The Sign of Jerusalem: Number 2
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written...Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles." Luke 21:20-24, RSV.
Yesterday we began to explore the prophetic warnings of Jesus that allowed His followers to escape the destruction of the city. The course of events themselves enabled the Christians to heed His warning.
In August of A.D. 66 Cestius (Rome's legate in Syria) attacked Jerusalem and then withdrew for some unknown reason, even though victory was within his grasp. Then in A.D. 67 and A.D. 68 Vespasian subdued Galilee and Judea, but delayed the siege of Jerusalem because of Emperor Nero's death. Not until the spring and summer of A.D. 70 did Jerusalem come under siege and be destroyed by Vespasian's son Titus. Sometime in the interval between the trouble of A.D. 66 and the destruction of A.D. 70, Eusebius (A.D. 263-339) tells us, "The members of the Jerusalem church, by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the City before the war began [in earnest] and settle in a town in Peraea called Pella. To Pella those who believed in Christ migrated from Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastical History 3. 5. 3).
Thus the Christians, following the warning of Christ in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and the unnamed prophet noted by Eusebius, fled the city and avoided its fate. Both that destruction and the salvation of Christians from catastrophe were signs of great significance concerning the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world. In the context of Matthew 24 they function as guarantees of the final annihilation of a sinful world and the ultimate salvation of those who believe in Jesus.
Ellen White summarizes it nicely when she writes that "the Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon His law....But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, God's people will be delivered" (The Great Controversy, pp. 36, 37).
Praise God for His providence.
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written...Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles." Luke 21:20-24, RSV.
Yesterday we began to explore the prophetic warnings of Jesus that allowed His followers to escape the destruction of the city. The course of events themselves enabled the Christians to heed His warning.
In August of A.D. 66 Cestius (Rome's legate in Syria) attacked Jerusalem and then withdrew for some unknown reason, even though victory was within his grasp. Then in A.D. 67 and A.D. 68 Vespasian subdued Galilee and Judea, but delayed the siege of Jerusalem because of Emperor Nero's death. Not until the spring and summer of A.D. 70 did Jerusalem come under siege and be destroyed by Vespasian's son Titus. Sometime in the interval between the trouble of A.D. 66 and the destruction of A.D. 70, Eusebius (A.D. 263-339) tells us, "The members of the Jerusalem church, by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the City before the war began [in earnest] and settle in a town in Peraea called Pella. To Pella those who believed in Christ migrated from Jerusalem" (Ecclesiastical History 3. 5. 3).
Thus the Christians, following the warning of Christ in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and the unnamed prophet noted by Eusebius, fled the city and avoided its fate. Both that destruction and the salvation of Christians from catastrophe were signs of great significance concerning the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world. In the context of Matthew 24 they function as guarantees of the final annihilation of a sinful world and the ultimate salvation of those who believe in Jesus.
Ellen White summarizes it nicely when she writes that "the Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon His law....But in that day, as in the time of Jerusalem's destruction, God's people will be delivered" (The Great Controversy, pp. 36, 37).
Praise God for His providence.
RSS Feed
