(LAST DAYS)
Matthew 24:1–14

UNDERSTANDING THE LAST DAYS

Are These the Last Days? Chapter One: The Destruction of the Temple

Are These the Last Days?

© 2014 by R.C. Sproul

Published by Reformation Trust Publishing
A division of Ligonier Ministries
421 Ligonier Court, Sanford, FL 32771

Sproul, R. C. (2014). Are These the Last Days? (First edition, Vol. 20, p. v). Orlando, FL; Sanford, FL: Reformation Trust; Ligonier Ministries.
I cannot think of any prophecy more astonishing than the prophecy that our Lord Jesus gave on the Mount of Olives concerning the temple and Jerusalem. In Luke’s account, He told the disciples that not one stone of the Herodian temple would be left on top of one another and that the city of Jerusalem itself would be destroyed (Luke 21:6, 24). This was a truly shocking claim. Herod’s temple was magnificent, to say the least. The temple’s stones were as large as sixteen feet long and eight feet high. In the first century, if there was any building that seemed impregnable, it was the temple in Jerusalem. When Jesus made this prediction, the Jewish people would have considered Him either a lunatic or a prophet endowed with supernatural knowledge.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary ---- Temple, Herod’s

The temple erected by the exiles on their return from Babylon had stood for about five hundred years, when Herod the Great became king of Judea. The building had suffered considerably from natural decay as well as from the assaults of hostile armies, and Herod, desirous of gaining the favour of the Jews, proposed to rebuild it. This offer was accepted, and the work was begun (B.C. 18), and carried out at great labour and expense, and on a scale of surpassing splendour. The main part of the building was completed in ten years, but the erection of the outer courts and the embellishment of the whole were carried on during the entire period of our Lord’s life on earth (John 2:16, 19–21), and the temple was completed only A.D. 65. But it was not long permitted to exist. Within forty years after our Lord’s crucifixion, his prediction of its overthrow was accomplished (Luke 19:41–44). The Roman legions took the city of Jerusalem by storm, and notwithstanding the strenuous efforts Titus made to preserve the temple, his soldiers set fire to it in several places, and it was utterly destroyed (A.D. 70), and was never rebuilt.
Several remains of Herod’s stately temple have by recent explorations been brought to light. It had two courts, one intended for the Israelites only, and the other, a large outer court, called “the court of the Gentiles,” intended for the use of strangers of all nations. These two courts were separated by a low wall, as Josephus states, some 4 1/2 feet high, with thirteen openings. Along the top of this dividing wall, at regular intervals, were placed pillars bearing in Greek an inscription to the effect that no stranger was, on the pain of death, to pass from the court of the Gentiles into that of the Jews. At the entrance to a graveyard at the north-western angle of the Haram wall, a stone was discovered by M. Ganneau in 1871, built into the wall, bearing the following inscription in Greek capitals: “No stranger is to enter within the partition wall and enclosure around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will ensue.”
There can be no doubt that the stone thus discovered was one of those originally placed on the boundary wall which separated the Jews from the Gentiles, of which Josephus speaks.
It is of importance to notice that the word rendered “sanctuary” in the inscription was used in a specific sense of the inner court, the court of the Israelites, and is the word rendered “temple” in John 2:15 and Acts 21:28, 29. When Paul speaks of the middle wall of partition (Eph. 2:14), he probably makes allusion to this dividing wall. Within this partition wall stood the temple proper, consisting of, (1) the court of the women, 8 feet higher than the outer court; (2) 10 feet higher than this court was the court of Israel; (3) the court of the priests, again 3 feet higher; and lastly (4) the temple floor, 8 feet above that; thus in all 29 feet above the level of the outer court.
The summit of Mount Moriah, on which the temple stood, is now occupied by the Haram esh-Sherif, i.e., “the sacred enclosure.” This enclosure is about 1,500 feet from north to south, with a breadth of about 1,000 feet, covering in all a space of about 35 acres. About the centre of the enclosure is a raised platform, 16 feet above the surrounding space, and paved with large stone slabs, on which stands the Mohammedan mosque called Kubbet es-Sahkra i.e., the “Dome of the Rock,” or the Mosque of Omar. This mosque covers the site of Solomon’s temple. In the centre of the dome there is a bare, projecting rock, the highest part of Moriah (q.v.), measuring 60 feet by 40, standing 6 feet above the floor of the mosque, called the sahkra, i.e., “rock.” Over this rock the altar of burnt-offerings stood. It was the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. The exact position on this “sacred enclosure” which the temple occupied has not been yet definitely ascertained. Some affirm that Herod’s temple covered the site of Solomon’s temple and palace, and in addition enclosed a square of 300 feet at the south-western angle. The temple courts thus are supposed to have occupied the southern portion of the “enclosure,” forming in all a square of more than 900 feet. It is argued by others that Herod’s temple occupied a square of 600 feet at the south-west of the “enclosure.”

THOUGH THE LAST DAYS BEGAN WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN AD 70 IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT ALL FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY CAME TO PASS AT THIS TIME. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE SOME KEY POINTS CONCERNING THE LAST DAYS

TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION

2 Corinthians 6:1–2 CSB
Working together with him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive the grace of God in vain.”

For he says: At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!

Isaiah 55:6 CSB
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call to him while he is near.

Hebrews 3:13 CSB
But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.

TODAY IS A DAY OF CALAMITY

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (CSB)

But know this: Hard times will come in the last days.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,

traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.

TODAY IS A DAY OF CORRUPTION

Romans 1:18–24 CSB
For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them.

For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:57 PM September 13, 2021.