Please read Matthew 23:36 – 24:31, Mark 13:1-27
& Luke 21:5 – 28
The new Jewish day began in the evening, as Yeshua and His talmidim departed from the temple after a long day of teaching.
As Yeshua left the Temple and was going away, His talmidim came and called His attention to its buildings.
But He answered them, “You see all these? Yes! I tell you, they will be totally destroyed — not a single stone will be left standing!” Matthew 24:1-2 CJB
As Yeshua was going out of the Temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, look! What stones and what buildings!”
Yeshua said to him, “You see these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left upon another. Every one will be torn down!” Mark 13:1-2 TLV
And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, He said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Luke 21:5-6 ESV
Leaving the Temple, Yeshua passed with His Apostles down the eastern steps toward the valley of the Kidron. As they were passing on, one of His disciples
invited Yeshua’s attention to the marvellous structure they were leaving, to the enormous size of its marble blocks and the grandeur of its buildings. Josephus tells us that while some of the stones were forty-five feet, most were thirty-seven and a half feet long, twelve feet high, and eighteen broad. They looked so strong and permanent, these beautiful stone buildings of the city of Jerusalem.
As both Isaiah and Jeremiah had, with grieving, prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Babylonians, now Yeshua prophesied the total destruction that the Romans would bring upon it just under 40 years after His death. Josephus tells us (Bell. Jud. vii. 1. 1) that when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70 the whole inclosing walls and precincts of the Temple were “so thoroughly levelled and dug up that no one visiting the city would believe it had ever been inhabited.”
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate! For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Matthew 23:37-39 TLV
Luke 19:41-42 records Yeshua weeping over Jerusalem during His Triumphal Entry on the donkey. The Greek word “wept” is klaio. It referred to crying and deep sobbing. It is the strongest Greek word for weeping in the New Testament. As Yeshua wept He said in verse 42, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.” Jesus wept because the city did not understand the “things which make for peace.” That is, they did not recognize their Messiah. Now, as He left Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion, again He grieved over what was to come upon them.
Then the ruling kohanim and elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the kohen gadol named Caiaphas. They plotted together in order that they might seize Yeshua by stealth and kill Him. “But not during the festival,” they were saying, “so there won’t be a riot among the people.” Matthew 26:3-5 TLV
It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
Mark 14:1-2 ESV
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was drawing near. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people. Luke 22:1-2 LSB
Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, in the court of the High Priest, Caiaphas had gathered the chief priests and scribes to plot killing Yeshua. Ever since the rebuilding of the Temple after the Babylonian captivity the Jewish people had been waiting for God to come and fill the Temple with His glory as He had when Solomon dedicated the first Temple (2 Chronicles 7). In Tractate Yoma of the Babylonian Talmud, the Gemara lists significant items in the First Temple that were not in the Second Temple: The Ark of the Covenant, and the Ark cover upon it, and the cherubs that were on the cover; fire; and the Divine Presence; and the Divine Spirit; and the urim v’tummim (the stones in the high priest’s breastplate). (Yoma 21b). Whereas the first Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant that housed the Ten Commandments that Moses had brought down from Sinai, the second Holy of Holies stood empty. No Ark of the Covenant and no presence of God. Jeremiah had prophesied that the “land shall be a desolation” and that the Jews would “serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:1-11; 29:1-10 and 2 Chronicles 36:17-21), yet when Daniel sort God concerning this he was given a vision concerning seventy sevens (Daniel 9) – four hundred and ninety years before Israel would be restored to her status in God’s plan and enter into the promises that belong to them with the coming of Messiah. This had aroused the expectation that with Messiah Israel’s God would come back in person, in power, and in glory to dwell in the Temple in radiant splendor. Yeshua had indeed come into the Temple at the appointed time, displaying God’s glory in healing the people and declaring His word, but the religious leaders had rejected Him and now sort to kill the King of Glory many had been waiting for. They concluded this could not be done over Passover for fear the crowds of pilgrims would riot in protest, yet Passover was the very time Yeshua decreed it would take place.
As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”
Yeshua answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray! For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will lead many astray. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must happen but it is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are only the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:3-8 TLV
As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple, Peter, Jacob, John, and Andrew were questioning Him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”
Yeshua began to tell them, “Watch out that no one leads you astray! Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed, for this must happen but it is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. These things are only the beginning of birth pains. Mark 13:3-8 TLV
And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?”
And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Luke 21:7-11 ESV
Before leaving Jerusalem, Yeshua had warned them of what would happen to that city and its magnificent Temple – which came to pass in 70AD. Now, with this much smaller group, He moves on to speak of His second coming and the end of the age. Firstly, He counsels them not to judge in hast that it has come, for many false Messiahs will come and lead many away first, and many tribulations of wars, earthquakes, famines and pestilences will befall mankind before the great and terrible Day of the Lord.
The warning against false Messiah‘s leading many astray, and this associated with wars and rumors of wars, came into stark relief when Simon bar Kokhba led a revolt against the Roman Empire in 132–135 AD, the Bar Kokhba revolt (Hebrew: מֶרֶד בַּר כּוֹכְבָא ) and was hailed as Messiah-king by the influential Rabbi Akiva, who referred to him using Numbers 24:17: “There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite through the corners of Moab,” and Haggai 2:21-22 : “I will shake the heavens and the earth and I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms….” With initial success against the Romans, he founded a short-lived Jewish state and had many more following him and believing him to be the Messiah. This was the sort of Messiah they had wanted (and some expected) Yeshua to be. This rebellion was among the events that differentiated Early Christianity from Judaism as Yeshua’s followers refused to accept Simon bar Kokhba as Messiah or to follow him into battle as they heeded these warnings Yeshua had given them. Rome’s response was to return with a huge army, drawn from many parts of the Empire, and totally decimate the Jews. Rome massacred the Judean populace, expelled any remaining Jews from Jerusalem and restructured Judea as Syria Palestina. The Talmud would later refer to Bar Kokhba as “Ben Koziva” (בֶּן כּוֹזִיבָא, lit. ’Son of Deception‘), a derogatory term asserting that he was a false Messiah.
The Day of the Lord // יֹום יְהוָה, Yom Yahweh
The phrase “day of the Lord” usually identifies events that take place at the end of history when God judges the nations. Thus, the Day of the Lord is a day filled with dichotomies – the terror of God’s judgment and the glory of Messiah’s reign. It will be a day of reckoning, when all things will be brought into account. It will be a day of restoration, when Yeshua will restore order and establish His authority in the earth. It will be a day of rejoicing, when we celebrate our King’s glory and victory, making this a glorious day.
The first mention of the Day of the Lord occurs in the book of Isaiah. “For the Day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” (Isaiah 2:12) “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” (Isaiah 13:9-11) In other words, there will be a great and dramatic judgment, manifest in the physical world, which will interfere with the light of the sun, moon, and stars. God will put down the proud and deal with the sinners. It is a time of judgment, preceded by Elijah the prophet: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” (Malachi 4:5)
The same thought is found in Zephaniah 1:14-16: “The great day of the Lord is near – near and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter; the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry. That day will be a day of wrath – a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness – a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers..” In Amos 5:18, the prophet cries out, “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light.” In Joel 1:15, the prophet writes, “Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.” He continues: “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31) “For the day of the LIRD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. (Obadiah 1:15)
In Zephaniah 3:14-15, there is a picture of Israel’s blessing in that day, following the time of judgment: “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy; the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.” Zephaniah 1:7 describes it as a banquet: Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated His guests.
“Then they will hand you over to persecution and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of My name. And then many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one other. Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
This Good News of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:9-14 TLV
“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Mark 13:9-13 ESV
“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. It will result in an opportunity for your testimony. So set in your hearts not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute. But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your perseverance you will gain your lives. Luke 21:12-19 LSB
Even as the day of the Lord will be a time of both horror and glory, so too the season leading up to it. They (and we) will be persecuted, hated, beaten and even put to death, and yet even through that we will have opportunity to testify about Yeshua in every nation and to all peoples. In echoes of His pronouncement of our faith being able to uproot a mountain into the sea, Yeshua assures us the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom our opponents won’t be able to resist or refute. We are called to persevere and endure until the end.
“So when you see ‘the abomination of desolation,’ which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. The one on the roof must not go down to take what is in his house, and the one in the field must not turn back to get his coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! Pray that your escape will not happen in winter, or on Shabbat. For then there will be great trouble, such as has not happened since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. And unless those days were cut short, no one would be delivered. But for the sake of the chosen, those days will be cut short. Matthew 24:15-22 TLV
“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. Mark 13:14-20 ESV
“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the countryside must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:20-24 LSB
Yeshua directs his listeners to Daniel’s prophesies of an abomination of desolation. The word “abomination” in the Greek means something that is disgusting and is oftentimes associated with that which is defiling and/or idolatrous. In the Hebrew, the meaning is the same and is associated with pagan idols. The word “desolation” means to be in a condition that is uninhabitable and devastated. In all biblical uses, the term can be understood as the “abomination causing the desolation.” The first reference to something like this is in Daniel 8, where the phrase “rebellion that causes desolation” is used. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers says of this: Comp. Daniel 9:27. Probably these words mean the same as the “abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11; see 1 Maccabees 1:59).
The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the commander of the army of the Lord; it took away the daily sacrifice from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down. Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.
Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled—the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, the surrender of the sanctuary and the trampling underfoot of the Lord’s people?”
He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.” Daniel 8:8-14 NIV
Daniel 8 predicted the coming Greek Empire and, more specifically, the ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes who on 15th Kislev (in December) 167 BC, built a pagan altar over the altar of burnt offering in the Temple and placed a pagan idol (some state it was Zeus, others say Jupiter) upon it – the ‘abomination of desecration’. Ten days later, on the 25th Kislev, swine’s flesh was offered on this altar to the pagan idol. Antiochus IV also outlawed any possession, reading of or obedience to Torah and resorted to every conceivable torture to force the Jews to renounce their religion, their laws and their God, seeking to replace Judaism with a universal religion of Greek polytheism. Greek Conquest and Hellenization (332 – 166 BC) – Renewal Blog.
Daniel 11 also uses the term “abomination that makes desolate” or “abomination of desolation” to describe the alter to the pagan idol that was set up in the Jerusalem Temple and gives more details about the different Greek leaders who would rule over Israel until Antiochus IV Epiphanes was defeated.
“At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before. For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant. Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.
He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder. When they stumble, they shall receive a little help. And many shall join themselves to them with flattery, and some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
“And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.
Daniel 11:29-36 ESV
Then, just as Daniel had foretold, devout Jews overcame and on Kislev 25, 165 BC, three years to the day after the first abominable sacrifice had been offered, the temple was cleansed, a new altar was rededicated and the daily sacrifices to Yahweh were once again offered in the Jerusalem temple. From the time Antiochus IV had plundered the temple in 170 BC until Judas Maccabeus recaptured Jerusalem and led the people in shattering the pagan idol and cleansing the temple on 25th Kislev 164 BC was six years and 110 days (2,300 evenings and mornings without their proper sacrifices). The Maccabean Revolt & Hasmonean Period (166 – 40 BC) – Renewal Blog. It is worth remembering that at the time Daniel wrote this prophesy there was no temple in Jerusalem, it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, so the temple would have to be rebuilt before any of this could come to pass.
When the angel Gabriel is explaining the vision of the Ram and Goat to Daniel there appears to be a shift in focus from the Greek Empire to the time of the end, which may have relevance for Yeshua‘s reference to these prophesies during His Olivet discourse:
“In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. Daniel 8:23-25 NIV
Daniel 9 includes a Messianic prophesy that helped ignite Jewish expectations of when Messiah would come, as expressed in the old man Simeon’s conviction that “he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.“ (Luke 2:22-38) A Child Is Born – Renewal Blog.
“Seventy weeks (490 years) are decreed about your people and your holy city— to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.
Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One (Messiah), the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat, but in difficult times.
After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.
The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations are decreed. He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” Daniel 9:24-27 CSB
The decree to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem was given by Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign, around 458 BC. Jerusalem, and indeed the temple, was built in difficult times – Herod did much building of both but his reign was brutal and all under Roman rule. If we count 490 years (seventy ‘weeks’) from the decree of Artaxerxes, we come to AD 33 (there was no year zero). Actually, the prophecy has the Messiah coming to Jerusalem to make atonement for sin and to bring in everlasting righteousness during the 70th week (Daniel 9:25 – ie, after the seven and sixty-two weeks had finished). This means that the Messiah was to go to Jerusalem to provide atonement for sins somewhere between AD 26 and 33. Second Temple Period under Roman Rule until Messiah (63 BC – 1BC) – Renewal Blog.
After His death, according to the Daniel 9 prophesy, “The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” This is as Yeshua had been prophesying to His disciples about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (which occurred in 70 A.D.). Yeshua’s warning, and accompanying instructions to flee the city, was to save all His followers in Jerusalem from death when the Roman army destroyed it in the spring of 70AD, just after the new ruler, Vespasian, took control of the Roman Empire. The early believers took Yeshua’s words literally, having already suffered the persecutions He had forewarned them of, and acted on His instructions to flee the city.
The early Christian scholar Eusebius wrote of this time: “The whole body, however, of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine revelation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the Jordan, called Pella.”
Epiphanes also attested to the Christian escape, according to Bible scholar Adam Clarke. The latter wrote: “It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape. … “[As] Vespasian was approaching with his army, all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvellously escaped the general shipwreck of their country: not one of them perished.”
So, we can see Daniel spoke of an abomination of desolation (or abomination that makes desolate) standing in the Holy Place in relation to the Greek conquest and alter to a pagan idol being set up in the Jerusalem Temple, then in relation to Roman conquest and the total destruction of the Temple under their banner, and then in Daniel 11:36 – 12:13 a third abomination of desolation is described, this time “at the end of days“.
He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.” Daniel 12:9-13 ESV
The first and third of these abominations of desolation were to be set up in the Jewish Temple – a Temple that had been destroyed and no longer existed when Daniel wrote these prophesies, was rebuilt and then destroyed by the second abomination of desolation, and apparently will be rebuilt once more before the “time of the end” and the third abomination of desolation. Another sign Yeshua gave us as to when the “time of the end” would come is: “This Good News of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14).
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here’s the Messiah,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and show great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen. See, I have told you beforehand.
“Suppose a prophet or a dreamer of dreams rises up among you and gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder he spoke to you comes true, while saying, ‘Let’s follow other gods’ – that you have not known, and – ‘Let’s serve them!’ You must not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams – for Adonai your God is testing you, to find out whether you love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Adonai your God you will follow and Him you will fear. His mitzvot you will keep, to His voice you will listen, Him you will serve and to Him you will cling. That prophet or dreamer of dreams must be put to death! For he has spoken falsehood against Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to entice you from the way Adonai your God commanded you to walk. So you will purge the evil from your midst. Deuteronomy 13:2-6 TLV
“So if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. Or, ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For just as lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. For wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.
“But immediately after the trouble of those days,
‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light
and the stars will fall from heaven
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
Wail, for the day of Adonai is near! it will come as destruction from Shaddai. … Behold, the day of Adonai comes, cruel, full of wrath and fierce fury, to make the earth a desolation, and destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and abase the insolence of tyrants. Isaiah 13:6, 9-11 TLV
Draw near, O nations, to hear, and listen, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all it contains, the world, and all its offspring! For Adonai is enraged at all the nations, and furious at all their armies. He will utterly destroy them. He will give them over to slaughter. So their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise, and the hills will be drenched with their blood. Then all the host of heaven will dissolve, and the skies will be rolled up like a scroll – so all their array will wither away, like a leaf drooping from a vine, like a fig shriveling from a fig tree.
Isaiah 34: 1-4 TLV
Before them land quakes, heaven trembles, sun and moon become dark,
stars withdraw their brightness. Adonai utters His voice before His army. For His camp is very vast – for mighty is it that carries out His word. For great is the day of Adonai – very terrifying! Who can endure it? Joel 2:10-11 TLV
“It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it will come about that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Joel 2:28-32 NASB
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory.
“I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, honor, and a kingdom, so that all the peoples, nations, and populations of all languages might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14 NASB
He will send out His angels with a great shofar, and they will gather together His chosen from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Matthew 24:23-31 TLV
“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there He is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
Mark 13:21-27 ESV
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Luke 21:26-28 LSB
Yeshua warned us of a time to come when “there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now” (Matthew 24:21), after which “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Mark 13:24-25) and then “they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27). None of this was new, Yeshua had put together what had been foretold by the Jewish prophets. Despite all the horrendous, devastating things the people have gone through, and the Jewish people in particular, yet even worse than all that is going to take place before Yeshua comes in a cloud with great power and glory.
Reference List
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In the comments section below share your thoughts on what you have read and answer some of the following questions…
* When Jesus stated that every stone in the Temple would be torn down it looked impossible that such massive stones would ever be moved – but within a generation it came to pass. Has Jesus told you anything that looked impossible?
* Describe how you think Jesus felt when He wept over Jerusalem with deep sobbing as He warned of what would become of them after they rejected Him and had their Messiah crucified.
* Describe the “Day of the Lord“.
* Describe the “abomination of desolation“.
* What are the signs that the day of the Lord is near?
* How are we to prepare for the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds?