The Passing of the Old Covenant and the Departure of God’s Glory
1. Josephus’ Signs Before Jerusalem’s Destruction
This lesson examines the extraordinary signs Josephus recorded before Jerusalem’s destruction and their significance in relation to biblical prophecy. The chronology proposed here places these signs at Passover and Pentecost in 67 CE. Dating them precisely requires considering Josephus’s narrative and the different calendars used in the first century.
Within this proposed chronology, the first day of Passover in 67 CE marks the beginning of the following prophetic periods:
• The time, times, and half a time of Daniel 7:25 and 12:7.
• The 1,290 days of Daniel 12:11.
• The 1,335 days of Daniel 12:12.
• The forty-two months of Revelation 11:2 and 13:5.
Unless otherwise stated, Western calendar dates in this lesson follow the Julian calendar.
A. Previously
Our earlier lessons examined the Great Tribulation, the Abomination of Desolation, the spread of the gospel throughout the known world, and Revelation’s description of Jerusalem as Sodom and Egypt. We also considered Josephus’s value as a historical witness.
We then explored the Seven Seals and identified the 144,000 as first-century Jews. Our calendar lesson explained the importance of distinguishing Hebrew, Macedonian, Julian, and Gregorian dates when examining these events.
Our study of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks considered its relationship to Jesus’ ministry and the establishment of the New Covenant. We also examined the Euphrates army in Revelation and its proposed connection with Roman forces.
Daniel’s 2,300 evenings and mornings have their primary historical setting in the events surrounding Antiochus IV and the cleansing of the Temple. Our proposed secondary application relates this period to the Great Tribulation, drawing on Jesus’ reference to Daniel’s Abomination of Desolation as still future in His day.
The 2,300-day period runs from 23 December 66 CE to 10 April 73 CE, the date these lessons use for the fall of Masada. The starting date is calculated backwards from that endpoint; it is not an independently recorded date for Nero’s command.
2. Dating the Signs: 66 or 67 CE?
Our lesson “When Prophecy Met History: The Great Tribulation” presents the historical reasoning and calendar calculations for placing the beginning of the war proper in December 66 CE, distinguishing it from the rebellion that began in May. It also explains the proposed 2,300-day period from 23 December 66 CE to 10 April 73 CE.
Building on that discussion, this chapter examines whether the Temple signs recorded by Josephus should be placed in 66 or 67 CE, and explains why this study proposes Passover 67 CE.
A. The Chronological Framework
As set out in When Prophecy Met History, this interpretation differentiates the first revolt, Cestius Gallus’ campaign and his defeat, Nero’s appointment of Vespasian, and the subsequent Roman campaign. That is the evidence which underpins the interpretation and which separates the actual events from the calculated dates.
Here we’re asking which phase of the conflict Josephus has in mind when he speaks of the signs that would precede rebellion and war. His retrospective account, his use of calendrical terms and the proposed prophetic chronology all inform our reading of this.
B. Josephus’ Retrospective Account
Josephus introduces the signs while recounting the Temple’s destruction in 70 CE. He has just described approximately 6,000 people dying in a Temple portico after a false prophet promised divine deliverance and Roman soldiers set it on fire.
He goes on to contrast those false promises with the earlier warnings people had completely ignored: the sword-shaped star, the comet, and the light around the altar and sanctuary for half an hour (The Jewish War 6.283-291).
His account is therefore looking backwards. Its position in Book 6 doesn’t fix the date at 70 CE, nor does it fix the date at any particular year prior to that. The issue is whether the reference to rebellion and the tumult preceding war is referring to the first revolt or to the later internal rebellion and the Roman campaign.
C. Which Rebellion and Which War?
In this study, I take Josephus’reference to ‘rebellion’ in Jewish War 6.290 to be the later internal conflict between John of Gischala and the Zealots on the one hand and the leadership of Jerusalem (particularly Ananus) on the other, followed by the Idumean intervention. Josephus deals with this in Book 4, chapters 3-5. I don’t see this as being the rebellion and Roman intervention which precipitated the war in the first instance. As explained in When Prophecy Met History, I draw a clear distinction between that rebellion and Roman intervention and the start of the war itself, which I date to December 66 CE.
Within Josephus’ account of the signs, “the war” is Vespasian’s war (i.e. his campaign against Jotapata), and this study dates that campaign to 22 May 67. The Passover signs of April 67 therefore antedate both that campaign and the later struggle within Jerusalem.
The sign of the Son of Man is dated 21 May 67 CE (18 Iyyar 3827 AM). It comes after the start of the 2,300-day period (23 December 66 CE) and precedes the attack on Jotapata (22 May).
This timeline puts the festival signs at Passover and Pentecost in 67 CE. Josephus mentions warnings before the rebellion and the war. In this context, rebellion refers to the later insurrection, and war refers to Vespasian’s war. Josephus doesn’t actually assign the signs to 67 CE or identify those particular wars in this passage.
3. 67 CE: A Year of Signs
A. The Jewish Day
The Jewish day runs from sunset to sunset; the Julian day runs from midnight to midnight. So an event that takes place after midnight will still be on the same Jewish day as the previous evening.
Using the Utrecht Hebrew Calendar Calculator, 15 Nisan in 67 CE is 18th April on the Julian calendar. The festival therefore starts at sundown on the 17th and goes on until sundown on the 18th. The events at about midnight and at about 3am on that opening night both occur on the 18th.
These dates are derived from the current rules of the Hebrew calendar worked backwards. They form the basis of our proposed chronology, though the actual calendar dates observed in the first century are, of course, historically unknown.
B. Table of Signs: Proposed Dating in 67 CE
Josephus has the heifer ‘at the same festival’ as the light (6.292; 6.290). AIM groups the heifer, the gate and the light at Passover 67 CE. Their date of 15 Nisan is in accordance with the calendar interpretation of the lesson.
C. The Sign of the Son of Man
The signs of 67 CE went well beyond the Temple itself. Josephus describes chariots and armed men appearing in the clouds before the sun went down and surrounding the cities. He presents them as a sign of the disaster to come.
… chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities.
Josephus, The Jewish War 6.5.3 (6.298-299).
This study identifies those heavenly armies with the sign foretold by Jesus:
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven
Matthew 24:30 (NKJV), opening clause
The vision declared Christ’s heavenly authority and announced the judgement coming upon Jerusalem. The earthly campaign was being conducted under Roman commanders, the sign pointing to the authority above them.
Our chronology places the appearance on 21 May 67 CE, corresponding to 18 Iyyar 3827 AM, one day before Vespasian’s assault on Jotapata, as given in these lessons. Josephus has 21st Artemisius. The year and calendar equivalents follow the chronology set out in When Prophecy Met History: The Great Tribulation.
The Comings of Christ: His Reign, Judgment and His Final Coming distinguishes between Christ’s coming in judgment and His final coming. The heavenly armies in that passage represent His authority to judge in the generation to which He spoke. They do not represent His final bodily coming, the resurrection, or the final judgment.
Alongside the opening gate, light, heifer and Pentecost voices, the sign announces approaching judgement and reveals its heavenly authority
4. The Glory of the Latter Temple
A. Glory of the Latter
Haggai promises that the glory of the latter Temple will exceed that of the former.
“For thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
Haggai 2:6-9 (NKJV)
Haggai originally addressed those rebuilding the Temple after the Babylonian exile. Although its appearance seemed insignificant beside Solomon’s Temple, God promised that its latter glory would exceed its former glory. This promise cannot be measured simply by the quantity of silver and gold adorning the building.
As we looked at the Feast of Tabernacles in our lesson, that promise is realised fully in Christ and His people. God lives in us individually and in the body of believers as a whole. Paul states this clearly in the passage about being built together into a holy temple, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19–22 (NKJV)).
B. East Gate Opens
Josephus says that the eastern gate of the inner court of the Temple opened of its own accord at about the sixth hour of the night (i.e. about midnight). This was on the first night of Passover, 18 April 67 CE in the Julian calendar.
Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now, those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it: who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty, was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies.
Josephus, The Jewish War 6.293-295 (William Whiston)
C. Joy Turned to Mourning
Some regarded the gate’s opening as a favourable sign. Josephus, however, explains that the learned regarded it as a warning that the Temple’s protection had been removed and its
entrance had been opened to their enemies. The eastern gate also holds significance in Ezekiel’s vision of the Temple.
And the LORD said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.
Ezekiel 44:2 (NKJV)
In Ezekiel’s vision, the east gate remains shut because the Lord God of Israel has come in through it. The east gate is inextricably linked with the presence of God. Previously, Ezekiel had seen the glory of the Lord depart from the temple and stand at the east gate:
Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
Ezekiel 10:18-19 (NKJV)
Read alongside Ezekiel’s vision, the opening of the gate is the first sign of the divine presence withdrawing before Jerusalem’s destruction. This’s the first sign we see here, showing the glory of God departing.
D. Bright Light
Josephus records a light around the altar and sanctuary for half an hour. It was at the ninth hour of the night (about 3am). Josephus dates it to Xanthicus 8, which corresponds to 15 Nisan in the calendar discussion in Section 3.
Thus also before the Jews’ rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus [Nisan], and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it.
Josephus, The Jewish War 6.290-291 (William Whiston)
E. The Glory Departs
Read in conjunction with Ezekiel’s vision, the appearance and disappearance of the light signals the withdrawal of God’s protection before the destruction of the Temple. The old covenant order was coming to an end, and the believers were already God’s dwelling place in the Spirit.
In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 8:13 (NKJV)
5. Thirty Minutes of Silence in Heaven
A. Half an Hour of Light
Josephus records light around the altar and sanctuary lasting half an hour. Revelation describes silence in heaven for about half an hour when the seventh seal is opened. The same duration and the Temple imagery link the earthly sign with the heavenly vision.
B. Revelation’s Thirty-Minute Silence
When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
Revelation 8:1-4 (NKJV)
C. The Saints of the Most High
Revelation is addressed to the seven churches of the first century and is very much in the language of the Old Testament (indeed it draws heavily on Daniel). We have to understand the saints in that biblical and historical context. The saints are God’s faithful from both the Jewish and Gentile communities. Daniel speaks of the Most High giving the kingdom to the saints.
Then the kingdom and dominion,
Daniel 7:27 (NKJV)
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’
D. Kingdom Theology
The light of 18 April 67 CE and the half hour of silence in Revelation both point to the imminent judgement on Jerusalem. In Revelation, the saints’ prayers are before God immediately before the angel casts fire upon the earth (Rev 8:3-5 NKJV).
Christ had already inaugurated the New Covenant and received His kingdom. The Temple’s subsequent destruction marked the decisive end of its sacrificial ministry. In the interpretation developed in our lesson on the Millennium, the millennial reign follows the Great Tribulation.
The half-hour light, therefore, marks the departure of the glory of God as the heavenly vision moves from silence and prayer to judgement.
6. Sign of the New Covenant
Another sign Josephus records at the festival concerns a heifer giving birth to a lamb in the Temple.
A. The Heifer and Purification
Numbers 19 describes the red heifer used in the Old Covenant purification rites. This suggests a possible symbolic connection to the heifer Josephus describes, although he does not identify its colour or explicitly link it to that rite.
“This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.
Numbers 19:2 (NKJV)
For the Christian, purification is fulfilled in Christ. Heb 9:13-14 (NKJV) contrasts the cleansing effected by the ashes of the heifer with the greater cleansing effected by the blood of Christ.
B. Heifer Gives Birth to a Lamb
At the same festival, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple.
Josephus, The Jewish War 6.292 (William Whiston)
The heifer is the Old Covenant sacrificial order; the lamb is Jesus, the Lamb of God (John 1:29 (NKJV)). The miraculous birth is therefore a prophetic picture of new life through Christ as the sacrificial order of the Temple comes to an end.
C. The Sacrificial Order Passes Away
Josephus says the heifer was being led in for sacrifice, but gives no account of what happened to it after the birth. The significance of the sign lies in the contrast between the animal that was to be sacrificed and the living lamb.
The New Covenant was already in place through Jesus’ death and resurrection. The sign was a witness to that reality and to the coming judgement on the earthly Temple. The next sign was at Pentecost, the feast of the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Church.
7. The Angels Depart the Temple
A. Let Us Go Hence
At Pentecost (approximately seven weeks after Passover), Josephus gives us another amazing sign. The priests entering the inner court of the Temple at night reported a quaking, a great noise, and a sound as though a multitude were saying, ‘We are leaving’. This was at Pentecost in 67 CE.
Moreover at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [COURT OF THE] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, “Let us remove hence.”
Josephus, The Jewish War 6.299-300 (William Whiston)
The departing host are the angels leaving the Temple. Josephus doesn’t name the speakers; the opening gate, the half hour of light, and Ezekiel’s vision provide the context, and that is all it takes to identify them as angels. They are the angels departing, and that signals the divine protection withdrawing before the Temple’s ruin.
B. Book of Revelation Account
Revelation contains a parallel scene of judgement featuring the heavenly altar, an angel, sounds, and an earthquake:
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightning, and an earthquake.
Revelation 8:5
The Greek word for ‘noises’ is phōnai (the plural of phōnē, which can mean a voice or sound). It’s used in conjunction with thunderings, lightning, and an earthquake. It doesn’t necessarily imply intelligible speech. The link with Josephus’account is the general pattern of the altar, judgement, sounds, and shaking.
C. The Church As God’s Temple
Through Christ, Jewish and Gentile believers are united as God’s household and dwelling place in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19–22). This reality was already established before Jerusalem’s destruction; the Church did not first become God’s Temple when the earthly sanctuary fell. The departing voices announce judgement upon the earthly Temple, while God continues to dwell among His people through the Holy Spirit.
8. Summary: The Signs of 67 CE and the Passing Covenant
Josephus records extraordinary signs that warned of Jerusalem’s approaching destruction: a heifer giving birth to a lamb, the eastern Temple gate opening, a brilliant light lasting half an hour, and the Pentecost declaration, “Let us remove hence.”
These signs occurred at Passover and Pentecost in 67 CE. Sections 2–3 set out the historical reasoning and calendar framework for this dating.
Passover 67 CE begins the forty-two-month period associated with Jerusalem’s fall, together with the related periods examined in our lessons on Daniel 12. The wider 2,300-day Great Tribulation, from 23 December 66 CE to 10 April 73 CE, is discussed separately in Dating the Great Tribulation.
The opening gate, half-hour light and departing voices announce the withdrawal of God’s glory and protection from the earthly Temple. The heifer and lamb portray the passing sacrificial order and the new life already established through Christ.
The New Covenant and the Church as God’s dwelling place preceded the Temple’s destruction. These signs bear witness to that existing spiritual reality and warn of approaching judgement. Read alongside Revelation, they reveal the passing of the earthly Temple’s sacrificial order and God’s continuing presence among His people.
Historical and Calendar References
Josephus, The Jewish War 6.283-300, especially 6.290-291 (light), 6.292 (heifer), 6.293-296 (gate) and 6.299-300 (Pentecost). Translation: William Whiston. https://lexundria.com/j_bj/6.288-6.300/wst
Josephus, The Jewish War, Book 4, chapters 3-5, for the internal struggle and Idumean intervention discussed in Section 2.
R. H. van Gent, Utrecht University, Hebrew Calendar Calculator. Uses current Hebrew calendar rules projected backwards, with Julian dates before October 1582. https://webspace.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/hebrew/hebrewyear_year.htm
Scripture quotations follow the New King James Version (NKJV). Biblical parallels express the interpretation developed in this study.
AIM companion lessons: Dating the Great Tribulation; Revelation’s Forty-Two-Month Prophecy.
AI Assistance Disclosure
Most of the research and writing for this lesson was prayerfully undertaken by Dr Neville Westerbeek van Eerten. AI tools assisted with editorial review and checks of consistency, references and chronology. Some wording and illustrations were developed with AI assistance. The author reviewed the final material and retains responsibility for its interpretations, accuracy and conclusions.
© Use by Permission Awakening Impact Ministries / Dr Neville Westerbeek van Eerten D.Miss, 2027
