Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.—Luke 21:36.
THESE words of our Master were uttered at the conclusion of his memorable discourse to those in the Temple at Jerusalem, spoken almost at the close of his faithful ministry, but a few days prior to the crucifixion, and they seem to contain, as it were, the "conclusion of the whole matter."
At this time we find the Master plied with sinister questions by deceitful followers, and sharply catechized by those in authority, the chief priests, scribes, and elders, all of whom were anxiously seeking to entrap him by word or deed, that they might have excuse to "deliver him up;" but Jesus, through his divine understanding and wisdom, was enabled to discern the deceit and craftiness of their questionings, and put all to silence with the word of Truth. He then tells his hearers of the signs which shall manifest themselves during the "days to come," of the troublous times of the latter days, of the wars, famines, and pestilences, and of the final destruction awaiting that which to them was deemed the manifestation of substantiality itself, the gorgeous and massive Temple in which they were assembled, and likewise of the desolation which awaited even the city in which they dwelt.
