Chapter 69—On the Mount of Olives
This chapter is based on
Matthew 24
;
Mark 13
;
Luke 21:5-38
.
Christ’s words to the priests and rulers, “Behold, your house is
left unto you desolate” (
Matthew 23:38
), had struck terror to their
hearts. They affected indifference, but the question kept rising in their
minds as to the import of these words. An unseen danger seemed to
threaten them. Could it be that the magnificent temple, which was
the nation’s glory, was soon to be a heap of ruins? The foreboding of
evil was shared by the disciples, and they anxiously waited for some
more definite statement from Jesus. As they passed with Him out of
the temple, they called His attention to its strength and beauty. The
stones of the temple were of the purest marble, of perfect whiteness,
and some of them of almost fabulous size. A portion of the wall had
withstood the siege by Nebuchadnezzar’s army. In its perfect masonry
it appeared like one solid stone dug entire from the quarry. How those
mighty walls could be overthrown the disciples could not comprehend.
As Christ’s attention was attracted to the magnificence of the tem-
ple, what must have been the unuttered thoughts of that Rejected One!
The view before Him was indeed beautiful, but He said with sadness,
I see it all. The buildings are indeed wonderful. You point to these
walls as apparently indestructible; but listen to My words: The day
will come when “there shall not be left one stone upon another, that
shall not be thrown down.”
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Christ’s words had been spoken in the hearing of a large number
of people; but when He was alone, Peter, John, James, and Andrew
came to Him as He sat upon the Mount of Olives. “Tell us,” they said,
“when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming,
and of the end of the world?” Jesus did not answer His disciples by
taking up separately the destruction of Jerusalem and the great day of
His coming. He mingled the description of these two events. Had He
opened to His disciples future events as He beheld them, they would
have been unable to endure the sight. In mercy to them He blended the
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