"[1] And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed. [3] And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world? [4]And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you: [5] For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.
[6] And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: [8] Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake. [10] And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another.
[11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. [12] And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. [13] But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. [14] And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come. [15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.
[16] Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: [17] And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: [18] And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. [19] And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. [20] But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.
[21] For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. [22] And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. [23] Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. [24] For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. [25] Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.
[26] If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not. [27] For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be.[28] Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. [29] And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.
[31] And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. [32] And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. [33] So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. [34] Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. [35] Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.
[36] But of that day and hour no one knoweth, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone. [37] And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [38] For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark,[39] And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. [40] Then two shall be in the field: one shall be taken, and one shall be left.
[41] Two women shall be grinding at the mill: one shall be taken, and one shall be left. [42] Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come.[43] But know this ye, that if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open. [44] Wherefore be you also ready, because at what hour you know not the Son of man will come. [45] Who, thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath appointed over his family, to give them meat in season.
[46] Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come he shall find so doing.[47] Amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods. [48] But if that evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming: [49] And shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and shall eat and drink with drunkards: [50] The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not:
[51] And shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Image taken from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg
Now and forever. Amen.
Today, I decided to combine several parables into one, because they're all part of the same discourse. Instead of breaking them up into four, similar posts, I'm just going to write one very long post.
Today, we'll be looking at the well known "end times" prophecy given by Our Lord, Himself, from Matthew 24. I put up the entire chapter so that you could see the discourse in full, and so that you could see the full context of the parables.
Jesus comes out of the Temple (this follows Jesus' triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, where He spends some time (days) teaching in the Temple), and the disciples were eagerly showing Him how impressive the construction of the Temple was. Jesus responds by saying that not a single stone of the Temple wouldn't be destroyed. When they went out to Mount Olivet, the disciples asked Jesus privately a somewhat strange question: "Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?"
The reason they ask Jesus this is because in saying that the Temple would be destroyed, He reminded them of the prophecy made by Daniel in Daniel 9:26-27: "[26] And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall be slain: and the people that shall deny him shall not be his. And a people with their leader that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. [27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many, in one week: and in the half of the week the victim and the sacrifice shall fall: and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation: and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end."
Jesus' response even references Daniel, and the abomination of desolation. So, He understands where they are coming from with the question--they're on the same page. But His answer is somewhat confusing.
Many read this discourse as a discourse about the "end times", when Jesus will return to establish an everlasting kingdom and the souls of the just will be rewarded with heaven and the souls of the wicked will receive their condemnation in hell. Others read this, however, as only a prophecy of the destruction of the Temple by the Romans under Titus in the year 70 AD. I happen to think it's both, and more.
So, in this prophecy, I see a three-fold vision. The first is a prophecy about the historical event of the destruction of the Second Temple. This is a well-documented event. It fits the description that Jesus gives it, and the Christians, following Jesus' warning, actually remain safe from Roman slaughter and slavery because they fled the city well in advance of its final sacking.
In 66 AD, there was Jewish unrest due to new Roman taxation laws--the taxes were going up. The Roman governor, Gessius Florus, raided the Temple, removing 16 talents of gold from the Temple to satisfy the taxes that the Jews were withholding. This action, the entrance into the Temple by the Romans--unclean gentiles--was the abomination of desolation that Daniel prophesied, and that Jesus referenced. It was an abomination because only ritually clean Jews were permitted into the sanctuary of the Temple, and only the High Priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies. It was a violation of Jewish Law laid down by God through Moses, and was therefore an abomination to Him. It was a desolation because the Romans emptied the Temple coffers of gold--part of a wider desolation of high taxation that was bringing the Jewish people to ruin.
Over the next four years, the Jews revolted against Rome, and the land was plunged into war, until Jerusalem was finally sacked in 70 AD, and the Temple was destroyed. So the historical fulfillment of the prophecy is easy to trace. But, we cannot stop here.
A strange phrase is repeated both in Daniel and in Jesus' own prophecy: consummation of the world. This is made even stranger when we hear Jesus say that "this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." If we take the historical perspective, this makes sense, except that the consummation of the world hasn't yet occurred. Or has it?
The Jewish understanding of the Temple went something like this: The inner sanctuary, where God dwelled, symbolized Heaven. There were interior courts, and also exterior courts. The interior courts were the places where Jews could enter into, who were not of the priestly class, and this area was divided into different sections for the men and also for the women and children. The interior courts symbolized the Earth. The exterior courts was the part of the Temple that the gentiles were permitted to enter. This is generally where the money-changing, etc. took place. The exterior courts symbolized the Sea.
In this sense, then, the consummation of the world--the completion, the end--may be said to be the consummation of the Temple. Or said differently, the destruction of the Temple may be said to be the consummation of the world. In this sense, then, yes Jesus' prophecy that all would be completed before that generation passed was fulfilled.
But, this opens the prophecy up to more possibilities. After all, we ourselves, our bodies, are said to be Temples of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the Church itself is the Temple of the New Covenant, which makes sense because the Church is the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is the perfect Temple of the Holy Spirit.
The inner sanctuary is the human spirit, this part of our being represents heaven, as it is where God resides. Our bodies represent the earth, and the exterior world, our relationships to the things outside of us represent the Sea. So, in a real sense, for the Christian, this prophecy of Jesus represents our own individual lives. The abomination of desolation is grave (or mortal) sin, and leads to our destruction.
This makes Jesus' teaching here personally relevant. Now, we can start to make sense of these parables in our own lives. At the time preceding the destruction of the Second Temple, there were those who wanted to liberate Israel from the Romans. They proclaimed themselves to be Christ, the Messiah--for that is what the Jewish conception of the Messiah at the time was: a liberator, a king who would free Israel from foreign rule. In our own time, we have many who claim to be "the true church" or "true christians", and they perform all kinds of miraculous feats (such as healings, exorcisms, visions, prophecies, tongues, etc.). Jesus warns us not to be deceived.
What is the sign that Jesus says reveals the coming of the Son of Man? That is, how do we know where the truth is? "Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together." The imagery is that of eagles surrounding and eating a corpse. Notice that Jesus didn't say they were vultures. The reason is clear, the eagles represent the Saints, or the members of His true church. What are they doing? They're eating the body. This is veiled language for the Eucharist. In other words, Jesus says that if we want to be certain of the true Church, we will find it in the one who teaches the true presence in the Eucharist, and who eats of this meal.
But the question His disciples asked Him is "when" will this happen? He doesn't give us a when. He promises us warning signs to indicate that it is imminent. "And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh." But what He does tell us though, is that we need to be ready, because He may come at any moment, like lightning. That quickly. The destruction of the Temple in our own context is sin and death. If we sin, we destroy ourselves, spiritually. Jesus' second coming, in this context is our bodily death, and that will come unexpectedly, and we will face our particular judgment.
Unfortunately, many of us, myself included, behave as though death is far off, that judgment is far away. "[T]hat evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming: And shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and shall eat and drink with drunkards: The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not: And shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites." This is a stern warning.
In our lives we will face many tribulations. In every age, there has been war, and disease, and famine, and in our hearts there has been war--anger, fighting with our friends and families--there has been disease--sin and death--and there has been famine--a feeling of emptiness, spiritual dryness, despair. All these tribulations accompany us throughout our Faith lives. We must attend to the Eucharist, and be ready and watchful against sin.
"But know this ye, that if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch, and would not suffer his house to be broken open." If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow and face judgment, you would not let yourself fall into sin. You would pray, and repent, and slam the door shut to anything that could even tempt you to sin. We must live like this always, because we do not know the hour that our time will come. Like lightening.
So, I exhort myself, and I exhort you, along with Our Lord, Jesus: don't be counted among the hypocrites. Do not profess the Faith, but then live as though death is afar, and you have time to live freely, not warding yourself against sin. The destruction of the Temple is near, live as though it is. Jesus' second coming is near: He is in the Eucharist. Welcome Him, and rejoice. Live this way, and when death finally comes, it will be a joyful moment, not a fearful one.
One last word. This prophecy of Jesus, and all the signs and warnings that come with it, does have Eschatalogical significance, that is, it does refer to the end of the world as well, in a real sense, but as to that, for now, I will remain silent. If we live our lives as though we are going to die tomorrow, then we don't need to worry so much about the end times, because we will be ready either way.
God bless you, and thank you for reading.
Great post! Long time no chat. Hope all is well
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