The Burning of Jerusalem, and The Hadean Death

Christ tells the chief priests and elders of the temple a parable in Matt. 22:1-14:

“¹And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,  ² The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,  ³ And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.  ⁴ Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.  ⁵ But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:  ⁶ And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 

⁷ But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

⁸ Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.  ⁹ Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.  ¹⁰ So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

¹¹ And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:  ¹² And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.  ¹³ Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  ¹⁴ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

In Matt. 21:45, after the parable of the vineyard, the priests and elders understood that Jesus was speaking about them; that He was telling them that the kingdom was going to be taken from them, and given unto another people, another nation.  The chief priests, the scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees were all politically and monetarily invested in the system they had manipulated from the old sacrificial laws to benefit themselves.  The coming of the owner (Lord) of the vineyard, the coming of the King who had bid his servants to the marriage feast was a threat to the political power structure of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  They conspired to kill Jesus, just as the parables foretold, to try to keep what they thought of as theirs.

The parable of the marriage feast of Matt. c 22 has every element of the judgment day that was promised to that generation of the first century A.D.

The Old Covenant, the Old Testament promised national destruction of Israel for violating the covenant.  Paul quotes from Hab. 1:5 in Acts 13:40-41,

“Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;  Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.”

Habakkuk was prophesying the destruction of Judah by the Chaldean armies.  Paul, therefore was quoting the prophet again for the destruction of Judah, and specifically Jerusalem.

Lev 26:14ff tells the Israelites what God would do to them if they failed to keep their covenant, their promises to Him.  Rev. 15 with the angels of the seven last plagues is the fulfillment of the promised judgment pronounced in Lev. 26:18-22 against Israel.  The curses of Deu. 28: 15ff were promised if Israel forsook their covenant with God.  Deu. 29: 24-25, 30:10ff gave Israel the promises of life and death, their choice to abide with God or forsake Him, and the results that would come upon them with both.

Jesus confirmed the prophesies of their destruction in the parables told to the chief priests and elders.  The marriage of the King’s son was to be pronounced to the King’s people, those that were bidden to the wedding.  Jesus was sent to the tribes of Israel. (Matt. 15:24)  He directed his disciples to preach the gospel, the good news to the tribes of Israel. (Matt. 10:26)  Not only would the tribes of Israel not hear the call, they killed the ones that were sent to call them. (Matt. 23:34-35, 27:35; Mark 15:13-25; Lu. 23:21-46; John 19:1-30; Acts 2:36, 7:59)

So, the King sent his armies against those who had been invited to the wedding. This is portrayed in Luke 21:20, and Rev. 17:16-17 where God uses the armies of Rome and surrounding nations to send against Jerusalem and Judah, promising to burn her city with fire.  Titus, son of Vespasian, both Caesars of Rome, burned Jerusalem and tore down the temple in A.D. 70 so that not one stone was left upon another.  (Matt.24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6)  The parable of Matt. 22 pronounced the national judgment of Israel.

Only after the city (Jerusalem) was burned (Rev. 18:10ff), does the wedding take place.  Rejoicing over the destruction of the evil whore (Jerusalem), and the glory of God, Rev. 19:7 pronounces that the marriage of the Lamb (Christ) has come.  His wife, His bride is the church, all those that are covered by the blood of Christ through baptism (immersion in water), and that have been joined in spirit and are members of the body of Christ.

(Do not confuse this spiritual church of Christ with the Church of Rome.  The spiritual church, the new Jerusalem, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ is not in a physical building, nor is it of the apostate Roman church.  Click “more stories” above to see previous posts on the Lies of the Roman Catholic Church.)

In the parable of Matt. 22, the King instructs his servants to invite as many other guests as they could find.  This is the spread of the gospel to the gentile nations.  Peter is sent to the house of Cornelius to open the door to the Gentiles in Acts 10, and where he then understands that God is not a respecter of persons,  ”But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” (Acts 10:35)

But, when the King comes in to the wedding to see the guests, after the judgment against the city, He finds one who is not properly clothed.  The guest was not arrayed in the correct wedding garments.  We have to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 13:14; 2 Cor. 5:1-4, Gal. 3:27; ), we have to be covered by the blood of Christ to be accepted by God (1 Cor.10:16; Eph. 2:13; Heb. 9:14; 1Pet. 1:18-19).  If we are not, then we will be cast out into outer darkness.  This part of the parable is the judgment upon each individual man or woman at our time of death.

The judgment of the invited guests came upon national Israel, and Judah and was carried out in A.D. 70.  It was future to those listening to Christ and the Apostles in the years 27 to 70 A.D.  The books of the New Testament, the new Covenant, were written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, and this includes Revelation.  There are many evidences that Revelation was written approx. A.D. 66 -68.  (See previous post, It’s Not The End of the World, Part V.)

So, all of the words of comfort the Apostles spoke to the early Christians of that century, all of the encouraging words to hold on and wait for the coming of the Lord, all of the time statements that the time was soon, at hand, shortly to come to pass were meant for them.  Christ had not yet come again when the books of the New Testament were written.  But, He did come the second time to that generation just as He promised He would in the judgment against Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.  (Matt. 24:25ff; Mark 13:14ff; Luke 21:20ff; Heb. 9:28)

At the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple the old Covenant with Israel was finally taken out of the way.  Between the cross of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem was a period of transition, 40 years where the will (testament) of the deceased (Christ) was probated and broadcast.  The old Covenant was decaying and ready to pass away, but had not yet passed in A.D. 65 when Hebrews was written. (Heb. 8:13)  When all things were fulfilled then the old Covenant was taken out of the way. (Matt. 5:18, 24:34; Mark 1:15; Luke 21:22, 32; Luke 24:44)

If the current teaching, if the prevailing belief that Revelation is a book that concerns Israel of our day and time, the State of Israel which was deliberately created by the Zionists and Jesuits in 1948, then they must also believe that the current state of Israel is meant for a future judgment from God in burning and destruction.  So, they set it up to destroy it?  Or, are they ignoring that part of the prophesy of Matt. 22, Matt. 24, Luke 21, and Revelation.

Regardless of their machinations, regardless of their plotting and planning, God has already taken care of the judgment of earthly Israel in A.D. 70.  He scattered the power of the holy people, Israel. (Dan. 12:7)  He threw Hades into the lake of fire in A.D. 70, and took all of those who had been waiting in Paradise home with Him in A.D. 70.  The great judgment scene depicted in Rev. 20:12-13 was the day in which Gabriel told Daniel that he would stand in his lot at the end of days. (Dan. 12: 13.)  It was the Hadean death which was the last enemy that was conquered. (1 Cor. 15:55-56).

It was not the end of the physical world in Rev. 20.  Rev. 21 & 22 continue on, indicating that life continued on after Hades was thrown into the lake of fire.  If it wasn’t the Hadean death which was conquered, if it was the physical, bodily death that was ended, then all life would have to end on earth.  The scriptures do not speak of the end of physical death, only of the end of the sting of Hadean death.

All those that had to wait for the atoning sacrifice of Christ were held in Hades until all things were fulfilled. It is Christ that held the keys of Hades and death. (Rev. 1:18)  The gates of Hades would not prevail against Christ’s church. (Matt. 16:19)

 If Christ’s church has prevailed, and we know that it has, then Hades has been done away with.  There can be no other conclusion.

Hades is a thing of the past. Therefore, the Hadean destruction of Rev. 20:14 has already been completed.  The great judgment scene of Rev. 20 happened before Hades was thrown into the lake of fire.  It is not a future event for us.  It was future to the first century Christians, but it is now past, and has been past since A.D. 70.

Today, all those that are in the spiritual body of Christ, in the New Jerusalem, the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:9-10), the church of Christ have put on Christ, are covered by the blood of Christ and meet all of the saved in the air when we hear our last trump at our physical bodily death. (2 Cor. 5:6, 8; 1 Thess. 4:17) 

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.“  (Rev. 14:13)

The burning of Jerusalem, the parable of Matt. 22, the desolation of Matt. 24, the great city of Revelation, already occurred in A.D. 70.  It was the judgment of God upon the unrighteous of Israel who had rejected the Messiah, the Christ. 

Christ continues to rule the nations with a rod of iron. (Psa. 2:9; Rev. 2: 27, 12:5, 19:15)  So, any future burning of Israel, while not the specific prophesy of Revelation, may certainly be a deserved judgment and coming of the Lord in our day.

Click “more stories” above to see previous posts for It’s Not The End of The World, Heaven and Earth Have Passed Away, The Whore of Babylon, Beast of Revelation, There Are No End Times…, and The Thousand Year Reign of Rev. 20. (Scripture is quoted from the KJV. All bold emp. is mine.)