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Page 59
Such is the prophecy, and on it I would remark, first, that what
Jesus here foretells concerning Jerusalem did in fact come to pass.
But that was not a fulfillment of his prophecy, but of Daniel�s, who
did, as is set down in the 7th chapter of this work, expressly
foretell the utter destruction of the city and the temple. And it was
from Daniel that Jesus obtained his know-ledge of the approach of
that event. For he expressly cites Daniel, Matthew xxiv. 15; Mark
xiii. 14; and you will please to observe reader, that he refers to him
in this quotation from Luke, in the words, �these be the days of
vengeance that all things which are written, may be fulfilled. So
that in foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem he did no more than
any Jew of that age, who attentively read their Scriptures, could
have done, and. been no prophet either.
2. It would have been better for his reputation as a Prophet, if he
had stopped short where Daniel stopped. For what he goes on to
foretell has not been fulfilled. For he proceeds to say, that �there
shall be signs in the sun, and the moon, and the stars,� &c. All this
is taken from the 2nd chapter of Joel, who says that such things
shall take place; not, however, at the destruction of Jerusalem, but
in �the latter days,� at the time of the restoration of Israel. So that
here Jesus has been rather unlucky. For, in truth, there were no
signs in the sun, and the moon, and the stars, at that time; neither
was there upon earth any �great distress of nations,� except in
Judea. Nor were �the powers of heaven� shaken. Certainly, they
did not see Jesus �coming in the clouds of heaven, with power,
and great glory;� and most assuredly, that generation did pass
away, and many others since, and �all these things� have not been
fulfilled.
I know very well, and have very often smiled over the contrivances
by which learned Christians have endeavoured to save the credit of
this prophecy. They say that--it is a figurative prophecy relating
entirely to the destruction of Jerusalem, which did in fact take
place in that generation; that the expressions about the �distress of
nations,� and �the sea and waves roaring,� the �signs in heaven,�
&c., are merely poetical; and that the shaking of the powers of
heaven was merely the shaking and pulling-down the stones of the
temple, figuratively called heaven; and that the glorious coming of
Jesus �in the clouds of heaven, with power, and great glory,�
meant merely, that he sent Titus, and the Romans to destroy,
Jerusalem, or perhaps might have been an invisible spectator
himself.
The reader will easily see, that all this is nonsense. And the
Commentator Grotius, after meddling a great while in this
troublesome business, at length ventures to insinuate, that God
might have suffered Jesus to be in a mistake about the time of his
second coming, and to tell the Apostles what he did, for the sake of
keeping up their spirits!
But to annihilate the figurative hypothesis of these well-meaning
Commentators at once, it will be only necessary to bring forward
the testimony following. 1. The other Evangelists make an express
distinction between the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of
Jesus; and not only so, but represent him as saying, that after that
event, (i. e., the destruction of Jerusalem, �in those days,� i. e., in
the same era in which that event took place,) �the son of man shall
come,� &c. Witness for me, Mark, chapter xiii. 24:--�But in those
days, after that tribulation, (i. e., the destruction of Jerusalem)
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven
shall be shaken. And then shall they see the son of man coming in
the clouds, with power and glory; and-then shall he send his
angels, and shall gather his elect from the four winds, from the
uttermost part of the earth, to the uttermost part of heaven Verily, I
say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things
be accomplished.� This is decisive, and cannot be evaded.
2. The Apostles and Primitive Christians believed that Jesus would
come in that generation, as is evident from many passages of the
New Testament. Paul�s Epistles to the Thessalonians prove this,
and contain an argument to them, intended to allay their terrors, or
their impatience. John says in his first Epistle, chapter ii. 18,
�Little children, it is the last hour; and as ye have heard that
Antichrist should come, even now (or already) there are many
Antichrists, whereby know that it is the last hour.� Many passages
of similar import might be brought forward. The meaning of it is
this--It appears from Paul�s 2nd Epistle to the Thessalonians, that
just before the second coming of Jesus, there was a personage to
appear who was to be called Antichrist, i. e., an enemy to the
Messiah. (This notion they got from the interpretation given by the
angel of the vision of the �little horn� in Daniel.) John, therefore,
seeing many Antichrists, i. e., opposers of the pretensions of Jesus,
considered the sign, and thus knew that it was ��the last hour,� and
that his master was soon to appear.
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