The Final Decade Before The End by Ed. Stevens

Page 185

184 to catch the Christians by surprise and take them away. That would have been an extremely dangerous time for Christians living anywhere in Palestine, or even among the Diaspora Jewish communities. This forced them to flee from Judea and go into hiding. This is why the statements of Eusebius make a lot of sense, where he says that the Christians were warned by a revelation to get out of Jerusalem “before the war” (AD 62-64). They were indeed warned, not only “before the war”, but even before the Neronic persecution. The book of Revelation contains such a warning (“come out of her my people”), which was written in late 62 soon after John was exiled to Patmos, almost two years before the Neronic persecution broke out. This explains how both Paul and Peter seemed to be familiar with the book of Revelation when they wrote their books of Hebrews and 1 Peter in AD 62-63. Paul also tells the Hebrew Christians to leave the city of Jerusalem, as well as the Jewish neighborhoods of Diaspora cities (Heb. 13:13-14, written in AD 62-63). Hanging around with non-Christian Jews was no longer safe for Christians. It is extremely interesting to see Josephus give us so much background information about the appointment of Florus in Rome like this. The reason he was able to do that, is because Josephus was in Rome at the very time Florus was appointed, and was among the group of Roman Jews who had connections through Poppaea to Nero, just like Florus and his wife Cleopatra did. This is another of those parts of Josephus which prove that he was in Rome at this time, otherwise he would not have known these details. Evidently he remained in Rome another year or so until just before the war broke out in Judea. He probably heard how things were becoming unstable in Judea and wanted to go home to see if he could help the Jewish leadership regain control of the situation. Florus remained procurator until the war began in AD 66. He became partners with the robbers, sharing in their booty in exchange for their immunity from punishment. As a result, many more malcontents joined with the robbers in plundering the Judean countryside. Even though Josephus does not identify who were the victims of this robbery and plundering, it certainly must have included any Christians who were still living there in Judea and Palestine. Troubles began to increase dramatically at this time (late-64 to mid-66). This made life in Judea difficult, especially for Christians, so it is no wonder that Josephus says that many of the inhabitants of Judea fled out of the country at this time: “entire toparchies were brought to desolation; and a great many of the people left their own country, and flew into foreign provinces” [War 2:277 (2.14.2)]. This most likely included some Christians who had not already abandoned Palestine in AD 62-63. Like Albinus and Festus before him, Florus continued to provoke the Zealots, pushing them further and further toward open rebellion [War 2:282-283 (2.14.3)].

The Neronic Persecution and the Great Tribulation (AD 64) The Neronic persecution was one of the most significant factors in the history of the church just before the Parousia. But as significant as it is for our understanding, it has been almost totally ignored by futurists. And too many preterists have likewise underestimated its impact upon the pre-70 church. So, it is appropriate for us to spend some time with it, if for no other reason than to memorialize the horrific deaths of so many of our dear first century brothers and sisters, to whom this book is dedicated. The Jews wanted to wipe out the Church, but instead got wiped out by the Romans. This is similar to what happened in the Babylonian captivity for the Jews. Haman the Amalekite tried to wipe out the Jews, but ended up being hung on his own gallows, with his Amalekite kinsmen being wiped out also. It is therefore not surprising to find that the Epistle of Barnabas (12:9) referred to the Jewish enemies of the church as Amalekites. This was a very dark time for the Church, and even though it was short-lived, for only two years from 64 to 66, it was extremely intense and killed the


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They were not expecting to be left behind not even knowing it happened

14min
pages 271-274

BIBLIOGRAPHY

5min
pages 281-284

Aug 66 – Cessation of Sacrifices for the Romans and all Gentiles

7min
pages 263-264

Aug 66 – Josephus returned from Rome

4min
page 261

Apr 66 – Abomination of Desolation (“Jerusalem encompassed by armies”

8min
pages 247-248

Questions About Pella and the Rapture

3min
page 249

Pentecost and Wheat Harvest Typology

3min
page 256

Neronic persecution was the great tribulation (upon the church

3min
page 251

What Did the Priests Experience?

3min
page 257

Apr 66 – Eleazar, the Man of Lawlessness?

3min
page 246

June 66 – Pentecost - Priests in the Temple heard a multitude of voices

3min
page 255

Apr 66 – Lawlessness Was Increased. (Eleazear’s Lawless Actions

3min
page 245

Apr 66 - This was an attempt to bring idolatrous coinage into the temple

3min
page 244

This attempt to get control of the temple

4min
page 243

Who were those supposed ‘Christians’ in Pella

3min
page 232

Text of the Historical Fulfillments Referenced by Numbers Above

47min
pages 215-228

Matthew 24 Fulfillment Documented (Chart with Reference

14min
pages 207-214

What Did Jesus Promise, What Did They Expect (Chart

4min
pages 204-205

HOW were “these things” fulfilled?

8min
pages 201-203

Explaination of the Chronological Charts Above

6min
pages 199-200

Chronological Arrangement Of The Olivet Discourse

4min
pages 191-198

the Rescue, and the Wrath-Outpouring

2min
page 190

Late 64 – How widespread was the Neronic persecution?

7min
pages 180-181

How the Tribulation Fits into the Olivet Discourse

3min
page 189

Late 64 – Matthias b. Theophilus was appointed High Priest

3min
page 183

The Neronic Persecution and the Great Tribulation (AD 64

3min
page 185

Aug 64 – Was Josephus involved in the plot to kill Christians?

7min
pages 178-179

AD 64 – Correspondence between Paul and Seneca

3min
page 177

Aug 64 – Nero began the Persecution of Christians

6min
pages 175-176

The few remaining went into hiding until the rapture

3min
page 173

June 64 – The Literary Efforts of the Apostles Ceased

3min
page 172

Late 64 – Peter’s Martyrdom in Jerusalem just before the Neronic Persecution

4min
page 169

Comments on Jude and Second Peter

7min
pages 165-166

June 64 – 2 Peter was probably written about the same time as Jude

3min
page 168

Some excellent online resources for Jude and 2 Peter

3min
page 163

Sep 63 – 2 Timothy Written After Paul Was Arrested

7min
pages 156-157

July 63 – Jesus b. Gamaliel was appointed High Priest

3min
page 154

Internal Evidence of 1 Peter for its Date

11min
pages 150-152

Mar 63 – Did Paul visit Jerusalem after his release

3min
page 144

Who was the Courier for Hebrews? (AD 63

3min
page 140

Early Date of Hebrews (AD 62-63

7min
pages 136-137

Why Was Hebrews Written?

7min
pages 138-139

To Whom Was Hebrews Written?

3min
page 135

More Information about Clopas, Symeon, Joseph and Mary

7min
pages 123-124

July 62 – Simeon b. Clopas was appointed Bishop In Place Of James

24min
pages 116-122

Early 63 – Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians Was Written

11min
pages 131-133

2. No Church in Smyrna Before AD 70?

3min
page 103

Don Preston’s Article. “Revelation 2:9 Smyrna: Did It Exist at an Early Date?”

3min
page 108

What Happened to the Seven Churches of Asia?

3min
page 109

The Meaning of Polycarp’s Statement

14min
pages 104-107

1. Laodicea’s Quick Recovery From the Earthquake

6min
pages 101-102

Luke-Acts Written in Rome (AD 61-62

3min
page 75

Two Possible Preterist Solutions

14min
pages 92-95

Apr 62 – Ananus II arrested James and some of his companions

26min
pages 82-88

Here is the story of Jude’s grandsons in Eusebius

3min
page 90

The Identity of Theophilus

7min
pages 77-78

1 John – Two possible dates

4min
page 73

Overview of the Sequence and Dates for John’s Writings

7min
pages 66-67

The Earliest and Best Tradition about John: (external evidence

2min
page 65

AD 61-63 – Paul’s first Roman imprisonment continued for “two full years”

3min
page 61

AD 60 – Earthquake in Laodicea and the Lycus valley

4min
page 57

June 58 – More than forty Jews plotted to kill Paul

7min
pages 50-51

June 58 – Paul arrived in Jerusalem and met with James

7min
pages 46-47

AD 54 – Wars and Rumors

3min
page 40

AD 51-53 – Production of the NT canon was definitely underway

3min
page 38

AD 58-60 – What Kind of Resurrection was Paul preaching?

3min
page 49

AD 52-53 – 2 Thessalonians

3min
page 37

Dating the Gospel of Matthew (AD 31-38

18min
pages 20-24

Galatians: Three Possible Dates (AD 49-55

20min
pages 29-34

Oct 51 – Galatians

3min
page 35

Dating the Gospel of Mark (AD 38-44

7min
pages 25-26

Introduction

11min
pages 16-18

AD 51-52 – 1 Thessalonians

3min
page 36

The Synoptic Problem

6min
pages 27-28
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