The Destruction of Jerusalem and the End of the World

Trinity 10| Luke 19:41-48| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church| August 24, 2025

Do you know when most modern New Testament scholars think the Gospels were written? Most biblical scholars today think that the Gospels were written after 70 AD. That’s an interesting date. Why do you think they chose that date? Because in 70 AD, beginning during the celebration of Passover, when Jerusalem was packed with worshipers, Roman troops besieged Jerusalem, causing mass starvation within the city. Then in August of that year, they breached the city, killing thousands upon thousands of people, and burning the temple to the ground. You can read the harrowing account today from the first century Jewish historian, Josephus. And biblical scholars today think that the Gospels must have been written after this event in 70 AD, because the Gospels record Jesus predicting the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. They don’t believe that Jesus could have so accurately predicted an even that happened forty years later. There is not material evidence that points to the Gospels being written so late, rather manuscript evidence continues to point to the Gospels being written much earlier. But most biblical so-called scholars are skeptical that Jesus could predict the future.

Yet, if they doubt that Jesus could predict the future, what do they believe about Jesus’ other miracles, about His resurrection from the dead, about His claim to be the Son of God with all authority in heaven and on earth, and His promise to return in judgment? Well, of course, they don’t believe any of those things either. So, you see we have a problem with faithless scribes today, just as Jesus did.

Yet, it is important that Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple before it happened. Christianity is an historical-fact-based religion. We do not believe cleverly devised myths. We believe in historical facts that have happened and in historical facts that will happen. The Old Testament prophets predicted the coming, suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so it happened. St. Paul tells us that if Christ is not risen from the dead, then our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). All of Jesus’ teaching, and the teaching of all the prophets of the Old Testament and of the Apostles of the New Testament, as we know them from Holy Scripture, depend on the historical fact that Christ Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus rose from the dead, then Scripture is true. If Scripture is true, then it is profitable for everlasting life.

And so, it matters that Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the ruin of the temple before it happened forty years later. It means that Jesus’ teaching is true. Yet, the Evangelists did not record this prophesy of Jesus for the Jews alone, who would endure this horrific event. They wrote it for our learning, just as Jesus spoke it for our learning. Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple teaches us about the coming destruction of the world, when Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. Just as Jerusalem was destroyed with all its inhabitants and the temple reduced to rubble, so will the earth be destroyed and all sinners will be judged and sentenced to eternal perdition. Yet, just as the faithful, both Jews and Gentiles, hearkened the warning of Christ and fled Jerusalem, as tradition states they took safety in the small town of Pella across the Jordan, so Christ’s angels will separate the faithful from the wicked and grant them access to their heavenly inheritance.

Jesus really did predict the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and it really did happen. Likewise, Scripture predicts the coming judgment, and it will certainly happen. And it will come at a time you do not expect. And while Jesus is serious about this warning, because He is just, He also weeps for the destruction of the city and temple. He mourns their hardened hearts, their ears that do not hear and their eyes that do not see. God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turns from his ways and lives. St. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2 that God, “desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” And so, Jesus does not delight in the destruction of Jerusalem. He mourns it. He does not delight the death of His enemies. He prays for their repentance. Yet, they refuse to repent. They do not know what makes for peace. They do not recognize their visitation. And so, they perished.

And if God did not spare His own chosen people, to whom belong the patriarchs, the promises, the Torah, and according to the flesh, Christ the Savior, do not think that He will spare you if you reject His Word as they did. God is merciful. So, He warns you before it is too late. So, He mourns those who refuse to repent. Yet, God is just. He will not withhold judgment from those who refuse to be saved and continue in their unbelief and sin. Every prediction made in Scripture comes true. They are historical facts you can read about. And the ones that have not come true, are yet to happen. But they will certainly happen. So, listen to Jesus’ warning today.

Jesus says, “if you on this day knew what makes for peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes.” Then He says that this disaster is coming upon them, because they did not recognize their visitation. What does Jesus mean by peace and their visitation? What makes for peace is not what their false prophets said. Jeremiah wrote of the false prophets in Jeremiah 8, “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the LORD.” Then, Jeremiah spoke of the first destruction of the temple by the Babylonians, which came true in Jeremiah’s lifetime. Likewise, during Jesus’ ministry there were false prophets preaching a false way to peace. And so, there are today. False prophets heal the wounds of sinners by telling them that God is not bothered by their sin. The sinners think they have been healed, but really, they have gangrene and sepsis and are in desperate need of God’s care. They lie to the people and say that God is at peace with them, while covering up how God makes peace with them.

And so, false prophets today tell people not to repent of their sins. They say that God accepts us for who we are and there is no need to repent. Others, are more subtle. They will teach a life of good works, but they do not point to Christ as the only way of salvation. They say that if people just try their best, they will be saved. They ignore the depravity of our sin and the severity of God’s Law.

The only way that makes for peace is faith in Christ Jesus, who suffered and died for our sins and grants us His righteousness as a gift to be received through faith. This is why the angels sang at the birth of Jesus, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” This is why after Jesus had won our peace with God through His death, His first words to His disciples after His resurrection were, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) This is why St. Paul declares in Romans 5, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The only way you can have peace with God is through faith in Jesus Christ, who has won that peace for you. This is why Jesus says, “You did not know the time of your visitation.” God visited His people through the incarnation and ministry of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. In His visitation, He preached peace to the people through the forgiveness of sins that comes to those who repent and believe in the Gospel. But they did not recognize their visitation. And forty years after they crucified Him, their destruction came upon them and the temple.

And so, if you are to know what makes for peace, you must recognize your visitation today. Your visitation comes to you today through the preaching of the Gospel and the Sacraments. Christ Jesus Himself instituted Baptism and commanded that all nations be baptized. Scripture teaches that those who have been baptized are clothed with Christ. Christ commanded that the Gospel be preached to the whole creation, and that all that He commanded be taught to every person. And so, preachers after the pattern of the Apostles continue to preach the Gospel, calling sinners to repentance and proclaiming the forgiveness of sins won by Christ. Jesus even offers His very body and blood as food and medicine for body and soul, promising to continue to visit His people through the means of Word and Sacrament. This is how God makes known His peace to us, so that we may be comforted and know that we will escape the wrath to come.

Yet, as Jesus and His Apostles were rejected by the people of Israel, so people, even the baptized, reject Jesus’ visitation today. That is, they despise His preaching and Word and do not hold it sacred. And so, as God destroyed Jerusalem and the temple by the hands of the Romans, so God will execute judgment on the unbelieving world that rejects Christ. If God did not spare His own temple, do not think that He will spare you if you continue to despise His preaching and Word and refuse to repent of your sins or believe in His promise. The Jews thought that they were safe from God’s judgment, because they had the temple. Yet, the temple could not save them. Likewise, church membership cannot save you. You can only be saved through faith in Christ, which comes through His persistent visitation in Word and Sacrament.

Finally, Jesus cleansed the temple of sellers and thieves. There is no temple made with hands today. The temple is where God dwells. Where does God dwell today? Then you will know what His temple is. Scripture describes God’s temple today in two ways, both of which depend on faith in Jesus Christ. First, in our hearts. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapters 3 and 6 that every Christian is a temple of God, because the Holy Spirit dwells in every Christian’s heart. Second, Scripture teaches in Ephesians 2 and in 1 Peter 2 that all believers are built up into a temple for God to dwell. So, each individual Christian is a temple of God, and the holy Christian Church made up of individual Christians is the temple of God today. And as Jesus cleansed the temple, so must we cleanse the temple today.

You cleanse the temple of your body by cleansing your heart of sin and hypocrisy. This is a constant task, because as long as you live in this body you will struggle with sin. So, cleanse your temple by repenting of your sins each day and trusting in the blood of Jesus, which is the perfect Sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

Second, we must cleanse the temple of the church, which is the congregation of Christians. We do this by refuting false doctrine and hypocrisy, and returning to Christ and His pure Word. If we do not cleanse the temple of our bodies, then we will be lost in impenitent sin. If we do not cleanse the temple of the Christian Church, then Christians will be led astray into false peace and will not recognize Christ’s visitation.

Yet, it is important to note that while Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple, He continues to go to the temple to preach. And so, it is today. Scripture predicts the destruction of this world. Yet, God continues to preach to this world. And the faithful continue to hang onto His Word. And it is those who hang onto His Word who recognize what makes for peace and escape the coming destruction. Jesus continues to preach in the soon to be destroyed temple, because He continues to love the people and wants to save as many as possible. And that is why Christ continues to preach to you today through your pastor. He loves you. And He wants you to be saved. Christ continues to weep for those who will be destroyed. May you recognize your visitation, so that Christ does not weep for you. Amen.