Advent Watching

Did any of you see the recent movie Argo, directed by and starring Ben Affleck? It’s about a secret operation to extract six U.S. diplomatic personnel who escaped from the U.S. Embassy at the beginning of the Iran Hostage Crisis. That historical event happened in 1980.

In May of that year, Mount St. Helens erupted, hurling steam and ash 60,000 feet into the sky. The November 1980 election put Ronald Reagan in the White House, replacing Jimmy Carter. That December, Beatle John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York City apartment. Oh yes, that’s right, most of us think. But old news is just that—old news—we don’t think about it much.

Not to the Christians living in Jerusalem in the year A.D. 66. Roughly 32 years earlier Jesus had prophesied:

“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that its destruction is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.”

(Luke 21:20-24, the Olivet Discourse)

In the late summer of 66 A.D., 32 years after Jesus spoke those words, a Roman force of 40,000 soldiers came from Galilee to quell a riot in Jerusalem. Would you believe that huge army was not only resisted, but routed?

Reveling in their triumph, the jubilant Jewish defenders began promoting the cause of complete independence from Rome. In the spring of AD. 67 the Romans began their retaliation under the ruthless leadership of Titus, the son of the Emperor Vespasian. He led the 50,000 troops that had gathered on the Mediterranean Coast toward Jerusalem to lay siege to the city.

Christians, remembering the words of Jesus spoken three decades earlier, began leaving in large numbers, settling in Pella, on the west side of the Jordan River and north of Jerusalem.

Read the complete article about Advent Watching by visiting my blog.