Before Jerusalem Fell

Tb Looming Jwish War 245
Perhaps one of the most surprising correspondences between the
graphic portrayal of Revelation and the historical events of the Jewish
War is this one. Josephus records for us several episodes of the Jewish
War that most reasonably could be a fulfillment of this prophecy:
[B]ut as many of these were repulsed when they were getting ashore
as were killed by the darts upon the lake; and the Remans leaped out
of their vessels, and destroyed a great many more upon the land: one
might then see the lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies, for not one
of them escaped. And a terrible stink, and a very sad sight there was
on the following days over that country; for as for the shores, they
were full of shipwrecks, and of dead bodies all swelled. . . .W
. . . .
At which fight, hand to hand, fifteen thousand of them were slain,
while the number of those that were unwillingly forced to leap into
Jordan was prodigious. There were besides, two thousand and two
hundred taken prisoners. . . . Now this destruction that fell upon the
Jews, as it was not inferior to any of the rest in itself, so did it still
appear greater than it really was; and this, because not only the whole
of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter,
and Jordan could not be passed over, by reason of the dead bodies
that were in it, but because the lake Asphaltitis was also full of dead
bodies, that were carried down into it by the river. . . .41
. . . .
[I]n Jerusalem [the dead] obstructed the very lanes with their dead
bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood to such a degree
indeed that the fire of many of the houses was quenched with these
men’s blood.42
Those evangelical scholars who doubt that the symbols of Revelation
have any correspondence with historical events should carefully
note this particular one. A more exact fulfillment is scarcely imaginable.
Revelation 16:21
One final reference will be given at
16:2 1a we read: “And huge hailstones,
40. Wan 3:10:9.
41. Wars 4:7:5-6.
42. Wars 6:%5.
this juncture. In Revelation
about one hundred pounds