I have a strong sense from the Lord that the next 10 years are going to be a period filled with increasing global conflict and tragedy…I hope I am wrong! I have had this word come to me several times from the Holy Spirit in the last couple years, “a time of great trouble is coming upon the whole earth”. I do not believe this is period I am referring to is the “Seven Year Tribulation”, but rather the time preparing the world for it. I will cover the Tribulation period in great detail later in my Blogs.
Jesus and His disciples had just left the Temple grounds in Jerusalem and headed to the Mount of Olives which is just east of the city to give one of the most profound discussions on three topics: 1). The Temple Destruction 2). When will these thing be? 3). What will be the signs of your Coming and the End of the Age? These 3 topics are covered in 3 of the 4 Gospels Matthew 24:1-14; Mark 13: 1-13 and Luke 21: 1-19.
I will only focus on the first two parts of Jesus discourse the “Temple Destruction” briefly, and the Signs of the End of the Age…”The Birth Pang Signs” in this Blog series…we will look at Christ’s 2nd Coming in another blog.
Imagine you are walking with Jesus in your home town/city and you are admiring the stateliest significant building that defines your city and culture and you comment to Him, “Isn’t this building beautiful and the architectural design just amazing”! Jesus turns to you and says, “Do you see these great buildings”? “There will not be left one stone upon another that will not be thrown down”. You are stunned…Jesus often did this to His disciples!
That is exactly how the disciples felt...the Temple was not merely a magnificent building, but the very core of the Jewish people’s faith…it represented God dwelling with His people and the foundation of their worship and obeying the Mosaic Law. Jesus just tells them, the buildings making up the Temple Mount will be completely torn down and turned into a pile of rubble. That is exactly what happened in 70 AD under the leadership of the Roman General Titus.
Taken from Wikipedia, “The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War. The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been controlled by Judean rebel factions since 66.
The siege ended on August 30[3] with the sacking of the city and the destruction of its Second Temple.
Josephus the Jewish Historian witnessed the event and provides a gruesome description of Jerusalem’s fall and the Temple destroyed.
The Temple was captured and destroyed on 9/10 Tisha B'Av, at the end of August, and the flames spread into the residential sections of the city.[6][8]
Josephus described the scene: "As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity: passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the entrances many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades and died as miserably as the defeated. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesar's commands and urged the men in front to throw in more firebrands. The partisans were no longer in a position to help; everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were peaceful citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood and the bodies of those killed at the top slithered to the bottom."[10]
Exactly as Jesus had prophesied less than 40 years earlier…the Temple would be destroyed and a massive heap of ruins…amazing but not really I guess if you are God who see all things future!
Next week we will transition to the “Birth Pang Signs” Part Two, which Jesus foretold would happen before He would return. Again with precision accuracy we are seeing earthquakes, disease outbreaks, famines, wars etc. on the increase…stay tuned for part two!
From a friend, Bill W…if you have found these studies encouraging pass them on to a friend!