Sunday, January 16, 2011

The sons of the kingdom are cast out.

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." The centurion answered and sa...id, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. "For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. "But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:5-12)

Those that were found slain were above two thousand persons, partly by their own hands, The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6Chapter 9

The young of both sexes were sold as slaves. Those under seventeen were sold as slaves. In the days it took Fronto to make these decisions, 11.000 perished for want of food. (Josephus 37:B.C A.D. 70 p. 230) The Roman general Titus, who conquered Jerusalem and Israel, sent 17,000 adults Jews to Egypt."

The tallest and most beautiful of the young men were saved for the triumphal procession; everyone else over the age of seventeen was sent in bonds to work the Egyptian mines. A great number were also sent into the provinces to provide amusement in the theaters. (Josephus 37:B.C A.D. 70 p. 230)

Fulfillment of prophecy. (Deuteronomy 28:68 concerning Jerusalem) "And the LORD will take (you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you), 'You shall never see it again.' And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves), but no one will buy you." (emphasis added)

“The cities could be seen full of unburied corpses, the dead bodies of the aged flung down alongside those of infants, women without (a rag to conceal their nakedness) and the whole province full of indescribable horrors. (Eusebius, The History of the Church, 9 105)

"But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Fulfillment of prophecy. (Jeremiah 7:33 concerning Jerusalem) The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.

Fulfillment of prophecy. And great hail from heaven fell upon men, (each hailstone about the weight of a talent). Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. (Revelation 16:21) (emphasis added)

Josephus reckon the number of captive taken during the war at 97,000 and the number of those who perished during the siege at 1,100.000. The number who perished in the whole war are reckoned at the total of 1,337,490 and the number of prisoners at 101,700; but even these estimates do not include all the items of many skirmishes and battles, nor do they take into account the multitudes who, throughout the whole country, perished of misery, famine and disease. In may well be said that the nation seemed to have given itself ‘a rendezvous of exterminations.’ Two thousand putrefying bodies were found even in the subterranean vaults of the city, (F.W. Farrar. pp 487-489).

Titus ordered Jerusalem to be completely leveled and work began. However, he allowed part of the walls to remain in their place. All the stones were thrown down at that time. Eleazar, commander of the Temple along with many Jewish men, women, and children escaped from Jerusalem fled to Massada, a fortress in the wilderness built by Herod. Fighting dragged on for three more years after Jerusalem fell and ended when Massada was captured in 73AD.

The Temple along with the system of the laws of Moses came immediately under attack and fell on August 10, 70AD. The upper city fell on September 7, 70AD and the capture of Jerusalem was over. That millstone was threw it into the sea, and shall not be found anymore. (Revelation 18:21)

Despite the alliance between Jerusalem and Rome and the vigorous and universal persecution of the Church, Nero and the Jews failed to purge the world of Christian power and influence. The faith and sacrifice of the saints proved to be stronger than the fiery trials and persecutions. Their earthly forces were no match for the spiritual power of Christ’s gospel. Thus, Nero failed to serve Israel’s purpose.

God was not simply doing away with a national system and people; he was also receiving and bringing to perfection a spiritual nation. Unlike national Judaism, spiritual Israel cannot be entered, possessed, or ruled by earthy kinds. The spiritual rule and dominion of Christ is not vulnerable to the military might and ingenuity of civil governments. Nations shall rise and fall, but God’s spiritual nation of Israel shall abide forever. Daniel 7:14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
All this occurred in Jesus’ contemporaries..