Re: OOPS!
Matthew 18:22
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Seventy weeks - 70 x 7. We are to forgive our brothers up to 70 x 7 = 490. If he transgresses a 491st time - JUDGMENT
God determined that He was going to give His people (Children of Israel) 490 years to finally get it right. This, after He caused them to be taken captive to Babylon for 70 years and made their city DESOLATE. The Children of Israel were given another chance, in essence. They were being given (it was determined) that they would have 70 weeks (490 solar years) to:
"To finish the transgression, To make an end ofsins, To make reconciliation for iniquity." At the end of 69 weeks (483 solar years), they would receive their visitation from Messiah. Sadly, as Gary points out (Luke 19:44), they did not
KNOW THE TIME (emp added) of their visitation. You see, the 70 weeks prophesy given to Daniel TOLD THEM exactly when Messiah would appear which was at the end of the 69th week (year 483).
At the start of week 70 (beginning of year 484), Messiah appears and begins His 3.5 year ministry. It was supposed to have lasted 7 years but in the middle of week 70 (year 486.5), Messiah was cut off (crucified) and rose again (HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY TODAY!!!).
During the final week (Week 70), Messiah, being a Jew was the fulfillment of this:
To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy and the people who recognized Him did this:
And to anoint the Most Holy. But because the PEOPLE WHO DID NOT KNOW HIM AND RECOGNIZE THE "TIME OF HIS VISITATION" put their Messiah to death, they (THAT
FAITHLESS AND PERVERSE GENERATION) would suffer the
GREAT TRIBULATION brought about by the PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE TO COME (TITUS)!!!
This was and will remain the
WORST TRIBULATION any NATION would ever endure. The Children of Israel would see their temple and Holy City completely destroyed with fire then every last stone of their city would be removed so that not one stone would be left on top of another.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
This GREAT TRIBULATION came upon that faithless and perverse generation of Christ's time. Within that generation of those who killed Christ, judgment and utter desolation would come as Daniel was told. Jesus laments this thinking of His people who would soon put Him to death as He loved them even while knowing what they were about to do to them. He begins to tell His disciples about the Great Tribulation to come RIGHT HERE:
[SUP]43 [/SUP]For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, [SUP]44 [/SUP]and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
But even before Christ said this, John the Baptist said this:
[SUP]7 [/SUP]But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
The Wrath to Come came starting in 66 AD and reached a climax in 70 AD (3.5 years later). You see the Pharisees and Sadducees left the CITY OF DESOLATION and came down to the Jordan. John already knew the fate that would befall them and the wrath they would endure. But I digress.
In the Olivet, Jesus gives the signs leading up to the Great Tribulation (Final judgment of Israel) and starts by telling them of the "beginnings of sorrow" every one of these signs were fulfilled prior to the invasion of Rome in 66 AD. He looks to Peter, James and Andrew and says this:
[SUP]9 [/SUP]“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
All three would die before the Great Tribulation. He then looked at John and said this (since the other three would be dead by this time):
[SUP]15 [/SUP]“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), [SUP]16 [/SUP]“then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains...
This final sign of the GREAT TRIBULATION was the Abomination of Desolation. Luke tells us that the Abomination which caused the desolation of Jerusalem was the (Roman) army.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. [SUP]21 [/SUP]Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains...
The Roman armies (which also killed Christ), were Abominable to the Jews. They have only been fighting with them for decades. Just two chapters earlier (As Gary points out) in Luke 19, Jesus foretells them surrounding the city, then leveling the city.
Josephus tells that the massive gate to the Temple opened all by itself and it took many men to close it. This would be the final sign to them about to be over run and killed. When the Roman solders finally broke through and stood in the Temple (something that would be an Abomination since foreigners were not allowed in the Temple), the Desolation began. 10,000 Jews were immediately slaughtered and the killing continued until the solders arms became too tired to kill any more.
