Verse 26 The desert;--secret chambers. The false Christs would meet their followers in solitudes and secret chambers, for fear of the government. Matthew 24:29-31. The connection in which this passage occurs, and especially the statement in Matthew 24:34, which brings within short limits the time assigned for the fulfilment of the prophecy, indicates that it was intended only to describe, in sublimely figurative language, great political and social revolutions, which would attend and follow the destruction of the Jewish state, and the rapid spread of Christianity which would ensue. Some think, however, that the language can only be referred to the general judgment at the end of the world. By the word immediately, (Matthew 24:29,) they understand suddenly; and by the expression this generation shall not pass, (Matthew 24:34,) that the Jews, considered as a distinct people, shall not cease to exist. By this means the apparent limitation of time is removed.