(33-63) The Acts of the Apostles recounts some key events in the life of the early church. It shows how the church grew and spread, as God led, beyond Jerusalem and the Jews to include “half-Jew” Samaritans and Gentiles (any non-Jews). It also shows that for most of this period the persecution of the early Christians was coming from the religious and civil leaders of the Jews, such as by Paul prior to his conversion, and which he later experienced himself, and included the martyrdoms of Stephen and the apostle James. In these years the Roman authorities were largely unaware of the growing Christian movement, and originally saw it only as a new sect among the officially-allowed Jewish religion.

 

A broader picture of this era, beyond that given in Acts, can be gleaned from a few other writers. Josephus, a Jewish general in Galilee during the Jewish revolt against the Romans that led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, was captured by the Romans and ultimately became the “court reporter” for the Romans of the events involved in the Roman suppression of the revolt. In addition to his valuable account of these times, The Jewish War, Josephus also wrote an overview of Jewish history, The Antiquities of the Jews. In addition to Josephus, our main sources of information concerning the events of this period are Tacitus, Suetonius, and Eusebius (a historian of the early church writing in the 300s AD who often quotes from Josephus).

 

During the latter 30s, the 40s and the 50s, the Roman emperorship was passed on from Tiberius to Claudius, then to Gaius Caligula, and finally to Nero. Meanwhile, the political rule of the Romans in the homeland of the Jews, Judaea, was exercised through Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, followed by a series of governors/ procurators, including Festus and Felix whom we meet in Acts. Festus is followed by Albinus, and then by Florus, a main instigator of the Jewish revolt as a way to hide his corrupt dealings.

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This was also a period of turmoil of many kinds. In the natural realm, there were some significant famines and earthquakes, comets and eclipses. Many false Messiahs arose to lead a rebellion against Rome.

 

(64-70) In 64 AD Rome burns, and Nero blames it on the Christians. This led to his vicious persecution of Christians. Peter and Paul were among those put to death for their faith by Nero.

 

In 66 AD the Jewish resentment of Roman domination and the local abuses of power by Roman officials finally led to open revolt, with the revolutionary group, the Zealots, slaughtering the Roman troops stationed in Jerusalem and another Roman garrison at Masada.

 

Nero’s death by suicide in June of 68 AD caused a major crisis in the Roman Empire, since he died without a son who could become the new Caesar. Civil war broke out as Roman legions fought with one another to have their general acknowledged as Emperor. There were three different Emperors within a year’s time, until finally Vespasian, the leader of the Roman armies involved in suppressing the Jewish revolt, was persuaded by his troops to become Emperor, and he was able to bring unity and peace to the Empire once again. His son Titus then led the Roman army that conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Jewish Temple was burned and totally destroyed, leaving not even one stone upon another, as Jesus had prophesied.

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