In His teaching our Lord also spoke of events that would occur leading up to the end of the age, but in the section that I have quoted our Lord was specifically addressing what would happen to the temple, the city of Jerusalem and Judea, that existed at that time. And so in answer to their question, our Lord instructed His disciples to flee Judea when they saw the following sign, i.e. the sign of the city of Jerusalem being surrounded by armies. Jesus specifically warned the disciples living in Jerusalem at that time to leave the city. And He instructed the disciples living outside the city not to enter the city. This sign came to pass, in the year 66 AD. In that year Rome sent an army to put down the Jewish rebellion that had erupted in Judea. That army came to the outer walls of the city of Jerusalem but could not penetrate it. The commander of that Roman army then withdrew, leaving the city intact. The Jewish believers living in Jerusalem at that time recognised the sign given to them by our Lord and they then left the city. They fled to a town called Pella on the east side of the river Jordan. Meanwhile the Jewish rebellion against Rome continued, and four years later the Roman armies returned to Jerusalem. It was during the feast of Passover, when multitudes of Jews had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast that the Roman armies once again surrounded the city. This time was different however, because this time the Romans took the city, and in the process destroyed both the city and the temple. Historical accounts of that event record that hundreds of thousands of Jews that were trapped in the city were killed and nearly one hundred thousand were taken into slavery. But the Jewish believers were not affected, because they had heeded the Lord’s warning and left the city the first time that the city was surrounded by armies. Had they waited until the second time the city was surrounded by the Roman armies, they would not have been able to escape. And they would have been killed along with all the unbelieving Jews that were slaughtered at that time.
Michael E.B. Maher
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