The Coming “Great Tribulation” Foreshadowed

“Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.”​—Matt. 24:21, 22.

1. When and after what events involving Jerusalem was Daniel told about the worst time of trouble in all human history?

MORE than two thousand five hundred years ago, after the overthrow of the mighty Babylonian Empire, the aged prophet Daniel was told about the worst time of trouble to come in all human history. (Dan. 10:1 to 12:1) He was told, however, not to lose his peace of heart and mind about it. (Dan. 12:13) For more than eighty years Daniel had been an exile in idolatrous Babylon on the Euphrates River of the Middle East. There he survived the destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem, which the emperor of Babylon had brought about in the year 607 before our Common Era. (Dan. 1:1 to 2:1, 14) But shortly after mighty Babylon itself was overthrown, Daniel received the assurance from God’s Word that Jerusalem would be rebuilt. The city and its territory of Judah were to lie desolate only seventy years, even as Daniel’s friend, the prophet Jeremiah, had predicted. (Dan. 9:1-3) But, more than that, God’s angel assured Daniel that the long-looked-for “Messiah the Leader” would come to this rebuilt Jerusalem. But not in aged Daniel’s day!

2. (a) When, according to what Daniel was told, was “Messiah the Leader” to present himself to Jerusalem, and what time period would this start off? (b) After that what was to happen to rebuilt Jerusalem?

² How long after Daniel’s day? God’s angel told Daniel that Jehovah God had marked off seventy weeks of years, or 490 (7 X 70) years, in his timetable concerning this “Messiah the Leader.” The Messiah would present himself to Daniel’s people at the end of sixty-nine of those weeks of years, or after 483 years. From when? From when the commandment would go forth to rebuild and restore the walls of Jerusalem. So the Messiah’s appearing would start off the seventieth week of years, but in the middle of that week, or after three and a half years of it, he would be “cut off” in such a way that he would “cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease” at Jerusalem. After the end of the seventy weeks of years there would be tremendous trouble for Jerusalem because of a “disgusting thing” that would be “causing desolation.” (Dan. 9:24-27) Would this trouble upon her be associated with mankind’s greatest time of trouble? Daniel died before finding out.

3. How and when did the Messiah put in appearance right on time? (b) Where was he at the middle of the “seventieth week,” and with whom?

³ The title Messiah means “Anointed One.” In autumn of the year 29 of our Common Era an anointing of someone did take place, not by some man, but by God; not with anointing oil, but with God’s holy spirit. Timing himself accurately, God did this anointing right on time, at the beginning of the seventieth week of years. He anointed his own Son in human form, Jesus, immediately after he was baptized in water by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. This anointing with holy spirit made Jesus “Messiah the Leader.” Thus the Messiah appeared, and the crucial seventieth week of years began. He started carrying out what his anointing commissioned him to do by preaching God’s Messianic kingdom. For doing this he made many enemies in Jerusalem and Judea and the neighboring provinces. In the middle of the seventieth week of years, which came in early spring of the year 33 C.E., Jesus the Messiah made sure to be at Jerusalem, with the twelve apostles whom he had chosen.

4. What did he tell the temple worshipers about their “house,” and till when was he not to be seen again?

⁴ On Tuesday, Nisan 11, three days before the Passover feast, he visited the rebuilt temple of Jerusalem. He had already foretold the destruction of this rebuilt Jerusalem; but now he plainly told the people worshiping at Jerusalem that their “house,” their religious temple, was abandoned to them. Then he added: “For I say to you, You will by no means see me from henceforth until you say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!’” (Matt. 23:37-39) He left the temple never to be seen in it again.

5. (a) What did Jesus say about the temple stones? (b) Later that same day, on the Mount of Olives, what question did his apostles ask him?

⁵ As Jesus was going out, his apostles called his attention to the temple buildings and stones. Then he made known the terrible result of the temple’s being abandoned to the people of Jerusalem by saying: “Do you not behold all these things? Truly I say to you, By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.” (Matt. 24:1, 2) Later that day he and his apostles looked at that temple from atop the Mount of Olives. As they looked down on Jerusalem and its temple, the apostles remembered what Jesus had said. This prompted them to ask the following question: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?”​—Matt. 24:3.

6. What basis was there for the three parts of the apostles’ question?

⁶ When would all these things be, resulting in destruction for Jerusalem and her temple? Since Jesus had said that the people of Jerusalem would see him no more until they said to him, “Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’s name!” when would he come again from where he was going and be present again? Since all these things could not take place without the end of a system of things, when would the conclusion of the system of things be?

7. How big a question did those apostles ask, and by it what did they want to know first of all?

⁷ Evidently those apostles did not know what was embraced in those three things about which they were asking. But Jesus knew, and so he gave them a bigger answer than they might have expected, an answer that went farther than the time that they calculated. It is plain, however, that, first of all, they wanted to know when Jerusalem and her temple were to be destroyed. Would it come in their day, in their generation? So Jesus spoke first on that feature of the threefold question and with a direct application to literal Jerusalem and her temple. He said:

8, 9. Would those misleading men whom Jesus foretold claim to be Jesus himself, and why would they have special appeal to Jews?

⁸ “Look out that nobody misleads you; for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.”​—Matt. 24:4-6.

⁹ Those misleading men would not come saying, ‘I am Jesus,’ but would come using the title Messiah and would come saying: “I am the Christ.” For Jews, those professed Messiahs would have to be Jews, not Gentiles. In view of the threatening destruction of Jerusalem, they would come as Liberators, Preservers, of the Holy City, for which reason they would have much appeal to the Jews and would mislead many. They would have just the opposite message from what Jesus, the true “Messiah the Leader,” proclaimed, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple. By this warning Jesus’ disciples could know that those self-styled Christs, who did not have the anointing of God’s spirit, were false.

10. What proves that Jesus did not make a false prediction here?

¹⁰ Jesus did not make a false prediction here, for Flavius Josephus in his history called “Wars of the Jews,” Book 6, paragraph 54, tells of three false Messiahs as being one of the reasons for the explosion against Imperial Rome that led to the destruction of Jerusalem.

“WARS AND REPORTS OF WARS”

11. When was it that the apostles were to “hear of wars and reports of wars”?

¹¹ Besides the appearance of false Christs (which would indicate that Jesus Christ would not be personally present in flesh), the apostles were to “hear of wars and reports of wars.” In the case of some wars, the apostles would be so close to the neighborhood of them as to hear directly the sound of them, and not hear mere reports of distant battles. When would this be? Since Jesus’ prophetic words here are leading up to his description of the destruction of earthly Jerusalem, these wars would be between the time of his prophecy and the destruction of the holy city. Especially so if the apostles were to “hear of” such wars.

12. (a) What question here rises concerning these wars and the international conflicts mentioned in the next verse (7)? (b) The break in Luke’s account at this point has led some commentators to argue which way?

¹² Well, then, what about the wars foretold in the very next verse, Mt 24 verse seven, in which Jesus goes on to say: “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another”? Are these wars different from the ones just previously foretold? Here the parallel account by the Evangelist Luke makes a break. After quoting Jesus’ words, “When you hear of wars and disorders, do not be terrified. For these things must occur first, but the end does not occur immediately,” Luke’s account reads: “Then he went on to say to them: ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be great earthquakes, and in one place after another pestilences and food shortages; and there will be fearful sights and from heaven great signs.’” (Luke 21:9-11) This break in Luke’s account has been understood by some commentators to mean that Jesus is here starting off on a new line. Yet, how could this reasonably be so, since Jesus is still leading on to Jerusalem’s destruction?

13. (a) At the occurrence of such wars what were the apostles not to think? (b) Did such wars occur back in apostolic times?

¹³ Plainly, then, here in the first application of the prophecy, Jesus is referring to international wars due to occur before the impending destruction of Jerusalem. By going on to say that nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, Jesus is explaining why it is that they would hear of wars and reports of wars. But they should not get disturbed at such wars, because these are not the visible proof that the end is right upon them. And according to secular history, there were wars that occurred between the time that Jesus ascended to heaven and the destruction of the holy city. There were the Parthian wars in southwest Asia and the uprisings that took place in the Roman provinces of Gaul and Spain. There was the war waged by Asinaeus and Alinaeus against the Parthians to the east of the Roman Empire. There was the Parthian declaration of war against King Izates of the land of Adiabene.a

14. (a) Were there risings of nationalities that affected the Jews back there? (b) What had rabbis said about risings of kingdoms and nations?

¹⁴ True, these were wars that had no direct connection with Jerusalem, but, be it remembered that Jesus foretold the rising in war of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom, which would allow for purely Gentile wars. During that time the Jews under the Roman Empire had no kingdom. Nevertheless, there were risings of Jews against other nationalities, and risings of other neighboring nationalities against the Jews, involving the Syrians and Samaritans, so that tens of thousands of Jews were slain. It was a very painful period for the Jews. By a number of rabbis the Jews had been told that, when kingdom would be rising against kingdom and city against city, it would indicate the time of the Messiah, that his appearance was near.

15. What can be said about earthquakes back there?

¹⁵ There were also earthquakes back there, which are on record. There was that earthquake on the island of Crete during the reign of Claudius Caesar, another in Smyrna, others in Hierapolis, Colossae, Chios, Miletus and Samos; another overthrew the city of Laodicea during the reign of Emperor Nero. There was even one in Rome, as reported by the Latin historian, Tacitus. In his Wars of the Jews, Book 4, chapter 4, paragraph 5, Josephus tells of a dreadful earthquake as occurring in Judea itself.

16. What about food shortages back there; and pestilences?

¹⁶ Famines also took place, one of which is reported on in the Acts of the Apostles, Ac chapter eleven, verses 27 to 30, the one foretold by the Christian prophet Agabus and occurring during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Reportedly, many Jews in Jerusalem died because of this famine. Of course, because of food shortage and thus the lack of proper nourishment, the people succumb to sicknesses, and pestilences break out. It was as Jesus foretold.

17. (a) How were all such things not to be interpreted, but what effect were they to have on the disciples? (b) Of what were they given warning, and what work was to be done everywhere?

¹⁷ However, these things were not to be the instantaneous forerunners of the destruction of the “city of the great King,” Jerusalem. After foretelling those things, Jesus added: “All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress.” (Matt. 24:8) As far as they had a connection with Jerusalem, they were a beginning of distress pangs for her and the province of Judea. But they did not mean the immediate end of the holy city and the desolation of Judea. But the fact that those things were at least the beginning of distress pangs for Jerusalem should have been enough to stir the Christians to greater activity, instead of relaxing and taking it easy because “the end is not yet.” (Matt. 24:6; 5:35) There was an extensive work to do, and this required great effort and persistence in spite of religious persecution. So, in Mt 24 verses 9-13 Jesus went on to warn his apostles of the coming persecution by Jews and Gentiles and of the increase of lawlessness and of the need of Christian endurance, and then he added: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”​—Matt. 24:14.

18. (a) What additional command did the resurrected Jesus give shortly before his ascension? (b) What can be said about the accomplishment of the work before Jerusalem’s destruction?

¹⁸ Several weeks later, after his resurrection from the dead and before his ascension to heaven, Jesus commanded his disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19, 20) Some days later, after the next festival of Pentecost, the faithful disciples proceeded to do this. What was the result? By about the year 60 or 61 C.E., when the apostle Paul was a prisoner in Rome, he could write to the Christian congregation in Colossae, Asia Minor, and say of their hope: “The hope of that good news which you heard, and which was preached in all creation that is under heaven.” (Col. 1:23) At that time Paul was wanting to carry the good news of God’s kingdom into Spain, as a pioneer evangelizer. (Rom. 15:23, 24) Such a preaching of God’s kingdom in the inhabited earth had already been given by ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. The “end” could not come before this was accomplished.​—Matt. 24:14.

THE END OF FIRST-CENTURY JERUSALEM

19. What event, however, was to mark the time for speedy action, and why?

¹⁹ Having mentioned the coming of “the end,” Jesus promptly proceeded to speak about the holy city upon which the end would come during that first century C.E. According to Matthew 24:15-22, he said: “Therefore, when you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains. Let the man on the housetop not come down to take the goods out of his house; and let the man in the field not return to the house to pick up his outer garment. Woe to the pregnant women and those suckling a baby in those days! Keep praying that your flight may not occur in wintertime, nor on the sabbath day; for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.”

20. Since the disciples were to flee from Judea, why were the details of Jesus’ instructions to them fitting?

²⁰ Jesus here definitely mentions the province of Judea. He instructs his disciples to flee out of it, a thing that would necessarily include fleeing out of Jerusalem, the city holy to the Jews. In Judea was where the sabbath law applied, making it hard for persons to journey over great distances or carry loads and also closing the gates of walled cities even to fugitives fleeing there. How much more difficult this would make it for Jewish women in pregnancy or nursing babies to go in haste on foot! Also, the wintertime with its bad weather would make it difficult, not only for such women, but for all other persons in flight. Upon noting the indication foretold by Jesus, all were to flee, from housetop to housetop, if necessary, and from fields outside the city. Get out of all Judea without delay!

21. Because of what about the coming trouble was there then such need of extreme haste in fleeing?

²¹ Why, though, all this extreme hurry? Because now at last “the end” was near. There was immediately at hand a “great tribulation” that would be so destructive that, were not the days of it cut short, “no flesh would be saved.” On account of God’s chosen ones, those days would be cut short. Under those circumstances, only a minority of persons in Judea would have their flesh saved. Hence, to take no chances of being among the vast majority whose flesh would not be saved in that “great tribulation,” the wise and safe course for them would be to heed Jesus’ instructions and get out of Judea, fleeing to mountains outside.

22, 23. (a) What, then, was the “holy place” where the abomination that causes desolation ought never to stand? (b) How does Luke’s parallel account indicate that that was really the “holy place”?

²² What, then, was the “holy place” in which the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” was to stand? Well, what place in all Judea was the “holy place”? It was the holy city of Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings. That is the “holy place” where the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” “ought not” to be standing at any time. (Mark 13:14-20) In fact, the parallel account of Evangelizer Luke concerning Jesus’ prophecy plainly names Jerusalem. Luke, chapter twenty-one, verses 20-24, reads:

²³ “Furthermore, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those in the country places not enter into her; because these are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled. Woe to the pregnant women and the ones suckling a baby in those days! For there will be great necessity upon the land and wrath on this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.”

24. (a) How did Christian Jews in Judea come to see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies? (b) By this what did they know?

²⁴ When was it that the Christian Jews in Judea saw “Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies”? It was in the year 66 C.E., after the revolt by the Jews brought the Roman armies of General Cestius Gallus against the city, at the time of the celebration of the festival of booths (tabernacles), October 19-25. This was exactly thirty (30) years after the seventieth week of years, foretold by the prophet Daniel, had ended in the year 36 C.E. On the thirtieth day of the Jewish month Tishri, or about November 3/4, General Gallus brought his army into the city. For five days they made an attack on the temple wall and succeeded in undermining it on the sixth day. Then, suddenly, for apparently no good reason, he withdrew his armies, which suffered considerable casualties at the hands of the pursuing Jews. Thus the unparalleled “great tribulation” for the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea did not begin then. But now the Christian Jews knew it was near.

25. (a) So the disciples in Judea thus saw what thing standing where it ought not to stand? (b) How had Daniel 9:26, 27 foretold this thing and the desolation it would cause?

²⁵ In this manner the Christian Jews caught sight of the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” standing in a “holy place,” where it “ought not” to stand, when the Roman armies stood on ground considered holy by the Jews around the city, especially when undermining the temple wall. This was the “disgusting thing” foretold in Daniel 9:27. In that verse, after describing events of the seventieth week of years, Daniel goes on to say: “And upon the wing of disgusting things there will be the one causing desolation; and until an extermination, the very thing decided upon will go pouring out also upon the one lying desolate.” This desolation of the rebuilt Jerusalem is detailed in the preceding verse Da 9:26(26b), in these words: “And the city and the holy place the people of a leader that is coming will bring to their ruin. And the end of it will be by the flood. And until the end there will be war; what is decided upon is desolations.” Jesus said that Daniel had foretold this “disgusting thing.”

26. (a) Who was this foretold “leader,” who were the “people,” and when did the flooding into the land take place? (b) How did the Jewish “chosen ones” in Judea escape this?

²⁶ Who, then, was the “leader that is coming,” whose “people” actually brought the “city and the holy place” to ruin? This was General Titus, the son of General Vespasian who became the Roman emperor in the year 69 C.E. In the Hebrew Scriptures an army is repeatedly spoken of as “the people.” Also, an army is spoken of as flooding into the invaded land. This flooding of the military “people” of the “leader,” General Titus, against Jerusalem did not occur till the spring of the year 70 C.E. So from the retreat of the armies of General Gallus in November of 66 to early spring of 70 C.E. there was an interval of more than three years and five months. During that favorable interval the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem and Judea seized the opportunity to flee out, to the “mountains” outside that doomed province, for now they knew, from what Jesus said, that Jerusalem’s desolation had drawn near. Thus these Christian “chosen ones” escaped.

27. (a) Was God’s time for Jerusalem’s “great tribulation” to start postponed? (b) Who were the Jewish Christians that were then in peril and that Jehovah wanted to be in a safe place?

²⁷ In the spring and summer of 70 C.E. the predicted “great tribulation” befell Jerusalem, causing much loss of Jewish lives. According to Jesus’ prophecy, God had a fixed time for the “great tribulation” upon Jerusalem. He did not postpone the time for it to begin. Hence he let the called-off attack of Cestius Gallus in 66 C.E. serve as notice for his endangered “chosen ones” to flee. Cestius Gallus could easily have taken Jerusalem in short order, but missed his chance. It was not God’s time. Not all of his “chosen ones” were then in the danger zone. Already there were hundreds of Christian Jews outside the province of Judea, and outside the Roman Empire as well as inside. These were in no danger because of the impending destruction of Jerusalem. Only the Christian Jews inside Judea were in peril. It was these imperiled “chosen ones” whom God purposed to have safely out of Judea and Jerusalem before his fixed time for Jerusalem’s “great tribulation” to start. Why should any of these be destroyed when he executed his vengeance upon unfaithful Jerusalem and Judea? They did not deserve to be destroyed.

28. (a) Who, then, were the Jews whose “flesh” was in danger of not being “saved”? (b) Having all his “chosen ones” safely out of the danger area, what action could Jehovah take toward Judea and Jerusalem?

²⁸ Having by then fled from Jerusalem and Judea, the Jewish Christians were thenceforth in no danger of being hurt by Jerusalem’s “great tribulation.” It was the unbelieving Jews who got bottled up inside the city that then ran the danger of being destroyed. All the Jewish “flesh” inside Jerusalem faced the danger of losing life, if the tribulation went on too long. Such non-Christian Jews had flocked into the city in order to celebrate the Passover festival on Nisan 14, this to be followed by the week-long festival of unleavened bread. It was then that General Titus swooped down with his military “people” against the doomed city. He surrounded it, thus cooping up the rebellious Jews inside. He also had his “people” build around the city a stockade about five miles long, thus to prevent any besieged Jews from escaping. Since Jehovah God had by then had all his “chosen ones” outside the doomed area, he could be speedy in executing his vengeance upon Judea and Jerusalem, thus confining the execution to a short time of intensive destructiveness.

29. How long was the siege of Jerusalem, and what tended to shorten it?

²⁹ The siege of Jerusalem did not last long, only from Nisan 14 to Elul 6 (September 6, Gregorian calendar), or less than six months, and not eighteen months as in the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonian armies in 609-607 B.C.E. There were a number of thingsb as permitted by Jehovah God that worked together for the shortening of the siege in 70 C.E.

30. (a) Despite its shortness, how disastrous was the siege? (b) What continued to be done to Jerusalem, but to continue until when?

³⁰ Short though the siege was, it was horrible enough, although not being the greatest tribulation that had happened to mankind until that time and could never occur again. The “disgusting thing that causes desolation” did bring about an extermination, according to God’s own decision. The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, reports that 1,100,000 Jews were killed or died. But because of ‘cutting short’ the days of that “great tribulation” upon Jerusalem, some Jewish “flesh” was saved. Josephus reports that 97,000 survived and were taken captive and dragged off into Egypt and other Roman provinces.c The city and its temple were completely destroyed, just as Jesus had foretold. Thus, in a very literal sense, Jerusalem continued to be “trampled on” by the Gentiles (non-Jewish nations) from the time of the first destruction and desolation of Jerusalem and Judah by the Babylonians in the year 607 B.C.E.d But someday those Gentile Times were due to be fulfilled, namely, 2,520 years after their beginning back there in autumn of 607 B.C.E. That means in 1914 C.E.​—Luke 21:24.

[Footnotes]

When General Titus inspected Jerusalem’s walls after taking the city, he felt moved to attribute his success to God. He said: “We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war, and it was no other than God who ejected the Jews out of these fortifications; for what could the hands of men, or any machines, do towards overthrowing these towers?”​—Josephus’ Wars of the Jews, Book 6, chapter 9, paragraph 1, as translated by William Whiston, M.A.

Peace with God amid the “Great Tribulation”

1. (a) Did Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24:4-22 have a literal fulfillment upon earthly Jerusalem? (b) What shows whether this prophecy is to have a further fulfillment?

REMARKABLY the prophecy of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 24:4-22, had a literal fulfillment. That was between the time of his giving it in 33 C.E. and the end of Jerusalem’s “great tribulation” in 70 C.E. Such a “great tribulation” has not occurred again or been repeated upon Jerusalem, even upon the rebuilt Jerusalem in the days of the Crusades as carried on by the Roman Catholics against Mohammedans in the Middle East. Well, then, does this mean that that much of Jesus’ prophecy is now mere dead history, with no further application? No! For even the way in which Jesus words his prediction of the “great tribulation” points to a tribulation far greater than Jerusalem’s siege and destruction in the year 70 C.E. Yes, indeed!

2. (a) Why do Bible commentators admit of difficulty in understanding or applying Jesus’ prophecy? (b) What does A. Plummer say regarding Luke 21:22?

² It is admitted by well-known Bible commentators of Christendom that Jesus’ prophecy is at times difficult to understand or apply. He gave it in answer to a question of three parts, namely, about when the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple would be and about the sign of his “presence” and of the “conclusion of the system of things.” (Matt. 24:3) These commentators admit that, in Jesus’ prophetic answer to all three parts of the question, it is sometimes hard to grasp whether he is referring to one or the other feature.a For example, with reference to Jesus’ words in Luke 21:22, “These are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled,” the author and Bible commentator A. Plummer makes this suggestion: “The reference, therefore, is to the destruction of Jerusalem regarded as a type of the end of the world.”b

3. Evidently, in speaking of Jerusalem and of the system of things, what would Jesus have in mind in order for Matthew 24:21, 22 to be true?

³ Very evidently, in all good reason, when Jesus tells of the time that “these things” would be and also what would be the sign of the “conclusion of the system of things,” Jesus had in mind something immensely bigger than what the inquiring apostles had in mind. He used doomed unfaithful Jerusalem of his day as a type, and so he had in mind the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, namely, Christendom, and he also had in mind a system of things larger than that of the Jewish system built around Jerusalem and her temple. Hence Jesus could say, without exaggeration: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” (Matt. 24:21, 22) The terrible destruction of antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, Christendom, is part of the calamitous end of this present worldwide “system of things,” commonly spoken of as “the end of the world.”​—Matt. 24:3, AV; AS.

4. (a) What features of Jesus’ prophecy carry beyond the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.? (b) Reasonably, then, Jesus could speak of Jerusalem in what way?

⁴ Certainly the second “presence” of Jesus Christ did not take place at Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E. Furthermore, the Gentile Times were to continue after her destruction, and thus this worldwide “system of things” was to continue on till at least those Gentile Times were “fulfilled.” Moreover, there are features of Jesus’ prophecy that run from after his description of Jerusalem’s “great tribulation” down to his parable of the sheep and goats, and these features were not fulfilled at Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E. (Matt. 24:23 to 25:46) So it was only reasonable that Jesus should use doomed Jerusalem in a twofold sense, literally and symbolically, typically and antitypically.

5. (a) Why are we not wrong in applying Jesus’ prophecy to from 1914 onward down to Armageddon? (b) The trampling on which “Jerusalem” was terminated in 1914, and how?

⁵ Well, then, we are not wrong when we also apply Jesus’ prophecy from the year 1914 C.E. onward to the coming war at Armageddon, are we? No! For we do have with us till now the symbolic, antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, namely, Christendom. Both the Bible’s time schedule and the physical facts of history prove that the Gentile Times, “the appointed times of the nations,” ended in 1914 C.E. about October 4/5 that year. (Luke 21:24) The Gentile nations had not been ‘trampling on’ antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem (Christendom) down till that year 1914. However, they had been trampling on the Kingdom right of God’s Messiah, as the Permanent Heir of King David, to rule at Jerusalem and over David’s nation of the twelve tribes of Israel. Hence Jehovah God terminated that trampling by Gentile nations on the Kingdom right of his Messiah in 1914 C.E. How? By installing his Son Jesus Christ on the heavenly Mount Zion and thereby restoring the Messianic kingdom. From then on God has been proceeding to make the Gentile nations the footstool of his Messianic King Jesus, to destroy them finally at the coming war of Armageddon.

6. (a) How does the modern antitypical time period compare in its events to date with the typical time period concerning ancient Jerusalem? (b) Of what was this plain proof to the nations of today?

⁶ Nineteen hundred years ago Jesus became absent from the earth by ascending back to heaven. Since old Jerusalem was typical, the time period from his ascension and down to Jerusalem’s destruction thus becomes typical. It pictures the time period from the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 C.E. down to the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon, where the political lovers and associates of antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, Christendom, will be destroyed. (Rev. 16:14-16) Were there wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes back there nineteen centuries ago before Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E.? Yes, and likewise with this present time period since 1914 C.E., when Jesus’ absence ended, spiritually speaking. In fact, the end of the Gentile Times in that year was marked by nation rising up against nation and kingdom against kingdom in the first world war of human history. Famines, pestilences and earthquakes accompanied or followed that first world war on a scale never recorded before. This was plain proof to the nations that Jesus Christ was “present” in his heavenly kingdom as Messiah, just as after his ascension to heaven and sitting down at God’s right hand he was reigning among his dedicated, baptized disciples on earth till Jerusalem’s destruction and thereafter.

7. (a) What were those events from 1914 onward, according to what Jesus said in his prophecy? (b) Why was the “end” “not yet” after those initial events?

⁷ As in the case of nineteen centuries ago, the international war, the food shortages, the pestilences and earthquakes, were a “beginning of pangs of distress.” (Matt. 24:8) This was particularly so for the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, Christendom, for World War I was preponderantly her war, all twenty-eight parties thereto except four being so-called Christian nations and kingdoms. But after more than four years of World War I, the “end” was “not yet.” It did not lead into the war of God’s great day at Armageddon. There was yet much work to do. Before that “end” would be allowed to come, a worldwide work had to be done by his faithful disciples on earth. What? “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” Just as there was a preaching of the “good news” in “all creation that is under heaven” before Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E., so there has been a witness to God’s established Messianic kingdom in all the inhabited earth to all the nations since 1914 C.E. This too has been done by Jehovah’s witnesses despite persecution.​—Matt. 24:9-14.

8. So, then, what is yet ahead for the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, and what is God’s purpose concerning the days thereof?

⁸ The antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, Christendom, has had her “beginning of pangs of distress,” and her situation and that of the rest of the world has not become less painful since. Jesus’ prophecy indicated that the “anguish of nations” and their perplexity would continue, with no improvement. (Luke 21:25, 26) There is yet ahead the “great tribulation” upon the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, a tribulation that is bound to affect her worldwide political associates and patrons. Jesus’ description of it makes it plain that, like the global flood of Noah’s day, the tribulation threatens all human life in the flesh. (Matt. 24:21, 22, 36-39) If allowed to continue too long, it would exterminate all “flesh.” Hence the purpose of God is to shorten the number of “those days” of this unparalleled “great tribulation.”​—Mark 13:19, 20.

9. Back in 1925 C.E. what suggestion was published as to how God was to shorten the days of the “great tribulation”?

⁹ On account of his “chosen ones” he cuts short the days. How? Back in the year 1925 the suggestion was set out in the leading article of the Watch Tower issue of May 1, entitled “For the Elect’s Sake,” that “those days” of the “great tribulation” were cut short in the middle. The explanation was given that the “great tribulation” had begun in 1914 C.E. and that it was not allowed to run its full course then but God stopped World War I in November of 1918. From then on God was allowing an interval for the activity of his anointed remnant of elect Christians before he let the final part of the “great tribulation” resume at the battle of Armageddon and come to its termination. This would allow for sheeplike persons to be saved.​—Matt. 25:31-46.

10. Why did that explanation back in 1925 sound good and reasonable?

¹⁰ This explanation sounded good and reasonable back there in 1925, just seven years after World War I and fourteen years before the unexpected World War II, a conflict four times as bad as World War I. But even World War II did not merge into the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon, as some had expected it to do. (Rev. 16:14-16) Here we are, twenty-four years after World War II closed in 1945 and a portion of the anointed remnant of elect ones are still here and the war at Armageddon is still ahead, although getting very close now. Back in 1925 the Bible timetable as set out in the book “The Time Is at Hand,” published in the year 1889, was still thought to be correct. Hence it was not calculated that six thousand years of man’s life on earth were yet to end during the 1970’s. Of course, the old timetable for scheduling the events of the Bible and fulfillment of prophecies affected the understanding of matters by the International Bible Students. But now chronology has been reexamined.

11. According to that suggestion, how long has the time interval proved to be till now, and what is happening to the remnant of anointed “elect” ones meantime?

¹¹ If, as explained in 1925, the first part of the “great tribulation” began in 1914 and ended in 1918, then the time interval by which “those days” of the tribulation are being cut short has extended itself for fifty-one years and is not yet over. Many of the anointed remnant that witnessed the end of World War I in November of 1918 and others that have been added to the remnant since then have grown old, and some have been killed in persecution or died of old age or other causes. For example, in the year 1948, out of 376,393 that celebrated the Lord’s Supper, only 25,395 partook of the bread and wine to testify that they were of that anointed remnant. But on April 1 of the year 1969, out of 2,719,860 that celebrated, only 10,368 partook of the bread and wine. This included quite a number of the remnant who experienced the “beginning of pangs of distress” during World War I. A number of these should survive still longer to see and go through the war of Armageddon, in harmony with Jesus’ words, at Matthew 24:33-35:

12. What did Jesus prophesy concerning “this generation”?

¹² “When you see all these things, know that he is near at the doors. Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away [unfulfilled].”

13. (a) According to the type upon ancient Jerusalem, when did the “great tribulation” not begin? (b) Where, then, is the “great tribulation” located, and what will it mean for Christendom and her allies?

¹³ Were the suggestion made in 1925 true as to cutting short the days of the “great tribulation” in the middle, “for the elect’s sake” (Matt. 24:22, AV), what then? Then the time interval between the opening part of the “great tribulation” and the closing Armageddon part thereof will prove to be around five times as long as the length of the “great tribulation” itself. However, in order to correspond with the events of the first century, from the time of Jesus’ departure by ascending to heaven in 33 C.E. to Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E., the antitypical “great tribulation” did not begin in 1914 C.E. Rather, what took place upon Jerusalem’s modern antitype in 1914-1918 was merely “a beginning of pangs of distress” for her and her political allies. The “great tribulation” such as will not occur again is yet ahead, for it means the destruction of the world empire of false religion (including Christendom) followed by the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon against the political allies of Babylonish false religion. In that “great tribulation” the present system of things must end in its religious and political phases.

14. (a) According to the word that Jesus used, how will the coming “great tribulation” be shortened? (b) Why can God shorten the days thereof, and why is it urgent?

¹⁴ It is this coming “great tribulation” that must have its days “cut short” [Greek, koloboʹo], curtailed, lopped off at the extremity, not split in the middle. This is done on account of God’s “chosen ones” and in order that ‘some flesh’ may be saved. (Matt. 24:21, 22) God has a fixed “day and hour” for the start of that “great tribulation,” without any delay. (Matt. 24:36) On account of having by that “day and hour” all the remnant of his “chosen ones” safely outside of the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem and outside of its associated secular system of things, God can then make it a swift work in executing divine vengeance and destruction upon this entire wicked system of things. As in the case of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., the number of days of this coming “great tribulation” can be “cut short,” there being no need for prolonging them. This will permit also of the saving of ‘some flesh’ alive through the “great tribulation,” since ordinarily frail human “flesh” would, without divine protection, be unable to endure the lengthening too long of this “great tribulation” that will be the worst in all human history.

15. (a) How was the work of making additional members of the Jewish remnant in Judea suddenly terminated? (b) Thereafter, how was God’s accounting with Jerusalem and Judea carried out?

¹⁵ Nineteen hundred years ago, in connection with the Christian remnant that was taken out of the Jewish nation, the apostle Paul made a significant remark in his letter to the Romans, written about the year 56 C.E. He quoted from Isaiah 10:22, 23 and said: “It is the remnant that will be saved. For Jehovah will make an accounting on the earth, consummating it and cutting it short [or, executing it speedily; Greek, syntémno].” (Rom. 9:27, 28; 1950 edition, margin) Back in 66 C.E. and shortly thereafter the Jewish Christians fled out of Judea and Jerusalem, and thus there was an abrupt cutting short of the work of making Jewish converts in Judea and Jerusalem to be a part of the Jewish remnant. Accordingly, in 70 C.E., God’s sentence of destruction upon Jerusalem and her temple was executed, not in a long-drawn-out war through a long-lasting siege, but through a surprisingly short siege due to collapse of the defense by the cooped-up rebellious Jews.

16. What was thus “cut short” for Jerusalem, and yet why did so many Jews perish?

¹⁶ Thus Jerusalem’s “great tribulation” was not lengthened, but was “cut short,” permitting 97,000 Jews to survive although not having God’s protection, whereas 1,100,000 Jews perished. Jerusalem was then, indeed, not at peace with God, but this disaster came for the reason that Jesus mentioned to her, with tears, saying: “If you, even you, had discerned in this day the things having to do with peace​—but now they have been hid from your eyes. Because . . . you did not discern the time of your being inspected.”​—Luke 19:41-44.

17. What, though, were the relations of the escaped Christian Jews, and for what were they free?

¹⁷ On the other hand, the escaped Christian Jews who were by then outside of desolated Judea were at peace with God, just like all other Christian believers, Gentile and Jewish. They were God’s “chosen ones,” free to serve him by preaching the “good news” of his Messianic kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.​—Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10.

18. (a) At the expected coming of the Son of God to execute judgment, who will join in beating themselves in lamentation? (b) After what did Jesus prophesy of the gathering of the chosen ones, and what does history show about this gathering?

¹⁸ Likewise today, the anointed remnant of God’s “chosen ones” are at peace with him, although being in the midst of a world of turmoil. They expect the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to come shortly to execute God’s judgment upon this wicked “system of things.” At that time, according to Jesus’ prophecy, not just the Jewish tribes, but “all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation.” They will see destruction staring them in the face at the hands of this “Son of man,” Jesus Christ, in his glory and power. But what about the anointed remnant? Will they join in the worldwide lamentation? No! For Jesus prophesied that his angels will “gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.” (Matt. 24:29-31) Jesus listed this after speaking about Jerusalem’s destruction. According to the historic facts, the gathering of these “chosen ones” first began to take place a long time after the “great tribulation” of ancient Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

19. (a) Into what are the “chosen ones” gathered? (b) By the time of the “great tribulation” what will be true of the remnant, and what do they expect?

¹⁹ The gathering began to take place after World War I ended in 1918. The remnant of the “chosen ones” were gathered, not into heaven, but into a unity of organization and of action world wide, in order to preach to all the nations the “good news” of God’s established kingdom, for which they had been chosen as heirs of God and as joint heirs of Jesus Christ. (Matt. 24:14; Rom. 8:16, 17; 2 Tim. 2:11, 12) By the time that the antitypical “great tribulation” bursts forth the full number of this anointed remnant will be made up; the choosing of Kingdom heirs will be ended. This anointed remnant, as a class, expect to survive the “great tribulation” and the destruction of this present “system of things” and enter into God’s new system of things under the heavenly kingdom of his Messiah, Jesus.​—Rev. 7:1-8.

‘SOME FLESH WILL BE SAVED’

20. (a) For the most part the remnant of “chosen ones” have been taken out of what religious realm? (b) Why will it not be necessary to lengthen the “great tribulation,” and what is God’s purpose?

²⁰ Since the “beginning of pangs of distress” in 1914 C.E. the majority of those composing the remnant of “chosen ones” have been persons taken out from the modern-day antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, namely, Christendom, the minority of them from the pagan realm. When, evidently soon now, Jehovah God will have completed the work of gathering from all parts under heaven his remnant of “chosen ones,” there will be no need for him to deal patiently any longer with Christendom and her political paramours of this system of things. As with the Jerusalem of the apostles’ days, Jehovah can terminate his accounting with Christendom and the rest of this system of things in a speedy way, in no prolonged order, in a reduced period of time. While He as the accurate Timekeeper has a definite day and hour for beginning the “great tribulation,” he can lop off anything tending to lengthen it. It is his purpose to do so.​—Matt. 24:21, 22, 36.

21. (a) Whose “flesh” will be saved out of the “great tribulation”? (b) How will their state differ from that of the Jewish “flesh” saved out of Jerusalem’s destruction?

²¹ Will there be ‘some flesh’ saved at that time? Yes, and this in addition to the remnant of “chosen ones.” In the first century in the apostles’ days, it was none of the “chosen ones,” either Jewish or Gentile, that were in danger at the destruction of Jerusalem and desolating of Judea. They were all outside, free from assault and capture by the Roman armies under Titus. It was the Jews cooped up inside Jerusalem that were in danger of extermination amid her “great tribulation.” Because of the shortness of the Roman siege 97,000 were spared alive, even without God’s protection. But for what? For degraded slavery among the pagan Gentiles. But in the coming antitypical “great tribulation” none of those religionists who remain with the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem and in association with her political allies will be preserved alive, no matter how short the “great tribulation” turns out to be. They will be destroyed with the present “system of things” of which they are a part. Why should they, not being at peace with God, be saved?

22. (a) Who largely are those whose “flesh” will be saved, and because of what will they survive? (b) What will they witness?

²² Yet, there are on earth today many persons, who, although not of the remnant of “chosen ones,” are at peace with God. They are fully dedicated and baptized Christians, but not having a heavenly hope and inheritance like the spirit-begotten “chosen ones.” According to the statistics available, these have for the most part fled from doomed antitypical Jerusalem, rather than stay in her to be cooped up for destruction. These make up the ‘some flesh’ that Jesus indicated would “be saved.” Not just because of shortening the days, but because of God’s protection over them, they will survive. Their surviving the “great tribulation” just ahead will not mean what it meant in the case of the 97,000 Jewish survivors of Jerusalem’s destruction, namely, a being dragged off into slavery by those making up the modern-day “disgusting thing that causes desolation.” Rather, they will witness and survive the destruction of that disgusting desolator and become free in God’s new system.​—Rev. 17:1-14; 19:11-21.

23, 24. (a) As compared with the remnant of chosen ones, what are these “tribulation” survivors called, and how many will they be by then? (b) What kind of relations do they have with God, and why?

²³ Revelation 7:9-17 speaks of these as coming “out of the great tribulation.” Compared with the number who make up the remnant of God’s “chosen ones,” these baptized, dedicated Christians with an earthly hope are a “great crowd.” No man today knows how many there will be in this “great crowd” by the time of the “great tribulation.” As to their flesh, they come out of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues. Even though not being spiritual Israelites like the “chosen ones,” they are now at peace with Jehovah God. They have forsaken the side of the enemies of God, both inside and outside of antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, and they have come onto the side of the escaped “chosen ones.” So they have a favorable standing before God’s throne and before his Lamb Jesus Christ, and they hail these as with palm branches in jubilation. Appreciating their saved condition at present and expecting salvation during the coming “great tribulation,” they cry out in public declaration:

²⁴ “Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”​—Rev. 7:9, 10.

25. (a) Despite the destructiveness of the “tribulation,” what will this “great crowd” experience? (b) Of what will they strive to prove worthy after Armageddon?

²⁵ No matter how destructive the “great tribulation” will be, no matter how intense the destructiveness of it may become because the “great tribulation” is concentrated within a cut-short time period, this unnumbered “great crowd” will be saved alive in their “flesh” and will enter God’s new system of things after his war at Armageddon. All this is because they, along with the remnant of “chosen ones,” keep at peace and harmony with God and his Lamb Jesus Christ until the “great tribulation” and till it ends, serving God “day and night in his temple” in company with the chosen remnant. (Rev. 7:14-17) Like sheep at the right hand of the Shepherd King Jesus Christ, they will continue to do good to the remnant of his spiritual “brothers,” as long as these are with them in the “flesh.” In God’s earthly system after Armageddon these sheeplike ones will gratefully strive to prove themselves worthy of salvation to all eternity to God’s praise.

[Footnotes]