The fact is that there is not a subject change in the context of the passage. For Daniel to be speaking of a different person he would have to clarify who he is talking about. One of the major rules of interpretation that Dispensationalism abuses constantly, is context. One has to remain consistent with context.
Let's look at some facts.
1. Wars and rumors of wars. When Jesus said that there would be wars and rumors of wars it was a sign that the time was near. That could only be a sign if it wasn't happening at the time He was speaking. Today that statement would not be a dramatic difference in the world because this nation as well as the nation of Israel is constantly in in a state of war. On the other hand at the time Jesus was speaking in Matt 24 they were in the time called Pax Romana. Which was a period of two centuries where there was no war and any insurrection was put down with heavy force. Today war is a way of life but then many listening to Jesus had never seen nor heard of war.
2. Famines and pestilences. During the siege of Titus in AD70 that was prevelant. Hundreds of thousands died in the siege. See the excerpt from Flavius Josephus below.
3. To the Jew no Tribulation could ever be greater. Think about what they lost. They lost their Messiah, they lost the kingdom, they lost their temple, where they sacrificed for their sins. How are their sins forgiven today? They aren't! The wrath of God came upon the unbelieving nation Israel and they will never return to the place they held as the people of God unless they repent and believe in Jesus Christ, who they hate with a vegenence.
4. There was over 1.5 million people slaughtered during the battle but no one knows how many died when the Jews turned their swords on other Jews during the siege of Titus in AD70.
5. The text cannot refer to a tribulation at the end of time, otherwise Christ would not have said nor ever shall be. The Lords return will signal the end (see 1 Cor. 15:24) of earthly affairs (see 2 Pet. 3:4). That day will be the last day (Jn. 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48). It would hardly make sense to use the expression nor ever shall be when referring to an event that is proximate to the very end of the world itself.
6. It makes no sense for Jesus to warn the listeners in Matt 24 to flee to the mountains when none of what He was saying would even affect them.
Jesus told the high priest that he and those around him would see Jesus coming in the clouds with power and great glory in Matt 26:64. How could that happen if Jesus was not going to come in the clouds for 2000+ years? Research the Old Testament scriptures and see what coming in the clouds signified.
Jer 4:13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
Isa 19:1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
The Lord coming in the clouds signifies the wrath of God coming upon a nation.
The language that is used concerning the sun, moon, and stars is also prophetic language. It is used several times in the OT signifying that a nation is about to bite the dust. Here Isaiah prophesies of the Lord destroying Babylon in 539BC.
Isa 13:9-10 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
The prophet Joel prophesied of the destruction of Jerusalem and if you remember Peter requoted that scripture to the Jews in Acts 2.
Joe 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Acts 2:19-20 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
This destruction took place in AD70. Did the sun quit shining, and the moon turn to blood, and the stars fall from heaven? No but neither did it in Isaiah 13. It was prophetic language and the Jews of that day knew exactly what it meant. Peter did not tell the Jews in Acts 2 that only part of Joel's prophesy was being fulfilled. He said, "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel". Those in power and authority in the land were looked on and depicted as the sun, moon, and stars. Why would they use sun, moon, and stars to describe powers and authorities? The same reason we do. Why do we have stars on our flag? What do they represent? State authorities.
It is the literal interpretation that is causing Dispenationalism to incorrectly interpret the book of Revelation. Another rule of interpetation is to find out if that language shows up somewhere else and what it meant there.
No the great tribulation was in AD70, which is the only thing that fits with scripture.
Here is an excerpt from Flavius Josephus, "History of the War of the Jews", which should show that the tribulation in AD70 was worse than anything the Jews had ever seen or will ever see.
Josephus writes,
Throughout the city people were dying of hunger in large numbers, and enduring unspeakable sufferings. In every house the merest hint of food sparked violence, and close relatives fell to blows, snatching from one another the pitiful supports of life. No respect was paid even to the dying; the ruffians [anti-Roman zealots] searched them, in case they were concealing food somewhere in their clothes, or just pretending to be near death. Gaping with hunger, like mad dogs, lawless gangs went staggering and reeling through the streets, battering upon the doors like drunkards, and so bewildered that they broke into the same house two or three times in an hour. Need drove the starving to gnaw at anything. Refuse which even animals would reject was collected and turned into food. In the end they were eating belts and shoes, and the leather stripped off their shields. Tufts of withered grass were devoured, and sold in little bundles for four drachmas.
Here is another excerpt,
Nor was any regard paid to those that were still alive, by their relations; nor was there any care taken of burial for those that were dead; the occasion of both which was this, that every one despaired of himself; for those that were not among the seditious had no great desires of any thing, as expecting for certain that they should very soon be destroyed; but for the seditious themselves, they fought against each other, while they trod upon the dead bodies as they lay heaped one upon another, and taking up a mad rage from those dead bodies that were under their feet, became the fiercer thereupon. They, moreover, were still inventing somewhat or other that was pernicious against themselves; and when they had resolved upon any thing, they executed it without mercy, and omitted no method of torment or of barbarity.
But when Titus was just coming thither with his armed men, Simon was acquainted with the matter before he came, and presently took the tower into his own custody, before it was surrendered, and seized upon these men, and put them to death in the sight of the Romans themselves; and when he had mangled their dead bodies, he threw them down before the wall of the city.
Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved; for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrements of the Jews' bellies; for the deserters used to swallow such pieces of gold, as we told you before, when they came out, and for these did the seditious search them all; for there was a great quantity of gold in the city, insomuch that as much was now sold [in the Roman camp] for twelve Attic [drams], as was sold before for twenty-five ..Nor does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night's time about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected.
But it appeared that the love of money was too hard for all their dread of punishment, and a vehement desire of gain is natural to men, and no passion is so venturesome as covetousness; otherwise such passions have certain bounds, and are subordinate to fear. But in reality it was God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction. This, therefore, which was forbidden by Caesar under such a threatening, was ventured upon privately against the deserters, and these barbarians would go out still, and meet those that ran away before any saw them, and looking about them to see that no Roman spied them, they dissected them, and pulled this polluted money out of their bowels; which money was still found in a few of them, while yet a great many were destroyed by the bare hope there was of thus getting by them, which miserable treatment made many that were deserting to return back again into the city.
After this man there ran away to Titus many of the eminent citizens, and told him the entire number of the poor that were dead, and that no fewer than six hundred thousand were thrown out at the gates, though still the number of the rest could not be discovered; and they told him further, that when they were no longer able to carry out the dead bodies of the poor, they laid their corpses on heaps in very large houses, and shut them up therein; as also that a medimnus of wheat was sold for a talent; and that when, a while afterward, it was not possible to gather herbs, by reason the city was all walled about, some persons were driven to that terrible distress as to search the common sewers and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat the dung which they got there; and what they of old could not endure so much as to see they now used for food.
Now, this destruction that fell upon the Jews, as it was not inferior to any of the rest in itself, so did it still appear greater than it really was; and this, because not only the whole of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter, and Jordan could not be passed over, by reason of the dead bodies that were in it, but because the Lake Asphaltitis was also full of dead bodies, that were carried down into it by the river.
Dispensationalisms literal interpretation of Revelation and Matt 24 can only be believed if one doesnt study the early church leaders. All of the prophecies concerning Dispensationalisms end times were fulfilled in AD 70. What we are waiting for is the Last Day, which is when Christ comes down at the end of time and divides the sheep from the goats. He will cast the devil, his angels and all of the goats that followed him into the lake of fire and the sheep will be with the Lord forever.
I know that this is long and I apologize but there is much to say on this subject in scripture that is being missed by Dispys following a literal interpretation that doesn't make sense.
One more thing. Many Dispys say that the stars in Rev 6:13 are literal. Yet they forget the sun is one of the smallest stars in our universe yet it is many times bigger than the earth. What would happen if the sun fell on the earth? Then in Rev 9:1 a star falls from heaven and is given a key to the bottomless pit and this is the point where most Dispys say that this star is not literal. The interesting point is that no one can tell you why one is literal and the other isn't. There is no basis to distinguish the difference.
GLJCA
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