There is no portion of Scripture which has occasioned more perplexity than these predictions of Jesus, contained in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew; and it may also be said that there is no portion of the New Testament which is read with more interest, or which inspires more profound and religious emotion. Jesus was speaking to his disciples of the overthrow of Jerusalem, and of the utter destruction of the temple. They said, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?”
Here were two distinct questions, but which were probably erroneously associated in the minds of the disciples as one. They probably supposed that Christ’s second coming, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world, were to be the same event. In the reply of Jesus, these events are so blended, that occurrences are apparently brought together which are actually separated by many centuries. Many suppose that the destruction of Jerusalem is foretold from the beginning of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew to the twenty-ninth verse; that, from the twenty-ninth verse of the twenty-fourth chapter to the thirtieth verse of the twenty-fifth chapter, the second advent of Christ is foretold; and that, from the thirty-first verse to the end of the chapter, Christ speaks of the final judgment.
There are not a few careful students of the Bible who suppose that there are here indicated three distinct comings of Christ,—first, for the destruction of Jerusalem; second, to establish a millennial reign upon earth; and, thirdly, his coming in the day of judgment at the end of the world. Upon this general subject, the following judicious remarks by Rev. William Hanna will recommend themselves to the reader:—
“It so happens, that, among those who have made the province of unfulfilled prophecy their peculiar study, the most various and the most discordant opinions prevail. They differ, not only in their interpretation of individual prophecies, but in the systems or methods of interpretation which they employ. For some this region of biblical study has had a strange fascination; and, once drawn into it, there appears to be a great difficulty in getting out again. Perhaps the very dimness and doubtfulness that belong to it constitute one of its attractions. The lights are but few, and struggling and obscure; yet each new entrant fancies he has found the clew that leads through the labyrinth, and, with a confidence proportioned to the difficulties he imagines he has overcome, would persuade us to accompany him.Instead of inclining us the more to enter, the very number and force of these conflicting invitations serve rather to repel.”[58]
At the conclusion of these announcements respecting the future, Jesus gives a very sublime description of the day of final judgment, in which he represents himself as seated upon the throne to pronounce the irreversible verdicts.
“When the Son of man,” he said, “shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then shall he say also untothem on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.”[59]
Having thus described himself as seated upon the throne of final judgment, he added the declaration so bewildering to his disciples, “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”
The chief priests and the scribes held a council in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest, to devise some means by which they might put Jesus to death. It was not easy to rouse the mob against him; for he was popular with the people. Judas Iscariot, probably hearing of this council, went to the chief priests, and agreed to betray Jesus to them by night for thirty pieces of silver,—about fifteen dollars. “They feared the people;” and it was consequently necessary that he should “betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.”
Jesus, as usual, entered Jerusalem early in the morning, and, all the day long, was preaching his gospel; “and all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him.” At night, he retired to his silent retreat on the Mount of Olives.