The most notable event of 79AD was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August. Its explosive impact was so great that it buried the cities of Herculaneum, Stabiae, Oplontis, and the one best known to us, Pompeii. It is said that the amount of thermal energy released was equivalent to 100,000 times that of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings. Two months earlier, on the 23rd of June the Emperor Vespasian died. Less noteworthy to us, but at the time a world changing event. But I can say with a large degree of certainty that whatever vestiges of heart-felt sorrow that there may have been 8 weeks later, came to an abrupt end when the world split open 125 miles away. It will be natural, given the massive impact of Mt Vesuvius, for the memory of poor Vespasian to get lost in the clouds of ash—1.5 million tons per second to be exact. But it is Vespasian’s last words that interests me. Here was the most powerful man in the world on his deathbed, whose delirious mind couldn’t help but issue forth the mad imaginings of his human vanity: “Vae, puto deus fio.” Which translated means: “I think I’m becoming a god.” This I know: The God of heaven was in no way surprised. Vespasian was just another leader (from a long list) drunk on his self-importance. If he had thought to pay careful attention during his 10 year reign, he would have been aware that growing within ‘his’ empire, was the Kingdom of Christ. Whose impact upon this planet has consigned Vespasian and Mt Vesuvius to the annals of history. Rome’s feet of clay would be dealt to. Daniel prophesied: “Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy” (Daniel 2:45).
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