Barring the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the destruction of the Second Temple is the most prophesied and pivotal event within the New Testament — signaling the end of the Old Covenant and the triumph of the Messianic Covenant (Hebrews 8:13).
70 AD is not just a historical marker; it is arguably the theological fulcrum of the Old & New Testaments. The fall of Jerusalem stands as a monumental event — second only to the Crucifixion of Christ in its importance within Christian eschatology and history. Understanding its significance requires a thorough examination of the prophetic messages that heralded this catastrophe and its role in the transition from the Old Covenant to the New.
The prophecies of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, Malachi, and Zechariah provide a profound backdrop for understanding this watershed moment in Biblical history. Malachi, as the last prophet of the Old Testament, provides for us a critical link between the Old and New Covenants. In Malachi 3:1, he proclaims:
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
The “messenger of the covenant” is universally understood to be a reference to Christ, who comes to His Temple after his messenger prepares the way for him.
In Malachi 4:1, this vision becomes even more dire for the inhabitants of the land (emphasis mine):
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
As I previously discussed in That Wicked Generation:
The imagery of the root and the branch is one seen throughout both the OT and NT as a repeated symbol for the physical Israel. That wrath the Baptizer foretells of in Matthew 3:7, orgē in the Greek, is the same word for wrath that Paul speaks of in I Thessalonians 2:16. This warning by John of the baptism by hellfire that was to come is nearly verbatim what Malachi would prophesy roughly 420 years before the birth of Christ…
The Archangel Gabriel, the messenger of the Christ, explicitly confirms that this prophecy is about John the Baptist in Luke 1:13-17. Indeed, it is on no less authority than Christ’s that we are told that John the Baptist is the second coming of Elias (the Hellenic form of Elijah) in Matthew 17:10-13.
The coming of the Lord to His Temple, followed by the judgement of his people, therefore signifies the end of the Old Covenant, Judaic era and the establishment of that New Covenant through Christ.
Read full text: https://dfreality.substack.com/p/redating-revelation?publication_id=1240700&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=y7h5a&utm_medium=email
Barring the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the destruction of the Second T