Welcome to the Kingdom Family Podcast, where
we rediscover our identity as sons and daughters
of Yahweh and learn to live the life of the Kingdom.
Let's jump in to today's episode. All right,
guys, we are back to rethinking the end times
this will be talking about today. What happened
in the year 70 A .D. as it concerns to the prophetic
words that Jesus spoke. Last week we talked about
a lot of the imagery, the prophetic symbolism,
all that kind of stuff. If you didn't catch that,
I encourage you to go back and re -listen to
that, re -watch that. But this week we're going
to talk about what happened in the year 70 A
.D. And I want us to rethink some things, maybe
reintroduce another lens to look at what Jesus
was talking about in certain scriptures that
we'll look at today. and understand that Jesus
is not talking vaguely about some random disastrous
event far off in the future, 2 ,000 some years
later. He specifically was warning of Jerusalem's
coming judgment, the destruction of the temple,
and the end of an old covenant world centered
on that temple system in that day and time. So
in the year 70 AD, just to real quick give you
a... viewpoint, Rome surrounded Jerusalem, they
destroyed the city, burned the second temple,
and that brought that age to a dramatic close.
And here's the thing, when I started looking
into what happened in the year 70 AD, probably,
I wouldn't say no more than five years ago, I
would like to say probably around three years
ago, this was new information for me. This is
not what I grew up believing, not what I grew
up understanding. but the more I began to hear
about this and I began to read on it, and what
little bit I did solidified what I believed as
far as end times are concerned. It solidified
that I no longer believe in a rapture. Yes, I
did say that out loud. I do not believe in a
rapture. Now, regardless of what you believe,
that's not important to me. It's not important
that you land in the same spot that I do, but
I think the conversation is valid. I think the
discussion... is valid and for many different
reasons that I'll mention later as we continue
on this journey. But I want to talk about the
fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD because if we miss
this event, we'll misunderstand a lot of what
Jesus had to say in Matthew chapter 24, Mark
chapter 13, Luke chapter 21, and even parts of
Revelation. But if we allow Holy Spirit to adjust
our lens, and again this goes with anything in
our walk with Christ and the things we read in
the scriptures, if we allow the Holy Spirit to
adjust our lens and to see correctly, A lot of
confusing passages begin to make sense. It reminds
me of the verse that talks about, let he that
has an ear hear what the spirit is saying. He's
not talking about physical ears, he's talking
about spiritual ears in that moment. Because
you can take a group full of people in one room
listening to one speaker and they will. each
hear different things for different purposes
why because they're all on different journeys
they're in different stages in life so i think
it's very important that he let he that has an
ear hear what the spirit of saying so the destruction
of jerusalem was the visible collapse of an old
covenant order centered in the temple the temple
was the heart of jewish religious life in the
first century and its destruction in 70 ad changed
everything Simply put, the cross ended the old
covenant legally and AD 7 revealed that historically.
I want you to consider with me the story of Jesus
flipping the tables in John chapter 2 verses
13 through 17 and we're going to look at that
together once I get there. So John chapter 2
verses 13 through 17 and it says this When the
time was close for the Jewish Passover to begin
Jesus walked to Jerusalem as he went into the
temple courtyard He noticed it was filled with
merchants selling oxen lambs and doves for exorbitant
prices while others were overcharging as they
exchanged currency behind their counters So Jesus
found them found some cords and made them into
a whip Then he drove out every one of them and
their animals from the courtyard of the temple
and he kicked over their tables filled with money
scattered it everywhere and he told the merchants
get these things out of out of here don't you
dare commercialize my father's house that's when
his disciples remembered the scripture i am consumed
with the fiery passion to keep your house pure
so there's a reason i bring that up because i
want you to think about i hear this this phrase
thrown around a lot in the in the church world
as far as flipping over tables and we use it
um it's almost more like we use it how can i
say this um like we use it as an emotional attack
and jesus was not reacting emotionally here um
he was performing a prophetic act and he quotes
Isaiah 56 verse 7 and Jeremiah chapter 7 verse
11. And now this is important as Jeremiah 7 is
directly connected to the destruction of the
first temple. Jesus is saying what happened before
is about to happen again. So I want to look at
Mark's version of this. Mark has a different
viewpoint. So let's look at Mark's version. It's
in Mark chapter 11. verses 12 through 21. So
we're gonna read some scripture, that's for sure,
today. Mark chapter 11, you're like, what does
this have to do with the temple? I promise you
I will get there and we'll kind of tie some stuff
together with my notes and everything else and
with the help of the Holy Spirit. So Mark chapter
11. starting in verse 12, the next day as he
left Bethany, Jesus was feeling hungry. He noticed
a leafy fig tree in the distance, so he walked
over to see if there was any fruit on it. But
there was none, only leaves, for it wasn't yet
the season for bearing figs. Jesus spoke to the
fig tree, saying, no one will ever eat fruit
from you again. And the disciples overheard him.
When they came into Jerusalem, Jesus went directly
into the temple area, overturned all the tables
and benches and the merchants who were doing
business there. one by one he drove them all
out of the temple courts and they scattered away
including the money changers and those selling
doves and he would not allow them to use the
temple courts as a thoroughfare for carrying
their merchandise and their furniture then he
said then he began to teach the people saying
does not the scripture say my house will be a
house of prayer for all the world to share but
you have made it a hangout of thieves When the
chief priests and the religious scholars heard
this, they began to hatch a plot as to how they
could eliminate Jesus. But they feared him and
his influence because the entire crowd was totally
captivated by his teaching. So he and his disciples
spent the nights outside the city. In the morning,
they passed by the fig tree that Jesus spoke
to and it was completely withered up from the
roots up. And Peter remembered and said, teacher,
look, that's the fig tree you cursed. It's now
all shriveled up and dead. So there's a couple
things I want us to look at. Number one, I think
it's fascinating that Mark puts these events
together intentionally. The cursing of the fig
tree, the cleansing of the temple, and then the
withering of the fig tree. So the first thing
I want you to understand is the fig tree would
be symbolic to Israel's temple system. In the
Old Testament, the fig tree often symbolized
Israel and the fruit symbolized covenant faithfulness.
So there's a couple things on here I want to
look at. This is Dr. Simmons' notes on verse
13, where it talks about, he noticed a leafy
fig tree in the distance, he walked over to it.
There was no, let's see if there was any fruit
on it, but there was none. So the fig tree is
mentioned in Genesis 3 -7 with its lease being
a covering for fallen Adam and Eve to hide behind.
It also became a hiding place for Zacchaeus who
climbed a sycamore fig tree to see Jesus. The
tree with lease but no fruit can also be a symbol
of Israel's religious system of that day. Jesus,
the... Jesus next drives out the money changers
from the temple who were rotten fruit the first
fruits of the harvest Jesus was looking for Came
on the day of Pentecost at the end of the feast
of first fruits Now I'm also going to go back
because I believe in John chapter 2 there were
some notes here For us to look at from dr. Simmons
that I thought was important To it John chapter
2 verses 13 through 17 no that is not what I
was looking for I was hoping to find the information
about the fig tree and it does not have what
I was looking for so anyhow we'll come back to
that if it's important I'll find my notes for
it otherwise we'll just have to keep moving because
I don't know where my notes went for that part
And I'm checking to see if they're on my laptop.
And they're not, so it's okay. But anyhow, Jesus
comes to the fig tree and finds leaves, but no
fruit. Why is this important? Because it meant
religious activity without covenant life. Then
Jesus goes and flips tables, stops the sacrifice,
and declares judgment. And then the fig tree
withers from its roots, suggesting a total system
collapse. One of the things I read about this
was regarding the figs, because it looked like
it had leaves, that there is a part of the fig
in early state at that point that is still edible.
But this fig tree had nothing to eat. So it looked
a part, but there was nothing on it for Jesus
to eat from. There was no fruit being produced
off of this tree. So Jesus is using this, and
I like how Mark put this where he put it. And
again, I think it was intentional. And Jesus,
it's showing that Jesus is interrupting the sacrificial
economy. He's declaring even here that the system
is coming to an end. Because I want you to think
about, think about what I just said the fig tree
represented as far as Israel's temple system.
It had no fruit on it for Jesus to eat from and
then he goes into the temple to cleanse the temple.
And again, a lot of times this gets thrown around
like we need to flip tables and flip and I don't
believe. Anywhere that that's what Jesus is trying
to encourage us to do is go into places and just
flip tables to flip tables Jesus was doing something
prophetically here because I want you to think
about what is happening in this temple What is
being sold and what is being sold in this temple
is is animals that would be used for sacrifices
So I want you to think about They back in the
Old Testament and all that kind of stuff. They
would have to make sacrifices periodically I'd
have to go back to read about how often that
had to be done That number escapes me or how
often and all I know it's annually, but I want
to say they could do other stuff More than just
annually, but the point is this that every time
you ended a sacrifice You would be constantly
have to be reminded of your sin to because you
had to decide for the next sacrifice. You had
to look forward to the next sacrifice that you
would be involved in. And so it was nothing but
being conscious of your sin. And that's never
what the Father wants. It's not about living
sin conscience. that will put you on the hamster
wheel of life and keep you just running and feeling
the fig tree that you're not producing anything
why because you're constantly focused on how
worthless you are how sinful you are how dirty
you are and that's never what the father wants
so he's coming to declare And again, that's why
I think Mark puts it where he puts it at, that
I'm bringing an end to this sacrificial system.
It does not have any fruit to bear for me or
my father any longer. This system is coming to
an end. So let's understand the temple. That
in that time, the temple was not just a church.
uh like a church building it was the center of
worship it was the center of sacrifice of priesthood
national identity and covenant life so until
its destruction the second temple was the most
important religious institution life because
here's what happens if the temple falls the sacrificial
system collapses the priest order is shattered
and the visible center of the old covenant world
is gone So when Jesus is prophesying or predicting
that the temple is going to be under destruction
He's not merely predicting a damaged architecture.
He's announcing the collapse of an entire covenant
order He's announcing a change a changing age.
Basically you sing out with the old end with
the new So I want you to think about some of
this stuff. So let's look at what Jesus actually
said in Matthew chapter 24 verses 1 & 2 and then
we'll look at mark chapter 13 verses 1 and 2.
So Matthew 24 1 through 2 says as Jesus was leaving
the temple courts his disciples came to him and
pointed out the beautiful architecture of the
temple and Jesus turned to them and said take
a good look at all these things for I'm telling
you there will not be one stone left upon another
it will all be level. Dr. Simmons puts down here
that this prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled by
the Roman prince Titus who in the Roman war of
AD 67 to 70 destroyed the temple And in about
8135, the Emperor Hadrian completely destroyed
the city of Jerusalem and built a new city on
its foundation and named it Aelia Capitolinia.
Now you can pronounce those words how you would
like. That's just how I am interpreting them.
and then over in mark chapter 13 it says as jesus
was leaving the temple courts one of his disciples
came to him and said teacher look at these magnificent
buildings and what tremendous stones were used
to build all of this jesus turned to them and
said take a good look at all these enormous buildings
for i'm telling you there will not be one stone
left upon another it will all be leveled so a
couple notes here And for verse one it says,
this is Solomon's temple rebuilt by Herod the
Great. He began the project in 19 BC prior to
the birth of Christ using some of the greatest
marble and gold ornamentation found in the Middle
East. Some of the stones he used were five meters
long and over one meter high. Now I'd have to
convert that over to know what that means, but
you can do that on your own too. And then verse
two is he again puts the note in here this prophecy
of Jesus was fulfilled by the Roman prince Titus
Who in the Roman war of 80s 67 70? Destroyed
the temple. They're still standing in Rome today
the Ark of Titus which commemorates his conquest
of Jerusalem and in about 81 35 the Emperor Hadrian
completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem and
built a new city on its foundations what we just
read for Matthew 24 So when the disciples here
are admiring the temple, Jesus said that not
one stone would be left upon another. Jesus here
is directly predicting the destruction of the
temple. And this would have sounded shocking.
The temple looked permanent, it looked massive,
it looked untouchable. When I taught this to
our Bible study, what kind of mind that I could
use as kind of an analogy for us here in my part
of the world would be to just consider the White
House, for example. something that's massive,
it looks permanent, and looks untouchable. And
these disciples were impressed with the size
of the building. Jesus was focused on the fragility
of a system that had already been judged. So
now let's look over, we're gonna go to Luke chapter
19, verses 41 through 44, and it says this. Says
when Jesus called sight of the city he burst
into tears with uncontrollable weeping over Jerusalem
saying if only you could recognize that this
day Peace is within your reach, but you cannot
see it For the day is soon coming when your enemies
will surround you him you in on every side and
lay siege to you they will crush you to pieces
and your children too and They will leave your
city totally destroyed since you would not recognize
God's day of visitation. You will see your day
of devastation. Trying to see if there's any
notes here. Not really on that part. Okay, so
Jesus is weeping over Jerusalem and this is huge
He doesn't speak like some cold -hearted judge.
He speaks like a grieving prophet or a grieving
father He says the days will come when enemies
will surround the city and leave one and not
leave one stone upon another Because they did
not recognize the time of their visitation from
God So in reading these verses, we see that judgment
is not Jesus losing his temper. It is a covenantual
consequence falling on a city that resisted the
way of peace. Think about where we are in today's
world sometimes. When we resist the way of peace,
it has a price. There are costs involved in this.
That's just something for us to really consider.
And then we have Luke chapter 21, verses 20 through
24. It says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded
by armies, you will know for sure that its devastation
is imminent. Again, he puts a note in here. This
was fulfilled in AD 70 when the Roman armies
sacked Jerusalem. Some historians estimate that
the Romans slaughtered more than one million
Jews at that time and took captive up to 100
,000 to other nations. Jews today still mourn
the destruction of the temple on the fast of
Tisha Bivav the ninth day of the fifth month.
It goes on in Luke chapter 21 it says at that
time all who were living in Judea must flee to
the mountains those who live inside the city
gates leave and flee and those who live outside
the city must not enter it seeking refuge for
these For these will be the days of God's vengeance
to fulfill what has been written against Jerusalem.
It will be extremely difficult for pregnant women
and for those nursing little ones in that day
for great persecution and wrath will rise against
this nation. Many will be cut down by the sword
or scattered as prisoners to many countries.
Jerusalem shall be trampled down by nations until
the end until the days of world empires come
to an end. So Jesus is saying when you see Jerusalem
surrounded by enemies know that her desolation
is near let those in Judea flee to the mountains
let those in the city get out and do not go back
and guys this is not symbolism this is an actual
warning tied to an actual city and jesus did
not say that bad stuff is coming sunday he's
giving observable signs when armies surround
jerusalem get out leave and many people read
this passage as if Jesus is talking about the
end of the planet but in Luke 21 he very clearly
points to Jerusalem he points to armies he points
to desolation and flight from Judea guys these
are local historical markers so what actually
happened in 70 AD We have and in the year 66
to 70 we had the Jewish -Roman War in 66 AD the
the Jewish revolt against Rome begins Rome responds
brutally General Vespasian leads the campaign
in 69 AD Vespasian becomes emperor his son Titus
takes command and marches on Jerusalem Then we
have the siege of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is surrounded
and cut off. Severe famine inside the city. What
happens when you begin to cut off a nation from
resources and supply? What happens when you cut
off a city from resources and supply? You cause
havoc on the inside. That's exactly what they're
doing. And then internal civil war among the
Jewish factions. And then you begin to have things
like starvation, violence, and chaos fulfilling
Jesus's warnings precisely. It's going to be
hard for nursing mothers Don't you think it was
hard for nursing and pregnant mothers in this
time? Think about all the tragedy that's probably
unfolding right here in the middle of all this
and then we have the destruction of the temple
in August of 70 AD the Roman army breaches the
city the second temple is burned and destroyed
over 1 million Jews are reportedly killed survivors
are scattered across the Roman world and guess
what guys the temple is never rebuilt and why
did the temple temple matter so much because
the temple was a the center of sacrifice it's
the center of forgiveness again I mentioned national
identity covenant worship Jesus did not end excuse
me Jesus did not and was not predicting the end
of a planet he was predicting and prophesying
the end of the old covenant system that when
the temple fair the fail the entire mosaic economy
collapsed there's no priesthood there's no more
sacrifice there's no altar there is no holy of
holies by 70 ad it had all vanished now excuse
me Let's read because I think it's important
And again, I told you we're going to read a lot
of scripture, but I want to read Hebrews chapter
Hebrews chapter 8 let's let's read that Let me
flip over to that real quick And it's a pretty
short chapter only 13 verses, but let's let's
read through the whole thing This is now that
certain verse one now. This is the crowning point
of what we are saying We have a magnificent king
priest who ministers for us at the right hand
of God He is enthroned with honor next to the
throne of the majesty on high He serves in the
holy sanctuary in the true heavenly tabernacle
Set up by God and not by men since every high
priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices
So the Messiah also had to bring some sacrifice
But since he didn't qualify to be an earthly
priest, and there are already priests who offer
sacrifices prescribed by the law, he offered
in heaven a perfect sacrifice. The priests on
earth serve in temple that is but a copy modeled
after the heavenly sanctuary, a shadow of the
reality. For when Moses began to construct the
tabernacle, God warned him and said, you must
precisely follow the pattern I revealed to you
on Mount Sinai. But now, Jesus the Messiah in
verse 6 has accepted a priestly ministry which
far surpasses theirs since he is the catalyst
of a better covenant which contains far more
wonderful promises for if that first covenant
had been faultless no one would have needed a
second one to replace it but God revealed the
defect and limitation of the first when he said
to his people look the day will come declares
the Lord when I will satisfy the people of Israel
and Judah by giving them a covenant It will be
an entirely different covenant than the one I
made with their fathers when I led them by my
hand out of Egypt. For they did not remain faithful
to my covenant, so I rejected them, says the
Lord God. For here is the covenant I will one
day establish with the people of Israel. I will
embed my laws within their thoughts and fasten
them unto their hearts. I will be their loyal
God, and they will be my loyal people. And the
result of this will be that everyone will know
me as Lord. I love that, go back to our previous
series. Everyone will know me as Lord. There
will be no need at all to teach their fellow
citizens or brothers by saying you should know
Yahweh since everyone will know me inwardly from
the most unlikely to the most distinguished for
I will demonstrate my mercy to them and will
forgive their evil deeds and never remember again
their sins. This proves that by establishing
this new covenant, the first is now obsolete,
ready to expire, and about to disappear. This
is important. Dr. Simmons will put on verse 13,
or is near obliteration. The old, which is about
to disappear, can also refer to the old life,
its old ways of pleasing flesh, the sinful disposition
of our hearts, the Aramaic verb for disappear.
can also mean to give birth. So what is happening
here is the old system is preparing and beginning
to give birth to the new. The old covenant is
ceasing, the new covenant is beginning to rise.
And Jesus explicitly predicted all of this. He
said, not one stone left unturned. Jerusalem
will be surrounded by armies, there will be famine,
false messiahs, great distress, people fleeing
Judea. He says, this is important to remember,
this generation will not pass away. And again,
this happened in the year 70 A .D. So when it
says this generation, it is the Greek word genea,
and it means the people living at that time,
which is roughly 30 to 40 years long. Jesus spoke
these words around 30 AD Jerusalem fail in 70
AD my friends that is one generation and Here's
where some confusion can happen Daniel chapter
7 verse 13 Kind of a background and talked about
the coming of the Son of Man Jesus quotes this
language about himself not to describe travel
but enthronement and authority This is movement
toward God's throne and about him receiving authority
and dominion. You get that happening in Matthew
chapter 27 verse 30. It says they will see the
Son of Man coming on the clouds. The Son of Man,
it comes to the Ancient of Days. It receives
authority, receives a kingdom. What we are having
here is ascension language. Jesus is quoting
Daniel repeatedly and applies it to his ascension,
to his vindication, and his enthronement. And
again, it's important, just like we talked about
last week, how things have prophetic imagery,
a lot of metaphors, stuff like that. In scripture,
coming on clouds could be judgment language.
God came on clouds against Egypt, against Babylon,
against Edom, without physically appearing. He
came in judgment against what? He came in judgment
against idols, power structures, and systems.
Go look at things like Isaiah chapter 19 verse
1. I'm not gonna read that today But you can
go take note and go read that for yourself No
one saw Yahweh physically descend. What was it?
It was covenantial covenantal judgment Jesus
is proclaiming that he will be vindicated as
Messiah when the system that rejected him is
judged not people a system that rejecting him
and that happened in the year 70 AD biblical
judgment my friends, is never aimed at us as
humanity. So who gets judged? Egypt equals an
oppressive empire. Babylon is a corrupt system
system. Jerusalem 8070 is a temple system that
rejected the Messiah. Religious structures that
block access to God. These are the things that
God is coming to judge. He's confronting anything
that enslaves humanity if you want to know what
a judge looks like we have a book in scripture
called the book of judges go read it and learn
what a judge was there for it's very important
um he never comes to destroy people he comes
to destroy what destroys people and this is the
heart my friend of restorative judgment i could
go down that path i might want to go down that
path today i think that's topic we can use for
another time. But just ask yourself, what are
God's enemies? Who are God's enemies? And I'll
give you a rundown. I think you can find it in
the Gospel of Luke when John is asking, he sends
the disciples to ask Jesus, you know, are you
the Messiah or should we look for somebody else?
But in that, Jesus basically says, you know,
the lame walk, the blind see. So who are the
enemies of God? It's blindness. It's lameness.
sickness, it's disease, death, shame, guilt,
all these things. Those are the enemies of our
God. So again, during this 70 AD moment, he's
not threatening random people. He's confronting
a corrupt temple system. He's confronting religious
leadership, blocking access to God and sacrificial
structures that were about to become obsolete.
Consider Hebrews 12 verse 27. What can be shaken
will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken
may remain. What does God shake? He doesn't shake
people. He shakes systems, structures, mindsets,
false security so that what is real remains.
Now. I said he does not shake people, but that
does not mean that when he is shaking the stuff
within us that it does not have an impact and
an effect on us. If he's trying to break a false
mindset off you, guess who's going to be impacted
by that? You and I are. That's why sometimes
it feels like hell sometimes when the father
is trying to root out stuff within us. It's like
a doctor who is trying to remove a tumor. the
doctor is not attacking the patient he is attacking
what is killing the patient and again that is
judgment in restorative framework that's not
that's not destruction it's purification that
is hell in my opinion many times when he's going
after the quote -unquote the tumor in us it feels
like hell when he's trying to pull that out and
remove that And then we have words like the end
of the age. We see that used in Matthew chapter
24 verse 3. It talks about the end of the age
and Greek matters here. So world in Greek is
the word cosmos and it's the ordered system.
It's not just the planet, but the organized human
order, cultural, political, religious systems,
the structured world that we as humanity live
in. That's a lot in that little word. But then
we have the Greek word Aeon, and this word gets
translated into world, but that is a horrible
translation. The world is an age, an era, a period
of time characterized by a specific order. Basically,
this is time period language. So both words,
cosmos and Aeon, get translated into our English
word world, and they are two distinct different
meanings, and it's important to know your definitions.
It's important to study these things out. that
it's not the end of the planet, it's the end
of an old covenant age. And you know, it's things
that Hebrews, Galatians, Romans all talk about,
law versus grace, flesh versus spirit, shadow
versus substance. The year 70 AD was the final
visible end of that age. So then we have Revelation
in 70 AD. Think about, we're gonna talk about
Revelation, why it was written, that kind of
thing, who it was written to. We'll get into
that in a couple of things next week or a couple
weeks. But Revelation was written to first century
believers. It's written to those who are facing
persecution, who's under Roman oppression. It's
written to those before the temple was destroyed.
Now there are some arguments with that, but that's
where I hold my argument to. And then you read
key phrases such as soon, near, at hand. This
must shortly take place. So Revelation's not
about a bunch of Apache helicopters and B -2
bombers or microchips. It's apocalyptic Jewish
imagery describing covenant judgment, Rome, Jerusalem,
and vindication of the saints. And we have Revelation
11 that talks about the temple still standing.
Jerusalem is called Sodom and Egypt, the city
where our Lord was crucified. This city was destroyed
in the year 70 A .D. So why does all this matter
to wrap some of this stuff up if 70 ad fulfilled
prophecy then my friend We're not waiting for
judgment. We're not waiting for the kingdom.
We're not waiting for Christ to rule We're not
in danger of missing an escape plan. No, we are
living a post -victory Not pre -doom Hebrews
12 says you have come to Mount Zion to the heavenly
Jerusalem Keywords here you have come so I want
you to think about how the gospel works after
70 AD. After the temple fell, forgiveness is
no longer flowed through sacrifice. Remember
my friends, Jesus is forgiving people pre -cross.
Jesus is forgiving people who does not, there's
no evidence saying they asked for forgiveness,
were sorry for what they did. Think about the
man who's lowered through the roof by his four
friends. There's no even no indication that he
wants to be there. But yet Jesus asked the Pharisees,
the religious leaders, he said, what is easier
for me to say, rise and walk, or that your sins
are forgiven? But so that you may understand
that I can do both, take your bed and walk. So
he's forgiving stuff long before cross. That's
important for us to think about. Identity no
longer flowed through lineage. God's dwelling
was no longer a building. My friend, you and
I are now the temple of the Lord. So this is
something I was going to mention earlier. If
you think about Christ coming to flip tables,
my friend, he's coming inside of us to flip tables,
to get rid of that sin consciousness within us.
It's important to note. it's Christ in you and
it became unmistakably clear go over look at
Ephesians 2 where there's no dividing wall Jew
and Gentile was one body and God dwelling in
people it's Christ inside of you and I 70 AD
did not end hope it removed the shadows so substance
could actually shine so here's something to think
about regardless you know take all this stuff
run with it go research it yourself study yourself
Don't put your trust in religious systems more
than you do in Jesus. The temple looked unshakable,
yet it fell. Anything that man builds can shake,
but here's the truth. Christ's kingdom cannot
be shaken. Jesus still warns because he loves.
He's not trying to scare people for fun. He warns
people to save them. It's like warning your children
don't touch the stove when it's on don't run
in traffic Why do you do that? Not for fear not
try to scare people but because but to save them
from pain and tragedy We must learn to read scripture
through the correct lens Jesus was not trying
to make his followers obsessed with disaster
He was teaching them to discern the times and
trust him through transition You know you think
about even what's happening today, April 26,
2026, what's happening overseas and like Iran
and that kind of place. It's impossible for us
to pray for peace. If secretly would believe
that they have to be at war for some rapture
to happen. If you secretly believe this has to
happen for God to come back, you can't pray for
peace. You can't hope to shine the light that
you and I are designed to shine. if secretly
we had this belief system that all this has to
happen anyhow for me to get out of here. Wrestle
with that. Jesus's prophecy about Jerusalem was
not just empty language. He saw a coming crisis.
He warned his people. He wept over the city and
told them what to do. And then guess what? 70
AD comes around. Jerusalem is surrounded. The
city failed. The temple is burned. This was not
failure of his prophecy. It was the fulfillment
of his prophecy. This teaches us something deeply
important important that Jesus is trustworthy
Covenant history matters and the kingdom he brings
is greater than any religious system that can
be shaken my friend again, I just submit to you
a different way to look at this a different viewpoint
if you will to really think about When we read
scripture and we put it off somewhere in the
future know Jesus was talking Specifically to
a group of people and even said this generation
won't pass away. It wasn't talking about a generation
of 2 ,000 plus years This generation will not
pass away until what I have spoken comes to pass
Think about this My friends I'm hoping this is
blessing you I'm hoping this is kind of opening
your eyes and giving you something to wrestle
with and think about and You know go dive into
yourself next week. We're gonna dive into understanding
the book of Revelation That's a fun one to get
into and then I think after that we start looking
at the talking about the rapture and talking
about the Antichrist and all that kind of stuff
so much more fun stuff ahead I Think after we
do this one We're going to go from rethinking
end times to rethinking hell. I think that's
important to look at and reanalyze too. Again,
not that you have to land at the same place as
I do. I'm just speaking from a hope. I'm speaking
from a more hopeful lens than what I was raised
with. So I pray this blesses you. Have a great
week. Be blessed, my friends. Thanks for spending
some time with me today on the Kingdom Family
Podcast. If this episode spoke to you, take a
moment to share it and help someone else rediscover
their identity as a son or daughter of Yahweh.
And don't forget, follow the podcast so you can
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Kingdom Family Ministries. Until next time, live
love, live free, and live from the life of the
Kingdom.