Smoodock's Blog

This study represents my final study in the series that addresses Matthew 24:36, which some brethren try to use to show a division in the Olivet Discourse. On one side of verse-36, according to their eschatology, is the events leading up to the Lord’s judgment upon Jerusalem in 70 AD. On the other side of verse-36, i.e. verse-36 and following, is the alleged Second Coming of Jesus, which for them is a visible, physical event. I have been demonstrating that this just isn’t so. The scriptures simply don’t support such an understanding. The facts are that Jesus returned spiritually in 70 AD to judge Jerusalem, and at that time he ended the Old Covenant by destroying the Temple in the persons of the Roman armies.

Proof of my understanding is understood in the fact that, according to scripture, i.e. 2Timothy 4:1, one simply cannot separate Jesus’ coming from the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of the living and the dead. When Jesus comes, the dead are raised and he judges everyone according to their works (cf. Revelation 20:11-15). Therefore, knowing the dead are raised and judgment occurs at Jesus’ coming, Matthew 24:29-31 tells us that Jesus returns immediately after the Great Tribulation, and at that time the dead are raised.

Consider for a moment that Matthew 24:31 tells us that Jesus would send out his angels with the sound of a trumpet to gather his elect (1Thessalonians 4:16; 1Corinthians 15:52; 2Thessalonians 2:1). This is resurrection. This is further substantiated in the Parable of the Tares, in which the angels are sent out at the time of the harvest (resurrection), and the tares are gathered and burned, but the wheat are stored in the barn (Matthew 13:30, 37-43). Therefore, if resurrection is seen in Matthew 24:31, as the scripture clearly indicates, then the coming of the Lord occurred in 70 AD. Consequently, a division of the Olivet Discourse at verse-36 into what amounts to two comings of Jesus (one spiritual and one physical) is found false.

Another interesting point would be a comparison of this generation (Matthew 24:34) and the Parable of the Householder (Matthew 24:42-51). This generation under the Old Covenant was 38-40 years (Deuteronomy 1:35; 2:14) and is likened in the parable to a single night in which watches are set. This represents the time the householder is away (Matthew 24:43), and Mark 13:35 divides the night into four watches. Remember this generation is on one side of Matthew 24:36 and the Parable of the Householder is on the other side of the verse in the alleged division.

Paul mentions is his epistle to the Romans that ‘the night is far spent and the day is at hand’ Romans 13:12. In verse-11 he said that it was “high time” i.e. the hour (G5610) to awake out of sleep, because “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. How should we understand Paul’s words, and how do they relate to this generation (Matthew 24:34) and the night (Matthew 24:43)?

• Since a generation is about 40 years, and this would have been known to the Apostles, otherwise Jesus’ words about all things occurring in this generation would have fallen on deaf ears.
• The time between Jesus first and 2^nd comings is likened to four watches in the night (Matthew 24:42-51; Mark 13:33-37).
• This would divide the period of this generation (the night) into four periods of 10 years each.
• Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans in cir. 57 AD. In that epistle he said their salvation was nearer than when they first believed (Romans 13:11). If the full generation was 40 years, and Pentecost (first believed) occurred in either 30 or 31 AD, then, at Paul’s writing it was 26-27 years since Pentecost, but only 13-14 years to the end of this generation. In other words, they were nearer to their salvation than they were to it when the New Testament began, speaking in terms of where they were in this generation. [Note: if “first believed” refers to when the Apostles first believed at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry then Paul’s words are even more imminent, as 26-27 AD puts 66 AD (believers fleeing Jerusalem—salvation) at 39-40 years. Paul’s letter to Rome in 57 AD would mean they were already in the final watch of the night].
• Consider, as well, that Paul says it is the hour to wake out of sleep. That is, the final watch of the night was then approaching or had arrived. Not long after war broke out between Jerusalem and Rome, the believers fled the city in response to Jesus’ words in Luke 21:20-22, just after the Feast of Tabernacles in 66 AD, which was less than 10 years after Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans. Therefore, the night was far spent and the day was, indeed, at hand (Romans 13:12).

If the above is a valid argument, then it would mean the night watches of the Parable of the Householder are divisions of this generation of Matthew 24:34, showing there couldn’t possibly be a division of the Olivet Discourse at verse-36, because Jesus is speaking of the same things on both sides of the alleged division. Moreover, the fact that Paul speaks of the night being far spent would mean Jesus coming was in 66 to 70 AD, and the fact that Jerusalem and the Temple lay desolate proved he was both God and in heaven reigning.