Matthew 24:8

“And He shall send His angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the heights of heaven, even into the farthest bounds thereof.”” — editor's note: Matt. xxiv. 4–31.

“The Gospel saith this, that in the last times many evils, many stumbling-blocks, many tribulations, much iniquity, shall abound; but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” — editor's note: Matt. xxiv. 3–13.

Chapter LXXVII.—Of the Harmony Subsisting Between the Three Evangelists in Their Narratives of the Discourse Which He Delivered on the Mount of Olives, When the Disciples Asked When the Consummation Should Happen.…

““All these are the beginning of sorrows,”that is, of those that befall them.” — editor's note: Matt. xxiv. 8. [R.V., “travail,” birth pangs.—R.]

To this enquiry of the disciples the Lord makes answer, declaring all things which were to come to pass from that time forwards, whether relating to the destruction of Jerusalem, which had given occasion to their…

Here He speaks of the battles which should be fought at Jerusalem; when He says, “Ye shall hear wars, and rumours of wars.”

To hear the shouts raised in the battles, is to “hear wars;” to hear “rumours of wars,” is to hear accounts of wars waged afar off.

And because this might alarm the disciples, He continues, “See that ye be not troubled.” And because they supposed that the end of the world would follow immediately after the war in which Jerusalem should be…

That is, Think not that the day of judgment is at hand, but that it is reserved against another time; the sign of which is plainly put in what follows, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against…

And to shew that He also should fight against the Jews, He tells them not only of wars, but of calamities inflicted by Providence, “And there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places.”

“Nation shall rise against nation,” shews the disquietude of men’s minds; “pestilences,” the affliction of their bodies; “famines,” the barrenness of the soil; “earthquakes in divers places,” wrath from heaven above.

And these things shall not happen according to the order of nature before established among men, but shall come of wrath from heaven, and therefore He said not that they should come only, or come suddenly, but adds…

Or otherwise; As the body sickens before the death of the man, so it must needs be that before the consummation of this world the earth should be shaken, as though it were palsied, with frequent earthquakes, the air…

Figuratively; Kingdom rising against kingdom and pestilence of that discourse which spreadeth, as a plague-spot, and hunger of hearing the word of God, and commotion throughout the earth, and separation from the true…

This must come to pass before we can see the perfection of that wisdom which is in Christ; but not yet shall be that end which we seek, for a peaceful end is far from those men.

“These all are the beginnings Of sorrows,” is better understood of pains of labour, as it were the conception of the coming of Antichrist, and not of the birth.

Matthew 24:8 and Mark 13:8 share the same wording (8 words).

Cited together in Origen on Matthew 24:6–8 (2) (Catena Aurea).

Cited together in Origen on Matthew 24:6–8 (2) (Catena Aurea).

Cited together in Origen on Matthew 24:6–8 (2) (Catena Aurea).