X-Dreamers
Bible chapter guide
Matthew 24
Leaving the temple, Jesus foretells that not one stone will be left on another. On the Mount of Olives he speaks of wars, persecution, the abomination of desolation and the coming of the Son of Man, and urges his disciples to stay awake, for no one knows the day or the hour.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
As Jesus leaves the temple the disciples point out its buildings, and he says that not one stone will be left on another. Sitting on the Mount of Olives, they ask him privately when this will happen and what will be the sign of his coming and of the end of the age, a double question that shapes the whole answer. He warns of false messiahs, wars and persecution, of the 'abomination of desolation' spoken of by Daniel and a flight to the mountains, and of the Son of Man coming like lightning. Matthew alone adds a prayer that the flight may not fall on a Sabbath, and closes with Noah's generation, two people working in one field and the faithful and wicked servants, all urging readiness because no one knows the day or the hour.
What the lab shows, and where to look
The Holy Week lab sets this discourse at sunset on Tuesday. Open 'On the Mount of Olives' to see Jesus sitting opposite the temple with the disciples; Matthew does not name them, and the lab follows Mark's four, while the sunset light is marked as the lab's own choice. In the Temple Mount scene, the view from the Mount of Olives gives the same line of sight across the Kidron. The Temple Mount platform in Jerusalem through the Ages shows the size of the walls the disciples admired. Robinson's Arch stood at the south-west corner, on the street where Herodian stones thrown down in AD 70 still lie.
- In the temple courts and on the Mount of Olives: On the Mount of Olives · Holy Week in Jerusalem
- The View from the Mount of Olives · The Temple Mount
- The Temple Mount platform · Jerusalem Through the Ages
- Robinson’s Arch and the Western Street · The Temple Mount
Questions people ask
What is the 'abomination of desolation'?
Matthew points to Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11), where the phrase means something set up in the temple that defiles it; Jews of the 2nd century BC saw it in the pagan altar Antiochus IV set up there in 167 BC. For Jesus' words, readers have pointed to the emperor Caligula's plan to put his statue in the temple in AD 40, the profaning of the temple in the war of AD 66–70, or an event still to come. Luke's parallel speaks instead of armies surrounding Jerusalem (21:20). The text does not settle it.
Why does Jesus talk about Noah?
In 24:37–39 he compares his coming to the days of Noah: people ate, drank and married right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and knew nothing until the flood swept them away. The point is not their wickedness but their unreadiness, ordinary life going on with no thought of what was coming. Luke has the same saying in another setting (17:26–27).
Was this teaching given on the Mount of Olives or in the temple?
Matthew and Mark set it on the Mount of Olives, spoken privately to the disciples (24:3). Luke's account reads as if it were spoken in the temple (21:5–7). A common view is that Luke gathers the teaching of these days without marking the change of place, and Luke himself says Jesus taught in the temple by day and spent the nights on the Mount of Olives (21:37).
See it in the Labs
- Holy Week in JerusalemIn the temple courts and on the Mount of Olives · Holy Week in JerusalemOpen
- Holy Week in JerusalemIn the temple courts and on the Mount of Olives: On the Mount of Olives · Holy Week in JerusalemOpen
- Temples Side by SideHerod's Temple · Temples Side by SideOpen
- Temples Side by SideStacked on one spot · Temples Side by SideOpen
- Temples Side by SideWalk from one into the next · Temples Side by SideOpen
Also in this chapter
How sure can we be?
- Textually stated
Jesus spoke of Noah and the flood as a warning for his hearers.
Stated directly in the text.
- Strongly supported
An echo of Jesus' saying
Jesus compared his coming to a thief (Matthew 24:42–44), and Paul repeats it (1 Thessalonians 5:2); the image needs no local history.
- Plausible
Where was the discourse given?: Mark and Matthew set the discourse on the Mount of Olives, told privately to the disciples; Luke's account reads as if it were spoken in the temple. A common view is that Luke gathers the teaching of these days without marking the change of place.