The Destruction of the Temple
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
13 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “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 opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” 5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. 24 “But in those days, following that distress, “‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. 28 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Reflection:
As Jesus nears the end of his journey, he teaches the disciples on two separate topics. Sometimes people confuse the two because of their proximity. Jesus is teaching on the destruction of the temple, which will happen in AD 70. This also points to the view that the Gospel of Mark is written before AD 70. Most agree that Mark is the earliest gospel written. The destruction of the temple was also concurrent with Jesus' building of the new temple, the body of Christ. Unfortunately the Jewish people and their leaders had confused the beautiful buildings they had erected with the building of God's kingdom.
For a modern day association, just look at all the magnificent but empty cathedrals across Europe. They have been relegated to tourist sites with the worship areas roped off for site seeing versus people assembling in the name of the a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And in an indirect way all of the buildings we now worship in will one day not be standing either. So the question is what are we building? The passage then describes that one day Jesus will return
after many other false messiahs, and many other signs. But the bottom line is that he will come again in great and promised glory and the only thing that will remain is his kingdom. This earth and all that is in it will pass away, but whoever does the will of God will last forever.
So what kind of lives should we live? Will the buildings we are building outlast ours and maybe the next generation? Some people say we in America are one step away from what is happening in Europe, where church attendance hovers around 10% in most countries. To the extent that we are focusing on buildings as the main barometer of success, we are not too far from our European brothers and sisters. Notice I didn't say buildings are unimportant. We need facilities to facilitate the growth of the Church. But it is when our focus goes from building God's kingdom to building our own that we are really in trouble.
1 Corinthians 3 says it this way,
"For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work."
So the question for us today is where does the foundation of our work lie? Is it on Jesus Christ and built in His power? Or do we rely on our flesh and personality to build monuments to ourselves? One of the questions I have tried to ask myself from time to time is, "What am I building that will make a difference for all of eternity?"
Jesus, help us to build on the foundation you have laid with precious stones, as we are led by the Holy Spirit. Awe know that one day when you return, the quality of our work will be revealed. Amen.
13 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “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 opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” 5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. 24 “But in those days, following that distress, “‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.
26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. 28 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Reflection:
As Jesus nears the end of his journey, he teaches the disciples on two separate topics. Sometimes people confuse the two because of their proximity. Jesus is teaching on the destruction of the temple, which will happen in AD 70. This also points to the view that the Gospel of Mark is written before AD 70. Most agree that Mark is the earliest gospel written. The destruction of the temple was also concurrent with Jesus' building of the new temple, the body of Christ. Unfortunately the Jewish people and their leaders had confused the beautiful buildings they had erected with the building of God's kingdom.
For a modern day association, just look at all the magnificent but empty cathedrals across Europe. They have been relegated to tourist sites with the worship areas roped off for site seeing versus people assembling in the name of the a Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And in an indirect way all of the buildings we now worship in will one day not be standing either. So the question is what are we building? The passage then describes that one day Jesus will return
after many other false messiahs, and many other signs. But the bottom line is that he will come again in great and promised glory and the only thing that will remain is his kingdom. This earth and all that is in it will pass away, but whoever does the will of God will last forever.
So what kind of lives should we live? Will the buildings we are building outlast ours and maybe the next generation? Some people say we in America are one step away from what is happening in Europe, where church attendance hovers around 10% in most countries. To the extent that we are focusing on buildings as the main barometer of success, we are not too far from our European brothers and sisters. Notice I didn't say buildings are unimportant. We need facilities to facilitate the growth of the Church. But it is when our focus goes from building God's kingdom to building our own that we are really in trouble.
1 Corinthians 3 says it this way,
"For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work."
So the question for us today is where does the foundation of our work lie? Is it on Jesus Christ and built in His power? Or do we rely on our flesh and personality to build monuments to ourselves? One of the questions I have tried to ask myself from time to time is, "What am I building that will make a difference for all of eternity?"
Jesus, help us to build on the foundation you have laid with precious stones, as we are led by the Holy Spirit. Awe know that one day when you return, the quality of our work will be revealed. Amen.
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