Let's have some fun!!!
1And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
There is so SOOOO much going on in this chapter . . .I would LOVE to set down with your parents and just take a couple hours walking them through it . . .but . . .here we is.
First off, keep in mind just how hard Jesus came down on the pharisees and religious leaders while he was "in" the temple. The terrible seven woes, the vipers, the serpents . . .their despise for him and his disdain for what they were doing with the law of life as they conformed people with the fear of death with it. The disciples were right there, hearing the passion of righteous judment come from his lips and they were still cringing at the fact that he just unloaded on the most prestigious of men. So . . .the idea that they were pointing out the wonderful works of men outside the temple isn't a coincidence. It's like you just got a serious chewing out from your Dad and then your mom steps in and tries to soften up the harshness of what your Dad just said. That's really what the disciples were doing. They were trying to show Jesus all the great efforts the religious leaders put into these great monuments of the religion. Jesus would have none of it because what the disciples were missing was, Jesus was everything these religious traditions symbolized. and the fact that he's here now in the flesh meant that there was no longer going to be a need for the symbolization. But because the religious were embracing the symbol instead of the substance, rather than being transformed into celebration, they were going to be disassembled in violence. It was their choice.
The first thing this chapter is showing is . . .Jesus is turning his back on the religious system. Literally, Jesus has left the building. This sets the stage for the rest of the entire chapter, it's not about the end of the earth, it's about the end of the age of the Old Covenant system. Everything from that point on is specifically about the destruction of not only the temple, but also of the entire religious establishment. We ain't in Kansas anymore!! The renting of the veil was going to be just the beginning of what was still to come to them.
Not one stone will be left on top of the other . . .I'm not even going to begin going into the spiritual implications of that because that's not what you asked for. What I will tell you is, it is most assuredly connected to Revelation. Don't let the great white throne judgment lead you away from everything else that is symbolically aligned with what they were going to literally experience. That's the one thing that still gits my griddle . . .all the years I've spent in church, not one time was there ever mentioned of the atrocities that took place in A.D. 70. People point their finger to what Hitler did with the Jews . . .millions of them, they say he tortured and murdered. Well, according to Josephus . . .if you haven't, I'd recomend you read up on the book of Martyrs . . .that's the name of it . . ."The Book of Martyrs". In it you'll find just how real and torturous those days were . . .the torturing of Christians wasn't by any means just a one time event, but A.D. 70 marks the year when the old religious system was removed.
Those buildings Jesus was pointing to that day were literally torn down brick by brick not because a bomb hit them, but because there was said to be gold lining in between them and the Roman's tore them down for the gold.
3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Now think about this for a minute. What the church wants you to believe is . . .Jesus just foretold of a great destruction literally to those buildings, the disciples were seriously concerned so they ask him "when" . . .the diagnose is fatal . . .it's no longer a matter of "if", but "when". They were beginning to realize the magnitude of why Jesus was here and just how deeply the effects of his life would reach. So Jesus, in all the ominous tension that had built up among them by then, chose to jump ahead to 2000 years later and begin talking about the end of the earth as "we" know it . ...
Really?
I think if you just slow this whole thing down . . .you say they're somewhat open to hearing you . . .first thing is, lay down the preconceived ideas of what others have "taught" them. God is about to personally show them something all together different.
Everything in Matthew 24, in Daniie's dream with the book he was told to seal up and . . .in Revelation as well . . .this was a huge deal. This was pertaining to the identity of an entire nation!! It was going to get ugly . . .it was on their minds for the next 40 years through all of their ministries . . .when John received the Revelation at the place of his killing (Patmos), it was a generation later and the time had come for what Jesus prepared them with in Matthew 24 to litterally unfold . . .
I would love to keep going through this chapter . . .but I'm out of time.
The bottom line is . . .this has EVERYTHING to do with the destruction of the old religious system. It has NOTHING to do with our generation or our earth being destroyed . . .it has nothing to do with US at all. It's not a revelation of the end of the earth as we know it . . .or of the destruction of men or of the salvation of saints. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ, the very one the entire old system was patterned after. So it's no wonder when Jesus did reveal his nature to John, that it was about the removal of the old system and the establishing of the celebrative new lineage.
