Originally Posted by
Vezon
How do you know that Revalation references the Roman destruction of Jerusalem? Revelation describes things happening to Christians, believers in Christ. The Jews did not belive in Christ. And many things in Revelation will not fit in with the Jewish war. For example, Revelation 9:20(KJV) decribes the men being punished because they would not turn from worshiping devil, and idols of gold, of silver, of brass, etc. The Jews were not doing these things.
Another translation reads:
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;
Instead of devil it reads demons... more than one which could be in reference to the gold, silver and brass made out to be demons or it could be other peoples gods. Stone and wood was used to build homes... obviously there were rich people who could afford to hire masons to build them large mansions while the poor suffered. The Jewish War began with attacks on Roman Citizens in Judea, that is why the Roman Empire invaded. There were protests over taxation and attacks on Romans... obviously the Romans would be seen as pagans who worshiped demons...
Preterists Christians believe the events laid out in Tribulation and Revelation have already occurred. So Jerusalem or the Roman Empire was the persecutor of the Church, Babylon was the mother of harlots. They see Armageddon as Gods judgement on the Jews carried out by the Roman Army in 70 AD. The Roman Empire was seen as "the beast", much like how Goliath is not in literal reference to a Cyclops or Giant but a massive army. Writers use literally tools to tell a story.
Anyway, as far as I know only Catholics hold to the Preterist view... I was raised a Catholic.
By wiping out the Jews they see Gods Kingdom being brought to Earth... this all makes sense, imo, because what was being written was being written in a sort of metaphorical way. The writers would be describing current events in a way that could be interpreted as future events or related to a future event.
Sorry for the Long post, I ramble a lot.
This takes me to a more Historicist view which is odd.
You said the Jews were not worshiping idols of gold, silver or brass?
On the Jewish wars though lets look back to when the city was taken and plundered.
Revelation 18:11-12
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
The entire verse seems to be describing the sacking of Jerusalem and the great plunder the Roman army carried away. If the Jews did not hoard such vast amounts of silver and gold than what is to say of the Roman Army that vast sums of gold and silver they carried away... plus if the jews did not then they truly would have been unique in this part of the world because everyone coveted gold or silver... its what paid for food and animals and what built them their homes.
So Revelation 9:20 describes how the Jews will be punished for their crimes... blah blah blah... remember the Christians at this time need to believe that the Jews were punished by God for killing Jesus. The same way the Jews believed the Pharaoh was punished by God when Moses split the river and summoned all those plagues.
Revelation 18 describes part of the punishment... the sacking of Jerusalem and the plunder of Gold, Silver and brass. The Stone and wood was what their homes and walls were built out of.
The Tribulation Paradox
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