Matthew24::All Fall Down

There is a devotional message about trust in this chapter.  But I can't read it today and take a way a personal nugget of truth to help me with my day.  This chapter is so big, so dark in many ways, and yet the only hope for humanity. Here is what grabbed me: everything Jesus told the disciples in chapter 24 came true.  Let these historical facts inform your reading of the chapter:

• The temple was everything to the Jews.  God literally lived there, and the building represented their identity as people-His people-and their only hope.  Many times they preserved and protected it at the cost of their lives and even their nation.  So for Jesus to predict its destruction would be akin to promoting anarchy and godlessness, and would have been devasating for his disciples to hear.
• In the decades after Jesus' death and resurrection, multiple political factions arose in Israel, leaving it in a state of civil war.  Each faction was led by a "messiah" who claimed to be the one who would lead Israel to freedom and prosperity.  As each failed and/or was killed, they would be declared false messiahs by the Jewish ruling council.
• On August 10, AD 70, the Roman general Titus posted his 10th legion on the Mount of Olives, overlooking the temple and city of Jerusalem--the very spot where Jesus delivered his teaching in chapter 24--and three other legions at strategic points surrounding the city.  They attacked Jerusalem and burned the city to the ground.  The Jewish (not Christian) historian Josephus recounts how the centurions used pry bars to separate one stone from another in the ruins of the temple, to access melted gold from burned temple artifacts that had seeped into the cracks.
• In the early second century AD, Emperor Hadrian built a new city on the former site of Jerusalem, including a temple to Jupiter on the site of the former Jewish temple, successfully obliterating any visible connection between that place and the Jewish people.  Jews were not even allowed to enter the city on penalty of death.
• From AD 70 to 1948, there was no Jewish presence on the temple mount.  During that time, the site of the temple was defiled by foreign invaders, occupied by other nations, and built upon by the Romans, then the Christians, then the Muslims.  From the time of Jesus' resurrection to this day, the Jewish people continue to hope for the appearance of a messiah who will restore the temple and the grandeur of the Jewish state.  Consider this exerpt from the traditional Jewish book of prayer: "Because of our sins we were exiled from our country and banished from our land. We cannot go up as pilgrims to worship Thee, to perform our duties in Thy chosen house, the great and Holy Temple which was called by Thy name, on account of the hand that was let loose on Thy sanctuary. May it be Thy will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, merciful King, in Thy abundant love again to have mercy on us and on Thy sanctuary; rebuild it speedily and magnify its glory."

A = the site of the first-century temple complex

B = the muslim Dome of the Rock

Jesus dies and is raised to life.  Rome destroys Jerusalem and the temple by force.  Christianity swallows the Roman empire.  To this very day, the events Jesus predicted in chapter 24 dominate the news cycle.  The temple mount is the most politically and religiously charged piece of real estate on the planet.  People still look for hope and salvation in nations and kingdoms and buildings and human leaders who always over-promise and always under-deliver.  And still Jesus' kingdom marches on, each follower His temple and each group of followers his holy city.  And still he says, "heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (v. 35)