Joseph Smith - Matthew

The disciples had just heard the prophecies of the Savior and as Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, they came and asked Him two questions that were to take place at different times -

"...Tell us when shall these things be which thou hast said concerning the destruction of the temple, and the Jews; and what is the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world, or the destruction of the wicked, which is the end of the world?" (Pearl of Great Price JS-Matthew 1:4)

They seemed familiar with the prophecy of Daniel as the Savior had told them -

"...When you, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, then you shall stand in the holy place; whoso readeth let him understand.
13 Then let them who are in Judea flee into the mountains;
14 Let him who is on the housetop flee, and not return to take anything out of his house;
15 Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes;
16 And wo unto them that are with child, and unto them that give suck in those days;
17 Therefore, pray ye the Lord that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day;
18 For then, in those days, shall be great tribulation on the Jews, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, such as was not before sent upon Israel, of God, since the beginning of their kingdom until this time; no, nor ever shall be sent again upon Israel." (Pearl of Great Price JS-Matthew 1:12 - 18)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained -

"Daniel spoke prophetically of a day when there would be ‘the abomination that maketh desolate’ (Dan. 11:31; 12:11), and the phrase was recoined in New Testament times to say, ‘the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.’ (Matt. 24:15.) . . . Relying solely on the plain meaning of words, we can conclude that this phrase (abomination of desolation) would have reference to some great act or status of corruption and befoulment, of contamination and filthiness, which would bring to pass destruction, ruination, devastation, desolation.

Such is the case. These conditions of desolation, born of abomination and wickedness, were to occur twice in fulfilment of Daniel’s words. The first was to be when the Roman legions under Titus, in 70 A.D., laid siege to Jerusalem, destroying and scattering the people, leaving not one stone upon another in the desecrated temple, and spreading such terror and devastation as has seldom if ever been equalled on earth." (Mormon Doctrine, 12)

Of this first event, Elder James E. Talmage wrote -

"The warning to all to flee from Jerusalem and Judea to the mountains when the armies would begin to surround the city was so generally heeded by members of the Church, that according to the early Church writers not one Christian perished in the awful siege (see Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., book iii, ch. 5). . . . All Jews who had faith in the warning given by Christ to the apostles, and by these to the people, fled beyond Jordan, and congregated mostly at Pella." (Jesus the Christ, 588)

But of the rest of the Jews, we learn that -

"The siege of Jerusalem under Titus [lasted] for 134 days, during which 1,110,000 Jews perished and 97,000 were taken captive; . . . the Romans destroyed 987 towns in Palestine and slew 580,000 men, and a still larger number, we are told, perished through starvation, disease, and fire." (in Conference Report, Apr. 1950, 74)

"Thousands [of Jews] were carried off to Egypt to work in the quarries and mines as lifelong slaves. Boys and women were sold to slave traders, and thousands of others died of starvation in the prison camps. A remnant of this conquered people was scattered to the ends of the earth." (H. Donl Peterson, “The Fall of Jerusalem,” Ensign, May 1972, 42).

The Savior also said -

"All things which have befallen them are only the beginning of the sorrows which shall come upon them." (Pearl of Great Price JS-Matthew 1:19)

As I thought of this, the Halocaust, the Inquisition, the Crusades, as well as modern-day terrorism came to mind.