Matthew 24:3

The Mount of Olives stands directly east of the temple area on the eastern side of the Kidron Valley that separates Mt. Olivet from Mt. Zion. The site of this discourse has given it its name: the Olivet Discourse. It was an appropriate place for Jesus to give a discourse dealing with His return. The Mount of Olives is where Zechariah predicted that Messiah would stand to judge the nations and establish His kingdom (Zechariah 14:4). This prophecy is foundational to the discourse that follows.

The word "privately" as Matthew and Mark used it set the disciples apart from the crowds. Mark wrote that Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Jesus the question (Mark 13:3). Whether He gave the answer only to them, which seems improbable, or to all the disciples, He did not give it to the multitudes. This was further revelation for their believing ears only. Luke did not mention the disciples as the recipients of this teaching but implied that a larger audience heard it (Luke 21:5-7). However this appears to have been deliberate by Luke to show that this teaching had significance for all the people.

The disciples asked Jesus two questions. The first was, "When will these things be?" The second question had two parts as is clear from the Greek construction of the sentence. It linked two nouns, "coming" (Gr. parousias) and "end" (Gr. synteleias), with a single article, "the" (Gr. to), and the conjunction "and" (Gr. kai). The second question was, "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" By asking the question this way we know that the disciples believed that Jesus’ coming (Matthew 23:39) would end the present age and introduce the messianic age. [Note: See Edersheim, The Life . . ., 2:434-45, for an explanation of the Jewish expectation connected with the advent of the Messiah.] The first question dealt with the time of the destruction of the temple. The second dealt with the sign that would signal Jesus’ coming and the end of the age.

What did the disciples mean when they asked Jesus about the sign of His coming? This is the first occurrence of parousia ("coming") in Matthew’s Gospel (cf. Matthew 24:27; Matthew 24:37; Matthew 24:39). In classical non-biblical Greek this word meant "presence" and later "arrival" or "coming," the first stage of being present. [Note: Abbott-Smith, p. 347.] In the New Testament, parousia does not always have eschatological overtones (e.g., 2 Corinthians 7:6; 2 Corinthians 10:10). In the second and third centuries A.D., writers used it to describe the visit of a king or other important official. [Note: M’Neile, p. 345.] In view of Jesus’ recent statement that the Israelites would not see Him again until they would say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord," it was undoubtedly to this coming that the disciples referred (Matthew 23:39). They wanted to know when He would return to the temple having been accepted rather than rejected by the nation. Specifically they wanted to know what would signify His return, what would be the harbinger of His advent.

What did they mean by "the end of the age?" Jesus had used this phrase before (Matthew 13:39-40; Matthew 13:49; cf. Matthew 28:20). By the end of the age Jesus meant the end of the present age that will consummate in His second coming and a judgment of living unbelievers (cf. Jeremiah 29:22; Jeremiah 51:33; Daniel 3:6; Hosea 6:11; Joel 3:13; Zephaniah 1:3). This will occur just before the messianic kingdom begins. The disciples used the phrase "the end of the age" as Jesus and the Old Testament prophets spoke of it. They understood that Jesus meant the present age, the one before the messianic age began, since in their question they associated it with Jesus’ return to the temple.

Both of the disciples’ questions, occurring as they did together, suggest that the disciples associated the destruction of the temple with Jesus’ return to it and the end of the present age. [Note: Bruce, 1:289.] The Old Testament taught that several eschatological events would happen in the following order. First, Jerusalem would suffer destruction (Zechariah 14:1-2; cf. Matthew 24:2). Second, Messiah would come and end the present age (Zechariah 14:3-8; cf. Matthew 23:39). Third, Messiah would set up His kingdom (Zechariah 14:3-11). The disciples wanted to know when in the future the destruction of the temple, Jesus’ return to it, and the end of the present age would occur. They probably did not ask Him when He would inaugurate His kingdom because they knew this would happen when He returned to the temple and ended the present age.

"Matthew’s gospel does not answer the first question, which relates to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This is given more in detail in Luke, while Matthew and Mark answer the second and third questions, which actually refer to Christ’s coming and the end of the age as one and the same event. Matthew’s account of the Olivet discourse records that portion of Christ’s answer that relates to His future kingdom and how it will be brought in, which is one of the major purposes of the gospel." [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 182.]