The end of the age (4 -24).

The sign of the coming (25 -31).

When these things shall be (32-42).

The answer of the Lord as to the end of the age is twofold.  First,

negative -- 'the end is not yet'; 'all these are the beginning of sorrows'.

Second positive -- 'then shall the end come'.  Before going further we must

notice that there are two words here translated 'end'.  In verse 3 it is

sunteleia.  In verses 6, 13 and 14 it is telos.  The phrase 'the sunteleia of

the age' occurs only in the Gospel of Matthew, whilst 'the sunteleia of the

ages' occurs but once, viz., in Hebrews:

'The harvest is the end of the age' (Matt. 13:39).

'So shall it be in (at) the end of this age' (Matt. 13:40,49).

'The end of the age' (Matt. 24:3).

'Even unto the end of the age' (Matt. 28:20).

'Once in the end of the ages' (Heb. 9:26).

The first occurrence connects the term with the harvest, and in this

lies the explanation of the word, for the first occurrence of the same word

in the LXX of Exodus 23:16 refers to the same period:

'The feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast

sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering (sunteleia), which is

in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of

the field'.

At first it seems that there is a discrepancy between the Lord's words

in Matthew 13:39 and this passage.  The Lord said that the harvest was the

sunteleia, whereas Exodus 23 speaks of a feast of harvest, as distinct from

the feast of the sunteleia.  The answer is suggested by the presence of the

word 'firstfruits', and by this particular kind of harvest in view --  'which

thou hast sown in the field'.  A reference to Exodus 34:22, however, makes

all plain: 'thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of

wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end'.

Now the disciples being Jews and taught in the law, knew the order of

their feasts and much of their typical nature.  Unless the reader has

definitely studied the feasts of Israel, he is at a disadvantage here, and

before he can hope to appreciate the teaching of Matthew 24, he must supply

the deficiency.  There is one chapter in the law that sets out the feasts of

Israel in their order, namely, Leviticus 23, and to that we must turn.

The sabbaths (Lev. 23:1 -3).  The first of the feasts to be mentioned

is the weekly sabbath.  This underlies the whole of God's dealings with

Israel.  There are the following sabbaths mentioned:

Sabbath of seven days (Lev. 23:3).

Sabbath of seven weeks (Lev. 23:15).

Sabbath of seven months (Lev. 23:34).

Sabbath of seven years (Lev. 25:2 -7).

Sabbath of seven times seven years (Lev. 25:8 -17).

Sabbath of seventy years (Dan. 9:2), and finally the

Sabbath of seventy times seven (Dan. 9:24), in which the whole

purpose of God for Israel shall be accomplished.