In fact, there’s been a decades-long - indeed, centuries-long - craze of seeking “hidden”
words and prophesies not only in the Hebrew Scriptures, but in the words of
Jesus, starting in earnest in 1844, when the Millerites predicted Jesus Christ
would “return” to fetch all the Christians, and physically make war on and obliterate
all who opposed him, then set up a 1,000 year reign as King from Jerusalem.
This has continued up to our own time, most recently by a fundamentalist
minister who made the same claims, and had incorrectly forecast the date
several times before.
But has all this been a colossal waste of time – time in
which we could have been focusing on building God’s Kingdom on earth, as Jesus
himself called us to do, so many centuries ago?
Beginning in April, in the year 70, about 40 years after the
Crucifixion of Christ, Jerusalem came under siege from the forces of Roman
General Titus, who was the son of Emperor Vespasian. The Second Temple, located
in Jerusalem – known as Herod’s Temple – was burnt on August 10, the exact same
day and month on which it had been burnt by the king of Babylon, centuries
before.
It was the low point of a seven-year war on the Jewish
people by Rome, to be ended three years later on the mount of Massada, where
thousands of Jewish fighters and civilians committed suicide rather than be
taken alive by Romans, who had slaughtered tens of thousands during the Siege
of Jerusalem.
Who could have seen this cataclysmic tragedy coming? The
answer is Jesus, the Prophet of God. He saw it coming and warned about its
coming – exactly a generation before.
Once widely accepted as a fact throughout the Christian
world, but now completely missing from the pulpits of Christendom’s churches,
the prediction of the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple by Jesus
is one of the most important parts of Jesus’ prophetic ministry, because it
proves his warnings and predictions were true and that he was the Prophet of
God. But further, it was in fact the “Second Coming” for which millions of
hapless Christians even today are waiting.
Jesus clearly preached about the approaching fate of
Jerusalem.
When Jesus spoke, echoing the words of the earlier Hebrew
prophets, saying, “Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this
generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children
together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!’”
(Mat 23:36-37) he was clearly passing down God’s judgment upon Jerusalem, and
speaking of those who kill the prophets. (And note: This judgment was on THAT generation
of Jewish people, NOT to all generations of future Jews, and that’s clear by
the context.)
And did he see himself as one of these Prophets? Yes, and
that was the point. He said, “I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the
day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from
Jerusalem.” (Luke 13:33).”
And listen to what he said about Jerusalem and its fate:
“And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying,
‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for
peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you,
when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem
you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children
within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you
did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)
This is a clear and vivid portrayal of the destruction of
Jerusalem, right down to the “barricade” siege and the Temple being torn to the
ground, as it was in AD 70. “As for these things that you see,” he said, “the
days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that
will not be thrown down.” (Luke 21:6)
And he spoke of “wars and rumors of wars” and “nation will
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and
earthquakes in various places.” (Matt. 24:6-7) Instead of a future event thousands of years away, this
prophesy definitely occurred during the War of AD 67-70.
“Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoever reads, let
him understand).” (Matt 24:15-16) This was fulfilled when Roman soldiers stood
inside of the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, and stole the
relics there, returning them to Rome.
If we believe Jesus, and know that he spoke the truth, we
cannot believe that when he said, “THIS GENERATION will NOT PASS AWAY until all
these things take place,” (Matt. 24:34) that he was lying, or that he meant
that his current “generation” would last for over 2,000 years.
So, did Jesus actually “Return” and did God pass judgment on
THAT Generation living in Judea in AD 70? More next week.
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