One day, Jesus sat outside the Jewish temple and stunned His disciples with His words. Imagine Jesus is sitting with you now outside the Vatican or your favorite place of worship building. You remark how beautiful it is and where you learned all about religion. Jesus then says, "I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
If we were His disciples, then we must think by what we've heard from the religious leader's that He will rebuild the temple and set up His kingdom on our planet. So we ask Him three questions:
1. When?
2. Will there be a sign?
3. When will be the end of the age?
Jesus then tells us, in other words, "You've been deceived, let me explain the truth to you. It isn't a pretty picture of what you will experience, but I have better news!"
In Matthew 24, Jesus tells His disciple's everything they hold true and near is about to end. The crucifixion of Jesus is two days away, and they will lose hope. They will doubt that He is who He says He is until many days later. Then they will receive a baptism of fire and know everything Jesus told them is true. The Spirit-baptized disciple's try to tell everyone their temple religion has deceived them, who Jesus really is and how they can receive His kingdom. That is what this book will try to do also, from Matthew 24.
We will find out who the players are that Jesus identified as, the false prophets, the abomination of desolation, how the gospel is preached to the world, when "heaven and earth" ends, who are the taken and the left, the meaning of the fig tree, the women with the lamps, what the talents are, and the sheep and the goats.
Jesus is about to stun all of us a final time.
