We continue to look at some of the specific events and circumstances that the Teacher (Jesus) said would come upon His own long gone generation – events and circumstances over which some have stumbled, saying "THAT already happened? How can that be!? Impossible!"
5. The great tribulation. At Matthew 24:9, Jesus promised that those who heard him then will have tribulation. John 14, Jesus says in the world disciples will have it! Well, that's not the same as the GREAT tribulation, you say? Jesus called it the greatest since creation, never to be rivalled. So you ask how can something that happened to THAT generation compare to something like the holocaust of Hitler? Well, hold on...
Sometime before the Olivet Discourse, Jesus said this about that generation: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation." (Matthew 12:43-45).
"Jesus had spent three years casting demons out of the House of Israel. Israel was the house that was found empty, swept, and garnished. All the demons that had been cast out – and there had been a multitude – went and gathered up a host of more demons, like a plague of locusts with a sting, and they poured back into that wicked generation. The Jewish defenders of Jerusalem in the final months were demon possessed, hell bent on destruction..." – When the Man Comes Around, by Douglas Wilson
Note, the great tribulation is directly connected with the command to flee. It was at that same time, not 2,000 years after. Luke doesn't even use the term great tribulation! In his Gospel vs. 21:22 he calls it "days of vengeance." Cf. Matthew 23:35,36; Luke 11:50,51 – "all coming upon this generation." The fact that it was God's direct vengeance on the place He once had chosen…His city…His temple where He once dwelt between the cherubim…this vengeance on that place, promised by Christ, adds greatly to the horror of that tribulation. How do we measure the greatness of the great tribulation?
Jesus is using language elsewhere in the Bible. It's often described as "rhetorical hyperbole." The same wording was used by Ezekiel: "Because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done and like of which I will never do again" (5:9). If it's literal, then we have a contradiction. There are other places where similar language is used. For example, Solomon was said to be the greatest whoever was and whoever will be. And yet, the NT says that something greater than Solomon is here. That something was Jesus (Matt. 12:42). The judgment on Jerusalem that included the destruction of the temple was a covenantal judgment. It was the greatest because it extinguished a covenantal nation in a visible and dramatic way. — Gary Demar, [americanvision.org/posts/has-preterism-been-refuted/]
Cf. Deuteronomy 28:15 ff, esp. vss. 49; 52, 53-57, and 64. (First century historian Josephus chronicles an instance of the horror described in vss. 53-57.)
Here's an analogy: Others have suffered Christ's physical suffering paralled, but who would dare compare His spiritual suffering with anything any other person ever faced? We're back to changes so profound that it's hard for us to see the forest for the trees.
Convinced that the great tribulation is in our rear view mirror, let's stick with our nothin' but a bird simplicity. Jesus said all this would come upon THAT generation. Let's believe Him and instead of expecting evil to be increasingly triumphant, let's expect the growth of our Lord's kingdom. In the world we'll have tribulation, but let us be of good cheer, for He has overcome the world! Next, let's look at Mat. 24:25-27 where there is an interlude, in which Jesus gives a comfort, a warning, and a comparison.
The comfort is His foretelling the faithful of that generation what to expect in their near future, not 2,000 years and counting from their time. Remember, He began to answer the disciples' fearful and amazed question by telling them not to be deceived. He says the wars and rumors of wars, etc. are actually birth pangs; there are better times ahead, not worse. There's a light at the end of the tribulation tunnel!
The warning is His repetition of His "do not be deceived" opening word. Let's apply that to ourselves when the next sensationalistic end times book appears, converting current events into sure signs of the end.
The comparison is between what was coming within THAT generation and what is coming at a future time even He does not know. So for a moment, to make a point, he jumps ahead. From Matthew 24:36 on, Jesus WILL refer to that future point, unknown (then) even to Him, of His visible, personal coming with the holy angels. In vs. 27, He momentarily looks ahead to that unknown day, in order to REINFORCE His warning about false christs in the inner rooms or in the wilderness. His final coming will not be a secret. Then He comes right back to speaking about what is closer at hand.
What about Matthew 24:28 and His saying about the corpse and the vultures? Cf. Deut. 28:49 and context. Jerusalem will be like the corpse, the Roman armies the vultures. Now let's move on to "the heavenly luminaries going berserk!
To be continued. Go to A Survey of Eschatology, Part Seven