Matthew 24

Matthew 24 is the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It commences the Olivet Discourse or "Little Apocalypse" spoken by Jesus Christ, also described as the Eschatological Discourse, which continues into chapter 25. It contains Jesus' prediction of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Mark 13 and Luke 21 also cover the same material. The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 51 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (AD 325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (330-360) Codex Bezae (400) Codex Washingtonianus (400) Codex Alexandrinus (400-440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (450) Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (6th century) Codex Sinopensis (6th century; extant: verses 3–12) Papyrus 83 (6th century; extant: verses 1, 6) Matthew 24:15: ; Matthew 24:35: Isaiah 51:6 In the preceding chapters (chapters 21–23), Jesus has been teaching in the Temple and debating with the Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees. Jesus and his disciples leave the Temple (), or the temple grounds in the New Living Translation. Theologian John Gill observes that Jesus was "never to return". Arthur Carr reports that in descending the Kedron Valley, to the east of the temple, and then ascending the slope of the Mount of Olives, the disciples could look back and see "the Temple [rising] with its colonnade of dazzling white marble, surmounted with golden roof and pinnacles, and founded on a substructure of huge stones". In this "introductory scene " (verses 1-2), Jesus predicts that "not one stone shall be left here upon another". The prediction follows the sentiments expressed by Jesus in : O Jerusalem, Jerusalem ... See! Your house is left to you desolate. Methodism's founder John Wesley says that the prediction was "most punctually fulfilled" in that the majority of the temple buildings were burned and then dug up on the orders of the invading Roman general Titus in 70 AD.