The Sign of Jerusalem: Number 1
So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains....For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved. Matt. 24:15-22, RSV.
We should note that Matthew 24 has one other sign containing a great deal of precision--that of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a foreshadowing of the judgment and destruction of the entire world at the Second Advent.
Jesus predicted that the destruction of the Temple would be complete--"not one stone here will be left on another" (verse 2, NIV). Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived through the event, describes the almost unimaginable hardships during the final six-month siege. Not only does he claim that more than a million Jews died, but that the Romans took nearly 100,000 more captive. The famine was so bad that a mother is reported to have slain, roasted and eaten her child (Wars 6. 3. 4). The Roman general Titus eventually ordered the entire city, including the Temple complex, razed to the ground, thus bringing to fulfillment Christ's prediction of verse 2.
But Christian believers, however, did not suffer the same fate as those Jews who had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Christians had the counsel of Christ that we now find in Matthew 24. Verses 15 to 22 appear to be specifically directed toward the fall of Jerusalem and give directions as to when believers were to make their escape.
The Christians in Jerusalem were not only alerted to the coming crisis of the destruction of Jerusalem by the general sign of wars and rumors of wars, but they had specific counsel that when they saw "standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel [9:27]" (verse 15, NIV), then those in Judea were to flee to the mountains (verse 16). Luke's rendering of this passage makes the meaning clearer: "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, in fulfillment of all that has been written" (Luke 21:20-22, NIV).
Tomorrow we will examine how accepting Jesus at His word saved the believers in Jerusalem.
So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains....For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved. Matt. 24:15-22, RSV.
We should note that Matthew 24 has one other sign containing a great deal of precision--that of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a foreshadowing of the judgment and destruction of the entire world at the Second Advent.
Jesus predicted that the destruction of the Temple would be complete--"not one stone here will be left on another" (verse 2, NIV). Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived through the event, describes the almost unimaginable hardships during the final six-month siege. Not only does he claim that more than a million Jews died, but that the Romans took nearly 100,000 more captive. The famine was so bad that a mother is reported to have slain, roasted and eaten her child (Wars 6. 3. 4). The Roman general Titus eventually ordered the entire city, including the Temple complex, razed to the ground, thus bringing to fulfillment Christ's prediction of verse 2.
But Christian believers, however, did not suffer the same fate as those Jews who had rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Christians had the counsel of Christ that we now find in Matthew 24. Verses 15 to 22 appear to be specifically directed toward the fall of Jerusalem and give directions as to when believers were to make their escape.
The Christians in Jerusalem were not only alerted to the coming crisis of the destruction of Jerusalem by the general sign of wars and rumors of wars, but they had specific counsel that when they saw "standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel [9:27]" (verse 15, NIV), then those in Judea were to flee to the mountains (verse 16). Luke's rendering of this passage makes the meaning clearer: "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, in fulfillment of all that has been written" (Luke 21:20-22, NIV).
Tomorrow we will examine how accepting Jesus at His word saved the believers in Jerusalem.
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