A Case for Amillennialism by Kim Riddlebarger

Author:Kim Riddlebarger [Kim Riddlebarger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL006140, REL067060, Millennialism
ISBN: 9781441242662
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2013-07-12T00:00:00+00:00

The Disciples’ Questions and the Signs of the End

The Olivet Discourse began when Jesus and his disciples left the temple. The immediate context was the aftermath of what Jesus had just said, pronouncing seven woes upon the religious leaders of Israel and then declaring that Israel would be left desolate. As recorded in Matthew 23:37–39, Jesus longed for Israel to repent and come to him in faith, but the people were not willing. He lamented that the house of Israel would become desolate. These difficult words certainly prompted the discussion and questions that followed.

According to Matthew 24, “Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings” (v. 1). The temple was a magnificent structure, and the disciples regarded it with awe and reverence, especially since they were tourists in the city. Josephus notes that the temple “was built of hard, white stones, each of which was about 25 cubits (35 feet) in length, 8 in height (11 feet) and 12 in width (17 feet).”[11] The temple dominated the city’s skyline and was Israel’s historic and religious heart. As they left the temple grounds together, especially with what Jesus had just said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law in mind, the disciples called Jesus’s attention to the magnificent buildings before them.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus had said many shocking things. But this might have been the most shocking of all: “‘Do you see all these things?’ he asked. ‘I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down’” (v. 2). As they stood in the courtyard of this magnificent building, Jesus told them plainly that it would be destroyed so thoroughly that not one stone would be left on another. Certainly, Luke 19:43–44 is a prophetic foretelling of this event when Jesus said of Jerusalem, “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another.” When the Roman army subsequently laid siege to the city, sacked it, and destroyed the temple, Jesus’s words were fulfilled in frightening exactness.

The disciples, no doubt, knew of the prophecies in Jeremiah 9 and 11 and Micah 3 that foretold the destruction of the first temple. Clearly, they thought, if this second even more glorious temple was going to be destroyed, Jesus must be speaking of the end of the age. Imagine standing in the middle of the mall in Washington, DC, looking toward the Capitol Building, the Lincoln and Washington Monuments, and the White House, and then being told that all these things would be destroyed. It would only be natural to conclude that the destruction must be equated with the end of the American republic. This is why at the first available moment of privacy the disciples sought answers from Jesus.

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