Mat 24 | Geneva

‏ Matthew 24

{1} And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

(1) The destruction of the city, and especially of the temple is foretold. {2} And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

(2) The Church will have a continual conflict with infinite miseries and offences, and furthermore, with false prophets, until the day of victory and triumph comes. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the {a} end is not yet.

(a) That is, when those things are fulfilled, yet the end will not come. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in {b} divers places.

(b) Everywhere. All these [are] the beginning of {c} sorrows.

(c) Literally, "of great torments", just like women in childbirth. {3} But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

(3) The gospel will spread abroad, angering the world and the devil ever so much: and those who continually believe will be saved. And this {d} gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the {e} world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

(d) Joyful tidings of the kingdom of heaven. (e) Through all that part of the world that people live in. {4} When ye therefore shall see the {f} abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

(4) The kingdom of Christ will not be abolished when the city of Jerusalem is utterly destroyed, but will be stretched out even to the end of the world. (f) The abomination of desolation, that is to say, the one who all men detest and cannot abide, because of the foul and shameful filthiness of it: and he speaks of the idols that were set up in the temple, or as others think, he meant the marring of the doctrine in the Church. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his {g} clothes.

(g) This is a sign of how great the fear will be. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the {h} sabbath day:

(h) It was not lawful to take a journey on the sabbath day; Josephus, book 13. And except {i} those days should be shortened, there should no {k} flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

(i) Those things which befell the people of the Jews in the thirty-four years, when the whole land was wasted, and at length the city of Jerusalem was taken, and both it and their temple destroyed, are mixed with those things which will come to pass before the last coming of the Lord. (k) The whole nation would utterly be destroyed: and this word "flesh" is a figurative word for "man", as the Hebrews used to say. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and {l} shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

(l) Will openly set forth great signs for men to behold. {5} For wheresoever the {m} carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

(5) The only remedy against the furious rage of the world is that of being gathered and joined to Christ. (m) Christ, who will come with speed; and his presence will be with a majesty to whom all will flock, just like Eagles. {6} 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:

(6) Everlasting damnation will be the end of the security of the wicked, and everlasting bliss for the miseries of the godly. And then shall appear the {n} sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the {o} tribes of the earth {p} mourn, and they shall see the Son of man {q} coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

(n) The exceeding glory and majesty, which will bear witness that Christ the Lord of heaven and earth draws near to judge the world. (o) All nations, and he alludes to the dispersion which we read of in Ge 10-11, or to the dividing of the people of Israel. (p) They will be in such sorrow, that they will strike themselves: and it is transferred to the mourning. (q) Sitting upon the clouds, as he was taken up into heaven. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the {r} four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

(r) From the four corners of the world. {7} Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet {s} tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh:

(7) If God has prescribed a certain order to nature, much more has he done so to his eternal judgments; but the wicked do not understand it, or rather they mock it: but the godly make note of it, and wait for it. (s) When its tenderness shows that the sap which is the life of the tree has come from the roots into the bark. Verily I say unto you, This {t} generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

(t) This age: the word "generation" or "age" is here being used for the men of this age. {8} Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

(8) The Lord now begins the judgment, which he will finish in the latter days. {9} But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

(9) It is sufficient for us to know that God has appointed a latter day for the restoring of all things; but when it will be is hidden from us all for our sake, so that we may be all the more watchful, so that we are not taken as those were taken in the flood years ago. For as in the days that were before the flood they were {u} eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

(u) The word which the evangelist uses expresses the matter more fully then ours does: for it is a word which is used of brute beasts: and his meaning is that in those days men will pay attention to their appetites just like brute beasts: for otherwise there is nothing wrong with eating and drinking. {10} Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

(10) Against those that persuade themselves that God will be merciful to all men, and do by this means give themselves over to sin, that they may in the meantime live in pleasure, void of all care. {x} Two [women shall be] grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

(x) The Greek women and the barbarians ground and baked. {11} Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

(11) An example of the horrible carelessness of men in those things in which they ought to be most careful. And shall {y} cut him asunder, and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

(y) That is, from the rest, or will cut him into two pieces, which was a most cruel kind of punishment: with which, as Justin Martyr witnesses, Isaiah the Prophet was executed by the Jews: the same kind of punishment we read of in 1Sa 15:33 and Da 3:29.