Does
This Rebel’s Rebuttal Destroy Ron Beaulieu's Warning Message?
Click to go to our Home Page
Dear Reader, Ron, Your call out message holds no
weight with all the evidence I supplied from EGW....NONE. Your understanding
of the context of Jerusalem in EGW's writings at the end time is wrong. But seeing as you want only
Biblical evidence for this, let's open God's Holy Word. Mat. Mark. Luke.
Three accounts of fleeing. Now are you going to tell this forum that not only
Jerusalem, but the whole of Judaea refers to the SDA church!? Please note
that the fleeing is not only from Jerusalem but concerns any body living in
Judaea. From the housetops in Judea. From the fields in Judaea. From
Jerusalem in Judaea!!!! What do you want people to understand by your
message.....? Judaea, of which Jerusalem was in, both comprise God's church,
the TEMPLE??? We are to flee both Jerusalem and Judaea......???? EGW and now
the Bible. Problems on all fronts with your "Most Loved Call Out
Message"! Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall
see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in
the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)16 Then let them which be
in Judaea flee into the mountains:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out
of his house:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. Mark 13:14 But when ye shall see
the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where
it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:15 And let
him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein,
to take any thing out of his house:16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up
his garment. Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with
armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.21 Then let them which
are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst
of it depart out; and
let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. Spiritual things are Spiritually
discerned. I suggest that before continuing to call people out of God's Body,
you first start reading God's word personally, prayerfully, reverently, for
the wisdom of this world is truly foolishness to God. And before you start calling
Judaea, Jerusalem - here's Strongs : Judaea = "he shall
be praised" 1) in a
narrower sense, to the southern portion of Palestine lying on 2) in a
broader sense, referring to all Palestine Signed____________ Ron’s Response: Let’s investigate the matter
further to determine whether or not my teachings on Matthew 24 and Ezekiel 9
are "destroyed" by the rebel’s arguments. They sound like the
preterism of Dennis Kean or some Catholic. Marsha (the SDA convert to
Catholicism), might well come up with the poster’s arguments, but they are
totally false from any sound SDA interpretation and especially God's
and Ellen White's. I will prove Dennis and Marsha wrong at the
same time by the end-time context of Daniel 8 and 11, which both mention the
abomination of desolation in an END-TIME CONTEXT and Matthew 24:15, refers to
Daniels mention of the Abomination of Desolation and Matthew 24:21 mentions
the end-time as well. Let's look a bit deeper into Ellen
White's teachings on the experience of Jerusalem, circa A.D. 70, and her
reapplication of that experience at the end-time, as I had time for only a
brief elaboration yesterday. I rendered the following quote
yesterday, which is sufficient, but will add quite a bit more from Scripture
and Ellen White. Ellen White
on Matthew 24.--
"When He referred to the destruction of Jerusalem, His prophetic words
reached beyond that even to the final conflagration in that day when the Lord
shall rise out of His place to punish for their iniquity, when the earth
shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. This entire discourse was given, not for the disciples
only, but for those who should live in the last scenes of this earth's
history."
E.G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 628. First I will deal with Matthew 24:15,
and the Abomination of Desolation. Rebel would have you believe that
the Abomination of Desolation occurred only once in A.D. 70. This is
not what Scripture teaches in Daniel and Revelation. The Abomination of
Desolation was Roman soldiers on Jewish soil said Ellen White. She
paralleled that to the Sunday law at the end-time. That also relates to
the no buy and sell time in Scripture. 15 When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:) The transgression of desolation in
Daniel 8 is the same thing. That is where Daniel the prophet speaks of
the desolation: Dan 8:13 Then I heard one saint speaking,
and another saint said unto that certain [saint] which spake, How long [shall
be] the vision [concerning] the daily [sacrifice], and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and
the host to be trodden under foot? Just as an interesting aside, the
site of the sanctuary, the Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem, is still
trodden under foot by Islamic Gentiles. There is transgression of
desolation that desolates the Sanctuary until sin is brought to an end. This
proves that the sanctuary was not cleansed in 1844, but began to be cleansed. Dan 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part,
and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the
daily [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh
desolate. Dan 12:11 And from the time [that] the daily
[sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh
desolate set
up, [there shall be] a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Is Daniel speaking in terms
(context) of the end-time in Daniel 8? We'll let Daniel answer: 17 So he came near where I stood: and
when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me,
Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the
vision. Daniel
8:17. Daniel gets a lot more specific! 19 And he said, Behold, I will make
thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. When is the indignation? Daniel 8:19 - And he said,
Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end
of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. Daniel 11:30 - For the ships
of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return,
and
have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have
intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. The indignation involves a making
void of the Holy Covenant, the Ten-Commandment Covenant. That is the
only covenant that extends to the end-time and this is proof that it
does! Take note Marsha. There will be no law against love which
is the only covenant you say exists in the New Testament. Daniel 11:36 - And the king
shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify
himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of
gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall
be done. Who has had indignation against the
holy covenant? Rome! Marsha and Brandon think that it is the
Jews. The Jews have not had indignation against the holy covenant. Hebrews 10:27 - But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries. Revelation
14:10 - The same shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: Obviously, the indignation is at
the final pouring out of the wrath of God. Ellen
White on the Abomination of Desolation Chap. 172 - The Sign to Leave Large
Cities When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judaea flee into the
mountains. Matt. 24:15, 16. Jesus declared to the
listening disciples the judgments that were to fall upon apostate Israel, and
especially the retributive vengeance that would come upon them for their
rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. Unmistakable signs would precede
the awful climax. The dreaded hour would come suddenly and swiftly. And the
Saviour warned his followers: "When
ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand), then let
them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." [MATT. 24:15, 16.] When the idolatrous standards of
The time is not far distant, when, like the early disciples, we shall
be forced to seek a refuge in desolate and solitary places. As the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman
armies was the signal for flight to the Judean Christians, so the assumption
of power on the part of our nation [the United States] in the decree
enforcing the papal sabbath will be a warning to us. It will then be time to
leave the large cities, preparatory to leaving the smaller ones for retired
homes in secluded places among the mountains. {Mar 180.1} Also, 5T, 464. By the decree enforcing the
institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will
disconnect herself fully from righteousness. When Protestantism shall stretch
her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall
reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the
influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every
principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and
shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions,
then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan
and that the end is near. {5T 451.1}
The Lord is doing His work. All heaven is astir. The Judge of all the earth
is soon to arise and vindicate His insulted authority. The mark of
deliverance will be set upon the men who keep God's commandments, who revere
His
452 law, and who refuse the mark of the
beast or of his image. {5T 451.3} Conclusions: · Matthew 24:15 speaks of the
abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. · Daniel the prophet speaks of the
abomination of desolation as occurring at the time of the end, in the last
end of the indignation. · God speaks of the indignation as
His final cup of indignation at the end of all things. · Matthew 24:15 thus refers to all
the world because the final cup of God's indignation at the abomination of
desolation, the Sunday Law, a tampering with the holy covenant, is poured out
on all the world, not just Jerusalem or Judea. · I wonder NOT how Ellen White concluded that Matthew 24 applied
at the end time! · There can be no doubt that the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, was a fulfillment
of Ezekiel 9, because of Ezekiel 22:17-31. · Ezekiel 5:9 cf. Matthew 24:21, is
proof that Ezekiel 9 is fulfilled again at the end time, for God does the
worst thing He ever does at the end. · Thus, when Ellen White said in the
Great Controversy, p. 25, that the destruction of Jerusalem, circa A.D. 70,
was a prefigure, we can only
conclude that the only antitypical fulfillment to that prefigure must begin
at His Sanctuary, 5T, 211, then the other fallen churches, and then the
disobedient, unrepentant world. Additional
End-time Material
For years I have been given special light that we are not to center
our work in the cities. The turmoil and confusion that fill these cities, the
conditions brought about by the labor unions and the strikes, would prove a
great hindrance to our work. Men are seeking to bring those engaged in the
different trades under bondage to certain unions. This is not God's planning,
but the planning of a power that we should in no wise acknowledge. God's Word
is fulfilling; the wicked are binding themselves up in bundles ready to be
burned. {Mar 180.2}
The trades unions and confederacies of the world are a snare. Keep out of them, and
away from them, brethren. Have nothing to do with them. Because of these
unions and confederacies, it will soon be very difficult for our institutions
to carry on their work in the cities. . . . Educate our people to get out of
the cities into the country, where they can obtain a small piece of land, and
make a home for themselves and their children. . . . {Mar 180.3}
I’m thinking of the World
Confederation (Council) of Churches.
If in the providence of God we can secure places away from the cities,
the Lord would have us do this. There are troublous times before us. {Mar
180.7}
February 20, 1901 Words of Warning Christ foretold the destruction of
Jerusalem, as well as of the temple. His words were spoken in the hearing of
a large number of people; but when He was again alone, Peter, James, John,
and Andrew came to Him, saying, "Tell us, when shall these things be?
and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
{ST, February 20, 1901 par. 1}
Jesus did not answer His disciples by taking up separately the
destruction of Jerusalem, and the last great day of His coming. The city of Jerusalem represented the world,
and the utterances regarding its destruction are to be connected with the
world's more terrible destruction. In speaking of Jerusalem, His prophetic words
reached beyond that event to the conflagration that will take place in that
day when the Lord shall rise "out of His place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity." The description of
the two events is mingled, and the entire subject is a warning to those
who shall live in the last scenes of earth's history. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 2}
"Take heed that no man deceive you," Christ said. "For
many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive
many." False messiahs will appear, claiming to work miracles, and
declaring that the deliverance of the Jewish nation has come. These will
mislead many. Christ's words were fulfilled. Between His death and the siege
of Jerusalem, many false messiahs appeared. But this warning is given to
those also who live in this age of the world. The same deceptions
practised prior to the destruction of Jerusalem will be practised again. The events that took place at
the overthrow of Jerusalem will be repeated. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 3} The overthrow of Jerusalem in A.D.
70, was a fulfillment of Ezekiel 9. It
began at the House of God, the Temple, then moved to destroy the city proper,
says Josephus, and eye-witness Jewish historian. So it will be in the final manifestation of
Ezekiel 9 which Ellen White said is literal[RB1] ,
and begins at His Sanctuary, 5T, 211[RB2] .
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not
troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet." Prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, there were rumors of wars.
Men wrestled for the supremacy. Emperors were murdered. Those supposed to be
standing next the throne were slain. "All these things must come to
pass," Christ said, "but the end is not yet. {ST, February 20, 1901
par. 4}
"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in
divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." The rabbis, Christ
said, would declare that the signs that appeared were tokens of the advent of
the Messiah. But be not deceived; they are the beginning of His judgments.
The people have not repented, and been converted, that I should heal them.
The signs that they argue are tokens of their release from bondage, are signs
of their approaching destruction. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 5}
"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill
you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall
many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one
another." All this the Christians suffered. Mothers and fathers betrayed
their children; children betrayed their parents. Friends delivered their
friends up to the Sanhedrin. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 6} Ron’s commentary: Better not to be friends with those who are
members of the modern day Sanhedrin, and there is only one body that could
parallel that order! Is this why Ellen
White told us when to fear and shun them[RB3] ?
Thru the apostles God gave the Jewish people a last opportunity to
repent. He manifested Himself thru His witnesses, in their arrest, in their
trial, and in their imprisonment. He had told His disciples that they would
be delivered up to councils; but He told them also that they were not to be
anxious as to how they might vindicate the truth, for He would give them a
wisdom that all their adversaries could not gainsay nor resist. Yet their
persecutors wrought out their purpose in killing Stephen, Paul, Peter, and
other Christians, men of whom the world was not worthy. In killing them the
Jews crucified afresh the Son of God. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 7}
On every occasion that persecution takes place, the witnesses make
decisions, either for Christ or against Him. Those who show sympathy for the
men wrongly condemned, and are not bitter against them, show their attachment
to Christ. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 8}
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many." False prophets and false Christs did arise, deceiving the people,
and leading great numbers into the desert. Magicians and sorcerers, claiming
miraculous power, drew the people after them into the mountain solitudes. But
this prophecy was spoken also for the last days. This sign is a sign of the
second advent. Satanic agencies will be prepared to deceive and to delude.
{ST, February 20, 1901 par. 9}
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold." In times of trial many will be offended
because the principles of truth cut directly across their practise or their
income. Many will
stumble and fall. They have professed to love the truth; but they will then
show that they had no vital union with the True Vine. They will be cut away,
as branches that bear no fruit, and will be bound up with unbelievers.
"But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."
{ST, February 20, 1901 par. 10}
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let
him understand); then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains; let
him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house;
neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes."
This warning was given to be heeded forty years after, at the destruction of
Jerusalem. The Christians obeyed, and not one of them
perished in the destruction of the city. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 11}
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,
neither on the Sabbath day." Christ, who made the Sabbath, did not abolish it, nailing
it to His cross. The fourth commandment was not rendered null and void by His
death. It was to be held sacred forty years after His death; even as long as
the heavens and the earth remain, so long will it hold its claim upon the
human family. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 12} Ron’s Commentary: If the abomination of desolation of Matthew
24 applies at the end-time, as we have well documented, what about the “Sabbath
day” part? Remember, that is the part
involved with the indignation against the Holy Covenant[RB4] .
"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or
there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets,
and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore
if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth;
behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning
cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be." Here, again, the warning concerning
Jerusalem is blended with the warning of the second advent. {ST, February 20,
1901 par. 13}
The disciples heard Christ's words; but they did not fully understand
them. They did not know why He connected the perils at the overthrow of
Jerusalem with the perils attending His second advent. The Holy Spirit must
guide them into all truth, bringing to their remembrance all things that
Christ had said to them. But those who live in this age may understand the
general warning, and should appropriate it, applying it to the period where
it belongs. {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 14}
"This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
Mrs. E. G. White. - {ST, February 20, 1901 par. 15} December 20, 1898 Words of
Warning.--No. 2. - Mrs. E. G. White. -
"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted," Christ
continued, "and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for
my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another." All this the Christians suffered.
Fathers and mothers betrayed their children; children betrayed their parents;
friends delivered their friends to the Sanhedrin. Until he himself was
converted, Saul of Tarsus was exceedingly bitter against all who believed in
Christ. He then began to preach Christ and him crucified, and the enemies of
the gospel caused him and Silas to be whipped, and thrown into prison. {RH,
December 20, 1898 par. 1}
Through the apostles, God gave the Jewish people a last opportunity to
repent. But they turned away from every entreaty. In the arrest, the trial,
and the imprisonment of his witnesses, God manifested himself. He gave them
words to speak, and a tongue and voice with which to vindicate the truth and
acknowledge him as the Son of God. They were men of whom the world was not
worthy, yet their judges pronounced on them the death sentence. They were not
allowed to live and serve their God. By killing them, the Jews crucified
afresh the Son of God. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 2}
So it will be again. But it is over the seventh-day Sabbath that the
battle will be fought. The authorities of this world will rise up in their
pride and power to make laws to restrict religious liberty. They will assume
a right that is God's alone, and, like Nebuchadnezzar, will think that they
can force the conscience, which only God can control. Even now they are
making a beginning, and this they will carry forward till they reach a
boundary over which they can not step. Then God will interpose in behalf of
his loyal, commandment-keeping people. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 3}
Christ told his disciples that they would be delivered up to councils;
but he told them, also, that they were not to be anxious as to how they
should vindicate the truth; for he would give them a mouth and wisdom that
all their adversaries could not gainsay nor resist. These words were
fulfilled at the trial of Stephen, and at the trial of Paul, who made Felix
tremble as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.
{RH, December 20, 1898 par. 4}
Whenever persecution takes place, the spectators make decisions either
for or against Christ. Because of persecution, many will be offended. The
principles of the truth cut directly across their practise, and they will
stumble and fall, apostatizing from the faith they once advocated. Many who
have professed to love the truth will then show that they have no vital union
with the True Vine. They will be cut away, as branches that bear no fruit,
and will be bound up with unbelievers, scoffers, and mockers. {RH, December
20, 1898 par. 5}
Those who apostatize in time of trial will bear false witness and
betray their brethren, to secure their own safety. They
will tell where their brethren are concealed, putting the wolves on their
track. Christ has
warned us of this, that we may not be surprised at the cruel,
unnatural course pursued by friends and relatives. "Little children, it is the
last time," John writes, "and as ye have heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is
the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they
had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went
out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
{RH, December 20, 1898 par. 6} Ron’s Commentary: When John wrote: “They went out from us,” did he mean that
they went out from the apostate Jewish church organization, our out from the
gathered out remnant of Christ’s followers[RB5] ?
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many." False Christs did arise, deceiving the people, and leading great
numbers into the desert. Magicians and sorcerers, claiming miraculous power,
drew the people after them into the mountain solitudes. But this prophecy was
also spoken for the last days. Companies inspired by Satan will be formed to
deceive and delude. This will be a sign of the second advent. {RH, December
20, 1898 par. 7}
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this
gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto
all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy
place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them which be in Judea
flee into the mountains [let there be no presumptuous dallying]: let him
which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house:
neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And
woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath
day." Forty years afterward, at the siege of Jerusalem, the Christians
obeyed this warning; and not a Christian perished in the destruction of the
city. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 8}
"Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the
Sabbath day." Christ made the Sabbath, and he never abolished it. The
Sabbath was not rendered null and void by the crucifixion, as many claim.
Christ's death on the cross is an unanswerable argument in favor of the
changeless character of every precept of God's holy law. {RH, December 20,
1898 par. 9}
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets," Christ said; "I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil." As the head of the human family, he lived every precept, every
jot, every tittle, of the law. He lived in humanity the life that he requires
his followers to live, and therefore there is no excuse for any one to fail
of reaching the standard of perfection. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 10}
Christ emphasizes his words: "For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled." So long as the heavens and the earth
remain, so long will the Sabbath of the fourth commandment hold its claim on
the human family. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 11}
The Sabbath was given to the world as the memorial of creation.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," God says. "Six
days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor
thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." {RH,
December 20, 1898 par. 12}
God gave explicit directions concerning his Sabbath. "Verily my
Sabbaths ye shall keep," he declared; "for it is a sign between me
and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that
doth sanctify you. . . . Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the
Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath
day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall
keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a
perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel
forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh
he rested, and was refreshed." {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 13}
But human lawmakers speak, saying: Verily, the first day of the week
shall ye keep, because it is the world's sabbath. The churches keep this day
holy, and those under our supervision shall keep it also, because it is so
ordained on our statute-books. We have chosen Sunday as the sabbath, and men
must keep it. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 14}
But this day so universally exalted is a spurious sabbath, a common
working-day. It is accepted in the place of the day that the Lord has blessed
and sanctified; but the sure result of this course may be seen in the
punishment which fell upon Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. As priests of
God, these men had been commanded to offer always the fire of God's own
kindling, which was kept burning before God day and night. This was ever to
be strictly observed. But Nadab and Abihu drank wine too freely; and because
of this their minds were not keen, but confused, and they were unable to
distinguish between the sacred and the common. They took their censers,
"and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire
before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from
the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." {RH,
December 20, 1898 par. 15}
God has given full directions regarding his law, so that none need be
left in darkness, unless they choose darkness rather than light. But the
apostasy of the Jewish nation represents the apostasy that will be made by
the world in the last days. Just as the Jews chose darkness in regard to the
message that Christ came to the world to bring, so men today are choosing
darkness. Sanctified and blessed by God, the Sabbath was designed to be the great
memorial of creation, and a blessing to mankind. But men are trampling it
underfoot. It is the test of today, as Christ was the test when he was in our
world in human form. It will ever stand unmoved, a rock of offense to the
Christian world, as was Christ to the Jewish nation. As the rejection of
Christ decided the eternal destiny of the Jews, so the rejection of God's
holy memorial will decide the fate of many professing Christians. {RH,
December 20, 1898 par. 16}
Men may ignore the Sabbath, they may trample it under their feet; but
they can not make it less binding upon them. No one has any excuse for
accepting the rubbish that has been piled upon the Sabbath of the Lord. No
one has any excuse for accepting a human sabbath, created by him whom God
designates as the "man of sin," who shall think to change times and
laws. He thinks to, but he does not do it; although he may think thus to show
his supremacy over God, he can not change God's law; this is God's prerogative
only. God is over all kings and rulers. He is God, and besides him there is
none else. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 17}
The statutes of the Lord are to be reverenced and obeyed. God is
supreme authority; and when his law is set aside as a matter of no
consequence, the transgressor must surely bear the results of his own sin,
though God bears long with him. {RH, December 20, 1898 par. 18} Chapter I. Destruction of Jerusalem.
"The days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a
trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and
they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not
the time of thy visitation." [LUKE 19:43, 44.] {4SP 17.1}
From the crest of Olivet, Jesus looks upon Jerusalem. Fair and
peaceful is the scene spread out before him. In the midst of gardens and
vineyards and green slopes studded with pilgrims' tents, rise the terraced hills,
the stately palaces, and massive bulwarks of Israel's capital. The
daughter of Zion seems in her pride to say, "I sit a queen, and shall
see no sorrow;" as lovely now, and deeming herself as secure in Heaven's
favor, as when, ages before, the royal minstrel sung, "Beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion," "the city of
the great King." [PS. 48:2.] In full view are the magnificent buildings of the temple.
The rays of the setting sun light up the snowy whiteness of its marble walls,
and gleam from golden gate and tower Ron’s Commentary: Notice that these words: “I sit a queen and
shall see no sorrow, are words applied to Babylon in Revelation 18[RB6] . Like mother, like daughter. And remember, this was a prefigure of the
SDA church, p. 25, The Great
Controversy, which begins at His Sanctuary, 5T, 211.
18 and pinnacle. "The perfection
of beauty" it stands, the pride of the Jewish nation. What child of
Israel could gaze upon the scene without a thrill of joy and admiration! But
far other thoughts occupy the mind of Jesus. "When he was come near, he
beheld the city, and wept over it." [LUKE 19:41.] Amid the universal
rejoicing of the triumphal entry, while palm branches wave, while glad
hosannas awake the echoes of the hills, and thousands of voices declare him
king, the world's Redeemer is overwhelmed with a sudden and mysterious
sorrow. He, the Son of God, the Promised One of Israel, whose power has
conquered death, and called its captives from the grave, is in tears, not of
ordinary grief, but of intense, irrepressible agony. {4SP 17.2}
His tears were not for himself, though he well knew whither his feet
were tending. Before him lay Gethsemane. Not far distant was the place of
crucifixion. Upon the path which he was soon to tread must fall the horror of
great darkness as he should make his soul an offering for sin. Yet it was not
a contemplation of these scenes that cast the shadow upon him in this hour of
gladness. No forebodings of his own superhuman anguish clouded that unselfish
spirit. He wept for the doomed thousands of Jerusalem,--because of the
blindness and impenitence of those whom he came to bless and save. {4SP 18.1}
The history of a thousand years of privilege and blessing, granted to
the Jewish people, was unfolded to the eye of Jesus. The Lord had made Zion
his holy habitation. There prophets had unsealed their rolls and uttered
their warnings. There 19 priests had waved their censers,
and daily offered the blood of slain lambs, pointing forward to the Lamb of
God. There had Jehovah dwelt in visible glory, in the shekinah above the mercy-seat.
There rested the base of that mystic ladder connecting earth with
Heaven,--that ladder upon which angels of God descended and ascended, and
which opened to the world the way into the holiest of all. Had Israel as a
nation preserved her allegiance to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood
forever, the elect metropolis of God. But the history of that favored people
was a record of backsliding and rebellion. They had resisted Heaven's grace,
abused their privileges, slighted their opportunities. {4SP 18.2}
Amid forgetfulness and apostasy, God had dealt with Israel as a loving
father deals with a rebellious son, admonishing, warning, correcting, still
saying in the tender anguish of a parent's soul, How can I give thee up? When
remonstrance, entreaty, and rebuke had failed, God sent to this people the
best gift of Heaven; nay, he poured out to them all Heaven in that one gift.
{4SP 19.1}
For three years the Son of God knocked at the gate of the impenitent
city. He came to his vineyard seeking fruit. Israel had been as a vine
transplanted from Egypt into a genial soil. He dug about his vine; he pruned
and cherished it. He was unwearied in his efforts to save this vine of his
own planting. For three years the Lord of light and glory had gone in and out
among his people. He healed the sick; he comforted the sorrowing; he raised
the dead; he spoke pardon and peace to the repentant. He gathered about him
the weak and
20 the weary, the helpless and the
desponding, and extended to all, without respect to age or character, the
invitation of mercy: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." [MATT. 11:28.] {4SP 19.2}
Regardless of indifference and contempt, he had steadfastly pursued
his ministry of love. No frown upon his brow repelled the suppliant. Himself
subjected to privation and reproach, he had lived to scatter blessings in his
path, to plead with men to accept the gift of life. The waves of mercy,
beaten back by the stubborn heart, returned in a tide of untiring love. But
Israel had turned from her best friend and only helper. The pleadings of his
love had been despised, his counsels spurned, his warnings ridiculed. {4SP
20.1}
The hour of grace and reprieve was fast passing; the cup of God's
long-deferred wrath was almost full. The cloud of wrath that had been
gathering through ages of apostasy and rebellion, was about to burst upon a
guilty people, and He who alone could save them from their impending fate had
been slighted, abused, rejected, and was soon to be crucified. When Christ
should hang on Calvary's cross, Israel's day as a nation favored and blessed
of God would be ended. The loss of even one soul is a calamity in comparison
with which the gain of a world sinks into insignificance; but as Christ
looked upon Jerusalem, the doom of a whole city, a whole nation, was before
him; that city, that nation which had once been the chosen of God,--his
peculiar treasure. {4SP 20.2}
Prophets had wept
over the apostasy of Israel. Jeremiah wished that his eyes were a fountain of
tears, that he might "weep day and night for the
21 slain of the daughter of his
people." What,
then, was the grief of Him whose prophetic glance took in, not years, but
ages? He beholds the destroying angel hovering over the ancient metropolis of
patriarchs and prophets. From the ridge of Olivet, the very spot afterward occupied
by Titus and his army, he looks across the valley upon the sacred courts and
porticoes, and with tear-blinded eyes he sees, in awful perspective, the
walls surrounded by alien armies. He hears the tread of the hosts mustering
for battle. He hears the voice of mothers and children crying for bread in
the besieged city. He sees her holy and beautiful house, her palaces and
towers, given to the flames, and where once they stood, only a heap of
smoldering ruins. {4SP 20.3}
He looks down the ages, and sees the covenant people scattered in
every land, like wrecks on a desert shore. He sees in the temporal
retribution about to fall upon her children, but the first draught from that
cup of wrath which at the final Judgment she must drain to its dregs. Divine
pity, yearning love, finds utterance in the mournful words: "O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"
[MATT. 23:37.] Oh that thou, a nation favored above every other, hadst known
the time of thy visitation, and the things that belong unto thy peace! I have
stayed the angel of justice, I have called thee to repentance, but all in
vain. It is not merely servants, delegates, and prophets, whom thou hast
refused and
22 rejected, but the Holy One of
Israel, thy Redeemer. If thou art destroyed, thou art alone responsible.
"Ye will not come to me that ye might have life." {4SP 21.1}
Christ saw in Jerusalem a symbol of a world
hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and rushing on to meet the retributive
judgments of God.
The woes of a fallen race, pressing upon his soul, forced from his lips that
exceeding bitter cry. He saw the record of sin traced in human misery, in
tears and blood; his heart was moved with infinite pity for the afflicted and
suffering ones of earth; he yearned to relieve all. But he knew that even his
hand might not turn back the incoming tide of human woe; few would seek their
only source of help. He was willing to suffer and to die to bring salvation
within their reach; but few would come to him that they might have life. {4SP
22.1}
The Majesty of Heaven in tears! the Son of the infinite God troubled
in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene filled all Heaven with wonder.
That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a
task it is, even for infinite power, to save the guilty from the consequences
of transgressing the law of God. Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world enclosed in a deception similar to that which
caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of
Christ; the great sin of
the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the
foundation of his government in Heaven and earth. The precepts of Jehovah would be
despised and set at naught. Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan,
doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of
truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness! strange infatuation!
23 {4SP 22.2}
Two days before the Passover, when Christ had for the last time
departed from the temple, after denouncing the hypocrisy of the Jewish
rulers, he again went out with his disciples to the Mount of Olives, and seated
himself with them upon a grassy slope overlooking the city. Once more he
gazed upon its walls, its towers and palaces. Once more he beheld the temple
in its dazzling splendor, a diadem of beauty crowning the sacred mount. {4SP
23.1}
A thousand years before had the psalmist magnified God's favor to
Israel in making her holy house his dwelling-place: "In Salem is his
tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion." [PS. 76:2.] "He chose
the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which he loved. And he built his sanctuary
like high palaces." [PS. 78:68, 69.] The first temple had been erected
during the most prosperous period of Israel's history. Vast stores of
treasure for this purpose had been collected by King David, and the plans for
its construction were made by divine inspiration. Solomon, the wisest of
Israel's monarchs, had completed the work. This temple was the most
magnificent building which the world ever saw. Yet the Lord had declared by
the prophet Haggai, concerning the second temple, "The glory of this
latter house shall be greater than of the former." "I will shake
all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this
house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." [HAG. 2:9, 7.] {4SP 23.2}
After the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, it was rebuilt
about five hundred years before the birth of Christ, by a people who from a
lifelong captivity had returned to a wasted and almost
24 deserted country. There were then
among them aged men who had seen the glory of Solomon's temple, and who wept
at the foundation of the new building, that it must be so inferior to the
former. The feeling that prevailed is forcibly described by the prophet:
"Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how
do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as
nothing?" [HAG. 2:3.] Then was given the promise that the glory of this
latter house should be greater than of the former. {4SP 23.3}
But the second temple had not equaled the first in magnificence; nor
was it hallowed by those visible tokens of the divine presence which
pertained to the first temple. There was no manifestation of supernatural power
to mark its dedication. No cloud of glory was seen to fill the newly erected
sanctuary. No fire from Heaven descended to consume the sacrifice upon its
altar. The shekinah no longer abode between the cherubim in the most holy
place; the ark, the mercy-seat, and the tables of the testimony were not to
be found therein. No voice sounded from Heaven to make known to the inquiring
priest the will of Jehovah. {4SP 24.1}
For centuries the Jews had vainly endeavored to show wherein the
promise of God, given by Haggai, had been fulfilled; yet pride and unbelief
blinded their minds to the true meaning of the prophet's words. The second
temple was not honored with the cloud of Jehovah's glory, but with the living
presence of One in whom dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily,--who was
God himself manifest in the flesh. The "Desire of all nations" had
indeed come to his
25 temple when the Man of Nazareth
taught and healed in the sacred courts. In the presence of Christ, and in
this only, did the second temple exceed the first in glory. But Israel had
put from her the proffered gift of Heaven. With the humble Teacher who had
that day passed out from its golden gate, the glory had forever departed from
the temple. Already were fulfilled the Saviour's words, "Your house is
left unto you desolate." [MATT. 23:38.] {4SP 24.2}
The disciples had been filled with awe and wonder at Christ's
prediction of the overthrow of the temple, and they desired to understand
more fully the meaning of his words. Wealth, labor, and architectural skill
had for more than forty years been freely expended to enhance its splendors.
Herod the Great had lavished upon it both Roman wealth and Jewish treasure,
and even the emperor of the world had enriched it with his gifts. Massive
blocks of white marble, of almost fabulous size, forwarded from Rome for this
purpose, formed a part of its structure; and to these the disciples had
called the attention of their Master, saying, "See what manner of stones
and what buildings are here!" [MARK 13:1.] {4SP 25.1}
To these words, Jesus made the solemn and starting reply, "Verily
I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that
shall not be thrown down." [MATT. 24:2.] {4SP 25.2}
With the overthrow of Jerusalem the disciples associated the events of
Christ's personal coming in temporal glory to take the throne of universal
empire, to punish the impenitent Jews, and to break from off the nation the
Roman yoke. The Lord had
26 told them that he would come the
second time. Hence at the mention of judgments upon Jerusalem, their minds
revert to that coming, and as they are gathered about the Saviour upon the
Mount of Olives, they ask, "When shall these things be? and what shall
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" [MATT. 24:3.]
{4SP 25.3}
The future was mercifully veiled from the disciples. Had they at that
time fully comprehended the two awful facts,--the Redeemer's sufferings and
death and the destruction of their city and temple,--they would have been
paralyzed with horror. Christ presented before them an outline of the
prominent events to transpire before the close of time. His words were not
then fully understood; but their meaning was to be unfolded as his people
should need the instruction therein given. The prophecy which he
uttered was twofold in its meaning: while foreshadowing the destruction of
Jerusalem, it prefigured
also the terrors of the last great day. {4SP 26.1}
Jesus declared to the listening disciples the judgments that were to
fall upon apostate Israel, and especially the retributive vengeance that
would come upon them for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah.
Unmistakable signs would precede the awful climax. The dreaded hour would
come suddenly and swiftly. And the Saviour warned his followers: "When
ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth let him understand), then let
them which be in Judea flee into the mountains." [MATT. 24:15, 16.] When
the idolatrous standards of
27 the Romans should be set up in the
holy ground, which extended some furlongs outside the city walls, then the
followers of Christ were to find safety in flight. When the warning sign
should be seen, judgment was to follow so quickly that those who would escape
must make no delay. He who chanced to be upon the housetop must not go down
through his house into the street; but he must speed his way from roof to
roof until he reach the city wall, and be saved "so as by fire."
Those who were working in the fields or vineyards must not take time to
return for the outer garment laid aside while they should be toiling in the
heat of the day. They must not hesitate a moment, lest they be involved in
the general destruction. {4SP 26.2}
In the reign of Herod,
Jerusalem had not only been greatly beautified, but by the erection of
towers, walls, and fortresses, added to the natural strength of its
situation, it had been rendered apparently impregnable. He who would at this
time have foretold publicly its destruction, would, like Noah in his day,
have been called a crazed alarmist. But Christ had said, "Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." [MATT. 24:35.]
Because of her sins, wrath had been denounced against Jerusalem, and her
stubborn unbelief rendered her doom certain. {4SP 27.1}
The Lord had declared by the prophet Micah: "Hear this, I pray
you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that
abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and
Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests
thereof
28 teach for hire, and the prophets
thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not
the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." [MICAH 3:9-11.] {4SP
27.2}
How exactly did these words describe the corrupt and self-righteous
inhabitants of Jerusalem! While claiming to rigidly observe the law of God,
they were transgressing all its principles. They hated Christ because his
purity and holiness revealed their iniquity; and they accused him of being
the cause of all the troubles which had come upon them in consequence of
their sins. Though they knew him to be sinless, they had declared that his
death was necessary to their safety as a nation. "If we let him thus
alone," said the Jewish leaders, "all men will believe on him; and
the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation." [JOHN
11:48.] If Christ were sacrificed, they might once more become a strong,
united people. Thus they reasoned, and they concurred in the decision of
their high priest, that it would be better for one man to die than for the
whole nation to perish. {4SP 28.1}
Thus had the Jewish leaders "built up Zion with blood, and
Jerusalem with iniquity." And yet, while they slew their Saviour because
he reproved their sins, such was their self-righteousness that they regarded
themselves as God's favored people, and expected the Lord to deliver them
from their enemies. "Therefore," continued the prophet, "shall
Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps,
and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." [MICAH
3:12.] {4SP 28.2}
For forty years after the doom of Jerusalem had
29 been pronounced by Christ himself,
the Lord delayed his judgments upon the city and the nation. Wonderful was
the long-suffering of God toward the rejecters of his gospel and the
murderers of his Son. The parable of the unfruitful tree represented God's
dealings with the Jewish nation. The command had gone forth. "Cut it
down; why cumbereth it the ground?" [LUKE 13:7.] but divine mercy had
spared it yet a little longer. There were still many among the Jews who were
ignorant of the character and the work of Christ. And the children had not
enjoyed the opportunities or received the light which their parents had
spurned. Through the preaching of the apostles and their associates, God
would cause light to shine upon them; they could see how prophecy had been
fulfilled, not only in the birth and life of Christ, but in his death and
resurrection. The children were not condemned for the sins of the parents;
but when, with a knowledge of all the light given to their parents, the
children rejected the additional light granted to themselves, they became
partakers of the parents' sins, and filled up the measure of their iniquity.
{4SP 28.3}
The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem, only confirmed the Jews in
their stubborn impenitence. In their hatred and cruelty toward the disciples
of Jesus, they rejected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew his
protection from them, and removed his restraining power from Satan and his
angels, and the nation was left to the control of the leader she had chosen.
Her children had spurned the grace of Christ, which would have enabled them
to subdue
30 their evil impulses, and now these
became the conquerors. Satan aroused the fiercest and most debased passions
of the soul. Men did not reason; they were beyond reason,--controlled by
impulse and blind rage. They became Satanic in their cruelty. In the family
and in the nation, alike among the highest and the lowest classes, there was
suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion, murder. There was no safety
anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed one another. Parents slew their
children, and children their parents. The rulers of the people had no power
to rule themselves. Uncontrolled passions made them tyrants. The Jews had
accepted false testimony to condemn the innocent Son of God. Now false
accusations made their own lives uncertain. By their actions they had long
been saying, "Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before
us." [ISA. 30:11.] Now their desire was granted. The fear of God no
longer disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and the highest
civil and religious authorities were under his sway. {4SP 29.1}
The leaders of the opposing factions at times united to plunder and
torture their wretched victims, and again they fell upon each other's forces,
and slaughtered without mercy. Even the sanctity of the temple could not
restrain their horrible ferocity. The worshipers were stricken down before
the altar, and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of the slain. Yet
in their blind and blasphemous presumption the instigators of this hellish
work publicly declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be
destroyed, for it was God's own city. To establish
31 their power more firmly, they
bribed false prophets to proclaim, even when Roman legions were besieging the
temple, that the people were to wait for deliverance from God. To the last, multitudes held fast
to the belief that the Most High would interpose for the defeat of their
adversaries. But Israel had spurned the divine protection, and now she had no
defense. Unhappy Jerusalem! rent by internal
dissensions, the blood of her children, slain by one another's hands, crimsoning
her streets, while alien armies beat down her fortifications and slew her men
of war! {4SP 30.1}
All the predictions given by Christ concerning the destruction of
Jerusalem were fulfilled to the letter. The Jews experienced the truth of his
words of warning, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to
you again." {4SP 31.1}
Signs and wonders appeared, foreboding disaster and doom. A comet,
resembling a flaming sword, for a year hung over the city. An unnatural light
was seen hovering over the temple. Upon the clouds were pictured chariots
mustering for battle. Mysterious voices in the temple court uttered the
warning words, "Let us depart hence." The eastern gate of the inner
court, which was of brass, and so heavy that it was with difficulty shut by a
score of men, and having bolts fastened deep into the firm pavement, was seen
at midnight to be opened of its own accord. {4SP 31.2}
For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of
Jerusalem, declaring the woes that were to come upon the city. By day and by
night he chanted the wild dirge, "A voice from the
32 east; a voice from the west; a
voice from the four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the temple; a voice
against the bridegroom and the bride; and a voice against all the
people." This strange being was imprisoned and scourged; but no
complaint escaped his lips. To insult and abuse he answered only, "Woe
to Jerusalem! woe, woe to the inhabitants thereof!" His warning cry
ceased not until he was slain in the siege he had foretold. {4SP 31.3}
Not one Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. Christ had
given his disciples warning, and all who believed his words watched for the
promised sign. After the
Romans had surrounded the city, they unexpectedly withdrew their forces, at a
time when everything seemed favorable for an immediate attack. In the providence
of God the promised signal was thus given to the waiting Christians, and
without a moment's delay they fled to a place of safety,--the refuge city
Pella, in the land of Perea, beyond Jordan. {4SP 32.1}
Terrible were the calamities which fell upon Jerusalem in the siege of
the city by Titus. The last desperate assault was made at the time of the
passover, when millions of Jews had assembled within its walls to celebrate
the national festival. Their stores of provision, which if carefully preserved
would have been sufficient to supply the inhabitants for years, had
previously been destroyed through the jealousy and revenge of the contending
factions, and now all the horrors of starvation were experienced. A measure
of wheat was sold for a talent. Great numbers of the people would steal out
at night, to appease their hunger by devouring herbs and wild plants growing
33 outside the city walls, though they
were often detected, and punished with torture and death. Some would gnaw the
leather on their shields and sandals. The most inhuman tortures were
inflicted by those in power to force from the want-stricken people the last
scanty supplies which they might have concealed. And these cruelties were not
infrequently practiced by men who were themselves well fed, and who were
merely desirous of laying up a store of provision for the future. {4SP 32.2}
Thousands perished from famine and pestilence. Natural affection
seemed to have been utterly destroyed. Children would be seen snatching the
food from the mouths of their aged parents. The question of the prophet,
"Can a woman forget her sucking child?" [ISA. 49:15.] received the
answer within the walls of that doomed city, "The hands of the pitiful
women have sodden their own children; they were their meat in the destruction
of the daughter of my people." [LAM. 4:10.] {4SP 33.1}
The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the Jews, and thus
cause them to surrender. Those prisoners who resisted when taken, were
scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Hundreds were
daily put to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued until,
along the valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, crosses were erected in so
great numbers that there was scarcely room to move among them. So terribly
was fulfilled the profane prayer uttered forty years before, "His blood
be on us, and on our children." [MATT. 27:25.] {4SP 33.2}
Titus would willingly have put an end to the fearful scene, and thus
have spared Jerusalem the full
34 measure of her doom. He was filled
with horror as he saw the bodies of the dead lying in heaps in the valleys.
Like one entranced, he looked from the crest of Olivet upon the magnificent
temple, and gave command that not one stone of it be touched. Before
attempting to gain possession of this stronghold, he made an earnest appeal
to the Jewish leaders not to force him to defile the sacred place with blood.
If they would come forth and fight in any other place, no Roman should
violate the sanctity of the temple. Josephus himself, in a most eloquent
appeal, entreated them to surrender, to save themselves, their city, and
their place of worship. But his words were answered with bitter curses. Darts
were hurled at him, their last human mediator, as he stood pleading with
them. The Jews had rejected the entreaties of the Son of God, and now
expostulation and entreaty only made them more determined to resist to the
last. In vain were the efforts of Titus to save the temple; One greater than
he had declared that not one stone was to be left upon another. {4SP 33.3}
The blind obstinacy of the Jewish leaders, and the detestable crimes
perpetrated within the besieged city, excited the horror and indignation of
the Romans, and Titus at last decided to take the temple by storm. He
determined, however, that if possible it should be saved from destruction.
But his commands were disregarded. After he had retired at night to his tent,
the Jews, sallying from the temple, attacked the soldiers without. In the
struggle, a firebrand was flung by a soldier through an opening in the porch,
and immediately the chambers about the holy house were in a blaze. Titus
rushed to the place,
35 followed by his generals and
legionaries, and commanded the soldiers to quench the flames. His words were
unheeded. In their fury the soldiers hurled blazing brands into the chambers
adjoining the temple, and then with their swords they slaughtered in great
numbers those who had found shelter there. Blood flowed down the temple steps
like water. Thousands upon thousands of Jews perished. Above the sound of
battle were heard voices shouting, "Ichabod!"--the glory is
departed. {4SP 34.1}
The fire had not reached the holy house itself when Titus entered,
and, beholding its unsurpassed splendor, he was impelled to a last effort for
its preservation. But in his very presence, a soldier thrust a lighted torch
between the hinges of the door, and in an instant the flames burst out within
the sanctuary. As the red glare revealed the walls of the holy places,
glittering with gold, a frenzy seized the soldiers. Goaded on by a desire for
plunder, and filled with rage by the resistance of the Jews, they were beyond
control. {4SP 35.1}
The lofty and massive structures that had crowned Mount Moriah were in
flames. The temple towers sent up columns of fire and smoke. As the lurid
tide rolled on, devouring everything before it, the whole summit of the hill
blazed like a volcano. Mingled with the roar of the fire, the shouts of the
soldiers, and the crash of falling buildings, were heard the frantic,
heart-rending cries of old and young, priests and rulers. The very mountains
seemed to give back the echo. The awful glare of the conflagration lighted up
the surrounding country, and the people gathered upon the hills, and gazed in
terror upon the scene.
36 {4SP 35.2}
After the destruction of the temple, the whole city soon fell into the
hands of the Romans. The leaders of the Jews forsook their impregnable
towers, and Titus found them solitary. He gazed upon them with amazement, and
declared that God had given them into his hands; for no engines, however
powerful, could have prevailed against those stupendous battlements. Both the
city and the temple were razed to their foundations, and the ground upon
which the holy house had stood was "plowed as a field." More than a
million of the people were slaughtered; the survivors were carried away as
captives, sold as slaves, dragged to Rome to grace the conqueror's triumph,
thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheaters, or scattered as homeless
wanderers throughout the earth. {4SP 36.1}
The Jews had forged their own fetters; they had loaded for themselves
the cloud of vengeance. In the utter destruction that befell them as a
nation, and in all the woes that followed them in their dispersion, they were
but reaping the harvest which their own hands had sown. Their sufferings are
often represented as a punishment visited upon them by the direct decree of
God. This is a device by which the great deceiver seeks to conceal his own
work. By stubborn rejection of divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused the
protection of God to be withdrawn from them, and Satan was permitted to rule
them according to his will. The horrible cruelties enacted in the destruction
of Jerusalem are a demonstration of Satan's vindictive power over those who
yield to his control. {4SP 36.2}
We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for
37 the peace and protection which we
enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing
fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great
reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering in holding in check
the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of
divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the
sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but he leaves
the rejecters of his mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown.
Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every
passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown,
which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted,
is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to
control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and
enmity of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning
to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace, and turning away the
pleadings of divine mercy. Never was given a more decisive testimony to God's
hatred of sin, and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty.
{4SP 36.3}
The Saviour's prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon
Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible scene was
but a faint shadow. The second advent of the Son of God is foretold by lips which
make no mistake: "Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great
glory. And he shall send his
38 angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other." [MATT. 24:30, 31.] Then shall they that
obey not the gospel be consumed with the spirit of his mouth, and destroyed
with the brightness of his coming. [2 THESS. 2:8.] {4SP 37.1}
Let men beware lest they neglect the lesson conveyed to them in the
words of Christ. He has declared that he will come the second time, to gather
his faithful ones to himself, and to take vengeance on them that reject his
mercy. As he warned his disciples of Jerusalem's destruction, giving them a
sign of the approaching ruin that they might make their escape, so he has
warned his people of the day of final destruction, and given them signs of
its approach, that all who will may flee from the wrath to come. Those who
behold the promised signs are to "know that it is near, even at the
door." "Watch ye therefore," are his words of admonition.
"If thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief." {4SP
38.1}
The world is no more ready now to credit the warning than were the
Jews in the days of our Saviour. Come when it may, the end will come unawares
to the ungodly. When life is going on in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed
in pleasure, in business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious leaders
are magnifying the world's progress and enlightenment, and the people are
lulled in a false security,--then, as the midnight thief steals within the
unguarded dwelling, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and
ungodly, "and they shall not escape." {4SP 38.2} God bless the diligent study of His
Word, |
[RB2]Begin at My 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. |
[RB3]Fear and Shun "'They that forsake the law
praise the wicked.' Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world,
yet claiming great purity, plead for union with those who have ever been the
opposers of the cause of truth, we should fear and shun them as decidedly as
did Nehemiah. Such counsel is prompted by the enemy of all good. It is the
speech of timeservers, and should be resisted as resolutely today as then.
Whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God' people in His
guiding power, should be steadfastly withstood." E.G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 660. |
[RB4]Daniel 11:30 -
For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be
grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy
covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have
intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. |
"Christ was a
protestant...The Reformers date back to Christ and the apostles. They came
out and separated themselves from a religion of forms and ceremonies. Luther
and his followers did not invent the reformed religion. They simply accepted
it as presented by Christ and the apostles." E.G. White, Review and Herald, vol. 2, 48, col. 2.
"The
Sanhedrin had rejected Christ's message and was bent upon His death therefore
Jesus departed from Jerusalem, from the priests, the temple, the religious
leaders, the people who had been instructed in the law, and turned to another
class to proclaim His message, and to gather out those who should carry the
gospel to all nations. As the light and life of
men was rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities in the days of Christ, so
it has been rejected in every succeeding generation. Again and again the
history of Christ's withdrawal from |