Revolution Era

Anytime the Lord declares or reveals something new, it does not negate things He's previously said. Therefore, if we are to examine this new revelation spoken by Jesus Christ, it should be done so in light of existing truths.

I feel it necessary to present these statements that were said both before and after Mt 24, chronologically speaking, since we are not in the position of 1st century disciples. We are 21st century disciples with access to many Gospels, epistles, and documents from antiquity. It would be foolish not to utilize the resources that have been made available to us in our present day. And though obvious, it should still be mentioned that Jesus knew all that he would say while he was with his followers here on earth. Therefore, we can approach these statements of his with this in mind as well.

For example,

Lk 10:18-19, “And He said to them, ‘I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.’”

Mt 16:18b-19, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

Jn 14:12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”

Mk 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.”

Mt 28:18-20, “And Jesus came up 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 the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”

MATTHEW 24

Mt 24:3, “’Tell us’, they said, ‘when will [the Temple in Jerusalem be destroyed], and [tell us] what will be the sign of your coming and [what will be the sign] of the end of the age [we are in]?’”

Jesus doesn't answer them in the order they asked, nor does he speak in a progressive chronological order. Nevertheless, Jesus, from Mt 24:4 to 25:46 answers all three of these questions. One of the challenges then for the reader and the discerner is to identify which verses are answering which of these three questions.

One more thing we need to address is the immediate and broader context of this section we will be examining. In chapter 21, Jesus comes into the Temple in Jerusalem on a donkey. A large crowd of Jews welcome him, while other crowds question what this means. Now in the Temple, Jesus begins to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven from ch.21:18 to 22:14. From 22:15 to 22:45 He is confronted by waves of religious leaders who try to discredit him. And in ch.23, Jesus reveals to them what the Lord has determined to be their fate since they have not repented. Then Jesus reveals to his disciples that the Temple and Jerusalem would be torn down and destroyed. This prophecy falls in line with what Jesus prophesied in Mt 11:20-24,

20 Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent.21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day.
24 Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”

It is in this context that the disciples come to Jesus and ask him to clarify for them what it is that he meant by all that he had just said in ch.23. For Jesus had just revealed to the religious leaders, and his disciples, that on the heads of the religious leaders would be the blood of all the prophets and righteous men that had been shed on the earth. And that this judgment and the seven woes would come upon that generation he was speaking to. And to Jerusalem, Jesus begins to reveal that it will be desolate (Jesus will continue to reveal more about this in ch.24).

Now why does Jesus say that the people of Jerusalem will not see him again until they say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord"? The footnote in your bible will say that Jesus has quoted Ps 118:26. So my question is, why would he quote this Psalm? Ps 118:22-26,

22 The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone; 23 the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 O Lord, save us;
O Lord, grant us success. 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.

Until they embrace and accept the stone that they have rejected, they will not see Jesus. For now that Jesus has ascended, he only comes to those that seek him. As Jesus said in Jn 14:19-21,

19 “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20 “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."

And also, Jn 17:24-26,

24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

These things he said to the religious leaders and Jerusalem because Jesus was given the authority to judge (see Jn 5:22-23).

Now, back to chapter 24.

4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.”

Jerusalem was going to be destroyed roughly 40 years after these words, and the Temple with it. His disciples are Jewish, born and raised in Israel. Why would there be a need for Jesus to warn his Hebrew friends about the possibility of being misled? Who in the next 40 years would rise and declare themselves to be the Jewish Messiah? Let us again turn to history to find out.

75AD Flavius Josephus writes (note: Josephus was not a Christian but a Jewish historian), "A false prophet was the occasion of these people's destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get up upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now, there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose upon the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; and this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. Now, a man that is in adversity does easily comply with such promises; for when such a seducer makes him believe that he shall be delivered from those miseries which oppress him, then it is that the patient is full of hopes of such deliverance." (The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem Book VI, Chapter V, Section 2).

325AD Eusebius writes, "Meander, who succeeded Simon Magus, exhibited himself in his conduct an instrument of diabolical wickedness, not inferior to the former. He also, was a Samaritan, and having made no less progress in his impostures than his master, reveled in still more arrogant pretensions to miracles; saying that he was in truth the Saviour, once sent from the invisible worlds for the salvation of men; teaching also, that no one could overcome even the very angels that formed the heavens in any other way, than by being first initiated into the magic discipline imparted by him, and by the baptism conferred by him for this purpose," (Book 3, Ch. 26).

Many leaders had risen, both before and after Jesus of Nazareth, claiming they would lead the Jews to freedom from the Roman oppression. Jesus’ words to his disciples were to assure them that no matter how convincing these other leaders may be, and no matter how many fellow citizens of Jerusalem would bear arms and follow such leaders, those movements were not of the Lord. The summons is that they abstain from participating in any sort of revolt or uprising, for though these things must take place to fulfill what was written in the Prophets (Lk 21:22), Jesus’ followers are not to be a part of it.

Nations arose and rebelled against Rome, and Israel arose against its neighbors. “From the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives; and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of the legions against a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but of human kind,” (Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To Constantine Part I).

And there were famines and earthquakes in various places, just as Jesus prophesied.

325AD Eusebius Pamphilius, Ecclesiastical History: (On Matthew 24:7) “Caius had held the power not quite four years,[1] when he was succeeded by the emperor Claudius. Under him the world was visited with a famine,[2] which writers that are entire strangers to our religion have recorded in their histories.[3] And thus the prediction of Agabus recorded in the Acts of the Apostles,[4] according to which the whole world was to be visited by a famine, received its fulfillment. And Luke, in the Acts, after mentioning the famine in the time of Claudius, and stating that the brethren of Antioch, each according to his ability, sent to the brethren of Judea by the hands of Paul and Barnabas,[5] adds the following account,”(Book II, Ch. VIII).

Observe what The Jewish Sibylline Oracles say concerning Jerusalem (c. 71 AD), “He seized the divinely built Temple and burned the citizens and peoples who went into it, men whom I rightly praised. … For on his appearance the whole creation was shaken and kings perished, and those in whom sovereignty remained destroyed a great city and righteous people. . . .” (5: 150-154 OTP 1:396).

250 AD Lactantius writes, “For after a short time the Emperor Vespasian subdued the Jews, and laid waste their lands with the sword and fire, besieged and reduced them by famine, overthrew Jerusalem, led the captives in triumph, and prohibited the others who were left from ever returning to their native land." (EPITOME OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTES, Ch. 46).

MATTHEW 24:8, "‘But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.’" Something was being birthed here. But what could it be? What did Jesus preach? That the Kingdom of Heaven was about to invade earth, and it’s role is to overthrow the kingdom of darkness. The balance of power and authority was starting to shift, and these were the birth pains of the kingdom being born, of Heaven invading Earth. Satan will throw everything he has to try to stop it, attempting to kill off this ‘child’ of God.

These birth pains are not a birthing of destruction over the Earth. What sort of Father would look forward to having a child of death and judgment? God is about to birth what He has spoken of through His prophets of old: The Kingdom of Heaven, filled with a royal priesthood made up of peoples from every tribe and tongue (1 Pet 2:9).

Look at Psalms 110:1-4 in the Amplified:

"THE LORD (God) says to my Lord (the Messiah), Sit at My right hand, until I make Your adversaries Your footstool. The Lord will send forth from Zion the scepter of Your strength; rule, then, in the midst of Your foes. Your people will offer themselves willingly in the day of Your power, in the beauty of holiness and in holy array out of the womb of the morning; to You [will spring forth] Your young men, who are as the dew. The Lord has sworn and will not revoke or change it: You are a priest forever, after the manner and order of Melchizedek."

Night will pass and give way to a new day. And the glory of his new people and his new Kingdom will be like the brightness and beauty of a rising sun. We are the children and the Kingdom born from the womb of the dawn.

Meanwhile, though nations war and Jerusalem revolts, as Jesus had just foretold, He then draws their focus back to themselves and their mission. Though they don’t know it yet, Jesus will later command them to go into the nations to make disciples of them. But as they do this work - because the Kingdom is being birthed and Satan is bent on suppressing the movement that will both disarm and de-throne him - followers of Jesus will feel the full brunt of Satan’s initial retaliation. So now Jesus begins to explain to them that for the next two and a half centuries, this is how things will be for many believers:

24:9-13, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

He tells them these things so that they will not loose heart when it begins to happen. Things are going to look hopeless in that season of birthing. But he reminds them of the hope and the mission of the Kingdom, saying that they will be rewarded for enduring through it, even if they are killed. But despite all these things, Jesus says, "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." (24:14).

Now, what does Jesus mean by “the end”? The end of what? What was the question the disciples asked? “…[W]hat will be the sign… of the end of the age?” (Mt 24:3).

ENTER CONSTANTINE

I want to propose that this was “The Age” in which creation lived in from the time of Adam’s sin until the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The birth of Israel and its Law came into this darkness, but the world was still oppressed by an evil Tyrant. The ‘age’ was an era birthed from Adam’s fall – and age of darkness, where an entire planet lost touch with the Lord God and the tast his goodness and freedom.

It’s hard to appreciate what life was like before Christ when you live in 21st century North America. Why? Because half the nations in our world now have laws modeled after the Laws of the Torah. Women have rights. Racial barriers are diminishing. Cannibalism is illegal in most nations, as is human sacrifice. Everything is easy. Everything is fast. Everything is accessible. It’s been some 2000 years now since God poured his Spirit out on all flesh, and anyone who calls on him can receive it. Gone are the days where only a handful of people in the entire world had the Spirit of God on them. We don’t live in fear of plague, famine, raids, or the risk of being taken into slavery.

The fact is that the world now has Light from one end to the other, only with mere pockets of shadows in between. It is no longer engulfed in the darkness of the age past (Is 60:1-3). Nor does the one who led the world into that darkness have any more authority. Were it not for the countless saints who went before us taking the light of Christ to the corners of the earth, things would not be as good as they are.

To say that the world has never seen such evil as it does today, and that it will only get worse, is to buy into the lie that the Accuser has been trying broadcasting to everyone on this planet. Our influence has shaped entire continents. Even the restoration of Israel in 1948 was because of the influence of the Saints of the Most High. Christians have influenced the very course of history for the past 1700 years.

Jesus came to usher in a new age, a new era. “I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.” (Dan 7:21). Which means that the old age had to end. The destruction of the Temple, the wars and earthquakes, and the persecutions of the early church were the birth pangs of this transition. It was the pangs of an age that started from the days of Adam until Jesus passing, and the birthing in the womb of the dawn of the age of the Saints establishing the Kingdom of Heaven. The darkness would pass before the light of day broke forth. The darkness of night lasted many millennia, but the dawn of the day would be eternal.

So then, why does Jesus say that, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Mt 24:14)? Did Jesus know that there was a New World, what we call the Americas? Absolutely. Did Jesus know that the world was round, and that it revolved around the sun? Absolutely. Did his disciples, or anyone else in that era know about these things? Nope. Was it worthwhile for Jesus to explain to them that the Sun didn’t actually orbit around the Earth, or that they wouldn’t fall of the edge of the ocean if they sailed too far, or that the Earth wasn’t actually flat, and that the Known World didn’t actually include yet-to-be discovered continents? Probably not, or else he would have taught them these things.

So, because his followers, as well as future followers like St. Luke and St. Paul, or Tertullian and Augustine, are convinced that the “Known World” covers the span of our globe, and that all the nations under the whole heaven (Col 1:23) were between Spain and Ireland in the West, to India and China in the East, so be it.

And I want to propose that it was in the forth Century that “the end” of the transitions of “the age” had come. The birth pangs had ceased, and a New Age was born. The backlash of Babylon against the Saints, the waves of persecutions, and the punishment of God against the powers in the heavens and the kings on the Earth (Is 24:21) had subsided. For it came to pass that, between 310 and 313 AD, The Edict of Milan (Edictum Mediolanensium) was issued. This letter, signed by emperors Constantine I and Licinius, granted religious tolerance to the Christians in the Roman Empire. The head had crowned. And on 27 February 380, Emperor Theodosius I enacted a law establishing Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. The child was born from the womb of the dawn.

(A LARGE SIDE NOTE: Revelation 11:2, God had revealed that "They will trample on the holy city for 42 months", to John ahead of time.

The number 42 is one of three sets of numbers in this chapter. Now, in Daniel 7 and 12, the Lord said that there would be a period of birth pangs where His Saints would be oppressed by the devil. And this period would last a time, times, and a half time. Now, if you look at these sets of numbers John has written - 42, 1260, and 3 and a half - they are all variants of the prophetic description of time, times, and a half time. 42 months is 3 and a half years, 1260 days is also 3 and a half years, and 3 and a half days are, well, self explanitory.

Now what I want to suggest is that all these numbers are purposefully varied. Why? Because the time, times, and a half time was symbolic of a period, or season. Part of the reason, I believe, it was revealed in mystery is because it took place both in the visible and invisible realms - in both heaven and earth. The time, times, and a half time were periods of epic shifts in the heavenlies which had earthly consequences. And within that season, different stages that were bound or in submission to it were also governed by it chronologically.

In other words, the grand scheme of a time, times, and a half time, had within in it different periods or stages that lasted a time, times, and a half time. For example, A 350 year period could have also had 3 and a half year periods and 3 and a half day periods within that span of time, each period having it's own significance. That's why to John, who lived in the first century, the exact chronology of the time, times, and a half time came in a variety of ways.

For John, the matter may have been shrouded in mystery. But today, we have more disclosure than John did. How, you ask? History. History is advantageous because, as they say, hindsight has 20/20 vision. And in our case, we have some 1800 plus years of it. Historcally, we know that the greater period of the trials and persecution of the Saints started with Jesus around 30 AD, and ended with the triumph of Christianity over Rome in 380 AD - 350 years, or, a time, times, and a half time. We also know historically that in 67 AD, Titus, son of Vespasian, led the seige against Jerusalem (in reaction to the Great Revolt) until it and the Temple were destroyed in July of 70 AD - 42 months, which are three and a half years, or a time, times, and a half time.)

THE FLIGHT AND DREAD OF PEOPLE AS THE TEMPLE WAS BEING DESTROYED

And as Paul said, even creation longs for us to come forth, since “creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Rom 8:20-22). Even Paul, who wrote these words between 55 and 60 AD, felt in the Spirit the birth pangs Jesus spoke of here in Matthew 24. The birthing of the New Age was not only for the Saints, or for the inhabitants of the Earth, also for Creation itself.

Peter later finds language to explain this in Acts 3:19-21,

“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive [and retain] until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time."

That is the hope and the mission of the Church: to make disciples of all nations, to teach them all that Jesus taught us, and to carry out the work of restoration of peoples, cities, nations, and the Planet.

Jesus then pulls their attention back to what they had first asked about - the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon.

24:15-22,

15 “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20 “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short."

Many Christians are unaware of the historical events that took place in fulfillment of this prophecy. So I want to quote here a few ancient writings:

Around c. 160 AD, Clement of Alexandria, On Matthew 24:15, "The Abomination of Desolation, writes, "We have still to add to our chronology the following, -- I mean the days which Daniel indicates from the desolation of Jerusalem, the seven years and seven months of the reign of Vespasian. For the two years are added to the seventeen months and eighteen days of Otho, and Galba, and Vitellius; and the result is three years and six months, which is "the half of the week," as Daniel the prophet said. For he said that there were two thousand three hundred days from the time that the abomination of Nero stood in the holy city, till its destruction. For thus the declaration, which is subjoined, shows: "How long shall be the vision, the sacrifice taken away, the abomination of desolation, which is given, and the power and the holy place shall be trodden under foot? And he said to him, Till the evening and morning, two thousand three hundred days, and the holy place shall be taken away."

“… These two thousand three hundred days, then, make six years four months, during the half of which Nero held sway, and it was half a week; and for a half, Vespasian with Otho, Galba, and Vitellius reigned. And on this account Daniel says, "Blessed is he that cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days." For up to these days was war, and after them it ceased. And this number is demonstrated from a subsequent chapter, which is as follows: "And from the time of the change of continuation, and of the giving of the abomination of desolation, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days." (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2, p. 334).

And in the times near 160AD, Tertullian, in ‘Of The Times Of Christ's Birth And Passion, And Of Jerusalem's Destruction’, writes, "Accordingly the times must be inquired into of the predicted and future nativity of the Christ, and of His passion, and of the extermination of the city of Jerusalem, that is, its devastation. For Daniel says, that "both the holy city and the holy place are exterminated together with the coming Leader, and that the pinnacle is destroyed unto ruin." And so the times of the coming Christ, the Leader, must be inquired into, which we shall trace in Daniel; and, after computing them, shall prove Him to be come, even on the ground of the times prescribed, and of competent signs and operations of His. Which matters we prove, again, on the ground of the consequences which were ever announced as to follow His advent; in order that we may believe all to have been as well fulfilled as foreseen.”

“…Therefore, when these times also were completed, and the Jews subdued, there afterwards ceased in that place "libations and sacrifices," which thenceforward have not been able to be in that place celebrated; for "the unction," too, was "exterminated" in that place after the passion of Christ. For it had been predicted that the unction should be exterminated in that place; as in the Psalms it is prophesied, "They exterminated my hands and feet." And the suffering of this "extermination" was perfected within the times of the LXX Hebdomads, under Tiberius Caesar, in the consulate of Rubellius Geminus and Fufius Geminus, in the month of March, at the times of the Passover, on the eighth day before the calends of April, on the first day of unleavened bread, on which they slew the lamb at even, just as had been enjoined by Moses. Accordingly, all the synagogue of Israel did slay Him, saying to Pilate, when he was desirous to dismiss Him, "His blood be upon us, and upon our children;” and, "If thou dismiss him, thou art not a friend of Caesar;" in order that all things might be fulfilled which had been written of Him." (Against the Jews, Ch.8) (On the Significance of A.D. 70)

But why does Jesus say woe to those who are with child, or woe if this happens on the Sabbath?

The flight of escape would have been impossible for the pregnant, and impossible for those unwilling to break the Sabbath Laws if indeed it took place on the Sabbath. The distress of those days were indeed great, as Jesus had foretold.

Jesus then continues, "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." (Mt 24:22). Who were the elect that Jesus made reference to here? I believe it was both for the sake of the Jews and of the Christians. Even though many of the Jews had rejected Jesus, the Lord was not without mercy towards them. As for the Church in Jerusalem, led by James the Just, the half brother of Jesus, for them too I believe these days of Roman attack were cut short.

Around 325AD, Eusebius Pamphilius, in his great work Ecclesiastical History comments on Matthew 24:21, saying, "But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella." (Book III, Ch. 5)

Moreover, Eusebius, quoting Hegesippus an early church historian who had lived just after the time of the apostles, writes:
“James, the brother of the Lord, succeeded to the government of the Church in conjunction with the apostles. He has been called the Just by all from the time of our Saviour to the present day; for there were many that bore the name of James. Now some of the seven sects, which existed among the people and which have been mentioned by me in the Memoirs, asked him, ‘What is the gate of Jesus?’ and he replied that he was the Savior... The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said: ‘Thou just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.’ And he answered with a loud voice, ‘Why do ye ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sitteth in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.’

And when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ these same Scribes and Pharisees said again to one another, ‘We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, in order that they may be afraid to believe him.’ And they cried out, saying, ‘Oh! Oh! The just man is also in error.’ And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take away the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.’ So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to each other, ‘Let us stone James the Just.’ And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned and knelt down and said, ‘I entreat thee, Lord God our Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’

And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.”(Eusebius, Church History, Book II, chapter XXIII).

Jesus then continues, 24:23-26,

" At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it."

What was the purpose of the Messiah in the minds of the people? They were expecting a leader and liberator to come and free them from Roman conquest and oppression. In fact, this was one of the initial reasons why his followers found it so hard to understand Jesus' mission. The Messiah that had long been preached and proclaimed by religious leaders, the warrior king that would bring freedom, had now come, and yet he didn't even carry a sword. This reality is the context for what Jesus says in Mt 26:50-56,

Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me".

The leaders that arose before and after Jesus were simply trying to fill the shoes their culture had designed. Because they lacked revelation into their Scriptures, they failed to see what the Messiah would actually do.

“The enthusiasm of the Jews was supported by the opinion, that it was unlawful for them to pay taxes to an idolatrous master; and by the flattering promise which they derived from their ancient oracles, that a conquering Messiah would soon arise, destined to break their fetters, and to invest the favorites of heaven with the empire of the earth. It was by announcing himself as their long-expected deliverer, and by calling on all the descendants of Abraham to assert the hope of Israel, that the famous Barchochebas collected a formidable army, with which he resisted during two years the power of the emperor Hadrian.” (Edward Gibbon, Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To Constantine. Part I)

Jesus did indeed come to establish a kingdom, but it was not Israel's national kingdom. It was the Kingdom of Heaven, on Earth. And Jesus was indeed a liberator of captives. But the freedom he brought went far beyond what can be seen in the natural realm. Indeed, Jesus did come as a warrior and a king. But he was not concerned about the power of mere mortals - he was going to take on, and overthrow the one power that has influenced and manipulated every human ruler on Earth.

Now, 24:27-28 then reads,

"For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather".

In other words, none of you will miss it when he comes with ‘the end’ of ‘the age’. Jesus even likens this event unto a carcass. Saying, in fact, that there will even be a gathering around it, that many will be a part of it the New Age.

As James, the half-brother of Jesus suggested, the coming of the Son of Man would bring about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple, and cried out to him and said: ‘Thou just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.’ And he answered with a loud voice, ‘Why do ye ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sitteth in heaven at the right hand of the great Power, and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.’ ... And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him on the spot, by the temple, and his monument still remains by the temple. He became a true witness, both to Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ. And immediately Vespasian besieged them.” (Eusebius, Church History, Book II, chapter XXIII).

Finally, Matthew 24:24-25:

"Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

Indeed, from the time Christ uttered these words, until their fulfilment, it was roughly 40 years that passed - a timeframe many scholars will argue to be a Hebraic period for a generation.

This is where I will end. If you've made it this far, congratulations! If you'd like to read the full paper, then please email me and I will send you a copy.