Lord leaves no room for it between the Tribulation and His personal appearing. The Tribulation ends with

His coming. "IMMEDIATELY," He says! Surely if He wished us to look for a Millenium of glory without

Him, and before He comes, here was the time to mention it, here was the place to speak of it. But not only

does He not do so, but He does the very opposite. In stead of describing His coming as following upon a

period of peace and glory amongst the nations, He puts it "Immediately after the Tribulation of those days,"

and as succeeding "distress of nations with perplexity."

Those who think that in St. Matt. and Mark the Saviour refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, are compelled

to "interpret" Matt. xxiv. 30, of Titus and his armies:-- "They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds

of heaven with power and great glory." They call this "prophetic language," as though "prophetic

language" were a totally different language from all other language. And so it must be if the coming of Titus

was indeed the "lightning" of Matt. xxiv. 27, which "cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the

west"! But surely this very interpretation condemns itself, and the whole system which is built upon it! For

if verse 30 "then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,"

means the coming of Titus with his armies, then in Matt. xxvi. 64, Jesus must have meant the same when He

said to His judges," Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in

the clouds of heaven." And He must have "spoken blasphemy" and been "guilty of death," because He

made Himself equal to Titus! Such treatment of Scripture stands self-condemned; for it leaves no room at all

for any future advent of Christ, in a prophecy which was an express answer to the Question, "What shall be

the sign of THY coming?"

Again, Jesus said (Luke xxi. 28) "Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh." But in what way was

the coming of Titus a ground for such a lifting up the head, or for such a looking for redemption!

And, note further, that this lifting up of their heads is caused by no spread of gospel light and peace

amongst the nations. On the contrary, there is the greatest "distress of nations with perplexity," "and then"

-- the very next thing is (verse 27) "THEN shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and

great glory."

Even when Jesus does speak about the preaching the Gospel, He particularly informs us that it is only "for a

witness to all nations" (Matt. xxiv. 14, and Mark xiii. 10), and not for the conversion of all nations.

And when he speaks of the setting up of "the Abomination of Desolation" (Matt. xxiv. 15, and Mark xiii. 14),

He refers to the Prophet Daniel. But it is clear from Daniel xii. that this must be still future, for speaking of

that same time of trouble the interpreting Angel says to Daniel (xii. 1) "At that time shall Michael stand up,

the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as

never was since there was a nation even to that same time: AND AT THAT TIME THY PEOPLE SHALL BE

DELIVERED." Well, at the time when Titus came, Daniel's people were destroyed! and if that can be

interpreted to mean "delivered" then language may mean anything and nothing, and there is an end of the

whole matter!

There is one point, however, that does pre sent an apparent difficulty in Matt. xxiv. 34, Mark xiii. 30, and Luke

xxi. 32, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." It is quite true

that the word "generation" is used not merely of a period of so many years, but it means, even as in English,

a race, or a stock, especially in its moral character. "God is in the generation of the righteous" (Ps. xiv. 5);

"This is the generation of them that seek Him" (Ps. xxiv. 6); "The generation of the upright shall be blessed"

(Ps. cxii. 2); "The children of this world are in their generation wiser than children of light" (Luke xvi. 8); "Ye

are a chosen generation" (I Peter ii. 9). The moral character of the generation of the rejectors of Jesus, shall

be maintained to the end, for corporate bodies continue to exist, notwithstanding the passing away of their

individual members.

But while all this is true, it is also true that the pronoun, "this" is demonstrative, and I would ask, May it not

refer to the generation then in the speaker's prophetic vision. Jesus is speaking very emphatically of the