For many will come in (on the strength of) My name [appropriating the name which belongs to Me], saying, I am the Christ (the Messiah), and they will lead many astray.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place;
All this is but the beginning [the early pains] of the birth pangs [of the intolerable anguish].
Then they will hand you over to suffer affliction and tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.
- And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error.
- And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,
- But he who endures to the end will be saved.
- And this good news of the kingdom (the Gospel) will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then will come the end.
The Abomination of Desolation
So when you see the appalling sacrilege [the abomination that astonishes and makes desolate], spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place–let the reader take notice and ponder and consider and heed [this]–[Dan_9:27; Dan_11:31; Dan_12:11]
Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;
Let him who is on the housetop not come down and go into the house to take anything;
And let him who is in the field not turn back to get his overcoat.
And alas for the women who are pregnant and for those who have nursing babies in those days!
Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
- For then there will be great tribulation (affliction, distress, and oppression) such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now–no, and never will be [again]. [Dan_12:1; Joe_2:2]
- And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would endure and survive, but for the sake of the elect (the Creator’s chosen ones) those days will be shortened.
If anyone says to you then, Behold, here is the Messiah! or, There He is!—do not believe it.
