Posted by Friend [Friend] on November 09, 1999 at 20:43:25 {4Hfg918T5ghxaL3hj3H2OgnjR4Br/g}:
In Reply to: To Flee or not to Flee posted by Shelby on November 09, 1999 at 18:36:40:
Shelby
You asked for my comments regarding the fleeing or flight of Matthew 24:16 and 20. I do not believe those texts have any significance today whatsoever beyond historical value.
Jesus was asked multiple questions to which he gave one inclusive answer.
I think an event describable as ‘great tribulation’ occurred in 70 AD associated with Jerusalem’s destruction and will likely occur again associated with the sign of the Son of man.
Jesus was asked for a sign of the destruction (end) of Jerusalem and also for the end of the age. We should be careful not to arbitrarily apply each circumstance Jesus described toward each event questioned. Jesus was asked for signs for different events and his response should be thusly correlated. So, in applying Jesus’ answer we must correlate events to the relevant question (or sign) and then look for aspects correlated to each question (or sign) as he so described them.
Circumstances applied strictly to one questioned event should likewise be applied that way, to that questioned event. Circumstances sharing application should be applied toward each event asked about. Circumstances described not specific to one end or the other would naturally be applicable to both by default.
For example, Jesus applies specifics having to do with a desolating sacrilege strictly to Judea. Thus, in our understanding, we should not expect for instance that armies would necessarily be surrounding modern day Jerusalem prior to the sign of the Son of man. Neither have anything to do with one another as far as recognizing Jesus’ composite sign for the imminent end of the age. Additionally, the sign of the Son of man was not associated with Jerusalem’s demise, so, events specific to the sign of the Son of man should not be associated with Jerusalem’s demise, but rather with the end of the age.
However, in the case of what’s described as ‘great tribulation’, there seems to be a continuity of expression indicating that there will also be a future great tribulation associated with events prior to the sign of the Son of man. In the case of the great tribulation, there is specific and relevant reference to the elect. The elect are elsewhere spoken of as being gathered after the sign of the Son of man. Therefore, there is substantive connection between the great tribulation and the end of the age (ending ultimately after the sign of the Son of man). That amounts to a continuity of expression indicating that there will also be a future great tribulation aside from that of 70 AD.
Jesus saying, ‘then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be’, should be understood as event specific. The term ‘great tribulation’ describes an actual destructive tribulation culminating in an events end.
In Jerusalem’s case this ‘great tribulation’ was the siege of the Roman armies. This siege lasted about 5 months, during which tribulation was great indeed. That great tribulation culminated in Jerusalem’s destruction.
In the case of the end of the age, ‘great tribulation’ should again be expected to be a time of tribulation culminating with or just after the sign of the Son of man. Just what this ‘great tribulation’ will entail we must wait and see.
In regards to the fleeing or flight of which you question, while great tribulation can be expected in relation to the end of the age, that need not mean that any special literal fleeing from it must be done. "Great tribulation" is the indication (sign) not the fleeing. Fleeing in the case of Jerusalem’s fall was a natural outcome because there was something to flee from, a city.
I will also make one other point before leaving this topic. Jesus’ answer for a sign does not indicate that survival for Christians depended upon realizing a sign. More than anything else Jesus’ answer for a sign was encouragement that Christians remain alive to spiritual aspects of following him. If individuals do that what do they have to fear from any end, whether they realize that end is near or not?
Friend