Notes on 'signs' of Christ and Israel and the end

[EarlyActs]

Following Acts 2's quote of Joel 2, we know that the apostles thought their times to be sign-filled. They had gone through various things with Christ as he ministered, during his death (earthquake, darkening, mass resurrection) and now in Acts 2 was a revisit of original creation where the Spirit blew over the land.

But it is interesting to find two things after this about the end of that generation. One is that Christ's main objection to bogus 'messiahs' that would come was the arrogance of claiming 'I am the one.' It is not so much on the signs of that imposter, although mentioned, v24. I believe we should think in terms of Acts 8 and Simon's sorcery--I don't mean that was the referenced event, but that the false messiahs of Judaism would used things like that to manipulate people. Another example is the claim in Colossians by Judaizers that they had talked with the same angels that delivered the Law to Israel.

I would put the things mentioned in Thess materials about signs by the evil leader in the same category. To some in Judaism, including Josephus, it was bad enough that the evil leader would cause a revolt against the 4th kingdom managing the region, a revolt that would ruin the country. This may explain why the 2nd aspect below shows so much.

2nd is that the signs Josephus recorded were negative as far as Israel goes. They were about the temple/nation being abandoned, the sound of a fire, a sword in the sky hanging over the city and about to fall--nothing redemptive. None of those things would be a sign from an imposter messiah to be followed. They would be against him (them--there were at least 3).

 

[Hazelelponi]

So if I’m understanding you correctly, the signs performed by Jesus—and by extension, the apostles—were healing, restorative, and covenant-affirming, while the signs associated with false messiahs were ultimately manipulative or destructive, even leading to judgment.

Is that what you’re saying?