Before Jerusalem Fell

,
144 BEFORE JERUSALEM FELL
point. . . . The Apocalypse was written before he had witnessed the
coming of Christ and the close of the Old Dispensation, in the mighty
catastrophe which, by the voice of God in history, abrogated all but
the moral precepts which had been uttered by the voice of God on
Sinai.”31
Second, the first persecution of Christianity by Imperial Rome
occurred from A.D. 64 to A.D. 68 (ending at the death of Nero).
This persecution was not only the first and one of the most severe, 32
but it was the one that brought about the deaths of at least two of
Christianity’s greatest leaders: Peter and Paul. Furthermore, with the
destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, Christianity would be
clearly distinguished forever from Judaism. 33
Third, from June, A.D. 68, through December, A.D. 69, the
Roman Empire suffered through a gruesome and severe Civil War
that almost brought the Empire down, and that had reverberations
throughout the Empire. This era witnessed the remarkable and
unique “Year of Four Emperors” (A.D. 68-69): Nero committed
suicide in June, A.D. 68, at the outbreak of civil revolt. Galba from
Spain declared himself emperor and was accepted as such by the
Praetorian Guard and Senate. In January, A.D. 69, the Praetorians
switched their allegiance to Otho, and slew Galba. The Rhine armies
then proclaimed Vitellius emperor. His armies defeated Otho’s forces
at Bednacum. Upon Otho’s suicide on April 17, A.D. 69, Vitellius
was declared emperor. Later the Eastern provinces declared Vespasian
emperor. Vespasian then took Rome in a destructive and
bloody battle, which saw the death of Vitellius on December 20,
A.D. 69. 34
Nothing in or around Domitian’s era had anywhere near the
dramatic significance of these events for all three of these cultures.
Regarding the Jews, the Temple was already gone and, since Vespasian,
the Jews throughout the Empire had already been forced to
31. Frederic W. Farrar, The Ear~ Drys of Christianity (New York Cassell, 1884), pp.
404,406.
32. Philip Schaff, Hirtov of the Chrirtian Church, 8 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
[1910] 1950) 1:386.
33. To be discussed much more fully in Chapter 13.
34. For a full historical account see Tacitus’s writings. For a brief summary see N.
G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, O.@ord Clamkal Dictiorurry, 2nd ed. (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1970), p. 93Q or Wdliarn L. Langer, cd., An Erqw’@wdia of World Histmy, 5th
ed. (Boston: Houghton Miillin, 1972), p. 121.