Translation
And if those very days had not been cut short,
Go to footnote numberall flesh
Go to footnote numberwould not have been saved, however, on account of the chosen ones, those days will be cut short.
Paraphrase
And if those days had not been shortened by God’s intervention, you can be sure that no Jew would have survived, however, on behalf of the ones God has chosen as a remnant, those days will be cut short.
Footnotes
1
This word means “to cut off, or lop off, to maim or mutilate.” It can also mean things like “made short.” But as you can see, it is a strong word. It refers to something being shortened or cut off by an outside agency, not just becoming shorter by being left to its natural tendencies. Therefore, it would appear that Jesus is pointing to the intervention of God in this situation to bring it to a conclusion earlier than what would have been normal.
2: “all flesh”
This word usually means “all, or every” but it can also mean “each, every individual part that makes up the whole.” You can find translations that assume either one of these directions, but the intended meaning is still the same. Jesus said, “all flesh” but we know from context that He was talking about “all the Jews,” not all humanity.
TO WHAT DOES THE PHRASE “IF THOSE DAYS HAD NOT BEEN CUT SHORT” REFER?
First let’s review the three questions that the disciples asked Jesus:
1) When will these things be (when will the temple be destroyed)?
2) What is the sign of your personal coming as a king?
3) What is the sign of the completion of the age (meaning the age of the Law)?
Their questions reveal that they thought all three of those things would happen at the same time. The first several things Jesus said seem to indicate that the destruction of the temple would be the answer to all three of their questions; it would be the confirmation of the end of their age and beginning of the next age, and it would be a demonstration that He is the one in control. However, as we go on, we will see that His second coming will show Him to be the all-powerful king even better than the destruction of the temple did. However, Jesus has not yet started talking about what we call His second coming yet, so verse 22 is still talking about the destruction of the temple.
Verse 22 indicates that things could have been even worse had they not been cut short. I take that to mean the following: God used the fighting factions among the Jews which were fueled by their religious fervor, as a means to ensure the destruction of the temple at that time. Indeed, Josephus reported that the Caesar at that time (Vespasian) told the Roman General outside Jerusalem (his son Titus) to spare the temple because they wanted to turn it into a temple for one of their gods. We can easily imagine that God did not want that to happen, so He had to do something to override Caesar’s order. However, it was easy, for the stage was already set.
It was also recorded that, in the midst of the fighting, when Titus saw that his soldiers were in no mood to spare anyone or anything, he called out loudly and reminded them of the order to spare the temple structure. He even told his personal guarding element (I don’t know how many guards that would have been) to club any soldier that did not follow the order. However, the Roman soldiers involved in this battle had seen how the religious fervor of the Jews turned them into frenzied fighters who were out of their minds with rage. They knew the reputation these people had for being the worst trouble-makers in the Roman Empire, and they knew this temple was a key element in that religious fervor. The Roman soldiers were unaffected by Titus’s command and one of them caused a fire to be ignited inside the temple. In the midst of intense fighting, no one could put out the fire, so it grew quickly and consumed anything that would burn. The descriptions of the carnage are so graphic I will not repeat them here. The point is that if the situation had not been as intense as it was, the temple would have been spared. God may have put into the hearts of the Roman soldiers, who were known for following orders no matter what, an attitude of not following the orders in this situation.
By saying and “it will be cut short” God may have meant that the siege could have lasted longer, resulting in even more lives lost, or the Romans could have wiped out everyone in the city, and the result could have been the temple structure, its altars, its holy place, and the Holy of Holies, being used perpetually for the worship of a false god.
The Jews and some Christians are deeply offended by the defilement that is occurring now since there is a Muslim Mosque on the site the temple previously occupied. Is that the same as having the altars, the utensils and the Holy of Holies used for the worship of a foreign god? You decide.
We can conclude that these statements were fulfilled by the destruction of the temple in AD 70. What will a future fulfillment look like? We cannot know. Any attempt at saying anything more is just a guess that is not well founded on the words of Jesus.