Josephus mentions a wondrous sign of Angels warring in the clouds over Jerusalem during the Jewish war.
It is almost as if Josephus is witnessing the actual fulfillment of theOlivet Discourse and Revelation.
The Olivet Discourse and Revelation are one and the same Event!
Mat 24:7
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines,
pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
Luk 21:11
“And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and
pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.
The Destruction of Jerusalem - George Peter Holford, 1805AD
Our Lord adds
"pestilences" likewise. Pestilence treads upon the heels of famine, it may therefore reasonably be presumed, that this terrible scourge accompanied the famines which have just been enumerated. History, however, particularly distinguishes two instances of this calamity, which occurred before the commencement of the Jewish war.
The first took place at Babylon about A. D. 40, and raged so alarmingly, that great
multitudes of
Jews fled from that city to Seleucia
for safety, as hath been hinted already.
The other happened at Rome A.D. 65, and carried off prodigious
multitudes. Both Tacitus and Suetonius also record, that similar calamities prevailed, during this period, in various parts of the Roman empire.
After
Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of Titus,
pestilential diseases soon made their appearance there to aggravate the miseries, and deepen the horrors of the siege. They were partly occasioned by the immense multitudes which were crowded together in the city, partly by the putrid effluvia which arose from the unburied dead, and partly from spread of
famine.
Rev 16:2
So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.
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Couldn't a cloud symbolize smoke, which would have been heavy over Jerusalem because of the burning of the City......
Eze 32:7
When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a
cloud,
And the moon shall not give her light.
Mat 24:29
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mar 13:24
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
Luk 21:25
“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
Here are some rather "bizarre" heavenly type of events that Josephus recorded:
[6] - Josephus has collected the chief of these portents together, and introduces his account by a reflection on the strangeness of that infatuation, which could induce his countrymen to give credit to impostors, and unfounded reports, whilst they disregarded the divine admonitions, confirmed, as he asserts they Were, by the following extraordinary
signs :
1. "
A meteor, resembling a sword,
[7] hung over Jerusalem during one whole year." This could not be a comet, for it was stationary, and was visible for twelve successive months. A sword too, though a fit emblem for destruction, but ill represents a
comet.
2. "On the eighth of the month Zanthicus, (before the feast of unleavened bread) at the ninth hour of the night, there shone round about the altar, and the circumjacent buildings of the temple,
a light equal to the brightness of the day, which continued for the space of half an hour." This could not be the effect of lightning, nor of a vivid aurora
borealis, for it was confined to a particular spoil and the light shone
unintermittedly thirty minutes.
3. "
As the High Priest were leading a heifer to the altar to be sacrificed, she brought forth a lamb, in the midst of the temple." Such is the strange account given by the historian. Some may regard it as a "Grecian fable," while others may think that they discern in this prodigy a miraculous rebuke of Jewish infidelity and impiety, for rejecting the ANTITYPICAL Lamb, who had offered Up Himself as an atonement, "once
for all," and who, by thus completely fulfilling their design, had virtually abrogated the Levitical sacrifices. However this may be, the circumstances of the prodigy are remarkable. It did not occur in an obscure part of the city, but in the
temple ; not at an ordinary time, but at
the passover, the season of our LORD'S crucifixion in the presence, not of the vulgar merely, but of the
High Priests and their attendants, and when they were
leading the sacrifice
to the altar.
4. "'
About the sixth hour of the night, the eastern gate of the temple was seen to open without human assistance." When the guards informed the Curator of this event, he sent men to assist them in shutting it, who with great difficulty succeeded. -- This gate, as hath been observed already, 'Was of solid brass, and required twenty men to close it every evening. It could not have been opened by a "strong gust of wind," or a
slight earthquake;" for Josephus says, it was secured by iron bolts And bars, which were let down into a large threshold; consisting of one entire stone."
[8]
5. "Soon after the feast of the Passover, in various parts of the country, before the Setting of the sun,
chariots and armed men were seen in the air, passing round about Jerusalem. " Neither could this portentous spectacle be occasioned by the
aurora borealis, for it occurred
before the
setting of the sun ; or merely the fancy of a few villagers, gazing at the heavens, for it was seen in
various parts of the country.
6. "At the subsequent
feast of Pentecost, while the priests were going, by night, into the inner, temple to perform their customary ministrations, they first felt, as they said, a shaking, accompanied by an indistinct murmuring, and afterwards voices as of a multitude, saying, in a distinct and earnest manner, "
LET US DEPART HENCE." This gradation will remind the reader of that awful transaction, which the feast of Pentecost *as principally instituted to commemorate. First, a shaking was heard ; this would naturally induce the priests to listen : an unintelligible murmur succeeds; this would more powerfully arrest their attention, and while it was thus awakened arid fixed, they heard, says Josephus, the voices as of a multitude,
distinctly pronouncing the words "LET US DEPART HENCE." -- And accordingly, before the period for celebrating this feast returned, the Jewish war had commenced, and in the space of three years afterwards, Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman army, the temple converted into a citadel, and its sacred courts streaming with the blood of
human victims.
7. As the last and most fearful omen, Josephus relates that one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a rustic of the lower class, during the
Feast of Tabernacles, suddenly exclaimed in the temple, "A voice from the east a voice from the west -- a voice from the four winds- a voice against Jerusalem and the temple -- a voice against bridegrooms and brides -- a voice against the whole people !"
These words he incessantly proclaimed aloud both day and night, through all the streets of Jerusalem, for seven years and five months together, commencing at a time (A. D. 62) when the city was in a state of peace, and overflowing with prosperity, and terminating amidst the horrors of the siege.
This disturber, having excited the attention of the magistracy, was brought before Albinus the Roman governor, who commanded that he should be
scourged. But the severest stripes drew from him neither tears nor supplications. As he never thanked those who relieved, so neither did he complain of the injustice of those who struck him. And no other answer could the governor obtain to his interrogatories, but his usual denunciation of "Woe, woe to Jerusalem !" which he still continued to proclaim through the city, but especially during the festivals, when his manner became more earnest, and the tone of his voice louder. At length, on the commencement of the siege, he ascended the walls, and, in a more powerful voice than ever, exclaimed, "Woe, woe to this city, this temple, and this people !" And then, with a presentment of his own death, added," Woe, woe to myself "' he had scarcely uttered these words when a stone from one of the Roman engines killed him on the spot.
Such are the prodigies related by Josephus, and which, excepting the first, he places in the Year immediately preceding the Jewish war. Several of them are recorded also by Tacitus. Nevertheless, it ought to be observed, -that they are received by Christian writers cautiously, and with various degrees of credit. Those, however, who are most skeptical, and who resolve them into natural causes, allow the "superintendence of GOD to awaken his people by some of these means." Whatever the fact, in this respect, may be, it is clear that they correspond to our LORD'S prediction of
"fearful sights, and great signs from heaven;" and ought to be deemed a sufficient answer to the objector, who demands whether any such appearances are respectably recorded.
The next prediction of our LORD related to the persecutions of his disciples : "They shall
lay their hands on you (said he), and
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and
into prisons, being brought before kings and
rulers for
my name's sake :" Luke xxi. 12. "and they shall
deliver you up to councils, and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten :" Mark xiii. 9.
"and some of You shall they CAUSE TO BE PUT TO DEATH."- Luke xxi. 16.
