Luke 21:5-6 KJV
[5] And as
some spake of the temple, how
it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said,
[6] As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, i
n the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Matthew 24:1-2 KJV
[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.
Mark 13:1-2 KJV
[1] And as he went out of the temple,
one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
[2] And Jesus answering said unto him,
Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
We go to Scripture and read Christ would not have wept over "the city Jerusalem" and
PLAINLY and UNABIGUOUSLY declared that not one stone would be left standing one upon another
in it. Not only in the Temple, but in that
city of Jerusalem. We can't just completely ignore these verses in lieu of ones that we think we can prove because it supports our view.
"ALL" scripture must be taken into consideration before coming to any conclusion. All of it!
Luke 19:41-44
- "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."
What city did Christ actually talked about? Every time I submit these passages to the 70 AD Theorists, I am met with deafening silence. Do you "hear" what the Lord is saying there? The
exact same thing as He said about the Temple. If it's not literal here, then obviously, it's not literal about the Temple. Let's be honorable and consistent here. To say Christ was not talking about the
city of Jerusalem as a covenant representation of the people of God (thy children within thee) shows
a serious lack of understanding of the way the Bible is written. Selah! For very unambiguously, He is talking to people (even the Scribes and Pharisees God said perceived that) and speaking of
their desolation as all the
stones of a city,
representing PEOPLE, being made desolate or thrown down. And Christ says the reason is that the city knew
not the time of its visitation. Is He talking to physical stones? No, He's talking to the
city of Jews and saying they will be laid even with the ground (equating them to stones of a building) because they knew not the time of their visitation. Christ has no prophesy here of literal buildings and a literal city like you believe, but of
spiritual buildings that are the external covenant congregation representation. Just as He called the congregation a Olive Tree. Just as He calls the congregation a city. Just as He calls the congregation a temple. Just as He called the congregation a vineyard. Just as He called the congregation a kingdom, etc. There's no mystery here to God's people,
as He has always spiritualized or spoke in parables this way. I know that something is "spiritually discerned" has come to be equated with a "Bad Phrase" these days, but Biblical facts are facts. Read the Old Testament for your examples, if you receive it...
Micah 1:8-9
- "Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
- For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem."
The City of Jerusalem was a representation of God's people, not a geographical location nor physical stones. The city Jerusalem and the stones of the temple fell because their representative of the kingdom was taken from them. No physical sword, army, or war are needed! They already fell at the Cross when THEY (Jews, the people of the prince the Messiah) destroy the city and the sanctuary. They are the body of Christ's temple! Didn't you read the Scripture?
John 2:18-21 KJV
[18] Then
answered the Jews and said unto him,
What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
[19] Jesus answered and said unto them,
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
[20] Then
said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
[21]
But he spake of the temple of his body.
Can you show us in the Bible where the physical temple was destroyed and in three days, the same temple was rebuild in three day? I bet that you WON'T. Christ was actually talking about the REPRESENTATIVE of the Kingdom that the Jews once have but lost it when they put Christ to death! But IN THREE DAYS, Christ rebuilt it under a new covenant. Read carefully what Daniel wrote:
Daniel 9:26-27 KJV
[26] And after threescore and two weeks shall
Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the
end of the war desolations are determined.
[27]
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the
midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,
even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the
desolate.
Verse 26 is about the Old Testament congregation (people of the prince) who did come and destroy the City and the sanctuary by putting their Messiah the Prince to death. So as a congregation, they become desolate because of their rejection of their prince! Selah!
But in verse 27, The prince Himself also confirm a NEW covenant. With who? New Testament congregation - the one that Christ gave the kingdom representative to, after he took it from the Jews! Selah! Therefore, verse 27 is about the
New Testament congregation that covered the whole church age! Until the consummation (Second Coming). Now, notice that also in verse 27, that "HE" (Christ) will put an end to sacrifice and the oblation for salvation to cease. Why? Remember I explained in previous post, that once Two Witnesses has finished their testimony, salvation ends? There is no more salvatino after Christ has finished sealing all of His Elect through the testimony of the church. That is when the apostasy starts to increase that leads to abomination of desolation spoken of Daniel the prophet!
See? This has NOTHING to do with physical city of Jersualem in 70AD, or even Jersualem in Israel of today. They got wrong Jersuaelm. Wrong Temple. Wrong city! God is more interested in PEOPLE as his congregation which the city, temple, Judah, etc. REPRESENTS. Take your eyes off the book of Josephus and world history and start to see the Word of God from God's interpretation! Selah!
You are reading but not "hearing" what you are reading. Again, it is for this reason that Christ came:
Isaiah 42:6-7
- "I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
- To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."
This is a NEW Covenant that God Himself would deliver His people from the curse of death, restoring the captivity, fulfilled by Christ:
Luke 4:18
- "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
As prophesied in Isaiah 61, the captives held prisoner by Satan were set free.
By His death, Christ spoke to the
Spirits in prison (1st Pe 3:18-19), which is
a Spiritual prison, having the keys of hell and death to set them free.
Isaiah 61:1-2
- "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
- To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
This coming King wasn't about destroying physical buildings, reigning as a King from Jerusalem, fighting Titus and the Romans or setting men free from
physical prisons. That's man's type of interpretations, Not God's. Selah!
Christ came to free the captivity from
Satan's spiritual prison house. If Christ would make Israel free, then they would be free indeed. And we build again the ruins of the
city and sanctuary, stone upon stone, with Christ being the Chief corners stone because not one stone was left standing in the ruins. The mountains drop down sweet wine. If that also is not literal/physical, why would any Christian bother to believe the city is, or the tabernacle or temple, or the ruins in the same context to be built again, physically!? Are the Hills going to melt or desolve as recorded there? Yes, but
not physically, but spiritually.
When God says something is fulfilled (and He does say this in Acts) about the Temple and the ruins in Israel, then theologians
should receive what God says, and
reject extra-biblical prophecies of literal Temple rebuilding, Red Heffers, pigs slaughtered as an abomination or Titus and all other man made suppositions. This is not something where there is a future physical fulfillment.
It is done! Sadly, many are trying to add
70 AD to the prophecy as
an addendum, but Christ didn't!
Christ came to the City of Jerusalem (which was
His people), and
they rejected him as their
foundation stone of the city and sanctuary. As a result, by their rejection, they themselves did destroy both city and sanctuary. Nevertheless, Christ
has become the headstone of
another building. The kingdom representation was taken from Jews and given to another. Selah! A kingdom which is represented by the God's congregation, wherein they reign as kings on earth. The Church, since Pentecost, represents
this spiritual city Jerusalem that Christ has brought good fortune, the bountiful fruit of the land and rebuilding.
God was not talking about physical plowing anymore than He was talking about Physical cities being in ruins and rebuilt in troublous times. Nor of physical mountains melting or dropping down wine. The only seed that might be spiritually in growth when you plow and sow is the word. That is why Christ's disciples did not understand Christ at first when they asked him about the beautiful temple and the building. But Christ was talking about something else - something that disciple UNDERSTOOD after the resurrection! Why not you, humm?