Johnson, B.W.
(On Matthew 10:23)
"Till the Son of man be come. A reference primarily, no doubt, to the Lord coming into his kingdom. See #Mt 16:28. He was thus to come in the life time of some of the apostles. He did thus come in the establishment of his kingdom in power on the day of Pentecost. He also came in judgment on the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem. This event ended Jewish persecution. There is also the final coming to judge the world, but the meaning here does not include that." (in loc.)
(On Matthew 21:44 ; Significance of A.D. 70)
44. "Whoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. Two fates are named for opposers in this verse: (1) those who fall on the stone shall be broken; (2) those on whom the stone shall fall shall be ground to powder. While the principle is general, the special application is to the Jewish opposers. Their falling upon the Stone (Christ) was the ruin of their nation. When the Stone fell upon them, in the judgment he had predicted because they rejected him, they were ground to powder in the awful desolation that occurred about thirty-seven years later."
(On Matthew 22:7)
7. "And when the king heard thereof he was wroth. He who insults or assails a king's heralds assails the king's majesty. Destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Strikingly fulfilled in the fate of the Jews. The Roman armies were chosen to inflict the retribution upon the Jewish nation." (in loc.)
(On Matthew 24:14)
14. This gospel of the kingdom, etc. The gospel was preached throughout the Roman empire, "the world" of the New Testament, before A.D. 70.
Then the end shall come. Of the Jewish state.
(On Matthew 24:15, The Abomination of Desolation)
"15. When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation. This is the sign when Christians should flee from Jerusalem. See Da 9:27 11:31 12:11. Luke says, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies" (Lu 21:20). This was, therefore, Christ's explanation of the abomination of desolation. The Roman army, heathen, with heathen images and standards, ready to sacrifice to idols on the temple altar, working the desolation of Jerusalem and the temple, is what is meant. In the holy place. Mark says, "Where it ought not" [Mr 13:14]; around "the holy city" [Mt 4:5]."
(On Matthew 24:17)
"20. Not in the winter. Because the streams were then impassable torrents from the heavy rains and the weather cold and wet, hard on homeless people.
Nor on the sabbath. Because then the gates of the city were closed, preventing departure. History tells us that the army of Cestius Gallus enclosed Jerusalem in A.D. 67, then deterred by its strength, retired to Cćsarea. This was the signal for which the church waited, and it then fled beyond the Jordan."
(On Matthew 24:21)
"21. Great tribulation. The account given by Josephus, the Jewish historian who witnessed and recorded the war, is almost an echo of the predictions of Christ. Women ate their own children from starvation; the Jews within the city fought each other as well as the Roman army; on August 10, A.D. 70, the city was stormed and there was a universal massacre; 1,100,00 persons perished, and 100,000 survivors were sold into slavery.
(On Matthew 24:34)
" 34, 35. This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Some hold that "all these things," in verse 33 and 34, refer only to what was said of the fall of Jerusalem, ending with verse 28. Others have contended that the phrase includes the second coming, but refers directly to the end of Jerusalem, which was a type of the end of the world. I believe, rather, that "all these things" embraces all thus far predicted, and that "this generation" means the Jewish race, instead of only those then living. The Greek word so rendered is used in the sense of race in the Greek classics, and as examples of such use in the New Testament, Alford points to Matt. 12:45, and Luke 16:8, as examples of such use in the New Testament. Christ has described the awful end of the Jewish state; after such a destruction and scattering of the remnant to the ends of the earth, all the examples of history would declare that the Jewish race would become extinct. Christ, however, declares that, contrary to all probability, it shall not pass away until he comes. They still exist, 1850 years after the prediction, distinct, but without a country."
(On Revelation 20:3 ; The 'Millennial Reign' of Christ)
"And [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus. Of the martyrs. Note that it is the "souls" that he observes. These are they "who came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years". Is this a literal resurrection from the grave? I answer decidedly in the negative. (1) The apostle does not say one word about the resurrection of the "bodies" of the martyrs, nor does he say that he saw the martyrs themselves. He is particular to say that he saw the "souls" or "spirits" of the martyrs living and reigning with Christ. (2) They had been put to death in the body, and their souls were unseen upon the earth, but there is no intimation in Scripture that their souls had ever ceased to exist. They were alive with Christ, but now they live in some sense different from that existence which they had before. It cannot mean that their souls came to life, for they had never ceased to have existence. (3) What, then, does the affirmation mean? That as Christ reigns upon the earth during the millennial period by his truth, so the spirit of the martyrs is revived and lives in the Church. The souls of the martyrs live because the Church is composed of those who love Christ better than goods or liberty or life. This glorious reign of Christ pervades the earth because the souls of the martyrs are resurrected and live in all who name the name of Christ, and who are filled with the spirit of ancient martyrs. (4) If any should think such an interpretation of symbolical language far fetched, let him compare Scripture. This explanation is not forced nor the interpretation of the language unusual. It was predicted by the prophets that Elijah must come again before the Messiah. He did come in spirit and power, not in person, but as the stern, fearless, upright reformer of the wilderness of Jordan. " (New Testament, in loc.)
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