reading

In our ministry to women and children in prostitution on the streets of Brazil, we see people living every day in what I would describe as hell on earth. Children as young as eight are sold for sex ten to twenty times a night, women are locked away as sex slaves, and constant streams of men look for girls of all ages. We see much tribulation in the lives of these precious ones on the streets of Brazil. As I travel, I often hear comments such as this, “Wow, that is horrible, and the world is only going to get worse before Jesus comes back.”

The problem with this false eschatology—which has been so glamorized by products like Left Behind—is that it creates an excuse within the minds of Christians to just leave it to Jesus to clean up the mess. However, He already paid the price to clean up the mess, and He put the broom in our hands and said, “Go into all the world!” I am so appreciative of my friend Jonathan Welton for having the passion and courage to write this book. Although some will call it controversial, I consider it a breath of fresh air! Simple biblical truths, a constant in Raptureless, keep controversy at bay, allowing us to thoroughly discover what the Bible really says about the endtimes and discern the current age. Jonathan has been given a gift of understanding the Scriptures, and he puts in the hours and hard work to refine and strengthen that gifting. This is very evident in this book, and I am sure you will be challenged and blessed as you read Raptureless.

Jonathan Welton is a fresh author and ministry that is bringing to light historical truth concerning endtime eschatology in our day. He has taken bold steps to confront the fear–based theology that has paralyzed the Church concerning the “end of the age” mentality, and he has brilliantly composed what I believe to be one of the most biblically and historically correct perspectives on eschatology to date.

If we want to fully move into our personal and corporate destiny, it’s crucial we understand who we are and where we stand biblically in human history. Raptureless holds the view that many, if not most, Church Fathers have held—including John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards. I highly endorse Raptureless by Jonathan Welton. I believe it will be used as a textbook to transform generations to come.

Jonathan Welton is a voice to the rising Church. We need his teaching gift stirring the body of Christ to action. In Raptureless, Jonathan has revealed his scholarship and ability to communicate on subjects pertinent to the issues facing today’s Church. Read it and be challenged. With this much evidence, the reader must make a decision!

Raptureless: An Optimistic Guide to the End of the World is an amazing new prophetic view that will surely encourage you to be part of what God is doing on earth today!

Jonathan Welton has taken a bold step in confronting one of the greatest “sacred cows” of our day: endtime theology! The fear created by the expectation of a coming antichrist and a great tribulation are keeping many believers in bondage. Many believe that defeat is the future destiny of the Church. As Jesus said, human traditions make void the Word of God. In his easy–to–read presentation, Jonathan dismantles many of the popular ideas in the Church about the endtimes.

Jonathan Welton’s new book, Raptureless, is a must read. While he covers some ground that has been covered by others before him, he does so in a fresh, crisp, and concise manner. But he also has new insights on various passages of Scripture. His arguments are scriptural and lucid, and they are simply and powerfully presented. In addition, Jonathan provides fresh historical background for a number of the historical sources he has quoted, such as Flavius Josephus. The true significance of these sources establishes the truths presented in Raptureless.

Jonathan’s new book is long overdue. His clear and detailed teaching exposes numerous myths about the rapture theory and the endtimes. This thought–provoking book will challenge every serious believer who is seeking truth.

Although I’ve only known Jonathan Welton a short time, I have a huge value for our growing relationship. Jonathan communicates with a skill and an insight beyond his years. His passion for the Word and the truth and his deep knowledge of history put a rare weight on his teaching. Beyond his transformational truths, I have found Jonathan to be humble, relational, accountable, and passionate for our King and His Kingdom. I have personally benefited from Jonathan’s teachings and greatly value him as a gift to our generation.

Whenever the prophets of the Bible saw God’s people facing difficult times, they acknowledged the problem but pointed people to a brighter future where God would right all wrongs, do “a new thing” in the earth, and offer a new and better way. Jesus did the same—He pointed out the destruction that was facing Jerusalem but also pointed to the brave new world, the Kingdom of God that would grow in our midst, making all things new. Today, Jonathan Welton is one of the people continuing that prophetic tradition. He acknowledges the mess that much of the Church has made (mainly due to faulty theology), but instead of doom and gloom, he offers faith–filled optimism and clear, biblical theology. I highly recommend this book!

Raptureless by Jonathan Welton is not just another book about the endtimes; it is a field manual for the twenty–first century that brings fresh hope to a generation who has otherwise lost hope because of the deceptions of endtimes madness! Welton has successfully penned a manifesto that puts an end to the false teachings that so many of us have inherited from our families and churches.

If you are not satisfied with the subjective ideologies that have been imbedded into your mind, making you unsure about what tomorrow may hold, read this book. You may just find that tomorrow holds something genuinely good! This book is destined to transform the mentality of a whole new generation of leaders, and it will change your life forever!

I so appreciate the thought–provoking, well–studied, forthright, and optimistic arguments put forward in Jonathan Welton’s Raptureless. No matter what your endtime theological inclinaiton is or what you believe about the rapture, the antichrist, and endtime events, Raptureless will give you something to think about. For those who have been around the eschatological block, if you have an appreciation for thoughtful, well–researched discussion and if you have an appreciation for early church perspectives, you will not be disappointed. If you are just cutting your teeth on all this, you will also not be disappointed.

Raptureless is both intriguing and profoundly accessible to even the newest of biblical students. Thank you, Jonathan, for giving us such a well–researched document and presenting these perspectives for honest discussion in the Body. There is never a time when honest, honoring discussion between genuine truth seekers is not enriching. Thank you, Jonathan, for giving us all a lot to think about and talk about. What I most appreciate about Raptureless, however, is not the discussion points but rather the heart to see the Church of Jesus Christ get up and get on with the work of bringing His love, glory, and truth to a world that needs that love right now.

I believe we are in an epoch season during which God is bringing reformation and a new wineskin to the Church. Jonathan is one of many voices who are bringing revelatory insight and a fresh perspective to His people. I have personally observed as a friend the heart of this man to bring truth and break wrong mindsets that have encamped themselves in the Church. He is constantly studying out the Scriptures and is the ultimate learner who is searching out the Scriptures to bring abundant life. I would strongly encourage you to dive in and immerse yourself in the book Raptureless. There is a fresh anointing in these pages for God to kill any sacred cows in your life and theology.

Sometimes it can be hard to find prophetic ministries who truly represent Jesus Christ as He is. One day I was in a small meeting where I believe a true vessel of the voice of Jesus Christ gave me this word: “Jesus says to you, ‘I will remove your doomsday mentality and give you a message of hope for My people. I encourage you to give some attention to the topic of the endtimes because My Spirit will teach you about this.’” I was puzzled that the Lord said I had a doomsday mentality. Did I?

I bought every possible book and video about the endtimes I could find. Eventually, I threw it all away. Frustrated, I said, “Lord, if you want to show me the truth about the endtimes and give me hope for the future, You will have to do it, because everything I have read, listened to, and watched so far is (sorry for the messengers) one big mess.”

Years later, God opened my eyes, transformed my thinking, and showed me how gloriously bright the future of planet earth and humankind is. When the Lord started revealing this to us, I thought I was pretty alone and crazy. But God always speaks to a multitude of wild guys in the desert who are willing to pay the price of listening more to His voice than to the many other voices that yell at us, even (especially?) in the Christian world. So when I discovered Jonathan Welton’s book, I was excited and encouraged. God is indeed speaking to many that the future is not dark and gloomy but bright and glorious. Jesus Christ is not the dusk; He is the dawn. “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day” (Prov. 4:18 NASB).

For some readers, it can be quite shocking to read what Jonathan writes. But I encourage you to be brave and trust the Spirit of Truth who leads you into all truth and who does not lie. If this book is full of deception, the Spirit of God will show you. If Jonathan speaks liberating truth that will bring forth much fruit, the Spirit of Truth will be a witness to you, and His truth will set you free. Do not let fear guide you, but let Him guide you. I believe a brand new insight awaits you. After you have struggled your way through fear, confusion, and questions, you will have a tremendous revelation of Jesus Christ, who is right here with us in His glory and who wants to bring His glory into all the earth, not one day—later—but right now, through you and me, His glorious Bride.

Raptureless is a must read! Jonathan Welton does an amazing job of bringing a fresh yet biblical perspective on the endtimes as well as the days we are living in as a Church. This Kingdom now book offers a fresh perspective about the victorious Church and Bride whom God is raising up in this hour. Read as Jonathan demystifies and unlocks a lot of the unanswered questions about the endtimes and brings a clear reality to the revelation of Jesus Christ.

This rogue, Jonathan Welton, got me—hook, line, and sinker—“caught up” in reading Raptureless! Rarely have I come across a book that is so compelling and engrossing, a genuine un-put-downable page-turner. How often does one say that about a theology book? But, though it is detailed and scrupulous in its historical insight and scriptural analysis, this is no mere dry academic treatise. No! This is an essential manual for the victorious Church written by someone who loves the Word and the Spirit.

As a prophetic people and a prophetic Church, it is so important to have the right script inside of us. After all, we prophesy according to our faith. This book will go a long way to help you ensure you have the right faith script inside you—a biblical script with a victorious, glorious final act in which we all have parts to play. That includes you! It’s time for you to play your part in advancing the Kingdom!

Jonathan’s clear and engaging writing takes the reader on a crescendo of hope, building our faith in the presently increasing Kingdom of Jesus Christ here on earth. Raptureless puts the optimistic eschatological view of revivalists and reformers like Wesley, Edwards, and Spurgeon back on the table and is a must–read for all the Word–loving, Spirit–filled Church. You will be encouraged, strengthened, and galvanised as you consume the pages of this book!

Jonathan Welton is a prophetic vessel who has a fresh and heavenly perspective that is both cutting–edge and anointed. I have read a couple of Jonathan’s books, and I have been challenged and riveted by both his revelation and authenticity. Raptureless is a now word that addresses one of the most needed messages of the endtimes—hope. Darkness has delighted every time a believer sucks on the bottle of despair, but Raptureless feeds the mentality of an endtime revivalist for the glory of God to be released and for the harvest to be unleashed. I’m convinced that any eschatology that is worth anything is one that inspires you to get up in the morning to fulfill the Great Commission, and Jonathan’s book definitely does that!

Jonathan’s book, Raptureless, boldly exposes the fallacies surrounding much of the contemporary teaching on the endtimes. He presents an understanding of the future that is biblically robust and consistent with the greater part of Church history. Jonathan is masterful in slaying sacred cows and destroying misconceptions that have kept God’s people shackled by fear and foreboding. Instead, he brings enlightenment to many Bible passages that have been previously misapplied, especially through the distorting lens of dispensational teaching. He affirms the presence, influence, and growth of God’s Kingdom in the here and now—releasing optimism regarding the future. Raptureless is a clarion call to biblical perspectives about our present and our future.

Seeing, feeling, tasting, and experiencing the future have their setbacks. One of them is a disdain for futureless people. They’ve always been around, and they frustrated even the Son of God. When Jesus pronounced to Simon Peter that He had given him the keys of the Kingdom based on His revelation that Jesus was the Son of the living God, Simon must have been overjoyed. However, it took only a few minutes of expanding that revelation to draw out the voice of Satan from that same instrument (see Matt. 16:21–23). Jesus showed how the magnificent Son of God would raise up His Kingdom on the earth.

Whenever there are crises, tribulations, attacks, and persecutions upon the Church as a whole or Christians personally, the cream of the defeatist crap arise, declaring it’s the end and finding absolutely no reason to believe this is the prelude to yet another resurrection, another victory, another occupation. And then there’s the issue of tribulation and the Great Tribulation. Read what Jonathan writes, and I know you’ll agree with me that this book is not only an answer to prayer but a light for a generation that quite simply needs no further encouragement to run from the Church. In Raptureless, Jonathan has hit at the heart of the theological lie of escapism, a defeatist dogma that has rendered so many of God’s people useless in today’s troubled world.

You want a rapture? How about worshiping God? You’ll be raptured. It’s true. I experience it every day of my life.

To my ever faithful friend and editor, Amy Calkins—your help with all my projects has been invaluable to the Kingdom. I believe Heaven will reward you for helping spread these truths through your writing and editing skills. You have been a mentor, a coach, and a beautiful friend. Thank you.

To the Welton Academy staff—without you, Welton Academy wouldn’t exist, and I wouldn’t be able to focus on my writing. With all my heart, I say thank you to my team: Linsey Wallace, Sarah Walley, Karina Tripp, Renee Bosco, Sarah Cobb, Gabriel and Louise Lopez, Scott and Charissa Crowder, and Dawn Weaver.

To my dear friends, Steve and Joy Hogan, as well as Pastor Ralph VanAuken—thank you for believing in me.

Lastly, I thank the Welton Academy charter class (2013–14) for taking a risk and jumping into this new endeavor with me. I am honored by your trust and love. Keep moving in freedom.

1st edition printing, 2000 copies, August 2012
2nd edition printing, 2000 copies, August 2013
3rd edition printing, 2000 copies, May 2015

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ www.xulonpress.com. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible; Tyndale House, 1997, © 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked YLT are taken from the 1898 Young’s Literal Translation by Robert Young. Emphasis within Scripture quotations is the author’s own.

ISBN 978-0-9905752-3-8
eISBN 978-1-6822266-9-8

My parents both graduated from a Pentecostal Bible college in the early 1970s. They attended classes during the era of the Jesus People Movement, the Vietnam War, and the epically bestselling Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. During those turbulent times, my parents met and married. After they had my two older siblings, I was born into their family in 1983. This was an era of much speculation and fear regarding the endtimes, which many believed had already begun. My parents had heard all the confusing and conflicting points of view regarding the endtimes, and instead of becoming obsessed with figuring it all out, they made a choice.

They determined to raise godly children who would raise godly grandchildren. They chose to think long–term and invest in their future and the future of their children. They didn’t have all the answers for a perfect theology of the endtimes, but they knew better than to buy into the hype. When their friends quit their jobs, bought boats, and racked up credit card debt “because the end of the world is around the corner and we won’t have to pay it back,” my parents called this irresponsible and unChristlike behavior.

Growing up, I never knew what my parents really thought about the end of the world. When I pressed them for an answer, they would say, “We are pan–millennial,” which was a humorous way of saying that it will all “pan out” in the end! This left me with a lot of questions in my teen years when the Left Behind series became a raging bestseller.

It didn’t take long for me to become thoroughly confused. At that point, I felt the Holy Spirit speak to my heart. He said to me, “Jonathan, please set aside your study of the endtimes. It is not the right season for you to study this. If you will trust Me, I will guide you to a right understanding in the future, but now is not the time. Wait on Me to give you a green light.” So, for the next two and half years, I chose to read nothing regarding the endtimes; I didn’t watch the Left Behind movies (sorry Kirk Cameron); I didn’t even read the Book of Revelation!

One day, as I was browsing a used book sale, I saw a book on the endtimes, and I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Buy that book; it is time to begin to reveal the truth to you.” It has now been over ten years since that day, and what the Holy Spirit has taught me about the endtimes has been some of the most wonderful revelation that I have received from His Word.

Plenty of books about the endtimes have been written based on personal visions or wild interpretations of Scripture. This is not one of those books. I have a master of biblical studies degree and a doctorate in ministry. I am a student of Church history. I am not going to fill this book with subjective visions and fantasies regarding private interpretations of the endtimes. Enough books like that already exist, and the Holy Spirit had me avoid them for two and half years so He could prepare my heart for what He wanted to show me.

• Our understanding of the endtimes determines how we live our lives and whether we plan long–term, build a legacy, prepare our children for a lifetime of service to the Lord, and so forth. A correct view of the endtimes will set us free from fear. It will cause us to have a renewed passion for Jesus rather than an obsession with the antichrist.

Since many of you did not grow up in “pan–millennial” households, it is possible that you have been force–fed a particular point of view for many years. I would ask you to lay down what you have heard all your life and consider opening your heart to hear a fresh understanding from the Holy Spirit. In trade, I promise to write simply. I will not to use large theological terms. I will not waste your time. I will not try to coerce you into agreement with me, but I will share with you what the Holy Spirit has shown me, and you can test all things and hold fast that which is good (see 1 Thess. 5:21).

During my years of traveling and teaching in churches, I have heard some amazing stories. One lady told me she never showered without wearing a towel because she didn’t want to be raptured while naked. Another told me she wouldn’t travel on airplanes, not even for missions, because if the antichrist suddenly arose, she might not be able to get back home to her husband. A friend of mine had nightmares for years about the scene in the Thief in the Night when the red balloon floats into the sky while people below are being beheaded by guillotines. Perhaps you have heard similar stories or experienced fears like these yourself. Clearly, the idea of a future seven–year, hell–on–earth type of Great Tribulation has created terror in the imaginations of Christians for the last two centuries.

The main passage used to paint this picture of the Great Tribulation comes from the prophecy of Jesus in Matthew 24. Most scholars agree that the Book of Revelation is a parallel to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24, but due to a lack of space, I do not address Revelation in this book.¹ Matthew 24 is the passage that predicts earthquakes, famines, plagues, false teachers, and Jesus’ coming on the clouds.

However, as I studied Matthew 24, I discovered that throughout Church history most Christians believed all the events prophesied in Matthew 24 occurred during the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Many well–known Church leaders have taught this, as these quotations from a few of them illustrate:

Thousands and thousands of men of every age who together with women and children perished by the sword, by starvation, and by countless other forms of death…all this anyone who wishes can gather in precise detail from the pages of Josephus’s history. I must draw particular attention to his statement that the people who flocked together from all Judaea at the time of the Passover Feast and—to use his own words—were shut up in Jerusalem as if in a prison, totaled nearly three million.

This was most punctually fulfilled: for after the temple was burned, Titus the Roman general ordered the very foundations of it to be dug up; after which the ground on which it stood was ploughed by Turnus Rufus…this generation of men living shall not pass till all these things be done—The expression implies that a great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was; for the city and temple were destroyed thirty–nine or forty years after.

There was a sufficient interval for the full proclamation of the gospel by the apostles and evangelists of the early Christian Church, and for the gathering of those who recognized the crucified Christ as the true Messiah. Then came the awful end which the Saviour foresaw and foretold, and the prospect of which wrung from His lips and heart the sorrowful lament that followed his prophecy of the doom awaiting his guilty capital.

The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God. Truly, the blood of the martyrs slain in Jerusalem was amply avenged when the whole city became a veritable Aceldama, or field of blood.

And Verily I say unto you; and urge you to observe it, as absolutely necessary in order to understand what I have been saying, That this generation of men now living shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled, for what I have foretold concerning the destruction of the Jewish state is so near at hand, that some of you shall live to see it accomplished with a dreadful exactness.

It is to me a wonder how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse [Matt. 24] to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation.

This chapter contains a prediction of the utter destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, and the subversion of the whole political constitution of the Jews; and is one of the most valuable portions of the new covenant Scriptures, with respect to the evidence which it furnishes of the truth of Christianity. Every thing which our Lord foretold should come on the temple, city, and people of the Jews, has been fulfilled in the most correct and astonishing manner….

If Jesus and the early church used the relevant language in the same way as their contemporaries, it is highly unlikely that they would have been referring to the actual end of the world, and highly likely that they would have been referring to events within space–time history which they interpreted as the coming of the kingdom.

These Christian leaders, and many others throughout history, recognized the historical fulfillment of Matthew 24 in the events of the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem. While many modern fiction writers speculate about what the Great Tribulation will be like in the future, the events of the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem already fulfilled the prophecy of the Great Tribulation. Fortunately, they will never be repeated. In other words, the Great Tribulation is not in the future. Yes, life will continue to hold trials, tribulations, and persecutions, but the Great Tribulation or “the Time of Jacob’s Trouble,” as prophesied by Jesus, already happened just as He said it would and within the timeframe He declared (see Matt. 24:34).

Unfortunately, today many Christians are unfamiliar with what happened in AD 70. This makes it easy for them to believe the Great Tribulation is still in the future. In 1805, George Peter Holford wrote a small booklet about the AD 70 destruction—based primarily on the earlier works of Josephus—that is incredibly graphic and heart-wrenching, but also historically accurate. The first time I read Holford’s work, I had tears streaming down my face as I flew on an airplane. Though it is difficult to read because of the graphic content, it is also very important. For that reason, I am including portions of his booklet here.

Before we get to Holford’s booklet, we must first understand the context of Jesus’ Matthew 24 prophecy. In the chapter prior, Jesus had just unleashed the harshest of His recorded sayings. He had declared a whole chapter’s worth of woes upon the religious leaders and denounced them publically. He ended by saying,

And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:35–38).

Jesus’ disciples were stunned by His words. As He walked away from the Temple, He said of it, “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” (Matt. 24:2). In response, the disciples asked Him, “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). When Jesus declared that the Temple and its buildings would be destroyed, the disciples, who were no doubt enthralled, asked Him to tell them when this would happen. Jesus replied with eight signs of the coming destruction:

The necessity for this friendly warning soon appeared. Within one year after our Lord’s ascension, Dositheus the Samaritan arose, who had the boldness to assert that he was the Messiah of whom Moses prophesied, while his disciple Simon Magus deluded multitudes into a belief that he, himself, was the “great power of God.”

About three years afterward, another Samaritan impostor appeared and declared that he would show the people the sacred utensils, said to have been deposited by Moses, in Mount Gerizim. Induced by an idea that the Messiah, their great deliverer, had now come, an armed multitude assembled under him, but Pilate speedily defeated them and slew their chief.

While Cuspius Fadus was procurator in Judea, another deceiver arose, whose name was Theudas. This man actually succeeded so far as to persuade a very great multitude to take their belongings and follow him to Jordan, assuring them that the river would divide at his command. Fadus, however, pursued them with a troop of horses and slayed many of them, including the impostor himself, whose head was cut off and carried to Jerusalem.

Under the government of Felix, deceivers rose up daily in Judea and persuaded the people to follow them into the wilderness, assuring them that they should there behold conspicuous signs and wonders performed by the Almighty. Of these, Felix, from time to time, apprehended many and put them to death. About this period (AD 55), the celebrated Egyptian impostor arose (also named Felix), who collected thirty thousand followers and persuaded them to accompany him to the Mount of Olives, telling them that from thence they should see the walls of Jerusalem fall down at his command—as a prelude to the capture of the Roman garrison and to their obtaining the sovereignty of the city. The Roman governor, however, apprehending this to be the beginning of revolt, immediately attacked them, slew four hundred of them, and dispersed the rest, but the Egyptian escaped.

In the time of Porcius Festus (AD 60), another distinguished impostor seduced the people by promising them deliverance from the Roman yoke if they would follow him into the wilderness. But Festus sent out an armed force, which speedily destroyed both the deceiver and his followers. In short, impostors to a divine commission continually and fatally deceived the people, at once both justifying the caution and fulfilling the prediction of our Lord.

If it be objected that none of these impostors, except Dositheus, assumed the name of Messiah, we reply that the groveling expectations of the Jews was directed to a Messiah who should merely deliver them from the Roman yoke and “restore the kingdom to Jerusalem,” and such were the pretensions of these deceivers. This expectation, indeed, is the only true solution of these strange and reputed insurrections, which will naturally remind the reader of the following prophetic expressions of our Lord: “I am come in my Father’s name, and you receive me not; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.” “If they shall say unto you, ‘Behold he is in the desert!’ go not forth. They will show (or pretend to show) great signs and wonders.” [See Matthew 24:23–26.]

And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet, for nation shall rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences: all these are the beginnings of sorrows (Matthew 24:6–8; Luke 21:11).

“Wars and rumors of wars,” These commotions, like distant thunder, that forebodes the approaching storm, were so frequent from the death of our Lord until the destruction of Jerusalem that the whole interval might be appealed to in illustration of this prophecy. One hundred and fifty of the copious pages of Josephus, which contain the history of this period, are everywhere stained with blood. To particularize a few instances: About three years after the death of Christ, a war broke out between Herod and Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea, in which the army of the former was cut off. This was “kingdom rising against kingdom.”

Wars are usually preceded by rumors. It may, therefore, appear absurd to attempt a distinct elucidation of this part of the prophecy; nevertheless, it ought not to be omitted that, about that time, the emperor Caligula, having ordered his statue to be placed in the Temple of Jerusalem, and the Jews having persisted to refuse him, the whole nation was so much alarmed by the mere apprehension of war that they neglected even to till their lands! The storm, however, blew over.

About this period, a great number of Jews, on account of a pestilence that raged at Babylon, removed from that city to Seleucia, where the Greeks and Syrians rose against them and destroyed of this devoted people more than fifty thousand! “The extent of this slaughter,” says Josephus, “had no parallel in any former period of their history.” Again, about five years after this dreadful massacre, there happened a severe contest between the Jews at Perea and the Philadelphians regarding the limits of a city called Mia, and many of the Jews were slain. This was “nation rising up against nation.”

Four years afterward, under Cumanus, a Roman soldier offered an indignity to the Jews within the precincts of the Temple. This they violently resented, but upon the approach of the Romans in great force, their terror was so excessive and their flight so disorderly that not less than ten thousand Jews were trodden to death in the streets. This, again, was “nation rising up against nation.” Four years more had not elapsed before the Jews made war against the Samaritans and ravaged their country. The people of Samaria had murdered a Galilean, who was going up to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, and the Jews thus revenged it.

At Caesarea, the Jews had a sharp contention with the Syrians for the government of the city, and an appeal was made to who decreed it to the Syrians. This event laid the foundation of a most cruel contest between the two nations. The Jews, mortified by disappointment and inflamed by jealousy, rose against the Syrians, who successfully repelled them. In the city of Caesarea alone, upwards of twenty thousand Jews were slain. The flame, however, was not now quenched; it spread its destructive rage wherever the Jews and Syrians dwelt together in the same place: throughout every city, town, and village, mutual animosity and slaughter prevailed. At Damascus, Tyre, Ascalon, Gadara, and Scythopolis, the carnage was dreadful. At the first of these cities, ten thousand Jews were slain in one hour, and at Scythopolis, thirteen thousand treacherously in one night.

At Alexandria, the Jews, aggrieved by the oppressions of the Romans, rose against them. But the Romans, gaining the ascendancy, slew of that nation fifty thousand persons, sparing neither infants nor the aged. And after this, at the siege of Jopata, not less than forty thousand Jews perished.

While these destructive contests prevailed in the East, the western parts of the Roman Empire were rent by the fierce contentions of Galba, Otho, and Vertellis. Of which three emperors, it is remarkable that they all, together with Nero, their immediate predecessor, died a violent death within the short space of eighteen months. Finally, the whole nation of the Jews took up arms against the Romans, King Agrippa, etc. and provoked that dreadful war which, in a few years, deluged Judea in blood and laid its capital in ruins.

If it be here objected, that, because wars are events of frequent occurrence, it would be improper to refer to supernatural foresight in a successful prediction respecting them, I would here reply that much of this objection will be removed by considering the incompetency of even statesmen themselves in foretelling the condition, only for a few years, of the very nation whose affairs they administer. It is a well–known fact that the present minister of Great Britain, [at the time of authorship, 1805, the Prime Minister was William Pitt] on the very eve of the late long and destructive war with the French Republic, held out to this country a picture of fifteen successive years of peace. Indeed, the points on which peace and war often depend baffle all calculations from present aspects, and a rumor of war that is so loud and so alarming as even to suspend the operations of farming may terminate, as we have just seen, into nothing but rumor.

Further, let it be considered that the wars to which this part of our Lord’s prophecy referred were to be of two kinds and that the events corresponded accordingly. They occurred within the period to which he had assigned them, and they fell with the most destructive severity on the Jews, to whom the prophecy at large chiefly related. Further, that the person who predicted them was not a statesman, but a carpenter’s son! On this subject, more in another place.

AUTHORS NOTE: Jesus declared “wars and rumors of wars” during the Pax Romana, the “Roman Peace,” which was the only time in history when war had essentially ceased because the empire had conquered all of its enemies. At any other time in history, wars would have been a poor “sign of the times” because wars are always happening.

“And great earthquakes shall be in divers places.” Of these significant emblems of political commotion, there occurred several within the scene of this prophecy, and as our Savior predicted, they happened in divers places. In the reign of Claudius, there was one at Rome and another at Apamea in Syria, where many of the Jews resided. The earthquake at Apamea was so destructive that the emperor, in order to relieve the distresses of the inhabitants, cancelled their requirement to pay tribute for five years. Both these earthquakes are recorded by Tacitus. There was one also, during the same reign, in Crete. This is mentioned by Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius, who also says that there were others “at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, and Samos; in all which places Jews had settled.”

In the reign of Nero, there was an earthquake at Laodicea. Tacitus records this also. It is likewise mentioned by Eusebius and Orosius, who add that Hieropolis and Colose, as well as Laodicea, were overthrown by earthquakes. There was also one in Campania during this reign (of this both Tacitus and Seneca speak) and another at Rome in the reign of Galba, recorded by Suetonius. To all those may be added the earthquakes that happened on the dreadful night when the Idumeans were excluded from Jerusalem, a short time before the siege commenced. Josephus says, “A heavy storm burst on them during the night; violent winds arose, accompanied with the most excessive rains, with constant lightnings, most tremendous thunderings, and with dreadful roarings of earthquakes. It seemed as if the system of the world had been confounded for the destruction of mankind; and one might well conjecture that these were signs of no common events!”

And as to earthquakes, many are mentioned by writers during a period just previous to 70 AD. There were earthquakes in Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colosse, Campina, Rome, and Judea. It is interesting to note that the city of Pompeii was much damaged by an earthquake occurring on February 5, 63 AD.¹⁵

The principle earthquakes occurring between this prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem [in AD 70] were, (1) a great earthquake in Crete, A.D. 46 or 47; (2) one at Rome on the day when Nero assumed manly toga, A.D. 51; (3) one at Apamea in Phrygia, mentioned by Tacitus, A.D. 53; (4) one at Laodicea in Phrygia, A.D. 60; (5) one in Capania.¹⁶

How often have cities in Asia, how often in Achaia, been laid low by a single shock of earthquake! How many towns in Syria, how many in Macedonia, have been swallowed up! How often has this kind of devastation laid Cyprus in ruins! How often has Paphos collapsed! Not infrequently are tidings brought to us of utter destruction of entire cities.¹⁸