2 September A.D. 70. Jerusalem Destroyed

2 September A.D. 70.  Jerusalem Destroyed.

Jesus offered some tough talk.  Like, er, well, judgment.  Nah, not from the loving Jesus?!?!  Covenantal curses from Leviticus?  Nah, please don’t raise that nasty little subject.  Did He really say those things in Matt. 23?  And Revelation too?  Here’s Jesus.  Ask your Schleiermachian-based Episcopal Rectors for an explanation;  they’ll just love you for it, but here’s Jesus.

Luke 21: 5-7, 20:

^“5 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, ⁶ “These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.” ⁷ So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?”

^“20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.”

About 33 years later, A.D. 66, chaos began for Israel.

In A.D. 66, a Jewish revolt broke out against the Roman over-lords.  A Roman official put his hand into the financial cookie jar of the Temple.  One thing led to another and a full scale revolt heated up. Some Romans in Jerusalem were killed.  Extremists took over.

A war broke out lasting near-wise four years.  Jerusalem was “full when the Roman siege began in earnest” (492).

On September 2, A.D. 70, “the conquest was complete.” The Temple was burned. Stones were upended and overturned. Josephus claimed that 1 million Jews lost their lives in this conflict. 97,000 were taken captive.

Titus’s Arch in Rome, a football field away from the Colisseum, commemorates the Roman victory over the covenantally-cursed rebels (Gal.3.13; Rom.9.1ff).