” Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name.” – Matthew 24:9

After painting a global scenario, Jesus now turns to personal consequences that will take place during the seventieth-week of Daniel, known as the tribulation. In fact Christ uses the word ” tribulation” for the first time in His discourse. There are a number of issues that arise from this passage as it relates to the different interpretative approaches to our Lord’ s discourse.

Jewish Orientation

Verse 9 provides further reason why the tribulation is directed toward the Jewish remnant. ” The temporal adverb tote links the persecution, killing and hatred with the famines, earthquakes and wars.” [1] James R. Gray explains the significance of the word ” then” and its impact upon the immediate passage as follows:

Matthew uses the word ” then” throughout the discourse (24:9,10,14,16,21,23,30,40). The Greek word is toute. Matthew uses this word 90 times in his gospel, more than the rest of the New Testament writers combined. The word is ” a demonstrative adverb of time, denoting at that time.” [2] The word then in verse 9 means simultaneously as the events that occur in verses 4-8. Matthew places this persecution with the beginning of sorrows. This presents a problem for those who believe that the church age separates Matthew 24:8 and 9. They look upon Matthew 24:4-8 as historical, and verse 9 as future. However, the word ” then” makes it difficult to hold such a view. The word does not mean after the beginning of sorrows, but at the same time or simultaneously with the beginning of sorrows. Thus, verse 9, cannot be projected into the second half of the Tribulation. There is no sequence here, for this persecution will take place during or at the same time, as the beginning of sorrows. And as we have seen, the beginning of sorrows refers to the early tribulation period, and corresponds to the events of Revelation 6.[3]

Since the focus of the Olivet Discourse is Jerusalem centered, most likely Jesus has in view Jewish persecution. However, there is no doubt that Christians of all stripes will receive similar harsh treatment during this time of tribulation. ” The persons addressed in this division, are, as I suppose, Jewish believers in Jesus: holding in spiritual things, the place which ‘ the twelve’ of that day held.” [4] declares Robert Govett. This sentence only appears in Matthew’ s account of the Olivet Discourse, perhaps because of his Jewish orientation.

The ” they” must refer to those described in verse 10, which reads as follows: ” And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another.” ” They” are the traitors who betray their brethren and deliver them up to death. ” They” will be judged for their actions at the ” sheep and goat” judgment as recorded in Matthew 25:31- 46.

Preterists believe that because the second person plural ” you” is used here that these events must have happened in the first century. Gary DeMar says, ” notice how many times Jesus uses the plural you in Matthew 24 and in the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Luke 21.” [5] The plural you, in this context, is a cooperate expression, for the Jewish people as a whole, which includes multiple generations. James Morison explains, ” When the Saviour says youHe is not confining His attention specifically to Peter, James, John and the other apostles, as individuals. He is speaking to them generically, as representatives of the entire body of His disciples. If this fact be overlooked, nothing will be understood.” [6] Morison’ s point can be well applied to the preterists, who misjudge the timing of Christ’ s discourse, with the result that from their perspective ” nothing will be understood.”

Preterist, Gary DeMar says, ” ‘ Tacitus says that Nero, for the conflagration of Rome, persecuted the Christians,’ . . . But between a.d. 30 and 70, the tribulation of the church experienced was a fulfillment of the specific prophecy outlined in Matthew 24:9.” [7] However, such could not be the case as noted by H. A. W. Meyer who said, ” It is a mistake to suppose that we have here a reference to Nero’ s persecution (proceeding upon an erroneous interpretation of the well-known ‘ odio humani generis’ in Tacit. Ann. xv. 44, see Orelli on the passage).” [8] M. F. Sadler also speaks against DeMar’ s notion when he said, ” Do not such words look to a far more world-wide hatred from without, and a far more generally diffused declension within the Church, than was possible before the year 72?” [9] Further, William Hendriksen notes the following: ” The very expression ‘ all nations’ clearly shows that Jesus is not thinking solely of what happens during the life-time of the apostles.” [10]

The Old Testament teaches that the tribulation will be a time of great persecution toward the Jewish people specifically (Jer. 30:7, 11, 23- 24; Ezek. 20:33- 44; 22:17- 22; Dan. 7:25; 12:1- 3; Hosea 5:15; Zeph. 1:7- 2:3). The New Testament echoes this teaching as well (Matt. 10:17- 22; 24:9, 15- 24; Mark 13:9- 20; Luke 21:12- 19; Rev. 13:7a; 18:24). The entire chapter of Revelation 12 is devoted to depicting the future persecution of the Jewish remnant during the second half of the seven-year tribulation period by Satan himself and his partner in crime- the antichrist known as the beast.

Tribulation

The timing of this passage is the first half of the seven-year tribulation. Gray explains the timing of these events as follows:

Matthew writes in precise chronological language so that we may know the time of the events spoken of. . . . First, in the progression of terms used to show movement of thought. This progression is seen in the term tribulation. Notice that Matthew moves from ” tribulation” (v. 9, KJV ” to be afflicted” ), to ” great tribulation” (v. 21), to ” after the tribulation” (v. 29). This progression of thought falls naturally into the periods of Daniels’ Seventieth Week. Daniel saw the week as divided into two halves. The dividing factor is when the Antichrist breaks the covenant with Israel in the middle of the week. The terminology of the discourse suggests that Jesus was using Daniels’ prophecy as a point of reference for this discourse. Both Daniel and Jesus divide the week with the same event: the abomination of desolation (v. 15). Matthew refers to the first half of the week referred to by the term ” tribulation” (vv. 9-14), the last half of the week referred to by the term ” great tribulation” (vv. 15-28); and then the events after the events after the week by the phrase ” after the tribulation” (vv. 29-31).[11]

Pre-wrath rapturist[12] Marvin Rosenthal declares, ” Of the four times the Lord spoke of tribulation in a prophetic context, He was speaking of the Great Tribulation which begins in the middle of Daniel’ s seventieth week- precisely three and one-half years into it.” [13] The four passages he mentions are Matthew 24:21, 29, and Mark 13:19, 24.[14] Rosenthal conveniently excludes Matthew 24:9. Certainly Matthew 24:9 is in a prophetic context. Davies and Allison classify it as such.[15] It seems obvious that since Matthew 24:9 occurs in the first half of the tribulation, that Rosenthal had to exclude verse 9 in order to make his statement fit the erroneous theory he advocates. Clearly the word ” tribulation,” in Matthew 24:9, appears in a context that references the first half of the tribulation.

Martyrdom

The persecution, which Matthew notes here, is a future one that will take place in the first half of the tribulation. The verb, ” deliver” is the same one used of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus (Matt. 26:15) and supports the notion that this future deliverance unto death will be a similar betrayal of the Lord’ s people. John MacArthur says, ” Paradid™mi (will deliver) has the basic meaning of giving over and was often used in a technical sense for arrest by the police or military (see Matt. 4:12).” [16]

The martyrdom described in this passage, which occurs in the first half of the tribulation, is to be seen as a parallel passage to the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9- 11. Revelation 6:9 says, ” And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained.” Arno Gaebelein explains the parallel as follows:

And now under the fifth seal we do not behold another rider, but instead of it we hear the souls underneath the altar, that had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they gave, crying out with a loud voice, saying, How long? (Rev. vi:9-11.) Who are these? Not the saints of the church. . . . They are such of the remnant of the Jews who began to give their witness for the Word of God after the church had departed and they suffered martyrdom in consequence of their faithful testimony. It is exactly that of which our Lord speaks next in His discourse. ” Then shall they deliver you up to tribulation and shall kill you; ye will be hated of all the nations for my names sake.” [17]

This parallel continues to sustain the notion that verses 4- 14 of Matthew 24 are parallel to the seal judgments of Revelation 6. Such a parallel supports my contention that verses 4- 14 describe the first half of the tribulation, which is also known as the seventieth week of Daniel. Thus, wars, earthquakes, famines, and persecution of believers in our own day are not signs that relate to the end-times. These prophetically significant events will take place during the first half of the coming tribulation.

The motive for the martyrdom of Christ’ s disciples during the tribulation will be ” on account of My name.” Just as we see in Revelation 12 that the dragon (Satan himself) will pour out his wrath on the Jewish remnant in the second half of the tribulation because of His hatred of God, so will these disciples of the Lord be killed ” on account of My name.” Since these unbelievers will not be able to get at the Lord Himself, they will go after the Lord’ s disciples.

Conclusion

We see from an examination of Matthew 24:9 that more reasons are provided for the futurist understanding of the Olivet Discourse, as against the preterist. We also see that our understanding of this verse also provides further reasons to understand that the birth pangs of Matthew 24:4- 14 refer to the first half of the seven-year tribulation. Further coordination between the events of Matthew 24:4- 14 are seen in the parallel of verse 9 with the fifth seal judgment of Revelation 6:9- 11. Maranatha!

(To Be Continued . . .)

 

Endnotes
[1] Randolph O. Yeager, The Renaissance New Testament, 18 vols. (Bowling Green, KY: Renaissance Press, 1978), vol. 3. p. 281.

[2] W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, (Fleming H. Revell Co,: Old Tappan, NJ, n.d.), p. 123.

[3] James R. Gray, Prophecy on The Mount: A Dispensational Study of the Olivet Discourse (Chandler, AZ: Berean Advocate Ministries, 1991), p. 54.

[4] Robert Govett, The Prophecy on Olivet (Miami Springs, FL: Conley & Schoettle Publishing Co., [1881] 1985), p. 22.

[5] Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), p. 58.

[6] James Morison, A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1883), p. 460.

[7] DeMar, Last Days Madness, p. 83.

[8] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1879), vol. 2, p. 132.

[9] M. F. Sadler, The Gospel According to St. Matthew: with Notes Critical and Practical (London: George Bell and Sons, 1898), p. 356.

[10] William Hendricksen, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1973), p. 853.

[11] Gray, Prophecy on The Mount, pp. 53-54.

[12] I hesitate to use the term ” pre-wrath rapture” of Rosenthal’ s view, since the pre-trib position is certainly pre-wrath as well. Other rapture nomenclature refers to when the rapture will take place in relation to the seven-year tribulation. Thus, Rosenthal’ s view would more aptly be titled the three-quarters rapture view.

[13] Marvin Rosenthal, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of The Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), p. 105.

[14] Rosenthal, Pre-Wrath Rapture, pp. 104-05.

[15] W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Jr., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1997), vol. 3, p. 341.

[16] John MacArthur, The New Testament Commentary: Matthew 24- 28(Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), p. 23.

[17] Arno C. Gaebelein, The Gospel of Matthew: An Exposition (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, [1910] 1961), pp. 483- 84.

Now that I have looked into the first half of Matthew 24:7, I will consider the second half of the verse. The passage says, ” For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs” (Matt. 24:7- 8). So what about famines and earthquakes?

Famines and Earthquakes

First, I have previously noted and defended that Matthew 24:4- 14 covers the first half of the seven-year tribulation period. Since we know that the ” abomination of desolation” (Matt. 24:15) occurs in the middle of the seven-year period (Dan. 9:24- 27), thus, events prior to verse 15 will take place in the first half of the tribulation. This is further confirmed by the correlation of the major events of Matthew 24:4- 8 with the first four seal judgments of Revelation 6:1-8. This would mean that the famines and earthquakes of Matthew 24:7 speak of a future time, which Revelation 6:5- 8 expounds upon, not of any events that have occurred during the last 2,000 years nor of anything in our present day.

There have been, no doubt, earthquakes and famines in the first century and during every generation since. ” It is hardly necessary to add to this that not only false Christs and false prophets, wars and rumors of war, earthquakes and famines occur in every age throughout the history of the church,” declares William Hendriksen, ” but so do also persecutions and defections, to which Jesus refers in verses 9, 10, 12, and 13.” [1] The context of this passage is that of a time of future tribulation in which these events will occur as part of God’ s direct wrath and judgment. The earthquakes and famines of today and during the first century did not fulfill this prophecy since the context of this passage is of a still future time period. Now let us look together at the passage.

Famines

The Greek word for famine is limos and simply means ” hunger,” and, thus, when used of ” dying of hunger,” connotes ” famine.” [2] This word is also used in Revelation 6:8.

If Christ is referencing a time during the first half of the tribulation, to what is He referring? I believe that Revelation 6:5- 6 is a parallel passage. ” And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, ‘ Come.’ And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, ‘ A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.’ ” Even though the word ” famine” is not used, the passage is an apt description of such and it is one of the earliest judgments of tribulation period. Arno C. Gaebelein says, ” And the third seal reveals a rider upon a black horse and he has a balance in his hand and what he saith indicates clearly that he brings famines (Rev. vi:5- 6).” [3]

Both famines and earthquakes are governed by the phrase ” in various places.” Lenski says, ” The distributive kata means, ” from place to place.” [4]Leon Morris also explains: ” In many places means that the disasters in question will be widespread.” [5] This global perspective fits a future understanding of the passage and cannot be limited to the first century and the area of Israel alone.

Robert Gundry says, ” The putting of famines before earthquakes may indicate that famines result from the ravages of the warfare just mentioned (cf. Rev. 6:3- 6).” [6] If we follow the order from Revelation, then it is clear that famine is the result of war, as is usually the case.

Predictably, preterists believe that Christ’ s prophecy of famine was somehow fulfilled in a.d. 70 when the Romans destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem. Speaking of famines, Kenneth Gentry declares, ” We may easily apply this also to the first century scene.” [7] Fellow preterist, Gary DeMar cites the following as evidence for a first century fulfillment of famines:

Beginning with the book of Acts, we see that famines were prevalent in the period prior to Jerusalem’ s destruction in a.d. 70: . . . The famine was dramatic evidence that Jesus’ prophecy was coming to pass in their generation just like He said it would. . . .

Contemporary secular historians such as Tacitus, Suetonius, and Josephus mention other famines during the period prior to a.d. 70.[8]

Are preterist claims true? Since famines occur in every generation, one can find some examples of famines. Just as those who believe that this is a prophecy for our own day cite numerous contemporary examples. Craig Evans says, ” Again, events in the decades immediately preceding the Jewish revolt only roughly parallel this part of Jesus’ prophecy.” [9] With famines always occurring, it seems to blur somewhat the precision of such events as a distinct fulfillment of past prophecy. Meyer rebuts the preterist notion as follows:

Nor, again, is this feature in the prediction to be restricted to some such special famine as that which occurred during the reign of Claudius (Acts xi.28), too early a date for our passage, and to one or two particular cases of earthquake which happened in remote countries, and with which history has made us familiar (such as that in the neighborhood of Colossae, Oros. Hist. Vii. 7, Tacit. Ann. Xiv. 27 and that at Pompeii).[10]

Like the details of the other items that we have examined in this context, the famines of Matthew 24 have yet to occur. They will take place during the first half of the tribulation. These famines will take place at various places all over the world, likely as a result of the preceding warfare.

Earthquakes

Earthquake in the original Greek is seismos. The basic sense of the word is ” shaking.” It can refer to the shaking of a storm on a sea. However, it mostly occurs in the New Testament when speaking of an earthquake.[11] Our English word seismograph is derived from this Greek root.

For the same reasons noted earlier, I do not think that these earthquakes that will take place at various places all around the world have already taken place in the past, nor are they occurring today. Just like the famines that have preceded them, the earthquakes in this passage are parallel to the ones described as the fourth seal judgment in Revelation 6:7- 8. ” And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘ Come.’ And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.” Gaebelein further explains when he says, ” The fourth rider of the fourth seal is upon a pale horse. His name is ‘ Death.’ He takes the fourth part of the earth away. This corresponds to the Lord’ s announcement that there will be ‘ pestilences and earthquakes in divers places.’ ” [12]

Luke 21:11, a parallel passage to Matthew 24:7 says, ” there will be great earthquakes.” So these are not ordinary earthquakes that our Lord forecasts, but great or huge ones. So great, that they cause a great number of deaths worldwide.

Preterists Gentry and DeMar also believe that this sign was fulfilled in the first century. DeMar said, ” The historical record of earthquakes that occurred before Jerusalem was destroyed in the first century fulfills Jesus’ prophecy to the letter. . . . Three earthquakes are mentioned [in Acts] prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70.” [13] Gentry adds:

A particularly dreadful quake shakes Jerusalem in a.d. 67. . . .

Tacitus mentions earthquakes in Crete, Rome, Apamea, Phrygia, Campania, Laodicea (of Revelation fame) and Pompeii during the time just before Jerusalem’ s destruction.” [14]

Once again, since there are these kinds of earthquakes mentioned by preterists that occur in the lifetime of every generation, it is only with great difficulty that one could cite this as a past fulfillment. As I have been going through these early parts of the Olivet Discourse, we have found that there is little basis for many of the claims made by preterists. When taken together with the other signs of Matthew 24- earthquakes- as cited by the preterists, prove nothing. Morison notes the following:

Scholars have busied themselves, and with wonderful success, in hunting up historical notices of the earthquakes that occurred before the destruction of Jerusalem, just as they have laboured to find out records of famines and wars. . . . But there is no special significance in such records, or in the occurrences recorded. The role of wars and famines and earthquakes is not yet finished.[15]

The Beginning of Birth Pangs

I have already dealt with this passage in a previous installment.[16] Based upon the Old Testament use of birth pangs in Jeremiah 30:6- 7, it appears that Jesus picks up on that theme in Matthew 24, as does Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Birth pangs were a clear expression in rabbinic Judaism for the tribulation. Thus, the time of birth pangs commences with the beginning of tribulation period and culminates with the second coming of Christ. Therefore, the events of Matthew 24:4- 7 are described as events that will take place during the first part of the tribulation and do not signal the end, which is the second coming of Jesus (Matt. 24:27- 31).

Conclusion

Two important characteristics of the first part of the tribulation will be the occurrence of famines and earthquakes, which will likely follow a time of global wars between nations and kingdoms. These cannot be references to past or present events. As Gaebelein notes:

Fearful have been the famines, pestilences and earthquakes of the last twenty-five years. But these are insignificant in comparison with those to which our Lord refers here, the mighty events which tell all the earth that the day of wrath is rapidly approaching.[17]

John MacArthur echoes Gaebelein’ s sentiment when he said, ” The world has witnessed many earthquakes, famines, plagues, and even some heavenly signs, but those will be nothing compared to the calamities of the end times. They will occur in various places and apparently simultaneously.” [18]

Even though there have been famines and earthquakes in the past, they are just a warm-up for what God will bring about during the future time of tribulation. When these miraculous events occur, there will be no doubt about the fulfillment of the details of Matthew 24. We are building toward that day when God will judge and remove evil so that He can establish His righteous rule for a thousand years. May that day come soon! Maranatha!

(To Be Continued . . .)

 

Endnotes
[1] William Hendricksen, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1973), p. 853.

[2] William F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), p. 476.

[3] Arno C. Gaebelein, The Gospel of Matthew: An Exposition (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, [1910] 1961), p. 483.

[4] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’ s Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 931.

[5] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), p.598.

[6] Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church under Persecution, second edition, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), p. 478.

[7] Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil(Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press, 1999), p. 49.

[8] Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 1999), p. 79.

[9] Craig A. Evans, Word Biblical Commentary: Mark 8:27- 16:20, Vol. 34B (Dallas: Word Books, 2001), p. 308.

[10] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1879), vol. 2, p. 131.

[11] Arndt and Gingrich. Lexicon, p. 753.

[12] Gaebelein, Matthew, p. 483.

[13] DeMar, Last Days Madness, p. 80.

[14] Gentry, Perilous Times, p. 50.

[15] James Morison, A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1883), p. 459.

[16] For an explanation of this passage see Pre-Trib Perspectives, June 2002, Vol. VII; Num. 3; Part IV.

[17] Gaebelein, Matthew, p. 483.

[18] John MacArthur, The New Testament Commentary: Matthew 24- 28(Chicago: Moody Press, 1989), p. 21.