The Witness of 70 AD

There is no single greater evidence or proof of the divine origin of Christianity, the great glory and power of the Lord Jesus Christ as King of the kingdom of God, and the accuracy and reliability of the Bible than the prophecies and their fulfillments regarding the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies under Titus in 70 AD.

 

This Study Exalts the Lord Jesus Christ

1. God made the same Jesus of Nazareth that the Jews crucified both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:33-36).
   1. God had raised Jesus from the dead, Whom the wicked Jews had profanely killed (Acts 2:22-24).
   2. In case they had forgotten, Peter quoted Psalm 110:1 to remind them of how He treated enemies!
   3. Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah and Christ: He was also David’s Lord (Acts 2:35)!
   4. The untoward generation of Jews that had crucified Him was in serious trouble (Acts 2:40)!
   5. This sober warning in Peter’s sermon was due to a coming great and terrible day (Acts 2:20-21)!
2. The regal prophecy of Jesus Christ crushing and humiliating his enemies in Psalm 110 is referenced at least six times in the N.T. (Matt 22:44; Mark 12:36; Acts 2:34; I Cor 15:25; Heb 1:13; 10:12-13).
3. Read a regal prophecy of God mocking enemies and crowning Christ king (Ps 2:1-12; Acts 4:25-28).
4. Read also a regal prophecy of Jesus Christ being crowned Lord of all (Psalm 8:1-9; Heb 2:5-10).
5. Read a regal prophecy of God anointing His Prince with conquering power (Ps 45:1-7; Heb 1:8-9).
6. Gabriel told Mary her great son would be King on David’s throne forever (Luke 1:31-33; Matt 2:6).
7. Jews and Romans mocked Him as King of the Jews, but He was the King of God’s kingdom; and at His ascension into heaven He took the throne of David (Ps 110:1-7; Is 9:6-7; Rev 3:7; 5:5; 22:16).
8. They despised His authority, but He now had all authority from heaven to hell (Matt 21:23; 28:18)!
9. He humbled Himself to human birth and crucifixion, but God had highly exalted Him (Phil 2:5-11).
10. He held His angelic legions back to die, but then brought them in judgment (Matt 26:53; 16:27-28)!
11. He is King at God’s right hand (Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; I Pet 3:22).
12. Though once a Child in a manger and once a Lamb at His slaughter, Jesus now sits as King over all.
13. Falling on Him in repentance broke some; He fell on others to grind them to powder (Matt 21:44)!
14. If a comely king is one that crushes his enemies (Pr 30:29-31), the Lord Jesus Christ is most comely!
15. For those who have read God’s terrible judgments on disobedience and rebellion in the Old Testament, is there any wonder that the destruction of the profane murderers of the Son of God should far exceed those by every measure? And they do (Dan 12:1; Matt 12:43-45; 21:31-46; 22:1-7; 23:29-36; 24:21; Luke 19:11-27; 23:27-31; I Thess 2:14-16; Heb 2:1-4; 6:4-8; 10:23-31; 12:25-29)!
16. The greatest visible demonstration of the glory, power, and reign of Jesus Christ is based on the perfect fulfillment of His warnings and prophecies about crushing His enemies. There is no other event quite like it in the N.T., which we can witness and analyze from historical records and results.
    1. There is little to no historical evidence of the person of Jesus of Nazareth and His other works.
    2. Of course, we believe the record written by the apostles more than anything written by any man.
    3. But what happened after His ascension? Did He truly take David’s throne? Is the N.T. fully true?
    4. Jewish destruction was preached everywhere for a witness before the judgment fell (Matt 24:14).

There Is Value in Studying this Subject

1. It provides an historical, prophetical, and Scriptural framework to help grasp the New Testament.
2. The prophecies confused by most and postponed for some irrelevant future date by others are seen!
3. The Lord Jesus Christ is properly seen as the Blessed and Only Potentate, rather than a theological concept, a longhaired hippie, a persecuted loser, a crucifix, or a disappointed Dispensationalist!
4. The warnings of Jesus Christ the King to the church at Ephesus and others takes on greater weight.
5. The seriousness that ought to characterize our love and devotion to Jesus Christ is magnified greatly.
6. Such wonderful fulfillment of such great details can only confirm His other promises and warnings.
7. It saves us from the numerous prophetic speculations and heresies that are popular with many today.
8. The burden of the apostles’ Great Commission on saints today and the idea that Jesus Christ cannot return until the gospel is preached worldwide by Billy Graham and Benny Hinn are both wrong!
9. The goals of these sermons are to (1) exalt Jesus Christ as King of the kingdom of God, (2) confirm clear Bible prophecies for faith, (3) give true understanding of the Bible, and (4) create thanksgiving for worldwide preaching by the apostles that brought the Gentiles into the kingdom of God.
10. The glory of Jesus Christ, the exaltation of His word, and loving service to Him should be the prime motives of all human thought and activity, and of any Bible study, including that of eschatology.
11. As Jewish legalism increasingly threatened the gospel preached by Paul and the other apostles, the Lord Jesus tore the old covenant to shreds in its city, temple, priesthood, altar, nation, and people.
12. Why did Jesus invoke heaven and earth passing away to confirm the truth of his words? Many scoffers would reject His words and/or try to steal from Him the glory of His great victory over His enemies by pushing His detailed prophecies into the distant and vague future (Matt 24:34-35).
13. There is value in seeing God’s judgment on sinners, for it encourages to righteousness (Ps 58:10-11).

This Event Is Ignored by Most

1. Most pulpits are totally silent about this subject, especially in casual and contemporary churches, where acceptable kingdom worship of reverence and godly fear has been rejected (Heb 12:28-29).
   1. The entertainment of carnal hearers has replaced Bible preaching in most places (II Tim 4:1-4).
   2. Mel Gibson’s “Passion” innuendo that the Jews killed Jesus was blasted for anti-Semitism, which showed how much men are ignorant of history and obsessed with being politically correct.
   3. Christians now want Jesus in a manger scene of a Christmas play or on a cross in an Easter play.
2. Every text that teaches it is applied ignorantly to some sensational future events that affect no one.
   1. Most that make the warnings future, also teach that believers do not go through the tribulation, so the warnings and instructions of leaving your stuff behind and fleeing to the mountains are vain!
   2. When the warnings are applied to 70 AD, Hal Lindsay and Tim LaHaye cannot sell lying novels!
   3. After defrauding Jesus of His kingship and horrific judgment on His enemies, they turn to debate whether He must be accepted as Lord or not in order to be saved and go to heaven! What heresy!
   4. Due to national and personal arrogance, Americans presume prophecy revolves around them!
   5. Sober readers must ignore their worthless generation and hear Jesus address the Jews of His day!
3. This is a great event in the New Testament, near to our Lord’s death and resurrection and Pentecost.
   1. Much of the Old Testament is prophetic warning of coming judgment by Assyria and Babylon upon Israel and Judah for sins far inferior to the Jews sins against Jesus Christ and His apostles.
   2. There is a large body of references in both testaments describing and warning about this event.
   3. It marked the change of God’s dealings with men and revealed Jesus as King of God’s kingdom.
   4. It ended the time of reformation, leaving only the new covenant (Heb 9:10; 10:8-14; 12:28-29).
   5. Satan uses this ignorance to confuse men with the New Testament and detract from Jesus Christ.
4. Before 1830 and the lies of Irving, White, Darby, Scofield, et al, it was understood by most saints.
5. Paul warned Titus of Jewish fables, so we should not be surprised that this event, which obliterated the nation of Israel and its presumption of superiority, is ignored by carnal millenialists (Titus 1:14).
6. Due to their ignorance of Scripture, many Christians have an ungodly affection for national Israel, which contradicts God’s eternal mystery to bring in the Gentiles for a new kingdom (Acts 15:13-18; Rom 2:28-29; 9:6-8; Gal 3:16,29; 4:21-31; 6:16; Eph 2:11-22; 3:1-21; Rev 2:9; 3:9).
7. Most of world Jewry – Ashkenazi Jews – has very little to do with Jesus Christ, historical Israel, Hebrew, David, Moses, or even Shem. They are Gentile imposters as Jesus prophesied (Luke 21:24).
8. Jesus is King of kings, and we should avoid leaving Him in a manger, hanging on a crucifix, or waiting for some future carnal and earthly kingdom (Heb 10:12-13; 12:2; Rev 2:26-27; 3:21; etc.).
9. The gospel of the kingdom obviously included God’s grace in Christ (Acts 2:22-40; 8:12; 28:23,31).
   1. After the resurrection of Jesus, the gospel included those very glorious details (I Cor 15:1-11,24).
   2. The kingdom is not future – it is now – except for delivery to God (Heb 12:28-29; I Cor 15:24).
   3. The gospel of the kingdom must include Jesus as its King (Acts 2:33-36; 4:11; 5:31; 10:36).
   4. The generation that crucified the Lord of glory was the wickedest in the history of the world, and their crime against the Son of God was clearly the most heinous crime in the history of mankind.
   5. Jesus proved Himself King by emphatically destroying His enemies, their city, and their temple

A Complete Study Is Beyond these Sermons

1. Full knowledge of this great subject would require a verse-by-verse analysis of Daniel 9-12, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew 3, 11, 12, 16, 17, 23, and 24, Mark 13, Luke 17, 19, 21, and 23, Acts 2, Hebrews, the Jewish epistles, and Josephus’s “Wars of the Jews,” among other objects of study.
2. It is foolish or scornful to take a Futurist position on 70 AD without detailed study of these places and the historical facts concerning the overthrow of Jerusalem, the temple, and the nation of Israel.
3. Confidence in interpreting Matthew 24 while ignorant of Daniel is foolish arrogance (Matt 24:15).
4. Our attempt here is not to research every possible reference in the New Testament to 70 AD, but rather to use the more obvious ones to exalt the glory and power of our ascended and reigning Lord.
5. Though the focus is on 70 AD in this study, it cannot be fully separated in some texts from events surrounding the crucifixion, our Lord’s resurrection, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, the mighty signs and wonders of the apostles, the worldwide spread of the gospel, or other things.
6. There are many details of the Roman-Jewish war that can be connected to the Bible, which others have done in their desire to show the fulfillment of each detail of Matthew 24 and other prophecies, but we will not attempt to repeat their efforts here, as they are readily available in the links provided.
7. A study of prophetic language and prophetic similitudes is essential (Hos 12:10; I Pet 1:11; Rev 1:1).
8. The dramatic, fantastic language of prophets is found in Isaiah 13; 24; 34; Jer 4; Ezekiel 32; Joel 2; and Acts 2, among many other passages of both the Old and New Testament scriptures.
9. Studying God’s destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple earlier by Nebuchadnezzar, which was prophesied in great detail by many prophets involving many chapters of the O.T., is valuable.
10. The Bible is mainly a Jewish book, as God dealt mostly with Israel until the New Testament; so there is good information in the Old Testament describing God’s dealings with Israel and Jerusalem.

A Very Simple Timeline

26AD John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the fall and announced him as Israel’s Messiah (John 1:29-42), which concluded week 69 and began week 70 of Daniel’s 70 weeks that some in Israel had been calculating for obvious reasons (Luke 2:25,38; 3:15; 23:51; 24:21).

30AD Jesus laid down His life in the spring, at Passover, 3½ years after His baptism, in the midst of Daniel’s 70th week, rose from the dead, and ascended gloriously to His throne in heaven.

30AD The apostles received great power at Pentecost and took the gospel to Jews and then Gentiles.

33AD The main confirming of the covenant with Jews came to an end, as Daniel’s 70th week ended. Some identify this event with the stoning of Stephen, but there is insufficient evidence.

66AD The gospel had been preached in all the world to every creature by this time, which was the final condition Jesus had determined before the Romans could come and destroy the Jews.

66AD Sign and revelatory gifts ended, as the New Testament scripture had been written and collated.

66AD The Jews became more and more rebellious and revolted against Caesar and Roman authority.

66AD Cestius Gallus brought the Twelfth Legion from Antioch in November, surrounded the city, and could have taken it easily, but left for no reason and at great loss! This enflamed the Jewish rebellion with false hope, and it angered Rome greatly to totally destroy the Jews! But it began the 1290 and 1335 days prophesied by Daniel leading up to the Jews’ scattering (Dan 12:1-13).

67AD Nero appoints Vespasian in charge of Judea, who brings several legions and begins a slow and methodical campaign of destruction of the Jews from city to city that lasts for 2 years.

70AD Believers in the city and country, knowing the warnings, and having witnessed Cestius’s surrounding of Jerusalem, left for the mountains before Titus set his seige (Luke 21:20-22).

70AD Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian and prince of Rome, united four Roman legions and destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its temple in August after a five-month siege. This ended the 1290 and 1335 days prophesied by Daniel leading up to the Jews’ scattering (Dan 12:1-13).

70AD The siege was bad enough for women to eat their children (See Josephus). But the Jews killed more themselves due to demonical factions that had no mercy for life, the city, or the temple.

70AD The total number of dead was over 1.1 million, for Titus besieged the city at Passover, when it was filled with visitors for worship; and there were only 97,000 captives taken for slaves.

70AD No individual city had ever endured such pain. World War II was modest in comparison. For example, Hiroshima only lost around 100,000, most of them dying instantly and painlessly.

70AD Captives over 17 not taken to Rome for public display were carried by ship to Egypt as slaves, where they were sold very cheaply due to the supply far exceeding the demand (Deut 28:68).

70AD Titus ordered the city dug up, until it appeared to have never been inhabited; and Terentius Rufus, commander of the Tenth Legion, plowed Mount Zion like a farmer’s field (Micah 3:12).

73AD The fortress of Masada was besieged by Rome and 1000 final Jewish rebels committed suicide.

Note: For more details, chronological tables, and timelines, see the links at the bottom of this document.

A Reminder about Prophetic Language

1. God plainly told Bible students that prophets do not use express or literal language, but rather the metaphorical language of similitudes and signs (Hos 12:10; Rev 1:1; John 12:33; 21:19; I Pet 1:11).
2. For devotees of C.I. Scofield’s literalism, consider a few examples of prophetic and poetic language.
   1. Whose heel did Satan bruise (Gen 3:15)? Would shoes have helped? Was He still able to walk?
   2. What houses survived a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex 3:8)? Are wine and meat inferior?
   3. Jacob blessed his sons, and Solomon described old age, by metaphors (Gen 49:1-27; Ecc 12:1-7).
   4. Elijah did not literally return to Israel; he figuratively came in John the Baptist (Luke 1:16-17).
3. Sun, moon, and stars are common metaphors for prophets. Consider Joseph’s dream (Gen 37:9-11).
4. If you have trouble with Matt 24:29-31, what will you do with Psalm 18:6-19? Make a sci-fi movie?
5. Apocalyptic language is more metaphorical than ordinary prophetic language, for it uses cataclysmic language in the natural realm to describe such events in the social, religious, or political realm.
   1. Isaiah 13 uses fantastic language to describe merely the overthrow of Babylon by the Persians.
   2. You have heard others say, “I have some earth shattering news,” but the earth was not shattered!
   3. What is the older description of the Middle Ages, when Europe was ravaged? The Dark Ages!
   4. Consider examples of sun, moon, or stars (Eccl 12:1-2; Is 5:30; 13:10; 34:1-6; 58:8-11; 59:9-10; 60:15-20; Jer 4:23-28; Ezek 32:7-8; Joel 3:15; Amos 5:18-20; 8:9; Micah 3:6-12; Zeph 1:14-15).
   5. Consider a few examples of clouds associated with God’s judgment (Ps 18:9-12; 68:34; 78:23; 97:1-6; 104:3; Eccl 12:2; Is 19:1; Jer 4:13; Ezek 30:3; Dan 7:13; Joel 2:2; Nah 1:3; Zeph 1:15).
   6. Consider examples of the “day of the Lord” (Is 13:6,9; 34:8; Jer 46:10; Lam 2:22; Ezek 13:5; 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1,11; 3:14; Amos 5:18-20; Obad 1:15; Zeph 1:7-8,14,18; 2:1-3; Zech 14:1-3).
6. See Rule #10, in the outline, “Knowing the Scriptures,” showing God’s rules of Bible hermeneutics.
7. There is a temptation to run to extremes: it is easier to be a Futurist or Preterist, for dividing of events similarly described is not required, but the apostles warned us well (II Tim 2:15; II Pet 3:16).
   1. Most men fall in ditches on either side, but we want the middle of the road of truth on all points.
   2. It is our duty to look past the mere words and determine by other rules how to allocate verses.
   3. Different things do not need dividing; they are divided already; similar things must be divided.
8. Without history, Bible prophecies have very little value for those not living near their fulfillment.
   1. Some do not like the burden to know a little world history to understand the Bible, but their resistance is no different than the modern man who refuses to improve his reading for the KJV.
   2. Modern science often confirms Scripture, which gives Bible readers great pleasure, though they believed the Bible just as much before they knew the science (Gen 17:12; Amos 5:8; etc., etc.).
   3. Bible prophecy may threaten, warn, and instruct a few that are the direct objects of the prophecy.
   4. But Bible prophecy proves God’s glorious ability to predict and perform His purposes to others, who are not direct objects (Is 14:24-27; 41:21-26; 42:8-12; 43:8-13; 44:6-9; 46-5-13; 48:1-8).
   5. The value of prophecy is its fulfillment, which may require history (John 13:19; 14:29; 16:4).
   6. There are many Bible prophecies fulfilled within the Bible, but there are many that are not.
   7. It is impossible to appreciate Genesis 16:12 without knowing a little about Arabian history.
   8. It is impossible to appreciate Isaiah 44-45 without knowing a little about Cyrus the Persian.
   9. It is impossible to appreciate Daniel 7:6 and 8:8 without knowing a little of Alexander the Great.
   10. Daniel chapters 10-12 are incredibly confusing without knowing the Ptolemy-Seleucid wars.
   11. II Thess 2:3-12; I Tim 4:1-6; and much of Revelation are obscure without knowing Catholicism.
   12. And the many Bible prophecies about Jewish desolation are lost without learning about 70 AD.

Prophecies of Moses

1. Moses foretold a Prophet that would destroy rebellious Jews (Deut 18:15-19; Acts 3:22-23; 7:37).
   1. This prophet was the Lord Jesus Christ, Who came as a human Mediator between God and men.
   2. But this Prophet was also the executive branch of government and could destroy His enemies.
   3. If 70 AD did not occur, then either Moses lied about Jesus, or Jesus was not truly that prophet!
   4. Peter warned the profane Jews in the passage listed above that He would enforce His ministry!
2. Moses foretold great trouble for Jewish rebellion in a list of curses (Lev 26:14-39; Deut 28:15-68).
   1. Four times God promised to multiply judgment seven times (Lev 26:18,21,24,28; Mat 12:43-45).
   2. He would make cities, sanctuaries, and land waste and desolate and scatter them (Lev 26:31-33).
   3. He would cause them to be smitten by enemies and scattered abroad (Deut 28:25,64; Luk 21:24).
   4. A fierce nation would come from far to besiege and destroy them (Deut 28:49-53; Lu 19:43-44).
   5. Josephus reported it was well known in Jerusalem and among the Romans of Mary, a rich and noble woman, the daughter of Eliazar, a man from Bethezub, of roasting and eating her own nursing son during the siege of Jerusalem (Deut 28:52-58; “Wars” VI:3:iv).
   6. Josephus and Eusebius report of the many slaves that crushed the market, and how Titus sent those over 17 to the mines in Egypt (Deut 28:68; “Wars” VI:8:ii; VI:9:ii).
   7. Obviously, the Jews have been scattered throughout all nations and have lived in relative terror since 70 AD, in perfect fulfillment of these two prophecies and others of God’s judgment.
   8. While many more examples of fulfillment of Moses’ words could be produced with little effort, these three should be sufficient, since Bible believers are fully persuaded with just a few.
3. The prophecies of Moses are very important to this subject by their fulfillments and connections.
   1. At the close of the Old Testament, Malachi reminded Israel of Moses’ statutes (Malachi 4:4-6).
   2. Throughout Hebrews, Paul reasoned that the punishment for rejecting Jesus Christ would far exceed any of the strict and severe judgments of Moses (Heb 2:1-4; 6:4-8; 10:26-31; 12:25-29).

Prophecy of David

1. David had warned the kings of the earth and the rulers of Israel of terrible judgment (Psalm 2:1-12).
   1. The early church by the Holy Spirit applied this psalm to our Lord’s crucifixion (Acts 4:23-28).
   2. Our brother Paul quoted it two other times about Christ’s resurrection (Acts 13:33; Heb 1:5).
   3. In depraved ignorance and rebellion, the Jews, Pilate, and Herod conspired to crucify God’s Son.
   4. But the God of heaven laughed and ridiculed their rebellion, and He vexed them in His wrath!
   5. Regardless of their mocking efforts about His kingship, God had set Jesus as King on Zion’s hill.
   6. For those not kissing the Son, they were going to perish from the way from just a little wrath.
   7. If this psalm does not foretell 70 AD, then it does not apply to anything, for it fits this event best.
   8. Jesus Christ, though using different language, described the options just as clearly (Matt 21:44).
2. David prophesied of Jesus sitting at God’s right hand with His enemies as His footstool (Ps 110:1-7).
   1. His rule is used six times (Mat 22:44; Mark 12:36; Acts 2:34; I Cor 15:25; Heb 1:13; 10:12-13)!
   2. He sat down at God’s right hand after His ascension (Mark 16:19; Eph 1:20; Heb 1:3; 10:12).
   3. The Jews that crucified Him were His greatest enemies, so He miserably destroyed those wicked men, ground them to powder, had the murderers slain before Him, and burned up their city!
   4. If this psalm does not foretell 70 AD, then it does not apply to anything, for it fits this event best.
   5. Peter used it on Pentecost while warning the Jews of coming judgment for their wickedness.
   6. This psalm gloriously presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the conquering King of God’s kingdom.
3. David prophesied of man having all things under his feet, which is fully true in Christ (Psalm 8:1-9).
   1. Ordinary man may be crowned with some glory and honor and have some things under his feet.
   2. But the true fulfillment occurred at the ascension and coronation of Jesus Christ (Heb 2:5-9).
   3. He was made King of His kingdom, and He ground the Jews into powder under His feet.
4. David prophesied of the King that would be known to all generations for His greatness (Ps 45:1-17).
   1. But this fair and gracious King was also a mighty and terrible conqueror over His enemies.
   2. His kingdom would extend to all the earth; His name would be remembered in all generations.

Prophecies of Isaiah

1. Isaiah prophesied of a rebellious and wicked generation of Jews best fulfilled by 70 AD (Is 66:1-6).
   1. Of course, there may have been some fulfillment by Nebuchadnezzar’s judgment on Jerusalem, but the Jews adoration of their temple and hatred for Jesus Christ fulfills this prophecy far better.
   2. He began with disdain for the temple, which Stephen applied to his audience (66:1; Act 7:47-50).
   3. He described the Jewish ceremonial worship as abominations (66:3; Daniel 9:27; Mark 7:6-13).
   4. He foretold their horrors for not recognizing His kind visitation and calls (66:4; Luke 19:41-44).
   5. The Jews cast out those believing on Jesus, but He rescued them (66:5; Mal 3:13-18; John 9:22).
   6. Consider the voice of the LORD of vengeance coming from the city and the temple, or the sanctuary (66:6; Dan 9:26-27; 12:11; Micah 3:12; Matthew 24:1-3; Luke 19:41-44)!
2. Isaiah connected the acceptable year of the Lord with the day of vengeance of our God (Is 61:1-3).
3. Are there more prophecies of 70 AD in Isaiah? Surely, but they are beyond the scope of this study.

Kingdom Prophecies

1. The gospel of the kingdom included fulfilling prophecies of a kingdom under Jesus Christ as King, for both John and Jesus announced the kingdom of God at hand (Matthew 2:6; 3:2; 4:17).
2. A time had been fulfilled … “in the days of these kings” … “69 weeks.”
3. Isaiah had prophesied of Jesus as the Mighty God and ruling over David’s kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7).
4. Daniel said the God of heaven would set up a kingdom during the Roman Empire (Daniel 2:44).
5. John and Jesus announced the kingdom present in 26 AD (Matt 3:1-2; Luke 3:1-6; 11:20; 16:16).
6. Paul said Haggai’s shaking was bringing in the New Testament kingdom (Hag 2:6-9; Heb 12:25-29).
7. Many, many more prophecies could be raised of the New Testament era under Jesus of Nazareth being called a kingdom either directly or indirectly i.e. Isaiah 55:3; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:14-26; Ezekiel 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Hosea 3:5; Amos 9:11.

Prophecies of Daniel

1. Daniel prophesied plainly of the destruction of Jerusalem when writing of Messiah (Daniel 9:24-27).
   1. Here is a wonderfully timed and dated prophecy, which was determined by the God of heaven, that specifically identifies Jesus Christ and Jerusalem’s final ruin (Daniel 9:24 cp Acts 4:27-28).
   2. If a man does not start the 70 weeks with Cyrus, he has rebelled against the Lord and sold his soul to man’s chronologies (9:25 cp II Chron 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; Isaiah 44:26-28; 45:1-13).
   3. Israel finished the transgression, or filled up their sins, or filled up their iniquity, by killing Jesus their Messiah (9:24; Gen 15:16; Matt 21:33-46; 23:29-36; Luke 19:41-44; I Thes 2:14-16).
   4. This prophecy is plain and straightforward, given for skill and understanding (Daniel 9:22-23).
   5. The prince and people that shall come shall destroy the city and sanctuary, which is exactly what Titus the prince did with the Roman armies under his command, 531 years later (9:26b)! Here is a very plain revelation of God’s determination to destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple.
   6. The abomination of desolation was the abominable idolatrous Roman armies encompassing Jerusalem and making it desolate through an overwhelming war (9:26b; 12:11; Luke 21:20).
   7. God determined desolations upon the city by a war, with the end being overwhelming (9:26c).
   8. Messiah would make the city and sanctuary desolate for many Jewish abominations (9:27b).
   9. God had determined that the desolate and forsaken city would be utterly consumed by pouring out His wrath upon it (9:27c; Matt 3:7; 22:7; 23:38; Luke 19:41-44; I Thessalonians 2:14-16).
   10. There is much understanding in the details and cross-references for Daniel’s “Seventy Weeks.”
2. Daniel gave many details in three chapters about the end of the Jewish nation, which should not be lost to any other place in history but leading up to desolation in 70 AD (Dan 10:14; 11:14; 12:1,7).
   1. The prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 is a four-verse summary to the end of Daniel’s people and city.
   2. But Daniel chapters 10-12 goes into intricate detail about events culminating in the Roman war.
   3. Gabriel identified the angelic conflict that exists out of sight in the affairs of nations (10:13,21).
   4. He told Daniel things noted in the scripture of truth (10:21), which included the details of many political events affecting Israel during the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew.
   5. An unprecedented time of trouble is the subject. Does this sound familiar (12:1 cp Matt 24:21)?
   6. But the elect, written in God’s book, would be delivered. Sound familiar (12:1 cp Matt 24:22)?
   7. Jesus said His disciples could determine the approaching desolation from Daniel, which must be this reference, for it identifies and times an abomination that makes desolate (12:11; Matt 24:15).
   8. Matthew and Mark say to check Daniel, but Luke explains it plainly as surrounding armies; but the understanding from Daniel’s vision in 12:11 would give a timeframe identifying the end.
   9. The prophecy defines 1290 days between the abomination of desolation (surrounding armies according to Luke 21:20) and the ending of the daily sacrifice, which is the amount of time from the arrival of Cestius Gallus with the Twelfth Legion to the besieged Jews ending the sacrifice.
   10. The prophecy adds 45 further days for blessing and mercy, which is how long it took for the Romans to gain the entire city with unexpected ease and shorten the days for the elects’ sakes!
   11. There is much understanding in the details and cross-references for Daniel’s “Time of Trouble.”
   12. The historical details of Daniel’s prophecies are seen in, “Kings of the North and the South.”

Prophecy of Joel

1. Joel foretold in dramatic language great changes and a great and terrible day on Israel (Joel 2:28-32).
2. Peter applied his fantastic words to Pentecost, the time of reformation, and 70 AD (Acts 2:14-21,40).
3. The drastic prophetic language described the religious changes of Pentecost and the New Testament.
4. Those who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ would be saved from the coming judgment, for Peter connected the great and terrible day of the Lord with a judgment on that generation (Acts 2:40).
5. The untoward generation of Peter’s day was the same contrary and devilish generation that John, Jesus, and Paul condemned for their behavior (Matt 3:7; 12:34,43-45; 23:33,36; 24:34; I Thess 2:16).

Prophecy of Amos

1. God prophesied He would raise up the ruined kingdom of David to its former glory (Amos 9:11-12).
   1. In a future period of time, He would restore the kingdom of God as it had been under David.
   2. This restored and prosperous kingdom would conquer and take the Edomites and other Gentiles.
   3. A hint at interpretation is provided by these heathen being limited to those called by God’s name.
2. James, at the council in Jerusalem, applied this prophecy to conversion of Gentiles (Acts 15:13-18).
   1. Peter and Paul first related their ministerial labors and successes among the heathen Gentiles.
   2. James was inspired to say God was rebuilding David’s kingdom with Gentile converts to Christ.
   3. He declared that this work, like all the other works of God, had been determined from eternity.
   4. While God deserted the Jewish nation, He was rebuilding a spiritual one with Gentile converts.
   5. As the householder gave the kingdom to others, so God took it from the Jews and gave it to the Gentiles, just as the King invited Gentiles to His marriage supper (Matthew 21:33-46; 22:1-10).
   6. The Jews had squandered their kingdom privileges, so they gave way to the elect of the Gentiles.

Prophecy of Haggai

1. God would shake the heavens and the earth in conjunction with the coming of Messiah (Hag 2:1-9).
   1. The former house is Solomon’s temple; the latter is Zerubbabel’s temple, enhanced by Herod.
   2. The Desire of all Nations is Messiah, the Christ, Immanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
   3. God would make the latter house more glorious, not with gold or silver, but with peace by Christ.
   4. The earth-shattering events would end the old covenant and usher in the new for the Gentiles.
2. Paul applied the words to the time of reformation and disappearing Jewish economy (Heb 12:25-29).
   1. The one shaking would get rid of the temporal Jewish kingdom and leave the kingdom of Christ.
   2. Paul identified a present kingdom requiring acceptable worship to avoid God’s consuming fire.
   3. He connected Christ’s spiritual kingdom with Sion and other aspects of heaven (Heb 12:22-24).
   4. God shook away the Jewish economy with apostolic preaching and then with Roman armies.

Prophecy of Micah

1. Micah prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah that Jerusalem would be plowed like a field, which was a powerful proof of conquest that required the tearing up of even a city’s buildings’ foundations for the plow to pass through the ground (Micah 3:12).
2. Israel’s elders in the days of Jeremiah quoted Micah’s prophecy to defend Jeremiah, and they inform us that God withheld the judgment from the generation under Hezekiah, so it must have been fulfilled by Nebuchadnezzar later and/or Titus with the Roman armies (Jeremiah 26:17-19).
3. Josephus, and the Jews in other sources, identified Terentius Rufus, commander of the Tenth Legion, left in charge of Jerusalem after Titus departed, as responsible for literally plowing Mount Zion.

Prophecies of Malachi

1. Malachi prophesied of a messenger coming to prepare the way for God’s Messenger (Mal 3:1-6).
   1. The book of Malachi was a prophesy of God’s burden toward Israel – judgment for sin (1:1).
   2. This is John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10; Mark 1:1-9).
   3. He was not coming only with peace, for who may abide or stand His refining presence (3:2)?
   4. He destroyed the unbelieving priests and made a new order of New Covenant priests (3:3).
   5. He divided the nation between the righteous and wicked and purified His saints (3:4; Rev 1:5).
   6. Jesus would come with judgment as a swift witness against the wicked in Israel (3:5; Jas 5:1-6).
   7. He had His determinate purpose for the Jews, and it was by His counsel the Jews were still alive, and it was by His counsel they would receive a warning from John the Baptist (3:6).
   8. This Judge made a great difference between the righteous and wicked (3:16-18; Matthew 24:22).
   9. Applying these prophecies to the Second Coming take away all their force and meaning, for they apply to the days following John the Baptist, and Israel ceased to exist a full 1935 years ago.
   10. Poor C.I. Scofield cannot imagine how this prophecy and the next is not Christ’s second coming.
2. Malachi foretold a great and dreadful day of the Lord following John the Baptist (Malachi 4:1-6).
   1. A coming day of judgment was described as a burning oven to consume the proud rebels (4:1).
   2. John plainly foretold this baptism of fire that would burn up the chaff or stubble (Matt 3:11-12).
   3. The burning would be so thorough and consuming it would leave nothing of Israel (Dan 9:27).
   4. God had purposed to burn up the city of the rebels that persecuted His Son (Matthew 22:7).
   5. There would be a great difference made between the righteous and the wicked (4:2-3; 3:16-18).
   6. This was the comforting and gracious ministry of our Lord’s first coming, not His second.
   7. Jesus declared clearly that 70 AD was to fulfill all the prophecies of vengeance (Luke 21:22).
   8. Moses’ Law was given terrifyingly and contained the conditions for blessing or cursing, which Israel had profanely rejected for their own traditions, and God was about to bring the curses.
   9. Elijah would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord, which would then follow (4:5).
   10. This is the same day as Joel prophesied and Peter identified (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:14-21,40).
   11. There is no doubt John the Baptist was prophetic Elijah (Matt 11:7-15; 17:10-13; Luke 1:13-17).
   12. His purpose would be revival, but if it failed would bring God’s promised curses on Israel (4:6).
   13. The object of His curse – the earth – is no wider or broader than Moses’ law or John’s preaching.
   14. Jesus did curse that generation of Jews, just as Moses foretold (Matt 23:29-38; Heb 4:1; 6:8).

Prophecy of John the Baptist

1. John the Baptist condemned that specific Jewish generation with imminent judgment (Matt 3:7-12).
   1. As Malachi had prophesied, John was coming before a great and dreadful day (Mal 3:1-6; 4:1-6).
   2. If the Jews did not repent as a nation, God would curse them and destroy them, just as He had promised through Moses (Malachi 4:4-6; Deut 29:19-29; Heb 6:7-8; 10:26-31).
   3. John preached two main facts – the time was fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
   4. The time to Messiah from Daniel was ended, and a kingdom with Jesus as King was announced.
2. He limited his severe warning, as Malachi had described, to that specific generation of vipers (3:7).
   1. The word “generation” means the men living at one time. It is a simple word. Believe it.
   2. You know what “this generation,” or, “generation gap,” or, “my father’s generation,” means.
   3. There is no question about “generation,” if Scofield and other men promoting Jewish fables had not tried to destroy our Lord’s plain prophecy (Matt 24:34-35; Mark 13:30-31; Luke 21:32-33).
   4. In these verses, a man must either deny the words of Jesus, because he cannot handle the figurative language, or believe the words of Jesus and look for the figurative fulfillment of them.
   5. Futurists are no better than Charismatics, who deny the literal fulfillment of Acts 2:14-21 by rejecting the figurative language and concluding Peter prophesied of Benny Hinn and friends.
   6. The illustrating parable of a budding fig tree in the immediate context, showing all men that spring is near, limits it to a generation, the time covering one group of men (Matt 24:32-33).
   7. The word generation means the group of men born about the same period of time; it does not mean a race or nation of men of all time, because then “race” or “nation” are used (Gen 7:1; 15:16; Ex 1:6; 20:5; Judges 2:10; Ps 78:1-8; Joel 1:1-3; Matt 1:17; Acts 13:36; Heb 3:10).
   8. The above is especially true when the words “this generation” or “that generation” are used (Gen 7:1; Exodus 1:6; Judges 2:10; Psalm 12:7; 71:18; 95:10; Hebrews 3:10).
   9. John, Jesus, and Peter used this word 30 times, but Paul never used it when writing Gentiles, because it did not apply to them. John, Jesus, and Peter unloaded on the Jews of Jesus’ lifetime.
   10. It always means the same thing – those alive at a given time (Matt 3:7; 11:16; 12:34,39,41,42,45; 16:4; 17:17; 23:33,36; 24:34; Mark 8:12,38; 9:19; 13:30; Luke 3:7; 7:31; 9:41; 11:29-32,50-51; 16:8; 17:25; 21:32; 2:40; I Peter 2:9). We use the word in precisely the same way to this day.
   11. It meant exactly what it should mean – the Jews at the time of Jesus Christ were cursed under God’s judgment and would be utterly destroyed for their profane wickedness in crucifying Jesus.
   12. It should be plain to any thinking Bible reader that those who killed Jesus deserved fiery wrath.
   13. The Bible defines a generation as approximately 40 years (Num 32:13; Deut 1:35; Ps 95:10-11).
   14. The parables of Jesus dealt with the men then living that would crucify Him (Matt 21:41; 22:7).
   15. The Pharisees knew Jesus meant them, not a vague national idea 2000 years later (Matt 21:45).
   16. The Jews distinguished themselves as a generation distinct from their fathers (Matt 23:29-36).
   17. The Jews begged for Jesus Christ’s blood on them and their children – a generation; and like at other times, their foolish and profane request was granted by a terrible King (Matt 27:25)!
   18. Jesus destroyed Jerusalem for missing His day of visitation – in that generation (Luke 19:41-44).
   19. All the prophecies of vengeance would come to pass on those specific wicked men (Luke 21:22).
   20. Mothers presently living and their children were the ones to be terribly affected (Luke 23:27-31).
   21. It was that generation Paul said was under the uttermost wrath of God (I Thessalonians 2:14-16).
   22. The kingdom came with power in 40 years, when Jesus came in judgment on that wicked generation and fulfilled the prophetic vengeance (Matt 16:27-28; Mark 8:38; 9:1; Luke 9:26-27).
   23. They were a bunch of vipers, or poisonous snakes, that needed to be put out of their vile misery!
   24. Josephus wrote several times about the profane wickedness of the generation Titus destroyed.
   25. Malachi had defined and limited his ministry to the Jews at the arrival of Christ; he was not warning their cousins 2000 years later of some other vague future wrath (Malachi 3:1 – 4:6).
   26. John did not know there was a second coming, and he surely did not preach about it (Matt 11:3).
   27. Wrath did come 40 years later – in 70 AD – which perfectly fulfilled this and every other usage.
3. John mocked the Jews hypocritical presence at his baptism about avoiding the coming wrath (3:7).
   1. This wrath is the judgment of 70 AD by its imminence, for he mocked their vain efforts to flee it.
   2. Malachi defined John’s ministry as warning of near wrath, cursing, and burning (Mal 3:5; 4:6).
   3. Paul said God’s uttermost wrath was upon the Jews then living in his lifetime (I Thess 2:14-16).
   4. Jesus warned in a parable of wrath, destroying murderers, and burning up their city (Matt 22:7).
   5. The adversaries of Jesus Christ were to be devoured with fiery indignation (Hebrews 10:26-31).
   6. The following words describe the axe and the fire to be imminent threats to the Jews’ safety.
   7. There is not a word or thought in his warning of the second coming, which he did not know.
   8. The wrath to come was not the Day of Judgment, but rather the great tribulation of Jerusalem.
4. John told them the axe of God’s judgment was beginning to be applied for the great burning (3:10).
   1. John did not say, “The axe shall be laid to the root”; he said, “The axe is laid.” Get the timing!
   2. This was not a judgment far off that they knew nothing about; it was a judgment very imminent.
   3. God was not pruning branches, but cutting down evil trees to be burned up in a fire (Mal 4:1).
   4. We had just read that God’s burning judgment would not leave either root or branch (Mal 4:1)!
   5. John’s ministry was entirely related to the setting up of Christ’s kingdom, not its second coming!
5. John promised that Jesus Christ’s baptisms would be far greater and severer than his by water (3:11).
   1. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is simple enough – the giving of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
   2. The baptism of fire is simple enough – the burial in an overwhelming flood of Roman armies.
   3. The Romans burned up their city, their temple, their altar, their priests, and their whole nation.
   4. This was the refining fire of the Messenger of the Covenant to eliminate base metals (Mal 3:2-3).
   5. This was the fire to burn up their city for rejecting His offer of the kingdom (Matthew 22:1-7).
   6. Paul referred to this fiery indignation that would devour the adversaries of Jesus (Heb 10:27).
   7. Paul presented God as a consuming fire, burning up rejecters of His kingdom (Heb 12:25-29).
6. John used language obviously taken from Malachi to describe the coming conflagration (3:12).
   1. Honest readers will rejoice at the clear and distinct connection to Malachi (Malachi 3:2-3; 4:1-3).
   2. Jesus Christ already held the fan of judgment to heat the furnace of fiery judgment for the chaff.
   3. What is the chaff? The reprobate Jews He had described by the synonym “stubble” (Mal 4:1)!
   4. What is His floor? The kingdom of God compared to a threshing floor with wheat and chaff.
   5. The Lord Jesus Christ came to save His elect and to destroy His enemies. It could not be plainer.

Prophecies of Jesus

1. Jesus said He was come to send fire on the earth, and His fire was already kindled (Luke 12:49-50).
   1. The best application of this fire is to consider Malachi and John, where it is the refining and damning fire of His judgment on the wicked among the Jews (Malachi 3:2-3; 4:1; Matt 3:10-12).
   2. It was already kindled in the sense that He had His fan in His hand and was ready to burn rebels.
   3. But this fire could not burst forth until after His baptism of the crucifixion (Luke 17:24-25).
   4. The fire already kindled was not hell’s fire, but the fiery judgment on adversaries (Heb 10:27), when the King would send forth His armies and burn up the city of His enemies (Matt 22:7).
   5. It is a fearful thing to fall into God’s hands, because He is a consuming fire (Heb 10:31; 12:29).
2. He prophesied He would come in that generation (Matt 16:27-28; Mark 8:38; 9:1; Luke 9:26-27).
   1. Observe “verily” in Matthew and Mark’s account, and Luke’s variation, for strong affirmation.
   2. The audience was broader than the twelve by virtue of what we are told elsewhere (Mark 8:34).
   3. By tradition we know only one disciple that made it, but there were other people also addressed.
   4. He did not say many, for speaking to adults and considering 40 years, “some” is the right word.
   5. If the event were 20 years or less, everyone standing there would be alive; if the event were 60 years or more, no one standing there would be alive; 40 years fits the bill with perfection!
   6. Either we have 2000-year-old saints, or Jesus came in His kingdom some way 2000 years ago!
   7. No matter what coming of Christ a person places on this text, it cannot be the Second Coming.
   8. He would come with divine glory and power and His angels as a true Judge of His enemies: it is this cross-reference and others that tell us Matthew 24:29-31 is not to be separated from 70 AD.
   9. The warning of these passages is limited to those in that adulterous generation (Mark 8:38).
   10. The angels of God have been involved in divine judgment on many other occasions (II Sam 24:16; II Kgs 19:35; Ps 35:5-6; Dan 12:1; John 1:51; Acts 12:23; Rev 12:7).
   11. He told His disciples at His ascension that He had all power in heaven and earth (Matt 28:18).
   12. This coming was the demonstration of His kingly authority by judging His enemies and saving His elect, which He did by the use of Roman armies and the invisible activities of His angels.
   13. This cannot be His transfiguration six days later, for (a) no one came close to dying in those few days, (b) the ones attending were by Christ’s choice rather than survival, (c) no kingdom activities took place, (d) no kingdom power was present, and (e) no judgment took place, as described in the context (Matt 16:27; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26).
   14. Peter did not confirm in II Peter 1:16-18 the transfiguration as the power and coming of Jesus Christ; he rather confirming his previous teaching by his personal experience (I Pet 1:3-9).
   15. If the thought of angels being involved bothers you here, what about seeing angels in John 1:51?
3. Luke recorded a lesson of our Lord that combined warnings of 70 AD differently (Luke 17:20-37).
   1. The occasion of this lesson was a question by the Pharisees about His kingdom, for they sought a Messiah to deliver them from Rome, but His kingdom was an internal, spiritual one (17:20-21).
   2. He did not respond with second coming information, but rather with a gospel kingdom on earth.
   3. While the Pharisees wanted a carnal, earthly King to save them from Rome, Jesus now told His disciples that His kingdom would come with a dramatic Roman destruction of the Jews. Glory!
   4. He told His disciples that some terrible days were coming in which they would wish to return to the gentle and peaceful days they had spent with the Son of Man (Cp Luke 23:27-31).
   5. They would be tempted and threatened with imposters pretending to be the Messianic deliverer, but they were to ignore such obscure and vague descriptions, for His coming would be dramatic!
   6. The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, would have a day in which He was revealed as King (17:24,30).
   7. The timing of this event would closely follow His crucifixion by that wicked generation (17:25).
   8. This is the coming in a kingdom display He had told His disciples about before, which some of them would live to witness (Luke 9:26-27 cp Matt 16:27-28; Mark 8:38; 9:1; Luke 21:32-33).
   9. This similitude, a comparison to the obvious presence of lightning, is not the second coming.
   10. The crucifixion had to occur first and the righteous leave Judea for the Romans to take the rest.
   11. The day the Son of Man was revealed … shortly after His crucifixion … was related to great judgment, which would take away all the wicked, just as in the days of Noah and Lot.
   12. This is not the second coming, for the warning is to not worry about stuff in the house, which is connected to Jerusalem’s tribulation (Matt 24:15-21; Luke 21:21-24; Mark 13:14-19)!
   13. Those taken are the ones killed by the Romans; those left are those that fled to the mountains.
   14. The disciples asked where this great tribulation would occur, and Jesus explained that wherever the dead carcass of the Jewish nation was found, the Roman eagles would be there devouring it. God and Jesus had left the Jewish nation and their temple; it was now a mere carcass (Jas 2:26).
   15. If you run the second coming through this passage, you end up with absurdities, for the saved do not wish for one of the days of the Son of Man, and they will not desire the stuff in their houses!
4. Jesus foretold the specific surrounding of Jerusalem and leveling of it to the ground (Luke 19:41-44).
   1. This was the end of earthly Jerusalem. The one in Palestine today is a Gentile city unrelated to the Christian religion and us (Luke 21:24; Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22; Rev 2:9; 3:9).
   2. His words came as He viewed the city, which ceased to exist in that form long ago, in 70 AD.
   3. For the poor Futurists obsessed with obsessing about the antichrist and 666 chips in your brain, here is a plain prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ’s judgment on Jerusalem for rejecting Him.
   4. He described the siege of Jerusalem with a trench around the city allowing none at all to escape.
   5. The city would be leveled without temple or city stones still together for rejecting the Messiah.
   6. Jesus made this prediction about the stones in other places (Matt 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6).
   7. This prophecy was fulfilled literally by Titus after the war. See Josephus “Wars” (VII:1:i).
   8. The Lord Jesus Christ is a great King, and you had better kiss the Son (Ps 2:12; Acts 3:22-23)!
5. He warned the women that accompanied Him to the cross about their children (Luke 23:27-31).
   1. Even on the way to the cross, Jesus Christ was still thinking and speaking of 70 AD. Hear Him!
   2. He told them to weep for themselves and their children, a generation, rather than Him (23:28).
   3. The days of great tribulation would make it terribly painful to have children suffer through it.
   4. Suicidal fear, grief, and guilt were coming due to the horrifying experiences of Jerusalem.
   5. They had asked for the guilt of His blood to be on them and their children, and it was granted!
   6. The Lord concluded with a proverbial expression meaning, the Jews and Romans were so contrary to justice and mercy during a time of abundant peace and prosperity to an innocent Man, what would they be like during factious war and a siege with a very guilty nation?
6. He warned of retribution against that generation for all the world’s righteous blood (Matt 23:29-38).
   1. That generation, the men living then, would be punished for all the righteous blood (23:33,36).
   2. This guilt for blood of prophets and apostles fits His parables perfectly (Matt 21:33-46; 22:1-10).
   3. He left their house – their temple – desolate, for He had determined its desolation (Dan 9:24-27).
   4. Those profane rebels had begged for His blood to be on them and their children (Matt 27:25).
7. Jesus promised Caiaphas and friends that they would see Him coming in judgment (Matt 26:63-64).
   1. Mark and Luke have similar accounts of this personal warning (Mark 14:61-62; Luke 22:67-69).
   2. Jesus responded to the oath in God’s name to answer Caiaphas, who had no love of God or truth.
   3. Jesus moved from the singular to plural to tell them they would see Him coming in judgment.
   4. The language is identical as that to His disciples (Matt 16:27-28; Mark 8:38; 9:1; Luke 9:26-27).
   5. Jesus was seated at the right hand of God in 40 days (Acts 7:55-56; Heb 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2)!
   6. Stephen declared the terrible news that he saw Jesus in glory at God’s right hand, which was a Bible prophecy that profane and wicked generation could not bear (Acts 7:55-56; Ps 110:1-2).
   7. Jesus Christ came in judgment just as He had come before and had promised He would come (Mal 3:5; 4:5-6; Matt 16:27-28; 21:40; Jas 5:8-9).
   8. If the thought of angels being involved bothers you here, what about seeing angels in John 1:51?
8. Jesus described that wicked generation as being exceedingly devil possessed (Matthew 12:43-45).
   1. Both Titus and Josephus testified that no generation had ever been so wicked and depraved.
   2. Jesus compared what they did to Him to a time when things would be far worse (Luke 23:27-31).

Prophecy of Caiaphas

1. Caiaphas unknowingly prophesied Jesus should die for all God’s elect by substitutionary atonement, though he meant nothing of the kind by the words he spoke (John 11:49-53). Give God the glory!
2. The chief priests and Pharisees conspired to kill Jesus to save the nation and temple (John 11:47-53)!
   1. Consider how their most malicious and wicked conspiracy backfired in perfection upon them!
   2. They profanely killed the Son of God to save the nation and temple from the Romans; but God sent the Romans to miserably destroy those murders and burn up their city for this very reason (Matt 21:41; 22:7; Luke 19:41-44)! Give God the glory, reader!
   3. If Caiaphas did not know the truth he prophesied (11:51), why not the whole council (11:47-48)?
   4. Should we be surprised (Ps 7:10-17; Pr 1:10-19,29-31; 5:22-23; 8:36; 11:5-6; 14:14)? Not at all!

Prophecy of the Jews

1. The Jews at Christ’s trial took the guilt from Pilate upon themselves and their children (Matt 27:25).
   1. When Pilate washed his hands publicly from His innocent blood, they gladly took it (Mat 27:24).
   2. The Lord gave them their request and ignorant prophecy of judgment to come (Matt 23:29-36).
   3. Consider His words to warn the daughters of Jerusalem on the way to Calvary (Luke 23:26-31).
   4. They denied the idea later, but the apostles applied it (Acts 2:22-36; 3:12-23; 4:8-12; 5:28; 7:52)!
2. This is God’s method of dealing with rebels: He gives them their desires rather than His blessings.
   1. They complained about dying in the wilderness, so God helped them realize it (Num 14:20-35).
   2. They asked for Moses to speak to them, so they got the great Lord Jesus Christ (Deut 18:15-19).

Prophecies of Peter

1. Peter used many words on Pentecost to warn believing Jews against that very generation (Acts 2:40).
   1. He had already identified the coming great and terrible day of the Lord on Israel (Acts 2:20-21).
   2. He quoted Psalm 110:1 as an emphatic climax that God had made Jesus of Nazareth Messiah and Lord, whom they had crucified, and who would use His enemies as a footstool (Acts 2:32-36).
   3. He used “generation” to describe the men then living, just as John the Baptist began (Matt 3:7).
   4. This word and other related words and phrases were used repeatedly by the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles to define the objects of His wrath – the specific murder of the Son of God.
   5. Untoward is the same as vipers, demon possessed, contrary to all men, and stiffnecked and uncircumcised (Matt 3:7; 12:34,43-45; 23:33; Acts 7:51; I Thess 2:16).
   6. Peter’s warning here was identical to that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Luke 21:20-28).
   7. Those who heard and obeyed Peter saved themselves by escaping from Judea (Matt 24:16-22).
2. Peter exhorted his readers to prayerful watchfulness, for the end of all things was at hand (I Pet 4:7).
   1. The words of timing, at hand, require us to deny any Second Coming application (II Thes 2:1-2).
   2. All the things that were ending were the Jewish system, the old covenant, the temple, etc., etc.
   3. They were to be sober, watchful, and prayerful, identical to the Lord’s warning (Mark 13:33-37).
   4. Paul and James gave very similar warnings for this generation of Jews (Heb 10:25; James 5:8-9).

Prophecy of Stephen

1. The Jews accused Stephen of teaching Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the temple (Acts 6:9-15).
   1. Why did they accuse him of such a thing? Because he surely preached such a gospel, for the Lord Jesus Christ and Peter had done it before him (Matt 24:2; Luke 19:41-44; Acts 2:40)!
   2. Notice, Peter had used many other words in warning his godly hearers to flee this judgment!
   3. Preachers full of the Holy Ghost will preach this subject just like Stephen in following his Lord.
   4. The false witnesses were liars, for he did not blaspheme Moses, God, the temple, or the law.
   5. As with the Lord, they twisted his words in ignorant rebellion (John 2:19-21; Matt 26:61; 27:40).
   6. The Jews tried to kill Stephen for the very same reason they tried to kill Jeremiah (Jer 26:4-9).
   7. Jesus did destroy the temple and change Moses’ customs (Luk 19:41-44; Heb 9:1-12; 12:22-29)!
2. Consider Stephen’s attitude and words to the Jews, while he was on trial before them (Acts 7:1-60).
   1. Stephen was allowed to speak in order to defend himself against the accusations brought (7:1).
   2. He reminded them of God’s judgment for rebellion against Moses, a type of Christ (7:35-43)!
   3. He reminded them the temple did not mean anything to the Lord (7:44-50; Is 66:1-2; Jer 7:1-15)!
   4. He blasted them for killing the prophets and Jesus, the sins for their destruction, just like the wicked generation God had judged in Babylon from another temple, (7:51-53; Matt 23:29-36)!
   5. Then he told them the most horrifying thing he could have said … he saw the Lord Jesus Christ right where He had promised them He would be when coming in judgment on them (Mat 26:64)!
   6. And Jesus was not sitting! He was standing! Meaning He was rising to come to judgment! Glory!

Prophecies of Paul

1. Paul told the Thessalonians that God’s uttermost wrath on the Jews was imminent (I Thess 2:13-16).
   1. They killed the Lord Jesus, their prophets, and had persecuted Paul, just like our Lord’s parables!
   2. John and Jesus had described this character and wrath (Matt 3:7; 22:7; 23:33-36; Luke 21:23).
   3. While the wrath was “to come” in John’s preaching; it was “is come” from Paul’s perspective!
   4. God had forsaken those wicked men, and their many devils made them contrary to all men.
   5. They filled up their sins, which was to finish the transgression and fully deserve God’s wrath.
   6. The wrath of God was not in the future; it was in the present; it was to the uttermost; and it resulted in tribulation that had not been nor ever would be matched in the history of the world!
   7. Titus and Josephus described the Jews in Jerusalem as the most depraved and wicked possible.
   8. Untoward is the same as vipers, demon possessed, contrary to all men, and stiffnecked and uncircumcised (Matt 3:7; 12:34,43-45; 23:33; Acts 7:51; I Thess 2:16).
2. Paul warned the Hebrews of severe judgment for apostates (Heb 2:1-4; 6:4-6; 10:26-31; 12:25-29).
   1. These four passages describe irremediable judgment on any Hebrew Christians backsliding to Judaism, for the wrath of God was about to reduce the Jews and their religion to desolation!
   2. God swore in wrath against Moses’ generation; He also swore against Paul’s (Heb 3:7 – 4:11)!
   3. These passages that cause so much difficulty for so many are easily resolved when viewed as Paul’s warnings comparable to John, Jesus, and Peter about the judgment ready to fall on Israel!
   4. These four passages are great Bible study material to learn to put verses in their context, which in this case is the destruction of Israel in 70 AD by the Romans that would punish any backsliders.
   5. Paul wrote this epistle before 70 AD, and he wrote it to the Hebrews, Jewish Christian converts.
   6. If they apostatized from their professions of faith, they would be realigning themselves with the murders of the Son of God and would consequently partake of the judgment coming on them.
   7. Adam Clarke, the Methodist commentator, wrote about Hebrews 6:8, “Thus the apostle, under the case of individuals, points out the destruction that was to come upon this people in general, and which actually took place about seven years after the writing of this epistle! And this appears to be the very subject which the apostle has in view in the parallel solemn passages, chap. x. 26-31; and, viewed in this light, much of their obscurity and difficulty vanishes away.”
   8. Regarding Hebrews 10:27, Adam Clarke wrote, “Probably the apostle here refers to the case of the unbelieving Jews in general, as in chap. vi. to the dreadful judgment that was coming upon them, and the burning up their temple and city with fire….”
3. Paul told the Hebrews to assemble often for exhorting due to Jerusalem’s destruction (Heb 10:25).
   1. The day approaching could be seen, which is not true of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
   2. Paul is writing Jews (Hebrews); the day was very near; and the following verses prove it clearly.
4. Paul warned the Hebrews that they should fear in their generation as the one long before (Heb 4:1).

Prophecy of James

1. He comforted Jewish saints to patience and mocked their enemies of coming judgment (Jas 5:1-9).
2. Remember, as with John, Jesus, Peter, and John, James was also a minister to the Jews (James 1:1).
3. Consider his mocking of the wicked Jews, who had lived voluptuous lives of greedy covetousness.
   1. He promised miseries upon them, with no context or wording to indicate eternal judgment (5:1).
   2. Their riches by violence were treasures of wickedness to justify judgment in the last days (5:3).
   3. The Lord of sabaoth, Lord of hosts, had heard the cries of the oppressed (5:4 cp Malachi 3:5).
   4. Whether the just is Jesus Christ (Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14) or just men collectively considered (Jas 2:6), these wicked Jews were guilty of blood, which perfectly fulfills the prophecy and expectation of the approaching vengeance of 70 AD (5:6 cp Matt 23:29-36)!
   5. The coming of Christ was at hand, which is not true of His Second Coming (5:8; II Thess 2:1-2).
   6. The Judge was at the door, which meant He was about to make His judgment (5:9; Matt 24:33).

Parables of Jesus

1. The parable of the householder clearly describes the coming vengeance on the Jews (Matt 21:33-46).
   1. The details are clearly about Israel, the prophets, Jesus, His crucifixion, judgment, and Gentiles.
   2. When the Lord looked for a return of His blessings on Israel, there were none (Ezek 16:35-59).
   3. The clear response to His Son’s death was miserably destroying the wicked murderers (21:41).
   4. The Jews were guilty for the blood of prophets, apostles, and the Lord Jesus (I Thess 2:14-16).
   5. The vineyard is God’s kingdom, which was taken from Jews and given to Gentiles (21:41,43).
   6. The Lord Jesus Christ, rejected by the Jews, became the head of the corner of the church (21:42).
   7. Any opposing this king, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be ground to powder (21:44; Acts 3:23).
   8. The chief priests and Pharisees were keen enough to know this prophecy was for them (21:45)!
   9. Jesus did not have the second coming in mind, because a kingdom transfer is not part of it at all.
   10. The coming of the lord of the vineyard has nothing to do with the second coming, but 70 AD.
2. The parable of the marriage supper clearly describes coming vengeance on the Jews (Matt 22:1-10).
   1. This is a parable of the kingdom, which requires a King and citizens, which are easy to identify.
   2. John the Baptist and Jesus announced the kingdom to the Jews, but they rejected it (22:1-5).
   3. The Jews also spitefully mistreated the apostles and prophets and killed some of them, but their greatest crime was killing God’s Servant, His only begotten Son (22:6; 21:38; Phil 2:7).
   4. The King was wroth; He sent forth His armies; He destroyed the murderers; and He burned up their city (22:7). Words could not be plainer of what Jesus Christ did to those that killed Him!
   5. The Lord Jesus Christ sent His angels to direct the Romans in obliterating that Jewish generation.
   6. The King then sent out gospel ministers and gathered the Gentiles into His kingdom, which is exactly what He will teach in prophetic language in the Olivet discourse (22:8-10; 24:31).
   7. Paul made the turning point, shortly after which Jerusalem was burned up (Acts 13:46-48).
   8. If 70 AD does not fulfill Matthew 22:1-7, then neither language nor the Bible has meaning.
   9. There is not even indirect reference to other events, for the switch to Gentiles is 1950 years old!
   10. What are the armies of this King? The angels directing the Romans (Dan 12:1; Matt 16:27-28)!
3. The parable of the talents clearly describes the coming vengeance on wicked Jews (Luke 19:12-27).
   1. The parable was given to correct the carnal ambitions of the Jews for a kingdom here and now, when there was a space of time before 70 AD in which they were to endure unto the end (19:11).
   2. Luke’s version includes a revolt by the King’s citizens with special words (19:14; John 19:15).
   3. The servants are God’s ministers measured for faithfulness; the wicked citizens are the evil Jews.
   4. The Jews at the trial of our Lord testified profanely that they had no king but Caesar (Jn 19:15).
   5. They begged for His righteous blood to be upon them and upon their children (Matthew 27:25).
   6. The King calls for vengeance on His enemies that would not let Him reign over them (19:27).
   7. The kingdom connection of this parable does not have anything to do with the second coming.
   8. Wise readers will stop reading the New Testament as if its primary message was for the 21st century and grasp the context of our Lord and the generation of Jewish vipers that He addressed.
   9. The return of the nobleman has no more to do with the second coming than does the coming of the Lord of the vineyard or the sending of the King (19:15; Matt 21:40; 22:7). It is 70 AD!

Olivet Prophecy of Jesus

1. The Olivet Discourse is the longest and most detailed prophecy of the great events around 70 AD.
   1. It was given on the Mount of Olives and recorded three times (Matt 24; Mark 13; and Luke 21).
   2. See the three gospel accounts compared at the bottom of this study for easy reference and study.
   3. We will only summarize it here, as there are more detailed expositions in the links listed below that show in detail the fulfillment of every aspect of this prophecy about Jerusalem’s destruction.
   4. The Olivet Discourse was at the end of our Lord’s ministry, and it depends on lessons elsewhere.
   5. No one has a right to interpret the Olivet Discourse until he studies the Old and New Testament prophecies related to it, especially those of Daniel, Haggai, Malachi, John, Jesus, Peter, and Paul.
   6. Jesus said reading and understanding Daniel will help, so wise students start there (Matt 24:15).
   7. Daniel told of a war by a prince after Messiah to destroy the city and sanctuary (Dan 9:26-27), when abominable armies would desolate Jerusalem and scatter the holy people (Dan 12:1,7,11). All of Daniel 10-12 was fulfilled perfectly by the historical events affecting Israel up to 70 AD!
   8. We do not start with “clouds” in Matthew 24:30 and work backward, forcing our futuristic ideas upon a prophecy that is clearly limited by time descriptions and clearly referenced elsewhere.
   9. We do not allow “Left Behind” nonsense and all the other carnal and childish imaginations about the future influence the study we have made to this point of prophecies against Israel.
   10. In these chapters we will face choices to wrest words or trust the Lord and prophetic language.
   11. Your caution and methods in rightly dividing the word of truth will be put to the test right here.
   12. Our Lord’s emphatic statements summarizing the timing of the prophecy deserve close attention.
2. The errors made in interpreting and applying this passage by futurists like C.I. Scofield are Legion.
   1. Matt 24 teaches Christ’s second coming, the rapture, and the signs preceding (SRB, p.1033-35).
   2. Luke 21:21-24 answers the first question of Matt 24:1-3; Matthew 24:4-33 answers the others!
   3. Believers do not go through the tribulation, for they are raptured out in the pretribulation scheme.
   4. Jewish missionaries (144,000) will preach the gospel worldwide after the rapture (SRB, p. 1033).
   5. These converted Jews announce that the kingdom is “at hand” again, 2000 years after John!
   6. The abomination of desolation is a pagan idol in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (SRB, p. 1033).
   7. The warnings of Jesus are for these tribulation Jews in Jerusalem to flee from the antichrist.
   8. The great tribulation is 3½ years of persecution of regathered Jews by antichrist (SRB, p. 1033).
   9. The Son of Man and the angels will regather Jews to Jerusalem for a carnal Jewish millennium.
   10. Generation cannot mean generation, because not one event in Matthew 24 occurred in 70 AD!
   11. If you force gaps here, then why not Genesis 1, Daniel 2,7,8,9,11,12, and II Thessalonians 2?
   12. Do not let anyone take sound bites from these chapters and try to apply them to current events.
3. The lesson was caused by the disciples admiring the temple and Jesus foretelling its destruction.
   1. If they had read their Bibles, they would have known Isaiah and Daniel foretold this event, and they would have asked Jesus about the temple’s destruction, not its beauty (Is 66:6; Dan 9:26).
   2. Josephus and others described the stones and construction of the temple buildings as glorious.
   3. While Zerubbabel had laid the foundation, Herod the Great added forts and much grandeur to it.
   4. There are only two temples – the former and the latter – Solomon’s and Herod’s (Haggai 2:1-9).
   5. They asked four questions – one about when, three about signs – mostly in ignorance (Acts 1:6).
   6. They did not leap to the second coming as you do, for they knew of another (Matt 16:27-28).
   7. The end of the world can refer to Christ’s parables or their focus on Israel (Matt 13:39-43,47-50).
   8. Rather than ignorant questions driving the interpretation, Christ’s answers direct our application.
4. There would be various conditions characterizing Israel and the Roman world before the destruction.
   1. These are not truly signs, for they do not identify the destruction; there was to be one main sign.
   2. Josephus, other historians, and/or scripture confirm these conditions as occurring in 30-70 AD.
   3. There would be false Christ’s pretending to bring Messianic deliverance (Acts 5:36; 8:9; 21:38).
   4. While the end of Jerusalem would result from a war, war and rumors of war were to be ignored.
   5. These things were preliminary conditions: they did not indicate Jerusalem’s end was imminent.
   6. Famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places would be bad, but are just the beginning.
   7. There was a serious famine throughout the world that affected Hebrew Christians (Acts 11:28).
   8. Do not let anyone create sound bites from these words and try to apply them to current events.
   9. The “end” is defined for us – the end of Jerusalem – for He is leading to it by listing conditions as only the beginning of sorrows, not the great tribulation of the city (Matt 24:6,8,13-14).
5. The apostles would face terrible persecution by family, friends, the Jews, and the Gentiles.
   1. A review of the book of Acts will confirm every single statement in this prophecy of persecution.
   2. Many would be offended and betray one another (Matthew 24:10 cp II Timothy 1:15; 4:10,16).
   3. Many false prophets would arise and deceive many (Matthew 24:11 cp Acts 5:36-37; 21:38).
   4. Because iniquity would abound, the love of many would wax cold (Matthew 24:12 cp Rev 2:4).
   5. Those who endured these persecutions would be saved (Matthew 24:13 cp Daniel 12:12).
   6. The end under consideration here is the end of the desolation of Jerusalem (Matt 24:13 cp 24:2).
   7. The days were shortened to save the elect, but their endurance was required (Matt 24:6,8,13,22).
6. The gospel of the kingdom – Jesus Christ as King – would be preached to all nations for a witness.
   1. Since this is the primary theme of this study, there is much more on this point that follows below.
   2. The gospel of the kingdom of heaven is the same as the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24-27; 28:31).
   3. The gospel was most surely preached to all nations by the apostles (Acts 1:8; 2:5; Col 1:5-6,23).
   4. The end under consideration here is the end of the desolation of Jerusalem (Matt 24:14 cp 24:2).
   5. Matthew’s account makes this the final condition before the end could occur (Matt 24:14-15).
   6. While Paul was living, before Jerusalem’s violent end, the gospel was preached just as described.
   7. It is heresy and a travesty of Bible interpretation to say Jesus cannot come the second time yet!
7. The specific sign of Jerusalem’s total and utter ruin as prophesied would be encompassing armies!
   1. Believers would be able to see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel (Matt 24:15).
   2. The reference is Daniel 12:11, not Daniel 8:13 (Antiochus) or Daniel 9:26-27 (war for sins).
   3. Matthew and Mark use “abomination of desolation,” Luke plainly calls it armies (Luke 21:20).
   4. While Matthew and Mark’s readers would need to understand, Luke’s description is obvious.
   5. The abomination OF desolation is an abomination that MAKES desolate (Dan 12:11; 9:26-27).
   6. The abominable armies of pagan idolaters would make the city and sanctuary desolate. Easy!
   7. If this is an idol in a rebuilt temple, who would be able to see it and flee? Wouldn’t the city already be occupied? Why would God call Satan’s synagogue or temple a holy place? There is no way that abomination and desolation can combine to describe merely an idol as futurists say.
   8. The “holy place” simply and only refers to the holy land and city of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:53).
   9. Having seen the armies encompassing Jerusalem, the disciples were to flee (Matthew 24:15).
   10. History records that they did flee and not a single Christian is recorded lost in the desolation.
   11. The days of Daniel became significantly important to those who fled to the hills (Dan 12:11-12).
   12. The entirely practical nature of the warning is seen by the hindrances described (Matt 24:17-20).
   13. The response was to flee Jerusalem and Judea for the mountains to miss this military destruction.
   14. Since it is impossible to escape a city surrounded by armies, how did Christians obey the Lord’s precious warning? Cestius Gallus surrounded the city and then left in 66 AD! Glory! Vespasian and Titus then began a terror campaign throughout Judea leading to Jerusalem in 70 AD!
   15. If Cestius Gallus surrounded the city in 66 AD, why the sense of urgency from the Lord about not taking any thing out of a house? Because Daniel’s timeframe guided them (Dan 12:11-12), and Jesus was giving a general exhortation to sober watchfulness, not literal neglect of assets.
8. The greatest tribulation in the history of the world would now take place as Jerusalem was besieged.
   1. Luke defines the “great tribulation” as the “days of vengeance” (Luke 21:22 cp Matt 23:29-38).
   2. For the foolish dispensationalists that fuss about the great tribulation, it is now 1935 years past!
   3. This was the time of unprecedented national trouble that Michael would initiate (Daniel 12:1).
   4. This was the time of the consummation and desolation of the city and sanctuary (Dan 9:26-27).
   5. God poured out His uttermost wrath and vengeance on the Jews (Lev 26:14-39; Deut 28:15-68; Matthew 3:7; 21:41; 22:7; 23:29-38; Luke 19:44; 21:22; I Thess 2:16).
   6. If Jesus Christ had not cut those days of tribulation short, they would have consumed the elect hiding in the hills from the Romans. Consider their terrible plight trying to survive in mountains.
   7. Observe the Lord’s very practical concern for His people, by virtue of the very specific instructions and concerns, regarding this event (24:19-20; Luke 23:27-31).
   8. These warnings have nothing to do with the second coming or any difficulties coming before it.
   9. The Lord cut the days short with severe famine in the city from the factions burning up each other’s grain stores and the Jews foolishly giving up their forts; Titus could not believe his luck!
   10. It was patient endurance of trials that brought blessed deliverance (Matt 24:13,22; Dan 12:12).
   11. Luke wrote that his Gentile readers ought to lift up their heads, for their redemption drew nigh – their receiving of the kingdom, and the destruction of their rabid enemies, the Jews (Luke 21:28).
   12. The city would be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles are totally fulfilled (Luke 21:24).
   13. Christians went through this tribulation, making pre-, mid-, or post- tribulationism so much folly!
9. The Lord again warns about false Christ’s and prophets attempting to deceive the people of victory.
   1. These pretenders would show wonderful signs and wonders, but the elect would not be deceived.
   2. Claiming that the Messiah was in the desert was nothing unusual (Acts 5:36-37 cp Acts 21:38).
   3. Since Jesus had warned so carefully of this matter, there was no reason to believe any imposters.
   4. No matter where they might say Christ could be, His presence would be as obvious as lightning.
   5. This coming is not related to the second coming at all. He would come with Roman vengeance.
   6. Whether the “eagles” are figurative or the Roman ensigns, they would devour the Jewish corpse.
   7. Jesus Christ would not be hidden; He would be consuming the dead nation in obvious judgment.
   8. The two verses are closely related: the Son of man would come as the devouring of the carcass.
   9. The armies were the Lord’s armies, for the devouring of the nation was the Lord’s great work.
10. After the siege and destruction, the religious world would be turned upside down with great change.
    1. We are fully bound by “immediately” (24:29) and “this generation” (24:34) to make this 70 AD.
    2. Jesus used metaphorical language opening this section: we should expect metaphors (24:27-28)!
    3. The language here is the same Joel used to describe the same religious change, which Peter said was fulfilled in the spiritual event of speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:12-21).
    4. If you think these words describe Christ’s second coming, you must think it in Acts 2 as well.
    5. As shown in the section on prophetic language, it is used in other places in the Bible as well.
    6. Go back and read about the Persian destruction of Babylon as a turning out the lights (Is 13:13)!
    7. God promised to shake away the old kingdom of Israel, and He did (Hag 2:1-9; Heb 12:26-29).
    8. The end of the Jewish economy, state, temple, city, and nation was an earth-shattering event!
    9. This purely the figurative, cataclysmic, and apocalyptic language of a prophet describing major political and religious change! Only those who have never read the Bible would think otherwise.
11. With this great religious change came the obvious evidence of Jesus Christ reigning in His kingdom.
    1. We are fully bound by “immediately” (24:29) and “this generation” (24:34) to make this 70 AD.
    2. Jesus used metaphorical language opening this section: we should expect metaphors (24:27-28)!
    3. The Jews rejected Him as their king, but He took the kingdom anyway (Luke 19:14; John 19:15).
    4. What is the sign of the Son of Man in heaven? Treating His enemies as His footstool (Ps 110:1)!
    5. How was it known He was seated at God’s right hand? His feet grinding His enemies to powder!
    6. This cannot be the second coming for numerous reasons, but one is that there is no sign for it.
    7. The tribes of the earth mourning are Jewish tribes for what they had cost their nation and selves.
    8. The coming in clouds with power and great glory is figurative of His glorious reign and victory.
    9. What the Jews clearly saw was the obvious hand of God in their utter destruction and desolation!
    10. Everything Jesus and His apostles had taught against the Jews and temple came to pass perfectly.
    11. Not until the temple and altar were totally destroyed was it obvious there would be no deliverer!
    12. Such similitudes are common in the Bible, as the section above about prophetic language shows.
    13. Jesus had already stated that He would come in glorious judgment in this very fashion within the present generation (Matt 16:27-28; 26:63-64; Mark 8:38; 9:1; 14:62; Luke 9:26-27).
    14. And Jesus is just about to state clearly that this event and all the others were generational events!
    15. Why do you want to take these clouds literally, but not those in Psalm 18:11-12; Isaiah 19:1; and many other places in Scripture that simply use them to metaphorically present God’s judgment?
    16. Stop watching Star Wars or Left Behind! Read the Bible! Learn its apocalyptic language!
12. The reigning King would send forth gospel ministers to gather His elect from among the Gentiles.
    1. We are fully bound by “immediately” (24:29) and “this generation” (24:34) to make this 70 AD.
    2. Jesus used metaphorical language opening this section: we should expect metaphors (24:27-28)!
    3. Since He identified earth shattering events (24:29) and the effect on the Jews (24:30), what was the next event or effect on the Gentiles? The gospel was now for the Gentiles without the Jews!
    4. Remember the parable of the householder; Jesus gave the kingdom to Gentiles (Matt 21:33-46).
    5. Remember the parable of the marriage; Jesus gave the kingdom to the Gentiles (Matt 22:1-10).
    6. One of the great events connected to Jerusalem’s end was the formal changing of the covenants.
    7. It had been the times of the Jews; now it was the times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24; Rom 11:24).
    8. Are gospel ministers ever called angels? Indeed (Eccl 5:6; I Cor 11:20; Rev 1:20; 14:6-7)!
    9. Is gospel preaching, or prophetic warning, or God’s call, ever called a trumpet? Indeed (Ps 47:5; 89:15; Isaiah 18:3; 27:13; 58:1; Hosea 8:1; Zech 9:14; Rev 1:10; 4:1)!
    10. Is this interpretation hard? What about Daniel 12:1-4, which was fulfilled by 70 AD (Dan 12:7)!
    11. Either you choke on the figurative language and wrest our Lord’s plain language (24:29,32-35), or you accept our Lord’s plain language and compare Scripture to explain the figurative words.
    12. We have a specific event, a very clear time limitation, and Bible usage of such figures of speech!
13. The first internal time limitation of the prophecy is the parable of the fig tree (Matthew 24:32-33).
    1. When trees produce buds and leaves, it is very obvious that we are very close to summertime.
    2. You can know with total certainty that summer will come and that it will come very quickly.
    3. When the conditions and signs Jesus had described were visible, then Jerusalem’s end was near.
    4. Compare “it is near, even at the doors” here with James, “standeth before the door” (James 5:9).
    5. During the discourse, without all signs present, Jesus said the end was not yet nigh (Matt 24:6,8).
    6. Consider – “it” must be divided from “all things,” since the all things were signs to know “it” was near. Therefore, “all things” were signs of Jerusalem’s end, and “it” is the immediate events.
    7. Everything in the previous verses, 24:1-31, must be either signs of “it” or “it” itself, which does not allow for any division, gap, or change of subjects in the preceding verses!
    8. Here is further evidence that the second coming is not being considered, for what things are we to see in order to know that it is even at the doors? There are no signs of the second coming!
14. The second internal time limitation of the prophecy is the focus on that generation (Matt 24:34-35).
    1. The generation then present would not pass away, entirely die, before all these things occurred.
    2. The emphasis on that generation began with John and continued to Peter (Matt 3:7; Acts 2:40).
    3. John, Jesus, and Peter made 30 references to that generation, as shown in John’s prophecy above.
    4. A generation not passing is the very same as “some of you shall not taste of death” (Matt 16:28).
    5. A generation not passing is the same as “weep for yourselves, and for your children” (Lu 23:28).
    6. The exact fulfillment of these prophecies from 30 to 70 AD is incredibly remarkable and true.
    7. Observe that the Lord wants your attention by His words of emphasis, “Verily I say unto you.”
    8. And the Lord emphasized the prophecy’s certainty by exalting His words above the universe.
    9. These factors imply, if not prove, the efforts Jews and futurists would make to negate His words.
    10. Though these are the two most important verses in the prophecy, they are wrested by very many.
15. The Lord then exhorted them to watch based on the uncertainty of specific timing (Matt 24:36-51).
    1. While signs would show its general timing, the day and hour were unknown to angels or men.
    2. They would be unable to nail down whether on a Sabbath Day or in the winter (Matthew 24:20).
    3. Men can hardly remember warnings that involve forty days, let alone those involving forty years; there was great reason to exhort to watchfulness in spite of knowing the general timeframe.
    4. Luke combines verses from this chapter to show them clearly as 70 AD verses (Luke 17:20-37).
    5. The warnings about Noah, carelessness, and two in the field all apply to the Roman destruction.
    6. The ones taken are those taken by the Romans in judgment; the ones left are the elect delivered.
    7. Why in the world would a person be concerned about what he took with him in the rapture?
16. There are several strong reasons as to why there is no gap of 2000 years here to the Second Coming.
    1. The Lord plainly declared all the things He listed, signs and end, would come on that generation, which were the men then living, as is described clearly in many other places (Matt 24:34-35).
    2. The verses hardest to grasp are tied to Jerusalem’s destruction by the timing, “immediately” which does not allow for any time lapse. These things followed directly after the tribulation.
    3. The reason for the lesson was the destruction of the temple, regardless of how the disciples phrased their questions. They were not asking questions from a post-Pauline perspective.
    4. Those hearing the prophecy had the potential to see all the signs listed and the object of those signs; but the second coming has no signs nor 2000-year-old disciples to see it (Matt 24:32-33).
    5. The most difficult verses of the prophecies were witnessed by some still living (Matt 16:27-28).
    6. The Holy Ghost in Luke’s account takes verses from both halves of Matthew 24 and combines them in one warning about 70 AD, which simply denies any gap or new topic (Luke 17:20-37).
    7. There would be no question about “generation,” if Scofield and other men promoting Jewish fables had not tried to destroy the prophecy (Matt 24:34-35; Mark 13:30-31; Luke 21:32-33).
    8. Daniel testified in similar language that everything would be done by 70 AD (Daniel 12:1-13).
    9. The rest of the New Testament confirms all those things definitely came on that generation.
    10. History confirms all those things definitely came on that generation i.e. Josephus, Eusebius.
    11.  There is no sign for the second coming, for we are not to run to mountains or anywhere else, nor are we to worry about what we are leaving behind in our houses, nor will pregnant or nursing women be at any disadvantage in the second coming (Matt 24:36-51; Luke 17:20-37).
    12. The language Jesus used was the same language prophets used to describe national disasters; for examples, see the section above dealing with prophetic language.
    13. The metaphors Jesus used were just like the language of Pentecost (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:12-21).
    14. A man must either deny the words of Jesus, because he cannot handle the figurative language of a prophet, or believe the words of Jesus and look for the figurative fulfillment of His words.
    15. The futurists are no better than Charismatics, who deny the literal fulfillment of Acts 2:14-21 by missing the figurative language and concluding Peter spoke of Jimmy Swaggert and Benny Hinn.
17. But what about the arguments of those who cannot apply this chapter or 24:29-31 to 70 AD?
    1. Our Lord’s words of timing and the perfect fulfillment of the prophecy require past fulfillment.
    2. What about “end of the world” in 24:3? Answer: (a) the position of the Lord’s deadline still stands, (b) the disciples’ were very ignorant, (c) Matthew 25 answers to the end of the world, (d) the time then present by ending the old covenant was the end of the world (I Cor 10:11; Heb 9:26), and (e) “end of the world” can mean the end of Israel or a nation (Is 24:1-12; Nah 1:1-6).
    3. What about “this generation”? It could mean the Jews as a distinct nation. It could mean the Jews in a future generation when these things would be fulfilled. It could mean many other things. No, the word “generation” means the men then living, as it always has. There is no reason at all to twist the meaning of this word, expect to protect some pet theory about the preceding verses! If you need more evidence, then read the section above pertaining to John the Baptist’s prophecy.

Was the Gospel Preached in all the World?

1. Jesus said the gospel would be preached to all nations before the end of Jerusalem, which provided a glorious witness of Himself, His prophecies, the New Testament, and His enemies’ sins (Mat 24:14).
2. The Lord charged His apostles to preach the gospel to the whole world (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).
   1. They did this with all the signs and wonders He promised them (Mark 16:15-20; Hebrews 2:1-4).
   2. They had the full range of revelatory gifts including prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, and tongues.
   3. If Paul was able to do all that is stated about him, as listed below, then what did the others do?
   4. We are the effect of that incredible charge and powerful blessing, as the gospel went worldwide.
3. No man alive today, or in the last 1900 years, can keep the Great Commission as the Lord gave it.
   1. Preaching was accompanied by powerful signs and wonders that disappeared before 70 AD.
   2. No one living today has seen Jesus Christ after His resurrection to witness like the apostles, who were literal witnesses of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:47-48; Acts 1:8,21-22; 10:36-42; 22:15; 26:16).
   3. No one living approaches their ministry as the apostles were directed (Matthew 10:5-11). Why?
   4. Those who object to this teaching on the Great Commission have never done anything like it!
   5. Jesus Christ specifically included “both” Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world; but there is not a missionary alive today that has followed that specific order (Acts 1:8).
4. Since that time, the gospel has been preached in various nations by ordinary evangelism (II Tim 4:5).
   1. Paul’s epistles to Gentile churches are silent about any duty to fulfill the Great Commission.
   2. Many churches make this their primary purpose for existence, but it is not mentioned even once!
   3. Paul’s epistles to Gentile churches give all the other duties that Christian saints are to fulfill.
   4. The modern concept of an “evangelist” traveling from church to church is profane heresy.
5. The fulfillment of our Lord’s prophecy about preaching in all nations was fulfilled (Matthew 24:14).
   1. The apostles went forth and preached every where, obeying the great commission (Mark 16:20).
   2. Jews out of every nation under heaven heard the gospel on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5-11).
   3. Persecution quickly scattered the gospel abroad in the regions of Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1-8).
   4. Our enemies testified that Paul and his friends had turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).
   5. Paul labored so diligently in Asia that he was free from all men there (Acts 19:10,26; 20:26).
   6. The Jews charged Paul with teaching all men everywhere the gospel of Christ (Acts 21:28).
   7. The Jews charged Paul in court for affecting all the Jews throughout the world (Acts 24:5).
   8. Paul said the faith of the Roman believers to be known throughout the whole world (Rom 1:8).
   9. Paul said Christ had been preached in all the earth and to the ends of the world (Rom 10:16-18).
   10. Paul had preached round about unto Illyricum, present-day Albania and Serbia (Romans 15:19).
   11. Paul wrote from Italy, visited Crete, and planned for Spain (Rom 15:24; Titus 1:5; Heb 13:24).
   12. Paul said the obedience of the Roman saints had come abroad unto all men (Romans 16:19).
   13. The preaching of Jesus Christ had been made known to all nations in Paul’s day (Rom 16:26).
   14. The truth of the gospel had gone to the Colossians and to all the world at that time (Col 1:5-6).
   15. The gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven while Paul was alive (Col 1:23).
   16. Paul said the mystery of godliness included preaching to Gentiles and world faith (I Tim 3:16).
   17. Paul told Titus the preaching of grace bringing salvation had appeared to all men (Titus 2:11).
6. Our Lord’s deadline for gospel preaching in all the world to all nations was done in that generation, which we should believe from the Faithful and True Witness (Matt 24:14,34; Mark 13:10,30)!
   1. Newly converted Christians and their families in all nations had their faith confirmed by the fulfillment of prophecies about the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the Jewish nation.
   2. Every Gentile that believes the gospel at a distance from Jerusalem should rejoice greatly!
   3. No soul is at risk, if we put the fulfillment before 70 AD, for two reasons: Jesus will not lose a single one of those the Father gave Him (John 6:39; 17:2; Rom 8:29-39), and ordinary evangelism by ordinary ministers will reach those since the apostles (II Tim 4:5).

For a Witness to all Nations

1. Jesus said the gospel would be preached to all nations before the end of Jerusalem, which provided a glorious witness of Himself, His prophecies, the New Testament, and His enemies’ sins (Mat 24:14).
2. Some prophecy is to warn of coming events in order to avoid their danger (Matthew 24:15-28).
3. All prophecy proves the identity and ability of the living God (Isaiah 41:21-29; 44:6-8; John 13:19).
4. The single most impressive event to confirm the New Testament for new converts was 70 AD.
   1. They had not seen the resurrected Lord, and the sign gifts of Pentecost were fast disappearing.
   2. They had the New Testament scripture in whole or part, and these events confirmed much of it.
   3. The Old Testament in every respect was wiped out with the razing of the temple (Heb 9:10).
   4. The subversive and heretical efforts of the Judaizers came to a screeching and bloody end!
5. The single most impressive event to prove Jesus Christ as King was His blasting of Israel in 70 AD.
   1. The apostles preached kingship often (Acts 2:33-36; 10:36; 17:6-7; Col 2:10; I Tim 1:17; 6:15).
   2. Jesus of Nazareth was not recognized by the world, and especially not as a king of a kingdom.
   3. Though of an obscure beginning and ignominious death, He was the Son and Lord of David.
   4. Prophecies about Him and prophecies by Him about His enemies would prove His kingdom.
   5. What greater confirmation that He is Judge of quick and dead than demolishing the Jews!
   6. A witness of the New Testament under Christ the King was fully established (Heb 12:28-29).
6. From apostles or their immediate hearers that fulfilled the Commission, we have heard the gospel.
7. The testimony of Jesus in the gospel includes destroying the Jews (Acts 6:14; Rev 12:17; 19:10).
8. The announcement of the kingdom would be a testimony of Christ’s power (Luke 5:14; 9:5; 21:13).
9. The spread of the gospel after the destruction of Jerusalem increased even more due to the witness!
10. Considering the very many prophecies of 70 AD, consider how much the event confirmed Scripture!

Then Shall the End Come

1. Jesus said the gospel would be preached to all nations before the end of Jerusalem, which provided a glorious witness of Himself, His prophecies, the New Testament, and His enemies’ sins (Mat 24:14).
2. The end here is primarily the end of the temple (Matt 24:1-3), but also ceremonial worship, Jerusalem, and the Jews as a kingdom, which Peter described as the end of all things (I Peter 4:7).
3. This is not the end of the world as you may think it, for the disciples had no idea of it as you do, and Jesus was still providing the preceding conditions and signs that would mark the coming destruction.
4. He referred to the end earlier, which Daniel says is the end of Israel (Dan 9:26-27; Matt 24:6,13-14).
5. The end here has nothing to do with the Second Coming of Christ and the final Day of Judgment.
6. And the gospel was preached in all the world to all nations before 70 AD by many other N.T. verses.
7. The confusion, division, and muddling of this chapter with the Second Coming is full of fallacies.
   1. The topic at hand is the total destruction of the temple of the Jews (Matt 24:1-3; Mark 13:1-4).
   2. The end would not immediately occur when the signs began, for the first signs were only the beginning of sorrows (Matt 24:6-8; Mark 13:7-8).
   3. The end has already been identified as requiring endurance in the previous verse, which would be sufficient by the shortening of those days for the elect to be saved (Matt 24:13,22).
   4. The disciples were confused men, and the Lord’s answer limited the time, so their question regarding the end of the world has no power to alter the interpretation of this chapter.

Why We Are Not Preterists

1. What is a Preterist? Someone that believes there is absolutely nothing left in the future for the elect!
   1. Of course, there are degrees of preterism, like degrees of Calvinism; but let’s blast the original!
   2. They take every scrap of Bible prophecy and put it in 70 AD, no matter the gymnastics required.
   3. Do you mean we have already had the resurrection, judgment, and new heavens? You got it!
   4. Jesus has already come for his saints and redeemed our bodies from the grave? You got it!
   5. This is as good as it gets? We suffer and die in spite of glorification and a new earth? You got it!
   6. Preterism is the profane, vain babbling, and cancerous doctrine of Hymenaeus and Philetus, whom Paul condemned for ungodliness, leaving the truth, wrongly dividing the word of truth, and overthrowing the faith of some (II Tim 2:14-18). How? They said the resurrection was past!
   7. They must spiritualize many passages, just as Ellen G. White had to spiritualize the coming of Jesus Christ in 1844 to keep her hold on the shattered remnants of the Great Disappointment.
2. Are there some good reasons to condemn Preterism as heresy? As much as Dispensationalism!
   1. Preterism rejects dividing the scriptures by jamming everything into 70 AD; Dispensationalism divides it frivolously to defend Jewish fables and provide for sci-fi novels. The truth is rightly divided: if there were not divisions to be carefully made, then Paul wasted ink (II Timothy 2:15).
   2. While a complete refutation of Preterism is beyond this study, we will provide a few simple arguments or thoughts to show the ridiculous nature of a theory that leaves us living for nothing.
   3. Preterists, of course, deny this. Who is right? Ask them to show you your blessed future! A primary trait of Christianity is the believer’s hope, but they leave the believer with nothing. But be careful, because they may spiritualize anything on the run. Ask for Bible and historical proof.
   4. Preterism denies the literal and bodily coming of Jesus, which the angels promised, which was not figurative or spiritual in any way, for they saw Him leave bodily and literally (Acts 1:9-11).
   5. Preterism denies a bodily resurrection of saints and sinners, and Jesus Christ has not secured the victory until our mortal physical bodies obtain immortality, which is far more than a mere spiritual resurrection (John 5:28-29; Act 24:15; Rom 8:23; I Cor 15:51-57).
   6. Preterism denies sleeping and rising of dead bodies at the coming of Christ, which is not a spiritual sleep but rather a waiting in the graves of physical bodies (I Thess 4:13-18; Acts 13:36).
   7. Preterism denies Paul’s careful and sober warning that Christ’s coming, which included angels and flaming fire, was not imminent (II Thess 1:7-11; 2:1-12). There had to be an apostasy first and a man of sin revealed that sat in a false church and professed himself to be greater than God.
   8. Preterism denies Noah’s earthly flood, for if the heavens and earth that shall melt with fervent heat are spiritualized into the old covenant, then so should the world that then was (II Pet 3:5-7).
   9. Preterism denies the rise of a little horn that persecutes the saints after the Roman Empire degenerates into ten minor kingdoms (Daniel 7).
   10. Preterism ignores Roman Catholicism, which is a great object of Bible prophecy, including Daniel’s little Roman horn, Paul’s man of sin, and John’s beast, great whore, and false prophet.
   11. Preterism is a hopeless gospel, which proves it false, for it has nothing for saints living today.
   12. For those wanting more arguments, consult some of the documents and websites linked below.
3. If we are not futurists or preterists, what are we? If you must give us a label, we are historicists, which means we believe Bible prophecy has been fulfilled and is now fulfilling in world history.
   1. It is not all past or future. Much was fulfilled in 70 AD, and the second coming is still future.
   2. The Roman Catholic Church fulfills Daniel 7, II Thessalonians 2, and portions of Revelation.

Conclusion:

1. If you have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, you should kiss the Son this moment.
2. In spite of the world’s casual worship, kiss the Son and fall on Him to be broken, for as this study has shown, He is able and willing to grind His enemies to powder (Psalm 2:12; Matt 21:44).
3. Not only did Jesus rise, ascend to heaven, and destroy His and our enemies, but He sent the gospel to you by the commandment of the everlasting God (Rom 16:25-27)!
4. If you are a child of God and baptized follower of Jesus Christ, you are a member of a secret nation called the kingdom of God, which the world cannot recognize, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth is your King and Saviour (I Cor 2:15-16; Gal 3:26-29; Eph 2:11-22; Heb 12:22-29; I Peter 2:9-10; I John 3:1).
5. The Lord’s Supper is not a pitiful little memorial: it remembers the glorious King of Zion’s death for our sins, which put away the first covenant and brought in the second, our eternal inheritance (Heb 10:8-14; 12:22-29)!
6. There is no room for Gentiles to gloat, just as Paul exhorted the Romans to humility and fear (Rom 11:12-24).