Matthew 24

Matthew 24:3

Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Tell us these two secrets: when the time shall be of this miserable destruction of the temple, which thou foreshewest us; and what signs shall go before thy coming to judgment, and the end of the world. XXIV 5. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Both before the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and before my Second Coming, which ye ignorantly imagine shall be together and at once, there shall arise many impostors, who shall give out themselves for the Messiah, and shall deceive many.

Matthew 24:13

But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Ye are forewarned, and therefore fail not to watch: if the good man of the house be informed, beforehand, in what watch the thief will come, though he be not told of the hour wherein he is like to come, he will be sure to stand upon his guard all that part of the night, and not suffer himself to be surprised, and his house to be broken up.

Matthew 24:14

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

This Gospel, whereby the Kingdom of Christ is both gathered and erected and governed, shall, before my Last Coming and the End of the World, be preached to all the nations of the habitable world; so as they shall have no excuse from their ignorance, but shall be fully convinced of the truth thereof. XXIV. 15, 16. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. When ye shall see the abominable pollution of the temple, which is the just cause of the utter desolation thereof; yea, when ye shall see the heathenish armies, consisting of idolatrous Pagans, according to the prophecy of Daniel, which I would have you diligently to peruse and consider, taking possession of the holy temple: Then, it is time for every one in Judea, to shift for himself; and to betake himself into the deserts and mountains, for safety.

Matthew 24:19

And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

Their case shall be very miserable and desperate, whose necessary burdens forceth their stay, or hindereth their speed of escape; namely, those, that are with child, or those, who, giving suck to their little infants, must needs carry their dear charge in their arms.

Matthew 24:20

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.

But pray ye, that this flight of yours, for your own preservation, be not cast upon such a time and season, as may be to the disadvantage, either of your life or your conscience; that it fall not out in the deep of winter, when, through the foulness of the way or extremity of weather, ye cannot pass, to save yourselves; or upon the Sabbath day, when, as men are informed and affected, the scruples of enthralled consciences forbid them to take laborious journeys for their escape.

Matthew 24:23

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Except it should please God so to contrive it, that this siege and misery of Jerusalem should receive a quick dispatch, it

Matthew 24:24

And shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

The delusions of their signs and wonders shall be so strong, that the world shall be utterly carried away therewith; and, if it were possible that the very elect of God could be miscarried by them, they should also be deceived: were it not more of the grace and mercy of that powerful God who sustaineth them, and that infallible decree whereby they are ordained unto life, than of any power or wisdom of their own, they could not stand against these strong deceptions.

Matthew 24:26

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: Behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

Wherefore, if the disciples of these vain impostors shall say, Behold, the Messiah is now come, and he is in the desert, gathering of troops for the restoring of his kingdom; or, He is in this or that secret room, plotting his affairs; believe it not.

Matthew 24:27

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

For the return of the Son of Man shall be without observation, so as no man can fore-appoint or fore-expect the day; but shall be sudden and unlooked for: even as the lightning gives no warning when it comes, but suddenly flashes from the east to the west; so shall also the Second Coming of the Son of Man be.

Matthew 24:28

For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Wheresoever the Son of Man shall please to present himself, thither will he call unto him all men to be judged by him; so as all mankind shall flock unto his Judgment Seat, even as the eagles resort to the place and subject of their repast.

Matthew 24:29

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, &c.

When as my Church shall have endured that full proportion of affliction, which I have set forth for it, immediately thereupon shall my Last Coming be, in glory, and majesty, and dreadfulness; for then the sun shall be darkened, &c.

Matthew 24:30

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.

Then shall appear those glorious and bright beams of light and heavenly splendour, which shall shine forth upon the very act of the appearances of the Son of Man, as it were the opening of Heaven for his descent.

Matthew 24:31

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

And he, by his almighty power, shall send his holy angels; who, with a mighty sound, shall summon together his elect, whose bodies have been vanished into all the elements, and they shall, from all the coasts of the earth, be assembled together before him.

Matthew 24:32

Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.

Take and learn this similitude of the fig tree: look, as when ye see the branches of it to put forth leaves, ye know that summer is coming on, and that the winter which kept in that juice and sap is now past; so likewise, when ye see the signs accomplished, which I have now premonished you of, know ye that the kingdom of God is near to the full accomplishment thereof.

Matthew 24:34

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Do not imagine that I have told you of things, which are long hence to be done: no; I assure you, that all these things which I have foretold, concerning the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, and all the appendances thereof, shall be effected in your very time and sight; so as this present generation shall be the witnesses of the fulfilling of every word, that I have spoken concerning these matters.

Matthew 24:35

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Know, that my word cannot fail and disappoint you: the heaven and the earth have their time set, when they shall pass away; but the truth of my word is everlasting, and shall continue when this frame of the world shall be dissolved.

Matthew 24:36

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

But, as for the day and hour of my Second Coming, I would not have you to be curiously inquisitive into it: that is a secret, which is not disclosed to the very Angels of heaven, but reserved only in the hidden counsel of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 24:37

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.

But I give you this general intimation of the condition of the time, wherein it shall be; that, as it was in the days of Noah, before the Universal Deluge swept away mankind, so shall it be in that time, wherein the Son of Man shall come to judge the world in fire. So verses 38, 39.

Matthew 24:40

Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

This dreadful coming of Christ shall not have the like issue unto all: to some, it shall be terrible; to others, happy: it shall make a perfect distinction between them, whom the world made no difference between. Two shall be found in the field, about the same work; one of them shall be taken up to glory, the other shall be, as a reprobate, left to everlasting confusion. So verse 41.

Matthew 24:44

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.

So do ye, therefore: though the hour be not designed to you, yet you hear that the son of Man will both surely and suddenly come to judgment; be ye, therefore, ever ready to receive him, whensoever he comes. XXIV. 45, 46. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Whosoever, therefore, shall approve himself a faithful officer in the family of God, distributing to every one that measure of allowance which his master hath ordained, improving all his gifts and opportunities to the best service of God; Blessed and happy is he, for being found so doing: so he shall be sure that his industry, and justice, and fidelity shall be recompensed with eternal glory.

Matthew 24:47

Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

Verily I say unto you, As an earthly master remunerates such a servant with preferment and honour in his household, committing the rest unto his oversight and government; so will the God of Heaven reward him, that is thus spiritually just and faithful, with an everlasting weight of glory. By the contrary expound verses 48, 49, 50, 51.