The History of God’s One and Only True Church

By
Alton (Don) B. Billingsley

Continued from 4-13-2010, 4-23-2010

The Ephesian Church Era, Part 2

Titus launches His Attack Against Jerusalem

The siege against Jerusalem began at the Passover, 70 A.D. According to Josephus there were well over a million Jewish people gathered there to observe the Passover for he says the entire number that perished in the siege was 1,100,000.

In addition thousands of captives were sent to labor in the Egyptian mines. Those under 17 were sold into slavery until no one would buy them.

At Caesarea 2500 captive Jews were burnt to death, or fought with one another, or with wild beasts, in honor of his brother, Domitian’s, birthday.

At Berytus in Phoenicia, Titus celebrated his father’s birthday in a similar manner (ANCIENT HISTORY IN BIBLE LIGHT, Dorothy Ruth Miller, Page 262).

Foreseeing this slaughter, Jesus Christ wept:

Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave to you one stone upon another (Matthew 24:1-2), because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44).

Later, as the Roman soldiers were leading Him to where He was to be nailed to the stake, Jesus said to those who followed Him:

And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women also who mourned and LAMENTED Him, but Jesus turned to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breast which never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us?” (Luke 23:28-30).

It was only a few in comparisons who miraculously escaped the slaughter. This was due to the Christians in the city of Jerusalem having a right and close relationship with God. They escaped some little time before Titus attacked Jerusalem.

This is a type of the soon-coming future for the faithful elect of God before the Revived Roman Empire attacks the House of Joseph (Leviticus 23; Deuteronomy 28).

Do we see and understand this? Will we be trying hard to have that kind of a relationship with God so we too can be spared before the same fate befalls the members of the Church who will not be counted worthy to escape? Do we fear God?

An Overview of These Events

The Roman General Vespasian left the war [from Caesarea that was to be waged] in Jerusalem to go to Rome, during the latter part of 69 A.D., at which time he became the confirmed new Emperor, December 22, 69 A.D (The Bible as History by Werner Keller, pages 398-399; The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 1, page 461 by Gibbon).

There were three others, one after the other, who claimed the role of Emperor after Nero had committed suicide in 68 A. D., but their rule was very short term: Galba- seven months; Otho- three months; Vitellius- eight months and five days. All three lost their lives.

After arriving in Rome, Vespasian fought against the newly crowned emperor Vitellius. The capital (Rome) was burnt during the civil war between Vitellius and Vespasian, the 19th of December, A.D. 69.

Vespasian had commissioned his son Titus to bring defeat to the Jews in Jerusalem. However this had to wait for Titus had also left Jerusalem and was with his father in Alexandria assisting him in settling that government in 69 A.D. (Josephus, volume 4, Book 5, chapter 1).

It was from Alexandria that Titus went back to Jerusalem with an enormous army and began his attack on Jerusalem at the Passover in 70 A.D.

Signs to WATCH for—

Based on those yearly dates, it would appear the people of God in Jerusalem began watching for the opportunity to flee the city sometime after Pentecost 69 A.D., after hearing the voice saying, “Let us remove hence.”

When we consider that Vespasian did not leave for some months after the death of Nero, in 68 A.D., and the deaths of the first two new Emperors, Galba and Otho, 10 months, the Christians did not flee until shortly before the Passover in 70 A.D.

From the context of these historical writings it can be seen there was a small window of opportunity that opened up for the Christians to escape somewhere before the beginning of that tragic Passover that held only sorrow, extreme sufferings and the horrors of death for the Jewish people in Jerusalem.

The Roman armies that were left behind in the area of Jerusalem after Vespasian and Titus had left Caesarea for Alexandria were left as occupational armies; undoubtedly with a respectable distance between them to make possible the Church could flee at the exact time needed. The Roman armies were not to engage in trying to storm the city of Jerusalem but rather to wait until Titus was to return with additional armies to support them.

A Looked for SIGN to Flee

There was another sign Jesus Christ had told His disciples to watch for before fleeing Jerusalem. In their circumstances they were not to watch for the abomination to be placed in the temple as found in Matthew 24, and Mark 13, for the Romans had not yet conquered the city.

Rather they were to watch for the combined armies under the leadership of Titus that would be closing in on Jerusalem as made known through the writings in Luke.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, THEN KNOW that its desolation is near, THEN let those in Judea FLEE to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her (Jerusalem) depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her” (Luke 21:20-21).

Due to the SIGN Jesus Christ had told them to watch for they probably did not leave until they knew Titus and his armies were on the verge of closing in on Jerusalem.

A Scenario based on Fact: After realizing the remaining armies of Rome were left there only as occupational armies to make sure there would be no further outbreaks by the Jews; the Christians begin watching for the opportunity to slip away— undoubtedly— in the middle of the night.

An Example of Duality

Scripture indicates that Joseph and Mary also left their home in the middle of the night after receiving the warning by an angel to flee to Egypt due to Herod’s army coming to murder Jesus Christ (Matthew 2:13-15).

In addition it seems without question that an angel must have appeared in a dream to the leading pastor of the Church in Jerusalem and told him the exact time to flee and the place where they were to go as did the angel to Joseph. How else would they know where their place of refuge was located?
At the same time they undoubtedly had learned from what was being said by Jewish scouting parties that the Roman General Titus had reached Caesarea (47 miles from Jerusalem) and was combining his enormous armies together to begin his march toward Jerusalem; they then heeded what Christ had said and slipped away into the darkness of night on their way to Pella.

The Church FLEES in 70 A. D.

ANCIENT HISTORY IN BIBLE LIGHT, by Dorothy Ruth Miller, page 262

The Escape of the Christians. Attention has been called to the fact that the Christians in Palestine took no part in the revolt of the Jews. Some time before the siege, following the warning in Luke 21:20-22, they withdrew to Pella, beyond the Jordan led by Symeon, the cousin, it is thought, of the Lord Jesus, and of James the first pastor of the Church at Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Symeon led back the more faithful Christians to Jerusalem. Symeon was pastor of the Church for 40 years. He was crucified in 109 A.D. under Trajan.”

A/C Correspondence Course Lesson 49

The new Emperor died suddenly. Leaving the army in Palestine to his son, Vespasian raced for Rome to be emperor. Again, the Roman armies temporarily withdrew!

And in Jerusalem, as God's people were gathered at the Feast of Pentecost, there was an earthquake, accompanied with a great noise, and a supernatural voice was heard to say in the Temple: "LET US REMOVE HENCE!"

Ancient History in Bible Light, Miller, page 261 “Again on the night of the last Pentecost ever celebrated in the Sanctuary [69 A.D.], “as the priests were going by night into the inner Temple, as their custom was, to perform the scared ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, ‘Let us remove hence.’ ”

God's people did "remove hence!" The Church fled to the mountains, and on to Pella, a small town just beyond the River Jordan. Behind them the Roman armies closed in rapidly on Jerusalem. The Jews were STARVED into submission. Jerusalem fell after HORRIBLE SUFFERING. The Temple of God was razed to the ground!

And the Church of God everywhere in Roman lands was silenced. No meetings were allowed after A.D. 69 out of fear of revolt after the death of two Caesars already that year.

Thus ended, after just two 19-year cycles, the work of the Apostolic Church in Jerusalem!
The Pella congregation still called itself the Jerusalem church. Its chief elder was still pastor of "Jerusalem."

In the first 38 years, as congregations and conversions multiplied, the distant churches had very frequently appealed to the authority of the mother church in Jerusalem. But now a period of declining zeal set in for the whole Church.

This condition was foretold in the prophetic messages to the seven churches (Rev. 2 and 3).

1. Did Jesus Christ highly commend the first era of the Church for its labor and patience and goodness? Rev. 2:2, 3. Did He state it had EARLY to face false apostles -- men seeking to build up a following for themselves, whom Jesus Christ had not ordained? Same verse. Who were these people whom the True Church "canst not bear"? Verse 6.

2. But did He also have something against this church era? What is it? Verse 4. What did Christ threaten to do if this church did not awaken from its lethargy? Verse 5 compared with chapter 1, verse 20.

COMMENT: He would REMOVE IT OUT OF ITS PLACE! This was done physically, in type -- even before the prophecy was written, when the Jerusalem headquarters church was transferred to Pella. It was done spiritually when the authority and respect in which this mother church had been held was stripped from it in A.D. 135 after a second Jewish War with Rome.

At the time John penned these words, Jesus Christ already knew the performance record of the church at Ephesus. That church congregation was a type of the entire church in apostolic times. The Ephesus Church had let down. It had not continued its work after A.D. 69 to all nations (Mat. 28:19).

3. Did the apostle Paul before A.D. 68 find it necessary to warn even some ministers to be more diligent? Col. 4:17. Was even the Evangelist Timothy, his most faithful helper, in need of being stirred up? II Tim. 1:6, compared with Philippians 2:19-20. . . .”

The Church of God fades into the Background

From 70 A.D. ensued the lost century of the Church of God—

Story of the Christian Church, chapter 5, page 41, Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

THE AGE OF SHADOWS

FROM THE DEATH OF ST. PAUL, 68 A.D., TO THE DEATH OF ST. JOHN, 100 A.D.

“We name the last generation of the first century, from 68 A.D., “The Age of Shadows,” partly because the gloom of persecution was over the Church; but more especially because of all periods in the history, it is the one about which we know the least. We have no longer the clear light of the Book of Acts to guide us; and no author of that age has filled the blank in the history. . . . For fifty years after St. Paul’s life a curtain hangs over the Church, through which we strive vainly to look; and when at last it rises, about 120 A. D. with the writings of the earliest church-fathers, we find a church in many aspects very different from that in the days of St. Peter and St. Paul.”

“A different church” -- It came to be known as the Catholic (Universal) Church. At that date of 120 A.D., we find the emergence of the Catholic Church that was begun by Simon Magus, the man who claimed he was an apostle. He had been baptized by Philip but refused the laying on of hands by the apostles Peter and John who perceived how this man would be used by Satan to try and destroy God’s true Church (Acts 8:4-23).

Leaders of the Catholic Church

To enable us to know who occupied the offices of the popes (though the office of pope was not used until 642 A.D. by Pope Theodore) during the time of the Ephesian Church area, their names and dates in that office are as follows:

1.St. Peter (32-67) (In reality, Simon Magus)
2.St. Linus (67-76)
3.St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
4.St. Clement I (88-97)
5.St. Evaristus (97-105)
6.St. Alexander I (105-115)
7.St. Sixtus I (115-125) Also called Xystus I
8.St. Telesphorus (125-136)

The Caesars Ruling Rome

For future reference the listing of those filling the office of the Popes; and the Roman Caesars from 31 A.D. during the time of the Ephesian Church Era are as follows:

About.Com: Ancient/Classical History

Julio-Claudians
(31 or) 27 B.C. - 14 A.D. Augustus
14 - 37 Tiberius
37 - 41 Caligula
41 - 54 Claudius
54 - 68 Nero

Year of the 4 Emperors
68 - 69 Galba
69 Otho
69 Vitellius

Flavian Dynasty
69 - 79 Vespasian
79 - 81 Titus
81 - 96 Domitian

5 Emperors
96 - 98 Nerva
98 - 117 Trajan
117 - 138 Hadrian
138 - 161 Antoninus Pius
161 - 180 Marcus Aurelius
161 - 169 Lucius Verus

Tracing the History of God’s True Church

Except for the writings of the Apostle John in his last three epistles there is nothing known about the Church of God in Holy Scripture. As we read earlier from historical writings it faded into obscurity after the Apostle Paul’s death in 68 A.D.

History records the two men who followed in succession after the Apostle’s John’s death.

Mystery of the Ages, Counterfeit Gospel, Pages 53-54, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong:

“After the death of the apostle John [possibly 100 A.D.], a disciple of his, Polycarp, waged a controversy over the Passover-Easter question with the bishop of Rome [Anicctus], by then leader of the church [Catholic] started by Simon [Magus].

Christ’s true Christianity, Polycrates, waged a still hotter controversy over the same Passover-Easter question with another bishop of Rome. The theological battle was called the Quartodeciman Controversy. Polycrates contended, as Jesus and the original apostles taught, that the Passover should be observed in the new Christian form introduced by Jesus and by the Apostle Paul (I Corinthians 11) using unleavened bread and wine instead of sacrificing a lamb, on the eve of the 14th of Nisan (first month in the sacred calendar, occurring in the spring! But the Rome church insisted that it be observed on Sunday.”

Excerpts from the writings of the True Church of God by Ronald Kelly, chapter 8.

Two vital keys we have discussed in chapters eight and nine are those of the MESSAGE [Gospel] Christ preached, and which was carried to the world; and the LAWS of God, including the SABBATH DAY on which the Church worshipped. These KEYS lead to the understanding of where God’s true Church is, and how to read about it in history. . . .”

To be continued

http://bodyofchristonline.us/ http://cog-ff.com http://www.ezekielwatchman.org/

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