“Erunt enim dies illi tribulationes tales quales non fuerunt ab initio creaturæ, quam condidit Deus usque nunc, neque fient.”
“For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.”
“For those will be days of tribulation unmatched from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and never to be seen again.”
“For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be.”
“For those days shall be tribulation, such as there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never shall be.”
Jospehus, the Jewish historian, relates the calamities that befell unhappy Jerusalem, about thirty-seven years after the death of Jesus Christ, which verified to the very letter the prediction: there shall be such tribulations as were not from the beginning. (St. Augustine)
4. That throughout all the country of the Jews, there should be such destruction and desolation made, as could not be paralleled in any history (v. 19); In those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of time; that is, of the creation which God created, for time and the creation are of equal date, unto this day, neither shall be to the end of time; such a complication of miseries, and of such continuance. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans was very terrible, but this exceeded it. It threatened a universal slaughter of all the people of the Jews; so barbarously did they devour one another, and the Romans devour them all, that, if their wars had continued a little longer, no flesh could have been saved, not one Jew could have been left alive; but in the midst of wrath God remembered mercy; and, (1.) He shortened the days; he let fall his controversy before he had made a full end. As a church and nation the ruin was complete, but many particular persons had their lives given them for a prey, by the storm's subsiding when it did. 2. It was for the elects' sake that those days were shortened; many among them fared the better for the sake of the few among them that believed in Christ, and were faithful to him. There was a promise, that a remnant should be saved (Isa 10 22), and that God would not, for his servants' sakes, destroy them all (Isa 66 8); and these promises must be fulfilled. God's own elect cry day and night to him, and their prayers must be answered, Luke 18 7.
Verses 14-23 The Jews in rebelling against the Romans, and in persecuting the Christians, hastened their own ruin apace. Here we have a prediction of that ruin which came upon them within less than forty years after this. Such destruction and desolation, that the like cannot be found in any history. Promises of power to persevere, and cautions against falling away, well agree with each other. But the more we consider these things, the more we shall see abundant cause to flee without delay for refuge to Christ, and to renounce every earthly object, for the salvation of our souls.