Destruction of Jerusalem
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prophecy had been fulfilled, not only in the birth and life of Christ,
but in His death and resurrection. The children were not condemned
for the sins of the parents; but when, with a knowledge of all the light
given to their parents, the children rejected the additional light granted
to themselves, they became partakers of the parents’ sins, and filled
up the measure of their iniquity.
The long-suffering of God toward Jerusalem only confirmed the
Jews in their stubborn impenitence. In their hatred and cruelty toward
the disciples of Jesus they rejected the last offer of mercy. Then God
withdrew His protection from them and removed His restraining power
from Satan and his angels, and the nation was left to the control of the
leader she had chosen. Her children had spurned the grace of Christ,
which would have enabled them to subdue their evil impulses, and
now these became the conquerors. Satan aroused the fiercest and most
debased passions of the soul. Men did not reason; they were beyond
reason—controlled by impulse and blind rage. They became satanic in
their cruelty. In the family and in the nation, among the highest and the
lowest classes alike, there was suspicion, envy, hatred, strife, rebellion,
murder. There was no safety anywhere. Friends and kindred betrayed
one another. Parents slew their children, and children their parents.
The rulers of the people had no power to rule themselves. Uncontrolled
passions made them tyrants. The Jews had accepted false testimony
to condemn the innocent Son of God. Now false accusations made
their own lives uncertain. By their actions they had long been saying:
“Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
Isaiah 30:11
.
Now their desire was granted. The fear of God no longer disturbed
them. Satan was at the head of the nation, and the highest civil and
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religious authorities were under his sway.
The leaders of the opposing factions at times united to plunder and
torture their wretched victims, and again they fell upon each other’s
forces and slaughtered without mercy. Even the sanctity of the temple
could not restrain their horrible ferocity. The worshipers were stricken
down before the altar, and the sanctuary was polluted with the bodies
of the slain. Yet in their blind and blasphemous presumption the insti-
gators of this hellish work publicly declared that they had no fear that
Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it was God’s own city. To establish
their power more firmly, they bribed false prophets to proclaim, even
while Roman legions were besieging the temple, that the people were