Read last week’s bulletin for more about the signs Jesus gave which would precede the time when God brought judgment on the Jewish nation and took the kingdom from them. Jesus said it would happen in the generation then living and it did. The destruction of the temple, when not one stone was left upon another, brought a visible end to Judaism. Its destruction made it impossible for the Levitical priesthood to any longer be able to offer animal sacrifices for those who had been God’s chosen people.
However, some have struggled with what they thought the disciples asked when they spoke of the end of the world and the coming of Jesus. Because of their questions, some think the signs given are signs of the time when the earth will be destroyed when Jesus comes the second time to judge the world.
To fully understand this question, it is absolutely essential to note that they did not ask what will be the signs of the end of earth. Yet, we think that was what they were asking about because the King James Version uses the word “world.” Check almost every other translation and you will see the correct translation of the Greek word. That Greek word indicates the end of the age, not the end of the physical earth. There is an entirely different Greek word for earth and that is not the word Jesus used in Matthew 24. Jesus had just told them of the destruction of the temple, the focal point of Judaism, and they asked about the end of that Jewish age to be brought about by the destruction of the temple. Jesus said it was to end in that generation and they wanted signs which would precede the end of the age of the temple and Judaism.
Also note that prior to this event Jesus had said almost nothing about the end of the physical earth. It is only after this event that Jesus talks to the apostles about the time when Jesus would destroy the earth. How could these disciples be asking about the end of the earth, for how could they know about that end?
To see that there was a world (age) which ended in the first century, consider two other times the King James translates the word “age” using the word “world.” When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he looked back at the Old Testament events and said, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon who the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11, KJV). He does not use the past or future tense. The ends of the world are coming on you.
Hebrews 9:26 speaks of Christ and says that “…now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Christ came at the end of world—not the earth, but the age. Let the Bible explain its words!