Two Great Crises: the End of the Jewish Nation and the End of the World
False Christs and Great Calamities
In his reply to the inquiry which his disciples made concerning future events, Jesus first uttered words of caution in view of the perilous nature of the approaching times:—
Matt. 24: 4, 5: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
The coming of the true Messiah had been foretold in prophecy. The prophet Micah had declared the place of his birth: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.” Micah 5: 2. So generally was the family of which the Messiah should be born known to be the family of David that the people of Jerusalem said, “Hath not the Scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?” John 7: 42. His miraculous birth was mentioned by Isaiah: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isa. 7: 14. The time of his manifestation was definitely revealed through Daniel the prophet: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.” Dan. 9: 25. Other prophecies concerning the flight into Egypt, and indicating the name of the town in which he would dwell so that he might bear the name of a Nazarene, and concerning his removal to Capernaum in order that the people which sat in darkness might see a great light—all these prophecies, which were given to enable the people to recognize the true Messiah, were literally fulfilled, and yet he was rejected by his people.
This fatal mistake was not made by the Jewish people for lack of sufficient guidance in the Scriptures, but because they sought to read into the Scriptures their own views and desires, instead of submitting their minds to divine leading. Smarting under the oppressive rule of the Romans, a condition which they had brought upon themselves by repeated apostasy and the loss of that intimate union with God which would have given them protection from all their enemies, the Jewish people, under the instruction of the rabbis, were looking for a Messiah who should deliver them from the Roman yoke, a Leader who should restore the nation to its old-time independence,—a political Messiah. Jesus, foreseeing that ambitious adventurers would arise who would take advantage of this feeling of expectancy and would proclaim themselves as the long-looked-for deliverers, uttered words of warning concerning such pretenders. The prophecies having been once fulfilled, would not be fulfilled again. The true Messiah having been manifested, all others who afterward claimed that office would be deceivers; and yet so perverse is human nature, and so blind are those who reject the true light because it does not harmonize with their own ideas, that Jesus well knew that these false messiahs would “deceive many.”
In harmony with the declaration made to the disciples, false christs appeared in the time of the generation upon which the sevenfold woe had been pronounced. We quote some historical testimony in support of this statement:—
After the introduction of the new era, Judea continued a Roman province. The procurator generally lived in the coast town of Cæsarea, and stood aloof as much as possible from the interminable broils of the Jews. At Jerusalem, the capital, everything was as far as practicable left to the management of the nation, under the lead of the Sanhedrin, or Jewish senate. Never was a people so turbulent, so excited with expectation of a deliverer who should restore the ancient kingdom, so fired with bigotry and fanaticism, as were the wretched Jews of this period. One christ came after another. Revolt was succeeded by revolt, instigated by some pseudo-prophet or pretended king.—Ridpath’s “History of the World,” Vol. I, page 849.
Very soon after our Saviour’s decease appeared Simon Magus (Acts 8: 9, 10), “and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.” He boasted himself likewise among the Jews, as the Son of God. Of the same stamp and character was also Dositheus the Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses.—“Dissertations on the Prophecies,” Bishop Newton, London, 1840, page 375.
Now [A. D. 46] it came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a certain magician, whose name was Theudas, persuaded a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and follow him to the River Jordan. For he told them he was a prophet; and that he would, by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an easy passage over it. And many were deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit him to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen out against them, who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them, and took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, and cut off his head, and carried it to Jerusalem.—Josephus’s “Antiquities of the Jews,” Book 20, chap. 5, par. 1.
There was also another body of wicked men gotten together [in the reign of Nero, A. D. 54-68], not so impure in their actions, but more wicked in their intentions; which laid waste the happy state of the city no less than did these4murderers [the Sicarii]. These were such men as deceived and deluded the people, under pretense of divine inspiration, but were procuring innovations and changes of the government. And these prevailed with the multitude to act like madmen, and went before them into the wilderness, as pretending that God would there show them the signals of liberty [from the Roman yoke]. But Felix [the procurator] thought this procedure was the beginning of a revolt. So he sent some horsemen and footmen, both armed, who destroyed a great number of them.
But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former. For he was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also; and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him. These he led round about from the wilderness to the mount which was called the mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison and the people, he intended to domineer over them, by the assistance of those guards of his that were to break into the city with him.—Josephus’s “Wars of the Jews,” Book 2, chap. 13, pars. 4, 5.
Jesus also told his disciples that there would be “false christs,” who would appear long after the destruction of Jerusalem (verse 24); and this prediction was just as literally fulfilled as was his prophecy concerning the pretended messiahs to appear before the destruction of Jerusalem. Historical testimony to establish this fact will be introduced at the proper place.
Verse 6: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
The disturbed condition of the Jewish nation, their restiveness under the rule of the Romans, and their vain hope of regaining their independence, led to constant outbreaks against Roman authority. “To relate the particulars,” wrote Bishop Newton, “would indeed be to transcribe a great part of his [Josephus’s] history of the Jewish wars.” A brief summary of these outbreaks is given by Albert Barnes in his note on this verse:—
It is recorded in the history of Rome that violent agitations prevailed in the Roman empire previous to the destruction of Jerusalem. Four emperors, Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, suffered violent deaths in the short space of eighteen months. In consequence of these changes in the government, there were commotions throughout the empire. Parties were formed; and bloody and violent wars were the consequence of attachment to particular emperors. This is the more remarkable, as at the time that the prophecy was made, the empire was in a state of peace.
It would be perfectly natural to believe that these public disturbances presaged the downfall of the Jewish nation, but Jesus assured his disciples that the extinction of the national existence of the chosen people would not immediately follow these times of trouble. “The end is not yet.”
Verses 7, 8: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
The historical facts which constitute the fulfilment of the political disturbances here foretold are thus stated by Bishop Newton:—
It is said, moreover, that “nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Here, as Grotius well observes, “Christ declares that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius and in the reign of Nero. That of ‘nation against nation’ [or race against race] portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughter of the Jews and those of other nations who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Cæsarea,” where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which contention at length proceeded so far that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews were exasperated and dividing themselves into parties, they burned and plundered the neighboring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in revenge, destroyed not a less number of the Jews, “and every city,” as Josephus expresseth it, “was divided into armies.” At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and after the victory, basely setting upon them by night, murdered above thirteen thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. At Ascalon they killed two thousand and five hundred, at Ptolemais two thousand, and made not a few prisoners. The Tyrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise, and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria the old enmity was revived between the Jews and heathen, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of fifty thousand. The people of Damascus, too, conspired against the Jews of the same city, and assaulting them unarmed, killed ten thousand of them. “That of ‘kingdom against kingdom’ portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against one another: as that of the Jews who dwelt in Peræa against the people of Philadelphia concerning their bounds, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator; and that of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast at Jerusalem while Cumanus was procurator; and that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa and other allies of the Roman empire, which began while Gessius Florus was procurator.” But as Josephus saith, “There was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy,” Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire.—“Dissertations,” pages 377, 378.
The other calamities followed in due time. “In the reign of Claudius Cæsar,” says Dr. Keith, “there were different famines. They continued to be severe for several years throughout the land of Judea. Pestilence succeeded them.”
Josephus mentions a great famine at Jerusalem in his testimony to the benevolence of Helena, queen of Adiabene:—
Now her coming was of very great advantage to the people at Jerusalem: for whereas a famine did oppress them at that time, and many people died for want of what was necessary to procure food withal, Queen Helena sent some of her servants to Alexandria with money to buy a great quantity of corn, and others of them to Cyprus to bring a cargo of dried figs.—Josephus’s “Antiquities of the Jews,” Book 20, chap. 2, last par.
It is clear from reliable historical records that earthquakes were frequent in the period between the crucifixion of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem. We quote:—
“‘And earthquakes, in divers places,’ as particularly that in Crete in the reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life of Apollonius, and those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos,” in all which places some Jews inhabited; “and those at Rome mentioned by Tacitus; and that at Laodicea, in the reign of Nero, mentioned by Tacitus, which city was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse; and that in Campania, mentioned by Seneca; and that at Rome in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius.—Newton’s “Dissertations,” page 379.
Another earthquake which occurred in Judea is thus described by Josephus:—
For there broke out a prodigious storm in the night, with the utmost violence, and very strong winds, with the largest showers of rain, with continual lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth. These things were a manifest indication that some destruction was coming upon men, when the system of the world was put into this disorder; and any one would guess that these wonders foreshowed some grand calamities that were coming.—“Wars of the Jews,” Book 4, chap. 4, par. 5.
In Luke’s record of these troublous times, it is declared that “fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” Some of these “fearful sights and great signs” are recorded by Josephus: a star hung over the city like a sword, and a comet continued a whole year. The people being assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night a great light shone about the altar and the temple, and this continued for half an hour. At the same feast a cow led to sacrifice brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple! The eastern gate of the temple, which was of solid brass, and very heavy, and could hardly be shut by5twenty men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of its own accord! Before sunset there were seen, over all the country, chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging cities. At the feast of pentecost, when the priests were going into the inner temple by night, to attend their service, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a voice, as of a multitude, saying, “Let us depart hence!”
The account given by Josephus of the long-continued warning of destruction in the streets of Jerusalem is of special interest.
Convincing testimony has thus been submitted to show that these words of Jesus recounting the nature of the calamities that would come upon the generation which rejected him had their primary fulfilment in that time preceding the end of the Jewish nation. It is hardly necessary to adduce any testimony to show that these experiences have been repeated in this generation. The “wars and rumors of wars,” and “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places,” are all within the memory of those who read these lines. The experiences of that time were typical of the experiences of this time; and as they then foreshadowed the end of the Jewish nation, so now they foreshadow the end of the world.