Matthew 24:8
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All these are the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24:8
“All, also, these – commencement pangs.” (CG)
In the previous verse, Jesus said, “It will rouse, indeed, ethnicity upon ethnicity, and kingdom upon kingdom, and there will be famines, and plagues, and earthquakes in places.” Having stated that, He next says, “All, also, these – commencement pangs.”
A new word is seen here, ódin, a pang or throe, especially of childbirth. HELPS Word Studies says, “properly, the pain of childbirth (travail); (figuratively) the pain necessary to open up (introduce) something new, i.e. to bring in more.”
In Acts 2:24, Peter uses this word to describe the pangs of death suffered by Christ Jesus. In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul says –
“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains [ódin] upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
The meaning of Jesus’ words is that all of the calamities He described in the previous verses are what can be expected before the final period of true calamity. His words have been stated without regard to time, such as, “This will last for five years.”
In fact, the world has been going through such pangs all along. From the wars and reports of wars of verse 6 through the calamities noted in verse 7, these things have all been experienced since the Flood of Noah. The world has never been a safe place. These have all been a preparatory type of disaster that will eventually lead to a time of true calamity.
Jesus will continue to describe these things and how they will affect His audience in the verses ahead.
Life application: In 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul refers to the Day of the Lord, saying that it will come like a thief in the night. He then tells the believers in Thessalonica that they are not of the night nor of darkness. It should be plainly understood that believers will not go through the Day of the Lord, the tribulation.
However, in an attempt to place themselves in such a terrible time, as if we must somehow earn our salvation, some divide the tribulation into parts, stating that believers will go through a portion of it. Only the latter part is then called the Day of the Lord.
The Bible never refers to such a division for believers, but by violating the main principle of not mixing dispensations, this conclusion is arrived at. Paul gives a specific timeline of the end-times events in 2 Thessalonians 2, which disproves that analysis.
The timeline is simple and precise. There, he calls the Day of the Lord the Day of Christ. However, some texts call it the Day of the Lord. It is the same period. Paul says that day (the Day of the Lord/Christ) will not come until the man of sin is revealed. This is the antichrist.
The antichrist will be known because he will be the one to present a seven-year peace deal with Israel, as outlined in Daniel 9:24-27. Those seven years are the tribulation period. The antichrist will only be known to those who pay attention because of this seven-year deal.
Paul speaks of the coming of the Lord and our being gathered to Him in 2 Thessalonians 2:1. That is what sets up his thoughts. If we are gathered to Him, and only then will the antichrist be revealed (who initiates the peace deal and the tribulation), then as obvious as the nose on your face is, we will not be here when that takes place.
This should not be difficult to comprehend. But by throwing in Jesus’ words to Israel, something that has nothing to do with the church, faulty analyses of Scripture are inevitable. Stick to the dispensational model, don’t mix those dispensations, and everything fits like a glove.
Our hope is not to receive the tortures of the tribulation. Rather, it is to be gathered to the Lord and spared from them.
O God, may we properly handle Your word, taking it in the context You intend. Help us to understand what it is telling us. Give us wisdom in it through study and contemplation. And above all, thank You for Jesus Christ, who gives us hope in this dark and fallen world. Amen.