ALMOST 2000 YEARS AND STILL COUNTING – BLOG 8
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ulationperiod.com/
April 20, 2011
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?
JESUS ANSWERED 3 QUESTIONS BUT NOT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER! THEY ARE LINGUISTICALLY SEPARATED FROM ONE ANOTHER BY THE FOLLOWING EXPRESSIONS IN LUKE’S OLIVET DISCOURSE:
(1) “BUT THE END IS NOT BY AND BY’ – LUKE 21:9
(2) “THEN SAID HE UNTO THEM” – LUKE 21:10
(3) “BUT BEFORE ALL THESE” – LUKE 21:12
(4) “UNTIL THE TIMES OF” – LUKE 21:24
(5) “AND THERE SHALL BE” – LUKE 21:25
In Blogs 1 through 7, and exposition was given that covered Mark 13:1-8, Matthew 24:1-8, and Luke 21:5-19. Blog 7 completed Luke 21:12-21 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?
Blog 7 ended with Jerusalem compassed about and placed under siege by the armies of Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian, and a Prince of Rome.
Since I have already fully exposited on Luke 21:21, we will begin Part 8 with an exposition of 21:22.
Luke 21:22 – For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luke is not referring to all things concerning all written prophecy up to the final heaven age.
He is referring to all the things the prophets wrote concerning the context of what he had just written in Luke 21:12-22, which consisted of the events leading up to, and the actual desolation of, the old city of Jerusalem itself.
Israel and Jerusalem would not listen to what the prophets said or wrote.
The Olivet Discourse in Matthew 23:30-32 states that were indeed the children of their Fathers who killed the prophets, and in 23:36-38 boldly says the punishment of Israel and the city of Jerusalem would come on that present generation.
And in the latter years of that generation it came precisely as Jesus had stated.
Matthew 23:30-32 – And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. [31] Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. [32] Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Matthew 23:36-38 – Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. [37] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gat hered thy children toget
her, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
These were indeed the days of vengeance from 66 A.D. to 73 A.D.! What went on during the siege of Jerusalem is well documented by the great Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, but Jesus stated it very plainly in two different sections of Luke.
Luke 21:23 – But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
Luke 23:27-30 – And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. [28] But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. [29] For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
[30] Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.
The information following was taken from the writings of Josephus, and describes the distress brought upon them, especially
upon the elderly, and those women carrying or raising small children.
“Thus it was that wives robbed their husbands, children their fathers, and – most horrible of all – mother’s their babies, snatching the food out of their very mouths; and when their dearest ones were dying in their arms, they did not hesitate to deprive them of the morsels that might have kept them alive.” “They showed not pity for gray hairs or helpless babyhood, but picked up the children as they clung to their precious bits and dashed them upon the floor.” “If they had flesh on their bones they were deemed to have plenty of stores; if they were already reduced to skeletons they were passed over, since they were certain to die of famine in a short while.” “With dry eyes and grinning mouths those who were slow to die watched those whose end came sooner.” Starvation and acts of cannibalism went hand in hand within the city.