Slide 2:
1 And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down.”
3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
4 “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign when these things are all to be accomplished?”
5 And Jesus began to say to them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray.
6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.
Slide 3:
7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet.
8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs.
Slide 4:
Chapter 13 of Mark is about the end times and focuses our attention on being prepared, persecutions and trusting God to see us through the times ahead.
Herod the Great was responsible for the restoration of the temple.
The Temple was more than twice the size of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
If you were to walk around it you would walk nearly one mile. The Temple accounted for nearly one-sixth of the entire city of Jerusalem.
One of the stones of the temple complex measures 45 × 11.5 × 12 feet and is estimated to weigh 570 tons.
Inside it had many tapestries, gold and bronze doors, golden grape clusters, etc.
As you can see it was an important place of worship and the most impressive building in the city.
Slide 5:
Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Roman army under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
Titus burned the Temple and according to legend the gold that was on the walls melted with the heat of the fire and ran into the cracks of the stones.
As a result the stones were “thrown down” in order to regain the melted gold. As you sit on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, sometimes called Olivet, and look across the Kidron Valley, you have a spectacular view of the Temple and the city.
Slide 6:
The disciples now have Jesus to themselves and they ask what the signs will be that will proceed the destruction of the Temple Jesus then tells them to watch out for false prophets and not to worry about wars, earthquakes or famines. Mount of Olives
Slide 7:
It is sad to say that these events are all to common in the world.
The disciples naturally assume that the destruction of the Temple would accompany the end of time.
Imagine their surprise in 70 A.D.
History tells us that because Jesus had foretold of the Temple’s destruction many Christians left Jerusalem when Titus approached.
They fled across the Jordan to Perea and were thus saved.