*24:2 This was literally fulfilled in 70 AD. The Jews used the temple buildings as their last bastion of defense. They themselves set fire to some buildings and the Roman soldiers finished the job. Apparently the gold on the dome melted and ran down the cracks between the stones. So the looters literally tore stone from stone to make sure they got all the gold.

†24:3 There are two questions: “When these things?” and “What the sign?” The answer to the first is given in Luke 21:20-24. The answer to the second begins here in verse 5.

‡24:6 I follow the best line of transmission, with 25% of the Greek manuscripts, in reading “You will be concerned when you hear”, instead of ‘you will be about to hear’ (more or less followed by most versions).

§24:8 The Text has ‘birth pains’, so what is the ‘baby’? I suppose the ‘baby’ is the Messianic Kingdom.

*24:11 The verb is in the passive voice, ‘will be raised up’: the obvious question is, by whom? Here we have a clear hint of supernatural activity behind the scenes.

†24:13 The Greek text is emphatic here—it is the one who perseveres who will be saved.

‡24:14 The ‘end’ of what? There are at least four possible relevant ends here—of the world, of the Millennium, of the Great Tribulation, of the Church Age. Just as this day, this week, this month, this year, etc. all have ends, but those ends are rarely coincidental, so the four ends above are not coincidental. So which ‘end’ is it? The immediately following context points to the Great Tribulation. In that event, any unreached ethnic nations in our day cannot impede the Rapture, since the angel in Revelation 14:6 will finish the job.

§24:15 “Standing”—presumably a person, therefore. See Daniel 11:31 and 12:11.

*24:18 Wait a minute! If you are on the housetop or in the field, how can you “see” the ‘abomination’ so you know it's time to run? Well, how about wrist TVs, hand held computers, cell phones with Internet access, etc.? So how did Jesus know about these gadgets 2,000 years ago? If you are still around when that happens, and if you do not want the ‘mark’, you had better disappear in a hurry.

†24:20 Well now, any such praying needs to be done before the fact to do any good. Do you know anyone who is praying like this?

‡24:21 There has always been tribulation and distress in the world, and continues to be, but nothing to compare with the Great Tribulation, which has not yet happened.

§24:22 Adding up the percentages of destruction in Revelation, it appears that only one sixth of those who are alive at the beginning of the Great Tribulation will still be alive at its end. If six billion go in, only one billion will come out. So much for the overpopulation problem!

*24:22 Just who are the “elect” here (and in verse 31), if the Rapture has already taken place? I believe there will be many millions of conversions immediately after the Rapture—unsaved church members who are left behind. And if the Rapture is partial (Matthew 25:1-13), all the lukewarm Christians will all of a sudden get serious.

†24:24 Here is the passive voice again, ‘will be raised up’. In this context it seems clear that they are Satan's servants.

‡24:28 The point of verses 26-28 seems to be that the Lord's return will be very obvious, like the lightning or the circle of buzzards above a carcass—so if someone says He has returned secretly, don't believe it (see verse 30). The word “then” in verse 23 makes clear that what is being described here is the Lord's return to the earth after the Great Tribulation, to set up the Millennial Kingdom.

§24:29 ‘Stars’ often refer to angels, in the Scriptures, and “the powers of the heavens” most probably refers to high ranking fallen angels. It is at this time that Satan will be confined in the Abyss (Revelation 20:1-3). (Just one literal star hitting the earth would reduce it to dust, so the reference cannot be to them.)

*24:30 Literally, ‘beat the breast’—in Semitic cultures this action expresses strong emotion, involving some combination of grief, fear and despair. This will be the attitude of everyone who is wearing the ‘mark’.

†24:34 “This generation” could refer to the Jewish race (render ‘this race’), but I think it more probable that it refers to the generation that “sees all these things”. To be more precise, I think that those who were alive on the planet in 1967 (when the city of Jerusalem returned to the political control of the nation Israel) are the generation in question.

‡24:35 The Lord Jesus declares the eternal authority of His own word.

§24:36 It is typical of Hebrew prose (Jesus is a Jew) to retell a sequence of events from different perspectives. He is still answering “What is the sign?” but here He starts over and comments upon something that will happen before the ‘abomination’ (see the second footnote after this one).

*24:36 While walking this earth as Jesus, the Son was not omniscient.

†24:42 Instead of “hour”, perhaps 5% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘day’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

‡24:44 I take it that for there to be the element of surprise the Rapture of the Church must occur before the “abomination of desolation”. When the Antichrist takes his place in the Holy of Holies and declares himself to be god there will be precisely 1,290 days until the return of Christ to the earth. “An hour that you do not suppose” presumably requires a pre-‘abomination’ rapture—if the rapture is pre-wrath but post-abomination, only a fool will be taken by surprise, unless the Rapture happens immediately after the ‘abomination’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). For a fuller discussion of this question, please see the Appendix: Before or after?

§24:51 Notice that the Lord consigns hypocrites to hell. That servant pretended to be faithful while the owner was around, but as soon as he turned his back…

*24:51 This is a servant who had gained his master's confidence, but then betrayed it—he winds up in hell. He was director of food services, and if he had been faithful there he would have been promoted to general director (verse 47), but…