The Olivet Discourse – Part 7
December 15, 2008
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In Parts 1 through 6, an exposition was given that covered Mark 13:1-8, Matthew 24:1-8, and Luke 21:5 to 19. Part 6 completed Luke 21:12-19 as an answer to the first of three questions the disciples asked Jesus, which are found in Matthew 24:3, the first question being, “when shall these things be?” They wanted to know what signs would be occurring from that time until the temple was leveled.
Matthew 24:3 – And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Part 6 ended with the exposition of Luke 21:19, so Part 7 will continue to answer this first question, beginning with Luke 21:20.
Luke 21:20 – And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
There were actually two surroundings of Jerusalem by Roman troops in the Jewish War. The first occurred in response to Menahem’s breaking open of Herod’s armory on Masada, after which he quickly distributed its weaponry to his fellow Jerusalem citizens and the wilderness bandits of Masada.
The events that transpired after that are fully described in the account of the JEWISH WARS by Josephus, the great historian of the time. All of this culminated in the slaughter of the Jewish colony in Caesarea, capital city of the Governor, with more than 20,000 suffering death in the brutal
slaughter. This event marked the true beginning of the Jewish War. The Jews, in response to this carnage, began their war against Rome.
The Roman general Cestius Gallas was commissioned by Rome to put down the Jewish rebellion.
He enjoyed great success in city after city, until he came to Jerusalem.
After having put down the rebellion in areas north
and west of Jerusalem, he came to set up his camp in a place called Gibeon, six miles from Jerusalem. Eventually, after several skirmishes, Cestius surrounded Jerusalem, and set his camp headquarters on Mt. Scopus. His troops kept the city surrounded for some time, thinking the Jews would surrender.
Then, and even today, military strategists are amazed he did not attack the city, rather than surrounding it for some time.
They say he could have almost walked into the city and the Jews would have capitulated. But suddenly he withdrew from around t
he city and headed north. When the Jews saw this, they took courage, and viciously attacked the rear flanks of his retreating army. The Jewish losses were negligible, but the Romans and their allies lost 5,300 infantrymen and 480 cavalrymen to death. The surrounding of the city, and the battle, occurred in 66 A.D., and incurred the wrath of the Emperor
of Rome. Nero dispatched the Roman general Vespasian to Israel to put down the Jewish rebellion. Vespasian’s march across Syria and northern Israel is not pertinent to this exposition, so I will not list its events. He eventually smashed Jericho and all the smaller cities around Jerusalem, and would have gone against Jerusalem, but was recalled to Rome and declared Emperor in 69 A.D., leaving his son Titus in change of the Roman legions in Israel. Titus surrounded Jerusalem, and began his siege against it in March of 70 A.D., capturing the Fortress Antonia in July, firing Herod’s Temple in August, and desolating the entire city in September. The desolations of the Jewish War ended with Mesada’s fall to the Romans in 73 A.D., which had been in Jewish hands since being conquered in 66 A.D. by insurgents. So, when Jerusalem fell in 70 A.D., Vaspasian was the Emperor of Rome and his son Titus, as a Prince of Rome, came in like a flood and desolated the city, and until the end of the war desolations continued across southern Israel.
Luke 21:21 – Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in
the countries enter thereinto.
After the first surrounding of Jerusalem by Cestius, Josephus indicates that “many of the most imminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink.” It is quite likely that many believers left the city when he withdrew, and never returned, taking it as a fulfillment of the warning in Luke 21:20. When Titus came some four years later to surround it for the second time, some have written that very few believers were to be found in the city, since they believed the first surrounding was the sign of warning the city would soon be made desolate.
However, since the siege began at the time of Passover, few believers would have been in the city.
But there is no question that after Jerusalem was surrounded by Titus, it was made desolate some seven months later, and I am convinced this is the desolation that Jesus spoke of in Luke 21:20. In modern day terminology they were advised “to get out o’ town and head fo de hills, and don’t u’ cum bak no moe, no moe.”