Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-24

Jesus closed His ministry to the
nation that He loved, by prediction
Of their coming doom. He spoke as
prophet who saw the fastening Juog-
ments Of God that would destroy Jeru-
salem end cause the walls and towers OF
its sacred temple to totter and be com
pletely destroyed. There is q pathos IN
his final message, delivered within the
temple, where the sacrifices and services
had all been typical Of His ministry,
that He predicted would cease. 1t IL
seen especially in His reference to
Jerusalem-so blind, and yet Gods holy
city, for whose welfare He had worked
and yearned to save, had exhausted its
opportunities and the final Judgment
could not be stayed. Jerusalem's doom
was rapidly approaching and the temple
was destined to become -deSolate.
Jewish historians narrate the story OF
the temples complete destruction in
accordance with the Masters prediction.
Titus planned to save the noble building
and gave orders to that effect. A fren-
zied soldier sent firebrand through one
of the temple windows and 1t soon be-
came sheet of fire. Josephus tells US
of the heroic efforts Of the Roman
soldiers and the earnestness OF Titus In
trying to save the temple, but the
Roman commander and his army could
not save it from the flames. He then
ordered the city completely destroyed,
so a Roman officiaI without any regard
for the Scriptures literally fulfilled the
Masters prediction concerning the doom
of Jerusalem and the destruction of the
temple.
while resting upon the Mount of
Olives and viewing the city and the
stately temple, Jesus was questioned by
some of His apostles who could not
understand how these events were to
take place. They were anxious to know
when these predictions were to take
place. In answering them our Lord
delivered the remarkable prophecy con-
corning the future of His kingdom that
we are considering In this weeks lesson.
Naturally the Master tried to fill His
apostles with courage, so that they could
face the coming trials, by assuring them
of His return. Space prevents minute
exposition of the whole prophecy. We
can only touch upon the central truth
of His prophecy concerning His second
coming Our natural desire Is to under
stand the coming events precisely. The
study Of things to come Is fascinating,
able to unravel even this marvellous
prophecy In q way that viii satisfy
everybody.
ChrlSes Second Coming.
Christ's second coming is one of the
most prominent truths in the New
Testament. Jesus drew from the
teachings Of the prophets in His refer
ences to His return. The darkening
of the sun, moon and stars were bor-
rowed from Isaiah and Ezekiel. Daniel
predicted the coming Of the Christ
upon the clouds. He also predicted the
time would come when the daily sac
rifices would be taken away from the
Temple, land the abomination that
maketh desolate'' would be set up. It
is marked with distinctness the awful
time of Jacobs trouble, referred to by
jeremiah. The terrible things described
as happening In Palestine harmonizes
with those during the last half of Dam
iel's week Of seven years. At the close
of that period of tribulatfon, we are to
look for the CON 'ag Of the Son of Man
in glory. This prophecy kindled hope
in the apostles thought, and, as a re-
suit, the early church were called star
gazers because they were always look
ing up into the heavens to see the
Lords return.
We are warned to be always prepared
for the Lords second coming. His re-
turn with power and great glory will
be preceded by extraordinary phenomena
in the physical heavens One of the
assurances that Christ viii return is
found In the unique preservation of the
Jewish race through all the ages that
have interviewed since Christ predicted
that they (this generation meaning the