Doesn’t this story in these passages pertain to the 2nd coming?In Matthew and Mark (and probably in Luke - I don’t remember) Jesus talks about the destruction of the Temple. He says this generation will not pass before the Temples Destruction.
It is the focus of Revelation and alluded to in Daniel. David Currie makes the case in “The Rapture”.Just curious, is the destruction of Jerusalem AD 70 mentioned in Scripture? Perhaps even eluded to in Revelation or something?
I think some have considered the 2-men in the field, one is taken one is left a foreshadowing of that event.
Interesting, thank you! But when the veil was torn in two occurred at the Crucifixion. So perhaps there was triple meaning to Christ’s words.The veil/curtain in the temple was blue to purple in color and had stars on it. This represented the sky and the heavens. Likewise the temple represented the earth. There was a large ritual bathing pool outside that represented the seas. When Jesus says that “the stars will fall from the sky” he is saying that for the Jews “their time is up” and that the temple will be destroyed within the generation. This also pertains to the end of time. The peoples of that era used the stars and seasons for telling time and that is the apocalyptic language Jesus uses for speaking of both the destruction of the temple and the end of time.
Is that this book? Or is it a talk also?It is the focus of Revelation and alluded to in Daniel. David Currie makes the case in “The Rapture”.
There are 2 questions asked by the disciples in Matthew 24:3Doesn’t this story in these passages pertain to the 2nd coming?
One of the priests on EWTN just spoke of this, this past week. When the veil was torn in two the Holy Spirit left the temple. God no longer dwelled there.Interesting, thank you! But when the veil was torn in two occurred at the Crucifixion. So perhaps there was triple meaning to Christ’s words.
David B. Currie’s “Rapture” is EXCELLENT on this point. It had always bothered me that Christ had said that the apostolic generation would not end without seeing his return in judgment until I read Currie’s take and realized that Christ DID return, in A.D. 70, to judge the Sanhedrin just as he’d promised he would.PAX: The destruction of the temple represents the end of time. The temple itself is designed and meant to be a symbol of the created world and the created world itself was a temple in which man would worship. These things come through loud and clear when you study how the temple was built and the Jewish view of its design and the important elements that made it up.
Dear Pax, this is very interesting. Can you recommend a book on the subject? In fact, can you recommend any orthodox Catholic biblical scholars? I can’t seem to find any (Martin Hengel nd N T Wright are orthodox but not Catholic). Thanks, Annem
David Curries book is a great read. Actually I’m not sure Currie uses the words of Christ returning. God allowed the Temple to be destroyed and Jesus didn’t physically return in 70 AD which is what you are saying, right? He stayed in heaven where judgment was promalgated upon the Jews.David B. Currie’s “Rapture” is EXCELLENT on this point. It had always bothered me that Christ had said that the apostolic generation would not end without seeing his return in judgment until I read Currie’s take and realized that Christ DID return, in A.D. 70, to judge the Sanhedrin just as he’d promised he would.
Imagine how different things would have been had the Temple remained…Christianity might well have remained an obscure offshoot of Judaism otherwise.
Are you sure this is how he said it? Yes, the Church (some 30,000 people if I remember correctly) did evacuate Jerusalem before the oncoming Eagles of Rome(wasn’t this prophecied in Ezekiel?).I heard a talk on tape by Scott Hahn referring to this. Yes, the Christians were forewarned. When the Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, they had been forewarned, and had fled to the mountains. Thus the Church was saved. Had Jesus not forewarned them, the entire infant Church might not have survived.
Not only that, the destruction of Jerusalem cut the final ties between the Church and the Temple. From that time on it was destined to be a worldwide Church, not a Jewish sect.
But Peter had already been centered and then martryed in Rome. Jersualem had long since lost it’s position of “focal point” of Christianity.Had Jerusalem survived, had Peter governed from Jerusalem, the Church would be quite different—more parochial, more Jewish, less universal. So the Church which was born of the old covenant, had the umbilical cord cut, and went on to conquer the world.
I guess you are right about that. Peter was in Rome, and the question of the Judaizers had already been settled. I’ve read that James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, in the earliest days of the Church, liked to keep the Jewish law in its entirety.Are you sure this is how he said it? Yes, the Church (some 30,000 people if I remember correctly) did evacuate Jerusalem before the oncoming Eagles of Rome(wasn’t this prophecied in Ezekiel?).
But, the fledgling Church had already spread throughout the Empire.
But Peter had already been centered and then martryed in Rome. Jersualem had long since lost it’s position of “focal point” of Christianity.
Until 51AD, he would have had to in order to be a loyal Christian. It wasn’t until the 51 council of Jerusalem that the Mosaic Laws were relaxed.I guess you are right about that. Peter was in Rome, and the question of the Judaizers had already been settled. I’ve read that James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, in the earliest days of the Church, liked to keep the Jewish law in its entirety.
Thanks for the information. The book I was reading (The Twelve, by C. Bernard Ruffin) seems to paint him as at least having a lot in common with the Essenes.Until 51AD, he would have had to in order to be a loyal Christian. It wasn’t until the 51 council of Jerusalem that the Mosaic Laws were relaxed.
In a Bible Study I’m looking at on James (AgapeBibleStudy.com), the author is pondering whether James was a Nazarite, and associated with the Essene Community. There seems to be some evidence of this.
Yes, the Bible Study (Agape) that I’m using shows strong evidence that James, the Bishop of Jerusalem, the brother of the Lord, is not any of the Apostles (many think that he is James the Lesser). He was a well thought-of Jew convert. The Essene community that he was associated with would have been within sight of the Jordan where John the Baptist did his schtick.Thanks for the information. The book I was reading (The Twelve, by C. Bernard Ruffin) seems to paint him as at least having a lot in common with the Essenes.
For Currie’s read to be correct, Christ returned to judge the Sanhedrin:David Curries book is a great read. Actually I’m not sure Currie uses the words of Christ returning. God allowed the Temple to be destroyed and Jesus didn’t physically return in 70 AD which is what you are saying, right? He stayed in heaven where judgment was promalgated upon the Jews.
The “this generation” Jesus spoke of who would see the Temple fall is in Matthew 24:34.
“34I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”
25: Behold, I have told you before.
26: Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27: For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28: For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32: Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34: Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.