The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 440

HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-14.-The greae prophecy: General predictwns of coming sorrow,. I. THB 'TEMPLE. 1. The Lord's departwre. Jesus went out. He had taught in the temple for the last time. He had greatly loved that holy house of God. He had shown a burning zeal for its honour. Twice he had expelled the crowd of traffickers who made it a house of merchandise, a den of thieves. He " would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple." He so strongly insisted upon the duty of regarding the house of prayer with solemn reverence. When but a child, he had spent in the temple the hours during which Mary and Joseph were seeking him. There was no need, he told them, for anxiety ; they might have known where he was to be found. He wa.s constantly in the temple during his visits to Jerusalem. At this last visit he had " looked round about upon all things," showing his deep interest in all that pertained to the worship of God. He had watched the people casting money into the treasury for the temple service. Now he went out. The rulers of theqwmple had, rejected him. Chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, all who had authority in the temple, or were held in reverence as teachers and expounders of the Law, were ranged against him. He had uttered his last awful warnings, his last sorrowful lament for the hard- ness of their impenitent hearts. He" went out." Simple words, but very awful in the depth of their meaning; they are echoed in the M<Ta./Jaln>p.<v ivTEvBo- of Josephus, in the-" E.x-0edere deos" of Tacitus. "Behold," he said," your house is left unto yon deso- late" The temple is desolate when the Lord of the temple bath departed. The hum- blest church is glorious exceedingly when the Lord is present. The costliest and most gorgeous building is desolate in the eight of God when the Lord Jesus is not there. He is found of them that seek him ; he is present when two or three are gathered together in his Name. Let us seek him in the Church, and we shall find him there. Let us take heed, whatever we do, never to lose sight of him whose presence gives the truest consecration. 2. Conversation with the apostles. They came to show him the buildings of the temple. They were proud, like all other Jews, of that magnificent structure, those enormous blocks of marble, those costly decorations. They called the- Lord's attention to those goodly stones, those precious gifts. He could not share in the enthusiasm of hie disciples. Costly offerings are precious in the sight of the Lord, onlr as the expression of faith and love. Outward mn,,,<>uificence was nothing to him whell the beauty of holiness was gone. The V6ry splendour of the temple saddened th• Saviour's soul. It was like the religion of the Pharisees, fair outwardly ; but the- services there performed were formal and heartless. .And the Lord saw, in the clear vision of hie Divine foreknowledge, what in less than forty years was coming. "There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." That magnificence was soon to pass away. Tho holy city would sink in blood and fire, and that while some to whom the Lord was speaking were yet living on the earth. Th& temple buildings would bo ]evened with the ground; nothing would remain save those solid substructions, which even now excite the wonder of the pilgrim. The Lord knew all this; he could not take delight., like the apostlos, in that short-lived splendour. II. THE MouNT OF OLIVES. 1. The question of the disciples. The Lord sat on th~ :Mount of Olives, in full view of the holy city with its glorious temple. He sat there In sorrowful silence; his holy soul was filled with sadness as he thought upon his,  44-6 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [OB. xxrv. 1--51,