The End Is Past: Prophecy Fulfilled in A.D. 70

The core of prophetic understanding has been obscured by modern sensationalism, distracting believers from a monumental truth: the prophecies concerning the “last days,” the “Great Tribulation,” and the “coming of the Son of Man” were fulfilled historically in the first century A.D. This event—the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in A.D. 70—did not signal the end of the physical world, but rather the definitive end of the Old Covenant era and the beginning of a new spiritual reality.

The popular modern idea of a sudden, dramatic ending preceded by a “rapture” is a recent theological invention, entirely absent from church history prior to the 19th century. A far older and more consistent view understands the Kingdom of God as unfolding progressively through history. This perspective aligns with the testimony of spiritual maturity and stands in stark contrast to the materialist fixations of futurism.

The strongest pillar supporting this historical interpretation is the clear chronological mandate given by Jesus Christ in the Olivet Discourse. To His contemporaries, Jesus stated that the entire sweep of promised judgment would occur within their lifetime, declaring unequivocally:

"Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place." (Matthew 24:34)

This statement acts as a definitive boundary. It ensures that every event listed—from local tribulations to His own prophetic "coming"—was fulfilled before that first-century cohort died. To accept this means acknowledging that the “end of the age” (Matthew 24:3) refers precisely to the obsolescence of the Old Covenant system and its final removal with the fall of the Temple.

When analyzed against the historical record of the first century, specifically the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius, the prophecies of the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) align perfectly with the events leading up to A.D. 70.

False Messiahs and Deception

Prophecy: "Many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray." (Matt 24:5) Fulfillment: The years preceding the Jewish War were plagued by messianic impostors. Historical records confirm figures like Theudas (Acts 5:36), the "Egyptian" (Acts 21:38), and Simon Magus led massive followings into the desert, promising deliverance from Rome, only to be slaughtered.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

Prophecy: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars." (Matt 24:6) Fulfillment: The Pax Romana shattered in this period. The empire was convulsed by civil war, particularly the "Year of the Four Emperors" (A.D. 69), where Galba, Otho, and Vitellius were violently overthrown in succession before Vespasian seized the throne. Simultaneously, Jewish zealots were inciting rebellion throughout Judea.

Famines and Earthquakes

Prophecy: "There will be famines and earthquakes in various places." (Matt 24:7) Fulfillment: The Book of Acts (11:28) records the prophecy of Agabus regarding a "great famine" over all the world, which occurred during the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54). Tacitus and Seneca record devastating earthquakes in Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, and Laodicea, as well as the famous quake in Pompeii in A.D. 63.

The Gospel Preached to the World

Prophecy: "This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world... and then the end will come." (Matt 24:14) Fulfillment: The Greek word used for "world" here is oikoumene, referring to the inhabited Roman world, not the entire globe. The Apostle Paul confirmed this prophecy was fulfilled before A.D. 70. In Colossians 1:23, he writes that the gospel "has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven."

The Abomination of Desolation

Prophecy: "When you see the abomination of desolation... standing in the holy place." (Matt 24:15) Fulfillment: The crucial identification that locks the prophecy into the first century is Jesus’ clarification. While Matthew and Mark use the Hebrew idiom, Luke, writing for a Gentile audience, defined it plainly: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near” (Luke 21:20). This points directly to the Roman legions surrounding the Holy City, their ensigns (bearing the image of the Emperor/Beast) standing where they ought not—on holy ground.

The Great Tribulation

Prophecy: "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world." (Matt 24:21) Fulfillment: This was hyperbole previously applied to the Babylonian destruction, proving its use as a description for monumental covenantal devastation. Historically, the siege of Jerusalem (A.D. 66–70) was indeed the "great tribulation" for the Jewish nation. Josephus records that 1.1 million Jews perished by sword and famine, a horror where women boiled their own infants for food—a literal fulfillment of the curses in Deuteronomy 28.

Cosmic Deconstruction

Prophecy: "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven." (Matt 24:29) Fulfillment: We must reject the modern tendency to interpret this language as literal cosmology. In ancient Hebrew prophecy (Isaiah 13:10, Ezekiel 32:7), catastrophic imagery served as poetic metaphor to describe the collapse of governments. The darkening of the lights symbolized the snuffing out of the Jewish hierarchy and the destruction of the Temple system that governed their world.

The Coming on the Clouds

The centerpiece of the prophecy, the Coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven, must be understood contextually. This was not a predicted physical descent to end biological history, but a spiritual manifestation of Christ’s authority to execute judgment. Throughout the Old Testament, God was often depicted as “riding on a swift cloud” to judge nations like Egypt (Isaiah 19:1).

Jesus’ coming was His judicial visitation upon Jerusalem, confirming His Messianic authority. He explicitly told the High Priest, "From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matt 26:64). This vindicated Him against the authorities who rejected Him, physically demonstrating that the old age had ended and the New Covenant was universally established.

Revelation: John’s Olivet Discourse

The Book of Revelation is not a separate, distant prophecy; it is the Apostle John’s expansion of the Olivet Discourse. The urgency is confirmed in the opening and closing of Revelation, where John writes that the events described “must soon take place,” because “the time is near” (Rev 1:1, 22:10). This immediate timing was a message of encouragement for the persecuted believers of the first century, not a cryptic warning for a distant future race.

The Beast and the Number

The symbols point directly to the hostile powers faced by first-century Christians. The Beast is consistently identified with the Roman Empire and its Emperors.

  • The Seven Heads: Revelation 17:9 identifies them as "seven mountains" (Rome, the City of Seven Hills) and "seven kings." The sequential list of Roman Emperors places Nero Caesar as the sixth king—the one who "is" (reigning) when John wrote.

  • 666: The infamous number is a cryptographic marker (Gematria). When "Nero Caesar" is spelled in Hebrew characters (Neron Kesar), the numerical value of the letters sums exactly to 666.

The Mark of the Beast

The Mark of the Beast was not a future microchip, but a symbol of allegiance to the Roman Imperial Cult. The mark on the hand (actions) and forehead (thoughts) represented submission to Caesar worship. Refusal to offer incense to the Emperor resulted in economic exclusion, preventing Christians from buying or selling by denying them access to the state-controlled trade guilds (Rev 13:17).

The Harlot and the Bride

Revelation contrasts two cities. The "Great Harlot," Babylon, is identified as the city "where their Lord was crucified" (Rev 11:8)—Jerusalem. She is dressed in purple and scarlet (the colors of the High Priest) and is drunk with the blood of the prophets. Her destruction in Revelation 18 mirrors the fall of Jerusalem in the Olivet Discourse. In contrast, the "New Jerusalem" is the Bride of Christ—the Church—which emerges victorious after the Old Covenant shell is shattered.

Conclusion: A Spiritual Kingdom

The great fulfillment of these prophecies in A.D. 70 brought the consummation of the Old Testament story and the full release of the Christian faith. The destruction of the Temple dissolved the old boundaries of ethnic law and physically inaugurated the New Heaven and New Earth—the New Covenant era.

The idea of the Second Coming is therefore best understood as a spiritual reality, a continual and progressive awakening of Christ’s life within humanity, transforming individuals and societies throughout history. This unfolding Kingdom contrasts sharply with the frantic, materialist obsession of perpetually searching for future signs or hoping for a physical escape. The prophecies are past, the victory is secured, and the Kingdom is now actively, persistently, and progressively advancing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OpenDNS is Cool

I was listening to my favorite podcast today, This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, John C. Dvorak and others (pretty much the old TechTV gang when it was an awesome cable channel, before they were bought by G4 and subsequently run into the ground). But I digress... anyway, they were discussing an awesome service called OpenDNS , so of course I decided to check it out when I got back from lunch. Sure enough, this is a very cool, completely free DNS (domain name service). For those of you who don't know, DNS is what converts Internet name addresses (i.e. www.google.com ) to it's actual IP Address (i.e. 208.67.219.230). DNS was created in the early days of the Internet because humans can remember names a lot easier than number combinations. Typically, when you type an address into a web browser, for example, it goes and runs to your Internet Service Provider's DNS server to say "where the heck is google.com?" to which your ISP's DNS server...
Read more

Is Your Bible Wrong?

Image
This may come as a shock, but if you are using a modern English translation of the Bible, the Old Testament that you are reading has been intentionally corrupted.  It is not the version that Jesus and the Apostles used.  I will reveal who corrupted it and why in a bit.    Nearly all modern English translations of the Old Testament are based on the corrupted Hebrew Masoretic text, including the KJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, etc. I believe that the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, were written by Moses in paleo-Hebrew aka proto-Sinaitic, and I agree with Dr. Douglas Petrovich, Dr. David Rohl and others that Hebrew was the world's first alphabet. We have evidence of this alphabet in use in Wadi el-Hol and elsewhere around the time of Joseph prior to the Exodus. To quote Dr. Rohl: "...it took the multilingual skills of an educated Hebrew prince of Egypt to turn these simple first scratchings into a functional script, capable of transmitting complex ideas...
Read more

The Division of America

From its earliest beginnings, the idea of America united the thirteen British Colonies.  There were many British subjects who took umbrage with the heavy hand of King George and the Crown's policies as they were were applied in the Colonies.  These frustrations accumulated over time to the point where they became intolerable and more and more Colonists decided they had had enough, until eventually they got together and decided to declare independence from Great Britain.  That idea, the spark that ignited what was to become the United States of America, was based on a set of shared principles and values.  Those principles are what have held Americans together as a nation all these years, and resulted in the most powerful and productive nation the world has ever seen.  Unfortunately, most of these principles have now been forgotten.  They are no longer taught, and the majority of voters no longer understand freedom, the Constitution (and thus the proper ...
Read more