The Final Decade Before The End by Ed. Stevens

Page 232

231 had to go underground and disappear off the radar screens of the Jewish and Roman authorities. That is why there are no more books written by them after the outbreak of the Neronic persecution. The NT canon was finished by that time. The gospel had already reached the whole Diaspora. The apostles had finished their assignment, and just in time. The End had now arrived. The saints would undergo judgment first (1 Pet 4:17) in the Neronic persecution, and then the wrath would be poured out upon their persecutors. As we noted previously, the Christians had been warned to get out of Judea and Jerusalem two years in advance of the Neronic persecution. Eusebius tells us that they were warned by a certain Revelation to leave Jerusalem before the wrath was poured out. We see that prophetic warning reflected in both Paul’s letter to the Hebrews and John’s Apocalypse. If the Christians in Jerusalem and Judea had obeyed those warnings to flee in late 62 and early 63, they would have been out of harm’s way when the Neronic persecution began in the Summer of 64. Eusebius tells us that some of the Christians did leave Judea, but we do not know how many, nor exactly when. We do know that after the Neronic persecution began in the late Summer of 64, it would no longer have been safe for Christians to remain anywhere in Judea or Palestine. Any who were still in Jerusalem at the time the persecution began would have been arrested and put to death. There was probably no warning in advance that the Neronic persecution was about to strike. It caught them like a hidden trap. If they had left when the books of Revelation and Hebrews had warned them to, they would have escaped in plenty of time. Evidently many of them stayed until it was too late and were killed in the persecution, since they disappear from history and only a small remnant of Ebionites and Nazareans show up in Pella later. The majority of Christians were killed. The Neronic persecution and the great apostasy removed most of the Christians except the Elect ones whom Christ had chosen to live and remain until His coming, at which time they would be changed and caught up to be with Him forever afterwards. This automatically raises the question about the stories we hear from Eusebius about Christians still being alive in Pella after the war, and some of them supposedly coming back to Judea to restart the church there. A closer look at those traditions reveals the Judaizing character of those supposed “Christians” who were in Pella. Who were those supposed ‘Christians’ in Pella

They were Ebionites and Nazareans, both of which were Judaizers, and most of whom denied the virgin birth and Deity of Christ. Apostle Paul taught in the book of Galatians (as early as AD 5152) that those who required circumcision and law-keeping had “severed themselves from Christ.” They were no longer true Christians. They were Judaizing apostates. No wonder they were still around after AD 70. They were not true Christians, so they were left out of the rapture like the five foolish virgins in the Parable of the Bridegroom (Matt 25). They had severed themselves from Christ. There were Gnostics, heretics, and apostates that were left behind as well. They had copies of the NT writings, by which the writings were preserved and distributed again after the war. That may also explain how some of the corruptions of the text happened so early. The Gnostics and Judaizers may have deliberately tampered with the text to reflect their own views, or to correct some of the imminency texts that seemed not to have been fulfilled according to their physical-kingdom-on-earth expectations. Since there were no first generation Christians still around to guide the new Christians that popped up after the Parousia, it is not surprising to see those post-70 Christians confused and ignorant about the occurrence of the Parousia. They had the New Testament scriptures to guide them, but no one from the previous generation was there to help them understand it. No wonder we find so many errors in the second century church writers. We will say a lot more about the state of the church after AD 70 in the upcoming podcast series on the First Generation After the End. For now, however, we need to look at what was happening in those two years between the beginning of the Neronic persecution and the outbreak of the Jewish war.


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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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