CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION,
if you would just take some time to follow this

EBW "And His disciples knew who He was and what he represented. He was "The Christ, the Son of the Living God."

And their question about the time of His second coming illustrates that knowledge. They knew He would leave and then return to judge the world."

ANSWER
Passages Which Occur Chronologically Before Matthew 24

Mt. 16.21, 22:

From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee.

In this passage, spoken at least six months before Jesus died, Jesus plainly told His disciples He would die and be resurrected. As Peter's response shows, they did not realize the significance of Jesus' teaching, and weren't aware of a final return at that time. They did not expect Jesus to go away. At that time, they still expected Jesus to set up a physical kingdom, as the following passage shows:
Mt. 20.20-22:

Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, worshiping him, and asking a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wouldest thou? She saith unto him, Command that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand, and one on thy left hand, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.

This passage illustrates again that the apostles and the other disciples didn't realize Jesus wouldn't set up a physical kingdom on the earth. Nor did they realize He would die, be resurrected, and go back to heaven. This shows they would not have asked about a final return at this interval shortly before Matthew 24.

Lk. 18.31-34, 19.11:

And he took unto him the twelve; and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets shall be accomplished unto the Son of man, for he shall be delivered up unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit upon: and they shall scourge and kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things; and this saying was hid from them, and they perceived not the things that were said.

As Jesus and the apostles approached the city of Jerusalem in this same context (Lk. 19.11):

And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was immediately to appear.

Both these passages show that within one week of the time of the Matthew 24 discourse, the apostles still believed Jesus would set up a physical kingdom with its headquarters in Jerusalem. They did not believe He would go away. They did not believe in a final return just a few days before they questioned Jesus in Mt. 24.3.

Passages Which Occur Chronologically after Matthew 24

5. Jn. 14.1-3; 16.16-18: In the first of these passages, spoken the night before Jesus was put to death, Jesus told the apostles:

Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you: for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Here, Jesus plainly told the apostles that it was necessary for Him to go away. They resolutely refused to believe it, because this teaching did not fit with their idea of the kingdom. This is especially evident in the following passage, which was spoken on the same night, the night before Jesus was crucified:

# Jn. 16.16-18: Jesus said to the apostles:

. . . A little while, and ye behold me no more; and again a little while, and ye shall see me. Some of his disciples therefore said one to another, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall see me; and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? We know not what he saith.

Thus, Jesus plainly told them the absolute necessity of His death, burial, and resurrection. We have the testimony of the apostles themselves that they didn't know what He was talking about. They didn't expect Jesus to go away the night before He died. They would not have asked about a final return which they, at that time, didn't believe in.

These passages of scripture show conclusively that both shortly before Matthew 24 took place and shortly after Matthew 24 took place, the apostles didn't expect Jesus to go away. Therefore, they didn't understand anything about a final return. Because of this, they would not have asked about a final return in Matthew 24.

FURTHER MORE
Jn. 20.9: This passage relates the discovery of the empty tomb by Peter and John on the day of Jesus' resurrection:

For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must arise again from the dead.

Though Jesus had taught the apostles that He would die, be resurrected, and go back to the father, they still didn't believe it. This was the very day of His resurrection.

7. Lk. 24.21: On the day Jesus was raised from the dead, the two disciples who didn't recognize Jesus on the road to Emmaus talked with Him, and said:

But we hoped that it was he who should redeem Israel. Yea and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things came to pass.

These two had lost hope that Jesus was the Messiah and now looked elsewhere for their Messiah. Jesus reproved them in vv25-27:

. . . O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

8. Ac. 1.6: Forty days after the resurrection of Jesus, the apostles still didn't visualize Jesus' departure and ascension back to heaven:

They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

Again, this question by the apostles shows that even on the day of the ascension of Christ, they still expected Him to set up a physical kingdom on the earth.

So taking all this in consideration their question did not illustrate your point...
Don't assume now that I'm a Dispensationalist,
I'm just trying to make sense of the word

Matthew 24-25 Destruction of Jerusalem vs_ Final Judgment by Samuel G_ Dawson.htm

http://gospelthemes.com/Mt24.htm

This one is for George