Introduction: in understanding this passage, we have to be very careful not to read into the passage more than Christ was saying, nor to miss what He was saying. Both mistakes were made by religionists concerning Christ's first coming (Matthew 2:4-6). When Christ said that the temple would be destroyed, they assumed it would happen at the same time that He returned and ended the world, thereby restoring the kingdom to Israel. Christ, however, gave no time-table. He did not say when the three events would occur. What He did was give signs that will occur before the events, signs that point toward His return, toward the end of Jerusalem, and the end of the world. (Note: The word "world" is a translation of the Greek word "aionios" The church age ends with the Second Coming. The world will not end until after the 1000 year reign of Christ, which starts with His Third Coming...when He comes to fight the battle of Armageddon, and set up a righteous throne in Jerusalem. It is important to keep in mind that most of the signs happen all through history. But there is this difference: the signs increase and intensify right before the end of Jerusalem and of the world. There will be a period known as "the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:8), and a period launched by "the abomination of desolation" known as the "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world" (Matthew 24:21). Events that lead to the great prophecies (v.1-4).

• Sign 1: false messiahs (v.5).
• Sign 2: world violence (v.6-7).
• Sign 3: natural disasters (v.7-8).
• Sign 4: severe religious persecution (v.9).
• Sign 5: terrible apostasy - betrayal and division (v.10).
• Sign 6: the rising of many false leaders - offering false hope (v.11).
• Sign 7: a great falling away - sin increasing and love growing cold (v.12).
• Sign 8: some enduring and being saved (v.13).
• Sign 9: world evangelism (v.14).

This will set the stage for the Rapture and Resurrection coming.