Your House Will be Left Desolate

On today’s podcast, Gary continues teaching through Mark 13 in this second lesson given at his church.

When Jesus’ disciples heard His prediction of “desolation” for the temple and city (Matt. 23:29-39) when He “came out from the temple” (24:1), they “came up to point out the temple buildings to Him,” as if to say, “Lord, You can’t mean this temple that’s adorned with beautiful stones and gifts given in fulfillment of vows to God” (Luke 21:5). But Jesus confirmed His pronouncement of judgment by declaring that “not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” Notice Jesus said, “Not one stone here shall be left upon another.” Jesus was not describing what would happen to some future rebuilt temple, of which the New Testament says nothing. He was speaking about the destruction of the temple that stood before the disciples at that time.

Jesus described the temple to the Jews as “your house” and how it would be left to them “desolate” (Matt. 23:38). Ear­lier Jesus had inspected the temple (21:12-17). There He called it “My house” (21:13) and cited two passages from the Old Testament that in­dicated the judgment that was coming to “this generation” (24:34), the generation of His day (Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11).

This was the second time Jesus had cleansed the temple (John 2:14; 21:12-14). In His office as Priest, Jesus was following the law regarding the leprous house.

If the mark has indeed spread in the walls of the house, then the priest shall order them to tear out the stones with the mark in them and throw them away at an unclean place outside the city. He shall have the house scraped all around inside, and they shall dump the plaster that they scrape off at an unclean place outside the city. Then they shall take other stones and replace those stones, and he shall take other plaster and replaster the house (Lev. 14:39-42).

After this is done, the priest makes one final inspection. “If he sees that the mark has indeed spread in the house, it is a malignant mark in the house; it is unclean. He shall therefore tear down the house, its stones, and its timbers, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall take them outside the city to an unclean place” (14:44-45).

After the completion of Herod’s temple in AD 63, the ascended Christ makes a final inspection and declares it to be unclean because the Old Covenant sacrificial system was still operating. God’s perfect sacrifice was being rejected for the continued sacrifice of animals, “for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4).

In the second part of his lesson on Mark 13, Gary discusses the text of Mark 13 and Matthew 24 and compares them to events in the book of Acts. Everything Jesus said would happen in the Olivet Discourse did happen just as He said it would in the lead-up and the destruction of the temple in the first century.

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