Not One Stone Left Upon Another
1. (Matthew 24:1-8) “And Jesus went out, and departed from the Temple…” When Jesus left, God left! Jesus had been in the temple teaching and rebuking the Scribes and Pharisees. King Herod rebuilt the run-down Second Temple to win the hearts of the Jewish people. The Disciples were out front admiring it when Jesus walked up and blew their minds by saying this building would be completely destroyed to the point that one stone would not be left upon another (Mark 13:1-2, Luke 21:5-6). That destruction came about 37 years later, in 70 AD, when the Roman legions under General Titus, the son of Caesar, came down to crush a Jewish rebellion that had begun a few years earlier. He laid siege to Jerusalem, and by 70 AD, they had destroyed the city and the Temple exactly as Jesus had prophesied.
2. They ask Jesus when the Temple's destruction will occur, what will be the sign of His coming, and what will be the sign of the world's end. They connected the Temple's destruction as part of an event that would bring Jesus back. Jesus had already told them that He was returning to the Father in John 16:7. So, you can tell by their question that they were linking the destruction of the Temple with a war that would bring Jesus back (Mark 13:3-4; Luke 21:7). In Matthew 24:4, “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” He is telling them about what they will encounter along the way. Paul warned Timothy about conditions in the last days in 2 Timothy 3:13. Deception is one of Satan’s greatest weapons!
3. (Matthew 24:5-8) There are many false teachers today leading people astray and this will increase before and going into the Tribulation Period. The Antichrist will claim to be Christ. “Wars and rumors of wars” are daily in the news, especially regarding the nations surrounding Israel. “Nation” is “ethnos.” We’ve had ethnic problems throughout history. It takes the Holy Spirit to resolve our ethnic problems (Galatians 3:28). “Kingdom against kingdom” means that countries will find it increasingly difficult to live in peace with one another. Jesus says there will be “famines.” No amount of food can stop it. And “pestilence” has to do with diseases that resist medical treatment or cure. “Earthquakes in diverse/various places” have become more regular, more powerful, and in places where they've never been known to occur before.
4. Jesus says, “You’ve asked Me when the Temple will be destroyed. All right, I’m going to tell you, but I must inform you about the circumstances, conditions, and events you’re going to face while you’re going through this time frame of the destruction of the temple. It will be destroyed as I have prophesied, but here’s what you’re ALSO going to face.” Jesus said in Matthew 24:8, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.” The BEGINNING of sorrows. And all these things continue to this very day. All of them continue. But it’s just the beginning.
5. They've been going on now for some 2,000 years, and not only that, but they are growing in frequency and intensity. Years ago, terrible events happened every generation or so. Today, they are overlapping. Things that once only impacted a nation or region now impact the whole world. Does the world urgently need the body of Christ? YES! How should we be leading in this generation? We should be leading with the gospel! Praying the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers. And we should be all about winning souls and making disciples of Christ! Proverbs 11:30 says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”