AD 70 Destruction of Jerusalem Secondary Fulfillment--Says Ellen White

Click to go to our Home Page


"Jesus blended in His answer to the disciples' question events leading up to 'the end' of the Jewish nation as God's chosen people, and 'the end' of the world. The lines cannot always be sharply drawn between the two. No small part of what Jesus delineated of the future applied particularly to events soon to take place with respect to the Jewish nation, the city of Jerusalem, and the Temple. However, the discourse was also given for the benefit of those who should live amid he last scenes of earth's history. It is worthy of note that DA 628-633 applies the signs enumerated in vs. 4-14 primarily to the fall of Jerusalem and some of them secondarily to our time, and those of vs. 21-30 QUITE EXCLUSIVELY TO EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SAVIOUR'S SECOND COMING. See on ch. 10:1." SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 497, col. 1.

Since the end-time fulfillment of these prophecies occurs at the greatest time of trouble since there was a nation, we regard the end-time fulfillment's as PRIMARY, rather than secondary, as the writers of the SDA Bible Commentary assert. For example, the representation of the entire world as Jerusalem, and its destruction, is far more pervasive and formidable in scope than the destruction of one city, Jerusalem, anciently, to wit:

"The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled upon His law." E.G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 36.

It finally encompasses the entire world, but where does it all begin? Josephus said that it began at the Temple proper and then spread to the city of Jerusalem.

Something that is a "faint shadow" of something future, is certainly secondary in importance to such a future event!

Where it All Begins--At His Sanctuary

"Here we see that the church--the Lord's sanctuary--was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God.The ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardians of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. They had taken the position that we need not look for miracles and the marked manifestation of God's power as in former days. Times have changed. These words strengthen their unbelief, and they say: The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil. He is too merciful to visit His people in judgment. Thus 'Peace and safety" is the cry from men who will never again lift up their voice like a trumpet to show God's people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins. These dumb dogs that would not bark are the ones who feel the just vengeance of an offended God. Men, maidens, and little children all perish together." E. G. White, Testimonies, Vol. 5, 211.