<p>24:10&nbsp;<i>And then shall many stumble</i>- To stumble, in its Biblical sense, implies those in view were once walking in the Faith. This is clearly how the Lord uses it in the parable of the sower (13:21 s.w.). The majority Gk. will stumble out of the way in this final tribulation. Such a test of faith is logically required for that generation- because those who are alive at the time of the Lord&rsquo;s coming will be the only generation who never actually die. They will therefore require this particularly acute test of faith; and the majority will fail it, and stumble from the path. The language of betrayal which is then used would suggest that those who stumble will be like Judas who betrayed the Lord- and he was amongst the believers. It&rsquo;s a sorry picture, but we must let the Lord&rsquo;s words have their true weight and fairly obvious meaning. The cosy church environments of today will simply not be that way during the very last days before the Lord&rsquo;s return.&nbsp; The upper room discourse again has a connection with the Olivet prophecy at this point, because the Lord says that He was warning His followers ahead of time that they would be persecuted and cast out of the synagogues, and He was warning them ahead of time exactly so that they would not be offended (Jn. 16:1). The Olivet prophecy, if taken seriously, is therefore not mere prediction of future events, but rather specifically intended to stop the faithful stumbling as they behold every detail suddenly coming true in the very last days.</p><p><i>And shall deliver up one another</i>- Again, the final sufferings of the Lord Jesus will be experienced within natural and spiritual Israel. Mic. 7:2-9 is a clear prophecy of Christ's sufferings. But embedded in it are words which are quoted in Lk. 21:16 and Mt. 10:36 concerning the latter day tribulation of the believers: &quot;The son dishonours the father... a man's enemies are the men of his own house&rdquo;. In similar manner, some of the prophecies of Israel's latter day sufferings speak in the same context of those of Christ. Mic. 5:1 is an example: &quot;...he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel (Christ) with a rod upon the cheek&quot;. The whole of Amos 5 can be scanned for connections with both the future tribulation of Israel, and also the sufferings of Christ.</p><p><i>And shall hate one another</i>- The same word just used for how the believers would be &ldquo;hated of all nations&rdquo; (:9). The spirit and religious position of the world will be adopted by some amongst the believers, and they will turn against their brethren as a result of this. This is in line with the language of betrayal just used, replete as it is with allusion to Judas, one of the twelve. Likewise &ldquo;false prophets&rdquo; (:11) suggest those located within the community of faith who are pushing a totally different agenda.</p>