Luke 21:5-9--Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

Luke 21:5-9
English Standard Version
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Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple
5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 7 And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8 And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

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The people that are arriving for Passover and even the ones that live there in the area are all gathering to the Temple (the place where Jesus is and He just takes over and starts teaching there like He owns the place, because He does).  Jesus hears some of them talking about how beautiful the Temple that many call Herod's Temple was (though it is more proper to call it Zerubbabel's Temple or the Post-Exilic Temple).  As beautiful as this Second Temple was, it pales in comparison to what the Heavenly Temple (the New Jerusalem) is that the plans for the Tabernacle and Temple were based off of.

Jesus does not celebrate the Temple like the others because He knows a day is coming once again (like what happened in the time of the Exile) when the Jews would be dispersed from the Land and the Temple would be torn down and pillaged.  This would not just be judgment against those who trusted in the Temple for their safety imagining that if they just went to "church" that God would have to protect them and bless them, even if they lived as bad as or worse than the Gentiles during all the time they were not in services.  God is not impressed with our tithes and offerings or our sacrifices if we don't fist have broken and contrite heart (repentance) and live in obedience to Him.  "Obedience is better than sacrifice" and "A broken and contrite heart I will not despise" and "He has shown thee, O man, what is good and what the LORD requires of Thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."

The temple would be torn down in 70 AD and the Diaspora (The Great Dispersion) of both Jews and Christians would take place.  This would force the Gospel to go forth after Pentecost, and neither Jews nor Christians would continue to hang around the Temple forever like how the architects of Babylon built a city and tower for themselves and refused to obey the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.  In a similar way the Christians had been told to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit, but Jesus had not told them to continue to stay there after the Holy Spirit came--that was just where they were comfortable.  Jesus wanted all the Jews saved at Pentecost to go back home and share the gospel with their friends and family members and to start planting churches all around the Near East and Middle East.

Of course hearing that the Temple was going to be destroyed was bad news for the scribes, Pharisees, chief priests, the Levites, and all others who were part of this system.  This was their livelihood, but also it was a great symbol of God's blessing and protection, and now Jesus is saying that blessing and protection is going to be removed, and they know that the last time that happened, they were taken out of their Land.  They couldn't imagine that they were in the same kind of danger as they were pre-Exile, because they wanted to think that everything was okay since God had not judged them yet and they weren't being too bad--God would understand they weren't perfect people and could never fully obey His covenant.  Sound familiar?  We make many of the same kinds of excuses today for our willful disobedience and expect no punishment from our loving Father.

The disciples and others listening want to know when this judgment is coming.  Do they have a timetable in which to repent and turn things around (and could they run out the clock by waiting as long as they could to do so)?  Jesus would not tell them the exact time, but did give them some signs to watch for that would tell them the season and even the day being at hand.  Jesus seems to indicate that the destruction of the Temple is associate with what me call "The Last Days" or "The End Times."  That's interesting because we typically don't think of 70 AD as having anything to do with the book of Revelation or the prophecies in Ezekiel or Daniel, but Jesus is pointing out that the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem was a sign that it was the beginning of the end for all peoples and nations, for the next thing to look forward to was the Day of the LORD when Jesus would come to save those who were in Him, and to pour out His wrath and judgment on those who chose to rebel against Him.

Therefore, Jesus warns His disciples not to go after the people that claim they are the Messiah or that they have seen Him in a far off place and try to gather cults to try to coax Jesus to come out of hiding (there are several of these that even exist to this day), but they should know that when He comes, it will be without warning and it will be as fast as lightning flashing across the sky.  They also should not be afraid for what is to come because all these things must happen before the end will come and these are signs that the end is coming near, even if it is not immediately upon us.  This is God's grace to give us these signs to point to and tell people that there is time right now to repent and believe, but we are not promised tomorrow because death may come upon us at any time and we also live in a time when the events that we read about in Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation (just to name a few of the prophetic books that talk about the end times) seem to be coming true right now.  This should give us who are Christians an even greater urgency to make the gospel known to the whole world as we are obedient to The Great Commission.

This message was upsetting for the Jews of course, but the destruction of the Temple was also upsetting for the early Christians who worshiped side-by-side with the Jews in the Temple.  However, this destruction gave both Jews and Gentiles a reason to be free to spread across the rest of the world as the Jews worshiped in synagogues and the Christians in churches.  Just because this was the end of that Temple doesn't mean that it was the end of God's plan for Jerusalem and the Jews.  This isn't even the final Temple that we'll see on Earth as there is going to be a Tribulation Temple still and then as I mentioned before, there will be a Heavenly Temple that we'll all dwell in when the New Jerusalem comes down out of Heaven.  There is no Temple in that city, because the whole city is the Temple of God and the people of God that live in the city are His priests.  We will need no Temple or Church to go to at that point as we will live in the very presence of God, and we will fully rest in His finished work of creation, salvation, reconciliation and recreation (making all things new).