What the Bible says about Time of your Visitation

Matthew 24:1-2

Just a few days before Jesus Christ observed His last Passover with His disciples, He gave them two chapters full of prophecy, parables, and other instructions in what has come to be known as the Olivet Prophecy (Matthew 24-25; cf. Matthew 26:1-2). This was precipitated by a seemingly minor interaction that occurred on or near the Temple Mount, just across the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives:

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Matthew 24:1-2)

To what does Jesus refer? Is the scope of His answer limited to the physical buildings of the Temple complex, or are there spiritual implications as well? I Peter 2:5 identifies Christians as "living stones," so is it possible that the church of God, the spiritual Temple, will at some point be left with "not one stone . . . upon another"? Are we headed for a time of complete disintegration, where the individual believer is connected only to God?

In examining this question, it is important to notice some details in what Jesus said. When He asks, "Do you not see all these things?" the word "see" refers to physical observation, not mental comprehension. In other words, He was drawing attention to their physical surroundings, which is what the phrase "all these things" refers to. His identification of a specific place reinforces this: ". . . not one stone shall be left here upon another."

The other synoptic gospels likewise indicate that Jesus had the physical Temple in mind when He spoke of total dissolution:

• Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" And Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Mark 13:1-2, emphasis ours throughout)

• Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, "These things which you see—the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down." (Luke 21:5-6)

If we wanted to broaden the scope of "all these things" in Matthew 24:2 to include what He spoke about before this, it would still not include the spiritual Temple. The majority of chapter 23 is a scathing rebuke of the Pharisees—clearly not believers in Christ and not part of the spiritual Temple. The part of the chapter not directed at the Pharisees—His final comments before chapter 24 begins—is a lament over Jerusalem and by implication, its carnal people:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matthew 23:37-39)

Luke's gospel also contains a lament over Jerusalem by Christ, and it contains the only other reference to stones being completely dispersed:

Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:41-44)

The Amplified Bible clarifies the phrase "the time of your visitation" with this note: ". . . that is, when God was visiting you, the time in which God showed Himself gracious toward you and offered you salvation through Christ." To summarize, because Jerusalem rejected God, she would be left so desolate that no structure would remain. This was fulfilled in AD 70 when the Roman Emperor Titus leveled the city and destroyed the Temple. The church remained intact, though, having been warned to flee.

Thus, we see that the predominant focus of Matthew 24:2 is on the physical Temple and its environs and that Christ's words have already had one physical fulfillment.

David C. Grabbe
Will the Church of God Be Thrown Down? (Part One)