INTERESTING HISTORY ABOUT JERUSALEM

I THOUGHT THE FOLLOWING WAS WORTH POSTING:



REVELATION 12:7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,
8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world ─ he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (ESV)

From Josephus' 1st-century history, we know that the time of this heavenly battle was the spring of 66 CE. The battle where Satan was defeated by Michael took place at this time (about 40 years from the time Yeshua began his earthly ministry in the fall of 26 CE). A portion of this spiritual battle was actually seen in the skies above Jerusalem, as Josephus records:

Also on certain days after the festival [Passover] there appeared a thing so marvelous as to be beyond belief, but that it was related by many that saw it in their own eyes. Before the setting of the sun there were seen chariots driven across the sky, and hosts of armed men setting themselves in order of battle, and surrounding the cities. (Wars of the Jews, 6.5.3)

This vision, which seems to have occurred during the second Passover in the month of Iyar in 66 CE, was a supernatural sign for the Jews to flee from Jerusalem. It had been prophesied by Yeshua just before his crucifixion:

MATTHEW 24:15 "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel ─ let the reader understand ─
16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house.
18 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.
19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!
20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath." (NIV)

What was the identity of this “abomination that causes desolation”? Many people have the mistaken idea that it will be the Antichrist seating himself in a rebuilt Jewish temple on the Temple Mount. However, the parallel passage in Luke’s Gospel gives us the true understanding of this desolating abomination:

LUKE 21:20 "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near." (NIV)

When this sign of heavenly armies was seen in the skies over Jerusalem, the messianic church in Jerusalem fled to Pella and subsequently was spared when the Romans besieged Jerusalem and eventually destroyed it and the Temple 3½ years later in 70 CE.

Josephus’ account of this heavenly battle is not the only historical mention we have of this incident. About 115 CE, the Roman historian Tacitus described this same supernatural event:

In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armor. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world. (Histories, 5.13)

The early church historian Eusebius of Caesarea also wrote about this heavenly fight around 325 CE:

For before the setting of the sun chariots and armed troops were seen throughout the whole region in mid-air, wheeling through the clouds and encircling the cities. (Ecclesiastical History, 3.8)