Matthew 24:1 says, And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. After Jesus left the temple, the disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. After Jesus left, that is all it was- a building. The place that we worship is only a building if God is not there and in charge. Verse two states, 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. Jesus asked if they did not see all these things. Do we see all things clearly when we are looking at the world today? Jesus then told the disciples that it would all be thrown down, and the temple as it was viewed then was. People went to the temple to pray and meet God, but it had lost that function, plus people would meet Jesus wherever they were after His death, burial and resurrection. Verse three says, And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? The disciples came to Jesus privately when He was on the Mount of Olives asking when these things would happen and what was the sign of the end of the world. People are still looking for a sign today. Verse four declares, And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. Jesus warned the disciples, and the warning is still true for us today, to not let any man deceive them about the end of time. Verse five adds, For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Jesus said there would be many who came claiming to be Christ, and we hear of people doing so today, and that many would be deceived. Verse six continues, 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 end is not yet. We definitely hear of wars and rumors of wars today, but Jesus said that even though this must come to pass, the end was not yet come. Verse seven states, For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. In addition to wars, Jesus said there would be pestilence and earthquakes in places where they normally didn't occur, and we know this is true today. Verse eight adds, All these are the beginning of sorrows. Jesus said these were the beginnings of the sorrows, and He was speaking to His disciples over two thousand years ago. Verse nine continues, Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. Jesus told the disciples that they would be afflicted and killed, and hated by all nations for His name sake. We are not there yet today as far as being hated by all nations, but we are getting closer. Verse ten continues, And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. There are many people offended by Christianity today, and they may hate Christians, but we cannot respond with hate for them, but it seems to me that we too often do. Verse eleven declares, And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. We know that there are many false prophets today who deceive many people, but there always have been. Verse twelve adds, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Jesus said that because iniquity would abound that the love of many people for God would grow cold. How often do you hear someone say that if there is a God, why does He allow all this evil to exist, and that they cannot believe in a God Who does? Verse thirteen continues, But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. I believe that anyone who truly puts his or her faith in Christ as Savior and Lord will indeed endure to the end. Nothing will separate us from God if we are truly His. Verse fourteen declares, 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. The only sure fact that will mark the end of time is the gospel being preached in all nations. I am not sure if this has happened yet or not, but if we are looking for a sign of the end of time, this is the only one that matters.
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