20 But when ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that
her desolation is at hand. 21 Then let them that are in Judæa flee
unto the mountains; and let them that are in the midst of her
depart out; and let not them that are in the country enter
therein. 22 For these are days of vengeance, that all things are
written may be fulfilled. 23 Woe unto them that are with child and
them that give suck in those days! for there shall be great
distress upon the land, and wrath unto this people. 24 And they
shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into
all the nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
As our Lord scanned the future he now fixed his eyes first of all upon
that dreadful event which in some of its features foreshadowed the end of
that age which he had been describing. On more than one occasion he had
predicted the destruction of Jerusalem. He now declared that the definite
sign of the descending doom would be the siege of the city: “When ye see
Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at
hand.” He warned those within the city to flee to the mountains and
declared that those who were in the country should not turn to the city
for safety, because the days of vengeance will have come and the
prophecies of punishment upon the guilty nation will be about to be
fulfilled. It would be a time of unparalleled distress and horror; as
Jesus declared, “They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be
led captive into all the nations.” How literally his words were fulfilled
is a familiar fact of history. It would be difficult to recall another
scene of equally hideous carnage. It is estimated that a million Jews fell
victims to the slaughter and outrage of the soldiers under Titus, and that
unnumbered thousands were led as captives to Egypt and other lands.
Last of all Jesus predicted that Jerusalem would be “trodden down of the
Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” The first phrase
denotes something more than mere domination and Gentile control; it
indicates something of indignity and disgrace and humiliation and this
state of the holy city is to continue until “the times of the Gentiles”
are fulfilled, which probably means during all the ages of Gentile
control, and further, during all the seasons of grace in which the gospel
is being preached to the Gentile world, indeed, until the return of our
Lord. “Gentiles” are plainly contrasted with Jews, and not with
Christians. The mere fact that the sacred city has passed into control of
Christian powers is no proof that the age is near its end; for this end
there will be definite signs as Jesus himself proceeded to declare.
However, as one turns from this lurid picture of the destruction of the
historic city, and remembers how exactly these prophecies came to pass, it
should be with a new confidence in the further predictions made by Christ
and with a new belief that the more significant events of which he next
proceeded to speak will be fulfilled likewise with exactness and in all
their promised glory.