Jesus addressed two subjects in Matthew Chapter 24. In verse 1, Jesus and his disciples observed the magnificent temple and its associated buildings. It was a mammoth structure that had been under construction for decades. In verse 2, Jesus remarked that the facility would be utterly destroyed. The astonished apostles imagined that such could not occur short of the end of the world. This prompted them to ask Jesus questions in verse 3. Grammatically, they asked three questions. They thought they were essentially asking one question with related parts. Really, the asked two distinctly different questions: (1) about the destruction of the world, (2) about the end of time when the Messiah would return.
The balance of Matthew 24 is devoted to the answers to these two questions. In verses 4-34, Jesus primarily answered the query regarding the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. In verses 35-51, Jesus primarily answered the question about the end of time and when the Messiah would return. All of Matthew Chapter 25 also concerns the end of time when the Messiah would return.
Verse 34 signals the close of the discourse about the destruction of Jerusalem by announcing that the events mentioned in the preceding verses would be fulfilled within the generation of the disciples to whom he was speaking. “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Appropriately, so-called signs of the times were to be discernible prior to the destruction of Jerusalem (i.e., “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places,” verse 7). Since these types of things occur in every generation, the only way in which they could signal an approaching event is to understand that they pertain to the same time-frame during which Jesus spoke Matthew 24 and during which the apostles lived. Further, that these verses pertain to the time preceding the destruction of Jerusalem and not to the end of time is obvious, since fleeing to the mountains (verse 16) and lamenting the Sabbath Day or winter months for that flight (verses 19-20) would have no advantage regarding the end of time and the Second Coming of Christ.
Verse 28 is simply a reference to Jerusalem being the point of convergence by the Roman army that was sent to subdue the Jewish rebellion. Verses 29-31, though, are figurative expressions employed to emphasize the utter destruction of the Jewish way of life. These same figures were used repeatedly in the Old Testament regarding other nations who previously were utterly devastated. Therefore, this figurative language cannot literally refer to the end of time and the Second Coming (including the so-called ‘rapture’), otherwise the first century world would have never existed–the world having been destroyed hundreds of years earlier when those figures were previously employed.
“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land” (Isaiah 13:9-14).
These verses above refer to the conquest of Babylon by the Persians, according to Isaiah 13:1. Verses on either side of the citation above describe the devastation of Babylon by invading armies and give some graphic details regarding the combat.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (Joel 2:30-31).
These verses from Joel above appear in a prophecy concerning the establishment of the church and the official end of Judaism. The interpretation is certain since the apostle Peter by inspiration quoted this passage and applied it to the establishment of the church with power on Pentecost (Acts 2:16-21).
Matthew 24:32-33 are more ‘signs of the times’ verses that pertain to the destruction of Jerusalem. Verse 36 commences the discussion regarding the Second Coming of Christ. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (verses 36-37). Notice, that unlike the preceding verses, the event here being discussed will occur at an undisclosed time–no ‘signs of the times.’ The Second Coming in this regard shall be like the universal flood of Noah’s day–unexpected!
“For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (verses 38-39). Before the flood, people engaged in normal, everyday activities–because they did not know God’s destructive visitation was about to come. Preceding the coming of Jesus again, because no one knows when that will be, people will also be engaged in normal, everyday activities.
Verses 40-41 describe some of the everyday, normal activities in which people were involved before the flood and which also represent the everyday, normal activities in which people will be involved prior to the Second Coming. In Noah’s day, the saved were extracted from among their fellows to ride the ark above the flood. Others were left–not removed to the salvation of Noah’s ark. Likewise, at the Second Coming, the saved will be extracted from among the lost.
The apostle Paul also taught that the saved will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
So, in Matthew 24:40-41, some will be extracted from the rest of humanity for salvation–to meet our Lord in the air. Incidentally, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 indicates the closest that Jesus will ever come to the earth again (and the saved ones’ final departure from planet earth). Matthew 24:40-41 do pertain to an end of time departure from earth by the saved, but neither they nor any other verses teach the premillennial ‘rapture’ which includes years of tribulation for the wicked and the establishment of an earthly, physical kingdom on earth.
