| Scripture |
Additional Comments |
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| 1 And having gone forth, Jesus departed from the temple, and his disciples came near to show him the buildings of the temple, |
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| 2 and Jesus said to them, 'Do ye not see all these verily I say to you, There may not be left here a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down.'
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| 3 And when he is sitting on the mount of the Olives, the disciples came near to him by himself, saying, 'Tell us, when shall these be and what [is] the sign of thy presence, and of the full end 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, 'Take heed that no one may lead you astray,
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| 5 for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they shall lead many astray,
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| 6 and ye shall begin to hear of wars, and reports of wars; see, be not troubled, for it behoveth all [these] to come to pass, but the end is not yet.
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| 7 'For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places;
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| 8 and all these [are] the beginning of sorrows;
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| 9 then they shall deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all the nations because of my name;
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| 10 and then shall many be stumbled, and they shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another.
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| 11 'And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray;
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| 12 and because of the abounding of the lawlessness, the love of the many shall become cold;
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| 13 but he who did endure to the end, he shall be saved;
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| 14 and this good news of the reign shall be proclaimed in all the world, for a testimony to all the nations; and then shall the end arrive.
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| 15 'Whenever, therefore, ye may see the abomination of the desolation, that was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever is reading let him observe)
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| 16 then those in Judea let them flee to the mounts;
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| 17 he on the house-top let him not come down to take up any thing out of his house;
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| 18 and he in the field let him not turn back to take his garments.
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| 19 'And wo to those with child, and to those giving suck in those days;
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| 20 and pray ye that your flight may not be in winter, nor on a sabbath;
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| 21 for there shall be then great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world till now, no, nor may be.
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Great tribulation – Armageddon. Diii:1 |
| 22 And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but because of the chosen, shall those days be shortened.
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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 may say to you, Lo, here [is] the Christ! or here! ye may not believe;
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| 24 for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, also the chosen.
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| 25 Lo, I did tell you beforehand.
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| 26 'If therefore they may say to you, Lo, in the wilderness he is, ye may not go forth; lo, in the inner chambers, ye may not believe;
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| 27 for as the lightning doth come forth from the east, and doth appear unto the west, so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man;
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| 28 for wherever the carcase may be, there shall the eagles be gathered together.
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| 29 'And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the 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 the heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth smite the breast, and they shall see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of the heaven, with power and much glory;
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| 31 and he shall send his messengers with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens unto the ends thereof.
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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 'And from the fig-tree learn ye the simile: When already its branch may have become tender, and the leaves it may put forth, ye know that summer [is] nigh,
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Fig tree – Natural Israel. See Jer. 24. |
| 33 so also ye, when ye may see all these, ye know that it is nigh at the doors.
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| 34 Verily I say to you, this generation may not pass away till all these may come to pass.
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| 35 The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
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| 36 'And concerning that day and the hour no one hath known not even the messengers of the heavens except my Father only;
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| 37 and as the days of Noah so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man;
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| 38 for as they were, in the days before the flood, eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, till the day Noah entered into the ark,
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| 39 and they did not know till the flood came and took all away; so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man.
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| 40 Then two men shall be in the field, the one is received, and the one is left;
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| 41 two women shall be grinding in the mill, one is received, and one is left.
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| 42 'Watch ye therefore, because ye have not known in what hour your Lord doth come;
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| 43 and this know, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief doth come, he had watched, and not suffered his house to be broken through;
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| 44 because of this also ye, become ye ready, because in what hour ye do not think, the Son of Man doth come.
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| 45 'Who, then, is the servant, faithful and wise, whom his lord did set over his household, to give them the nourishment 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 Happy that servant, whom his lord, having come, shall find doing so;
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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 to you, that over all his substance he will set him.
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| 48 'And, if that evil servant may say in his heart, My Lord doth delay to come,
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| 49 and may begin to beat the fellow-servants, and to eat and to drink with the drunken,
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| 50 the lord of that servant will arrive in a day when he doth not expect, and in an hour of which he doth not know,
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| 51 and will cut him off, and his portion with the hypocrites will appoint; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.
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In R1000 Pastor Russell applies this to the Great Company. |