Third Last Sunday of the Church + Matthew 24:15-28 + November 12, 2017
Grace and Peace be unto you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 1) At the beginning of Matthew 24, Jesus and His disciples are at the Jerusalem Temple. The disciples admire the beauty of the Temple and enjoy all the visible trappings of that blessed place. Jesus does not sit in awe of the external appearance of the Temple. He foretells its destruction. “ Assuredly I say to you, that not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down ” (Matthew 24:2). Later that day, while they are on the Mount of Olives, outside the city limits, the disciples approach Jesus privately and ask, “ When will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age? ” (Matthew 24:3). The disciples think they are asking one question when they’re really asking two. They assumed that the temple would endure until the Last Day of the world, when in reality, it wouldn’t. Jesus takes the oppo...