©Clay Eldridge
Chapter 2:30-32 (ESV) - And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
Question to consider: Where else in scripture does Jesus give a warning for people to flee Jerusalem?
After the disciples admired the glory of the temple, Jesus proclaimed, “‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.’ And they asked him, ‘Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?’” (from Luke 21:6-7)
Jesus gave a description of these signs in the synoptic gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). I’ve written commentary on all three accounts and a book on the expectations concerning the reign of Christ from Genesis until today (What Were You Expecting?), but my general conclusion is that Jesus gave signs for the coming day of wrath in which the LORD would use the Roman army like a sword and destroy the city of Jerusalem and the earthly temple. The reason Jesus gave these signs was so that His followers would flee to the mountains instead of the city walls to escape this judgment. In this, we find the fulfillment of the end of today’s passage, “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.”
If the LORD used the language of “wonders in the heavens and the earth” to describe His judgment by the Assyrians in Joel’s time and Babylonians in Jeremiah’s time, it makes sense that Jesus would use it to describe the judgment by the Romans in AD 70. Add to this the fact that Peter proclaimed the pouring out of the Spirit in yesterday’s passage finding its fulfillment at Pentecost, and it makes even more sense.
The prophetic voice that was poured out on that generation along with the Spirit so that, “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions,” described the revealing of Christ in the Law and Prophets and was ultimately compiled into the New Testament scriptures. Once judgment came at the end of that generation, I believe the foundation of the prophets and apostles had been laid, and the revelation of scripture was complete. I know people argue for late first century writing of John’s works, but I believe the internal evidence of these texts points to authorship before the fall of the temple.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for providing a redemption arc for us which began the moment Adam rebelled in the garden. Please open our eyes to what You have revealed to us about Christ in scripture so that we may cling to His grace and glorify His name in the world. Amen.