Jerusalem's Fall Predicted

What Shall be the Sign of Your Coming

Matthew 24 and Luke 21 are very difficult chapters to come to grips with as one finds out when one reads the various Bible commentaries.  Some believe that these two chapters hold the bulk of what we know about the Rapture of The Church.  Others believe that these two chapters hardly even mention the Rapture.  So, with that division in mind, we will spend several posts looking at various ideas which have been presented.  

Of course, it must be understood that even if Matthew, Mark, and Luke did not write about the rapture it still does not diminish the fact that Paul and John both did.  What they wrote very closely aligns with what the Gospel writers wrote in these two chapters.  

My point of view is that if we limit these chapters only to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD we are missing the best, the deepest, the most exciting meaning of these two chapters.  

In the same context, Mark wrote then they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.  And then He will send His angels, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the extremity of earth to the extremity of heaven. Mark 13:26-27.  It is hard to imagine the Roman army as being the "angels" who went to the extremity of the earth to gather His elect.  In spite of that difficulty that argument is actually made.

as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many will come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must occur; but the end is not yet.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows. Mat. 24:1-8.

The End Is Not Yet 

We learned earlier that when people called Jesus "son of David" they meant "the Messiah".  We also learned that the words "Messiah" and "Christ" have exactly the same meaning.  The disciples had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah and that, therefore, He would set the Jewish nation free from Roman tyranny.  

They believed this until Christ threw a "curveball" at them.  He said that He must go to Jerusalem and while there the Jewish leaders would kill Him.  Christ also had said to them,  I am going to My Father and you (will) see Me no more; John 16:10.   

This is not what the disciples expected from their Messiah; The real Messiah must rule as The King now.  However, His story does not stop here; He also said, I will come again and I will receive you unto Myself; so that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:3. 

When they could finally speak to Him in private the disciples asked when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world? 

Christ answered their questions but He did not go directly to what shall be the sign of Your coming.  Reading between the lines, what He said might have been something like, first of all, there is something vitally important for you to think about.  Jerusalem is about to be overthrown, but before that happens here are some warning signs:

1. many will come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many.  Among these are mentioned particularly Dositheus, the Samaritan, who affirmed that He was Christ; Simon Magus, who said He appeared among the Jews as the Son of God. Barnes.   Simon Magnus is mentioned early in the life of the church. Acts 8.
2. you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  Rome constantly needed to defend its outlying territories.
3. nation will rise against nation.  For example Rome against Great Britain and also against Judea.
4. And there will be famines - these are a natural outcome of wars as we have recently seen in Syria and many other countries.  It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; ... when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape. Gill.   I have trouble accepting this statement as fact, but if it is true it could be because the Christians took seriously the warnings Christ had given His followers, about 40 years earlier, about fleeing from Jerusalem. 

and pestilences - diseases naturally follow wars and famines. 

earthquakes in different places.  Tacitus mentions one in the reign of Claudius, at Rome, and says that in the reign of Nero the cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse were overthrown, and the celebrated Pompeii was overwhelmed and almost destroyed by an earthquake. Barnes.

Christ continues by saying All these are the beginning of sorrows, but the end is not yet.

In Christ's answer, it seems as if there is a distinct change between verses 8 and 9.  In the first eight verses, He spoke of the events which affect people at large.  Then, starting in verse 9, He limits His predictions to those who will follow Him in the early Church.

You Shall Be Hated 

Then they will hand you over to tribulation and they will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations, on account of My name. 
And then many will fall away, and they will betray one another, and they will hate one another. 
Then many false prophets will be raised up, and they will deceive many. 
And because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold. 
But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 
And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Mat. 24:9-14.

The nonchristian world will blame followers of Christ for natural tragedies and anything else they can "hang" them for. 

1. they will hand you over to tribulation; (to be afflicted - KJV)
2. they will kill you [as noted in my next post]
3. you will be hated by all nations, on account of My name. It is not at all unusual for non-Christians to blame Christians when things go wrong.
4. then many will fall away. Many Christians will turn away from following Christ because they are afraid of persecution and death. 
5. they will betray one another.  To save their own lives they will snitch on a fellow Christian. Father will be divided against a son and a son against father, a mother against a daughter and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Luke 12:53.
6. they will hate one another.  In every house the merest hint of food sparked violence, and close relatives fell to blows, snatching from one another the pitiful supports of life. Josephus.
7. many false prophets will be raised up.  They did come and many people followed them to their death in various wildernesses. Josephus.
8. because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.  If you can't trust your policemen and soldiers you start looking after yourself without any concern for anyone else.

Christ also said this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world ... and then the end will come.  Concerning the statement, in all the world, we need to remember that the people in the Near East, living in the first century, and many centuries before that, thought of the area around the Mediterranean Sea, and a few other not so distant countries, as being the whole world.  As Christ had predicted the good news of the kingdom had been preached in all the (then known) world before the fall of Jerusalem happened. [as noted in the next post]

Even though Christ is ranked as a prophet, it did not need the insight of a prophet to see that the fall of Jerusalem was imminent.  The way the "would-be rulers" of Judea kept on harassing the Roman powers it was bound to lead to a showdown and catastrophic loss for Judea's capital - Jerusalem.

then the end will come.  According to some teachers, this does not refer to the end of the Church age, not the end of time, but the end of Judea as that generation knew it.  According to them is what Christ describes for us in Mat. 24:15-28.