The last teaching Jesus gave was about His Second Coming. There are thousands of books on the subject, but most of them are based on the Revelation of John or the book of Daniel. Both books use apocalyptic imagery and both can be difficult to interpret. But the sermon Jesus gave was very straightforward. It's also interesting to note, the same message was recorded in 3 of the 4 gospels, in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.
All versions start with Jesus talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus said "when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near..". He goes on to say "there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled". (Luke 21:20,23-24)
Jesus plainly states, Jerusalem will be destroyed and the Jews will be scattered to different nations. That event happened when Rome leveled the city in 70 AD and the Jews were exiled. For over 1900 years they were a people without a nation. Then in 1948, they were returned to their homeland. Well, almost. They were given a small section of what used to be their homeland. But they did not have control of Jerusalem.
According to the prophecy of Jesus, the city would be "trampled under foot by the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled". In other words, until control of the city was returned to the Jews. Thank God for the 6-day war in 1967. Several Arab countries tried to attack Israel, but they were soundly and thoroughly defeated. Instead of losing land, the Jews actually took land in that conflict- one of the "spoils of war" was Jerusalem.
After almost 1900 years, not only were the Jews returned to their ancient homeland, they also once again laid claim to the "Holy City".. So why is that significant? Because in that same sermon, Jesus also said this..
"So you also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place". (Luke 21:32) So within a single generation after Jerusalem is returned to Israel, we will see Christ return. That's not based on someone's interpretation of the books of Daniel or Revelation, those are the words of Jesus. And if Jesus was right about everything else, why would He get this wrong? I mean, He predicted the destruction of Jerusalem, the return of Jews to Israel and their reclaiming control of the city. How many times in history has a people reformed a country after 1900 years? It's never happened before. So Jesus just didn't pick a rabit out of the hat. It wasn't a guess. He gave the prophecy and it came true. I have a feeling "this generation won't pass away until ALL these things take place".
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Luke's account here
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