What Time is it? Part 2: Surrounded By Armies

What Time is it? Part Two: Surrounded By Armies from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

This is part 2 of our series on end time beliefs. In this section, I want to take a deeper look at Matthew 24, and compare it to history. If you have a Bible, turn there and follow along. We want to see “Who will be surrounded by armies?” That is important information.

After a lot of research, I have come to believe that the modern church is still waiting on things happen, that already have, but the sands of time have covered them over. I want to dig those lost truths back up and examine them.

I feel that we have drifted, and it is time for America to come back to the simple roots of faith. Some are teaching fairy tales and using fear to try and control peoples behavior, but God does not control His people with fear, that is the other guy.

In Matthew 23:37 Jesus had came to Jerusalem and wept over the city. As He left, He said: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’” (Matthew 23:37–39 NKJV).

Then Jesus left the temple for the last time. In Matthew 24:1 it reads: “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”” (Matthew 24:1–2 NKJV).

After this, Jesus’ disciples asked Him about the destruction of the temple, the signs of His coming, and the end of the age. Jesus’ answer spans for the next two chapters, Matthew chapters 24 and 25.

One thing that we need to understand is this: Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One, the only begotten Son of the Father, was also the greatest of all the Prophets. Even those that do not accept Jesus as the Messiah believe that He was a prophet, though we know that He was not only a prophet. The words that Jesus spoke were anointed, inspired, and true. It is amazing how accurate the Bible can be.

At this point the Disciples were ready to accept the victory, without going through the battle. They were ready to be seated with Christ in glory, some sitting at His right hand, and the others at His left. Jesus explained that they would see many things before this came to pass and that they would need patience to endure what was coming.

Jesus warned the disciples to be wary of false prophets, and to not be terrified, for as long as the church is on earth, these things will happen. Jesus said: “These things must come to pass” and they have.

Deception and False Messiahs:
When the disciples asked Jesus about these things, the first thing that He warned them about was deception and false messiahs.

(Matthew 24:4-5) “And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

Jesus opened with a warning against deception, and anytime that we begin to think that we know it all, we are opening ourselves up for deception. Pride will always lead to deception, it is the enemies time-proven path into our life. Pride goes before destruction.

Since Jesus ascended, there have been dozens of false messiahs, people claiming to be Christ, and each one has led people astray. Wikipedia has pages of false messiahs that range from people claiming to be the Messiah, to Jesus’ little brother.

Wars and Rumors of War:
(Matthew 24:6–7 NKJV) reads: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”

There were wars and rumors of wars around the disciples then. In fact Jerusalem was even then occupied by the Romans and soon after this time, the whole area erupted in a huge war between Romans and Jews as we will cover shortly.

Famines, Pestilences, and Earthquakes:
(Matthew 24:7–8 NKJV) reads: “And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

Famines: Suffice it to say that the world has had its share of famines and starving people. Millions starve to death each year.

Pestilences: The word “pestilence” means epidemic disease and plagues. As I was thinking on this, I remember that when I was in high school, there was no aids. While watching the news one day they mentioned a new disease that we had never heard of before that just started turning up in the big cities.

(2) The wikipedia entry for Aids reads: “The United States was the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, first noticed by doctors in young gay men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981.” (3).

By 2015 - 37.5 million people are living with HIV, about half do not know it, and without treatment, the average survival time is 11 years. They have found ways to slow down its progress, but it is considered incurable and more people have it today than ever before. So in my own lifetime I have watched an unheard of disease come out of no where, become an epidemic, and kill millions of people.

There are new strains of venereal disease like “Super-Gonorrhea” that has become anti-biotic resistant, and is hitting Japan, England, and Canada now in 2016. What was once viewed as a “small price to pay for sexual freedom” has become the gift that keeps on giving. It has adapted.

Earthquakes: There was an earthquake while Jesus was on the cross. Today the U.S. Geological Survey website lists 145 earthquakes during 2015 that were M6+ or greater (4). Suffice it to say that we have earthquakes in various places and this part of the prophecy is fulfilled.

The Beginning of Sorrows: The word “sorrows” here means “Birth-pains”. One thing about them is that they start small, but then they increase in intensity as the birth comes closer. A woman usually carries a child for nine months, but once the birth pains begin, she will give birth within twenty-four hours. We need to recognize the time that we live in.

When parents are preparing to have a child, and the pains start coming, they rush to the hospital. They don’t pray for the doctor to end the pains and stop the birth. They are excited about the child that is coming. This is an exciting time for us. We are here for such a time as this and we may actually get to see the Lord Jesus return in our own lifetime. So be it! Come Lord Jesus!

Tribulation and Betrayal:
(Matthew 24:9-10 NKJV) “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”

All the Apostles except John met a violent death at the hands of religious enemies. They were beheaded, crucified, stoned, speared, and hanged from trees. The name of Jesus causes conflict in religion.

In many parts of the world, Christians are being persecuted today because of their faith. In places like China, India, the middle east, they are tortured to give up information on pastors and church leaders. Many get offended at the struggle and betray one another.

False Prophets:
(Matthew 24:11 NKJV) “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

The first warning was about false messiahs, people claiming to be Christ. This warning is about false prophets leading people astray with their teachings as Peter warned us:

(2 Peter 2:1 NKJV) “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”

Suffice it to say that we have had those for centuries… This prophecy has been fulfilled.

Cold Love:
(Matthew 24:12 NKJV) reads: “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

It used to be where I lived, that if your car broke down, almost everyone that passed would stop and try to help you. There was no need for road service. There were enough good samaritans around to take care of you if you broke down.

That is not so today. Because of people being abducted, killed, raped, robbed, car jacked, and almost every evil thing that you can think of happening, people have grown wary. If your car breaks down now, you leave it. The people that do stop, may not intend to help you. I would say that because of lawlessness, evil, and violence in people, that the love of many has grown cold.

Endurance:
(Matthew 24:13 NKJV) “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

Jesus told His disciples that they needed to patiently endure the things that were coming. They would be no glory without living the story. There would be no victory without first experiencing the battle.

Paul told Timothy: “And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:5 NKJV).

You don’t get to skip the game and still get the trophy.

The Gospel of the Kingdom (Still Happening):
(Matthew 24:14 NKJV) “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

As far as I know, this is what God is waiting on, for us to complete the great commission that He left His disciples with. In fact, it is the only job that the church has to do here. Every other task that the church is focusing on has been added by man:

(Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV) reads: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

All means all, and as I understand it, there are still places in the world that have never heard of Jesus and He will not return until they have heard the gospel. We can prolong the current suffering in the world as long as we want, but our main goal here is to spread the good news of Jesus around the earth. It does not matter if they accept it or not, our job is to tell them and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. As the love of the world grows colder, it is not getting easier and many of the nation’s that are unreached, are muslim nations.

Jesus did not set a date on His return, but just said “Then the end will come.” Predicting when Jesus will return is always a mistake. He told us plainly that only the Father knew. We might recognize the season, but will certainly not know the day or hour.

The Destruction of the Second Temple:
The temple in Jerusalem that Jesus and the disciples visited that day was one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was a beautiful building that was ornately decorated, and it was the pride of the Jews. It represented their special relationship with God. When the temple of Solomon was destroyed in the days of Jeremiah, the temple mound sat desolate and as a pile of ruins for 70 years (Daniel 9:1-2).

When the seventy years that were prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11 were fulfilled, the exiles began to return to Jerusalem under Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1-4). Ezra returned with a remnant of the Jewish people and began to clear the temple mound, and then started building a second temple. This temple stood for around 420 years and right before Jesus was born, King Herod remodeled and expanded it.

(1) Herod had architects from Greece, Rome and Egypt plan the construction. He spared no expense and considered this temple to be his masterpiece. John 2:20 records that it had taken 46 years to complete this upgrade, and for eight of those years, Herod had 10,000 workmen working on it.

(Ant 15:392–402): Josephus, the Jewish historian, records that the temple was built from huge white stone bricks that were 37.5 feet long, 12 feet high, and 18 feet thick. They weighed well over 100 tons each with the largest one being over 600 tons. The temple was about nine stories high and it could be seen from the surrounding countryside, from miles away. It had huge doors at the entrance and the white stone was decorated with purple flowers, and vines of solid gold. It was filled with beautiful gifts and treasures that had been donated by the Jews.

It was such an impressive site that the disciples were awed by it. When Jesus didn’t seem all that impressed, they began to show Him the highlights and point out how great it was. As they talked with Jesus about it, He said: “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another.”

These words had to be incredibly hard to believe at the time, but about 37 years later, they came to pass. In 66 A.D. the Jewish population rebelled against the Roman Empire in the Great Jewish Revolt and these words came to pass literally.

The Abomination of Desolation:
Matthew 24:15 reads: “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.” (Matthew 24:15–18 NKJV).

The first thing that I want to say about the abomination of desolation is that it is wrapped in the middle of a paragraph that was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the temple.

There is a parallel in Luke 21:20: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.” (Luke 21:20–21 NKJV).

(5) This was a warning of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus records that in September of 66 A.D. during the “Great Jewish Revolt” that the Roman Legate Cestius Gallus (6) led armies made up of 30,000 Roman soldiers supported by 14,000 allies provided by Agrippa II and other rulers.

Jerusalem was surrounded by “Armies” just as Jesus had warned, they were led by Cestius Gallus, and they began to attack the city of Jerusalem. After five days, they had successfully penetrated the outer the wall and were close to taking the city. Then suddenly without any reason, Cestius called off the siege and withdrew. The Jewish rebels chased them and cut them down as they left. It looked like a great victory for the Jews and they sang victory songs on the way back to town. They thought that God had delivered them.

The church at Jerusalem though heard something different from the Holy Spirit and they remembered the words of Jesus. “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies.” All the Christians fled the city, crossed the Jordon River and stayed in a town called Pella where there were many Christian churches (7).

Josephus notes that: “Many of the distinguished Jews abandoned the city like swimmers from a sinking ship." Though it looked like a great victory for the Jews, the Christians knew the words of Jesus and fled from the city of Jerusalem.

When the Romans returned with a much greater force, there was not a Christian left in the city. Then they began one of the cruelest sieges in history. Unfortunately the siege started a few days before the Passover celebration and Jews from many surrounding countries were in the city for the festival when it began. The city was bustling, full, and crowded with people when the Roman army suddenly surrounded it.

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, Luke tells us that He stopped and wept over it, (Luke 19:41–44 NKJV): “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

The Romans surrounded the city of Jerusalem and dug an embankment completely around it in order to starve them out just as Jesus had predicted. The siege lasted about seven months. Some of the Jews sold their provisions for gold coins, swallowed them, then surrendered to the Romans. After a soldier saw one of them digging gold coins out of their excrement, they began gutting the surrendering the Jews and searching their intestines for gold.

The Romans crucified captured Jews in full view of those on the wall to instill fear in those that were still in the city and to encourage them to surrender. The city starved in hunger, and women roasted and ate their own children. People killed, raped, and fought each other for supplies. The skies were black with smoke from the fires. Mini civil wars raged inside the city among the various factions, until the Romans started breaching the walls, then they united against a greater enemy.

By the end of the siege, over 1,100,000 Jews were killed and one hundred thousand captured and deported. The events of 70 A.D. marked the extinction of Jewish national existence, the end of the sacrifices and temple rituals, and the dispersion of the Jewish people among all the nations. It is an immense event in interpreting scripture and well recorded in history (8).

Legend has it that the ornate gold that decorated the temple melted and ran down into the cracks between the stone and into the very foundation of the temple. So the Romans meticulously disassembled the temple stone by stone to get at the melted gold. Rome then used the gold and treasures taken from the temple to build their Colosseum. Either way, the words of Jesus were absolutely true, fulfilled to the letter, and every stone was taken down.

The Romans wanted to completely wipe out the Jews but Titus restrained them. Isaiah tells us: (Isaiah 1:9 NKJV) “Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.” Sodom and Gomorrah had no survivors.

(10) A Roman Legion was an army unit that consisted of about 5,000 men, and each legion carried their own silver eagle on a staff. This Roman Eagle was also called the “Aquila" and “The bird of Jupiter.” The silver eagle was the ensign of the Roman Legion and the symbol of its power. If a legion lost their eagle, they were disbanded. The Romans would go to great lengths to recover them and they offered sacrifices to these idols. To them, it was a holy symbol that the entire legion would die for. A legionary known as an eagle-bearer, carried this standard before them into battle.

70,000 Roman troops were there when Jerusalem was taken. With one eagle for each legion, this would have been 14 idols they carried into temple in victory. The historian Josephus records that the Romans put their eagles over the eastern gate of the temple and then offered sacrifices to them.

This was possibly the abomination spoken of by Jesus, though I am not sure on that. What I do know is that the Romans did make sacrifices to their idols on the temple mound, and the destruction of Jerusalem ended the age of the Jewish nation, and marked the beginning of the age of the gentiles.

Luke continues on in chapter 21:24: “And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24 NKJV).

Jerusalem was “trampled” by the Gentiles (Non-Jews) for 1,878 years. From 70 A.D. until May 14nth, 1948 when Israel became a nation again.

The Age of the Gentiles: (11)
- From 70 A.D. – 313 that land was ruled by the Roman empire.
- From 313 – 636 it was ruled by the Byzantine empire.
- From 636 – 1099 it was ruled by the Arab empire. During this time in 691, the Arabs built the “Dome of the Rock” on the temple mound exactly where the Jewish temple had been and it is still a serious point of contention today with both Jews and Muslims willing to die over that land.
- 1099 – 1291 it was ruled by the Crusaders.
- 1291 – 1516 it was ruled by the Mamluk empire.
- 1516 – 1918 it was ruled by the Ottoman empire.
- 1918 – 1948 it was ruled by the British empire.

Seven empires… seven is the number of completion, perfection, and bringing to an end in the Bible. God’s word is so perfect. The formation of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948 immediately sparked a war and the surrounding nations invaded Israel in what is called the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Israel captured half of Jerusalem and it was divided between east and west.

Then in 1967, the Arab nations of Jordan, Syria, and Egypt attacked Israel again but they lost that war in six days, and Israel then captured the rest of Jerusalem. Today Jerusalem continues to be the most disputed piece of real estate on earth.

With all of that said, think of this parable that Jesus told in Luke 20:9:

“Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.

“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him. ’But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” (Luke 20:9–16 NKJV)

After the Jews rejected His Son Jesus, God Himself removed them from the land and gave it to the gentiles. Yet just as with the first exile, God brought them back home after a set time.

Continuing on in Matthew:
(Matthew 24:16–26 NKJV) “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”

As far as I can tell, this is all speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. And is now in the past. It has already happened.

All of this history will come into play during the rest of this series and we will build on this. There is still a lot to say, but that is enough for this teaching. I encourage you to go over the blog post accompanying this video as I will include all the references there. This way you can go back and dig deeper yourself.

Thank you for listening!

References:
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV/AIDS_in_the_United_States

3: http://www.healthline.com/health-news/concerns-over-super-gonorrhea-spreading-to-united-states

4: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/browse/m6-world.php?year=2015

5: http://josephus.org/warChronology2.htm

6: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cestius_Gallus

7: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella,_Jordan

8: http://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/documents/eschatology/significance.php

9: http://biblehub.com/library/josephus/the_wars_of_the_jews_or_history_of_the_destruction_of_jerusalem/chapter_6_how_the_romans.htm

10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquila_(Roman)

11: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jerusalem