Mark hath the same, Mark 13:6 Luke saith, Luke 21:8, Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not after them. Our Saviour seemeth to have given this as a sign common both to the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, though possibly before the destruction of Jerusalem, while the Jews were in expectation of a Messiah as a temporal prince or deliverer, there were more of them than afterward, for every one who could get a party together to colour his sedition and rebellion, gave out himself to be the Christ. Of this number are said to have been Theudas, and Judas of Galilee, mentioned by Gamaliel, Acts 5:36,Acts 5:37. Amongst these some also reckon the Egyptian mentioned Acts 21:38, and Simon Magus, who gave out himself to be some great one, and the people accounted him the great power of God. Such there have been, and probably may be more toward the end of the world. Many were deceived by the impostors: Christ warns his disciples concerning them.

Mark hath this thus, Mark 13:9, But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. Luke saith, Luke 21:12,Luke 21:13, But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Our Saviour, knowing that his disciples’ minds still ran upon a secular kingdom, here calls off their thoughts by giving them a sign of his coming, an account of those persecutions and trials which they should undergo before his coming, either in his power to the destruction of the Jews, or in his glory at the last day: the afflictions specified are, a being hated of all nations, delivered up to councils, beating in the synagogues, casting into prisons, and being killed; all which happened to the disciples of Christ before the destruction of Jerusalem. The Christians were counted a sect every where spoken against, Acts 28:22. Stephen was stoned, Acts 7:59. James was killed with the sword, Acts 12:2. Paul and Silas were imprisoned, Acts 16:23. Paul five times received of the Jews forty stripes save one; he was thrice beaten with rods, once stoned, 2 Corinthians 11:24,2 Corinthians 11:25. He was brought before king Agrippa and Festus. Peter and John were called before the council, Acts 4:7; Acts 5:21. So as all these things happened before the destruction of Jerusalem, and this may be interpreted as a sign of that great destruction; but not of that only, for the text saith,
ye shall be hated of all nations, which came to pass afterward, when Christianity was persecuted by heathens for three hundred years together. Mark saith, this should be done for a testimony against them, that is, the persecutors. Luke saith, it shall turn to you for a testimony. The persecutions of Christians are,
1. A testimony against the persecutors, of their ingratitude, and cruelty, and hatred to the name of Christ.
2. They are a testimony to the persecuted, of their faith, and patience, and courage, &c.

Mark saith, Mark 13:12,Mark 13:13, The brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. Luke saith, Luke 21:16,Luke 21:17, And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake. Many shall be offended; the meaning is, shall turn apostates, stumbling at these great afflictions and persecutions for the gospel.
And shall betray one another. We read of several apostates in holy writ, such as Phigellus, Hermogenes, Demas, Hymeneus, Philetus, and others; but all things not being written that were done, we have no particular record of such treachery as is here mentioned. But it is no other than we may reasonably presume was done, though we had not been assured of it, to justify our Saviour’s prediction. There is no time of great persecution but proves a time of great apostasy and some treachery. It hath been a constant observation, that no hatred flames to that degree with hatred upon the account of religion. Nor is what our Saviour here predicted more than the history of all ages of the church have justified.

We have the same Mark 13:13. We also met with it before, Matthew 10:22. It is a promise to perseverance, especially to such perseverance as is joined with fortitude. He that shall not be tempted to apostasy through the afflictions of the gospel, but shall patiently and courageously endure all the sufferings which shall follow the profession of the gospel, shall be saved; if not preserved, and so saved with a temporal salvation, yet he shall be eternally saved.

So saith Mark, Mark 13:10. Some think that the end mentioned in the close of this verse refers to the destruction of Jerusalem; others, that it refers to the day of judgment. If we take world (as it is often taken) for the Gentiles in opposition to the Jews, synecdochically, the whole being put for a great part, it is most certain, that before Jerusalem was destroyed, the gospel, which is here called the gospel of the kingdom, either because it shows the way to the kingdom of God, or because it is that sacred instrument by which Christ subdueth men’s hearts to himself, was preached to the world, that is, to the Gentiles, and that to a great part of them. Paul alone had carried it from Jerusalem to Illyricum. The Romans’ faith was spoken of throughout the world, Romans 1:8. Paul saith it was preached to every creature, Colossians 1:23; Romans 10:18; Romans 15:16; Colossians 1:6; 1 Timothy 3:16. But others choose by the end here to understand the end of the world.

Mark saith, Mark 13:14, standing where it ought not. Here are two questions:
1. What is here meant by
the abomination of desolation.
2. What text in Daniel our Lord refers to.
As to the latter, there are three places in Daniel which mention it: Daniel 9:27, for the overspreading of abominations, or, as it is in the margin, with the abominable armies he shall make it desolate. Daniel 11:31, They shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. Daniel 12:11, From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up. Mr. Calvin thinks that the text in Daniel here referred to is that of Daniel 12:11. Others say that it is that of Daniel 9:27, contending that those two other texts speak of Antiochus, which is the very reason given by others to the contrary. It is of no great consequence to us to know which verse our Saviour refers to. Be it which it would, it was spoken of by Daniel the prophet; by which quotation our Saviour doth both give his testimony to that book, as a part of holy writ, and also lets his disciples know, that what he told them was but what was prophesied of, and so must have its accomplishment, and that the Jewish worship was to cease. As to the second question, amidst the great variety of notions about it, I take theirs to be the best who understand the abomination of desolation to be meant of the Roman armies, which being made up of idolatrous soldiers, and having with them many abominable images are therefore called the abomination; those words, of desolation are added, because they were to make Jerusalem desolate; and so St. Luke, who hath not these words, possibly gives us in other words the best interpretation of them, Luke 21:20; And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. When, saith our Lord, you shall see the abominable armies stand in the holy place, that is, upon the holy ground, (as all Judea was), whoso readeth those prophecies of the prophet Daniel, let him understand, that as through the righteous judgment of God he once suffered the holy place to be polluted by the abominable armies of Antiochus, which he foretold, so he will again suffer the holy place to be polluted by the abominable armies of the Romans, who shall make the holy place desolate, which was prophesied by the prophet Daniel as well as the former. Therefore, saith our Saviour, when you see the Roman armies pitch their tents before Jerusalem, be you then assured God will give Jerusalem into their hands, and then all that I have foretold shall come to pass.

Mark hath the same in effect, Mark 13:19,Mark 13:20. Luke speaks more particularly, Luke 21:23,Luke 21:24. 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 of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. These verses must be understood with reference to the Jewish nation, and whoso shall read in Josephus the history of the wars of the Jews, will easily agree there is nothing in all the foregoing Jewish story which we have recorded in Scripture like unto it; the final destruction of them by Titus was rather an abatement of miseries they suffered by the factions within themselves, than any thing else. And thus some think that God shortened those days of their misery by sending the Roman armies to quiet the seditions and factions amongst themselves, which were more cruel one to another. God promises to shorten these days for the elect’s sake that were amongst this sinful people. So that as the city was taken in less than six months, so was their whole country in less than eighteen months more. And if the Lord had not, in compassion to those amongst this people who belonged to his election of grace, shortened these days of calamity, both by sending the Roman armies to quiet their intestine divisions, and then giving these armies so quick a victory, none of the Jews would have been left alive, which indeed any one will judge that shall but read those histories.

Mark saith, Mark 13:24,Mark 13:25. In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
Luke saith, Luke 21:25,Luke 21:26 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are combing on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Interpreters are much divided in the sense of these words, whether they should be interpreted,
1. Of Christ’s coming to the last judgment, and the signs of that; or,
2. Concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.
Those who interpret it of the destruction of Jerusalem have the context to guide them, as also the reports of historians, of strange prodigies seen in the air and earth, before the taking of it; likewise the word immediately after, & c. But I am more inclinable to interpret them of the last judgment, and to think that our Saviour is now passed to satisfy the disciples about their other question, concerning the end of the world; for although Christ’s coming may sometimes signify that remarkable act of his providence in the destruction of his enemies, yet the next verses speaking of his coming with great power and glory, and of his coming with his angels, and with the sound of a trumpet, and gathering his elect from the four winds, the phrases are so like the phrases by which the Scripture expresses Christ’s coming to the last judgment, 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, and Christ speaking to his disciples asking of him as well about that as the destruction of Jerusalem, I should rather interpret this verse with reference to the last judgment, than the destruction of Jerusalem before spoken of, or at least that these signs should be understood common both to the one and the other, as divers of the other signs mentioned in this chapter are. Some think that the darkening of the sun and the moon here, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of heaven, are to be taken metaphorically, as signifying the great change there should be in the ecclesiastical and civil state of the Jews; and it is true that such kind of expressions do often in Scripture so signify, Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 24:23; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:31. But without doubt the literal sense is not to be excluded, whether we understand the text of the destruction of Jerusalem, or of his coming to his last judgment; for as historians tell of great prodigies seen before the former, so the apostle confirms us that there will be such things seen before the day of judgment, 2 Peter 3:10,2 Peter 3:12.

Mark addeth, Mark 13:32, neither the Son, but the Father. Of that day and hour, that is, the particular time when the heavens and the earth shall pass away, as he had before said, or when the end of the world shall be, which was one of the questions propounded to him by his disciples, Matthew 24:3.
Knoweth no man, no mere man, nor have men any reason to be troubled at it; for it is a piece of knowledge which the Father hath reserved in his own power, and his own pleasure, from the angels, who continually behold his face. Nay, I myself, as man, know it not. Nor is it more absurd, or derogating from the perfection of Christ, than for to say, that Christ, as man, was not omnipotent, or omniscient, &c. By the way, this gives a great check to the curiosity of men’s inquiries after the particular time or year when the world shall have an end, or the day of judgment begin, or be.