I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the Vineyard of The Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah the plant of His pleasures: and He looked for judgment, but behold! oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." (Matt. xxi. 33-44, 45; Luke xx. 9-18.) Matt. xxiv. 2-35; Mark xiii. 3-30; Luke xxi. 6-32 ; "As for these things which ye behold, verily! I say unto you, the days will come, in which there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the Temple, the disciples, Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, came unto Him privately, and asked Him, "Master! tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be The Sign of Thy Coming, and of the end of the world, when all these things shall be fulfilled?" And Jesus answering them, began to say unto them, " Take heed, that no man deceive you! For many shall come in My Name, saying, 'I am Christ!' and shall deceive many and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. But when ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars, and commotions, be not terrified ! see that ye be not troubled! for all these things must needs first come to pass, but the End shall not be yet." Then said He unto them, "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And great earthquakes shall be in divers places; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and troubles, and fearful sights, and great signs shall there be from heaven. All these are the beginning of sorrows. "But, take heed to yourselves! for before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up; they shall deliver you up to the councils, to the synagogues (and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten): and into prisons, to be afflicted, and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony, for My Name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony against them. And The Gospel must first be published among all nations. But when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist for it is not ye that speak, but The Holy Spirit. Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death; and ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. But there shall not a hair of your head perish. your patience possess ye your souls! And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this Gospel of The Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the End come. In "But when ye shall see the Abomination of desolation [2 Chr. xv. 8, margin], spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, in the Holy Place (whoso readeth, let him understand!); and when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them who are in the midst of it, depart out; and let not them who are in the countries enter thereinto! And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take anything out of his house: neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes! For these be the days of vengeance, that all things that are Written may be fulfilled. But woe [on account of the need of speedy flight] unto them who are with child, and to them who give suck in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter [xeuvos or cold and tempestuous weather: they did pray, and their flight was in the Spring], neither on the Sabbath day! For in those days shall be great Tribulation, shall be affliction such as was not from the beginning of the Creation of the world which God created unto this time, neither shall be, no, nor ever shall be. And except that The Lord had shortened those days, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days. And then if any man shall say unto you, 'Lo! here is Christ: or, "Lo! He is there;' believe him not! for there shall arise false Christs,' and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. But take ye heed! behold! I have foretold you all things. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, 'Behold! He is in the desert go not forth! Behold! He is in the secret chamber;' believe it not! For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also The Coming of The Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. [Luke xvii. 21-24.] : "But immediately after the Tribulation of those days, there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken : And then shall Appear The Sign of The Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. And then they shall see The Son of Man Coming in the Clouds of heaven [in a Cloud, Luke xxi. 27], with power and great glory. And then shall He send His Angels, with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth, to the uttermost part of heaven, from one end of heaven to the other. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads! for your redemption draweth nigh." And He spake to them a parable: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree! Behold the fig tree! and all the trees; when her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things come to pass, know ye that The Kingdom of God is nigh at hand, even at the doors. Verily! I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled." Luke xxi. 33, 37. 38; xxii. 1. "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall And in the day time He was teaching in the Temple; and at night He went out, and abode in the Mount that is called the Mount of Olives. And all the people came early in the morning to Him, in the Temple, to hear Him. Now the Feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. (Acts iii. 25, 26; xiii. 46; Rom. xi. 7-25-33; Rev. xiii.; xiv.; xviii.; 1 Pet. iv. 17-19; Rev. xix. 17-21.) [In the Evangelists Christ predicted the things which were about to happen before the dictation of the Apocalypse to John, and added a description of the Last things; in the Apocalypse He also mentions intermediate events. From both, one whole as it were is made up. Many things predicted by The Spirit of Christ are contained in a scattered form, in the Epistles of John and the other Apostles; namely, according as the necessity of those primitive times required. Now The Lord comprises all in one short book, having reference to the earlier ones, presupposing them, explaining, continuing, and interweaving them. It is altogether right, therefore, that we should compare them; but not to bring into comparison the fulness of these latest, with the brevity of those.. The Lord Jesus has comprised in the Apocalypse the Supplement of the old prophecy, which belongs to the times subsequent to His Ascension and the coming of The Comforter, and the end of the Jewish system. And thus the book reaches from the old Jerusalem to the new Jerusalem.”—Gnomon of the New Testament, by John Albert Bengel. "We ought," says Bengel, "to inquire concerning future events, especially those of the last days, not for the sake of gratifying our curiosity, but from a desire to fortify ourselves. All things in this discourse (Matt. xxiv.) must be referred to firmness in acknowledging and confessing Jesus Christ; for the drift and object of the Prophecy is to enforce this duty: other matters, which we might make use of for mere knowledge, are mentioned abruptly and obscurely." "Take heed that no man deceive you," Bengel thinks is said “not so much to the Apostles who were shortly to receive The Holy Spirit" [in the full power and abundance of the Apostolic Gift ?]," as to the whole flock of believers whom they then represented, lest they should be seduced by the greater perils to which they would be exposed. The beginning is Prudence; the end, Patience [Rev. xiii. 18, xiv. 12]. In the beginning will come false “Christs" (Matt. xxiv. 5); in the middle, false prophets (11); in the end, both (22, 24)." "They will not only say that they have been sent by Me, but that they are He who I am."] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LAST TIMES: INTIMATIONS OF AUGMENTED PREVALENCE OF CORRUPTION UNTIL THE LORD'S ADVENT. 1 John ii. 18, 19, 21-23. Little children! it is the Last Time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the Last Time. They went out from us, but they were not of us : I have not written ["the ancients, in writing, adapted the tenses of the verbs to the time at which the writing was read, and not to that at which it was written: Acts xv. 27, 'We have sent.' This appears an unimportant observation, but it applies a remedy to great errors."-Bengel] unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth |