When You See These Things
"Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming." — Matthew 24:42
---
Icebreaker
Question: "Have you ever heard someone announce a date for the end of the world? What happened afterward — and what effect did it have on the people who believed it?"
---
Teaching
1. The disciples' question had three parts
The disciples point out the beauty of the temple. Jesus responds that not one stone will be left upon another (24:2). They then ask:
"Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" — Matthew 24:3
There are three questions embedded here: the destruction of the temple, His coming, and the end of the age. Jesus answers all three in an intertwined way — which is exactly what makes this chapter so difficult.
This is something worth saying honestly to the group: Bible-faithful Christians disagree about where the answer to one question ends and the answer to the next begins. Some read most of this passage as fulfilled in A.D. 70, with the fall of Jerusalem; others see it all as still future; others hold to a double fulfillment. You don't need to resolve that debate to receive what Jesus intended to teach.
2. His first instruction wasn't a sign — it was a warning
Notice what Jesus says before mentioning wars, famines, or earthquakes:
"Take heed that no one deceives you." — Matthew 24:4
He returns to this theme four times in the chapter (vv. 4–5, 11, 23–24, 26). According to Jesus, the primary danger of the last days is not persecution. It is deception.
3. The signs He gave — and what He said about them
Wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, famines, pestilences, earthquakes (vv. 6–7). And then, immediately, His commentary:
"See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet... But all these are the beginning of sorrows." — vv. 6, 8
Notice: Jesus gave these signs to prevent premature panic, not to fuel it. He literally says, "See that you are not troubled" (v. 6).
Then comes persecution (v. 9), falling away and the cooling of love (vv. 10–12), and endurance to the end (v. 13) — followed by a sign that is a mission, not a catastrophe:
"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." — v. 14
4. Not knowing the date is doctrine, not a shortcoming
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." — Matthew 24:36
And in Acts 1:7, in response to the disciples' final question about times and seasons, Jesus essentially tells them it is not for them to know — and sends them out to be witnesses instead.
Whenever someone announces a date, they are directly contradicting Jesus. That is not misguided enthusiasm; it is disobedience to an explicit statement.
5. What He actually commanded us to do
Notice how the chapter closes and what follows: the parables of the faithful servant (24:45–51), the ten virgins (25:1–13), and the talents (25:14–30). All three are about the same thing — being ready and being engaged.
Not one of them is about calculating dates. They are about working faithfully, keeping oil in your lamp, and investing what you've been entrusted with.
---
Discussion Questions
---
Practical Challenge for the Week
In the parables, the faithful servant was found at work. Choose one concrete responsibility God has entrusted to you — at home, at church, or at work — and tend to it this week as if He were arriving on Saturday.
One line to take with you: Jesus didn't say "figure out the date"; He said "watch."