When Will These Things Be?

       Jesus visited the Temple for the last time just prior to the Passion Week, (Matt. 24). The few disciples who were with Him remarked about the building’s beautiful construction. They probably expected Him to agree with them, even though He had just rebuked the religious leaders for turning it into a den of thieves yet again. Instead, His next words shocked them. “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
     Jesus had already warned them about His crucifixion, but He hadn’t yet clued them in on what would happen afterwards, except that they would be expected to carry on His ministry. They were still trying to wrap their heads around the idea of the crucifixion instead of a religious coup. So they asked Jesus two questions: “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (vs. 3). They wanted to know the timing and how they could tell when these things were about to happen. They wanted to know the kairos signs.
      So the Lord begins to list the signs, which He called the “beginning of sorrows” (vs. 8). They include false Christs and false religions, wars and rumors of wars, nations fighting nations, kingdoms fighting kingdoms, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. Luke 21:9 adds,  “But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.”
         Other signs would follow. This time period would also be marked by persecution and hatred of Christians, lawlessness, and the preaching of the Gospel in all the world.  You’ll see this same list in the three gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that record this teaching.  It is part of what has become known as Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Teaching) because it occurred on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the Temple. Jesus used the opportunity to explain the timing of His return and to introduce the truth of the rapture.
          All three accounts follow the same sequence of events, although different words are used in a few cases because of the different audiences being addressed. For example, the beginning of sorrows, the tribulation, and the great tribulation all refer to the same signs. Jesus said these signs would begin with the Abomination of Desolation, a term used in Daniel’s prophecies.
        Luke added more description to this key term to help his non-Jewish readers know what Jesus was referencing. The Abomination would be at hand when they see Jerusalem surrounded by armies.  That happened when the Roman army surrounded the city at the Siege of Jerusalem, in response to guerilla warfare being carried out by Jewish militia groups. The Jewish people destroyed the Temple from within out of desperation. This happened in 70 AD.
         Jesus then explained that these signs would continue until the final sign that would signal His return. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Mt. 24:29).
       The Chronos Lesson: Do the beginning of sorrows sound familiar? Absolutely, because these are the signs of this age, the Church Age that Jesus called Today and Tomorrow (Days 5 & 6 when counting from Adam). Have we seen the final sign of total darkness simultaneously over the whole earth at one time yet? No. This means we are still in this same period that Jesus called the tribulation. Notice that it lasts an extended period of time—across the two great Days of the Church Age, which is this present age.
         In Rev. 1:9, John describes himself as our brother in the tribulation because he recognized that the tribulation had begun after the Temple was destroyed. His letter, like the rest of the epistles in the New Testament, was written for all of Jesus’ disciples, then and now, who would experience the tribulation of those Days. As we’ve seen many times in this blog, there is no such thing as a 7-year tribulation period. It comes from a misinterpretation of Daniel’s 70th Week.
            Jesus continued His teaching, saying that His disciples “will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of Heaven” (Mark 13:26-27).  Then He reverted back to parables to drive home the point that He would not return until the signs of this age had been seen and the appointed time had arrived.
         When we understand both the kairos signs and the chronos times, Hebrews 10:23-25 exhorts us to “hold fast the confession of our hope [of our future heavenly calling] without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” We can see the Day approaching because we know the signs to look for at the appointed time!