We now move to our second controversial expression in the Olivet Discourse, mainly that of the Great Tribulation. But prior to this, let’s examine the command of Jesus to His disciples on what to do when they see the Abomination of Desolation before them.
FLEE FROM THE TRIBULATION (Matthew 24:16-22)
then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. (Matthew 24:16-22)
Beginning in v. 16, there is a switch in the address from the 2nd person pronoun “you” to the 3rd person “those who are in Judea”. Some commentators have identified this switch in pronouns as the Lord moving away from limiting His audience to the disciples by adding all in Judea[1] . However, it could very well also be communicating that while not all would be there to witness this (James was martyred prior to these events) that those who were alive and, in the region, should heed His words.
The words of the Lord were uttered with incredible urgency commanding them to flee to the mountains and away from the city and armies. They were not to go inside if they were on the rooftop. N.T. France points to: The urgency of the flight is underlined by the vivid images of the person who hears the news while resting on the roof of the house and dare not go inside (the roof was reached by an outside staircase) to pack a travel bag, and the field worker who outer garment, removed for work, must be left behind[2]. There was no time to prepare, and their exodus needed to be with haste. Their destination was to the mountains (hills) which was a traditional place of refuge to escape danger (Genesis 14:10; Ezekiel 7:16).
While the previous verses communicated the urgency by which they need to flee, vs. 19-20 expresses the difficulty of this journey. The expression “woe” is not meant to convey condemnation but pity or sympathy on those to whom these things would fall. The journey would be hard for the average person and for a pregnant woman or those who are nursing, it would be exceedingly difficult especially when considering the path and the terrain of the destination. The winter months could make things even worst for those who were to make this trip during those months. Once again, France points out: Bad weather will only make it worse: it can be very cold in the Judean hills in winter, and heavy rain and flooding can make travelling conditions difficult or even impossible.[3] The challenge of travelling on the Sabbath, while peculiar, was in all-likelihood speaking of both the trials of travelling when neither food, provisions or shelter would be available. Their journey would also potential infringe upon the Pharisees’ law which limited travel to no more than ¾ of a mile on the sabbath day. An important note to mention is that the conditions in which the Lord is referring to are all based upon 1st century life. Being on the housetop[4] or difficulties with travelling during a sabbath were issues related to those living in that generation.
It should be noted that the command to flee the city, in contrast to staying and fighting alongside the Jewish revolt, was followed by believers. A church leader named Simon (Symeon)[5] lead Christian believers out of Jerusalem to a mountainous area called “Pella” in Perea. Christian historian, Eusebius, records the actions of believers under Simon:
The people of the Church in Jerusalem were commanded by an oracle given by revelation before the war to those in the city who were worthy of it to depart and dwell in one of the cities of Perea which they called Pella. To it those who believed on Christ traveled from Jerusalem, so that when holy men had altogether deserted the royal capital of the Jews and the whole land of Judaea…[6]“
One might wonder how on earth did the believers get out of Jerusalem if the Romans had surrounded the city? Cestius Callus, who was a Roman governor of the region, marched from Syria with twenty thousand soldiers to Jerusalem to quash an uproar for the killing of 3600 citizens. The journey began in A.D. 66 when without any warning nor any reason, Cestius ordered his troops to withdraw providing ample opportunity to flee. Gary DeMar points out: As an eyewitness to the events, Josephus writes, “without any just occasion in the world”. The Jews saw the withdrawal as a sign of weakness and pursued the retreating army, which gave the Jewish Christians the opportunity to escape unhindered[7].
THE GREAT TRIBULATION – WHAT HAPPENED IN JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70 (Matthew 24:21/ Mark 13: 19/ Luke 21:23-24)
Now, let’s move to one of the most hotly debated expressions of this entire discourse, the Great Tribulation. Many have spent an enormous amount of ink communicating how the rapture fits with this Great Tribulation. I’ve been asked on numerous occasions whether I’m pre-mid or post-tribulation. My answer is none of these although I must admit that I believe that the coming of the Lord will be long after the tribulation described in this passage. My persuasion is that the actual fulfilment of this tribulation happened in A.D. 70. The description of this time of misery has been challenging to many. One of the disputes that people have with accepting these texts as fulfilled in A.D. 70 are the words “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be”. Surely there were events more dreadful in our history than the destruction of this city? When we consider the horrors of the Holocaust and Stalin’s actions in Russia, these must pale in comparison to the death and suffering inflicted in these countries? These same interpreters visualize this great tribulation prior to the 2nd coming of Christ when things will be far worst than the events of Jerusalem’s demise. While we shouldn’t minimize the tragedy of so many lives lost in the Holocaust nor in dreadful events that surely will come in our future, we must consider just how horrible the siege of Jerusalem was and the impact it had. We need to ask ourselves how an individual of Jewish descent in 1st century Judea would interpret these events?
It’s important to begin by examining that the term “great tribulation” used in Matthew, while similar with Mark, is defined differently with Luke. Luke likens the great tribulation with there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:23b-24). Luke’s definition of the Great Tribulation can be summed up in those words. Notice that the distress doesn’t fall upon the whole earth but the “land”. This land is identified as “Jerusalem” where the Gentiles, in the form of the Romans, and many will be killed and taken into other lands. All these things happened explicitly in the siege. The expression Great Tribulation is also used in Daniel 12:1 and probably what the Lord Jesus was referencing during the discourse[8]. Let’s take a moment to consider what really happened in Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Once the troops of Cestius arrived, they could not quench the rebellion and seize the city. Nero called in his great general Vespasian to put an end to the Jewish rebellion. Jerusalem stood as the last beacon of defense for the country, but the encompassing armies didn’t produce the unity amongst the Jews withing the city walls that it needed to fight the romans. To the contrary, chaos broke out in the city. Within its walls, law & order ceased with many divisions fighting each other rather than the Romans. The Zealots killed many within its walls prior to the Romans setting foot within the city. Josephus describes the actions of the Zealots:
They agreed in nothing but this, to kill those that were innocent. The noise also of those that were fighting was incessant, both by day and by night; but the lamentations of those that mourned exceeded the other; nor was there ever any occasion for them to leave off their lamentations, because their calamities came perpetually one upon another, although the deep consternation they were in prevented their outward wailing; but being constrained by their fear to conceal their inward passions, they were inwardly tormented, without daring to open their lips in groans. Nor was any regard paid to those that were still alive, by their relations; nor was there any care taken of burial for those that were dead; the occasion of both which was this, that everyone despaired of himself; for those that were not among the seditious had no great desires of anything, as expecting for certain that they should very soon be destroyed; but for the seditious themselves, they fought against each other, while they trod upon the dead bodies as they lay heaped one upon another, and taking up a mad rage from those dead bodies that were under their feet, became the fiercer thereupon. They, moreover, were still inventing somewhat or other that was pernicious against themselves; and when they had resolved upon anything, they executed it without mercy, and omitted no method of torment or of barbarity[9].
While the infighting was ensuing within its walls, famine soon struck those within the city. There was no way for food to enter Jerusalem and madmen within burned the little food they had. Again, Josephus recalls:
But as for the richer sort, it proved all one to them whether they staid in the city, or attempted to get out of it; for they were equally destroyed in both cases; for every such person was put to death under this pretense, that they were going to desert,—but in reality that the robbers might get what they had. The madness of the seditious did also increase together with their famine, and both those miseries were every day inflamed more and more; for there was no corn which anywhere appeared publicly, but the robbers came running into, and searched men’s private houses; and then, if they found any, they tormented them, because they had denied they had any; and if they found none, they tormented them worse, because they supposed they had more carefully concealed it. The indication they made use of whether they had any or not was taken from the bodies of these miserable wretches; which, if they were in good case, they supposed they were in no want at all of food; but if they were wasted away, they walked off without searching any further; nor did they think it proper to kill such as these, because they saw they would very soon die of themselves for want of food. It was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were lamenting (for want of it). But the famine was too hard for all other passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to modesty; for what was otherwise worthy of reverence was in this case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths, and what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to their infants; and when those that were most dear were perishing under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the very last drops that might preserve their lives.[10]
The means by which to obtain food was nearly impossible and many resorted to eating animal excrement, hay and even clothing to ease their hunger. Children were being sold for food and those suspected of hiding food were tortured beyond comprehension. The suffering was so great that Josephus could say that Neither did any other city suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness that this was, from the beginning of the world[11]. To make matters worst, if one decided to leave the city, they were captured by Titus and the Romans and crucified in plain sight to intimidate those within its walls. The main reason why he did not forbid that cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be liable to the same cruel treatment[12]So many were crucified during the siege that “room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies”[13]. This didn’t deter the Zealots and Josephus even pleaded with them to surrender while at the city walls to avoid more suffering.
After Nero’s death, Vespasian left for Rome to calm a rebellion and eventually became the emperor. His son Titus took command of the armies. The armies of Rome surrounded the city which deepened the inability to find food. Josephus, once again, describes this event:
So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the marketplaces like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead, wheresoever their misery seized them. thus did the miseries of Jerusalem grow worse and worse every day, and the seditious were still more irritated by the calamities they were under, even while the famine preyed upon themselves, after it had preyed upon the people. And indeed the multitude of carcasses that lay in heaps one upon another was a horrible sight, and produced a pestilential stench, which was a hinderance to those that would make sallies out of the city, and fight the enemy: but as those were to go in battle-array, who had been already used to ten thousand murders, and must tread upon those dead bodies as they marched along[14]
The famine was so bad that at one point, a mother killed her own son and cooked him to ease her hunger. When those who smelled the aroma came to see, to their horror, she offered him to them.
Eventually, Titus was able to breach the walls of the city and the temple was set on fire. While the holy house was on fire, everything was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain; nor was there a commiseration of any age, or any reverence of gravity, but children, and old men, and profane persons, and priests were all slain in the same manner; so that this war went round all sorts of men, and brought them to destruction, and as well those that made supplication for their lives, as those that defended themselves by fighting[15]. When the Romans entered the city, they continued to kill without mercy. The sight within the city of dead bodies caused the soldiers to stand in horror at what they saw.
According to Josephus, approximately 1.1 million people died during that siege. Many of the survivors were sold into slavery and the city as well as the temple were flattened to the ground to the extent that Josephus could say 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[16]. Not one stone was left upon the other that was not torn down.
The expression such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will is probably a hyperbole to describe a horrible judgment and devastation upon a people. The OT uses it in this way in the great cry in the land of Egypt (Exodus 11:6), the hail and locusts devastating its land (Exodus 9:18, 10:14) and of the Jewish captivity by the Babylonians (Ezekiel 5:9)[17]. Daniel utilizes this expression also to describe the calamity against his rulers and a time of trouble to come (Daniel 9:12; 12:1). The Lord Jesus employs this language to communicate a great devastation upon the temple, the city, and its people. To a Jewish citizen, the devastation of the great city, the destruction of the temple and its ordinances and the killing of a million with hundreds of thousands lead away into captivity would certainly have been thought of as a great tribulation. This also would have explicitly fulfilled Luke’s expression of the Lord’s words “they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24). The disciples would have understood the context being the city and its temple. It is important to notice that the statement “nor will ever be again” seems to point to something to happen the future rather than at the end of history! If there is still a time “to be” then it cannot refer to the end of human history. If the supposed future tribulation is followed immediately by the millennium or the eternal state, it would be pointless to say that a tribulation of such magnitude will ever take place again, for there would be no remaining time to prove the assertion[18].
The survivors are referred to as the elect or chosen people. These are God’s people whom God intervenes to save them by cutting short the days. They are those who God will not allow to be deceived by the false Christ and false prophets (v.24) and those gathered from the four corners of the land (v.31).
[1] France P 914
[2] IBID P. 914
[3] France P. 914
[4] Demar P. 111
[5] Simon was the successor of James, the brother of the Lord Jesus and many believe His cousin
[6] Eusebius, Church History, 3,5,3
[7] Demar P. 111
[8] Other parallels in Joel 2:2 & Revelation 16:18
[9] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 5.31-35
[10] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 5.424-425; 428-430
[11] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 5.442
[12] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 5.450
[13] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 5.451
[14] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 5.512-513; 6.1-2
[15] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 6.271
[16] Josephus, Jewish Wars, 7.3
[17] Also see Joel 1:1-4; 2:2
[18] Storms P. 254
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