1748 | Matthew 23:37
37“ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, f how of ten I have longed to gather your chil dren to gether, as a hen gath ers her chicks un der her wings, and you were not will ing. 38 Look, your house is left to you des o late. g 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again un til you say,‘ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ a
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The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24:1-51pp— Mk 13:1-37; Lk 21:5-36
Jesus left the tem ple and was walk ing away when his dis ci ples came up to him to
24 call his at ten tion to its build ings. 2“ Do you see all these things?” he asked.“ Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on an other; i ev ery one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sit ting on the Mount of Ol ives, j the dis ci ples came to him pri vately.“ Tell us,” they said,“ when will this hap pen, and what will be the sign of your com ing and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus an swered:“ Watch out that no one de ceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claim ing,‘ I am the Mes siah,’ and will de ceive many. k 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must hap pen, but the end is still to come. 7 Na tion will rise against na tion, and king dom against king dom. l There will be famines m and earth quakes in var i ous places. 8 All these are the be gin ning of birth pains.
9“ Then you will be handed over to be per se cuted n and put to death, o and you will be hated by all na tions be cause of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will be tray and hate each other, 11 and many false proph ets p will ap pear and de ceive many people. 12 Be cause of the in crease of wick ed ness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. q 14 And this gos pel of the king dom r will be preached in the whole world s as a tes ti mony to all na tions, and then the end will come.
15“ So when you see stand ing in the holy place t‘ the abomination that causes desolation,’ b u spo ken of through the prophet Dan iel— let the reader un der stand— 16 then let those who
a 39 Psalm 118:26 b 15 Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11
23:37 f 2Ch 24:21; Mt 5:12
23:38 g 1Ki 9:7, 8; Jer 22:5
23:39 h Ps 118:26; Mt 21:9
24:2 i Lk 19:44 24:3 j Mt 21:1
24:5 k ver 11, 23, 24; 1Jn 2:18
24:7 l Isa 19:2 m Ac 11:28
24:9 n Mt 10:17 o Jn 16:2
24:11 p Mt 7:15 24:13 q Mt 10:22
24:14 r Mt 4:23 s Lk 2:1; 4:5;
Ac 11:28; 17:6; Ro 10:18; Col 1:6, 23; Rev 3:10; 16:14
24:15 t Ac 6:13 u Da 9:27; 11:31; 12:11
Jesus( probably in AD 30, though possibly 33), the Romans destroyed the temple and much of Jerusalem. See also v. 38. During this time all these various kinds of deaths likewise occurred at the hands of key Jewish leaders. 23:37 – 39 Despite the harshness of the rest of his address, Jesus ends with a lament for Jerusalem, which expresses a note of sorrow more than anger. 23:37 how often. Only John’ s Gospel describes the many times Jesus had previously been in Jerusalem, perhaps explaining“ how often.” hen... chicks. Jesus wishes he could have spiritually protected and nurtured the people of Jerusalem, like a mother“ hen [ with ] her chicks,” but they“ were not willing” to let him. 23:38 house. The temple. desolate. Bereft of spiritual truth with Jesus’ departure in 24:1 and razed by the Romans a generation later( see note on v. 36). The holy city of Israel will, however, see Jesus again when he returns in glory( 24:29 – 31). 23:39 Blessed is he who comes. At Jesus’ return Jerusalem’ s inhabitants will acclaim him with the words of Ps 118:26. Whether this acclamation will reflect genuine repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Messiah or the mournful, grudging acknowledgment of his true identity just before they go away into perdition is more difficult to determine.
24:1— 25:46 This passage is called the Olivet discourse. Jesus addresses his followers on the Mount of Olives immediately after he leaves the temple for the last time. He predicts its imminent destruction( 24:1 – 28) and his“ coming on the clouds of heaven”( 24:30) at some unspecified point after that( 24:29 – 51). The upshot for his followers is that they must live obedient, faithful lives at all times because they cannot know when the end will come. But when it does arrive, everyone will be judged according to their works( 25:1 – 46). 24:1 – 28 Jesus depicts what must happen in the generation in which he and his followers are living( v. 34). Numerous ominous events will occur, followed finally by the complete razing of the temple in AD 70. 24:2 – 3 Because Jesus predicts the complete destruction of the temple, the disciples likely assume it must bring about“ the end of the age”( v. 3) as they know it. Jesus’ reply separates the two events that the disciples have linked. 24:2 not one stone... will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. Fulfilled literally in AD 70, when the Romans under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple buildings. Stones were even pried apart to collect the gold leaf that melted from the roof when the temple was set on fire. Excavations in 1968 uncovered large numbers of these stones, toppled from the walls by the invaders. The Western Wall in Jerusalem, still standing today, was part of a retaining wall around the temple precincts, not part of the temple itself. 24:4 – 8 False messiahs, wars, famines, and earthquakes all occurred in the 40 years between Christ’ s crucifixion( probably AD 30, though possibly 33) and the destruction of the temple in AD 70. Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, mentions all of them. The NT itself refers to both a famine( Acts 11:27 – 28) and an earthquake( Acts 16:26). These are not the signs the disciples asked about, however, for“ the end is still to come”( v. 6). They are merely“ the beginning of birth pains”( v. 8). These events are like a pregnant woman’ s labor pains: they demonstrate there is a baby that the body wants to deliver, but they prove singularly unhelpful in predicting the precise moment of birth.
24:9 – 13 Persecution, martyrdom, apostasy, false prophets and their deception, an overall increase of wickedness, and a diminution of love will also characterize the years ahead. The NT letters most likely written between 30 and 70 reflect all of these: Hebrews and 1 Peter are written when persecution against Christians is increasing; Hebrews warns against the dire consequences of apostasy; 2 Peter and Jude combat false prophets; and almost all of Paul’ s letters emphasize promoting love and avoiding evil. True believers, however, will stand firm to the end and be spiritually saved( v. 13). 24:14 Most think this foreshadows the Great Commission of 28:19 – 20, in which case Jesus now looks well beyond the first generation of his followers. But it is possible to see this prophecy too fulfilled by AD 70: The“ whole world” was viewed by many as roughly contiguous with the Roman Empire( cf. Col 1:23). Paul essentially claims to have completed initial evangelism of the eastern half of the empire( Rom 15:19) as he plants churches in all representative regions to carry on his work by about 57. His subsequent desire to go to Rome and then as far as Spain can be seen as aiming to do the same thing in the western half( Rom 15:28), and he may well have accomplished it before his martyrdom between 64 and 67 if various early Christian traditions are accurate. 24:15 the abomination that causes desolation. Predicted in Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11, and some Jews believe that Antiochus IV’ s desecration of the temple(“ the holy place”) in 167 BC fulfills it. Jesus obviously sees another fulfillment yet to come as he looks ahead at least to when Rome will destroy the temple of his day in AD 70. Some envision a still future fulfillment in conjunction with Christ’ s return. 24:16 – 20 When this time comes, God’ s people must flee Jerusalem quickly.