BEWARE OF FALSE CONFIDENCE

​¹ As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
² “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Mark 13:1-2

There is significance in the preamble that prompted the two sets of brothers to ask Jesus about the future. As they walked away from the temple, they were overwhelmed with the grandeur and seemingly indestructible permanence of the structure. They had a feeling of pride as they drew Jesus’ attention to what impressed them so deeply. Great stones fitted together with such precision that they didn’t even need mortar to hold them in place. Surely a magnificent work of such excellence was as permanent as the earth itself. And, to cap it all, it was the work of man. Their hearts swelled with pride at the thought that it was their temple.

But there was something that they had completely forgotten. The people in Jeremiah’s day had exactly the same attitude,,,

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” ⁵ Jeremiah 7:4

They thought that, as long as they had the temple, they had the security of God’s presence in their land. They thought that their temple was indestructible and ignored the prophet’s warning of coming disaster because of their disobedience. The prophet warned them that the presence of the temple was no guarantee that God’s judgment would not fall on them because of their sin.

Although the temple represented the presence of God among His people in Jesus’ day, it was no guarantee of protection against disaster if they failed to respond to what God was revealing about Himself. Jesus Himself was God’s last word to Israel. If they refused to listen, as they had done in the past, the same calamity would come on them as had happened in Jeremiah’s day. This seemingly indestructible structure would be torn down and reduced to rubble. In what, then would they put their confidence?

The disciples were appalled at His warning. If the temple was not permanent, what was? They must have pondered His words and puzzled over their significance because it was still in their minds when Peter, and Andrew, James and John drew Him aside and questioned Him about the future.

PERMANENT IMPERMANENCE!

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!’ ‘Do you see all these great buildings?’ Jesus replied, ’Not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.’ (Mark 13: 1-2).

Massive stones! Magnificent buildings! What a sense of security the temple gave to Jesus’s disciples! Such huge stones and such a beautiful structure which could be seen from miles around as it sat majestically on Mount Zion – the highest point in Jerusalem! How could anything bad happen to them as long as it was there? It was the symbol of God’s presence in the midst of His people – so secure and so permanent. It was strong and indestructible. As long as the temple stood, the people felt safe, although the Romans were everywhere.

This is how the Israelites felt in Jeremiah’s day. They depended on the presence of God in the temple to reassure them that all was well and that they were safe from their enemies in spite of their wicked ways. Jeremiah warned them not to depend on the temple for their security. It was not a building that guaranteed their invincibility but their faith in God and obedience to His instructions that promised His protection.

The Babylonians were coming, warned the prophet, and there were not to pin their hopes in the temple. These false hopes would be their downfall because the temple, big and strong as it was, would come crashing down like a pack of cards if God was against them.

Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!’ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever (Jer. 7: 4-7).

Jesus assured His disciples that this great building which they looked at with such awe, was soon to be a pile of rubble, sacked and destroyed just as Solomon’s magnificent temple had fallen to the Babylonians. Why would God’s judgment fall on Jerusalem again? The people no longer blatantly worshipped idols as they had in Jeremiah’s day, but their hearts were just as wicked and disobedient as they were when he spoke out the warning which no one took seriously until the day the Babylonians arrived.

They disciples must have looked at their rabbi in amazement. “But why, Jesus?” they would ask. “Why would God allow this to happen to us? What have we done to deserve this?” Jesus response lay in His bitter tears and heartfelt grief when He wept over the city of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say. ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ (Luke 13: 34-35).

Wonderful words – treacherous hearts! Jesus grieved over His people for their lost potential. They stood on the brink of the greatest season of their lives. Messiah, for whom they had longed and waited, was among them. It was their moment. Had they recognised and embraces Him, they could have entered into the most glorious time of their history – deliverance, not from Rome but from the inner slavery to sin that was destroying their lives.

They could have become heralds of the kingdom of God, announcing and being witnesses to the establishment of God’s rule again in the hearts of men. They could have experienced a freedom from slavery far worse than slavery to Egypt or Rome. But they turned it down because they were offended by their Messiah. He represented a God who was too “nice”. They preferred their “God” who made unreasonable demands on them and punished them when they failed.

How like them we are. We run from a God who has done everything for us, who had sacrificed His Son for us so that we can have life, and given us everything we need to live His life in the midst of a broken world. But we reject His offer and make religions of our own which demand and take and leave us empty, disillusioned and dead.

Ever the message of Jesus has been pulled out of shape and heaped with unnecessary and irrelevant garbage until Jesus disappears under the rubble. What has become of His simple invitation, “Follow me,” and His promise, “I will take you to the Father”? What more do we need? What more do we want?

It is not the “temple” that will save us or give us security but our trust in the Master and our simple obedience to His call.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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