Under the leadership of Simon ben Cleopas, the brother of Jesus (Yehoshua ben Yosef), and James (Jacob) the Just, the Nazarene leadership vacated the city of Jerusalem. Within their historical Nazarene tradition that believed and respected the words and prophesies of Yehoshua before his death, they remembered the words of Jesus on the Mount of Olives. The approach of the Roman armies with the total disintegration of Jewish social life was enough to suggest to Simeon ben Cleopas that the prophetic fulfillment of this prophecy was at hand.

Matthew 24:15, 20 – “‘Therefore when you see the “abomination of desolation,” spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…and pray that your flight my not be in winter or on the Sabbath.”

There was a long standing theological opinion that the abomination of desolation must be a replication of when Antiochus Epiphanes IV offered a sacrifice of a pig on the altar of the temple in Jerusalem about 165 BCE. Yet in the context of what Jesus was portraying on His Sermon on the Mount, any such action would have been too late for anyone who chose to flee for his life. As we shall see the sages of the Hebrew Nazarene Ecclesia observed with prayerful pondering that the abomination of desolation was occurring right before their eyes. It was not a foreign invader, but rather their own high priest and his servants, plus the Zealots and the Sicarii, that were threatening all Jewish life and property and above all, God’s sacred ground.

The Roman Catholic Dionysius and Rabbinic Historical Calendars

Destruction of Jerusalem According to the rabbinic chronology which was initially put into written script in the 13^th century by Rabbi Yose b. halafta in his work, Seder Olam Rabbah (The Great Order of the World), Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple of Solomon in the Jewish Year 3341. Note that this calendar date was a date which progressed with time or 3,341 years since the days of Adam in the Garden of Eden.

The Destruction of Jerusalem

One of the difficult eras of calendar dating has been the Persian Empire of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerses. The dating system of our modern calendar for A.D. (“Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi") or “in the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ” and B.C. (“Before Christ”) was instituted in 527 CE by a Roman Catholic Abbot Dionysius Exiguous. He was a Roman Catholic Scythian Abbot who came to Rome and witnessed the Christmas festivals that were centered at the winter solstice called Paganalia or Saturnalia rather than the Nazarene Messiah’s birth. Though his calculations were six to seven years off, as Yehoshua’s birth came at the festival of Succot in 7 to 6 BCE, the concept of historical calculations centered on the birth of the Jewish messiah remained the standard for the entire world.

The Catholic monks in the Middle Ages labored to develop a dating system of the world empires prior to their date; the Roman, Grecian, Persian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Egyptian. They used the 70 week of years prophecy in Daniel to include the date of the death of the Jewish messiah, Yehoshua. On the other hand the Jewish chronologers kept a running calendar from the beginning of their historical time, the creation of Adam.

The most difficult era was the Persian Empire which was calculated by the medieval monks and comprises our conventional historical calendar today. It stated that the Persian Empire began in 539 BCE and ended in 332 BCE for a total of 207 years. Yet the Jewish rabbinic calendar for the Persian Era used the historical data of the Jewish people, who actually lived through this era in Babylon and the cities of the Persian realm. They stated that the entire Persian Empire was only 51 years from 368 BCE to 317 BCE. The difference between these two calendar systems is 156 years.

Yet it was the Jewish Prime Minister of both the Babylonian and the Persian empires that the following prophecy was written.

Daniel 9:24 – “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.”

It was in the Jewish year 3830 that the destruction of the second temple of Herod was destroyed by General Titus, the son of the new emperor of Rome, Vespasian. This occurred on Tisha B’Av, or the 9^th of Av in 70 CE. True to the traditions of their forefathers, upward to three million Jewish pilgrims returned from the Diaspora to their Holy City, Jerusalem, during the Sabbatical year of 68 CE. It was there that they were to participate in the first festival of that year, Passover, that was called Pesach.

Within the perimeters of the walls of Jerusalem, the residents of Jerusalem and all the pilgrims became trapped as the Roman legions of Vespasian marched into the province of Judea and surrounded the city in siege. For over two years, the city was starved out and those that escaped were brutally crucified on crosses outside the gates of the city.

It is estimated that over 2.5 million Jews died as a result of war, famine and disease and over 1 million Jews were exiled over all parts of the Roman Empire. Over 100 thousand were sold as slaves to the Romans. Many Jews were later killed and tortured in the gladiatorial ‘games’ and pagan celebrations in the Coliseum in Rome.

Yet according to the prophecies of Daniel, 490 years would be “determined for your people and for your holy city”. This time period was the same as 70 weeks of years or 70 x 7 days per week. The Prime Minister and prophet of Israel, Daniel was reviewing the prophecies of the Prophet Jeremiah and the time was almost here when the Lord of hosts promised that He would restore His people, the Jews, back to their homeland.

Jeremiah 25:11-12 - “And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, ‘says the Lord; and I will make it a perpetual desolation.’”

The people of Daniel, the Jewish people and their holy city of Jerusalem, had a prophecy about their own destiny. That prophecy of destiny began with the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar on Tisha B’Av in the Jewish year 3341 (421/420 BCE). It ended with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman legions of the Emperor Vespasian and his son, Titus on Tisha B’Av in the Jewish year of 3830 (70 CE). As the Lord of hosts did state, 490 years were determined among Daniel’s people and their holy city, Jerusalem, was once again destroyed.

One thing the Hebrew Nazarene Ecclesia excelled in was typology and prophetic understanding of the TaNaKh (Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings). Was it not the Nazarenes who combed the Septuagint scriptures to find the prophecies in relationship to the Yehoshua as the messiah of Israel? Were it not the Jewish sages that endorsed the change of the Jewish scriptures from the Septuagint, because of the messianic prophetic interpretations, in favor of a new ultra-literal Greek translation in the second century by Aquila of Pontius? Was it not Yehoshua standing near the temple of Herod when he clued his disciples on the future destruction of Jerusalem? They were forewarned, they listened, and they learned.

Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate, for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Did not the Jewish people already proclaim these acclamations upon Yehoshua as He made His entry into Jerusalem on a donkey as a king coming to be received by His own people? Yet, He stated that there would be another time, another event in the future when this mini-drama would be replayed in its final dramatic act.

Then Yehoshua left the temple and headed to the Mount of Olives. In route, His disciples showed Him the grandeur and magnificence of the Temple of Herod. Jesus’ response was,

Matthew 24:2 – “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The one thing that this prophecy did proclaim was that the House of the Lord would remain desolate until the Jewish people would once again proclaim, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The ministry of the Hebrew Nazarene Ecclesia in Jerusalem was centered on the message of Yehoshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah) as found in the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. They found that their message of love and service to the Son of God, who lived among them and died for their salvation, was being drowned by the growing irrational outcry of death and destruction for the Romans. At the same time, it was producing a devastating holocaust among their own people.

The Nazarene Ecclesia Flight to Perea East of the Jordan

It was 66 CE and four years after the death of James the Just, we see Jerusalem and Judea in a political, moral, and religious spiraling free-fall of internal destruction. Effective governance of the Nazarene Ecclesia was becoming difficult as contact with the non-Jewish gentile Christian churches in Antioch, Glastonbury, Marseilles, Rome, and Alexandria was being cut off by the political instability of Jerusalem with Rome.

Almost forty years had lapsed since the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus on that Passover eve on 30 CE. The fate of the Hebrew Nazarene Ecclesia in Jerusalem was uncertain. The political and religious climate was not only hazardous but deteriorating every month. The Nazarene leaders recognized the signs and omens very well. The prophecies of Jesus were boldly imprinted in their minds. Was it time to take dramatic action? Was this the moment in which they were all looking for, the return of the Maschiach (messiah) as the promised return of Yehoshua?

Matthew 24:15 – “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”

Ruins of the Basilica of Pella The Chasidim two hundred fifty years before had to flee in the 2^nd century BCE to Perea, east of Galilee and the Jordan; the Hasidim disciples of Hillel the Great and Menahem the Essene fled to Perea and Damascus in 20 BCE, and the Nazarene believers under the death warrant by Rabbi Shaul fled in 35 CE to the region of Pella in Perea. The Zealots were impatient because Jesus had not returned as the promised messiah to drive the Romans out of Judea. They were taking divine justice into their own hands. All appeals for patience, love, and compassion were falling on deaf ears. For those looking and waiting for divine intervention were now praying for divine protection.

Pella, east of the Jordan in Perea

Under the leadership of Simeon, the cousin of Jesus and his wise council, the main Nazarene leadership packed up and made a daring escape once again this time to the land which had provided refuge for their forefathers, the land of Perea in the city of Pella. It is unclear as to what date that this occurred, but it was after 62 CE, the earliest date that Simeon was nominated and probably as late as 66 CE before the Roman troops began to move into the land of Judea.

If Simeon did officiate as the high priest as documented for the Nazarenes in the temple of Herod, then it would have been in the years of 62, 63, and possibly 64, and 65 CE. Though the timing of this exodus is unclear in this text, the pens of both Epiphanius and Eusebius record this flight was made during the days of extreme danger. It was Eusebius, the Roman Church Ecclesiastical Historian, who stated,

Eusebius - “The people of the church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a Divine oracle given by revelation to men of approved piety there before the war, removed from the city, and dwelt at a certain town of Perea called Pella. Here, those that believed in Christ, having removed from Jerusalem, as if holy men had entirely abandoned the royal city itself; the Divine justice, for their crimes against Christ and the apostles, finally overtook them, totally destroying the whole generation of these evildoers from the earth.” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, III.5)

The cycles of history can be seen in the ancient roots of Israel. It was Lot who fled from Sodom, before a mighty natural catastrophe fell upon the land, and the Children of Israel fled from Egypt before destruction swallowed up the Pharaoh and his army. To the Nazarenes as depicted in Revelation 11:8, Jerusalem became now spiritually related to Sodom and Egypt.

Revelation 11:7- 8 – “When they (the Two Witnesses) finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.”

And so they fled from Jerusalem. This flight north to the mountain preserves surrounding Pella was also documented by the Christian historian, Epiphanius, the Bishop of Constantia on the Isle of Cyprus (315 - 405 CE) in the fourth century. He documents this “great escape” as follows:

Epiphanius, the Bishop of Cyprus – “When the city was about to be … sacked by the Romans, all the disciples were warned beforehand by an angel to remove from the city, doomed as it was to utter destruction. On migrating from it they settled at Pella … across the Jordan (Epiphanius, de Mens. et Pond., 15).

Now this sect of Nazarenes exists in … the district of Pella ... Messiah having instructed them to leave Jerusalem … on account of the impending siege (Epiphanius, Haer (Heresy) 29:7).

That this flight from Judea was probably close to the spring of 66 CE to the area of Perea and the Greek city of Pella, must also be collaborated with other historical texts. In the fall of 66 CE, this same city was sacked by a Jewish force and devastated. For what reason? Was this “last act” of the House of Ananus and its blood oath against the House of Joseph and Jesus? Was this “last act” when Mattathias the son of Theophilus the grandson of Ananus was reigning high priest in Jerusalem? Was he fully aware that Simeon ben Cleopas the cousin of Jesus (possibly half-brother) had escaped to Pella in Perea with a large group of Nazarenes?

Would it be inconceivable that with the family dynasty of Ananus the Elder still intact except for the death of Jonathan by the hands of a zealot Sicarii, that they remembered full well in 35 CE when a large group of Mandean-Nazarenes fled to this same region. It was at this time when Jonathan, the son of Ananus was high priest and commissioned the young Jewish zealot, Shaul of Tarsus, also with a armed military force, to cross over Jordan and hunt the Nazarenes down?

We would assume that a group of zealots for the law as the Nazarenes were known would not be staying in a Greek city in Perea. They would find a more isolated area in surrounding mountains to hide. Even thought the city of Pella was destroyed, it is not known if any Nazarenes were there at the time. The top leadership was still intact as we see traces of Simeon the nasi of the Nazarenes for almost another forty years.

As the Nazarenes were in flight from the city of Jerusalem around 65-66 CE, Josephus records that there were astral phenomenon that were signifying portents and dire omens for the future of Judea.

Josephus - “a star, resembling a sword, stood over the city, and a comet which continued for a year. Thus also, before the Jew’s rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of Xanthicus, (Nisan,) and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone around the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be a bright day-time; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. (Josephus, Jewish Wars, V: 3)

Were these signals or portents a declaration that such an event had happened or was about to happen? In Revelation, when the woman ‘ecclesia’ had to flee into the wilderness, so the Nazarene Congregation in literal reality fled in the early months of 66 AD to the hills and wilderness near the city of Pella, in the region of Perea.

So again at the time of the end, the Jewish ecclesia of messianic believers in Yehoshua, along with the two witnesses, will again flee again from Jerusalem when the forces of the Antichrist will surround the city. The comet-star that resembled a sword could have been to the Nazarenes a reminder of Yehoshua’s warning to flee to the mountains coupled with the ancient oracle in Numbers.

Numbers 24:17 – “I see Him, but not now;

I behold Him but not near;

A Star shall come out of Jacob;

A Scepter shall rise out of Israel,

And batter the brow of Moab,

And destroy all the sons of tumult.”

This oracle had many years before been cited by the Zadokite-Essenes as a harbinger so that one of their leaders would leave the land of Judea and go to Damascus. The omens of destruction were clear to the wise while the land was disintegrating into chaos and destruction. It was imperative for the Covenant People of God to once again depart into the wilderness and there in the calm and quietness of the wilderness sanctuary to await the Judgments of the Lord.

This area had been the haunt and refuge of zealots and messianic leaders for almost two centuries. It would once again claim its own. It is here that fragments of the Nazarene community are found even today in the Nosarenes and the Nusairiyeh tribes. In isolation from the rest of the world, these tribes are a possible testament of that once dynamic church whose spiritual energy had been sapped away by corruption in the purity of their faith and the dissemination of their holy ones by persecution and death.

In the year 69 CE the last Sabbatical Year Passover was in progress. The city of Jerusalem was surrounded by the forces of Rome and omens hung in the air of the total destruction of Jerusalem. According to Josephus, over three million Jewish people were crowded into the city of Jerusalem for the great Sabbatical pilgrimage of the Jews from the Diaspora.

There at Passover, two days before the selection of the Passover lamb, on the 8^th of Nissan, a supra-natural light shown down upon the altar and the temple making the whole temple mount edifices glow in brightness as the light of the mid-day sun. When the light withdrew, from all appearances, the mercy of the Lord of hosts withdrew itself from the premises of the God’s holy city and His holy temple.

Omens to the Jewish Leaders on their Future Destruction

The Talmud clearly depicts that something was amiss and the high priest and the temple leadership knew that their sacred duties and the rituals of the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem were no longer pleasing to God. When Jesus was condemned by the full Sanhedrin who sat in the Chamber of Hewn Stones within the temple precinct during Passover, 30 CE, it appears that this was the last official edict given by the Sanhedrin within this premise. According to the Talmud, it states;

Diagram of the Temple of Herod and Antonia Tower (Temple Mount) with the Site of the Temple over the Gihon Springs near to David’s Palace – Reconstruction by Ernest Martin, Archeological Assistant to Israeli Archeologist Professor Mazor

Shabbat 15a - “Forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin was banished (from the Chamber of Hewn Stones in the Temple) and sat in the trading Station.”

The Chamber of Hewn Stones was only one of two sites in which the Great Sanhedrin sat in judgment. It was located to the southeast of the Altar of Burnt Offering. Yet there was a second site, “outside the camp”, in the walled village of Bethphage and considered to be a part of Greater Jerusalem. Nestled at the Summit of the Mount of Olives, slightly east of the Miphkad Altar where the Red Heifer and the Day of Atonement goat that was “chosen for the Lord” was burnt to ashes.

Here, “outside the camp” and at the “gate of Jerusalem”, the seventy-one members of the Great Sanhedrin offered official judgments. It was at the judgment hall “outside the gate” that, according to Ernest Martin, in the “Expansion and Portability of Zion” he claims that in the judgment site at Bethphage, is “where death sentences for rebellious leaders of the nation were validated.” (Sanhedrin 14a,b; Sotah 44b; 45a)

Yet, these phenomenon were only the beginning. There were four major oracular events that appeared to pronounce displeasure from the Almighty One over this same forty years;

(1) The “Lord’s lot” year after year came to the left hand of the high priest;

(2) The crimson colored cord which was reputed over the centuries to turn white when the sacrificial lamb was offered at Pesach (Passover) retained its crimson color;

(3) The lamp on the Menorah that was the closest to the Holy of Holiest refused to give any more light, and

(4) The huge brass doors of the Hekel that took over twenty men to close, kept mysteriously opening on its own.

As stated in the Babylonian Talmud in the Soncino Version:

Soncino Version, Yoma 39b - “Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the lot (‘For the Lord’) did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine (the three lamp shaft with seven lamps each on the right side of the Menorah nearest the Holy of Holiest); and the doors of the Hekel (the large bronze doors into the Holy Place) would open by themselves.”

Since the Talmud does record in specific these harbingers of doom that were known and accepted by the larger Jewish community, what did they actually mean?

The Miracle of the “Lord’s Lot” in the Left Hand of the High Priest

During the divine rituals of the awesome ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Judgment, the high priest first took off his royal robe called the “Golden Garment” and put on a linen robe. At this moment, his official duties as the high priest at Yom Kippur began. Here the Tzaddik (Righteous one) of Israel mediated for his people in the Holy of holiest before the mercy seat of God over the Ark of the Covenant. After the high priest sacrificed a young bullock for himself and his family, he turned his attention to two young spotless goats.

There besides the altar was a golden urn. Inside were two golden tablets; one was engraved “For the Lord” and the other was engraved “For Azazel” which meant, “For the people.” Which ever tablet was pulled out first with the right hand of the priest would determined the fate of the “sacrificial goat”. The left hand of the high priest would then pull out the golden tablet which would determine the fate of the scapegoat.

Earlier traditions stated that within the receptacle in the Holy Place were placed two stones; one white stone representing “For the Lord” and the second black stone representing “For Azazel” or “For the People”. A lottery with the selection of a white stone or a black stone was drawn only for the first goat that was selected to belong “to the Lord”. If a black stone was selected, the God of Israel was rejecting the sacrifice of the goat for the sins of the Jewish people as a national people. If the God of Israel did not accept their sacrifices, another year was needed for national repentance. The blood from the goat that was chosen “For the Lord” would be taken behind the temple veil and sprinkled over the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant for the sins of the people.

Then the “golden tablet” was placed upon the head of the other goat, Azazel, and the sins of the congregation were pronounced. This goat was then taken to the wilderness with a red cord around its neck, cast off a cliff or into a pit, where it would die.

On Yom Kippur, the High Priest reaches into the lottery box and chooses lots. Thus is determined which goat will be used as an offering to G-d, and which will be sent off to Azazel, as an atonement for the sins of the people. During the First Temple, the lots were fashioned of wood. In the time of the Second Temple, they were of gold. The lots pictured above are fashioned of both wood and gold. – The Temple Institute

During the two centuries before 30 CE, the High Priest picked by random selection a white stone as often as he picked a black stone. The Jewish people had another year to renew their faith and relationship with their God. Yet a strange event occurred. After 30 CE, no more “white stones” were ever selected. The approval of the God of Israel never came. He appeared to be hiding His face from His own people. The omens to the Jewish people and its implications were astounding. For the last forty years that the Jewish people lived in a semi-autonomous state, only the “black stone” was chosen.

It is not truly known if the high priest in the Temple of Herod used golden engraved tablets or black and white stones, but one thing was clear. For forty years, an omen occurred at Yom Kippur when the high priest year after year pulled out the golden tablet “For the people” or a “black stone” with his right hand. It was the belief of the Jews that if the high priest pulled out first the “white stone” or the golden tablet, “For the Lord” in his right hand, the Lord of hosts was looking favorably upon them. If the high priest pulled out the “black stone” or the golden tablet engraved “For Azazel (the people)” first in his right hand and the golden tablet, “For the Lord” was pulled out with the left hand, then severe judgments were to be pronounced upon the people and that their temple would be destroyed.

The name Azazel that was given to the scapegoat was a name of significance from Jewish antiquity. It represented that inter-dimensional leader of the rebellious forces in heaven, later known as Satan or the Dragon. It was upon this goat, Azazel that the sins of the Jewish people were to be placed and cast into a pit in the wilderness. This typology was predicted to be played out to its fullness at the time of the Great Day of the Lord, when the Messiah of Israel (Maschiach Yisra’el) returns and goes to battle with the Dragon for His people as depicted in the last Jewish apocalyptic scroll, the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 20:1-3 (parts) – “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousands years were finished…”

According to William F. Dankenbring in the article “What Year was Jesus Nailed to the Stake”, concerning the mathematical odds of the black stone showing up for forty years, he wrote “The "odds" against this happening are astronomical (2 to the 40th power). In his words, the IMGP2502 chances of this occurring are 1 in approximately 5,479,548,800 -- or about 5.48 billion to one!”

After the destruction of Israel, the Jewish Nazarene author of Hebrews wrote:

Looking to the Northwest of David’s Palace over the Hinnom to the Kidron Valley towards the Possible Site of the Causeway of the Red Heifer to the Southern Hill of the Mount of Olives, called the “Mount of Offense”. Somewhere in the valley between Olivet and the Mount of Offense is Possibly the Site of the Death of Yehoshua HaMaschiach (Jesus the Messiah) – Photo by Robert Mock

Hebrews 4:14 – “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”

This priestly ministry of Jesus was portrayed further:

Hebrews 8:1 – “We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.”

Yet this high priest was a superior type of priest. It was Yehoshua, who was the anti-type of the goat that was sacrificed “for the Lord” when He died on the stake. His sacrificed blood served as a “sin offering” or an atonement for mankind throughout all ages. He would now be a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, a priest-king:

Hebrews 7:21 – “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (King Righteous).”

There hanging on the tree, Jesus was destined to be a Priest-King. Earlier in teaching His disciples, He told them that when He returned He would have to separate the sheep from the goats. Listen to His judgment on those on his left hand:

Matthew 25:31-33, 41-43 – “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them: one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on his left….Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.”

The “goats” were not cast aside because they believed the wrong creed, spoke the Name of the Lord with the wrong syllables, worshipped the Lord with the wrong rituals, or excommunicate people from their churches because they did not conform or affirm certain creeds of the church. No, they were cast out because they were not ‘just” or tzaddiks. They did not feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, shelter the stranger, clothe the naked or visit the imprisoned. Jesus is looking for a people who will follow Him and become a tzaddik or a righteous person like Him.

Here we remind ourselves of the prophet Zechariah who wrote the Oracles of the Lord to the Jews that at the time of the end, the Jews must replace rituals with obedience.

Zechariah 7:9-10 – “Execute true justice, show mercy, and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.”

The Crimson Red Cord would not turn White

The second omen that occurred after 30 CE and the death of Yehoshua was that the “crimson red cord would not turn white” during the Day of Atonement. Returning to the scene in the temple in preparation for the Day of Atonement, the high priest in the Temple of Herod took the two goats and then the two golden tablets were drawn from the golden urn. These tablets were placed on the heads of each goat and their fate was sealed. The sacrificial goat was taken away and slain and its blood was sprinkled over the foundation stone which jutted through the middle of the Holy of Holiest where the Ark of the Covenant once rested. The scapegoat, on whose head was placed the golden tablet which said “For Azazel (for the people) was placed; a red sash or red cord that was tied to its horn.

After the blood of the sacrificial goat was taken into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled on the Foundation Stone, the high priest appointed a special Levite handler who took the red sash or cord off the horn, tore it in half, and then retied one half of the cord back onto the horn of the goat. The other half of the red cord was tied to the door post of the temple.

The ravines at Nahal Mishmar between Masada and En Gedi - Photo by Bible Places

The pilgrims would crowd outside the huge bronze temple door called the Hekel. Meanwhile the priest, assigned by lot, who became the goat handler, along with relay runners were to rush and take the scapegoat to the wilderness. The goat was then swiftly taken out the gates of the city of Jerusalem and then handed to another handler, like a relay team. There swiftly one relay courier after another took this condemned goat for about ten miles through the desolate and barren wadis to the east of Jerusalem. There at an appointed cliff or ravine the goat was driven over the cliff to its death. Yes, the Lord’s goat and Azazel’s (symbolic of Satan) goat both had to die. One goat died quickly and the other slowly and painfully. The runners, again in relay, would return back to the city until the last runner would streak through the gates proclaiming, “It is done, It is done.”

The Jewish pilgrims could graphically portray in their spiritual imagination, the scapegoat carrying away the sins of the people of Judea. Yet another mystery occurred for forty years that produced a hush upon the throngs of people. Every year the golden tablet “For the people” was selected by the right hand of the high priest. Every year they anticipated the judgments of the Lord. Every year they prayed for one more redemption as they saw the red cord hanging on the door of the Hekel. Maybe this year, this red cord dipped in the blood of the Sacrificial goat would turn white. Maybe this year the Lord of hosts would accept their offering and redeem the people to His favor.

One half of the red cord was tied to the dying goat that plunged to its death over the ravine or starved in the wilderness pit. The other half of the red cord was tied to the front door post of the great Hekel of the Most Holy Place. Then a supernatural event happened.

It was recorded that during the reign of the last Zadokian high priest Simon I, son of Onias I, called “The Righteous” (310-291 or 300-270 BCE), the red cord turned white and the people rejoiced throughout the land. With the goat now dead in a land with no inhabitants, the Lord of hosts had atoned for their sins and accepted their sacrifice. Yet, Simon the high priest was larger to life and as Wikipedia records:

Wikipedia, “Simon the Just” – “During Simeon's administration seven miracles are said to have taken place. A blessing rested (1) on the offering of the first fruits, (2) on the two sacrificial loaves, and (3) on the loaves of showbread, in that, although each priest received a portion no larger than an olive, he ate and was satiated without even consuming the whole of it; (4) the lot cast for God (see Lev. xvi.8) always came into the right hand; (5) the red thread around the neck of the ram invariably became white on the Day of Atonement; (6) the light in the Temple never failed; and (7) the fire on the altar required but little wood to keep it burning (Yoma 39b; Men. 109b; Yer. Yoma vi.3). Simeon is said to have held office for forty years (Yoma 9a; Yer. Yoma i.1, v.2; Lev. R. xxi

Yet, scholars are unsure of which Simon the high priest we are referring to. There was also Simon II (219-199 BCE) and Simon Maccabeus, the son of Mattathias who though was not of the divinely approved high priest family, the House of Zadok, became the founder of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty (142-135 BCE).

The Site of the Palace of David south of the Temple Mount, over the Gihon Springs by Bible Places

For forty years during the high priest reign of Simon the Just, the crimson thread that was associated with the purity of his person turned white as he entered the Holy of Holiest. It was also noted, during the forty year reign of Simon the Righteous, that he pulled the white stone “for the Lord” with his right hand. Every year the national people in Judea soon began to understand that the Lord of hosts was communicating to them. They once again had found favor in the eyes of the God of Israel. This occurred with such consistency that the Jewish people imprinted the idea that when the crimson thread turned white and the “white stone” lot was picked up by the right hand of Simon the Just that the God of Israel still favored them as His chosen people.

Talmud, Yoma 39B - "Our Rabbis taught: In the year in which Simon the Righteous died, he foretold them that he would die. They said: Whence do you know that? He replied: On every Day of Atonement an old man, dressed in white, wrapped in white, would join me, entering the Holy of Holies and leaving it with me, but today (final Day of Atonement that Simon performed his last high priestly duty at Yom Kippur) I was joined by an old man, dressed in black, wrapped in black, who entered, but did not leave, with me. After the festival of Tabernacles (Succot) he (Simon the Righteous) was sick for seven days and then died.”

For the one hundred sixty years, the crimson red wool string would some years not turn white and remain red. Some years it would turn white. They also knew that the high priest would some years pick up the “black stone” instead of the “white stone” with his right hand. It became further imprinted that the pleasure or disapproval of their Lord could actually be portrayed to them as a national people literally during the Great Day of Judgment at Yom Kippur.

Yet the reversal of the signs began on the Yom Kippur following that mysterious and cataclysmic earthquake at Passover, April 4, 30 CE when on the eve of the High Sabbath, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Yosef (Jesus son of Joseph) was executed by hanging on the tree of crucifixion. After that date, starting with Yom Kippur, 30 CE, never again did the red thread turn white on the high priests wrist. Never again did the high priest pick the “white stone” lot or the golden tablet engraved with “for the Lord” with his right hand. Never again did the red cord, half was tied to the horn of the “Azazeal” goat and half of the red cord was tied to the great bronze doors of the Hekel, turn white and show the divine favor of the Almighty One of Israel for His own people.

An Eagle’s View of the Temple of Herod at the Time of Yehoshua –

Reconstruction by Ernest Martin, Archeological Assistant to Israeli Archeologist Professor Mazor

For forty years, the favor of the Divine blessed the Jews during the high priest reign of Simon the Just. After Simon the Just, for one hundred sixty years (40 x 4 years) the Jewish people found intermittent favor in the eyes of the Lord. Death and resurrection of the One, who came with the proclamation from the Baptizer in the wilderness “Behold the Lamb of God”. He spent His whole ministry proclaiming the coming of the “kingdom of heaven” and His relationship with His Father in Heaven. When He died, for forty years, the Divine One of Israel turned His face away from the land of Israel and the Jews in hopes that they would turn their eyes to Him. Then came the ultimate catastrophe the Jewish people. They were swept out of their land, the city of Zion in Jerusalem was leveled to the ground, and the Temple of Herod was torn down to the bedrock. The temple rituals permanently ceased.

Had not the great prophet Isaiah written the words of the Lord to the Israelites stating:

Isaiah 1:18 – “Come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet [crimson], they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as [white] wool".

As if there was a divine warning, between the year of 30 CE and 70 CE, for forty years, the red cord never turned white. Their sacrifice was not accepted by the Lord of hosts and God’s chosen people refused to come and “reason together” with Him. The omens of a future destruction of their temple and their temple sacrifices not being accepted by the Lord of hosts weighed heavily upon their hearts.

Yehoshua became the anti-type of the sacrificial goat. It was the “blood of Jesus” that was portrayed in that shadow picture at Yom Kippur that also was fulfilled when Jesus died at Passover, 30 CE. The ritual of killing the Pesach Lamb was fulfilled as a “sin offering” for the nation at the Passover on 30 CE when the Son of God replayed every step of the festival ritual before he was sacrificed on the tree. (I Peter 2:24)

The hand of the Lord of hosts was demonstrating to the temple leaders who were instrumental in the death of Jesus that His life was fulfilling their festival rituals and became the ultimate fulfillment of their Torah. Their God was changing the rituals of the earthly temple. The Passover and the Yon Kippur ‘sin offering’ rituals were no longer necessary. It was time to celebrate the “great mystery” of the God of Israel. The death of Yehoshua (Jesus) forever sealed the fate of all mankind. Some would choose to be sheep, who would follow their Shepherd, Yehoshua. Others would choose to be goats and follow their shepherd, Satan or Azazel.

Someday at the conclusion of the time of the end, after the Messiah (Maschiach) returns, Satan (HaSatan) will be bound and cast into the “bottomless pit” for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:1-3) Satan was the anti-type of the scapegoat and after the thousand years, his death and demise will be certain, when he is cast into the “lake of fire and brimstone”. (Revelation 20:10)

The Lamp on the Menorah the Refused to Give any Light

The third omen that started at 30 CE after the death of Jesus was “the western most light” on the temple seven candle-stick Menorah went out and refused to shine or send forth any light. Every night for 40 years -- or over 14,400 nights in a row -- the main lamp of the Temple lamp stand blew out of its own accord -- no matter what attempts and precautions the priests took to safeguard against this event! What was the western most lamp? What was its significance?

Daily the Great Menorah in the temple was cleaned in the morning by the priests. Standing about six feet in height, according to Talmis iii, 9; Yoma 33a, the four almond shaped lamps towards the western side of the menorah (towards the veil and the Holy of Holiest) were cleaned and relit and after the morning sacrifice the two almond shaped lamps to the eastern side of the temple were cleaned and relit.

The menorah, made from a single piece of solid gold, stands in the southern side of the Sanctuary. Each morning a priest prepares and rekindles the wicks. The central wick, known as "the western candle" is required to burn perpetually. The oil and wicks of this candle are changed in such a fashion as to insure that it will never be extinguished. – The Temple Institute

The seventh or central lamp stand, called the Ner-ha-Ma’arabi was called the ‘Western Lamp”. This lamp remained lit all day and was cleaned and relit in the evening. It was the fire from this “Western Lamp” that was used to relight all the other lamps while the menorah lamps were daily being cleaned. As such, it was called the Ner Elohim or the “Lamp of God”.

According to the Men. 89a, each lamp contained a bowl that held one-half log measure of oil which was the amount of oil that would fit in three eggs. This was enough oil to keep the lamp burning through the longest night o