**Matt 24:6-7a** *“And you will hear of wars and rumors…

**Matt 24:6-7a**

*“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for ALL THESE THINGS must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” * Matthew 24:6-7a

Tacitus, a well-known Roman Historian wrote:

“*The history on which I am entering is that of a period rich in disasters, terrible with battles, torn by civil struggles, horrible even in peace. Four emperors fell by the sword; there were three civil wars, more foreign wars, and often both at the same time.”* (The Histories 1:2)

The Annals of Tacitus, covering the period from AD 14 to the death of Nero in AD 68, describes the tumult of the period with phrases such as disturbances in Germany, commotions in Africa, commotions in Thrace, insurrections in Gaul, intrigues among the Parthians, the war in Britain, and the war in Armenia. Wars were fought from one end of the empire to the other.

Josephus writes that Roman civil wars were so common in the empire that there was no need to write about them in any great detail:

“*I have omitted to give an exact account of them, because they are well known by all, and they are described by a great number of Greek and Roman authors; yet for the sake of the connections of matters, and that my history may not be incoherent, I have just touched upon everything briefly.”* (Wars 4:9:2)

Quoting Alexander Keith, from his book The Evidence of the Truth of the Christian Religion Derived from the Literal Fulfillment of Prophecy Particularly as Illustrated by the History of the Jews:

“*The Jews resisted the erection of the statue of Caligula in the temple, and such was the dread of Roman resentment, that the fields remained uncultivated. At Caesarea, the Jews and Syrians contended for the mastery of the city. Twenty thousand of the former were put to death, and the rest were expelled. Every city in Syria was then divided into two armies and multitudes were slaughtered. Alexandria and Damascus presented a similar scene of bloodshed. About fifty thousand of the Jews fell in the former, and ten thousand in the latter. The Jewish nation rebelled against the Romans. Italy was convulsed with contentions for the empire; as a proof of the troublous and warlike character of the period, within the brief space of two years, four emperors, Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius suffered death.”*

There were wars and rumors of wars before that generation passed away just like Christ said there would be (Matt 24:34).