OTHER ONE: How could you possibly know what they might have done?
David: No Jesus did not return yet. Mark 13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
You guys should stop talking and start cracking open some books to find something substantial to bring to the table. These are not arguments for your position at all. I am not helped, If you want to bring me out of my error you need to do better then this.
First, How could I know? Well first there is substantial testimonies of what happened when people saw Luke 21:20 “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” Also foretold in Luke 19 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, [44] And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. [45] And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
There is literally a ton of stuff in the Bible about bailing out of Jerusalem. I could spend the rest of this morning filling up this page with the verses and I would not be done. There is verses in most of the NT that say something in reference to it.
Concerning Babylon which Jeremiah and I believe other prophets use for a name to call unrepentant Jerusalem John says “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
Did Jerusalem repent? Read Luke 19 above again. Who does Jesus have a problem with? Romans? Samaria? Sodom? Look closely, its what the whole Bible is about, Jerusalem. They killed Jesus and all His apostles.
Matthew 23: “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
[35] That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
[36] Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
[37] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
[38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”
Now you guys what to drag this over a empty void of thousands of years and plop it back down into some irrelevant future for a reversed meaning. Why? And for what reason, it’s not necessary.
CS LEWIS WRITES: ““Say what you like," we shall be told [by some critics], "the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, 'This generation shall not pass till all these things be done.' And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else." [Here the imaginary critics end speaking. CS Lewis begins next.] It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible. Yet how teasing, also, that within fourteen words of it should come the statement "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." The one exhibition of error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side.”
Jesus came, get over it. From there I would estimate that He is coming again RIGHT NOW, depending on what you do with the Gospel. If you doing nothing then expect judgment. If you are drinking in the bar with people at work expect judgment. On the other hand if you are preaching the Gospel you will see Jesus vindicated just as He was before, exactly like He was before.
The Bible is not a crystal ball where you can look into it and predict the future. It is not a TV set where you can sit down and watch it. It is not something you can come to some conclusion about without having to deal with error, and we all make mistakes. I make more then you guys do, I am sure you will agree.
Anyway, get some books. How about Gentry’s before Jerusalem fell? Too busy to read books? I only read the Bible? If you go to church you are already getting something from a book. Get some books. The Bible is full of arguments, and you cannot have arguments without thinking, and you cannot have a lot of thinking without a lot of books.
AD 33 -70 is only a historical parable, the whole thing can be repeated again at anytime. No I do not mean that Jesus is going to send out the 70 again as one of the last posters implied, but that similar things have happened.
AD 33 -70 is only a historical parable, the whole thing can be repeated again at anytime because man has not changed and neither has God. But NOT in the reverse order and for the opposite reasons that I hear so often from your camp. You cannot mix it all up, it is not a news papers view of the future. There were wars like there were never wars before. There were earthquakes there were famines. Do some reading.
During this period, Jesus said there would also be earthquakes in many places. Tacitus mentions earthquakes at Rome. He wrote that "Frequent earthquakes occurred, by which many houses were thrown down" and that "twelve populous cities of Asia fell in ruins from an earthquake."
Seneca, writing in the year 58 A. D., said: "How often have cities of Asia and Achaea fallen with one fatal shock! how many cities have been swallowed up in Syria! how many in Macedonia! how often has Cyprus been wasted by this calamity ! how often has Paphos become a ruin! News has often been brought us of the demolition of whole cities at once." He mentions the earthquake at Campania during the reign of Nero. In 60 A.D., Hierapous, Colosse, and Laodicea were overthrown—Laodicea being so self-sufficient that it recovered without the Imperial aid furnished other cities. In 63 A.D,, the city of Pompeii was greatly damaged by earthquake. There were earthquakes in Crete, Apamea, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, and Judea. Earthquakes in divers places!
This is true. Now if I was to make an argument from your camp I would be asking some completely different and true questions, some difficult (still wrong though). You guys and not doing a very good job, trust me. Please try harder and take this more seriously. It is good for you, even if I am wrong.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
