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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
We are in the thick of things in Luke Chapter 21. Jesus has just commended that dear widow for the offering she has given in the Temple. God saw her offering, even though everything around her appeared to be so corrupt and full of sin. No matter what is going on around you and no matter how you may become upset or angry by what you see and hear, remain faithful to Jesus Christ. He sees. He knows. He understands. Always remember that.
At this point even the disciples of Jesus are taken up with the splendour of the Temple, and Jesus has to redirect their thinking. Yes, He has to do that at times with us too.
Jesus speaks about that day when the Temple will be totally destroyed. Its day was almost over, and it would be present for a few years. For these Jewish disciples these must have been very strange words to come from the lips of Jesus. What did He mean?
They wanted to know about signs and seasons, and when, and how, and we can be the same.
They assumed the destruction of the Temple would mark the end of the age.
The Temple was a masterpiece of construction. It was the centre of their national life and of their spiritual life too. It was the mark of their unique relationship with the one true God. It was beautiful. We are told it was the largest in the world at that time. It had been 40 years in being built, and was not yet completed, and Jesus is speaking about it being destroyed. This is radical, almost revolutionary stuff.
It would have taken hours just to get one block of stone into place. One stone could be 40 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 18 feet high. You would not get it into the average front room. I have had the privilege and joy and being at the Western Wall of the Temple on various occasions and praying facing these massive supporting stones. Everything else has gone, just as Jesus prophesied. Only the stones that supported the Temple area remain.
The disciples were so taken up with the building, and its beauty, and the way it was adorned with the gifts of men, and God had given the gift of His Holy Son, and at this moment their minds are occupied with things, rather than Jesus.
There was nothing wrong with the Temple in itself, but it was being misused and abused, and worst of all, it had no time for Jesus.
It had no time for what God was doing and what God was saying, and when that happens it has to go, and within a few days, its day was over. These words of Jesus were fulfilled literally, not metaphorically and not spiritually nor philosophically, but literally.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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