Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 24

And Jesus went out — A better reading, following the best manuscripts, is: Jesus departed from the temple and was going on his way when his disciples... St. Mark and St. Luke report the touching incident of the widow’s mite as connected with our Lord’s departure.

His disciples came to him — We may well think of their action as a response to the words they had just heard. Was that house—with all its impressive buildings and great stones, its golden gates and its Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:2), through which they had probably passed, its porticos, its marble cupolas, and the structural and ornamental offerings that had accumulated during the forty-six years since Herod began his work of improvement (John 2:20)—to be left desolate? Would the sight of its glories not lead him to recall those ominous words?

This seems a far more natural explanation than attributing their actions to the mere wonder of Galilean peasants at the splendor of the Holy City. They had seen it too often, we may add, to feel much wonder.

There shall not be left here one stone upon another. Josephus relates that Titus ordered the whole city and the Temple to be dug up, leaving only two or three of the chief towers, so that visitors could hardly believe it had ever been inhabited (Wars, vii. 1). The remains that recent explorations have uncovered all belong to the substructures of the Temple—its drains, foundations, and underground passages.

These words fell on the ears of the disciples and awed them into silence. It was not until they had crossed the Mount of Olives that even the foremost and most favored among them ventured to speak.

The disciples came to him privately — From Mark we learn their names: “Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew.” These were the four in the first of the three groups that made up the Twelve. The position of Andrew as the last is noticeable, as connected with the general pre-eminence of the first three.

The sign of your coming — Literally, of Your presence. The passage is memorable as the first occurrence of the word (παρουσία, parousia), which was so prominent in the teaching of the Epistles (1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; James 5:7; 1 John 2:28, and elsewhere). They had brought themselves to accept the idea of His departure and return, though the time and manner were still hidden from them.

The end of the world — Literally, the end of the age. In the common language of the day, which had passed from the schools of the Rabbis into popular use, “this age” or “this world” meant the time up to the coming of the Messiah.

The “age or world to come” was the glorious time He was to inaugurate (Matthew 13:40; Matthew 19:28; Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 6:5). The disciples had heard their Lord speak in parables of such a coming, and they naturally connected it in their thoughts with the close of the age or period in which they lived.

Jesus answered and said to them... — The great discourse that follows is given with substantial agreement by Mark and Luke. The variations are such as would naturally occur in reports made from memory, likely after an interval of many years.

In all probability, the written record first came from the lips of Peter, and it is therefore instructive to compare its eschatology (its teaching about the last things) with what we find in his discourses and epistles. Paul’s reference to the day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2) suggests that its substance was known at a relatively early date. However, it was probably not published—that is, not circulated as a written document among Christian Jews—until the time was near when its warnings would be needed. This may partly account for the variations with which it then appeared.

Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ — It is better to translate this as, the Christ. No direct fulfillments of this prediction are recorded in the New Testament, by Josephus, or by other historians.

Bar-Cochba (the “son of the star”), who claimed to be the “Star” of Balaam’s prophecy (Numbers 24:17), is often named as a fulfillment. However, he did not appear until A.D. 120—nearly 50 years after the destruction of Jerusalem.

In the excited fanaticism of the time, however, it was quite likely that such pretenders would arise and then disappear, after each had lived out his short day and left no mark on history. The “many antichrists”—that is, rival Christs—of 1 John 2:18 may point to such phenomena, and possibly also the prophecy of 2 Thessalonians 2:4.

Theudas (the last rebel of that name—not the one mentioned in Acts 5:36, but the one recorded by Josephus in Antiquities 20.5) or “the Egyptian” of Acts 21:38 may possibly have mingled messianic claims with their pretensions, but there is no evidence of it.