15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation^ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand :)
16 Then let them which be in Judtea flee into the mountains:
17 Let him which is on the house- top not come down to take any thing out of his house.
18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give such in those days !
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day ;
21 For then shall be great tribula- tion, such as was not since the begin- ning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should
be shortened, there should no flesh be saved : but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there ; be- Ueve it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders ; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall de- ceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth ; behold, lie is in the secret chambers ; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shinetheven unto the west ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered to- gether.
One main subject of this part of our Lord's prophecy, is the taking of Jerusalem by the Komans. That great event took place about forty years after the words we have now read were spoken. A full account of it is to be found in the writings of the historian Josephus. Those writings are the best comment on our Lord's words. They are a striking proof of the accuracy of every tittle of His predictions.'*' The horrors and miseries which
* These are the words of Josephus. They are the more remark- able when we remember that he was not a Christian. '' No other ' city ever suflfered such things. All the calamities which have ever
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the Jews endured throughout the siegeof their city exceed anything on record. It was truly a time of "tribulation, such as was not since the beo'innincr of the world."
It sur2:)rises some to find so much importance attached to the taking of Jerusalem. They would rather regard the whole chapter as unfulfilled. Such j^ersons forget that Jerusalem and the temple were the heart of the old Jewish dispensation. When they were destroyed, the old Mosaic system came to an end. The daily sacrifice, the yearly feasts, the altar, the holy of holies, the priesthood, were aU essential parts of revealed reli- gion, till Christ came, but no longer. When He died upon the cross, their work was done. They were dead, and it only remained that they should be buried. — But it was not fitting that this thing should be done quietly. The ending of a dispensation given with so much solemnity at Mount Sinai, might well be expected to be marked with peculiar solemnity. The destruction of the holy temple, where so many old saints had seen " shadows of good things to come," might well be expected to form a subject of prophecy. And so it was. The Lord Jesus specially predicts the desolation of "the holy place." The great High Priest describes the end of the dispensation which had been a schoolmaster to brinsc men to Himself.
But we must not suppose that this part of our Lord's prophecy is exhausted by the first taking of Jerusalem. It is more than probable that our Lord's words have a further and deeper application still. It is more than
happened to any from the beginning, seem not comparable to those which befel the Jews."