Concerning the imminent separation, He wished to remind His disciples of the teachings they had often received from Him, even during His earlier preaching missions (Matthew 10:17-22), while simultaneously encouraging them with the assurance of divine aid amidst the forthcoming tribulations.
"Beware of yourselves,” He warned, "for before all these trials, men will lay hands on you and deliver you to synagogues and prisons; you will stand trial before rulers and kings for my sake and for the sake of my name. This will serve as a testimony for you. When you are brought before them, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for at that hour, it will be given to you what to speak. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. I will provide you with a mouth and wisdom that your adversaries will not be able to withstand or contradict." He foretold further turmoil, stating, "Many will be led into temptation, betraying and hating one another. Many false prophets will rise up and mislead many; and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. You will be betrayed even by your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put you to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake, yet not a hair on your head will perish. In your endurance, you will gain your souls; and he who remains steadfast until the end will be saved. This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come."
The persecution of those proclaiming Christ’s teaching, divisions between believers and non-believers that could sever even closest family ties, a decline in mutual love, and a rise in temptations from false prophets were afflictions amidst which a new age—a Christian age—would emerge from the ashes of the old world. The Lord's pronouncements, closely linked with the devastation of Jerusalem, were fulfilled with remarkable precision. Prior to Jerusalem’s fall, four Roman emperors were slain; civil wars erupted alongside multiple foreign conflicts; the provinces of Rome were ravaged in succession. Rome experienced devastating fires, and the land was awash with moral corruption, leading to the complete disintegration of virtue. During this period, a severe famine struck Judea (Acts 11:28), resulting in many deaths in Jerusalem according to the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, and under Emperor Claudius, famine afflicted Rome, Greece, and Palestine several times. Tacitus also recorded the occurrence of pestilences during this era. Significant earthquakes destroyed the cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae, also affecting Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, and Samos.
Josephus noted that during this period, Palestine was rife with deceivers and magicians who led people into the wilderness, claiming to perform miracles by divine power. Among these false messiahs were Dositheus the Samaritan, who asserted he was the Christ, Simon the Sorcerer, another Samaritan who called himself the son of God, and various others. The Jewish people, having rejected Christ, desperately awaited a conquering Messiah, eagerly accepting any impostor who arose. Josephus also recorded signs preceding the siege of Jerusalem: for an entire year, a star resembling a sword loomed over the city; at the feast of unleavened bread, bright lights shone around the altar and sanctuary as during the day; the temple's brass gates, which required great effort to secure, opened by themselves at night; and during Pentecost, priests entering the temple heard strange noises and voices saying, "Let us leave this place!" (*The Jewish War*, 17, 5).
Before Jerusalem's destruction, Christian persecution intensified. Following the Ascension of the Divine Master, the disciples began to spread the Gospel, facing opposition from both Jews and Gentiles, including rulers and authorities. Cruel oppressors imprisoned apostles (Acts 4:3), locked them up (Acts 5:18; Acts 12:4), brought them to trial (Acts 4:7; Acts 5:27), and inflicted beatings (Acts 5:40), resulting in executions (Acts 7:58; 12:2). Martyrdom befell apostles such as James the son of Zebedee, James the Lord’s brother, Peter, and Paul. Nevertheless, the Word of the Lord continued to spread (Acts 13:49), and even before the fall of Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul proclaimed that the message of the gospel had reached all the earth and its words to the ends of the world (Rom. 10:18) and was preached to every creature under heaven (Col. 1:23).
The Gospel flourished throughout the known world. During this time, numerous false prophets arose, against whom the apostles warned the faithful (1 John 4:1; Jude 1:4). All these signs that once heralded Jerusalem's fall will reappear before the end of the age, as foretold by the Lord, intertwining the distant future with imminent events. “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming, whose coming is in accordance with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish” (2 Thess. 2:8-10). In that time, the successors of the holy apostles, the shepherds and teachers of Christ's Church alongside all faithful followers of the Lord, will endure severe persecutions for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God (Rev. 20:4).
THEOSIS