Matthew 24:1
And Jesus coming out, departed from
the Temple.
And His Disciples approached Him to show to Him
the buildings of the Temple.
Mark 13:1
And He going forth out of
the Temple,
one of His Disciples is saying to Him “Teacher! behold! what
manner of stones and what manner of
buildings”
Luke 21:5
and of some saying concerning
the Temple,
that to
goodly stones and votive-offerings<334> it has been adorned<2885>
.
Incorrect. As usual, you are thinking carnal, just like the disciples who thought Christ was talking about the physical buildings before the resurrection.
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 or private interpretations. So the question is, when does the Bible
illustrate that the Holy City was Destroyed, and
more importantly how was it destroyed?
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?
Of course not! 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. More specifically,
a PEOPLE, not literal bricks, 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, representing His Kingdom. Jesus 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. Selah!
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 s
peculation and secular history. No way that is a sound system. The truth about prophecy is
found upon the pages of the Bible, Not on the pages of history books and YouTube videos that you build a doctrine upon, Little Lamb! 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 interpret imagery, symbols and prophecies. Get it, Little Lamb?
By contrast, you seem to be saying that history, as found in secular history books, is an accurate way to interpret God's word. Then 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, cute YouTube videos, or learned scholarly suppositions.
Interpretation is by God through God's word alone.
Now, let find out what God talks about here:
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 buildings, but the
spiritual man knows God speaks of the congregation as a temple and those within it as the stones of that Temple. 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! NONE of the building of the WHOLE CITY, including the Temple was standing! 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, like yours!
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 WHOLE CITY shall be laid even with the ground and her children within her. It's very willfully convenient to leave that part out. Think about it. 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 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 (ie. children of the congregation) within would be
laid even with the ground so that
not one stone would be left standing one upon another. Again, Christ's specific qualification for fulfillment, not mine. Of course, today the physical city STILL 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. Do you realize that Christ did NOT weep for literal stones or for a physical city Jerusalem, he wept for His people!. The congregation Jerusalem, the people who were the stones and the city proper. It is "THEY" 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. That is the ruin that came upon Jerusalem because of her abominations.
Romans 9:8
- "That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
Something has already taken place where the Old Testament congregation has been brought to ruin.
They have been thrown down and
would never be the representation of the holy city of God ever again! This is what the veil of the Holy Temple being torn in two signified.
Matthew 27:50-51
- "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
- And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;"
This was the TRUE DESTRUCTION of Jerusalem, the holy city. This didn't occur in AD 70, but
when Christ was crucified on the cross. When the Temple veil was torn in two and the rocks rent that symbolized there
was instituted a new way, a New Temple (a rebuilding or as Biblically put, "Build again").
And in order for the building again, there would have to he been the ruin before. Selah! Have you already forgotten that Christ warned the Jews to destroy this temple and in three days He will rebuild it? For how do you rebuild up something that has not been previously brought down to ruin. Not one stone was left one upon another in that city because by their abominations, it was laid waste--the
Kingdom was taken from them and
given to another. Where all stones were thrown down, Christ came to start the rebuilding and became the
cornerstone of that rebuilding. Not rebuilding a physical Temple as so many modern Christians suppose, but as God had always intended.
(End of Part One)