Prophecy is central to the ministry and the life of Jesus, as the Apostle Matthew, especially, documents in his Gospel. Not only does Matthew cite scores of passages from the prophets from centuries before Jesus' birth to support his messianic claims, but also he emphasizes, more than any other New Testament writer, the prophetic utterances of Jesus himself concerning the future of the church and the world. Matthew describes Jesus' teachings as peppered with prophecies about his own suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection, as well as allusions to the future of the church, like his reaction to Peter's confession that Jesus truly was the Son of God (“on this rock I will build my church,” Matthew 16:18), and the sending of the Holy Spirit to be the church's Comforter.

Prophecies in Matthew

It is widely known that the Book of Revelation (also called The Apocalypse) is the major prophetic book in the New Testament, especially when it comes to things that are widely believed as not yet fulfilled. But it's not as well known that Jesus gave long-term prophecies that occupy much of two chapters of Matthew's Gospel. The first prophecy is his prediction that the Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed: “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, none that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2). This was fulfilled in A.D. 70, less than forty years after he said it. Some scholars claim the “prophecy” proves that Matthew's Gospel was written after the event.

The action in Chapter 24 of Matthew takes places at the Mount of Olives, where Jesus and the disciples retreated to get away from the crowds, and it seems that the disciples were in a mood to hear more prophecy. “Tell us, when shall these things be?” they asked. “And what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?”

Jesus replied:

Beware so no one deceives you. Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; don't let that trouble you, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they shall deliver you up to affliction and shall kill you. And you will be hated of all nations for my name's sake (Matthew 24:4–9).

Past or Future

Traditional church interpretations of these prophecies see them as referring to things that will take place when Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70, still the future when Jesus was speaking. Matthew indicates these lengthy prophecies of Jesus were given just two days before the Passover that culminated in his betrayal and crucifixion, making these the last teachings the disciples received from him.

These passages predict many attempts to deceive the church and pull it away from its first love to Jesus (many Bible scholars refer to this deception as the apostasy), the great tribulation, and “the abomination of desolation” of the Temple, followed by “the end.”In this section, many Protestants believe, he speaks of taking his faithful away from the tribulation through “the rapture” (though that word does not appear, it has been applied to the predicted mysterious “taking” of many of his followers).