“When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 10:23).
The fact is indisputable that the apostles did complete the mission to only the cities of Israel and that Jesus did not come in the glory of the Father before they finished that Mission. But, Jesus did not say that they would not finish their evangelistic efforts to the House of Israel before Jesus comes. As a matter of fact, there is no evidence of the disciples being brought to governors for interrogation or being persecuted from town to town occurred during their commission to preach to the Israelites, only. However, the first thing to note is that the statement has to do with persecution, not evangelism. The verse reads, “When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” Going from city to city has to do with fleeing from city to city because of persecution. No doubt, preaching is included wherever they were scattered (cf. Acts 8:1-2), but the persecution referenced in Matthew 10 would result over time. A quick look shows that the initial response of their going from house to house was a simple rejection of their words (10:14) that brought on their shaking of the dust off your feet on a house or town whose judgment is reserved on the day of judgment (v. 15).
Matthew 24:9-14 is similar to Matthew 10:23. It reads, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 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.” The paradigm is the same. The preaching of the gospel brings persecution as a reaction to their message. The third stage that follows the persecution is judgment. The coming of the end in Matthew 24:14 corresponds to the phrase “until the Son of Man comes” in Matthew 10:23.
Therefore, we want to point out two things as a conclusion. First, the coming (parousia) of Matthew 10:23 does not pertain to that time when the apostles preached to the cities of Israel, only. If the persecution didn’t occur then, why would we expect the coming of the Lord to precede the persecution? The truth is, neither the persecution nor the parousia occurred during this limited commission of preaching. Second, whether Matthew 10 or Matthew 24, the object of the instruction was the apostles. They are the ones to whom Jesus is addressing. If the parousia cannot precede the persecution, and the persecution did not occur until after Jesus’ return to the Father, and the ones being addressed are the apostles of Jesus Christ, then the parousia came after Jesus’ return to the Father, but before any time after the lives of the apostles. In other words, the parousia had to occur in the first century, during the days of the apostles (Matthew 10:23) and the fulfillment of the age (24:14).
An email response to the blog has this explanation: “The notion that this text alluded to the Second Coming is negated by the fact that the passage clearly implies that Christ knew when the “coming” of 10:23 would transpire.This is evidenced in that the Lord declared that the disciples would not be finished with evangelizing the cities of Israel before he “came.”On the other hand, he did not know when the event of his final coming would occur (Mt. 24:36).This coming, therefore, was not the Second Coming.” Please, re-read the text, again. It doesn’t say that he doesn’t know when he would come. It reads, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father.” Jesus was asked about the signs of his coming in Matthew 24 and giving an answer implies that he knows the season, at the very least. Verse 34 makes it clear that he recognizes a return in that generation because all these things he had described would be accomplished in that generation. Not knowing the “day” or “hour” so that it is like a thief does not admit total ignorance of the time. It only admits not knowing the precise time as in the day or hour.