But that leads to some serious questions, especially in Luke. Will Jerusalem indeed be surrounded by her enemies yet again? Will Jews be scattered to other nations again? That’s what the text says. Anti-semitism has not ended, and increases yet today. Worse than that, Israel will defiantly hang the curtain of the Temple which God meant to be torn forever. She will bring back animal sacrifices, and flaunt the sacrifice given once for all time. I tremble but say with clarity born out by Scripture, that her worst days are yet in her future.

The other question, the subject of these few paragraphs, seems trivial by comparison, but I wish to address it to suggest the veracity of the New Testament writings. Luke mentions that people will be falling by the sword in Jerusalem as the final Holocaust begins. Is this meant to be merely symbolic of modern “swords”, weapons of mass destruction and the like? Or will there actually be swords in the last days?

If Luke 21 is at stake here, so is Isaiah 2, where we are told that last-days people will beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. I am tempted to explain why ploughshares and pruning-hooks will even be needed in a Millennial setting, but that must be for another day.

Of swords. Did you know that in today’s Yemen, men walk around town with swords on their waists? It’s traditional and its decorative. But I imagine the sword could be used if necessary.

And have you heard of the Great Swordfight of Sabratha? Libya, that is. On a February Friday this February (2011), 40 rebels in that harsh land “brandishing 2 foot swords and scimitars spearheaded a group of 1,000 men who clashed with army troops in this coastal town 40 miles west of Tripoli.

“It made for a bizarre spectacle. While Colonel Gadaffi has the most modern of arms at his disposal, his civilians were relying on weaponry that hadn’t been used in anger since the days of Lawrence of Arabia.”

The quote is from an internet news article by Ian Gallagher. The point, I hope, is obvious. Hatred against Jews will be so great as to demand the use of every available instrument of punishment. Christian hatred will be mixed in soon after, as the coming Man of Sin will strive to eliminate everything related to his greatest nightmare: a world without Satan’s influence.

The Word of God will always prove to be true. Believers should not have to stoop to using the news to prove the Bible is true. Blessed are those who don’t “see” but still believe. Yet when they do fail in this way, that Book can bear the scrutiny.