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From: cng@burdvax.UUCP (Tom Albrecht)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Wandering Jew and the Second Coming
Message-ID: <1552@burdvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Mar-84 22:57:00 EST
Article-I.D.: burdvax.1552
Posted: Sat Mar 17 22:57:00 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Mar-84 08:40:32 EST
References: <1048@uw-june>
Organization: Burroughs Corp. - SDG/Devon (nee Downingtown)
Lines: 47



> Jesus said that the Apocalypse would come before all of the people
> living at that time were dead.  Since the Apocalypse has, apparently,
> not come, it would be consistent to assume that there is at least one
> person now living who was living when Jesus made that pronouncement.
...

> Have any churches (and if so, which?) made the Wandering Jew part of
> their theology in order to reconcile Jesus' words with the long
> Apocalypse-free period?  Is there any other theological explanation?
> (e.g. Many of those who were alive at that time accepted Jesus and
> gained eternal life, G*d decided to give the world more time to get its
> act together, etc.)

An alternate explanation:

The assumption you make that the apocalypse has not yet come is
false.  It can be shown from scripture that the tribulation
period spoken of in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 coincided with
the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple which occurred in 70AD.

Jesus spoke of the events in those passages as coming upon 'this
generation' (Mt 24:34).  That same phrase is used elsewhere by
Christ as referring to those living at that particular time in Israel (see Mt
11:16, 12:41)

Jesus is warning in these passages of the impending destruction of the
Jewish nation and the dissolution of the Old Covenant.  It was
necessary that all this should occur so that the church would be
established.  The problem that most people get into when interpreting
these verses is that they reply on their concept of what the words
mean rather than allowing scripture speak for itself.

There are those today that look for a yet future revival of the Roman
empire, a rebuilding of the Jewish temple coupled with the
reestablishment of the Jewish nation as signs that Christ is
returning to judge the world.  What they fail to realize is that this
is exactly what happened in 70AD.  God used the Roman army to punish
Israel for their centuries of disobedience and their ultimate
rejection of the Messiah.

Tom Albrecht
-- 
Burroughs Corp.		...{presby|psuvax|sdcrdcf|bpa}!burdvax!cng
P.O. Box 235		(215) 269-1100
Downingtown, PA  19335