BIBLE STUDY LESSON 01
SERIES T --- THE ADONAI OF LIFE
THE TIME OF HIS COMING
WHEN YESHUA RETURNS
From Matthew 24; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36
As Yeshua was leaving the temple with His disciples, they spoke to Him about the magnificent buildings there. [These will all be destroyed,] Yeshua told them. [The destruction will be so complete that not one stone will be left upon another.] Later, when Yeshua and His disciples reached the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked Him about the destruction of the temple. [When will it happen? And what else will be signs of Your return and the end of the age?] they asked. [Be careful of false signs that could mislead you,] Yeshua responded. [Many will come in My Name, claiming to be the Moshiach, but do not believe them. Wars and rumours of wars are not to be accepted as signs of My coming, for these will continue to happen. The struggle between nations and kingdoms, famines and earthquakes in many places, these are but the beginning of the suffering to come. You will be given to authorities for persecution, and they will torture, kill and pour out their hatred upon you because you are Mine. Many will fall back into sin because of these things and will turn against each other, hating and betraying each other. False prophets will come and will lead many astray. Evil will run loose and will cool the love that many have for Me. But those who remain faithful to Me until the end will be saved. But before that end comes, the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world. [When you see the abominable thing which Daniel foretold, standing in the holy place, you who live in Judea must run to hide in the hills. Those on rooftops should not go down to their homes for their belongings, and those in the fields should not return home for theirs. How sad for the women expecting children, or those with young babies. Pray that your flight will not be in winter, or on a Shabbat, when city gates are closed, for the persecution will be more intense than it ever has been or ever will be. If those days were not shortened, which they will be for the sake of YHVH’s loyal followers, everyone would be destroyed. Don’t listen to people who come with news that the Moshiach is over here, or over there. Many false messiahs and false prophets will arise with miracles, which may become a temptation for even My faithful followers to turn to them. I have warned you, so don’t go running when someone says that the messiah is in the wilderness or in some inner room. As the lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so I will also be that visible when I return. Wherever a dead body lies, there the vultures will gather.] Nobody knows for sure what Yeshua meant by that, but it is thought that He was saying that He would return to a world filled with corrupt living. Yeshua continued talking with His disciples on the Mount of Olives. [After the severe persecution of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then it will become clear that I am coming back, and people throughout the earth will mourn and will see Me returning among the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. I will send My angels with the sound of a mighty trumpet, and they will gather My followers from all over the world, and from one end of the sky to the other. Learn from the example of the fig tree. Its tender branch and sprouting leaves are a sign that summer is coming. These things are a sign that I am coming. These things will happen before this generation passes away. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. No one knows the time when I shall return, neither the angels of heaven, nor I, but the Father only. I will come on a day like any other day, just as the Great Flood in Noah’s time did, for they were eating and drinking, marrying and partying, until the time when Noah entered the ark. They did not realize that the Flood would arrive momentarily and take them away. It shall be when I return. When I return, two men will be working in the field. One will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at a mill. One will be taken, and one will be left. Be sure to prepare for that time, for you do not know when it will be. If the man of the house knew when a thief would arrive, he would be ready and waiting and would keep the thief from breaking in. So be sure to be prepared, for you do not know when I will come, and it will be at a time when you least expect Me. When a master has appointed a wise and faithful slave to feed the members of his household, he will be pleased to find the slave busy with his appointed work when he arrives unexpectedly. The master will appoint that happy slave to even greater responsibilities. But if an appointed slave thinks his master will not return for some time and beats his fellow workers and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master will surely return unexpectedly and will punish that slave severely, and will put him with the hypocrites to be judged, where there is much sorrow and agony.]
COMMENTARY
THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM -- 70 A.D.
For three years, the Romans failed to subdue the Jewish rebellion in Jerusalem, which began about the time the apostle Paul died, approximately thirty years after Yeshua was crucified. The Roman emperor, Vespasian, vowed to stop it once and for all. With an army of eighty thousand soldiers and horsemen, he sent his son Titus to take the city. Launching their first attack from the north, the Romans stormed the city walls. While the Jews hurled rocks from the battlements, the Romans advanced under the protection of their shields. Finally, after two weeks of fighting, Titus’ troops broke through the northern wall. They fought fiercely, but they could not press their advantage. The Jews drove the Romans back outside the city walls. Titus withdrew his troops to consider another plan of attack. Since Jerusalem’s fortifications could not be defeated by battle, the Roman general attempted to starve the rebels out of their stronghold. He ordered the soldiers to build an embankment around the city that would trap the Jews inside Jerusalem. The trees in the area were cut down and used to build a dike as high as the city walls. Everyone who tried to escape from Jerusalem was captured by the Romans and crucified on crosses that topped the embankment. The Jews withstood the Roman siege for almost a year. On July 17, 70 A.D., the Romans renewed their attack against the walls when the city was weakened by starvation. Titus’ troops finally broke through the city’s fortifications, and the Jewish rebels did not have the strength to defend themselves. The Romans streamed through the city, making their first assault on the Antonia fortress. After it fell, they besieged the Jews who had taken refuge in the temple. When at last they could fight no more, the temple fell to the Romans. Although Titus had given orders that the building should be spared, a soldier threw a flaming brand into the sanctuary during the attack. Soon the temple was engulfed in flames and the fire spread rapidly to other parts of the city. Only a few of the temple furnishings could be saved from the fierce blaze. By the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av, the temple lay in charred ruins. Jerusalem was a pile of smouldering debris. The destruction was so complete that only the towers of Herod’s palace and a portion of the western wall of the temple platform remained standing. Titus’ successful attack marked the end of the temple sacrifices offered every day since the Jews had returned from exile more than five hundred years before. Six hundred thousand Jews had died. Those who survived the fighting were captured by the enemy. They were taken to Rome along with the spoils rescued from the temple. In a grand parade honouring Titus’ victory, the temple’s seven-branched candlestick and the table of showbread were carried through the city streets. Behind the Romans dragged the exhausted survivors of Jerusalem’s fall. None of the captives would ever see their homeland again. Those who were not sold as slaves were thrown to the beasts in the Roman arena.