1Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. 2But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”
3As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray. 5For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. 7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. 8But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
9“Then they will deliver you up to oppression and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake. 10Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another. 11Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. 12Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. 13But he who endures to the end will be saved. 14This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house. 18Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes. 19But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days! 20Pray that your flight will not be in the winter nor on a Sabbath, 21for then there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. 22Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.
23“Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There!’ don’t believe it. 24For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
25“Behold, I have told you beforehand.
26“If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; or ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it. 27For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.
29“But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; 30and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
32“Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near. 33Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors. 34Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things are accomplished. 35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
36“But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, 39and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left. 42Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes. 43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
45“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 46Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes. 47Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has. 48But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’ 49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, 50the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it and in an hour when he doesn’t know it, 51and will cut him in pieces and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.
The teaching of Jesus to His disciples, hours after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, must have been a shock to them. The anticipation of the man who they had followed and learned from for three years to be crowned king took a dire turn as He spoke not of victory but destruction at the hands of the Romans. Upon coming across the bridge that spanned the Kidron Valley at that time, Jesus and His disciples sat down, with a view of all of the buildings that sat on the Temple Mount, with the grandeur of Solomon's Portico to the south of the refurbished second temple in its splendor.
The text of Matthew 24:1 says that after they left the Temple Mount, as they were talking about these very buildings, which brought a prophetic proclamation from the Messiah that every stone that they admired would be destroyed. This destruction was not immediate, which prophecies rarely are, but would occur nearly forty years later, after a revolt of the Jewish people against the power of Rome. The revolt began in A.D. 66 at the city named Caesar Maritima, built by King Herod, and concluded in A.D. 70 with the destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem and the obliteration of the beloved temple and all of the buildings on the magnificent structure built by the same King.
Upon hearing of this destruction the talk of the disciples, while likely sitting on the Mount of Olives, which they often happened with their teacher, turned from the admiration of the Temple and its environs with the destruction caused by the Roman army to the anticipation of their Master's final victory as the promised Messiah, the deliverer, which would bring the beginning of a new Messianic age that would follow the present age. The teaching turned from the destruction of the Temple Mount itself to something far different than they likely expected. Jesus began to speak of events that would occur over a long period of time, and not in a soon time to come, with catastrophic events and upheavals of nations, after which the prophecy of Daniel the prophet would be fulfilled regarding the abomination of desolation (Dan. 9:26) and the final victory of the Messiah at His coming in the clouds of heaven (Dan 7:13; Mark 14:62), but at a time that many would not expect, even as those who were destroyed at the time of Noah and the flood did not expect to occur.
One may observe the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy about the destruction of the temple and its buildings today. The Romans, under Vespasian[1] and his son Titus,[2] sent three legions of soldiers to defeat the rebels who had defeated Roman troops stationed in Israel. The fierceness of Rome to the rebellion that finally was restricted to the resistance of the Roman siege in the city of Jerusalem brought a fierce Roman vengeance. Upon breaking through the northern part of the city, according to Josephus, the troops destroyed everything in their wake. Apparently, Titus, Vespasian's son, had not intended on destroying the magnificent structure of the temple itself,[3] but the heat of battle caused all the buildings on top of the Temple Mount, as well as much of the retaining wall, with the huge stones falling to the streets below. Only the lower part of this wall can be seen today.[4]
After this battle, the Roman rulers were very proud of their victory and had an arch built in Rome celebrating their victory over the Jews, and the booty of the treasures from the Jewish temple,[5] as well as Jewish captives and also coins minted. A popular coin donned a Jewish woman who was bound and mourning.[6] Another has a triumphant emperor with a spear in his hand and a foot on the head of a Jewish soldier.[7] Simon Bar Giora,[8] a leader of the revolt, was executed in the Forum Romanum.
Notes:
[1] Though Vespasian was the Roman general who began the war against the Jews, he was called to Rome to become the new emperor after Nero. His son Titus took over this task after his father's departure. PUT STATUTE OF VESPASIAN HERE.
[2] Titus followed his father as general of the war against the Jews that concluded in A.D. 70, subsequently, he also followed his father as emperor of the Roman empire. PUT STATUTE OF TITUS HERE.
[3] Statement of Josephus. PUT PAINTING HERE
[4] PHOTO OF DESTRUCTION AREA OF WESTERN WALL. Also see Randall Price and H. Wayne House, Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, 256-256.
[5] Arch of Titus HERE
[6] Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2264120
[7] Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>;, via Wikimedia Commons
[8] Source on Simon Bar Giora HERE