March 16, 2003 / Volume 7, Issue 11
An Analysis Of Matthew 24 (Part 3)
Matthew 24:6-10
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| Matthew 24:6-8 continued... |
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN (Luke 21:11)
"...while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and before these commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time, which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskilled, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a brass arm with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it, who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies..."
(Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews, 18:5:3)
"...a few days after the feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar], a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared... before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at the feast which was called Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple], as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, ‘Let us remove hence.' But what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in great peace and prosperity, came to that feast where on it is our custom for everyone to make tabernacles to God in the temple, began on a sudden to cry aloud, ‘A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, a voice against this whole people!' This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city... during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, ‘Woe, woe to Jerusalem!' ...he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, ‘Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!' And just as he added at the last, ‘Woe, woe to myself also!' there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately, and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost."
(Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews, 6:5:3)
"There had been seen hosts joining battle in the skies, the fiery gleam of arms, the temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds. The doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the gods were departing. Some few put a fearful meaning on these things, but in most there was a firm persuasion, that in the ancient records of their priests was contained a prediction of how at this very time the East was to grow powerful, and rulers, coming from Judaea, were to acquire universal empire. These mysterious prophecies had pointed to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, with the usual blindness of ambition, had interpreted these might destinies themselves, and could not be brought even by disaster to believe the truth."
(Tacitus, The Histories, 5:13)
"Our Rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple... the doors of the Hekal would open by themselves, until R. Johanan b. Zakkai rebuked them, saying, ‘Hekal, Hekal, why wilt thou be the alarmer thyself? I know about thee that thou wilt be destroyed, for Zechariah ben Ido already prophesied concerning thee, Open they doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.'"
(The Soncino Talmud, Seder Mo'ed, Vol III, Toma, p. 186) [cf. Zech 11:1]
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Matthew 24:9-10
Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Parallel: Mk 13:9, 12-13; Lk 21:12, 16-17 |
"Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him."
(Acts 8:1)
"Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also."
(Acts 12:1-2)
"But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace."
(Tacitus, The Annals, Book 15, Section 44)
"This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me."
(2 Timothy 1:15-16)
"Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica, Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia... At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them."
(2 Timothy 4:9-10, 16)
"For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ."
(Philippians 2:21)
"At first several were seized who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously executed."
(Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 2, Chapter 25) |
We will continue to chart through Matthew 24 next week...
Click here for this week's Answering The Atheist
Was Adam permitted to eat of every tree in the garden or not? Genesis 1:29 says yes, Genesis 2:17 says no. Is there a contradiction?
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