Among the many prophecies that Jesus gave was the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. He gave specific counsel to protect those who would give heed to His Word. With tears of compassion for the family of Abraham that had dishonored “the God of Abraham” Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Lu.13:34,35.

     Jesus had ascended to heaven to intercede before GOD the Father for the sins of His children. Several of the apostles were already martyred, and the church was steadily growing. But the Jews who had turned away from the Great Light of Jesus Christ turned darker and darker in their religion and pride. Their messiah had not come to destroy the Roman yoke as their prophets foretold. Their tolerance exhausted, their money all but gone, they began a military campaign in the vain hope of repeating the victories of Judas Maccabaeus.

     To restore Roman law and order (and servitude), the armies of Rome poured into the land of Judaea. The first wave of assault came from Cestius Gallus who besieged the city of Jerusalem. But after a time, other more pressing warfare called him away. It was during this respite of time that the Christians in Jerusalem made their escape as Jesus admonished, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.” Matt.24:15-18.

     After all of the Christians had departed from Jerusalem, Titus came with his army to lay siege to Jerusalem. And it is this siege that produced some extremely gruesome lessons that expose the base metal and true character of men. And it is these lessons that are to be repeated in our day as desperation for self-preservation grips the populous. It will be as Satan said it has always been: “Yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” Job 2:4. But as Josephus recorded that not one Christian perished in the final siege of Jerusalem, so neither will any of the saints perish in the final siege of unrepentant men who legislate death against they that obey “the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments.” Deut.7:9. The prophecy of the final display of religious tyranny is clear: “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Rev.13:15

     The great historian Josephus lists the omens of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

History of Josephus: War, Book 6 Chapter 5, Paragraph 3, Pages 288-309

“Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them.

Star and Comet

Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year.

Light Around the Altar

Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan, April, about a week before Passover] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it.

Cow Gives Birth to Lamb

At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.

The Eastern Gate

Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again.

This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them.

Miraculous Phenomenon of Chariots in the Air

Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Iyar, May or June] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities.

Sound of a Great Multitude

Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence."
Jesus son of Ananias: A Voice from the East

But, what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple [Sukkot, autumn, 62 CE], began on a sudden to cry aloud,

"A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the Holy House, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!"

This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say any thing for himself, or any thing peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon the magistrates, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was,

"Woe, woe to Jerusalem!"

And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow,

"Woe, woe to Jerusalem!"

Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force,

"Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the Holy House!"

And just as he added at the last,

"Woe, woe to myself also!"

There came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.”

     As Josephus wrote of these evidences of supernatural intervention, may those who believe in GOD and Jesus Christ give heed to the leading of the LORD as Satan orchestrates the final siege of Earth through his pawns among men. The Bible provides every lesson to prepare each of us individually. Jesus assures us of this being so: “But take ye heed: Behold, I have foretold you all things.” Mk.13:23.