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Many scholars agree that when Jesus left the Temple this time, He took the Shechinah with Him out of it. The glory of the Lord never shimmered in its courts and halls again. Compare a few verses with this interpretation:

Matthew 23:38 Behold, "your house is left to you desolate."

Jeremiah 22:5 But if you will not hear these Words, I swear by Myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a ruin.

Ezekiel 11:23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city.

Anyway, Jesus never stepped foot into the Temple again because, within a few days, the veil separating the Holy of Holies and the altar was ripped in two from top to bottom thus opening the door for believers to come into the throne room of God.

The disciples couldn’t fathom that this beautiful Temple would be destroyed. Mark says they said, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" (13:1). Luke says the disciples remarked how the temple was "adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God" (21:5). How could something that was dedicated to God be destroyed?

Let’s recall what happened several centuries earlier. God outlines it graphically in 2 Chronicles 36:14-19. The people were constantly acting unfaithfully with all the abominable idols of other nations. They defiled the house of the Lord that He had sanctified. They mocked and killed the prophets. Then God used Nebuchadnezzar to punish His disobedient people even to the point of giving all the Temple vessels to the Chaldean king. King Nebuchadnezzar plundered the Temple then burned it down; then he tore down all the walls and razed the city to the ground. Jerusalem was despoiled.

Jesus was speaking about the same thing happening again, the same unfaithfulness, the same atrocities hidden away. The disciples couldn’t accept that God would destroy it all. So when Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, they came to Him and asked Him three questions privately.

When will this happen? Most likely this they were asking about was the destruction of the Temple, which Jesus had just finished describing.

What will be the sign of His coming?

When will the end of the age occur?

Jesus answered all three questions, but not in the order they were asked. He first began by explaining some signs that were not the signals of the end of the age, but were general characteristics of the Church Age. Jesus warns His disciples not to be deceived. Certain distressing events may look like the signs of the end, but are not (Matthew 24:4-8). There will be a rise in false messiahs, and the existence of local wars. One sign that the end had begun was the sign of world wars, “nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” That term was a eHebrew idiom meaning world war. Other signs would be famines and earthquakes. He tells them these are the beginning of the end.

In the Luke account (Luke 21:12-18) the persecutions Jesus talks about will happen before the signs of the end. Indeed they did suffer much persecution and death for their faith. That is part of the Church Age, and part of the Christian life and faith. It is because the world hates Jesus and hates seeing Jesus in believers around the world. Jesus reveals in Revelation that the persecution is greater during the end time because Satan knows his time is short, and his wrath is great. Persecution is one of those things that Jesus did not want the disciples to confuse with the signs of the end of the age. Jesus describes the persecution the disciples, and in fact all Christians, would bear (Matthew 24:9-13). Here was teaching far different than what they had learned in Hebrew school. Surely, when the Messiah came it would be in victory, and His followers would be triumphant! Jesus had been explaining to them all along what He would suffer before any victory would happen. He told them over and over what the Kingdom would be like through all the parables. Yet they still didn’t quite understand that the Kingdom of God would be in the hearts of believers rather than an actual kingdom on earth. Later they would understand that tumultuous things had to happen first; they would understand the persecution, and they would understand about spreading the Gospel of Christ.

Jesus told them that the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem would occur in their generation. We can look back at historical events and understand the this of their question. Not one stone of the Temple sits atop another on the Temple Mount. Only part of one wall still stands. But if you travel in and around Jerusalem, you can often see some brilliant white stones architecturally used, and know that those stones come from Herod’s Temple.

Let us consider for a moment the importance of Jerusalem to a Jew. It was their world and their life even if they did not live within its walls. The Jewish people cherished Jerusalem, and it was equivalent to God’s residence to them. Therefore, when the city and the Temple was destroyed, it would be the end of the world to them. Yet, Jesus was taking great pains to tell them when this happened it was not the end.

Why would He do that?

Has anyone ever promised you something that meant everything to you, but never delivered that something? Did the broken promise cause you to distrust and lose faith in that person? So, too, the disciples if they believed a lie. Jesus emphasized that things might look like the end of the world, but really not the end for that reason. Peter explained it very well in 2 Peter 3:9-10. The Father is very long-suffering, and He holds back His wrath because His deep desire is that all will come to Him. It just seems like the end is a long time in coming, but to God a thousand years is like a day, and a day is like a thousand years. His timing is not ours, and thank goodness we only have to sojourn in this strange land for a very short time.

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

Renew a Right Spirit