“So likewise ye when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:33
Towards the end of Christ’s ministry, before He was crucified, He spoke of things to come, especially with regard to judgment, but also, of great grace, and the great salvation that is to be known throughout the world. After declaring the words concern His lamentation over Jerusalem before He was rejected by the Jews, and crucified, he spoke of the coming judgment upon Jerusalem, specifically its devastation. We know this occured in approximately 70 A.D., taking much longer than most believers would have believed. But it did come, and it was a devastation of terrible, monumental proportions.
Before the arrival of the Roman General Titus, commissioned to conquer Jerusalem, several opportunites had been given for the city to escape its coming destruction, with its temple being preserved. However, the Jews had become so very hardened in their attitude towards God that no offering of mercy would be accepted. With strife and battles within, and Titus outside its walls, Jerusalem was ripe for judgment because of this accumulated hardness of heart, and her rejection of Christ. She would come to the point where there would be no recourse but for God to destroy it. However, during the siege of Jerusalem by former generals, and Titus, in the midst of the continuing provocation of the Romans by the Jews, God provided a door of opportunity by which the Christians were able to flee, and escape the city, before the final storm came, in all of its devastating, terrible fury. God had provided “a way of escape” in the midst of judgment. There was wrath, but there was also, mercy.
Never perhaps in the history of the world has the whole earth seemingly been engulfed in “wars and rumors of wars.” Jesus said that a time like this would come. He also would say that, “when ye shall see all these things,” KNOW that it (judgment) is near. He even went on to say, “Verily I say unto you, ‘This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (Matt. 24:34) There are some who think that a generation is forty years, and others, one hundred years. Without minimizing the number of years of a generation, God’s word will always be accomplished. Jesus would affirm this by saying, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (v.35)
So, where are we at this point in history? Are we under judgment, the wrath of God? The answer to that question is found in looking at Jerusalem. Did they repent after the crucifixiion of Christ, His resurrection, and the mighty moving of the Spirit at Pentecost, when the living church, or body of Christ was born? The answer is no. Though many Jews were converted to Christ in the beginning, and afterwards, as the Gospel spread throughout the world, yet there would not be a repentance by the general populous, nor even the religious and governing officials of the day. The hardness of rejection had set in, and their attitude of heart only became harder…until there was no remedy. Do we see the same thing occuring today?
That which we see in the days of Noah, before the flood, was an increase in violence. However, violence was just the manifestation of something else that was very sinister, the very cause of the judgment that was to come. Scripture tells us that, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:5) In other words, as in the days of Jericho’s judgment and fall, when the iniquity of the Amorite had become full, there was no more room in the mind and heart of man for God, even for the thought of God.
Today, God’s judgment is upon all who have, “…changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” (Rom. 1:25)
Dear Father, In wrath remember mercy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.