We read in Matthew:

The disciples came to Jesus and showed Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them . . . Verily I say unto you. There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down . . . And the disciples said to Him, Tell us when shall these things be, and especially what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age. Matt. xxiv 1, 2, 3.

At this day, the learned clergy and the educated laity understand by the destruction of the temple its destruction by Vespasian; and by the coming of the Lord and the consummation of the age they understand the end and destruction of the world. But it should be known that by the destruction of the temple is meant, not only its destruction by the Romans, but also the destruction of the present Church; further, that by the consummation of the age and, then, the coming of the Lord is meant the end of this Church and the institution of a New Church by the Lord. That these things are meant there is evident from the whole of that chapter from beginning to end, treating, as it does, solely of the successive stages of decline and corruption of the Christian Church, even to its destruction, when it comes to its end. In a limited sense, by the temple is meant the temple at Jerusalem; in an extended sense, the Church of the Lord; in a still more extended sense, the angelic heaven and in the highest sense, the Lord as to His Human; as may be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 529.

That by the consummation of the age is meant the end of the Church, which comes to pass when there remains no truth of doctrine from the Word which has not been falsified, and thus consummated, is shown in nos. 658, 676, 750 of the above-mentioned work. That by the coming of the Lord is meant His coming in the Word, and the inauguration of a new Church in place of the former consummated one, appears from His own words in the aforesaid chapter, verses 30-34; likewise from the last two chapters of the Revelation, xxi and xxii, where these words occur:

I, Jesus,... am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come: and let him that is athirst come. . . . Yea, I come quickly, Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. Rev. xxii 16, 17, 20.