In secular history the destruction of Jerusalem is nothing more than
the destruction of any other city of equal size and importance. It is
indeed marked out from similar events in history by the peculiarly
terrible sufferings to which the inhabitants were subjected before the
final overthrow. But apart from this, it is to the general historian
an event precisely similar to the destruction of Babylon, of Tyre, of
Carthage, or of any other ancient city once the seat of a dominion
which now has passed away. In sacred history it stands alone. It was
not merely the destruction of a city, but the close of a
dispensation--the end of that great age which began with the call of
Abraham to come out from Ur of the Chaldees, and be the father of a
people chosen of the Lord. It was "the end of the world" (comp. R.V.,
ver. 3, margin) to the Jews, the end of the world which then was, the
passing away of the old to give place to the new. It was the event
which bore the same relation to the Jews as the Flood did to the
antediluvians, which was emphatically the end of the world to them. If
we bear this in mind it will enable us to appreciate the tremendous
importance assigned to this event wherever it is referred to in the
sacred Scriptures, and especially in this momentous chapter.
But though the destruction of Jerusalem is the primary subject of the
prophecy, in its full sweep it takes a far wider range. The Saviour
sees before Him with prophetic eye, not only that great event which
was to be the end of the world which then was--the close of the
dispensation of grace which had lasted two thousand years; but also
the end of all things, when the last dispensation of grace--not for
Israel alone, but for the whole world--shall have come to a close.
Though these two events were to be separated from each other by a long
interval of time, yet were they so closely related in their nature and
issues that our Lord, having in view the needs of those who were to
live in the new dispensation, could not speak of the one without also
speaking of the other. What He was then saying was intended for the
guidance, not only of the disciples then around Him, and of any other
Jews who might from them receive the message, but also for the
guidance of the whole Christian Church throughout the world to the end
of time,--another marvellous illustration of that sublime
consciousness of life and power, infinitely beyond the limits of His
mere manhood, which is ever betraying itself throughout this wondrous
history. Had He confined Himself to the destruction of Jerusalem, His
words would have had no special interest for us, any more, for
example, than the burden of Babylon or of Tyre or of Dumah in the Old
Testament Scriptures; but when He carries us on to that Last Great
Day, of which the day of Jerusalem's destruction (as closing the Old
Testament dispensation) was a type, we recognise at once our own
personal interest in the prophecy; for we ourselves are individually
concerned with that Day--we shall then either be overwhelmed in the
ruins of the old, or shall rejoice in the glories of the new;
therefore we should feel that this prophecy has an interest for us as
personal as it had for those who first heard it on the Mount of
Olives.
As might be expected from the nature of its subject, the
interpretation of the prophecy in matters of detail is beset with
difficulties. The sources of difficulty are sufficiently obvious. One
is in the elimination of time. The time of both events is studiously
concealed, according to the principle distinctly announced by our
Saviour just before His ascension: "It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power."
There are in each case signs given, by which the approach of the event
may be recognised by those who will give heed to them; but anything in
the shape of a date is studiously avoided. It is perhaps not too much
to say that nine-tenths of the difficulties which have been
encountered in the interpretation of this passage have arisen from the
unwarrantable attempts to introduce dates into it.
Another difficulty arises from the similarity of the two events
referred to, and the consequent applicability of the same language to
both of them. This leads to different opinions as to which of the two
is referred to in certain places. To show the source of these
difficulties is to suggest their solution; for when we consider that
one event is the type of the other, that one is as it were the
miniature of the other, the same on a much smaller scale, we need not
hesitate to apply the same language to both,--it may be literally in
the one case and figuratively in the other; or it may be in a
subordinate sense in the one case, and in the fullest sense in the
other; or it may be in precisely the same sense in both cases. In
general, however, it will be observed that the lesser event--the
destruction of Jerusalem--stands out in full prominence in the
beginning of the prophecy, and the greater event--the Great Day of our
Saviour's appearing--in the latter part of it.
Still another source of difficulty is that, while our Saviour's object
in giving the prophecy was practical, the object of many who study the
prophecy is merely speculative. They come to it to satisfy curiosity,
and as a matter of course they are disappointed, for our Lord did not
intend when He spoke these words to satisfy so unworthy a desire; and,
though His word never returns to Him void, it accomplishes that which
He pleases, and nothing else; it prospers in the thing to which He has
sent it, but not in the thing to which He has not sent it. He has sent
us this, not to satisfy our curiosity, but to influence our conduct;
and if we use it not for speculative but for practical purposes--not
to find support for any favourite theory, which parcels out the
future, giving days and hours, which neither the angels in heaven nor
the Son of man Himself could tell (Mark xiii. 32)--but to find food
for our souls, then we shall not be troubled with so many
difficulties, and we shall certainly not be disappointed.
Before we pass from the difficulties of this prophecy, observe how
strong an argument they furnish for its genuineness. Those who deny
the divinity of Christ are greatly troubled with this prophecy, so
much so that the only way in which they can get rid of its witness to
Him is by suggesting that it was really composed after the destruction
of Jerusalem, and therefore never spoken by Christ at all. There are
difficulties enough of other kinds in the way of such a disposal of
the prophecy; but there is one consideration which absolutely forbids
it--viz., that any one writing after the event would have avoided all
that vagueness of language which gives trouble to expositors. To those
who can judge of internal evidence, its obscurity is clear proof that
this discourse could not have been produced in the full light of the
subsequent history, but must have been what it professes to be, a
foreshadowing of coming events.
We may not, with the limits imposed by the plan of these expositions,
attempt a detailed explanation of this difficult prophecy, but must
content ourselves with giving only a general view. Our Lord first
warns His disciples against expecting the crisis too early (vv. 4-14).
In this passage He prepares the minds of His disciples for the times
of trouble and trial through which they must pass before the coming of
"the great and notable day of the Lord" which was at hand: there shall
be false Christs and false prophets--there shall be wars and rumours
of wars, and shaking of the nations, and famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes in divers places; yet will all these be only "the
beginning of sorrows." He also prepares their minds for the gigantic
work which must be done by them and by their brother-disciples before
that great day: "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all
the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come." Thus are the disciples taught the very important and thoroughly
practical truth, that they must pass through a great trial and do a
great work before the Day shall come.
He then gives them a certain sign by which they shall know that the
event is imminent, when it does approach. This is not equivalent to
fixing a date. He gives them no idea how long the period of trial
shall last, no idea how long time they shall have for the great work
before them--He simply gives them a sign, by observing which they
shall not be taken completely by surprise, but have at least a brief
space to make their escape from the condemned city. And so very little
time will elapse between the sign and the event to which it points,
that He warns them against any delay, and tells them, as soon as it
shall appear, to flee at once to the mountains and escape for their
lives. It is sufficiently evident, by comparing this passage with the
corresponding place in Luke, where our Lord speaks of Jerusalem being
compassed with armies, that the "abomination of desolation standing in
the holy place" refers to some particular act of sacrilegious impiety
committed in the Temple just at the time the Romans were beginning to
invest the city. Attempts have been made historically to identify this
profanation, but it is doubtful if these have been successful. It is
sufficient to know that whether or not the fact has found a place in
history, it served its purpose as a sign to the Christians in the city
who had treasured up in their hearts their Saviour's warning words.
Having told them what the sign would be, and counselled His disciples
to lose no time in making their escape as soon as they should see it,
He further warns them, in a few impressive words, of the terrors of
those days of tribulation (vv. 19-22), and then concludes this portion
of the prophecy by warning them against the supposition--a very
natural one in the circumstances--that even then the Son of man should
come.
So far we have found the leading ideas to be simple and practical, and
all connected with the destruction of Jerusalem. (1) Do not expect
that event too early; for you must pass through many trials and do
much work before it. (2) As soon as you shall see the sign I give you,
expect it immediately, and lose no time in making your escape from the
horrors of these awful days. (3) Even then, however, do not expect the
personal advent of the Son of man; for though it is a day of judgment,
it is only one of those partial judgments which are necessary on the
principle that "wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be
gathered together." The personal advent of Christ and the day of final
judgment are only foreshadowed by, not realised in, the destruction of
Jerusalem and the close of the old dispensation.
* * * * *
The three closing verses of this portion of the prophecy refer
pre-eminently to the great Day of the coming of the Son of man (vv.
29-31). The word "immediately" has given rise to much difficulty, on
account of the hasty conclusion to which some have come that
"immediately after the tribulation of those days" must mean
immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem; according to which
all this must have taken place long ago. It is, indeed, sufficiently
obvious that the tribulation of those days began with the destruction,
or rather with the besieging, of Jerusalem. But when did it end? As
soon as the city was destroyed? Nay. If we wish to get some idea of
the duration of those days of tribulation, let us turn to the same
place in the same prophecy as given by St. Luke (xxi. 23, 24), where
it clearly appears that it embraces the whole period of the Jewish
dispersion and of the standing of the Gentile Church. "The tribulation
of those days" is going on still, and therefore the events of these
verses are still future. We look forward to the Day of the Lord of
which that terrible day of judgment, to which their thoughts were
first turned, was only a dim foreshadowing--a Day far more august in
its nature, far more awful in its accompaniments, far more terrible in
its aspect to those who are unprepared for it, yet full of glory and
of joy to those who "love His appearing."
* * * * *
Appended to the main prophecy are some additional warnings as to time
(vv. 32-44) setting forth in the most impressive manner the certainty,
the suddenness, and, to those who are not looking for it, the
unexpectedness of the coming of the Day of the Lord. Here again, in
the first portion the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the latter
portion the Day of the Son of man, is prominent. If we bear this in
mind it will remove a difficulty many have found in ver. 34, which
seems to say that the events specially referred to in vv. 29-31 would
be fulfilled before that generation passed away. But when we remember
that the prophecy proper closes with the thirty-first verse, and that
the warning as to the imminency of the events referred to commences
with ver. 32, the difficulty vanishes; for it is most natural that the
practical warning should follow the course of the prophecy itself,
referring first to the destruction of Jerusalem, and passing from it
to that grand event of which it was the precursor. On this principle
vv. 32-35 are quite simple and natural, as well as most impressive,
and the statement of ver. 34 is seen to be literally accurate.
The passage from ver. 36 onwards is still quite applicable to the near
event, the destruction of Jerusalem; but the language used is
evidently such as to carry the mind onward to the more distant event
which had been brought prominently forward in the latter part of the
prophecy (vv. 36-44). In these verses, again, not only is no date
given, but we are expressly told that it is deliberately withheld.
What then? Are we to dismiss the subject from our minds? Quite the
reverse; for though the time is uncertain, the event itself is most
certain, and it will come suddenly and unexpectedly. No time will be
given for preparation to those who are not already prepared. True,
there will be the sign of the Son of man in heaven, whatever that may
be; but, like the other sign which was the precursor of Jerusalem's
destruction, it will appear immediately before the event, barely
giving time for those who have their lamps trimmed and oil in their
vessels with their lamps to arise and meet the Bridegroom; but for
those who are not watching, it will be too late--it will be with them
as with those who lived at the close of the very first dispensation,
who were "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until
the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood
came, and took them all away.... 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."
II.--PARABLES AND PICTURES OF JUDGMENT
(xxiv. 45-xxv.).
The remainder of this great prophecy is taken up with four pictures of
judgment, very striking and impressive, having for their special
object the enforcement of the great practical lesson with which the
first part has closed: "Watch therefore" (vv. 42, 43); "Be ye also
ready" (ver. 44). In the former portion of the prophecy the
destruction of Jerusalem was in the foreground, and in the background
the coming of the Son of man to judgment in the end of the world. In
this portion the Great Day of the Son of man is prominent throughout.
The four pictures, though similar in their scope and object, are
different in their subjects. The first represents those who occupy
positions of trust in the kingdom; the second and third, all
professing Christians,--the one setting forth inward grace, the other
outward activity; the fourth is a picture of judgment on the whole
world.