But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
Jesus spoke these words on the Mount of Olives in answer to the private question of Peter and James and John and Andrew about when the destruction of the temple would happen and what the sign of its fulfillment would be. It is a command to take heed because He has told everything beforehand, giving a full advance warning of what was to come. In mercy He did not separate the destruction of Jerusalem from the great day of His coming but mingled the description of the two great crises, because the disciples could not have endured the future as He saw it, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. What was spoken about Jerusalem reaches beyond that event to the final conflagration when the Lord punishes the world for iniquity and the earth exposes its slain blood and covers it no more.
What was foretold begins with deception by many coming in His name claiming to be Christ, with wars and rumors of wars and nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and with earthquakes in various places, famines and troubles as the beginnings of sorrows. What was foretold also includes being delivered to councils and beaten in synagogues and tried before rulers and kings as a testimony, with the gospel to be published among all nations, with help from the Holy Spirit for what to speak, with betrayal by brother and father and children leading to death, and with hatred by all for His name but salvation for the one who endures to the end.
What was foretold also includes the abomination of desolation standing where it should not and requiring immediate flight from Judea without turning back, with woe for nursing mothers and prayer that flight not be in winter, and with unequaled affliction since creation that is shortened for the sake of the elect. What was foretold also includes false christs and false prophets showing signs and wonders to seduce even the elect, followed by darkening of the sun and moon, falling of the stars and shaking of the powers of heaven, and the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory to send angels to gather the elect from earth to heaven. What was foretold closes with the parable of the fig tree showing that these things mean the end is near at the doors, with certainty of His words, with ignorance of the day and hour even by angels and the Son, and with the charge to watch and pray like servants awaiting their master in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrowing or in the morning.
The whole warning was given not for the first disciples only but for those who live in the last scenes of this earth's history. The forewarning about false christs and false prophets means their signs and wonders must not persuade anyone, even though they will seek to mislead if possible even the elect, so claims that Christ is here or there must not be believed simply because of such signs. The foretold events include judgments displaying God's authority through the destruction of sinful cities by earthquake, fire and flood, when human safeguards will fail and accumulated riches and magnificent possessions will be brought to nothing.
Jesus spoke these words on the Mount of Olives in answer to the private question of Peter and James and John and Andrew about when the destruction of the temple would happen and what the sign of its fulfillment would be. It is a command to take heed because He has told everything beforehand, giving a full advance warning of what was to come. In mercy He did not separate the destruction of Jerusalem from the great day of His coming but mingled the description of the two great crises, because the disciples could not have endured the future as He saw it, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves. What was spoken about Jerusalem reaches beyond that event to the final conflagration when the Lord punishes the world for iniquity and the earth exposes its slain blood and covers it no more.
What was foretold begins with deception by many coming in His name claiming to be Christ, with wars and rumors of wars and nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and with earthquakes in various places, famines and troubles as the beginnings of sorrows. What was foretold also includes being delivered to councils and beaten in synagogues and tried before rulers and kings as a testimony, with the gospel to be published among all nations, with help from the Holy Spirit for what to speak, with betrayal by brother and father and children leading to death, and with hatred by all for His name but salvation for the one who endures to the end.
What was foretold also includes the abomination of desolation standing where it should not and requiring immediate flight from Judea without turning back, with woe for nursing mothers and prayer that flight not be in winter, and with unequaled affliction since creation that is shortened for the sake of the elect. What was foretold also includes false christs and false prophets showing signs and wonders to seduce even the elect, followed by darkening of the sun and moon, falling of the stars and shaking of the powers of heaven, and the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory to send angels to gather the elect from earth to heaven. What was foretold closes with the parable of the fig tree showing that these things mean the end is near at the doors, with certainty of His words, with ignorance of the day and hour even by angels and the Son, and with the charge to watch and pray like servants awaiting their master in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrowing or in the morning.
The whole warning was given not for the first disciples only but for those who live in the last scenes of this earth's history. The forewarning about false christs and false prophets means their signs and wonders must not persuade anyone, even though they will seek to mislead if possible even the elect, so claims that Christ is here or there must not be believed simply because of such signs. The foretold events include judgments displaying God's authority through the destruction of sinful cities by earthquake, fire and flood, when human safeguards will fail and accumulated riches and magnificent possessions will be brought to nothing.