The PassionSample

Matthew 24 is possibly the most debated section of all of Jesus’ teaching. While there are various views on how we should understand the timings of the occurrence of the events that Jesus describes throughout the chapter, all agree that Jesus here prophesies the destruction of the temple. We don’t exactly know what the disciples were pointing out about the buildings of the temple, but I suspect they were admiring both its physical and spiritual majesty - the bricks and mortar where God’s presence dwelled (or at least once dwelled), and where the covenant between God and His people was mediated through the sacrificial system and temple worship. Their hope and faith in God was centered around the temple and all it represented.

For His Jewish disciples, Jesus’ foretelling of the destruction of the temple must have hit them like a tonne of bricks, so to speak. How could God allow the centre of their religious life to be destroyed? What the disciples failed to realise was that God was giving them a better temple. Jesus would be the temple they needed, and God would judge and destroy the physical temple, to show that it was no longer needed. The eventual destruction of the temple in 70AD vindicated Jesus as the true prophet, priest, and Messiah, and confirmed that sin has been decisively dealt with through Christ’s once-for-all atonement. No longer do we need to go to a physical place to come to God, for He has come to us through His Son.

Today, ponder this: What ‘temples’ are you tempted to put at the centre of your hope and faith, and functionally become the basis of your relationship with God? Work, achievement, church attendance, or being a good person? What ‘temples’ in your life need to be destroyed so you can trust more fully in Christ and His work for you?