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Signs Simplified
The Time Line
| A.D. |
Prediction of Signs
|
| ~30 |
Prediction of Signs
Mt.24, Mk.13,
Lk.21 To some disciples Jesus presented a time frame in which the temple would be torn down and He would return at the end of the age. In His time frame, all these things would happen before their generation passed away. The Signs The disciples will be arrested and brought to trial and be witnesses to the governors and kings who persecute them. The gospel will be preached throughout the world. The beginning of birth pangs will be: false messiahs, wars, famines, earthquakes, and terrors and signs from the heaven. Lawlessness will increase. Christians will be hated. Many will turn away from the faith and betray each other. Many believers will be put to death. The one who endures to the end will be saved. Jerusalem will be laid desolate: The abomination that causes desolation will stand in the holy place. It will be dreadful. There will be great distress. They would fall by the sword and be led captive into all the nations. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, the sea and waves will roar, and men will be stricken with terror. The Son of Man will come in the clouds and send forth His angels to gather His elect. All the above occurs to the generation to which Jesus is speaking. Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away. |
| All Signs occurred in their generation: |
|
| 33 |
At
the Passover Feast
Jesus told His APOSTLES He would ask the Father to given THEM a
Counselor, the Holy Spirit, after He was gone. The Councilor, the Holy
Spirit, would be with THEM, teach THEM all things and remind THEM of
everything Jesus said, and THEY would testify.
(Jn.14:16,26;15:26;16:7) |
| 33 |
Crucifixion
of Christ |
| 33 |
Three
days later Christ
appeared to the Apostles and others. He would send them what the Father
had promised and they would be clothed with power from high. Repentance
and forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all nations
beginning in Jerusalem. (Lk.24:47,49) When the Holy Spirit came on the
Apostles, they would receive power and be His witnesses in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8) |
| 33 |
The
APOSTLES received
power when the Holy Spirit came upon them on the Day of Pentecost. They
then began witnessing
in Jerusalem. Later they went on to Judea and
Samaria, and then to "the remotest part of the earth." (Ro.1:8;
16:25-27; Acts 8:5; Col.1:23) |
| 33- |
The
witnessing
also marked
the beginning of persecution.
This persecution
continued throughout
Paul's missionary journeys while he was preaching the gospel throughout
the world. (Acts 4-8,12,22-26,28, 2Cor.11:23-25) |
| 40-70 40~46 46~48 50 57 60: 61 66 44-70 |
Many false prophets &
deceivers: Sorcerer in Samaria called the great Power of God. (Acts 8:9-11) False prophet and magician Bar-Jesus. (Acts 13:6-10) False brethren were among them. (Gal.2:40) Many disguised themselves as apostles of Christ. (2Cor 11:12-15;26) Many false prophets were in the world. (1Jn.4:1) Philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of the world was the elementary principle of the world. (Col.2:8) False prophets were among them. (2Pe.2:1-3) Great numbers of false prophets and deceivers were in the world. (Wars of the Jews (Josephus) II.XIII.4 (52-59), II.XIII.5; VI.V.2) |
| 41~54 |
Famine
during the reign of
Claudius (Acts 11:28) |
| 46-48 |
1st
missionary journey |
| 49-52 |
2nd
missionary journey |
| 53-57 |
3rd
missionary journey |
| 58 |
The
gospel had been made known to all nations and proclaimed in all
creation under heaven. (Ro.16:25-27; Col.1:23) Paul made this
comment
in A.D.61 in his letter to the Romans after his missionary
journeys. |
| 54-68 |
Plague
(Suetonius - The Twelve Caesars VI.39) |
| 62-73 |
Lawlessness
increased beginning in A.D.62. Peace and prosperity continued until
A.D.62 when local government became blatantly corrupt. Houses were
plundered, citizens killed, villages set on fire, and robbers bailed
out of prison by politicians. (WJ:II.XIII.6) |
| 63 |
The
first sign of renewal of activity at Mt. Vesuvius was a severe earthquake
on February 5, A.D. 63. Earthquakes
continued intermittently
for the next 16 years culminating with the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D.
79. (VE:Ch.8) |
| 64-65 |
Christians
became hated. They turned away from the faith, betrayed each other and
were put to death. The fire Nero set in Rome was blamed on the
Christians. The Christians
became a class hated for their abominations.
They were hated, arrested, tortured and put to death. (Annals
15:44 -
Tacitus) |
| ~65 |
Terrors
& Signs from the heavens: A comet was seen for an entire
year.
Chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor sere seen running about
among the clouds and surrounding the cities. WJ: VI.V.3; The
Histories-Tacitus V.13 |
| 67 |
Famine
in Gamala (WJ IV.I.7). |
| 65-73 |
Wars
& Rumors of Wars Peace and prosperity ended in 65 when the Roman procurator Florus contrived devious ways to excite the Jews to go to war. Many in Jerusalem were killed and tortured and the Upper Market Place plundered. The Jewish Wars began in 66 when rebellious Jews captured Masada and put the Romans there to death. |
| 66 |
The
Jewish wars began.
Florus marched with his army against Jerusalem. He
plundered the Upper Market-place and killed 3,600 men, women and
children. Some rebellious Jews assaulted and captured the fortress of
Masada, killing the Romans there. Caesar's sacrificial gift to the Jews
was rejected. (AJ:XX.XI.1; WJ:II.XIV.4-9; II.XVII.2) |
| 66 |
The
Roman army commanded by the Roman general Cestius marched to Jerusalem
with the intent of besieging it. Inside the city, he attempted to break
into the temple at its northern quarter. The first rank of Romans
rested their shields upon that wall, at which time a great fear seized
upon many, who immediately ran out of the city. Cestius recalled his
soldiers from the place and retired from the city without any reason.
(WJ:II.XIX.4-7) The "many" seized by great fear who immediately ran out
of the city were following Jesus' command made 36 years
earlier: When they saw armies surround Jerusalem, when they saw the
abomination of desolation at the holy place, they were to drop
everything and flee! |
| 68 |
Nero
died. |
| 69 |
Revelation
of Jesus Christ, given to John to show His servants what would soon
take place. |
| 69 |
The armies of Parthia were being set in motion by a man believed to be a counterfeit Nero. (Tacitus, The Histories, I.2; DR:LXVI) He was probably the beast of Rv.13 who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was probably the beast "was and is not and is about to come up out of the abyss." He was probably the man of lawlessness of 2Thes.2. |
| 70 |
Prior
to the siege of Jerusalem, many died of famine when they were shut
inside the City on the Passover. They were surrounded by Roman troops. |
| 70 |
Jerusalem
and Herod's temple were destroyed in the Roman siege led by Titus.
(WJ:VI.VIII-X) |
| 70 |
They
fell by the sword and were led captive to all nations. 1,100,000
perished. 97,000 were taken captive. Those under 17 were sent to the
Egyptian mines and the rest sent as presents to the provinces for shows
in the theaters where they were burned , killed by sword, by fighting
wild beasts, and fighting one another. |
| 73 |
The
Romans captured Masada, ending the Jewish wars. (WJ:VII.VIII,IX) |
| 66-73 |
The
time of tribulation
was the Jewish wars. Josephus said "the multitude
of those that therein perished exceeded all the destructions that
either men or God brought upon the world." |
| 75 |
The
100 foot high statue, "Colossus," was erected on the Sacred Way. It was
a mere image of Nero. (DR:LXV; The Epigrams of Martial, On the
Spectacles,II; Pliny the Elder, Natural History, XXXIV.43-45) |
| 79 |
Mt.
Vesuvius erupted on August 24, A.D. 79. (VE:CH.8) This caused the waves to roar all over the Mediterranean. The ash plume from the eruption moving west to east caused the sun to darken the moon to stop giving its light. All the stars to appeared to fall from the sky. The appearance of falling stars was an optical illusion caused by the movement of the ash plume. |
| 79 |
The
Son of Man came in the clouds for all to see. He sent His angels down
to gather His elect. 144,000 believers were "taken." They went
to the
same place as Jesus and dead holy people before them who raised from
their graves to life and were taken up to heaven. (Mt.27:52-53) The
secular people left behind described
giants traversing the skies and
the sound of a trumpet (Dio Cassius Bk.LXVI section 22,23). Since
John was the only
disciple who remained
to be taken at this time, no disciples were left to record this event.
John's Revelation in A.D. 69 prerecorded many of these events which
would take place a few years in their near future, thus completing the
biblical story before they were all taken and while some were still
around to write it.. |
| 79 |
All
signs described by Jesus happened to the generation to which Jesus
spoke some fifty years earlier. |
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