Matthew Chapter 24

VERSE 6-8 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

“Thus briefly did our Lord summarize SECULAR HISTORY, and teach the disciples not to expect very soon his second coming and glorious Kingdom. And how aptly: surely the world’s history is just this–an account of wars, intrigues, famines and pestilences–little else.” (D566)

Verse 6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

“Down through the Gospel Age, actual wars and rumors of wars occurred. These also had to precede the end of the age. Thus, later, after the Holy Spirit had been given and these words of Jesus were meditated upon, the disciples realized that much time had to elapse before the end of the age could come.

Basically, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of remembrance, the remembrance of spiritual things (those things taught of the Lord). It calls to mind the words of Jesus, the apostles, the prophets, and of course the Father in His Word. John 14:26 reads, “But the Comforter … shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Thus when the disciples later thought back on what Jesus had said in Matthew 24, they realized that the Kingdom was a distance away and that they probably would be off the scene. Peter especially realized this and so did Paul, who had a vision of the third heaven. However, the apostles did not realize that almost 2,000 years had to pass first.”

Verse 7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”

“Many use Verse 6 to describe conditions since World War 1 (Our day, viz. the 19th and 20th centuries), when the world became involved in conflict, plus the “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” of Verse 7.

Today the news media and television make us more aware of these kinds of occurrences, whereas, in truth, such troubles have taken place endlessly down through the Gospel Age. Even in the Old Testament there was a seven-year famine in Israel at the time of Joseph versus a five-year famine in Ethiopia in recent times. The Apostle Paul took collections on his missionary journeys to send back to the Jewish brethren who were in famine in Israel and elsewhere during the years of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. (In fact, it would have been natural for those Christians living in the first century to consider the famine that occurred after Jesus’ death and resurrection to be a precursor to his Second Coming and the establishment of the Kingdom.) Then, too, a tremendous earthquake destroyed Pompeii, Italy, in A.D. 79.

Therefore, Verses 6 and 7 describe the story of the human race ever since the First Advent until our day. “In diverse places” does not mean everywhere, but (“various places”) here an earthquake, over there a threat of war, or there a famine and etc. This has been the history of the Gospel Age.”

Verse 8 “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

“Mark 13:8 says, “These are the beginnings of sorrows.” Sorrows: (plural) representing a SERIES of spasms (birth pangs) of a woman in travail.

In contrast, 1 Thess 5:3 refers to the singular birth pang: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (See Diaglott Interlineary, which has “the birth-pang” for “travail.”) This text refers to the (singular) birth: the beginning (death) pain of the present order.

Here in Matt 24:8 the same Greek word odin is used in the plural form, signifying a SERIES of travail spasms.

Verse 8 is a flashback to Verses 6 and 7. Wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places are all the “beginning of sorrows,” for “the end is not yet.”

In Verses 4–8, Jesus is saying, “Be careful! Do not be deceived! From my day on, there will be many false Christs, many wars and rumors of wars, many pestilences, etc. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

In other words, Verses 4–8 are a synopsis of the Gospel Age not including the end time, for “the end is not yet.” Thus we are getting a picture of the Gospel Age up to the end period but not including it.”

Some questions in regards to these verses.

Question:

Have these things occurred ever since the apostles went off the scene until the Harvest, or will these things continue and increase in intensity right up to the great Time of Trouble?

Answer:

These things will not necessarily get worse and worse, for the great Time of Trouble involves other factors. It will be of a completely different nature than just these things occurring in greater and greater degrees. For instance, the mass materialization of the fallen angels will have to take place, as in Noah’s day. The fallen angels are held in bondage until the judgment of the great day (Jude 6). Then they will be released as a test, that is, to see what they will do. The Scriptures show that they will inundate the earth, and certainly that is not a cumulative trouble but a unique experience.

Before the Flood the evil angels materialized and had children, who became great men in violence and brutality. The population was evil and grew increasingly so day by day. But the Flood itself was the GREAT trouble, and it wiped out the evildoer.

The presence of the fallen angels on earth was a period of terrific trouble, but the Flood was far worse and completely different, for it was a divine judgment whereas the materialization’s were not. The angels materialized because they wanted to. Through self-choice (free will), they left their first estate and preferred to be here on earth rather than in heaven. In contrast, the Flood was built into the structure of the earth and its atmosphere (preordained). It was designed by the Creator to occur when the last of the rings of water eventually collapsed. The collapse was perfectly timed to occur as a divine judgment.

Question:

 Sometimes Verses 6 and 7 are applied to the Harvest period but not to the very end of the age. For example, the frequency of earthquakes has greatly increased recently hasn’t it? Wouldn’t that be a factor?

Answer:

No one can make such a statement with certainty. Today we can (with modern devices) measure earthquakes of all intensities worldwide, but up until a few years ago, man could not do that. In fact, past earthquakes were far more severe than those we have today. Entire civilizations were destroyed, as on the Isle of Crete in 365 A.D. Moreover, when scientists examine evidences of earthquakes that occurred in the past and look into the history of various nations, their attempts to assign a year to a particular quake can be quite inaccurate because their chronologies are way off.

And consider the pestilences. Pestilences have been greatly reduced in the Harvest period through medications, antibiotics, etc. For example, the Black Plague was devastating. In Oxford University, England, two out of every three students died, and half of the population of that nation expired. We have had nothing like that pestilence in the last 100 years. Right after World War 1, one out of ten died from influenza, but those figures are far lower now. Also, in the past the mortality rate in time of war was much higher than it is today.

Our media—collecting news items from around the globe—make things sound much worse today, whereas past civilizations suffered considerably more. A higher percentage of the population was affected. Ever since the flu outbreak which followed World War 1, the casualty rate for this particular (pestilence) has decreased.

Verses 4–8 provide a thumbnail sketch of the history of the Gospel Age from the time the apostles asked Jesus the questions (Verse 3) up until the beginning of the Harvest. The Harvest is the end of the age, and that is Matthew’s point (Matt. 13:39). However, based on what the other Gospels say, there is an extension into the Harvest period of wars, rumors of wars, etc. But Matthew’s account is written a little differently. Matthew gives a picture of the history of the Gospel Age, whereas Mark and Luke include other things to bring us through the Harvest period to its end.

Verses 6–8 speak of the problems that would exist PRIOR TO the Lord’s Second Coming.

Verse 8 indicates the Gospel Age would be a period of great sorrows that would precede the answer to the two questions: “What shall be the sign of thy presence? What shall be the sign of the end of the age?” These sorrows (the series of troubles) are only the beginning, not the ending.

“Travail” is a period of suffering. The suffering of the Gospel Age has been caused by war, famine, earthquake, etc. The travail of Verse 8 is a series of spasms, but in 1 Thess 5:3, “travail” is an improper translation. The thought is of a “birth pang” (singular). It is unusual for that word in the Greek to be in the singular.

In regard to the “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” of Verse 7, some feel that the word “pestilences” is omitted in the oldest manuscripts. This is true in

Matthew, but the word is found in Luke 21:11. The omission in Matthew 24 is probably due to a transcriber’s oversight. Also, in Mark 13:8, although “pestilences” is not used, the word “troubles” is there, thus broadening the picture.

Actually, the translators did not know whether to use “plagues” or “pestilences,” for although a disease is a plague, a plague is not necessarily a disease. For example, plagues include monsoons, sandstorms, floods, and other outstanding troubles. The broader meaning was intended, although “pestilences” were a common form of plague down through the Gospel Age.

Ancient manuscripts were written on lamb or goat skins that were dried and stretched. The Sinaitic was written continuously—that is, without punctuation or verses—and in all capital letters in Greek. Either a brush or a flat pen was used for the characters. A problem is that with age the letters tend to flake off or fade, making those portions difficult to read. “A,” “D” and “L” in the uncial Greek look very similar, so that fading and flaking cause real confusion in certain instances. Only diligent study of grammar, context, etc., will straighten out the confusion.

In the Greek the words “famine” and “pestilence” are almost identical, the former being limos and the latter loimos. Furthermore, kai is used very, very frequently. A fatigued copyist could easily mix up the two words. And that is what happened in Matt 24:7 in the Sinaitic Manuscript—a whole line was omitted: kai loimos.” (The Book of Matthew)

We will move on with our study to Verse 9 in our next post.