And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. (Revelation 16:19)

"it so happened, that the sedition at Jerusalem was revived, and parted into three factions: and that one faction fought against the other. Which partition in such evil cases may be said to be a good thing; and the effect of divine justice. Now as to the attack the zealots made upon the people, and which I esteem the beginning of the cities destruction."

“And now there were three treacherous factions in the city, the one parted from the other. Eleazar [ben Simon] and his party, that kept the sacred first-fruits, came against John [Levi of Gischala] in their cups. Those that were with John plundered the populace and went out with zeal against Simon [Bar Giora].”

Josephus, Wars, 5.1

Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. Jeremiah 25:10

I will cause to cease out of the cites of Judah, and from without Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: and the whole land shall be desolate of inhabitants. Baruch 2:23

Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. Jeremiah 25:10

and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Revelation 18:23

First century Laodicea was a renowned centre of banking, finance, fashion, and pharmaceuticals. However, in spite of its great wealth, the city had one major problem. It had no ready source of water.

As such, water had to be piped in through aqueducts from two different sources.

One came from the hot springs in Hierapolis six miles to the north. The other came from a cooler source in Colossae, which was located 10 miles to the east. But, regardless of whether the original water source was hot or cold, it was lukewarm by the time it reached the city of Laodicea.

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." Revelation 3:16-17

Laodicea was destroyed by a disastrous earthquake in 62 AD (Tacitus, Annals, 14.27), under the reign of Nero. The only other cities to sustain significant damage, were Colossae and Hierapolis. (Eusebius, Chron. Olymp. 210.4).

St. Athanasius, Incarnation, Ch. VI

WAR: And another horse came forth, a red horse: and to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

FAMINE: And I saw, and behold, a black horse; and he that sat thereon had a balance in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A measure of wheat for a shilling, and three measures of barley for a shilling; and the oil and the wine hurt thou not.

PLAGUE/DEATH: And I saw, and behold, a pale horse: and he that sat upon him, his name was Death; and Hades followed with him. And there was given unto them authority over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:2 , 4 - 6 , 8

"So thus you see at that time the Lord visited the citizens of Jerusalem with four kind of Plagues: Sword, Pestilence, Hunger and Fire." - Joseph Ben Gorion's, Yossipon, pg. 186

(see attached pic)

Emperor Vespasian sent Joseph Ben Gorion to his son Titus with these instructions:

1. Besiege Jerusalem.
2. If anyone defames Joseph, he is to be executed immediately.
3. If the jews submit to Rome, repair their cities and free them from tribute for two years, on the condition that they set Roman flags upon their walls three times a year, on their most holy feast days.
4. The jews will offer a sacrifice to Rome upon the alter of the holy of holies, every feast day.
5. If they refuse, raze their city to the ground. Kill them with the sword. Take anyone who survives captive.

"..and the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not. And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head."

Ezekiel 9:4 - 6 , 9 - 10

Modern day Israel has nothing whatsoever to do with Bible prophecy. Jesus adamantly declared that the kingdom of God would be taken away from the jews in A.D. 70.

Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. (Matthew 21:43)

"May you never bear fruit again." (Matthew 21:19)

The nation that the kingdom of God was given to is the church consisting of all Gentile believers. Speaking to believers in the first century, Peter said:

But you are. . .a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (1Peter 2:9)

The true Israel today is the church, not the nation of Israel formed in 1948. Salvation is covenantal/spiritual, not physical/literal.

It's amazing how many "Christians" I see living according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit.

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (1 Corinthians 3:2 - 4 )

"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." Romans 8:6

So many people are deadset on proving that they are the "real" Israelites: jews, Gentiles, and poc alike. These are nothing more than desires of the flesh.

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13

Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:6-7, 16, 29

Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, THEY WHICH ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE FLESH, THESE ARE NOT THE CHILDREN OF GOD: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Romans 9:6 - 8

Physical Israel was destroyed in 70 AD. God always keeps His promises.

Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.
Isaiah 65:12, 15

They're called Christians. Israel is the church.

Eusebius, Book III, Chapter V.—The Last Siege of the jews after Christ.

1. After Nero had held the power thirteen years, and Galba and Otho had ruled a year and six months, Vespasian, who had become distinguished in the campaigns against the jews, was proclaimed sovereign in Judea and received the title of Emperor from the armies there. Setting out immediately, therefore, for Rome, he entrusted the conduct of the war against the jews to his son Titus.

2. For the jews after the ascension of our Saviour, in addition to their crime against him, had been devising as many plots as they could against his apostles. First Stephen was stoned to death by them, and after him James, the son of Zebedee and the brother of John, was beheaded, and finally James, the first that had obtained the episcopal seat in Jerusalem after the ascension of our Saviour, died in the manner already described. But the rest of the apostles, who had been incessantly plotted against with a view to their destruction, and had been driven out of the land of Judea, went unto all nations to preach the Gospel, relying upon the power of Christ, who had said to them, “Go ye and make disciples of all the nations in my name.”

3. But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.

4. But the number of calamities which everywhere fell upon the nation at that time; the extreme misfortunes to which the inhabitants of Judea were especially subjected, the thousands of men, as well as women and children, that perished by the sword, by famine, and by other forms of death innumerable,—all these things, as well as the many great sieges which were carried on against the cities of Judea, and the excessive. sufferings endured by those that fled to Jerusalem itself, as to a city of perfect safety, and finally the general course of the whole war, as well as its particular occurrences in detail, and how at last the abomination of desolation, proclaimed by the prophets, stood in the very temple of God, so celebrated of old, the temple which was now awaiting its total and final destruction by fire,—all these things any one that wishes may find accurately described in the history written by Josephus.

5. But it is necessary to state that this writer records that the multitude of those who were assembled from all Judea at the time of the Passover, to the number of three million souls, were shut up in Jerusalem “as in a prison,” to use his own words.

6. For it was right that in the very days in which they had inflicted suffering upon the Saviour and the Benefactor of all, the Christ of God, that in those days, shut up “as in a prison,” they should meet with destruction at the hands of divine justice.

7. But passing by the particular calamities which they suffered from the attempts made upon them by the sword and by other means, I think it necessary to relate only the misfortunes which the famine caused, that those who read this work may have some means of knowing that God was not long in executing vengeance upon them for their wickedness against the Christ of God.

I take Jesus at his word.

How about you?

“Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet: “I will take away from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the scent of myrrh, and the light of a lamp, and the whole land shall be destroyed” [Jer. 25:10]. For the whole service of the law has been abolished from them, and henceforth and forever they remain without a feast.” (St. Athanasius, Letters [vi])

Not only were the temple and city destroyed in 70 AD, but the genealogical records of the Levitical priesthood were burned to ashes right along with it. Legitimate sacrifices can never be reestablished, because there is no longer a way to identify the descendants of Levi.

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchiz´edek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (for those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchiz´edek:) by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
Hebrews 7:11 - 12 , 20 - 22

But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Hebrews 9:11 - 12

God is true to His word.

Julian the Apostate and the Rebuilding of the Third Temple - in Three Parts

When Flavius Claudius Julianus, Emperor Julian, the Apostate, died in Persia, his supporters failed to maintain support for Hellenism (paganism) as the official state religion, and Christianity re-emerged as dominant.

Julian (born A.D. 332), the nephew of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, was trained as a Christian, yet he is known as the apostate because when he became emperor (A.D. 360) he opposed Christianity.

In his attempt to revive Hellenism, he promised the jews to help rebuild the temple. They hoped by this means to falsify the prophecies of Christ (since Jesus in the New Testament had prophesied the destruction of the Temple, its rebuilding would make of him a false prophet and a liar, thus, proving Christianity to be false).

Though the emperor hated and oppressed the Christians, he manifested benevolence and humanity towards the jews. He wrote to the jewish patriarchs and leaders, as well as to the people, requesting them to pray for him,
and for the prosperity of the empire. In taking this step he was not actuated, I am convinced, by any respect for their religion; for he was aware that it is, so to speak, the mother of the Christian religion, and he knew that both religions rest upon the authority of the [biblical] patriarchs and the prophets; but he thought to grieve the Christians by favoring the jews, who are their most inveterate enemies. But perhaps he also calculated upon persuading the jews to embrace paganism and sacrifices; for they were only acquainted with the mere letter of Scripture, and could not, like the Christians and a few of the wisest among the Hebrews, discern the hidden meaning [the allegorical meaning, through which the Christians could prove the validity of Christianity from the OT].

Events proved that this was his real motive; for he sent for some of the chiefs of the race and exhorted them to return to the observance of the laws of Moses and the customs of their fathers. On their replying that because the Temple in Jerusalem was overturned, it was neither lawful nor ancestral to do this in another place than the metropolis out of which they had been cast, he gave them public money, commanded them to rebuild the Temple, and to practice the cult similar to that of their ancestors, by sacrificing after the ancient way.

The jews entered upon the undertaking, without reflecting that, according to the prediction of the holy prophets, it could not be accomplished. They sought for the most skillful artisans, collected materials, cleared the ground, and entered so earnestly upon the task, that even the women carried heaps of earth, and brought their necklaces and other female ornaments towards defraying the expense.

The emperor, the other pagans, and all the jews, regarded every other undertaking as secondary in importance to this.

Although the pagans were not well-disposed towards the jews, yet they assisted them in this enterprise, because they reckoned upon its ultimate success, and hoped by this means to falsify the prophecies of Christ.

Besides this motive, the jews themselves [relying on the sympathy of Julian] were impelled by the consideration that the time had arrived for rebuilding their Temple.

When they had removed the ruins of the former building, they dug up the ground and cleared away its foundation; it is said that on the following day when they were about to lay the first foundation, a great earthquake occurred, and by the violent agitation of the earth, stones were thrown up from the depths, by which those of the jews who were engaged in the work were wounded, as likewise those who were merely looking on. The houses and public porticos, near the site of the Temple, in which they had diverted themselves, were suddenly thrown down; many were caught thereby, some perished immediately, others were found half dead and mutilated of hands or legs, others were injured in other parts of the body. When God caused the earthquake to cease, the workmen who survived again returned to their task, partly because such was the edict of the emperor, and partly because they were themselves interested in the undertaking. Men often, in endeavoring to gratify their own passions, seek what is injurious to them, reject what would be truly advantageous, and are deluded by the idea that nothing is really useful except what is agreeable to them.

When once led astray by this error, they are no longer able to act in a manner conducive to their own interests, or to take warning by the calamities which are visited upon them.

The jews, I believe, were just in this state; for, instead of regarding this unexpected earthquake as a manifest indication that God was opposed to the re-erection of their Temple, they proceeded to recommence the work.