| Scripture |
Additional Comments |
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| 1 And Jesus went forth and went away from the temple, and his disciples came to him to point out to him the buildings of the temple. |
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| 2 And he answering said to them, Do ye not see all these things? Verily I say to you, Not a stone shall be left here upon a stone which shall not be thrown down.
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| 3 And as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be, and what is the sign of thy coming and the completion of the age? |
The sign of thy presence – In the KJV this word is translated as "coming." That the correct translation is "presence" is made clear by noting its use in Phil. 2:12. |
| 4 And Jesus answering said to them, See that no one mislead you.
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| 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, *I* am the Christ, and they shall mislead many.
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| 6 But ye will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not disturbed; for all these things must take place, but it is not yet the end.
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| 7 For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.
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| 8 But all these are the beginning of throes.
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| 9 Then shall they deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you; and ye will be hated of all the nations for my name's sake.
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| 10 And then will many be offended, and will deliver one another up, and hate one another;
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| 11 and many false prophets shall arise and shall mislead many;
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| 12 and because lawlessness shall prevail, the love of the most shall grow cold;
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| 13 but he that has endured to the end, *he* shall be saved.
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| 14 And these glad tidings of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole habitable earth, for a witness to all the nations, and then shall come the end.
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| 15 When therefore ye shall see the abomination of desolation, which is spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in what is a holy place, (he that reads let him understand,)
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| 16 then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains;
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| 17 let not him that is on the house come down to take the things out of his house;
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| 18 and let not him that is in the field turn back to take his garment.
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| 19 But woe to those that are with child, and those that give suck in those days.
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| 20 But pray that your flight may not be in winter time nor on sabbath:
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| 21 for then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be;
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Great tribulation – Armageddon. Diii:1 |
| 22 and if those days had not been cut short, no flesh had been saved; but on account of the elect those days shall be cut short.
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For the elect's sake – Br. Russell suggests (in several places – see Expanded Bible Comments) that this phrase should read "through [by] the elect." Since we could find no translation which supported the thought that the shortening of the trouble of those days would be by the elect (even though this is exactly what the scriptures indicate will happen,) we set about to see how this would work that the shortening of the days would be for the sake of the elect.
As Jesus (the Bridegroom, the Husband of the Church) is to step in and and bring order out of the chaos. Jesus is "the everlasting father" of the human race. He achieved this by purchasing Adam (and thus the entire race still in his loins. 1 Cor. 15:21-22; Heb. 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:6; Rom. 5:12,18,19) That makes his wife (the church) the everlasting mother. As such the world of mankind become her children. Therefore it is for the sake of the elect (the church, the mother) that those days will be cut short (so that her children may be saved.)
– After coming to the above conclusion this verse was carefully examined again in the Greek. The word "for" is Strong's G1223. In most cases (by far) when Matthew uses this word it is translated as "by" or "through." – In other words, Br. Russell's "translation" is valid.
A further validation:Recognizing that sentence structure is different between Greek and English, this portion of the verse should be:
"but by the elect, the selfsame days shall be shortened." |
| 23 Then if any one say to you, Behold, here is the Christ, or here, believe it not.
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| 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
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| 25 Behold, I have told you beforehand.
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| 26 If therefore they say to you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold, he is in the inner chambers, do not believe it2. |
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| 27 For as the lightning goes forth from the east and shines to the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
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| 28 For wherever the carcase is, there will be gathered the eagles.
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| 29 But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
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| 30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the land lament, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
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| 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the one extremity of the heavens to the other extremity of them.
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He – Our returned Lord Jesus.
Send his angels – His messengers, the saints living at the time of His return.
Great trumpet – The message of Jubilee.
Gather together – In one condition, not necessarily one location.
His elect – The little flock.
The four winds – Before the time when the four winds (wars, tumults, fallen angels) are loosed. See Rev. 7:1-3
One end of heaven to the other – Throughout the entirety of Christendom, especially the religous element, the 'heavens.' |
| 32 But learn the parable from the fig-tree: When already its branch becomes tender and produces leaves, ye know that the summer is near.
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Fig tree – Natural Israel. See Jer. 24. |
| 33 Thus also *ye*, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors.
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| 34 Verily I say to you, This generation will not have passed away until all these things shall have taken place.
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| 35 The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall in no wise pass away.
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| 36 But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of the heavens, but my Father alone.
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| 37 But as the days of Noe, so also shall be the coming of the Son of man.
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| 38 For as they were in the days which were before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day on which Noe entered into the ark,
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| 39 and they knew not till the flood came and took all away; thus also shall be the coming of the Son of man.
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| 40 Then two shall be in the field, one is taken and one is left;
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| 41 two women grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left.
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| 42 Watch therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord comes.
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| 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be dug through into2. |
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| 44 Wherefore *ye* also, be ye ready, for in that hour that ye think not the Son of man comes.
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| 45 Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman whom his lord has set over his household, to give them food in season?
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The faithful and wise servant – Because he was faithful, the Lord made him wise. He was indeed a servant, of the Lord and of His Truth.
For those who think there were more than one servant, or that it was a class, we suggest they consider the Greek breakdown of verse 45.
In due season – This last phrase "in due season" is from two Greek words: Strong's G1722 ("in" or "at") and G2540.
This text should be translated: "Who then is the servant, faithful and wise, whom the master appointed to be over his household, to give them the meat at the set time." |
| 46 Blessed is that bondman whom his lord on coming shall find doing thus.
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Strong's 1565
This verse might be better translated: "Supremely blessed is the servant, that one whom, when his master comes, shall find so doing." |
| 47 Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all his substance.
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| 48 But if that evil bondman should say in his heart, My lord delays to come,
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| 49 and begin to beat his fellow-bondmen, and eat and drink with the drunken;
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| 50 the lord of that bondman shall come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour he knows not of,
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| 51 and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
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In R1000 Pastor Russell applies this to the Great Company. |