Most scholars view Matthew 24 as a parallel passage to Luke 21. The reason for this is that there is similar language, a similar setting and the passages appear in the same relative place in the gospels. It should be noted that these similarities do not automatically mean that the passages are identical. An example of this is seen in comparing Matthew 20:29-34 with Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 18:35-42. While these appear to be parallel passages they are not. The differences btween the Matthean and Markan accounts can be easily harmonized. But in those accounts Jesus is "leaving" Jericho. In the Lukan account Jesus is "approaching" Jericho. So the apparently parallel accounts are not describing the same events. The same is true for Matthew 24 and Luke 21.

If we compare Matthew 24:15-28 with Luke 21:12-24 we see sufficient differences to know that they are speaking of different events. While Matthew points to the setting up of the abomination that causes desolation spoken of in Daniel (which we will observe in the next blog is the end of the world), Luke speaks of the desolation of Jerusalem. The abomination that causes desolation in Daniel 11 is inevitably tied to the end of the world, the resurrection of the dead and the final judgment. While this is a critical difference between Matthew 24 which makes reference to the abomination that causes desolation spoken of in Daniel and Luke 21 which says nothing about the abomination in Daniel there are other clear signs that the two passages are talking about different events.

Matthew 24 describes a need to flee that is so urgent that if you are on the roof of your house, you should flee down the outside staircase and not even go into your house to try to save anything. Luke 21, in contrast, says get out of the city when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies but attaches no urgency like Matthew’s to his description of the flight. This is because he is describing the need to flee in 70 AD when the Roman armies left for more than a year. Interestingly, Luke 17, which is speaking of “the day the Son of Man is revealed”, does speak of the need to flee and attaches an urgency similar to that found in Matthew.

Matthew encourages his readers to pray that their flight will not take place in winter (a season) or on the Sabbath (a day). This is because of the previously mentioned urgency. Luke makes no mention of this because the Romans are away for more than a year so there would be no need to flee in winter or on a Sabbath. Matthew’s time of distress is unequaled from the beginning of the world until now. Matthew’s reference is clearly an allusion to Daniel 12:1 which is "in context" speaking of the end of the world. Luke’s great distress does not use the language of Daniel and is “in this land” and the wrath is “against this people”. Because Luke is speaking of 70 AD, his distress is local and is directed against Israel. Luke is clearly including material not contained in Matthew. Luke's material warns of the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem.

It appears that Luke begins by discussing the end of the world in verses 5-11 but then moves on to insert teaching by Jesus about the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem. Luke begins the inserted section related to Jerusalem in verse 12 with “But before all this” pointing to events that precede what he has described in verses 8-11. The inserted section ends in verse 24 where he concludes this section with a reference to the Jews being carried off to all nations and Jerusalem being trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. The times of the Gentiles are also discussed in Romans 11 (see especially 25-29) and in Revelation 11:2 where the Gentiles trample Jerusalem for 42 months. Then in verse 25, Luke returns to his previous theme which was the great signs in heaven (Luke 21:11) by discussing the signs in the sun, moon and stars. At this point he has returned to the discussion of the end of the world

Matthew says where there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. Luke includes a similar statement in Luke 17. This image applies to the end of the world and so is not included in Luke 21:12-24. Interestingly, Daniel speaks of the power of the holy people being broken in the context of the resurrection of the dead and the end of the world. This parallels Revelation 11 where the two witnesses become two carcasses. It appears to me that the witnesses must be the Jewish and Gentile portions of the visible church. They are two lampstands, an image that Revelation 1 defines as churches and they are two olive trees paralleling the olive trees in Romans 11 which are Jewish and Gentile portions of the church. If I am correct in defining the image of the witnesses, Revelation 11 is describing the apostasy of the church. The visible church dies (leaving true doctrine and worship) but the body (the lifeless forms of empty worship) continues to exist until a breath (spirit) from God brings them back to life.

Next time we will look at Daniel's vision in Daniel 10-12 and see that it cannot refer to the time of Antiochus Epiphanies and must refer to events at the end of human history.

It is amazing that so many Christians who claim that the Bible is so very important to them pay so little attention to the text. Is it God's Word? Then we should read it attentively. But we don't. We read the text as though, having read the passage before, we already know everything it says.

A classic example comes from Matthew 2 in the passage referenced in the previous blog. Now almost every Christian has heard and/or read Matthew 2 one or more times a year during the Christmas season. So the simple question is asked, "How many miles did the wise men follow the star?" Most people think that it is impossible to know and are even more puzzled when I say you should know the distance within 5 miles. Yet the answer is easy to determine if one reads the text at all carefully.

The wise men see the star and come to find Jesus. The text is clear that they first come to Jerusalem. It should be noted that Jesus is not there. So either the star led the wise men to the wrong place or the wise men did not follow the star to Jerusalem. A quick glance at verse 2 clarifies that the wise men say they saw the star in the east (past tense) but it does not say they followed the star from the east. If the magi, who likely had some of Daniel's writings and who were master astronomers and astrologers saw the sign of the Christ through a star in the east they would have come to Jerusalem where they could naturally expect the king of the Jews to be born.

After research, Herod sends the wise men to Bethlehem because the prophets seem to indicate that the Christ will be born there. The wise men do not need much help locating Bethlehem because it is only 5 miles from Jerusalem. But as they leave Jerusalem the star they "had seen" (note it does not say "had followed") in the east went ahead of them. In verse 10 the writer observes that the wise men were overjoyed when they saw the star. Why? They would not have been overjoyed to see a star that led them to the wrong place. They would not have been overjoyed if the star had been visible in the sky during their trip to Jerusalem (that the star remains in the sky is not a source of abundant joy). The only reason for them to be overjoyed at seeing the star is that the star has reappeared.

That this star is not a conjunction of planets or a comet or any other natural phenomena is clear from the fact that this star is able to lead the wise men over a 5 mile journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. The star is needed because it apparently stops over the house where the child lives. The wise men knew they were going to Bethlehem so the star taking them there was unnecessary. They did not know which of the 20 or so male children of the appropriate age in Bethlehem was the one for whom they looked. The star took them to the particular house where that child was. A low flying star that can lead astronomers to a particular house in a town is no natural phenomena.

So, the answer to the question from the last blog is that the wise men followed the star 5 miles. If you did not know the answer then the question has to asked, how many other common passages have you heard and read but not really read? Next time we will look at Matthew 24 to see what we missed related to the return of Christ. It is important to see that Matthew 24 has nothing to do with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD if we are going to interpret the passage with integrity.

A. D. Bauer

http://www.squarehalobooks.com/bauer.htm

To introduce myself, I am a conservative Christian theologian who actually takes the Christian scriptures seriously. I do believe they are the inspired Word of God and in my writings I reflect that perspective. Theologically, I am orthodox and reformed.

One would think that what I write would be a variety of plain vanilla theology - what we have all heard before. That would be true except that when you take the Scriptures seriously and are willing to confront the difficult questions without glossing over them, you sometimes arrive at creative and different conclusions. This is very inconvenient for conservatives who seem to think that nothing new can ever be found in theology or in the Scriptures. What I have found is that people wear blinders, no matter what they say they believe. When they run into a problem that is inconsistent with their accepted theological view they either ignore the problem and restate what they have always believed or they resort to a sort of irrationalism that denies that the issue can even be discussed. They also find themselves unable to see things that are plainly in the biblical text because since they already know what the text says, they are unable to see what does not fit their preconceptions.

The result of this self-imposed blindness is that people spout things as fact that at a minimum require some explanation in the face of major difficulties. They also claim that they believe the Bible is the Word of God but they treat it as a museum piece. They will not look too carefully at the text lest it test their faith. They will not ask difficult questions of the text lest that lead them astray. The ultimate result is that many people who are committed to God's Word are also committed to blindness as they read that word. Let me give you an example.

In Matthew 2, a passage that most people have read or heard read at least once a year, wise men or magi visit the Christ child. You should know the answer to this question or at least have some idea of the answer if you have thought about the text at all. So the question is this, How far did the wise men follow the star to Bethlehem? You should be able to provide this answer to within 5 miles. In my next posting I will answer the question but feel free to answer it yourself.

A. D. Bauer

http://www.squarehalobooks.com/bauer.htm