Fearful Sights and Great Signs

Apart from the signs previously given, which began the year of Jesus’ death in AD 30, there were several other signs given of the coming destruction of the city and temple. God was so gracious to the rebellious Jews, giving them exactly what they craved, a sign from heaven. The real tragedy is that no matter how many signs the Lord gave, there is no evidence that these signs had any substantial effect.

All of the following reported signs are found in Josephus’ book, The Wars of the Jews [6.5.3].

Some of these signs may seem to be the product of a wild imagination. However, Josephus makes it clear that although he initially may have felt the same, because of the number of witnesses who reported these events, as a historian, he felt he would be remiss not to include them and allow the reader to accept or reject them.

This terminal generation, who saw these signs did just that. They failed to give heed to them, as Josephus testifies,

“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.”

How many times did Jesus say, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Jesus made this same judgment about those of that generation,
for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. [Matt. 13:15]

This seems to be the condition of those who are consumed with their own thoughts and traditions, that even when truth is spoken directly to them, they fail to hear or see it. Their ditch was too deep for them to see anything else. I believe this is the "strong delusion" spoken of by Paul in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

1. Jesus, the son of Ananus

In AD 62, four years before the start of the Jews’ war with Rome, a time when the city and country were still in a state of relative peace, a farmer named Jesus, son of Ananus, came to the Feast of Tabernacles and began 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!"

Before we continue his story, I would like to comment on his cry.

• A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, — This demonstrates the sound of warning and judgment that is coming from all sides. There is no escape.
• A voice against Jerusalem and the holy house — It is an inescapable cry of judgment against the city and temple.
• A voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, — This is a cry against the very fabric and continuance of society. And finally, it is a cry of judgment,
• A voice against this whole people! — Against the whole people. It is a voice of warning that unless there is a turning from sin, the judgment is inescapable for the city, the temple, the very continuance of their society, even the whole people.

This Jesus walked through the city streets during the whole feast, repeating these words of warning. Some leaders took great offense at this outcry against the holy city, its temple, and its people. They arrested him 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.”
They perceived the man was possessed of a “divine fury,” and so he was. Because he would give no answer or defense for his behavior, they took him to the Roman procurator Albinus and had him whipped until 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!’” Because no reason was given for the speech of this man, Albinus took him for a madman and let him go.

This Jesus continued his public lament against the city, temple, and people, for a total of seven years and five months. Josephus says he was the loudest during the feasts.

“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.”

His voice never gave out, nor did he grow weary of his ministry. During the final days of the war,

“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.”

This Jesus, son of Ananus, under the heavy prophetic unction of the Spirit of God, brought to bear upon the people the same message that Jesus, the Son of man, brought to those who heard Him. Due to their refusal to obey the voice of God, and believe what was written in the prophets, rejecting and crucifying their Messiah, the Judgment of God was about to fall. As Jesus the Messiah, said forty years earlier,

Luke 11:50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

God warned that generation that it would be required of them for shedding the blood of all the righteous. The voices of woe and warning, acting as bookends to the forty year period granted for repentance, began with Jesus, the Son of man, and ended forty years later with Jesus, the son of Ananus.

It should not be thought a mere coincidence, that the two voices of warning bore the same name, i.e., Jesus (Yeshua, God’s salvation). The bookend voices reminding the Jews of God’s mercy and salvation, even in the midst of pronounced judgment.

2. Hanging star

One year before the Roman General Vespasian came to put down the rebellion of the Jews (AD 66), a star in the shape of a sword hung over the temple at Jerusalem for an entire year. It is as though God gave Jerusalem warning of the coming sword of vengeance. However, as stated earlier, they did not heed the warning.

Imagine seeing this sword-shaped star hanging directly over the temple for one full year while hearing the woeful voice of Jesus, son of Ananus. Would this not make you wonder what is going on? Yet, it had little to no effect on them.

3. Illuminated Temple

Also before the war began, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a great light shined around the entire House of the temple. This occurred in the evening time, but the light shined so brightly, it appeared as daytime. Some sources report this happening only one day for about half an hour, while others said the light appeared every day of the feast.

Yosippon states,

“All the sages of Jerusalem knew that it was a malevolent sign, but the rest of the ignorant people said that it was a benevolent sign.” [(A Medieval History of Ancient Israel, “Burning of the Temple,” chapter 87)]

If the scribes knew it was an unfavorable sign, why did they not inform the people, and encourage them to mend their ways by repentance? Even though they might have known a sign is not favorable, doesn’t mean they had the wisdom to react to it righteously.

4. Miraculous birth of the lamb

Josephus states at the same festival, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a heifer was led by the priests to be sacrificed. However, before they could do so, the sacrificial heifer gave birth to a lamb.

I know you’re thinking, that’s impossible! Indeed, in the natural course of God’s creation, every animal is to produce after its own kind (Gen. 1:24). However, God is well able to control His natural order to achieve His ends. Did He not make the sun stand still for the Israelites to assist them in acquiring victory? [Joshua 10:12]

What would be the significance of a sacrificial animal giving birth to a different kind of sacrificial animal? I don’t pretend to have an exact answer. One possibility is this. There likely were men still alive who could remember the words of John the Baptist, declaring, “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” [Jn. 1:29, 36]

The fact that it was such a miraculous birth is something that should have grabbed their attention. Did not the lamb of God have a miraculous birth? Even though they would likely not make the connection, at the time this happened, there would still be believers in Christ to give witness to its meaning.

5. Temple doors opened of their own accord

As mentioned earlier, the doors of the Eastern Gate of the inner temple would open by themselves every night. These doors were normally closed every evening. It took twenty men to open and close them. This opening of the doors would signify the house being left unprotected and open to destruction.

6. Heavenly armies seen in the clouds

This is probably one of the most fantastic and unbelievable signs Josephus records. He states that, were it not for the fact that it was seen by so many people, it would be thought to be a fable. However, because it was so widely reported, he was compelled to report it.

Before the sunset, chariots and troops of soldiers with armor were seen running among the clouds. The Church historian Eusebius, reports it in this way,

“not many days after the feast [of unleavened bread], on the twenty-first of the month Artemisium, a certain marvelous vision was seen which passes belief. The prodigy might seem fabulous were it not related by those who saw it, and were not the calamities which followed deserving of such signs. For before the setting of the sun chariots and armed troops were seen throughout the whole region in mid-air, wheeling through the clouds and encircling the cities.”

Sepher Yosippon records this,

“Moreover, in those days were seen chariots of fire and horsemen, a great force flying across the sky near to the ground coming against Jerusalem and all the land of Judah, all of them horses of fire and riders of fire.”

This signal event of heavenly armies was seen not just around Jerusalem, but throughout the land of Judea. These “chariots of fire” and “riders of fire” would be a portent, which could easily make mens’ heart fail from fear [Lk. 21:26]. It is also a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy found in Isaiah 66:15,

For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

7. Voices saying, “Let us leave this house.”

During the feast of Pentecost, in the same year as the previous signs occurred, the priests were performing their usual services in the temple when they heard a sound.

“They said that at first they perceived a movement and a noise, and afterward a voice as of a great multitude, saying, ‘Let us go hence.’” [Eusebius]

The priests testified that they heard a sound and movement, then the voice of a great multitude, saying, "Let us leave this place." This sounds strangely familiar, does it not? It sounds very similar to what transpired on the day of Pentecost, in AD 30, but in reverse. On that day,

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

On the day of Pentecost in AD 30, there was the sound of a mighty rushing wind, “and it filled all the house.” The reference here to house refers to the temple. Some thirty-six years later, there was the sound of a mass exodus. On Pentecost, AD 30, the Spirit of God came and filled the house of the temple where the disciples were sitting. Now, on Pentecost, AD 66, the sound and motion of an exodus was heard.

According to Jewish tradition, this exodus was the glory of God leaving the temple. It departed the temple, and came to rest opposite the temple on the Mount of Olives. There it stayed until just before the temple was destroyed in AD 70.

However you might read this, it denotes the abandoning of the temple by the Spirit of God and any attending holy angels there may have been. Shortly after this, the Ekklesia of Christ would vacate Judea and Jerusalem, escaping to the hills of the Trans-Jordan. This building was no longer of divine use. As Jesus said when He departed the temple for the last time, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Matt. 23:38)

All of these Fearful Sights and Great Signs, gave witness to the coming judgment of God upon Jerusalem, its temple, and its people. These signs were warnings of what Jesus had spoken concerning those days, For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. [Luke 21:22] All that was written concerning God’s judgment upon Sinai’s Israel, on account of her apostasy, would be fulfilled.