translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAT

label: NET study note

text: The Jerusalem temple was widely admired around the world. See Josephus, Ant. 15.11 [15.380-425]; J. W. 5.5 [5.184-227] and Tacitus, History 5.8, who called it “immensely opulent.” Josephus compared it to a beautiful snowcapped mountain.


text: With the statement not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.


text: Because the phrase these things is plural, more than the temple’s destruction is in view. The question may presuppose that such a catastrophe signals the end.


text: See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16 ; Hag 2:6-7 ; Zech 14:4 .


text: See Matt 5:10-12 ; 1 Cor 1:25-31 .


text: But the person who endures to the end will be saved. Jesus was not claiming here that salvation is by works. He was simply arguing that genuine faith evidences itself in persistence through even the worst of trials.


text: The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27 . Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c. , the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:14, 19, 24 ; Rev 3:10 ).


text: Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17 ; Judg 6:2 ; Isa 15:5 ; Jer 16:16 ; Zech 14:5 .


text: On the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.


text: The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There will be no time to come down from the roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.


text: Suffering unlike anything that has happened . Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.


text: The Son of Man’s coming in power will be sudden and obvious like lightning . No one will need to point it out.


text: An allusion to Isa 13:10, 34:4 (LXX); Joel 2:10 . The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.


text: An allusion to Dan 7:13 . Here is Jesus returning with full authority to judge.


text: This is one of the hardest verses in the gospels to interpret. Various views exist for what generation means. (1) Some take it as meaning “race” and thus as an assurance that the Jewish race (nation) will not pass away. But it is very questionable that the Greek term γενεά ( genea ) can have this meaning. Two other options are possible. (2) Generation might mean “this type of generation” and refer to the generation of wicked humanity. Then the point is that humanity will not perish, because God will redeem it. Or (3) generation may refer to “the generation that sees the signs of the end” (v. 30 ), who will also see the end itself. In other words, once the movement to the return of Christ starts, all the events connected with it happen very quickly, in rapid succession.


text: The words that Jesus predicts here will never pass away . They are more stable and lasting than creation itself. For this kind of image, see Isa 40:8; 55:10-11 .


text: Like the days of Noah , the time of the flood in Gen 6:5-8:22 , the judgment will come as a surprise as people live their day to day lives.


text: Like the flood that came and took them all away , the coming judgment associated with the Son of Man will condemn many.


text: There is debate among commentators and scholars over the phrase one will be taken and one left about whether one is taken for judgment or for salvation. If the imagery is patterned after the rescue of Noah from the flood, as some suggest, the ones taken are the saved (as Noah was) andthose left behind are judged. The imagery, however, is not directly tied to theidentification of the two groups. Its primary purposein context is topicture the sudden, surprisingseparation of the righteous and the judged (i.e., condemned) at the return of the Son of Man.


text: On Jesus pictured as a returning thief , see 1 Thess 5:2, 4 ; 2 Pet 3:10 ; Rev 3:3; 16:15 .


text: Jesus made clear that his coming could not be timed, and suggested it would take some time – so long, in fact, that some will not be looking for him any longer ( at an hour when you do not expect him ).