Verse by Verse

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Christ now mentioned signs that will fall in the second half of the Tribulation. There will be widespread persecution and death (v.9). Many will be turned away from Christ to worship the political dictator whom John called the “beast” (Revelation 13:1-10). Paul called this person “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4). Many false prophets will appear and deceive many. John wrote about a particular false prophet (Revelation 13:11-18) who, by Satan’s power, will perform miracles to persuade the world to worship the first beast, the political dictator described in verses 1-10. This false prophet will begin his ministry in the middle of the Tribulation. The beast will extend political power over the world and assume the prerogatives of Deity in the religious world, and these activities will be signs which fall in the second half of the Tribulation to forewarn Israel of the approaching advent of Christ. The beast will become a persecutor (Revelation 13:7), and many will lose their lives. This no doubt will tempt many to renounce Christ and give allegiance to the beast. But Christ promised, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved” (v.13).

During the time that the politico-religious system of the beast is in absolute control, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world (v.14). The gospel of the kingdom was preached by both John and Jesus (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). This was the announcement of the good news that the kingdom was near. This message had both a soteriological and an eschatological emphasis. When John and Jesus called on the nation to repent, they were asking them to acknowledge their sinful state and their need of salvation. They were inviting the people to turn in faith to God, who had promised to send a Savior.

This gospel will be preached by 144,000 set apart from the tribes of Israel (Revelation 7:1-8). These will be descendants of Abraham. — Pentecost, pages 400-401.

3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.

5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

the age (v.3) — the Jewish age (Daniel’s 70th week), not the church age.

The questions showed that they had arrived at certain conclusions. The prophet Zechariah had described the advent of Messiah to institute His kingdom (Zechariah 14:4). This coming was to be preceded by an invasion of Jerusalem (12:1-3; 14:1-3). Jerusalem would be totally destroyed and the majority of the people in the land would be slaughtered (13:8-9). To these men, Christ’s words concerning the destruction of Jerusalem was the destruction predicted by Zechariah that would precede the advent of the Messiah. In Jewish eschatology two ages were recognized: the first was this present age, the age in which Israel was waiting for the coming of the Messiah; the second was the age to come, the age in which all of Israel’s covenants would be fulfilled and Israel would enter into her promised blessings as a result of Messiah’s coming. The present age would be terminated by the appearance of Messiah, and the coming age would be introduced by His advent. The present age, then, was to end in judgment, and the coming age must be preceded by this devastation. The disciples concluded that the judgment Christ had predicted was the one that would terminate this present age. After this judgment Messiah would come to introduce the age to come. Thus they asked “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age”? (Matthew 24:3).

Let us note concerning this great eschatological discourse that Jesus was here revealing the prophetic program for Jerusalem, the nation Israel, and the people of Israel. He made no reference to the church or the prophetic program for the church. Jesus did not speak here of events that will precede the consummation of the program for the church at the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). Rather, He dealt with the future Tribulation, or seven-year period that will complete the prophetic program for Israel as revealed in Daniel 9:27. Because of its Jewish context this portion of Scripture must be interpreted with reference to Israel and not the church. — Pentecost, page 398.

sorrows (v.8) = birth pangs, travail

Christ described the events that will fall within the seven years of what Jeremiah called “a time of trouble for Jacob” (Jeremiah 30:7). Jesus referred to the rigors that Israel will undergo in this period as “birth pains” (Matthew 24:8). They will be the sufferings that precede the birth of the new age to come. Daniel indicated that this seven-year period will be divided into two parts of equal length (Daniel 9:27). Jesus described signs that will be given to the nation Israel in the first half of the Tribulation (Matthew 24:4-8). One sign will be that false Messiahs will appear (v.5). Another sign will be reports of war (vs. 6-7). Another will be natural catastrophes — famines and earthquakes (v.7).

John in Revelation 6 described events of the first half of the Tribulation by disclosing what was hidden under the seals on a scroll. That the seals fall within the first half of the Tribulation is suggested by the parallelism that exists between Christ’s signs in Matthew 24:4-8 and what John revealed in Revelation 6. John’s first seal has to do with a rider on a white horse (Revelation 6:2), who is a false Messiah. As the result of the rise of this one, peace will be taken from the earth and war will ensue (v.4). As a result of war there will be widespread famine (v.6) that will result in widespread death (v.8). Christ revealed that as rigorous as these judgments may seem, they will be only “the beginning of birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8). Thus in this portion Christ described the judgments of the first half of the Tribulation. He gave signs to Israel that would forewarn them of the approach of the Judge. — Pentecost, pages 399-400

1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.

2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

At the end of the previous chapter, Jesus had said to the Pharisees: “See! Your house is left to you desolate.” As He leaves the temple, His disciples point out to Him that Herod’s temple is anything but desolate (v.1).

Many of my commentaries point to the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 as the fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy in v.2. That didn’t make total sense to me, so I wrote to Pastor Kurth and asked, “Does the Lord’s prediction regarding the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:2 refer to it’s destruction in A.D.70 or a coming destruction at the (end of?) the Tribulation, or both? And why?”

His response:

After the Lord talked about the destruction of the temple in Matthew 24:1-2 and the apostles asked Him “when shall these things be?” (v.3), everything He said in the rest of the chapter is future, so I believe the destruction He was describing is future as well. I don’t know how it could be past and everything else be future. I personally don’t think that what happened in 70 AD was any fulfillment of it, other than something the devil did to make people think it won’t happen again. Kind of the way people think Antiochus Epiphanes was the fulfillment of the prophecies about the Antichrist. I think Satan just made sure someone looked like he fulfilled those prophecies so people would think there isn’t another Antichrist coming. In my mind, the destruction of the temple is the same thing. Since it happened, people think it won’t happen again. But I’m not positive, so I copied Dave in on this reply.

Dave’s response:

I agree. Verses 33 and 34 say to look for “all these things” and indicate that they will all happen together. This is in answer to their question, “when shall ‘these things’ be,” referring to the temple’s destruction. So vs.2 cannot be separated from the rest of the events described in Matthew 24. Also, in vs.15 the abomination of desolation stands “in the holy place” which indicates that the temple’s destruction described in vs.2 must occur some time after vs.15 and the events leading up to it.

Antiochus Epiphanes is a good comparison. He’s a pseudo-fulfillment which the Lord clearly refutes in vs.15 when He says that the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 was yet to come in His day. 70 AD falls into the same camp, and for the same reasons. The rest of Daniel’s prophecy, like the coming and cutting off of Messiah, had to occur first. But those elements of the prophesy are ignored in favor of an “antichrist has already come and gone” interpretation of vs.27. It’s the same with Matthew 24. The [people who take this view think the] rest of the prophecy doesn’t matter as long as we understand that antichrist is past already. 70 AD is merely a back-up plan. If we don’t buy Antiochus Epiphanes, they’ll give us Titus.

29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,

30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.

33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

38 See! Your house is left to you desolate;

39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Abel (v.35) — Genesis 4; Hebrews 11:4

Zechariah, mentioned as the son of Jehoiada in 2 Chronicles 24:20, probably was the grandson of the priest and Barachias was his actual father. — Walvoord, page 174

kills … and stones (v.37) — tense indicates habitual or characteristic action

house (v.38) — The word “house” could be a reference to the city of Jerusalem, or the Jewish temple in the city, or the Davidic house to which the Jews looked for a successor to David to deliver them and rule over them, or the nation as a whole. In any case, judgment must come. — Pentecost, page 394.

desolate (v.38) = alone

Blessed is He (v.39) — Psalm 118:26

This address was the last Jesus made in public and this was the last time He went to the temple.

Morgan makes the point that the “woes” of Matthew 23 match up one for one with the blessings (the Beatitudes) in Matthew 5.

Moses had written long ago in Deuteronomy 30:1-3, “And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, wither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.” Moses went on to predict their regathering and their possession of the land (Deuteronomy 30:4-5) In Deuteronomy 30:6, he stated “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.”

Other references to the same revival in the Old Testament are frequently found. The closing chapters of the prophecies of Isaiah mention again and again the coming revival of Israel, as, for instance, in Isaiah 65:18-25. Jeremiah, in like manner, prophesies Israel’s future restoration in Jeremiah 30:1-11; 31:1-14, 27-37. Zechariah speaks of it in chapter 8, and 12:10; 13:1; 14:9-21. The New Testament picks up similar truth in Romans 11:25-36 and pictures Israel triumphant on Mount Zion in Revelation 14:1-5. While it is tragic that Israel did not know the day of her visitation at the time of the first coming of Christ, the godly remnant of Israel, that awaits His second coming to sit on the throne of David, will experience the blessing of the Lord and receive a new heart and a new spirit, of which Ezekiel spoke in Ezekiel 36:23-28.

the tragic note which ends Matthew 23 introduces the great prophecy of the end of the age, recorded in Matthew 24-25 and delivered privately to His disciples. This discourse details the prophecy of the coming kingdom and the time of reward and blessing for those who trust in the Lord. — Walvoord, page 176.

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

tithe (v.23) — a tenth, for the use of priests and Levites (Leviticus 27:30).

anise (v.23) = dill

full of (v.25) = full from

The woe in verse 25 is because the Pharisees were concerned with ceremonial cleanliness which can be observed, but not with holiness.

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’

17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’

19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

20 Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it.

21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.

22 And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

To swear by the altar was therefore to swear by all that was placed upon it, and to swear by the temple was to swear by Him who dwelt therein, even as to swear by heaven (a most frequent thing) is to take an oath by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it. All such oaths were forbidden very definitely by the Lord on a former occasion (Matthew 5:33-37). — Ironside, page 305.

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By making such distinctions the Pharisees were able to take an oath, but then absolve themselves of responsibility for fulfilling the oath. The one uninitiated in the distinctions would accept the oath of the Pharisee, not knowing that the oath had been couched in such phraseology that the Pharisee did not consider himself bound by it. Christ condemned such duplicity. — Pentecost, page 393.

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Christ had preached that He was the way into the kingdom. By rejecting Christ (v.13), the Pharisees were closing the kingdom to any who followed them.

False religion and pretense are always the worst enemies of the truth and are far more dangerous than immorality or indifference. As the religious leaders of the Jews, they were held guilty before God of blocking the way for others seeking to enter into the kingdom of God. — Walvoord, page 172

Verse 14 isn’t in most manuscripts. It was probably copied from Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47.

The Jews recognized two sorts of proselytes [converts from paganism to Judaism]: those who agreed to the so-called seven precepts of Noah, and those who submitted to circumcision and became full Jews by religion. — KJV Commentary, page 1220.

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The Pharisees were described as extremely energetic on both land and sea to make proselytes of the Jewish religion. But when they were successful, Jesus Charged, “Ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves,” In referring to hell, Christ used the word Geenna or Gehenna, a reference to eternal damnation, rather than to Hades, the temporary abode of the wicked in the intermediate state. The Pharisees and their proselytes both would end up in eternal damnation. — Walvoord, page 172.

1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.

3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5 “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;

7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.

9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.

10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.

11 The greatest among you will be your servant.

12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Portions of this account also appear in Mark 12:38-40 and Luke 20:45-47.

This was Christ’s last public discourse.

Moses’ seat (v.2) — the seat of authority, custodians of the Scriptures. Some commentaries think that Christ was saying that the Pharisees “sat themselves” in the seat of authority. Either way, the people were to listen to and obey them as far as, and only as far as, the teaching of the actual law was concerned.

phylacteries (v.5) — an amulet consisting of a strip of parchment on which was inscribed certain portions of the Pentateuch and which was rolled and placed in a small metal cylinder inside a square leather case. The cases were attached by the Jews with straps to their foreheads and to the back of their right hands, following a strictly literal interpretation of Deuteronomy 6:8-9. They were normally worn only during prayer, but the Pharisees appear to have worn them always and to have made them especially conspicuous. The borders of the garments were the fringes worn in obedience to Numbers 15:38-39. — KJV Commentary, page 1220.

Rabbi (v.7) = my teacher

His disciples were not to seek to be called rabbi and were forbidden to use the word “father” indiscriminately, even though Paul used “father” correctly in 1 Corinthians 4:15, and John addressed fathers in 1 John 2:13-14. The general teaching is clear. They were not to seek man-exalting titles such as rabbi, father, or minister to gain the recognition of men. Disciples of Christ should not exalt themselves but should seek to serve others and leave the exalting to God Himself. — Walvoord, page 171.

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.”

43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’?

45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

In the Spirit (v.43) — inspired by the Holy Spirit and, therefore, true and accurate.

The Lord was referring to Psalm 110 (vs.43-44), which the Jews recognized as Messianic.

Lord (v.44, 1st use) = Jehovah

Lord (v.44, 2nd use) = Master

The LORD says to my Lord: Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet (Psalm 110:1). This psalm was universally recognized as messianic. The One invited to sit at the Lord’s right hand was the Messiah. The “LORD” who invited Him to sit at His right hand was the God of Abraham. The Messiah was referred to as “my Lord.” With this interpretation the Pharisees would have been in agreement. Christ addressed this question to them: If the Messiah was the “son,” or descendant, of David, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, called him ‘Lord’?” It was not natural for one to call his own son “my Lord.” The fact that Messiah was David’s Son testified to Messiah’s true humanity, but the fact that David called Him “my Lord” testified to His true and undiminished deity, for Lord was a title for Deity. Christ interrogated the Pharisees again, Asking, “If then David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be his son?” (v.45). The Psalm taught the true humanity and the true deity of Messiah. It was just such a claim as the psalmist foretold of Messiah that Jesus made for Himself. If the Pharisees answered that David called Him his Lord because He is God, then they could not object to Christ, David’s Son according to the flesh, claiming to be the Son of God. If they agreed that Messiah was to be truly human and truly God, they must ceases their objections to Christ’s claim concerning His person. The Pharisees realized the dilemma that faced them and refused to answer. — Pentecost, pages 391-392.

34 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

This account also appears in Mark 12:28-34.

lawyer (v.35) — an expert in Old Testament law

great commandment (v.36) — This does not mean, “Name one of the commandments which is greater than the rest.” The particular word translated “which” is qualitative; and therefore the meaning of the lawyer was, “What is the principle which makes any commandment great?” In that day men were teaching the relative importance of the commandments. There was a school of interpretation which taught that the third commandment in the Decalogue was the supreme commandment, and that all the rest were minor ones; and so this particular question grew out of the differences of opinion concerning which commandments were greatest, and they asked Christ to decide what was the real principle by which they might test the greatness of a commandment. — Morgan, pages 269-270.

In verses 37 and 39, Jesus referred to Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18.

with all your heart (v.37) — In Hebrew thought, the total being (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37-41).

the Law and the Prophets (v.40) — Matthew 7:12; Romans 13:10

The Pharisees had codified the law into 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions. These 613 precepts were imposed by the Pharisees on their followers as their obligation. When a Jew tried to fulfill the requirements of the law so codified, it sometimes appeared to that person as though one law came into conflict with another law. It was necessary then to determine which of the two took precedence so that if a law had to be violated because of the conflict, one would violate the lesser and not the more important law. There was constant argument among the Pharisees concerning which commandment took precedence over the other. The Pharisees had not been able to solve the problem or further reduce their codification of the law to assist their disciples in this observance. The Pharisees were testing Christ to see whether He had greater insight into the law than they had. Christ summarized the demands of the Mosaic law under two precepts. The first was an all-inclusive precept that governed their responsibility toward God, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). The second precept was all-inclusive of their responsibility to man, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (v.30). — Pentecost, pages 390-391.