SRR 119 The Danielic Imperative (23) The Sign of Matthew 24, Mark 13 & Luke 21 to leave Judæa

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I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.
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When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield, exposing the air and combating the air.
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We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so, the next few statements that I'm going to make,
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I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.
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We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.
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It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said,
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Woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.
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As opposed to, Blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. It is on.
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We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. Welcome to episode 23 of the
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Danielic Imperative, a podcast in which we examine the eschatology of the people of God in the light of the timeline revealed to us by the prophet
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Daniel. Through the prophet Daniel, the Lord revealed to us a timeline of the people of God and their future.
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And six centuries later, Jesus and his apostles reveal the future to us using explicitly and implicitly
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Danielic language. It is imperative that Christians understand that timeline in order to understand
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God's plan for his people. In today's episode, we will demonstrate again why that foundational principle is so important to our studies of the
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Gospels and Revelation as we analyze the sign Jesus said would indicate that it is time to flee from Judea.
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But first, a recap from our last episode. In our last episode, we identified 13 ways in which traditions of men have nullified the revelation of God, blinding us to what
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God has plainly spoken to us. The clarity of the revelation of God has been obscured by the traditions of men in such a way as to make
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God's word to us void of its meaning. We have missed what Daniel, Jesus, and John have told us because we have made assumptions that are not supported by the text of Scriptures.
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We have assumed that the stone of Daniel 2 only strikes the statue once instead of twice as evidenced not only by Daniel chapter 2 but also by Daniel 7 and the book of Revelation, all of which depict a first strike against the
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Roman Empire and a second strike against the little horn, the beast of Revelation 13.
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We have assumed a 10 -way division of the Roman Empire causing us to miss the 13 -way division clearly borne out in the text when
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Daniel 7 is harmonized with Revelation 12, 13, and 17. We have assumed
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Daniel 9 was a Messianic prophecy of the coming of Christ rather than a Mosaic prophecy fulfilled in the restoration of Levitical purity of the altar and the temple in accordance with Leviticus chapter 26.
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We have assumed that Daniel changes his frame of reference repeatedly in chapter 11 which causes us to miss the fulfillment of the last six verses of the chapter and that, in turn, would have shown us that the abomination of desolation mentioned earlier in the chapter must have occurred under the
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Greek Empire 200 years before the death and resurrection of Christ. And those assumptions have caused us to miss what
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Jesus was plainly telling us in Matthew 24 and Mark 13 about the return of that same abomination of desolation as a harbinger of doom for the nation of Israel.
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And what is more, we have assumed that Jesus said the abomination was to be placed in the holy place which would be a reference, of course, to the temple.
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But that is not what the scripture says. Jesus only said that the abomination foretold by Daniel would be placed in a holy place which is not a reference to the temple at all.
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It was Daniel who said that it would be placed in the sanctuary, and it was, during the Greek Empire.
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Jesus said when it returned, it would be found in a holy place where it should not be.
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And it was, in the synagogue at Doris in 41 AD. He did not say the holy place.
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He said a holy place. But we have assumed that Jesus really must have meant the holy place, so we have ignored what the scriptures plainly say and filled in with tradition what
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God has not revealed to us in his word. Some translations actually say the holy place, even though the definite article is missing in the
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Greek. There is no better way of obscuring the revelation of God than by editing it to conform to our traditions.
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And yet, that is what we have done, repeatedly. There were several other similar points we made in our previous episode, and our listeners can go back and listen again since it has been several months now since our last podcast.
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But, if we are to understand God's revelation to us, we must first set aside our traditions, especially those that have caused us intentionally to mistranslate the text of scripture.
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And if we are to understand what Jesus meant by his reference to the abomination of desolation, as foretold by the prophet
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Daniel, we need to get our arms around the Danielic timeline, because Jesus was using it to communicate something important to us.
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So, that is where we left off last time with episode 22. And in our next episode, after this one, we will dive into the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 and show beyond doubt that the book of Revelation was written not just before 95
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AD, as is traditionally believed, and that it was written not only before the fall of Jerusalem in 70
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AD, and not only before the Jewish war began in 67 AD, but rather that it was written no later than 63
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AD, and likely even earlier than that, because the apocalypse was revealed to John as a warning of events that were to begin to occur just before the onset of winter in Jerusalem in 63
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AD. John was on the Greek island of Patmos, which means that it would have had to have been revealed to him with sufficient time for someone to make the journey to Jerusalem from Patmos, a journey no one would have undertaken at the onset of winter.
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For the revelation to be meaningful and actionable to the people of God, the revelation to John would have had to have taken place much earlier than the winter of 63
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AD. That, of course, is contrary to all scholarship and tradition, and we will discuss that in our next episode as we explain the two witnesses of Revelation 11.
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But I'll lay down the gauntlet now. The book of Revelation foresaw events that occurred as early as 63
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AD, and to be prophetic, the revelation to John must have occurred before the prophesied events took place.
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But today we are going to address the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and what Jesus said would be the indication that it was time to leave
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Judea, and we will see very quickly why it is so important to understand the Danielic timeline.
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It is imperative. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus told his listeners that they should flee Judea when they saw the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place where it ought not, and as we have shown in previous episodes, that happened about ten years after Jesus' resurrection, under the reign of Herod Agrippa, who was king of Judea from 41 to 44
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AD. We can place the return of the abomination of desolation in 41
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AD because it occurred just after Agrippa instated Simon as high priest, as recorded in Josephus' Antiquities, Book 19,
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Chapter 6, Paragraph 2. The abomination of desolation was set up in the synagogue at Doris that same year.
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As the listener will recall, the abomination of desolation has been identified for us in the
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Scriptures, in Daniel 8, 9, 11, and 12, which foresaw the
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Greek king Antiochus IV placing a statue of the Roman god Jupiter on the altar in the
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Temple of Jerusalem. The abomination of desolation returned to Judea when Emperor Caligula demanded that statues of himself, disguised as Jupiter, be placed in all the temples of the empire.
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The Jews resisted this, but after Caligula's death, some young rascals in the city of Doris in northern
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Israel installed one of those statues in the synagogue there, as described by Josephus in Antiquities, Book 19,
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Chapter 6, Paragraph 3. The appearance of the statue of Jupiter in a synagogue was the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy from barely ten years earlier, as recorded in Matthew 24, 15 and Mark 13, 14.
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Upon seeing the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, Jesus' listeners were encouraged to depart from Judea and take refuge in the mountains.
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And from Jesus' words, the departure from Judea was a matter of considerable urgency. The hearers are warned not even to look back, but to depart immediately to the mountains.
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Here is what Jesus said, now citing from Matthew 24, 17 to 21.
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No, nor shall ever be. Again, Matthew 24, 17 to 21. That was
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Jesus' advice to his listeners on what they should do when they saw that abomination of desolation returning to Israel.
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Mark recorded something similar. But Luke recorded Jesus' message slightly differently.
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Instead of saying that the return of the abomination of desolation would be the sign of warning, that it was time to leave
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Judea, Luke says instead that the sign would be that Jerusalem is surrounded with armies. At least, that is how the
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English translation renders it. In Luke 21, 20 to 21, Jesus said,
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And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
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Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too.
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Again, Luke 21, 20 to 21. In this case, the hearers are told that this is the sign that the desolation of Jerusalem is near at hand.
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And Jesus warns similarly to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, saying, For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
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But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
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And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the
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Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Again, Luke 21, 22 to 24.
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So, two Gospel accounts say the warning sign is the return of the abomination of desolation.
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And one says the warning sign is when Jerusalem is surrounded with armies. But either way, it is time to leave
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Judea and hide because bad times are coming. The intent of the message, of course, is that the hearers escape the coming tribulation by leaving before it occurs.
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I think we can all agree on that. Matthew and Mark say the hearers must leave Judea immediately, not even pausing long enough to go back to the house to get their belongings.
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Because it is the time of the great tribulation. And Luke says to leave Judea because these are days of vengeance, when the
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Jews will be killed by the sword or carried off captive to all nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot by the
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Gentiles. So, here are the facts before us. Matthew and Mark say the sign of the end of the age is the abomination of desolation standing in a holy place where it ought not, which appears to have occurred in 41
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AD, based on our knowledge of the identity of the abomination of desolation. And Luke says the sign of the end of the age is when
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Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, presumably Roman armies, as the commentaries typically say.
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And Jerusalem is not surrounded by armies until 70 AD, when the Romans besieged Jerusalem.
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How could the signs of the end of the age be 29 years apart? How could the Gospels be so far off from each other?
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So, assuming that the Gospels really aren't contradicting each other and really aren't that far off from each other, do we really have an important choice before us?
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We can assume that the phrase, when you shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, refers to the
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Roman siege of Jerusalem and use that assumption to determine the identification of the abomination of desolation.
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Or, we can assume that we know the identification of the abomination of desolation from the Scriptures and use that knowledge to determine the meaning of when you shall see
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Jerusalem encompassed with armies. But before we do that, I want to highlight a significant point of similarity between the three
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Gospel accounts, and that is the warning of woe to pregnant and nursing women. All three accounts basically say the same thing.
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Woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days. That's Matthew 24, 19,
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Mark 13, 17, and Luke 21, 23. The hardship in mind here is the flight of pregnant women and nursing mothers as they leave
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Judea, because Matthew and Mark add that they should pray that their flight not take place in the winter or on the
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Sabbath. That's an important point, and we'll come back to it shortly. Just keep it in mind.
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We're going to use that to perform a thought experiment in a few moments. Okay, so let's see what happens if we approach the text in ignorance of the
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Danielic timeline and use our understanding of the Roman siege to determine what the abomination of desolation is.
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When we do that, a completely useless understanding of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 results.
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As we will see, when we approach Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 without first establishing the
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Danielic timeline, it completely empties Christ's warning of any meaning at all. So, let's assume for now that we do not understand what the abomination of desolation is from Daniel and the fulfillment of his prophecies in 167
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BC. We'll assume Daniel 9 is a messianic prophecy and Daniel 11 occurs in 2, 3, 4, or 5 different frames of reference.
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And the abomination of desolation, whatever it may be, is expected to manifest shortly after the time of Christ or possibly even in the more distant future.
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Neither we nor Jesus' hearers know what he meant in Matthew 24, 15, and Mark 13, 14 when he referred to the abomination foretold by Daniel.
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But we can infer its identity from Luke 21, 20, which appears to say that the sign of the end of the age is when we see
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Jerusalem besieged by the Romans. Therefore, we can expect the abomination of desolation, whatever it may be, to manifest around the same time
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Jerusalem is sacked by the Romans in 70 AD. The abomination has to be erected in the
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Holy of Holies in order to pollute the sanctuary of strength as prophesied in Daniel 11, 31. And, of course, this does not happen until September of 70
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AD when the victorious Roman soldiers brought their standards or ensigns to the Temple Mount. Because Romans are known to revere those standards above all gods, making them idols after a fashion, then the bringing of the ensigns to the
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Temple must be the abomination of desolation Daniel had foretold. And that must be the sign of the end of the age, as Jesus mentioned, and therefore the signal indicating that it was time to flee from Judea.
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As an example of that interpretation, I offer for the consideration of the listener John Wesley's commentary on Matthew 24, a link for which will be provided in the show notes.
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A similar interpretation is offered by Daniel Doriani of the Gospel Coalition, in which he writes that the abomination of desolation is the
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Roman armies themselves because they carried with them the idolatrous images of the emperor. Okay, let's assume the abomination is the
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Roman armies or their ensigns. So, what should the people of Judea do? Millions have already died in famines, slaughters, earthquakes, and insurrections throughout
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Judea for the last 30 years, as village after village erupted in civil strife, collapsed under the onslaught of Roman sieges, culminating in the sack of Jerusalem as people waited patiently for the sign of the end, the abomination of desolation to be placed in the
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Temple. And now that everyone is either dead, dying, or on their way to captivity, the abomination is finally revealed to be the
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Roman standards, or the armies, and it is finally time to leave Judea. As Jerusalem lies in ruins and all the villages and cities of Judea have been captured by the
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Romans and they erect their ensigns at the Temple Mount to celebrate their triumph, you can just imagine the thoughts going through the minds of the few surviving
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Jews as they are being led into slavery. A little more advanced notice would have been nice,
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Jesus. Maybe even a sign before everyone was already dead or in slavery. That would have been a little more helpful, so at least we would have had a fighting chance.
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I'm being facetious here, but I'll just say the obvious. If the Roman soldiers surrounding Jerusalem, the
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Roman standards on the Temple Mount, or the armies on the Temple Mount were the abomination of desolation, the sign we were waiting for as an indication that we need to leave
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Judea for our own safety, it is simply one of the most useless warnings ever given. It did nothing.
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And that is why I wanted to highlight the one point of similarity between all three gospel accounts. What Matthew, Mark, and Luke all agree on is that pregnant and nursing women will suffer the most in their flight from Judea.
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So, indulge me as I relate three deplorable incidents that occurred three years before the Romans ever besieged
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Jerusalem and three and a half years before they ever erected their ensigns on the Temple Mount. The sieges of Jaffa, Jodhpata, and Geshala, as recorded in Josephus, Wars of the
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Jews, Book 3, Chapter 7, and Book 4, Chapter 2. In the case of Jaffa, after 15 ,000
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Jews were slaughtered, 2 ,130 women and infants were taken captive, according to Book 3,
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Chapter 7, Paragraph 31. And at the siege of Jodhpata, 40 ,000 were killed and 1 ,200 women and infants were taken captive,
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Book 3, Chapter 7, Paragraph 36. And that's not even the worst of it.
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At the siege of Geshala, when one of the robbers, John of Geshala, opted to flee to Jerusalem for safety, he led a large part of the populace with him, but abandoned the women and children several miles from the city.
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And when the Romans captured them, they killed 6 ,000 of them and took almost 3 ,000 captives.
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That's Book 4, Chapter 2, Paragraph 5. All of these occurred in 67
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AD, three years before Rome was encircled with armies, three and a half years before the Roman standards were ever erected on the
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Temple Mount. Now just think about that. Was Jesus warning pregnant and nursing women to wait until Judea had been completely subjugated by the
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Romans, and then flee from Judea? Or was he warning them to flee before the danger arrived?
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Clearly he was warning them to leave before it got too dangerous to leave. So what do you suppose was going through the minds of those thousands of women as they and their children were slaughtered or taken into captivity?
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A little more advanced notice would have been nice, Jesus. Maybe even a sign before it was too dangerous to flee.
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That would have been a little more helpful, so at least we and our children could have gotten out before things got bad.
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But again, of course, I'm being facetious. My point in all this is not to make light of the plight of these women and infants and the utter destruction faced by the cities of Judea and the ultimate destruction of Jerusalem.
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My point is that if the Roman ensigns were the sign of the end, the sign that it was time to flee Judea, the sign was so late as to be almost capricious.
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It is simply one of the worst warnings in all of Scripture. At least the people of Nineveh had 40 days to repent.
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That warning came in advance of the punishment. But in the case of the great tribulation, the great vengeance upon the
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Jewish nation, the great sorrows that were coming upon them, the people were told that it was fine to stay in Judea until after everyone had already been killed or taken captive.
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Honestly, what kind of warning is that? And even if we simply go by the encircling of Jerusalem with armies in the spring of 70
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AD, six months before the ensigns were erected at the temple, it was still too late to flee Judea safely, as evidenced by the slaughter and capture of thousands of women and infants at Jaffa, Jotapata, and Geshala three years earlier.
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There is just something horribly, horribly wrong with having Jesus say the sign to leave Judea comes after it is too late to leave
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Judea. Another problem with that interpretation is that the ensigns were never even erected within the temple.
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The historical record says the ensigns of the Roman army were erected on the east gate, which hardly counts as a pollution of the sanctuary, which is what
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Daniel prophesied. At least in that interpretation. To have the prophecy of a pollution of the sanctuary occur by erecting idolatrous ensigns at the east gate basically nullifies the prophecy.
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To address that, some commentaries say the armies are the abomination and the dead bodies in the temple after the massacre are the desolation.
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But Daniel's prophecy was that the abomination of desolation would pollute the sanctuary by being set up in the sanctuary.
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Having the abomination outside the sanctuary and the desolation inside the sanctuary effectively nullifies the prophecy.
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And again, all this takes place after all of Judea had been subjugated by the Romans and Jerusalem had already been sacked and its inhabitants either killed or captured to be sold in the slave markets.
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As signs go, those are all pretty useless if their purpose was to warn people to leave before the tribulation and the vengeance and the sorrow.
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Now, there are also some who would appeal to church historian Eusebius who said Christians received a revelation just before the war and left
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Jerusalem just in time, taking refuge in Perea. That's in Eusebius' Church History, Book 3,
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Chapter 5, Paragraph 3. But that too nullifies Jesus' warning in the scriptures.
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Why would Jesus say to his own disciples that the sign that it is time to flee from Judea is when Jerusalem is encircled with armies or when the abomination of desolation was erected?
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Assuming that he was referring to the Roman ensigns or the dead bodies in the temple. And then have a different revelation indicating that it was time to leave
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Judea three years before Jerusalem was encircled with armies and three and a half years before those ensigns were erected at the temple.
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Besides, the legend of a revelation to Christians to leave Judea before the war is just that, a legend.
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The first record of it is in Eusebius' Church History, almost 300 years after the war. There is no other evidence of it anywhere in the historical record.
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Other commentaries have suggested that perhaps the prophecy of Jerusalem being encircled with soldiers was fulfilled in 66
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AD when the Roman general, Cestius, besieged Jerusalem. But the problem with that interpretation is that Cestius did not encircle
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Jerusalem. He set up camp about a mile from Jerusalem and then moved his camp within the outer walls, marched into the city, and then continued the siege at the inner wall from within the city.
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But at no point did he surround the city. The account of his siege of Jerusalem is in Josephus' Wars of the
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Jews, Book 2, Chapter 19. So none of that works. None of it makes any sense.
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And none of it satisfies the prophetic voice of Daniel, who said the abomination would be set up and pollute the sanctuary.
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And none of it satisfies the prophetic voice of Christ, who ostensibly was warning people to leave
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Judea before the tribulation began, not after it was over. He said explicitly,
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That's Matthew 24, verses 16 and 21. For these be days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
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That's Luke 21, verses 21 to 22. Does that sound like people should leave
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Judea before all the cities of Judea had been taken by the Romans and Jerusalem was leveled and the Jews were either killed or sent into captivity?
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Or does it sound like people should leave Judea after all the cities of Judea had been already taken by the
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Romans and Jerusalem was leveled and the Jews either killed or sent into captivity? So, let's set aside the traditional position and think through this from the perspective of the timeline revealed to us in Daniel.
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We have spent considerable time in this series showing that Daniel chapter 11 was written in a single frame of reference and covers the entirety of the
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Greek period of Daniel's visions, from the rise of Alexander all the way through the final apocalyptic conflict between General Pompey and the pirates of Pamphylia Bay, which set the stage for the rise of the
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Roman Empire. And right in the middle of that chapter is the abomination of desolation, placed in the temple by the
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Greek ruler Antiochus IV. Daniel 11 .31, along with Daniel 8 .13,
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9 .27, and 12 .11, definitively set the timeline for the abomination of desolation in the
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Greek period of Daniel's visions, the statue of the Roman Jupiter placed in the temple by the
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Greek king Antiochus IV in 167 BC. There is simply no way around the fact that the scriptures by this means established not only the time period when the abomination of desolation manifests in the temple, that is, 167
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BC, but also the identification of that abomination, the statue of Jupiter, the foreign god worshipped by the
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Greek king, as foretold in Daniel 11 .38. These facts must govern our understanding of Jesus' reference to the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24 .15
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and Mark 13 .14. Jesus was not saying that the abomination of desolation had not yet been placed in the temple at all.
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It had been, and Jesus knew it. Jesus merely stated that the same abomination placed in the temple by Antiochus IV in 167
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BC would return to Judea as the harbinger of Israel's doom, and that occurred in 41
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AD. And we know from the historical record that the political, social, agricultural, and geographic conditions of Judea declined rapidly from 41
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AD onwards, as wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence, and lawlessness quickly followed, just as Jesus said they would after the sign of the abomination.
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Jesus' warnings in Matthew, Mark, and Luke must all be understood in that context and on that timeline.
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It is established for us in the Scripture. That is the Danielic timeline, and it is imperative upon all
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Christians to approach Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 in that context. The Danielic timeline establishes the foundation of Jesus' prophecy and establishes for us that the sign of Israel's impending doom occurred in 41
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AD. The coming of the abomination of desolation was the warning sign that it was time to leave
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Judea. Miss that sign, and you risk getting caught up in the calamities that would shortly follow, as experienced by those who attempted to flee
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Judea only after things got too dangerous. Now, even though at first blush
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Luke 21 -20 appears to place the sign in 70 AD instead of 41 AD, the
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Gospels must be consistent, and we will find that all three Gospels actually do place the warning sign in the early 40s
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AD. They do, in fact, agree, as we will see. In the Greek, Jesus' warning in Luke 21 -20 was not that Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies, but rather that Jerusalem would be surrounded by encampments, which is not exactly the same thing, and we will find that Jerusalem was indeed surrounded by encampments decades before the
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Romans besieged Jerusalem. It is a matter of simple inspection to determine what those encampments were.
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So, instead of assuming the meaning of Luke 21 -20 and the surrounding of Jerusalem with armies, and then using that to determine the identity of the abomination of desolation, let's instead assume that we can know, and indeed that the
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Jews in Jesus' audience did know, or at least ought to have known, the identity of the abomination from the
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Scriptures, and then use that to understand Luke 21 -20. We'll assume
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Daniel 9 is not a Messianic prophecy, because it was mosaic, and that Daniel 11 occurs in a single frame of reference, not multiple frames of reference, and covered the entire
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Greek period from the fall of the Medo -Persian Empire to the rise of the Roman Empire. And the abomination of desolation manifested in the
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Greek Empire under the Greek king Antiochus IV, and that it is the statue of Jupiter that polluted the
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Sanctuary of Strength when Antiochus erected it there in 167 BC. Jesus' hearers knew what
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Jesus meant in Matthew 24 -15 and Mark 13 -14, when he referred to the abomination of desolation as foretold by Daniel, and we know that it returned in 41
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AD when some young men in Doris erected it in the synagogue there. And now, because we know what the abomination of desolation was in the first place, and we can recognize it when it returned in 41
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AD, we can use that information to understand what Jesus must have meant in Luke 21 -20. In short, instead of assuming that we know when
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Jerusalem was surrounded with encampments, and using that to determine the identity of the abomination, let's assume that we know the identity of the abomination, and use that to determine what
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Jesus meant by, when you shall see Jerusalem encompassed with encampments, a completely different picture emerges.
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And yes, in fact, a sign emerges that gave people plenty of time to leave Judea. So, let's rewind the clock to 30
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AD when Jesus' disciples first asked him, Tell us, when shall these things be?
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And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? That's Matthew 24 -3, and similarly in Mark 13 -4 and Luke 21 -7.
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And keep in mind, the end of the world is literally the end of the age, a reference to the visions in the book of Daniel, that after four kingdoms shall come upon the earth, the saints of the
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Most High shall receive the kingdom. That's the end of the age that they were asking about. That is what they were wondering about.
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And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in my name, saying,
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I am Christ, and shall deceive many. That's Matthew 24, verses 4 -5. Mark 13, 5 -6 says essentially the same thing, and Luke 21, 8 adds,
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The time draweth near, go ye not after them. Later in Matthew, additional details are added about this particular phenomenon about the false prophets as Jesus expands.
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If any men shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false
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Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
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Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth.
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Behold, he is in the secret chambers. Believe it not. That's Matthew 24, verses 23 -26.
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Okay, so his listeners should be cautious. Take heed that no man deceive you. Many shall come in my name, showing great signs and wonders, saying,
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I am Christ. Do not follow them. The time draweth near. Well, apparently, at the time of Jesus' warning, the beginning of the tribulation was not far away at all, and the indication of the arrival of the time of tribulation and the vengeance of God in the time of sorrows is the return of the statue of Jupiter.
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Now, let's fast forward ten years to 40 AD. Emperor Caligula has shipped statues of himself and the image of Jupiter to all temples of the empire.
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The Jews threaten to revolt, and Caligula dies before the command can be carried out, but the people of Judea are scandalized to hear that someone erected one of the statues in the synagogue of Doris.
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Shortly after this, Judea is overrun with false prophets, robbers, and seditions, resulting in the deaths of thousands upon thousands of Jews as they are led into the wilderness to be robbed, slaughtered, or taken captive to be sold in the international slave market, or simply trampled and murdered as they are caught up in the chaos.
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When Cuspius Fatus was procurator of Judea from 44 to 46 AD, false prophets began to deceive the
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Jews, leading them to their deaths and to captivity. For our first example, we turn to Jewish historian
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Josephus, eyewitness to the events in his Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, Chapter 5,
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Paragraph 1. He wrote, Now it came to pass, while Fatus was procurator of Judea, that a certain magician, whose name was
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Theodos, persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them and follow him to the river
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Jordan, for he told them he was a prophet and that he would, by his own command, divide the river and afford them an easy passage over it, and many were deluded by his words.
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However, Fatus did not permit them to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out against them, who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them and took many of them alive.
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This was what befell the Jews in the time of Cuspius Fatus's government. Again, Josephus, Antiquities, Book 20,
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Chapter 5, Paragraph 1. Okay, under the next procurator, Tiberius Alexander, from 46 to 48
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A .D., a terrible famine struck Judea and many Jews died of starvation. Under the next procurator,
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Ventidius Cumanus, from 48 to 52 A .D., more robbers and false prophets and insurrections emerged.
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At the festival of Unleavened Bread, a single Roman soldier taunted the Jews and a riot ensued when some of the robbers and insurrectionists stirred up the crowds.
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In the panic that ensued, between 10 ,000 and 20 ,000 Jews were trampled to death, according to Josephus, Antiquities, Book 20,
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Chapter 5, Paragraph 3, or Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 12, Paragraph 1.
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Shortly after this, those same robbers attacked and robbed one of Caesar's servants, and procurator
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Cumanus was so indignant that he immediately sent soldiers out to the neighboring villages with orders to arrest anyone they came across, including innocent bystanders, on the charge that they had not pursued the thieves and stopped them.
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That's recorded for us in Antiquities, Book 20, Chapter 5, Paragraph 4, and Wars, Book 2,
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Chapter 12, Paragraph 2. Under the same procurator Cumanus, a disagreement arose between the
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Jews and the Samaritans, and the Jews enlisted the help of the robber Eliezer to avenge the people of Judea.
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When Cumanus heard of this, he armed the Samaritans with four regiments of footmen, marched out against the
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Jews and caught them and slew many of them, and took a great number of them alive. Afterward, the robbers went away again to their places of strength, and after this time, all
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Judea was overrun with robberies. That's Antiquities, Book 20, Chapter 6,
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Paragraph 1. And keep in mind, the robbers went away again to their places of strength.
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That's important, and we will come back to it. Keep it in mind as we move on. The next procurator,
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Antonius Felix, from 52 to 60 AD, attempted to rid Judea of the robber threat, but no sooner did he overcome the multitude of robbers than another brand of robbers and false prophets also rose up.
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These new robbers were known as the Sicarii because of the sickle -shaped weapons each one carried with him, according to Antiquities, Book 20,
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Chapter 8, Paragraph 10. And along with the new breed of robbers who murdered people with impunity in the city during the festivals, a new breed of false prophets also arose, inciting the people to follow them into the wilderness under the pretense of divine inspiration.
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That's from the same chapter. But Felix saw them both together, the robbers and the false prophets, as just one more threat to the civil order, and he sent his soldiers out to kill the false prophets and their followers.
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Included in the number of false prophets was a man called the Egyptian, also mentioned in Acts 21 -38, when the apostle
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Paul was arrested upon his return to Jerusalem. The captain of the guard asked him, Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days made us an uproar, and led us out into the wilderness, four thousand men that were murderers?
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We will now pick up with Josephus' narration in Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 13, under the same procurator,
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Antonius Felix, who governed Judea from 52 -60 AD. We'll start in Paragraph 3. There sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which were called
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Sicarii, who slew men in the daytime and in the midst of the city. This they did chiefly at the festivals, when they mingled themselves among the multitude, and concealed daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies.
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And when any fell down dead, the murderers became a part of those that had indignation against them, by which means they appeared persons of such reputation that they could by no means be discovered.
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The first man who was slain by them was Jonathan the high priest, after whose death many were slain every day.
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While the fear men were in of being so served was more afflicting than the calamity itself, and while everybody expected death every hour, as do men in war, so men were obliged to look before them and to take notice of their enemies at a great distance, nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust them any longer.
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But in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain. And now continuing with Paragraphs 4, 5, and 6.
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There was also another body of wicked men gotten together, not so impure in their actions, but more wicked in their intentions, which laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these murderers.
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These were such men as deceived and deluded the people under pretense of divine inspiration, but were therefore procuring innovations and changes of the government.
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And these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there show them signals of liberty.
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But Felix thought this procedure was the beginning of a revolt, so he sent some horsemen and footmen, both armed, who destroyed a great number of them.
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But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former. For he was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also.
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And he got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him, and these he led around about from the wilderness to the mount which is called the
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Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place. And if he could but once conquer the
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Roman garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of those guards of his that were to break into the city with him.
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But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that when it became a battle, the
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Egyptian ran away with a few others, while the greatest part of those that were with him were either destroyed or taken alive.
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But the rest of the multitude were dispersed, every one to their own home, and there concealed themselves.
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Now when these were quieted, it happened as it does in a diseased body, that another part was subject to an inflammation.
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For a company of deceivers and robbers got together, and persuaded the Jews to revolt, and exhorted them to assert their liberty, inflicting death on those that continued in obedience to the
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Roman government, and saying that such as willingly chose slavery ought to be forced from such their desired inclinations.
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For they parted themselves into different bodies, and lay in wait up and down the country, and plundered the houses of the great men, and slew the men themselves, and set the villages on fire, and this till all
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Judea was filled with the effects of their madness, and thus the flame was every day more and more blown up, till it came to a direct war.
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Again, that extended quotation is from Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 13,
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Paragraphs 3 to 6. And listen to what he said about those robbers and deceivers.
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They parted themselves into different bodies, and lay in wait up and down the country. That's important, and we will come back to it.
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Keep it in mind as we move on. Under the next procurator, Porcius Festus, from 59 to 62
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AD, it happened that Judea was afflicted by the robbers, while all the villages were set on fire, and plundered by them.
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And then it was that the Sicarii, as they were called, who were robbers, grew numerous. They also came frequently upon the villages belonging to their enemies, with their weapons, and plundered them, and set them on fire.
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So Festus sent forces, both horsemen and footmen, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain imposter, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under, if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness.
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Accordingly, those forces that were sent destroyed both him that had deluded them, and those that were his followers also.
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That's Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, Chapter 8, Paragraph 10. By this means, Festus attempted to rid
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Judea of the robbers. That's Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 14, Paragraph 1.
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Festus' efforts were initially successful, but the success was short -lived. Under the next procurator,
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Luceius Albinus, from 62 -64 A .D., the robber threat returned, and that part of the people who delighted in the disturbances joined themselves to such as had fellowship with Albinus.
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And every one of these wicked wretches were encompassed with his own band of robbers, while he himself, like an arch -robber or tyrant, made a figure among his company, and abused his authority over those about him, in order to plunder those that lived quietly.
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But tyranny was generally tolerated, and at this time were those seeds sown which brought the city to destruction.
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That's Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 14, Paragraph 1. And at the end of Albinus' procuratorship, he added to his offenses when he emptied the prisons and the country was filled with robbers.
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That's Antiquities, Book 20, Chapter 9, Paragraph 5. Under the next procurator,
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Gesius Florus, from 64 -66 A .D., things got even worse. He indeed thought it but a petty offense to get money out of single persons, so he spoiled whole cities and ruined entire bodies of men at once, and did almost publicly proclaim in all the country over that they had liberty given them to turn robbers upon this condition that he might share with them in the spoils they got.
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Accordingly, this his greediness of gain was the occasion that entire toparchies were brought to desolation, and a great many of the people left their own country and fled into foreign provinces.
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That's Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 14, Paragraph 2. Florus also established a tribunal to force the
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Jews to hand over any of their number who had spoken ill of him, and when the Jews did not sufficiently cooperate,
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Florus sent his soldiers to the upper marketplace to slay such as they met with. So the soldiers did not only plunder the place they were sent to, but forcing themselves into every house, they slew its inhabitants.
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So the citizens fled along the narrow lanes and the soldiers slew those that they caught, and no method of plunder was omitted.
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They also caught many of the quiet people and brought them before Florus, whom he first chastised with stripes and then crucified.
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Accordingly, the whole number of those that were destroyed that day, with their wives and children, for they did not spare even the infants themselves, was about 3 ,600.
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That's Josephus' Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 14, Paragraphs 8 -9. And keep in mind, this is still only in 65
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A .D., before the Jewish war had even begun, and women and infants are being murdered in the streets of Jerusalem, in the marketplace, in the villages, and in the wilderness, and people are being robbed or arrested and killed at random.
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It was a time of great lawlessness, and after the incident at the upper marketplace, Florus demanded that the
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Jews, as a sign of their willingness to cooperate and live peaceably, go out quietly from the city to salute two approaching cohorts of Roman soldiers, comprised of about 800 men.
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But he had sent advance notice to the soldiers to slaughter the Jews, if there was the slightest hint of resistance or obscenity.
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And of course, there were some in the crowd who could not keep their silence, and the soldiers fell upon the Jews and killed them.
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That's Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 15. The next year, some of the
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Jewish rebels took Masada from the Romans, that's Wars of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 17. And while that was happening, 20 ,000
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Jews were slaughtered in Caesarea, and the rest were caught by Florus and sent to the galleys. That's Wars of the
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Jews, Book 2, Chapter 18. And Florus became a partner with the robbers themselves, but the unhappy Jews, when they were not able to bear the devastations which the robbers made among them, were all under a necessity of leaving their own habitations and of flying away as hoping to dwell more easily anywhere else in the world among foreigners than their own country.
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That's Antiquities of the Jews, Book 20, Chapter 11, Paragraph 1. Yes, that's right.
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By 66 A .D., it was so dangerous that Jews were urgently trying to get out of Judea to get anywhere else in the world to be safe from the collapse of civilization that was occurring in their own country.
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Okay, to summarize what we have covered so far, it is only 66 A .D., and ever since the statue of Jupiter was erected in the synagogue at Doris, we have had almost three decades of Jews being led into the wilderness by false prophets and robbers, only to be killed by the thousands.
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Thousands more Jews trampled to death or burned to death or crucified after the riots in the cities or slaughtered in confrontations incited by the robbers and the seditious.
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Jews arrested at random and taken captive as the Romans attempt to suppress the robber threat and the unending seditions.
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Others slaughtered as they are simply trying to get to Jerusalem, and those Jews who escaped the slaughters and the riots and the famines are sold into captivity by the succession of procurators of Judea, and anyone who can is trying desperately to get out of Judea.
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And we still haven't even gotten to 67 A .D. when thousands of women and infants were slaughtered by the
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Romans as they were abandoned in the wilderness or caught alone in the cities as they were preparing to flee. But I know what you're thinking.
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You're thinking to yourself, why is everyone in such a hurry to get out of Judea? They haven't even received the sign yet.
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Jerusalem hasn't been besieged by the Roman armies and the Roman ensign hasn't been erected on the temple mount.
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So, why the rush? Right? They're supposed to wait until after the Roman armies have surrounded
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Jerusalem and then flee from Judea. Or possibly even wait until Jerusalem has fallen and the
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Roman armies mount the ensigns on the temple gate and populate the temple with dead bodies and then flee from Judea.
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Right? Because everyone knows that if there's a great tribulation coming and the wrath of God is imminent and the time of sorrow is beginning, it's important to wait out the tribulation and the wrath and the sorrow to the very end before you leave.
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Right? Am I right? Well, of course, I'm being facetious again. If Jesus' warning was for the
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Jews to flee from Judea only after the tribulation was over and only after God's vengeance was exhausted, it is simply one of the worst warnings in the history of all warnings.
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It was completely useless. By the time the Romans had encircled Jerusalem, Vespasian had already occupied with his victorious army the whole of the level country and all the cities except Jerusalem, according to Tacitus, Histories, Book 5,
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Paragraph 10. And the surviving populations of those captured cities had all fled to Jerusalem, according to Tacitus, Histories, Book 5,
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Paragraph 12. By the time the Roman standards were erected on the Temple Mount, almost all the
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Jews were either already dead or in captivity and what few were left alive and free had already fled from Judea years ago.
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And honestly, what kind of advanced warning is that? To say, hold out until you're absolutely sure that you haven't been raped, killed, burned alive, crucified, kidnapped, or sold into slavery and then, when the coast is clear, make a hasty exit.
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Frankly, that is nonsense. But that is what we say of Christ when we assume that the sign to leave
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Judea is the surrounding of Jerusalem by Roman armies or the desecration of the Temple gates with the
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Roman ensigns. But the fact is, the truth is the Jews had already received the sign and they had received it before the civil order of Judea had even begun to collapse.
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And that sign was the statue of Jupiter all the way back in 41 AD. Now, that was a helpful sign.
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A good warning. An advanced warning. You know, the kind you get before the tribulation and the wrath of God instead of after.
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A warning to flee Judea before the tribulation, before God's vengeance. That was a warning that was actually useful.
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But a very reasonable question must follow. If the sign of the coming vengeance and tribulation was the statue of Jupiter being erected in a holy place in 41
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AD, as indicated by Matthew 24 15 and Mark 13 14, then what on earth did
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Jesus mean when he warned in Luke 21 20 that the Jews must flee from Judea when they see
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Jerusalem being surrounded by encampments? Well, the answer presents itself to us very neatly when we read and understand the warnings
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Jesus gave. Who joined the false prophets in leading the Jews into the wilderness to deceive them and either kill them or leave them at the mercy of the
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Romans? The robbers did. Remember Jesus' warning. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you,
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Behold, he is in the desert. Go not forth. That's Matthew 24 26. That's exactly what the false prophets came claiming and the robbers were only too happy to partner with them to lead the
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Jews to their deaths. Who told the people to collect their belongings and follow them into the wilderness to be robbed of them?
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The robbers and deceivers did. Remember Jesus' warning not even to turn back to get your cloak? It was the robbers and false prophets who wanted them to bring their belongings with them.
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Who caused the Romans to respond by arresting the Jews at random in the countryside and the village putting them on trial because of the rampant lawlessness?
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The robbers did. Remember Jesus' warning. Then two shall be in the field. The one shall be taken and the other left.
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Two women shall be grinding at the mill. The one shall be taken and the other left. That's Matthew 24, 41.
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That's exactly what happened when the Romans grew weary of the robbers and just started arresting people at random. Who led the women and infants into the wilderness and abandoned them there to fend for themselves against the
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Romans? The robbers did. Remember Jesus' warning. And woe unto them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days.
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That's exactly what happened when the robbers were leading people out of the cities. Who incited the population for war against the
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Romans even to the point that families turned against each other? The robbers did according to Josephus, Wars of the
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Jews, Book 4, Chapter 3, Paragraph 2. He writes, This quarrelsome temper caught hold of private families who could not agree among themselves, after which those people that were dearest to one another break through all restraints with regard to each other and every one associated with those of his own opinion and began already to stand in opposition to one another.
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Remember Jesus' warning. Now the brothers shall betray the brother to death and the father, the son, and the children shall rise up against their parents and shall cause them to be put to death?
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That's Mark 13, 12. And that is exactly what happened when the robbers incited the populations to revolt.
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So all these tribulations and woes were brought upon the Jews by the robbers who allied themselves with the deceivers and false prophets to lead the people out to the wilderness or by the robbers stealing from the
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Romans, leading the Romans to take out their vengeance on the Jews or by the robbers inciting the
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Jews to revolt, all with catastrophic results. And guess who had started setting up encampments from the early 40s throughout all of Judea, effectively surrounding
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Jerusalem and infesting Judea with their lawlessness? That's right. It was the robbers.
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Josephus refers to the robbers as descending on Jerusalem and then the robbers went away again to their places of strength and after this time all
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Judea was overrun with robberies. Again, Josephus Book 20, Chapter 6,
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Paragraph 1 as he describes the robber encampments outside of Jerusalem. And a company of deceivers and robbers got together and persuaded the
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Jews to revolt for they parted themselves into different bodies and lay in wait up and down the country.
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And this till all Judea was filled with the effects of their madness. That's Josephus' Wars of the
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Jews Book 2, Chapter 13, Paragraph 6 as he describes that all of Judea was full of robber encampments.
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The truth is long before the Romans erected their ensigns on the Temple Mount long before the
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Romans ever besieged Jerusalem long before the Romans ever subjugated all the cities of Judea leading up to the siege of Jerusalem robber encampments had been established all over Judea effectively surrounding
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Jerusalem and filling all of Judea with their lawlessness. Indeed, the sign reported by Luke when ye shall see
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Jerusalem encompassed with encampments came at the same time as the sign reported by Matthew when ye shall therefore see the abomination of desolation stand in a holy place and Mark when ye shall see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not.
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And that is in the early 40s A .D. when Judea was overrun with the robber places of strength as Josephus calls them surrounding
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Jerusalem with encampments as they lay in wait up and down the country. As it turns out
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Jesus was not saying to flee Judea after the Romans had encircled Jerusalem or when the Romans erected the ensigns on the
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Temple Mount. Those warnings would have been way too late to be actionable. He was saying that the
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Jews needed to depart from Judea before any of this happened and the sign to be given to them to depart came in the early 40s
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A .D. Now, in hindsight it is easy to say that almost 30 years before the sack of Jerusalem is kind of an early warning and Jesus' warning to depart immediately not even going back into the house to get your cloak was that maybe a little over the top?
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Well, not at all when you think about the robbers and the false prophets trying to get people to bring their belongings with them out to the wilderness so they could be defrauded of them.
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And besides Jesus only knows what the Father has allowed Him to know namely that all this will be complete within the generation but even
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He does not know the day or the hour. Remember Mark 13 .32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man no, not the angels which are in heaven neither the sun but the
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Father. So even Jesus does not know exactly when this is all going to happen just that it will happen within the generation which is why
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He tells His disciples take ye heed watch and pray for ye know not when the time is.
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That's Mark 13 .33 He can't tell them and they don't know because He doesn't know.
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Jesus was only authorized to reveal what the Father had revealed to Him for He says whatsoever I speak therefore even as the
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Father said unto me so I speak. That's John 12 .50 All He can say is that the sorrows the tribulation the vengeance will be complete within the generation and they will begin shortly after Jerusalem begins to be surrounded by encampments which as it turns out was shortly after the abomination of desolation was set up in the synagogue at Doris a holy place where it ought not be.
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So His disciples are instructed to watch and pray because He has told them all He can but He cannot tell them the day or the hour because He does not know.
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And with that in mind we can say that the warning sign really wasn't too early or over the top.
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The thousands of Jews who were killed in the decade of the 40s A .D. as they followed false prophets into the wilderness only to be slaughtered by the
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Romans and those Jews who were rounded up at random when the robbers were assaulting Caesar's caravans on the highways would all agree that the warning was timely and would wish that they had taken heed as Jesus said.
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I'll bet they wished they had heard Christ's warning about the coming tribulations and the days of vengeance and the warning not to be deceived and to leave
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Judea before it was too late not bringing any of their belongings with them. Jesus' warning was perfectly timed for anyone who wanted to avoid the massacres the riots the robberies the deception the chaos the captivity entirely.
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Just think about it. If you knew that more than a million people would be killed over the next 30 years because they were either following false prophets and robbers out to the desert or biding their time as the
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Romans began to arrest and murder at random or fleeing to Jerusalem instead of to the mountains for safety wouldn't you warn them of the stark reality of the dangers they faced and to resist at all costs the temptation to look for deliverance by false prophets revolt or by running the wrong way toward Jerusalem instead of away from it?
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Well, I like to think that I would and that is exactly what Jesus did. Millions of Jews could have been saved from this fate if they had but listened to his warning and left
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Judea in the early 40s just as he instructed. But there's one more question we must address and it has already presented itself to the attentive listener.
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The question is this. Wasn't there a church at Jerusalem the whole time this was happening? Why didn't they flee from Judea?
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Well, let's think about it. First, Jesus knew that not all of his disciples would survive the tribulation.
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For example, in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 Jesus warns that even after the beginning of the sorrow that's
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Matthew 24, 8, Mark 13, 8 then shall they deliver you to be afflicted and shall kill you.
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That's Matthew 24, 9. And they shall deliver you up to councils. And in the synagogues you shall be beaten and you shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake.
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That's Mark 13, 9. And some of you shall they cause to be put to death. That's Luke 21, 16.
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These are all in the context of the tribulation occurring in Judea and Jesus instructs his disciples to keep their resolve and trust that their souls will not perish.
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In your patience possess ye your souls. That's Luke 21, 19. The persecution of Christians by Jews and Romans under the tribulation was to be a testimony against the persecutors according to Mark 13, 9 and Luke 21, 13.
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So it was known to Jesus that some of his followers would be caught up in the sorrows and would be killed but would not perish eternally.
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Second, as we will see in our next episode for some their calling was to go to Judea to warn the
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Jews of the tribulations. In fact, the two witnesses of Revelation 11 are sent to Jerusalem just prior to its destruction and they are to be killed in the tribulation just before Jerusalem is trampled by the
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Gentiles according to Revelation 11 verses 3 to 8. This came by way of revelation from Jesus so even though Jesus did not know the day or the hour he nevertheless knew that the ministry of his prophets and apostles would lead them to Judea instead of away from it.
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Third, Jesus specifically states that he will administer the sorrows, tribulations and days of vengeance in such a way that the elect do not succumb to the false prophets saying that the days of vengeance and sorrows and tribulation and deceptions have already been shortened by the providence of God to prevent his people from partaking in his wrath against the
01:00:02
Jews. Now citing Mark 13 verses 20 to 22 And except that the
01:00:08
Lord had shortened those days no flesh should be saved but for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen he hath shortened the days and then if any man say to you lo, here is
01:00:19
Christ or lo, he is there believe him not for false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall shew signs and wonders to seduce if it were possible even the elect.
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So Jesus knew that although it was a time of tribulation and wrath Christians might succumb to the persecutions during this time and those persecutions would be delivered both by the
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Romans and by the Jews but they would not partake of the wrath and to that end it is worth noticing something about the ministries of the apostles
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James the brother of John Peter, Paul and James the brother of Jesus. James the brother of John was killed by Herod Agrippa who ruled over Judea from 41 to 44
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AD and as Luke records for us Agrippa killed James the brother of John with the sword and because he saw it pleased the
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Jews he proceeded further to take Peter also that's Acts 12 verses 2 to 3 but as we know from the rest of the chapter the
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Lord sent an angel to help Peter escape so here one apostle is murdered in the persecution of Christians that took place during the tribulation and one escaped with the assistance of an angel all this is consistent with what the
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Lord had foretold about what his people should expect to occur in Judea even as the Jews were facing the desolation of their nation in the coming wrath
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Paul likewise when he wanted to go to Jerusalem was warned not to go there were many Christians who already knew to stay away the disciples at Tyre said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem that's
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Acts 21 4 then the Holy Spirit again when Agabus the prophet came from Judea to Caesarea told
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Paul that if he went to Jerusalem he would be arrested and handed over to the Gentiles that's
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Acts 21 11 and finally Luke and the believers of Caesarea begged him not to go and when we heard these things both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem that's
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Acts 21 12 but Paul went anyway and got arrested because the Jews were persecuting him and the
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Romans just wanted to restore the peace according to Acts 21 38 but Jesus visited
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Paul personally to assure him that he would get out safely and because the violence in the city was so great
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Paul had to be taken back to Caesarea under the cover of darkness with an escort of 200 soldiers 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen that's
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Acts 23 23 to meet with Felix who was procurator of Judea from 52 to 60
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AD but later in 62 AD the apostle James the brother of Jesus was delivered up to be stoned to death by the
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Jews according to Josephus Antiquities Book 19 Chapter 9 Paragraph 1 something that was normally forbidden but occurred because Judea was between governors and the
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Jews took advantage of the absence of a Roman governor and killed the apostle James so again we see here two apostles one is murdered and one escapes this again is consistent with what
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Jesus said would happen under the tribulation and the vengeance Christians would not partake of God's wrath against the
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Jews but nevertheless they would suffer persecution by the Romans and the Jews in the midst of the chaos that ensued as Jesus' own words in Matthew 24
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Mark 13 and Luke 21 indicate some of his own disciples would be present in Judea during the time of sorrows the tribulations and the vengeance so the fact that there was a church there does not suggest that the sign was not given in 41
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AD or that this interpretation is incorrect the fact is the abomination of desolation returned to Jerusalem at the same time as the robber encampments began to be set up throughout
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Judea encircling Jerusalem the times of the sorrows the tribulations and the vengeance shortly followed and as evidenced from the book of Acts the
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Holy Spirit was warning Christians to stay away but some Christians apostles and prophets were actually called to be there for a testimony against the
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Jews and the Romans now there are some other theories about the abomination of desolation that we should probably address the theory that assumes the abomination of desolation is the
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Roman armies or their ensigns in 70 AD is largely held both by preterists and partial preterists as well as historicists even if they do not all agree on the identity of the beast of Revelation 13 that theory doesn't work for the reasons stated above it is a useless warning to tell people to flee after it is too late another theory is that Emperor Hadrian actually placed the statue of Jupiter in the temple in 135
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AD during the Bar Kokhba revolt but that is more than 100 years after Jesus' prophecy and he said it was supposed to happen within the generation so that theory doesn't work either so there is one more
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I'd like to address and it is the futurist or dispensationalist view that the manifestation of the abomination of desolation as foreseen by Daniel and Christ is yet future even to us and will be erected by the
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Antichrist one reason that this doesn't work is that the scripture never says the Antichrist or the little horn of Daniel 7 or the beast of Revelation 13 will set up the abomination of desolation but another reason is that a future fulfillment of the abomination of desolation is frankly impossible for that to happen there would have to be an actual functioning
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Jewish theocracy with the temple that could be defiled and that will never happen again and the reason for this is shown in Matthew 24
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Mark 13 and Luke 21 in Matthew 24 29 Jesus said immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from the heavens and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken in Mark 13 between 24 to 25
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Jesus said but in those days after that tribulation the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken in Luke 21 verses 25 to 26
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Jesus said and there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity the sea and the waves roaring men's heart failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken and by the way all this is to happen within the generation remember
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Matthew 24, 34 Mark 13, 30 and Luke 21, 32 say verily this generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled so what is the significance of the sun and moon no longer giving their light and the stars falling from the heavens and the roaring of the waves of the sea within one generation of Jesus it is very simple actually the
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Lord promised the Jews that as long as the sun and moon and stars continue to give their light uninterrupted and as long as the
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Lord continued to calm the roaring of the seas the nation of Israel would continue before him this is from Jeremiah 31 verses 35 to 36 thus saith the
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Lord which giveth the sun for a light by day and the ordinance of the moon and of the stars for a light by night which divided the sea when the waves thereof roar the
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Lord of hosts is his name if those ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever the literal reading of Jeremiah 31 35 is not that the
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Lord divides the sea when the waves roar but rather that he quiets or calms the sea when the waves roar see
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Young's literal translation for evidence of this so the Lord promises that so long as the sun gives its light and the moon and stars continue providing light by night and the
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Lord continues calming the roaring seas then the nation of Israel would continue before him but if those ordinances depart from before him then the seed of Israel shall cease from being a nation before him forever and what does
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Jesus say he says that within one generation those ordinances will depart from before the
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Lord for the sun and the moon will cease to give their light and the stars would fall from the heavens and the sea and the waves would roar and men's hearts would tremble in fear for what is coming upon the earth that's right within one generation the seed of Israel would cease as a nation before the
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Lord no matter how many times the civil nation of Israel reasserts its sovereignty and no matter how much the dispensationalists and futurists may rejoice in the reestablishment of the nation of Israel in 1949 or may hope for a war to reclaim the
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Temple Mount or may raise funds for the rebuilding of the Temple so a future antagonist can pollute it with an abomination of desolation none of it matters because the seed of Israel has ceased from being a nation before the
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Lord forever as Jesus said this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled it's over there is no more nation of Israel before the
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Lord that's what Jesus was saying when he referred to the light of the sun moon and stars and the roaring of the waves of the sea it is what he meant like when he said the kingdom would be taken away from the
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Jews and given to another nation in Matthew 21 -43 that's it game over and this is confirmed for us in Revelation chapter 11 when
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Jesus reveals to John through the angel that once the 1260 day ministry of the two witnesses is complete and their bodies have lain in the street for three and a half days there will be an earthquake when 7 ,000 men will die and one -tenth of the city will collapse here is what
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John wrote immediately upon the completion of the testimony of the two witnesses and the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the city fell and in the earthquake were slain of men 7 ,000 and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the
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God of heaven that's Revelation 11 -13 so what is the significance?
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well remember Leviticus 27 -32 when Moses writes that the tenth shall be holy unto the
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Lord and remember first Kings 19 when Elijah complained that he was the only one left and the
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Lord responded correcting him in verse 18 saying yet I have left me 7 ,000 in Israel the
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Lord has simply taken his own word from the law and from the prophets with those metaphors and has said that he has none left in Israel and Israel is no longer holy to the
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Lord that's it the nation of Israel is rejected and it has ceased from before him forever there is no more seed of Israel as a nation before the
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Lord Jesus testified of this repeatedly in Matthew 21 when he said the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and in Matthew 24 when he said within the generation the sun, moon, and stars would no longer give their light and Luke 21 when he referred to the sea and the waves roaring because the
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Lord isn't calming them and in Revelation 11 when there is an earthquake and 7 ,000 men are killed and one -tenth of the city is destroyed no more seed of Israel as a nation before the
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Lord and if there is no more seed as a nation before him there are therefore no priests to rededicate the temple and therefore no temple to defile which is why there will be no future abomination as a fulfillment of Jesus' words
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His words were already fulfilled when the abomination of desolation which had been foretold by Daniel to be set up in the temple in 167
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B .C. was again set up in the synagogue in 41 A .D. Daniel's prophecy that it would be set up in the temple was fulfilled 200 years before Christ and Jesus' prophecy that it would return to be set up in a holy place but not in the holy place was fulfilled 10 years after Jesus spoke it
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So the traditional preterist partial preterist and hissoricist approach to the abomination of desolation is wrong because it ignores the plain teachings of the scriptures about the identity of the abomination being set up in 167
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B .C. and uses the traditional assumption about the Roman armies in 70 A .D. to interpret
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Jesus' words in Matthew and Mark Instead of using Jesus' plain words regarding the
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Danielic timeline in Matthew and Mark to understand Luke's words about Jerusalem being surrounded by encampments something as it turned out that actually took place in the early 40s right when the abomination of desolation returned and the futurist or dispensationalist approach to the abomination of desolation is wrong because it requires the nation of Israel to continue or be reestablished long after the
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Lord had already said it had ceased before him forever and remember the abomination of desolation standing in a holy place where it ought not was not just Jesus' answer to what shall be the sign of the end of the age it was also the answer to their question what shall be the sign of thy coming and as we have discussed in previous episodes we were told repeatedly in the scriptures that Jesus would return visibly bodily within the generation and we have eyewitness accounts of it from Josephus Wars of the
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Jews Book 6 Chapter 5 Paragraph 3 and Tacitus Histories Book 5
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Paragraph 13 eyewitness accounts that Jesus did exactly as he said he would do return visibly bodily within the generation to destroy
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Jerusalem take the kingdom from the Jews and give the kingdom to another nation more keeping with its fruits and that kingdom was heavenly and that's what happened we need not be embarrassed to say it if everything else
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Jesus said would happen within a generation actually happened that is the abomination of desolation
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Jerusalem surrounded by robber encampments famines wars rumors of wars pestilence earthquakes signs in the heavens the
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Jews killed or taken into captivity and his visible bodily return on the clouds and the transfer of the kingdom from the
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Jews to another nation why would we not also believe and understand from his words that Israel has ceased from before him as a nation something that also was to happen within the generation yes
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I understand that I'm saying that the preterists and partial preterists are wrong and that the futurists are wrong and in this case the historicists are wrong too but as I have said
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I have been wrong as well as at times I have taken the partial preterists and the dispensationalist positions but the places where we have been wrong are the places where we ignored what the scriptures were plainly saying to us or worse where we edited the scriptures to make them conform to our traditions let's repent of doing that and we can start by saying out loud unashamedly what the scriptures plainly teach
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Jesus came back visibly bodily within the generation not to judge the world but to judge
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Israel and the nation of Israel ceased from before the Lord at the end of the tribulation that concluded with the trampling of Jerusalem in 70
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AD but of course the little horn of Daniel 7 the prophesied beast of Revelation 13 would not manifest until the stone struck in the feet of the statue of Daniel 2 fragmenting the
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Roman Empire so that the little horn could arise at the end of the 4th century and that little horn is the 5th empire of Daniel's visions or Roman Catholicism it's what the scriptures teach we should not be ashamed to say it out loud and that's where we will wrap up today so we will pick up next time with the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 as we have said before the 1260 day prophetic ministry of the two witnesses is literal plus the three and a half literal days between their death and resurrection followed by their ascension to heaven it all takes place immediately prior to the 42 month trampling of the city of Jerusalem as depicted in Revelation 11 then we will show you the identity of the two witnesses and the historical evidence for the literal 1263 and a half days of their ministry death and resurrection and ascension before the destruction of Jerusalem until then this is your grateful host