Jeus' description of what will come before his return are ominous and threatening: wars and insurrection, natural disasters, persecution of believers. The immediate fulfillment of Jesus' words came with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.; however, in a larger sense Jesus is pointing us ahead to the end of the world. How then are we to live? "By your endurance you will gain your souls," Jesus tells us. He calls us to hang in there by keeping our eyes fixed on him, running with endurance the race that is set before us.