But though Christians have agreed upon this, they have disagreed
as to the length of time which the words may mean. Some have understood
that Jesus Christ intended this spiritualized passover to continue for
ever as an ordinance of his church, for that "till he come" must refer
to his coming to judge the world. But it has been replied to these, that
in this case no limitation had been necessary, or it would have been
said at once, that it was to be a perpetual ordinance, or expressed in
plainer terms, than in the words in question.
Others have understood the words to mean the end of the typical world,
which happened on the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Jews were
dispersed, and their church, as a national one, done away. For the
coming of Christ and the end of the world have been considered as
taking place at the same time. Thus the early Christians believed, that
Jesus Christ, even after his death and resurrection, would come again,
even in their own life time, and that the end of the world would then
be. These events they coupled in their minds; "for[188] they asked him
privately, saying, tell us when these things shall be, and what shall be
the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?" Jesus told them in
reply, that the end of the world and his coming would be, when there
were wars, and rumours of wars, and earthquakes, and famine, and
pestilence, and tribulations on the earth; and that these calamities
would happen even before the generation, then alive, would pass away.
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