TEMPLE TORN DOWN?? (Matt 24)

At last... Matthew 24: the ‘Olivet Discourse’...              

Jesus the Messiah walks out of the temple for the very last time, telling his disciples:
                      

“There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down”

Roman soldiers parade the stolen menorah

The new temple will be torn down?? Again??  

Surely He’s joking!  

This is one of the wonders of the world and they haven’t even finished construction! 

Four disciples (Peter, James, John & Andrew) follow Jesus to the Mount of Olives, bursting with questions...

• When will this happen?
• What sign will show you’re coming back?
• ...or when time’s up?

Jesus doesn’t answer ‘when’, but warns: Don’t be deceived! and... Don’t be troubled!

Notice what else He says...                                        

“Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”  (That can’t be the Church)                                                  “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”                                                    

Is He talking about losing eternal salvation? No, this is the Jewish Prophet-Messiah warning  privately that the faithful face persecution and death in End Times. 

Which gospel will be ‘preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations’?                           

The ‘gospel of the kingdom’ – not the gospel of grace.

By the way, here is what official Roman historian Flavius Josephus tells us:                                           

“Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the entire city and temple but should leave...so much of the wall as enclosed the city on the west side.” ~70 A.D.

Guess who?...at that same western wall!

So was Jesus correct in His prediction about the temple?

NEXT: Great Tribulation!

Who was MATTHEW writing for?

Just who did Matthew write his account for?                            Who was he trying to reach?

Let's see by reading for ourselves...

• The hero is Jesus Christ... from Heb: Mashiach – the MESSIAH! (ch1:1)
• He is a son of Abraham AND... son of David – JEWISH ROYALTY! (1:1)
• The magi realized Jesus was BORN King of the Jews - unlike Herod (2:2)
• Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem (2:5) fulfilled Micah 5:2
• Jesus came from Egypt -  just like His Jewish brethren did with Moses! (2:15)
• Jesus came to fulfil the Law & the Prophets (5:17)
• Jesus came to the City of the Great King (5:35) – Jerusalem
• Jesus is the Man of Isaiah 53 (Matt 8:17)
• Jesus ministry was to ‘the lost sheep of the House of Israel’ (10:6) – not Gentiles
• John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of Christ (Messiah - 11:2)
• The Jews saw Jesus as the prophet from Nazareth (21:11) but...
• Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the King (21:5)
• The children welcomed Jesus with: “Hosanna, to the Son of David!” (21:15)
• Jesus said: “One is your Master, even Christ (Messiah - 23:10)
• The Olivet Discourse is given where the Messiah will one day stand (Zech 14:4) and the warning is to those in Judaea who live to see the Abomination of Desolation set up in the 'holy place' (24:15-16)
• The cursed fig-tree (21:19) of Israel will finally revive (24:32) - May 14, 1948. 
• "Art thou the King of the Jews?" "Thou sayest" (27:11)
• Hail King of the Jews!"  (27:29)

See how Jewish this account is!

Jesus is the Messiah, THE King of the Jews, come to fulfil the Law and the Prophets of Israel. When He arrives at His city, the elders have their Messiah flogged and crucified but He rises from the dead and waits, not in heaven but in Galilee.

No, this is not addressed to the Church...                                                                 

Matthew has written this... for the HOUSE OF ISRAEL!

"WOE...to you hypocrites!"

The elders have rejected Jesus’ authority but no-one dares ask Him any more questions.                                               He hasn’t finished though - not by any means!.... (Matt 23)

'Hypocrites' (actors)

He warns the people about ‘talk and walk’: do what the scribes and Pharisees say but not what they do.  After all...“One is your Master, even Christ”                        

Next, He has a final serve for those hypocrites, blind guides - rubbing it in 7 times with a groan of grief - "OUAI!"            

• You shut up the kingdom of heaven (Satanic)
• You devour  widows’ houses (greed)
• You recruit proselytes then teach them too dishonour God (blasphemous, so double woe!)
• Pay tithes...but omit judgment, mercy and faith. You blind guides strain out the gnat but swallow the camel (legalistic)
• You clean the outside of the cup and plate but inside...(fake)
• You’re like white sepulchres full of dead bones (iniquitous)
• You decorate the sepulchres pretending you’re innocent of the blood of the prophets (self-righteous)

You serpents! You family of vipers!                      

How can you escape the damnation of hell?

Phew!!  So who gets that last word in??

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto you, how often I would 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....Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”

As for you...                                                                          

Do you just ‘talk the talk’ or do you really ‘walk the walk’?