Signs of the End of the Age (Verse 3 of Matthew 24 to verse 14)
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
When the temple was destroyed in AD 70, the Romans slaughtered thousands of Jews. Those who did not die immediately were enslaved and sent to toil in the mines of Egypt. Others were dispersed to arenas throughout the Empire to be butchered for the amusement of the public.
A few Judean strongholds remained at Herodium, Machaerus, and Masada. Both Herodium and Machaerus fell to the Roman army within the next two years, with Masada remaining as the final stronghold of the Judean rebels. In 73 CE, the Romans breached the walls of Masada and captured the fortress, with Josephus claiming that all the Jewish defenders had committed mass suicide prior to the entry of the Romans.
Titus and his soldiers celebrated their victory when they returned to Rome by parading the Menorah and Table of the Bread of God’s Presence through the streets. Up until this parading, these items had only ever been seen by the high priest of the Temple.
When we die, that is the end of the world for us (this world). When the Temple was destroyed it was the end of the world for practically every living Jew, and it could be said it was the end of the Jewish Nation as it was then.
The disciple asked: “When shall these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
Had they realised it, Jesus was warning the disciples that the end of the world would come for them in their generation. The Jews themselves killed His disciples. His warnings about the false prophets, the deceivers who would come in His name, the wars i.e. the happenings of AD70, nation rising against nation, (Rome against Jew) and in verse 9 he actually said, “they shall kill you.”
This was the end of the world for practically every living Jew. The rest of the chapter tells of the present day and finally Christs return.