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Introduction “Tell us,” the disciples asked after their master predicted a future calamity in the city of Jerusalem, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). Even after the death and resurrection of Jesus, his followers found themselves with at least a few unanswered queries about the end of the world as they knew it. Gathered on the Mount of Olives, the disciples questioned Jesus about how and when he would consummate his kingdom: “Lord,” they wondered, “are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). These disciples weren’t the first or the last to ask such questions. In every generation since sin entered the cosmos, God’s people seem to have wondered, “When and how will God make things right in the world?”
The Prophecy of the Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by James Tissot (1886–1894)
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