Matthew 24:1-31 | Mark 13:1-27 | Luke 21:5-27

These passages mark a portion of (what has been called) the Lord’s Olivet discourse, when He tells His disciples of many things that will happen in the last days.  He first tells them the massive temple in front of them will cease to exist, with not even one stone left upon another, which was literally fulfilled almost 40 years from that time, when Titus Vespasian sacked Jerusalem and burned the temple to the ground, but then dismantled the temple stone by stone in order to recover all of the gold that melted in the fire (this gold ended up funding the construction of the Coliseum in Rome).

Jesus goes on to describe a time of the worst persecution in the history of the world, which will occur during the great tribulation at the end of the age.  Many will suffer and die during this time, but before all life is extinguished, Jesus will appear with great glory in the sky, and will execute judgement upon satan, and the enemies of God.