Thrown Down

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THROWN DOWN

 

Matt 24:1-2

24:1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." 

NIV

We know, without question, because we look at this in hindsight as well as we have the complete truth as explained by Jesus. He was looking at the temple of God, the second rebuilt temple which was not as glorious as the temple Solomon built. Nevertheless, he also was speaking prophetically about the temple itself, as it was destroyed, and laid bare in AD 70 by the Romans. However, he was also speaking at another time about destroying the temple and he would rebuild it in three days, which he was referring to his body. Still, here he speaks of what is to become of the temple of God. This speaks volumes to the Jews, in the sense that Jesus was to replace the temple, the whole of the system of sacrifice that took place at the temple. Because we have Jesus, we have no need for the temple, and this should speak to us regarding the value that we place on our church building. It might be possible that we put too much concern about our buildings and not enough concern about our spirits. We spend enormous amounts of money on the upkeep of our buildings and maybe we forget to spend enough time on the upkeep of our spirits. True, God required the Israelites to build a tabernacle while they wandered in the wilderness, and he instructed David to store up many precious metals so Solomon could build a temple suitable for the Lord God to dwell among his people. But we now are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we are the ones who God dwells among and within. So then should we not pay attention to this temple, and the upkeep of it, not so much in the physical sense, as in diets and fades, and exercise to ensure the body is in good form. This is not always possible as the aging process will soon begin to erode any of those efforts. However, the spirit does not age, but it can slowly erode if it is not exercised through faith in Jesus. This is the temple that will not be torn down leaving no stone upon another. Again, we cannot get diverted by giving too much attention to the building we use to gather in. True; we should not allow it to crumble around us, but we have seen too many places adorned past the needed amount. Then we are left with this temple of the Holy Spirit and doing our best to not allow it to be thrown down by the ways of the world.