What does this passage mean?...
Matt 24.Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
This happened in 70 AD, about 40 years after Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. This is not Last Days prophecy--this happened in the generation of those alive in Jesus' time.
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
These "Birth Pains" took place in Jesus' own generation. They anticipated the coming fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. There were rumors of wars, warning Jesus' Disciples that this judgment was surely coming. The signs included indications God was unhappy with Israel and was soon to bring final judgment to them.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Jesus' own Disciples among the Jewish People would be rejected and persecuted by apostate Israel, ie by their unbelieving Jewish brothers. This was some of the sin for which God was bringing judgment to Israel in 70 AD.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
There is no question, particularly when the parallel account is read in Luke 21, that this is about a Great Tribulation spanning the entire NT age. That's what makes it the "Great Tribulation." It's the greatest punishment that Israel has ever experienced--the longest punishment in its history. And when Israel experienced punishment, they suffered the tribulation of exile and the curses that followed them in that exile. It is called the "Jewish Diaspora."
The "Abomination of Desolation" is spelled out in Daniel, and is not to be confused with another AoD mentioned in Daniel, which applied to Antiochus 4 of Syria. This particular AoD originates from Dan 9 where the "people of the prince to come," an Army, is to come to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. That's the AoD Jesus is speaking of here.
And the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD was merely the start of Israel's exile and an entire age of Jewish Diaspora. It was to last until the preaching of the Gospel is preached to the whole world as a warning of ultimate judgment for human sin.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
As there was in that early generation so it continues throughout the age that Millennial groups attempt to state that they are the "move of Christ" to bring God's Kingdom to earth. But God is concerned about the ultimate destruction of the Jewish People before He can judge and remove the wicked from among them in order to restore the nation using the repentant. And so, Christ will in the end come from heaven to bring an end to Israel's oppression and to save the Church from their persecution.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
In accordance with Dan 7, the Son of Man comes from the clouds, ie from heaven, and not before. In other words, even as false Messianic movements proliferated the Roman army would gather around Jerusalem. And Jesus would not deliver Israel at that time, but would come later with the clouds.
So Jesus warns his Disciples that the Roman "vultures" will gather against Jerusalem to destroy the Temple. The Romans carried "eagle" standards, representing gods that they worshiped. They gathered "like eagles" around Jerusalem, the "corpse." Deliverance from heaven will not come before Israel is brought under judgment in that generation.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
It is after the Jewish Distress of the present age, while Christians are persecuted, that Christ, the Son of Man, will return from heaven, but not before.
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."
This is the completion of what Daniel saw in Dan 7, which is the coming of the Son of Man from heaven to destroy the persecutors of the Church and to establish God's Kingdom on their behalf. Daniel there portrays the coming of the Son of Man to destroy Antichrist, the Man of Sin, who opposes God's People and His Kingdom.
