No One Knows the Timing

Matthew 24:36-51

Immanuel – 4/27/25

          After a short break for Easter, today we return to Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew. It is important to remember this whole discourse is an answer to the disciples’ question at the beginning of chapter 24. Jesus had just prophesied that Jerusalem’s temple would be torn down, stone by stone. The disciples then ask the question,

          Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?                                                   -Matthew 24:3

          The following two chapters contain Jesus’ answer. These two chapters of the Olivet Discourse are entirely prophetic – the longest record we have of Jesus’ prophecies.

          Answering the disciples, Jesus prophesies about signs of his coming: wars and rumors of war, famines, earthquakes, persecutions, and so on. Then, in verse 15 we heard Jesus speak of the abomination of desolation. I endeavored to show you how all these prophetic signs were fulfilled in the years leading up to 70 AD. I pointed to specific events and their dates.

          Then, in verse 30, Jesus prophesied, “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the [land] will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”            

          This prophecy had two meanings: the first regards judgment. Jesus was pulling on Old Testament apocalyptic language very familiar to the Jews, language of divine judgment. God coming on the clouds was not about a literal, visible appearing of God. Rather, it was about God bringing destruction upon wicked people, and usually through war.

Remember, Jesus is prophesying about the temple’s destruction. Therefore, the Son of Man coming on the clouds was when Jesus – seated in the place of God – destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD through Roman invasion.

          The second meaning of Jesus’ prophecy – the Son of Man coming on the clouds, was an allusion to the Son of Man in Daniel 7. There, the Son of Man is a divine figure receiving an eternal kingdom, heavenly glory, and authority over all peoples. When the Romans destroyed the temple, it was a prophetic sign: Jesus stands in place of the temple, he is the Chief Cornerstone, the everlasting High Priest and King of kings.

          “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”                                                                       -Matthew 24:34

          The disciples asked when the temple would be destroyed, Jesus answers: All the signs, all the tribulations, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, it would all happen within the lifetime of that generation. As it stands in history, within 40 years of Jesus’ words, it came true. The Romans laid siege to Jerusalem and burned it to the ground in 70 AD. Hundreds of thousands died. There were earthquakes and famines. Finally, the Roman Legions tore every temple stone down, even digging up the temple foundations.

          The destruction of the temple was the decisive end of an age, the covenantal age governed by the Mosaic Law and the temple system. For the Jews, who lived and breathed these things, it was the end of the world as they knew it.

          Forty years before the end, sitting on the Mount of Olives and overlooking Jerusalem, the disciples had asked when all of this would take place. Jesus now answers the matter of precise timing.

          Read vs 36

Remember the sequence. Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Then two verses later we hear Jesus saying, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even…the Son.”

Jesus is not placing a timestamp on prophetic fulfillment and then immediately taking it back – though that’s what some critics of Christianity say. They look at this as Jesus’ “get out of jail free card.” Where, if the prophesies did not really happen within that generation, then Jesus can say, “See, I didn’t really know when it would happen.” But these critics fail to understand the context of Jesus’ moment and the historical events that unfolded afterwards.

My premillennial friends see in Jesus’ words – about not knowing the day or hour – as an indeterminately long period of time. To them, the Son of Man coming on the clouds is only interpreted as Jesus’ return at the end of human history, something we still await. Therefore, the indeterminately long period of time is, so far, more than 2,000 years. That’s about the same amount of time between Abraham and Jesus. Such a claim means, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” must take on another, non-literal, meaning.

Premillennialists who interpret Jesus words like this are brothers and sisters in Christ. They are part of the fold, but I think they miss the point of Jesus’ words in verse 36. I think they fail to understand the context of Jesus’ moment and the historical events that unfolded afterwards.

The disciples wanted to know when the temple would be destroyed, and the end of the Mosaic age, a result of Jesus’ coming judgments. Jesus definitively answered: within their lifetimes, that generation. Now put yourself in the disciples’ shoes for a moment. Wouldn’t any one of us want to know more: “Will it be soon, when I am old, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years? When are we talking about, Jesus?”

Paraphrasing R.C. Sproul: Jesus is saying, “I don’t know what day, I don’t know what hour, but I do know this: It will be within the timeframe of this present generation.”

The reason was obvious: That generation was guilty of crucifying their Messiah. Jesus said back in chapter 23, “So that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the [land].” These were the days of vengeance, as Jesus says in Luke 21:22. Jesus would return to Jerusalem coming on the clouds, not in a literal sense, but in an apocalyptic sense of judgment. It would fall upon that generation, though Jesus did not know the day nor the hour.

          There is another oddity in verse 36. Jesus is the divine Son of God. And in his divinity, he knows all things – or, the Son of God is omniscient. Yet Jesus claims not to know the exact date of Jerusalem’s fall. Muslims like to point to this verse to “prove” that Jesus isn’t God. So what’s going on here?

          Verse 36 is a window into the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ; that he is fully God and fully man – an essential doctrine of the Christian faith. This doctrine is called the hypostatic union; and if a person rejects the hypostatic union, it places them outside the Christian faith.

          In the year 451, confronting questions about Jesus’ nature, the Council of Chalcedon summarized Scripture’s teaching: “In the one person of Christ are perfectly united without confusion, separation, mixture, or division the divine nature and a human nature. Moreover, these two natures retain their own peculiar attributes. The divine nature remains omniscient, for example, but the human nature is still subject to limitations in knowledge.”¹

          When Jesus says he does not know the exact timing, it is an expression of his human nature. His human mind did not know the timing, but his divine mind certainly did. This may be hard to wrap our minds around, but if we could wrap our minds fully around the Son of God, then he would be a small god indeed!

          And though Jesus, in his humanity did not know the day or hour, in his divinity knew what things were like millennia before.

          Read 37-39

          The days of Noah were marked by wickedness.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.        -Genesis 6:5

          Again and again we heard Jesus denounce his generation, calling them wicked, adulterous, faithless, twisted, unbelieving, and so on. Remember Jesus’ words back in chapter 11:

          “I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”                               -Matthew 11:24

          God judged Sodom in fire and sulfur. Noah’s generation was destroyed by a flood. And Jesus’ generation was more wicked than these, for they rejected and crucified the beloved Son of God. Their judgment would be most severe.

          Noah spent decades building the ark, and far from water. The ark stood as a conspicuous announcement of coming judgment, but that generation chose to ignore it. Jesus is God incarnate, performing miracles, loving the loveless, proclaiming the kingdom of God, warning of a coming judgment. But his generation went on living their lives as they always had, absorbed in their godless selfishness and pride, willfully ignoring Jesus’ warnings and calls to repentance. Not only did they ignore, they rejected him.

          Just like in the times of Noah, people paid no attention to the warnings of impending doom. They were caught entirely unawares. It was willful ignorance, a decision to ignore the dire warnings.  Just as in the days of Noah, they would be swept away. This time, not by a deluge of water, but by a flood of the invading legions of Rome.

          Read vs 40-41

          Many Christians believe in something called the rapture of the church. It’s the idea that Jesus will secretly return to snatch away Christians from the earth. Non-believers will be left behind. These two verses are cited again and again as proof texts for the rapture of the church. But I do not believe that is what Jesus is teaching.

          The context is judgment, as in the days of Noah. Jesus is explicitly talking about how some people will be taken away to destruction, not swept away to escape judgment.

Luke records an incredibly helpful detail in his account: a question from the disciples.

          “I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” And they said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”                                             -Luke 17:34-37

          The disciples ask Jesus where the people will be taken, and Jesus does not say they will be saved. He answers with corpses and vultures (remember, vultures can also be translated as eagles). They are taken to judgment, not raptured to salvation.

          Once again, we see Jesus’ words found precise fulfillment during 3.5-year war between the Jews and Rome, from 66-70 AD. In sermons past I’ve mentioned that Josephus records 1.2 million Jews died as Rome (bearing the standard of the eagle) invaded Galilee, and then Judea, and then Jerusalem, burning every city, killing without mercy. In addition to this, Josephus states that 97 thousand Jews were taken as slaves.

          The Jews were going about their normal lives – marrying, eating and drinking, going to work – and then Rome invaded. Enormous numbers of that generation were taken, either by death or by slavery. If only they had heeded Jesus’ warnings! If only they had awakened to Jesus’ offers of salvation!

          Read vs 42-44

          The Olivet Discourse has taken a shift. Jesus is still answering his disciples, he is still talking about the future, the timing of things, and how the disciples are to respond. But the shift has occurred, Jesus has just told a mini parable, and the rest of the Olivet Discourse will be told in parables. And soon, Jesus’ timing references will begin to change. This week it will be subtle, next week it will be profound.

          In this first mini parable, Jesus is imploring the disciples to stay awake! A robber comes in the dead of the night precisely because the homeowners are asleep. He is trying to catch them unawares. But what if they were warned that tonight, someone will break in? Even if they have not been told the exact hour the robber would come, how foolish they would be to pretend like there is no danger, and simply go to sleep.

          The implication for the disciples is clear: don’t fall under the influence of this wicked generation and think there is no danger, don’t let the comforts and cares of this world lull you to sleep. Stay awake! Judgment is surely coming!

          At an hour you do not expect! And that is the main point of verses 36-44. No one knows, not even Jesus, the exact date of the judgment. If your eyes are closed, you will be caught unaware. At the beginning of the Olivet Discourse, the disciples asked about timing, but Jesus gives them only generalities.

          Why? If the Father knows, why does he not tell his Son, and Jesus then tell the disciples? Why give only the zip code and not the address? Jesus’ next parable helps.

          Read vs 45-51

          This parable, and the rest that follow, explore attributes that divide humanity. In each parable the thing that separates is slightly different.

          In this parable, the master has appointed one servant to manage the master’s household. The Greek word translated as household connotes the servants of the house. The master has appointed one servant to care for and lead the other servants. But don’t miss it, he is a servant among servants.

The trustworthy servant cares for those in his charge. He tends to his responsibilities and does his master’s will as if the master were right there with him, watching. It’s not because he is afraid of the master, but because he is faithful and wise.

The wicked servant takes advantage of the master’s absence, thinking the master does not know what he does. He treats his fellow servants as if they exist to serve him, so he abuses them. He makes them carry his load so he can go off and party with his friends.

Jesus (the Master) will set people (the servants) over other people. Every person will have others in their care; employees, students, children, spouses, friends; to teach, to love, to parent, to manage, to influence. And every person is given this world to care for, unique gifts to express, and God-given passions to pursue.

Who shall be faithful and wise, desiring to please the Master with how they treat others and this world? Who shall be wicked, ignoring the Master and selfishly squeezing others and this world for all they can get from it?

Those that live to please the Lord are the blessed. These are his true image bearers, the servants that he calls friends. Jesus said,

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.”                   -John 15:15-16

Jesus has given his life for ours. He took our death when he went to the cross. His death is our forgiveness, if only we trust him. And our death he died so he could give us his death-defeating, resurrected and everlasting life to his friends! So live your life like these things are true. You are not your own, you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Love those in your care. Steward well your work and your world. Live like the Master watches. Whenever the Master returns, such a person will be ready.

But those who take advantage of others, who live for their greed, who neglect the Master’s will for momentary revelry, who neglect their work for comfort and ease; when the Master returns theirs will be surprise and terror. They should have known better, but their willful ignorance is their wickedness.

Because they led a wicked life, abusing others and their world, disregarding the will of the Master, the Son of God will catch them in the act and throw them to hell. The last time Jesus talked about hypocrites, back in chapter 23, he called them children of hell.

Notice, an element of timing has changed. Finding a servant righteous or wicked could happen in 70 AD when Jesus visited Jerusalem in judgment. This could also apply to Christ’s return at the end of history. But couldn’t his words also apply to the moment of death. Death could come at any moment, and your deeds will have been done. Will they show you as wicked or faithful?

With this parable, a subtle shift is occurring in Jesus’ prophesies. His words are beginning to apply to a broader timeframe. Next week we will hear Jesus move away from prophesies for that generation, to prophesies for all subsequent generations, all the way until the day of final judgment.

But today, let me end with a series of questions. What has the Master put under your care? Who are the servants he has given you to serve, to care for, to influence, to love? What is the job he has assigned you, the responsibilities he has gifted you for, the parts of this world under your care?

Look at your life. Look at how you are treating others. Look at what you do with your time. Who then is the faithful and wise servant? Are you ready? If he returned this week, or if he called you home this very day, are you ready?

Just as the disciples could not know the day or the hour when Jesus would visit Jerusalem in judgment, neither do you know the day when God will come to you. So live as one who is ready.

This is why Jesus is only able to give the disciples the zip code and not the address. It compels the disciples to live by faith, trusting in God’s timing, living lives ready to meet him. It is true for all of us, no matter the age in which we live.

As Paul writes,

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

                                                                   -2 Corinthians 5:10

¹(2018, April 26) What Jesus Did Not Know. Ligonier Ministries. https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/what-jesus-did-not-know