Temple Destruction Foretold

(Mark 13:1-9; Luke 21:5-9)

1And having gone forth, Jesus departed from the temple, and his disciples came near to show him the buildings of the temple, 2and Jesus said to them, ‘Do ye not see all these? verily I say to you, There may not be left here a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down.’

3And when he is sitting on the mount of the Olives, the disciples came near to him by himself, saying, ‘Tell us, when shall these be? and what [is] the sign of thy presence, and of the full end of the age?’

4And Jesus answering said to them, ‘Take heed that no one may lead you astray,

False Christs

5for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they shall lead many astray, 6and ye shall begin to hear of wars, and reports of wars; see, be not troubled, for it behoveth all [these] to come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7‘For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places; 8and all these [are] the beginning of sorrows;

Witnessing to All Nations

(Mark 13:10-13; Luke 21:10-19)

9then they shall deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all the nations because of my name; 10and then shall many be stumbled, and they shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. 11‘And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray; 12and because of the abounding of the lawlessness, the love of the many shall become cold; 13but he who did endure to the end, he shall be saved; 14and this good news of the reign shall be proclaimed in all the world, for a testimony to all the nations; and then shall the end arrive.

The Abomination of Desolation

(Mark 13:14-23; Luke 21:20-24)

15‘Whenever, therefore, ye may see the abomination of the desolation, that was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever is reading let him observe) 16then those in Judea — let them flee to the mounts; 17he on the house-top — let him not come down to take up any thing out of his house; 18and he in the field — let him not turn back to take his garments. 19‘And wo to those with child, and to those giving suck in those days; 20and pray ye that your flight may not be in winter, nor on a sabbath; 21for there shall be then great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world till now, no, nor may be. 22And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but because of the chosen, shall those days be shortened. 23‘Then if any one may say to you, Lo, here [is] the Christ! or here! ye may not believe; 24for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, also the chosen. 25Lo, I did tell you beforehand.

The Return of the Son of Man

(Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28)

26‘If therefore they may say to you, Lo, in the wilderness he is, ye may not go forth; lo, in the inner chambers, ye may not believe; 27for as the lightning doth come forth from the east, and doth appear unto the west, so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man; 28for wherever the carcase may be, there shall the eagles be gathered together.

29‘And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; 30and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth smite the breast, and they shall see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of the heaven, with power and much glory; 31and he shall send his messengers with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens unto the ends thereof.

The lesson of the Fig Tree

(Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33)

32‘And from the fig-tree learn ye the simile: When already its branch may have become tender, and the leaves it may put forth, ye know that summer [is] nigh, 33so also ye, when ye may see all these, ye know that it is nigh — at the doors. 34Verily I say to you, this generation may not pass away till all these may come to pass. 35The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Be Ready at Any Hour

(Genesis 6:1-7; Mark 13:32-37; Luke 12:35-48)

36‘And concerning that day and the hour no one hath known — not even the messengers of the heavens — except my Father only; 37and as the days of Noah — so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man; 38for as they were, in the days before the flood, eating, and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, till the day Noah entered into the ark, 39and they did not know till the flood came and took all away; so shall be also the presence of the Son of Man. 40Then two men shall be in the field, the one is received, and the one is left; 41two women shall be grinding in the mill, one is received, and one is left.

42‘Watch ye therefore, because ye have not known in what hour your Lord doth come; 43and this know, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief doth come, he had watched, and not suffered his house to be broken through; 44because of this also ye, become ye ready, because in what hour ye do not think, the Son of Man doth come.

45‘Who, then, is the servant, faithful and wise, whom his lord did set over his household, to give them the nourishment in season? 46Happy that servant, whom his lord, having come, shall find doing so; 47verily I say to you, that over all his substance he will set him. 48‘And, if that evil servant may say in his heart, My Lord doth delay to come, 49and may begin to beat the fellow-servants, and to eat and to drink with the drunken, 50the lord of that servant will arrive in a day when he doth not expect, and in an hour of which he doth not know, 51and will cut him off, and his portion with the hypocrites will appoint; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth.