Then Will Come The...End?

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

So, when will the “end” come? ? ? ?  This is the billion dollars (euros, yen, shekels, yuan etc.) question which has aroused countless speculations throughout the generations, and especially in ours.*

The conditional prerequisite for the “end” to come is that “this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the entire world as a witness to all the nations”. What Yeshua meant by “this Gospel of the Kingdom” and His definitions of it is an extensive topic which we will not cover here. However, in Acts 1:3 we are told that after His resurrection the Messiah spent His forty days on earth “speaking (to His disciples) of the things pertaining to the kingdom of Elohim”. It is quite significant, therefore, that just before He was taken up these ones asked Him: “Master, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Yeshua’s answer seems to be quite cryptic: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8). Thus when the Spirit came upon the disciples at Shavuot with signs and power, it was, as Paul puts it, “the kingdom of Elohim… [which is] righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). In this way, these Jewish/Israelite disciples of Yeshua became living witnesses of the beginning of the restoration of the Kingdom of Elohim to Israel (in accordance with Yeshua’s answer to them in Acts 1).

Now back to our Matthew 24:14 text.  If “this” Gospel of the Kingdom (as Yeshua calls it) is the restoration of the Kingdom of Elohim to His people Israel, then this is what should be preached in all the nations as a witness to them. Even though the Gospel has gone around the world up to the most remote areas, and that for centuries, has it been “this” Gospel of the Kingdom (i.e. the restoration of Elohim’s Kingdom to Israel)? Yeshua underscores the witness that this Gospel is to be to the world’s nations. What or who is the witness or witnesses? In what way is the Gospel of the Kingdom a witness, if it is not by the fulfillment of Elohim’s word to His chosen people among whom He had said that He would set up His Kingdom (see Ex. 19:6; 1Chor. 28:5; Luke 1:32-33)?  Revelation chapter 11 describes a ‘monumental’ double witness, depicted as two olive trees and two lamp stands. Could this have anything to do with the double witness of Israel’s two houses that are being restored in order to display and be a witness of YHVH’s Kingdom on earth? Is it possible, then, that the Hebrew/Torah awakening which is taking place all around the world is the tool to spread “this Gospel” to all the nations so that the “end” can come?

*The Greek for “the end” in the above text is “telos”, with the same root that is used in “teleo”, which means “to be brought to an end, completion”.  The latter is used in John 19:30, in reporting Yeshua’s last words on the cross - “it is finished/completed/fulfilled/covered in full payment”. In the Aramaic Peshitta the word that’s used for “end” (in Mat. 24:14) is “shulama” (similar to the Hebrew “shalom”). This could be implying an “end” in a sense of completion or fulfillment. However, if the original text was in Hebrew (and not Aramaic), there is no way of saying in Hebrew “the end” (as is used in our text) while employing one of the root derivatives of sh.l.m. Hence the Hebrew translation of the Greek is “ketz” which is more like “termination”.
Addendum:
In the 14th century Hebrew copy of an (heretical) version of the book of Matthew (http://adamoh.org/TreeOfLife.lan.io/SDAcomms/Hebrew%20Gospel%20of%20MATTHEW%20by%20George%20Howard%20-%20Part%20One.pdf) known by the name of its copier, Shem Tov, the "end"is "tachlit", not only in chapter 24:14, but in all other references to "end". "Tachlit" is indeed a more comprehensive term, meaning completion and fulfillment, but also an ending. A similar term, based on the same root, is used in Psalms 119:96 for "perfection" - "tichlah". The usage of this term in the text that was available to Shem Tov points to a different understanding of "end", and seems to complement the aim of the gospel message as was pointed out above.