The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times - Matthew 24
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Reflection: The study of the "end times", what we call "eschatology" if you like to impress your friends with big words, is a reflection on when Jesus will return to set up a new heaven and new earth. Of course the whole book of Revelation, written by the apostle John, is devoted to this topic. But in chapter 24 of Matthew, Jesus himself gives us the signs we should look for as he prepares his disciples for His second coming. Remember a lot of traditionl churches confess some form of the Creed every Sunday (Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed), which states after Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, that He will come to judge the living and the dead."
So what does Jesus say are some of the signs that will accompany His return? First, he says the temple will be overthrown. Many think this refers to when the temple was destroyed in AD 70. Second, he says many teachers will come claiming to be the Messiah. He calls these "false teachers". He also talks about "false prophets" that will try to deceive many. So there are two types of false teachers. Those who claim to be the Messiah and those who deceive by false teaching. This was happening in Jesus' day mostly with the Gnostic false teaching. This asserted that one could only know by God through becoming like God through denial and eventually becoming a spirit being, totally divorced from the flesh. This is similar to the modern day New Age movement. The problem is Jesus showed that God redeems even our bodies through the resurrection. Jesus didn't show up after the resurrection as a Spirit being, but in the flesh.
Of course there have been many other false teachings that have surfaced over the years. They either espouse a legalism that we are made right with God by adherence to a strict set of rules, or a liberalism that denies the resurrection and supernatural power. Liberalism says we can change the world through activism, because the earth as we know it is the only heaven we know. These are simplifications just to show you the true extremes. But any false teaching will fall from one pole to the other.
A final false teaching says that everything will always be good with us if we follow Jesus. Meaning we will always and only experience success and prosperity on this earth. But Jesus tells his disciples they will be persecuted and hated and some will even die for their faith, as soon happened. Jesus does come to bring us love, joy and peace but he never promised universal prosperity or acceptance by the world.
Finally, Jesus warns that the love of most will grow cold, but whoever stands firm until the end will be saved. The Christian life is more of a marathon than a sprint, and we are comforted by Paul's words to the Philippian church in 1:6 "He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it." As we keep our eyes on Christ and are fully dependent on the Spirit, Jesus promises us that we can stnd firm in the faith. And in fact that is God's will for us in Christ Jesus. Amen.
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Reflection: The study of the "end times", what we call "eschatology" if you like to impress your friends with big words, is a reflection on when Jesus will return to set up a new heaven and new earth. Of course the whole book of Revelation, written by the apostle John, is devoted to this topic. But in chapter 24 of Matthew, Jesus himself gives us the signs we should look for as he prepares his disciples for His second coming. Remember a lot of traditionl churches confess some form of the Creed every Sunday (Apostles Creed or Nicene Creed), which states after Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, that He will come to judge the living and the dead."
So what does Jesus say are some of the signs that will accompany His return? First, he says the temple will be overthrown. Many think this refers to when the temple was destroyed in AD 70. Second, he says many teachers will come claiming to be the Messiah. He calls these "false teachers". He also talks about "false prophets" that will try to deceive many. So there are two types of false teachers. Those who claim to be the Messiah and those who deceive by false teaching. This was happening in Jesus' day mostly with the Gnostic false teaching. This asserted that one could only know by God through becoming like God through denial and eventually becoming a spirit being, totally divorced from the flesh. This is similar to the modern day New Age movement. The problem is Jesus showed that God redeems even our bodies through the resurrection. Jesus didn't show up after the resurrection as a Spirit being, but in the flesh.
Of course there have been many other false teachings that have surfaced over the years. They either espouse a legalism that we are made right with God by adherence to a strict set of rules, or a liberalism that denies the resurrection and supernatural power. Liberalism says we can change the world through activism, because the earth as we know it is the only heaven we know. These are simplifications just to show you the true extremes. But any false teaching will fall from one pole to the other.
A final false teaching says that everything will always be good with us if we follow Jesus. Meaning we will always and only experience success and prosperity on this earth. But Jesus tells his disciples they will be persecuted and hated and some will even die for their faith, as soon happened. Jesus does come to bring us love, joy and peace but he never promised universal prosperity or acceptance by the world.
Finally, Jesus warns that the love of most will grow cold, but whoever stands firm until the end will be saved. The Christian life is more of a marathon than a sprint, and we are comforted by Paul's words to the Philippian church in 1:6 "He who began a good work will be faithful to complete it." As we keep our eyes on Christ and are fully dependent on the Spirit, Jesus promises us that we can stnd firm in the faith. And in fact that is God's will for us in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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