Matthew 24 New King James Version (NKJV)
Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple
24 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all[a] these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,[b] and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The Great Tribulation
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’[c] spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. 19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.
26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28 For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
(The emphasis is mine. I want you to know that in my Bible, most of this is in red text, meaning that Christ spoke these words. I am not allowed to change the color of the text or I haven’t figured that part out yet. I draw your attention to this because this is so close to what is going on in the Middle East right now. ISIS has given Christians the choice to flee or convert or die. They have beheaded children and put their heads on posts and danced and paraded through town. They beheaded the parents and celebrated their deaths. Those that have fled (estimated 40,000) are starving and have no water and their babies are dying because the mother’s milk is drying up. Babies are buried under rocks on the mountain. It sounds so much like what we read here in Scripture. Let’s go on…)
The Coming of the Son of Man
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
The Parable of the Fig Tree
32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it[d] is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
No One Knows the Day or Hour
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,[e] but My Father only.37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour[f] your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant
45 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. 47 Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’[g] 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, 51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Footnotes:
- Matthew 24:6 NU-Text omits all.
- Matthew 24:7 NU-Text omits pestilences.
- Matthew 24:15 Daniel 11:31; 12:11
- Matthew 24:33 Or He
- Matthew 24:36 NU-Text adds nor the Son.
- Matthew 24:42 NU-Text reads day.
- Matthew 24:48 NU-Text omits his coming.
New King James Version (NKJV)
The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
All emphasis (underlining and bold text) is mine.
My Soapbox 
[…] had a look at Nanarhonda’s blog, and found Matthew 24 NKJV- unfolding before our eyes? It depends what you mean by unfolding. Isaiah used apocalyptic language about Babylon’s […]
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Thank you, Clare, for your input. I am looking at New Testament application. You are citing Old Testament application. My words, in my Bible are primarily in red, which I haven’t figured out how do do here yet, so the emphasis was mine. This is after Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and then His ascension into Heaven.
Perpective is everything. And I so appreciate your, Clare! Thank you for stopping by! Please stop by again! Blessings,
Rhonda
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Thank you all for your input! It is greatly appreciated! I am in no means saying that the tribulation is here. I believe that America will need to suffer as a part of it as well; the Christians in the U.S. seem to think that God is American and he is SO NOT! Some even seem to think He is Republican! How little they reverence He Whom created all that you see and cannot see! It will come here and it will be ugly just like it is in the Middle East. It is already here. They just have to get their ‘go ahead’ orders. They have to be consolidated and be one force. What is sad is that all Christians of all denominations could set aside their doctrinal differences and band together, we could be the force that Christ would want us to be on this Earth and we could put a stop to this evil that is running amuck because there is nothing to stop it right now. I know that the Word of God says what is inevitable, but I also know that we Christians aren’t supposed to be divided. A house divided cannot stand.
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There are various interpretations of these words. I think they refer to the Second Coming, but I am no Bible scholar, and those people debate and debate and debate.
Are we at the start of The Great Tribulation? Hope not. I want my family and friends raptured BEFORE The Great Tribulation starts.
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Citizen Tom… me too!
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Just my opinion, but I don’t think we are in the start of the Great Tribulation yet although I think you can see it from here. Remember that Jesus said “in the world there is tribulation, but I have overcome the world”. I am not arrogant enough to believe just because we live in America we will not be severely persecuted for our belief in Christ. Look what is already happening in our country. I believe it will get a lot worse and there will be tribulation for us as Christians here, but “The Tribulation” will be much worse and world wide. I personally support the biblical evidence for a pre-tribulation rapture. My greatest desire is to be part of it if the Lord allows me to still be alive when it happens.
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When I consider the First Coming of Christ and the trouble the Jews had anticipating His coming, I doubt we will do much better. They were only a few who recognized the Christ child, and almost none who saw Jesus on the cross recognized something remarkable in His death. Even for the apostles it took His resurrection for it finally to sink in that Jesus is the savior. Until then they did not understand the gravity of our sinfulness.
When the United States was founded, many came here to escape religious persecution. Finally, recognizing the hypocrisy, they stopped persecuting each other. Unfortunately, generation after generation we Americans have grown more and more lazy in the Christian instruction of our children. And that indifference has begun to produce the inevitable results.
Children can by the example of their parents more easily accept Christ as their savior. Adults have to work harder to humble themselves. Until they do, adults resent anyone who dares to call them a sinner.
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“Terrible it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers”- that has been true, somewhere in the world, ever since Jesus spoke the words. I believe he meant it originally about the Roman destruction of the temple and suppression of the Jews in AD70. He saw how the Jews were feeling, and told them to not resist the Romans because the Romans were so much bigger and tougher.
It is good to meet you. You now have my email address, should you wish to contact me.
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