As promised, we start this post with a long comparison of Matthew, Mark and Luke to Revelation by E. W. Bullinger. It takes us ahead of where we are in Matthew 24, but it’s an overview so now is a good time:

“Let us now turn to The Great Prophecy, or rather to the two great prophecies: for the one recorded in Luke 21 (though parts were afterwards repeated) is different both in time and place and subject from that recorded in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. The one recorded in Luke was spoken ‘on one of those days as He taught the people in the temple’ (Luke 20:1). For the next note of time is in 21:1, ‘and He looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury’. So that He was still in the Temple when He uttered the prophecy recorded in Luke. For the next note of time is in v. 37 ‘and the day time He was teaching in the temple; and at night He went out, and abode in the Mount that is called the Mount of Olives’. But with regard to the prophecy recorded in Matthew 24, we distinctly read (v.1) ‘And Jesus went out and departed from the temple…And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately’ (v. 3). So, in Mark 13:1 ‘He went out of the temple…And as He sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately’ (v. 3).

“So that we have two great prophecies. One (Luke) spoken in the Temple, the other (Matthew and Mark) spoken later upon the Mount of Olives. As parts of the first are repeated on the second occasion, we will give the leading points of the three in parallel columns, so that the object of each, and the difference between them, may be clearly seen. They both open with a summary of events which were to happen in the lifetime and experience of those who heard the words:

FROM THE CROSS ONWARDS

Matthew 24:4-6	Mark 13:5-7	Luke 21:8-9
“Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”	“Take heed lest any man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.”	Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and the time draws near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by (i.e. not immediately. RV)

“Then both go forward at once, leaping over the present dispensation, to describe the beginning of the ‘the Great Tribulation’, as set forth in the breaking of the seals in Revelation 6.

“First we have the opening of the first and second seals; which denote war (national and civil), symbolized by the ‘white and the red horses’. See Revelation 6:2,4.

²I looked, and behold, a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer…⁴And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that people would kill one another; and a large sword was given to him.  

(Revelation 6:2,4; NASB)

“Then famine, symbolized by the ‘black horse’ (the third seal). Revelation 6:5,6.

⁵When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”     

(Revelation 6:5,6; NASB)

“Then pestilence, symbolized by the ‘pale (livid) horse’ (the fourth seal). Revelation 6:7,8.

⁷When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!” ⁸I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and the one who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and famine, and plague, and by the wild animals of the earth. 

(Revelation 6:7,8; NASB)

“Then the earthquake of the sixth seal. Revelation 6:12.

And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood  

  (Revelation 6:12; NASB)

Matthew 24:7-8	Mark 13:6	Luke 21:10-11
“Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”	“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in diverse places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginning of sorrows.”	“Nations shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in diverse places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful signs and great signs shall there be from heaven.”

“Now, it will be observed in the Lord’s discourse as recorded in Luke, that instead of saying ‘these are the beginning of sorrows’ and going on to continue the account of them, He does not go on. He stops short; He goes back; He introduces a parenthesis detailing and describing something that should take place ‘before all these’ beginning of sorrows. He goes back, in v.12, to describe the destruction of Jerusalem. ‘But before all these…’ (Luke 21:12). That is to say ‘before’ the beginning of the Great Tribulation, all that is recorded concerning Jerusalem in verses 12-24, should first take place. These are the closing words: ‘And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.’

“Note that the word for ‘fulfilled’, here (in Luke 21:24), is pleroo, while in verse 32, Matthew 24:34 and Mark 13:30, it is quite another word in the Greek, viz, ginomai — which means to arise, to begin to be. That is to say, this generation shall not pass away till all these things begin to take place.

“Now, in the discourse recorded in Matthew 24, instead of going back to speak of the condition of Jerusalem before, and until, the beginning of the great Tribulation; having said ‘All these are the beginning of sorrows’, He goes on to describe the sorrows, or birth pangs (Matthew 24:9-28; Mark 13:9-23), and He continues the prophecy concerning these sorrows up to the moment of His appearing in the clouds of heaven. While, in the discourse recorded in Luke, having gone back, and described what should take place ‘before all these’ beginning of sorrows, the Lord does not speak further of the great Tribulation, but takes it up at the end, and, as in Matthew and Mark, speaks concerning His coming in the clouds of heaven (of course in words slightly different from those in Matthew and Mark):

Matthew 24:29,30	Mark 13:24-26	Luke 21:25-27
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 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: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the lion of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”	“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun and moon, shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars, of heaven shall fall, And the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken, And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”	“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

“Thus, these two great prophecies are harmonized, and it is manifest that, while they begin and end with the same subjects, the main or central subject in Matthew and Mark is ‘the great Tribulation’; whereas the main subject in Luke is the destruction of Jerusalem and ‘the times of the Gentiles’ which run their course and come to an end before that Tribulation begins.

“The Lord’s prophetic teaching, which was interrupted by His sufferings and death (though even before His judges He testified ‘Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven’, Matthew 26:64), was continued after His resurrection (Luke 24:26-27, 44-47): for He was ‘seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God’ (Acts 1:3). This last period was concluded by His ascension from Olivet into Heaven…”   

[from CHRIST’S PROPHETIC TEACHING, by E. W. Bullinger, 1892]

²⁶Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory? ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures…⁴⁴Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and He said to them, “So it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 

(Luke 24:26-27, 44-47; NASB)

In my imperfect reading of the Gospels I had wondered about Luke. It seemed to me to be clear that he was describing the destruction of Jerusalem, but in Matthew and Mark it is not clear at all. I find Bullinger’s thoughts in harmony with my own, and certainly going beyond my meager thinking.

“We sometimes delight in the temporal prosperity of the Church as if it were something that must certainly endure, but all that is external will pass away or be destroyed. Let us only reckon that to be substantial which comes from God and is God’s work. ‘The things which are seen are temporal.’”  

[from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW: THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, by Charles Spurgeon, 1893]

Spurgeon’s comment is on target and not mentioned specifically by anyone else so far. Thinking about all we know and/or care about passing away or being destroyed can be daunting, but it’s a good exercise in learning to lean on God. He needs to be all we lean on.

“It surprises some to find so much importance attached to the taking of Jerusalem: they would rather regard the whole chapter as unfulfilled. Such persons forget that Jerusalem and the temple were the heart of the old Jewish dispensation: when they were destroyed, the old Mosaic system came to an end. The daily sacrifice, the yearly feasts, the altar, the holy of holies, the priesthood, were all essential parts of revealed religion, till Christ came,—but no longer. When He died upon the cross, their work was done: they were dead, and it only remained that they should be buried.—But it was not fitting that this thing should be done quietly. The ending of a dispensation given with so much solemnity at mount Sinai, might well be expected to be marked with peculiar solemnity. The destruction of the holy temple, where so many old saints had seen ‘shadows of good things to come,’ might well be expected to form a subject of prophecy: and so it was. The Lord Jesus specially predicts the desolation of ‘the holy place.’ The great High Priest describes the end of the dispensation which had been ‘a schoolmaster’ to bring men to Himself. (Gal.i.24.)“

²²I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which are in Christ; ²³but they only kept hearing, “The man who once persecuted us is not preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they were glorifying God because of me.  

 (Galatians 1:22-24; NASB)

I appreciate the author’s comments about the importance of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple very much. I suspect, from what is said here, that this author is going to see this destruction as what the whole passage is about…which I don’t agree with. But I’ve spoken at length about that already.

I can’t really figure out what the scriptural quote has to do with what the author was saying about the end of the dispensation. The passage is obviously Paul talking about himself, not about the “great High Priest,” Jesus Christ. But, on with the quote:

“But we must not suppose that this part of our Lord’s prophecy is exhausted by the first taking of Jerusalem. It is highly probable that our Lord’s words have a further and deeper application still. It is highly probable that they apply to a second siege of Jerusalem, which is yet to take place, when Israel has returned to their own land; and to a second tribulation on the inhabitants thereof, which shall only be stopped by the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such a view of this passage may sound startling to some. But those who doubt its correctness would do well to study the last chapter of the prophet Zechariah, and the last chapter of Daniel. These two chapters contain solemn things. They throw great light on these verses we are now reading, and their connection with the verses which immediately follow.”  

  [from EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, by John Charles Ryle, 1896]

Well, the Romans sacking of Jerusalem was certainly not “the first taking of Jerusalem” as Ryle states. I think it’s highly probable that the lines of Matthew that we are looking at right now are primarily about the Romans, but, that the remainder of the chapter is not. I agree with Ryle that the words of Christ have “a further and deeper application”, but that application probably wasn’t terribly clear in the 19th century.

And speaking about the 19th century, I love that Ryle, in 1896, talked about Israel returning to the land. I also love that he refers to the tribulation having to be stopped by the advent of Christ. I’m a bit concerned about the degrading of this coming Great Tribulation to “a second tribulation” as well as the implication that it’s going to happen to just the Jews in Jerusalem. And I noticed that he did not refer to Revelation at all. Here’s the first few verses of the last chapter of Zechariah and then even more of Daniel:

¹Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoils taken from you will be divided among you. ²For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, the women raped, and half the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city. ³Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. ⁴On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west forming a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south. 

  (Zechariah 14:1-4; NASB)

“¹Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. ²And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. ³And those who have insight will shine like the glow of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. ⁴But as for you, Daniel, keep these words secret and seal up the book until the end of time; many will roam about, and knowledge will increase. ⁵Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the stream and the other on that bank of the stream. ⁶And someone said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders?” ⁷And I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish smashing the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. ⁸But as for me, I heard but did not understand; so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” ⁹And he said, “Go your way Daniel, for these words will be kept secret and sealed up until the end time. ¹⁰Many will be purged, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.  

 (Daniel 12:1-10; NASB)

This all sounds like the end times to me. Certainly Zechariah describes the stomping of Jerusalem, which has happened several times, but, the Lord has yet to stand on the Mount of Olives and split it in two. There are those who will claim that, while the first part is literal, the Mount of Olives part is symbolic. I don’t agree, but even if they are right, it would have to be a pretty huge event for that type of symbology; I don’t think we’ve seen anything quite that big yet.

As for Daniel, he was an amazing person. Two things really stick out to me in this passage. The first is that the Tribulation will end “as soon as they finish smashing the power of the holy people.” King James says: “when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered.” Young’s Literal Translation calls it the “scattering of the power of the holy people.” Who are “the holy people”?  I found a well-thought-out article online at:  cgg.org/index.cfm/library/weekly/id/282/power-of-holy-people.htm . It reviews the idea that “the holy people” were Israel, and they were “smashed” and “scattered”.  I don’t agree; for one thing, the “power” of Israel was far from “smashed”.  They may have been scattered to all the nations of the world, but they maintained their unity.

The article goes on to posit that the church, the bride of Christ, is “the holy people”. That makes perfect sense to me. Daniel was a Jew and was born in Israel. If he meant “the Jews” or “Israel”, then I think he would have named them. He didn’t know “Christians”; he couldn’t name them. 

The article refers to Acts 1:8:

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”   

(Acts 1:8; NASB)

This passage names the Holy Spirit as the “power” of the Christian, which is certainly true. How creepy to think of the Holy Spirit being “smashed” or “shattered”; it doesn’t seem possible. Perhaps “scattered” would be possible.  The article kind of freaks out about all this and quickly takes us back to “Israel” as “the holy people”.  

My current thinking is that the church, the bride of Christ, is raptured out before the Tribulation. At that time, the indwelling of the Spirit is no longer a thing, and that is the end of the Restrainer (the indwellt Spirit). People continue to come to Christ, but not as part of the Bride and not indwellt (they are the Tribulation Saints); this status is similar to that of the people of the Old Testament before Christ’s incarnation. The Holy Spirit continues to help those coming to Christ, as He helped Abraham and the other righteous saints of the Old Testament. “The power of the holy people” is the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit is not attached to individuals and can therefore, perhaps, be “scattered”, maybe by what is done to the people. Hopefully I can refine this idea as we go deeper.

That’s all for today. This is going to take us a while, but I think it’s worth the detour.