Prophecies Fulfilled in the First Century
Let’s explore the many biblical prophecies that were fulfilled in the first century, specifically around the year AD 70.
The Historical Climate in first-century Judea
In Wars of the Jews, the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (AD 31-101) chronicled the war between the Jews and the Romans, which began in the spring of AD 67 with a Jewish revolt, and culminated in September AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and the end of the Old Covenant age.
Keep in mind, Josephus was not a Christian, so he had no motivation to prove Jesus’s prophecies. In fact, Josephus was a devout Jew of priestly descent who led the Jewish military forces against the Romans—that is, until his defeat at Jotapata by the Roman general Vespasian in AD 67. The two military leaders eventually became friends after Josephus had interpreted an oracle to mean Vespasian would become emperor of Rome. Josephus became infatuated with all-things Roman, even changing his name “from the very Jewish Joseph Ben Matthias to the more Roman Flavius Josephus, taking on Flavius Vespasian’s name as his benefactor.”[1] Vespasian, who had in fact become the Roman Emperor in AD 69, just as Josephus had said, sponsored Josephus’ writing Wars of the Jews, which was written approximately five years after the fall of Jerusalem.
The events leading up to the Jewish/Roman War, politically speaking, had begun back in AD 66, when the Roman procurator Gessius Florus raided the Jewish temple treasury in order to make up for low tax revenues that year. (Jerusalem, the capital of Judea, had been under Roman rule since 63 BC). This theft of the temple treasury greatly agitated the Jews, so Florus sent Roman troops to Jerusalem in order to try to calm the situation. However, the Roman soldiers ended up massacring 3600 Jews.
The slaughter triggered a Jewish revolt, in which the Jews amazingly managed to expel the Roman soldiers from Jerusalem, killing approximately 6000 soldiers in the process. This was an astounding, confidence-building feat for the Jews, given the fierce reputation of Roman soldiers. However, it would only be a matter of time before the Romans returned with as many soldiers as necessary to squash the Jewish rebellion. Convinced of this, Josephus appealed to his fellow Jews to rethink their rebellion and surrender, and avoid the inevitable bloodshed that would no doubt come. However, the Jews refused to surrender. They had had enough of Roman rule and figured this was their opportunity to break free. Besides, after their recent victory, they were feeling pretty confident about their military prowess, and they believed God was on their side. They also believed the impressive walls surrounding Jerusalem would protect them. Plus, they had enough food and supplies stockpiled within those city walls to last many years, certainly long enough to outlast the invading army’s supplies. So the Jews dug in their heels in the hopes of winning back their independence.
But that was not to be. As Jesus had prophesied in the Olivet Discourse in AD 33, judgment was coming on the Jews within a generation for killing God’s prophets, the Messiah, and his apostles (Matt. 23:31-36, 24:1-34; Luke 21:5-32)…and Josephus documented it as it happened.
The war that eventually ensued lasted three and a half years. By AD 70, approximately 1,100,000 Jews had perished and another 97,000 were taken into slavery.[2] Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, and the old covenant age had come to an abrupt end, just as Jesus had predicted in the Olivet Discourse (see details below).
What’s fascinating about all this is just how precisely the Bible’s prophecies about this event—in both Old and New Testaments—match up with what ended up happening. Consider the following examples:
In AD 33, Jesus predicted that Jerusalem would fall within a generation: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near…And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled….Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place” (Luke 21:20-32).
Jesus also predicted the temple would be destroyed: “Not one stone will be left upon another” (v. 6).
This was not just some vague prophecy that could be made to fit just about any event, as is often the case with so-called “prophets” such as Nostradamus and “psychics” such as Jeane Dixon. Jesus explicitly stated in AD 33 that the city of Jerusalem and the temple—which had been standing for more than 500 years!—would fall within a generation. Biblically, a generation equates to around forty years (Heb. 3:8-10; Num. 14:30-34; Neh. 9:21).
The event happened just as Jesus predicted. According to Josephus, by August of AD 70, the Roman soldiers breached the final defenses of Jerusalem and massacred much of the population. The Romans then destroyed the cherished Jewish temple. Not one stone was left upon another, just like Jesus had predicted. In fact, the Western Wall is the only extant trace left today of the temple area (although it is not actually part of the temple proper). The Wailing Wall, as it came to be known because of Jews weeping and mourning over the events of AD 70, remains a site of prayer and pilgrimage even today, two thousand years later.
Here’s how Josephus described the destruction of Jerusalem. The last two sentences of the quote say it all:
“Now as soon as the [Roman] army had no more people to slay, or to plunder, because there remained none to be the objects of their fury: (for they would not have spared any, had there remained any other work to be done:) Caesar [Titus] gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city, and temple: but should leave as many of the towers standing as were of the greatest eminency…and so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side. This wall was spared, in order to afford a camp for such as were to lie in garrison: as were the towers also spared in order to demonstrate to posterity what kind of city it was, and how well fortified, which the Roman valor had subdued. But for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground, by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited. This was the end which Jerusalem came to, by the madness of those that were for innovations. A city otherwise of great magnificence, and of mighty fame among all mankind (italics mine).[3]
Jerusalem was destroyed within a generation, just as Jesus predicted!
Jesus also predicted “wars and rumors and wars” within a generation (Matt. 24:6, 34). What’s fascinating about this prophecy is that when Jesus uttered it (in approximately AD 30) the Roman Empire had been at relative peace for the last 100 years. In fact, this time period was known as the Pax Romana, which is Latin for “Roman Peace.” Yet in the midst of such peace, Jesus predicted wars and destruction—within a generation, no less! And it came to pass exactly as Jesus had prophesied. Within the lifetimes of his apostles, wars were being fought from one end of the Roman Empire to the other. The Annals of Tacitus[4] document the many wars of this period. Tacitus uses such phrases as “disturbances in Germany,” “commotions in Africa,” “commotions in Thrace,” “insurrections in Gaul,” “intrigues among the Parthians,” “the war in Britain,” and “the war in Armenia.” Wars were fought “from one end of the empire to the other, within the lifetimes of Jesus’ apostles.”[5]
“Wars and rumors of wars” happened within a generation, just as Jesus had predicted.
Jesus (in AD 33) also predicted “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be”; and Jesus said it would happen within “this generation” (Matt. 24:21, 34).
Although many Christians believe the great tribulation is a still-future event, Jesus said it would happen within a generation…and it did! In fact, by the time Revelation was written in AD 65, the tribulation had already begun. John, the writer of Revelation, said he was “a companion in the tribulation” (Rev. 1:9).
Compare Jesus’s description of “the greatest tribulation ever” (Matt. 24:21) to the Josephus’s descriptions of the Jewish/Roman War of AD 67-70:
“It appears to me that the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the world, are not so considerable as those of the Jews…This makes it impossible for me to contain my lamentations…”
“It is therefore impossible to go distinctly over every instance of these men’s iniquity. I shall therefore speak my mind here at once briefly: That neither did any other city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness that this was, from the beginning of the world…”[6]
Josephus’s and Jesus’s descriptions are eerily similar. The great tribulation happened within a generation, just like Jesus had predicted. See graphic details below.
It is amazing how Christians were able to avoid this judgment by heeding Jesus’s words: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her” (Luke 21:20-21; see also Rev. 18:4-5).
According to Josephus, this last-chance opportunity to escape Jerusalem came about exactly as Jesus had said it would: “Gallus [the Roman general] had appeared before the walls [of Jerusalem], and apparently had every hope of taking the city, when, for some reason not certainly known (either owning to a supposed defeat, or ignorance of his own success, or the advice of his generals) he suddenly withdrew his forces.”[7] Note: Many historians say the reason why Gallus suddenly withdrew his forces is because the Roman emperor Nero had died, and Gallus was unsure what to do. So he paused the fighting in order to find out what the new emperor wanted (keep fighting or return home).
In other words, after surrounding Jerusalem, the Roman general Gallus suddenly (and temporarily) pulled back his troops, giving the people within the city a chance to flee. While the Jews did not take advantage of this last-chance opportunity to escape the city—thinking God would protect them as he had in the past—the Christians heeded Jesus’s advice to “flee the city when they saw the armies surrounding it.” As a result, the Christians avoided the bloodbath that followed.
Notable theologian Adam Clarke wrote, “It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city…All who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvelously escaped the general shipwreck of their country: not one of them perished.”[8]
As for the Jews who tried to flee the city after this short window of opportunity closed (after the Roman soldiers had returned and once again surrounded the city), Josephus said “they were scourged and tortured, and then crucified before the walls—nay, mockery was added to their suffering, for the Romans amused themselves by inventing novelties in the art of cruelty. Some were crucified erect, some head downwards, others sideways, and others in any posture that relieved for the moment the ordinary monotony.”[9]
The Jews who remained in the city fared no better. Normally, Jerusalem would have had enough provisions stockpiled for its residents to survive several years at a time. After all, the Jews were no stranger to war, and they planned ahead for such conflicts. However, Jerusalem was bloated with people at the time because hundreds of thousands of Jews had poured into town from the surrounding nations in order to celebrate the feast days. “Normally a city of 100 to 200 thousand people, three times a year on the pilgrim festivals of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, Jerusalem’s population swelled to 1 million souls.”[10] All these extra mouths to feed drastically affected the city’s food supplies.
To make matters even worse, an internal skirmish (within the city walls) arose between the moderates who wanted to surrender to the Romans, and the zealots who wanted to keep fighting. The zealots ended up burning the city’s food supply in order to force the moderates to fight (instead of sitting back and waiting it out). The living conditions quickly deteriorated and become ghastly. Josephus described one woman so desperate for food that she cooked and ate her own child. “Maddened by the cravings of nature, she had murdered the infant at her breast and cooked it for food.”[11] Others gnawed the hides from their shields, belts, and shoes to relieve their pangs of hunger.
“The besieged…staggered about from weakness, like drunken men, and their senses being unhinged and their memory gone, they would break into the same house two or three times the same day in search of food, unconscious that they had paid the like visit before.”[12]
Hiding in Caves / Mountains Falling on Us
Another prophecy fulfilled during the Jewish/Roman War of AD 67-70 involves “hiding in caves” and “mountains falling on us.” While such phrases do not mean much to most people today, they were fraught with meaning for ancient Jews. God often used armies as his instruments of judgment, and during such times of judgment, those on the receiving end would hide in caves and cry out in anguish to the mountains, “Fall on us…hide us from the wrath of God.” This was prophesied to happen during Jesus’ second coming, and it happened during the Jewish/Roman War of AD 67-70.
Consider three Bible prophesies about this event:
(700 BC) “Now it will come about that
In the last days…
People will go into the caves of the rocks
And into holes in the ground
Away from the terror of the Lord
And the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to terrify the earth” (Isa. 2:2, 19; NASB; see also vv. 10 and 21).
(AD 30) “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me [Jesus], but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!”’ (Luke 23:28-30).
(AD 65) “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Rev. 6:15-17).
Notice that all three passages describe people hiding in caves from the wrath of the Lord. While similarity of language does not always mean it is about the same event, it should certainly perk up our ears to that possibility. After all, Jesus and the apostles frequently linked the events of their day (in the first century) to Old Testament prophecies. The gospel of Matthew forty seven times uses phrases such as, “This was done to fulfill what was written in Isaiah” (Matt. 12:17) and “All this happened to fulfill what was said by the prophet” (Matt. 1:22).
Think about the various themes and motifs of the New Testament such as the coming of the Lord, tribulation, judgment, salvation, resurrection, kingdom of God, new heaven and earth, Mt. Zion, New Jerusalem, end times / last days, abomination of desolation, destruction of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the temple. All these New Testament themes/motifs were first prophesied about in the Old Testament. In fact, as far as themes and motifs go, there is nothing new in New Testament at all. It’s just that by the time of the writing of the New Testament, the events prophesied centuries ago in the Old Testament were finally coming to pass (or about to). The Old Testament is about prophecy; the New Testament is about fulfillment.
The New Testament motif of “hiding in caves / mountains falling on us” is another one of these prophecies from the Old Testament that was about to happen when the New Testament was written. Let’s look closer at the three passages listed above:
(AD 30) Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’’’ (Luke 23:28-30).
Here, we can be sure Jesus is referring to the judgment of Jerusalem because he addressed this comment to the “daughters of Jerusalem,” which essentially means “women/citizens of Jerusalem” (see Song of Sol. 1:5, 2:7). Moreover, we can be sure Jesus is referring to the judgment of Jerusalem in AD 70 because Jesus had just spoken about this judgment two chapters earlier and said (in AD 33): “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near…Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place” (Luke 21:20, 32). This judgment of Jerusalem would happen within a generation, or by AD 70.
Why was the judgment against Jerusalem happening? Because the Jews had a long track record of killing God’s prophets, and they were about to kill God’s very own Son and his apostles (Matt. 21:33-46; 23:31-36). Technically, the Romans killed Jesus, but they did it at the behest of the Jews (Luke 23:21, John 1:11). Therefore, judgment was coming soon on these Jews/Jerusalem, just as Jesus had repeatedly said (Matt. 23:36, 24:34; Luke 21:20, 32)!
Thirty five years later, on the eve of the fulfillment, John (Revelation) also prophesied about this event:
(AD 65) “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'” (Rev. 6:15–17, italics mine). Note: The events of Revelation were about to happen when the book was written: “Do not seal [set aside] the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand‘” (Rev. 1:1–3, 22:10, italics mine).
Just like Jesus, Revelation 6 describes the enemies of God hiding in caves from the wrath of the Lord. Then, a few chapters later, in Revelation 11, we see John is describing the judgment of Jerusalem and the temple (just like Jesus):
“Then I [John] was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months’” (Rev. 11:1-2, italics mine).
The “holy city” refers to Jerusalem (Matt. 4:5, 27:53), and John said it would be tread upon by the Gentiles for forty two months, which equates to three-and-a-half years. According to Josephus, the first Jewish/Roman War began in spring of AD 67 and ended in September AD 70—exactly three-and-a-half years later![13]
Notice, also, the reference to the temple, which John was told to measure (Rev. 11:1-2). The reason for measuring the temple was that it was going to be rebuilt. In this case, it would be destroyed and replaced with a spiritual temple of which Jesus is the Cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:4-9).
A few verses later (still in Revelation 11), John says this event would happen “in the great city spiritually called Sodom…where the Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8). This, too, is an obvious reference to Jerusalem. We can be sure of this for three reasons: One, Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. Two, the Jews considered Jerusalem “the great city.” Three, God had repeatedly called Israel “Sodom” whenever she became entangled in sin (Isaiah 1:9-10, Jer. 23:14); and this was certainly the case when Revelation was written in AD 65. Remember, Israel had just killed their Messiah (Matt. 27:20-26) and they were persecuting his disciples (1 Thess. 2:14-16). The term “Sodom” fit them well!
In fact, Moses had prophesied 1500 years earlier that in Israel’s last days she would become like Sodom (Deut. 31:29, 32:32). Well, Israel was in her last days (Heb. 1:1-2, 9:26; 1 Pet. 1:20, 4:7; Acts 2:15-17; 1 Cor. 10:11; 1 John 2:18), and she had become like Sodom (Rev. 11:8)…and her judgment was about to happen!
The Jewish/Roman War of AD 67-70 fits this timing perfectly. Jerusalem and the temple were trodden down by the Gentiles, just like Revelation said would happen. This is also when the “kings of the earth”—the Jewish leaders / enemies of Christ (Acts 4:26)—“hid themselves in the caves and cried to the rocks of the mountains, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb’” (Rev. 6:15-17). Keep in mind, also, that John explicitly said—twice!—that the events of Revelation would happen “soon, for the time is near” (Rev. 1:1–3, 22:6–10). The year AD 67–70 fits this perfectly!
Isaiah, too, had prophesied about this event seven centuries earlier:
(700 BC) “Now it will come about that in the last days…people will go into caves of the rocks and into holes in the ground away from the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty, when He arises to terrify the earth” (Isa. 2:2, 19, italics mine).
Notice how Isaiah said this would happen “in the last days” (Isa. 2:2). As just pointed out, Israel’s last days were in the first century, so this is when Isaiah’s prophecy about “hiding in caves” must have been fulfilled. And this is precisely why Jesus and John (Revelation) both alluded to it in Luke 23:28-30 and Revelation 6:15-17 (see above)!
Josephus, too, confirms that the Jewish leaders hid themselves in caves during the Jewish/Roman War of AD 67-70:
“And on this day it was that the Romans slew all the multitudes that appeared openly; but on the following days they searched the hiding places, and fell upon those that were under ground, and in the cavens.”[14]
“The multitude of those that therein perished exceeded all the destructions that either men or God ever brought upon the world; for, to speak only of what was publicly known, the Romans slew some of them, some they carried captives, and others they made a search for under ground [sic], and when they found where they were, they broke up the ground and slew all they met with.”[15]
“So now the last hope which supported the tyrants, and that crew of robbers who were with them, was in the caves and caverns under ground; whither [sic], if they could once fly, they did not expect to be searched for; but endeavored, that after the whole city should be destroyed, and the Romans gone away, they might come out again, and escape from them. This was no better than a dream of theirs; for they were not able to lie hid either from God or from the Romans. However, they depended on these under ground subterfuges.”[16]
“This Simon, during the siege of Jerusalem, was in the upper city; but when the Roman army was gotten within the walls, and were laying the city waste, he then took the most faithful of his friends with him, and among them some that were stone-cutters, with those iron tools which belonged to their occupation, and as great a quantity of provisions as would suffice them for a long time, and let himself and all them down into a certain subterraneous cavern that was not visible above ground. Now, so far as had been digged [sic] of old, they went onward along it without disturbance; but where they met with solid earth, they dug a mine under ground, and this in hopes that they should be able to proceed so far as to rise from under ground in a safe place, and by that means escape. But when they came to make the experiment, they were disappointed of their hope; for the miners could make but small progress, and that with difficulty also; insomuch that their provisions, though they distributed them by measure, began to fail them.”[17]
The Jews hid themselves in the caves from the wrath of the Lord during the Jewish/Roman War of AD 67-70!
“Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down…Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place’” (Matt. 24:2-3, 34).
When Jesus uttered this prophecy in approximately AD 33, the temple had been standing for more than five hundred years. This was actually the second temple. The first temple, which had been built by Solomon back in around 1000 BC, was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians. After the seventy-year Babylonian captivity ended, the Jews built/dedicated the second temple in 516 BC. This was the temple that was standing in Jesus’ day, although it had been significantly upgraded by Herod (see below).
Many Jews in Jesus’ day believed this temple would stand forever. The Jewish philosopher Philo (AD 50’s) said: “The temple has for its revenues not only portions of land, but also other possessions of much greater extent and importance, which will never be destroyed or diminished; for as long as the race of mankind shall last, the revenues likewise of the temple will always be preserved, being coeval in their duration with the universal world” (Spec. Laws 1:14 [76]).[18]
The reason Jews believed this temple would last forever was because of its enormous size and beauty. Although the original structure was rather modest, Herod the Great had significantly upgraded it and transformed it into the magnificent edifices and facades that are more recognizable in pictures and illustrations we are probably familiar with—hence the name Herod’s Temple. These upgrades took forty-six years to complete (John 2:20). The splendor and beauty and size gave the impression it would stand forever. It was as if God himself had built it!
Even by today’s standards, the temple and its surrounding walls and structures within the Temple Mount area are considered to be an engineering marvel. Some of the stones used to build the temple “weighed well over 100 tons [200,000 lbs.], the largest ones measuring 44.6 feet by 11 feet by 16.5 feet and weighed approximately 567 to 628 tons [1, 134,000 – 1,256,000 lbs.]. And its walls stood twenty stories high.”[19] Commenting on the outer wall of the temple area called the Western Wall (aka: the Wailing Wall), the Jewish Virtual Library says: “There is no mortar between the stones and they sit so closely together that not even a piece of paper can fit between them. Such fine maneuvering of the stones is incomprehensible given that even today’s modern machinery cannot move such heavy stones.”[20]
Josephus described the stoa—the Greek-styled covered portico with decorative support columns—as “a structure more noteworthy than any under the sun. The height of the portico was so great that if anyone looked down from its rooftop he would become dizzy and his vision would be unable to reach the end of so measureless a depth.”[21] This quote from a man who had seen Rome in all her glory! Josephus described the “one hundred and sixty two columns that stood in the stoa as being so large that three men standing in a circle could just hold hands around one of their bases.”[22]
This temple must have been an amazing sight to behold, which is why Jesus’ prediction of its destruction within a generation would have been thought unfathomable. Yet it happened, just as Jesus had said. In August of AD 70, after three-and-a-half years of fighting between the Jews and Romans, a Roman soldier threw a burning brand inside the window of one of the chambers enclosed with fabric. “Ignition in the hot month of August was easy, and in a few minutes the flames were seen to ascend. A convulsive cry arose from the Jews as they beheld their beloved temple approaching its fate. They sprang to rescue, but extinguishment was beyond human effort.”[23]
After the fire, the Romans overturned the stones until there was nothing left of the magnificent structure except a small section of the outer wall (the Western Wall). Josephus said the Romans left this section of wall standing for posterity, in order to show the world just how well fortified the city was which they overthrew (see Josephus’ quote above). Some sources say the Romans overturned the temple stones in order to get to the melted gold in between the cracks. The temple walls had been covered with gold, and the fire had melted the gold into the cracks between the stones. So the only way the Romans could get to the gold was to overturn the stones.[24] “The scant remnant of the Temple that still remained were utterly subverted, so that neither wall, nor cloister, nor altar, nor building of any kind, could any longer be distinguished.”[25]
Not one stone was left upon another, just like Jesus said (Matt. 24:1-2, 34; Luke 21:6, 32)!
Keep in mind, Jesus was neither the first nor the last to predict the destruction of this temple. Way back in 700 BC, Isaiah had prophesied:
“Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered;
And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin [when Jesus takes away sin]:
When he makes all the stones of the altar
Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust,
Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.
Yet the fortified city will be desolate” (Isa. 27:9-10, italics mine).
About a century after Isaiah, in around 600 BC, Daniel prophesied this same event: “Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off [killed] and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary” (Dan. 9:26, NASB).
And thirty five years after Jesus—on the eve of the fulfillment—John (Revelation) also prophesied about the temple’s soon destruction (Rev. 11:1-2, 22:6-10, see above). And sure enough, the temple was destroyed just a few years later in AD 70.
For more examples of fulfilled prophecies in the first century, see my book The End Is Here, available summer 2024.
Alex Polyak, The Bible Fulfilled 11/24/23
[1] Kenneth Gentry, Revelation Made Easy, 30.
[2] G. J. Goldberg, “Chronology of the War according to Josephus: Part 7, http://www.josephus.org/FlJosephus2/warChronology7Fall.html, (viewed Sept. 7, 2020).
[3] Josephus, Wars of the Jews, book 7, http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/war-7.html (viewed April 4, 2021).
[4] Tacitus (c AD 56-120) is regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians in the first century.
[5] Gary Demar, End Time Fiction, 77
[6] Timothy P. Martin and Jeffrey L. Vaughn, Beyond Creation Science, 2d ed. (Whitehall, MT: Apocalypse Vision Press, 2007), 51, 62.
[7] Josephus, ‘Bell. Jud.,’ 2:19, 6, 7, https://biblehub.com/matthew/24-16.htm (viewed June 2, 2021).
[8] Adam Clarke’s commentary on Matthew 24, https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/clarke/mat024.htm (viewed Oct. 22, 2021).
[9] Thomas Lewin, The Siege of Jerusalem by Titus, updated ed. Edited by Bradley S. Cobb (Cobb Publishing, 2016), 47.
[10] Shelley Cohney, “The Jewish Temples: The Second Temple,” JewishVirtualLibrary.org (viewed Feb. 2, 2020).
[11] Lewis, Seige of Jerusalem by Titas, 67.
[12] Ibid. 67.
[13] Gary Demar, End Time Fiction, 41.
[14] Josephus, War of the Jews, book 3, chapter 1.
[15] Ibid., book 6, chapter 1.
[16] Ibid., book 6, chapter 1.
[17] Ibid., book 7, chapter 2.
[18] Philo Judaeus, The Works of Philo Judaeus: Volume 2, The Special Laws, 1:14.
[19] Kenneth Gentry, “Another Confused Disciple,” Nov. 17, 2020, PostmillennialWorldView.com (viewed Nov. 1, 2022).
[20] Shelley Cohney, “The Jewish Temples: The Second Temple,” JewishVirtualLibrary.org (viewed Jan. 1, 2023).
[21] Ibid.
[22] Ibid.
[23] Lewin, The Siege of Jerusalem by Titus, 70
[24] Although these sources are unverifiable, the accounts makes sense, given the temple was lit ablaze.
[25] Lewin, The Seige of Jerusalem, 84.