As we look forward to celebrating the Resurrection this weekend, our attention turns toward Jesus’ final week on earth. On Tuesday or Wednesday before His death, Jesus discussed the future with His disciples. The future He discussed with them matters to us as well. This is great news for all of us in the throes of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
.Allow me to highlight two different key statements that Jesus made that helps us rest in the fact that God is in control – then and now.
Jesus Predicted the Destruction of the Temple
As the disciples and Jesus walked out of the Temple and back toward Bethany, the group went through the Kidron Valley and back up the hill by the Garden of Gethsemane, toward the top of the Mount of Olives. The disciples – all from Galilee and not from Jerusalem – marvel at how beautiful and big the Temple is. People from Jerusalem would be used of this sight; however, these Galileans wonder at the sight. Here is their conversation with Jesus:
1 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!”
2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Mark 13:1-2)
Jesus told them that not one stone would be left without being torn down. This had to shock the disciples. In fact, as they sat down on the Mount of Olives and looked across the Kidron Valley onto the Temple Mount, they privately asked him to explain more of the details.
The magnitude of Jesus’ words are hard to grasp. Thousands and thousands of people would visit the Temple area each day. According to Josephus, Herod’s Temple was his largest construction project. Some of the stones used in the walls of the Temple weighed well over 100 tons each, the largest measuring 44.6 feet by 11 feet by 16.5 feet and weighing approximately 567 to 628 tons,[25][26] while most were in the range of 2.5 by 3.5 by 15 feet (approximately 28 tons).[1]
No one could imagine the kind of destruction Jesus referenced was even possible. However, in AD 70 Titus led a Roman army into Jerusalem and destroyed Herod’s Temple. He set it on fire and the incredible amounts of gold melted into all the rock and around the rock. What his group didn’t destroy, people did as they turned those rocks upside down and every which way to get at the gold that was left in the ruins.
Jesus knew the future and predicted it accurately because God is in control.
The modern Temple Mount as seen from the Mount of Olives in 2018 on my trip there. The disciples would have been looking down across the Kidron Valley (with the green trees in this picture) at Herod’s Temple without all the graveyards.
Jesus Describes the Last Days
In addition to Jesus predicting the future destruction of the Temple, He also explained to the disciples when all these things would ultimately be fulfilled. He talked about the end days. Notice what He says to them related to the end days:
32 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. 34 It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. 35 Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning— 36 lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. 37 And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” (Mark 13:32-36)
He tells the disciples that only God the Father knows when the end of the age will come, thus ushering in the events leading to eternity. He tells them that their responsibility is to watch, not know the exact time of the return of Christ.
The same can be said for us today. God is in control. Yes, we would all love to know when Jesus is going to come back; however, only God knows when He will come. Our responsibility is to faithfully serve God as those in Christ until He does come back. What a glorious promise to consider. Plus, it makes our day today a bit easier. God limited what we were responsible for in terms of the last days. It is not up to us to read the tea leaves of modern events, including this pandemic, in order to know what we must do to prepare for the Lord coming. Instead, we are to live expectantly. We choose to live every day for the glory of God, knowing that today could be the day Jesus returns.
What is the significance of this conversation?
As Jesus prepared to be crucified, rise again, and ascend into Heaven, He considered it necessary to share these words with His disciples. And my how fascinating these words are!
Underneath all the details bellows these simple truths: God has a plan. God is in control. Because of both (even in the midst of a pandemic), you can trust Him.
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together