by

 Damien F. Mackey

  

‘Woe to the nations that rise up against my people!

The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgement;

he will send fire and worms into their flesh; they shall weep in pain for ever’.

 

Judith 16:17

  

After the victory of Judith, in the neo-Assyrian era, this will be the fate also of king Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ - upon whom I intend to focus in this article - and of King Herod

(Acts 12:23): “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck [Herod] down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last”.

 

For a range of reasons, I have selected king Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ - whom I have previously identified now in various articles with the Grecophile emperor Hadrian:

 

Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ and Emperor Hadrian

 

(2) Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ and Emperor Hadrian

 

as the ill-fated King of Tyre about whom Ezekiel prophesied:

 

The Fallen King of Tyre

 

(2) The Fallen King of Tyre

 

In the Introduction to that last article I wrote:

 

The tyrannical Seleucid king, Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ so-called IV, when extended with his alter ego, as the Grecophile (Graeculus) emperor Hadrian, strikingly ticks some, at least, of the prophet Ezekiel’s main boxes concerning the fallen King of Tyre.

For Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’:

 

·       Was associated with the city of Tyre.

·       He, despite his bright start, became more and more corrupt and violent.

·       He was immensely wealthy, and he built on a gargantuan scale.

·       He stood in Eden (Jerusalem), in the Temple of Yahweh;

·       Accompanied by an anointed cherub, the priest Menelaus.

·       He began to imagine himself as a god.

·       His fall was sudden and dreadful.

 

….

 

The last point: His fall was sudden and dreadful, is the one that will interest me here. It was so singularly disgusting, and public, that I think it may greatly serve to strengthen my identification of Ezekiel’s “King of Tyre” with Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’.

 

Thus, I wrote:

 

….

7. A disgusting, horrific, sudden death

 

 “Your heart became proud
    on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
    because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
    I made a spectacle of you before kings.

By your many sins and dishonest trade
    you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
    and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
    in the sight of all who were watching.

All the nations who knew you
    are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
    and will be no more”.

 

Ezekiel 28:17-19

 

 

Daniel 11:45:

 

He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

 

2 Maccabees 9:1-29:

 

The Lord Punishes Antiochus

 

About this time Antiochus was retreating in disorder from Persia, where he had entered the city of Persepolis and had attempted to rob a temple and take control of the city. The people took up arms and attacked Antiochus, forcing his army to retreat in disgrace. When he reached Ecbatana, he was told what had happened to the forces of Nicanor and Timothy. He became furious and decided to make the Jews pay for the defeat he had suffered. So he ordered his chariot driver not to stop until they reached Jerusalem. With great arrogance he said,

 

I will turn Jerusalem into a graveyard full of Jews.

 

But he did not know that he was heading straight for God's judgment. In fact, as soon as he had said these words, the all-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him down with an invisible but fatal blow. He was seized with sharp intestinal pains for which there was no relief— a fitting punishment for the man who had tortured others in so many terrible ways! But this in no way caused him to give up his pride. Instead he became more arrogant than ever, and breathing out fiery threats against the Jews, he gave orders to drive even faster. As a result he fell out of his chariot with such a thud that it made every bone in his body ache. His arrogant pride made him think he had the superhuman strength to make ocean waves obey him and to weigh high mountains on a pair of scales. But suddenly he fell flat on the ground and had to be carried off on a stretcher, a clear sign to everyone of God's power. Even the eyes of this godless man were crawling with worms and he lived in terrible pain and agony. The stink was so bad that his entire army was sickened, and no one was able to come close enough to carry him around. Yet only a short while before, he thought he could take hold of the stars.

 

Antiochus Makes a Promise to God

 

Antiochus was deeply depressed and suffered constant pain because of the punishment that God had brought on him, so he finally came to his senses and gave up his arrogant pride. Then, when he could no longer endure his own stink, he said,

 

It is right that all mortals should be subject to God and not think that they are his equal. 

 

The time of the Lord's mercy had come to an end for Antiochus, but this worthless man made the Lord a promise: I once intended to level Jerusalem to the ground and make that holy city a graveyard full of Jews, he said, but now I declare it a free city. I had planned to throw out the dead bodies of the Jews and their children for the wild animals and the birds to eat, for I did not consider them worth burying. But now I intend to grant them the same privileges as the citizens of Athens enjoy. I once looted the Temple and took its sacred utensils, but I will fill it with splendid gifts and with better utensils than before, and I will pay the cost of the sacrifices from my own resources. Besides all this, I will become a Jew myself and go wherever people live, telling them of God's power.

 

Antiochus’ Letter to the Jews

 

Antiochus was in despair and could find no relief from his pain, because God was punishing him as he deserved, so he wrote the following letter to the Jews:

 

King Antiochus to the Jews, my most distinguished subjects. Warm greetings and best wishes for your health and prosperity.

I hope that you and your families are in good health and that all goes well with you. My hope is in God, and I remember with a deep sense of joy the respect and kindness that you have shown me.

On my way home from Persia I fell violently ill, and so I thought it best to begin making plans for the general welfare of the people. I have not given up hopes of getting well; in fact I am fully confident that I will recover. But I recall that my father used to appoint a successor whenever he went on a military campaign east of the Euphrates. He did this so that if something unexpected happened, or if some bad news came back, then his subjects would not be afraid, for they knew who had been left in command. Also, I know how the rulers along the frontiers of my kingdom are constantly on the lookout for any opportunity that may come along. That is why I have appointed my son Antiochus to succeed me as king. I have frequently entrusted him to your care and recommended him to you when I went on my regular visits to the provinces east of the Euphrates. (He is receiving a copy of the letter which follows.) Now I strongly urge each of you to keep in mind the good things that I have done for you, both individually and as a nation, and to continue in your good will toward me and my son. I am confident that he will treat you with fairness and kindness, just as I have always done.

 

And so, this murderer, who had cursed God, suffered the same terrible agonies he had brought on others, and then died a miserable death in the mountains of a foreign land. One of his close friends, Philip, took his body home; but, because he was afraid of Antiochus’ son, he went on to King Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt.

 

 

 

 

A Coming of Jesus before the Final Coming

 

 

by

 

 Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

Were Jesus Christ and his Apostles deluded about the Second Coming?

Did they pass on to us the wrong time-table?

 

 

 

When we compare what Jesus Christ, St. John, the author of Revelation, and St. Paul the Apostle, had to say about the “coming” of the Lord with what modern-day Christians have to say about it, we encounter a radical difference in time concept. 

 

In the first case, the pre-modern one, the emphasis is upon the shortness of time.

 

Jesus stated emphatically (Matthew 16:28; cf. Luke 9:27): ‘Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom’.

 

According to John (Revelation 1:1a, 3): “This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon [Gk. tachos] take place .... Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near”.

 

Paul wrote similarly in various places. Here I take just 1 Thessalonians 5:23:

 

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit, and soul, and body, all together be preserved blameless at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

 

Typical of the modern view is the ‘slingshot’ effect, sling-firing these prophecies right away from the time of Jesus Christ and squarely into our modern era.

 

For example, Fr. William Saunders has written (in “The Second Coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment”):

https://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/judga2.htm

 

As Catholics, we are mindful and profess in our Creed that Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead. The Second Vatican Council's “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” states, “Already the final age of the world is with us and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real though imperfect” (No. 48). To try to grasp the when, what and how of this Second Coming and last judgment, we really need to glean the various passages in Sacred Scripture to see how our Church has interpreted them. They are united in one drama.

 

Our Lord in the Gospel spoke of His second coming. He indicated that various signs would mark the event. Mankind would suffer from famine, pestilence and natural disasters. False prophets who claim to be the Messiah will deceive and mislead people. Nations will wage war against each other. The Church will endure persecution. Worse yet, the faith of many will grow cold and they will abandon the faith, even betraying and hating one another. (Confer Mt. 24:4-14; Lk 17:22-37)

 

St. Paul describes a “mass apostasy” before the Second Coming, which will be led by the “son of perdition”, the “Man of Lawlessness”, the “adversary who exalts himself above every so-called god proposed for worship”. This “lawless one” is part of the work of Satan, and with power, signs, wonders and seductions will bring to ruin those who have turned from the truth.

 

However, “the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth and annihilate him by manifesting His own presence”. (Cf. 2 Thes 2:3-12) The Catechism affirms, “God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the last judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world” (No. 667). Our Lord will come suddenly. “The Son of Man in His day will be like the lightening that flashes from one end of the sky to the other” (Lk 17:24). St. Peter predicts, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief and on that day the heavens will vanish with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and all its deeds will be made manifest” (2 Pt 3:10).

 

Death will be no more. The dead shall rise and those souls who have died will be united again to their bodies. All will have a glorious, transformed, spiritualized body as St. Paul said, “He will give a new form to this lowly body of ours and remake it according to the pattern of His glorified body ...” (Phil 3:21).

 

At this time, the final, or general judgment will occur.

 

Jesus said, “Those who have done right shall rise to life; the evildoers shall rise to be damned” (Jn 5:29). Our Lord described this judgment as follows: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, escorted by all the angels of heaven, He will sit upon His royal throne and all the nations will be assembled before Him. Then He will separate them into two groups, as a shepherd separated sheep from goats” (Mt 25:31-32).

Here each person will have to account for his conduct and the deepest secrets of his soul will come to light. How well each person has responded to the prompting of God’s grace will be made clear. Our attitude and actions toward our neighbor will reflect how well we have loved our Lord. “As often as you did it for one of My least brothers, you did it for Me” (Mt 25:41).

 

Our Lord will judge us accordingly.

 

For those who have died and already have faced the particular judgment, their judgment will stand. Those living at the time of the Second Coming will receive judgment. Those who have rejected the Lord in this life, who have sinned mortally, who have no remorse for sin and do not seek forgiveness, will have condemned themselves to hell for all eternity. “By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one's works and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love” (Catechism, No. 678). The souls of the righteous will enter heavenly glory and enjoy the beatific vision and those who need purification will undergo it.

 

We do not know when the Second Coming will occur. Jesus said, “As to the exact day or hour, no one knows it, neither the angels in heaven nor even the Son, but only the Father. Be constantly on the watch! Stay awake! You do not know when the appointed time will come” (Mk 13:32-33).

[End of quote]

 

This appears to me to be a confusing, on the part of Fr. William Saunders, of the “coming” predicted by Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:28: ‘Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom’, with what is commonly known as the “Second Coming”.

 

The first of these may be regarded as a spiritual coming, when Jesus Christ returned in c. 70 AD to oversee the demise of the old Bride, harlot Jerusalem gone wrong, and to embrace his new Bride, the Church:

 

Jesus Christ came as Bridegroom

 

(5) Jesus Christ came as Bridegroom | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu

 

The second of these is the definitive “Final Coming”, commonly referred to as the “Second Coming”.

 

(For Catholic readers, in particular, both terms are used, “Second Coming” (Our Lady) and “Final Coming” (Jesus) - this latter was spoken of by Jesus, the Divine Mercy, to Sister Faustina: ‘You will prepare the world for My final coming’. (Diary 429).

 

As the Americans say, Let’s do the math.

 

First: “In the Gospels the Lord shows us that his first coming was in humility, as a Servant, to free the world from sin”.

http://www.ewtn.com.au/devotionals/mercy/coming.htm

 

Second: His soon-to-take-place “coming” as gleaned from the quotes above, follows that one.

 

Last: There is yet to be a Final Coming, as indicated by the Catechism: “God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the last judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world” (No. 667). The Last Judgment.

 

“Must Soon Take Place”

 

Revelation is a book of urgency. The events it describes were to happen soon.

When the Bible says “soon”, it means soon, as in the case of the birth of Isaiah’s Immanuel - not in the Third Millennium! We learn that lesson when we start reading Revelation at its beginning.

 

Plato, in The Republic, had stated an important maxim: “The beginning is the most important part of the book”, and this principle holds a special significance for the would-be interpreter of Revelation.

“Unfortunately”, as Kenneth L. Gentry Jr. has rightly noted (TEMPORAL EXPECTATION IN REVELATION):

 https://postmillennialismtoday.com/2013/12/02/temporal-expectation-in-revelation/ “too many prophecy enthusiasts leap over the beginning of this book, never securing a proper footing for the treacherous path ahead”.

 

The key to Revelation is found in St. John’s beginning, as quoted above.

 

 

But, in case we missed it, John repeats this soon-ness at the very end (22:6):

 

The angel said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirit of the prophets, sent His angel; to show His servants the things that must soon take place’ .... Then he told me, ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near’.

 

 

Just as it would have been senseless for Isaiah’s “sign” for king Ahaz to have been something that would not occur until 700 years later, so would John the Evangelist, according to Gentry: “... be taunting [the churches] mercilessly if he were discussing events two thousand or more years distant. God answers the anxious cry “How long?” by urging their patience only a “little while longer” (6:10-11). Revelation promises there will no longer be “delay” (10:6).

 

The angel’s command to St. John not to seal up the scroll is also tellingly in favour of this “soon” interpretation.

 

The prophet Daniel, by contrast, had been commanded by the angel to keep his “words secret and the book [scroll] sealed until the time of the End”, because the things Daniel was shown were not to happen for a long time - in the time of the Apostles’ generation.

 

For Our Lord Jesus Christ himself had, during his important Olivet Discourse when facing the Temple of Jerusalem, referred to the “abomination that makes desolate of which the prophet Daniel spoke” (Matthew 24:15; cf. Mark 14:13).

 

We know from Josephus’s history that the Roman armies of Cestius Gallus, that came up to (and surrounded) Jerusalem in 66 AD, and had all but conquered the city, had suddenly, most strangely, retreated. Even Josephus recognised the hand of Providence in this most unexpected turnabout. Many Jews, he said, fled the city at the time - no doubt e.g. those obedient to Jesus Christ’s Olivet warning. And Josephus is correct in seeing this intermission as only intensifying the pressure ultimately, so that with the return of the Roman armies the final destruction of Jerusalem, when it came (in c. 70 AD), would be total. Thus would be fulfilled Our Lord’s prophecy that ‘Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled’ (Luke 21:24).

 

St. John recalls this in Revelation 11:2: “But exclude the outer court [of the Temple]; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months”.

 

As Kenneth Gentry has observed: “... the trampling of the temple in AD 70 (Dan. 9:26-27) after its “abomination” (9:27; cf. Matt. 24:15-16; Luke 21:20-21) ends the Gentiles’ ability to stamp out the worship of God. In Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 23:38-24:2, and Revelation 11:1-2, the “holy city” and its Temple end in destruction”.

 

But how do the “times of the Gentiles” relate to the forty-two months of Revelation 11:12)?

Well, according to one view, the period would range from the spring of 67 AD - when Emperor Nero sent his general, Vespasian, to put down the revolt of the Jews - to August 70 - when the Romans breached the inner wall of Jerusalem, transforming the Temple and city into a raging inferno: a period of forty-two months.

 

The five months of Revelation 9:5 pertain specifically to the period when the Jewish defenders held out desperately (one might say, fanatically), from April 70 - when Titus began the siege of Jerusalem - until the crescendo at the end of August. According to Gentry (61): “This five months of the Jewish war happens to be its most gruesome and evil period” (cf. Wars, 5.1.1, 4-5; 10:5; 12:4; 13:6).

 

Until which “coming” would the Apostle John live?

 

 

^“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.

(This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said,

‘Lord, who is going to betray you?’)

When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’

Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return,

what is that to you? You must follow me’.”

 

John 21:20-22

 

 

The Apostles of Jesus Christ were the types who were never going ‘to die wondering’.

Philip, for instance (John 14:8): ‘Master, show us the Father; then we shall be content’.

And Thomas (20:25): ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe’.

Now Peter: ‘Lord, what about him [John]?’

 

Jesus often met such questions with a mild rebuke.

In the case of Philip (John 14:9-11):

 

‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?

The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves’.

 

In the case of ‘Doubting Thomas’ (20:27): ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe’.

 

In the case of Peter: ‘What is that to you?’, etc.

 

But there may now arise a modern question: If, as most Christians seem to believe, Jesus has not yet come as He spoke of to his disciples - {and as they (e.g. Sts. John, Paul) wrote of with phrases like “soon”, or even “very soon”} - then how is it that the risen Jesus can say that He wanted John ‘to remain alive until I return’?

 

This statement, by the way, is perfectly in accord with what the pre-Resurrection Jesus had told his followers (Matthew 16:28): ‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom’.

 

Apparently, while Peter was not going to be one of these, John was.

 

Peter’s lifetime approximated to only the First of these comings.

John would live on until the Second of these.

We still await the Final coming of Jesus Christ.

 

 

Antonia as the prætorium of the procurator Pontius Pilate

 

 

 

by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

 

Moving on, Herod ‘the Great’ was well and truly dead by the time

that Simon Maccabee undertook his immense restorative work in Jerusalem.

Though Herod was a formidable builder (including the Pantheon),

he never built any third Temple in Jerusalem.

 

 

 

Introduction

 

That the Antonia was the praetorium is a traditional Christian view:

Antonia Fortress Explained

 

“Traditionally, Christians have believed for centuries that the vicinity of the Antonia Fortress was the site of Pontius Pilate' praetorium, where Jesus was tried for high treason. This was based on the assumption that an area of Roman flagstones discovered beneath the Church of the Condemnation and the Convent of the Sisters of Zion was 'the pavement' which John 19:13 describes as the location of Jesus' trial”.

 

And this is the traditional view as to how it got its name, Antonia?

 

“The Antonia Fortress (Aramaic: קצטרא דאנטוניה) was a citadel built by Herod the Great and named for Herod's patron Mark Antony …”.

 

But this view brings with it certain chronological difficulties from a conventional perspective:

 

“The construction date is controversial because the name suggests that Herod built Antonia before the defeat of Mark Antony by Octavian in 31–30 BCE and Mark Antony's suicide in 30 BCE. Herod is famous for being an apt diplomat and pragmatist, who always aligned himself with the winning side and the "man in charge" of Rome. It is somewhat difficult to bring this date in accordance with the presumed date for the construction of the Herodian Temple”.

 

It brings even greater difficulties when “Herod”, here, meaning King Herod ‘the Great’,

is properly identified in relation to Octavian. For we are actually in the Greek, Seleucid, era of the Maccabees. Octavian is Julius Caesar Augustus, a Greek - the infamous emperor Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ - and Herod is his right-hand man, Marcus Agrippa, a great builder in antiquity:

 

Herod, the emperor’s signet right-hand man

 

(2) Herod, the emperor's signet right-hand man

 

He was a barbaric Phrygian (2 Maccabees 5:22).

 

Names, at this time, can be Greek: Caesar, Pontius, Pilate, praetorion, lithostrōton:

 

Pontius Pilate chose Greek before Latin

 

(2) Pontius Pilate chose Greek before Latin

 

The emperor Hadrian, who was a Grecophile, was the Seleucid monster, ‘Epiphanes’:

 

Time to consider Hadrian, that ‘mirror-image’ of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus

 

(2) Time to consider Hadrian, that 'mirror-image' of Antiochus Epiphanes, as also the census emperor Augustus

 

He was probably also that marvellously mixed together Julian-Antiochus character, Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappus:

 

Antiochus IV ‘Epiphanes’ Tripled?

 

(2) Antiochus IV 'Epiphanes' Tripled?

 

This was the era of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and so, of course, there has to be a rebel Judas at the time of the Census (a duplication of Judas Maccabeus):

 

Judas the Galilean vitally links Maccabean era to Daniel 2’s “rock cut out of a mountain”

 

(2) Judas the Galilean vitally links Maccabean era to Daniel 2’s “rock cut out of a mountain”

 

And there has to be war going on in and around Jerusalem:

 

Religious war raging in Judah during the Infancy of Jesus

 

(2) Religious war raging in Judah during the Infancy of Jesus

 

Moving on, Herod ‘the Great’ was well and truly dead by the time that Simon Maccabee undertook his immense restorative work in Jerusalem. Though Herod was, as said, a formidable builder (including the Pantheon), he never built any third Temple in Jerusalem:

 

Only two Temples of Yahweh ever stood in City of Jerusalem

 

(3) Only two Temples of Yahweh ever stood in City of Jerusalem

 

How did the Antonia Fortress really get its name?

 

It was, as we have learned above, the prætorium of Pontius Pilate.

 

Well, according to my newly revised article identifying:

 

Procurator Pontius Pilate and Procurator Marcus Ant. Felix

 

(3) Procurator Pontius Pilate and Procurator Marcus Ant. Felix

 

Pontius Pilate must have been named, also, Marcus Antonius, which, again, can be a Greek name, Markos Antonios:

Marc Anthony Name » AstroInsightz

“The name Anthony, or “Antonius” in Latin, is believed to be derived from the Greek name “Antonios” (Αντόνιος) …”.

 

Pontius Pilate Markos Antonios, a late contemporary of the Greek emperor, Augustus, must have been the matrix for that legendary character, the colourful Mark Antony, close friend of the regally ambivalent legend, Julius Caesar:

 

‘ARE YOU A KING THEN?’

JOHN 18:37