Notes on the International Lesson by Geo. F. Pentecost, D. D.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 22, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 16.

Notes on the International Lesson.

By Geo. F. Pentecost, D. D.

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE FORETOLD.

THE temple at Jerusalem was accounted as one of the wonders of the world. In it was the perfection of architectural beauty. The massive stones with which its superstructure was constructed were of such size as to almost baffle the imagination; some of them, according to Josephus, were sixty and seventy feet in length, eight and ten feet in width, and seven and eight feet in thickness. The main temple was surrounded with numerous buildings, courts, porches, colonnades, supported with beautiful pillars, and ornamented with magnificent gates and archways. Moreover, it had been adorned with precious stones and gifts (Luke 21:5); its magnificent dome was overlaid with pure gold, so that it is said that travelers, approaching it when the sun was shining upon it, saw in it, as it were, a great mountain of burning gold. No wonder the disciples marveled, and were saddened at the thought of desolation coming to that (their) magnificent and almost worshiped temple. To their surprised and grieved inquiry, Jesus makes answer something like this: "You call my attention to these buildings and great stones; to its glory and beauty. You think its destruction will baffle man, that its desolation would be sacrilege; yet I now tell you plainly, that the time is rapidly drawing nigh when there shall not be one stone left upon another." Thus did Jesus foretell and pronounce the destruction of the temple. They did not comprehend the deep significance of the awful doom of the beautiful temple, but its destruction is full of meaning to us as well as to them.

DESPITE its divine origin, it was no longer God's house. A little before Jesus had spoken of it as "My Father's house." They had forgotten the Father, corrupted his worship in it, and turned it into a den of thieves; now, as he leaves it for the last time, he speaks of it as "your house." "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." When any institution or ordinance which God has ordained is perverted and abused, it ceases to be his, and is doomed to destruction. Twice already had the temple been destroyed, but their cup of iniquity was not full; the people were permitted to return and rebuild it. Now their iniquity was finished. In that very temple, the Lord of the temple would shortly be condemned to death. The greater than the temple, to whom it pointed, was rejected; the temple would, therefore, be destroyed. The ordinances of ceremonial worship were of old turned into mere instruments of selfishness and hypocrisy. God refused to own them, and spoke of them with contempt as being theirs, and not his. "Your country is desolate;" "your sacrifices" are purposeless; "your new moons and feasts" are loathsome to my soul. Isa. 1. Thus does God speak of perverted ordinances. He will not own them as his, though he instituted them. The churches of Asia, when they ceased to represent him and do his work, were swept away, their candlestick as well as their light withdrawn. So it shall be with the false and worldly professor. "If any man defile the temple of the Holy Ghost, him will God destroy." The destruction of the temple is the judgment of all perverted ordinances.

THE talk concerning the destruction of the temple led on to the consideration of that further and more awful desolation that was coming upon the whole world. The two events spoken of—the destruction of the temple, and his second coming and the end of the world—were blended together, as prophecy and fulfillment. The whole prophecy was telescopic; beginning with the destruction of Jerusalem, it would be drawn out at last until the full length of it would be reached at the end of the age of which he spake. There was to be an evolution of events, beginning with this nearer one and ending with that more distant one. The destruction of Jerusalem was but a miniature fulfillment of the grand prophecy of the destruction of the world. The appalling circumstances attending the first would be but a preface to the yet more appalling events attending the last. What he said to his present disciples concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and their demeanor in view of that event, he says to his disciples in all ages concerning their attitude and behavior in view of the end of the world. The careful student will not have difficulty in disentangling this purposely ambiguous prophecy. It was a part of the wisdom and love of Jesus to throw over this whole subject a kind of vail, that we might be stimulated to study it the more eagerly. The first part of the prophecy, concerning the temple, has been fulfilled; the second part, concerning his coming and the end of the world, awaits fulfillment, and we are admonished to watch, in view of its imminence. Consider the substance of his instructions.

"TAKE heed, lest any man deceive you." During the interim of time before the actual destruction of the temple and city, many attempts would be made to deceive the disciples. False Christs would appear and deceive many. Their faith in him and his teachings would be assailed, and some would apostatize. This was actually true. It is true still, in reference to the greater and still pending event. Heresies of all kinds, false doctrine, denial of Jesus, and careless and sometimes almost wicked explaining away of the plain statements of the Scripture, will appear and be put forth. Scoffers will arise and inquire, with derision, "Where is the promise of his coming?" In his name—that is, building on his name—false teachers will deny almost everything which the Scripture teaches,—his Godhead, his real humanity, the significance of his incarnation, his cross, and his resurrection. Events similar to those predicted as being signs of his coming, and having some resemblance to them, will be pointed out as embodying all the fulfillment we need expect. So plausible will it all be, that those who are not on their guard will be deceived.

JESUS did not tell them the exact time of the destruction of the temple; so neither would he tell them the exact time of his coming. They were not to be deceived by appearances. The end was not yet, though when it would be he did not tell them. It was hidden among the unrevealed secrets of the Father. Acts 1:8; Matt. 24:36. His appearing was certain as a matter of fact, but uncertain, so far as our knowledge is concerned, as to the time.

THE signs of his coming were to be many, but they must be carefully studied, and hasty conclusions must not be formed. First, there must be wars. There have been many of these, and yet the final

conflict of nations has not come; the universal rising of nation against nation to hurl themselves against each other, has not yet taken place, though several times in the history of the world since then it has seemed as though that period had arrived. It will yet come.

Earthquakes.—There have been earthquakes, some of them appalling in their magnitude, and yet the grand and awful catastrophe which will take place has not yet shaken this world to its foundations, though even now the smoldering fires may be gathering beneath to precipitate that tragedy upon the inhabitants of the world.

Famines.—There have been famines that have swept away millions, and yet the great and final starvation has not come.

Troubles.—Social disorders, political complications, have been in the world since then, and are even now rife among the people and in cabinets. These are all portents, but not complete fulfillments.

Persecutions.—There have been awful persecutions; almost, if not entirely, every detail of the prophesied persecutions has been realized by God's faithful servants; yet the era of frightful persecution, which will yet break upon the people of God under the reign of the great antichrist, has not begun, though there are not wanting signs of its approach. The long lull in the world's opposition to the church is ominous. The church is sleeping in the delusion that the world, the flesh, and the devil have become reconciled to Christ and his gospel. Is it not rather that the church has accepted the world's patronage and fallen away from the high place of separation and testimony, having bought peace or taken a bribe, and fallen asleep under the power of her arch-enemy? Is there not danger that Christ will come and find a part, at least, of his church asleep?

OUR Lord closes this part of his discourse (verse 13) with this word of encouragement: "But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." In view of all these things, and the certainty of our Lord's second coming, let us take the lessons of this great discourse to heart. The fulfillment of the prophecy concerning the temple is the guarantee of the fulfillment of the larger prophecy concerning the end of the world. As the faithful ones in Jerusalem escaped from the desolations, so shall we, if faithful, escape the great tribulation which shall come upon the whole earth.

—Abridged from notes by Geo. F. Pentecost, D. D., in Bible Studies.