Matthew 24:1-44
“The End of the Age – Regarding Israel”
“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?”– Matthew 24:3
Matthew 24 begins the Olivet Discourse, the fifth and final discourse on the Kingdom of Heaven in the Gospel of Matthew. It is worth noting these discourses again:
1. The Sermon on the Mount [Matt 5-7]
2. The Commissioning of the Twelve [Matt 10]
3. The Parables of the Kingdom [Matt 13]
4. Life in the Kingdom [Matt 18]
5. The Olivet Discourse [Matt 24-25].
Each of these pertain to a certain aspect of the Kingdom, which comes in two parts: A Spiritual part and a Physical part. Jesus came the first time to establish a Spiritual Kingdom in the life of the believer. He did this by way of the Cross. As a person puts His faith and trust in Jesus as Lord, the Kingdom of Heaven comes in him by the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a Spiritual authority.
There is, however, a second part, a physical part of the Kingdom that will be established when Jesus returns. He will first rapture His church, i.e., those who have been born-again of the Spirit. At the “twinkling of an eye” the dead in Christ will rise and then we who are living will join them to meet the Lord in the air [ref. 1 Cor 15:51-54; 1 Thes 4:16-18].
Seven years later Jesus will return with the armies of heaven and establish a Millennial Rule [i.e., a Physical Kingdom upon this earth]. That is when the Kingdom goes from faith to sight, from a Spiritual authority to a Physical one. This Physical Kingdom, and the seven years prior known as the Tribulation, is what the Olivet Discourse describes. It is about the End of the Age!
We will be covering a lot of ground in the next few weeks that will pertain to this End of the Age. “In general, the teachings in the Olivet Discourse relate to the Jews (Matt 24:4-44), the professing church (Matt 24:45-25:30), and the Gentile nations (Matt 25:31-46), which is the threefold division of mankind mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:32.” [Wiersbe]
Therefore, these next Chapters are important in understanding how it’s all going to end. And that is important because knowing how ends helps us to live godly lives in the here and now.
