20. Pray that it will not be winter or a Sabbath day when these things happen and you have to run away,
21. because it will be a time of great trouble. There will be more trouble than has ever happened since the beginning of the world. And nothing as bad as that will ever happen again.
22. “But God has decided to make that terrible time short. If it were not made short, no one would continue living. But God will make that time short to help the people he has chosen.
23. “Someone might say to you at that time, ‘Look, there is the Messiah!’ Or someone else might say, ‘There he is!’ But don’t believe them.
24. False messiahs and false prophets will come and do great miracles and wonders, trying to fool the people God has chosen, if that is possible.
25. Now I have warned you about this before it happens.
26. “Someone might tell you, ‘The Messiah is there in the desert!’ But don’t go into the desert to look for him. Someone else might say, ‘There is the Messiah in that room!’ But don’t believe it.
27. When the Son of Man comes, everyone will see him. It will be like lightning flashing in the sky that can be seen everywhere.
28. It’s like looking for a dead body: You will find it where the vultures are gathering above.
29. “Right after the trouble of those days, this will happen: ‘The sun will become dark, and the moon will not give light. The stars will fall from the sky, and everything in the sky will be changed.’
30. “Then there will be something in the sky that shows the Son of Man is coming. All the people of the world will cry. Everyone will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in the sky. He will come with power and great glory.
31. He will use a loud trumpet to send his angels all around the earth. They will gather his chosen people from every part of the earth.
32. “The fig tree teaches us a lesson: When its branches become green and soft, and new leaves begin to grow, then you know that summer is very near.
33. In the same way, when you see all these things happening, you will know that the time is very near, already present.
34. I assure you that all these things will happen while some of the people of this time are still living.
35. The whole world, earth and sky, will be destroyed, but my words will last forever.
36. “No one knows when that day or time will be. The Son and the angels in heaven don’t know when it will be. Only the Father knows.
37. “When the Son of Man comes, it will be the same as what happened during Noah’s time.