(Mark 13:5-23)

Jesus then painted a very dark picture of the terrible days that lay ahead for the disciples and for all the people of Jerusalem.

• False deliverers would appear (Mark 13:6)
• There would be wars and rumors of wars (Mark 13:7)
• There would be earthquakes, famin, and various sorrows (Mark 13:8)
• The Temple itself would be profaned before it was destroyed (Mark 13:14)
• The only wise thing for them to do would be to flee (Mark 13:15). Indeed, Jesus said, as he described the horrors of the days to come, If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive (Mark 13:20)

Just as Jesus's prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem was to be literally fulfilled, so his prophecy of suffering and disaster was historically fulfilled exactly as he foretold. The years immediately preceding the fall of Jerusalem (66-70 AD) were possibly the darkest days in the history of any nation.

Some of the leaders supported the Roman government, even going so far as to proclaim Vespasian the emperor their deliverer or messiah. Others, supported the revolt against Rome as it was led by John Giscala of Galilee, Eleazer of Idumea, and Simon ben Giorgia of Jerusalem. These leaders also posed as deliverers (messiahs) though their motivating drive was personal ambition and material gain. For four year, the nation was in a seething turmoil.

The effects of this internal strive were appalling. Josephus describes the prevailing poverty and suffering in grim and graphic words:

What was otherwise worthy of reverence was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their mouths; and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers as to their infants. When they saw any house shut up, this was a signal that the people within had gotten some food. Whereupon, they broke upon the doors and ran it, and took pieces that they were eating out of their very throats -Book VI, p. 799.

Jesus pointed out that, besides endirung the terrors of the siege of Jerusalem, his disciples would be called upon to endure persecution at the hands of the religious leaders of the day. They would be summoned before rulers and kings (as was Paul, Acts 25); they would be brought before the members of the Sanhedrin (as were Peter and John, Acts 4:6). In some cases the followers of Christ would be betrayed to the political authorities by members of their own families (Mark 13:12).

In all of this suffering, Jesus told them, they were not to be afraid; God would give them the words to speak in the hour of trial (Mark 13:11). They were not to believe that these evil days were the immediate portent of their Lord's return, for Jesus said, At that time ifa nyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ! or Look, there he is! do not believe it. (Mark 13:12)