Introduction: This Sunday I am slated to teach on Matthew 24. It is known in church history as one of the most difficult of New Testament passages to teach upon due to its references to timelines (or lack thereof) regarding cataclysmic events. The allusions to Jesus’ return, to the abomination of desolation, etc. have been interpreted in sundry ways. Some view them via a postmillennial framework, others from a premillennial framework, and others from an amillennial framework. And yes, there are other positions, too. Indeed, it’s a packed chapter. Oftentimes when some people reference it, they generate more heat than light. I think if I hear one more joke about being a panmillennialist, where things just “pan out,” I may vomit.

Rather than stirring the waters of controversy this Sunday, I hope to shed light on the major historical views regarding the passage. What’s more, I hope to focus our attention upon one theme in particular: endurance.

Why do that? Well, that’s what Christ did in the passage. Here are Jesus’ words:

⁹ Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. ¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:9-14, ESV).

Endurance. It’s key in the passage for several reasons.

First, many people will miss the point of the passage and be consumed by what I term calendar theology. Dates, signs, etc. That stuff gets crazy quickly. Just in my lifetime, I’ve heard Bill and Hillary Clinton termed the antichrist, Obama as the antichrist, Musk as the antichrist, the various popes as the antichrist, America as Babylon. And I’ve heard Dispensationalists put dates on raptures and second comings, etc. It’s absolutely zany the lengths to which some will go in their speculations wherein Scofield and Darby are authoritative but the text of Scripture isn’t. Um, no thanks.

Second, the main issue in the passage is to endure, not to check off dates on a theological calendar. Why do I say that? Again, because “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray” (Matthew 24:11, ESV).

Verse 12 teaches us that “the love of many will grow cold.” That seems so obvious to me. We’ve gotten to where it’s common to hear folks say they trust no one. At the gym the other day when I was working out, the guy beside me had on a t-shirt with this emblazoned: Trust No One. How’s that for clarity? That’s just one more piece of evidence of love having grown cold. There’s a trust deficit. Postmodernist skepticism has reached all the way to the levels of t-shirt sloganeering.

Third, Jesus ends his teaching in Matthew 24 by reminding His hearers to endure. He says, “be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44, ESV).

In short, endure. Christian pilgrim, endure. Take the long view, I think that’s what Jesus is teaching. Be faithful, fight the good fight of the faith once for all delivered to the saints, leave the results to God, and just be a faithful enduring soldier for Jesus Christ.