"All these things shall be fulfilled in your own time.”
"This generation shall not pass away before all of these things have been fulfilled."
- Jesus Christ
(For a quick summery with Bible references go to the end of the article)
Now, although many Christians today believe the various sayings of Jesus - about false Messiah’s, earthquakes, famines, persecutions, and such, point only to some future apocalyptic event, there’s evidence Christians at this time saw them as being fulfilled at the time they lived.
Think what happened at that time. In 66 AD the Jews rebelled against the Romans. In 70 AD the Temple that was the center of all Jewish religious AND economic life was destroyed, as Jesus predicted, effectively ending the Israelite religion, in that form anyway.
Most don’t realize how essential the Temple was, it’s cosmic significance, we read of the Temple as the dwelling-place of God; the Temple as a microcosm of heaven and earth; the Temple as the sole place of sacrifice; and the Temple as the place of the sacrificial priesthood, the Mishnah states by the Temples the entire Cosmos is sustained.
And it ended. Desecrated. In flames. In blood.
The Romans slaughtered thousands. Of those sparred from death: thousands more were enslaved and sent to toil in the mines of Egypt, others were dispersed to arenas throughout the Empire to be butchered for the amusement of the public. The Temple's sacred relics were taken to Rome where they were displayed in celebration of the victory.
More than 1,100,000 Jews perished and nearly 100,000 were taken captive.
“Tell us, when will these things take place, and what will be the sign preceding all these things” [that will warn us that the destruction of the temple is about to take place]?”
This was the “abomination of desolation”, a reference to Daniel 9:27, “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ’seven.' In the middle of the ’seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
In 167 B.C. a Greek ruler by the name of Antiochus Epiphanies ended the sacrifices in the Temple by ransacking it, entering the Holy of Holies, and desecrating it setting up an altar to Zeus . This event is known as the abomination of desolation. It happened again in 70 ad.
Josephus describesthe horrific scenes of the Temple being desecrated, razed to the ground, and engulfed on flames :
“Most of the slain were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, and they were butchered where they were caught. The heap of corpses mounted higher and higher about the altar; a stream of blood flowed down the Temple's steps, and the bodies of those slain at the top slipped to the bottom.
While the Temple was ablaze, the attackers plundered it, and countless people who were caught by them were slaughtered. There was no pity for age and no regard was accorded rank; children and old men, laymen and priests, alike were butchered; every class was pursued and crushed in the grip of war, whether they cried out for mercy or offered resistance.
Through the roar of the flames streaming far and wide, the groans of the falling victims were heard; such was the height of the hill and the magnitude of the blazing pile that the entire city seemed to be ablaze; and the noise - nothing more deafening and frightening could be imagined.
There were the war cries of the Roman legions as they swept onwards en masse, the yells of the rebels encircled by fire and sword, the panic of the people who, cut off above, fled into the arms of the enemy, and their shrieks as they met their fate. The cries on the hill blended with those of the multitudes in the city below; and now many people who were exhausted and tongue-tied as a result of hunger, when they beheld the Temple on fire, found strength once more to lament and wail. Peraea and the surrounding hills, added their echoes to the deafening din. But more horrifying than the din were the sufferings.
The Temple Mount, everywhere enveloped in flames, seemed to be boiling over from its base; yet the blood seemed more abundant than the flames and the numbers of the slain greater than those of the slayers. The soldiers climbed over heaps of bodies as they chased the fugitives."
Then only nine years later in a truly apocalyptic catastrophe
Pompeii was utterly destroyed in proper Biblical fashion when
Mount Vesuvius erupted, a powerful, ominous sign to the ancient mind. Herod’s nephew, visiting the area, was even killed at the blast.
Luke 21:20-21 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies..."
Then in 132 Bar Kokhba, claiming to be the Messiah, led a disastrous revolt against Rome, which ended in a gruesome defeat and Jerusalem itself being wiped off the face of the earth.
Christ’s language was indeed strong and apocalyptic, but people don’t realize how utterly horrific that war was. Even the battle weary Josephus was shocked at the violence.
Starving, the Jews resorted to cannibalism, even devouring their own infants ! At the siege of Masada, rather than being taken by the Romans to be tortured, the Jews committed mass suicide, obviously prohibited by the Torah and an abomination to God.
Thousands of Jews that tried to flee, entire families, even children, were gutted open by bandits on the roads, in case they had swallowed any gold or treasure trying to hide it. And eventually the Romans breached the walls by building a ramp out of rocks and actual Jewish corpses !
"When you see this, leave Judah, people should flee, they should go to the mountains. Don't even go back in your house, then everything will come to an end."
"This generation shall not pass away before all of these things have been fulfilled."
- Jesus Christ
(For a quick summery with Bible references go to the end of the article)
Now, although many Christians today believe the various sayings of Jesus - about false Messiah’s, earthquakes, famines, persecutions, and such, point only to some future apocalyptic event, there’s evidence Christians at this time saw them as being fulfilled at the time they lived.
Think what happened at that time. In 66 AD the Jews rebelled against the Romans. In 70 AD the Temple that was the center of all Jewish religious AND economic life was destroyed, as Jesus predicted, effectively ending the Israelite religion, in that form anyway.
Most don’t realize how essential the Temple was, it’s cosmic significance, we read of the Temple as the dwelling-place of God; the Temple as a microcosm of heaven and earth; the Temple as the sole place of sacrifice; and the Temple as the place of the sacrificial priesthood, the Mishnah states by the Temples the entire Cosmos is sustained.
And it ended. Desecrated. In flames. In blood.
The Romans slaughtered thousands. Of those sparred from death: thousands more were enslaved and sent to toil in the mines of Egypt, others were dispersed to arenas throughout the Empire to be butchered for the amusement of the public. The Temple's sacred relics were taken to Rome where they were displayed in celebration of the victory.
More than 1,100,000 Jews perished and nearly 100,000 were taken captive.
“Tell us, when will these things take place, and what will be the sign preceding all these things” [that will warn us that the destruction of the temple is about to take place]?”
This was the “abomination of desolation”, a reference to Daniel 9:27, “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ’seven.' In the middle of the ’seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”
In 167 B.C. a Greek ruler by the name of Antiochus Epiphanies ended the sacrifices in the Temple by ransacking it, entering the Holy of Holies, and desecrating it setting up an altar to Zeus . This event is known as the abomination of desolation. It happened again in 70 ad.
Josephus describesthe horrific scenes of the Temple being desecrated, razed to the ground, and engulfed on flames :
“Most of the slain were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, and they were butchered where they were caught. The heap of corpses mounted higher and higher about the altar; a stream of blood flowed down the Temple's steps, and the bodies of those slain at the top slipped to the bottom.
While the Temple was ablaze, the attackers plundered it, and countless people who were caught by them were slaughtered. There was no pity for age and no regard was accorded rank; children and old men, laymen and priests, alike were butchered; every class was pursued and crushed in the grip of war, whether they cried out for mercy or offered resistance.
Through the roar of the flames streaming far and wide, the groans of the falling victims were heard; such was the height of the hill and the magnitude of the blazing pile that the entire city seemed to be ablaze; and the noise - nothing more deafening and frightening could be imagined.
There were the war cries of the Roman legions as they swept onwards en masse, the yells of the rebels encircled by fire and sword, the panic of the people who, cut off above, fled into the arms of the enemy, and their shrieks as they met their fate. The cries on the hill blended with those of the multitudes in the city below; and now many people who were exhausted and tongue-tied as a result of hunger, when they beheld the Temple on fire, found strength once more to lament and wail. Peraea and the surrounding hills, added their echoes to the deafening din. But more horrifying than the din were the sufferings.
The Temple Mount, everywhere enveloped in flames, seemed to be boiling over from its base; yet the blood seemed more abundant than the flames and the numbers of the slain greater than those of the slayers. The soldiers climbed over heaps of bodies as they chased the fugitives."
 |
Pompeii was utterly destroyed in proper Biblical fashion when
Mount Vesuvius erupted, a powerful, ominous sign to the ancient mind. Herod’s nephew, visiting the area, was even killed at the blast.
Luke 21:20-21 "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies..."
Then in 132 Bar Kokhba, claiming to be the Messiah, led a disastrous revolt against Rome, which ended in a gruesome defeat and Jerusalem itself being wiped off the face of the earth.
Christ’s language was indeed strong and apocalyptic, but people don’t realize how utterly horrific that war was. Even the battle weary Josephus was shocked at the violence.
Starving, the Jews resorted to cannibalism, even devouring their own infants ! At the siege of Masada, rather than being taken by the Romans to be tortured, the Jews committed mass suicide, obviously prohibited by the Torah and an abomination to God.
Thousands of Jews that tried to flee, entire families, even children, were gutted open by bandits on the roads, in case they had swallowed any gold or treasure trying to hide it. And eventually the Romans breached the walls by building a ramp out of rocks and actual Jewish corpses !
“Be Ye Also Ready”
"When you see this, leave Judah, people should flee, they should go to the mountains. Don't even go back in your house, then everything will come to an end."
- Mathew 24
Is this what the Christians thought was happening ? Christ’s prophecies fulfilled right then and there ? There’s good evidence they did.
The early Christian scholar Eusebius wrote:
“The whole body, however, of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella.”
Epiphanes also attested to the Christian escape,
“It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape. …
“[As] Vespasian was approaching with his army, all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvellously escaped the general shipwreck of their country: not one of them perished.”
The Christians survival was literally miraculous, as there was only a brief window of opportunity for Christians to flee Jerusalem between 69 C.E. when Vespasian returned to Rome and before March 70 C.E. when his son Titus laid siege to Jerusalem.
Had they not believed in Christ’s prophecies, and acted, there would be no Christianity today.
Indeed, that was an end of an age, an entire world. The Israelite religion as it existed come to an end. Just as the Prophets had predicted, only a small remnant was left, and indeed the gentiles at that time DID come to worship the God of Israel, and soon after the pagan nations also joined, ruled over by Christ.
Paul does not say Jesus will come back, but rather speaks of his “reappearing”, for Christ is here now, and, for those with eyes purified of sin to see, even now ruling over us in Glory.
“the Son of Man coming in clouds” - ie, in heaven, where Jesus is now, serving our liturgy in His rule, refers figuratively to Yahweh becoming king, rescuing his covenant people from exile, defeating the rule of the pagan gods instantiated by the pagan rulers, and inaugurating a new world order when Jerusalem is sacked by Rome
Now, was that the end ? No, there will be a deepening of those prophecies, a further fulfillment, this pattern of antichrist and destruction will repeat on a larger, global scale, inevitably, just as it did when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem desecrating the Temple, then Rome, so a new antichrist will arise, and a new apocalypse with it.
SUMMERY :
Jesus warned his followers to immediately flee Jerusalem when the signs he predicted occurred. The Christian community carefully watched for the signs and followed the Savior’s warning.
The Lord first identified the situation leading up to destruction: Many would deceive the people by saying that they were prophets or even Christ himself. The disciples would be delivered up and afflicted, hated of all nations.
Betrayal and iniquity would abound, and the love of many would turn cold. (See Matt. 24:10–12; JS—M 1:6–10.)
The Lord then taught of two major signs that would alert believers to flee: “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” (Luke 21:20.)
He also said, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
“Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
“Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.” (Matt. 24:15–18.)
Of the abomination of desolation to which Jesus referred, Daniel wrote, “They shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.” (Dan. 11:31.)
The early Christian scholar Eusebius wrote:
“The whole body, however, of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella.”
Epiphanes also attested to the Christian escape,
“It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape. …
“[As] Vespasian was approaching with his army, all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvellously escaped the general shipwreck of their country: not one of them perished.”
The Christians survival was literally miraculous, as there was only a brief window of opportunity for Christians to flee Jerusalem between 69 C.E. when Vespasian returned to Rome and before March 70 C.E. when his son Titus laid siege to Jerusalem.
Had they not believed in Christ’s prophecies, and acted, there would be no Christianity today.
Indeed, that was an end of an age, an entire world. The Israelite religion as it existed come to an end. Just as the Prophets had predicted, only a small remnant was left, and indeed the gentiles at that time DID come to worship the God of Israel, and soon after the pagan nations also joined, ruled over by Christ.
Paul does not say Jesus will come back, but rather speaks of his “reappearing”, for Christ is here now, and, for those with eyes purified of sin to see, even now ruling over us in Glory.
“the Son of Man coming in clouds” - ie, in heaven, where Jesus is now, serving our liturgy in His rule, refers figuratively to Yahweh becoming king, rescuing his covenant people from exile, defeating the rule of the pagan gods instantiated by the pagan rulers, and inaugurating a new world order when Jerusalem is sacked by Rome
Now, was that the end ? No, there will be a deepening of those prophecies, a further fulfillment, this pattern of antichrist and destruction will repeat on a larger, global scale, inevitably, just as it did when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem desecrating the Temple, then Rome, so a new antichrist will arise, and a new apocalypse with it.
SUMMERY :
Jesus warned his followers to immediately flee Jerusalem when the signs he predicted occurred. The Christian community carefully watched for the signs and followed the Savior’s warning.
The Lord first identified the situation leading up to destruction: Many would deceive the people by saying that they were prophets or even Christ himself. The disciples would be delivered up and afflicted, hated of all nations.
Betrayal and iniquity would abound, and the love of many would turn cold. (See Matt. 24:10–12; JS—M 1:6–10.)
The Lord then taught of two major signs that would alert believers to flee: “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” (Luke 21:20.)
He also said, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
“Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
“Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.” (Matt. 24:15–18.)
Of the abomination of desolation to which Jesus referred, Daniel wrote, “They shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.” (Dan. 11:31.)
