What do you think the verse means? I'm curious to hear your take on it.
I offered the interpretation I tend to lean toward in a previous post. But the gist of it is that the primary thing Jesus is talking about in the Olivet Discourse is the future destruction of Jerusalem. That is, after all, the context here. Jesus and His disciples were leaving the Temple grounds and Jesus told them that not one stone would be left standing, which eventually prompts His disciples to ask them what He means, asking, "When will these things be, and what are the signs of Your coming and of the end of the age?"
Jesus tells them several things, for one, He warns them against false signs, false reports, and false messiahs, He says,
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Watch out that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are the beginning of birth pains."
Wars, rumors of wars, natural disasters, etc are not signs of the end, they are things that will happen in the indefinite and foreseeable future, as they always have. He wants His disciples to not be taken captive by reports and claims of the End, by those who would mislead them.
Then Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple, and things surrounding it. He tells them that they will be arrested, and put on trial, and persecuted. He gives specific signs to watch out for concerning the destruction coming to Jerusalem, mentioning armies encamped around the city, and the abomination that causes desolation, these things are a matter of ancient history for us today, but had not yet taken place when Jesus said this.
The gathering of the elect isn't eschatological, but rather the sending out of the ministers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth to preach Christ's word.
Jesus doesn't begin to talk about His Parousia until verse 36, when He says, "Concerning that day..." He is clear that the Day of His return in glory and judgment is not known and cannot be known, except by God the Father. It will be as a thief in the night, He repeats this multiple times. He describes it being like in Noah's time, people going about their usual business when suddenly and without warning the flood came and wiped the wicked away; He tells his followers explicitly to be vigilant since they do not know when their Lord will return. Then He gives two parables: in the Parable of the Talents He rebukes those who would sit around and not be using the gifts given to them but instead squander them, in the Parable of the Ten Virgins half of the virgins don't bring enough oil to last through the night, they should have brought oil because they did not know the hour when the Bridegroom would come.
The bulk of the Olivet Discourse is specifically to warn against being misled about the End, and to give them warnings about what to look out for when Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed. He does talk about His coming at the End, but specifically to tell them (and by extension us) to always be vigilant because we do not, and cannot know when the Lord will return.
The Lord will return when He returns, and not a minute sooner. Our job isn't to try and figure out when (since we can't know), but instead to be faithful to Christ's word, preach the Gospel, and go about His business in the world loving our neighbor, feeding the hungry, and being the Body of Jesus Christ in this present age.
-CryptoLutheran