common in gospel times, yet God makes use of temporal judgments also. Christ tells them what
hard things they should suffer for his name's sake, and encourages them to bear up under their trials,
and to go on in their work, notwithstanding the opposition they would meet with. God will stand
by you, and own you, and assist you. This was remarkably fulfilled after the pouring out of the
Spirit, by whom Christ gave his disciples wisdom and utterance. Though we may be losers for
Christ, we shall not, we cannot be losers by him, in the end. It is our duty and interest at all times,
especially in perilous, trying times, to secure the safety of our own souls. It is by Christian patience
we keep possession of our own souls, and keep out all those impressions which would put us out
of temper. We may view the prophecy before us much as those Old Testament prophecies, which,
together with their great object, embrace, or glance at some nearer object of importance to the
church. Having given an idea of the times for about thirty-eight years next to come, Christ shows
what all those things would end in, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the utter dispersion
of the Jewish nation; which would be a type and figure of Christ's second coming. The scattered
Jews around us preach the truth of Christianity; and prove, that though heaven and earth shall pass
away, the words of Jesus shall not pass away. They also remind us to pray for those times when
neither the real, nor the spiritual Jerusalem, shall any longer be trodden down by the Gentiles, and
when both Jews and Gentiles shall be turned to the Lord. When Christ came to destroy the Jews,
he came to redeem the Christians that were persecuted and oppressed by them; and then had the
churches rest. When he comes to judge the world, he will redeem all that are his from their troubles.
So fully did the Divine judgements come upon the Jews, that their city is set as an example before
us, to show that sins will not pass unpunished; and that the terrors of the Lord, and his threatenings
against impenitent sinners, will all come to pass, even as his word was true, and his wrath great
upon Jerusalem.
Verses 29–38
Christ tells his disciples to observe the signs of the times, which they might judge by. He charges
them to look upon the ruin of the Jewish nation as near. Yet this race and family of Abraham shall
not be rooted out; it shall survive as a nation, and be found as prophesied, when the Son of man
shall be revealed. He cautions them against being secure and sensual. This command is given to
all Christ's disciples, Take heed to yourselves, that ye be not overpowered by temptations, nor
betrayed by your own corruptions. We cannot be safe, if we are carnally secure. Our danger is, lest
the day of death and of judgment should come upon us when we are not prepared. Lest, when we
are called to meet our Lord, that be the furthest from our thoughts, which ought to be nearest our
hearts. For so it will come upon the most of men, who dwell upon the earth, and mind earthly things
only, and have no converse with heaven. It will be a terror and a destruction to them. Here see what
should be our aim, that we may be accounted worthy to escape all those things; that when the
judgements of God are abroad, we may not be in the common calamity, or it may not be that to us
which it is to others. Do you ask how you may be found worthy to stand before Christ at that day?
Those who never yet sought Christ, let them now go unto him; those who never yet were humbled
for their sins, let them now begin; those who have already begun, let them go forward and be kept
humbled. Watch therefore, and pray always. Watch against sin; watch in every duty, and make the
most of every opportunity to do good. Pray always: those shall be accounted worthy to live a life
of praise in the other world, who live a life of prayer in this world. May we begin, employ, and