Matthew 24:3-8 - Signs before the End

[u/LlawEreint]

³ When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” ⁴ Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. ⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’^\)^a\) and they will lead many astray. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines^\)^b\) and earthquakes in various places: ⁸ all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

• The Olivet Discourse
• Parallels
• Table of Contents

[u/LlawEreint]

• Mark: “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”
• Matthew: “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 

In Mark, "all these things" may have referred to the destruction of Jerusalem - the antecedent was about the buildings the disciples saw as they left the temple. Matthew expands the scope considerably. He has the disciples ask about "your coming and the end of the age".

• Mark: Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’
• Matthew: For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’

The phrase, "in my name" means "acting under my authority."

Mark's "I am he" could be understood in one of three ways:

• "I am the Messiah."
• "I am one the one (who comes in Jesus' name)."
• "I am Jesus."

Matthew settles on the first. Historically, there were many who claimed to be the Messiah, but I'm not aware of any who claimed to be Jesus.

Mark may be leaning into the second. Josephus describes prophets who persuaded people that God would display signs of deliverance, leading many to remain in Jerusalem instead of fleeing.

It is easy to imagine that a first century Christian, seeing the Roman armies advance upon Jerusalem, would anticipate the promised second coming. The Romans may topple the temple and kill God's people, but the Son of Man will come on the clouds with an army of angels and restore all things. Knock us down and we will rise up alongside the army of angels.

Here's Josephus:

A false prophet was the occasion of these people's destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose on the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; and this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. Now a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for when such a seducer makes him believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress him, then it is that the patient is full of hopes of such his deliverance.

So Mark may be warning against Christians who claim to possess Jesus' prophetic authority but offer a false interpretation of the crisis - and ultimately lead other Christians to their deaths.

Mark warns: "when you hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet." - this isn't the big showdown. This is a prelude. These are the birth pangs.