24:9 Then. The parallel passage in Luke interjects at this point: “But before all these [that is, before the complex of signs just mentioned, and all during the ordinary course of the age], they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you” (Luke 21:12). The entire age between Christ’s first and second comings would be characterized by various forms of persecution of both Jews and Christian believers. This prophecy also has been fulfilled.