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Transcript 305B — Understanding Matthew 24
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hello. I'm reading Matthew 24, and it's a little puzzling. And according to this New American Standard, it says, "See that no one misleads you," and that there will be wars and rumors of wars, and tribulation, and false prophets will arise, lawlessness, and so on.
And down farther it says, "Let him who is on the housetop not go down," and "Woe be to those who are with child," and "Pray that your flight not be in winter or on the Sabbath." Now the way I figure that out, that can't be the last days.
HC: Why can it not be the last days?
CALLER: If it would be the last days, why would it tell you not to come down off the housetop, and "Woe be to those who are with child"? Because if it was the very last days, what difference would it make where you were?
HC: First of all, immediately when we read these passages, we start thinking about a particular moment in time. But look at Luke 17. Leave your finger in Matthew 24. And if you turn to Luke 17, where Jesus is talking about Judgment Day itself, He's using as a figure the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. And you'll remember that Lot and his family were driven out of Sodom and Gomorrah. And right on the heels of them leaving Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone were rained down on these cities, and they were destroyed. The fact is, Lot's wife looked back, and she was enveloped in that very destruction.
Now notice what it says, in verse 29 of Luke 17: "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take away. And he that is in the field, let him likewise not turn back. Remember Lot's wife."
You see, God is not talking here about taking time to go down into the house. He's really talking about an attitude. What was Lot's wife's interest in?
CALLER: She was interested in the city. That's why she turned around.
HC: Yes. She was more concerned about the things of this world than she was about a right relationship with God. And she was consumed in the judgment.
So at the Last Day, when Christ comes again, if we are still worshipping the creation, which the unsaved man does (he finds his security, his joy, his hope, in the things of this world) if that is our attitude, that we find our hope, our joy, our security, in the things of this world, we are going to be consumed in the Judgment Day, even as Lot's wife was.
This language, of not going down into the house, is not speaking about us literally standing on the roof of the house and running dawn. From this context we learn that it is really addressing itself to the question of where is our love, where is our concern?
Lot's wife's concern was in the things in her home, in the city that she lived in. She couldn't bear to leave them. And because of this attitude, she was consumed in the judgment. If our attitude, when Christ comes again, is that kind of an attitude, we also will still be subject to judgment.
CALLER: Yes, I can see that. But why would it speak about, "Woe to those who are with child"?
HC: Well, again, we have a commentary on that in the Gospel of Luke. Remember when Jesus was carrying the cross? And as He carried the cross, the women cried out after Him. And then Jesus turned on them and said, in Luke 23:28, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming in the which they shall say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bare, and the paps that never gave suck.' Then shall they begin to say to the mount; ins, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'"
Now in Luke 23, just as in Luke 17, Christ equated going down into the house with the very moment when Judgment Day had come. So here He is equating the language of "Blessed are the barren" (or in other words, 'Blessed are those who do not have children') with Judgment Day, because "Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'" From Revelation 6:15 or 16, we know that that is the time when Christ comes, and the unsaved are in mortal fear of Him, and will be calling to the rocks to crush them and the hills to cover them.
Actually, again Christ is teaching here an attitude. You see, there are a couple of factors in view here. First of all, an unsaved parent couldn't care less about his children, insofar as how they are going to be brought up spiritually. And yet he has a certain love and concern for his children.
Now remember in Sodom and Gomorrah. What happened to the babies there? They were destroyed. What happened in the Flood of Noah's day? What happened to the babies? They were destroyed. Now can't you see a parent that has children, and Judgment Day has come, and suddenly he realizes that he has done nothing to, it's bad enough that he himself must be thrown into hell, under the wrath of God. But what an awful thing to know that his family, his whole family, is going to go there. It's just going to add to the turmoil and the awfulness of his predicament. It would be far better if he had no children, if he had no responsibility toward these.
You see, Judgment Day is the final moment. There's no escape, there's no turning around, there's no more time to correct any past mistakes. He has made no effort to train his children in the fear and the knowledge of the Lord. He has made no effort to bring them the Gospel. And their eternal destiny, in all likelihood, is going to be very similar to his own.
CALLER: Well, that's the reason I wondered. I know it's supposed to be in the twinkling of an eye. And why would you worry about coming down off the housetop to get your coat?
HC: You see it's not talking about an actual thing that we would do, but it's talking about an attitude, the same as when it talks about, "Pray that your flight will not be in winter," Now again, a "flight in winter"? That talks about an escape of some kind.
You see, Jesus equates His coming with summertime, in Matthew 24:32. "Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the door."
Okay. Christ is equating His coming with summertime. Now anyone who is not ready is not seeing that it is summertime, that it is time for Christ's return. They are as if they are in winter. They are still thinking that it's a long time before Christ will return, or at least, whatever they're thinking, they're not ready for His return. They are like those who are in winter. Only the true believer will be like those who are in summer. We will know that it is time. We will be ready at any moment that that might happen.
CALLER: There were a few things in there that kind of had me baffled. And another one was verse 30, when it says, "All the tribes of the earth will mourn." Well, the tribes of the Jews were not considered tribes, and I thought it was speaking more about the fall of Jerusalem, or something like that.
HC: No. In verse 30, where it says, "All the tribes of the earth will mourn," look at the language carefully. "All the tribes of the earth will mourn." That is, this is another way of saying, all the nations of the world, all the peoples of the world, will mourn.
Now why will they mourn? Well, Revelation 6 tells us why they will mourn, why they will weep. Because Judgment Day has come. They will be in terrible trouble. In hell they will weep and gnash their teeth. And already, just anticipating judgment, there will be great weeping, because the time of retribution has arrived. It ill be a terrible, terrible moment for those who are unsaved. Words cannot describe the awfulness of Christ's return for the unsaved.
CALLER: Well, I just wondered, because Matthew 24 is quite a chapter to study.
HC: Well, you know, I remember years ago, when I had not worked as long in the Bible as I have at the present, I struggled with Matthew 24. Of course I read whatever commentaries I could lay my hands on, and I found that virtually every commentary related Matthew 24, at least to a high degree, to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. And so for a long time, for several years, I tried to piece through Matthew 24, to identify, What verse refers to AD 70, and what verse refers to the return of Christ? And I always had great difficulties.
I must confess that as I have continued to study the Word, and compare scripture with scripture, and just generally become more acquainted.
You know, you keep reading and reading and reading. And pretty soon you get a little better idea of the way God speaks, I suppose. But at any rate, presently I am altogether convinced, altogether convinced, that Matthew 24 does not have AD 70 in view at all, not a bit, that the whole chapter of Matthew 24 has the end of time in view. It begins this way, and it goes all the way through.
Remember, already in Matthew 24:3, "And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us. What shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?'" And that sets the context of Matthew 24. It's the end of the world.
CALLER: This says, "the end of the age."
HC: Or the end of the age. But you see, elsewhere in the Bible we read that the New Testament period is the end of the ages. We are the last days, the whole New Testament period. Remember Hebrews 1:1?: "In these last days He has spoken by His Son." Now before the coming of Christ we have the period from Adam until the Flood, which actually works out to be a little over 6000 years. And then we have a rather bleak period, from the Flood until Abraham is called out of Ur of the Chaldees, a period of about 3000 years. And then we have a period of about 2000 years, during which God dealt through the nation of Israel.
And now we come to the Christ, to the cross. And the Bible speaks about the "last days," or the "end of the ages." In Matthew 24:13 it says, "This Gospel must be preached to every nation, and then the end will come." So it's the end, you see.
CALLER: That's what's kind of confusing, if you haven't studied any more than I have. Another thing that threw me back to thinking it was Jerusalem was when it says, "Pray that your flight not be in winter or on the Sabbath." Well, if it was in winter, they had to hide in caves. Or if it was on the Sabbath, the Jews weren't allowed to travel. So they'd be stuck.
HC: But that isn't what's in view.
CALLER: You see, there's little things like that that crop up, that kind of had me a little bit confused.
HC: Well, join the party. These are not easy verses to understand. But I really believe that in these verses, "Pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath," "Do not go down into the house," that you will be included amongst those who will be saying, "Blessed are the barren," all four of these references are language that is being addressed to the question: Be careful that you are saved! All four of these are speaking of those who are unsaved, who are not ready.
Later on in Matthew 24 Jesus became more specific. He said in verse 42, "Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh." And this is really the focal point. Be sure that you are ready. Be sure that you will not be included amongst the unsaved.
CALLER: Well, of course there are a lot of hidden things in here. If it was too plain, we'd never read it. We'd just read it once and put it down and say, "Oh, I understand that."
HC: Well, God has His own purposes for writing the way He did. That's for sure.
CALLER: That's what I mean. You have to search the scriptures daily.
HC: Exactly. That's what God wants us to do.
CALLER: You read a novel once, and you say, "Oh, I read that?" and put it back on the shelf, where you forget it. But this way, you have to keep searching. Anyway, that helps a lot. Thank you very much.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.
CALLER: Good night.