Covenantal Rubble and the End of an Age Text: Luke 21:5-9
Introduction: Misplaced Admiration
We live in an age of misplaced admiration. Men stand in awe of things that are destined for the ash heap of history, while treating the permanent things of God with a casual and dismissive air. We are impressed by skyscrapers, by political movements, by technological wizardry, and by the sheer momentum of our godless civilization. But all of it, every last bit of it, is temporary scaffolding. The disciples of Jesus fell into this same trap, and the Lord's correction to them is a necessary and bracing correction for us as well.
They were standing there, looking at the Temple. And you have to grant them this, it was an impressive structure. Herod the Great had undertaken a massive renovation and expansion project, turning it into one of the architectural wonders of the ancient world. The stones were massive, the gold was dazzling, and the dedicated gifts represented enormous wealth. It was the center of their world, the symbol of their national identity, and the place where God's presence was thought to dwell. It was solid. It was permanent. It was, in their minds, the unshakable reality around which everything else revolved.
And it is precisely at this point of maximum human awe that Jesus speaks a word of absolute demolition. He tells them that the whole thing is coming down. This magnificent structure, the pride of the nation, would be reduced to a pile of covenantal rubble. This is a foundational lesson in biblical eschatology. God is not sentimental about religious structures that have outlived their covenantal purpose. When the heart of the system has been rejected, which was Christ Himself, then the external shell is nothing more than a hollowed-out gourd, waiting to be smashed.
The disciples' reaction is immediate and understandable. They ask two questions that have been asked in every generation since: "When?" and "What is the sign?" They assumed, as many do today, that the end of their central institution must mean the end of the world. Jesus' answer is designed to untangle this confusion. He is going to teach them, and us, the difference between the end of an age and the end of the world. He is going to arm them against the twin errors of eschatological panic and gullible deception. And in doing so, He provides us with the necessary framework for living faithfully in a world that is always full of tumult, upheaval, and men who claim to have the inside scoop on God's timetable.
The Text
And while some were talking about the temple, that it had been adorned with beautiful stones and dedicated gifts, He said, "As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down."
So they questioned Him, saying, "Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?" And He said, "See to it that you are not deceived; for many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and, 'The time is at hand.' Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately."
(Luke 21:5-9 LSB)
The Coming Desolation (v. 5-6)
We begin with the disciples' admiration and the Lord's stunning prophecy.
"And while some were talking about the temple, that it had been adorned with beautiful stones and dedicated gifts, He said, 'As for these things which you are looking at, the days will come in which there will not be left one stone upon another which will not be torn down.'" (Luke 21:5-6)
The disciples are behaving like tourists. They are gawking at the architecture. Their minds are occupied with the glory of what man has built. But Jesus sees something else entirely. He sees a hollowed-out institution. Just prior to this, He had pronounced judgment upon the scribes and the religious leaders, and He had declared to Jerusalem, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate" (Luke 13:35). The glory had already departed. Jesus, the true Temple, was standing right there, and in rejecting Him, they had signed the death warrant of the physical building that was supposed to point to Him.
The prophecy is stark and absolute: "not be left one stone upon another." This is not hyperbole. This is a promise of total, systematic demolition. And this is precisely what happened. In A.D. 70, less than forty years after Jesus spoke these words, the Roman armies under Titus sacked Jerusalem. The Jewish historian Josephus, an eyewitness, records that the temple was burned. The intense heat of the fire melted the gold, which then ran down between the cracks of the massive stones. In order to get the gold, the Roman soldiers, against Titus's orders, systematically pried apart every single stone. The prophecy was fulfilled with a terrifying literalness.
This was a covenantal judgment. The temple was the heart of the Old Covenant sacrificial system. Its destruction was God's visible, historical declaration that the Old Covenant age was over. The sacrifices offered there were now obsolete, because the final sacrifice, the Lamb of God, had been offered. The curtain had been torn from top to bottom at the crucifixion, and now God was tearing down the whole building. The old world was ending, and a new one was being born.
The Wrong Questions (v. 7)
The disciples, reeling from this, immediately ask about timing and signs.
"So they questioned Him, saying, 'Teacher, when therefore will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?'" (Luke 21:7)
Their question reveals a fundamental misunderstanding. They conflated "these things," meaning the destruction of the temple, with the final coming of Christ and the end of the world. In their minds, such a cataclysmic event could only mean one thing: the end of all history. This is a common mistake. People see great upheaval in their own day and immediately assume they are in the final chapter of the story. They see a war in the Middle East, or a particularly nasty politician, and they run to their prophecy charts.
But Jesus is going to spend the rest of this discourse carefully separating what they had lumped together. He is going to answer their question about the destruction of Jerusalem, and He is going to answer their implied question about His final return, but He is going to show them that these are not the same event. The destruction of Jerusalem was a judgment in history, a type and a foreshadowing of the final judgment at the end of history. It was the end of the Jewish age, not the end of the world.
The First Answer: Don't Be Fooled (v. 8)
Jesus' first response is not a sign, but a warning against being deceived by false signs and false messiahs.
"And He said, 'See to it that you are not deceived; for many will come in My name, saying, "I am He," and, "The time is at hand." Do not go after them.'" (Genesis 21:8)
This is profoundly important. The first duty of a Christian in turbulent times is not to speculate, but to exercise discernment. When things are unstable, charlatans and spiritual hucksters come out of the woodwork. They thrive on fear and uncertainty. They will come saying "I am He," claiming to be the Christ, or they will come with urgent prophetic pronouncements, "The time is at hand!" They point to the latest headlines as the "sure sign" that the end is just around the corner.
Jesus' command is blunt: "Do not go after them." Don't buy their books. Don't watch their shows. Don't get caught up in the frenzy. This kind of date-setting, sign-seeking hysteria is a form of disobedience. It breeds anxiety, not faithfulness. It causes people to make foolish decisions based on a faulty timetable. And it distracts the church from her actual task, which is the slow, patient, multigenerational work of discipling the nations. The Lord is telling us that the period between His ascension and return will be littered with these false alarms. History confirms this. The first century was rife with messianic pretenders who led many Jews to their ruin. And church history is full of failed predictions and the embarrassing aftermath.
The Second Answer: Don't Be Frightened (v. 9)
Next, Jesus addresses the very things that people mistake for the sign of the end.
"And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately." (Luke 21:9)
Here Jesus directly confronts what we might call "newspaper eschatology." This is the practice of reading the morning headlines, seeing reports of wars and political unrest, and concluding that the end must be near. Jesus says the exact opposite. He tells us that these things, wars and disturbances, are the normal course of events in a fallen world. They are the background noise of history. They "must take place," but they are not the sign that the end is here.
The command is "do not be terrified." The Christian is not to be a person who lives in a state of constant, low-grade panic, whipped up by the 24-hour news cycle. Our hope is not in geopolitical stability. Our king is not rattled by the rise and fall of empires. These things are all part of His sovereign plan, but they are the birth pangs, not the birth itself. Jesus explicitly says, "the end does not follow immediately." There is a great deal of work to be done. The gospel must go to all the nations. The kingdom must grow like a mustard seed. History has a long way to go.
This is a foundational principle for a robust, optimistic, postmillennial eschatology. We are not to be looking for an escape hatch every time a dictator rattles his saber. We are to be about our Father's business, building, planting, teaching, and discipling, knowing that history is on our side because history belongs to Christ. The wars and disturbances are simply the death throes of the old, pagan order that is being inexorably displaced by the kingdom of our Lord.
Conclusion: A Tale of Two Temples
The disciples were impressed with a temple made of stones that was destined for demolition. They were looking at the glory of man and the glory of a fading covenant. Jesus redirects their attention. The destruction of that temple was necessary to make it clear to all that the true Temple had come. The true temple is the body of Jesus Christ, and by extension, His body the church (1 Cor. 3:16).
That first temple was torn down. But this new temple, the church, is being built up, stone by living stone (1 Pet. 2:5). And of this temple, Jesus promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. The first temple was localized in Jerusalem. This new temple is global. The first temple was temporary. This new temple is eternal.
Therefore, our task is not to be distracted by the demolition of the old world. We should expect to hear the noise of wars and disturbances; it is the sound of God's wrecking ball at work. Our job is not to be deceived by false messiahs who promise a shortcut to glory, nor to be terrified by the tumult of the nations. Our job is to be faithful builders. We are to be living stones, fitted together into a spiritual house, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Let others be impressed by the temporary glories of this age. We have seen the true Temple, and we are giving our lives to His service. For His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.