Body

UNDERSTANDING TEACHINGS ABOUT THE

70 AD PHENOMENA

Introduction --
1. It is not the purpose of this lesson to prove all points about the effect of the destruction of Jerusalem.
2. Where am I at? I do not view the understanding that Jesus came in judgment in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem, as taking an isolated passage of scripture and drawing some fruitless conclusion from it. Nor have I been indoctrinated into some damnable false doctrine. The scriptures, upon which the things presented here tonight are based, are many and are found throughout the New Testament. What I believe has been developed by hard study and honest evaluation of scriptures which will be noted or presented as well as many others too numerous to mention. The understanding of some scriptures, which at one time seemed difficult, is now much easier. In my life, I find this study presents an excitement in Bible study that is excelled only by my learning to become a Christian or perhaps my study to come out of liberalism.
3. I hope to show this evening that one can study these things without fear. Hopefully you will conclude that we are in fellowship concerning the church, its working, and our lives as we work in the kingdom to be faithful as God's children on this earth.
Note the chart - DIFFICULT CONSIDERATIONS FROM THE SCRIPTURES , I do not feel these can be ignored. Note the scriptures given. We mention these so that you understand the things which have been considered, but will not establish or prove the arguments at this time. The charts are available for your study. The point of this lesson is to show the effect. If Jesus came in judgment in association with the destruction of Jerusalem, what are the ramifications, effects, teachings and happenings that are associated with this phenomena? When you are reading and studying, I want to make the following suggestion.
1. In the New Testament: (follow the chart)There was an impending Judgment. It was coming then, in their lifetime, in that generation.
2. The kingdom of God was at hand. It also was expected in the lifetimes of those people.
3. The kingdom of God was still an inheritance in Paul's writings.
4. In the epistles, not just the gospels, we find that Jesus was coming soon and that he was eagerly awaited.
5. Jesus was expected in that generation.
6. Jesus himself promised to come quickly. This isn't a lesson on the early date for Revelation but for now I just ask: What other event fulfills Jesus' promise to come in judgment and matches the horrible and awesome destruction found in this book?
7. The present tense and what is referred to as "this age" (the age then) in some scriptures indicates a fruition of the things we are talking about in that age. They were seeing what many are still looking for.
8. The law and the prophets would not be done away with until all was fulfilled. This is clearly stated, Luke 21:20-32, as being associated with the armies surrounding Jerusalem.
  1. Now for all who think that while on earth Jesus taught new things for the people to start doing. think again. The scriptures were to be followed with no departures either to the right or left. Deut. 5:32. Now I believe it's true that Jesus taught some things regarding the coming kingdom of God, but the things he told the multitudes about their lives and teachings at that time pertained to their rightly understanding and following the law of Moses.
9. The Law was still in place after Jesus death -- Christians could not find justification in it and had no need of any sacrifices pertaining to atonement. But during that 40 years or so it was there in place for the Jews who hadn't heard the Gospel, for the stiff-necked who refused the gospel to hypocritically observe. Jewish Christians observed what some call the ceremonial aspects of it. -- Acts 21:20-26
The things I believe and teach come from a background of loving the kingdom as a baptized believer in the body of Christ. What others may or may not believe is not necessarily what I believe or don't believe. I believe what the scriptures teach; this has been the limitation of my beliefs for many years and continues to be now. If my heart is honest, this limitation will continue to be till I die. Make no mistake my understandings do not determine my beliefs, but rather my beliefs determine my understandings. Notice a few things that some are said to believe or that some do believe to be the teaching or results of the teachings regarding what has come to known as 70 AD doctrine. See the chart: FALSE TEACHINGS OR ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING 70 AD UNDERSTANDINGS
False Teachings Concerning What Is Believed -
1. False teaching of No Hope -- We have hope. We hope:
  1. To spend eternity with God -- II Cor. 5:1-4
  2. To escape the second death -- Revelation 20:14-15, 21:8
  3. That we never die -- John 11:26
  4. I Cor. 13:13 Faith, Hope, Love abide.
2. False teaching of No Lord's Supper
  1. I Cor 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
  2. Mark 14:25 "Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."
  3. Matt 26:29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
  4. The bread was the body, the fruit of the vine was the blood. That's what we remember and that is what it is a remembrance of. The emblems were not given to anticipate the return of Christ. But let me tell you,
  5. Jesus said to the Jews who later crucified him.
  6. "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 "Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. 37 " 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! Matt. 23:34-37
  7. He told the apostles:
  8. "But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 "And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 "that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." -- Luke 22:28-30
  9. During those years, while Christians were waiting for Christ to return, the Jews did every thing in their power to turn them away from their Savior. They even told the Thessolonians that Christ had already come. Those Christians who lived back then did proclaim the death of Christ, to those Jews who denied him and crucified him. They proclaimed it to those Jews who, with every fervor of their strength, persecuted the Apostles who were bringing them the good news of salvation. The servants of Jesus were stoned, beaten and killed by their hands while bringing them the good news that the Messiah had come and offered them salvation.
  10. Listen to the story as Pilate addresses the Jew when Jesus came before him.
  11. Matthew 27:23-25 "Then the governor said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!" 24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it." 25 And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children."
  12. YES! THEY PROCLAIMED THE LORD'S DEATH TILL HE CAME AND THEY DID SO WITH TRIALS AND SUFFERING. MOST OF THE JEWS OF THEIR DAY CONTINUED TO REJECT THE MESSIAH UNTIL THEIR UTTER DESTRUCTION.
  13. THE APOSTLES DID STAND IN JUDGMENT OF THE TWELVE TRIBES.
  14. THOSE, THE ONES WHO WERE DESTROYED IN THE COMING OF JESUS THE CHRIST AT THE JUDGMENT AGAINST THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS JEWS, WERE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE BLOOD OF THE PROPHETS. THEY WERE DESTROYED FOREVER AS GOD'S PEOPLE.
  15. ANY ONE WHO DOES NOT REALIZE THAT JESUS THE CHRIST CAME IN JUDGMENT IN THAT GENERATION NEEDS TO RE READ THE GOSPEL STORY.
  16. All this is true but we partake of the Lord's Supper to remember his body and his blood. That is what it says. It was not given to anticipate his coming.
3. False teaching that we teach Christ will not come again. No Other Return of Christ --
  1. This is where I am at. I don't teach that Jesus will not come again. I don't know any one that teaches that he will not come again. Some may, but I don't know them. What I say or admit (It's not something you teach.) is that I don't know of any passages that I could use to prove he is yet to come again. Most assuredly he will not come again in judgment against his people. The nature of the gospel and our acceptance of it does not provide for this. We will be judged, just as they were judged. The acceptance or rejection of Jesus as the Messiah through our obedience and continued faithfulness was, is and will be the criteria for judgment. They rejected him as a nation, that is those in power and control, and many, probably most followed them.
4. False teaching that we teach that The church/Christ's kingdom not established until 70 AD see Col. 1:13, Acts 2:47
  1. These scriptures clearly teach the existence of the church of Christ and the kingdom of Christ. Can any one show that Christ's kingdom in the record of events and facts in the New Testament was at that time the kingdom of God? Did God have a kingdom? - sure he did, those faithful to the Messiah from Adam to that time. But on earth, Christ's kingdom was not yet God's kingdom.
5. False teaching that We teach that Baptism is not essential for salvation.
  1. The New Covenant is based on man's need for forgiveness, Jer. 31:31-34. Only sinners can come to Jesus and as long as there are sinners, they will need to be baptized for the remission of sins.
6. False teaching that a Correct understanding of 70 AD is necessary.
  1. 70AD should not be a test of fellowship.
Interesting questions about what happened in 70 AD. See chart - INTERESTING QUESTIONS ABOUT 70AD TEACHINGS
1. Kingdom of the Father?
  1. It was to become the kingdom of the Father at the end. End of what? Lets do a little exegesis.
  2. 1Cor 15:22 (NKJV) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
  3. This had not happened yet. The tense is future.
  4. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.
  5. This is the same order as I Thess. 4:16-17. What were they anxiously awaiting?
  6. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
  7. End of what? What were they waiting on? -- The destruction of the world. -- no certainly not. They were waiting for Christ to come in his kingdom. He couldn't come in his kingdom until it was in existence. In Acts 2 it began. That's not when he came in it. When were they expecting it to happen? Most assuredly it wasn't 2000 years later. How about their lifetime, in their generation, in a time that could be considered to be at hand when Jesus lived.
  8. Note Mark 1:14 -15 "Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
  9. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
  10. Did the Greeks or Romans persecute Him as Christ? No! In fact the church probably grew more in the Roman persecution, which was later, than at any other time.
  11. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
  12. Did Jesus destroy physical death or spiritual death? What death did sin bring? Did Adam and Eve die in that day? Yes they did, that's what sin causes. In John 11:25-26 Jesus told Martha,
  13. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
  14. Martha, do you believe this?
2. Do we partake of the Lord's Supper with Jesus?
  1. Only if we partake of it in the Father's kingdom. When did it become the Father's kingdom? At the end. When was the end? When the Jewish system was destroyed.
3. What was the promise in II Pet. 3:13?
  1. A new heavens and a new earth. The prophecy in Isaiah 65 and 66 is the only promise I know about. This had to be fulfilled. What, once again, does that passage in Luke say? "These are the days of vengeance that all things which are written. . ."
4. What are all things?
  1. The context says all things written. It's specified.
5. Matt. 24 -- two comings.
  1. Many years ago I thought Matthew 24 only mentioned an end it all, earth is no more, judgment and coming. The I saw what I thought was 2, the big one and the coming of Jesus at the destruction of Jerusalem. The magic verse was 36. Now I'm back to one. I now believe the whole chapter and the next, for that matter, are dealing with the destruction of Jerusalem. Some of the reasons are:
    1. I don't find any thing to differentiate the coming of the son of man in verses 37 and 31.
    2. The context of discussion doesn't change and Jesus is answering questions asked by the disciples, When will these things (destruction of the temple and its buildings) be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" vs 3.
    3. There are no questions about a "big one." They asked about one and only one coming and associated events.
    4. The grammar of verse 36 then, "but of that day and hour...", must either refer to something asked or discussed.
    5. What is easily understandable is that, while no one knows the exact time, the approaching doom will be very evident.
6. Importance -- Eusebius says:
  1. But it is necessary to state that this writer (Josephus) records that the multitude of those who were assembled from all Judea at the time of the Passover, to the number of three million souls, were shut up in Jerusalem "as in a prison," to use his own words. For it was right that in the very days inwhich they had inflicted suffering upon the Savior and the Benefactor ofall, the Christ of God, that in those days, shut up "as in a prison," theyshould meet with destruction at the hands of divine justice.But passing by the particular calamities which they suffered from theattempts made upon them by the sword and by other means, I think itnecessary to relate only the misfortunes which the famine caused, thatthose who read this work may have some means of knowing that God wasnot long in executing vengeance upon them for their wickedness against the Christ of God.
7. Did they still keep the law? Acts 21:18-26
  1. Acts 21:18 (NKJV) On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. 19 When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, "You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; 21 "but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise [their] children nor to walk according to the customs. 22 "What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. 23 "Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. 24 "Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. 25 "But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality." 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.
8. For what do some wait? Hebrews 11:39-40
  1. Speaking of all those heroes of faith, it says:
  2. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
  3. It is obvious that the promises were to come to them, those living and those waiting, in their lifetime. That's what they were waiting on. It's what they were in the process of obtaining. Hebrews 12:26-28 --
  4. .....He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." 27 Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
  5. Clearly the waiting period was until Christ. We no longer need to wait. The kingdom has been received. and what they had come to, we are citizens of -- Zion.
9. Colossians 2:13-17
  1. What was nailed to the cross was that which "was contrary to us" note the "was" in this verse, 14, and the "are" in verse 17. What was before every Jew was the consequences of Sin and the need for atonement or forgiveness. Throughout the centuries they awaited forgiveness, now in the Messiah, Christ, for those in Christ it had been obtained. All those sins which the law defined and the procedures for atonement, that which was contrary to them, was nailed to the cross. The law and prophets would not pass away until all was fulfilled and that was in association with the destruction of Jerusalem. Reread it. Luke 21: 22
  2. "For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."
10. Two laws in effect.
  1. This wasn't strange. The Law of Moses was for the Jews only. Gentiles had a law - Romans 2:14, 5:13-14. Law of Christ was for those who followed Christ and Christ was the one give by God to reconcile all people together to God. Eph. 2:14-16. In Romans 7:4 people would like for it to read" the law was made dead," but that's not what it says. It says:
  2. "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another-- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God."
Putting it together.
1. Jesus came announcing the kingdom of God.
2. He taught service from the heart and a spiritual kingdom.
3. He came to fulfill prophecy.
4. He was rejected by his people, fulfilling many passages of scripture.
5. He also was a prophet and prophesied about the destruction of his people as God's people. -- The last days
6. His apostles and prophets taught expecting his return as he promised.
7. Jerusalem was destroyed and only the kingdom of Christ remained. It was/is the unshakable kingdom.