As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

Once there was a man who decided to buy a truck. He was actually looking at two trucks. One was a new truck; a Ford F150, with a V6, 5-speed manual transmission. It was bright red and had a new stereo and other great features, though it did not have 4-wheel drive, it was rear-wheel drive. He also had an option to buy an older Ford F250 (bigger engine with a V8), that was not as nice, but it did have 4-wheel drive. The bed had some scratches in it and the stereo was not as nice. It was white and had a camper shell too.

The man wanted to go camping in the woods and had bought a large travel trailer. He also wanted to use this trailer to hunt in the winter. He had some land out in the woods and could base camp from there. The roads to get to camp were dirt roads and the altitude was high enough to get some good snow, at times.

When this man makes his decision, the look and feel of the new truck will be enticing. But the function of it will be lacking compared to the old one. Why? The V6 motor would struggle up the hills to get to the campground, hauling that heavy trailer, and the rear-wheel drive would not perform well in the snow. He would also have to sleep in the truck, and covering up his camping supplies would be challenging. The older F250 truck, with the V8 engine and the 4-wheel drive, would be his choice for the best practical experience, though it would not look as nice around town.

Jesus is talking with his disciples about the times when the temple will be destroyed. This happened later, in 70 A.D., after he died and was resurrected in glory. It was destroyed by the Romans in the Jewish war, when the Jews tried to rebel against Roman rule. Jerusalem was held under siege and then the Romans conquered it and burned down the temple.

So the statement made was in marvel of the massive stones, the majesty and grandeur of the temple. And yet Jesus was not so impressed by its outward appearance, when its leaders were corrupt. And he prophesied that, in time, those massive stones would fall down into rubble, the temple would be destroyed.

The reality was, that soon, the temple would no longer be able to serve as the house of God (after Jesus came and paid for our sins on the cross). God’s Holy Spirit would dwell in the hearts of his people and we would be mini-temples; together becoming a living temple — the body of Christ.

His warning to the disciples is to not be deceived or be led into the wrong decisions and choices, based on false and lying prophets. They must follow the Spirit of God and the words of Jesus, which are — in and of themselves — LIFE!

It is akin to the choice the truck purchaser had to make. The truck that looked good around town could not perform the jobs he needed it for. It was flashy, but ineffective. Jesus is warning them not to pay attention to the flashy and ineffective false teachers who come and preach a different gospel than he preached and lived. They need to follow Jesus, he performs transformation in our hearts and the result is wonderful. The truck purchaser must look at the end result too, he wants to go camping and hunting and have great adventures. The look of the truck matters little compared to the purpose of it.

Following Jesus does not always look flashy or successful by worldly standards. But who cares? It is God’s purposes we seek after. We seek to accomplish his will in our lives, out of love and devotion for him. We must follow leaders whose hearts are pure and are true to the gospel of Jesus. And what a great spiritual adventure we will have!

Lord, when so many fall away and compromise their faith, it is hard for me to bear. I do not want to compromise, but be faithful. Help me to know your Word, the Bible, inside out and to understand and live after its commands and promises. Then I will be able to tell apart the deceivers from Jesus and his people.