Matthew 24:8

The nations of the world one against another, and the Romans against the Jews, and the Jews against them: and kingdom against kingdom; which is a synonymous phrase with the former, and what the Jews call, twnwv twlm, "different words", expressing the same thing, often used in their commentaries: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places; of the world: and there shall be famines: especially in Judea, as in the times of Claudius Caesar, and at the siege of Jerusalem: and troubles; public ones of various sorts, as tumults, seditions, murders, &c. This word is omitted in the Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions. These are the beginnings of sorrows; as of a woman with child, as the word signifies; whose pains before, though they are the beginnings and pledges of what shall come after, are not to be compared with those that immediately precede, and attend the birth of the child: and so all those troubles, which should be some time before the destruction of Jerusalem, would be but small, but light afflictions, the beginning of sorrows, in comparison of what should immediately go before, and attend that desolation; See Gill on "Matthew 24:7", See Gill on "Matthew 24:8". Mark 13:9 Ver. 9. But take heed to yourselves,....

. For many shall come in my name,.... Taking upon them the name of the Messiah: saying, I am [Christ]; the word "Christ", is rightly supplied from Matthew 24:5; otherwise in the original it is only, "I am"; which the Persic version doubles, reading it, "I am indeed, I am": he that was promised and expected, the true Messiah; he that was to come: and shall deceive many; See Gill on "Matthew 24:5". Mark 13:7 Ver. 7. And when ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars,.... Among the Jews themselves, and with the Romans: be not troubled; keep your place, abide by your work, go on preaching the Gospel, without distressing yourselves about the event of things: for [such things] must needs be: being decreed by God, foretold by Christ, and made necessary by the sins of the people: but the end shall not be yet; of the temple, of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish state and nation; See Gill on "Matthew 24:6". Mark 13:8 Ver. 8. For nation shall rise against nation,....

Earthquakes in divers places, or from place to place, pursuing those that flee from them, as they did from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, Zech. xiv. 5. Great desolations have sometimes been made by earthquakes, of late and formerly; they have been the death of many, and the terror of more. In the apocalyptic visions, it is observable, that earthquakes bode good, and no evil, to the church, Rev. vi. 12. Compare Rev. vi. 15; xi. 12, 13, 19; xvi. 17-19. When God shakes terribly the earth (Isa. ii. 21), it is to shake the wicked out of it (Job xxxviii. 13), and to introduce the desire of all nations, Hag. ii. 6, 7. But here they are spoken of as dreadful judgments, and yet but the beginning of sorrows, odinon--of travailing pains, quick, violent, yet tedious too. Note, When God judgeth, he will overcome; when he begins in wrath, he will make a full end, 1 Sam. iii. 12. When we look forward to the eternity of misery that is before the obstinate refusers of Christ and his gospel, we may truly say, concerning the greatest temporal judgments, "They are but the beginning of sorrows; bad as things are with them, there are worse behind." IV. He foretels the persecution of his own people and ministers, and a general apostasy and decay in religion thereupon, v. 9, 10, 12. Observe, 1. The cross itself foretold, v. 9. Note, Of all future events we are as much concerned, though commonly as little desirous, to know of our own sufferings as of any thing else.

[Bible] and ye — ye fill up the measure of your fathers. `Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna? `Because of this, lo, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and of them ye will kill and crucify, and of them ye will scourge in your synagogues, and will pursue from city to city; that on you may come all the righteous blood being poured out on the earth from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar: verily I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. `Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that art killing the prophets, and stoning those sent unto thee, how often did I will to gather thy children together, as a hen doth gather her own chickens under the wings, and ye did not will. Lo, left desolate to you is your house; for I say to you, ye may not see me henceforth, till ye may say, Blessed [is] he who is coming in the name of the Lord.` Chapter 24 And having gone forth, Jesus departed from the temple, and his disciples came near to show him the buildings of the temple, and Jesus said to them, `Do ye not see all these? verily I say to you, There may not be left here a stone upon a stone, that shall not be thrown down.` And when he is sitting on the mount of the Olives, the disciples came near to him by himself, saying, `Tell us, when shall these be? and what [is] the sign of thy presence, and of the full end of the age?` And Jesus answering said to them, `Take heed that no one may lead you astray, for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they shall lead many astray, and ye shall begin to hear of wars, and reports of wars; see, be not troubled, for it behoveth all [these] to come to pass, but the end is not yet. `For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places; and all these [are] the beginning of sorrows;

[Bible] `For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places; and all these [are] the beginning of sorrows; then they shall deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all the nations because of my name; and then shall many be stumbled, and they shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. `And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray; and because of the abounding of the lawlessness, the love of the many shall become cold; but he who did endure to the end, he shall be saved; and this good news of the reign shall be proclaimed in all the world, for a testimony to all the nations; and then shall the end arrive. `Whenever, therefore, ye may see the abomination of the desolation, that was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever is reading let him observe) then those in Judea — let them flee to the mounts; he on the house-top — let him not come down to take up any thing out of his house; and he in the field — let him not turn back to take his garments. `And wo to those with child, and to those giving suck in those days; and pray ye that your flight may not be in winter, nor on a sabbath; for there shall be then great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world till now, no, nor may be. And if those days were not shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but because of the chosen, shall those days be shortened. `Then if any one may say to you, Lo, here [is] the Christ! or here! ye may not believe; for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, also the chosen. Lo, I did tell you beforehand. `If therefore they may say to you, Lo, in the wilderness he is, ye may not go forth; lo, in the inner chambers, ye may not believe;

(See 2 Corinthians 8:1-3.) Luke 21:5-38. C HRIST ' S P ROPHECY OF THE D ESTRUCTION OF J ERUSALEM AND W ARNINGS TO P REPARE FOR H IS S ECOND C OMING , S UGGESTED BY I T —H IS D AYS AND N IGHTS DURING H IS L AST W EEK. 5-7. (See on Matthew 24:1-3.) 8. the time —of the Kingdom, in its full glory. go … not … after them —"I come not so very soon" (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2) [S TIER ]. 9-11. not terrified —(See Luke 21:19; Isaiah 8:11-14). end not by and by —or immediately, not yet (Matthew 24:6; Mr 13:7): that is, "Worse must come before all is over." 10. Nation, &c.—Matthew and Mark (Matthew 24:8; Mr 13:8) add, "All these are the beginning of sorrows," or travail pangs, to which heavy calamities are compared (Jeremiah 4:31, &c.). 12. brought before, &c.—The book of Acts verifies all this. 13. for a testimony —an opportunity of bearing testimony. 18. not a hair … perish —He had just said (Luke 21:16) they should be put to death; showing that this precious promise is far above immunity from mere bodily harm, and furnishing a key to the right interpretation of the ninety-first Psalm, and such like. Matthew adds the following (Matthew 24:12): "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many," the many or, the most—the generality of professed disciples—"shall wax cold." But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

[Christian Classics] ## A. And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth. ## B. And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound; and when the time of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fullness of my gospel; ## C. but they receive it not, for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men; ## D. and in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; and there shall be men standing in that generation that shall not pass, until they shall see an overflowing scourge, for a desolating sickness shall come over the land; ## E. but my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God, and die. ## F. And there shall be earthquakes, also, in divers places and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword one against another, and they will kill one another. ## A. And now, when I the Lord had spoken these words unto my disciples, they were troubled; ## B. and I said unto them, Be not troubled, for when all these things shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled;

more immediate rapport with a supersensible world and in any case can sufficiently explain the belief in such rapport, without the hypothesis of intentional deception etc. There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy (Shakespeare). Cf. art. Modern Superstition in Tijdspiegel Jan. 1895. Holy Scripture seems not to deny all reality to such phenomena, Genesis 41:8; Exodus 7:8; Deuteronomy 13:1, 2; Matthew 7:22, 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Timothy 3:8; Revelation 13:13-15. But religion in O. and N. T. decidedly wants to have nothing in common with all these religious phenomena. It stands over against them in principle. It neither recognizes nor tolerates them, it forbids them most emphatically Leviticus 19:26, 31, 20:27; Revelation 21:8, 22:15. Prophets and apostles protest against it most strongly, in order not to be placed on the same line with the pagan soothsayers and sorcerers. There may sometimes, e.g. in the appearances to the patriarchs, be agreement of form, but there is difference in essence. Theophany, mantic, magic are, like sacrifice, temple, priesthood, cultus, etc., essential elements in religion. They therefore occur in all religions, also in that of Israel, and in Christianity. The Christian religion also has its sacrifice Ef. 5:2, its priest Hebr. 7, its temple 1 Corinthians 3:16, etc. The distinction between Christianity and the other religions does not lie in this, that all these

## Proposed Versification Source Matthew 2:1–9 JST Matthew 3:19–28 Matthew 5:1–56 JST Matthew 5:1–50 Matthew 6:1–39 JST Matthew 6:1–39 Matthew 7:1–40 JST Matthew 7:1–37 Matthew 21:1–24 JST Matthew 21:34b–56 Matthew 24:1–63 Joseph Smith—Matthew Luke 3:1–26 JST Luke 3:1–20 Luke 12:1–23 JST Luke 12:40–58 Luke 17:1–8 JST Luke 17:34–40 John 1:1–40 JST John 1:1–34 ## “The Book of Abraham” In Elder McConkie’s proposal, the text of the book of Abraham was to remain essentially the same as in previous editions of the Pearl of Great Price but with new versification. The column on the left gives Elder McConkie’s pro posed new versification. The column on the right is the current 1981/2013 versification. Appendix III | 165 ## Proposed Versification Source Abraham 1:1–47 Abraham 1:1–31 Abraham 2:1–33 Abraham 2:1–25 Abraham 3:1–41 Abraham 3:1–28 Abraham 4:1–38 Abraham 4:1–31 Abraham 5:1–26 Abraham 5:1–21 ## “The Testimony of Joseph Smith” In Elder McConkie’s proposal, Joseph Smith’s 1838 history was to remain canonized but with new versification. As above, the column on the left gives Elder McConkie’s proposed new versification. The column on the right is the current 1981/2013 versification of Joseph Smith—History.

But do ye take heed: behold, I have told you all things beforehand. But in those days, after that distress, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give its light; and the stars of heaven shall be falling down, and the powers which are in the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall they see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory; and then shall he send his angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from end of earth to end of heaven. But learn the parable from the fig-tree: when its branch already becomes tender and puts forth the leaves, ye know that the summer is near. Thus also ye, when ye see these things happening, know that it is near, at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall in no wise pass away, till all these things take place. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall in no wise pass away. But of that day or of that hour no one knows, neither the angels who are in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father. Take heed, watch and pray, for ye do not know when the time is: [it is] as a man gone out of the country, having left his house and given to his bondmen the authority, and to each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper that he should watch. Watch therefore, for ye do not know when the master of the house comes: evening, or midnight, or cock-crow, or morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. But what I say to you, I say to all, Watch. Chapter 14