Jerusalem's Doom – How the prophecy of chastisement was fulfilled
What actually happened when Christ's prophecy of Jerusalem's Doom was fulfilled? Fr Coleridge explains how an initial victory over Rome turned to utter destruction.
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What actually happened when Christ’s prophecy of Jerusalem’s Doom was fulfilled? Father Coleridge explains how an initial victory over Rome turned to utter destruction.
Editor’s Notes
Jerusalem’s Doom—Part IV
At the Mass of the final Sunday of Pentecost – the “24th Sunday” after Pentecost – the Church reads Christ’s prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Our Lord presents this chastisement of Jerusalem and the Jews as a foreshadowing and a warning of what is to come for the whole world at the end of time.
Having considered the application of Christ’s prophecy to the modern age, Fr Coleridge turns his attention back to the historical events that led up to the destruction of Jerusalem.
In this chapter, Fr Coleridge tells us…
How our Lord warns His disciples to flee Jerusalem when they see specific signs.
That He foretells the city’s destruction as divine vengeance for rejecting the Messiah.
Why the withdrawal of Cestius Gallus’ army became the providential moment for Christian escape.
He shows us that God’s warnings are precise and meant to be obeyed.
The Doom of Jerusalem
Passiontide—Part I
Chapter XIII
St. Matt. xxiv. 1-28; St. Mark xiii. 1-23; St. Luke xxi. 5-24;
Story of the Gospels, § 144.
(Read on the 24th and Last Sunday after Pentecost)
How close are we to Judgement Day? Here’s what Christ’s signs tell us
Why does the world instinctively hate the Church and her faithful children?
Second part of the prophecy—Destruction
We may now proceed to what may be considered the second portion of this great prophecy, which beyond all doubt refers mainly and directly to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Our Lord here warns the faithful to be on the lookout for the signs, by observance of which they may escape that terrible chastisement which is to fall on the nation and city as a vengeance of His murder, and for all the just blood that shall have been shed from the beginning of time. As we shall see, He speaks most plainly and circumstantially.
‘When, therefore, you shall see the abomination of desolation, standing where it ought not (he that readeth, let him understand)…’
… which last clause is repeated both by St. Matthew and St. Mark, while the former, writing for the Jews, has, ‘Which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place,’ etc.
St. Luke does not quote the prophet, and simply says:
‘When you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know that the desolation thereof is at hand.’
Reports of the Evangelists
There is no contradiction in the reports of the three Evangelists, for it is perfectly reasonable to suppose that our Lord spoke both the sentence which is given by St. Matthew and St. Mark, and the sentence which is given by St. Luke. For He must have known that His words would be of the utmost value both to the Jewish and Gentile Christians, and He must have had them both in His mind.
It is quite possible, of course, that the words recorded by St. Matthew and St. Mark may have required some such explanation as that which is contained in the words related by St. Luke, but it is far more consistent with reverence for the text of Scripture to suppose that both accounts represent accurately the words of our Lord than that one account is an independent explanation of the other. ‘Then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains,’ and the rest, which will be explained presently.
‘Abomination of desolation’
It is not certain that the words quoted by St. Luke are a direct commentary on the words about Daniel the prophet, and therefore, it is not certain that ‘Jerusalem encompassed by an army’ means exactly the same as the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.
But it seems on the whole that the one phrase explains the other. In this case, the abomination of desolation would refer to the idolatrous ensigns of the Roman armies, bearing the images of the Emperors, which were made the objects of worship, and when these were seen displayed all around Jerusalem, as was the case when the army of Cestius Gallus encircled the city, the sign would have been given and understood by the Christians.
‘Then let them that are in Judæa flee unto the mountains, and those who are in the midst thereof, depart out, and those who are in the countries, enter not into it.’
Then St. Luke, St. Matthew, and St. Mark add these words,
‘Let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor enter therein to take anything out of the house, and let him that is in the field not turn back to take his garment. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things may be fulfilled that are written.
‘And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. And pray ye, that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath-day. For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and they shall be led away captives into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the nations shall be fulfilled.
‘For in those days shall be such tribulations such as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, neither shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the sake of the elect whom He hath chosen He hath shortened the days.’
History of the first attack on Jerusalem
These verses seem undoubtedly to refer to the terrible tribulations which fell on the Holy City at the time of its siege and destruction by Titus.
It is clear, too, that they cannot refer to any date later than that at which the city was surrounded by the wall which the Romans built during the siege, for after that it would have been impossible to carry out the warning to flee to the mountains, and the other against any entering the city from outside.
The history of the first siege, as it may be called, of Jerusalem, by Cestius Gallus, some years before the final catastrophe of the city, is very interesting, as illustrating the prophecy of our Lord.
The Jews were stung into revolt in the spring of A.D. 66, by the cruelties of Gessius Florus, on which Cestius Gallus, the President of Syria, marched from Antioch in October to punish them. It was about the time of the feast of Tabernacles that he arrived.
He seems to have temporized, whether from fear whether he had with him forces sufficient to put down the revolt, or, as is more probable, because he hoped to reduce it by negotiation with the large party among the Jews who wished for peace. Josephus tells us that at that time the mass of the nation was unprepared for and indisposed to war, and that more than once Cestius seemed to have it in his power to take the city and end the revolt.
Defeat of Cestius
But Cestius ended by several fatal blunders.
He encamped within view of the city (on Scopus) on the 4th of October. After three days he took possession of Bezetha, the northern side of the city, and on the 12th he attacked the Temple, and might have forced his way into it if he had pleased.
On the day that he possessed himself of Bezetha, some offers were made to admit him to the rest of the city, but he delayed, and the war party found out the intrigue, and threw the authors of it from the walls. On the day on which he attacked the Temple, the same party nearly despaired of a successful resistance, and were preparing to evacuate the Temple and seek safety in flight.
Suddenly, Cestius withdrew his forces, retired again to Scopus, and began a formal retreat. In the course of this his forces were almost completely routed by the Jews who pursued him. This unhappy victory over the Roman army gave the war party the predominance, and was in truth, as Josephus says, the ruin of the whole nation.
This unexpected success put the whole city into the power of the war party, and, such was the prejudice with which the Jews regarded the Christians, that the latter would have been in the greatest danger from this cause alone, if they had remained.
But it appears that the Christians understood the appearance of the army of Cestius as the warning sign which our Lord had given, for they took the opportunity to leave the city and take refuge at Pella, which was a part of the dominion of the younger Agrippa, who was an ally of the Romans, and was therefore left in peace.
We have in these undoubted facts of history a Providential arrangement by which the Christian community at Jerusalem was first warned of the coming calamities, and then given an opportunity of making their escape to a place of safety.
The Doom of Jerusalem
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Why does the world instinctively hate the Church and her faithful children?
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The way Cestius retreat became the providential momnt for the Christians to flee is remarkable. Its almost like seeing divine choreography play out in history. The precision of the warning and the timing of events really underscore how seriously Christ's prophecies should be taken, even when they seem imposible in the moment.