 | The Reverend Amy Baumgartner is the Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, 525 N. Broadway, Wichita, KS. Amy was ordained at First Presbyterian Church of Wichita, Kansas in June 2008. She earned a Masters of Divinity from Denver Seminary. Before attending seminary, Amy graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Landscape Architecture and worked several years for an architectural firm in Indianapolis, Indiana. You may contact Rev. Baumgartner by email AssociatePastor@firstpresbywichita.org, or by phone at (316) 263-0248.
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Religion
2013-01-02 13:53:59
Jesus’ predictions about destruction
Q-In the Gospel of Luke (21:5-19) Jesus talks about the destruction of the
temple and the persecution that will take place. How do we know that our
Lord wasn’t talking about what happened in A.D. 70, instead of the end
of the world?
A-The rebuilt temple of Herod that the disciples witnessed first-hand was impressive. Started around 20 B.C.E, the temple’s reconstruction lasted more than eighty years until 63-63 C.E. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, noted that some of the stones used in its construction were 12 to 60 feet in length, 7.5 feet in height and 9 feet in width (Josephus Jewish Wars 5.5.1-2 189-90 gives these measurements in cubits.). The temple emerged over the city like a "snow clad mountain" (Josephus Jewish Wars 5.5.6 223) and was ornately decorated with gifts from other countries and had finely crafted gates and doors (Josephus Jewish Wars 5.5.3-5 206-18). It is no surprise that the disciples expressed national pride as they looked over the temple; it is also of no surprise that Jesus’ words about the temple’s destruction would have struck a chord because the temple was intended to last for a long, long time. Jesus’ words were predicting in prophetic terms the arrival of judgment that harkened back to past experiences of the Israelites when the temple and Jerusalem were overrun and destroyed by the Babylonians hundreds of years previously.
Yet prophetic language is a tricky for the audience. One of my Old Testament professors in seminary used the illustration of a mountain range to explain prophetic language. From far off, a mountain range appears to be one line of mountains; however, as you get closer to the mountains, you begin to notice that the mountain range is comprised of different individual mountains separated by valleys. The Scriptures record many prophecies, and some of the fulfillments have taken place, yet there are circumstances where the full fulfillment of these prophecies could still have future timetable. While the prophecy is one statement on the lips of a prophet, the totality of that statement could be comprised of many different fulfillments along the way like the individual mountains join together to comprise a mountain range.
The events in Luke’s gospel speak to events of the end and those of Jerusalem’s fall side by side in prophetic presentation. We can look back and know that the events are separated by a long period of time in between. Yet the prophetic “foreshortening” is designed to show a parallel or link between the two events. So, when the initial event occurred (the destruction of the temple), Jesus’ followers would understand that the rest of the prophecy was also coming even if for the initial audience, it would be difficult to distinguish the times of these mirrored events.
The important part is that both the end and Jerusalem's fall are part of the divine movement toward fulfillment of promise. If we were among the original audience, we might have assumed the end would come with the fall of Jerusalem like the disciples anticipated; however, Jesus revealed the real sign of the end will be the return of the Son of Man. And Jesus, in his care of his disciples prepares his disciples for the era to come by conveying that chaos does not mean that God is not in control. Even in the midst of chaos, God’s plans are coming to fruition in the midst of judgment. And that is a message that still gives hope to Jesus’ disciples today.
