Matthew 24
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
That physical temple of stones and buildings was thrown down in 70 AD, never to be rebuilt.
No, not 70AD. Exactly WHEN was it destroyed and HOW? That is the question.
When? We don't have to speculate, we search the scriptures to find out
when the holy city was destroyed. When, is not subject to our own personal opinions, private interpretations, or favorite historian. So the question is,
when does the Bible illustrate that the Holy City was Destroyed, and more importantly
HOW was it destroyed? Observe carefully:
Matthew 23:37-38
- "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
- Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."
Was this Holy City, this Jerusalem Christ was talking about, left desolate in AD 70, honestly?! NO! It was left
spiritually desolate because it is the Old Testament congregation that Christ was speaking about! Christ is NOT talking about a physical city being destroyed, or physical bricks falling in ruin
, but of a corporate people of God. The
very people who have killed the prophets! The very people who had rejected God's servants and prophets despite God's care and care of them. A people who were supposed to be the holy city but who loved abominations rather than righteousness and as a result would be left desolate, and no longer be the city of peace. He was not talking about a city being destroyed by Romans some 37 years later, but a spiritual city brought to blindness and ruin by their wickedness, right here when Christ said it in Matthew 23 above.
The fact is, interpretations don't belong to Josephus, they belong to God (Genesis 40:8 ). God doesn't leave it up to human bias, historians or man to judge so-called Biblical facts, if that were the case, we would all come to totally different conclusions reading the same Bible! Which (by the way) is the very reason that we have so many diverse interpretations in the churches. Because so many professing Christians do not hold to the sound hermeneutic of allowing the Bible to interpret itself. People use the
methodology of thinking they can "of themselves" discern truth through speculation and secular history. No way that is a sound system. Truth about prophecy is found upon the pages of the Bible,
Not on the pages of history books. The Spirit of God that is within every believer does not reveal whether historical facts/events line up with prophecies, it reveals when
scripture lines up with scripture,
when it is in harmony with itself, thus revealing the truth of how
God Himself interprets imagery, symbols, and prophecies.
By contrast, you seem to be saying that history, as found in secular history books, is an accurate way to interpret God's word. If that is what you believe, I would say that is an unsound system of interpretation. Assumption is the mother of errors. Secular History may be true, but it also may not be. For "
History is written by the victors," and we should never assume that what is written is the truth just because it finds its way into renowned books. Nevertheless, even if it were "mostly" true, we can never use secular history to interpret or understand God's word. God didn't inspire His holy word to be interpreted by books written by uninspired men like Josephus. The Bible is meant to be interpreted by the Bible, not by comparing it to what other men may have written. That's the most basic and fundamental of all sound interpretation. itself. The only
infallible means of interpretation is an infallible word. Scripture interprets scripture
because interpretations belong to God (Genesis 40:8 ), and God today speaks to us through His word. Anything else is a private interpretation.
2nd Peter 1:20
- "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation."
Prophesy has never been subject to any man's historical observations, personal opinions, individual explanations or learned, scholarly suppositions. Interpretation is by God through God's word alone. Now let discuss Matthew 24:1-2 you quoted:
Matthew 24:1-2
- "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
- And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
Of course, the natural man would look at this and think that God was speaking about a physical temple building, but the spiritual man knows God speaks of the congregation AS a temple and those within it AS the stones of that Temple falling! That's not something I made up, that's a Biblical fact. And as far as the prophecy, and despite suppositions to the contrary, our Lord was very specific saying not only that
"not one stone would be left standing one upon another of it, but further amplified it by saying they (the stones one upon another) would all (BAR NONE) be thrown down! Even by using the vaunted secular history books
we know of a certainty that more than one stone was STILL left standing one upon another after AD 70. In point of
fact, to this very day there are foundation stones left standing "one upon another" of the physical Temple. Moreover, there were (and let's not forget this) many stones of the physical city Jerusalem left standing one upon another. Again, the qualifying prophecy was that
"not one stone would be left standing one upon another. Too many people want to "ignore" this qualification because it doesn't fit or conform to their personal/private interpretations of this prophecy taking place in AD 70.
Luke 19:41-46
- "And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
- Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
- For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
- And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
- And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
- Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves."
Many Christians refuse to hear the part where Christ unambiguously says the city shall be laid even with the ground and
her children within her. Christ was talking about the children of the congregation! It's very willfully convenient to leave that part out. Who TRULY were the enemies of Jerusalem and how were they compassed round about her. Who truly brought the city to desolation? Was it the Romans, or was it those (Jews) who would smite the Shepherd? Only by comparing scripture with scripture will we ever know the "TRUE" answer to that. No, it's NOT the Romans! Christ said that the city Jerusalem itself and
all its children within would be
laid even with the ground so that
Not one stone would be left standing one upon another. The children are the Jews! In other words, the children of the congregation were being JUDGED for rejecting the Messiah the Prince and were blind and they lost the kingdom representation that Christ took from them with His death! Again, Christ's specific qualification for fulfillment, not mine. Of course, the physical city remained with
many stones left standing one upon another, which means that the physical city in AD 70 was NOT what Christ was speaking about in the prophecy. Only their spiritual city, the Old Testament congregation qualifies for having been completely laid even with the ground and brought to desolation. We have to understand, Christ didn't weep for "literal stones" or for the physical city of Jerusalem, He wept for His congregation Jerusalem, the very people who were the stones and the city proper!!! It is "THEY" as the stones who would be brought to
desolation or total ruin by their abominations, and it is they who were laid even with the ground. That is why the Apostle Paul also Wept for his kinsmen according to the flesh. Because He understood that at that moment, they were no longer the people of God. Selah! That is the ruin that came upon Jerusalem because of her abominations.
(Contiune to next post due to space)
