SEV Biblia, Chapter 24:3
Y sentndose l en el Monte de las Olivas, se llegaron a l los discípulos aparte, diciendo: Dinos, ¿cundo sern estas cosas, y qu seal habr de tu venida, y del fin del siglo?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 24:3
Verse 3. Tell us, when shall these things be?] There appear to be three questions asked here by the disciples. 1st. When shall these things be? viz. the destruction of the city, temple, and Jewish state. 2dly. What shall be the sign of thy coming? viz. to execute these judgments upon them, and to establish thy own Church: and 3dly. When shall this world end? When wilt thou come to judge the quick and the dead? But there are some who maintain that these are but three parts of the same question, and that our Lord's answers only refer to the destruction of the Jewish state, and that nothing is spoken here concerning the LAST or judgment day.
End of the world] tou aiwnov; or, of the age, viz. the Jewish economy, which is a frequent accommodated meaning of the word aiwn, the proper meaning of which is, as Aristotle (Deuteronomy Caelo) observes, ETERNAL. aiwn, quasi aei wn continual being: and no words can more forcibly point out eternity than these. See the note on Gen. xxi. 33.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 3. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives , etc.] Which was on the east of the city of Jerusalem f1355 , over against the temple, as Mark says, and where he could sit and take a full view of it; for the wall on the east side was lower than any other, and that for this reason; that when the high priest burnt the red heifer on this mount, as he did, and sprinkled the blood, he might have a view of the gate of the temple. It is said f1356 , all the walls which were there, were very high, except the eastern wall; for the high priest, when he burned the heifer, stood on the top of the mount of Olives, and directed himself, and looked to the gate of the temple, at the time he sprinkled the blood.
This place, very probably, our Lord chose to sit in, that he might give his disciples an occasion to discourse more largely with him on this subject; and that he might take the opportunity of acquainting them with what would be the signs and forerunners of this desolation, and so it proved: the disciples came to him privately ; these four at least, Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, as Mark relates; and that either separately from the rest of the disciples, or from the multitude: it might not be thought so proper, to ask the following questions before them, and they might suppose that Christ would not be so ready to give an answer to them plainly, before the common people; when they might hope to be indulged with one by him, in private: saying, tell us, when shall these things be? That this house will be left desolate, these buildings will be destroyed, and not one stone left upon another? This first question relates purely to the destruction of the temple, and to this Christ first answers, from ( Matthew 24:4-23). And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ?
Which two are put together, as what they supposed would be at the same time, and immediately follow the destruction of the temple. That he was come in the flesh, and was the true Messiah, they firmly believed: he was with them, and they expected he would continue with them, for they had no notion of his leaving them, and coming again. When he at any time spake of his dying and rising from the dead, they seemed not to understand it: wherefore this coming of his, the sign of which, they inquire, is not to be understood of his coming a second time to judge the world, at the last day; but of his coming in his kingdom and glory, which they had observed him some little time before to speak of; declaring that some present should not die, till they saw it: wherefore they wanted to be informed, by what sign they might know, when he would set up his temporal kingdom; for since the temple was to be destroyed, they might hope a new one would be built, much more magnificent than this, and which is a Jewish notion; and thai a new state of things would commence; the present world, or age, would be at a period; and the world to come, they had so often heard of from the Jewish doctors, would take place; and therefore they ask also, of the sign of the end of the world, or present state of things in the Jewish economy: to this Christ answers, in the latter part of this chapter, though not to the sense in which they put the questions; yet in the true sense of the coming of the son of man, and the end of the world; and in such a manner, as might be very instructive to them, and is to us.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-3 - Christ foretells the utter ruin and destruction coming upon the temple A believing foresight of the defacing of all worldly glory, will hel to keep us from admiring it, and overvaluing it. The most beautifu body soon will be food for worms, and the most magnificent building ruinous heap. See ye not all these things? It will do us good so to se them as to see through them, and see to the end of them. Our Lor having gone with his disciples to the Mount of Olives, he set befor them the order of the times concerning the Jews, till the destructio of Jerusalem; and as to men in general till the end of the world.
Greek Textus Receptus
καθημενου 2521 5740 V-PNP-GSM δε 1161 CONJ αυτου 846 P-GSM επι 1909 PREP του 3588 T-GSN ορους 3735 N-GSN των 3588 T-GPF ελαιων 1636 N-GPF προσηλθον 4334 5656 V-AAI-3P αυτω 846 P-DSM οι 3588 T-NPM μαθηται 3101 N-NPM κατ 2596 PREP ιδιαν 2398 A-ASF λεγοντες 3004 5723 V-PAP-NPM ειπε 2036 5628 V-2AAM-2S ημιν 2254 P-1DP ποτε 4219 PRT-I ταυτα 5023 D-NPN εσται 2071 5704 V-FXI-3S και 2532 CONJ τι 5101 I-ASN το 3588 T-NSN σημειον 4592 N-NSN της 3588 T-GSF σης 4674 S-2GSF παρουσιας 3952 N-GSF και 2532 CONJ της 3588 T-GSF συντελειας 4930 N-GSF του 3588 T-GSM αιωνος 165 N-GSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
3. Coming (parousiav). Originally, presence, from pareinai, to be present. In this sense Philip. ii. 12; 2 Cor. x. 10. Also arrival, as in 1 Cor. xvi. 17; 2 Cor. vii. 6, 7; 2 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Peter iii. 12. Of the second coming of Christ: Jas. v. 8; 1 John ii. 28; 2 Peter iii. 4; 1 Thess. iv. 15.Of the world (aiwnov). Rather the existing, current age. They do not ask the signs of the Messiah's coming at the end of all time, to judge the world.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
24:3 {As he sat} (kaqemenou). Genitive absolute. Picture of Jesus sitting on the Mount of Olives looking down on Jerusalem and the temple which he had just left. After the climb up the mountain four of the disciples (Peter, James, John, Andrew) come to Jesus with the problem raised by his solemn words. They ask these questions about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, his own second coming (parousia, presence, common in the papyri for the visit of the emperor), and the end of the world. Did they think that they were all to take place simultaneously? There is no way to answer. At any rate Jesus treats all three in this great eschatological discourse, the most difficult problem in the Synoptic Gospels. Many theories are advanced that impugn the knowledge of Jesus or of the writers or of both. It is sufficient for our purpose to think of Jesus as using the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem which did happen in that generation in A.D. 70, as also a symbol of his own second coming and of the end of the world (sunteleias tou ai"nos) or consummation of the age. In a painting the artist by skilful perspective may give on the same surface the inside of a room, the fields outside the window, and the sky far beyond. Certainly in this discourse Jesus blends in apocalyptic language the background of his death on the cross, the coming destruction of Jerusalem, his own second coming and the end of the world. He now touches one, now the other. It is not easy for us to separate clearly the various items. It is enough if we get the picture as a whole as it is here drawn with its lessons of warning to be ready for his coming and the end. The destruction of Jerusalem came as he foretold. There are some who would date the Synoptic Gospels after A.D. 70 in order to avoid the predictive element involved in the earlier date. But that is to limit the fore-knowledge of Jesus to a merely human basis. The word parousia occurs in this chapter alone (#3,27,37,39) in the Gospels, but often in the Epistles, either of presence as opposed to absence (#Php 2:12) or the second coming of Christ (#2Th 2:1).
