New Testament in a Year

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple^(A)

13 While Jesus^[a] was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples told him, “Look, Teacher! What stones! And what buildings!”

² “Do you see these large buildings?” Jesus responded. “Not even a single stone here will be left on top of another that won’t be demolished.”

Cults, Revolutions, Famines, and Earthquakes^(B)

³ As Jesus^[b] was sitting on the Mount of Olives facing the Temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew were asking him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what is to be the sign when these things will be put into effect?”

⁵ Jesus began by telling them, “See to it that no one deceives you. ⁶ Many will come in my name, proclaiming, ‘I AM,’ and they will deceive many people.^{[c] 7} But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t panic. These things must take place, but the end won’t have come yet, ⁸ because nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Furthermore, there will be earthquakes and famines in various places. These things are only a beginning of agonies.”

Future Persecution and Evangelism^(C)

⁹ “As for yourselves, be on your guard! People^[d] will hand you over to local councils, and you will be beaten in their synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings in order to testify to them because of me. ¹⁰ But first, the gospel must be proclaimed to all nations.^{[e] 11} When they take you away and hand you over for trial, don’t worry ahead of time about what you will say. Instead, say whatever is given to you at that time, because it won’t be you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. ¹² Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³ You will be hated continuously by everyone on account of my name. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.”

Signs of the End^(D)

¹⁴ “So when you see the destructive desecration standing where it should not be (let the reader take note),^[f] then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ Anyone who’s on his housetop must not come down and go into his house to take anything out of it, ¹⁶ and the one who’s in the field must not turn back to get his coat.

¹⁷ “How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days! ¹⁸ Pray that it may not be in winter, ¹⁹ because those days will be a time of suffering,^[g] a kind that has not happened from the beginning of creation—which God himself created—until now, and certainly will never happen again. ²⁰ If the Lord had not shortened those days, no one^[h] would survive. But for the sake of the elect whom he has chosen, he has shortened those days.