Give me Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

GIVE ME JESUS

Luke 21:5-11

5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down."  7 "Teacher," they asked, "when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?" 8 He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."  10 Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

NIV

We have begun a fairly long discourse by Jesus and it would only be fair to break it up into sections because of how much he said and the significance of each statement. From history and other gospels these words were spoken as they left the temple and Jerusalem to sit upon the Mount of Olives which had a view of the city and the temple. He continued his discourse there. As far as the not one stone will be left on another, it is historical fact that did happen. Under the command of the Roman general Titus, according to history, he had the entire temple plowed up, that is down to and including the foundation. Most of the city walls were also demolished. What we learn from this serves to show us the divine will of God. First we should understand the Jews had constructed a religious system that had not been established by God, but by their own making. Yes he had given them the law through Moses, but that law was to show them they could not find salvation through keeping it, for no one could keep it, perfectly, and thus they would need the Messiah, the Savior, who was Jesus. They made it into something else, rather than what God intended it to be. So the destruction of the Temple and the City was just because of their sins. It was also merciful of God to allow it to be destroyed to take away their opportunity to continue in Judaism. Without a temple or the city of the temple, the Jews were without the ability to practice their religious ceremonies. This also served to somehow, in a spiritual way to show the end of the Jewish sacrifices and the beginning of the dispensation of Christianity. What do we learn from this? First that God is not pleased with the religion of man. If he allowed all of the temple and most of the city of Jerusalem to be destroyed because of the sins of the Jews, the way they had corrupted his commands, how long will he put up with the corrupted Christian religion of today? Man has taken what God intended to lead people to Jesus, into a business of self-gratification and self-aggrandizement. Churches are being built or renovated into places of theatrical performances able to seat thousands for the purpose of garnering followers who will support the leader’s luxurious lifestyle. The Gospel has been preverted to serve those who desire fame and fortune.  It is even possible that some believers have perverted the gospel for their own benefit, using scripture out of context to justify their own behaviors, or partnerships with the world. We have to make sure we do not allow this kind of false doctrine to infiltrate our way of seeing the truth of God. Jesus continues to tell his disciples and us to be careful not to be deceived. Jesus says there will be many who claim “I am he” and “The time is near”. But we are not to follow them. There are many who claim to know the truth that they have the correct interpretation of what is going to happen, but we are not to follow them. We have the word of God, and we have the Spirit of God who leads us into the truth. We have to make sure we listen to the Spirit. Can all men, all Christianity be corrupted? Maybe, maybe not, but that is also why the Spirit gives us discernment. Rather than being drawn in by the silver tongues of false teachers, we need to listen to the tongue of the Spirit, using his gifts to us to live as Christ demonstrated. Of course the only way to do that is through Christ living in us, or as one person puts it, Christ living as us. Manmade Christianity may well follow the way of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, being destroyed, laid bear with no evidence it ever was there. This should serve as a warning to us, not to be deceived by the religion of man, for that matter, denominationalism, and a device created by men. God has given us his word, Jesus, and the Spirit to lead us to Jesus and to the truth of the word. What we need is Jesus and Jesus alone. As one women puts it, “Give me Jesus”.