about Jerusalem surrounded by armies. But there is no sign like the setting up of the abomination of desolation, and nothing there calls for such a rapid flight… The Roman officer who came and surrounded the city made no such urgent demand for immediate action. Months passed between the withdrawal of Cestius Gallus and the arrival of the far greater force under the emperor. The destruction of Jerusalem came some years afterwards. That is to say, there was plenty of time to get away — family, friends, baggage and all.
The bracketed line is an instruction to us.
The words clearly imply that many who read might not understand. At the least, our Lord warns readers to make sure they take in His thought… He never discourages reading. He wants understanding. He knew there would be all sorts of ideas floating about, especially about prophecy. As a result, many of God's children make mistakes about it, and many more dread the subject.
- The sign — "abomination" is Scripture's regular word for an idol. So the sign is an idol, not an army.
- The place — the "holy place" means the temple. The Lord had condemned the temple then standing to total ruin, so another must stand there before the sign appears.
- The source — the Lord names Daniel. Commentators point to Daniel 12:11, not Daniel 11:31, which Antiochus Epiphanes had already fulfilled long before He spoke.
- The timing — the antichrist sets the idol up in the middle of Daniel's last seven-year period, and the three and a half years of great tribulation begin. The order to flee is urgent, so commentators keep this apart from the slower Roman siege Luke 21 describes.
- The charge — "let the reader understand" is a caution. The Lord never discourages reading. He wants His words grasped, not left in the fog that surrounds prophecy.
then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains;
On the Mount of Olives, Jesus turns from general signs to local orders: a named region, a visible signal, and one command — run. Who is told to flee, from what, and why does God tell them to escape instead of stand and suffer?
Everything before verse 15 is general. From that verse the picture narrows.
From verse 15 we have a much more precise scene, a local scene. We have the holy place, and Daniel, and Judea, and definite local circumstances, and set conduct, once people see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. "Let the reader understand." Then those in Judea were to flee to the mountains, because great tribulation comes here when this dishonouring idol stands in the holy place.
The name of that sign is worth unpacking.
The word "abomination" simply means idol. It is called the abomination of desolation because it causes the desolation of Jerusalem and of the Jewish people.
The geography itself limits the audience. Judea is one small region, not the world.
Who can be so bold (to say the least) as to affirm that this is a picture of the church at large? Do you suppose that Christians would ever be thought of as being in the land of Judea alone? Clearly not. All is plain if He is speaking about Jews — godly ones no doubt, but Jews in that particular land. It is not at all a prophetic declaration about the saints of God in different parts of the world.
Why flee rather than stay and suffer? The reason is what God is doing at that moment.
The Lord Jesus does not call the godly Jews to stay and suffer. God is visiting His guilty people at that moment, because of their final apostasy and their bowing down to the man of sin as the true God in His house. So He tells the godly remnant to flee at once, regardless even of clothes or anything else, to save their lives.
The moment the idol stands there, everything changes.
The testimony is over, and the disciples have only to flee… Jerusalem is then handed over to the judgment which awaits it.
Many read this verse as describing the fall of Jerusalem under Rome. These writers point to Luke's account instead. There the sign is an army surrounding the city, and events unfold slowly. That slower pace, they say, rules Matthew out.
The Roman officer who came and surrounded the city did not call for this kind of instant, urgent obedience. Months passed between the withdrawal of Cestius Gallus and the arrival of the far greater force under the emperor. The destruction of Jerusalem took place some years afterwards. That is to say, there was plenty of time to get away — family, friends, baggage and all. There was no need for such an urgent flight.
The flight is not open-ended. It has a set length, and Revelation 12 shows the same scene — a woman who can only run.
The strong man of God, Christ, does not yet exercise His power. The woman has nothing else to do but flee for three and a half years. During that time Satan uses his power on earth with great fury. The only resource of the woman is to flee. Jesus foretold this in Matthew 24:16.
Flight is not abandonment. God has already arranged the destination and the supply:
God provides for the woman both a place and food for 1260 days… The careful counting of the days shows the Lord's tender interest in His sorrowing saints. He counts them up one by one, so to speak.
The warning only helps those who believed it in advance.
What use was the Lord's warning that they were to flee in such circumstances, if the disciples did not understand what He was speaking about, and did not believe His word beforehand? This knowledge and this faith were exactly what set them apart from all their unbelieving countrymen.
- Signal. The idol standing in the holy place is the signal to move. The word means idol, and it desolates Jerusalem and its people.
- Place. From verse 15 the scene is local — Judea and the holy place. The command fits godly Jews in one small land, not Christians across the world.
- Command. Not stand and suffer, but flee at once; the time for witness there has closed and judgment is falling.
- Provision. The flight lasts three and a half years, to a place God has already prepared, with days He counts one by one.
- Faith. The warning only saves those who believed it in advance. Knowing His word and acting on it at once sets them apart from everyone else.
let not him that is on the house come down to take the things out of his house;
The Lord has just pointed to the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. He tells those in Judea to run, and this verse shows how fast. A man on his roof must not step back inside for his things. Who is this warning for, when does it apply, and why the rush?
The instructions here are local. The holy place, Judea, the mountains — every marker fixes the scene in one country. One writer says this rules out reading the chapter as a message to the church, which is spread over the whole earth.
They are to make for the mountains as fast as they can. All this instruction is plainly for persons living in Judea. Readers who insist on seeing the Church of God in this chapter run into difficulty at every detail of the prophecy. Is the Church of God limited to one land, so that such signs would help it? Is not the Church found in every part of the earth? Once we see that the godly in Judea are in view, all is simple and clear.
One writer names what sets the flight off, then piles up pictures of its speed. A man loses his house; a worker in the field loses even his coat.
For those in Judea, the moment would come when an idol would be set up in the holy place. An idol is what the word "abomination" means here. The Lord uses many pictures to show how urgent it is. The man on the roof was not to go down to take anything out of his house. The man in the fields was not to go back for his clothes. The moment would be so terrible that nothing would matter but flight.
One writer puts the reason for the ban in a single line — the chance has already gone.
"Let him which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house" — it is too late to think about doing this.
Houses there had flat roofs with stairs on the outside. The same detail turns up in the account of the paralysed man carried to Jesus.
They went up by an outside flight of stairs to the flat roof of the house (compare Matt. 24:17). There they removed the tiling or thin stone roofing, which was no hard task and easy to repair. Then they lowered the paralysed man on his bed through the opening into the Master's presence.
Commentators differ here. Some apply the words to the Christians who left Jerusalem before the Roman siege. One writer compares Matthew's account with Luke's and finds the two flights differ in pace and in destination.
In this part of the prophecy, Matthew and Luke are alike in only one way: in both, the faithful are told to flee. But even here the differences are remarkable… In Luke the flight is not to the mountains, nor marked by extreme haste. In fact the Christians withdrew with no special speed to the city of Pella. But when the abomination of desolation is set up, there is not an instant to lose. The flight must be at full speed, and even the slightest delay will be fatal. The place of refuge, too, is not a sheltering city but "the mountains."
The command to run is not abandonment. The God who warns also opens the way out.
The wrath of the devil will have its greatest expression against the nation of Israel. During the great tribulation, against this terrible persecution, God's providence will open a way of escape for the godly. They will be safe by keeping themselves apart from the world. That matches the Lord's own words to His disciples. Looking on to this time, He says, "Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
One writer presses the warning deeper. The danger is not slow legs but a heart still tied to what is left behind.
The Lord adds a short but solemn word: "Remember Lot's wife." It seems that angelic power rescued Lot's wife. She was without question brought out of the doomed city. But that only made her a more striking monument of God's all-searching judgment. There she stands alone. The others perished; she remained a pillar of salt. Moses wrote it down as an imperishable moral memorial of God's hatred of a false heart — a heart that, despite outward deliverance, still gave its affections to a scene marked out for destruction.
- Signal. An idol stands in the holy place. That is the trigger, and the warning goes to one land, Judea, not to a worldwide church.
- Speed. Once the signal comes, the only thing left to do is run — a man on the roof forfeits his house, a man in the field his coat.
- Shelter. The refuge is the mountains, not a walled city, and God's providence opens the way of escape for those who obey.
- Separation. Safety lies in staying apart from the world, not in the goods you save from it.
- Heart. Lot's wife left the city and still lost everything. Her affections stayed behind. Escape on the outside is no escape at all.
and let not him that is in the field turn back to take his garment.
The Lord has just spoken of a daring wickedness set up in the sanctuary at Jerusalem, with unequalled trouble to follow. In between comes an order so urgent that a man in a field must leave even his cloak behind. Three questions follow. Who is He speaking to? When does this happen? And why is there no time to pick up a coat?
One writer notes how the Lord stacks up examples to press the urgency:
The Lord uses many figures to show the urgency of the case. The man on the housetop was not to come down to take anything out of his house. The man in the fields was not to go back to fetch his garments. The moment would be so terrible that nothing would matter except flight.
Another writer asks what this escape actually saves:
"And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak." Immediate flight is the only hope of safety. What sort of safety? It is the saving of flesh — of natural life. Is this what the Christian is expecting? Not so. The Christian is looking for the coming of Christ, not to save his life, but to change and take him up to heaven.
Who is being warned here? One writer answers from the details themselves:
Those will be terrible times for those who fear God. Fearful persecutions will break out, more severe than anything known before. The Lord tells them to note the signs and take warning. When they see this daring wickedness in the sanctuary in Jerusalem, they are to flee to the mountains with all possible haste. All this instruction is plainly for people living in Judea. Readers who insist on seeing the Church of God in this chapter must run into difficulty at every detail of the prophecy. Is the Church of God confined to one land, that such signs should be of use? Is the Church not spread through every quarter of the earth? Once you see that the godly in Judea are in view, all is simple and clear.
Many have applied these words to the escape of believers when the Romans besieged Jerusalem. One writer gives two reasons against that reading:
People often apply this to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, and Luke uses roughly similar language of that event, though far from identical. But the prophecy in Luke contains no such urgent appeals for haste. In fact, the advance of the Roman army left the Christians plenty of time to leave the city and take their goods with them. But besides this, the quotation from Daniel fixes the time. There can only be one tribulation exceeding all that have been before, and all that will come after.
One writer points to the compassion inside the command:
The godly are to flee, not staying even to get their clothes. The mountains of Judea are to be their hiding-place. The Lord is so compassionate toward them in their trial that He tells them to pray this will not happen in the winter, or on the Sabbath day. Either would be serious. A winter flight, with no time to fetch an overcoat, would bring much suffering. And a conscientious Jew would face a serious dilemma if the signal came on the Sabbath day.
Luke's account of the same moment adds an older warning:
It is as with Lot. When the signs of judgment become clear, let no one linger, even to collect his belongings before fleeing. "Remember Lot's wife." She had got outside of Sodom, but looked back and became a pillar of salt. She was not decisive but half-hearted in leaving Sodom. The Lord was pressing a moral lesson for everyone, as is usual in Luke. Yet this refers to the same time as Matthew 24:16-18.
- Signal. The daring wickedness set up in the sanctuary is the signal. From that moment the only instruction is flight.
- Speed. The abandoned cloak measures the danger. A man cannot spare the seconds it takes to cross his own field again.
- Place. Housetops, Judea, the Sabbath: every detail fixes this to one land and one people. That is why writers say the Church is not in view here.
- Care. The One who says leave the coat also tells them to pray it will not be winter — the flight is urgent, but not uncared for.
- Lesson. What holds a person back is what they turn round to collect. Lot's wife got out of the city and still looked behind her.
But woe to those that are with child, and those that give suck in those days.
The Lord has just told those in Judea to run for the mountains without stopping for their possessions. Now He pauses over the people who cannot run, and cries out over them — "alas" in the ESV, "woe" in older translations.
The same word carries judgment in other places, so its tone here matters. One writer draws the distinction:
The word "woe" is often a word of judgment, as in the last clause. But it is not always so. It can also be a word of pity, as in Matthew 24:19, Mark 13:17, Luke 21:23, Revelation 8:13; Revelation 12:12.
The preceding verses forbid a detour to the housetop or back to the field. That urgency explains why the Lord singles out mothers:
The Lord warns the one on the housetop not to try to save anything from his house, but to escape at once. If in the field, one ought not to return home even for the clothing he needs. That is how fast the attack will come. Pregnant women and mothers with nursing babies cannot travel quickly, so they will suffer greatly.
The Lord is not warning the church here. He is warning believers who live in the land:
The sight of the desolating idol in the holy place is the signal for flight. "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (ver. 16). There is no thought of a sign to Christians as such, but to Jewish disciples in the holy land, so that they may leave the place of danger at once. Some have tried to find here the warning on which people fled the city, in the gap after the Roman commander surrounded it and before its final destruction. But that comes from confusing Luke 21:20-24 with Matthew 24:15-21. The two are clearly distinct, in spite of some likeness between them. An idol in the holy place is very different from armies surrounding Jerusalem.
Another writer sees the same setting:
Here it is plain that this speaks of Jews living under the full rigor of Jewish law.
In peaceful times a child was a joy to a Jewish mother. In these days that same joy is what keeps her from escaping:
But alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! In times of peace such things would be causes for joy to Jewish women. But there would be a tribulation such as there had never been. And the heart of the Lord thinks of all the difficulties and all the dangers of His own.
The Lord is describing the worst distress the world will ever see. Yet He stops to think about small practical troubles — even the time of year:
The Lord's goodness here is very remarkable. In the middle of this terrible judgment we find Him thinking even of the weather. The judgment is so terrible that the world has never known anything like it. He tells them to pray that they will not have to flee in the winter... He thinks of those who are with child and of those who nurse infants in those days. Ah! how great is the Saviour's compassion; nothing escapes His gracious memory. While warning His disciples of the most terrible judgment, He thinks of all the difficulties they would meet upon the road He teaches them to take.
Because He foresees these difficulties, He tells them what to ask for in advance:
All these verses show how urgently they must flee. They also show the Lord's tenderness and gracious care for His people in this time of Jacob's trouble! And how much harder it would be for those with infants in that hour of urgency and distress! And the Lord, foreseeing all, tells them to pray that nothing will hinder their flight (ver. 20). Oh, how He cares!
The compassion that notices a nursing mother is the compassion that cuts the whole period short:
We can understand this. While this evil is allowed to run its course, the only hope is the flight to the mountains, which He commands to those who listen to His voice. Israel has refused that sheltering "wing" under which He would so often have gathered them... Still, His pity, whom they have forsaken, has set a limit: "for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days."
- Pity, not curse — the cry over these mothers is sorrow for them, not judgment against them.
- Pity explained — the flight will be so sudden that no one stops for clothes. Those who cannot move fast will suffer most.
- Pity placed — He warns believers in Judea, who still live under Jewish law, not the church.
- Pity noticed — He thinks of the weather, the road, the nursing baby. Nothing escapes His gracious memory, so He tells them what to pray for in advance.
- Pity limited — the heart that counts every hindrance also cuts the days short, for the sake of His chosen ones.
But pray that your flight may not be in winter time nor on sabbath
The Lord has just told His disciples to run. Now He names two things to pray about while they run, and both raise the question of who He had in view.
The Lord names a season and a day. One would slow the body. The other would tie the conscience.
Woe to those who were held back in their flight! But God can think of His people who trust Him even at such a time, and think of everything for them. They were to pray that their flight might not be in winter, which is hard for travel and for fugitives camping in the mountains. They were also to pray it might not fall on a Sabbath. A flight limited to a Sabbath day's journey would give poor hope of escape in times such as never were and never will be again. God would think of this for them.
The phrase "on a Sabbath" carries a fixed limit behind it.
A Sabbath day's journey was the greatest distance a Jew could travel on that day. The law gives no command about this. But when some of the people went out to gather manna on the Sabbath, Moses ordered, "Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day" (Exodus 16:29). In New Testament times it was understood that a person might travel two thousand cubits (about five furlongs)... When they were in the land the distance was counted from the gate of the city the traveller started from (Acts 1:12). The Lord perhaps referred to this custom. He told the disciples to pray that, in the judgment of Jerusalem, their flight should not be "on the Sabbath day."
Commentators point to the mention of the Sabbath as the clue to the audience. The prayer only makes sense for someone bound by the seventh-day law.
How could a believer offer such a prayer, since the Sabbath, the seventh day (and no other than the seventh) is to him the same as any other day of the week? But if this instruction was for the Jews, who would still be under the law, everything becomes clear at once.
The same point comes from two more angles. The winter named here is local, not worldwide. And Christians live under no such travel limit.
We see that it is not a question of the world at large. Winter would not affect all the earth at the same time. What is winter in one place is summer in another... Suppose a case of death, or sickness, or any urgent call. Christians rightly deny that walking a mile and a half is any sin then. They would walk it to do good to a neighbour, or to seek the blessing of an enemy... What do I conclude from this? That the Lord is not speaking here of Christians at all. He has in view godly Jews who are to be under the sabbath law, and who would find themselves in a terrible dilemma if they had to flee on that day.
In the middle of the warning, the Lord stops over a coat and the weather.
How exceedingly gracious! He is always mindful of the circumstances of His beloved saints, however small or trivial they seem. He thought of the suffering involved in a winter flight without time to go into the house for a coat! And what a dilemma they would be in if the image happened to be set up on the Sabbath day! So He tells them to cry to God that it may not happen that way. In such a case they would not know what to do. Any journey of length on the Sabbath day would break the law. Yet if they waited a while, for conscience' sake, they might lose their lives.
The prayer comes long before the event. Those who pray it will have taken the warning in and will be watching.
And the Lord, foreseeing everything, tells them to pray that there be no hindrances to their flight. Oh, how He cares! They will pray it beforehand. From Daniel 12 we see there will be wise ones who will instruct others in righteousness, for "the wise shall understand." So when they see this coming they will pray that it be not in the winter. Then the ravines have rushing torrents that make escape dangerous. Here the Lord prepares them, and we too can certainly profit from it.
- Two hindrances. Winter would make mountain flight brutal. The Sabbath would cap the journey at about five furlongs — far too short to escape.
- One audience. The Sabbath limit marks out people still under the law. Commentators therefore see godly Jews in view here, not Christians.
- One care. In the middle of the worst trouble the world will see, the Lord stops to think about a coat, a road, and a season.
- One instruction. He does not just predict the difficulty. He hands them the words to pray in advance.
- One lesson for us. He prepares His people ahead of time, and we can profit from that same care.
for then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from [the] beginning of [the] world until now, nor ever shall be;
Jesus is describing the time of the end, and here He reaches its darkest point. A trouble is coming that no earlier age has matched and none after it will. That raises three questions: what starts it, who goes through it, and where does it leave us?
The word "then" ties this trouble to a sign given a few verses earlier. That sign warns one particular group to run.
At the time of the end, the abomination of desolation that Daniel 12:11 speaks of will stand in the holy place. Jerusalem is in question, as verse 16 shows... The setting up of this abomination will be the signal to the godly that the great tribulation He foretold has begun. Their safety lies in fleeing from Jerusalem and Judaea, where the suffering will be fiercest... The Lord was speaking to His disciples, who at that moment were godly Israelites gathered around their Messiah on earth. So at that moment they represented the godly remnant of Israel, not the church.
Daniel had already described a time of trouble like no other. The Lord quotes him and adds something Daniel never said.
When the Lord quotes Scripture, He gives further light... So here the Lord goes beyond Daniel by adding "and never will be." It will never be repeated. It will be the most trying experience any nation has ever had. There is that idolatry, and they will be forced to take the mark of the beast either openly or secretly. Publicly or privately, they must own it, or else be put to death and cut off from every privilege of society.
History has no shortage of atrocities. What makes this one unmatched is not the scale of human cruelty but who is acting.
Nothing has ever matched the great tribulation, and nothing will ever equal it, let alone go beyond it. The Lord says this in verse 21. The reason, as the book of Revelation shows, is that heaven will send down wrath at that time — the pouring out of the bowls of judgment. It will not just be men afflicting men, or one nation punishing others, as we see so plainly today. It will be God punishing the nations as He settles His accounts with them.
Many read this verse as already fulfilled when the Roman general Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Commentators here say the timing rules that out. Look at what follows the tribulation, and at what comes before it.
The destruction of Jerusalem, with all its horrors, may have foreshadowed the future, but in no way fulfils the prophecy of this time of trouble. This passage tells us that right after the great tribulation the Lord will come to earth. Yet after the destruction of Jerusalem He plainly did not come. Moreover, there cannot be two times of tribulation "such as never were."
Note too that the tribulation comes after the setting up of the abomination of desolation. If you apply it to Titus and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, then setting it up closed the tribulation.
Four passages of Scripture describe this period. They show where its weight falls and how long it lasts.
Two passages in the prophets (Jer. 30:7 and Dan. 12:1), as well as two passages in the gospels (Matt. 24:21 and Mark 13:19), tell us of this great tribulation. There we notice that it will fall chiefly on the Jews, though the Gentiles may also suffer from it... The tribulation will take place during the second half of the last week mentioned in the book of Daniel (chap. 9), and will last until the Lord's appearing.
If this hour is coming on the whole world, no hiding place on earth is enough. The promise held out to believers is of another kind.
"Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you (not during, but) out of the hour of trial that is about to come upon the whole habitable earth, to try those who dwell upon the earth."... The refuge is not just a matter of place, because that hour of trial will fall on the whole habitable world. The heavenly saints will be caught up before that crisis comes. That crisis repays the lawlessness of the Jews and the Gentiles. It is a wholly different trouble from the one that falls to us as Christians.
Those days are cut short for the sake of the elect. What that rescues is life on earth, not the soul.
All this is plain enough. It is not a question of the soul but of the salvation of the body. They will then live and be the subjects of the blessed reign and glory when the Lord comes. It is earthly glory here, not in heaven. For the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
- Signal. The word "then" is not vague. An idol set up in the holy place starts the clock, and the godly are told to run.
- Severity. Daniel said nothing had ever equalled it; the Lord adds that nothing ever will. It happens once and is never repeated.
- Source. What makes it unmatched is not men afflicting men but God settling His accounts with the nations.
- Sphere. It falls chiefly on the Jews, centred on Jerusalem and Judaea, and it runs until the Lord appears.
- Shelter. The hour covers the whole earth, so the promise is not a safer place inside it. The heavenly saints are caught up before it comes.
and if those days had not been cut short, no flesh had been saved; but on account of the elect those days shall be cut short.
These words fall at the darkest point of the Lord's picture of the future. Human life itself is at stake, and two questions decide the meaning: what "saved" means here, and who the elect are.
Commentators place these days in the last part of Daniel's prophecy of seventy weeks. The older translation they use reads "shortened" and "no flesh," where the ESV has "cut short" and "no human being."
The last week of the seventy predicted in Daniel (9:24–27) is divided into two parts. Only the second half is the time of the great tribulation. Then the suffering is so great that unless the days had been shortened no flesh could be saved (Matt. 24:22). In connection with this passage, one writer finds that the appearing of the Son of Man follows "immediately after the tribulation of those days."
Does this describe the Roman capture of Jerusalem? One commentator allows a partial early fulfilment there, but points further:
Here the Lord's mind rests on the great fulfilment. There may be a partial early fulfilment in the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans, which Scripture does not record as history. But the mind of the Spirit rests clearly on the great final catastrophe of God's house and people and city.
The threat is deliberate extermination, aimed at everyone who takes a stand for God:
All the might of the Roman Empire, energised by the Dragon, will be used to wipe out everyone who dares to make a stand for God. The godless mass of people in Judea will be in full sympathy with the persecutors.
The danger is not only from outside. One writer hears in these words a verdict on the people's own hearts:
This is a remarkable statement even about the evil of their own hearts. The spirit of death and evil is among them. They would destroy themselves, and this has been seen in Jerusalem and elsewhere. It comes from within and from without; but for the sake of the elect, who were to be spared in the flesh, those days were shortened.
"Saved" here is not the rescue of souls from sin. It means staying alive on earth:
I confess this is the strongest indication to me that the Lord was not thinking of His heavenly people but of His earthly people. Later He speaks through His Spirit in the apostles about His heavenly ones. There He tells us plainly that the saving of the flesh was, and could be, of no importance. The reason is that flesh and blood can never inherit heaven. Saved flesh must be for the inheritance of the earth. The elect of this verse are, I am sure, the Lord's earthly remnant.
That reading also guards the verse from being turned into a rule about how a sinner is forgiven:
These words come in the course of His prophetic teaching recorded in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. They do not refer to the way sinful men may receive the salvation of their souls. The Lord was not addressing sinners but men already brought into relationship with Himself — His disciples.
Commentators take the "elect" to be a chosen group among the Jews. God's own choice marks them out, and a testimony from Him brings them to light:
That tribulation will beat harder on the Jews than on any other people. Yet in the middle of it the Lord will have His elect, and for their sake the days will be shortened (v. 22)… They are elect, which means the sovereign mercy of God has chosen them. But how will they be distinguished from the rest of the rebellious people? God's way has always been to bring such people to light by a testimony from Himself.
Shortening does not mean trimming hours off a calendar day. It means God fixes a limit on evil that would otherwise run on and on:
I understand the shortening of the days to mean that they are held strictly to the 1260 days. Man's will and passions would otherwise carry them on without end. But the Lord would come as a thief in the night and close it all.
The same God who has been unhurried in mercy will be swift in judgment, and both reveal His goodness:
Today God is dispensing mercy through the gospel. He has made a very long work of it, stretching over nineteen centuries. When He dispenses wrath He will make swift work, cutting it short in righteousness. A brief three and a half years will cover it, as other scriptures show. So the goodness of God will be shown both in mercy and in wrath.
- When — the days are the second half of Daniel's seventieth week. The Son of Man appears right after them.
- Why — attack from outside and evil from within would leave no one alive.
- For whom — for the elect, a remnant chosen by God's sovereign mercy and brought to light by His own testimony.
- How far — not a trimmed day, but evil held to a fixed limit. Man's will would run on without end.
- What is saved — flesh, life on earth, not the soul. The verse is about survival, not about how a sinner is forgiven.
Then if any one say to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or here, believe [it] not.
The warning comes at the darkest point of the Lord's talk on the Mount of Olives. He has just described a tribulation so severe that the days must be cut short. In that setting, a rumour that the Messiah has arrived in secret would be the best news His hearers could get. That is why He tells them to refuse it.
The word "Then" ties this to a fixed moment, when the trouble is at its peak. One writer traces the sequence and places these verses just before the Son of Man appears.
The shortening of these days of tribulation (verses 19-22) means this: the Great Tribulation does not begin at the start of Daniel's week, but in the middle. It lasts only three and a half years. His people are especially warned against the false Christs (23-26). Then, when evil is at its height, the Son of Man will appear like the lightning in the heaven; there will be no mistaking His appearing (27, 28).
The warning only makes sense for people still waiting for the Messiah to arrive. A believer today already knows where Christ is.
Suppose that someone should go to a Christian and say, Christ is in such and such a place. Could he be deceived in this way? Does not every believer, even the least instructed, know where Christ is, that He is at the right hand of the Father in heaven?… Now imagine that such a temptation were put to the Jews. They do not believe that their Messiah has ever come, and they are still expecting His arrival. You will see at once how wide open they are to such deception. We cannot therefore help seeing this description as applying to God's ancient people, and not to the church.
Their danger is not that they hope too little. A real hope can be pointed at the wrong person.
These disciples were the godly remnant of the nation, looking for the Messiah to bring in glory… The time had come when the true Messiah ought to appear. And He had appeared, but Israel had rejected Him, hardening themselves in the lie that our Lord could not be the promised One. But Israel had not given up the hope of the Messiah yet. This exposes them to the delusion spoken of here… At any rate, the rejection of the true Christ lays them open to the reception of a false Christ.
Every version of the rumour puts Christ somewhere you would have to be told about. The Lord answers with an arrival nobody has to announce.
There will be no need to go into the desert to seek Him, or to the secret chambers to find Him out. When He comes, "every eye will see him." The coming of the Son of Man will be sudden as a flash of lightning, and just as overwhelmingly clear to everyone.
This is not a danger in theory only. People have made this exact claim in living memory.
There would be reports that Christ was in the desert (as though another John the Baptist): they were to refuse such reports. Others would claim that He was "in the secret chambers," that is, that He had come secretly, invisibly. So-called Jehovah's Witnesses have made this wicked claim. They had prophesied that Christ would come in 1918. When this did not happen, they invented the contemptible deception that He had come invisibly.
The Lord does not ask His people to become experts at telling true from false.
They are warned now against any attempt to mislead them by drawing away disciples after a Christ who has come secretly — in the desert, or in the inner chambers. That is not how He would come. The power of evil at work would have its snares laid on the right hand and on the left; but there would be no need for any careful discrimination to discern the truth.
Commenting on the parallel passage in Mark, another writer puts their protection in a single sentence: they are to remember what He said.
The Lord warns the disciples against false hopes of deliverance. He warns them against false reports of false Christs, and against false prophets, false signs, and apparent wonders. Their safety will be in remembering the words of the Lord, "I have foretold you all things."
If this warning is not aimed at Christians, what is? The same writer names the deception that fits the Church.
The great thing that marks out the Church is the presence of the Holy Spirit. So the deceit we have to watch against is false spirits, not false Christs, though there are many antichrists. The danger of Christians is grieving the Holy Spirit — or even listening to false spirits.
- Then — the warning has a date. It belongs to the middle of Daniel's last seven years, when the trouble is at its worst and before the Son of Man appears.
- Hope — a real hope aimed at the wrong person is the deceiver's opening. Rejecting the true Christ is what makes a false one believable.
- Here — every false report hides Christ somewhere, in a desert or an inner room. The hiding is its own confession that the report is false.
- Lightning — the real coming needs no notice and no search. Every eye will see it.
- Told — safety is memory, not sharper judgment. He has told them everything beforehand, so the warning itself is the guard.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
The Lord has just described a tribulation like nothing before it. Now He names a second danger: religious imposters with real supernatural power. If miracles can be faked, what keeps anyone safe, and who are "the elect" who come so close to being swept away?
These verses point to the end of the age, not to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Luke's account of that siege leaves the whole section out.
All this is left out in Luke. Nothing of the kind happened before the siege of Jerusalem, and so it formed no part of the prophecy as Luke reports it. On the other hand, other Scriptures teach us that this is exactly the state of things before Christ appears in power and glory to set up His world-kingdom.
One writer spreads these impostors across the whole seven years, and sees their shadow already:
No doubt men claiming to be Christ will force themselves on the public through the entire seven years. Some will show great signs and wonders, as will be true of the antichrist, the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:3-12). In fact, even today there are many antichrists (1 John 2:18). Even the elect must be on their guard, for the deceptions of such men are highly plausible.
The lie is tailored to the moment. When every other hope has collapsed, an offer of rescue finds an eager audience.
After that (v. 23) come the great signs. In those last times there will also be false Christs and false prophets. They will promise the deliverance that hearts will so badly need at that terrible moment, when all the false hopes of an unbelieving nation have passed away... Once again the wickedness of men and the deceits of Satan will turn souls aside. They will keep them from humbling themselves, and from seeking deliverance in the only place where it can be found.
These deceivers work real signs and wonders. That settles a question many still get wrong.
Verse 24 plainly shows that not all miraculous signs are from God. There are two kinds — the divine and the devilish. The divine kind displays the divine character in grace and power. The devilish kind may often be flashier, more startling, and more attractive to unconverted people. People today who crave the miraculous should take great care that they are not deceived.
Writers identify these elect as a believing remnant in Israel, not the church. That is why the lie tempts them at all.
But it is clear that the Lord Jesus assumes real danger for the disciples here. They were Jewish, not Christian. So the cry that He was here or there on earth might deceive them. No Christian could be in such danger, but the Jewish disciples were. They were looking for the Lord's coming to the earth. They knew that the Lord's feet would stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.
Commentators differ over whether only an earthly people faces this danger. One writer allows a wider circle:
I do not say that such words about them must prove them to be an earthly people. No. I believe, from Revelation 13, that many heavenly men will face deceits in that day, and will be kept from deception in the same way.
Everything turns on that small clause. It shows how close the danger comes — and where God draws the line.
The clause "if it were possible" implies that they would be deceived without the protection of God's grace and power. God has decreed that the elect will not be carried away, despite coming so close to it... Believers, however, have no excuse for accepting such deception. The Lord has warned them beforehand how subtle it is, and their protection is in His Word.
What keeps them safe is not sharper discernment. It is a plain fact about how Christ returns.
The true saints will know that the real Christ is not going to hide Himself in some corner. Men will not have to say, "Look, here is the Christ!" or "There He is!" He will shine out in His glory at His coming, and every eye will see Him.
- Timed — the deception belongs to the end of the age, not the fall of Jerusalem; Luke, recording that siege, omits it altogether.
- Targeted — the elect here are understood as a faithful remnant of Israel, vulnerable precisely because they rightly expect Christ to come to the earth.
- Powered — real signs and wonders back the lie, proving that miracles alone are never evidence of God; the devilish kind is often the flashier.
- Limited — "if it were possible" concedes how close the danger comes, then denies it can succeed; grace and power hold the elect.
- Answered — no secret Christ in a desert or an inner room is genuine; He will shine out publicly in glory, and every eye will see Him.
Behold, I have told you beforehand.
The Lord has just warned about false christs and false prophets who work great signs. He closes that warning by pointing to Himself: He has said it all in advance.
Commentators tie this line to the Lord's habit of arming His people ahead of time. One writer sets this beside another warning He gave His disciples, and draws out what follows.
The Lord Himself sought to fortify His disciples in the same way. He said to them, "They will put you out of the synagogues… But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you." (John 16:2–4.) In tender concern, then, for our weakness, the Lord, through His servants, has forewarned us of what we have to expect among His professing people. And two important things follow. First, only in the light of the Scriptures can we read the state of professing Christianity rightly. Second, if we do not know the teaching of the Word of God, we are open to disappointments and deceptions of every kind.
Edward Dennett describes what such warnings do for people living through the trouble.
The Lord never leaves His people unwarned about the dangers and enemies they will have to meet. (See Matt. 24; John 15:16; 1 Tim. 4; 2 Tim. 3; Rev. 2:3; etc.) And if they store up His warnings in their minds, they are neither surprised nor discouraged when there are fears within as well as fightings without. They are ready for conflict with every form of Satan's hostility… How necessary it is, then, for the believer to know these warnings of coming dangers!
Leslie Grant explains why the elect are never carried away, and why anyone who is deceived has no excuse.
The words "if it were possible" imply that they would be deceived without the protection of God's grace and power. For God has decreed that the elect will not be carried away, despite their being so close to it. At this time the chief of all false christs, the Antichrist, will entice great numbers "with all power and false signs and wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9). Believers, however, have no excuse for accepting such deception. The Lord has forewarned them of how subtle it is, and their protection is in His Word.
Who would a rumour that Christ is here or there fool? Darby answers by looking at what the hearers expect.
Here there will be false christs on the earth, and people will say, "He is here in the wilderness," "He is there in the secret chambers." But the saints who will be caught up and return with the Lord have nothing at all to do with false christs on earth. They will go up to heaven to be with Him there before He returns to the earth. The Jews are expecting deliverance on earth, so it is easy to understand that they would be open to such temptations. They would be deceived by them unless God Himself kept them.
William Kelly turns the same distinction into a personal safeguard. What a believer expects decides what can tempt him.
A Christian is unlikely to be deceived by such rumours for an instant… He knows that he is to be with the Lord in the heavens. For this he will be taken up out of this world into the air to meet the Lord on high. So the deceits in question are addressed only to those who expect to meet the Lord on the earth.
Commentators differ on how tightly to draw that line. J. G. Bellett does not limit the danger to an earthly people.
I do not say that such words about them would necessarily settle that they are an earthly people. No. I believe, from Rev. 13, that there will be many heavenly men exposed to deceits in that day, and preserved in the same way from being deceived.
Leslie Grant points to what has already happened since the warning was given.
History has proven how much this warning was needed. Prophetic deceptions today are almost countless, and they have multiplied above all since the 1800s. Many have already come claiming to be Christ. Some of them do not use that title, yet they exalt themselves into the place that belongs only to the Lord Jesus. Many have been deceived by them.
- Told. The Lord's defence against deception is advance notice. He warns because He cares about our weakness.
- Kept. "If it were possible" implies the elect would fall on their own. God's grace and power hold them.
- Steadied. Warnings stored in the mind keep believers from surprise and discouragement. Trouble finds them ready.
- Discerned. A rumour of a Christ on earth tempts those who look for Him on earth. Commentators differ on whether others can be caught too.
- Watchful. Deceivers are already at work. Scripture is the shelter, and no one who knows it has an excuse.
If therefore they say to you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold, [he is] in the inner chambers, do not believe [it].
The word "so" ties this verse to the warning just before it about false christs and false prophets. Commentators read it as an instruction to one group of people at one hour, and they ask two questions: who must stay put, and why is the rumour so easy to answer?
The people the Lord speaks to here expect the Messiah to arrive on earth. That hope is what makes the rumour dangerous to them. Kelly ties the danger to who they are:
It is clear that the elect here are Jewish. Such rumours would hardly deceive a Christian for an instant. But the Lord Jesus supposes considerable danger for such disciples as are here. In fact, being Jewish and not Christian, they could fall for the cry that the Messiah was here on earth. They were looking for the Lord's coming to the earth. They knew that in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. So these deceits might take them in.
The wilderness and the inner rooms are opposites — one wide open, one hidden — and the verse rejects both. Older translations call them "the desert" and "the secret chambers," the wording the writers below use. Leslie Grant explains what each report claims, and names a group that has already used the second:
Some would report that Christ was in the desert, as though another John the Baptist had appeared. They were to refuse such reports. Others would claim that He was "in the secret chambers," that is, that He had come secretly, invisibly. So-called Jehovah's Witnesses have made this wicked claim. They had prophesied that Christ would come in 1918. When that did not happen, they invented the contemptible lie that He had come invisibly. Other such foolish claims will yet be made.
Both reports share one assumption. They put the Christ somewhere on earth to be found, instead of coming from heaven. Frederick Grant traces where that assumption ends:
So the antichristian snare, in the form it takes, shows the same thing. People look for Christ in the desert, or in the secret chambers, as though He would appear not from heaven but among the people. And the false Christ, when he comes, sits with divine honours in the temple of God.
"Do not go out" calls for no checking at all. It rests on how the real coming will look:
There will be no need to go into the desert to seek Him, or to the secret chambers to find Him out. When He comes, "every eye will see him." The coming of the Son of Man will be as sudden as a flash of lightning, and as clear to everyone as that flash is.
Another writer links the open manner of that coming to what it brings with it:
He would come openly, not secretly. The need would be such as to call not for secret help but open intervention. His coming would be like lightning lighting up the whole sky. It would announce swift and unsparing judgment.
Mackintosh puts the same test the other way round. A hope set on meeting the Lord in the air gives this rumour nothing to grip:
What possible use could such words have for people who are told to wait for God's Son from heaven? They know that before He returns to this earth they will have met Him in the clouds and returned with Him to the Father's house. Would any Christian who knows his proper hope believe people saying that Christ is here or there, in the desert or in the secret chambers? Impossible. Such a person is watching for the Bridegroom to come from heaven. He knows one thing for certain: Christ cannot appear on this earth without bringing all His people with Him.
- Two addresses, one lie. The desert says come and look; the inner rooms say He is already here unseen. Both put Christ somewhere on earth to be found.
- One shape. Every version of the trap offers a Christ who appears among the people, not from heaven. It ends with a false Christ taking divine honours in the temple.
- One answer. Nobody has to travel or investigate. His coming is like lightning: open, sudden, and seen by everyone at once.
- One risk. The warning is for people expecting the Messiah's feet on the earth. Their hope is real, and a rumour can use it.
- One safeguard. "He is here" cannot shake a hope fixed on meeting the Lord in the air. Christ does not appear on this earth without bringing His people with Him.
For as the lightning goes forth from the east and shines to the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
Just before this verse, people are saying the Christ is here or there — out in the wilderness, or hidden in an inner room. Here the Lord gives the reason to refuse every such report. His coming carries its own proof, like a flash that crosses the whole sky.
Lightning is not a private event. Nobody has to be told where to look.
The coming of the true Christ of God will be marked by the greatest possible publicity, like the lightning. No one will need to travel to a remote desert or a secret chamber to see Him.
More claims of a secret, unseen arrival are still to come.
Others would claim that He was "in the inner rooms," that is, that He had come in secret, unseen... Other such foolish claims will yet be made. But the Lord is emphatic: the coming of the Son of Man in power and glory will be like the lightning shining from east to west — sudden, bright, and evident to all the world. He does not speak here of His earlier coming for His saints, but that will be just as evident to all who share its great blessing.
Many tie this verse to the Roman armies that destroyed Jerusalem under Titus. One detail rules that out: the direction.
This is not the Roman conquest. The army of Titus did not come out of the east, as the lightning does here, and it did not shine to the west. If the Romans had been meant, the very reverse would be a more fitting figure. So clearly has the Lord Jesus guarded against the misinterpretations of men! The Son of Man's coming will be quite different and will take everyone by surprise, like the lightning. There will be no question of going here or there to seek Him.
The false Christs of the previous verses are lights of a sort, lit to lead people off the path.
They were not to follow any of those false lights that Satan lit to deceive souls. The Lord, the Son of Man, would come as lightning — suddenly, and with a brightness that would leave no doubt about His person when He appeared in this way.
Why must this coming be open rather than quiet? The state of things by then decides it.
He would come openly, not secretly. The need would be so great that it would call for open intervention, not secret help. His coming would be like the lightning lighting up the whole sky — the announcement of swift and unsparing judgment... Long-suffering patience held out no more hope. Judgment itself was now the only mercy.
The Greek word behind "coming" here is parousia. On its own it means someone who was away is now here. It does not say whether that arrival is seen. The context has to settle that.
Its precise use in the Epistles is to set forth the actual presence (and so by implication the coming, if previously absent) of a person or thing. It may or may not be a manifested presence; the context, or the nature of the case, must decide it. So the parousia of Christ as Son of Man is clearly so open that all the tribes of the earth mourn as they see Him.
The same writer makes the figure itself a test. What sort of arrival does lightning picture?
When the Son of Man comes in bodily presence, this is no doubt the fitting comparison. The appearing of the Lord Jesus from heaven will be sudden and bright, like the lightning. Is that our hope? Does Scripture ever present our Lord as the lightning coming to receive the Church? Is that how a bridegroom comes for his bride? On the other hand, if He comes then and in this way to judge... I can understand that the shining of the lightning would be a most fitting figure for such a coming and such dealings. It does not fit the indescribable peace and heavenly joy of the meeting between the Bridegroom and the Bride. It fits exactly His presence in judgment.
- Rumour — No "He is here" report can stand. A coming seen from one horizon to the other needs no messenger.
- Direction — East to west breaks the tie to the Roman armies. Their advance ran the opposite way.
- Brightness — Satan's false lights lead people astray. The lightning leaves no doubt whose person the world is seeing.
- Openness — By then the need calls for open intervention, not secret help. Judgment is the only mercy left.
- Fitness — The figure sorts the two hopes. Lightning suits a coming in judgment, not a bridegroom coming for his bride.
[For] wherever the carcase is, there will be gathered the eagles.
The Lord has just described His coming as lightning across the sky. He then adds a short proverb about a dead body and the birds that gather to it. Who is the corpse? Who are the birds? And why does this grim picture belong in a description of the Son of man's return?
The saying works like a law of nature: birds of prey do not need directions to a body. One writer points to a line in Job behind the image, and reads the saying as a rule about how judgment works.
The words mean that where the object of judgment is, there the executioners will do their work. The Scripture which our Lord probably had in view is Job 39:30. I believe the prophecy applies to the apostate part of the Jewish nation. That part of the nation will be like a lifeless carcase when divine vengeance falls on it at the end of the age.
Older translations read "eagles" where the ESV has "vultures." The bird in view is a scavenger, not the solitary hunter we usually picture.
This is supposed to be the bird known as the Griffon Vulture or Great Vulture... No sooner does an animal fall than these birds congregate in numbers on its carcase, according to Job 9:26; Matt. 24:28. The true eagle is a solitary bird, but vultures are seldom found alone.
The body is not named. One writer takes that silence as deliberate.
Where then, in what the Lord says here, is positive judgment found? It is contained, almost concealed, in these words: "For wherever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered." I think that passage alludes to an expression in the book of Job 39:30. It treats the Jews, who have united themselves with the enemies of God, as lost and dead, without wishing to name them again.
One short comment names the same body and its end:
The carcase is the apostate part of the Jewish nation, that which is most offensive to God — only a carcase! lifeless, fit only for judgment, and the judgment will fall on them, and there will be no escaping it.
If armies do the work, is the judgment merely human politics?
The moment you refer "His carcase" to the Jewish people, it becomes strikingly true. The mass of the Jews then will be apostate. The eagles or vultures that flock there are figures of God's judgments on the guilty people, carried out by the hostile nations of the earth. Whatever may be the instruments, they are judgments of God executed at this time.
Commentators differ on how wide the corpse reaches. One takes in more than Israel:
This coming of verse 27 is plainly in judgment, as verse 26 confirms. "The carcass," the corrupt condition of both Israel and the nations, will draw "the eagles," the executors of a well deserved judgment.
Some have applied the verse to the church: the church is the body, or Christ is the body and believers are the birds. One writer tests each picture.
Apply this to the Church or to the Christian, and what can you make of it? Is the Church "the carcase"? The Church united to Christ by the Holy Spirit is His body: it is a wonderful privilege and a blessed truth, but is the Church a carcase? Surely not: it is His living body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Nor is the Lord ever regarded as a body dead or merely alive, but as the risen and glorified Head.
The same writer offers a test that reaches past this one verse: a wrong reading of one passage throws the rest of Scripture out of joint.
If the Christians were the carcase, they must be the object of the judgment... But this is not the relation of the Lord's coming to the Christian. Nor can any Christians be the eagles or instruments of divine vengeance, any more than the carcase, without abandoning all the truth and character of their calling.
The disciples once asked the Lord where this would happen. One writer draws out His answer.
But when the Lord had given this solemn warning, the disciples exclaimed, "Where, Lord?"... As if the Lord had said, "Where?" — what a strange question! When the eagles seek their prey, where do they go? Wherever there is a carcase to be found. When these eagle-judgments are abroad in search of the wicked, where will they rest? Of course, wherever any wicked one is to be found. If he is in bed, or at the mill, or in the field, whatever righteous ones may be his companions, even there shall those judgments go.
- Corpse — the figure stands for the apostate part of the nation, lifeless before God and named only as a body.
- Corruption draws — no one calls the vultures to a fallen animal. Moral decay draws its own judgment.
- Executioners — where the object of judgment lies, those who carry it out will do their work. Nations may be the instruments. The judgment is God's.
- No hiding place — the answer to "Where?" is simple: wherever the guilty are — in bed, at the mill, in the field.
- Not the church — readings that make Christ the body, or believers the birds, collapse. The church is His living body, and He is the risen Head.
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
The Lord has just spoken of a tribulation like no other. Now He tells the disciples what follows the moment it ends. The lights in the sky fail, and the settled order of the heavens gives way. Two questions run through this verse. When does it happen? And are the darkened sun, moon and stars real events, or pictures of something else?
The word "immediately" ties this collapse to the tribulation just described. Writers hold that this tribulation is still ahead. One commentator compares how Matthew, Mark and Luke each report the Lord's words:
Notice how Matthew and Mark dwell on the troubles tied to the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. They tell us that no trouble like it had ever been known, and none like it would ever come after… They also speak of the Lord's coming as following close on those days of fierce trial (Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24). Luke mentions neither those days nor the abomination of desolation. His gospel teaches plainly that a period of unmeasured length would come between Jerusalem's capture and the Lord's return (Luke 21:24).
One writer rejects a popular reading of the verse:
A popular view makes this verse the point where the Lord starts speaking about His own return. That destroys the force of "immediately after the tribulation of those days" and breaks the connection with the true transition to the last days in verse 15.
Many read the three lights by a pattern Scripture itself sets, starting in Genesis:
This is the symbolic language of prophecy. But how should we read it?… In Genesis the greater light, the lesser light and the stars rule the day and the night. Throughout Revelation and prophecy generally, the heavenly bodies stand for rule: the sun for supreme authority, the moon for reflected authority, while the stars represent the minor and lower vessels of rule. So verse 29 is a symbolic picture of all government being completely overturned as soon as Daniel's seventieth week ends.
Read that way, the verse says where human history is headed:
Supreme power, pictured by the sun, goes dark. Derived authority, pictured by the moon, stops having any influence. Subordinate authorities, likened to the stars, lose their place and power. This age, despite all that men boast about progress, will end in tribulation, confusion and anarchy like nothing before it.
Commentators differ on how far the symbolism goes. One points out that these words of the Lord do not lean on symbols the way Revelation does:
Still, the Lord does not use many symbols in this talk, as the book of Revelation does. So we think we must not rule out real upheavals in the heavenly bodies. We know the sun really did go dark when Jesus died. The darkness of that day will make the brightness of His shining forth stand out all the more, when He comes in the clouds with great power and glory.
The last clause reaches past the visible sky. One writer says what is certain about it:
It is clear that the whole stability of government will be shaken. The general sense is plain. God's hand and will touch not only the earth, but the sources of power: "I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."… The rulers and authorities in heavenly places stop acting as God's agents, and they shake under this great act, which hands that rule to the Son of man.
Some ask whether this shaking is the same event as Satan being thrown out of heaven in Revelation 12. One writer answers by looking at the timing:
In Revelation 12 Satan is cast down clearly before the last great tribulation. He is furious, because he knows he has only a short time… In the gospels, where the mark of time seems precise (Matt. 24, Mark 13), the shaking of the powers of the heavens comes after the tribulation… So, as events, the two have nothing to do with one another.
One writer marks off this coming from the church's hope:
Here in Matthew 24 there is no gathering of saints to Christ in heavenly glory. This is the coming of the Son of man, to whom all judgment is committed… While He is hidden, they are hidden too. When He appears, they appear too, having been caught up beforehand.
- Order — the sequence is fixed. Tribulation first, then the lights fail, then He comes in the clouds. The whole verse turns on "immediately after."
- Rule — in Scripture the sun, moon and stars stand for supreme, derived and subordinate authority. Their darkening pictures every level of government collapsing at once.
- Reach — the shaking reaches the sources of power, not just the earth: "I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."
- Reading — commentators differ on whether the darkness is only symbolic. Some point to the sun going dark when Jesus died as a reason to expect real upheavals too.
- Result — that darkness is the backdrop for His glory. His heavenly saints appear with Him, not after Him, because they were caught up beforehand.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the land lament, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The disciples had asked what the sign of His coming would be, and here is the Lord's answer: a sign in heaven, mourning on earth, His own arrival on the clouds. But what is that sign, and who are the tribes that mourn?
Earlier in Matthew, religious leaders pressed Jesus for a sign from heaven. He refused them. One writer ties that refusal to this verse:
The Sadducees and the Pharisees together demanded a sign from heaven from Him. Their hatred of Him was strong enough to join two groups that could not stand each other. That sign the Lord did not and could not give. He could not make Himself acceptable to the world, or prove Himself on the world's terms... But in due time, though in a way they did not look for, a sign from heaven will be given to them. They asked for it (Matt. 16:1), and they shall have it (Matt. 24:29-30); but it will be a sign of coming judgment, a sign that the Son of Man is on His way from heaven in the clouds to carry out the vengeance that is written.
Commentators differ. Some argue the wording makes the coming itself the sign, and point to Mark and Luke:
The Lord had already taught them about the end of the age. Now He tells them that the sign of His coming will be the coming itself. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. In the phrase "sign of your coming," the coming is itself the sign. Mark and Luke give that same real coming of the Son of Man without calling it a sign.
Others identify the sign with the cloud of God's presence that marked Israel's history:
What is the sign of the Son of Man? We believe it will be the Shekinah cloud. A cloud covered Him when He stayed with Israel long ago. A cloud took Him out of His disciples' sight, and a cloud must bring Him back. At the bitter end of the great tribulation, when His faithful remnant is hard pressed on all sides... there will be seen, we believe, a bright and shining cloud in the heavens, a cloud from which fire shines out.
The word behind "tribes of the earth" can also be read "tribes of the land." The writer below quotes an older translation that chose "land":
"And then all the tribes of the land will lament." The context seems to favour "land" here rather than "earth"; the word can mean either. Such mourning is never linked with His coming to take us up to Himself.
Not every tear in that mourning is the same. One writer separates the wail of those who rejected Him from the grief of those delivered from unbelief:
They would see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory. Then all the tribes of the land — the land of Israel, I think — will wail because of Him. These are the people who had rejected Him, and who now see Him returning in glory. The faithful share the nation's fate in a general way, but God has freed them from their unbelief. We know they will mourn in another way (Zech. 12:10-14), looking on the One whom they had pierced.
One writer marks this public scene off from Christ's coming for the Church:
This is not His coming as Bridegroom for the Church, but His public appearing with His saints, as Col. 3:4 speaks. All who were caught up earlier will come with Him on that solemn day.
Some read this coming as a figure of speech rather than a real arrival. One writer answers from the way Jesus speaks in the rest of the discourse:
Someone may ask, Why may we not take the phrase figuratively in Matt. 24:30 and literally in other parts of the discourse? Here is our reply. Our Lord uses that phrase ten or eleven times in this one discourse, and every time He means it literally. To suppose that He then used it once figuratively, in the same discourse, with no hint of a different sense, is to suppose Him speaking in a way calculated to deceive.
- Asked — Religious leaders demanded a sign from heaven, and Christ refused. Here He gives it — as a sign of coming judgment.
- Shown — Commentators differ on the sign. Some read it as the coming itself; others as the cloud of God's presence.
- Mourned — Two sounds, not one. Those who rejected Him wail; those freed from unbelief look on the One they pierced and grieve.
- Distinguished — This is not Christ coming for the Church. It is His public appearing, and His saints come with Him.
- Literal — Take the words as they stand, like the rest of the discourse: a real Man, in a real coming, in power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from [the one] extremity of [the] heavens to [the other] extremity of them.
Jesus has just described His own appearing in the clouds, seen by all the tribes of the earth. Verse 31 gives the first thing He does: a trumpet sounds, angels go out, and they gather a scattered people from every direction.
The trumpet is a summons, and it answers centuries of scattering. One writer explains what it stands for:
The trumpet speaks of clear, declared testimony, and the Jews, who have been scattered for so many centuries, will be awakened to return to their land. There are already some stirrings among the Jews toward this, and many have returned to the land. But by no means all of Judah has returned, and we do not even know where the ten tribes are. But God knows, and this great trumpet call of angels will bring them out and back to the land of promise.
The word "elect" runs through this chapter. It points to people God has chosen out of Israel:
The elect of this verse will be found among the Jews. In verse 31 there are others who are to be gathered together from the four winds. These are probably not only Jews, that is, men of the tribe of Judah, but also of the whole of Israel. They are elect, which means the sovereign mercy of God has chosen them.
Commentators differ on the emphasis. Some see the ten lost tribes of Israel as the main focus:
There will be a great awakening especially among the ten "lost tribes" of Israel. They will be brought out from the places where they were scattered, coming from every direction and from the greatest distances back to the land of promise. This will be a miraculous work of divine power.
Many read this verse as the moment the church is caught up to meet Christ. Note who is sent, and where the gathered ones end up:
Some have wrongly applied verse 31 to the rapture. At the rapture the Lord will not send His angels: He will come Himself for believers (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The trumpet will sound, but that clear call at the rapture is meant only for the saints of God, dead and living. In contrast, angels with the great sound of a trumpet are sent to gather the elect of Israel from every direction back to their promised land. This will happen at the end of the tribulation. Compare Isaiah 27:13. The feast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:23-25) is a picture of this.
The scene stays on earth and looks ahead to Christ's coming reign:
This gathering of the elect looks to the blessing of the coming thousand-year reign. There is no mention of any rapture to heaven, or even of resurrection, for it is the gathering together of living people on earth. In chapter 16 the Lord had revealed that He was going to build His church. But its heavenly calling and destiny had not yet been revealed, so we must not read the church into verse 31.
The angels are called His. The One rejected as a man now commands them:
But there is more. Not only will those who are written in the book of God (Daniel 12:1) be delivered in Palestine. The Son of Man will also send His angels to gather together all the elect of Israel from the four corners of the earth, from one end of heaven to the other. For now the angels have become the servants of the One who inherits all the rights of man, according to the counsels of God.
The phrase "the four winds" points back to how Israel was scattered:
The mention of the four winds in connection with Israel is no difficulty; it is quite the reverse (see Zechariah 2:6). As the Lord had scattered and spread them abroad "as the four winds of the heavens," so now His chosen ones are to be gathered in.
The gathering reaches to the ends of the earth. No hiding place is too remote:
It is not only the remnant in Jerusalem who will be affected... Wherever they are found, not one will escape His eye, but all will be brought to share in the blessings of the kingdom which He comes to establish. As we read in Isaiah, "He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12).
Some hold that all this happened when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. The word "immediately" in verse 29 undoes that reading:
On the face of it, could this be said to be "immediately after the tribulation"? Or was it not the crowning of Jewish sorrow, rather than the glorious reversal of their sufferings by a divine deliverance? ... One greater than Titus is here; and an event is announced concerning that poor people which will change the face and condition of all nations.
- Sound — The trumpet is a clear, public testimony. It is the call that ends Israel's long scattering.
- Sender — The rejected Son of Man now commands the angels as His own servants, and they gather in the people the winds once scattered.
- Sought — The "elect" are God's chosen in Israel, taken by His sovereign mercy. Commentators differ on whether Judah or the ten lost tribes are the main focus.
- Sweep — From the four winds, one end of heaven to the other: not one of them escapes His eye.
- Setting — This is a gathering to a land, not a rapture to heaven. Angels come, not the Lord Himself, and this follows His appearing, with the coming kingdom in view.