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In Matthew 24, Jesus and His disciples are leaving the temple in Jerusalem when the disciples call His attention to the structure’s beauty and grandness. Jesus, seeking to help them disconnect their faith from buildings and establish it in Him and His Father, tells them that the temple is going to be destroyed and not one stone would be left upon another.
The disciples, assuming that the destruction of the temple would occur only at the end of the world, ask Jesus, “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3 NIV84).
Jesus responds with a prophecy that weaves together two events: the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and His second coming at the end of the world.
I believe that Jesus did this not only to meet the disciples where they were spiritually, but also because the Bible is not merely a record of historical people and events; often, the events recorded in the Bible are also object lessons that teach the greater reality of the universal war between Christ and Satan. (I give examples of this in my blog Joseph: A Foreshadow of Christ.)
With this in mind, I believe that Jesus wove these two events together because He not only wanted to warn first-century Christians about the coming destruction of Jerusalem, but He also wanted to warn His followers living today about the events preceding His second coming.
In AD 70, preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, the Roman army surrounded the city but briefly pulled back. It then surrounded the city again and ultimately destroyed it. During the respite, the Christians remembered Jesus’ warning and fled the city; none of them were killed when Jerusalem was destroyed.
I believe that the world just went through the equivalent of the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem, and we are right now experiencing the brief pullback, the respite before the final end-time assault of the beastly system of Revelation, which will seek to destroy the people of God. (If you would like more on the beastly system of Revelation, please see our Unmasking the Beasts of Revelation 13 & 17: Discover Untold Truths to Prepare for What Comes Next magazine. You can read it online, download the pdf, or order a print version at no cost to any US postal address).
What am I speaking about? The recent worldwide COVID lockdowns, mandates, and tactics used by the governments of the world to coerce the consciences of people to get them to choose to use ungodly methods in how they treat each other.
Consider the parallels:
- Jerusalem contained the temple of the old covenant with the ark and the law.
- In the new covenant, the law is written in the heart and mind (Hebrews 8:10). In other words, the temple of the new covenant is the Spirit temple—the living hearts and minds of people who love and trust God, not a building made of stone.
- In AD 70, Rome, the power of the state, representing the kingdoms of this world, which are not Jesus’, surrounded Jerusalem threatening its destruction.
- In 2020–21, a worldwide coalition of nations (which is not Jesus’ kingdom) coordinated an assault on civil and religious liberty, restricting travel and assembly, closing houses of worship, censoring speech, terminating non-compliant people from employment, and coercing people to inject an experimental substance into their Spirit temples. The destruction of the resistant was threatened. (If you would like scientific evidence of the fraud, lies, and misinformation used to justify the ungodly methods used by the governments of the world, please download and read A Letter To Liberals from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Censorship and COVID an Attack on Science and American Ideals).
- In AD 70, the Roman army stepped back briefly and those who trusted Jesus fled the city; the Romans then returned and destroyed the city and the temple made of stone.
- Today, we are in the respite; the governments of the world are stepping back their mandates and coercive tactics. And the people of God are to recognize what just happened. We are to hear the warning of Christ and flee to safety. But today, we cannot flee geographically because the final assault of the beastly system will be worldwide; there will be nowhere to flee geographically. No, we flee today by leaving behind the organizations and systems that align with and practice the methods of the beast. We sever our heart’s affections, commitment, and support for the beastly systems of this world and align our hearts and minds with God and His kingdom of truth, love, and liberty. We present truth in love while leaving others free. We will not be duped into embracing the methods of coercion and restriction of liberty in order to “save lives.” The righteous will not be dominated by fear, they will not seek to protect self, but they will overcome “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they [will] not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11 NIV84).
A worldwide warning has gone out. The armies of Satan have shown themselves, and the people of God are to wake up and come out of Babylon, out of the imperial-law systems of this world and all other organizations that practice and support the methods of the beast.
We are to live out the principles of God’s kingdom, and during COVID, the actions of the righteous were seen by those who presented the truth, as they understood it, in love, while always leaving others free. They refused to mandate, to restrict liberties, to silence, to censor, to terminate employment, to coerce in any way. They would rather lose their own life than to become like Satan in how they treat others.
We have a brief respite, but the forces of God’s enemy are reorganizing; the final worldwide beastly system of coercion is soon to return with some new justification for the use of ungodly methods upon others. It will be driven by fear but also by the claim that it is for the greater good, to “save lives.” It will be claimed that if we love others, we will comply, but it will be a lie, a trick to get good people to employ the methods of Satan in how they treat others.
People of God, prepare your hearts and minds, for Jesus is coming soon!
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