Abomination of Desolation: Matthew 24 and 25

© 2005 Rev. John C. Martin, III. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by Author House 12/06/05

ISBN: 1-4208-9724-1 (e)

ISBN: 1-4208-9723-3 (sc)

CONTENTS

MATTHEW 24

MATTHEW 25

PROLOGUE

MATTHEW 24:1-14

PART 1

MATTHEW 24:1-14

PART 2

MATTHEW 24:1-14

PART 3

MATTHEW 24:1-14

PART 4

MATTHEW 24:1-14

PART 5

MATTHEW 24:1-14

PART 6

MATTHEW 24:15-28

PART 1

MATTHEW 24:15-28

PART 2

MATTHEW 24:29-31

PART 1

MATTHEW 24:29-31

PART 1

MATTHEW 24:29-31

PART 2

MATTHEW 24:29-31

PART 3

MATTHEW 24:32-51

PART 1

MATTHEW 24:32-51

PART 2

MATTHEW 25:1-13

MATTHEW 25:14-30

MATTHEW 25:31-46

CONFESSIONS OF SIN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MATTHEW 24

1. And Jesus having come out of the temple was going away, and His disciples approached Him to point out to Him the building of the temple;

2. But He, answering, said to them, Do you not see anything? Truly I say to you, in no way shall there be left here a stone upon a stone which shall not be thrown down.

3. And then, during His sitting upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached Him privately saying, Tell us when these things shall be and what (shall be) the sign of Your coming and consummation of the age.

4. And answering Jesus said to them, "See, lest someone deceive you,

5. for many shall come upon My Name saying, ‘I am Christ,’ and they shall deceive many.

6. But you are about to hear battles and reports of battles; see, lest you be terrified; for it is necessary to occur. But, it is not yet the end.

7. For there shall be raised up a nation against a nation, a kingdom against a kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes from place to place,

8. and all these ‘beginning of travails.’

9. Then they shall deliver you, and you shall be the ones detested by all the nations because of My Name.

10. And then many shall be entrapped, and they shall deliver one another and kill one another;

11. and many false prophets shall be raised up, and they shall deceive many;

12. And because of the lawlessness to be multiplied, the love of many shall be caused to expire.

13. But the one persevering to completion, this one shall be saved.

14. And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the habitable world in a testimony to all the nations, and then shall come the end.

15. When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, the thing spoken through Daniel the prophet, stand in a holy place (let the one reading understand),

16. then let those in Judea escape into the mountains;

17. the one on the housetop, let him not come down to remove things from his house;

18. and the one in the field, let him not turn back to remove his garment.

19. But woe to those having in womb [with child] and those giving suck in those days.

20. But pray that your escape shall come neither during winter nor in Sabbath,

21. for then there will be great tribulation such as has not happened from origin of cosmos until the present, nor shall there ever be.

22. And lest those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but because of the elect those days will be cut short.

23. Then should anyone say to you, lo! Here the Christ! Or there, you shall not believe;

24. for pseudochrists and pseudoprophets will be raised up, and they will present great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

25. Lo, I told you beforehand.

26. Therefore should they say to you, lo, he is in the desert, you shall not go forth; lo, in the chambers, you shall not believe.

27. For just as the brightness comes out from dawnings and shines until settings, so will be the Coming (Parousia) of the Son of Man.

28. Wherever be the fall, there the eagles shall be gathered.

29. And immediately with the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

30. And the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven will then be manifested; and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;

31. And He will send forth His messengers with a great trumpet, and He will gather His elect together out of the four winds from edges of heavens even to their extremities.

32. But from the fig tree learn the parable: now when its branch shall become tender and it shoots out the leaves, you know that the summer is near.

33. And thus you, when you see all these things, you know that it is near at doors.

34. Amen I say to you, in no way will this generation pass until every one of these things comes to be!

35. The heaven and the earth, it will pass away; but My Words shall by no means pass away.

36. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of the heavens, except the Father only.

37. But just as the days of Noah, so will be the Parousia of the Son of Man.

38. For as they were in those days before the deluge, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the very day Noah entered into the ark,

39. and they didn’t know until the deluge came and took all, so shall be the Parousia of the Son of Man.

40. Two then will be in the field, one is received and one sent away;

41. two grinding in the mill, one is received and one sent away.

42. Watch therefore that you not know in what kind of day your Lord comes.

43. But this you know, if the house master had known in which watch the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have allowed his house to be dug through!

44. And because of this you be ready ones, in which case you don’t assume an hour the Son of Man comes.

45. Who then is the faithful and prudent servant whom the Lord set over His household, the one to give them the nourishment in season?

46. Blessed that servant whom when upon coming, his Lord finds so doing;

47. amen I say to you that he will set him over all that he possesses.

48. But if that wicked servant should say in his heart, ‘my lord delays,’

49. and begins to beat his fellow servants and eat and drink with those who are drunks,

50. the Lord of that servant will come in a day in which he doesn’t expect and in an hour in which he doesn’t know,

51. and will cut him asunder and will set his portion with the hypocrites; there will be the wailing and the gnashing of the teeth.

MATTHEW 25

1. At that time the Kingdom of the heavens will be likened to ten maidens who, having taken the lamps for themselves, went out into a meeting of the bridegroom.

2. But of them there were five fools and five wise ones.

3. For when the fools took up their lamps they did not take oil with them.

4. But the wise ones, they took for themselves oil in the vessels with the lamps.

5. But during the delaying of the bridegroom they all nodded and went to sleep.

6. But during the midst of night a cry arose, lo, the bridegroom! Come out into his meeting!

7. Then all those maidens were aroused, and they trimmed the lamps for themselves.

8. But the fools said to the wise, give to us from your oil, because our lamps are extinguished.

9. But answering the wise ones say, lest there not be enough for you and for us, go rather to the merchants and buy for yourselves.

10. But during their absence to buy, the bridegroom came, and the ready ones went in with him into the festivities; and the door was shut.

11. But afterwards the remaining maidens also come saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12. But the one who answered said, amen, I say to you, I do not know you.

13. Be watching therefore, since you know neither the day nor the hour.

14. For like as a man leaving from home called the specially assigned servant and handed over his belongings to them,

15. and to one he gave five talants, to another two, and to another one, to each according to the respective authority, and he left.

16. Immediately, upon his departure, the one who received five talants traded in them and gained another five;

17. likewise the one (receiving) the two gained another two.

18. but the one who received the one, when he went away, dug earth and hid his lord’s silver.

19. And after much time the lord of those servants returns and settles account with them.

20. And when the one who had received five talants approached, he presented another five talants saying, ‘lord, five talants you gave to me; lo, another five talants I gained.’

21. His lord affirmed to him, ‘Well, good and faithful servant, over a few things you have been faithful, I shall set you over many; come in into the joy of your lord.’

22. And also when he approached the two talant one said, ‘Lord, you gave me two talants; lo, another two talants I gained.’

23. His lord affirmed to him, ‘Well, good and faithful servant, over a few things you have been faithful, I will set you over many; come in into the joy of your lord.’

24. But when the one receiving the one talant approached he said, ‘Lord, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering whence you did not scatter;

25. and having been afraid, when I departed I hid your talant in the earth; lo, you have what is yours.’

26. But answering his lord said to him, ‘wicked and indolent servant, you have always known that I reap where I did not sow and gather whence I did not scatter.

27. It behove you therefore to deposit my piece of silver to moneychangers, and upon my coming I would have obtained for myself that which is mine with interest.

28. Therefore take away from him the talent and give it to the one having the ten talents.

29. For to each one having it shall be given, and he shall be increased; but from the one not having, also that which he has shall be taken away from him.

30. And cast out the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there shall be the wailing and the gnashing of the teeth.

31. And when the Son of man shall come in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He shall sit upon His throne of glory;

32. and all the peoples shall be convened before Him, and He shall set them apart from each other just as the shepherd sets the sheep apart from the goats.

33. And He shall set the one, sheep, out from His right, the other, goats, out from His left.

34. Then The King shall say to those out from His right, "Come, the ones blessed of My Father, receive possession (inherit) the Kingdom having been prepared for you from cosmos’ foundation;

35. For I did hunger and you gave to me to eat, I did thirst and you watered Me, I was alien and you brought me in,

36. naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."

37. Then the just ones shall answer Him saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungering and we fed you, or thirsting and we watered you?

38. When did we see you alien and we brought you in, or naked and we clothed you?

39. And when did we see you when you were sick or in prison and we came to you?"

40. And answering the King shall say to them, Amen I say to you, in as much as you did to one of these the least of My brothers, you did to me.

41. Then He shall say to the ones out from His left, "Cursed ones, go away from Me into the eternal fire having been prepared for the devil and his angels;

42. for I did hunger and you did not give to me to eat, I did thirst and you did not water me,

43. I was alien and you did not bring me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me."

44. And they then shall answer saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungering or thirsting or alien or naked or sick or in prison and we did not minister to you?’

45. Then He shall answer them saying, Amen I say to you, in as much as you did not do to one of the least of these, neither did you do to me.

46. And these shall go away into eternal punishment; but the just ones into eternal life.

PROLOGUE

Before we come to this text in Matthew 24, I want to address, as I promised last Lord’s Day, the last statement of our Lord in chapter 23. And, as usual, reading in context is the important thing.

And since that’s the case I’m going to read for you a few verses from Psalm 118, which is the Psalm that was sung by the priests and the scribes and the Pharisees and the elders and the people of Israel at every Passover event! (Remember, that’s the context in which our Lord is speaking here in the temple complex. It’s Tuesday before Passover Friday!)

Here it is. And listen carefully to the very words that Jesus quotes in verse thirty-nine of Matthew twenty-three as He condemns Israel and Jerusalem to utter destruction: The Stone the builders refused is become the Head of the corner. This is the lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech Thee, O Lord. O Lord, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be the One coming in the name of the Lord.

And now… verses thirty-eight and thirty-nine of chapter twenty-three: Lo, your house is left to you a desolation. For I say to you, by no means shall you see Me from now until you shall say, ‘blessed be the one coming in the Name of the Lord.’

Do you see the context? He quotes word for word from the Psalm that they, themselves, are singing at Passover! And the One they’re singing about is standing right in front of them, and they’ve already planned His murder!!!

And the next time they SEE Him, it will be for their utter ruin; and they’ll STILL be singing, Blessed be the one coming in the name of the Lord! They’ll be blessing the One coming when He comes to execute their desolation! The irony that our Lord constructs here is beyond wonderful! No wonder the hymnist writes, How sweet and awful is the place….

MATTHEW 24:1-14

PART 1

We have now before us two glorious chapters wherein our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to His disciples about those things which would shortly come to pass. As is our pattern, now established in over five years of preaching through the Gospel of Matthew, we will continue to preach through the text.

Although on occasion there have been brief comments on related subjects, we have resisted the temptation to depart from the text for any extended period. The temptation is very strong right now to spend a couple of months (in advance of coming to the text) treating the subject of eschatology. But, again, I’m going to resist that. We’ll instead, concentrate on what Jesus said, and put in some comments here and there as we go with regard to today’s Church and what it preaches.