As Christ had frequently denounced the destruction of the temple, his disciples, surprised that so beautiful an edifice should be reduced to nothing, wish on that account to shew him the grandeur and magnificence of it; upon which Christ exclaimed: _There shall not remain a stone upon a stone. (Theo... [ Continue Reading ]
_When shall these things be? The miseries that took place previously to the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, were a figure of the extreme calamity that will happen before the last day, in the reign of Antichrist: hence Jesus Christ speaketh indifferently of both. (Bristow)_... [ Continue Reading ]
At the destruction of Jerusalem there appeared many impostors, many who professed themselves to be the Christ, and assured the populace that their delivery was at hand. And in the Church many heresiarchs started up, and many came in the name of Christ; the first of these was Simon Magus, mentioned i... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the synagogues, or assemblies. The word is here taken for assemblies of judges, and of justice. --- For a testimony to them; i.e. that you may bear witness of me and my doctrine, and also against them. (Witham) --- Some solicitude perhaps had seized upon the minds of the disciples, when they wer... [ Continue Reading ]
Ven. Bede here gives a beautiful illustration of this passage in a spiritual sense. When, says he, we see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, that is, when we behold heresies and crimes reigning where we ought to see truth and virtue flourish, then let those who are in Judea,... [ Continue Reading ]
Jospehus, the Jewish historian, relates the calamities that befell unhappy Jerusalem, about thirty-seven years after the death of Jesus Christ, which verified to the very letter the prediction: _there shall be such tribulations as were not from the beginning. (St. Augustine)_... [ Continue Reading ]
This may be explained in a more general sense of the persecution of Antichrist, which will be dreadful beyond description, and executed in every part of the world. The time however allowed to him and his wicked agents to tread under foot the holy city, (Apocalypse xi. 2.) i.e. the Church of Christ,... [ Continue Reading ]
In the day of judgment the luminaries of heaven shall be darkened, not by the privation of their light, but by the approach of the true light of the world, i.e. the great Judge. And what cause for wonder can there be, that man should be terrified at the thoughts of the last day, when the angelic pow... [ Continue Reading ]
But how can the Son be ignorant of that last day? Were this the case, we must thence conclude that his nature was imperfect: since he was under the necessity of a second coming, and yet was ignorant when that time should be. But we must remember, that the meaning of this sentence is not, that Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
Some will perhaps think, that it would have been much better, if the Almighty had not left the hour of death uncertain; as that case, they would not have been so solicitous with regard to its arrival. But St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and other saints assure us, on the contrary, that it is a very grea... [ Continue Reading ]
_At even, at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning. These are generally referred to the different ages of man's life; infancy, youth, manhood, and old age. we are exhorted to be always in readiness, for we know not at what hour the Judge will come. (Nicholas of Lyra) --- We are taught... [ Continue Reading ]