And Jesus went forth and went away from the temple, and his disciples came to [him] to point out to him the buildings of the temple.
Jesus had just told Jerusalem that her house is left desolate. Now He leaves the temple, and the disciples come to admire the very buildings He is walking away from.
What is the temple once He is outside it? One writer answers, then turns the point on us:
"And Jesus went out and departed from the temple." For what was it now? A corpse, and nothing more. "See, your house is left to you desolate." … The hearts of the disciples then, as too often now, were fixed on present appearances and on the great show of grandeur in God's service. The glow of old associations was bright before their eyes. But Jesus passes sentence on all that even they admired on earth. In truth, when He left the temple, all was gone that gave it value in the sight of God. Outside Jesus, what is there in this world but vain show or worse?
The tragedy is not about architecture. The disciples point at stones while the God those stones honoured walks away.
This discourse is not a casual incident in the ministry of Christ. It is Christ's closing testimony in the middle of Israel. … The disciples did not see the inward meaning of the Lord's words and action. They came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple. Their hearts were attached to the earthly system of which it was the centre. But a temple, however splendid, is of no value when its God is disowned. And Jehovah was there in the person of Jesus. The nation did not know Him and did not recognise Him; or if they recognised Him, they rejected Him. He leaves the temple with sorrow, and desolate indeed is what Jehovah forsakes.
Faith in Christ and a heart tied to the old order can sit side by side.
The discourse grew out of the disciples pointing His attention to the splendour of the temple buildings. Their hearts were not yet weaned from those buildings. They believed that Jesus was the Christ. They believed that they were born of God. But their hearts stayed tied to Israel's hopes until the day He ascended to heaven.
Losing the temple meant losing far more than a landmark.
The Lord does not try to turn their eyes away from the object that held them. Instead He foretells the complete destruction of what seemed to be the indestructible palace of their religion. The temple was needed for carrying out the duties that religion imposed. It was also the required place for the offerings, and those offerings were the only means of putting the people in relationship with God. All was about to be destroyed, from top to bottom. Their religion, and all their relations with God under the ancient covenant that centred on the temple, would be entirely abolished with it.
Prophecy can be treated as facts to collect. The Lord's opening words point to another use.
All that we have been reading, from Matthew 21:23, had taken place in the temple precincts. Now, in Matthew 24:1, Jesus departed. The disciples wanted to call His attention to some of its splendid buildings. Their words only drew from Him the prediction that the temple would be levelled to its foundations. … The first words of His reply show what His predictions are for. They are meant to forewarn and forearm us. They are not meant merely to feed our curiosity, or even our thirst for accurate knowledge. We are to take heed to ourselves.
Rome carried out the sentence not many years later.
Not many years later (in A.D. 70) the Romans destroyed the city and burned the temple. It remained in ruins for many years. Then, it is reported, the Emperor Julian "the apostate" ordered the Jews to return and rebuild the temple. He had once embraced Christianity, then turned on Christ with scorn, and his aim was to prove the Lord's prophecy false. However, finding the building so badly damaged, the Jews decided to take it all away and build anew. It was fully demolished then, but they were prevented from even beginning to build again. So the effort to prove the prophecy false became the very means of proving it true!
- He leaves. Jesus walks out. The temple keeps its stones and loses everything that gave it value before God — a corpse, not a sanctuary.
- They look. The disciples admire what He is leaving. Their hearts were still tied to Israel's hopes.
- He judges. The temple would be levelled to its foundations. With it went the whole system of offerings and covenant relationship centred there.
- History confirms. Rome burned it in A.D. 70. A later emperor tried to disprove the words and finished the demolition instead.
- We take heed. The Lord gives prophecy to forewarn and forearm His people, not to satisfy curiosity. Our first duty is to take heed to ourselves.
And he answering said to them, Do ye not see all these things? Verily I say to you, Not a stone shall be left here upon a stone which shall not be thrown down.
Jesus has just walked out of the temple for the last time. His disciples point at its splendid stonework, and He answers with a sentence of total demolition.
The disciples missed what His words and His walking out meant. One writer explains why the splendid building no longer counted:
The disciples did not see the inner meaning of the Lord's words and action. They came to show Him the buildings of the temple. Their hearts were tied to the earthly system that had the temple at its centre. But a temple, however splendid, has no value when its God is disowned. Jehovah was there in the person of Jesus, and the nation did not know Him or recognise Him; and if they did recognise Him, they rejected Him. He leaves the temple with sorrow, and whatever Jehovah leaves is truly desolate.
His leaving did more than move Him outside:
Jesus leaves the temple, and leaves it for ever. It is a solemn act, and we may say that it carried out the judgment He had just pronounced. The house was now desolate. The disciples draw His attention to the magnificent buildings, and Jesus announces to them its complete destruction.
Another writer asks what the building had become, now that its Lord had gone out of it:
"Jesus left the temple and was going away." What was it now? A corpse, and nothing more... The hearts of the disciples then, as too often now, were taken up with what they could see, and with the great show of grandeur in God's service. All the memories attached to the place made it shine in their eyes. But Jesus passes sentence on all of it, admired as it was even by them. When He left the temple, everything that gave it value in God's sight was gone. Outside Jesus, what is there in this world but empty show, or worse?
Believing Jews felt the weight of this. Their temple had fallen once before, but the charge behind this ruin was different:
The rejected Messiah passes sentence. Believing Jews found it most solemn to hear, for they rightly saw the temple as the great public witness on earth to the one true God and His worship. It had been destroyed once before, when reigning sons of David turned away from God and made it the seat of Gentile idols... This time it fell not because of idols, but because the Jews first refused their own Jehovah-Messiah and then had Him crucified by Gentiles.
Forty years later the Roman commander tried to save the building.
When Titus captured Jerusalem, he was very anxious to spare the Temple, with all its splendour and religious associations. So the question was this. Would the word of Titus stand — a successful general at the head of a powerful army, proud after victory — or would the prophecy our Lord made forty years before come true?... A soldier stood on the shoulder of a comrade and managed to throw a torch through a door in the wall that led to the rooms on the north side of the Temple. Titus would have stopped this, for he did not want to destroy what was the glory of the whole world. But the fire spread, fanned by a storm.
Commentators differ on whether the Roman fire finished the work. One traces a longer story: an emperor tried to prove Christ wrong and completed the ruin instead.
The Romans destroyed the city and burned the temple. It lay in ruins for many years. Then, it is reported, the Emperor Julian "the apostate" ordered the Jews to return and build the temple again, in order to prove the Lord's prophecy false. This Julian had once embraced Christianity and then turned against Christ with scorn. But the Jews found the building so badly damaged that they decided to clear it all away and build new. So it was fully demolished then, and they were stopped before they could even begin to build again. The effort to prove the Lord's prophecy false was the very means of proving it true!
This word about the stones opens the long prophecy that fills the rest of the chapter. One writer marks out its subject:
Matthew 24 is very clearly taken up not with the church, as such, but with Jerusalem and the temple, the close of the age, the clash of nations and kingdoms, famines, plagues, earthquakes, persecutions, and trials... That is the general picture down to verse 14. After that, the scene becomes more specific in time, place, and circumstances.
- Rejection. The stones fell because the nation refused its own Messiah and had Him crucified. The earlier ruin came from idols in the house; this one did not.
- Departure. Christ walked out, and that act carried out the sentence He had spoken. What God leaves is already desolate, however grand it still looks.
- Emptiness. With Him outside, the building was a corpse. The disciples admired the grandeur and missed Him. Readers can still do the same.
- Fulfilment. Titus wanted the temple saved; a soldier's torch and a high wind decided otherwise. A general's word lost to Christ's word.
- Sequel. From this one sentence the chapter opens out into prophecy about Jerusalem, the temple, and the close of the age.