APPENDIX H - CHRIST’S MASTER PROPHECY OF Matthew 24 ^{1See p. 1158.}

In tracing the detailed specifications of Jesus’ matchless outline of the centuries, recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, we find the same general pattern that marks the structure of the outline prophecies of Daniel and of John the revelator—that of repetitive lines, covering the Christian Era again and again for emphasis and amplification. Daniel and John both begin the revelation of things to come with their own day, and carry the reader with rapid strides across the centuries, with the unfolding events reaching to the end of the Christian Era. And Christ’s hearers are exhorted to read and understand Daniel’s prophecies (Matthew 24:15). The following diagram analyzes the obvious scheme of the prophecy by showing the repetitive lines for cumulative emphasis.PFF4 1240.6

Picture 1: The Chronological Sequence of Events of Matthew 24 PFF4 1240

1. THE SPECIFICATIONS OF THE PREDICTION

Christ’s great prophecy, covering the Christian Era from the destruction of Jerusalem down to the end of the age, is recorded by all three synoptists—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. ^{2Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-26; Luke 21:25-27.} Though the phrasing varies slightly, the intent and the outline is clearly identical. After discoursing on the terrible days of “tribulation,” which hundreds of learned expositors in Europe and America have recognized as the great papal persecution of dissentient Christians, particularly from the thirteenth century onward to the eighteenth, Christ plainly states that unless the persecution of those days should be shortened, all His faithful witnesses would be blotted out. The period of the Papacy’s spiritual dominance, according to the testimony of a large number of expositors—whose records have already been examined, particularly in Volumes III and IV—extended from Justinian in the sixth century until the French Revolution at the close of the eighteenth, ^{3See Part II of Prophetic Faith, Vol. III; also tabular summary on pp. 404, 405, of this volume.} with many placing it specifically from 538 to 1798.PFF4 1241.1

Then follows Christ’s express declaration that, after this special period of persecution should largely be brought to an end, two separate celestial signs would appear as harbingers of the approaching advent—first, the sun and moon would be abnormally darkened; and second, “the stars shall fall”—obviously meteoric showers, as they are the only “stars” that “fall.” And these signs were to be real, not imaginary. Then follows the description of Christ’s glorious second advent, thus showing the sequence and relationship. They were to appear between the close of the tribulation and the advent. The apostle John likewise describes the same scene, with other details, under the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17).PFF4 1242.1

The gospel records of Christ’s great prophecy show it to be clearly literal, not symbolic, as a scanning of the respective chapters clearly indicates. And John’s depiction of this feature, in the sixth seal, is likewise literal, though in the Revelation the literal is often interspersed with the symbolic. But here the entire description is manifestly literal. So the predictive expression is, “The stars shall fall.” And John’s later prophecy adds this further description—“even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Stars, falling simultaneously, by the hundreds of thousands! These are the predictions, obviously referring to one and the same celestial phenomenon. The darkening of the sun and moon is discussed elsewhere. Thus the series is fixed in sequence. Their timing is clearly after the great “tribulation” and before the second advent.PFF4 1242.2

2. EVENTS OF THE CENTURIES IN CONSECUTIVE OUTLINE

Christ, the Fountainhead of prophecy, in this incomparable outline prophecy, portraying the vicissitudes of the Christian church in the midst of the conflicts of the centuries, led His hearers, in Matthew 24:4-14, onward from their own day. He took them past the coming of deceiving false christs, then the “wars and rumours of wars,” obviously the breakup of the Roman Empire repeatedly predicted by Daniel, giving the caution that “all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (verse 6). So the “end” was far away from those early days. Then Jesus tells, of how nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, this being accompanied by “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (verse 7), and He adds, “all these” are but the “beginning of sorrows” (verse 8).PFF4 1242.3

Next, Christ comes to the period of the great affliction, when His true followers would be killed and “hated of all nations,” among which they were scattered, and would be betrayed (verse 10). And false prophets would arise that would “deceive many” (verse 11). Then, because iniquity would abound, the love of many would “wax cold” (verse 12). Thus Christ brought his hearers down to the proximity of the end, for He declares that “he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (verse 13). And now comes the first worldwide and supreme sign of the end of the time or age—“this gospel of the kingdom [a special emphasis upon the imminent establishment of the prophesied kingdom of God] shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (verse 14). Thus, in rapid strokes, the Master has given the grand outline of the centuries, with their chief characteristics, and closes with a worldwide sign that takes us up to the end, which climaxes in the second advent.PFF4 1242.4

3. REPEATS OUTLINE WITH ADDED DETAIL

Then, following the characteristic pattern of inspired prophecy, Christ goes back to His own day, and again outlines the passage of the years, becoming increasingly specific and adding other details (verses 15-27). Starting over again, this time with the destruction of Jerusalem, when the “abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,” stands in the holy place (verse 15), they were to understand that Jerusalem’s destruction, and that of the Temple (A.D. 70), was upon them. And the Christians of Judea were to flee with all speed to the mountains (verses 16-20), and to pray that the catastrophic destruction of the holy city occur not in the winter or on the Sabbath (verse 20).PFF4 1243.1

And again Christ stresses the great persecution previously mentioned, but presses on its terrible severity, adding that “there shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” again (verse 21). Then He adds, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (verse 22). And now he repeats His stress of latter-day “false Christs and false prophets,” who perform signs and wonders and would attempt to “deceive the very elect” (verse 24), claiming that Christ’s return is to be in the “desert,” or in the “secret chambers.” But Jesus warns His followers to “believe it not.” And now He gives the manner of this second coming—“as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (verse 27). So the second great tracing of the sequential events of the centuries has been covered again.PFF4 1243.2

4. THIRD SURVEY STRESSES SIGNS OF LATTER DAYS

And now for the third and final time, Christ goes back part way, to the period of great affliction, or persecution of the saints, twice stressed before, and originally outlined by Daniel the prophet (Daniel 7:21, 25), and declares, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29) a series of celestial signs of the times would appear to identify the time—the sun shall be “darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (verse 29). This parallels the same events described by John the revelator in Revelation 6:12-17, and hinted by Old Testament prophets (as Joel 2:31, 32), and thus the reader is brought a third time amid increasing cumulation of detail past the waymarks, the appearance of the sign of “the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” as He sends His angels with the “sound of a trumpet, to gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31).PFF4 1243.3

Then there can be no legitimate doubt or misunderstanding, for when “all these things,” marking the centuries, are fulfilled, then men are to “know that it is near, even at the doors” (verse 33) as verily as the putting forth of the leaves of the fig tree heralds the approach of summer. But to many, as in the days of Noah and the Flood, the coming of the Son of man the second time will be sudden and unexpected, and will bring disastrous consequences upon the unprepared (verses 38, 39). And Christ ends this matchless prophecy by declaring, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (verse 44), warning those who preach “My Lord delayeth his coming,” by declaring that they shall be cut off along with the hypocrites (verses 48-51).PFF4 1244.1

So ends the incomparable outline prophecy of Matthew 24, except for those attached parables of Matthew 25, on the wise and foolish virgins, the talents, and the coming separation of the true and false at the second advent. Then we read, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31, 32).PFF4 1244.2

5. DOUBLE QUESTIONS OF DISCIPLES RECEIVE DUAL ANSWER

Thus the two questions that were asked by the disciples—When shall the destruction of Jerusalem be? and, What shall be the sign of the Master’s return?—received a specific answer by Christ, showing their relationship to the end events in the time to come, beginning with the impending destruction of Jerusalem. And after sweeping in the intervening centuries, He ends with the tremendous scenes of His second advent in power and great glory. So the relationship established and the sequence of events are expressly portrayed with the distinguishing characteristic of inspired prophecy—that of repetition for the sake of emphasis and clarification, not only to add details along the way, but to pile up the cumulative evidence surrounding the end of the highway of prophecy. In this way all past fulfillments become the assurance of the completion of the further remaining events in the predicted outline.PFF4 1244.3