The year 70 A.D the time of (testing, purge, purify, and refining fire, that Jesus mentioned and Peter’s readers were enduring was now over. The wheat (true believers) were now separated from the tares (false believers). New the blood of the martyrs that had be spilled upon the earth would be avenged. (Revelation 6:10) The Jews committed three grave errors; (1) they killed their Messiah. (2) they had forsaken God and gone apostasy (3) they had killed God’s prophets and saints. God gave Israel another 40 years to repent. Now God was going to use the same Roman armies as a instrument to pronounce judgment on fleshly Israel and it would not make a pretty picture.
This would also be the time when the beast turned on the hariot. (Revelation 17-16) "And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will (hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire).
The must tragic time in the history of the nation of Israel was in 67-70 A.D., during the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. This approximate 3 ½ years of Great Tribulation upon unbelieving Israel 67-70 A.D. would be the some period of time that Christians went through persecution and tribulation with some months separating the two periods.
Christians went through persecution and tribulation 2 Thessalonians NOT the Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation was the time of the next 3 ½ years upon unbelieving Israel. Jesus said this would be a time of (great tribulation) such as never had been before, nor ever would be again. (Matthews 24:21) Josephus further says that "no other city ever suffered such miseries; nor was there ever a generation more fruitful in wickedness from the beginning of the world.
God was now going to send the nation of Israel a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason (God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie),
Because of this strong delusion the Jews foolishly believed the time had come for them to throw off the Roman yoke, and thereby establish the kingdom of their prophecies.
This proved to be Israel’s complete destruction. Rome did not initiate the war against Jerusalem. Jerusalem was already under the authority and control of Rome. Headstrong man in Jerusalem itself, kept irritating the people and inciting them to rebel against Rome and quit paying their taxes. This would have been sufficient in itself to cause Rome to turn against Jerusalem.
The Jews believe their Old Testament prophecies foretold the Messiah sitting on the earthly throne of David in literal Jerusalem much like Christians have been told to believe Jesus will sit on a earthly throne in literal Jerusalem even tho Jesus said his kingdom was not of this words. John 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." John 8:23 And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
So the Jews thought the world to come (New Covenant) would consist of a literal fulfillment of their Messianic prophecies. The Messiah would be a political king that would restore the thrown of David on earth and return National Israel to the days of their former glory. Dan 9:25 With these things in mine we can understand why Jesus warned the disciples that many false messiahs would come but do not believe it. (Matthew 24:23)
With the hope of over throwing the Roman yoke it would be only natural that people would believe any false messiahs promising deliverance. Josephus tell us about such false prophets promising deliverance.
The soldiers also came to the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer [court of the] temple, whither the women and children, and a great mixed multitude of the people, fled, in number about six thousand. But before Caesar had determined any thing about these people, or given the commanders any orders relating to them, the soldiers were in such a rage, that they set that cloister on fire; by which means it came to pass that some of these were destroyed by throwing themselves down headlong, and some were burnt in the cloisters themselves. Nor did any one of them escape with his life. A false prophet was the occasion of these people's destruction, who had made a public proclamation in the city that very day, that God commanded them to get upon the temple, and that there they should receive miraculous signs of their deliverance. Now there was then a great number of false prophets suborned by the tyrants to impose on the people, who denounced this to them, that they should wait for deliverance from God; and this was in order to keep them from deserting, and that they might be buoyed up above fear and care by such hopes. The Works of Flavius Josephus War of the Jews Book 6 Chapter 5 .
