Mat 24:2 And 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.
Imagine for a moment someone telling you that not one stone will remain upon another as they gaze on the Pyramids, the White House, Westminster Abbey, the Taj Mahal, etcetera. It's not easy for us to imagine our famed buildings being so completely destroyed that not a single stone remains on top of another. Herod's Temple - the Temple Jesus was referring to wasn't a small building, it was an amazing structure. Here read about it--
Herod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple by King Herod the Great around 19 BCE.
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Herod's Temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century BCE. Herod was interested in perpetuating his name for all eternity through building projects, and his construction program was extensive. He had magnificent palaces in Masada, Caesarea and Tiberias. Herod built temples for various pagan gods to serve the gentile populations, which were paid for by heavy taxes on the local Jewish population.[18]
But his masterpiece was to be the Temple of Jerusalem. The old temple, built by Zerubbabel nearly half a millennium before, despite frequent renovation, most notably by the Maccabees in the century before, was still run down and relatively small.
In 20 BCE, Herod announced that the old temple would be torn down and replaced with something truly magnificent. The Kohanim, or Jewish priesthood, as well as the rest of the population, were skeptical, requiring Herod to quarry all the stones required for the project before the destruction of the Post-Exile structure could begin.
An agreement was made between Herod and the Jewish religious authorities: the sacrificial rituals, called korbanot, were to be continued unabated for the entire time of construction, and the Temple itself would be constructed by the Kohanim.
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Click on that link, or paste it into your web browser and read much more on the Temple of Jesus' time it's fascinating.
Suffice it to say the temple was magnificent and quite on par with some of our famous historic sites today.
To hear Jesus say that the temple would be destroyed was truly something of great interest. This was something the apostles could scarcely imagine, yet they believed because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, God's Son and His word was the word of Truth. Jesus would NEVER speak a lie and they believed His every word.
Mat 24:3 And 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?
The temple's destruction to the apostles could mean only one thing- the end of the world. It stood to reason that the great temple just recently erected after years and years of a much simpler temple would not be destroyed unless something catastrophic occurred. So when the disciples asked what the signs of this event would be, and what the signs of the end of the world would be- they most likely imagine the time being the same. Jesus knew better though. Jesus knew the events would be separate and so when we read the following we know that some of it occurred when the temple was destroyed and some will not occur until the end of the world, and still other signs in there would be given so God's people would know to watch, they'd know that Jesus wasn't going to return without ample warning, ample signs of the time.
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
This is good advice always, yes? Men will try to deceive us, and we know that not very often does someone try to deceive another blatantly but rather deceptively so that they are hardly aware they are being deceived. Is it any wonder we, and all those through all time from that moment on, would need to take HEED- to really pay attention- and let NO MAN deceive us.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Many will use Christ's name. Many will say they are Christ's. Many will deceive many and they will do it as supposed Christians! Not Muslims, not atheists, not Buddhists, not Hindu, not Satanists, not pagans… but they will claim to be Christ's and use Christ's name to deceive! No, we can't be partakers of any false religions, but those practices just named are blatant in their godlessness, they are not hiding under the pretense of being Christ followers. They can't deceive us, we know exactly what they are. The ones that deceive us are the ones we have to take heed against and watch out for, those that say they are Christ's but they really, really are not His at all.
Mat 24:6 And 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.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
We see all these things don't we? We know these beginning of sorrows quite well they've been going on for a long, long time and only growing worse.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Sin abounds, sin reigns in our world and no one can tell me different. Sin is accepted, completely accepted and the norm for people. Love is ice cold. Is it any wonder we live in a world where divorce is expected, accepted, and considered normal? Is there any wonder parents can send their children off to day cares and schools without any real thought about who their children are being truly raised by? They love their children but like with so much in our world today that love is cold because sin - the love of self is the rule. With the love of self over the love of God the way of life for so many it's any wonder at all this world still exists, seriously. It's true that God isn't going to find very many people who are His, there will be very, very few that are His, very few found surrendered to Christ and His righteousness.
More tomorrow by the grace of our God!
In His Amazing Love.
May we be fully surrendered to the will of God and found living in Him and not in sin that abounds so incredibly much around us. All in Christ's righteousness!
Amen.
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