It was in response to
these direct and specific questions that “Jesus answered them” (Matthew 24:4a).
Jesus did not set about answering an unasked question about the end of
time. No, He answered the question that He was asked. No, one does
not always expect this from Jesus, but then again, He is not answering a
challenge from the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, or experts in the law.
He is answering His disciples, and as usual, when it comes to them, He is
speaking plainly. Yes, to the crowds He speaks in mysterious language,
but He gives answers to His disciples. So Jesus answers them. His
answer begins in verse five of chapter twenty-four, and it runs to the end of
chapter twenty-five.
The entire time, the
focus of the answer remains unchanged, though He does provide interesting
information in the process---unexpected information (unexpected in terms of
Mark and Luke’s presentation of the disciples’ question, but anticipated in the
question from the disciples as presented by Matthew) about the connection of
the fall of the Temple to the time of the Son of Man’s coming to the Ancient of
Days. He even reinforces the connection, speaking about the Son of Man
beyond the thrust text of this study, repeating the term three times in rapid
succession, from verse thirty-seven to verse forty-four. In all three
cases, the Son of Man comes to receive His kingdom at an unexpected time---no
one knows the hour.
Throughout the
twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew (as well as Mark thirteen and Luke
twenty-one), Jesus gives His disciples a great deal of information, clueing
them in so that they will have a decent idea as to when the Temple is going to
fall. However, He could not be more clear that they will not know the exact
moment that events will coalesce and conspire to bring down the Temple.
When it comes to that, “as for that day and hour, no one knows it---not even
the angels,” the ones that will be sent out to gather His elect (24:31) and
that accompany the Son of Man when He comes in His glory (25:31), “except the
Father alone.”
With the repeated
mentions of the Son of Man, which seems to override the importance of fall of
the Temple and truly becomes the point of the discourse, one gets the sense
that Jesus’ words, though initially prompted by the question about the Temple,
becomes less about them knowing the exact time of the Temple’s collapse, and
more about them knowing that when it happens, and when Jesus’ prediction comes
true, that they can then know that He, the Son of Man, has had His universal
dominion confirmed and that He indeed rules as King and Lord of all.
Had one been in the
position to hear Jesus speak, that one may not have been able to know the hour
that the Temple was going to come crashing down. However, that same one could be certain that,
according to His words, when it did, it would be possible to be supremely
confident that He ruled as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Indeed, it is
appropriate to look to the place where the Temple once stood, see that it
stands there no longer, and know that Jesus spoke truly, that He rules His
kingdom, and that He demands participation in that kingdom along the lines
outlined in the narrative found in Matthew. Is it not that knowledge that
should animate the lives of believers in this day?
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