How do you respond to warnings about disasters? Are you like the thousands fleeing Hurricane Sandy or those who stubbornly refused to listen? Your reaction could mean your life.
Take the one Jesus made about Jerusalem for instance. Jesus warned, as recorded at Luke Luke 21: 20, 2,1 that the city was going to be destroyed. Most of the inhabitants of that city unfortunately had rejected him as the Messiah and did not listen when he said, "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by the encamped armies...Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw." because Jerusalem was going to be destroyed.
What happened? Several decades later Cestius Gallus' Roman army surrounded Jerusalem while crushing a Palestinian revolt according to Josephus and was on the verge of sacking the city when Gallus, for some reason, ordered a withdrawal.
There were two completely different responses to this sudden retreat. Encouraged by this sudden change of fortune most of the inhabitants thought the danger was over and ignored Jesus' warning to flee the city when this happened.
But Judean Christians listened and fled to Pella, a mountain city in the Decapolis region, according church historian Eusebius. They stayed their faithfully for years, not returning to Jerusalem which appeared to be still thriving. It must have been tempting to return.
But by remaining in Pella these disciples of Jesus escaped the returning Roman armies in 70 C.E. In that year the Roman General Titus led another army that besieged and laid waste to the entire city. Hundreds of thousands perished as the Roman legions had no pity on those who refused to heed Jesus prophetic warning and continued to defy Rome.
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