20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem companed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21 Then let them which are in Ju- dea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it de- part out ; and let not them that are m the countries enter thereinto.
22 For these be the days of venge- anoe, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days ! for there shall be great distress ui the land, and wrath upon this people.
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations : and Jerusa- lem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gen- tiles be fulfilled.
The subject of the verses before us is the taking of Jeru- salem by the Eomans. It was meet and right that this great event, which wound up the Old Testament dispen- sation, should be specially described by our Lord's mouth. It was fitting that the last days of that holy city, which
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had been the seat of Ood's presence for so many oen- tnrieSy should reoeiye a special notice in the greatest prophecy which. was ever deliyered to the Ghnrch.
We should mark in this passage, our Lard Jesus Christ's perfect knowledge. He gives us a fearful picture of the miseries which were coming on Jerusalem. Forty years before the armies of Titus encompassed the city, the dreadful circumstances which would attend the siege are minutely described. The distress of weak and help- less women, — the slaughter of m]rriads of Jews, — the final scattering of Israel in captivity among all nations, — ^the treading dpwn of the holy city by the Gentiles for eighteen hundred years, are things which our Lord narrates with as much particularity as if He saw them with His own eyes.
Foreknowledge like this is a special attribute of GKxi. Of ourselves we " know not what a day may bring forth." (Prov. xxvii. 1.) To say what will happen to any city or kingdom in forty years from the present time, is far beyond the power of man. The words in Isaiah are very solemn : " 1 am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, cmd from ancient times the things that are not yet done." (Isa. xlvi. 10.) He who could speak with authority of things to come, as our Lord did in this place, must have been very God as well as very man.
The true Christian should continually keep in mind this perfect knowledge of Christ. Past things, present things, and things to come, are all naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. The recol- lection of the sins of youth may well make us humble. The sense of present weakness may make us anxious. The