The Second Coming Of Christ

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< > Chapter Six Jerusalem's holocaust in A.D.70 was not the Great Tribulation There is a dual fulfilment of our Lord's prophecies in Mt.24. In Mt.24v3., the apostles asked two questions, “Tell us, when shall these things be? The destruction of the temple. And, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the age?” Whereas, Lk.21v6,7., (like Mk.13v2-4.), only mentions the stones of the temple being torn down, and both Luke and Mark omit Christ's statement on the end of the age; Luke records the question, “Master, but when shall these things be? And, “What sign will there be when these things come to pass?” The prophecy in Lk.21v20. of “Jerusalem surrounded by armies” was fulfilled in A.D. 70.; whereas, in Lk.17v37. the destruction of Jerusalem by Antichrist at the end of the age, is likened to a carcase, which is surrounded by eagle vultures picking at the bones of a carcase. The abomination of desolation and the period known as the great tribulation were not fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70., for the following reasons. In A.D. 70 the abomination of desolation took place after the burning of the Temple. The abomination of desolation and the great tribulation were not fulfilled in A.D. 70. Josephus states the Temple was destroyed by fire before it was defiled by sacrifice to the Roman standards and gods, and the Emperor. Philip Schaff writes in his “Church History,” Vol. 1. page 398; that after the fire, that the Romans planted their eagles on the shapeless ruins, against the eastern gate, and offered sacrifices to them, and proclaimed Titus, “Imperator,” with the greatest acclamations of joy.” Josephus tells us in “Wars,” Book 6. Chapter 4, paragraphs 4 to 7, that Titus did not want the temple to be destroyed, and with a loud voice ordered the soldiers to quench the fire, but they did not hear what he said with the distraction and noise of battle. Josephus writes that Titus “was in no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, ... and thus was the holy house burned down, without Caesar's approbation.” End of quote. The Jews could not flee from Jerusalem after the destruction and desecration of the Temple. It was impossible for the Jews to flee from Jerusalem after the destruction and desecration of the temple by Titus, for Titus built a wall around the city and closely guarded it. If the Christians had applied the prophecy of the abomination of desolation to the events of A.D. 70, and waited for the desecration of the temple, it would have meant the death of them all. Christ, therefore, so that none of his disciples would misinterpret His prophecy, warned certain “approved men” in Jerusalem of the approaching disaster, just before the start of the war in A.D. 66, and commanded them to leave Jerusalem and go to Pella in Perea. The Church historian Eusebius lived about 260 to 339 A.D., and was the Bishop of Ceasarea.” On page 75 of the translation of “The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus,” by the Rev. C. F. Cruse, in his 1892 edition, in Book 3, Chapter 5. “The whole body, however, of the Church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella.” Our Lord's brokenhearted weeping over Jerusalem in Lk.19v41-44., contradicts the conclusion of Eusebius, that Jerusalem's destruction was God's punishment of the Jews for rejecting Christ. Josephus was an eye witness of these events, and he writes in his “Wars,” Book 6, Chapter 5, paragraph 4.: that the Jews perished by the miseries which they madly and voluntarily brought upon themselves; many of the wise men were deceived in their determination to misinterpret and misapply to themselves an ambiguous oracle that, at “about that time one from their own country should become governor of the habitable earth.” Josephus applies this to Vespasian, who was appointed Emperor in Judea by the armies there. Schaff's “Church History,” page 402, says, “Eusebius puts the flight to Pella before the war...four years before the destruction of Jerusalem.” Epiphanius says the Christians at Jerusalem went to Pella after Christ warned them of the approaching siege, and in another place he states that an angel told them to flee to Pella. So it appears that our Lord personally, and through angels, warned of the destruction of Jerusalem, just as he did over the destruction of Sodom. Gen.18v16-33. 19v1,12-29. Neither Vespasian nor Titus remotely resemble the Prince of the Covenant. Neither Vespasian nor Titus made a covenant with the Jews; there was no 7-year period, no break after 3½ years, nor anything that could fulfil the abomination of desolation of Dan.9v24-27. and Rev.12v11.. The Jews themselves stopped the sacrifices, not Titus. Schaff tells us in his “Church History,” Vol. 1, page 397, “The daily sacrifices ceased July 17th, because all hands were needed for the defence.” On page 398 he states the temple “was burned on the tenth of August, A.D. 70.” The Prince of the Covenant is destroyed by Jesus at His second coming. The prince of the covenant “shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” Dan.8v25. He is thrown into the lake of fire. Rev.19v20. Jesus destroys Antichrist at His appearing. Mt.24v30. 2Thes.2v8,9. The dead will be raised at the end of these 3½ years. This is definitely stated in Dan.12v2. Is.25v6-9. 1Thes.4v13-17. 1Cor.15v50-53. Rev.11v15-18. and 20v4-6.. Jesus gathers His elect after the great tribulation, with the sound of a great trumpet. Mt.24v31. with 1Thes.4v16. and Is.27v13. Everlasting righteousness is brought in at the fulfilment of this prophecy. Dan.9v24. Everlasting righteousness will be brought in, and prophecy will be sealed up, and transgression finished, when the prophecies of the Millennial kingdom are fulfilled, and God's reign of righteousness begins. Is.32v1,17. Rev.10v7. The death of Jesus did not fulfil the cessation of the daily sacrifices. Dan.9v27. 11v31. The Jewish rituals and sacrifices continued after the death of Christ. Heb.8v4. Jesus died 483 years after the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem; the last 7 years and the abomination of desolation is in the future until the prophecies are fulfilled. These historical and prophetical facts refute the conclusion that the Jerusalem Church fled because they saw the fulfilment of Daniel's prophecy of the abomination of desolation. The flight to Pella partly fits Lk.21v20-24., but it in no way fits in with the prophecy of the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation as recorded in Mt.24v15-31. and Mk.13v14-27.. THE AMAZING SIGNS GOD GAVE TO WARN JERUSALEM OF HER DESTRUCTION IN A.D. 70. The Jews having rejected Jesus, their true prophet and Messiah, were deluded by a great number of false prophets. Josephus tells us in “Wars,” Book 6, Chapter 5, paragraphs 2,3,4, that they refused great signs and warnings from God of their impending doom and believed their false prophets, and that not one escaped with their life who had obeyed a false prophet's proclamation “that God commanded them to get up upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance.” Josephus continues: “Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend, nor give credit, to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation; but like men infatuated, without either eyes to see, or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jew's rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus (Nisan, April), and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskilful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also, an heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner (court of the) temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and, not without great difficulty, was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared, that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them. Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one-and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius (Jyar, May), a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the high priests were going by night in to the inner (court of the) temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, 'Let us remove hence.' But what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus (the son of Ananias according to Eusebius), the son of a plebeian and an husbandman, who, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast, whereon it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple, began to cry aloud, 'A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!' This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say anything for himself, or any thing peculiar to those that chastised him, but still he went on with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator: where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, 'Woe, woe, to Jerusalem!' And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow,- 'Woe, woe to Jerusalem!' Nor did he give ill words to any of them that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months without growing hoarse or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, 'Woe, woe to the city again, and to this people, and to the holy house!' And just as he added to the last,-'Woe, woe to myself also!' there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the same presages, he gave up the ghost.” End of quote. Josephus well sums up the loving purpose of God's warning signs at the start of paragraph 4. “Now, if any one consider these things, he will find that God takes care of mankind, and by all ways possible foreshows to our race, what is for their preservation; but that men perish by those miseries which they madly and voluntarily bring upon themselves.” < >
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Chapter Six

Jerusalem's holocaust in A.D.70 was not the Great Tribulation

There is a dual fulfilment of our Lord's prophecies in Mt.24. In Mt.24v3., the apostles asked two questions, “Tell us, when shall these things be? The destruction of the temple. And, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the age?” Whereas, Lk.21v6,7., (like Mk.13v2-4.), only mentions the stones of the temple being torn down, and both Luke and Mark omit Christ's statement on the end of the age; Luke records the question, “Master, but when shall these things be? And, “What sign will there be when these things come to pass?” The prophecy in Lk.21v20. of “Jerusalem surrounded by armies” was fulfilled in A.D. 70.; whereas, in Lk.17v37. the destruction of Jerusalem by Antichrist at the end of the age, is likened to a carcase, which is surrounded by eagle vultures picking at the bones of a carcase. The abomination of desolation and the period known as the great tribulation were not fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70., for the following reasons.

In A.D. 70 the abomination of desolation took place after the burning of the Temple.
The abomination of desolation and the great tribulation were not fulfilled in A.D. 70. Josephus states the Temple was destroyed by fire before it was defiled by sacrifice to the Roman standards and gods, and the Emperor. Philip Schaff writes in his “Church History,” Vol. 1. page 398; that after the fire, that the Romans planted their eagles on the shapeless ruins, against the eastern gate, and offered sacrifices to them, and proclaimed Titus, “Imperator,” with the greatest acclamations of joy.”

Josephus tells us in “Wars,” Book 6. Chapter 4, paragraphs 4 to 7, that Titus did not want the temple to be destroyed, and with a loud voice ordered the soldiers to quench the fire, but they did not hear what he said with the distraction and noise of battle. Josephus writes that Titus “was in no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, ... and thus was the holy house burned down, without Caesar's approbation.” End of quote.

The Jews could not flee from Jerusalem after the destruction and desecration of the Temple.
It was impossible for the Jews to flee from Jerusalem after the destruction and desecration of the temple by Titus, for Titus built a wall around the city and closely guarded it. If the Christians had applied the prophecy of the abomination of desolation to the events of A.D. 70, and waited for the desecration of the temple, it would have meant the death of them all. Christ, therefore, so that none of his disciples would misinterpret His prophecy, warned certain “approved men” in Jerusalem of the approaching disaster, just before the start of the war in A.D. 66, and commanded them to leave Jerusalem and go to Pella in Perea.

The Church historian Eusebius lived about 260 to 339 A.D., and was the Bishop of Ceasarea.” On page 75 of the translation of “The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus,” by the Rev. C. F. Cruse, in his 1892 edition, in Book 3, Chapter 5. “The whole body, however, of the Church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella.”

Our Lord's brokenhearted weeping over Jerusalem in Lk.19v41-44., contradicts the conclusion of Eusebius, that Jerusalem's destruction was God's punishment of the Jews for rejecting Christ. Josephus was an eye witness of these events, and he writes in his “Wars,” Book 6, Chapter 5, paragraph 4.: that the Jews perished by the miseries which they madly and voluntarily brought upon themselves; many of the wise men were deceived in their determination to misinterpret and misapply to themselves an ambiguous oracle that, at “about that time one from their own country should become governor of the habitable earth.” Josephus applies this to Vespasian, who was appointed Emperor in Judea by the armies there.

Schaff's “Church History,” page 402, says, “Eusebius puts the flight to Pella before the war...four years before the destruction of Jerusalem.” Epiphanius says the Christians at Jerusalem went to Pella after Christ warned them of the approaching siege, and in another place he states that an angel told them to flee to Pella. So it appears that our Lord personally, and through angels, warned of the destruction of Jerusalem, just as he did over the destruction of Sodom. Gen.18v16-33. 19v1,12-29.

Neither Vespasian nor Titus remotely resemble the Prince of the Covenant.
Neither Vespasian nor Titus made a covenant with the Jews; there was no 7-year period, no break after 3½ years, nor anything that could fulfil the abomination of desolation of Dan.9v24-27. and Rev.12v11.. The Jews themselves stopped the sacrifices, not Titus. Schaff tells us in his “Church History,” Vol. 1, page 397, “The daily sacrifices ceased July 17th, because all hands were needed for the defence.” On page 398 he states the temple “was burned on the tenth of August, A.D. 70.”

The Prince of the Covenant is destroyed by Jesus at His second coming.
The prince of the covenant “shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” Dan.8v25. He is thrown into the lake of fire. Rev.19v20. Jesus destroys Antichrist at His appearing. Mt.24v30. 2Thes.2v8,9.

The dead will be raised at the end of these 3½ years.
This is definitely stated in Dan.12v2. Is.25v6-9. 1Thes.4v13-17. 1Cor.15v50-53. Rev.11v15-18. and 20v4-6.. Jesus gathers His elect after the great tribulation, with the sound of a great trumpet. Mt.24v31. with 1Thes.4v16. and Is.27v13.

Everlasting righteousness is brought in at the fulfilment of this prophecy. Dan.9v24.
Everlasting righteousness will be brought in, and prophecy will be sealed up, and transgression finished, when the prophecies of the Millennial kingdom are fulfilled, and God's reign of righteousness begins. Is.32v1,17. Rev.10v7.

The death of Jesus did not fulfil the cessation of the daily sacrifices. Dan.9v27. 11v31.
The Jewish rituals and sacrifices continued after the death of Christ. Heb.8v4. Jesus died 483 years after the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem; the last 7 years and the abomination of desolation is in the future until the prophecies are fulfilled.

These historical and prophetical facts refute the conclusion that the Jerusalem Church fled because they saw the fulfilment of Daniel's prophecy of the abomination of desolation. The flight to Pella partly fits Lk.21v20-24., but it in no way fits in with the prophecy of the abomination of desolation and the great tribulation as recorded in Mt.24v15-31. and Mk.13v14-27..

THE AMAZING SIGNS GOD GAVE TO WARN JERUSALEM OF HER DESTRUCTION IN A.D. 70.
The Jews having rejected Jesus, their true prophet and Messiah, were deluded by a great number of false prophets. Josephus tells us in “Wars,” Book 6, Chapter 5, paragraphs 2,3,4, that they refused great signs and warnings from God of their impending doom and believed their false prophets, and that not one escaped with their life who had obeyed a false prophet's proclamation “that God commanded them to get up upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance.”

Josephus continues: “Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend, nor give credit, to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation; but like men infatuated, without either eyes to see, or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them.
Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet that continued a whole year.

Thus also before the Jew's rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus (Nisan, April), and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskilful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it.

At the same festival also, an heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.

Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner (court of the) temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and, not without great difficulty, was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared, that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them.

Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one-and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius (Jyar, May), a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the high priests were going by night in to the inner (court of the) temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, 'Let us remove hence.'

But what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus (the son of Ananias according to Eusebius), the son of a plebeian and an husbandman, who, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast, whereon it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple, began to cry aloud, 'A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!' This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say anything for himself, or any thing peculiar to those that chastised him, but still he went on with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator: where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, 'Woe, woe, to Jerusalem!' And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him.

Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow,- 'Woe, woe to Jerusalem!' Nor did he give ill words to any of them that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months without growing hoarse or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, 'Woe, woe to the city again, and to this people, and to the holy house!' And just as he added to the last,-'Woe, woe to myself also!' there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the same presages, he gave up the ghost.” End of quote.

Josephus well sums up the loving purpose of God's warning signs at the start of paragraph 4. “Now, if any one consider these things, he will find that God takes care of mankind, and by all ways possible foreshows to our race, what is for their preservation; but that men perish by those miseries which they madly and voluntarily bring upon themselves.”

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