Watch this blog on this week’s episode of The PRODCAST.

SETTING THE STAGE

As we begin, we need to reorient back into the first-century world. Every week, I give long-form recaps, focusing on different aspects of the context, not to bore you with unnecessary details, but to make sure we are hearing things as they did, seeing and feeling the weight of the text like we were present on that day. You see, we live a lot of life in between these videos. I only make them once per week, and many things have happened in our world and our lives that yank us out of the world of the Bible and into the world of the here and now. So, every week, I set the stage and recap the context, if for no other reason than making sure we are hearing the text through first-century eyes. Since the meaning of the text exists within what the original author was communicating to the original audience, our goal as interpreters of the Bible is to get as close as we can to becoming first-century Jewish Christians so that we can hear these texts in the way that they were given. When we do that, eschatology becomes easy, and dispensationalism becomes foolish.

Now, I want you to imagine the bustling streets of ancient Jerusalem. It was a city steeped in a thousand years of history and culture. It was a proud city with a heritage of the Davidic Kings, Solomon's lavish wealth, Josiah's righteous reforms, the agony of exile, and the joy of rebuilding. Yet, by the time we get to the New Testament, the once proud and royal Jerusalem had been under enemy occupation for more than 600 years. In fact, by the time Jesus gave His blistering rebuke of the Pharisees in Matthew 23, it had been 616 years since Jerusalem had a king. If you remember from the Old Testament, Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians, and for 616 years, it had been handed from one world empire to the next, precisely what Daniel 7 was predicting. From Babylon to Persia, to Greece, to Rome, the Jews were languishing under the heavy yoke of their oppressors and became exasperated in waiting for their deliverance. And, as we will see today, this frustration turned them into a mangled knot of sin and vice, like Gollum carrying his precious.  

Into this turbulent world, Christ was born—a beacon of hope that would reshape Israel's destiny forever (Matthew 1:18-25). His birth was not just the arrival of a savior but the beginning of a mission that would force the Jewish nation to a crossroads: They would either embrace Him as the fulfillment of their covenant with Yahweh or reject Him and plunge headlong into catastrophic judgment. This is why Simeon said of the infant Christ that He was born for the rise and fall of Israel. The rise of the true Israel of God. The fall of the Israel of the flesh. 

From the outset, Jesus' life was marked by relentless purpose and adversity. Even as a fragile infant, He was hunted by the paranoid King Herod, whose insatiable lust for power drove him to slaughter innocent children in a desperate bid to eliminate the prophesied King (Matthew 2:16-18). This act was not merely political—it was wholly Satanic, an assault aimed at thwarting God's redemptive plan.

In God's providence, Jesus' family fled to Egypt, not only for His survival but as a profound sign that He was the true Son called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). Unlike the rebellious Israel of old, Jesus would be the faithful Son who perfectly obeyed the Father's will. Just as Israel was delivered through the waters of the Red Sea, so too would Jesus deliver His people from the bondage of sin and death. Yet, as Egypt's rejection of God's will led to its destruction in the Red Sea, so too would Jerusalem face fiery judgment for rejecting the true and greater Son. Those who followed Him would become the true Israel, inheriting the blessings of the covenant; those who rejected Him would face the drowning judgment unleashed upon the apostate city in AD 70.

As Jesus stepped out of the quiet obscurity of His youth and into the public eye, His ministry thundered with an urgent and unyielding message: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 4:17). Side by side with John the Baptist, He confronted the Jews with the sobering reality that centuries of covenant infidelity had led them to the very edge of catastrophe (Matthew 3:1-12). This was no mere rhetorical warning—it was a final summons. If they did not repent, their stubborn rebellion would culminate in their utter destruction.

Yahweh Himself had come to His people in the person of Jesus, fulfilling the words of Malachi spoken four centuries earlier: "He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap" (Malachi 3:2-3). For the penitent—those willing to bow their knees and humble their hearts before Him—His presence was a purifying flame, burning away the dross of sin and restoring them to covenantal purity, as gold refined in the furnace. But for the rebellious, His fire was not a refining heat but a consuming blaze, reducing their self-righteousness to ashes and leaving them with nothing but the smoldering remains of their obstinacy to be swept away in judgment.

At the beginning of His ministry, His baptism and forty days in the wilderness were nothing less than a declaration of His identity as the true Israel. Unlike the faithless generation that crossed between the waters, was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, and died for their rebellion (Numbers 14:35-38), Jesus stood faithfully crossed the waters, was faithfully led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and unlike Israel, emerged from the wilderness alive, having totally and completely obeyed the Living God (Matthew 4:1-11). When He called His twelve disciples, the number twelve was not just a coincidence or a nice round number; he deliberately reconstituted the twelve tribes of Israel with Him at the center. Instead of the tabernacle, sacrifices, and priests standing at the center of the camp of Israel, now Jesus was the center, and if you wanted to be in Israel, you had to come in through Him (Matthew 10:1-4). 

Throughout His ministry, Jesus issued a desperate and urgent call to the lost sheep of Judah, pleading with them to abandon the sinking ship of old covenant Judaism and take hold of the life raft He alone offered. His message was not merely an invitation but a pointed rebuke to a wayward people who clung stubbornly to their sin. Time and again, He exposed their adulterous hearts, lamenting their refusal to repent even when God's intervention was displayed with undeniable clarity. His words cut to the bone: "It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the judgment than for you" (Matthew 11:23-24).

The brazen audacity of Jerusalem's defiance stood in sharp and tragic contrast to the infamous cities of depravity that littered history's pages. Sodom, Gomorrah, Tyre, Sidon, and even Nineveh were the vilest collections of humanity, yet Jesus declared that they would have repented had they witnessed the mighty works He performed in Judah. Nineveh, in fact, repented at the mere preaching of Jonah, but first-century Jerusalem, with its front-row seat to the miracles of God incarnate, remained unyielding. Jesus' comparisons cut deep, exposing how the Jews of His day were worse than the most wretched assemblages of sinners to ever walk the earth.

But Jerusalem, bloated with pride, blind in self-righteousness, and hardened beyond all reason, spurned the very Messiah who came to save her. This was no fluke of human history; it was the outworking of a divine decree. The old covenant, dishonored and desecrated for centuries, was now unraveling before their eyes, making way for something far greater. The catastrophic fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 became the inescapable and ultimate testament to God's righteous judgment—a fiery conclusion to a covenantal age that had run its course.

As His ministry intensified, so did His warnings. Jesus escalated His rhetoric, pointing to the spiritual rot at the heart of the Jewish nation, declaring, "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44). Jesus was telling them straight up that You have no lineage to Moses or to Abraham! You think that you are Jews simply because you have Jewish bloodlines, but you are children of the serpent! Your bastard kids of hell, and you are being influenced, led by, and manipulated by Satan himself! Their unrepentant hearts had made them fertile ground for Satan's tyranny, where their former loves were replaced by a litany of hatred (Matthew 24:13), and their light was consumed by darkness (John 3:19). This, tragically, set the stage for the final showdown between Christ and the Jews, and as we have seen, it could not be more clear what Jesus was doing. 

When Jesus entered Jerusalem in the spring of AD 30, just days before His final Passover, He stepped into the climactic moment of His earthly ministry. This was no ordinary arrival; it was the final act of His prophetic mission. "The hour had come" (John 12:23), and with it, the old order stood on the brink of collapse (Matthew 21:1-11). His triumphant entry, though celebrated by the crowds, was an ominous signal that judgment was near.

As Jesus cursed the barren fig tree, it became a powerful symbol of Israel's covenant failure and a clear prophecy of the nation's impending judgment (Matthew 21:18-22). The tree, once full of promise, now stood fruitless and destined to wither—just like unfaithful Israel. Through parables and prophecies, Jesus plainly declared that the kingdom of God would be taken away from the Jews who rejected Him and given to a people who would bear its fruit. This destruction, the desolation of Jerusalem, was a deliberate act of divine judgment, demonstrating God's long-suffering patience had worn out, and justice was coming.

This is why Jesus told His disciples that Jerusalem's fall would happen within their generation (Luke 21:20-24). He told them that they would know precisely when all of this was going to happen because it would be evidenced by numerous signs, such as false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars breaking out, the Roman world would be shaken by famines and earthquakes, a great apostasy among Jewish converts to Jesus would break out in the first century, and, as we will examine today, the love of the Jewish people would turn bitterly cold, like the frigid waters of Antarctica. When the disciples saw this sign, which, as we will see, would have been plainly obvious when it occurred, they would know that Jesus' prophecy was coming true and that the end for the Jews was drawing ever near. 

Today, we are going to look at how the love of the Jews grew cold. We are going to look at what that means, how the Bible proves it, what role Satan had in all of this, and how history records that all of this went down. There is a lot of new information in this episode, so buckle up and let's get into it! 

Our text begins this way: 

At that time, many will fall away, betray, and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.- Matthew 24:10-12

And that leads us to…

PART 1: THE HATRED OF THE JEWS

On the rugged slopes of the Mount of Olives, Jesus stood with His disciples, resolute and burdened with the gravity of His mission. Below Him, Jerusalem stretched out—a city teeming with a millennium of life, a tradition of robust faith, and traditions that united them in an unbreakable covenantal bond. Yet, on this day, they were blind to the storm that was about to break upon them. With a voice steady and unyielding, Jesus proclaimed to His disciples the dark and particular judgment that would soon descend on His people. 

And what was the cause of this calamity? What was the reason Jesus gave that they would be ripped apart, just like their Temple? He tells His disciples that the reason they would be destroyed, driven like a lamb to the slaughter, was that their love had grown cold. Essentially, Jesus declared that they would be reduced to pure hatred, the kind that chokes out all love and hope and leads people to suicide. This was the destiny of the Jewish people, according to Jesus. 

The love that once burned brightly within the chests of every Jewish patriarch, woman, and child had waned over the last four hundred years, and the little ember still glowing was about to be snuffed out. Of all the peoples on earth, the Jews were made with love and for love so that love would be at the center of their being. This people, who were made to love their God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love their fellow man as ardently as they loved themselves, had become a shell of their former glory, and what remained of them would soon ultimately erode within a single generation. 

The Jews of Jerusalem, the people chosen not by a God of hatred but a God of love, were reduced to a people who were filled with animosity, judgmentalism, pride, ethnic purity, and callous aversion to anything not their own. And yet, this was not even the worst of it. Jesus foresaw a time in the immediate future when the only thing they loved left, the only warm spot remaining in their heart, would be the thing they grew to despise and fuel them toward disaster. By the first century, the Jews were a people who were filled with a myriad of hate, and Jesus was predicting that their final idolatrous love, the love of themselves, would not only be taken away from them, but it would become the very reason for their undoing. Let me explain. 

When Jesus said that the love of the first-century Jews would grow cold, many in the ancient world would probably bend over in a rip-roaring belly laugh! They might have said: "Oh yeah?? That is rich! The Jews, having their love grow cold, ha ha ha… Then what kind of fiendish demon will they become?" And that reaction would have been justified. For we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Jews of that first century were some of the most hate-filled, judgmental, and unloving people on the face of the earth. If Jesus was prophesying that the slightest little lingering affections in their heart would be snuffed out soon, then you could only imagine the awful grisly state that this people would descend down into. 

And, I do not say any of this to be mean… I am merely pointing out a historical fact that the Jews of that first century were hate-filled people who loved no one save themselves. This is why Tacitus once said of them: 

"The customs of the Jews are base and abominable and owe their persistence to their depravity. Jews are extremely loyal to one another, always ready to show compassion, but towards every other people they feel only hate and enmity."

To see this more clearly, let us surveil some history, shall we?

SECTION 1: THE JEWS HATRED FOR ROME

First, the Jews hated Rome—and they had every reason to! This was not a petty grudge or baseless resentment; it was a fire that burned with the fuel of centuries of oppression. The Roman Empire was the current boot on their necks in a long line of world empire-sized boots that were attempting to curb-stomp the Jews. The Romans, like the Seluecids, Greeks, Persians, and Babylonians before them, came in with one mission and purpose in mind: crushing their revolutionary Spirit and quelling any potential of an uprising. They did this in various ways, such as physical presence, standing armies, governmental infrastructure, taxation, and other means. 

Concerning the taxes, Rome was bleeding the Jewish people dry. In addition to the imperial taxes, the Romans appointed ostentatious Jewish Kings with ambitions for lavish building projects, which meant even more taxes upon the Jewish people. And, if that were not enough lemon juice in the wound, the Romans also appointed starving Jewish peasants to be their tax collectors, making the bleeding out of Israel's resources both devastating and deeply personal. 

Their sacred land, promised by God to their fathers, was being trampled by soldiers who worshipped false gods and defiled everything that they considered holy. The Romans hung their idolatrous symbols, they stood up their debauched bath houses, and they polluted the land of Judah with all of the cultural trappings that the Jews intensely and ferociously despised. When you add on top of this that the Roman authorities mocked their laws, violated their temple sanctity, and imposed imperial cult worship throughout the province of Judah, you can imagine why they were furious. 

But, if that were the only thing the first-century Jews hated, perhaps we could understand. Maybe we could even sympathize with them. Because if we were in their situation, we would likely hate our captors, too. Our hearts would be filled with murderous plots of revenge, looking for every opportunity like an angry cobra to strike. But, sadly, the hatred of the Jews didn't stop there. This was only the beginning. 

SECTION 2: THEIR HATRED OF THE SAMARITANS 

As said, they hated not only the Romans but also everyone. Take, for instance, the way the Jews felt about the Samaritans. From our historical records and from the texts contained within the Scriptures themselves, the Jews hated the Samaritans with a ferocity that rivals any hatred ever committed between man and man. Let me be clear: this hatred wasn't a godly kind of hatred for the enemies of Yahweh. This was not the perfect kind of hatred that David speaks about when he says, "Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies" (Psalm 139:21-22). No, this was a self-righteous arrogance, fed by a twisted understanding of their own Scriptures, that made them feel like they were the superior race and that the Samaritans were nothing more than mongrels and impostors. This kind of self-love poisoned them and destroyed their own humanity.

The Jews of the first century didn't just dislike the Samaritans—they despised them. They thought of them as vermin, mongrels who polluted the pure bloodline of Israel, a stain on their national identity. The Samaritans' audacity to claim they were the true inheritors of Jacob and worship on Mount Gerizim was a blasphemy that the Jews could not abide. Their hatred is recorded in the Scriptures, where John writes that "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:9). They called the Samaritans dogs, a term of complete dehumanization, and spat at the very mention of them. Their blood boiled at the sight of them. They refused to look at them, much less travel through their lands. The Talmud itself records the prevailing first-century Jewish sentiment, saying: 'He who eats the bread of Samaritans is like one who eats the flesh of swine' (Mishnah Shebiit 8:10). To the Jews, swine was the most detestable of animals, making this comparison the highest form of insult and revulsion.

Their contempt didn't stop at words. Historical accounts suggest that Jewish travelers would go miles out of their way to avoid Samaritan territory, refusing to even step foot in their land for fear of defilement. They viewed the Samaritans as an unholy plague upon the nation of Israel, their very existence an affront to God. When Jesus and His disciples traveled through Samaria, even His willingness to interact with a Samaritan woman shocked His followers (John 4:27). This disdain was so ingrained that when the Samaritans rejected Jesus' approach, James and John immediately suggested calling down fire from heaven to destroy them (Luke 9:54).

The depth of this hatred cannot be overstated. The Jews of the first century regarded the Samaritans as unworthy of existence, a race so impure that their very presence was a violation of God's holy Law. And if they had even a modicum of power in that first century, the tales of Hitler and Stalin and the killing sprees they perpetrated, as evil as they were, would have looked like child's play at the hands of the hate-filled Jews. Again, this was not righteous indignation; it was sinful arrogance born from a corrupted understanding of their identity as God's chosen people.

But it wasn't just the Romans and the Samaritans but everyone on Earth! 

SECTION 2: THEIR HATRED OF THE GENTILES 

And as for the Gentiles? They were even worse. To many Jews, Gentiles were not just outsiders—they were vile, unclean, and irredeemable. Their hatred for Gentiles wasn't just an abstract prejudice; it was a blistering, all-consuming loathing that poisoned their worldview and corrupted their understanding of God's mission. To the Jews of the first century, Gentiles were nothing more than spiritual filth, incapable of knowing God, destined for destruction, and unworthy of life itself. This hatred was so ingrained that one rabbi even declared, "The best of the Gentiles should be killed." Think about that: the very best of them were seen as deserving of death, no matter how kind or honorable. Their hatred was so blinding, so entrenched, that murder became, in their twisted minds, a virtue—a way to cleanse the earth of those they deemed unworthy of existence.

This contempt was embedded in every aspect of Jewish religious life, especially their worship. In the Second Temple, the soreg, a stone barrier, separated the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts reserved for Jews. Inscribed on this barrier were warnings in Greek and Latin that read: "No foreigner is to enter within the balustrade and forecourt around the sacred precinct. Whoever is caught will himself be responsible for his ensuing death." This wasn't just a hollow threat. It was a law etched into stone and ruthlessly enforced. Archaeological evidence confirms these inscriptions, with one limestone tablet discovered in 1871 and now displayed in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums and another fragment in the Israel Museum. The Jewish historian Josephus also documents that any Gentile caught crossing the barrier would face immediate execution. This was not about preserving holiness; it was about exclusion, about making it clear that Gentiles were so detestable they could not even approach the presence of God.

This hatred went beyond mere boundaries and warnings, permeating their hearts and minds. To the Jews, Gentiles were not just unclean; they were an affront to everything they believed. The very existence of Gentiles was an abomination in their eyes, a stain on the world that needed to be wiped out. The Talmud records this hostility explicitly, teaching that "Gentile women are regarded as animals" and that a Gentile mother nursing her child was no different from a beast feeding its young. This is the depth of their hatred—complete dehumanization. Gentiles were not seen as fellow human beings but as subhuman creatures, existing only to be used or discarded.

This hatred twisted their understanding of Scripture itself. They read the prophets, who spoke of Israel as a light to the nations (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6), and turned these passages into fuel for their ethnic arrogance. They ignored God's call to bless the nations (Genesis 12:3) and instead reveled in their own superiority. They looked down their noses at the Gentiles, imagining themselves as God's favorites, while everyone else was little more than fodder for the fires of judgment. They missed the vision of Isaiah 56:7, where God declares, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations."Instead, they saw the Temple as their exclusive domain, a fortress of ethnic pride rather than a beacon of divine mercy.

Even in their daily lives, the Jews maintained their hatred with scrupulous zeal. They would refuse to enter Gentile homes, considering them defiled (Acts 10:28). They would not eat Gentile food, drink Gentile water, or even touch Gentile objects. Their hatred ran so deep that they would shake the dust from their sandals when leaving Gentile lands, as if the very dirt were contaminated by the presence of non-Jews. They saw Gentiles as fit only for servitude, death, or annihilation. In their warped view, even God Himself hated the Gentiles, a sentiment utterly contrary to the Scriptures but one they clung to with ferocious determination.

And this hatred wasn't just a private sin but a public disgrace. It seeped into their interactions with the occupying Roman forces and the broader world. Their loathing for Gentiles was so intense that it often led to riots and uprisings, as they refused to accept even the slightest hint of Gentile authority over their lives. This seething hatred culminated in their rejection of the Messiah Himself, who dared to extend God's mercy to Gentiles. When Jesus praised the faith of a Roman centurion (Matthew 8:10), healed the servant of a Gentile woman (Matthew 15:28), and drove demons out of a Gentile man (Mark 5:1-20), their fury knew no bounds. They hated Him for breaking down the barriers they had so carefully constructed.

Here's the brutal truth: this hatred didn't come from God. It came from their own idolatry, their own sin, their own refusal to embrace the mission God had given them. They were called to be a light to the nations, to draw the Gentiles to the beauty of God's holiness. Instead, they built walls of division, nurturing a hatred that was as blasphemous as it was destructive. Their contempt for Gentiles was not a defense of God's honor but a perversion of it. They thought their hatred made them holy, but it made them haughty, sinful, and blind.

Jesus exposed this ugliness at every turn. He healed Gentiles, praised Gentile faith, and rebuked the arrogance of His own people. Through the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), He showed that even those the Jews despised could embody true righteousness. Through His interactions with Gentiles, He demonstrated that God's love knows no boundaries. In doing so, He condemned the hateful pride that had consumed His people. The Jews of the first century believed their hatred was righteous. Jesus showed them it was anything but.

This hatred of the Gentiles was more than a cultural failure—it was a spiritual rebellion, a rejection of everything God had called Israel to be. And it stands as a sobering reminder of how easily pride can corrupt even the most religious hearts.

But this all-consuming pride and hatred didn't stop with the Romans, Gentiles, or Samaritans. Their malice was also turned against their own people, all the Jews that converted to Christianity and proclaimed that Christ is Lord! 

Jesus warned His disciples that their allegiance to Him would provoke the Jews' unrelenting fury. He told them plainly: 

They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. - John 16:2

This leads us to… 

SECTION 3: THEIR HATRED OF THE CHURCH 

In the first century AD, the love supposed to define God's people had utterly fallen apart. This wasn't just a cultural failure but a judgment from God. Jesus warned about it in Matthew 24:12 when He said, "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." He wasn't talking about just any kind of sin but the specific, self-centered love that had taken over Jewish hearts. Their love wasn't for God or their neighbors; it was wrapped up in their pride and traditions. It was so twisted that it became the very thing God would judge, leaving them to face the consequences of their own cold and broken hearts.

And yet, their hatred for Christians burned even hotter than their hatred for the Romans, Samaritans, or Gentiles. These weren't distant peoples living somewhere in enemy lands—they were people they had once called mother, father, sister, brother, neighbor, countrymen, and friend. To the Jews, Christians were traitors of the highest order, who had abandoned the pure and undefiled religion of Judaism to sup with the unclean pigs at Jesus' table, That betrayal hurt so profoundly that it fueled a rage like no other. It wasn't just anger—the pain of feeling betrayed by the people who were supposed to be on their side. It was a pain and rage that comes when the edifice you created crumbles and you know that losing is inevitable. 

For the Jewish leaders, Christianity wasn't just wrong—it was treason. It threatened everything they held sacred: the Law of Moses, the Temple, and their sense of ethnic purity. These were the pillars of their identity, and now Christians were claiming that Jesus fulfilled the Law, replaced the Temple with Himself, and brought salvation not through works but through faith alone. Even worse, the Christians welcomed Gentiles and Samaritans, preaching that God's family was now open to everyone. To the Jews, this wasn't just heresy—it was blasphemy. It felt like an attack on their very existence and their divine calling.

Their hatred for Christianity wasn't quiet or restrained; it boiled over into violent persecution. The book of Acts and other New Testament writings are filled with accounts of Jewish factions relentlessly hunting down Christians, whipping them, accusing them before Roman authorities, and even killing them. Stephen was stoned to death by a furious mob incited by Jewish leaders (Acts 7:54-60). Paul was chased out of town after town by Jewish zealots, who even formed a conspiracy of over forty men to assassinate him (Acts 23:12-22). This wasn't just theological disagreement—it was bloodlust. Like wild animals, they attacked the early Church, determined to destroy it before it could grow. So far on this show, we have covered this kind of Jewish hatred well. Detailing all of the ways they raged against the Church. 

The truth is that the Jews of the first century defined themselves by hatred. They hated the Romans who ruled over them, the Samaritans who lived beside them, the Gentiles who filled the world around them, and finally, the Christians who came from among them. Every moment of their day was saturated with this hatred, and the only thing they truly loved was themselves. Yet, even that love would turn to hatred. Jesus warned of this in Matthew 24:12 when He said, "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." Their hatred would eventually consume them, leaving no room for love—not even for their own nation. By the time Jerusalem fell in AD 70, they were a people utterly divided, tearing each other apart in rage and self-destruction.

This was the final sign that Jesus' prophecy was coming true. Their most ardent love—their love for themselves—had become what they turned against. Like rabid animals, they thrashed and lunged, destroying even what they once cherished. Their hatred was complete, and their judgment was just. They were a people who had rejected the love of God and replaced it with the idolatry of their own pride, and in the end, it destroyed them.

And that leads us to:

PART 2: THE LOVE THAT JESUS EXTINGUISHED

Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24 was not ultimately about the Jewish hatred of the Romans, the Gentiles, the Samaritans, and the Christians. Clearly, they were a people who hated a lot of people. But Jesus says that their love will grow cold, which means that it must have been either warm or hot when Jesus gave this oracle. And that is just the point; when Jesus spoke this, the Jews already hated Him and His followers, and they despised the Romans, Gentiles, Samaritans, and everyone else. So, that would not have been a very helpful prophecy. 

It would be like calling Mother Cleo and her telling you that you would likely have a vital meal today. You would look back at her and say something like: "Really? Don't I do that every day?" Well, in the same way, Jesus was not speaking about the love of man and the love of outsiders, which was already frozen solid to the Jews by the early thirties AD. Jesus was talking about a different love, one that the Jews absolutely possessed, and at the time of the New Testament, it was hotter than the liquid river flowing swiftly under Mount Doom. 

What was it? Love of God? No. Love of Biblical truth? Not exactly. It was an idolatrous love—a love they reserved for themselves. This wasn't the kind of love that gave life and flourished in devotion to God. No, it was a warped, inward-facing love that folds in on itself and leads only to death. It was the kind of love that spoils and sours because whatever you idolize, you will eventually demonize. This is precisely what the Jews of that day were doing. They were lovers of self rather than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:2).

Because their love was so self-centered, their entire worldview collapsed. They became consumed with bigotry, jealousy, and malice. Their pride gave way to a revolutionary spirit that despised anyone who challenged their power or identity. And as their hatred deepened, it finally turned into madness. Their love for themselves didn't build them up; it tore them apart. It blinded them to the truth, hardened their hearts against God, and led them straight into the judgment Jesus had warned them about. Their idolatrous self-love was not their strength—it was their downfall. 

This is precisely what Jesus is predicting. He was alerting His disciples that after a couple of decades, as the Jews neared their extinction event, they would abandon their hatred of all outsiders, and they would turn in upon themselves, hating one another, maiming one another, and killing one another without impunity or relief. Like the flesh-eating venom of a brown recluse, Jesus inserted the covenantal poison, and over the next forty years, it would leave them rotting in a kind of festering decay that would bring their end upon their own heads. 

Fathers who once tenderly taught their children the Law would turn against them suspiciously. Brothers, bound by tribal bonds and blood, became bitter enemies. Daughters betrayed their mothers, and sons sold their fathers to hostile factions. Mothers cooked their children alive, screaming over an open flame. Patriarchs slashed and hacked their entire families to death, callously and chillingly in cold-blooded murder. The city, which was once the pinnacle of the Jewish world, would devolve into infighting, civil wars, and blood-soaked streets so that the Romans would not even need to lift a finger in order to eliminate the Jews. The Jews eliminated themselves, and Jesus predicted it! 

Herein lies a fundamental truth: the most natural affection any man or woman could ever have is the love of kith and kin—the love for their own family, people, and nation. Even the most wicked societies, consumed by unimaginable hatred for others, have universally maintained some degree of affection for themselves. Consider history: the Babylonians, despite their cruelty, rallied together to build monumental towers like Babel, a testament to their pride in their collective identity. The Assyrians, known for their bloodthirsty conquest, still revered their kings and saw themselves as the earth's chosen rulers. The pagan Greeks, despite their internal rivalries, fought ferociously to defend their city-states like Athens and Sparta, demonstrating a fierce love for their homeland.

Even the most tyrannical leaders in history retained some semblance of natural affection. Joseph Stalin, a man responsible for the deaths of millions, still loved his mother and reportedly visited her as often as he could. Genghis Khan, whose empire was built on rivers of blood, was known for his deep affection for his children and took great care to secure their future. No matter how corrupt or twisted the society, this self-preserving love for one's people is often the final thread of humanity that holds a broken world together.

But when a nation begins to hate itself, that thread snaps, and its collapse is imminent and horrific. A country that loses even the most basic affection for its own people becomes a shell of its former self, devouring itself from within. It is no accident that Satan, the enemy of God, works tirelessly to sow this kind of self-destruction. His goal is to replace natural affections with bitter hatred, turning love inward until it decays and corrodes the very soul of a society. When a people turn on themselves—when they hate their own culture, their own families, and their own existence—they are on the brink of total ruin. It is the kind of death Jesus warned about, where the love of many grows cold and leaves only chaos in its wake. 

And sadly, this is where America is today. A hollowed-out version of herself, consumed by micro-aggressions, intersectional fractioning, and withering at her very roots. This is the game plan of Satan. And this pattern began all the way back, as far back as the Garden of Eden.

It was there that Satan slithered into the garden, turning the first wife against her dear husband and the first husband against his beloved wife. The result was chaos, shame, and exile. In the same way, Satan slithered into Jerusalem, turning the people against one another, fueling their mutual destruction, and leading them toward their ultimate ruin. What began as national pride and enthusiasm for their covenants, with a dash of sin added, along with a couple hundred years, Satan led the Jews into agitated delirium, paranoia, and bloodlust to kill each other. The ruthlessness with which all of this happened can only be explained by the fact that Satan Himself was directly involved, which is exactly what Revelation 12 says occurred. 

Jesus predicted that the love the Jews had for one another would grow cold. And it did. Much colder than is humanly possible without the diabolical handiwork of the father of lies, the slanderer, and the murderer from the beginning. So, before we discuss this in detail, we need to briefly look at how this happened with the Lord of Darkness. 

PART 3: HOW SATAN POSSESSED JUDAH

SECTION 1: SATAN'S WAR ON CANAAN: OLD TESTAMENT FOUNDATIONS

Satan has always waged War against God's people, and nowhere is this more evident than in Canaan—the land God claimed as His own. Long before the Israelites set foot there, Canaan was a stronghold of rebellion. When humanity defied God at Babel, He scattered the nations and handed them over to the governance of rebellious spiritual beings (Deuteronomy 32:8-9). These beings, intended to serve God, instead sought worship for themselves, becoming the nations' false gods. But amidst this chaos, God reserved one land for Himself: Canaan, the inheritance of His covenant people and where His redemptive plan would unfold.

This enraged Satan. Knowing that Canaan would one day birth the Messiah, he filled it with demonic corruption. The worship of Baal and Molech polluted the land with child sacrifice and ritual prostitution. These weren't just sins of a fallen people—they were Satan's calculated attempts to defile the land and mock God. The grotesque idolatry in Canaan wasn't accidental; it was the front line of a spiritual war.

When Israel approached the land under Joshua, Satan upped the stakes. Giants like the Anakim and Rephaim, remnants of demonic corruption, were stationed in Canaan to terrify the Israelites and block their entry (Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy 3:11). These giants weren't just physical threats—they were symbols of Satan's determination to thwart God's promises. But God gave His people victory, driving out many of these enemies. Yet, the War was far from over.

Even after Israel's conquest, Satan's influence lingered. The remaining Canaanite tribes seduced Israel into idolatry, turning them away from Yahweh and aligning them with demonic powers (Judges 2:1-3). The Israelites worshiped Baal and Asherah, surrendering to the forces they were commanded to destroy. Time and again, the people of God fell into this spiritual trap, and Satan used it to erode their covenant faithfulness.

The leaders of Israel were not immune. Saul, Israel's first king, fell into pride and madness, opening the door to spiritual chaos. Despite his wisdom, Solomon allowed foreign wives to lead him into idolatry, dividing the kingdom and leaving Judah vulnerable. The Temple, meant to be the dwelling place of God's name, became a site of desecration. Ezekiel's visions reveal priests secretly worshiping idols within its chambers (Ezekiel 8). Satan's fingerprints were everywhere.

Yet, through it all, God preserved His people. The Davidic line, targeted by Satan time and again, remained intact, ensuring the Messiah's arrival. But by the time Jesus was born, Judah had become a land of spiritual darkness, consumed by demonic oppression and corruption. Satan's War on Canaan climaxed as the Messiah stepped onto the scene.

SECTION 2: SATAN'S WAR ON CANAAN: NEW TESTAMENT CLIMAX

By the time Jesus was born, Judah was suffocating under spiritual decay. The 400 years between Malachi and Matthew had been marked by prophetic silence, but Satan had been anything but silent. Demonic activity had infiltrated every corner of life. Men lived among tombs, tormented by unclean spirits. Children were cast into fire by demons. Even Mary Magdalene, a devout woman, was enslaved by seven spirits. Judah had become a spiritual battleground, a land overtaken by darkness.

The religious leaders, who should have shepherded God's people, were tools of the enemy. The Pharisees and Sadducees exploited the Temple for profit, turning it into a "den of thieves" (Matthew 21:13). Their spiritual blindness led them to accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul (Matthew 12:24), an accusation dripping with irony since they were under Satan's sway.

Jesus didn't mince words. He told the Jewish leaders, "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44). This wasn't a metaphor. Their hatred, violence, and rejection of God's truth revealed their allegiance. Their cry, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25), was the final confirmation of their spiritual descent. They had fully embraced Satan's influence.

This influence led to a relentless hatred of Christians. From AD 30 to AD 60, Jewish leaders hunted followers of Christ with ferocity. Saul, before his conversion, spearheaded persecutions. Stephen was stoned by a raging mob. Jewish factions conspired to kill Paul, chasing him from city to city. But by the 60s, this external hatred turned inward.

SECTION 3: JUDAH'S COLLAPSE INTO SELF-DESTRUCTION

Around AD 60, the love that held Jewish society together began to disintegrate. As Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:12, "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." The hatred that once burned against Romans, Samaritans, and Christians now turned inward. Brothers betrayed brothers. Factions slaughtered one another in the streets. The Temple, once the center of their unity, became a fortress of infighting and bloodshed.

This was no mere human collapse—it was Satan's final possession of Judah. Revelation 12 gives us a glimpse of this cosmic reality. Satan, the great dragon, was cast down to earth, filled with fury because he knew his time was short. Revelation 13-20 continues this theme, detailing the events of the late 60s AD as Rome, the beast, rose to crush Judah, the harlot riding on its back. Judah, the Babylon of old, had become a nation so consumed by hatred and lawlessness that it turned on itself with animalistic savagery.

Satan's War on Canaan was never just about territory—it was about rebellion against God's plan. From the giants in Joshua's day to the spiritual oppression in Jesus' time, Satan's goal was always the same: to thwart the Messiah and destroy God's people. But in the late 60s AD, this War reached its gruesome climax. Judah, a nation once defined by God's covenant love, became a grotesque shell of itself, consumed by hatred, division, and self-destruction.

As we move into the final section, we will see how this collapse culminated in AD 70, when the Romans, the very empire Judah had long hated, became the instrument of God's judgment. The destruction of Jerusalem wasn't just the end of a nation—it was the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy and the final act of Satan's possession of Judah. Let's explore how this played out in history and what it means for us today.

PART 4: THE APEX OF LOVELESSNESS

After Jesus ascended into heaven, the nation of Judah spiraled into a dark descent of madness and ruin. As noted in Revelation 12, they were under the dominion of Satan, who was pushing them into insanity and toward their own ruin. What should have been an era of repentance and recognition of their Messiah instead became a tragic unfolding of divine judgment. Political instability and spiritual depravity gripped the people as external pressures from Rome collided with internal factions. It was a time of unparalleled chaos that fulfilled the chilling prophecies of Jesus and the covenant curses long foretold in the Scriptures.

SECTION 1: FROM THE 30'S AND 40'S

The years following Jesus' death marked a pivotal descent into chaos for the Jewish nation. The seeds of self-loathing and fratricidal hatred had been sown for centuries, but now they began to sprout amid external pressures from Rome and internal corruption among the Jewish factions. These forces converged to produce a volatile situation that escalated rapidly. Central to this descent was the rise of the Zealots, whose radicalism would ultimately ignite the catastrophic Jewish War.

By the 30s, Roman oppression was a constant weight on the Jewish people. Tiberius, the emperor at the time, delegated governance of Judea to Pontius Pilate, whose harsh and provocative actions stoked tensions to a breaking point. Pilate's use of Roman standards bearing the emperor's image in Jerusalem, in defiance of Jewish laws against graven images, incited widespread outrage. Josephus recounts how Pilate refused to remove the images until the Jews demonstrated their willingness to die rather than tolerate such desecration. Only then did Pilate relent (Antiquities, 18.3.1). Later, his decision to seize temple funds for an aqueduct project sparked violent protests, which Pilate suppressed by sending disguised soldiers into the crowds to kill unarmed protesters (Antiquities, 18.3.2). These actions deepened Jewish resentment and reinforced the perception that Rome's rule was an affront to their faith.

Amid these provocations, a faction of radical nationalists known as the Zealots began to rise. The Zealots drew their ideological inspiration from the Maccabees, who had successfully rebelled against Seleucid rule two centuries earlier. They preached a message of violent resistance, portraying Rome not just as a political oppressor but as a spiritual adversary to God's kingdom. Their rhetoric resonated with the downtrodden, offering hope of liberation, but their methods were brutal and uncompromising. They targeted Jewish leaders who sought accommodation with Rome, labeling them as traitors. The Zealots' rise marked a turning point, as their actions began to fracture Jewish society from within.

The rise of the Zealots coincided with increasing instability under Roman rule. When Tiberius died in 37 AD, Caligula succeeded him, whose erratic and sacrilegious behavior further inflamed tensions. Caligula's most infamous act was his order to erect a statue of himself in the Jerusalem temple, an affront that nearly sparked open rebellion. Philo of Alexandria describes the outrage of the Jewish delegation sent to plead with Caligula, only for him to mock them, saying, "You are the only ones who refuse to recognize my divinity" (Embassy to Gaius, 30.203). The situation was averted only by the intervention of Publius Petronius, the governor of Syria, who delayed the statue's installation at significant personal risk. Caligula's assassination in 41 AD ended the immediate crisis, but the damage to Roman-Jewish relations was done.

In the same year, Claudius ascended the throne and initially sought to stabilize the empire. His appointment of Agrippa I as King of Judea briefly appeased some Jews, as Agrippa was a Herodian with ties to Jewish culture. However, Agrippa's sudden death in 44 AD returned Judea to direct Roman rule, reigniting tensions. Around 49 AD, Claudius expelled Jews from Rome due to disturbances likely linked to debates over Christ as the Messiah. Suetonius notes that these disputes were "at the instigation of Chrestus" (The Twelve Caesars, Claudius 25), a garbled reference to Christ. This expulsion, though far removed from Judea, underscored the growing unrest within Jewish communities under Roman oversight.

Meanwhile, the Zealots gained momentum, their ideology spreading like wildfire. A splinter group known as the Sicarii emerged during this period, named for the curved daggers they used to assassinate their targets. The Sicarii turned the streets of Jerusalem into a battleground, targeting not only Roman officials but also Jewish collaborators and wealthy elites. Josephus writes, "They mingled themselves among the festival crowds and struck down their enemies with daggers, leaving the rest in terror" (Wars of the Jews, 2.13.3). This reign of terror created an atmosphere of paranoia and division, where even devout Jews were accused of betrayal and killed without trial.

The festivals, once sacred occasions of unity, became stages for conflict. Pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem found a city teeming with tension. The temple courts, which should have been places of prayer, were defiled by commercial exploitation and ideological clashes. The Roman historian Tacitus observed, "The Jews regard as profane all that we hold sacred; on the other hand, they permit all that we abhor" (Histories, 5.4). His remarks highlight the growing disconnect between Jewish ideals and their lived reality under Roman rule.

By the late 40s, Roman provocations and the Zealots' radicalism had transformed Judea into a pressure cooker. The Zealots' message of violent resistance resonated with a populace weary of Roman oppression, but their actions fractured Jewish society. The Sicarii's brutal tactics alienated moderate Jews, while Roman governors like Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alexander failed to maintain order. The Jewish nation, already divided by religious and political factions, now faced an internal war that set the stage for the catastrophic Jewish War two decades later.

Josephus reflects on this tragic period, lamenting, "It was, indeed, God who condemned the whole nation, and turned every course that was taken for their preservation to their destruction" (Wars of the Jews, 5.13.5). What should have been a time of spiritual renewal, sparked by the arrival of the Messiah, became instead a tragic spiral into ruin. The Zealots' rise, fueled by legitimate grievances and reckless ambition, ensured that Judea's path to destruction was set.

SECTION 2: GROWING SELF-LOATHING DURING THE 50S

The 50s AD marked a grim and turbulent chapter in Jewish history. What had been a gradual descent into division and hatred during the previous decades now accelerated. The Jewish people, caught between the crushing force of Roman oppression and their own internal strife, grew colder in their love and more profound in their loathing—not only for their oppressors but for one another. The decade was characterized by the intensification of factionalism, the rise of extreme Zealotry, and an atmosphere of paranoia that infected every level of society. Jewish writers, Roman historians, and pagan observers all recorded the grim realities of this period, providing vivid testimony to the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy that the love of many would grow cold.

By the 50s, Roman oppression was a constant weight on the Jewish people. Tiberius, the emperor at the time, had long passed, and under Claudius and later Nero, the province of Judea remained an unstable outpost of the empire. Claudius's appointment of Antonius Felix as governor in 52 AD only made matters worse. Felix, infamous for his greed and cruelty, used his position to enrich himself at the expense of the Jewish population. Tacitus wrote that Felix "wielded the power of a king with the disposition of a slave," a ruler who saw violence as the solution to all opposition. His heavy-handed tactics, including mass crucifixions and indiscriminate arrests, left a deep scar on the Jewish populace, fueling hatred for Rome and deepening internal divides.

Felix's tenure coincided with the rise of the Sicarii, a radical splinter group of the Zealots. The Sicarii specialized in stealth assassinations, targeting not only Roman officials but also Jewish elites and moderates who sought peace with Rome. They struck in crowded marketplaces and at festivals, killing their targets before disappearing into the throngs. Josephus describes their tactics with chilling clarity: "They mingled with the crowds, striking down their enemies before disappearing into the throngs." Their actions spread terror and suspicion throughout Jewish society. No one could be trusted, and accusations of collaboration with Rome often ended in bloodshed. The Sicarii turned the streets of Jerusalem into a battleground, where family members turned against one another, and neighbors became enemies.

The religious landscape of Judea was no less fractured. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots had long coexisted in uneasy tension, but by the 50s, their disputes erupted into open conflict. The Pharisees, known for their strict adherence to the oral Law, clashed with the Sadducees, who rejected these traditions and aligned themselves with the priestly elite. The Essenes, viewing the corruption of the Temple and the priesthood as intolerable, withdrew even further into isolation, condemning both groups as spiritually bankrupt. The Zealots, for their part, condemned anyone who refused to join their revolutionary cause, branding them as traitors to God and Israel. These divisions played out in the Temple, a contested space defiled by factional rivalries and violence.

The Zealots' message of violent resistance to Rome found an eager audience among the disillusioned and impoverished, but their methods created even deeper divisions within Jewish society. Moderates who advocated for compromise were not only ostracized but often assassinated. The Sicarii's campaign of terror alienated many Jews, who saw their methods as a desecration of their faith and values. Josephus writes, "the love of countrymen was replaced by suspicion; neighbors became enemies, and even the temple was profaned by violence." Families were torn apart as loyalty to factions overshadowed loyalty to one another. Trust eroded, and the natural bonds of community dissolved under the weight of mutual hatred and paranoia.

The actions of the Roman governors during this decade only exacerbated these divisions. Felix's successor, Porcius Festus, inherited a province teetering on the edge of rebellion. His attempts to restore order were met with fierce resistance from the Zealots and Sicarii, whose tactics grew bolder and more violent. The countryside became a hotbed of insurgency, with bands of rebels attacking Roman outposts and seizing supplies. Festus responded with brutal crackdowns, but his efforts only deepened the resentment toward Rome and fueled the Zealots' narrative of liberation through violence.

The divide between Jewish factions also drew the attention of Roman and pagan writers. Tacitus remarked on the divisiveness of Jewish society, noting, "They show loyalty to one another but are bitterly hostile to all others, and their seditious ways bring ruin upon themselves." Philo of Alexandria, a Jewish philosopher, lamented the spiritual decay of his people, writing, "They no longer honor the laws of God, but each man becomes a law unto himself, driven by pride and ambition." These accounts reflect a society that had lost its cohesion, where the love that once united the Jewish people had been replaced by suspicion, pride, and hatred.

Even within the Temple, the spiritual heart of Jewish life, the atmosphere of division and self-loathing was palpable. The sacred space, meant to be a house of prayer, was profaned by commercial exploitation and political strife. The temple courts echoed with the shouts of competing factions, each claiming to represent the valid will of God. This corruption of worship mirrored the broader moral decay of Jewish society, where the bonds of kinship and covenant had been replaced by self-interest and factionalism.

The 50s also saw the growing alienation between Jews and Rome. The Zealots' increasingly violent actions drew harsh reprisals from Roman authorities, while the moderate Jewish leaders' attempts to mediate were met with scorn and distrust. The Roman perception of the Jews as a rebellious and ungovernable people was solidifying, and the tensions of this decade set the stage for the catastrophic Jewish War of the 60s.

By the end of the 50s, the Jewish nation was a fractured and embittered society. The prophecy of Jesus in Matthew 24:12—"Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold"—was vividly fulfilled. Lawlessness had become the norm, not only in the form of rebellion against Rome but also in the betrayal and murder of fellow Jews. The love that should have bound the nation together under their covenant with God was extinguished, replaced by a cold and ruthless self-interest. What could have been a time of repentance and renewal became a decade of deepening hatred and accelerating decline, a grim prelude to the judgment that awaited.

This leads us into the final decade of Old Covenant Judaism.

SECTION 3: THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THEIR HATRED

The 60s AD was a decade of unparalleled turbulence, characterized by a descent into fratricidal hatred and societal collapse within Judea. The simmering tensions between Jewish factions erupted into open conflict as the Zealots, Sicarii, and other radical groups gained prominence, and Rome's heavy hand only deepened the chaos. This was the beginning of the end for the Jewish nation as they spiraled into the madness of mutual destruction, fulfilling Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24:12 that their love would grow cold.

The Zealots, emboldened by decades of resistance and radical rhetoric, became more militant and unyielding. Their ideological fervor led them to seize control of towns and villages, enforcing their rule with terror and violence. Josephus recounts how they patrolled the streets of Jerusalem, executing anyone they suspected of disloyalty or collaboration with Rome. This internal violence marked a turning point, as Jews began to see one another not as compatriots but as enemies. Families were torn apart by accusations and betrayals, and entire communities fell into paranoia.

The Sicarii escalated their campaign of terror, targeting not only Roman officials but also Jewish elites and moderates. Their attacks became increasingly indiscriminate, leaving the streets of Jerusalem soaked in blood. Josephus describes how they defiled the Temple itself with their brutality: "The Sicarii filled the temple courts with the blood of their own people, violating the sanctuary with murder and sacrilege." These actions shattered any semblance of unity within Jewish society, as even sacred spaces became arenas for violence.

Roman rule during this period exacerbated the divisions among the Jews. Nero, who ascended to the throne in 54 AD, proved to be a volatile and capricious ruler. His policies, marked by heavy taxation and brutal reprisals against dissent, fueled resentment throughout the empire, including Judea. His appointment of Gessius Florus as procurator in 64 AD proved disastrous for the Jews. Florus's greed and incompetence led to widespread unrest, culminating in his plundering of the temple treasury. When protests erupted, Florus responded with mass killings, further alienating the Jewish population and igniting the flames of revolt.

By the mid-60s, the Jewish War was imminent. The Zealots seized control of Jerusalem, expelling Roman forces and declaring independence. Their actions, however, divided Jewish society even further. Moderate Jews, who sought to avoid open conflict with Rome, were branded as traitors and often executed by Zealot factions. The Sicarii intensified their campaign, targeting not only collaborators but also wealthy Jews whom they accused of hoarding resources. Josephus records how their actions spread terror throughout Judea, as no one could be trusted, and accusations often led to summary executions.

Amid this turmoil, the Temple, once the heart of Jewish worship and identity, became a focal point of violence and desecration. The Zealots turned it into a fortress, using its sacred spaces as strongholds for their battles. Josephus writes, "The holy ground was defiled with the blood of those who sought refuge, and the sanctuary itself echoed with the cries of the dying." This sacrilege shocked even the Romans, who viewed the Temple as a symbol of Jewish resilience and faith.

The divide between Jewish factions became increasingly pronounced. The Zealots clashed with the Sicarii over tactics and ideology, while moderate groups sought to distance themselves from the violence. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes were largely sidelined as the radicals took control. This fragmentation made it impossible for the Jews to present a united front against Rome. Tacitus observed, "Their mutual hatreds weakened them far more than the arms of their enemies."

As the Roman legions, led by Vespasian and later his son Titus, advanced on Jerusalem, the city descended into chaos. The Zealots and Sicarii fought one another as fiercely as they fought the Romans. Josephus recounts the horrors of this internal strife: "Famine ravaged the city, and the people turned on one another in desperation. Mothers killed their own children to stave off hunger, and brothers betrayed brothers for scraps of food." The once-proud city of Jerusalem became a nightmarish vision of lawlessness and cold, unrelenting hatred.

The words of Jewish and pagan writers capture the desolation of this decade. Philo lamented, "The bonds of kinship are shattered, and the people devour one another as wild beasts." Tacitus remarked, "Their madness consumed them, and their city became a graveyard of their own making." These accounts align with Jesus' prophecy, as the Jewish nation tore itself apart, consumed by lawlessness and devoid of love.

The 60s culminated in the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70, a catastrophic event that marked the end of the Jewish nation as it had been known. The Romans, though brutal in their tactics, were not the primary cause of Judea's downfall. The actual destruction came from within, as the Jews' descent into hatred and self-destruction fulfilled the chilling words of their rejected Messiah. Their love had grown cold, and their nation paid the ultimate price.

SECTION 4: AD 70 AND THE END OF JUDAH

In AD 70, the apocalyptic climax of Jewish rebellion and Roman retribution unfolded with unparalleled horror. Under General Titus's command, the Roman legions marched on Jerusalem, a city already weakened by its internal chaos and divisions. What unfolded was not merely a military conquest but a catastrophic implosion of a nation consumed by hatred and madness, fulfilling the grim prophecy of Jesus: "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12).

The Roman campaign began in Galilee, where Jewish resistance was fierce yet ultimately doomed. Towns and villages in the region faced the full wrath of the Roman war machine. Josephus describes the utter devastation, noting how entire towns were razed, their populations either slaughtered or enslaved. He recounts the madness of certain Jewish defenders who, in the face of inevitable defeat, turned on their own families. One harrowing tale involves a man who, consumed by despair, slaughtered his entire family and stood atop their corpses before taking his own life. These grotesque acts of insanity were not isolated—they were emblematic of a society unraveling under the weight of its own rebellion.

As the Romans pressed south, their scorched-earth tactics left a trail of desolation. Town after town fell, driving waves of desperate refugees into Jerusalem. By the time the Romans encircled the city, its population had swelled to unsustainable levels. This influx of people and the city's already strained resources transformed Jerusalem into a powder keg. Factional violence, already a festering wound, erupted into open warfare within the city walls. The Zealots, Sicarii, and other groups vied for control, turning the city into a battlefield. Josephus records with horror: "The seditionaries grew like wild beasts in madness, slaughtering anyone who opposed them. The Temple was full of dead bodies, and their blood ran down the steps."

The Romans, stationed outside the city, watched in disbelief as the Jews tore each other apart. Titus himself remarked that the Jews were under divine judgment, saying, "God has brought this fire upon the city for their sins. Even if we had not attacked them, their own sedition would have brought their ruin." Josephus echoes this sentiment, observing that the city's destruction was as much the result of internal madness as it was of Roman might: "The city's destruction was not by the Romans alone but by the madness of its own people. It was as if they conspired with the Romans to bring ruin upon themselves."

The siege brought unspeakable suffering. Starvation reached such extremes that people resorted to eating anything they could find—belts, shoes, and even straw. Josephus recounts the infamous story of a mother who, driven mad by hunger, cooked and ate her child. When Roman soldiers heard of this act, even they were horrified. A centurion reportedly exclaimed, "This is a people driven mad by the wrath of their own God!"

Within the city, the violence escalated to desecration. The Temple, the holiest site in Judaism, became a slaughterhouse. Josephus writes, "The dead bodies lay heaped together around the altar, and the steps leading up to it were bathed with blood, which flowed freely." Even priests were not spared, their blood mingling with that of the profane. The sacred precincts of the Temple, once a place of prayer and sacrifice, were defiled beyond recognition.

When the Romans finally breached the city's walls, their vengeance was swift and brutal. Mass crucifixions turned the landscape into a grotesque forest of death. Josephus records, "The number of those crucified daily was so great that they could not find room for the crosses nor crosses for the bodies." The slaughter was so overwhelming that rivers of blood flowed through the streets, pooling in the valleys. "The city was so full of corpses that it could not contain the dead," Josephus writes. "Bodies were heaped in mounds and thrown into valleys. Blood flowed in streams, filling every corner."

As the Temple burned, the Romans desecrated the holy ground by placing their standards within its precincts and offering sacrifices to them. Josephus laments, "The Romans placed their standards in the Temple and offered sacrifices to them, desecrating the holy place while surrounded by piles of corpses." The scene was the ultimate blasphemy, a bitter end to a city once known as the dwelling place of God's name.

Reflecting on the unparalleled suffering, Josephus writes, "Neither did any city ever suffer such miseries, nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world." His words echo the prophecy of Jesus, who declared that such tribulation had never occurred before and would never occur again (Matthew 24:21). Jerusalem, the city of peace, had become a graveyard of its own making, its destruction a chilling testament to the consequences of rejecting God's covenant.

The fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 was more than the end of a city; it was the culmination of a nation's descent into madness, rebellion, and hatred. It stands as a stark warning of the devastating cost of covenant unfaithfulness, a reminder that the love of many can grow cold—and that such coldness leads inevitably to destruction.

CONCLUSION

Jesus warned that the love of many would grow cold, and history bears witness to how this prophecy came true. Under Satan's relentless influence, the Jewish nation spiraled into a psychopathic frenzy of hatred—toward their enemies, their brothers, and eventually, themselves. Their love curdled into something unrecognizable, leading to a total collapse of humanity within their society. We have traced this chilling descent through every decade following Christ's ascension, seeing how their hearts grew colder and their actions viler until they became nothing more than a gruesome testament to divine judgment.

And if you think this pattern ended with first-century Jerusalem, look around. Our society is on the same trajectory. The love of kith and kin is evaporating under the acid of critical race-baiting, woke cancel culture, and the self-worshiping insanity of intersectional politics. Families are torn apart. The natural bonds of affection are being replaced with manufactured divisions. This isn't just a cultural problem; it's spiritual warfare. Even within Reformed circles, where we ought to know better, men I love are busy throwing Sicarii-like tweets at each other over trivialities. What is wrong with us? Instead of standing shoulder to shoulder under our shared confessions, we've become Pharisaic snipers, splitting hairs and gunning for one another. If the Church does not pull her sanctified head out of her tookus, she will fail to show this godless world the love of God—and we will face the same culture ending fiasco as loveless Jerusalem.

This must change. It starts with us. We are not the generation that will perish in the wilderness; we are the ones who will rise up and march into the promised land. The ultimate age of lovelessness is behind us. Christ has won the decisive victory. We're not watching the world spiral into homicidal rage; we are watching Jesus Christ conquer through His Church. Stop believing the lie that we are losing. We are not bystanders. We are builders. Christ's kingdom is growing, and His Church will triumph! The only question is whether you will sit on the sidelines or take your place in the fight.

I do not want to be a man who watches the Church falter and does nothing. I do not want to die in a generation of faithless Christians who allowed the walls to crumble and the city to be overrun. I want to be counted among those who stood, fought, built, and reclaimed what was lost. Let us unite. Let us rebuild the fallen walls of Christendom. Let us bring back the love of God that this world desperately needs. We know Christ wins. The Church will triumph. But let it be said of us that we saw the victory begin with our generation and that we did not shrink back but gave everything for the King.