Jesus, the False Prophet!

Many higher critics of Christ (Liberal theologians) state that Jesus was a false prophet, which makes the Bible untrustworthy because Jesus claimed that He would return in approximately 40 years, allow me to explain.

The statement is found in Mark chapter, 13:30-31, “…Then you will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with power and glory, truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. We need to define a couple of statements here and the first is this, what is a generation? In the time of Christ, the Jews believed and taught that a generation was approximately 40 years. To interpret this any other way is to do violence to the text. Therefore, Jesus is saying that approximately 40 years from the date He spoke this, 33 A.D. He would come in judgement, and this would be around the year 70 A.D.

The second thing that must be defined is, “what are all these things?” We must go back to the beginning of Jesus’ discussion in Mark 13, as He came out of the Temple, He said, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” The disciples asked Him, “when will these things be, and what is the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Now Jesus gives several signs of His coming.

1. Many false Christs will appear. vs 6
2. Hear of wars and rumors of war, do not be alarmed. vs 7
3. Nation will rise against nations, and earthquakes in various places. vs 8
4. They will deliver you to be beaten. vs 9-11
5. Families will divide against one another and betray one another. vs 12-13
6. When you see the Abomination of Desolation flee to the mountains. vs 14-18
7. In those days there will be such tribulation that has not been ever before. vs 19-20
8. If anyone says look, here is Christ, do not believe it, for false Christs will come. vs. 21-23
9. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars will fall from the sky. vs 24-25
10. Then you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and glory. vs 26-27

Then after this, Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Do you see the problem here, and why Critics state that Jesus falsely predicted His coming within a generation of 40 years, or did He? With today’s highly popular series called, Left Behind, by Timothy Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, hundreds of thousands of Christians have been convinced that Jesus will come back in the clouds and Rapture His church before the 1,000 reign of Christ, is this what Jesus was referring too? Very doubtful, and more important, it still doesn’t answer the Critics, nor is it a good interpretation. How do we reconcile the statement that this generation will not pass away until all these things take place? Or was Jesus wrong? God forbit.

What I am about to write is a minority report, not held by many, but it was what I was taught at Westminster Theological Seminary and through two great books, R.C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus and Kenneth Gentry’s, The Fall of Jerusalem. I believe understanding what I am about to write, will clear up much of the confusion found within the Book or Revelation.

Historians tell us that the Fall of Jerusalem was the most violent and devastating war that ever happened to the Jews, it was almost as devastating as the rise of Hitler and the 20th century holocaust. Could it be that the Book of Revelation was written in 64-65 A.D., instead of the popular date of 95-96 A.D.? If this is true, that it was written in 64-65 A.D., then it was addressed to Jewish Christians who will be facing this great tribulation during the fall of Jerusalem.

Back to what Jesus said in the gospel of Mark, that “all these things must take place in this generation!” We know from history that many things took place before the fall of Jerusalem, such as, 1-5 above, but where the difficulty comes in is the remaining 6-10, let’s look at them one by one.

6. When you see the abomination of desolation, flee to the mountains. When did this happen? Just before the destruction of Jerusalem, Jewish Zealots came into the Temple to prepare for war, they entered the Holy place and the Holy of Holies, thus defiling the Temple because they were not priests. Jesus said, when you see this, “flee to the mountains, do not take anything with you, don’t pack, just flee.” Those who did, lived, according to Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian and liaison between Rome and the Jews. Why? Because the Roman hoards surrounded the city of Jerusalem and starved the people, it became a sever famine for five months, causing most to become weak and the weakest died.

7. In those days there will be such a great tribulation that has not been ever before. Roman Legions surrounded the city bringing their engines (catapults) which lunched bolder-size white stones at the walls and over the walls. They also had engines that would launch large Darts towards Israel. Some of which were covered in tar-pitch and set ablaze. (9.) Smoke pots were at each catapult, and these filled the air with thick black smoke. In the great brush fire in Ventura County in 2017, the sky was dark, and the sun or moon could not be seen. Mark 24-25, “…the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give it’s light…” Also, to keep warm and cook the Roman soldiers cut down all the olive trees at the mount of olives. Anyone trying to leave was caught, women and children were killed, and the men crucified as a sign to the nearly one million Jews caught inside the Temple walls, to not attempt the leave. This was before Rome ordered the troops to enter the city and slaughter every man, woman, and child. Burning the Temple and removing every large stone out of its foundation, just as Jesus said!

8. If anyone says, “look here is the Christ, do not believe him, for false Christ’s will come. Again, according to Josephus in his book, Wars of the Jews, Chapter 6.5.2., “A great number of false prophets announced to the Jews to hide within the Temple walls, and they will be delivered by God.” In 6.5.3., And a strange man, named Jesus, son of Ananus, walked around Jerusalem night and day crying out, “Woe, woe to Jerusalem.” He said this without getting hoarse until he was killed by a boulder hurled by the Roman engines.

9. Is answered in #7 above.

10. Then you will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and glory. Josephus in 6.5.3., 297, “A certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those who saw it, and were not the events that followed it so considerable in nature as to deserve such signals; for before sunset, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about in the clouds.” Then the priests heard these troops say, “Let us remove (ourselves) hence.” Jesus no longer gave protection to Israel, instead He judged them by allowing Rome to conquer and He removed His protecting angels from them. The exact opposite of how He protected Israel in II Kings 6:15-17, The servant of Elisha woke up one morning and saw the Syrian Army surrounding the city, he was terrified and asked his master Elisha, “what shall we do?” So, Elisha prayed, and his servant eyes were opened, the servant went back outside and saw “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of Fire all around Elisha.” The result, Elisha prayed, and God blinded the eyes of the Syrians. But now in 70 A.D., the great protection of God was now gone in Israel because they rejected Jesus, their King and Messiah.

Conclusion, the fall of Jerusalem was exactly what Jesus predicted in Mark 13 and Matthew 24. Everything that Jesus said would happen, was fulfilled, for Christ and the scriptures cannot lie. In addition to scripture, we have the eyewitness testimony of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who recorded for us details that demonstrate that Jesus was 100% accurate. This answers our critics and helps us understand the Book of Revelation more accurately.

John, a slave of Christ