<p>13:8 <i>For nation shall rise against nation-</i> Any first century fulfilment is unlikely because the&nbsp;<i>Pax Romana</i>&nbsp;meant that the Roman empire was firmly in power and such a situation did not therefore occur.<i>&nbsp;Ethnos</i>&nbsp;is the word commonly translated &quot;Gentiles&quot;. The picture of nations and kingdoms rising up against each other was simply not fulfilled in the run up to AD70- the Roman empire with their&nbsp;<i>Pax Romana</i>&nbsp;did not permit such a situation. And the system of world empires which disintegrated in the 20th Century likewise didn't permit much of this in recent times, especially in the area around Israel, or in the land promised to Abraham, which is the focus of all Bible prophecy. Only in our times has this become a reality, especially in the Arab world and amongst the nations located in the territory promised to Abraham. The language of 'rising up' in revolt is now common amongst them. The picture, however, is of the Gospel going into all those &quot;nations&quot; at this time (Mt. 24:14), all those nations persecuting the believers (Mt. 24:9), and the nations AV &quot;Gentiles&quot; taking Jerusalem and treading it down (Lk. 21:24); despite their internal struggles, these same &quot;all nations&quot; will be confederated under a latter Babylon (Rev. 17:15; 18:3,23). The overall picture is of Gospel preaching going on at a time when the nations are rising up against each other, and at the same time persecuting the believers. This scenario is developing- but is as yet unfulfilled on a global scale. But it is daily fulfilling in the nations surrounding Israel, who are persecuting Christians, rising up against each other, and to whom the Gospel is being powerfully preached. Never before has my own mission organization received such major expression of serious interest from the Muslim nations surrounding Israel, thanks largely to the growth of the internet and the growing disillusion with the existing social and religious situation. People from all nations will be gathered before the Lord for judgment (Mt. 25:32) and people from every nation will be saved (Rev. 5:9; 7:9)- confirming that the Gospel will indeed spread to all nations before the Lord's return; it must at least be &quot;proclaimed&quot; to them all, thereby making people amongst them responsible to judgment; the &quot;fullness of the Gentiles&quot; must &quot;come in&quot; to Christ before the end comes and Israel repent (Rom. 11:25). The Lord sent the disciples out to &quot;all nations&quot; (Mt. 28:19 s.w.); the implication is that they failed to take the Gospel to them all, and therefore the intended scenario didn't fulfil as initially intended in the first century. Lk. 21:25 speaks of how there will be &quot;upon the earth land- that promised to Abraham distress of nations&quot;, suggesting that the situation amongst the Gentile nations living within the land promised to Abraham is the particular focus of the prophecy. The same language is used of how there were devout Jews in &quot;every nation under Heaven&quot; (Acts 2:5)- and the list of nations in Acts 2 corresponds with the Middle Eastern Moslem world of today. We note that the promise that Abraham should be father of &quot;many nations&quot; was fulfilled in a literal sense in that Abraham is the ancestor of the Arab nations living in the land promised to him (Rom. 4:17). And it is those nations particularly who have stated their desire to take Jerusalem out of the hands of the Jews, as required in Lk. 21:24.</p><p><i>And kingdom against kingdom- </i>It seems likely from Revelation that &lsquo;Babylon&rsquo; of the last days will rise to political and military dominance in the territory promised to Abraham, the earth/ land of which the Bible speaks so much.&nbsp;The 10 nations / horns / leaders which exist in the land promised to Abraham- the &ldquo;kings of the earth / land&rdquo;- will give their power to Babylon, by force and by political manoeuvre, and this system will then invade Israel. The horns hating the whore implies there will be inter-Arab friction apparent in the beast system throughout its existence. &quot;Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom&quot; (Mt. 24:7) will be a sign of the last days. In the AD70 context, this referred to friction between the Semitic peoples living around Israel; and the Lord's words are clearly an allusion to 2 Chron. 15:6, which specifically uses the phrase about inter-Arab friction. The fragile alliance between them will then be broken by the Lord&rsquo;s return, the horns will hate the whore and destroy her. They give their power to the beast for but &ldquo;one hour&rdquo;. Daniel seems to associate a covenant which is then broken with the latter day Antichrist. Is. 30:27-31 speaks of the latter day Assyrian as placing &ldquo;a bridle in the jaw of the people causing them to err&rdquo;, referring to some kind of covenant / agreement which forces others to follow their direction. The Lord&rsquo;s especial fury will be against the individual latter day Nebuchadnezzar who leads the invasion. The future leader of Babylon, the whore riding the beast, will see themselves as Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah and Micah describe the latter day invader of the land as &ldquo;the Assyrian&rdquo; (Is. 10:5; 14:25; 30:31; Mic. 5:1-6). This itself suggests we are to see the individual who heads up the invasion, the rosh / chief prince of Ez. 38:2, as an ethnic Assyrian / Iraqi. Dan. 8:24,25 invites us to see the same- the &ldquo;king of fierce countenance&rdquo; stands up out of the area of northern Iraq / northern Iran.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>There shall be earthquakes- </i>Just as there was at the crucifixion (Mt. 27:54), yet another reason for thinking that the tribulation of the last days will enable Israel to identify with the sufferings of their crucified Messiah. Again, earthquakes feature in the seals of Rev. 6:12; and in the judgments upon Israel's enemies in Rev. 11:13,19; 16:18. Again, it seems that Israel will initially experience the judgments upon their enemies, just as they did in the lead up to their Passover deliverance in Egypt which also prefigures their final salvation. The fig tree nation- Israel- is to be shaken of a mighty wind (Rev. 6:13), and the word &quot;shaken&quot; is a form of that translated &quot;earthquake&quot;. The forcing of fruit from the fig tree will be brought about by the experience of the earthquake.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>In various places- </i>The word &quot;various&quot; is added by the translators to try to make sense of the otherwise obvious statement that earthquakes will occur in &quot;places&quot;. There is no suggestion in the Greek text that earthquakes will occur in various places worldwide where they have not been known to occur. But maybe we have here an intensive plural- the one great place. The same word is used in Mt. 24:15 about &quot;the holy<i> place</i>&quot;. There are rumours that an earthquake hit the temple area around AD70. But seeing that the temple mount is the bone of contention between Israel and her neighbours, an earthquake splitting the mount would be appropriate. And of course this would link directly with the prediction of Zechariah 14, that when Christ returns there will be an earthquake which splits it. And yet this is used by the Lord as a sign of His coming, rather than a statement about what will happen at His return. It could be that this is an example of how the meaning of time will be somehow collapsed around the second coming; a sign of His return is in effect His return. Or it could be that the events described in the Olivet prophecy will all happen in a very short period of time, a matter of days rather than years or decades as is assumed by those who seek to connect the predictions with current world events. Mk. 13:8 and Lk. 21:11 speak of the earthquakes in&nbsp;<i>kata</i>&nbsp;places, but this doesn't necessarily mean 'various' places, but could equally mean 'around'- earthquakes around the holy place would then be signs and portents of the earthquake under the Holy Place which will happen when Christ returns. In Acts 6:13,14 Stephen's enemies appear to have twisted his quotations of the Lord's Olivet prophecy to mean that Christ would destroy the &quot;holy place&quot; s.w. &quot;places&quot; here in Mt. 24.</p><p><i>There shall be famines-</i> There was an acute famine in Israel during Elijah's ministry of three and a half years, as part of God's appeal for Israel to repent and respond to Elijah's message (Lk. 4:25). And so it will be in the final three and a half year tribulation. Likewise it was famine which led the prodigal to repent and return to the Father (Lk. 15:14,17), a clear prototype of Israel's repentance. And perhaps the greatest prototype of their repentance is in the coming of Joseph's brothers to bow before Him; and this too was provoked by famine throughout the region around Israel (Acts 7:11). There will be a purpose in all the sufferings which precede the Lord's return- and that purpose is to bring about Israel's repentance, which is the key condition required for His second coming. There were indeed major famines in the lead up to AD70 (Acts 11:28 &quot;a great famine throughout all the world&quot;); again, the signs which depended upon Divine intervention were fulfilled in the first century, but those which depended upon Israel and the believers did not, because they chose not to. And thus the second coming was delayed. &ldquo;In the reign of the Emperor Claudius (AD41-54) there were four seasons of great scarcity. In the fourth year of his reign, the famine in Judea was so severe that the price of food became enormous and great numbers perished. Earthquakes occurred in each of the reigns of Caligula and Claudius&rdquo; (R. C. Sproul,&nbsp;<i>The Last Days According to Jesus</i>&nbsp;(Grand Rapids, MI, 2000: Baker Books), p. 36). Paul encourages his first century readers that famine and other elements of the Olivet predictions would not separate believers from the love of God- as if he expected those signs to be fulfilled in their lifetimes (Rom. 8:35). The seals of Revelation 6 are full of reference to the Olivet predictions, as if they could all have been fulfilled in the first century (Rev. 6:8 speaks specifically of &quot;famine&quot;). Famine can come quicker than ever in our modern world, where most countries depend upon imported food; and this is especially the case in the area around Israel, where the climate doesn't enable the support of the relatively large population living in the area without food being imported. This explains how Babylon's famine comes in one day (Rev. 18:8). This could never have been possible in the ancient world, where famine required a period of time to develop. Just as Israel initially experienced the early plagues upon Egypt, so it may be that the judgments poured out upon the Arab? world at the very end do initially affect Israel too, and lead them to repentance.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>These things are the beginning of the birth pains</i>- The term is used of the Lord's suffering, which came to term in His resurrection (Acts 2:24)- another hint that the tribulation is intended to bring those who endure it to an identity with the Lord's sufferings, and thus to share in His resurrection. There is therefore a positive intention in the sufferings. They are not merely an angry Deity releasing pent up anger upon the world. The term is also used in 1 Thess. 5:3, in a section full of allusion to the Olivet prophecy: &quot;When they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as&nbsp;<i>travail</i>&nbsp;s.w. &quot;sorrows&quot; upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape&quot;. This suggests that the various trials and tribulations just listed by the Lord are going to come suddenly- they don't describe decades of such things leading up to His return. Rather do they therefore describe a sudden situation which comes at a time of &quot;peace and safety&quot;. They may therefore describe the events of days rather than years. The Lord within the Olivet prophecy had spoken of the possibility of &quot;escape&quot; by fleeing, but &quot;they shall&nbsp;<i>not</i>&nbsp;escape&quot;- because they will be disobedient to His teaching. The intention of the birth pangs is to forge an identity between the sufferers and the crucified Christ, coming to birth in a resurrection like His. But for these people, the birth pangs are tragic, resulting in death rather than resurrection to life.</p><p>The Lord is surely alluding to the Rabbinic idea of &quot;the birth-pangs of the Messiah&quot; which they used in description of the traumatic situation in Israel before Messiah&rsquo;s appearance. The Jewish public had initially expected Jesus to be Messiah, and felt that their time was indeed the birth-pangs of Messiah. But the Lord is saying that that time is yet to come. Seeing He did not come in AD70, we are again left to understand this as a reference to a situation&nbsp;<i>in Israel</i>&nbsp;which brings about the open manifestation of Messiah.</p>