Matthew 24 is key to all eschatology:  Here is the equence of events in Matthew 24 : 

1 The gospel would be preached to the whole world and then “the end would come”. 24:¹⁴ This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Colossians 1:23 Paul said that had been fulfilled by the time he wrote Colossians in 60 AD. That would be the end of the Jewish Age in 70 AD, not the end of the world. The old covenant was valid for the Jews till 70 AD. Hebrews 8:13, written about 60 AD, said, 8:¹³ When He said, “A new covenant (i.e. the new covenant promised in Jeremiahs 31:31-34),” He has made the first obsolete (the old covenant). But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is about to disappear.” It did officially disappear in 70 AD. The temple was destroyed, no more animal sacrifices since then, no more priests. No one could even try to keep the Law of Moses after that.

2 The abomination of desolation predicted by Daniel would be fulfilled within the generation that Jesus was speaking to. Matthew 24¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet.” The “abomination of desolation” is mentioned 3 times in Daniel 9,11,12. 1) Daniel 9:²⁴ “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. ²⁵ So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress. ²⁶ Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. ²⁷ And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.” Notice this abomination of desolation would be at the same time as the destruction of the city (Jerusalem) and sanctuary (the temple) by the peole of some prince. That prince will be Titus who led the Romans armies in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. Notice that the Messiah (Jesus) would be cut off (die) at the end of the 69th week, which would be 30 AD. That leaves a 70th week, but the 70th week ends with the abomination of desolation of the temple. When would that be? Jesus said that all the events predicted in Matthew 24 would be fulfilled in that generation. Matthew 24:³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Genea always in the NT refers to a 40 year period. So the abomination of desolation had to be fulfilled with 40 years after Jesus’ prediction. So it had to be the desolation of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. The Roman army brought their military standards, which featured images of the Emperor (worshipped as idols by soldiers), into the Temple area, marking it as a “desolation”. Maybe the soldiers even offered sacrifices to their standards (Josephus). Even if we are unsure about the 7 weeks and 62 weeks part, we can be sure that the 70th week ended at 70 AD. That destroys all the false predictions of the 70th week being in our future! The 70th week would be the last 7 years beore 70 AD which woud be 63-70 AD. That leaves a gap between the 69th and 70th week, but that is to be expected. After Jesus’ death at the end of the 69th week in 30 AD, there was an indefinite period until the 70th week would begin which would end in 70 AD. That would force people to be ready at all times during that gap between the 69th and 70th week. Notice that the end of the 70th week (70 AD) would “seal up vision and prophecy” (Daniel 9:24). There would be no more prophetic visions or predictions to be fulfilled after 70 AD. All the New Testament books were written before 70 AD. All the writers of the New Testament died before 70 AD. EvenJohn the apostle died before 70 AD. Papias (60-130 AD) said that John died at the hands of the Jews just as his brother James died (Acts 12), just as Jesus had predicted that the two brothers would die a martyr’s death just as Jesus would (Mark 10:35-40). That could only be before 70 AD since the Jews would not have the power to kill him in the year 100 AD, which is what tradition says that he lived to (and that he died a peacefu death). If he died a peaceful death, then Jesus’ prophecy would fail to come true. 2) Daniel 11:³¹ Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. Again, fulfilled in 70 AD. 3) Daniel 12: ¹¹ And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Again, fulfilled in 70 AD. All of Daniel 12 is predicting “the end time or the end of the age” (12:4, 9, 13). Matthew 24:14 Jesus said that the end would come within that generation (24:30) so “the end” is the end of the Jewish Age in 70 AD, not the end of the world.

3 An unparalleled (in the history of the Jews at least) tribulation on the Jews within that generation. Matthew 24:²¹ For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.” This was a tribulation of the Jews, not Christians as many try to apply it to today. Daniel 12 predicted this tribulation of the Jews to occur at the end of the age (70 AD). Daniel 12:And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.” Daniel 12:7 it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish smashing the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.” (the holy people would be the Jews who would be smashed). But wasn’t the Holocaust (7 million Jews killed) worse than AD 70 (one million Jews killed)? The Jews as a nation were no longer God’s holy people or nation when the Holocaust occurred. Again, this tribulation in Matthew 24:21 had to happen within that generation (24:34). So the tribulation happened from 66-70 AD, happened to the Jews in all Palestine and Jerusalem, and there are no prophecies predicting some tribulation in our future as many preach today.

4 The Son of Man would come and the stars would fall. Matthew 24:²⁹ “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” Again, this coming of Jesus (the 2nd coming) had to be fulfilled in that generation (24:30), so it must be his coming in judgment on the Jews in 70 AD. This is consistent with all of Jesus’ other 3 predictions that his 2nd coming would be within the lifetime of those he was speaking to. 1) Matthew 10:²³ “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.” 2) Matthew 16:²⁷ For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every person according to his deeds. ²⁸ “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Young’s Literal Translation). The Greek word translated “about to” is mello and in the New Testament always mean “about to happen”. Young’s Literal Translation translates it correctly though most translations translate it incorrectly as “is going to come”. Some try to say this was fulfilled in the transfiguration (Matthew 17) but 16:27 involves judgment and that didn’t happen at the transfiguration but it did happen in 70 AD with the judgment of the Jews. This clearly shows that some of those listening to Jesus would still be alive at his 2nd coming. If not, then Jesus is a false prophet just as the atheists and unbelieving Jews claim. 3) Matthew 26:⁶⁴ Jesus saith to him (Caiaphas), `Thou hast said; nevertheless I say to you, hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power, and coming upon the clouds, of the heaven.’ Caiaphas might not have lived to 70 AD (tradition says he died long before 70 AD but perhaps Jesus was speaking to those with Caiaphas, some of whom would live till 70 AD and his 2nd coming). I always challenge people to show me any verse in the gospels where Jesus predicts a coming back that is not within the generation of those he was speaking to. The apostles also taught an imminent 2nd coming. The early Christians expected the 2nd coming to be in their lifetime. Why wouldn’t they since that is what Jesus and the apostles taught them?
The stars also had to fall within that generation (24:30) and they did not literally fall to the earth. This is typical apocalyptic language as used of judgments in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 19:1 describes God coming in the clouds which is very similar wording to what is found in Matthew 24 but in Isaiah it has reference to the destruction of Egypt.” Isaiah 13:10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash their light; the sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light (fulfilled with the fall of Babylon in 536 BC).” Isaiah 34:4 And all the heavenly lights will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; all its lights will also wither away (fulfilled in the judgment of nations in Isaiah’s time).” So the stars did fall figuratively within that generation at 70 AD. Notice the timing: Jesus would come “immediately after the tribulation”. If the tribulation was the horrors the Jews faced in the wars of the Jews from 66-70 AD, and it was, then Jesus’ coming had to be immediately after that and not 2,000 years later. That fits 24:30 that this had to happen within that generation. Notice “they will see Him coming in the clouds”. Similar to Revelation 1:⁷ Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.” Acts 1:11 This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” 1) Whatever this means, it happened within that generation (24:30) so we must figure out what it meant in 70 AD at his 2nd coming. Many have a preconceived idea of everyone on earth seeing the literal body of Jesus coming down at His 2nd coming, but that is not what the passage means. 2) It simply means that all who were responsible for piercing (crucifying) Jesus (i.e. the Jews) of the tribes of the earth (i.e. the Jewish 12 tribes) would see Jesus coming (figuratively) in judgment using the Romans. They would mourn when that happened. In that sense, every eye of the Jews in the city did see His 2nd coming in 70 AD. Someone might say, “That sounds like the supposed invisible coming of Jesus in 1914 that the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach.” Not really, b/c nothing at happened on earth in 1914 as evidence of a 2nd coming. But in 70 AD, the proof of his 2nd coming was obvious in the destruction of the temple and the city, and the killing of one million Jews.

5 All these predicted events in Matthew 24 had to be fulfilled within that generation. Matthew 24:³⁴ Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” The Greek work is genea and in the New Testament it always refers to a 40 year period or the people living in a 40 year period. Period! No exceptions to that. Matthew 1 lists 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus, which is about 2,000 years. Hebrews 3:9 Where your fathers put Me to the test, and saw My works for forty years.¹⁰ Therefore I was angry with this generation”. In Matthew 23, just before the left the temple and made the predictions in Matthew 24, Jesus condemned the Pharisees and scribes. His final word was that they would be punished for the sins of the nation for the last 1500 years, for the murers of the prophets from Abel to Zechariah. He said, Matthew 23:³⁶ Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” Isn’t it obvious that he is talking about that specific generation of evil Jews that he would punish in 70 AD? Matthew 24:34 uses that same word genea in the very next chapter. Would that not also be that specific generation of Jews in that next 40 years? Jesus often called the Jews of that generation an adulterous and evil generation. I am amazed when I hear preachers on TV say that Jesus’ 2nd coming is imminent today. They use Matthew 24 to try to prove that. They will quote Matthew 24:34 to say that Jesus is predicting the 2nd coming to be within the generation of those listening to the preacher’s prediction of imminency. So they are saying that the word genea means 40 years. But if it means 40 years today, why did it not mean 40 years back then when Jesus predicted that? If it means a specific “last generation” (i.e. last generation before the 2nd coming) today, why did it not mean that back when Jesus spoke it?

6 The rest of the chapter (vs 36-51) is still talking about that same 2nd coming of vs 1-35. Still a coming within that generation and not some “3rd coming” at least 2,000 years later (as of today). Matthew 24:37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.” Why would vs 37 and vs 39 be introducing a 3rd coming at least 2,000 years later. He is discussing the coming that he has just predicted to happen within that generation, is he not? Some say that vs 1-35 indeed predict AD 70, but that vs 36-61 predict another coming that is still in our future, but that is not true Notice the 2nd coming will be like the days of Noah in which the wicked were taken (killed, i.e. the evil people before the flood) and the righteous will be left (i.e. Noah and his family). The evil Jews would be taken (killed by the Romans) and the righteous will be left (i.e. surive the destruction of Jerusalem: according to Eusebius all the Christians in Jerusalem escaped the city, heeding the warnings given them in Matthew 24, when they had the chance and fled to Pella). Those who teach a rapture at the 2nd coming teach it totally backwards. They say the righteous will be taken (raptured) and the wicked will be left on earth, which would not fit the 2nd coming that Jesus is talking about. So is the doctrine of the rapture of Christians before the 2nd coming even valid? It is based on 1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” 1) f the 2nd coming was in 70 AD, then this passage occurred in 70 AD regardless of how it happened. It was fulfilled at 70 AD and is not something to happen at some future coming of Jesus. 2) This passage can’t be introducing a future coming of Jesus past 70 AD since nowhere else in the New Testament predicts such a coming. This passage must be referring to the same 2nd coming in 70 AD that all the NT predicts. 3) What does it mean if it happened in 70 AD (and it did happen in 70 AD)? A common practice was that a king or nobleman would visit a city. The people in the city would go out to meet him and then the king would accompany them back into the city to spend time with them. That is what this passage is talking about. Jesus would come in the clouds in 70 AD. Christians alive at that time would meet him (figuratively) and then Jesus would go with them to where they lived on earth and make his presence with them. It is not talking about Jesus meeting them and taking them up to heaven. So there is no rapture before 70 AD as many teach (Tim LaHaye Left Behind).

Luke 21 is a parallel chapter to Matthew 24, but it does add a few things. Luke 21:²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. ²¹ Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are inside the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; ²² because these are days of punishment, so that all things which have been written will be fulfilled. ²³ Woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people; ²⁴ and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Notice that this says that the desolation of Jerusalem will be when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies. That had to happen within that generation. Luke 21:³² Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place.” (just as in Matthew 24). So this can only be the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem in the 5 month seige in 70 AD before they broke through the walls, destroyed the city and temple, and killed one million Jews. Notice that Jesus says that all things that have been written (which would be Old Testament predictions) would be fulfilled by 70 AD. The Old Testament predicted the destruction of Jerusalem several times: Daniel 9,11,12; Zechariah 14; Isaiah 26-29; Ezekiel 38,39. So those AD 70 predictions had to come true by AD 70. Of course, all the Messianic predictiions would also be fulfilled by 70 AD. If whoever the Messiah will be does not come by 70 AD, then he can’t come! That is a real dilemma for the Jews who don’t believe that Jesus is the real Messiah. They are left with no temple and no hope of a real Messiah coming some day in our future. Many Jews have abandoned the very idea of some Messiah person coming some day. Revelation 10:7 says that when the events predicted in Revelation (i.e. the predictions about 70 AD) that the mystery of God as spoken through the old testament prophets would be finished. Notice that Jerusalem would be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles. That would have to be the Romans. Revelation, which is about predictions of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD, predicts this same thing. Revelation 11: ² Leave out the courtyard which is outside the temple and do not measure it, because it has been given to the nations; and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.” That verse also shows that the temple was still standing when the book of Revelation was written, which was probably about 63 AD. Notice that Jerusalem would be trampled until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. The meaning of that is debated. A similar phrase is used in Romans 9:²⁵ For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved.” This is a very controversial verse. I think it means when the Gentiles have been brought into the church fully in 70 AD. During the transition period from 30-70 AD they were brought in gradually by the preaching of the apostles and that process was completed fully by 70 AD.

If you have any interest in eschatology at all, I hope this helps. If what you hear from preachers is confusing to you, I hope this helps. If you are not interested at all in eschatology, that is fine. But someone needs to correct all the false teaching about eschatology that leaves people confused.

Also, understanding the fulfilled predictions of Matthew 24 to be 70 AD helps bolster my faith in Jesus as the Prophet and faith in the Bible that records all these predictions to know that they were all fulfilled in 70 AD. That in turn helps bolster my faith in the main message in the Bible, which is salvation by grace through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross. I have a friend who says that understanding all this basically saved his faith since he was having so many questions about Bible predictions. It has to bother you as a Christian when an atheist says that Jesus is a false prophet b/c his predictions of his imminent 2nd coming did not come to pass. The atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell argued that Jesus could not be considered the “best and wisest of men” partly because he believed Jesus predicted his second coming would occur within the lifetime of his followers, a prediction that did not come true. Russell argued that Jesus clearly believed his second coming would happen “in clouds of glory” before all the people then living had passed away, citing Matthew 16:28 (“There are some standing here which shall not taste death till the Son of Man comes into His kingdom”) as a primary example.” (AI) Even the Christian C.S. Lewis famously addressed Matthew 10:23 (along with similar verses) as “the most embarrassing verse in the Bible,” acknowledging the apparent, mistaken prediction of an immediate return by Jesus. He argued this honesty suggests the Gospels are reliable, as creators of a forgery would likely have removed such a difficult, time-sensitive prediction.” That is really twisted logic! Lewis is saying that Jesus was mistaken in his prediction. But instead of saying that makes Jesus a false prophet (which it would), he says it just shows the integrity of the gospel that they would record a false prediction by Jesus but ignoring that he is admitting that Jesus was a false prophet!!! What do you think an atheist like Russell would say about that logic??????