It's NOT the End of the World

The Gospel According to Matthew
Jesus for President (Part 61: It’s NOT the End of the World)

The most popular interpretation of Matthew 24:1-34 is that Jesus is providing us with a list of signs that the end of the world is at hand, but is that really what Jesus is talking about in this passage?

Reasons why this passage is NOT about the end…
1. The 1st question was about the TIMING of the destruction of the 1st century temple (24:1-3a)
2. The 2nd question was about the SIGNS which would precede that destruction (24:3b)
3. The SIGNS that Jesus provided came to pass between AD30 & AD70 (24:4-33)
- False Christ’s (24:4-5)
- Wars & rumors of wars (24:6-7a)
- Famines & earthquakes (24:7b-8)
- Persecution & martyrdom (24:9)
- Apostasy & false prophets (24:10-13)
- Gospel preached to whole world (24:14)
- Temple desolation (24:15)
- Christian exodus from Jerusalem (24:16-19)
- Great tribulation (24:20-22)
- False claims/signs/miracles (24:23-26)
- Jesus coming in judgment (24:27-28)
- A catastrophic end (24:29)
- The vindication of Jesus (24:30)
- God’s people gathered/protected (24:31)
4. The TIMING of the destruction was promised to be their own generation (24:34)