A Word-wide Coming or a Local Coming? 

A Local Coming in Judgement - Not World-wide

One of the greatest misinterpretations of end times prophecy is that Jesus is coming back in a way that will be seen by the entire world and that His judgement will be on the entire world. However, an unbiased reading of the text reveals that His promised return was to the Jews who rejected and crucified Him. 

If Matthew 24 is about the end of the world, I ask you, what good is fleeing to the mountains going to do you? Why does Jesus say in verse 20: "Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath"? Because in first century Judea, under Jewish rule, the Sabbath law was still being enforced and inns and other services would be closed. This is not an issue in the greater world today.

Another part of the problem is poor translations. For example, the NIV says in Matthew 24:30: “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."

However, a more accurate translation is 'tribes of the land'. Translations like the NIV provide footnotes showing these alternative translations.  

The Greek word translated as 'Earth' 'v' transliterated 'gay', means part of the whole earth, or land, or ground, soil, country. 

But even if the text does use the term 'world' should we jump to the conclusion that it means the entire planet we know as earth? 

Let's use scripture to interpret scripture. Look at this text from Jeremiah 51:6-8:

“Flee from Babylon!

    Run for your lives!

    Do not be destroyed because of her sins.

It is time for the Lord’s vengeance;

    he will repay her what she deserves.

7 

Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand;

    she made the whole earth drunk.

The nations drank her wine;

    therefore they have now gone mad. 

Babylon was certainly a large empire. But did it have dominion over every single place and nation on planet earth? No, it didn't. Not even close. So if scripture can use the word 'world' or the term 'the whole earth', should we automatically assume that the text is talking about the entire planet we know as Earth? 

We must consider the audience and the context and not put our personal interpretations or biases on the text. 

Let me ask you, if Jesus was telling his disciples that the entire world was ending, why does He tell those in Judea to flee to the mountains? If the entire world is ending, what protection will the mountains provide? No. He was telling them not to do what most people instinctively did and run into the fortress of Jerusalem, but to flee to the mountains. Rome besieged the city and starved it out and conquered and destroyed it and killed everyone inside but for a few that were taken captive. The destruction of Jerusalem is well documented by historian Flavius Josephus and is one of the most horric events in all human history. The people inside the city were murdered, starved and burned, by the romans, or each other. Mothers ate their own children. It was hell on earth. The Christians who remembered Jesus' warning did indeed flee to the mountains and they escaped the siege and saved their lives.