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Matthew 24

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Matthew 24 Overview

Jesus predicts the temple’s destruction and answers the disciples’ questions about His coming and the end of the age. He warns against false Christs, wars mistaken for the end, persecution, apostasy, worldwide gospel witness, the abomination of desolation, great tribulation, cosmic signs, His visible coming, the gathering of the elect, and the necessity of watchfulness because the exact day and hour are unknown.

MatthewBook

24Chapter

51Verses

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Before you read Matthew 24

Coming from

Matthew 23 established the immediate context: Jesus pronounces a sustained series of woes against scribes and Pharisees for hypocrisy, love of status, obstructing others, manipulative oath systems, distorted priorities, outward cleanliness with inward corruption, and identification with the persecutors of the prophets.

In this chapter

The Olivet Discourse gives a sequence of warnings and signs while repeatedly guarding disciples against deception, panic, and date-setting.

Leads into

Matthew 25 continues the account: Jesus continues the Olivet Discourse with the ten virgins, the talents, and the judgment of the sheep and goats.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The discourse begins with a concrete prediction about the temple and expands into the coming of the Son of man and end-of-age themes. Interpreters differ over how near and far fulfillments interrelate, so the overview should distinguish explicit statements from timeline speculation.

The gathering of the elect is described after the tribulation and cosmic signs in Matthew’s sequence. This is important for the Gospel’s own order even while broader end-times synthesis requires comparison with other passages.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Deception is a major end-times danger

Jesus’ first answer warns against false claimants and repeated misinformation.

Trouble does not mean the end has already arrived

Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are beginnings of sorrows rather than permission for panic.

Faithful witness continues amid persecution

The gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed among all nations.

The coming of the Son of man is public and unmistakable

It is contrasted with secret-location claims.

Watchfulness is required because the exact time is hidden

The chapter moves from signs to readiness rather than date calculation.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11

Jesus explicitly points readers to Daniel concerning the abomination of desolation.

Zechariah 12:10–14

The mourning associated with the coming Son of man resonates with Zechariah’s pierced-one and mourning imagery.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18

Paul also describes the Lord’s coming and the gathering of believers, important for broader synthesis.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–4

Paul joins the coming of Christ and gathering with preceding rebellion/man-of-sin events, relevant to sequencing discussions.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not set dates for Christ’s return

Jesus explicitly withholds the day and hour and commands watchfulness.

Do not call every war or earthquake the final sign

Jesus says such events alone do not mean the end is immediate.

Do not turn endurance language into salvation by works

Faithful perseverance under persecution is commanded, but eternal life is received by faith, not earned by surviving tribulation.

Do not force every verse into either AD 70 only or the final coming only without acknowledging the discourse’s layered horizon

The chapter begins with Jerusalem’s temple and reaches unmistakably to the Son of man’s coming.

Read Matthew 24 watching for…

The disciples’ questions.

Repeated warnings against deception.

What Jesus says is not yet the end.

The Daniel reference and great tribulation.

The order of tribulation, cosmic signs, coming, and gathering.

The shift from signs to readiness parables.

Chapter outline5 sections

1-14Jesus foretells the temple’s destruction and describes troubles, persecution, and worldwide preaching before the end 15-28Jesus warns about the abomination of desolation, great tribulation, and false christs 29-35Jesus describes the coming of the Son of man and the gathering of his elect 36-44Jesus says the day and hour are unknown and calls for watchfulness 45-51Jesus contrasts the faithful servant with the evil servant who is unprepared

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.

And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

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

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

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.

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.

Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Matthew 24:26

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