Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 24:7-8

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But all these things are the beginning of travail." — Matthew 24:7-8 (ASV)

One would think that there was sorrow enough in famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places, but our Lord said that all these were only the beginning of sorrows, the first birth-pangs of the travail that must precede his coming, either to Jerusalem or to the whole world. If famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are only the beginning of sorrows, what may we not expect the end to be? This prophecy ought both to warn the disciples of Christ what they may expect and wean them from the world where all these and greater sorrows are to be experienced.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famine, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

One would think that there was sorrow enough in famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places, but our Lord said that all these were only the beginning of sorrows, the first birth-pangs of the travail that must precede his coming, either to Jerusalem, or to the whole world. If famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are only the beginning of sorrows, what may we not expect the end to be? This prophecy ought both to warn the disciples of Christ what they may expect, and wean them from the world where all these and greater sorrows are to be experienced.