In our previous study, we found Jesus and his disciples leaving the Temple compound, with Jesus turning back and pronouncing his judgment upon the city and its Temple. The implication of Jesus’ judgment is that the Shekinah Glory would not come to and protect the Temple. Jesus said he, vis-à-vis Jesus would not return, until repentance was made, and they welcomed him in the name of the Lord. In other words, when they repented, he would return, but not as it was before they rejected him. The Shekinah Glory wouldn’t return to a House that man built, and neither would he return in human form, as their Messiah and King. Instead, he would return as Spirit. He would come to them in the form of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-20, 26; 2Corinthians 3:17-18). In other words, their repentance would bring the Presence of God **in them** and they would be the ‘House,’ which held the Presence of God, wherever they went.
So, at this point in our study of Matthew’s narrative, Jesus was leaving the Temple and Jerusalem for the final time before he would be judged by Jewish and Roman authorities and crucified (Matthew 24:1). What I find interesting is, his disciples stopped him to draw his attention to the great buildings and their massive stone foundations. Why would they do that? After all, they had been with him going into and out of the Temple perhaps 50 to 100 times during his 3 ½ year public ministry. Why would Jesus’ disciples want to comment on the magnificent structures of the Temple compound at this particular time?
The reason is, they were utterly astonished and bewildered over what Jesus had just done. Jesus pronounced his judgment upon Jerusalem, and with Jerusalem, the Temple, saying they’d be destroyed. He said the city and the House would be left without an inhabitant, and this was especially so, in so far as the Presence of God was concerned. Jesus was the literal or human Presence of God with men at that time (John 1:1-3, 14), and the Jews, as a nation, rejected him (John 11:53-54; 12:34-36). In doing so, they rejected God’s Presence among them, which was, in fact, their protection. Therefore, destruction was in their future, vis-à-vis the absence of God’s Presence in their ‘House’ or Temple would result in the destruction of their city, Jerusalem, and their House or Temple (Matthew 23:37-39; Daniel 9:26).
In other words, Jesus predicted that the Temple, with all its magnificent structures and massive foundation stones would be completely and utterly destroyed. This is what Jesus’ disciples referred to and couldn’t understand how this could be. First of all, how could anyone remove such massive stones, some weighing tons, and secondly, even if this should occur, what would that mean in terms of Jesus being the Messiah, the King of the Jews? Shouldn’t he be the very one who would protect Jerusalem and keep that from occurring?
The group was still very near Jerusalem, perhaps still inside its walls, as Jesus turned with his disciples to behold the buildings of the Temple and its great towering pedestal upon which the House and its other structures were built. Nevertheless, instead of recanting his words, Jesus doubled down on them, saying, “Do you see all these things? Truly, I say to you, ‘There shall not be one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down!’” (Matthew 24:2). One could almost see the faces of Jesus’ disciples, their utter astonishment, perhaps looking at one another and shaking their heads in speechless wonderment. Jesus left his disciples with questions that their present worldview, some of which was formulated by the religious establishment, couldn’t answer under the protection of the Messiah? Therefore, Matthew takes us immediately to Mount Olivet, and four of his apostles came to him to satisfy their need to understand (Matthew 24:3),
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