by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The signs leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem are the topic of Matthew 24:1-34. It is not correct exegesis to take the signs that preceded the fall of the temple in Jerusalem and apply them to events leading up to WWI, as some did in the 1915-18 period. They called those disturbing events the “signs” of Matthew 24. They were doing the same in the 1930-1940s, as world disturbances looked like the things in Matthew 24. But Matthew 24:1-34 had already been fulfilled in the years leading up to AD 70 when the temple was destroyed. False teachers cashed in on 1948 when Jews were allowed to go back to their homeland after WWII. False teachers said that was a “sign” and that within 40 years (a generation) the Lord would come back and set up an earthly kingdom. That led many to follow the teaching of Hal Lindsey and others that “we can see prophecy being fulfilled in our own time.” Some set 1988 as the “Countdown” year for end-time events. They thought 1948 plus 40 years made 1988 a certainty for the rapture (saints snatched from the earth for seven years). Every time they read world events through the lens of misapplying Matthew 24 and other scriptures, time proved them wrong again and again. Part of the problem is misapplying Matthew 24:1-34 to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 (which is the right application), and then failing to understand apocalyptic phrases and terminology.<\/p>\n
In seeing world events in the Old Testament and how terminology was used to describe those events, we gain insight into how the fall of Jerusalem was a “coming” of the Lord, a judgment. When Babylon was the topic of prophecy (Isaiah 13), it was “the day of the Lord was at hand<\/em>” (Isaiah 13:6,9). It was a day that the sun, moon, and stars were darkened (Isaiah 13:10), the heavens “shaken,” and the earth “moved out of her place<\/em>” (Isaiah 13:13). This is apocalyptic language to say that the Babylonian world would be turned upside down, not literally, but in emotional effect, much like America was rocked and turned upside down on 9-11-01. It shook us to the core, and a bright day was dark inside our hearts. What was the day of the Lord to the Babylonians was God using the Medes (Isaiah 13:17) to bring Babylon down. That was the coming of the Lord; the sword of God was the Medes, whom He had stirred to be the instrument He used. When God used Babylon as His sword against Egypt and Jerusalem (Ezekiel 21, 19) to bring down His wrath on these places, it was the coming of the Lord of Hosts, using Babylon as His sword. He was “riding on the clouds<\/em>” (Isaiah 19:1ff). It was the Lord’s coming against Egypt. It was His judgment against them. It was a day of darkness and clouds.<\/p>\n That is the language of Matthew 24:1-34 regarding the Lord’s coming against Jerusalem in AD 67-70. The “signs” were to alert the disciples of Jesus to “flee” Jerusalem before they got sealed into the city as the Romans began to surround the city. Fleeing the city (Matthew 24:15-20) won’t help if this is the final judgment on the world. Fleeing the city because you believed Jesus enough to get out of Jerusalem is what saved Christians. They saw the “signs” and got out, while the Jews remained in the city, got sealed in, and then could not escape. They were starved over the 3 \u00bd years, and the Romans ultimately were the sword of the Lord against Jerusalem in AD 70. It was a day of the Lord, the coming of the Lord against the unbelieving (in Jesus) Jews, a day of darkness and clouds, the judgment of the persecuting Jews who had so much blood on their hands.<\/p>\n Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian, wrote much about the gore and tragedy of those years. It was indeed the same kind of coming that we saw against Egypt, Babylon, and Jerusalem before. The same kind of language was used in all cases. Using the text to warn of “prophecy being fulfilled” now lifts the prophecy from its intended target and real fulfillment, and reads world events through a distorted lens of misused scriptures.<\/p>\n Beware of the modern false prophets. The Lord can come, but not because there are “signs” God gave us to prove it is the right time. There will indeed be a “last day,” and we need to be ready, but you can’t read world events, tie them to misused scriptures, and be credible. Just be ready at all times!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The signs leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem are the topic of Matthew 24:1-34. It is not correct exegesis to take the signs that preceded the fall of the temple in Jerusalem and apply them to events leading up to WWI, as some did in the 1915-18 period. They called…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[839,338],"class_list":["post-99154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-destruction-of-jerusalem","tag-end-times"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":99154,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? 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