The question of the disciples, “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” links the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world. In his reply Jesus also speaks of both these events. In fact, these two catastrophes are so closely interwoven in Jesus’ account that, like two strands spun together to form a single thread, they cannot always be clearly distinguished. There are two reasons for this. The one lies in a characteristic feature of