Matthew 24 SERIES: vs. 3

"Matthew 24:3 And as He 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 your coming, and of the end of the world? 

These questions relate, first, to the destruction of Jerusalem; and second, to Christ’s second coming at the end of the Christian age. 

Both were distinctly answered by our Lord. 

*Jesus did not censure the disciples for desiring to look into the future, but answered their questions fully. 

*As Christ was here speaking to His disciples, and not to the promiscuous multitude, His words in this prophetic discourse are addressed to the church. 

Two questions were asked by the disciples: 

1. “When shall these things be?”

 On this no controversy has ever been raised. It is universally conceded that it refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, or the overthrow of the temple, of which He had but recently spoken. 

2. “What shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?” This is but one question. 

The coming of Christ and the end of the world are so closely related that they may properly be braced in one statement.

Matthew 24:3 ...the end of the world. It is asserted that this is a wrong translation; that it should be, “the end of the age,” and that it refers to “the Jewish age.” 

But, allowing that it should be rendered “end of the age,” it does not follow, by any means, that it refers to the Jewish age, or past dispensation. 

It certainly does not in: Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. 

The promise that He will be with His ministers “until the end of the age,” certainly refers to that age in which they are to preach the gospel, for these words are in the gospel commission. It is the end of this same age to which Matthew 24:14 refers." 

A.T. Jones