Matthew 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. I. AN INSTRUCTIVE QUESTION — "See ye not all these things?" — these goodly stones, this stately fabric, this masterpiece of architecture. The question was meant as a reproof; 1. That they so much admired it. As if He had said, "Turn your eyes from hence, and see things of a superior nature; the beauty and excellence of the renewed soul; the gospel Church; the house which is eternal in the heavens, whose builder and maker is God. 2. That which they admired, they imagined He must admire also. But what are earthly temples to Him who meted out the heavens with a span, who Himself dwells in unapproachable light, and before whom the seraphim cover their feet and veil their faces? II. A SOLEMN DECLARATION — "Verily, I say unto you," etc. By this Christ may have intended to instruct His disciples — 1. That though God may bear long, yet He will not bear always, with a sinful and provoking people. 2. That the most stately structures and the most splendid edifices, through the pride of their inhabitants, shall one day fall in ruins. Only God's spiritual temple will not be burnt up, nor any of the materials of it destroyed. 3. That the time was coming when God would no longer prefer one place of worship to another. 4. That the whole frame of the Jewish economy should shortly be dissolved. The substance being come, the shadows are fled. (B. Beddome, A. M.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. |
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