A Study of Matthew Chapter 24, Part 1 -- Matthew 24:1-2(Stay tuned for more posts until study of Matthew 24 is completed.)
The illustration above is a drawing of a famous relief of the triumphal procession with objects seized from the temple when Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70. Forty years prior, Jesus told his disciples how the temple would be destroyed:
Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. (Matthew 24:1)
Have you ever seen the movie, "Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town?" We might call this narrative: "The Disciples of Jesus Go to Jerusalem." It wasn't often that they would get to go to Jerusalem, and the disciples were taking a little time for some sight seeing. Herod the Great had recently rebuilt the temple and had expanded the precincts surrounding it. Secondary construction was still in progress--but the buildings of the temple were very impressive--in fact, magnificent!
The words "was going away" in Matthew 24:1 are a translation of a verb in the imperfect tense. The imperfect tense indicates a continuous action in past time. Jesus was going away from the temple and would not make another appearance there in His public ministry.
And He answered them and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down." (Matthew 24:2)
Talk about raining on someone's parade! The disciples were excited about the beauty of the Temple, and the Lord's response was that it would be utterly destroyed. This statement of Jesus was fulfilled in detail in A.D. 70. The Roman army surrounded Jerusalem and after burning the temple, the soldiers ripped it apart stone by stone to retrieve the gold that had melted in the cracks and joints. This was an outward display, carried out under the sovereignty of God, of what had happened inwardly--spiritually--in the temple. The Jewish religious leaders had destroyed the purpose of the temple--so God, through a pagan army, destroyed the structure of the temple.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.http://www.lockman.org/
