Not One Stone

Mark 13:1–8 ESV

1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

Speculation about when the end will take place have been part of the church from the beginning. Paul writes his letters to the church in Thessalonica for the purpose of answering some of their questions surrounding the second coming of Christ. They were living in times when they saw many who were persecuted and killed for the faith. They saw some of the first generations of Christians beginning to pass on, and they did not know how to understand that in light of Christ not yet returning.

Many denominations and even cults have arisen because they were looking for the coming of Jesus. They would read passages like we have this morning and try to interpret exactly when Jesus would return. The Seventh-Day Adventists are one group that began with the sole purpose of watching and waiting for Jesus’ return. Groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses have tried several times over the the last 150 years to predict the time when Jesus would return. They said he would return in 1914. It didn’t happen. They said he would return in 1975. It didn’t happen.

There is a subculture within the modern church that is obsessed with end time events. We see the rise in popularity of dispensationalists interpretations of scripture with Hal Lindsey and his book, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” where he predicted that the Soviet Union would rise up to try and take over the world and would attack Israel as a catalyst for the end of days. The enormous popularity of the “Left Behind” series has influenced many in the evangelical church about what the end times would look like with the rise of the antichrist and a one world government that will usher in a cataclysmic battle between good and evil in Armageddon. When we turn on the news or look at our Facebook feeds we read about wars and rumors of wars, and it can set us on edge wondering when the end will happen. Will we be “raptured” up to heaven? Will we have to go through the tribulation? There were many in my circles growing up who would lose sleep and worry themselves over these questions. But today, I want us to truly look at this passage in Mark 13 for what it is - Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the temple. There are things that we learn from this that help us for today. But this section of scripture that is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is called the Olivet Discourse. Jesus has taken his disciples to the Mount of Olives to answer questions that they have about what he said about the destruction of the temple. There are consequences for us today. But in order to understand what Jesus is saying we have to learn from the context and build from that. So, today, we are going to go through this passage and look at what we can learn together from this portion of the Olivet Discourse and how we might ready ourselves for the day when Jesus does return in his glory to call his bride home.

1. The destruction of the temple begins a new age for the church. (vs. 1-2)

Hebrews 9:11–12 ESV

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

As Jesus and his disciples are leaving the Temple, one of the disciples went on about how beautiful the structure was. Herod’s Temple was a renovation project of the second Temple that was built following the return of the exiles from Babylon led by Zerubabel. The original Temple was very plain. It was not the extravagant edifice that existed when Solomon built the original Temple. Herod was trying to gain political favor with the Jewish leadership by embarking on this project of restoring the plain Temple of the exile period to what it was and even grander than Solomon’s Temple. At the time of Jesus, some believed that the Temple was the most beautiful building in the entire world. However, for the Jewish people, the Temple was more than just a beautiful building or a public works project. It was the place where God dwelled among his people. In the very back of the Temple was the Holy of Holies where once a year, the high priest would go in to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat on top of the Ark of the Covenant in order to atone for the sins of Israel. It was in the Holy of Holies on the mercy seat that God was enthroned in his glory and where the presence of God resided.

So when Jesus responds to the disciple’s exuberance with such a sobering answer. The disciples as a whole are caught off guard. The Temple is this high and holy place where God dwells. How can it be destroyed in the way Jesus says, “not one stone will be left unturned.” To answer this question, we have to understand what the destruction of the Temple actually means for us as the church. The book of Hebrews written prior to the destruction of the Temple to Jewish Christians in Jerusalem makes the point many times that in Christ there is no use for the Temple. He is the great high priest and also the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Hebrews 9:11-12 says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” The writer of Hebrews understands that the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus places him within the context of the heavenly Temple where he has sprinkled his blood as the perfect atoning sacrifice on the mercy seat of the Holy of Holies to secure our eternal redemption once and for all.

This is important particularly within the context of Mark’s gospel where the cross is Jesus’ throne. It is on the cross that our redemption takes place, and we enter into a new age as God’s people. So when the Temple is destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman armies, it is of no consequence to the Christian because there is no longer any need for the sacrifices that took place within its walls. The destruction of the Temple was part of God’s judgment on the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem who were responsible for the death of Jesus. God destroyed through the Romans the idol that the Jewish leaders had created through the enormous and grand structure of the Temple to force them to realize that a Temple made with human hands is no longer necessary for us to be in the presence of God. God no longer resides in the Holy of Holies, but his throne is now on hearts of his people. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” The enormous stones of the Temple are thrown down because the temple of God is the believer himself because is with us always.

2. Throughout the time between Christ’s first and second coming, there will be many who will rise to deceive his people. (vs. 3-6)

1 John 2:18 ESV

18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

2 Timothy 4:3–4 ESV

3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

After Jesus gives a prophecy of the destruction of the Temple, Jesus’ first four disciples ask him when all of this will happen. Jesus does not answer them directly but begins to give them signs of when this would take place. The first sign that he gives is that there would be many who would rise up in his name saying that they are the messiah. To give context in light of Jesus’ prediction of the Temple’s destruction, there were many people who claimed to be the messiah at various points in Jewish history. Many of them were people who attempted to lead a revolt of some sort against the Romans. Jesus knows that especially until the time of the destruction of the Temple there will be people who would say that they are the messiah and that the people must fight against the Romans. Because of the fervor to get rid of the Romans and establish a new Jewish state, there will be many who will follow these false messiahs.

However, there is a warning here for modern Christians as well. Just as with the disciples, we are called to be faithful to Christ alone. There will be many who will rise up to deceive the church and lead them astray. 1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” When we hear the word “antichrist,” many of us automatically conjure up in our minds the vision of a person who will rise at the end of time and lead the world away from God and worship him. This person will be the leader of a one world government that will deceive the nations. All of this is in line with a plot line from Left Behind or some other dispensationalist literature. But that is not what John is talking about. He is specifically talking about those who will rise to leadership within the church or teach in the church that will lead the people away from the gospel to false teachings. For John, the Antichrist is not to be equated with the beast of Revelation or the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians, which is something to be discussed for another day. An antichrist is anyone who deceives the church into false teaching.

We have seen examples of this throughout history. Cult leaders like Jim Jones, who claimed he was Jesus Christ reincarnated, and Charles Manson both made claims of Christ. Jim Jones faked miracles and may have even actually performed some miracles through demonic means in order to deceive people and leading over 900 to commit mass suicide on November 18, 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana in South America. Of course, Charles Manson believed that there must be mass chaos created in society so that a race war would begin so he had his followers murder people to bring this chaos about.

These are extreme examples that we can point to as false teachers and those who are antichrist. But it is also something that is more subtle in the modern church. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 tells us, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” These kinds of false teachers are just as dangerous as the more extreme examples because they come within the church with teachings and ideas that sound very good. We have those in the church who teach that loving others means that we must accept them as they are with no change. God made them this way and who are we to counter what God has done. There are others who try to raise the creation before the Creator and make caring for the earth an idol, but we all are called to care for the earth. But it is a teaching that twists it to something where the earth is something to be worshiped. There are others who teach that if we only have faith and follow a formula God is going to bless us financially and materially. Christians are not supposed to suffer or be poor. We can create our world through our speech in the same way God spoke things into existence. These teachers equate human beings as having the same power of creation as God himself. People pay to go to conferences and watch it on Christian programming all the time thinking that it is good. It’s not. It is not of Christ. These false teachers have been part of the church from the very beginning. Paul calls Timothy to not fall into this trap because it will lead people astray. Instead, we are to have preachers and teachers who divide the scripture rightly and according to strong biblical foundations not the whims of current society and feelings.

Jesus’ warning to the disciples that there would be those who would rise up and claim to be the messiah is a warning for us not to be focused on following a religious leader. That religious leader must be in line with Christ and his teachings if the church is to follow him or her. When a pastor, bishop, lay leader, Sunday school teacher, or any others who stand in authority within a congregation are not teaching the historical and orthodox Christian faith, we cannot follow those individuals unless there is a sincere repentance and turning away from the false teachings and toward a Christ-centered, biblical teaching and interpretation.

3. The destruction of the temple is a template for what will happen at Christ’s Second Coming. (vs. 7-8)

Revelation 19:14–16 ESV

14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

These last verses in our lesson have created many questions for Christians. Just like today, many were wondering in Jesus’ day when the end of days would finally come. Many Jews were looking for God to come and bring judgment upon the Romans like God had done so many times to other nations who had gone against Israel. Many Jewish leaders believed that there would be an increase in warfare in the time preceding the end. The forecasts of wars or rumors of wars would not have surprised the disciples. More surprising would be Jesus telling them not to be alarmed when these things happen. Jesus is telling his disciples that even though these things are happening, it is all part of God’s plan and purpose. But the wars do not signal the end. The same is true of earthquakes and famines. They may be regarded as end-time signs, they must not be interpreted in this way. These are the beginning of the “birth pangs.” The point seems to be that Jesus’ followers must be prepared for an extended interim. The end will be delayed beyond the anticipated wars, earthquakes, and famines.

In light of this, we must read the passage in the context of Jesus’ teaching on the destruction of the temple. In the Gospel of Luke, this teaching by Jesus is immediately followed by Jesus talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. When the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem took place in 70 AD, it was because the Jewish leadership had denied Jesus as the Messiah and had him killed instead. Jesus says in Luke 19:44 “And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” He was speaking here of what would happen to the temple and Jerusalem by the Romans. It was a terrible time. Thousands were killed. Christians fled into the hills because they knew of Jesus’ prophecy on this matter.

What is important for us to understand is that the template of Christ’s second coming is found in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. When he returns, he will do so with his wrath on full display. God’s wrath was poured out on Jerusalem for their apostasy. Imagine what it will be like when Jesus returns to a world that has continued to deny him and turn away from him. He will come in wrath and judgment upon sin. John sees a vision of this in Revelation 19:14-16 “14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” Jesus came to the earth as a babe in a manger. He was crucified by those he came to save by his incredible and wonderful grace. But there will be a day when Jesus comes again as King of kings and Lord of lords to strike down those who have opposed him. He will rule them with an iron rod. His wrath will be poured out like grapes being crushed in a winepress.

Jesus will come again and the heavens and the earth will be swallowed up in fire. Those who have gone against Christ and denied him or did not faithful teach in his name will be judged and cast into the lake of fire. Those who have trusted him as Lord and Savior will be judged not by their own works but by the work of Christ on the cross. His blood will cover the sins of those who called upon him with their mouths and lived for him in this life. The punishment that we deserve because of our sinfulness is taken away by the grace of God because through Christ that punishment was paid for. However, all of those who do not know Christ and who have denied him will spend eternity separated from Christ.

The question we have before us today is whether or not we will live for Christ today. We know that one day he will return again in judgment. We have seen that happen before in history. God will judge the nations and call them to repentance. But there will be a day when Jesus comes in all of his glory along with his bride to vanquish sin and judge the nations. Where will we be when that happens? Will you be coming in glory with Christ or will you be one of the ones that will be judged in his presence because you have denied him in your heart and in your life? This is not an easy thing to hear. But we must hear it especially in today’s church that wants only to have its ears tickled and its desires met.

Jesus loves us all. He wants us to be in relationship with him. But we must first confess with our lips that he is Lord and believe in our hearts that he was raised from the dead. Only then can we be saved.