Meditations in Matthew 26—Time Stamps

Jesus is now entering the prophetic crossroads of the ages. He has just finished giving the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24–25) on Tuesday of Passion Week. He will die on the cross and rise from the dead within five days.

The Old Testament prophecies about the messianic-age kingdom depend on what Jesus is about to do. God had sent him into the world in “the fullness of time” (Gal 4:4).¹ After his resurrection, Jesus will sit on his throne until he defeats all his enemies (Ps 110:1). He will then defeat the last enemy—death—in the resurrection at the end of the messianic age (1 Cor 15:25–26). That final goal depends on what Jesus will accomplish at this crossroad.

To see this intersection’s location, we need an accurate map. That is what our prophetic model should provide. But, like road maps, prophetic models sometimes contain mistakes. Their errors can lead us astray.

Some recent posts have shown critical areas of concern. One (here) mentioned four key words: age, presence, earth, and generation. Another (here) discussed “cosmic collapse” as a key prophetic image.

Matthew 26 provides an opportunity to discuss another issue—time stamps. This chapter contains several time indicators. This is not a prophetic context, a fact that increases the value of these time stamps for our purposes.

The first verse sets the chronology for this chapter. Jesus had just finished the Olivet Discourse. “Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, ‘You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified’” (Matt 26:1–2). The events in this chapter happen within a space of two days.

This post will examine three time-related words (or phrases) that describe these events. Our point is that these words have the same meaning in prophetic contexts as they have here. We must not change their meaning to preserve our favorite prophetic model.²

At Hand

Our first time stamp is an adverb that means “at hand.” Matthew says, “And He said, Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is at hand (Gk. engus); I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples” (Matt 26:18).³

The Lord was talking about things in his immediate future. No commentator objects to engus meaning “at hand” in this non-prophetic context. But, they sometimes balk at this meaning when this word occurs in a prophecy. 

Let’s look at three prophetic contexts. They present an increasing level of difficulty for most prophetic models. 

First, Paul uses engus in his letter to the Hebrews.⁴ He writes, “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready (Gk. engus) to vanish away” (Heb 8:13). 

Paul’s generation was a time of covenant transition. The Temple’s fall would mark the full end of the old covenant age (cf. Matt 24:1–3, 34). Daily sacrifices would cease (cp. Dan 12:11). 

The Temple fell in AD 70 and Paul wrote Hebrews around AD 66.⁵ Few commentators object to saying this event was “at hand.”

Our second prophetic context is the Olivet Discourse. In Mark’s account, Jesus says, “So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near (Gk. engus)—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Mark 13:29–30). 

In Luke, Jesus says, “So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near (Gk. engus)” (Luke 21:31). 

Here, the pressure to change the meaning of engus increases. That is because of what Jesus meant by “these things.” Here are some items in his list: the Temple’s fall (Mark 13:1–2), “the end” (Mark 13:13), the abomination of desolation (Mark 13:14), the great tribulation (Mark 13:19; cp. Matt 24:21), cosmic collapse (Mark 13:24–25), the coming of the Son of Man (Mark 13:26), and the arrival of the kingdom (Luke 21:31).

Many prophetic writers think at least some of these events are in our future. They cannot accept that all these things were “near—at the doors” in Jesus’s day. 

But our Lord said they would occur in “this generation” (Mark 13:30). They were “at hand” (Mark 13:29) when he spoke the Olivet Discourse. We should allow engus to have its normal meaning. All “these things” occurred before the Temple fell in AD 70.

Our third context is the book of Revelation. Here, the word engus—meaning “at hand”—causes even more angst for prophetic writers. This is because it sets the timing for the fulfillment of John’s seven visions.

This time stamp appears at the beginning of Revelation: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near (Gk. engus)” (Rev 1:3). It also appears at the end of the book. Jesus said to John: “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand (Gk. engus)” (Rev 22:10). We discussed this in our post The Bookends Of Revelation.

So, the book of Revelation is about things that were “at hand” in John’s day. He saw these visions during Nero’s reign, before AD 67. They describe things that happened in the “great tribulation” that was about to begin. This tribulation period ended when the Temple fell in AD 70.

 Inmillennialism says we should give engus the same meaning in prophetic and non-prophetic texts. It means “at hand,” or something similar. We must not ignore it or change its meaning because it challenges our current prophetic model. If it means “at hand” in Matt 26:18, it also means “at hand” in Mark 13:28–29; Luke 21:31; and Rev 1:3; 22:10.

An Hour

Jesus used the word “hour” in the Garden of Gethsemane. After his first prayer, “He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, What! Could you not watch with Me one hour (Gk. hōra)?” (Matt 26:40).

After his prayers, Judas and his band came to arrest the Lord. “In that hour (Gk. hōra) Jesus said to the multitudes, Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me?” (Matt 26:55). 

This Greek word—hōra—means a very short period. No one disputes this meaning in non-prophetic contexts. But when this word occurs in a prophecy, some writers seem unable to accept this meaning.

We again draw from the Olivet Discourse for our first example. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour (Gk. hōra) no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matt 24:36). Many writers say this statement means we cannot know the time of the “great tribulation,” etc. If so, inmillennialism is wrong because it says this prophecy is about Jesus’s generation.

But if we let hōra have its usual meaning—a very short period—the problem vanishes. Jesus assured his disciples his Olivet Discourse prophecies would occur in “this generation,” within about 40 or 50 years. But, he did not reveal the “hour.” He revealed the longer period—the “generation”—but not the shorter period—the “hour.”

Later in Jesus’s generation, John made an important observation. He said, “Little children, it is the last hour (Gk. eschatos hōra); and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour (Gk. eschatos hōra)” (1 John 2:18).

Here is raw eschatology. The term “last days” refers to the last generation of the Mosaic age. John and those alive in his day had reached the last short period of those “last days.” 

Most prophetic models cannot accept this definition of hōra. They insist “the last hour” is still in our future. It could not have already happened in John’s day.

Inmillennialism says this word means the same in 1 John 2:18—a prophetic text—as it did in Matt 26:40—a non-prophetic text. We must not change our definition of hōra to fit our assumed prophetic model.

A Little (Time)

After his arrest, Jesus stood trial before Caiaphas the high priest. Peter stood outside. A servant girl accused him of following Jesus. He denied it. “And a little later (Gk. mikron meta) those who stood by came up and said to Peter, Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you” (Matt 26:73).

This second accusation against Peter contains an important time stamp—“a little later.” This causes no problems in non-prophetic passages like this one. But when a prophecy contains this word, things get interesting. Consider the following conversation. Jesus says,

A little (Gk. mikron) while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father. Then some of His disciples said among themselves, What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’? They said therefore, What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying. (John 16:16–18)

It tempts one to generalize the disciples’ problem. Prophetic writers often “do not know what He is saying” when the Lord mentions a “little while.”

Here is an example of the difficulty. Paul made a clear statement regarding the coming of the Son of Man. He said, “For yet a little (Gk. mikron) while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry” (Heb 10:37). 

This “little while” agrees with “at hand” and “hour” passages above. It also agrees with passages like Matt 16:27–28; 24:34; Rom 13:12; 16:20; 1 Cor 7:29, 31; 10:11; and a host of other passages. The Lord would come soon.

 But this meaning does not fit with most prophetic models. So, there is a temptation to change something in Heb 10:37. Paul’s “a little while” may become something else. Or, “He who is coming” becomes something other than the return of the Lord.

This is wrong. “A little later” has the same meaning in Heb 10:37 that it has in Matt 26:73.

Conclusion

We could extend this exercise to include other time stamps in Matt 26. These include the concepts of “from now on” in Matt 26:29, 64 and “immediately” in Matt 26:49, 74. The results would be the same. These words do not threaten cherished prophetic models in non-prophetic texts. But they present problems when they appear in prophecies.

Inmillennialism provides a prophetic model that allows these time stamps to keep their meaning regardless of the prophetic context.⁶

These time-stamp words are an important part of our prophetic road map. If we misread them, we will not understand what Jesus did at the prophetic crossroad in Matt 26.

1. Beginning with this post, this blog will use the New King James (NKJV) unless otherwise noted.
2. We discuss the common prophetic models here.
3. Jesus used a related verb when he said, “Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand (Gk. engizō)” (Matt 26:46).
4. That Paul wrote Hebrews is uncertain.
5. Leon Morris, “Hebrews,” in Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 12 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 8.
6. This is not to deny words change meaning for other contextual reasons.