24:21 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things?
verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one
stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
(1) The destruction of the city, and especially of the temple
is foretold.
24:42 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that
no man deceive you.
(2) The Church will have a continual conflict with infinite
miseries and offences, and furthermore, with false
prophets, until the day of victory and triumph comes.
24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye
be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass,
but the a end is not yet.
(a) That is, when those things are fulfilled, yet the end
will not come.
24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in b divers places.
(b) Everywhere.
24:8 All these [are] the beginning of c sorrows.
(c) Literally, "of great torments", just like women in
childbirth.
24:133 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall
be saved.
(3) The gospel will spread abroad, angering the world and the
devil ever so much: and those who continually believe will
be saved.
24:14 And this d gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the e world for a witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end come.
(d) Joyful tidings of the kingdom of heaven.
(e) Through all that part of the world that people live
in.
24:154 When ye therefore shall see the f abomination of
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the
holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
(4) The kingdom of Christ will not be abolished when the city
of Jerusalem is utterly destroyed, but will be stretched
out even to the end of the world.
(f) The abomination of desolation, that is to say, the one
who all men detest and cannot abide, because of the
foul and shameful filthiness of it: and he speaks of
the idols that were set up in the temple, or as others
think, he meant the marring of the doctrine in the
Church.
24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take
his g clothes.
(g) This is a sign of how great the fear will be.
24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither
on the h sabbath day:
(h) It was not lawful to take a journey on the sabbath
day; Josephus, book 13.
24:22 And except i those days should be shortened, there
should no k flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake
those days shall be shortened.
(i) Those things which befell the people of the Jews in
the thirty-four years, when the whole land was wasted,
and at length the city of Jerusalem was taken, and
both it and their temple destroyed, are mixed with
those things which will come to pass before the last
coming of the Lord.
(k) The whole nation would utterly be destroyed: and this
word "flesh" is a figurative word for "man", as the
Hebrews used to say.
24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and l shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that,
if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(l) Will openly set forth great signs for men to behold.
24:285 For wheresoever the m carcase is, there will the
eagles be gathered together.
(5) The only remedy against the furious rage of the world is
that of being gathered and joined to Christ.
(m) Christ, who will come with speed; and his presence will
be with a majesty to whom all will flock, just like
Eagles.
24:296 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall
the sun 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:
(6) Everlasting damnation will be the end of the security of
the wicked, and everlasting bliss for the miseries of the
godly.
24:30 And then shall appear the n sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the o tribes of the earth p
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man q coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
(n) The exceeding glory and majesty, which will bear
witness that Christ the Lord of heaven and earth draws
near to judge the world.
(o) All nations, and he alludes to the dispersion which we
read of in (Ge 10-11), or to the dividing of the
people of Israel.
(p) They will be in such sorrow, that they will strike
themselves: and it is transferred to the mourning.
(q) Sitting upon the clouds, as he was taken up into
heaven.
24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the
r four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
(r) From the four corners of the world.
24:327 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch
is yet s tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that
summer [is] nigh:
(7) If God has prescribed a certain order to nature, much more
has he done so to his eternal judgments; but the wicked do
not understand it, or rather they mock it: but the godly
make note of it, and wait for it.
(s) When its tenderness shows that the sap which is the
life of the tree has come from the roots into the bark.
24:34 Verily I say unto you, This t generation shall not pass,
till all these things be fulfilled.
(t) This age: the word "generation" or "age" is here being
used for the men of this age.
24:358 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall
not pass away.
(8) The Lord now begins the judgment, which he will finish in
the latter days.
24:369 But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the
angels of heaven, but my Father only.
(9) It is sufficient for us to know that God has appointed a
latter day for the restoring of all things; but when it
will be is hidden from us all for our sake, so that we may
be all the more watchful, so that we are not taken as those
were taken in the flood years ago.
24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were
u eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
(u) The word which the evangelist uses expresses the
matter more fully then ours does: for it is a word
which is used of brute beasts: and his meaning is that
in those days men will pay attention to their
appetites just like brute beasts: for otherwise there
is nothing wrong with eating and drinking.
24:4010 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be
taken, and the other left.
(10) Against those that persuade themselves that God will be
merciful to all men, and do by this means give themselves
over to sin, that they may in the meantime live in
pleasure, void of all care.
24:41x Two [women shall be] grinding at the mill; the one
shall be taken, and the other left.
(x) The Greek women and the barbarians ground and baked.
24:4211 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord
doth come.
(11) An example of the horrible carelessness of men in those
things in which they ought to be most careful.
24:51 And shall y cut him asunder, and appoint [him] his
portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
(y) That is, from the rest, or will cut him into two
pieces, which was a most cruel kind of punishment:
with which, as Justin Martyr witnesses, Isaiah the
Prophet was executed by the Jews: the same kind of
punishment we read of in (1Sa 15:33) and
(Da 3:29).
