these things shall come to pass ?
8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived : for many shall come in mv name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near : go ye not therefore after them.
9 But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified : for these things must first come to pass ; but the end is not by and by.
LlBT US notioe in this passage^ our Lord Jeam Chriafa
6 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and ^ifts, he said,
6 A9fw these things which ye be- hold, tlie days will come, in the which tliere shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
7 And ihey asked him, saying, Mas- ter, but when slftll these things be ?
id what sign will there be when
356 EXFOsrroRT thoughts.
icords about the tempk at Jerusalem. We read that some spake of it, " how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts." They praised it for its outward beauty. They admired its size, its architectural grandeur, and its costly decorations. But they met with no response from our Lord. We read that he said, *'As for these things which ye behold, the days will come in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
These words were a striking prophecy. How strange and startling they must hare sounded to Jewish ears, an English mind can hardly conceive. They were spoken of a building which every Israelite regarded with almost idolatrous veneration. They were spoken of a bmlding which contained the ark, the holy of holies, and the sjrmbolical furniture formed on a pattern given by God Himself. They were spoken of a building associated with most of the principal names in Jewish history; with David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah. They were spoken of a building towards which every devout Jew turned his face in every quarter of the world, when he offered up his daily prayers. (1 Kings viii. 44 ; Jonah ii. 4 ; Dan. vi. 10.) But they were words spoken advisedly. They were spoken in order to teach us the mighty truth that the true glory of a place of worship does^ not consist in outward ornaments. "The Lord seeth not as man seeth." (I Sam. xvi. 7.) Man looketh at the outward appearance of a building. The Lord looks for spiritual worship, and the presence of the Holy Ghost. In the temple at Jer|isalem these things were utterly wanting, and therefore Jesus Christ could take no pleasure in it.