Taught the Jewish apocalyptists, Israel should take heart; the days of their affliction were almost over; the discipline of God’s chosen people was about finished; God’s patience with the gentile foreigners was about exhausted. The end of Roman rule was synonymous with the end of the age and, in a certain sense, with the end of the world. [1]
For two and a half years John the Baptist lived at Engedi, and he persuaded most of the brotherhood that “the end of the age was at hand”; that “the kingdom of heaven was about to appear. [2]
Many followers of Jesus interpreted his predictions concerning the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem as the "end of the world", the reappearing of the Messiah and the establishment of the New Jerusalem. [3]
The downfall of nations, the crash of empires, the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, the end of an age, even the end of the world, what have these things to do with one who believes this gospel? [4]