Part 2
Eventually, over the long siege, the terrible famine that ensued took its toll. By the time the Romans entered the city, every street of Jerusalem was filled with piles of unburied dead bodies of those who had starved. Bands of wild Zealots roamed the streets, searching for anyone with even a crumb of bread, for which they would kill. The scent of cooking meat took one group to a house where a woman had actually killed and cooked her own child.
As Josephus put it: “Neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries...from the beginning of the world.” “The entire nation was now shut up by fate as in a prison, and the Roman army encompassed the city when it was crowded with inhabitants. Accordingly, the multitude of those that therein perished exceeded all the destructions that either man or God ever brought upon the world.”
so said Jesus in Matthew 24:21: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
Again, we are seeing a usage of the word “world” here that is different from our common use of it. It was the world of the Jewish nation that Jesus and Josephus were speaking of. It was the culminating cataclysm for the Jewish “world.” By the end of the siege, when the Romans entered the city and destroyed the Temple, the dead numbered over one million. (By comparison, the U.S. war dead in all of World War II was 292,100.16)
Josephus says that the Romans took 97,000 survivors into immediate slavery and sold them off into diverse countries, thus physically obliterating the Jewish nation.
Eusebius says: “...Vespasian, after the capture of Jerusalem, commanded all of the family of David to be sought, that no one might be left among the Jews who was of royal stock....” As for the city itself,
Josephus says: "now the Romans set fire to the extreme parts of the city, and burnt them down, and entirely demolished its walls, [which were] so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited.”
The site of Jerusalem, after having been razed to the ground, was left abandoned and desolate for centuries after the war. A time of great tribulation, indeed, and one the Christian Community was warned of and one which they, in fact, escaped from. Jesus gave them the information they needed to make their escape – it came in the form of the prophecies he spoke to them. So, in the symbolic language of Matthew 24, verse 30, we see the actions God was taking against the old Jewish nation described in terms of his “coming in the clouds of heaven.”
In verse 31, Jesus, still using symbols, goes on to describe this event:
“And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Who were the “elect”? These were the people who had followed the Messiah into the new Law of grace, the Christian disciples who had accepted Jesus. Where were these “elect”? Jesus says that the angels gathered them from “one end of heaven to the other.” These Christians were not on the receiving end of this “coming” of Christ, for they were already in the heavenly realm with him.
Ephesians 2:5 tells us:
“And [Christ] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
In fact, these Christian souls were going to be a part of that coming, along with Christ!
Colossians 3:4 tells us:
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”
The Christians were (and are) already in the spiritual heavenly realm, for Christ had already come to those who were looking for him, and now Christ consolidated all of them in the glory of victory over the persecuting Jewish authorities.
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch is still tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near.
Mat 24:33 So you, likewise, when you see all these things, shall know that it is near, at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Truly I say to you, This generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled.
In Matthew 24, verses 32-34, Jesus gives his disciples an answer to one of their original questions, “When shall these things be?” He does not give them a specific day or time for this great “coming” against the enemies, but he has told them what signs to watch for and now he places a well–defined time limit on the prophecy: “All these things” includes all the signs Jesus outlined, all the tribulations he said they would have to endure, and it also includes the “coming in the clouds of heaven” at the end of the tribulations. All these things would happen before that literal generation had passed completely away, or, as Jesus put it in Matthew 16:28 –
“There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
It is plain that none of these events belong in our future. To try to force them into the far future is anachronistic – putting something out of place in time. These events belonged to that generation of Christians and Jews and the events of history match the events prophesied, point for point. There is no need to extrapolate the images of the prophecy into our future once we realize the nature of the symbols that are being used by Jesus. We see this use of symbolic language again in the next verse, verse 35:
Mat 24:35 The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away.
Jesus is still prophesying, and these are still symbols. The “heaven” and “earth” that shall pass away are not this planet and universe that we inhabit. That is not the subject of Christ’s prophecy here. This refers, again, to the religious authorities of the old Law of Moses and the people who follow them, who would be destroyed by these war actions and would “pass away.” Christ’s words would never pass away, for they are the New Law that took the place of the Old Law which was “abolished in his flesh” by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross (Ephesians 2:15).
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father.
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark.
Mat 24:39 And they did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will be the
“That day” was the day of visitation, the coming of God against the enemy. No human being or even any spiritual creature other than Jehovah God knew the exact timing of the thing, but it was to be preceded by distinct and identifiable warning signs. To emphasize his point, Jesus compares this current situation with the one Noah was in where evil overran good and the tiny minority of good men and women were saved from the vast majority of evildoers by the divine intervention of God himself. Those evildoers were taken by surprise when the flood came. This time, the Jews would be taken by surprise when the flood of war came to their country and fortress and destroyed them.
Mat 24:40 Then two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:42 Therefore watch; for you do not know what hour your Lord comes.
Here are very obvious references to the situation that would occur when the Roman armies advanced on Jerusalem. The unbelieving Jewish man or woman would stay in Judea and be taken captive by the Romans, but the Christian would keep watch and recognize the signs. He would flee the situation, thus saving his own life.
In the remainder of chapter 24, Jesus explains why the exact time of the coming is not divulged to the Christians and exhorts them to be watchful for the signs. He explains that the giving of an exact time for the event would be like the owner of a house knowing the time of a burglary – he would be standing ready to prevent it. The unfaithful Jews were to be taken by surprise, like a “thief in the night.” The faithful Christian, watching for the signs and not becoming discouraged or losing faith, would flee the “visitation” and would be saved. Note what Paul reminded the Thessalonian brethren in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-6—
“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are the children of light, ...Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober.”
The Christians were children of light, which is symbolic of knowledge. They had the knowledge of this prophecy to guide them and save them from the terrible events of the war. We again note, because it is a common interpretation, that many teachers would divide Matthew 24 into two or more segments. One part would be the warning signs to the disciples concerning the downfall of Jerusalem in AD. 70. Then any references to the “coming of the Son of Man” would be completely separated from those signs and would refer to a far future event at the end of man’s universe. Some would divide the scripture at verse 27, others at verse 36. With the kind of study we have undertaken here, it can be seen that such divisions are really nothing more than a way to rationalize around the use of the phrase “coming of the Son of Man” when Jesus places that event within the lifetimes of his disciples who were with him then. It is not difficult to understand that this phrase, echoing many other similar uses in the Old Testament, is entirely plausible, natural, and consistent with the interpretation we have examined here: that this “coming” was a spiritual event, carried out by God as a physical one through the use of human, pagan armies just as he did many times before in the long history of his rebellious, chosen people — the Jews.
In closing I would like to add the coming of Jesus is always declared in the present tense, coming, I come. Even when Jesus appeared to His disciples post resurrection that could be interpreted as the 2nd coming that the generation would see. It could be Pentecost. For me He came when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, yet He comes daily, revealing new stuff all the time. Do I believe in a literal 2nd coming? Well the jury is still out on that one but the more I study and the more I research, the less this seems likely. I just cannot get past these verses (in context)
Heb 9:24 For Christ has not entered into the Holy of Holies made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
Heb 9:25 Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, even as the high priest enters into the Holy of Holies every year with the blood of others
Heb 9:26 (for then He must have suffered often since the foundation of the world), but now once in the end of the world He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment,
Heb 9:28 so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation.
It does not say all but neither does it say some or a few. How much is many oranges? 2, 3, 20, 1 000 000, 10 000 000, 6.5Bn, 10Bn? Who knows?
What is paramount for me here is And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation
So is there a literal antichrist? No.
I have made my peace with the fact I will probably pass from this life to the next via a casket and a 6’ hole.
Yes I am more than likely going to go to hell (aka Grave) we all are. But what goes to hell is this mortal sinful body. Beyond that what is resurrected is the sinless spirit we have in Jesus.
The temple has passed, the Romans saw to that, the Muslims now own that piece of real estate in Jerusalem, all the Jews can do is pray at the wailing wall. There will not be a rebuilding of the temple.
We are now the temples, we are the many mansions prepared by Jesus. We are already in our Father’s house. Stop looking at biblical accounts from a carnal view.
Joh 6:63 It is the Spirit that makes alive, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life.
Rom 8:2 But the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; Rom 8:8 So then they who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ is in you, indeed the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of the One who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised up Christ from the dead shall also make your mortal bodies alive by His Spirit who dwells in you.
1Co 15:42 So also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;
1Co 15:43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
1Co 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul," the last Adam was a life-giving Spirit.
1Co 15:46 But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man was out of earth, earthy; the second Man was the Lord from Heaven.
1Co 15:48 Such the earthy man, such also the earthy ones. And such the heavenly Man, such also the heavenly ones.
1Co 15:49 And according as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
1Co 15:50 And I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I speak a mystery to you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed;
1Co 15:52 in a moment, in a glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.
Gal 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he also will reap.
Gal 6:8 For he sowing to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But he sowing to the Spirit will reap life everlasting from the Spirit.
Gal 6:9 But we should not lose heart in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not faint.
Gal 6:10 So then as we have time, let us work good toward all, especially toward those of the household of faith.
It is time to put away the carnal understanding and seek the spiritual revelation we need just ask of the Holy Spirit and the door will be opened.
Blessings |
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