21:5 ¶ And as some spake of
the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, 6 As for these things which ye behold,
the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon
another, that shall not be thrown down. 7
And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and
what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? 8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not
deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the
time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. 9 But when ye shall hear of wars and
commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the
end is not by and by. 10 Then
said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom: 11 And great earthquakes shall
be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven. 12 But
before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you,
delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought
before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. 13
And it shall turn to you for a testimony. 14 Settle it therefore in your hearts,
not to meditate before what ye shall answer: 15
For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall
not be able to gainsay nor resist. 16
And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks,
and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
17 And ye shall be hated of all men
for my name’s sake. 18 But there shall
not an hair of your head perish. 19 In
your patience possess ye your souls.
Jesus restates His
prophecy of the temple’s destruction from 19:41-48. I will repeat some of what
I wrote. Here is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in
AD70. Josephus, a Jewish general who went over to the Romans, gave us the
history of that event if we can believe what he wrote. The siege and
destruction of Jerusalem was the main event of the First Jewish-Roman War that
ended not only in the disaster to the city but the destruction of the Temple,
as well.
What was called Herod’s
Temple, the Second Temple with the first destroyed by the Babylonians hundreds
of years previously, will be destroyed. The Jews will suffer for rejecting
their Messiah and for fabricating a false religion, a house of cards built on
the Mosaic Law, not too different from what many Christians have done. It seems to be a character trait of mankind,
making it up as they go along. But, some historical writers say that the
destruction of Jerusalem marked the great shift away of Christianity from its
Jewish roots.
There is a warning in
verse 8 to follow no one after Christ who claims to be Him. Many terrible
things will happen, both natural and man-made, before this dreadful event and
the disciples are told not to be concerned by them. Based on the context we
have the Preterist justification for saying that the events of Revelation were
fulfilled when Jerusalem fell to the Romans but this has nothing to do with the
events of Revelation. Jesus did not come to physically rule the earth from
Jerusalem in 70AD. The Preterist view is simply insane and denies the text of
Revelation.
Christ here tells His
disciples that He will give them the words to say when they are under
persecution.
Jeremiah 1:9 Then the LORD
put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I
have put my words in thy mouth.
In chapter 12 Jesus
also underscored this point in speaking of persecution.
Luke 12:8 Also I say unto
you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also
confess before the angels of God: 9 But
he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. 10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the
Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the
Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. 11
And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what
thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: 12
For the Holy Ghost shall
teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
The fact that Jesus is
talking to His disciples about a persecution to come in time that is not too
far distant is evidenced by the following statement.
18 But there shall not an
hair of your head perish.
If this passage is
foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70AD this undercuts
Roman Catholic tradition which has Peter dying at Rome in 64AD. Jesus is
promising that not a hair of their head will perish during this terrible
national tragedy, that He will give them the words to say.
Remember, that Peter
didn’t say he was going to Rome. He said he was writing from Babylon where
there was a strong Jewish community.
1Peter 5:13 The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
Babylon was part of the
Parthian kingdom at this time and Josephus wrote about how the Jews in Judea
appealed to the strong community in Babylon to help them in their rebellions
against Rome.
Based on some written evidence
by Eusebius, a famous early church historian, and other writers, Christians
escaped from Jerusalem before the destruction in 70AD. We know in Acts how God
permitted a situation to exist where many Christians had to leave Jerusalem
because of persecution, perhaps not only forcing them to be witnesses to the
world but also saving them from the awful terror that was to unfold in the
Jewish-Roman War that resulted in the destruction of the Temple.
If this passage is a
reference to the events leading up to and including the Fall of Jerusalem then
literally Christ is assuring these disciples in front of Him that they will
survive it. The fearful sights and natural disasters that surrounded the Fall
of Jerusalem are spoken of by Josephus, who was not a Christian but a Jew who
had sided with the pagan Romans.
Josephus wrote about incredible
signs that preceded the conquest of Jerusalem by the future Roman emperor,
Titus. They are hard to be believed like soldiers and chariots in the sky and
other events that many eyewitnesses claimed to see, according to him. False
prophets arose in abundance and a couple are mentioned in Acts by the Jewish
teacher of Paul, Gamaliel.
Acts 5:36 For before these
days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men,
about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as
obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. 37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in
the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished;
and all, even as many as obeyed
him, were dispersed.
Verse 19 gives us one
reason for including longsuffering, which is patience, in the list of the fruit
of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Trust in Christ, wait on Christ, be faithful and
strong. Remember that words joined by and
are typically synonymous. We like to think of longsuffering as putting up with
the kids’ nonsense but it carried a far more heavy weight in the first century
in regard to persecution and suffering.
Colossians 1:11
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
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