The 3 Troubling Questions in Eschatology (Mat 24:3)
The study of Eschatology revolves around Matthew 24, and the 3 troubling questions that have split / disunited believers in theology are found in verse 3.
Mat 24:3 And as Jesus sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
From Mat 21 - 24, it is all talking about End Times, Last Days, Last Times, End of the Age, 2nd Coming (depending on which translation you use), and it centers in the Destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple (see my previous post on this:
https://advancingtruth.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-desolation-of-jerusalem-and-its.html
The original Greek word is "Aion" which means "a period of time" or "age", which is CORRECT.
Some translations use the word "world" or "worlds", which is WRONG.
This is very crucial, because the meaning changes completely from the original intention, and what Jesus was speaking about. We are trying to use our modern 21st Century English to understand the original Greek, so we must be careful to do it correctly from the original audience perspective.
There are other English bibles where the word "Aion" was translated in "world", not just in this verse, and they too need to be corrected. I will not covered it here, but you can use Strong's concordance to search it.
So when the bible says "the end of the age" it means "the end of a period of time". It does not mean "the end of the world". Establish this in your mind.
From Mat 21 - 23, we have only read of Jesus warning them about the Judgement that is coming on Israel, on Jerusalem and on its Temple.
Jesus has not talked about His 2nd Coming, about the End of the Age, or WHEN all these are going to take place.
From a Jewish mindset, ALL these 3 questions are talking about the SAME event.
Q: What made the disciples ask these 3 questions? Why did they do that?
A: Because they are Jewish, and to them they understand from their Torah and the writings of the prophets that the destruction of the Temple has to be the End of the Age. They also believe that when THAT Age ends, then the Messiah will come and rule over Israel as their Messiah and King.
Q: Who is the Messiah?
Today in the 21st Century, if you ask a Christian who is the Messiah, most will say it is Jesus who died at the cross and rose again from the dead.
But most of the Jews at that time and until today, especially the Orthodox Jews in Israel, STILL believe that their Messiah has not come and they are still living under the Old Covenant or the Mosaic Age. They do not believe Jesus as their Messiah. (Mosaic Age means living under the laws and regulations as set up by Moses.)
You see, the Jews believe the Mosaic Age will end and the Messianic Age will begin. Their understanding of a Messianic Age is a physical literal King that will make Israel great again (sounds very Trumpy... excuse the pun).
So the disciples are asking these 3 questions because they are excited to see the end of the Mosaic Age (they were quite fed-up with hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the existing priesthood organization).
Q: Who do the disciples think the Messiah is going to be?
A: They think Jesus is their Messiah King, so they are eager to know WHEN.!
For the rest of the Jews in Israel, they do NOT expect Jesus to be their Messiah. Especially the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and priests. They hated Jesus because of the constant rebuke of Jesus against them and their lifestyle. In their minds, their Messiah is going to be that leader or king that will release them from the yoke of the invading armies like the Roman army, and set himself to be the King of Israel.
However, Jesus has a different idea.
Jesus is going to die at the CROSS. He is going to die for their sins, be raised from the dead, and live on in their hearts.
This is a totally different mindset from them.
The disciples are NOT expecting Jesus to die, and go to the Cross. NO.!
They expect that when the Temple comes down, it will be the end of the Age (period of time), and Jesus is going to begin a new Messianic Age (period of time), and be their Messiah King and rule over them.
From Mat 24 onwards, Jesus began to list down a whole list of events (too long to list them here) about the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Jesus said, when you see these events happening, it is the End of the Age. It is the Sign of His Coming.
Mat 24:1-31 list down all the happenings that will take place before Jesus is coming again.
This is repeated in Mark 13:1-27; Luke 17:20-37; Luke 10:41-44; Luke 21:5-36.
ALL these events in the above scriptures is speaking about the period from the death of Jesus till the destruction of Jerusalem. If you put the death of Jesus at about AD33, and the destruction of Jerusalem at about AD70 (Jewish Roman war lasted till AD75), then it puts the period of the happenings and signs of the above scriptures within roughly a 40 year span. A generation is considered a 40 years span.
This End of the Age (destruction of Jerusalem), was also foretold in Daniel 8:26. Daniel had a vision in Daniel 8:1-26 about the future of Israel that is going to be destroyed. God told Daniel to seal up the vision for "many days" in the future. Daniel is to shut up the vision because it is NOT going to take place anytime soon. Take note of this term "many days".
However, Paul wrote differently from Daniel.
In 1 Cor 10:11, Paul said he and his believers are NOW living in the End of the Ages.
1Co 10:11 "... and they were written for OUR admonition, to whom the end of the ages DID COME"
Paul and his listeners are saying that they are NOW NOW NOW living in the End of the Ages. Another translation replaced the "end of the ages" with "last days".
However, the KJV bible replaced the word "age" with "world", which is WRONG, because the Greek word is "Aion", which means "a period of time".
The "world" is NOT coming to an end. It is a "period of time" in their generation that is coming to an end. Paul was living in the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel.
From Daniel, we have the term "many days". We know that from the time Daniel wrote those words to the time of Paul, it was roughly about 550 years.
So "many days" => 550 years.
In Rev 22, we read of the Destruction of Jerusalem and the 2nd Coming of Jesus. In verse 10, God told John (author of Revelations):
Rev 22:10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy (of Daniel) of this book: for the TIME IS AT HAND.
Time is at Hand => NOW. (Some translations say Time is NEAR).
So use your thinking:
Daniel => Seal It => because it is far in the future (550 year more)
John (Rev) => Don't Seal It => WHY? Because it is NEAR. It is NOW.
Q: Why was Daniel told to Seal the words of prophecy for the time of the end (Dan 12:4,9), but John was told NOT to seal his prophecy because the time was at Hand (Rev 22:10).?
Q: If "many days" is for 550 years, then how can "At Hand" be for 2000 years and in our Future (think properly).?
550 years is a long time for Daniel.
Q: How can we interpret Revelations as way in the future, future, more than 2000 years, and say it is NEAR..? Think about this, please.
Mathematically, it is INCORRECT eschatology.
Revelations was written around AD60s, the time of the End of Ages is very NEAR to the listening audience. That was why Revelations was written only to the 7 churches at THAT time. Only 7.
The disciples (especially John) really did see the fulfillment of Daniel's vision in their lifetime.
What Age / Ages is it all about?
The disciples were living in the Mosaic Age (see above). There were other ages before the Mosaic age but it doesn't concern them at THAT time.
The AGE that the disciples were asking Jesus in the question was the Mosaic Age (also can be called Mosaic Covenant, Old Covenant). They knew the when Mosaic Age ends, the Messianic Age will begin from there.
Side note: What about Dispensations.?
Some who argue on Dispensations say these:
a. In the PAST, it was the Mosaic Dispensation/Mosaic Age.
b. In the PRESENT, it is the Grace Dispensation/Grace Age.
c. In the FUTURE, it will be the Messianic Dispensation/Messianic Age.
My understanding is like this:
The Age/Ages that the Old Testament was written (which was primarily written to the Jews) does not explain it like this.
In the Old Testament, there is no big gap between the Mosaic Age and the Messianic Age.
The Jews do not see and were not taught the Grace Age.
They interpret that the Messianic Age will follow IMMEDIATELY after the end of the Mosaic Age (the end of the Temple and its laws).
So when the disciples, while believing Jesus is the Messiah, BUT the Temple is still standing, begin to ask Jesus the vital question, "when is the end of the age?"
Subsequently, after the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, the apostles and their followers begin to write the New Testament (as we call it today).
Take note: It is consistent with the same meaning as BEFORE the Death of Jesus.
Heb 1:1,2 "God has in these LAST DAYS spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things,..."
Heb 9:26 since it had behoved him many times to suffer from the foundation of the world (greek: kosmos), but now once, at the full END OF THE AGES (greek: aion), for putting away of sin through his sacrifice, he hath been manifested;
See the difference between "world" and "age". The KJV used the same word and translate age as world. WRONG.
The translation in "Bible in Basic English version, 1949" says:
Heb 9:26 "For then he would have undergone a number of deaths from the time of the making of the world: but now he has come to us at the END OF THE OLD ORDER, .."
Again in 1 Pet 1:20,
1Pe 1:20 He was pre-destined indeed to this work, even before the creation of the world, but has been plainly manifested in these LAST DAYS for the sake of you who, through Him, ...
Peter, Paul and all the apostles were consistent with the same meaning as when Jesus was alive and talking to them.
Do NOT transplant Heb 1:2; 9:26; 1 Pet 1:20 into the 21st Century or future timeline, and call the future the Last Days / Last Times / End of the Age. Hebrews and 1 Peter was not written for 2020 audience. It was relevant for their time and for their audience (Remember Audience Relevance; Timeline Relevance; within Context !!).
The disciples did not ASSUME they were living in the End Times, They KNEW the were. Period. They were hoping for the Messiah to begin the Messianic Age.
Let's see some more in the New Testament how did the apostles preached about the End of the Age. They wrote it, they interpret it, they preached it.
See Acts 2:16-21.. talks about the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost.
Firstly, this was how I was taught earlier as a charismatic believer (and also preached it while pastoring):
v17 says God is pouring out His spirit on us (charismatics) so according to v21 so that salvation can come on those who call on Jesus.
Conveniently, we leave out verses in between. We leave out "signs in heaven and earth, blood, fire, sun turn to darkness, and moon to blood".
This is called using scripture Out of Context, to suit only what we want to put across.
Whenever we come across scriptures like this in the New Testament, what do we do? We always go back to the source, to find out the actual meaning of the passage. So in this case, Peter was actually quoting the book of Joel.
See the source: Joel 2:28-32.
Peter was quoting Joel, saying God is visiting and delivering his people OUT of Jerusalem. (It was NOT about you and me in this time.)
Remember Mat 24 = God delivering His people OUT of Jerusalem, and told to flee to the mountains of Judea..?
and many more other examples.
Jesus came in those LAST DAYS. He died in those LAST DAYS. The disciples were living in those LAST DAYS.
Side note: in Acts 2:21, and whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved from that destruction that was coming in the Last Days.
The destruction was preluded by those signs in heaven and earth. These signs are the things that are happening to introduce something important that is coming (I shall leave this to another page).
CONCLUSION:
The 3 Troubling questions can now be paraphrased in the following manner. This paraphrases will clarify the actual meaning of the disciples.
Question 1: WHEN WILL THE TEMPLE FALL DOWN?
Question 2: WHAT SIGNS IS THERE TO SHOW THAT JESUS IS COMING BACK AS THE MESSIAH?
Question 3: WHEN ARE THESE EVENTS HAPPENING WITHIN THE AGE THAT THEY ARE LIVING IN?
Let us rethink, rework, and reword all those sermons, notes, and songs that we use to reflect their actual meaning of End Times.
