23At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. 24For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible. 25See, I have told you in advance.
The Return of the Son of Man
(Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28)
(Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28)
26So if they tell you, ‘There He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29Immediately after the tribulation of those days:
‘The sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.b’
30At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,c and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.d 31And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Sounds pretty awful, doesn't it? It was. Was? Don't you know Jesus said this to Christians in the distant future, probably us? No, he spoke to his friends, he was warning them about such horrors and abominations that were soon to overcome all of the Jewish territory, not just Jerusalem, but the surrounding cites and outlying areas. Jewish historian and leader Josephus, who fought against Rome with great wit and courage, was finally captured after a bitter 47 day siege on Jotapata after which he saw the writing on the wall and joined the Romans, watching and recording the utter massacre of his people in some of the most gruesome ways possible. In describing the Roman catapults, which were loaded with stones that weighed about a talent (around 71 lbs) he says Vespasian then set the engines for throwing stones and darts round about the city. The number of the engines was in all an hundred and sixty... And any one may learn the force of the engines by what happened this very night; for as one of those that stood round about Josephus was near the wall, his head was carried away by such a stone, and his scull was flung as far as three furlongs. In the day time also, a woman with child had her belly so violently struck, as she was just come out of her house, that the infant was carried to the distance of half a furlong, so great was the force of that engine. The noise of the instruments themselves was very terrible, the sound of the darts and stones that were thrown by them, was so also; of the same sort was that noise the dead bodies made, when they were dashed against the wall; and indeed dreadful was the clamour which these things raised in the women within the city, which was echoed back at the same time by the cries of such as were slain; while the whole space of ground whereon they fought ran with blood, and the wall might have been ascended over by the bodies of the dead carcasses; the mountains also contributed to increase the noise by their echoes, nor was there on that night any thing of terror wanting, that could either affect the hearing, or the sight; yet did a great part of those that fought so hard for Jotapata fall manfully, as were a great part of them wounded (Josephus Book of War 3, ch 7, 23.)
https://www.historynet.com/first-jewish-roman-war-siege-of-jerusalem.htm
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-3.html
I'm reading from a well written article about not just the siege of Jerusalem but the devastation of all of Judea, the surrounding cities and how they fell on the Roman March to Rome. I read a good bit of Joshephus's account of the 47 day siege of Jotapata. You probably heard this in one of Bruce Gore's videos but the Romans had huge catapults they would use to attack a city. At Jotapata they had 180 I believe. I know I read there they weighed a talent but later in book 5 ch 6 of the Jewish wars he says Now the stones that were cast were of the weight of a talent; and were carried two furlongs, and farther. The blow they gave was no way to be sustained; not only by those that stood first in the way, but by those that were beyond them, for a great space. As for the Jews, they at first watched the coming of the stone: for it was of a white colour; and could therefore not only be perceived by the great noise it made, but could be seen also before it came by its brightness. Accordingly the watchmen that sat upon the towers gave them notice when the engine was let go, and the stone came from it; and cried out aloud, in their own country language, the stone cometh. Well, check out Revelation 16:21 From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a talent, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. A talent was between 75-100lbs Now, the phrase "the stone cometh" has some confusion. It could either read "the son cometh or the stone cometh." Here is the official commentary on that (16) What should be the meaning of this signal, or watchword, when the watchmen saw a stone coming from the engine, the son cometh; or what mistake there is in the reading I cannot tell. The MSS both Greek and Latin, all agree in this reading. And I cannot approve of any groundless conjectural alteration of the text from ΥΙΟΣ to ΙΟΣ: that not the son, or a stone, but that the arrow or dart cometh: as hath been made by Dr. Hudson, and not corrected by Havercamp. Had Josephus written even his first Edition of these books of the war in pure Hebrew: or had the Jews then used the pure Hebrew at Jerusalem, the Hebrew word for a son, is so like that for a stone; Ben and Eben, that such a correction might have been more easily admitted. But Josephus wrote his former Edition for the use of the Jews beyond Euphrates, and so in the Chaldee language: as he did this second Edition in the Greek language: and Bar was the Chaldee word for son, instead of the Hebrew Ben, and was used not only in Chaldea, &c. but in Judea also, as the New Testament informs us. Dio lets us know that the very Romans at Rome pronounced the name of Simon, the son of Giora, Bar Poras, for Bar Gioras, as we learn from Xiphiline, p. 217. Reland takes notice, that “Many will here look for a mystery; as though the meaning were, that the son of God came now to take vengeance on the sins of the Jewish nation.” Which is indeed the truth of the fact; but hardly what the Jews could now mean. Unless, possibly, by way of derision of Christ’s threatening so often made, that he would come at the head of the Roman army for their destruction. But even this interpretation has but a very small degree of probability. If I were to make an emendation, by mere conjecture, I would read ΠΕΤΡΟΣ instead of ΥΙΟΣ: though the likeness be not so great as in ΙΟΣ. Because that is the word used by Josephus just before, as I have already noted, on this very occasion. While ΙΟΣ, an Arrow, or Dart, is only a poetical word, and never used by Josephus elsewhere; and is indeed no way suitable to the occasion. This engine not throwing arrows or darts, but great stones at this time. Now, I know that is wordy, so my conclusions are simple Revelations hailstones are the Roman catapults for sure, they used them as they overtook many cities with great destruction. Joshepus says he saw one guy's head be knocked straight off his shoulders and go for 1/4 mile. No kidding. One woman's baby either knocked out of her belly or her hands and fly for 300 ft. He says the sounds of bodies crushing against the wall were horrendous. It goes deeper, you see in Luke 20 we read 7 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’[a]? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. Whether the Jews in Jerusalem were mocking the Christians for thinking there Christ would come in judgment and they were indeed yelling "The Son Cometh" or they yelled "the stone cometh" It's the same Christ, coming to crush his enemies But get this, the verses in Luke preceeding this He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 “But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!” It's all there, it was all prophesied. I just read the following quote but first read Matthew 24... Matthew 24 21 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. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the [c]elect’s sake those days will be shortened. okay, here is it When the last resistance in the city failed, the Romans slaughtered until their arms grew weary: Now devouring fire and quenching blood fought their own battle for control of the streets. The total Josephus gives for the dead in the siege — 1.1 million, or nearly half the Jews in Judea — may be somewhat less unlikely than most such stratospheric figures that survive from antiquity. The siege of Jerusalem was probably the greatest single slaughter in ancient history. Not only was the city sacked and burned, but Titus gave directions that what remained should be wholly demolished, except for a stretch of wall and some high towers that were left as a symbol to the world of Roman strength — and as a warning to anyone who might again defy the fury of the Romans. "the siege of Jerusalem was probably the greatest siege in ancient history"
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