Matthew 24:3 English Standard Version

Signs of the End of the Age

³ As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

There are three different questions being asked by the disciples. The opening comments of Matthew 24 deal with the destruction of the temple which they had just left. It would seem that the first question is directed to that prophetic word. That prophetic word has already been accomplish, if that was all that was contained in the question related to “these things”. Only the author of the question knew if everything was addressed in Jesus answers.

The second question begs to ask about the nature of His coming. Jesus had not been taken yet and put to death. His resurrection was a future event that was His coming back from death which He did more than once. What was there expectation in that question?

The third was a matter of an undefined age. Was their question meant to address the age of oppression, the age of time, or was it the church age which had not even begun yet?

We seek the answers to all these question as we read chapter 24 of Matthew in what Jesus had to say. What portions of that chapter addresses each question? We seek to understand as if it is an important matter that has to be answered for our own benefit. It is even more troubling to hear Him say to us “keep watch”.

It has been nearly two thousand years and during that time many have declared the events in their generation have been the signs of His coming, and yet we still wait and still wonder.

There are no easy answers but this must be said.

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

John 13:34-35 English Standard Version

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Jesus is speaking to the twelve. What did love look like to those twelve men? How did Jesus show them love? If they were to love one another in the same way, then their perception of His love is important in how they loved one another.

Two things are related in this commandment. One is understanding His love on a personal level. The second is a willingness to obey the command. If these passages are to hold any sway over us, then we might consider our understanding of His love for us and our willingness to obey.

How does Jesus Christ show His love to us in our personal relationship with Him?

He died for the forgiveness of our sins. Now imagine standing in a crowd of tens of millions of people, far back from the foot of the cross. Does that make us feel personally connected to His death? Do we mourn His death as His mother does? We cannot even see her at the foot of the cross. We didn’t know Him at that point in time. Can we say that we understand that act on a personal level?

All that He did in His ministry was witnessed by those twelve men. They were there. Jesus rose the dead, heal the blind, cure the lepers, in their presence but did they feel loved by Him just because they were present in that moment?

Reading His Word tells us of His love for the weak, the troubled, the helpless, and the hopeless. Does reading His Word make us feel loved personally?

We have to let Him into our hearts before we can know His love. Everything else is just a history lesson.