that the desolation thereof is nigh.... For these be the days of
vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled....
for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this
people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be
led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be
fulfilled.--Luke xxi, 20-24.
Again He said:--
Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 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. For nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers
places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. 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. And then shall many be
offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved. 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.--Matt. xxiv, 4-14.
In these two passages Christ foretold in plain terms, without veil or
covering, the things that must come to pass before the coming of the Son
of Man. During the centuries that have elapsed since Christ spoke, every
one of these signs has been fulfilled. In the last part of each passage He
mentions an event that shall mark the time of the coming--in one case the
ending of the Jewish exile and the restoration of Jerusalem, and in the
other the preaching of the gospel in all the world. It is startling to
find that both of these signs are being literally fulfilled in our own
times. If these parts of the prophecy are as true as the rest, it follows
that we must be living now in the "time of the end" of which Christ spoke.
Muhammad also mentions certain signs which will persist until the Day of
Resurrection. In the Qur'an we read:--
When Allah said: "O Jesus! Verily I will cause thee to die, and
exalt the
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